[0:00] The following sermon is from Grace and Peace Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Grace and Peace is a new church that exists for the glory of God and the good of the northeast suburbs of Hamilton Place, Collegedale, and Ottawa.
[0:16] You can find help more by visiting gracepeacechurch.org. Good morning, church. Good morning, Grace and Peace.
[0:33] I'm glad to see everybody feeling good, feeling kind of feisty this morning. I like this. I like this. Number one, welcome. We're excited that you are here today.
[0:43] And I've been actually thinking this weekend with all of our kids going back to school. For some reason, I began thinking about when my parents dropped me off for college.
[0:54] And that moment where we were, you know, we'd taken all the hot, all the stuff up to my dorm room from my hot car, really hot car in Texas. And we got it all up there.
[1:06] My mom made my dorm room bed. And I put up my clothes into the, you know, little closet, all that kind of stuff. And then there was that moment where it was time to say our goodbyes.
[1:18] And my parents, they gave me hugs and kisses and said goodbye. And they left. And then it was quiet. And I sat down on my bed and I took a deep breath.
[1:30] And I thought about how far I'd come. And yet how far I had to go. I had grown up, but I wasn't all the way grown up yet. And there's something about that moment that reminds me of what it is we're doing today.
[1:43] Today is a special day in the life of our church. We are growing up, but we aren't alone in that. We aren't all the way grown up and alone. Today is a day that we're going to stop to give thanks for all that God has done.
[1:58] We're establishing new leadership at our church. We're grasping to a renewed sense of God's glory and His grace. We're celebrating together and we're looking forward to where it is God will take us in the future.
[2:13] Now, if this is your first time visiting Grace and Peace, I'm going to tell you today is going to be a little bit odd. So you're going to want to come back next week when it's normal. And that the reason for that is that we are going to be ordaining new elders and deacons.
[2:27] We're going to be officially declared a grown up church, for lack of a better word. And those are big deals. And so today we have lots of guests with us. Some of those guests are my friends who have traveled in from out of town to be a part of this milestone.
[2:42] Some of them are the four men who served as our temporary elders while we were getting up and running. Some of those guests are members of various churches in our geographic area.
[2:54] We call that a presbytery. These are men who have helped oversee our church in this initial phase. Families who have been supporters of ours and big encouragers of ours.
[3:05] And so I'd love for you to get the chance to meet them. These are folks who have been behind the scenes as you have gathered at Grace and Peace.
[3:15] These folks have made all that possible. And a lot of those folks are listed in the back of your program today, but not all of them. I will tell you that we have almost all the churches in our area represented here.
[3:26] And that's really exciting. And we're glad that you're our guests are here. So we're growing up. But it's clear that we aren't alone as a church. We're deeply connected to these other churches in our area.
[3:38] So after worship, I want you to stick around. We are hopefully the rain will stay off. It looks like the rain is going to stay away. We'll be out in the park or the playground over here. We'll have tacos and food.
[3:49] We'll have ice cream pops. We've even got a picture booth. I would love a picture with you all. I'll just stand by the note. And we'll let you know more details about that later.
[4:02] But for now, I want to turn our attention to what we're gathered here to do. And that's to turn our attention to the Lord. Psalm 34 is the psalm for this week, which is one of our favorite psalms at Grace and Peace.
[4:13] We're going to sing about it later. We're going to read some of it. But I want to encourage you to take this psalm and sit with it later on today because it's a beautiful expression. It's a poem that deeply articulates all ways.
[4:27] God is our provider and he is our power.
[4:41] God is our strength and our savior. He is our deliverer and he is our delight. Here's what the psalmist says. My soul makes boast in the Lord.
[4:53] Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Come and let us exalt his name together. Would you stand with me and let's sing praises to our Lord?
[5:04] All creatures of our God and King.
[5:29] Lift up your voice and with us sing. Oh, praise him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thou burning sun with golden beam.
[5:45] Thou silver moon with softer gleam. Oh, praise him. Oh, praise him. Hallelujah.
[5:56] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let all things.
[6:11] But all things their creator bless, and worship him in humbleness.
[6:22] Oh, praise him. Hallelujah. Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit three in one.
[6:37] Oh, praise him. Oh, praise him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
[6:59] All the redeemed washed by his blood. Come and rejoice in his great love.
[7:10] Oh, praise him. Hallelujah. Christ has defeated every sin.
[7:21] Cast all your burdens now on him. Oh, praise him. Oh, praise him. Hallelujah.
[7:31] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He shall return.
[7:47] He shall return in power to reign. Heaven and earth will join to save. Oh, praise him.
[8:00] Hallelujah. Then who shall fall on bended knee? Oh, creatures of our God in me.
[8:11] Oh, praise him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, praise him.
[8:25] Oh, praise him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
[8:37] Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Sing His greatness All creation Praise the Lord Raise your voice Your heights and all your depths From further east to west Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord You made the starry host You made the starry host You traced the mountain peaks You paved the evening sky With wonders The earth it is your throne From desert to the sea
[9:39] All nature testifies Your splendor Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Sing His greatness All creation Praise the Lord Raise your voice Your heights and all your depths From further east to west Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord You reached into the dust You reached into the dust In love your spirit breathed You formed us in your very likeness To know your wondrous works To tell your mighty deeds To join the everlasting chorus
[10:44] To join the everlasting chorus Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Sing His greatness All creation Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise your voice Your heights and all your depths From further east to west From further east to west From further east to west From further east to west Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let symphonies Let symphonies Let symphonies resound Let drums and cries ring out All heaven hear the sound Of worship Let every nation bring Its honor to the King A roar of harmonies
[11:46] Eternal Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Sing His greatness All creation Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise your voice You heights and all your depths From further east to west Through distant burning stars All creatures here and far From sky to sea to shore To sea to shore Sing out forevermore Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord Our Heavenly Father, we give you praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit The one who knit this world together Who created every single thing Thing that has the breath of life in it
[12:48] And all those that don't And yet you are not just one Who exists far above But you are the one who has entered in In Christ Jesus Into this world Into the mess of this world All the ways that we've messed this beautiful place up And you have said I will not leave you in your mess I'm coming for you Father, we give you praise Praise that you have delighted To send your grace In the very middle of this world And we pray, Lord That you would turn our attention to you today To see your greatness To see your glory Knit our hearts together today As we worship you As we hear from you As we confess our sins As we do all the things that we do as a worshiper Make yourself great among us We pray in Christ's name Amen Good morning, grace and peace The reading today comes from Matthew 20
[13:52] If you'll follow along with me Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee Came up to him with her sons And kneeling before him She asked him for something And he said to her What do you want?
