Taking the Test

Intro: Mark 12:30-31 | 1 John 3:10-24

1. Study Failure: Heart of Cain (1 John 3:10-15)
2. Study Success: The Heart of Christ (1 John 3:16-18)

   3 Aspects to Loving Like Christ

   1. The Love of Christ is Willing (1 John 3:16)
   2. The Love of Christ is Fueled by Compassion (1 John 3:17)
   3. The Love of Christ is Driven to Action (1 John 3:18)
3. Take the Test: Is My Heart like Cain or Christ (1 JOhn 3:19-24)
4. Pass the Test: Gain a Heart of Confidence (1 John 3:23-24)

Galatians 5:14 - For sthe whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:26-00:32

  I remember walking into Chick-fil-A and Justin and Michelle were both dressed like cows.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:33-00:37

  Because it was dress like a cow, get free Chick-fil-A day, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:38-00:48

  So I walk in, here's this new, exciting, really fun young couple from church that pastor's gonna sit down and meet, and I walk in there and they are both dressed like cows.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:48-01:00

  And I knew from that moment, I said, "I like these people." Justin is a profoundly deep thinker and he's a great communicator and we're really privileged to be having him bringing us God's Word today.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:00-01:03

  So Justin, let's hear from the Lord today, shall we?

  Justin Cady:

  01:03-01:04

  Thank you very much, Pastor Jeff.

  Justin Cady:

  01:05-01:06

  Good morning, everyone.

  Justin Cady:

  01:06-01:10

  It is an honor to be with you here this morning sharing the Word.

  Justin Cady:

  01:11-01:12

  Let's say a quick prayer.

  Justin Cady:

  01:12-01:14

  Lord God, I thank you for this day.

  Justin Cady:

  01:14-01:16

  I thank you for this church.

  Justin Cady:

  01:16-01:18

  I thank you for the people that are gathered here today.

  Justin Cady:

  01:19-01:24

  I pray that right now, God, as we discuss your word, that that would be the focus.

  Justin Cady:

  01:24-01:28

  And God, you would just use your word to speak to us this morning.

  Justin Cady:

  01:29-01:30

  Please bless this time in Jesus' name.

  Justin Cady:

  01:31-01:31

  Amen.

  Justin Cady:

  01:32-01:35

  How many people here have ever taken a test?

  Justin Cady:

  01:36-01:43

  I'm talking about a written exam, you know, the pop quiz, filling in the circles with the number two pencils.

  Justin Cady:

  01:44-01:45

  Most of us have done that, right?

  Justin Cady:

  01:46-01:51

  How many of us here have taken a test that we did not study for?

  Justin Cady:

  01:52-01:52

  Is it just me?

  Justin Cady:

  01:52-01:53

  Okay, all right.

  Justin Cady:

  01:54-01:56

  I was worried, but thank you for the honesty in this room.

  Justin Cady:

  01:57-02:01

  This happened to me way back when in AP US History.

  Justin Cady:

  02:02-02:05

  And what do we typically do in these situations?

  Justin Cady:

  02:06-02:07

  We sort of talk ourselves into it, right?

  Justin Cady:

  02:08-02:12

  I'm thinking, "How bad can this be?" You know, I've been to every class.

  Justin Cady:

  02:13-02:15

  I've read some of the chapters.

  Justin Cady:

  02:15-02:16

  I live in the United States.

  Justin Cady:

  02:17-02:18

  I should be able to do all right here.

  Justin Cady:

  02:20-02:21

  And then what happens next?

  Justin Cady:

  02:21-02:29

  Of course, teacher hands out the test, and I look at the first page, and I'm like, "I have never heard of that guy." I turn the page.

  Justin Cady:

  02:29-02:31

  Yeah, I've never seen any of this in my life.

  Justin Cady:

  02:31-02:32

  Has anyone been there?

  Justin Cady:

  02:33-02:38

  So now, reality is setting in, and sweat starts coming down the brow.

  Justin Cady:

  02:38-02:41

  I'm not even really reading the questions on the test.

  Justin Cady:

  02:41-02:46

  I'm just thinking, "How many times in a row do you think C is going to be the multiple-choice answer.

