[0:00] Check check, one two one two four. And we'll be using this for, I'm thinking about communion.
[0:13] So I was like, I'm extra excited. All set, all good? Let's do this.
[1:33] You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you
[14:13] Holiness you you you you SUBSCRIBE BUTTERitting It's time to sing your song again.
[14:46] Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing when the evening comes.
[15:02] Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. Worship His holy name.
[15:17] Sing like never before. Oh my soul, oh worship Your holy name.
[15:32] You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great and your heart is kind.
[15:45] For all Your goodness I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.
[16:01] So bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. Worship His holy name.
[16:15] Sing like never before. Oh my soul, oh worship Your holy name.
[16:29] And on that day when my strength is failing. And draws near and my time has come.
[16:42] Still my soul will sing Your praise unending. Ten thousand years and then forever more.
[16:58] Forever more. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul.
[17:08] Worship His holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, oh worship Your holy name.
[17:27] Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. Worship His holy name.
[17:40] Sing like never before. Oh my soul, oh worship Your holy name.
[17:53] Yes I will worship Your holy name. Lord I will worship Your holy name.
[18:30] I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small.
[18:44] Child of weakness watching right, finding me Thine all alone.
[18:55] Cause Jesus paid it all, all to Him at home.
[19:06] Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
[19:23] Lord now indeed I find Thy power in Thine alone. Can change the leper's spots, and melt the heart of stone.
[19:44] Cause Jesus paid it all, all to Him at home. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
[20:12] Oh praise the one who paid my debt. Raise this life up from the dead.
[20:33] Oh praise the one who paid my debt. Oh praise the one who paid my debt.
[20:53] Oh praise the one who paid my debt. Oh praise the one who paid my debt.
[21:15] Then before the throne I stayed in Him complete. Jesus died my soul to save, and my lives shall still repeat.
[21:54] Jesus died my soul to save, and my lives shall still repeat. Jesus died my soul to save, and my lives shall still repeat.
[22:14] As morning dawns and evening fades, You inspire songs of praise That rise from earth to touch Your heart, and glorify Your name.
[22:48] Your name is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder, Cause nothing has the power to save, but Your name.
[23:28] Jesus in Your name we pray, come and fill our hearts today.
[23:40] Lord give us strength to live for You, and glorify Your name.
[23:53] Your name is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other.
[24:06] Your name let the nations sing it louder, Cause nothing has the power to save, But Your name, oh Lord Jesus, Jesus, Lord.
[24:48] Your name is a strong and mighty tower. Your name is a shelter like no other.
[25:01] Your name let the nations sing it louder, Cause nothing has the power to save, But Your name is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder, Cause nothing has the power to save, But Your name is a strong and mighty tower.
[25:47] Your name is a shelter like no other. Your name let the nations sing it louder, Cause nothing has the power to save, But Your name, oh Lord Jesus, You give me strength for another day. You give me strength for Your name.
[26:33] Your name Jesus, oh Lord Jesus, You give me strength for another day.
[26:47] There's healing in Your name, salvation in Your name, oh there's comfort in Your name. There is joy in Your name, tender mercies in Your name. There's no other name, there's no other name.
[27:09] Jesus, the sign of His name, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, oh Jesus, Jesus, oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
[27:36] Jesus.
[27:48] Jesus.
[28:14] The world's the hands of Me, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe display.
[28:36] Then sings My soul, My Savior, God to me. How great Thou art, how great Thou art.
[28:53] Then sings My soul, My Savior, God to me. How great Thou art, how great Thou art.
[29:14] Then when I think that God is Son, that's very, send Him to die, that scares can take.
[29:53] I want to remind us who we are and why we're here. We are here and who we are is this. We are not here.
[30:04] So I want to say come on in and have a seat. There are some wonderful seats up front here that are available. In fact, I think they're the best seats in the house personally.
[30:17] We are a broken people who have been called by God to follow him. And we are a people who are deeply flawed and have been redeemed by Jesus Christ.
[30:32] A few things I want to share with you this morning is there's a lot of new things. We're in a new space. So this is Uden Chapel. This is the original chapel to the Fourth Memorial Church.
[30:47] And so we recognize if you're new with us, this is our new space for the summer. And so this is the new normal for us. Secondly, we are...this is our first Sunday after our Sunday Sunday.
[31:03] And I'm so grateful for the wonderful service last week. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to move forward with... as a new body or a full body of believers without those who we've sent.
[31:16] And so that's a new normal for us as well. We have the privilege to send and launch this church. And we're grateful to gather together on the first Sunday after that. What a privilege that has been.
[31:27] And this is a new normal. And lastly, I want to make mention of this is what also is a new normal for us. It is a worship leading and opportunity.
[31:39] We know that we've sent Pastor Josh, who is our worship leader this last week. And so I've asked some folks who are on loan to us through the summer, who will help us lead worship.
[31:52] So there are three individuals who I have invited to join us on a Sunday who are on loan to us from Indian Trail Church.
[32:03] You may have heard from Pastor Kyle last Sunday from Indian Trail Pastor who shared with our congregation. Well, from Indian Trail Church, there are three individuals of whom Brendan is one who is going to help lead worship.
[32:17] Brendan, you can ask him more about himself later, but this briefly, I'll let you get into the specifics of his undergraduate degrees in Ud Music from Whitworth University.
[32:31] And he just graduated with his MBA, Master of Business Administration from Whitworth as well. And so I'm grateful for him. And please, I would encourage us as a church to get to know he and the other individuals who I will introduce at later time.
[32:45] But let us be called to worship through the Word of God in Romans 11, beginning at verse 33. We read this. Oh, the depth and the riches and the wisdom of the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways.
[33:03] For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor and who has given him gifts that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things and to him be glory forever. Amen.
[33:20] And so would you please stand with us as we worship the Lord this morning? Oh my. Morning church, thank you for having me.
