Well, it's good to see all of you this morning.
Glad you're here.
And of course, it is the Word of God that we bring every morning through the Scriptures.
That's where our hope is.
That's where life comes from.
That's what nourishes our soul.
That's what strengthens us for tomorrow.
That's what gives us a sense of direction and purpose in life.
And it's the Word of God that we come to again today.
The Word of God that's accessible.
The Word of God that is life and breath for us.
And I trust that you are those who immerse yourself consistently in the faithful Word of God.
I'm reminded of the psalmist who says in Psalm 1 that he meditates day and night on the Word of God.
And it's that Word of God that's like a tree that's planted by rivers of water.
It gives his own soul.
It gives his own life nourishment and fruitfulness.
And so it's the Word of God that we anchor our trust in today.
Well, I trust that all of you have been able to look at from the Maranatha Minute kind of the new process for nominating deacons or spiritual leaders that are here at our church at Maranatha.
We have sought to kind of blend two principles.
One from 1 Timothy chapter 3 that talks about spiritual leaders.
And that those who pursue spiritual leaders are those who desire this position.
God has worked in their life.
And there's this sense in which that they feel like God is calling them to this.
It's something that they desire to do.
A leadership position that they want to bless the church with by their service to the Lord.
The second is from Acts chapter 6.
Speaking about deacons in particular.
And Peter says,
Men who have integrity.
Men who demonstrate a commitment to loving and serving and trusting the Lord.
And so we've thought, how do we bring that process to our church so that we encourage that kind of thing?
And so we're asking each of you from the congregation to identify men from within the congregation who have those qualities.
Men of good repute.
Men who are serving Jesus.
Men who have a reputation of love for families and commitment to the scriptures.
And that you will engage the men that God brings to your attention.
And that God will stir their hearts to want to actively pursue, desire the pursuit of this kind of leadership.
Because as you can imagine, leadership, especially in the context of the church, is becoming increasingly harder.
And the opposition that we face as leaders is challenging.
And so we want the men who engage this process to do it willingly.
As Peter will say from 1 Peter chapter 5.
Not out of compulsion.
Because God wants to draw up men from our congregation to lead in that way.
Of course you know this.
But I want to draw it out to your attention once more.
That God has graciously given us so many gifted leaders.
What a joy.
What a blessing it is to serve alongside men who love the Lord.
Men who have devoted their attention, their life.
Who have exemplified for the long haul commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have 12 men who serve as deacons, spiritual leaders in this church.
And man, we should celebrate that.
Matter of fact, can I just encourage you?
Can we just applaud?
Just thank you to the men who serve this body.
Just this past week.
And of course, we can't touch on all the stories.
And so I just, the ones I know.
Just this past week, because of some of the rain damage that has happened.
There was a lady in our church.
Her tree, parts of her tree fell down.
And it was three of our deacons that engaged that process.
And spent lots of days this past week trying to help that lady.
And trying to address this problem.
And that's the kind of, those are the kind of men we have serving in our body.
And it's a joy.
Another deacon, and I think probably others were also involved in this as well.
Well, we have something called the Maranatha Movers.
And so several of our people are moving to different places within the city.
And another one of our deacons or two helped to kind of coordinate this Maranatha Movers.
And that happens consistently throughout the year.
And we just praise the Lord again for the faithful leaders that God has put over our church.
That exemplify service to the Lord.
Lord Jesus himself in Mark 10, 45, we find he came not to be served.
But to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
And we have deacons who exemplify that kind of spirit.
They are a blessing to me.
And I trust they're a blessing to you as well.
And I hope that you are encouraging them actively.
I hope you're actively praying for them.
I hope you're actively supporting them.
And God has blessed us with that.
We also have a couple of deacons in their families.
Several that are serving in our children's ministry.
Both in the nursery but also in children's ministry.
And they coordinate this so that our families can enjoy the blessing of faithful individuals.
Who are building into your children and my children.
And so I'm grateful for them as well.
Spiritual leaders, God has placed over this fellowship.
And the chance for us to be part of that process through the nominating.
And recognizing faithful men who may or may not currently be serving in that capacity.
And calling them out and encouraging them to step up.
We do have at least four younger men.
We call them deacon elects.
These are men who are qualified as deacons.
But are young enough that we want to help put them alongside other kind of seasoned veterans as it were.
And so that we can walk along the process with them.
And we call them deacon elects.
And they serve alongside the deacons for a year.
And every year they have their session expires.
And they do it again.
And so you're going to recognize those kinds of men as well.