  Justin Cady:

  02:46-02:49

  So needless to say, I did not do well on that test.

  Justin Cady:

  02:50-03:00

  I'm sure many of us here probably have similar stories, or maybe recurring dreams, but what a feeling of panic and dread in that moment.

  Justin Cady:

  03:01-03:02

  And why do you think we have that?

  Justin Cady:

  03:03-03:09

  I think it's because when we take a test, we're trying to prove whether or not we know something.

  Justin Cady:

  03:09-03:13

  If you didn't study, it's super unlikely that you're going to know.

  Justin Cady:

  03:13-03:16

  And today, we're going to take a test together.

  Justin Cady:

  03:16-03:18

  Don't worry, we're going to study first.

  Justin Cady:

  03:19-03:24

  The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13, 5 that we are to examine ourselves and test ourselves.

  Justin Cady:

  03:25-03:30

  And today, we're going to test ourselves on if we're loving the way that God calls us to.

  Justin Cady:

  03:30-03:35

  Now, at hearing that, the first reaction might be, well, sure, I love God.

  Justin Cady:

  03:36-03:36

  I love people.

  Justin Cady:

  03:36-03:37

  I should be fine.

  Justin Cady:

  03:38-03:41

  And I think on the surface, we can say that.

  Justin Cady:

  03:41-03:44

  But today, we're really going to have to dig deep.

  Justin Cady:

  03:45-03:48

  And that's because the Bible teaches that God is love.

  Justin Cady:

  03:48-03:54

  And the commandment that Jesus gives to us, above all others, is to love.

  Justin Cady:

  03:55-03:58

  And we see that in Mark 12, verses 30 and 31.

  Justin Cady:

  03:58-04:03

  Jesus here is asked which commandment is the greatest, the most important.

  Justin Cady:

  04:03-04:05

  And this is how he responds.

  Justin Cady:

  04:05-04:11

  "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.

  Justin Cady:

  04:12-04:16

  The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

  Justin Cady:

  04:17-04:28

  There is no other commandment greater than these." So in light of Jesus' response there, testing ourselves on the way that we love seems pretty important, doesn't it?

  Justin Cady:

  04:28-04:37

  And actually, the test that we're going to take together today is the most important thing that you're ever going to evaluate about yourself.

  Justin Cady:

  04:38-04:44

  First off, I think we need to clarify a little bit, what do we even mean when we say, "I love people"?

  Justin Cady:

  04:45-04:59

  Culturally, today, the first thing that comes to your mind might be, "We're all sitting in a circle, holding hands, singing kumbaya, everybody's accepting everything that everyone else does, it's all cool." That's not love.

  Justin Cady:

  05:00-05:07

  At its core, love is putting the needs of someone else ahead of your own needs.

  Justin Cady:

  05:08-05:09

  That's the essence of love.

  Justin Cady:

  05:11-05:16

  So if you'll turn with me to 1 John 3, we're going to see more about that.

  Justin Cady:

  05:16-05:20

  It's towards the end of your Bible, and it's going to be the guide for our test today.

  Justin Cady:

  05:21-05:31

  And of course, as we hopefully learned from my experience in US history so long ago, we need to study first, and then we're going to take the test.

  Justin Cady:

  05:32-05:38

  And in this passage, John is going to give us two examples that we can study in preparation.

  Justin Cady:

  05:40-05:44

  So 1 John 3, and we're going to pick it up in verse 10.

  Justin Cady:

  05:45-05:51

  It says, "By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

  Justin Cady:

  05:52-05:59

  Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

  Justin Cady:

  05:59-06:05

  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

  Justin Cady:

  06:06-06:10

  We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.

  Justin Cady:

  06:11-06:12

  And why did he murder him?

  Justin Cady:

  06:12-06:15

  Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

  Justin Cady:

  06:16-06:19

  Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

  Justin Cady:

  06:20-06:26

  We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.

  Justin Cady:

  06:27-06:29

  "Whoever does not love abides in death.

  Justin Cady:

  06:30-06:42

  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So John laid out our test in verses 10 and 11.

  Justin Cady:

  06:42-06:43

  Did you see that?

