Good morning, Watermark. My name is Graham, and I'm one of the elders here.
Last week, Chris mentioned an expectation when we come to hear God's Word, and I'd like to really continue that expectation that we set when we sit before God and His Word.
We want to hear Him speaking to us. I'd like to pray. I'd like to speak to Him before I speak to you.
Father, we thank You so much that You are a God who is real, who is a Father who wants to have a relationship with us.
Lord, I pray prepare our hearts and our minds for Your Word.
I pray help us to hear what You are saying to us, and Lord, not only to be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word.
I ask that if there's anything that I say that is not true to Your Word, that You would help us forget it before it does any damage.
But I do pray that if Your truth comes out today, that people will forget me, but they will remember Your Word.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
I want to begin by asking you to imagine with me that I have the means and the power to make you a millionaire.
Well, let's up that a bit.
I have the means and the power to make you a billionaire this morning.
All you need to do is get out of your seat, walk up on the stage, and take it.
Let's up that a little more.
I have the means and the power to make you a trillionaire this morning.
But all you need to do is get out of your chair and come and take it.
Okay, let's test that.
I have the means to make you a trillionaire this morning.
All you need to do is get up and come and take it.
Oh, good.
Lorna was first.
I saw that you moved.
Come.
Well, you have to move.
This is a trillion dollars on offer here.
All right, yeah.
Let's get very clear.
Oh, Lolly, you're too slow.
No, no.
It's just the first one.
Sorry.
Even if you're pregnant, it doesn't count.
Sorry.
Got to go sit down.
All right.
Moment of truth.
Am I true to my word?
Well, you've got to ask for it, Janet.
Okay.
Not only am I going to give Janet a trillion dollars, I'm going to give her $20 trillion.
This is legal tender.
It really is $20 trillion.
Unfortunately, it's Zimbabwean dollars.
Okay.
But it is real and it is legal tender.
So, Janet, there you go.
That's yours.
That's Watermark's first trillionaire.
Before you get too excited, it's only worth about $80 Hong Kong, right?
So, before you start asking her to buy you a car or take you out for lunch or anything like that, a trillion dollars.
But that's exactly the situation the Israelites faced.
God had promised them that a land flowing with milk and honey, a good land,
all they had to do was go in and take what God had promised them.
But they failed.
God had promised them.
They got to the promised land and they said, we're not going in.
We're too scared.
We're not going in.
So, God sent them on a 40-year journey and he said all the adults in that generation would have to die out except for two.
And then we would try again.
And that's where we find ourselves now.
The Israelites are camped on the side of the Jordan, ready to go in to the land of Canaan
and take the land that God had promised them.
And Moses is giving them the book of Deuteronomy.
Okay, now have any of you ever been into a synagogue?
Anybody?
Okay, a couple.
Now, if you go into a synagogue, what you'll see is a cupboard, right?
And in that cupboard, you open it up and there are scrolls.
I have a little miniature copy of what they would look like.
So, they would take out these scrolls.
There were five of them.
They would contain what the Jews called the Torah, the law.
And to make sure they got the right scroll that they were looking for, they would open it a little bit.
Okay?
And they would see what the words were.
The first words that they read, they would just give the name to that book.
So, for Genesis, they would open it up and it would be in the beginning.
And that's what Genesis means, in the beginning.
And with Deuteronomy, you'd open it up in Hebrew.
It means these are the words.
Because that was the first word on the scroll.
But when it came time to translate it from the Hebrew to the Greek, they changed it.
And they took two Greek words, judo, which means second, and numos, which means law.
The second law.
Now, the reason it was called the second law was because, if you know, in Exodus, the law, the covenant, was given the first time.
And now it was being repeated to a new generation.
Because they forget, right?
And Moses was giving them all the encouragement, all the decrees and the commands that they would need to go in and live in the promised land.
It was theirs.
God had promised it to them.
But they needed to go in and take it.