[14:03] She said to him Say that these two sons of mine Are to sit One at your right hand And one at your left In your kingdom Jesus answered You do not know what you are asking Are you able to drink the cup That I am to drink?
[14:17] They said to him We are able He said to them You will drink my cup But to sit at my right hand And at my left hand Is not mine to grant But it is for those From whom it has been prepared By my father And when the ten heard it They were indignant At the two brothers But Jesus called to them Called to them And said You know that the rulers Of the Gentiles Lord it over them And that their great ones Exercise authority over them It shall not be so among you But whoever would be great among you Must be your servant And whoever would be first among you Must be your slave Even as the son of man Came not to be served But to serve And to give his life As a ransom for many As a ransom for many You may be seated Well good morning Grace and peace My name is Brian Galt And I bring greetings From Jackson, Mississippi From Redeemer Church There in Jackson Jesus came to give his life
[15:19] As a ransom for many And that's why we're here This morning And so as we come into the presence Of almighty God We come as sinners Needing to confess our sin And so this morning We're going to confess our sin Through prayer And as we do At the end of this written prayer I'll give you time To confess your sins Individually As you search your hearts So let's pray together Marvelous and merciful God Your son modeled leadership And servanthood for us But we confess We have elevated our desires And plans Over your will for our lives And for your world We want authority and power Over others To use for our own purposes Forgive us for our half-hearted devotion And our double-minded attention
[16:20] To your way Remind us You desire servants First and foremost Enable us to serve In the name of Jesus The one who came to serve And to give his life A ransom for many In his name we pray Amen Let's search our hearts together now Father, Son, and Holy Spirit We have sinned against you This week And even this morning In thought, word, and deed And what we have done And what we have left undone And so, Father, we run
[17:20] To the rescue And the ransom of Jesus Who came to give his life As a ransom for many And we stand in him alone In his name we pray Amen Christian, would you stand And hear God's assurance of grace The mercy of the Lord Is from everlasting to everlasting May the God of mercy By the work of Jesus Christ Forgive all your sins Strengthen you in all goodness And by the power of his Holy Spirit Keep you to eternal life Let's sing together I sought the Lord And answered me And delivered me
[18:24] From every fear Those who look on him Are radiant Never be ashamed They'd never be ashamed This poor man cried And the Lord heard me And saved me And saved me From my enemies The Son of God Surrounds his saints He will deliver them He will deliver them And divide the Lord with me Come and hold his name Together Glory by the Lord
[19:29] With me Come and hold his name Forever Oh taste and see That the Lord is good Oh bless us here Who hides and heal Oh fear the Lord Oh all you saints He'll give you everything He'll give you everything We'll give you everything Magnify the Lord with me Come and hold his name Come and hold his name Come and hold his name Come and hold his name Together Glorify the Lord with me Come and hold his name Come and hold his name mound
[20:30] For what thanks Why and help him Come and hold his name World day and night never-ending praise may our incense rise let us bless the lord every day and night never-ending praise may our incense rise let us bless the lord every day and night never-ending praise may our incense rise let us bless the lord every day and night never-ending praise may our incense rise magnify magnify ... magnify
[22:17] Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever Amen, amen Please take a seat I want to invite our kids up here to the baptismal font Come on up here and join me Come on, gather round Gather round Alright, hey guys Did y'all hear what we just sang?
[23:08] Magnify the Lord Do you know what magnify the Lord means? Does anybody have a magnifying glass? No? You've never seen one of those? Yeah, magnifying glass What does it do? If you look at an ant in your magnifying glass What does it do?
[23:23] It makes it bigger That's right And what this song we just sang Is saying that our job What it means to be a Christian Is that we make God bigger by our praises It makes Him bigger It makes Him seem larger in our life It makes us understand Him And do you know who we're supposed to do that with?
[23:44] Magnify the Lord with? With me With me That means we're telling everybody else Hey, you should make God bigger with me Did you know that being a Christian Doesn't mean that you are just your little person alone Worshipping God You are part of a we You are part of all of us You, each one of you Is part of God's family And part of this church Part of what we're doing today With this church Is showing that you are Part of this body You are a we We are all of us And we magnify the Lord together Alright, y'all are going to do that In kids' worship Let me pray for you really quickly Lord, be with each of our children Help them to learn to magnify you To make much of you Help them to know your mercies And your grace for them We pray in Jesus' name Amen Alright, y'all can meet Mr. Chris In the back Okay Just a couple of announcements Before we move on in our service
[24:45] Two things that I want you to know about First of all Is that August is our month To sign up for missional community groups So you should have seen this If you get the emails You're going to You should have seen a link for that There is a link I believe in the Is there a link in the program?
[25:02] I don't think there's a link in the program You can find it on the front page of the website To sign up You have an option to pick Out of a number of different groups We want you to do that Please go ahead and do that Especially if you're new around here We'd love for you to do that Secondly, there is a newcomer's dessert In two Tuesdays That is a casual night at my house To come have dessert We'd love to have Natalie and I would love to welcome you Into our home And just tell you a little bit about Where Grace and Peace came from What we're doing Answer any questions that you might have So if you want to do that Please let Ansley know about that And then finally Next Sunday We'll have our ladies brunch In here Next Sunday Will be our week To be worshiping next door In the sanctuary But we will have a lunch Directly after church In here For all of our ladies To hear about Our women's ministry What they have planned For you this year So I want you to stick around For that Okay John Will you come Pray for us?