  Justin Cady:

  06:43-06:50

  He said, "Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

  Justin Cady:

  06:51-06:57

  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." That is the test.

  Justin Cady:

  06:58-07:00

  To be children of God, we must love.

  Justin Cady:

  07:00-07:07

  And John is writing to his brothers and sisters in the church here, reminding us that we've heard this from the beginning.

  Justin Cady:

  07:07-07:10

  He's referring back to Jesus' response that we just saw.

  Justin Cady:

  07:11-07:13

  So we know what the test is.

  Justin Cady:

  07:13-07:16

  But before we take the test, we have to study.

  Justin Cady:

  07:16-07:18

  And that brings us to our first point today.

  Justin Cady:

  07:19-07:22

  Study failure, the heart of Cain.

  Justin Cady:

  07:23-07:26

  So the first example John describes for us in this passage is Cain.

  Justin Cady:

  07:27-07:34

  Way back near the beginning of your Bible, and actually near the beginning of time, there were two brothers, Cain and Abel.

  Justin Cady:

  07:35-07:38

  Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.

  Justin Cady:

  07:39-07:43

  To make a long story short, both of them brought an offering to the Lord.

  Justin Cady:

  07:44-07:47

  Abel's offering pleased God, but Cain's did not.

  Justin Cady:

  07:48-07:58

  And rather than listening to God and changing his ways, Cain became jealous of his brother Abel and how God was pleased with him, and he killed him.

  Justin Cady:

  07:59-08:01

  It was actually the first murder in history.

  Justin Cady:

  08:02-08:10

  So what does John, writing through the Holy Spirit here, want us to learn from the example of Cain as we study how to love others?

  Justin Cady:

  08:11-08:19

  Well, of course, Cain is provided as the exact opposite of the way that we're supposed to love, and literally, because he's an example of hatred.

  Justin Cady:

  08:20-08:22

  And certainly we know that we're not supposed to hate.

  Justin Cady:

  08:24-08:31

  It's important to know how did Cain get to the point of hatred, to the point of killing his own brother.

  Justin Cady:

  08:32-08:34

  It started with jealousy.

  Justin Cady:

  08:35-08:44

  Cain was jealous of Abel's approval from the Lord, and that jealousy grew into resentment, and that resentment led him to murder.

  Justin Cady:

  08:45-08:55

  And today, we don't get jealous over sacrifices of animals or crops, But we still have plenty of opportunity to repeat Cain's mistake.

  Justin Cady:

  08:56-09:00

  We can see the other person at work getting the promotion that we think we should get.

  Justin Cady:

  09:01-09:05

  Or we see our friend driving a brand new car that we would want to drive.

  Justin Cady:

  09:06-09:10

  And in those little moments, a seed of jealousy gets planted.

  Justin Cady:

  09:10-09:17

  And as we saw in the case of Cain, sometimes we get jealous even when the other person is doing everything right.

  Justin Cady:

  09:18-09:21

  maybe especially when the other person is doing everything right.

  Justin Cady:

  09:21-09:26

  And over time, that jealousy grows into a resentment of that person.

  Justin Cady:

  09:27-09:44

  You think, "You know, he's never been the same since he got that promotion, or since he started driving that new car, but really, who has changed?" And that resentment turns into hatred, and you can see just how quickly we can fall into that same spiral of jealousy before we even know it.

  Justin Cady:

  09:45-09:50

  But still, you might be saying to yourself, "Okay, I get it. Cain is a bad example.

  Justin Cady:

  09:51-09:53

  But this is pretty extreme, right?

  Justin Cady:

  09:53-10:00

  I mean, even if I've been a little jealous of a co-worker or a friend, I've never killed anyone. I'm not a murderer.

  Justin Cady:

  10:01-10:11

  So, if we're taking a test, can I just mark the 'not a murderer' checkbox, and we can keep studying something else?" And the answer is no.

  Justin Cady:

  10:12-10:17

  You see, God has a higher standard for loving the people around us than just not killing them.

  Justin Cady:

  10:18-10:33

  And it ties into that last verse that we just read, where it said, where John wrote, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." The immediate reaction to that is, "Wait a second.