[33:31] And I just wanted to say too that I was a good friend of, and still am a good friend of Josh's as well. So I know you guys had a, were blessed with a great worship leader for a long time. So something really cool to me.
[33:43] So let's sing together about God's love. One, two, three. Oh, Oh,
[35:18] Oh, Oh, Oh,
[36:48] Oh, Oh, Oh,
[38:18] Oh, Oh, Oh,
[39:48] Oh, Oh, Oh,
[40:54] Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Jesus said, If I am lost, He will come to me.
[41:29] And He showed me the time that's lost. And He will come to me.
[41:42] He's gonna come before the Lord is good and free. He will keep us staying.
[41:55] We can always run to Jesus, to Jesus' story.
[42:08] For the Lord is good and faithful. He will keep us staying.
[42:21] We can always run to Jesus, to Jesus' story.
[42:34] Jesus, you are strong and kind.
[42:53] Thank you, Brendan and team. Go ahead and grab a seat, church.
[43:05] It's good to be here this morning, amen. We're getting a little scrappy. And we know, excuse me, I'm a little under the weather.
[43:16] So just delete anything that doesn't make sense. This was, you know, there's a little fear and trepidation this morning because, you know, we're getting scrappy. We're in a different space trying to figure this out.
[43:29] And Melissa's not here. It's like two very scary things. So we're working out the kinks. We know that the sound is a little limited in some spaces.
[43:40] We're gonna try to figure some things out for next week. So just bear with us and let's show charity to one another. And just be thankful that we get to gather and worship our good King, amen.
[43:51] Well, let me read our passage this morning for us. We're gonna be finishing up John chapter 14 verses 15 through 31.
[44:02] So go ahead and read along with me. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever.
[44:13] Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him for He dwells with you and He will be with you.
[44:26] I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while in the world we'll see you, me, no more, but you will see me because I live. You also will live.
[44:38] In that day you will know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, He it is who loves me. And He who loves me will be loved by my Father.
[44:52] And I will love Him and manifest myself to Him. Judas, not a scary it, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?
[45:05] Jesus answered him. No one loves me, He will keep my word and my Father will love Him. And we will come to Him and make our home with Him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.
[45:18] And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
[45:37] Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
[45:48] You heard me say to you, I am going away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced. Because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
[46:00] And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming.
[46:11] He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. Would you join me in prayer?
[46:25] Lord Jesus, it is good to gather with your people this morning. Lord, we celebrate relish this freedom, that we get to gather freely and worship the living God.
[46:38] Jesus, we thank you that you died for sinners. We love the Gospel, it is the beginning of each of our stories. Thank you for the promise and the gift of your spirit.
[46:51] Lord, that you have resourced us to live this life, this life in obedience to you with great joy. So Father, as Scott comes to bring your word, would you fill him, would you empower him?
[47:04] Lord, we think of our brothers and sisters at Lampstand this morning. We ask that you would do the same for Eric. Lord, we pray that we would all experience great joy as we seek you at the beginning of this week.
[47:16] Lord, would you speak through your spirit and your word, use Scott, give him joy as he presents your word to us. And would you accomplish something profound in each of us this morning?
[47:28] Would you increase us in our commitment to you, Lord, that we could live for your glory better this week than we did last? We ask this all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[47:40] And all God's people said, Amen.
[47:53] I recall being in a village in Rwanda years ago and there was a little boy, I was witnessing a little boy being very clingy to a mom.
[48:06] But the child was behaving unusually clingy and I didn't know what I was observing so I just asked the pastor friend, excuse me, can you tell me a little bit about this boy?
[48:20] And he says, oh, that young man, that boy lost his father three months ago and two days ago he just lost his mother.
[48:31] And the one who gave birth in the childbearing process, the mom and the child died, leaving this boy and other siblings as orphans. It explained what I was observing.
[48:44] And when I think about our passage today, this story came to my mind. Why?
[48:55] I can imagine the disciples are feeling a little uneasy. They're feeling like this little boy was very vulnerable, very exposed, very fearful, very uncertain of the future, very anxious.
[49:10] And the disciples are now in the upper room. Jesus is 24 hours away, less than 24 hours away from his death. He has been telling them, I'm going to be betrayed.
[49:24] And John knows the betrayer just left the room. Peter has been informed he's going to deny Christ three times. The disciples, Jesus is speaking of his death saying, I'm going to be glorified. Jesus is going to speak of his death.
[49:40] He is saying, I'm going to go away and prepare a place for you. The things that Jesus is saying would be causing some uncertainty about the future and a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of fear.
[49:53] The disciples are feeling exposed. And so perhaps the disciples in their mind's eye are feeling a little clingy, if you will. And Jesus uses chapter 14 to bring comfort to his disciples. And he's going to communicate his love to his disciples.
[50:11] And he's going to do that in three ways in our text today. So if you're here today and you say, I feel very exposed, I feel very, the future is very uncertain for me. I feel very nervous and anxious about several things in my life.
[50:26] I pray that we would enjoy what the Lord has to say to his disciples. And may we take comfort in how he brings, communicates his love and assurance to his disciples.
[50:37] And he's going to do that in three ways. Let us first look at the first way that Jesus communicates his love and he reassures the disciples of his love for them.
[50:50] He does it first by saying this, I'm going to assure you of my love for you because I'm going to assure you that I'm going to raise from the dead. He has been speaking of his death and now he says, but there is a resurrection.
[51:04] Look with me in verses 18 and 19. I will not leave you as orphan. I will come to you. Yet in a little while, the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live and you also will live.
[51:22] How comforting the little phrase must have been because I live, you also will live. That is true for the disciples in the first century.
[51:34] It is also true for us as a church today. We know Jesus's love and we are assured of his love because he rose from the dead, conquering sin, death and the grave in order to forgive sin.