Younger men who are serving.
And who have the fitness to serve the Lord in that capacity.
Well we are continuing our study in the book of Judges.
I would encourage if you would please to open your Bibles to Judges chapter 10.
If you're using the Pew Bibles it's on page 210.
Judges chapter 10.
As we get started I want to show this graphic to you.
You have it on your outlines.
But just to have it in front of us.
So you can kind of see what's going on.
This is kind of the book of Judges in summary.
Kind of in a snapshot as it were.
This is what's happening.
And I'm kind of a visual guy.
So being able to see these kinds of things up front.
You kind of can experience and get a sense of it.
What the words are communicating just by looking at this graphic.
And you can see right at the center.
We talked about last time in the book of Judges.
This leader Gideon and his son Abimelech.
It's the only father-son duo in the book of Judges.
That kind of stand as kind of this watershed moment.
Of how things begin to really take a turn for the worse.
In the lives or in the history of the Judges themselves.
Judges chapter 2 verse 19 becomes the trajectory.
It becomes kind of the summary phrase that helps us understand.
What's taking place as we follow this timeline through.
Judges chapter 2 verse 19 says.
But whenever the judge died.
They turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers.
Going after other gods.
Serving them and bowing down to them.
They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
That's the summary of what we're reading here in the book of Judges.
That's what we have come to expect.
That's what we are seeing play out in front of us.
That kind of becomes kind of the template by which we are meant to interpret the details that are coming.
That follow in this book.
That generation after generation after generation.
They continue to turn further and further away from the Lord.
And that's what we're going to see again in Judges chapter 10, 11 and 12.
This morning as we come to chapter 10.
The main thing that we need to keep in front of ourselves is that God appointed, initially appointed deliverers.
But now they have become self-appointed saviors.
God originally appointed deliverers.
And now these deliverers have become self-appointed saviors.
We see that.
And I trust you'll be able to kind of pick this out now from the text as I read it through the first five verses.
Here it is.
Chapter 10, verse 1.
It says,
After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola, the son of Pua, son of Dodo, a man of Iskar.
And he lived in Shemir in the hill country of Ephraim.
And he judged Israel 23 years.
Then he died and was buried at Shemir.
After him arose Jer, the Gileadite, who judged Israel 22 years.
He had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys.
They had 30 cities called Havat Jer to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
And Jer died and was buried in Chemon.
Immediately, you should notice this cycle that's taking place.
We'll come back to this slide so you can kind of see this visually as it's working out in front of us.
We should see that this progression of the people, this downward progression of the people,
is kind of prompted by two other things that are taking place simultaneously.
You see on the top left over there that Othniel, who was the first judge, was the one who was appointed by God.
We find that he was a God-appointed judge or God-appointed savior for the people.
Ehud was also appointed by God.
Deborah, as a prophetess, speaks on behalf of God, giving the word of God to Barak,
who is also appointed by God to save and deliver the people of Israel.
And then you come to Gideon.
Another prophet precedes Gideon.
An angel of the Lord appears to Gideon.
He empowers Gideon.
He gives a direct word to Gideon.
He provides the instructions on how Gideon is supposed to enjoy the benefits of God's provision for him.
And he goes out and he, on behalf of the Lord, is able to push back and oppose
and deliver the people of Israel from the hand of the Midianites.
And then you get to Abimelech, this self-selected leader,
who then appoints himself through the help of the lords of Shechem to make himself king.
And from here on out, what we're going to find in the book of Judges,
instead of God-appointing judges, what do you notice there in verse 1 of chapter 10?
Go ahead and look at it.
What does it say?
What are the words that you find right there on the page?
After Abimelech there arose to save Israel,
Tola.
What is missing here?
What do you see that's not present in this verse?
Well, what you see that is not present is that Tola has decided that he is going to do
what God has not selected him to do.
He is now a self-appointed leader over Israel.
He has risen himself to save Israel.
Verse 3, same thing happens.
After him, Jer the Gileadite.
You move back to, this is kind of the book ends of this section.
In chapter 12, we find much of the same thing.
Chapter 12, verse 8.
This is kind of the end of this section that surrounds the story of Jephthah,
who says,
It says,
You see the same kind of pattern.
These self-styled, self-selected leaders who are deciding to rise up and to exert some measure of authority
in the land of Israel to act as deliverers.
And that's the pattern we begin to see in the book of Judges.
It moves from God-appointed judges that we find in Otniel and then in Ehud,
to now selected judges that happen through the prophetic ministry of the prophets through Deborah
and through this prophet we find in Judges chapter 6.