  Justin Cady:

  10:33-10:38

  Does that mean that God can't forgive murderers?" No.

  Justin Cady:

  10:39-11:41

  You see, there's heroes of the Bible, like David, who committed murder and had to face the consequences on earth, but repented and was forgiven by God. And remember that Jesus himself, while he was on the cross, prayed for his murderers to be forgiven when he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." So no, that's not what John's talking about here. What he's talking about is having the heart of a murderer, a heart that's marked by hatred. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 that those who hate will be liable to the same judgment as murderers. So John is echoing those words of Jesus here, saying, "By hating someone, it's the same to God as if you had killed them." So the example of Cain is here to remind us that yes, we should not murder like Cain, but also we must not hate like Cain. So back to the test.

  Justin Cady:

  11:41-11:48

  We've now studied an example of someone who failed, but we want to pass, right?

  Justin Cady:

  11:49-12:35

  And the next example that John provides is someone who passed the test so hard he became the answer key. I think you'll see what I mean. Let's pick it back up in verse 16. "By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. That brings us to our second point today, Study success, the heart of Christ.

  Justin Cady:

  12:36-12:42

  In these verses, John is referring to Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for us. Amen?

  Justin Cady:

  12:43-12:57

  With the example of Christ, we're definitely at the other end of the spectrum now, and it really is striking to look at just how opposite of an example Christ is from what we read about Cain. Cain's heart was full of hatred.

  Justin Cady:

  12:57-13:01

  Christ's heart was the truest love that's ever walked on the earth.

  Justin Cady:

  13:02-13:07

  Verse 12 said that Cain was of the devil, but we know that Jesus was the son of God.

  Justin Cady:

  13:08-13:22

  Verse 14 said that hatred like Cain's leads to death, but we know that the love of Jesus leads to life. Cain took a life in committing a murder. Jesus sacrificed himself.

  Justin Cady:

  13:23-14:07

  So these two examples really are polar opposites. Cain's example shows us what we should avoid in our heart. Jesus' example shows us what to strive to change our heart into. Well, Christ's love is infinite and it could be the subject of every sermon from now until the end of time. There are three specific aspects of Christ's love that we can pull out of this passage. So here are the three aspects we see here of loving like Christ. Number one, in verse 16 we see that the love of Christ is willing. Jesus willfully made the decision to lay down his life for us. Love starts with a choice.

  Justin Cady:

  14:08-14:26

  That's what love is. You have to choose to love. Jesus didn't just show up at the cross and decide right then and there, "I guess I'll sacrifice myself." No, the whole reason that he came was that He had already chosen to love us, and He wanted to rescue us through His sacrifice.

  Justin Cady:

  14:27-14:32

  And there's a very common place that we remind ourselves of love beginning with a choice.

  Justin Cady:

  14:34-14:34

  Wedding vows.

  Justin Cady:

  14:34-14:52

  When you're at a wedding, and you hear the bride and groom say, "In sickness and in health," you can directly translate that to, "I am choosing to love you, whether we are sick or healthy." "I am choosing to love you whether we are richer or poorer.

  Justin Cady:

  14:54-15:17

  "I am choosing to love you when our circumstances are better "and when they're worse." And those words stem from Jesus looking at all of us and saying, "I am choosing to love you "no matter what you've done "and no matter what it costs me." What an incredible choice Jesus made.

  Justin Cady:

  15:18-15:21

  Number two, the second aspect we see here.

  Justin Cady:

  15:21-15:27

  In verse 17, we see that Christ's love is fueled by compassion.

  Justin Cady:

  15:29-15:50

  It says, "But if anyone has the world's goods "and sees his brother in need, "yet closes his heart against him, "how does God's love abide in him?" You see, Jesus made the choice to love not just because God said so, though that would be enough, but because he saw our need and he felt compassion.

  Justin Cady:

  15:51-16:02

  And the Bible even specifically records in Matthew 9.36 and 14.14, and in many other places, that Jesus had compassion on the crowds that were following him.

  Justin Cady:

  16:04-16:14

  And we likewise need to love people not just because God said so, though again, that is enough, but because we care about them.