[51:48] And allow a pathway open to all who believe in Christ to know him. Jesus went to the cross because he loved us. He rose triumphantly so we would no longer need to fear death.
[52:02] And because Jesus lives, we too live. Those who have trusted Christ and believe in his sinless life, his death for sin, his resurrection, enjoy eternal life with Christ.
[52:15] No matter what your circumstances, Christ, we can take comfort and be assured of his love because he rose from the grave of his resurrection.
[52:29] The second way that Jesus in our text today communicates his love for the disciples is he assures them that, hey, I am going to give you my spirit. Look with me in the text in verses 16 through 17.
[52:44] And I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.
[52:56] You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. It's interesting how many times we read Scripture and we see something new and afresh as if it was the first time.
[53:08] That happened for me this week in preparing for this message. I have omitted in my mental mind a word that is in our text and it is this, the word another.
[53:25] I will give you another helper, meaning you already have one. And it is Christ that he's speaking to. I'm going to give you another helper. I have been your helper up until this point, but I'm going to give you another helper, the same kind as me, the same essence as me, the helper, the comforter, the advocate.
[53:45] I am going to send you one, another one just like me. And in my mind, I don't know why, but the word another stood out to help bring color to what kind of helper that would be.
[54:00] Just like Christ. The Holy Spirit will come and fill the role that Jesus has been fulfilling to his disciples. The Holy Spirit will strengthen, the Holy Spirit will comfort, the Holy Spirit will teach them just as Jesus has been doing.
[54:19] Have you ever wished that you could just sit with Jesus, face to face and have a conversation with Him? Have you ever found yourself longing for someone to just share the events of a day with and think, I need help in framing what just happened about my day?
[54:39] Well, we have that ability and we have that opportunity because of the Spirit of Christ. Just as Jesus could comfort and strengthen the disciples, we can be comforted and strengthened through the Spirit who dwells in us.
[54:55] And what happens to me and what happens to you when we lose sight of that, that we have this other helper with us like Christ? I begin to focus on my circumstances.
[55:08] When I forget, I'm not as mindful in the present moment that I have the Holy Spirit. He dwells within me and He is there to be an advocate to help teach me all the things that the Lord has said and remind me of those things.
[55:25] What happens when I forget that? I become anxious. I begin to focus on my circumstances rather than Christ. And I act functionally like an atheist in that moment, acting as if God does not exist.
[55:41] So all I have is my circumstances to focus on. This promise of the Holy Spirit in their lifetime, the disciples, when the seas will get rough in the following days and hours ahead, I pray that they would remember and I pray that we would remember that the presence of the Holy Spirit, God is taking up occupancy in our lives as believers.
[56:05] So when circumstances are difficult, may we receive His comfort and strength in that time. Oh, how easily it can be to take the blessing of the Holy Spirit for granted, who brings comfort and strength and health.
[56:24] Jesus promises He is going to prepare a home for them because He says earlier in our text in verse 17, for them in heaven, I go to prepare a place for you.
[56:37] And now He says, I'm going to prepare Himself a place for Him in them. So there's a future preparation of where He is going to go, but there is a very present place.
[56:49] I'm going to take up residence in you as well through the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit makes His home in the disciples, He begins the ministry of pointing them to Jesus.
[57:02] Look with me in verse 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said.
[57:17] This is one of the functions of the Holy Spirit. What role does the Holy Spirit play in the life of a believer? He says, I will send you one in my name and He will teach you.
[57:30] Look at the verbs. I will teach you all. In this Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said about you.
[57:43] This is a gift the Holy Spirit is to us, to teach us and to remind us the things that Jesus has said. So notice what I love about the role of the Holy Spirit is He points a spotlight, if you will, on the person of Christ.
[57:58] And then what I love about Christ is He takes all this spotlight attention, so to speak, because we read in Philippians, He's given the name above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess, and then He says, to the glory of the Father.
[58:13] Jesus takes all this glory and all this spotlight and He says, oh, but look, it was the Father's master plan and He's the one you should give glory. But then what does the Father do? He's the one that gave the Son the name above every name.
[58:30] And so I love that this spotlight of attention and even the Father says, look at the Son. He's the one who died for us. Look at Him. And the role of the Holy Spirit in us is to teach us and to remind us of the things that Jesus has said.
[58:47] What a gift the Holy Spirit is. What a gift. The third thing, so we see here, how does Jesus, we're seeing two things. How has Jesus comforted the disciples in this season of unrest?
[59:02] He says, first, I'm going to assure you of my love because of the resurrection. I'm going to assure you of my love in sending the Holy Spirit. And thirdly, I'm going to assure you of my love because I'm going to give you my peace. Look with me.
[59:19] Before we look at the text, I want to share with you a common greeting in Romania. When I was in Romania, there was a phrase and a term that is used often in the Christian community.
[59:30] You would greet each other or upon dismissal when you would say goodbye, you would say this phrase, pace. And so you would greet one another, pace, meaning peace. And so you were just speaking peace when you greet someone, pace.
[59:45] And you would greet someone that way. Perhaps that came from the first century. It was a common farewell wish to wish someone peace when you dismiss when you said goodbye.
[60:02] But notice this is not some superficial goodbye that Jesus is speaking. Look with me in verse 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled.
[60:20] Neither let them be afraid. Jesus has brought peace with God. Brought a peace with God that the world cannot offer. A peace with Jesus that defeats mankind's greatest foes. A peace that is one of the greatest foes, sin.
[60:39] In Christ's death, Jesus defeats and he defends sin. We are dead in sin. We've been made alive unto God. He defeats sin. Another foe that we have is death itself. And Jesus says, oh death, where is your sin? You have been made alive unto God.
[60:57] And when you believe in Christ, you have eternal life. And that eternal life, there's no, not even death, can separate you from Christ.