And he says, if you go in, there are two areas which you really need to take care in.
These two things are the foundation.
You have to get them right to live how I want you to live in the land.
And that is, you need to get your duty towards God right.
You need to understand your relationship with Him.
That is your foundation.
And then the second thing you want to get right is your duty towards your children.
Because you need to pass on this message to the next generation.
Because they are going to be foundational and live in the land.
Two things.
Your duty towards God and your duty towards your children.
And he tells them, the reason, the reason you need these is so that it may go well with you.
So that it may go well with you.
Have any of you seen a Singaporean movie?
It's quite old now.
It's called, I'm Not Stupid.
Anyone seen it?
It's a good movie.
Quite funny, right?
But there's a scene in it.
I love it.
You constantly get these parents who are forcing their kids to study.
And whenever the kids protest, the parents would say, for your own good, la.
For your own good, la.
And that's exactly what God's saying, right?
It wasn't about studying.
But he's saying, get it right.
It's for your own good, la.
So that it may go well with you.
And God hasn't changed.
He still desires the same thing.
He wishes and desires that it may go well with you.
Now, we might need to readjust what we think well means.
But this year, God wants it to go well with you.
And God wants to do things for you, in you, and through you this year.
So, your duty towards God and your duty towards your children.
But first, before he tells them, he details what he means by that.
He needs to remind them of who he is.
Because the Israelites had this tendency to make God small.
And we tend to do the same thing.
So, he reminds them.
He says, I am the creator.
This little ball that we are on in space, just floating through space at millions of miles an hour.
God made that.
And not only did he make that, he made the heavens and the stars and the moons and the planets and the universe.
He made that.
He's powerful.
He's big.
That's the God who is making this covenant with you.
And he gives them this little prayer, right?
This little saying.
It's probably one of the most famous verses in the Torah.
And it's called the Shema.
And it goes like this.
We read it today.
It says,
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
In English, hear, O Israel, sounds very polite, very proper.
But in the Hebrew, it's a word that's kind of like, listen up, Israel.
Pay attention, Israel.
This is important.
This is the foundation on which we will build and will go forward.
This is it.
The Lord our God, the God who created everything, he is ours.
We belong to him.
He belongs to us.
He's relational.
He cares about you.
He knows you.
He is ours.
And the second thing, the Lord is one.
Meaning he is the only God.
There is no exception.
There is no other choice or add on.
It's God and God alone.
Now, to put that into context,
the Israelites were about to go into the land of Canaan,
which was full of idolatry.
And idolatry always leads to immorality.
And it was the idolatry of many gods.
They worship lots of gods.
And God is saying, don't.
Don't even ask how they serve their gods.
Don't do it.
I am the only one.
I'm the only true God that really exists.
Do not be tempted by what you see.
However good it looks.
However good that sin that leads from their idolatry looks.
Don't do it.
I am the only God before you.
And then he reminds them of who they are.
So first he reminds them of who he is.
And then he reminds them of who they are.
And he says, you were slaves in Egypt.
You were nothing.
You had no power.
You had no place.
You had no influence.
You were nothing.
But God chose you.
There's a lovely verse that says,
I love you because I love you.
Right?
Not because you have anything to offer God and say,
God, look at me.
I'll give you this.
No, you were nothing.
And yet God chose to love the Israelites.
He chose them.
And he made them great.
He made them into a great nation.
Right?
They had nothing to offer him until he came and entered a relationship with them.
And if you look today, they were in the might of Egypt.
Powerful, powerful nations around them.
And yet God has been faithful and he has made the Jews into a powerful nation.
Even today, the Jews, their influence in this world is exceptional.
Right?
In the areas of art, entertainment, culture, finance.
There's Jewish names all over it.
So I read a statistic that in Harvard, they actually had to put a quota on it.
But at Harvard, there were about 25% of their students are Jewish.
But only 2% of the population in America.
Hugely influential.
Because God is faithful to his promises and he's faithful to us today.