And now it completely turns in the remaining chapters to now these leaders deciding that they're going to be God's gift to the nation.
This is a pattern.
A pattern of those who decide that they're going to be the Savior, as it were,
independent of God's work in their life to raise them up.
We begin to see another pattern begin to emerge.
The pattern of conflict that begins very far outside of Israel.
And then as we continue to move along the timeline, the history of Israel,
that conflict turns inward.
So now there's a conflict that's happening between Israel and themselves
till you finally get to the very end in Judges chapter 17 to 21
where there's no more deliverer.
There's no more judge.
There's no more outward oppressor.
And all the oppression, all the conflict is internal.
And Israel is struggling against itself.
That's what we're left with when we come to Judges chapter 17 to 21.
And you find the trend that the more and more people decide to become the leader that God hasn't appointed,
their hearts begin to turn more and more away from God.
And so their leadership of becoming a rescuer, of becoming a deliverer,
what they believe is right for Israel,
they're doing what is right in their own eyes,
now becomes internal.
Becomes a struggle against themselves.
Because Canaan has got into Israel.
Rather than the people of Israel driving the Canaanites out,
driving the nations out from the promised land,
Canaan has gotten into the hearts of the very nation,
of the very people,
of the very ones who were set apart as God,
from God to be a kingdom, a priest, a holy nation.
The nations have gotten in.
And this chart helps us to track this conflict
that has moved from the outside,
from Mesopotamia that was 700 miles away.
And then Ehud, which was that second deliverer,
and he's opposing forces from the Moabites,
who were neighbors to Israel.
And then you have Barak, who's opposing and delivering Israel,
from the Canaanites, who lived within the country.
And then Gideon, who's pushing back against the Midianites.
And the Midianites, guess what?
They were sons of Abraham.
That's where they came from.
And you remember that Moses married Jethro.
He was the priest in Midian.
There's family relationships.
It's moved inward.
And now Gideon, instead of only opposing the Midianites from the outside,
Gideon will now turn the page,
and he will attack his own people,
the men of Succoth, the men of Penuel.
This deliverer has gotten a little cocky.
This deliverer has gotten a big head.
He's begun to assume a role that he was never entrusted with.
And because he is doing what's right in his own eyes,
we find that he turns the fight inward.
You see, it's easy for us, though, to look at Israel and to say,
what has happened to these people?
What is their problem?
Why can't they understand the significance of their actions?
But then as we hold the mirror up to ourselves,
I have found myself saying this,
and maybe you have found yourself saying this too,
is that we often become the Savior
instead of allowing God to be the Savior.
How many times have you confronted a problem in your life,
whether it's a problem at work,
or a problem in your family,
or a crisis that's taking place,
something that's out of control,
and you have usurped and decided
that you're going to step in,
that you're going to set your plans,
that your agenda is going to now be the prominent thing,
and the last thought on your mind
is to turn the issue over to the Lord,
to entrust the situation to Him.
Instead, and I'll just speak for myself,
how easy it is to take the bull by the horns,
to pull myself up by my own bootstraps,
to understand and decide what the problem is,
and to work it through to fix the situation,
and to become the Savior that everyone, of course, needs.
But whenever we do this,
whether God gives us success by His grace or not,
whatever successes God allows us to enjoy,
the credit, the glory goes to us, doesn't it?
Rather than glory going to God.
Since we're talking about the book of Judges,
and since I've mentioned the significance of Judges
helping us recognize the importance of the family,
that God had given specific instructions
to the family in Deuteronomy,
that fathers were to pass on the law to their children
and their children's children,
we recognize that the Judges were kind of set in place
to kind of model what that was supposed to look like.
These family heads,
they were providing proximate leadership among the people.
But now these proximate leaders,
instead of directing attention to the Lord,
they're directing attention to themselves.
They've become their own self-prescribed deliverer,
their own self-described Savior.
And that's so often our problem.
Paul Tripp will put it this way.
He says we become glory robbers.
Whenever we direct people's attention away from the Lord,
and we direct that attention onto ourself,
and whether we're doing that intentionally or unintentionally,
whenever we take credit for the success that God gives,
we're drawing attention to us,
not drawing attention to the Lord.
Whenever we can pat ourselves on the back and say,
hey, look at my family.
Look how great I did as a dad.
Whenever we think we can do that
without giving credit to the grace of the Lord Jesus,
we become glory robbers.