[61:08] And can remove eternal life from you. You have eternal life and it continues. Eternal life with God continues for the life of the believer for eternity. Death. Another foe, Satan, look with me in verse 30. I will not no longer talk much with you in verse 30 for the ruler of this world's coming.
[61:31] But he has no claim on me. Satan, yes, he is real. Yes, he goes around roaring like a lion. But he has no dominion over you as a child of God.
[61:43] You are a child of light and Satan has no hold on you. And Satan, I love the phrase in verse 30, the ruler of this world is coming.
[61:58] And he has no claim on me, Jesus says. He has no claim on Christ. What does that mean? He has nothing to bring against Jesus.
[62:09] Satan will be defeated. Peace for us came through the greatest violence toward Christ. As if Jesus is speaking to his disciples, when you see me die, when you see me brutally beaten, when you see me mocked, when you see me excruciatingly, oh man.
[62:27] Die on that cross. When you see that happen, it wasn't because Satan compelled me. It wasn't Satan because he got me somehow.
[62:40] It wasn't Satan because Satan manipulated me in any way. He has no claim on me. I lay my life down willingly to forgive sin, to offer salvation for all who may believe.
[62:53] Through death, through his death, Christ's death, we have peace. And Satan has no claim on Christ. Jesus is communicating through his love, through giving his disciples his peace. My peace I give to you.
[63:13] At the height of persecution in Communist China, under Chairman Mao, somewhere around the 1950s, there was a communique that went out that was managed to leave China and get past its censors, and get past all those who looked at communication exiting China. Well, it managed to get past it because it simply said this.
[63:37] There was a believer who was communicating out to the church internationally, and this is what the line said. This is one of the reasons why it got out. It was able to get out of the country. It didn't have a lot of Christian-ese language in it.
[63:52] This is all it said. This I know people are well. It took a while for the church to understand what this I know people was referring to.
[64:07] But it goes back to one of the Christian anthems, one of the first songs that we often memorize and sing when we were young. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
[64:21] The this I know people are well. Those in Christ. In Communist China, they persecute the believers, still do.
[64:36] But in the 1950s, they were not under the bondage of sin. The sting of death was gone. And they could put believers, no one could put the believers back in the dominion and bondage of Satan.
[64:52] The this I know people are well. And it gives you his peace. And it gave his peace to the people of China. So what are your circumstances? What are your concerns?
[65:06] What are things that have got you a little bit upset in your spirit? I pray that we would be recipients and we would receive the ways that God assures us of his love, his resurrection, his giving of his Holy Spirit, and the giving of his peace.
[65:26] There's one other thing aspect in our text today that I want to spotlight. Yes, these are ways that Christ assures the disciples of his love. But imagine trying to love someone when he's no longer going to be present. And so Jesus now communicates to his disciples.
[65:43] Okay, this is I'm about to depart. And this is how you can continue to love me. And so he shares some things with them. He informs the disciples how they can love him. And from the vantage point of the disciples, this farewell conversation that Jesus is having, he tells them this is what it's going to be like in the distant future.
[66:10] Because he says in the opening of chapter 14 verse one through three, he tells them, I'm going to go away. I'm going to prepare a place for you. And I'm going to come again and I will take you there to myself. So where I am there, you may be also, we looked at that last two weeks ago.
[66:27] But now he's going to go more present future. That's in the distant future where I go, I'm going to prepare a place for you into the distant future. But now how about how can you love Christ today into the near future? And so Jesus communicates his relationship with them.
[66:45] And basically he's going to say to his disciples, true disciples of mine reveal their love for me through obedience. Look with me in verse 15. We open our passage today with this verse.
[67:01] If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Drop down to verse 21 with me, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be love of my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
[67:15] And then drop down to verse 23 to 24. And Jesus answered him and said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and I will come to him and make my home with him.
[67:29] Whoever does not love me does not keep my word. And the word that you hear is not mine, but of the father who sent me. Obedience, if you will, is Jesus' love language. Jesus does not single out a particular command or select saying to obey.
[67:48] He describes a life committed to following him no matter where he leads. He describes a person who has cast aside all concern except obedience to Christ.
[67:59] Loving Jesus is not like a bargain hunt at a garage sale. You don't comb through all that he has said and pick out the ones that require the least of you.
[68:10] That's not what loving Jesus is like. A love for Jesus means obeying even the most difficult command. We cannot say, look, I have my love for him because I don't murder. Genuine love for the Lord is truly revealed when we obey, leave in the most challenging command in the most difficult time.
[68:34] The world knew Jesus to love the Father this way because look at what Jesus says in verse 31. But I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the Father.
[68:49] Rise, let us go from here. In the most challenging of times, in the most difficult hour of need of Christ, to die for death, for sin, to die a death for sin, Jesus obeys the Father.
[69:03] And he says, what I do for the Father, he has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the Father. This is how even I have demonstrated my love for the Father is to obey his commands.
[69:17] And I'm asking you, disciples, to obey. You want to love me? Obey my commands. To love when life is soft, safe and easy proves nothing. You know this to be true.
[69:36] If I asked you who loves his wife, and let's think there's an elderly gentleman and he parades his healthy, beautiful 20-something trophy wife on his arm.
[69:47] Does he love his wife or does the elderly husband who bathes and feeds his disoriented wife, who is slowly losing her memory, or has a terminal disease?
[69:59] Who lovingly responds to the same question she has already asked 52 times, but he responds as if it's the first one of the day. Who loves his wife? Which one of those? Who would you respond?
[70:13] Now they may both love their wife, but we know for certain one does. Jesus shows us what it means to love through difficult obedience. Bless you who are in difficult marriages, who remain faithful to the Lord, and keeping your wedding vows and honor the Lord.
[70:34] Who you honor the Lord, who caused your one flesh uniting. Leave please become one flesh. Jesus, bless you who are single parents, who rear children in the admonition of the Lord, who may be very tireless, and who are in a thankless position.