Because get this.
Fast forward into the new covenant and we read this.
It comes from 1 Corinthians 1.
It says,
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.
Not many of you were wise by human standards.
Not many of you were influential.
Not many of you were of noble birth.
But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
God chose you.
I think it's such a humbling reminder that all the gifts and the talents that we possess,
all the things that we're tempted to become prideful and arrogant about,
are ultimately given by God to you.
So no one can boast.
No one can really say, you know, I'm actually pretty impressive.
The only duty we have is to respond to God.
You gave me the gifts and talents.
Mold me.
Let me use them for your glory.
I think it is a great leveler.
Really helps us to see who we are and just how good God is to us.
So God makes this incredible covenant with his people.
It's a great deal.
So it's kind of like, I want you to imagine again,
it's kind of like a king who has this incredible palace in his kingdom.
There are vineyards and wells and animals and lush green grass.
But outside is absolute poverty and squalor and nothingness.
And the king himself comes out of his palace and he goes in to this poverty
and he sees a boy who is an orphan.
He has nothing.
He is hungry.
He's starving.
And this king comes to him and says,
you, I want you to come and live with me in my palace, in my kingdom.
I will give you things that you did not work for,
but I'm going to give them to you.
And I just want you to come and I'm going to provide for you.
I'm going to give you food and shelter and clothing and love and care.
But all I want from you is just to remember that I'm the king.
I have the power to execute judgment and punishment.
And I just, I want you to love me.
The love that I've shown you,
I want you to respond to me with that kind of thing.
I mean, can you imagine that kids' eyes,
like, wait, wait, hang on, let me get this right.
So I'm living here.
I got no food.
I'm living in dirt, no clothes.
And you just come up and you say,
can I live there with you?
It's an amazing deal, right?
I mean, if you think about it,
what God is asking of that boy or the king,
sorry, what he's asking of that boy,
it's an incredibly just thing.
He's just saying,
show a little bit of gratitude for what I'm giving you.
It's completely reasonable.
But the benefits, who benefits from it?
The benefits are purely in our favor,
incredibly advantageous to us.
So here it is.
These are the things that God lays out.
It's our duty towards God.
And he gives it in three words.
He says, fear, love, serve.
Fear, love, serve.
The fear of the Lord.
Every day, I meet people who are afraid.
They're afraid of sickness.
They're afraid of financial collapse.
They're afraid of their children
not getting into good schools.
They're afraid of the future.
They're afraid of air pollution.
And ultimately, they're afraid of death.
But I meet very few people
who are genuinely afraid of God.
If you are afraid of God,
you will fear nothing and no one else.
Let me say that again.
If you fear God,
you will fear nothing and no one else.
Here the Israelites were.
They were going to go into the promised land.
And they had every temptation to be afraid.
Their parents' generation had got it wrong.
They walked in and said,
yes, everything God had promised.
Hey, there's grapefruit, everything.
But we're afraid.
We're afraid.
The people there, they're scary.
We're afraid.
And they were going to be tempted
to be afraid again.
And God's saying,
do not fear them.
Do not fear them.
Fear me.
I'm the only one you really need to be afraid of.
Because if you're afraid of me,
you're not going to be afraid of them.
But what is this kind of fear
we are talking about?
Because I really see that
the fear of God
is kind of a controversial thing.
And it's something
we're a little bit uncomfortable with.
So we tend not really to talk about it.
But it's actually incredibly liberating
and powerful
to walk in the fear of the Lord.
So what kind of fear is it?
It's not a phobia
that paralyzes you,
that holds you down.
It's the kind of fear
that will lead you
to the right action.
So let me put the thing.
As a father,
there are times
I need my children
to be afraid of me.
It just sounds weird,
but it's true.
I need my children
to be afraid of me.
So I'll give you an example.
About two weeks ago,
I'm sitting in our living room
and I'm working at the desk
on my computer
and our balcony door is open.