[26:04] Let us pray together Heavenly Father We come before you And bless you For all of your greatness And goodness to us As the ancient of days You know everything From the beginning to the end So we thank you For the place That you have appointed for us Here today In worship With you We bless you For your son The Lord Jesus Christ Our king Our redeemer Our friend Through whom we know Forgiveness of sins And have hope Of eternal life We also praise you For the Holy Spirit Who did a wonderful work In the hearts Of us who believe And does this Continued patient Work in our lives Rooting out sin And pointing us Towards glory Father On this day As the grace and peace Particularizes As a church We want to pray In a particular way And would ask that
[27:05] For each person here The light of Christ Would shine Brightly In their hearts That all of us Would rejoice At what we know About our Savior But Lord We pray that The light of Christ Would shine out Beyond the doors Of this church That there would be A great witness That goes forth From this church Proclaiming And professing The name of Christ That many more Might come to know you Through the ministry And witness Of this church We pray for The leaders That will be installed Today And pray that you Would equip And bless us As good stewards Of the gifts That you've given them And we pray For the fellowship here That you would Richly Bless it And grow it And that there would Be a true unity One Lord One faith One baptism As this church Grows together We pray that you Would knit together Their hearts Father we pray For those who Among this congregation Who might be Sick Or in sorrow Or in weakness
[28:05] Or in need We pray that you Administer to each One of those needs As only you know In their hearts And Lord We want Finally to pray For your kingdom To come In all of its Glory and wonder And for that to be so We pray that you Would do A great work Not only In this community But around the world Calling many more Souls to your name May your grace And mercy Shine forth So that Christ Would be known And that your name Would be hallowed Throughout the earth This is our heart's desire And we pray in Jesus name Amen Well good morning Grace and peace Greetings from Lookout Mountain I'm delighted to join you today We have prayed For grace and peace And are honored to be a part Of this celebration This morning
[29:05] We share together The same conviction And belief In the word of God That it goes forth Among Christ gathered people And it changes us In ways That really are mysterious That you're alive Because you're here Because you keep coming here God keeps feeding you And so you are alive spiritually And perhaps if you're here And you don't know Christ He can use his word And spirit In this very moment To bring you to new life So let's pray Father We come to your word It has all authority And your word Has all power And as your spirit Will now come forth Attend to your word And enable us Who hear To hear with our hearts So that what is planted Deep within us Comes out In a fruitfulness In a faithfulness
[30:06] To the glory of God Do that for all Gathered here Do that In this moment For the good of the homes That are represented here For the good of the schools For the good of the community For the good of Udawah We pray That you would now Speak to us And change us By your word In Christ's name Amen Well I'm making A safe assumption This morning That everyone in here At least has seen Or knows of The Andy Griffith show It's a favorite In our home We judge trips By how many Andy Griffith episodes On the DVD This is a four episode trip This is an eight episode trip There's a classic episode From the 1960s TV show Andy Taylor You may remember He's Mayberry's sheriff He's got a town And his deputy His one bullet deputy Barney Fife Is in charge And has been placed in charge By Andy Taylor
[31:07] And so Barney Feels that he should not Do this alone And he has deputized The local mechanic Named Gomer And you may remember Those two deputies Walking around the streets One evening And they notice That someone Is robbing The town bank And they hide Behind a car And they're afraid And they don't know What to do And so finally Gomer looks at Barney And he says excitedly Shazam We need to call The police And Barney shoots back We are the police I tell you that story Because it's easy For us to look On our starving Broken Crippled Unsatisfied World Full of Sickness And death And sorrow And angst And agony And think to ourselves
[32:07] Someone needs To do something Call the police Someone Needs to call For help But I want You to hear Very clearly From the word Of God This morning That Jesus Comes to us Here and says You are the help Church You are the help To answer The needs In this world And so we see That here That we are God's People sent out On the king's mission With a clear commission And with abundant Provision You see the clear commission In verses 1-6 He says And he called the twelve together And gave them power And authority Over all demons And to cure diseases And he sent them out To proclaim The kingdom of God And to heal The commission there Is very clear And the king's mission Involves a very clear commission And at the heart of it Is to declare the kingdom of God And to heal
[33:08] To bring life To bring the realities Of that kingdom To bear on the earth The commission for us Is very clear As a church Declare and announce And witness And show The kingdom of God What does that mean?
[33:25] Jesus said in his prayer Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth As it is in heaven We are seeking To bring the realities Of heaven To earth In every sphere Another way of thinking Of this commission Is that Whatever domain You find yourself in It could be your home It could be your work It could be your school It could be a friendship It could be a relationship Whatever domain You find yourself in The dominion of God Should show itself The dominion of God In every domain That's what it means To declare the kingdom of God It also means That every imposter ruler In that domain Must step down Because there's only one king And so everywhere we go Even as we heard In the call to confession We are servants of a king So every domain We're servants Now as you go
[34:26] He tells them Go proclaim the kingdom of God Declare the kingdom of God Heal But then how do we go How do we carry out That clear commission He said And he said to them Take nothing for your journey No staff No bag No bread No money And do not Have two tunics And whatever house you enter Stay there And from there depart And wherever they do not receive you When you leave that town Shake the dust Off the Off from your feet As a testimony against them And they departed And went throughout the villages Preaching the gospel And healing everywhere Everywhere That's a pretty interesting way For a king to send people out Take nothing What kind of kingdom is that?