  Justin Cady:

  16:15-16:18

  And as I was thinking about this, I thought about the dentist.

  Justin Cady:

  16:19-16:26

  And the reason I say that is, it was just before Michelle and I were getting married, and I needed to find a new dentist.

  Justin Cady:

  16:26-16:29

  So I did what I thought was a sensible thing to do.

  Justin Cady:

  16:30-16:33

  I googled and scheduled an appointment with one of them.

  Justin Cady:

  16:34-16:45

  And to be fair to them, maybe they were just having an off day, but have you ever been at the dentist and they're a little bit too cavalier with that minty buzzsaw that they have.

  Justin Cady:

  16:46-16:52

  And so not only do your teeth get polished, but everything in the near vicinity is getting hit.

  Justin Cady:

  16:52-17:00

  And then after that, the dentist comes back and I just, I've never met this person before and I just said, "Yeah, so how's everything looking?

  Justin Cady:

  17:00-17:04

  What's the plan?" And he said, did not look up at me.

  Justin Cady:

  17:05-17:10

  "Well, I'm going to look through your teeth and try to find holes, and if I find some, I'm going to fill them up.

  Justin Cady:

  17:12-17:14

  That's dentistry." "OK!"

  17:15-17:15

  (Laughter)

  17:16-17:16

  So

  Justin Cady:

  17:16-17:25

  I told Michelle about this, and she said, "Well, why don't you just come to my dentist?" So the next time, when my next appointment was up, I did just that.

  Justin Cady:

  17:26-17:31

  And let me tell you, maybe it was because of the first experience, but the second one was completely different.

  Justin Cady:

  17:33-17:36

  The chair was comfortable and luxurious.

  Justin Cady:

  17:37-17:40

  People were just complimenting my teeth as I walk in.

  Justin Cady:

  17:40-17:44

  They were careful and precise with that buzzsaw.

  Justin Cady:

  17:44-17:45

  It was completely different.

  Justin Cady:

  17:46-17:55

  Now, I know that technically, both of those offices did the exact same procedure to my teeth, didn't they?

  Justin Cady:

  17:55-17:57

  Technically, they did the same thing.

  Justin Cady:

  17:58-18:09

  But what a difference it made when someone was carefree and not super concerned about my needs, and someone who was extremely caring and careful.

  Justin Cady:

  18:09-18:16

  And in the same way, we can tell when someone's helping us and their heart's not really in it, can't we?

  Justin Cady:

  18:16-18:21

  When they're just going through the motions, we cannot be like that.

  Justin Cady:

  18:22-18:34

  We not only need to help people, but do it out of a true compassion for them. They can tell the difference and it makes a huge difference, like at the dentist.

  Justin Cady:

  18:35-18:55

  The third aspect we see about loving like Christ from these verses is in verse 18. We see that Christ's love is driven to action. After first choosing to love us and then being fueled by his compassion for us, Christ didn't just talk about making the ultimate sacrifice. He did it.

  Justin Cady:

  18:57-19:34

  And we need be the same way. Love without action isn't love. I tried really, really hard to come up with another way to say this, but loving like Christ is not talking the talk, it's walking the walk. That's exactly right. We can't just talk about loving. We have to be like Christ and actually walk it out like He did. So we see from the example of Christ that we should first choose to love, then be fueled by compassion for the people that God has placed in our lives, and then do something about it.

  Justin Cady:

  19:36-19:41

  So now that we've studied both examples, it's time to actually take the test.

  Justin Cady:

  19:42-19:44

  And that's point number three for today.

  Justin Cady:

  19:45-19:46

  Take the test.

  Justin Cady:

  19:46-19:48

  Is my heart like Cain or Christ?

  Justin Cady:

  19:49-19:51

  Let's pick it back up in verse 19.

  Justin Cady:

  19:53-20:04

  By this, meaning loving like Christ in the verses that we just read, by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.

  Justin Cady:

  20:05-20:10

  For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything.

  Justin Cady:

  20:11-20:23

  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.

  Justin Cady:

  20:25-20:34

  And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He has commanded us.

  Justin Cady:

  20:34-20:38

  Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him.