And my three-year-old,
which is quite an adventurous little girl,
she, I look,
and she is now climbing up
the railing of the balcony.
Okay, now you're thinking
bad parent, bad parent.
Okay, I was, yes.
But in that moment,
I just shouted her name
and called her here.
And she obeyed, right?
There was fear in her eyes.
And she came straight to me.
Now, if she hadn't been afraid of me,
afraid that I had power,
she would have just ignored me.
Oh, yeah, who are you?
And carried on doing.
But she didn't.
There was genuine fear
that led to the right action.
The right kind of fear
will lead you to the right action.
If you ever see a snake,
that's a healthy fear.
Okay, the right kind of action
will tell you,
run away.
Run away.
That's not a good idea.
Don't touch the snake.
That's what it is.
The fear of the Lord.
Here's the question for us.
What are you afraid of?
I ask myself this question.
What am I afraid of?
Because how I answer that question
will determine if I'm really fearing God
or am I fearing the circumstances around me
or the people around me.
What are you afraid of?
The second thing God tells them,
He says you are to love
the Lord your God.
Now,
we hear the word so much.
It's everywhere.
Love, love wins.
Love's great.
But the thing with this kind of love,
it's not an emotional love.
It's much more of a devotional love.
It's a love of obedience,
a love of reverence
for who it is
that is speaking to you.
It's a love that
creates in us
a desire
to want to be close
to that person.
And it's a love
that is responsive
to the love
that has been shown in you.
God first loved you
and how we respond to Him
is an expression of that love.
How we live
is proof
of this response.
Jesus said it like this
in John 14.
Jesus replied,
Anyone who loves me
will obey my teaching.
Let me read that again.
Anyone who loves me
will obey my teaching.
I don't know if this
has ever happened to you,
but you meet someone
who is knowingly
and blatantly
living with sin
in their life.
They know it's wrong.
They're living it.
Whatever it is.
Sleeping with your girlfriend,
cheating on your taxes,
whatever it is.
You know it's wrong.
You say,
You know,
I love Jesus.
I still love Jesus.
No, not really.
You love your sin
and you might love Jesus
a little bit,
but you kind of love the sin.
And Jesus is saying,
That's not what I'm about.
Love me.
And all this other stuff
will not matter.
Love me
out of a sense of reverence
for Him.
The question we have
to ask ourselves is,
Do we love Jesus
or do we love our sin?
Which one are we holding on to?
And the third thing
it gives Him is this,
Serve Him
with all your heart,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
It's about giving God
everything.
Everything that's inside you.
One thing about being a servant,
the very first step in serving
is to imply
that you serve a master.
You serve a Lord.
Right?
There is someone greater than you.
You have to recognize
that He's the Lord
and you're not
and I'm serving someone
greater than myself.
I like sports.
I like watching sports.
At the moment,
it's the Australian Tennis Open.
Anyone a tennis fan?
Okay.
There's about three of you.
The rest of you
just go along with the story.
Okay.
So,
at the moment,
there's the Australian Open
and there's this,
it's actually an Australian
tennis player.
It goes by the name
of Nick Kurgis,
right?
21-year-old.
Anyone heard of him?
About two months ago,
he was playing in a tournament
where he just gave up
and he wasn't trying anymore.
He was still playing tennis,
but he just gave up
and they actually found him.
You go on YouTube,
type in Nick Kurgis,
just some of the language
he uses is not appropriate,
but he's there, right?
And you see,
you get to this match
and he just gives up.
He's still playing tennis,
but he's not giving his all.
It's just a little part of him,
the little bit of effort
that he puts in.
And God is saying,
I don't want that.
Give me your all.
There is no area of your life
that is not worthy
of service to him.
You serve him in your work,
in your relationships,
in your finances.
Every area of your life,
it is in service to the Lord.
It's not just the sacred Sunday thing
that we're serving the Lord.
It's every moment of every day
you walk and you live your life
in service to him.