[70:56] Thank you. Bless you who desire to take the gospel to the nations knowing the comfort of American conveniences will not be present.
[71:07] Bless you who are called to remain at fourth and not be sent to lampstand gospel church for it will cost you to remain.
[71:19] Later in the service, Pastor Jay will share some needs we have, but before Jay does, let me share this.
[71:34] Earlier in our text two weeks ago, we talked about there was a verse that the Lord, the world may know that we are His disciples by our love for one another.
[71:48] And so we love one another is the way that the world knows that we know the Lord and that they may know the Lord by our love for one another. And here's how we can love one another here, very real and presently.
[72:02] Last Sunday to frame for everyone, we sent 44 individuals who all have a role at lampstand gospel church. There's not one person who goes, even children, who don't already have a role.
[72:15] They're either a greeter, they unload the trailer, they have a role in the church in some very real and tangible way. I would like to think the same of all of us. We all should have a role in serving the body.
[72:30] And so let me frame a little bit clearer. There are 44 individuals who left and who went with lampstand gospel church we sent. What a great Sunday last week was. What a privilege to do that. And I look forward to doing that again.
[72:47] But there are 44 individuals. All of them were highly involved. And currently what it did is it, our children's ministry in particular is deeply, there was a deep cut in our children's ministry.
[73:06] And I am, I am asking us would we love those who likely children in our congregation who likely do not know the Lord, who are eager to learn of Him and would you proclaim the gospel and share Jesus with them.
[73:23] And there's an invitation at the end of the service for you to respond to that. But let me just share with you, we have needs deep in many different areas. Children is one of them.
[73:34] And I'll let Jay share a little more. But I have one word of caution concerning our obedience to Him and showing love for one another is this. That a love for Jesus must be motivated, it affects our motivation.
[73:47] Our love for Jesus must be our motivation to obey His commands. Obedience must flow out of a heart of love. Obedience without love is nothing more than the pursuit of self-righteousness.
[73:59] And I know this all too well as a recovering Pharisee and a recovering legalist. I know this too well. Let me read that one more time. Without obedience without love is nothing more than the pursuit of self-righteous.
[74:15] And that was me. And still if I'm not careful can fall into that. We will never obey His word if we all feel a sense of moral obligation or just duty.
[74:28] We will never obey His word if we want to store up a good standing with God, having a good standing with Him. So that's why I'm going to obey.
[74:39] We need to look at the words of Jesus and think carefully. If we think that I can make the Lord happy and so I'm going to obey this command, we've missed the point.
[74:50] If we think that I'm going to obey this command so the Lord won't be angry with me or disappointed with me, we have missed the point. Then we are not obeying the Lord out of love. We are simply trying to earn the Lord's favor.
[75:08] If you want to conquer sin and obey Jesus, you don't simply try harder to obey. We stoke the flame of love for Him in our hearts.
[75:20] The antidote for disobedience isn't obedience, but it is love. If we struggle to obey the Lord, then focus on loving Him more.
[75:31] May God give you a passion for Jesus and an affection for Him that eclipses all other things that you may have affection for. And may we take heart Romans 12, 1 and 2.
[75:48] I'm just going to read verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[76:03] This do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I pray that we would cultivate this affection and love that would drive our obedience to the Lord.
[76:15] Let me just share a few things practically that have helped me. I met with a friend just this last week. He is going through a discouraging season and a discouraging time.
[76:27] I said there's a little bit of scarcity of soul going on in my heart as well. Let's do some things to cultivate affection for the Lord. When you're in a scarcity of soul place or place of scarcity, what often can happen is you can be critical.
[76:44] Instead of gratitude, you can be complaining and critical of things. We recognized that. Every Monday I have it on my calendar to remind me I'm going to text him at 8 o'clock on Monday night.
[76:59] Every week we have a list of things that we're grateful for. We write a word of gratitude of something we see every day. Then we copy and paste that into a text and send it off and say, this is what I'm grateful for this week.
[77:13] The other thing I've done recently is I have, in the past, I have reading when I was younger was a struggle for me.
[77:24] Reading has been difficult. I have not necessarily enjoyed reading and so I just read for content for my often for my job. I read a lot of nonfiction, really riveting reads.
[77:39] I just ingest a lot of things to learn and apply just from often. I have been challenged and encouraged recently by biography of men and women of faith who have lived amazing lives.
[77:57] Most recently I picked up this book of 27 Servants of Joy by John Piper. He's a great book and he highlights 27 Servants from the second century, first century on to today that he spots like.
[78:12] It's amazing to read about people of faith who have stood and who may have lost their life for the cause of Christ. I think it has cultivated my affection for Christ's biographies have done.
[78:28] I have to mention his word and I think about the DTS read this summer with Pastor Jay. It's a biography of someone's life and I encourage you to read.
[78:41] But may we not forget the word of God on all of those things. May we not forget to read God's word. It is true and may the Lord cultivate our affections for him just in reading.
[78:53] And so what why did I read Roman? I want to be transformed to this world but I want to transform my mind. Transform be transformed by the renewing of my mind and input in what is true, right and good in my mind.
[79:08] And so may we do that this summer. Summers, I love summers because I love sunshine. It's hard to believe today but sun is coming and so I love summers because but I dislike summers because they can be distracting.
[79:25] There's a lot of things that can get in the way of our affection for the Lord through the summer. Everything seems better to do and have occupy our time than the Lord in the summer season.
[79:39] So be careful and do some things deliberately this summer to cultivate your affection for the Lord that you may obey out of a motivation of love.
[79:50] That's my point. Jesus though gives them another way to love them other than love him other than obedience.
[80:03] Look with me in verse 28 and I'll say it and then we'll see it in the verse. It is their willingness to sacrifice their immediate comfort in order to trust Jesus.