Whenever we have a ministry,
whenever we have an effective evangelistic kind of exchange,
where somebody comes to faith in the Lord Jesus,
or whenever we have a great opportunity to succeed in the office,
but that attention is directed to us,
and our skill,
and our abilities,
and the way we could just pull it off,
and we don't allow God to enjoy,
and to be described as the one who gives that to us by His grace,
we become glory robbers.
1 Peter chapter 4 puts it this way.
In verses 10 and 11,
he says,
As each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another,
as good stewards of God's varied grace.
Whoever speaks as one who speaks the oracles of God,
whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies,
in order that in everything,
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen.
That's why we exist.
We exist to draw attention to the wonder of our God.
Every service,
every way that you serve your family,
and the benefits,
and the way that God helps you to raise up your children
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
All the successes that you have at work,
all the successes that you might have in sharing the gospel,
all the successes that you might have in various ministries,
whatever that success,
praise the Lord,
direct attention to Him,
and let Him receive the glory.
Don't become a glory robber.
That becomes the prevailing problem in Israel.
The tipping point has happened.
The people have raised themselves up.
They have asserted for themselves,
We will be the Savior.
When the Savior has always been present,
they just needed to trust Him.
Next we see in verses 6 to 16,
you see the people have confused godly sorrow
with worldly sorrow.
They've confused godly sorrow with worldly sorrow.
Look at this in verse 16.
It says,
The people of Israel,
this is verse 6,
again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
And they served the Baals and the Ashtra,
the gods of Syria,
the gods of Sidon,
the gods of Moab,
the gods of the Ammonites,
the gods of the Philistines,
and they forsook the Lord,
and they did not serve Him.
This is now the seventh and final time
the apostasy of the nation of Israel
will be described.
The seventh and final time
is meant to demonstrate the fullness
of the way in which the people of Israel
have rejected God,
the totality of their rejection against the Lord.
That's what this is meant to show us.
And the totality is final.
By this point,
this pattern has become tragically familiar.
If you have the notes in front of you,
you can see kind of there in the,
along this point,
the six other places in the book of Judges
where this is referenced.
Judges chapter 2, 11 to 13.
Judges chapter 3.
Judges chapter 3, verse 12,
and 4, verse 1.
Judges chapter 6.
Judges chapter 8.
And now, Judges chapter 10.
And what you find is this progression
that's taking place.
It started out with two deities,
the Baals and the Astra.
This was the distraction.
This was the idolatry that was taking place.
It begins small,
if you want to say it that way.
It was embedded in culture, okay?
But the Baals and the Astra
were the things that were tripping them up.
But now,
the nations have totally perverted the people.
So that,
now the writer of the book of Judges
wants us to understand
how complete and thorough
this pollution, corruption had become.
Now seven different deities
have infiltrated the nation.
This is meant to show us,
again,
the seriousness of their depravity.
But then we come to chapter 10,
verse 10.
And I think it's really easy
for us to think,
hey,
here's the bright spot.
Here's the,
here's the,
the turn,
the confession that's taking place.
Hey,
look at this.
This is great.
And we see this
and we think,
okay,
a revival has happened.
Confession has taken place.
Look at,
look at verse 10.
And the people cried,
of Israel cried out
to the Lord saying,
hey,
we have sinned against you
because we have forsaken our God
and have served the Baals.
And the Lord said
to the people of Israel,
did I not save you
from the Egyptians,
from the Amorites,
from the Ammonites,
from the Philistines,
the Sidonians,
the Amalekites,
and the Monites
oppressed you?
You cried out to me
and I saved you
out of their hand.
Yet,
you have forsaken me
and served other gods.
Therefore,
I will save you
no more.
Wow.
Let that sink in
a little bit.
I will save you
no more?
They've confessed
their sin.
They've come clean
about their idolatry.
They've acknowledged
the problem.
And God says,
I will save you
no more?
What in the world
is going on?
It's the same thing
that goes on
every time.
We give lip service
to confession,
but nothing actually
changes in our heart.
We acknowledge our sin
and a lot of times,
and what Paul will draw out
in 2 Corinthians 7,
is this difference
between godly sorrow
and worldly sorrow,
and the difference
is pretty stark.
It has a lot of
the same similarities
because the individuals,
they recognize
how difficult
their sin is.
They come clean
about their sin.
They feel very bad
about their sin.
Sometimes,
they're really emotional.
They say the right words.
But worldly sorrow
is to remove consequences.
Worldly sorrow
is to move past
the pain.
Worldly sorrow
is just to acknowledge
these things to God
so we can get on
with our life.