And the exact opposite of that
is to test him.
And this is how the Israelites tested him.
It comes from Exodus 17.
Listen carefully.
It says,
they tested the Lord
by asking a question.
Is the Lord among us or not?
Now put that in context, right?
Everything the Israelites
had seen God do,
every time he had provided for them,
he had shown them the miraculous.
And they asked this question,
you know,
is God really amongst us?
Has he gone on holiday
and left us?
It's the ultimate disrespect
and doubt to the Lord.
Yeah, I don't know.
I'm not really sure
if God's here or not.
I just,
as a father,
I just like to think,
if my six-year-old
suddenly got up and down
and said,
you know, Dad,
I'm not really sure
that you're the father
of this house.
I'm not really sure
that you actually care
about our family.
It would hurt.
As a dad,
that would be,
it would hurt me
to know that kind of thing.
And in that moment,
we get a little bit
to see God's heart here
and know that God
has feelings too.
Do you know that?
We're so wrapped up
often in our own feelings,
how we feel about God.
But do you know
that God has feelings?
And he says it here.
He says,
I am a jealous God.
Now, right,
again,
that has lots of
negative connotations.
Oh, jealous,
that's not a good thing.
Let me put it to you
like this, right?
If I saw someone else's wife
that I like more than my own,
which I don't,
honey,
I don't,
but if I did,
that would be envy.
I want something
that's not mine,
which somebody else has.
But if I saw someone
with my wife,
that would be jealousy
because she belongs to me
and I belong to her.
She's mine.
I should be jealous.
If I wasn't,
my wife would be
asking questions.
You know,
that's a bit of a problem
if you do not feel
in a slight bit jealous
that I'm with someone else.
And that's how God's feeling.
He's showing his heart.
He says,
I'm jealous,
guys,
don't you get it?
That you're mine
and I am yours.
Don't flirt with other gods.
Don't test me
and say,
are you really in this or not?
I'm jealous
because you are mine.
Don't flirt with other gods.
They've got nothing
to offer you.
And we do it, right?
We might not have the gods
that the Israelites
were facing
like proper Asher poles
and stuff,
but the gods
of power,
status,
money,
sex,
they're all around us.
And sometimes,
if I'm honest,
I kind of flirt with them
a little bit, right?
Or maybe a lot.
God's saying,
don't do it.
I'm jealous for you.
You're mine.
They're not.
They pale in comparison
to who I am to you.
Fear,
love,
serve the Lord.
That is your foundation.
That is what you are
to live in the land.
And if you live like that,
it will go well with you.
If you live like that,
it will go well with you.
And I want it to go well with you.
But don't just stop there
because you need
to think about your kids.
This is your duty
to your family.
And this is the verse.
It says,
impress them,
the decrees
and the commands of the Lord,
impress them
on your children.
Talk about them
when you sit at home,
when you walk along the road,
when you lie down,
and when you get up.
Now,
to impress
means to make
an impression.
Right?
Like an imprint.
It leaves a mark.
And I don't know
if you've ever been
to a farm
and you've seen
cows being branded.
Right?
They belong to this farm
and they kind of
brand them on the bum.
But they leave this mark.
They leave an impression.
And that's the word here.
Leave an impression
on your kids.
So that's what you to do.
And he says,
like,
when do we do this?
Right?
When you talk,
when you sit,
when you walk,
when you lie down,
when you get up.
Basically,
he's saying
every moment
of every day
is an opportunity
to leave
an impression
on your children.
All of life.
It's not just
quickly send them
to Sunday school.
It's all of life
that leaves
an impression
on your kids.
And kids are going
to learn two ways.
They're going to learn
by what they see
and what they hear.
And they're far more likely
to learn
by what they see.
So,
as I was preparing
this,
my first draft,
I thought,
I'm going to give you
great tips
on how I parent
and how I want
to leave an impression
on my children.
And actually,
it was very short.