[80:14] So look with me in verse 28. You heard me say to you I am going away and I will come to you. If you love me you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father and the Father is greater than I.
[80:31] Notice this Jesus says so I'm going to go away and I'm going to go to the Father. And then he says you know what you were missing disciples when I said I'm going to go away I'm going to go to the Father is you didn't even rejoice.
[80:42] Why? Why did the disciples not rejoice? Because Jesus going to the Father because they were more concerned for their own desires than what was important to Jesus.
[80:56] I am I am losing my comforter. I am losing my advocate. I am losing the person I have given up all things in this earthly world to follow. And that guy just told me he's leaving and all this anxiety and all that discomfort and all that disruption.
[81:14] Surfaces and so when he says I'm going to the Father they did not rejoice. And he holds that against them and so he says to them hey disciples if you love me you would have rejoiced.
[81:28] Because I'm going to the Father and the Father is greater than I. And so what is it that prohibited them from rejoicing? It was their desires were more important than Jesus's plan.
[81:41] When we love Jesus genuinely love Jesus we believe that he's in control and whatever he chooses to do is best. We are less concerned with our agendas our emotions our ease and we focus our energy and attention on what Jesus cares about.
[82:00] And so he tells his disciples if you would love me you would have rejoiced that I'm going to the Father. If our love for Jesus is true it cannot be self centered.
[82:13] If we love him we will obey him and the desires he wishes in the command we will cherish those above our own.
[82:25] Oh how blinding a self oriented life is. I pray. That we would not be a people.
[82:39] Who cherish our own desires greater than what the Lord. I pray that this summer we would cultivate our affections for the Lord.
[82:52] And we would obey out of a motivation of love. And so may we do that as a people of God. Let's pray. Father thank you so much for this day. Thank you for.
[83:07] How good and kind and gracious you are toward us. Lord I think about myself as a disciple in that moment and I probably also would have been dismayed and not rejoiced.
[83:20] When you communicated I go to the Father. I would have missed it. And so I pray because I would have been looking after my own desires. So I pray Lord that we would be a people who would cultivate an affection for you.
[83:34] And we would just obey out of a motivation of love for you. And we would not cherish our own agendas as greater than yours. May we be willing to sacrifice.
[83:47] Time. Treasure. Talent. And use the totality of our very being that you've given to us for your purposes alone.
[84:00] We love you Lord and thank you for this day. I may be weak but your spirit strong in me. My flesh may fail but my God you never will.
[84:11] Let's sing these lyrics together. Let's stand and sing. Give me faith. One, two, three.
[84:32] Let's sing. I need you to soften my heart and break me apart. I need you to open my eyes to see that you're shaping my life.
[84:59] And all I am. I surrender.
[85:11] Give me faith to trust what you say. That your good and your love is great.
[85:26] I can't get inside. I give you my life.
[85:41] I need you to soften my heart and break me apart. I need you.
[85:55] To pierce through the dark and cleanse every part of me.
[86:06] And all I am. I surrender.
[86:17] Give me faith to trust what you say. That your good and your love is great.
[86:33] I can't get inside. I give you my life.
[86:45] I may be weak but your spirit strong in me. My flesh may fail but my God you never will.
[86:59] I may be weak but your spirit strong in me. My flesh may fail but my God you never will.
[87:16] Give me faith to trust what you say. That your good and your love is great.
[87:28] I'm broken inside. I give you my life.
[87:41] Give me faith to trust what you say. That your good and your love is great.
[87:56] I'm broken inside. I give you my life.
[88:09] So may be weak but your spirit strong in me. My flesh may fail but my God you never will.
[88:27] Your spirit strong in me. My flesh may fail but my God you never will.
[88:58] This has been great to be in this space today. For those of us who are older, this is where church was every Sunday until the other sanctuary was built.
[89:12] This is kind of like coming home again for many of us. It's neat to be here. We're going to be able to enjoy this space this summer and to really fellowship together closely is what the word opera means.
[89:27] We're going to get ready for communion at this point and I want to just kind of lead us into that time right now. I want to just remind us again of what we are doing here with the Lord's Supper.
[89:42] We remember the death of Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior. And on his behalf, the blood that he shed for our redemption. We know that he paid the just punishment for our sin and he has reconciled us to God as a result of that.
[90:01] We know that the Lord's Supper is for those of us who have placed our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sins.
[90:12] And so I would ask today, if you're new to forth, if you're not sure, have I ever placed my faith or trust in Christ alone? That is the elements are past that you would just simply let them go by you.
[90:25] But my prayer would also be that you consider what Jesus Christ has done for you. His death on the cross, His resurrection. And as Pastor Scott laid out again today, every Sunday what our focus is is to preach the gospel and the gospel alone.
[90:44] And that Jesus Christ is our only hope for salvation. And so my prayer would be that maybe you spend that time as we pray in quiet reflection, that you spend that time simply thinking again about what Christ has done for you and the fact that He is seeking to draw you to Himself.
[91:07] I'd like to invite the ushers to go ahead and come forward and begin passing us and let me have your seats at this point in time. Thank you.
[91:22] And what I'd like to do is just allow us to have a time to spend before the Lord in silent confession and examining our own hearts so that we can partake in a worthy manner.
[91:35] Obviously confessing any sins that we may have that are weighing on our relationship with our Savior to repent of the sin that is even there in our lives.
[91:46] And again, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we know that God is faithful and He is just to provide that forgiveness for our sins. So let's take a few minutes and let's spend that time in reflection for a while.
[92:25] And so let's take a few minutes and let's spend that time in reflection for a while. And again, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we know that God is faithful and He is just to provide that forgiveness for our sins.
[92:45] And again, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we know that God is faithful and He is just to provide that forgiveness for our sins. And again, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we know that God is faithful and He is just to provide that forgiveness for our sins.