  Justin Cady:

  20:39-20:51

  And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." So there's a lot to unpack in this text, but I want to focus on verse 19.

  Justin Cady:

  20:52-20:57

  By loving like Christ, we shall know that we are of the truth.

  Justin Cady:

  20:58-21:08

  And so, I want you to ask yourself, and you can just limit it to the last week, have I been willfully choosing to love people, or am I choosing to ignore them?

  Justin Cady:

  21:09-21:14

  Does seeing their need fill me with compassion, or do I not care at all?

  Justin Cady:

  21:15-21:19

  Do I go from seeing that need to actually loving and helping them?

  Justin Cady:

  21:19-21:26

  Or do I just talk about loving and helping people with words that end up hollow because I don't do anything about it?

  Justin Cady:

  21:28-21:31

  We talked at the beginning about academic experiences.

  Justin Cady:

  21:32-21:34

  Do you remember what it feels like when you fail a test?

  Justin Cady:

  21:35-21:38

  The teacher is handing each one back.

  Justin Cady:

  21:39-21:41

  Yours goes face down on the desk.

  Justin Cady:

  21:41-21:42

  They just keep walking.

  Justin Cady:

  21:43-21:43

  There's no eye contact.

  Justin Cady:

  21:44-21:50

  And after a few minutes, you finally get the courage to turn it over and see what the damage is.

  Justin Cady:

  21:51-21:52

  Doesn't feel good, does it?

  Justin Cady:

  21:54-22:00

  Maybe answering those questions about how you've been loving people might have brought back some of those feelings.

  Justin Cady:

  22:01-22:08

  And if so, I can promise you, you are not alone, because I've felt that so much while studying this text.

  Justin Cady:

  22:10-22:17

  But the unique thing about testing yourself on loving like Christ is there's not a single other person on the planet who can give you a grade.

  Justin Cady:

  22:18-22:22

  The only people who know your true heart are you and God.

  Justin Cady:

  22:24-22:24

  That's the end of the list.

  Justin Cady:

  22:26-22:29

  And sure, people who know you can make a really educated guess.

  Justin Cady:

  22:30-22:34

  They can look at the fruit of your life and how you act when you're in front of them.

  Justin Cady:

  22:35-22:43

  But ultimately, only you and God know if, like we just read, your heart is condemning you or not.

  Justin Cady:

  22:44-22:52

  Only you and God know what your heart really looks like when you're driving and someone cuts you off and slams on their brakes.

  Justin Cady:

  22:54-22:56

  Do you feel the hatred like Cain in that moment?

  Justin Cady:

  22:58-23:10

  Only you and God know what your heart really looks like when your coworker messes up in the exact same way for the fifth time this week.

  Justin Cady:

  23:11-23:17

  Do you have compassion and try to get to the root cause and try to help them?

  Justin Cady:

  23:17-23:20

  Or do you just gossip about them behind their back?

  Justin Cady:

  23:21-23:30

  Only you and God know what your heart really looks like when you see someone struggling and you have the means or the skills to help them.

  Justin Cady:

  23:30-23:35

  Is your first reaction to help or is it to come up with excuses not to?

  Justin Cady:

  23:36-23:49

  And we have to understand that John's writing here is starkly black and white, total hatred or total love, and even at our best, we're not going to achieve the perfection that Christ did.

  Justin Cady:

  23:49-23:50

  We're not.

  Justin Cady:

  23:51-24:04

  But we need to take a long, hard look inside and ask ourselves, "Am I focused on imitating Christ and I'm stumbling here and there, but getting back up and getting back on track?

  Justin Cady:

  24:05-24:11

  Or is the truth that I haven't looked at Christ's example in a long time?

  Justin Cady:

  24:12-24:16

  And my heart is so bitter now that I don't even recognize it.

  Justin Cady:

  24:17-24:18

  I don't know your heart.

  Justin Cady:

  24:20-24:21

  Only you and God do.

  Justin Cady:

  24:22-24:31

  But I do know that all love comes from God, and so a habitually loveless person does not know Him.

  Justin Cady:

  24:32-24:33

  It's straight from the text.