[35:14] That its ambassadors are told Take nothing Well this is the kind of kingdom He calls us to When you pack your bags For mission in this kingdom Pack need That's it That's what he's telling them No bread No staff No bag No money How do we go out In the king's mission With a clear commission To declare the kingdom of God?
[35:43] Declare bankruptcy Pack your need Go in dependence And reliance That is normal That is normal Kingdom Living It is not to pack Self-sufficiency It is not to pack We feel very confident In ourselves You should be doing things In this community That make you say I only have my need And you go to declare An amazing kingdom Now We don't remember this Very well Just watch the disciples You go from verse 6 And they departed And they went through The villages Preaching the gospel And healing everywhere And then you go down To verse 10 And on their return The apostles told him All that they had done In other words They had ministry success Things happened We packed need You sent us out We went and declared The kingdom We healed That was good Jesus And they took them
[36:44] And withdrew apart To a town Called Bethesda Verse 11 When the crowds learned it They followed him And he welcomed them And spoke to them Of the kingdom of God And cured those Who had need of healing The day had Begun to wear away And the twelve came And said to him Send the crowd away To go into the surrounding Villages and court Countryside To find lodging And get provisions For we are in a desolate place They very quickly Go from packing need To logic Cynicism Realism Send everybody away There's nothing we can do They say we're in a desolate place I got to see that desolate place This summer When I went to Israel in June It is a desolate place I can only imagine Thousands of years ago There's nothing there And if you have 5,000 people The text says 5,000 men
[37:44] Which means easily 10,000 to 15,000 plus In that desolate place And the sun's going down And they don't have A place to lodge And they don't have Anything to eat That's trouble Their answer To the needs Before them The hunger Before them Is Send it Away They forgot You are the hell They forgot Pack need This is good You don't have Any idea What to do This is kingdom life And yet Their reaction is Send them Away Their focus is on Listen What they do not have And they forget They have him See earlier In this section Of Matthew You've seen him Calm waves You've seen him Calm nature You've seen him Heal evil And bondage You've seen him Touch sickness And death They forgot
[38:45] They got him They forgot To pack need And so Jesus Presses them To carry out The commission In verse 13 As he desires Them to remember I sent you out Without bread Without tunic Without money Without bag Without staff This is normal Christian living And in verse 13 He says You give them Something to eat Do you see him Pressing on their need This is normal Kingdom living You should feel The weight Of what I just Told you You give them Something to eat For your answer Will be We don't know And they respond Very similarly They respond there They said We have no more Than five loaves And two fish Unless we're to go And buy food For all these people Further They say In John's account Philip notes Eight months wages Would not buy enough bread For each one To have a bite Eight months wages And we couldn't Get enough Just for a bite Much less
[39:45] To satisfy them Much less To lodge them And you're telling me Give them Something to eat We found A few loaves And a few fish How about that That's all we have And then you see For there were about Five thousand men In verse 14 He said to his disciples Have them sit down In groups of Fifty each And they did so And they had them All sit down And taking the five loaves And taking the two fish And what's really important To even realize From Matthew's account Here's what Jesus says About the loaves And the fish Jesus says something Very profound For you Grace and peace Jesus says Bring it to me Bring it to me I don't have Bring it to me Five loaves
[40:45] Two fish Bring it to me See you think You don't have What it takes But you forget You have me And sadly You think That's not enough And so your response To need in this world Is send it away And Jesus wants To say to you Today Grace and peace Bring it to me Wherever you see need Wherever you see hunger Wherever you see sickness Wherever you see sin Wherever you see death Wherever you see angst Don't say I gotta get out of here Call the police Bring it to him And now watch The grace of God Then he broke the loaves And gave them To the disciples To set before The crowd We bring it to him Our faithless Forgetful selves And he allows us To be the servants To serve the meal
[41:47] That's grace Upon grace I would have said Forget you guys Can I get Twenty volunteers To pass out Something to eat These guys are worthless Bring it to me And now go serve And so we serve As those who have Had a great provision With a clear commission In utter dependence And full of grace Don't send the need Away somewhere else church You're the help Bring it to Jesus Let's pray Our Father We pray for grace And peace That they indeed Would be The help For Ottawa That This city This community If for some reason This church disappeared This community Would weep
[42:47] And mourn Because of the presence Of their help Among them May they be That sort of People that Are always Bumping into Situations And opportunities Where their Natural self Inclination Is send it away Go away I pray You would give To this church A big faith That says Let's bring it To Jesus And see how He wants us To serve In Jesus name We pray Amen As Benji Said just a little Bit earlier Today is a special Day Today we are Marking growth And change Along with the Reality that You aren't Alone And as we Also just Heard The gospel Of Jesus Includes The good news
[43:47] That our King Provides Everything That we need For life In his Kingdom And for the Accomplishment Of his Mission And it's Actually Believing That is What led The Tennessee Valley Presbytery To plant This church Three years Ago With the Lord Providing Benji And some Temporary Elders To help Grow God's Kingdom Here in Oodawa But now Jesus has Raised up Elders To shepherd And deacons To serve From among You Men who Will carry On the Proclamation And the Mission Of God's Kingdom And so The presbytery Sent us To officially Organize you As a Particular Church As was Said We have Brothers Here From all Around the Presbytery Elders From Chattanooga And up The road In Cleveland Ruling Elder William Bryan
[44:48] And Ruling Elder Jason Coffey Pastors Jared Huffman John Jones Brian Salter Who just Preached For us John Mark Scruggs And me We're Excited To be A part Of this With you So What you're About to See For the Rest of The time Here Is Us Doing the Work Of the Presbytery Us Doing the Work Of God's Church And God's Kingdom To Organize You As A Particular Church And part Of that Right Now What we're About to Do Is Actually Have The Installation Of your Elders And Deacons So Let me Invite Those Guys Up Here Right Now Eddie Centurion Who Was Previously Ordained As An Elder But Is Going To Be Installed Here Mark Griggs Also Previously Ordained But Going To Be Installed Here James Haynes Who's Being Ordained And Installed These Three Are Going To Be Installed As Your Elders Today But