So,
I then was reminded
what left
an impression
on me.
What impressed me
as a child?
So,
I'm going to share
a little bit
of my story
with you this morning.
So,
bear with me,
okay?
But,
my parents
got divorced
when I was
three months old.
So,
that left
my mom
with a newborn baby
and my
four-year-old
sister.
And my mom,
who's now
a retired nurse,
was nursing.
And nurses
don't get
that well paid
in South Africa,
so she had to take
a second job,
right?
So,
my mom would
work night duty,
come back,
and then go and work
another job,
and so,
I have huge amounts
of respect
for my mother,
but she didn't know Jesus.
And when you don't know Jesus,
you can't introduce your kids
to Jesus,
right?
So,
at about the age of seven,
we made a critical move
from Johannesburg
to a small little coastal town.
and my sister,
my older sister,
was invited to a birthday party
by one of her classmates,
and we went
to drop her off.
And the family
that she was,
had been invited by,
they were farmers,
they lived on this big farm,
and when we got there,
the couple came out
to meet us,
a couple by the name of
Gary and Heather Cook.
And it turned out
they didn't just have a daughter,
they had three other sons.
And they looked at me
and they said,
would you like to stay too?
And I said,
yes.
And we always joke
that that's kind of the day
they adopted me
as their fifth son.
They didn't realize
what I was saying yes to,
right?
But I kind of became
their fifth child.
And I stayed,
I spent all my weekends
on the farm,
often when my mom
worked night duty,
I would go and sleep over.
So we did life together.
They took me to school,
they took me on holiday
with them.
But Gary was also
a lay Methodist preacher.
He was a farmer
and he was a preacher.
So I'd go to church
with them as well.
And we just,
I did family with them.
So these are the five imprints
that they left on me.
So I was about seven years old
at this time.
There are many more,
but these are the five
that left a big impression on me.
The first one is
they taught their children
the commands
and the grace of God.
They showed their kids
what the relevance
they have in everyday life.
They taught them
the difference
between what is really right
and what is really wrong.
They modeled
how to honor your parents
by modeling,
by honoring their parents.
They taught their children
the value of telling the truth.
That was imprint number one.
They taught their children
the commands.
And the second imprint
they left was
a desire for learning.
Now, just to put it in context,
two of their children
had learning difficulties.
They were very gifted at sport,
very athletic.
So all they wanted to do
was the sport,
not so much the learning.
The parents said,
no, no, no.
It says to love
the Lord your God
with all your heart,
all your mind,
all your mind.
Okay, don't forget that.
So they encouraged
this development
to love the Lord your God
spiritually
and intellectually,
even when it's difficult
and tough.
And the third thing
they left an imprint on
was this was a family
of prayer.
They prayed naturally
and they prayed all the time.
They prayed at meals.
They prayed before going to bed.
They were a family of prayer.
And it wasn't just ritual prayers.
They were kind of heartfelt prayers,
right?
Not just something that we say.
They were thought about.
I have this memory
imprinted in my head.
They took me on holiday once
and we went fishing and camping.
And we had this great week,
right?
And we packed up the tents.
We were just about to leave.
And Gary says,
let's all gather around
and give thanks to God
for this time.
And we just stood there
and for about three minutes
everyone prayed
giving thanks to God
for a holiday.
It just left
an amazing impression
on my mind.
Fourth imprint
that they left
was this was a family
of repentance
and forgiveness.
They taught their children
that it takes
a big person
to say,
I did it.
It was me.
I'm sorry.
And they did it by
as a husband and wife,
right?
This wasn't a perfect family.
When they fought
or they argued,
they modeled
in front of their kids.
I did it.
It was me.
I'm sorry.
And they taught
their children
to own their stuff.
You did it.
It was me.
Okay?
I'm sorry.
You did it.
It was me.
No, I did it.
It was me.
Okay?
They taught their children
to own their stuff.
Not to play
the victim card
but to say,
I did it.