[93:05] And again, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we know that God is faithful and He is just to provide that forgiveness for our sins. And again, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we know that God is faithful and He is just to provide that forgiveness for our sins.
[93:25] First Corinthians 11, 23 and 24 tells us, Let's go ahead and partake the bread.
[93:59] We're also told in the next two verses, In the same way, He also took the cup after supper saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
[94:24] For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Let's remember Christ's blood, which was shed for us.
[94:40] Let's go ahead and pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the price that you paid on the cross for our redemption.
[94:54] And yet, Father, we know that the Holy Spirit, as was proclaimed to us today, lives in our hearts. That you sent the comforter to us.
[95:05] And that those of us who name the name of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior have the indwelling power of that Spirit in us. Lord, we thank you that your Spirit abides in us, resides in us, and directs us through our life.
[95:22] Lord, may we as we go this week, may we seek to live in light of what you have done for us. Proclaiming you, living in joy because of what you have done for us.
[95:34] And Father, may what we live and do and say be a testimony to the very fact that you have bought us with your blood. And so this week we pray that we would be reflections of that, the world around us.
[95:51] Thank you for this time and community today. Amen. Let's stand and sing.
[96:11] What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give.
[96:26] He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.
[96:41] To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus, for my life is holy bowed to His.
[96:56] Oh how strange and divine I can sing, all is mine, yet that I bough through Christ in me.
[97:22] The night is dark, but I am not forsaken, for by my side my Savior He will stay.
[97:37] I labor on in weakness every choice, for in my need His power is displayed.
[97:52] To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me, through the deepest valley He will lead.
[98:08] Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I bough through Christ in me.
[98:34] No fate I've read, I know I am forgiven. The future shone, the price it has behaved.
[98:50] For Jesus met and suffered for my pardon, and He was raised to our broken land.
[99:05] To this I hold, my sin has been defeated, Jesus now and ever is my King.
[99:21] Oh the chains are released, I can sing, I am free at night, but through Christ in me.
[99:47] With every breath I long to follow Jesus, for He has said that He will bring me home.
[100:02] And day by day, I know He will renew me, until I stand with joy before the Lord.
[100:18] And to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus, all the glory evermore to Him.
[100:34] When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I bough through Christ in me.
[100:48] To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus, all the glory evermore to Him.
[101:04] When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I bough through Christ in me.
[101:19] When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I bough through Christ in me.
[101:34] Yet not I bough through Christ in me.
[102:05] Good morning. Am I on? I'm Jill Brablich and I have the privilege of serving on the Children's Ministry team here at Ford.
[102:17] And I just have a few things that I want to talk about for the summer. Yes, and you can be seated, sorry. I forgot about that part. Children's Ministry this summer, our open classrooms, our infant toddler and preschool, part of that is space for the summer, being over in the side of the building.
[102:39] The other part is to give our faithful volunteers a break from serving throughout, and so when we have just the three classrooms. So we're going to be joining this summer from kindergarten up in our service.
[102:53] We've had the scripture notebooks or the sermon notebooks for students and for kids, and I would like you to actually take those home today with you if you're a student that has one of those.
[103:07] We are moving to some bags. So next week, students, kindergarten through fourth grade, something different is happening with our fifth graders who are going to be moving into youth group here very soon.
[103:24] We'll have a bag and Pat and John Baron were so lovely and gracious to embroider them for us, so they'll have the FMC logo and then students' names on them.
[103:37] And inside the bag you will find for each student there is a sermon notebook for them and it is age appropriate. There's pens, there's some crayons.
[103:49] For this first week I put some snacks in there, and then there is also an activity book so that if you're done taking sermon notes or your child needs to color or do something else, there's an activity book in there for them to do that.
[104:03] You will find these next week in the hallway, the children's hallway. If you know where the preschool room is, which is the farthest room, there are some hooks and the bags will be hanging there and you will find your bag with your name on it.
[104:17] And you're welcome to add other pens and colors. This is your bag if you want to stick a Bible in there. At the end of service we ask that you return them to the hooks so that they're there for next week.
[104:29] And this will be how we handle sermon notes and other things for kids from here on out. So that's one thing. The other is we're going to do a scripture memory verse challenge for kids this summer.
[104:43] So next week at the children's welcome desk you can pick up scripture cards. There will be 20 different scripture verses with the passage reference for kids to memorize.
[104:55] If you memorize 10 by September 8th, then you will get a coupon card for ice cream at a local ice cream store. If you memorize 20, then Miss Lisa, Miss Melissa and myself will be taking you to River Park, not Square, Prunt Park and ride the carousel and go out for ice cream together as a group on a Sunday afternoon in September.
[105:21] So next week scripture memory cards will be there for you to pick up. And then also sermon bags will be in the hallway next week. So we're looking forward to a great summer and close quarters with each other.
[105:36] And excited to have children in here and have some new things for them to do. Thank you.
[105:53] Thank you, Jill. I know Scott, I think we should go for the carousel. I think we can do it.
[106:05] We do have a new book for our Death Deologian Society that we're reading this summer. It's a biography on John Newton. I think there are a few of them out there at the resource table. We don't have a board this summer. It's not a table.
[106:18] But as summer hits, how are we going to draw near to Christ? How are we going to be people that abide? And I think reading Christian biographies is, we learn through story better than anything else.
[106:31] And to hear someone else's story of forgiveness and grace. I just want to commend that read to those of you that haven't got a plan yet for how you're going to be drawing near to the Lord this summer.
[106:45] There's a lot of moving parts with the transition into Oden and such. And as a result, we're going to postpone. We had a brunch for eight schedule for next Sunday.
[106:57] We're going to postpone June brunch for eight and make July's brunch for eight even better. So you can look forward to that. Man, if you were here yesterday, if you showed up even 15 minutes late, you were probably shocked because half the worship center was already like, Gene, were you blessed yesterday?