[45:48] You're Going To Have A Couple Deacons As Well Let Me Have Tony Crowder Who's Being Ordained And Installed For The First Time And Pete Johnson Who's Been Previously Ordained But Going To Be Installed What In What's About To Happen I Want You To Pay Attention Because Beneath The Formality And The Vows That You're About To See And Hear I Really Don't Want You To Miss What Is Happening Here We Are Recognizing That Jesus Is Still Building His Church And This Is What That Looks Like Like All Of Us Gathered Here Together This Is What It Looks Like For Jesus To Be Building His Church His Kingdom Is Still Growing And You Have A Place And A Part In It Because You Are An Embassy Of Heaven On Earth So Let Me Invite Jason To Come Up And To
[46:48] Ask The Questions Of They Are Giving Things That They Are Called To As Elders And Deacons And This Is Just Our Way Of Saying To Them Hey We See That God Is Already Using You This Way So Now We Get The Opportunity To Be Part Of God's Ordination Installation Of Them For His Church So Gentlemen As We Ask These Questions If You Can Ascent To These Then Just Respond With I Do To
[47:49] Be The Inerrant Word Of God The Only Infallible Rule Of Faith And Practice Do You Sincerely Receive And Adopt The Confession Of Faith And The Catechisms Of This Church As Containing The System Of Doctrine Taught In The Holy Scriptures And Do You Further Promise That If At Any Time You Find Yourself Out Of Accord With Any Of The Fundamentals Of This System Of Has Taken Place In Your Views Since The Assumption Of This Ordination Vow Do you Approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity Do you accept the office of ruling elder or deacon in this church and promise faithfully to perform all the duties thereof And to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the gospel in your life and to set a worthy example before the church of which God has made you an officer
[48:52] Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity, and edification of the church Now to those of you that are part of the congregation here at Grace and Peace You probably remember those vows you took to become members Many of which are You love Jesus, you understand he's your savior You also Made some vows to Sit under the submission of this church And to seek the peace and purity of this church And these men Are those men To whom You have said I will sit under their authority And I will submit to them as the leaders And be ready to support them In any way And so this question to you If you can respond with I do If you agree with this statement Do you the members of this church Acknowledge and receive these men As ruling elders and deacons And do you promise to yield them all that honor
[49:53] Encouragement and obedience in the Lord To which their office According to the word of God And the constitution of this church Entitles them So I now pronounce and declare That Eduardo Centurion James Haynes And Mark Grigg Ordained and installed As ruling elders As well as Tony Crowder and Pete Johnson As deacons in this church Agreeable to the word of God And according to the constitution Of the Presbyterian Church in America And so I titled All encouragement Honor and obedience in the Lord In the name of the Father And of the Son And of the Holy Ghost Amen You know it is good and right We're vowing to follow these men
[50:57] We're not just vowing to follow these men We're vowing to follow them As they follow Jesus And as we follow Jesus together And so as a congregation What I want to do now Is to reaffirm our faith Those of us who have been given The gift of faith The gift of believing And of resting In what Jesus Christ Has done for us So would you join me As a congregation now As we reaffirm our faith together Using the words on page 5 Do you believe in God the Father?
[51:28] I believe in God The Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth Do you believe in Jesus Christ The Son of God? I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord He was conceived by the power Of the Holy Spirit And born of the Virgin Mary He suffered under Pontius Pilate Was crucified, died, and was buried He descended to the dead On the third day He rose again He ascended into heaven And is seated at the right hand Of the Father He will come again To judge the living and the dead Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
[52:09] I believe in the Holy Spirit The Holy Catholic Church The communion of saints The forgiveness of sins The resurrection of the body And the life everlasting Will you continue in the apostles' teaching And fellowship In the breaking of the bread And in prayers?
[52:28] I will, God's help Will you persevere in resisting evil And whenever you fall into sin Repent and return to the Lord? I will, with God's help Will you proclaim by word and example The good news of God and Christ?
[52:43] I will, with God's help Will you seek and serve Christ And all his persons Loving your neighbor as yourself? I will, with God's help Will you strive for justice And peace among all people And respect the dignity of every human being?
[53:00] I will, with God's help Hello, my name is John Reverend Benjamin Slayton Would you please stand in front of me Right here?
[53:16] Not right here? Nope, right in front I'm not going to baptize you It's okay I'm going to ask that Reverend Slayton Would assent to three questions And then you, the people of Grace and Peace Church Four questions for you Benji, are you now willing to take charge Of this congregation as their pastor Agreeable to your declaration In accepting its call?
[53:43] And do you conscientiously believe And declare As far as you know your own heart That in taking upon you this charge You are influenced by a sincere desire To promote the glory of God And the good of the church Do you?
[53:57] And do you solemnly promise That by the assistance of the grace of God You will endeavor faithfully To discharge all the duties Of a pastor to this congregation And will be careful To maintain a deportment In all respects Becoming a minister of the gospel Engagements Do you?
[54:18] Would you turn please? So people of grace and peace I have four questions for you This is the time for you To be pretty loud and shouty I'll ask four questions And I'd like for you to respond With we do Do you, the people of this congregation Continue to profess your readiness To receive Benji Slayton Whom you have called to be your pastor?
[54:42] Do you? Do you promise to receive the word of truth From his mouth with meekness and love And to submit to him In the due exercise of discipline? Do you?
[54:54] Do you? Do you promise to encourage him In his labors And to assist his endeavors For your instruction And spiritual edification? Do you? Do you?
[55:07] Do you engage to continue to him While he is your pastor That competent worldly maintenance Which you have promised And to furnish him With whatever you may see needful For the honor of religion And for his comfort among you Do you?