And the fifth imprint
that they really left
on me
and this kind of
involves me
was their love
for the outsider.
And I was that outsider.
They already had
a family
of four kids.
They already
were very busy
being farmers
and preachers
and leaders
in the church.
And yet,
they took the time
to love the outsider.
Hey,
let's have a fifth kid
who's not really ours
be part of our family.
And it cost them
financially, right?
They paid for me
when I went on holiday
with them.
But they taught me
what it truly means
to love the outsider.
And I want you to notice
that you might be
thinking here today,
okay,
I don't have kids.
I'm excused
from this little bit.
But,
hey,
I wasn't their child
and they left
an imprint on me.
All of us
sitting here today,
we will have
the opportunity,
the means,
and the power
to leave an impression
not only on our kids
but all the kids
out there.
All those kids
in Sunday school
will have an impression
of you.
How we live our lives,
how we relate,
how we love each other,
how we do community
will leave an impression
on our children.
We have a very powerful
responsibility.
I want to say that
I only,
we only lived
in that little town
for three years
and then my sister
went to high school
and we moved away.
So I only had
basically three years
of influence
with this family.
And,
but they planted seeds.
They planted seeds.
I didn't become
a believer
during that time
but they had
planted seeds.
And when I did
become a Christian
at the age of 21,
one of the first
things I did
was write a letter
to this family
and thank them
of the models
they were
and their love for me.
I now had
a clearer understanding
of what motivated them
but it was one
of the first things
I did
just to honor them
for the impression
that they had left
on my life.
What impression
are we leaving
on our kids?
Okay,
now all this
sounds great,
right?
So that it may
go well with you.
We do these things,
we live them
and it's all
working wonderfully
but it doesn't.
God constantly
warned them.
He said,
don't forget.
When you've got it
and it's going well,
don't forget God
but they did.
The Israelites did.
It's kind of like
if that analogy
I gave you
of the king
going and rescuing
that little boy
from poverty
and brought him in.
After a while
he's clothed,
he's nice and clean,
things are going well
but after a while
he gets bored.
He starts thinking
a lot of himself
and says,
you know what,
I'm going to climb
over the palace wall again.
I'm going to go
and check out
the dirt
that I used to play in.
Maybe I'm going
to get dirty again
and I'll kind of
jump back in
over the wall.
You know,
that king,
his demand,
I have to love him.
That's exactly
what happened
to Israel.
Time and time again
if you look
at the history
of the thing,
they kind of
remembered God,
they forgot him.
Remembered God,
they forgot him.
But here was
the fundamental problem
was the law
because the law
was an offer
and a demand.
It was an offer
of protection,
provision,
blessing,
but it was
a demand
of righteousness.
I will bless you,
I will protect you,
I will be your God,
but you need
to be holy,
you need to live right,
you need to respond
to me.
And they couldn't
do it.
They couldn't do it
because there's
something fundamentally
wrong with the human heart.
The human heart
is bent towards
rebellion and sin
and wanting to do
our things
our own way.
We don't like
to be told what to do
and they couldn't
do it.
But then the gospel
comes along
and the gospel
is an offer
and an offer.
It is an offer
of blessing,
adoption,
sonship,
provision,
care,
love.
But it's also
an offer
of righteousness.
God's righteousness,
not your own.
This is what it says
in Romans 1.
For I'm not ashamed
of the gospel
because it is
the power of God
that brings salvation
to everyone
who believes,
first to the Jew,
then to the gentle.
For in the gospel,
the righteousness
of God
is revealed,
a righteousness
that is by faith
from first to last.
Just as it is written,
the righteous
will live by faith.
And that means
the righteous
will live
by keeping faith.
It is no longer
a demand,
it is an offer.
God is giving you,
He's offering you something
but He is offering you
even more.
In the beginning
when Janet came up
and collected her
20 trillion dollars,
even if it was
really 20 trillion
US dollars,
it is nothing,
nothing in comparison
to what you are
being offered by God.