  Justin Cady:

  24:34-24:44

  "Whoever does not love abides in death." A habitually loveless person does not know him, even if you think you do.

  Justin Cady:

  24:46-24:52

  But the beauty of this passage is that it doesn't end there, and it doesn't just remind us of failing.

  Justin Cady:

  24:53-24:59

  Do you remember studying hard for a test and passing, getting an A+?

  Justin Cady:

  25:00-25:01

  You studied so hard.

  Justin Cady:

  25:02-25:07

  the work, all that you put into it, and you did it, you passed.

  Justin Cady:

  25:08-25:14

  What a sense of calm and relief, the weight being lifted off your shoulders, the peace.

  Justin Cady:

  25:15-25:22

  And the feeling of passing an exam is amazing, but it's nothing compared to what John writes here.

  Justin Cady:

  25:23-25:28

  When we are walking in love, we have complete assurance in the Lord.

  Justin Cady:

  25:29-25:31

  And that's our final point for today.

  Justin Cady:

  25:32-25:36

  Point number four is pass the test and gain a heart of confidence.

  Justin Cady:

  25:38-26:06

  Verse 19 says, "By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him." Verse 24, "By the Spirit whom He has given us, we know that He abides in us." Verse 21, "We have confidence before God." Verse 22, "We keep His commandments and do what pleases Him." You see, when you take the test and you do see the love of Christ flowing out of your life, there's only one explanation.

  Justin Cady:

  26:07-26:12

  You know the Lord and His Spirit is working through you to love others.

  Justin Cady:

  26:13-26:22

  What a feeling of peace and confidence comes from the fact, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you know Him and you're an active participant in His plan.

  Justin Cady:

  26:23-26:45

  And as you love others around you, the power of love is not only are you blessing that person, but you yourself are being reassured, "My walk with God is real." You have a confidence that Christ is molding you and shaping you, and you will see him one day, and you know it without a shred of doubt.

  Justin Cady:

  26:47-26:52

  in a lot of areas in our lives, we have a tendency to overcomplicate things, don't we?

  Justin Cady:

  26:53-26:58

  We can get wrapped up in the details and miss the bigger picture.

  Justin Cady:

  26:59-27:05

  So don't miss this foundational truth about our call to love others.

  Justin Cady:

  27:05-27:07

  It's right there in verse 23.

  Justin Cady:

  27:08-27:19

  And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and we love one another just as He has commanded us.

  Justin Cady:

  27:20-27:37

  Galatians 5.14 also speaks about how Jesus has commanded us, saying, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

  Justin Cady:

  27:38-27:48

  Those words of Jesus are so often repeated, twisted and mixed up and we hear them all the time in some form.

  Justin Cady:

  27:49-27:52

  May we never become numb to them.

  Justin Cady:

  27:53-28:16

  Those words are mind-blowing because they're so simple and at the same time condensing thousands of years of teaching into one statement and even at the same time asking us to do the single most difficult thing that we will ever be asked to do, to die to ourselves.

  Justin Cady:

  28:17-28:31

  But by following his supreme commandment of love, we serve Christ, we serve others like he has called us to, and we gain complete confidence in our relationship with him.

  Justin Cady:

  28:33-28:35

  That is passing the test.

  Justin Cady:

  28:36-28:41

  So as we close for today, John's call to us here is clear.

  Justin Cady:

  28:42-29:02

  We need to study the examples and not be like Cain and fall into jealousy and resentment and hatred, but instead study Christ and follow his example of choosing to love through compassion and with action.

  Justin Cady:

  29:04-29:12

  And we need to take the test and remember that today should not be the only day that you do, because we're all going to stumble.

  Justin Cady:

  29:14-29:23

  But rather than dwelling in it, we're going to retake the test and refocus ourselves, our lives, on loving like Christ.

  Justin Cady:

  29:24-29:30

  And that'll lead us to pass the test and have complete assurance of our standing with God.

  Justin Cady:

  29:31-29:33

  And maybe you've stumbled.

  Justin Cady:

  29:35-29:41

  But today can be the day that you can refocus and take the test and get back on track.

  Justin Cady:

  29:42-29:47

  Or maybe you're here today and you don't have the assurance that I was talking about.