[55:21] Do you? Benji, you heard that? Yeah? Yeah, alright You turn around Face me I now pronounce and declare That Reverend Benjamin Slayton Has been regularly elected And installed pastor Of this congregation Agreeable to the word of God And according to the constitution Of the Presbyterian church in America And that as such He is entitled to all support Encouragement Honor And obedience in the Lord In the name of the Father And of the Son And of the Holy Ghost Amen So here we are You are under the grace Of your king Who laid down his life for you So that you might be forgiven And brought out of darkness Into the kingdom of life and light
[56:23] Not only just you But with all of his church He is gathering his flock So there will be one flock And one shepherd And so you are going forth From this day Under his grace Fully provided for So that you might accomplish The mission that Jesus Has given to you As his own disciples You are gathered To worship him As his people And to do the work That he has given you to do That's exactly why That's exactly why You guys signed this And sent this to us To the presbytery So that you're saying We're ready We want to do this together And now God has raised up Elders and deacons To shepherd you And stir you up To love and good works And the Lord has provided A pastor To share with you Not only God's word
[57:24] But himself So that you The people of God Might mature As followers of Jesus And as citizens Of God's kingdom And so I have a question For you now Again If you would have Sent to this Would you respond With a loud We do Do you In reliance On God For strength Solemnly promise And covenant That you will walk Together as an Organized church On the principles Of the faith And order Of the Presbyterian Church in America And that you Will be zealous And faithful In maintaining The purity And peace Of the whole body Do you?
[58:05] Do you? So then I now pronounce And declare That you are Constituted a church According to the word Of God And the faith And order Of the Presbyterian Church in America In the name of the Father And of the Son And of the Holy Spirit Amen Good morning My name is Jared Huffman I'm a friend of Benji's And a pastor At Restoration Southside In Chattanooga And it is entirely My privilege To be here with you This morning This is so much fun As I kept turning And looking back Behind me While you were singing And you're all Smiling ear to ear Because you've been A part of something Very special Let's plant a church In the middle Of a global pandemic And let's see What happens And God met you And I'm so grateful To be here And celebrate that With you this morning My job this morning
[59:05] Is to be brief Benji reminded me Several times But my job this morning Is to To charge you The congregation Charge the session And then charge The elder Charge Benji So I will do that For you this morning It's a delight To be here too Benji is a good Friend of mine And a confidant We meet together With John Mark Scruggs And bear our souls And our sins And our sufferings Together So if you ever Need dirt on me Just ask Benji And he has it First Let's start With the congregation I want you To have so Much Fun Together I want you To have so Much Fun Together And I know Some of you Are thinking Wait a second Is that a bible verse I went and found One for you So I commend The enjoyment Of life Because there is Nothing better For a person Under the sun Than to eat And drink And be glad Then joy
[60:06] Will accompany Them in their Toil All the days Of the life God has given Them under the sun There is a verse For it But it's true Hasn't it been Fun It's crazy To gather Together And to go Invite your Friends From working Out And church And your Work And your Neighborhood And invite Them to come To church With you And them Say yes It's fun To see God work Ted Strawbridge Said maybe You could Plant a church In which You were Having more Fun than Anybody else In the world And others Would come By to see Just because You were Having so Much fun So have Fun together Life can be Hard Ministry can Be grueling So enjoy One another I want that For you I asked two Different people This morning How in the World did You do this To plant a Church in the Middle of all Of this These four Years And both People You know What they Said to me It's been So much Fun Keep that Spirit of
[61:07] Fun and Joy among You This The second Thing I Want to Say to The congregation Is this Don't Settle In Don't Settle In Get moving Even Faster I know There's this Feeling It's like We went Through this A year Ago Oh we Finally Arrived We're Finally At church Let's all Just sit Down and Take a Break For a While No You Went Slow So you Could Now Go Fast Now You Know Who You Are Now You Know What You're Doing Go You Went Slow So now You Can Go Fast I had The opportunity To hear Some fresh Worship songs This summer And one Of the ones That I Heard Was this I'm not Much for Shouting out And calling Out in Worship I've been A Presbyterian Since I Was five Years old They don't Teach you How to Do that In the Presbyterian Church But we Sang This line Together The songs We sang In Shadows We will Sing To God's Own Face
[62:07] And in My Presbyterian Voice I said Yes The songs We sang In shadows We will Sing To God's Own Face Imagine With me That that's The joy You get To do You get To carry That message To your Neighbors At work And in Your Neighborhood That they're Coming To sing And it's Good now But it's Going to Be so Much Better Later Friends Congregation Expect The spirit To keep Moving Expect The impossible Like planting A church In a global Pandemic The hymn writer Says thou Art coming To a king Large Petitions With thee Bring For his Grace and Power are Such that None can Ever ask Too much At this Point Some of The congregation Should be Regularly Thinking we Should try That because It sounds Impossible That's what We should Think Just a Quick verse
[63:08] For you Now This is Paul He says Though I'm Free and Belong to No one I've Made Myself A slave To Everyone To Win As Many As Possible To The Jews It Became Like A Jew To Win The Jews To Those Under The Law I Became Like One Under The Law Though I Myself Not Having The Law I Became One Not Like One Not Having The Law Though I Am Not Free From God's Law But I'm Under Christ's Law So As To Win Those Not Having The Law Here's What I Want You To To The Weak To Win The Weak I Become All Things To All People So That By All Possible Means I Might Save Some I Do This For The Sake Of The Gospel That I May Share In Its Blessings That's My Word To You Keep Having Fun Keep Having Fun Expect The Impossible Expect The Spirit To Move And Become All Things To This Wonderful Neighborhood Of Udawah So That You Can Save Some To The Session My Friends