The gospel
is infinitely greater
than that.
When we grasp
our heads
how wonderful
God is
towards us.
An offer
and an offer.
But we have to go in
and take it.
God is offering you
something.
Will you accept
His righteousness?
So,
maybe there are people
here today
where you have heard
the gospel
time and time again,
but you are sitting
on the opposite side
of the Jordan
and thinking,
I don't know,
I'm pretty comfortable,
I'm pretty happy here,
it looks like a scary
place to be.
Will you go in
and take
what God is offering you?
let's think about that
individually for us.
What is it
that God has
for you
this year
that we
have the opportunity
to go in
and take?
Maybe
for some of us
God is saying,
I want you to step up,
I want you to be
in leadership,
I want you to serve.
will you
take it?
I've given you
every provision
you possibly need.
Will you take it?
Maybe
for some of us
it's
God's forgiveness.
Are we holding
on to a hurt?
Are we kind of
holding on?
We're scared
to cross over
and take
what God
is freely
wanting to give you.
Maybe
He's asking you
in the workplace
to be
a light
for Him.
You're afraid
to speak out.
Are you prepared
to go in
and take
what God
has for you?
For our children,
for our children
guys,
the next generation,
are we prepared
to leave
an impression?
It will cost us,
right?
When the Israelites
were promised
go in and take
the land,
it wasn't a walk
in the park.
They still had
to get rid
of all the enemies
that were there,
but God
would be with them.
It was still
an effort.
Guys,
to invest
in the lives
of others,
to invest
in the children
around you,
it will be
a costly thing.
It will require
sacrifice,
but are we
prepared to do it?
Are we prepared
to live lives
that point them
to Jesus?
Are we prepared
to model truth
and grace
to them?
Guys,
and finally,
as a church,
are we prepared
to go in
and take
what God
has for us?
This is really
something that's
been burning
on my heart.
I look around,
there's empty chairs,
guys.
One of the mission
of this church
is to be
a light
in this city,
in this district.
And the day
that we don't have
any empty chairs
left,
then we will build
a bigger place
or find a bigger
place to get
more people in here.
But that is the heart
and soul
of why we exist.
are we prepared
to go in
and take
what God
has for us?
I have to put up
my hands
to ask my question.
God,
are we prepared
to take it?
Because you are offering
us,
you've given us
everything,
but are we prepared
to walk in
your truth,
your righteousness,
and be the church
we're called to be?
Are we going to take
hold of God's
righteousness
this morning
so that
it may
go well
with you?
If we care
about the city
out there,
there are people
who are desperate
for the gospel.
They're living
in their sin.
They're bound
by so many things.
And we have
the word of life
for them.
We ourselves,
do we live
in that gospel?
Do we live
in God's righteousness?
Or do we default
to our own
kind of righteousness?
Or do we just
blatantly sin?
Or are we taking
hold of God's
righteousness
and thanking Him
for it?
All right,
I've spoken enough,
but I really,
I'd love to pray
for us.
Father,
I ask
for forgiveness
forgiveness,
where we've,
you've given us
everything,
your blessing,
your mercy,
and we haven't,
we haven't taken it
or we've taken it
for granted.
But we know
that you are a God
who is full of compassion,
full of grace,
and freely forgives us.
Lord,
you're a God
who picks us up
and leads us on
and wants us
to take
and lead others,
Lord Jesus,
to a relationship
with you.
I pray,
give us
that power,
that joy,
that desire
to live for you,
to serve you
and you alone,
to give you
everything
that we are.
Lord,
I pray that as we
go out this week,
Lord,
bless us
in such a way
that there is
a desire
in our hearts
to love you,
to be with you,
and to know
that your desire
is that it may
go well
with us.
Lord,
we thank you
for the death,
burial,
and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
And in that,
in that alone,
we have our hope,
we have our future,
we have our foundation.
We love you.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.