Whereas,
godly sorrow
is the kind of sorrow
that says,
God,
this has affected you.
Against you
and you only
have I sinned
and done
what is evil
in your sight,
O Lord.
Please forgive me.
I acknowledge this
and I will do
whatever it takes
to orient my life
in a way
that pleases you.
There is this true
repentance
that takes place
and not just
a confession
or acknowledgement
of sin
but there is a
true turning
of heart and life.
This consistent
trajectory
of life
that points
itself to God.
That's what
repentance is.
It's different.
It's willing to
accept
the consequences.
It's the kind
of repentance
that's willing
to do
what's necessary
in order to
restore what's
been lost
and to mend
and to heal
the hurt
that's been imposed.
And of course,
we can't do
all of that
personally
but we entrust
that to the Lord
and we allow Him
to work in our life
and the Lord
knows the hearts
of these rascals
here in the nation
of Israel
in Judges chapter 10.
He knows the truth
behind the story.
Behind the words,
God knows the heart.
It's the same
of what we find
in John chapter 2.
John chapter 2
verses 23 and 24
when Jesus is addressing
the people
in the first century
He says,
Now when He was
in Jerusalem
at the Passover feast
many believed
in His name
when they saw
the signs
that He was doing.
Hey!
Spectacular!
They believe in Him!
But then it goes on.
But Jesus
on His part
did not entrust
Himself to them
because He knew
all people.
Did you catch that?
Jesus knew
what was truly
going on
in their life.
He knew that
they received
the spectacle
of His miracles.
They trusted
that He was the one
who could do this
but they did not
believe the man.
They believed
the miracle worker
but they would not
believe the man
that He was
the Son of God
and that believing
that He was
the Son of God
it required
a posture
of worship
that He is the Lord
that He is the one
who calls the shots.
It was this
superficial
kind of faith
that had no depth
in it
to change a life.
It's what we find
in Matthew chapter 15
verses 8 and 9.
This people
honors me
with their lips
but their heart
is far from me.
In vain
do they worship me
teaching as doctrines
the commandments
of men.
that is
a horrifying
reality
and it's the very
thing that's happening
here in Judges chapter 10.
The people
that were
worshiping Him
with their lips
but their heart
was actually
very,
very distant
and that is probably
the most dangerous
place to be.
We come to church
on a Sunday morning.
We sing songs
that are
saturated
in the scriptures.
We talk
about the Lord
Jesus
in our
conversations
before and
after the service
but nothing
has actually
changed
in our life.
We feel
safe
because we're
actually
in a place
of worship.
We're among
God's people
but it perhaps
is the most
dangerous
place
for superficial
people to be.
So what do we do?
well,
you say,
Lord,
I've got blind spots.
I need you
to examine
my life.
I need you
to shine
the spotlight
on me.
I can't see
what I can't see.
I need you
to expose
the deep realities
of my life.
I don't want
to just be
comfortable
where I am.
I want to be
moving in the
direction of
Jesus Christ.
I want
his life
to be the
trajectory
of my life.
I don't want
to just come
to church
to be comfortable.
I want
to come
here
to worship,
to serve,
and to change.
And I want
to be part
of the change
in others.
Not just to show
up as a consumer
but I want
to be one
of those
individuals
that is offering
and supporting
and encouraging
and teaching
and admonishing
the rest
of the congregation
to do what
Hebrews says
to stir one
another up
to love
and good deeds.
Lord,
I want
my participation
when I come
to be with
your people
to be fully
in,
to be fully
engaged.
I don't want
to just be
a pretender.
I want to be
somebody who's
fully in.
We find
as we move
on to Judges
chapter 11.
And by the way,
we're done.
Okay?
This is just,
I'm going to
footnote
and we're going
to pick this
up next week.
Okay?
Because we have,
this is now
at the heart
of what we need
to talk about.
I want to rush
through this
because this is
probably some
of the most
important material
we're going
to get to
in the book
of Judges
because this
is where
everything
begins to
become very
confusing for us
because Jephthah,
his speech
in Judges
chapter 11,
we're going
to encounter
the name
Yahweh,
the Lord.
And every time
you're reading
through the
scriptures and
you see
capital L,
capital O,
capital R,
capital D,
that's the name
Yahweh,
that's the covenant
keeping God.
Every time you
see that,
you think,
God's involved.
Jephthah is
going to use,
he's going to
invoke the name
of Yahweh,
I think some
15 times
throughout this
chapter,
but let me tell
you,
he is not
talking about
the Lord
in the economy
of God
himself.