[64:08] Congratulations This Is Such A Sweet Day Just A Couple Of Words For You First Of All Encourage Benji Encourage Benji I've Been At Healthy Churches My Entire Ministry And It Makes All The World Of Difference When You Feel Like The Elders See You And Love You And Are There For You That He Has A Confidence That These Guys Want To Bless Him That These Guys Want To Work With Him So Encourage Benji And Every Morning To Pray What If Benji Knew That Every Single Morning The Three Of You Were Going To Stand Up And You Were Going To Pray For Him And This Church Before You Went About The Rest Of Your Day Encourage Benji And Pray For Him My Friend Brian Salter Uses This Quote When He Installed Me At LMPC This Is This Wendell Berry Describes In A Place Of Time The Cost Of Being A Pastor And A Servant To The
[65:08] Conscience Of The Young Minister Most Present Of All Was The Depth At Which The Community Suffered Its Mortality That's Y'all Suffered Its Mortality Error Pain And Grief For Williams Milby Had The Gift Of Comforting He Carried With Him Not By His Will It Seemed But By The Purest And The Very Presence Of Comfort And Yet Even As It Was A Comfort To Others It Could Be A Bafflement And A Burden To Him Listen To This Quote About Benji's Life Among You His Calling And The Respect Accorded To It Admitted Him Into The Presence Of Troubles He Could Not Mend Benji's Job Calling Admits Him Into A World Of Troubles That He Cannot Mend So Encourage Him Let Me Say One More Word And I Have One Word For Benji And I'm Going Fast Benji I Promise The Elders And Deacons And Even To
[66:08] The Church You Let Benji Slayton Continue To Be A Sinner You Let Benji Slayton Continue To Be A Sinner That Doesn't Mean That You Can't Call Him On His Sin That Doesn't Mean You Can't Walk With Him In His Heart As His Lord And Savior And Redeemer Of His Sins Let Him Be A Sinner Because He Will Revel In Jesus And He Will Share Overflow In That For You The quickest Way To Treasure Christ Is For Us To Remember Prone To Wander Lord I Feel It Prone To Leave The God I Love Let Him Be A Sinner So He Can Be Right Back To The Christ That He Loves And Benji To You Just One Verse Well That's A Couple I Thank Christ Jesus Our Lord Who Has Given Me Strength And That He Considered Me
[67:08] Trustworthy Appointing Me To His Service Even Though I Was Once A Blasphemer And A Persecutor And A Violent Man I Was Shown Mercy Because I Acted In Ignorance And Unbelief The Grace Of Our Lord Was Poured Is A Worthy Saying That Deserves Full Acceptance Christ Jesus Came Into The World To Save Sinners Of Whom I Am The Worst Of Whom I Am The Worser The Longer You Grow In Your Relationship With Our Kind Savior The More Glaringly Aware You Will Be Of Your Sin And That Will Bless These People The Grace That You Preach To Them You Also Have To Preach To Will Amen Thank You Good
[68:08] Morning My Name Is David Fowler I'm With Richard Harb I Sam And Jason I Have The Privilege And Honor Of Serving On The Temporary Session With Benji For The Last Three Or Four Years Presbyterians Talk A Lot But We Also Pray A Lot So It Is Right That We End This Part Of The Service With Prayer Would All The Teaching Elders In The Presbyterian Church In America Come Forward Along With All The Ruling Elders Of Any Other Presbyterian Church Thank you Brothers Brothers Brothers If you Lay Lay hands On Our Brothers Let us
[69:09] Pray Father God I thank you That you Have Raised Up New Elders And Deacons And a Pastor For This Flock I pray That they Serve Well That they Serve With Honor That they Honor You Lord Jesus And all That they Do And say Lord I Pray That they Would Fix Their Eyes Upon Jesus The Great Shepherd And the One Who Came To Serve They Would Shepherd Well They Would Protect The Flock They Would Seek The Lost They Would Lead Well They Would Seek Those Who Are Wounded To Be Healed Lord I Pray That they Would Be Mary's And not Martha's That in All The Busyness And all The Hectic Work Of The Church That they Would Sit At the Feet Of Jesus And learn From Jesus Receive Grace
[70:09] And Mercy And Kindness And pass It On To Their People Lord I Pray That they Would Be Filled With Joy They Would Serve With Joy And Gladness And If Jared Said Have Fun And Lord I Pray That they Would Be Disciples That they Would Deny Themselves Pick Up Their Cross And Follow Jesus Wherever You Go Lord Jesus They Would Go They Would Serve With You And Push Back The Darkness And See Your Kingdom Advanced We Commit Them To You Now Lord We Pray In The Name Of Jesus Gracious Father We're Thankful For These Men Lord These Women These Children And How They've Served You As This Church Has Grown Up Into What I Call A Real Church Now Lord I'm Thankful For Benji All The Effort He's Put Into It His Family journaling Amen they need to pack is you. Lord, may they remember that. Lord, may you protect them as they do that against the easy. Protect them against the comfortable. Lord, help them be willing to get out of their comfort zone to serve you. Lord, may they love you and may they love the people around us well and may they bestow grace and mercy just as you have bestowed that upon us. In Jesus' name, amen.
[72:06] Amen. What a great phrase Brian introduced us to earlier, that when Jesus' disciples come and gather around with their minuscule gifts for ministry to be sent out to do the feeding of the hungry, to fill the empty places, that Jesus says, bring it to me. There's another dynamic that's going on there as well though, and I hope that you have already heard this in this service multiple times because it is the thread that has been weaving its way throughout this whole service, is that before those disciples were able to bring their gifts for service to Jesus, to go out and do the filling, to go out and feed the hungry, they had to first bring themselves to Jesus to be fed, to be filled. Those disciples had to look out on that plane and realize that they were just as hungry as all those people that were sitting out there, that they needed just as badly Jesus to fill them as all of those hungry people gathered there did. And you know, it's so important, I think, that after we have gone through the process of separating in many ways, of actually setting aside men who are going to lead you, that we go through the process of leveling together, that we come to the table and we proclaim that we are hungry people, that all of us need Jesus. Elders, congregants, insiders, outsiders, pastors, and everybody are people that need to be filled by the love and grace of Jesus.