[107:19] He's still shocked. He's still shocked. I got here about 20 minutes late and I got to, it was like being at a theme park wanting to get on a ride. There was a lineup to like move pews out of the worship center and you had to get a fast pass and just be aggressive.
[107:35] If you wanted to move a pew, I'm serious. It was, I think I got to touch three. It was, it was all hands on deck and it was, it was beautiful. It was beautiful. And by 10 o'clock or by nine, 9 30, we were essentially done.
[107:52] And so it was just remarkable. So it was a good, it was a good morning yesterday. Last Sunday was a great Sunday. Amen, church.
[108:03] Sending Sunday. We sent many great people, servants of the Lord. As Scott mentioned, we lost 44 individuals.
[108:14] Don't say lost. They've, they're not lost. They're serving on the South Hill. But for a church plant to work, every one of those individuals, they have to serve or church doesn't happen.
[108:29] And Scott, the staff, elders, we are prayerful. We, we want to see the same spirit amongst our people that that would be the hallmark of fourth as well, that we would be a people anxious to serve, looking forward to serve, serving the Lord. And just as lampstand is beginning a new story, in a sense, we are as well, church.
[108:55] And I think it's the Lord's kindness and timing in that we're in a new space, an old new space for the summer. And I think it's, it will be helpful for us to think about, we all matter.
[109:07] We all need to find places where we can be useful. And so I think as a church, we're going through a little bit of a reset. What does it mean to be fourth in this place, in this neighborhood?
[109:18] What does it mean to be to, for, for fourth to have a reset? Well, one of the things that we'll be doing, as you can look forward to the fall, Scott has mapped out a sermon series where we're going to be looking at what does it mean to be a healthy church?
[109:32] We're going to look at our membership covenant. What does it mean to be a covenant community? And how do we participate in one another's lives? How do we actually do church well? Fundamentally, it starts with the gospel, us understanding that we're new people and that as new people, every one of us is called to be a minister.
[109:49] And so we really need participants for this church to thrive and for, for God to receive glory. And so we've sent some very good servants. We need folks to step up.
[110:03] There are some needs we have in the body. If you have one of these, you should have it. If you got a bulletin this morning, and I'm going to ask that every one of you perfectly consider ways that you might be able to serve.
[110:17] And then you can fill this out now. You can take, take it home and wrestle with the Lord like Jacob did with the angel. You can do that.
[110:28] But I would like for you to, to think about how could I be useful to the Lord? One of the gifts the Lord gave me when I went through a health crisis for about three years is I thought I was done.
[110:40] And I came out of that with a new perspective of just joy that I get to serve and be useful to the Lord in whatever he calls me to. One of the things I do is I drive people around. It's not super technical, but I get to be used of the Lord.
[110:53] How can the Lord use all of us in some way in terms of how we do church of the body? I'm just going to speak candidly because Scott can't because he's the lead shepherd, but I'm not.
[111:05] But I was one at one point, and I can tell you as a lead shepherd, the most difficult place for people to, to serve in was in children's discipleship. It's always the toughest because what you're doing is you're sacrificing something significant, and it's not the first hour it's during the worship service.
[111:22] And I know that we wrestled with as a team, how do we structure this well? I think we're, at least are we doing it serving as a month at a time?
[111:33] Even one time a month. And I know that when you serve during the worship, you're giving up the opportunity to have adult conversations. I get that. And you're giving up the opportunity to hear the sermon. The great thing is we stream everything, and it's online.
[111:49] So you can do both. But just talk with the Lord on this matter. I don't want this to be everybody has to serve and feel guilt. And I mean, I can shame you, but I'm not going to. It's a joy to serve. And theologically, fundamentally, the Lord's worthy. Amen.
[112:09] And I think that's when as a body we experience joy when we're being used of the Lord. So wherever you feel like, man, I can give a little bit more. I can bring health to this place by giving of what the Lord has entrusted to me.
[112:24] And so we really want you to consider that and fill that out. That's pretty much it. Let me pray. Okay. Father, thank you for the opportunity to gather this morning. Lord, thank you for just the blessing of being part of just a healthy church.
[112:47] A church that's healthy enough to even send out another church. Lord, that's a gift from you. And Lord, we don't want that to be something that causes us to kind of put our foot off the gas. But Lord, we want that to be a catalyst to stirring us how you might want to use us here in this place.
[113:08] Lord, we want to be a people of courageous faith. And we know that we can be that because you have given us your spirit.
[113:19] Lord, we live in a world that offers us peace, but it's false peace. There's no peace. But Jesus, you promised your very presence to us to the end of the age.
[113:32] And so Lord, I pray that you'd fill your people with peace this morning with joy. Lord, I know that there is difficulty in families and lives and we ask for your presence and help.
[113:46] Lord, would you destroy any spirit of fear, crippling any of your people here this morning? Lord, we want to walk in courage and joy this week. And we're going to trust in the promise.
[113:58] Lord, we love the many promises you filled the Bible with. And Lord, you've given us one in Isaiah 26.3 that you would keep your people in perfect peace as our mind has stayed on you.
[114:10] So Lord, we want to be that sort of person this week. Lord, our heart, our minds are looking to you. Lord, thank you for the gift of this body. Lord, we look forward to ways that you would use each of us in the lives of others.
[114:24] Thank you for ministries that are seen and many ministries that are unseen. Lord, thank you for the way that your people, they seek to serve and bless others.
[114:37] There's no accolades, but Lord, you're worshiped and you delight in that. And I pray that we would experience joy as we give of ourselves to your work.
[114:48] Thank you for the gift of gathering this morning. Might we continue to bless and encourage one another with the time we have afterwards in Jesus' name. As people said, amen. Go in peace, church. Enjoy today.
[115:11] Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. I'm going to let one of those sheep on survey, or even a black box.
[115:48] Praise to...