His concept
about the Lord,
and I'm going
to show this
to you more
next week,
is so polluted,
it's so immersed
in culture,
it's been so
corrupted that he
has no idea
what he's talking
about.
He's talking
about the Lord,
but it doesn't
mean the Lord
God himself,
the covenant
keeping God,
and when the
Spirit of the
Lord comes upon
him,
we have come
to take that
to mean that
when the Spirit
of God is there,
then he's validating
the ministry or
the work of that
individual.
Well, that is not
the case here in
Judges chapter 11
and ongoing.
the Spirit
of the Lord
comes on the
man in spite
of the man
because the
Spirit of God
is keeping
true to his
covenant-keeping
nature,
his covenant
to Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob,
and the
instruments that
he's using
are just there
to show the
faithfulness and
mercy of our
God.
We'll see that
more.
We have
come to
know from
the New Testament
ministry of the
Holy Spirit
that when the
Holy Spirit
comes within
an individual,
he changes
them.
He transforms
them.
We see that
in Titus
chapter 3
verse 5.
It talks about
that we were
washed, we were
regenerated,
we're cleansed,
not by works
of righteousness
which you have
done, but
according to
his mercy
he saved us
by the washing
of regeneration,
by the renewing
of the Holy
Spirit.
That's the
work in the
New Testament
that we often
carry over
into the Old
Testament and
assume that
when the Spirit
of God is
present, then
the man who
is being used
by the Spirit
is also
validated, his
ministry is
confirmed, and
that is not
what's happening.
And that
perhaps is
also very
scary.
There's a lot
of things that
God graciously
allows us
to do that
really have
nothing to
do with
God's work
in our
life.
And we're
going to
see, we're
going to
see from
the life of
Jephthah how
he barters
with God, how
he negotiates
with God.
And it's the
same kind of
thing we find
ourselves doing
periodically when
we say, God
if you just
fix this
crisis, you
fix this
problem, then
I'm going to
give my whole
life to you.
I'm going to
go back to
church, I'm
going to send
this money,
whatever it
is, and it's
the same kind
of thing that
happens in
Jephthah's heart
and life.
It's this
negotiation that
takes place
where God is a
part of the
equation, but
I'm at the
center rather
than God being
at the center.
We're going to
talk about that
more next week.
But the
beauty, the
beauty of what
we're about to
celebrate here, the
beauty of what
we're going to
remember is
communion, the
work of the
Lord Jesus
Christ to
change all of
that for us.
All of that
polluted motives,
all of those
obscured desires,
all of those
things that
flood in and
want to turn
us upside down
can be corrected
and changed
and cleansed
by the Lord
himself.
We find in
1 John 1.9,
if we confess
our sin, he is
faithful and just
to forgive our
sin and to
cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
There is a
reset that's
available.
It's available
through Christ.
So, if you
feel like a
failure, like I
often do, you
feel like I
wish you could
go back and
fix all the
brokenness that
I've created,
you say, if I
just made better
decisions in my
life, things
would be better
now.
The Lord Jesus,
by his grace,
can change that.
He won't
necessarily change
the past, but
he's going to
change the
person.
He's going to
change you.
He's going to
help you be
changed from the
inside out.
There's this
transformation that
those who place
their faith in the
Lord Jesus get to
anticipate.
Transformation,
being changed from
one degree of
glory to the
other.
That's what 2
Corinthians 4
talks about.
And that's
what's offered to
us through the
death and
resurrection of our
Lord Jesus.
That's what we
celebrate this
morning.
Let me pray.
I'll ask the
deacons to come
forward.
And we'll
remember the
Lord Jesus in
our time of
communion.
Lord, thank you
for sending your
son, Jesus.
Thank you that he
lived the perfect
life that we
could never
live.
Lord, as we
take this honest
look at ourselves,
we recognize that
there are areas
that are out of
step.
And so, we
pray that by
your grace, you
would expose us,
that you would
draw attention to
those things that
are not godly,
and that by your
spirit and by your
power, you would
help us to walk
like Christ, to
walk worthy of the
gospel.
Thank you for
sending your son so
that we could
anticipate a life
with God that
begins the moment
of faith.
as we remember
this this morning,
this do in
remembrance of me,
as we remember
your work this
morning, I pray,
that it would
move us along
this path of
repentance, of
real change,
heart change,
life change,
that those who
look at us will
see not us, but
they'll see our
Lord Jesus, and
they'll give glory
to him.
We pray in your
name.
Amen.