[73:57] And as we come to this table, we get to be fed by the miraculous master who comes and says, come to me and come to this table and let me fill those hungry places. Let me feed you. Let me show you my great love. So with that in mind, friends, it is worth giving thanks for. Will you join me in our great thanksgiving? We're on page seven in our bulletin. Lift up your hearts.
[74:23] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is very good, right, and our delight that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, O Lord, Holy Father, almighty and everlasting God.
[74:43] Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name forever, praising you and saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Glory be to you, O Lord most high. Friends, the apostle Paul records these words for us that Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread and after he had given thanks, he broke it. He said, this is my body, which is broken for you. And then after supper, likewise, he took the cup. He said, this is my blood, which is poured out for you and for many. Take and eat and drink this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and often as you drink this cup, you proclaim that Jesus fills. You proclaim his life and his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his coming again.
[75:44] That's what we proclaim together this morning. So people of God, the Lord has prepared this table for all who love him and trust in him alone for their salvation. All who are truly sorry for their sins, who sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus as their savior, and who desire to live in obedience to him, are now invited to come with gladness to the table of the Lord. We will celebrate together by coming forward. You'll come down the center aisle. There are some ushers that can help us with this. And as you come down the center aisle, just come and fan yourselves out in a semicircle here and stay, and the servers will actually serve you in place bread and wine. And then after you've been served, you can go out the outside aisles, and those can come and fill in those spaces now. So if the service could come forward now, let us come and taste and see together that the Lord, he is good.
[76:39] Thanks. Thank you.
[77:09] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[77:26] Thank you.
[77:56] Thank you.
[78:26] Thank you.
[78:56] Thank you. Thank you.
[79:28] Thank you.
[79:56] Thank you. of praises I will ever give to Thee This walk of praises I will ever give to Thee Let me say for the pain that died did my anxious fears let me say for the day and die
[81:22] Then my anxious fear Then my anxious fear Let me say for gain and die Then my anxious fear Then my anxious fear Let me say on gain and side Then my anxious fear Then my anxious fear Let me stay On gain For gain By Can come I beique May Let me stay for gain and sigh.
[82:19] Bend my anxious fears. Bend my anxious fears. Let me stay for gain and sigh.
[82:31] Bend my anxious fears. Bend my anxious fears. Goodbye. Bend my anxious fears.
[82:45] Bend my anxious fears. Bend my anxious fears.
[83:07] Thank you.
[83:37] Thank you.
[84:07] Thank you.
[84:37] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You are worthy. You are worthy. Hallelujah. You get the highest praise.
[84:51] Hallelujah. You are holy. Lord, we exalt. Lord, we exalt. Sing that again with me. Sing hallelujah.
[85:02] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You are worthy. Hallelujah. You give. Hallelujah.
[85:12] You give. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You are holy. Lord, we exalt. Lord, we exalt. Say, for you have done.
[85:23] For you have done great things. Done great things. Done great. For you have done.
[85:36] Done great things. He's done great things. Done great. And we are glad. And we are glad.
[85:48] Yes, we are. And we are glad. And we are glad. Yes, we are glad. Say everlasting.
[85:59] Ever-lasting. Ever-giving. Ever-giving. Ever-faithful. Ever-faithful. You give. You give. the highest ever living lord we have done done great things done great for you have done great things done great and we are glad yes we are and we are glad yes we are yes we say by your blood by your blood stand forgive in your victory over sin death is gone good he is risen lord we for you have done done great things done great lord you have done thank you done great things and we are glad yes we are and we are glad yes we are yes we are and we are glad and we are glad yes we are glad yes we are glad father we are glad because you have filled us you have given us life you brought us to your table and you have filled our hungry hearts and now lord send us out that we might proclaim this miraculous filler of need that we might proclaim your goodness your love your mercy to the world around lord let us bring our meager gifts to you that you might send us to love and to serve our neighbors to you let us be the body and the blood of christ for the world around let us be the body and the blood of christ for the world around we pray in his name amen what can wash away my sins nothing but the blood of jesus oh what can make me whole again nothing but the blood of jesus what can make me whole again nothing but the blood of jesus
[90:23] oh oh oh precious is the flow oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh Nothing can force in us home
[91:41] Nothing but the blood of Jesus Not of good that I have done Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow That makes me white as snow No other fount I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus This is all! This is all!
[92:31] My hope and peace Nothing but the blood of Jesus This is all my righteousness Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh! Oh! Precious is the flow That makes me white as snow No other fount I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus Look, if I don't know if that's not fun I don't know what fun is You know You know, it is This is a joyous day We want you to gather with us Stick around There's food for everybody There's a bounce house I think for kids
[93:32] Some pops Some photo booth Be silly Enjoy yourself But I do want to say That part of the thing That makes this church unique Is not just the guys Who are standing up here It is a lot of other people Who have given a lot for this church I think of Kyron Walker For one Give it up for Kyron Mandy Johnson Back in the back Chris Ammon And Ansley Godwin Is outside getting things ready She's not even in here But you can thank her Guys, every Sunday We have people who serve In the booth Serve with our nursery Serve with setting things up Serve as musicians Every week And that's what it means We are God's people We are one together And that is what Makes this a beautiful thing A beautiful project
[94:33] To see God At work doing So remember That you are part Of God's people And we're glad That you're here We're glad That you can be a part Of this today Thank you for all of that Okay Let's go In God's peace Look up and receive Now God's blessing Upon you May the Lord Himself Bless you And keep you May the Lord Make His face To shine upon you And to be gracious to you May the Lord Himself Turn His countenance Towards you And grant you His peace Both now And forevermore Go in that peace Amen