  Justin Cady:

  29:48-29:55

  And you know that it's not because you've just stumbled, but it's because you don't yet know the Lord.

  Justin Cady:

  29:57-30:05

  And if that's you, you need to let Christ into your life, because without Him, you cannot pass the test.

  Justin Cady:

  30:06-30:12

  Today can be your day, and you can get that confidence that we're talking about.

  Justin Cady:

  30:13-30:15

  You can pass the test.

  Justin Cady:

  30:17-30:17

  Let's pray.

  Justin Cady:

  30:19-30:21

  Father God, I thank you for our time today.

  Justin Cady:

  30:22-30:23

  I thank you for your word.

  Justin Cady:

  30:25-30:30

  I thank you that you sent your Son, and He first loved us.

  Justin Cady:

  30:33-30:45

  I pray, God, that all of us here would focus our hearts on imitating the example of love that Christ was for us.

  Justin Cady:

  30:48-30:57

  God, let us continually be transformed by His love and pass that love through ourselves on to others, God.

  Justin Cady:

  31:02-31:11

  God, I pray that everyone here would pass the test, Lord, and you would continue to mold us and shape us to be more like your Son.

  Justin Cady:

  31:13-31:15

  Thank you for His sacrifice.

  Justin Cady:

  31:16-31:18

  In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 John 3:10-24

1. How can we guard ourselves against falling into the spiral of jealousy*/resentment/hatred?
    

2. What challenges do we face in loving others the way that Christ does?
    

3. How can we build the habit of testing our hearts in order to avoid bitterness?
    

4. Beyond assurance of our own faith, what benefits can we gain from complete confidence in our relationship with God?

Breakout:
Pray for each other

Seeking Wisdom During Trials

Introduction (Job 28:20-28)

Seeking Wisdom

1. Wisdom cannot be found Apart from God. (Job 28:20-27)
2. Wisdom is found with God. (Job 28:28a)

Proverbs 9:10 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight"

James 1:5 - "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him"

2 Ways to Fellow with God and His Word during Trials

1. Utilize Small Groups
2. Pray the Bible

Seeking Wisdom

3. Wisdom brings us Closer to God. (Job 28:28b)

Michael Wolski - Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North A/V Ministry Leader

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:28-00:37

  If you're visiting with us today, my name is Jeff, and I serve as the pastor here at Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North, but I am not preaching this month.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:38-00:43

  We have four wonderful speakers that we'll be introducing the next one here in just a minute.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:45-00:45

  So what am I doing?

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:46-00:52

  Well, this week I will be working on the preaching calendar for the next year.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:53-01:01

  I pre-prepare the messages from October to September is when our preaching calendar runs.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:01-01:09

  So I would greatly appreciate your prayers for this week as I seek the Lord on direction for preaching.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:10-01:13

  And I just thought I'd open up the floor now if anybody has any suggestions.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:15-01:16

  Any suggestions?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:17-01:18

  Jay, I know what you're gonna say.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:19-01:20

  Amos, right?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:21-01:22

  Okay, noted.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:22-01:23

  And I appreciate the suggestion.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:23-01:24

  Anybody else?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:25-01:26

  Joshua?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:27-01:28

  Anyone else?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:30-01:31

  I'll tell you what, think about it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:31-01:32

  What's that?

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:33-01:33

  Romans!

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:35-01:37

  The whole book in one year.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:38-01:39

  In one sermon.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:43-01:44

  Yeah, thanks for that, Mark.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:46-01:47

  I appreciate that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:48-01:48

  All right.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:49-01:57

  If you get any big brainstorms or any big revelations, just go ahead and shoot me an email for that.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:57-02:01

  But I'd like to introduce our preacher for today, Mike Wolski, if you would make your way up.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:03-02:11

  As I said, years past, we would basically hire some preacher friends of mine to come in during July and they give the word.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:12-02:17

  And this year, the word will be brought by four men from our congregation.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:17-02:20

  And today we're privileged to have Mike Wolski.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:20-02:27

  Now, usually Mike is delivering the word of God back in the AV booth with his team.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:28-02:30

  Mike heads up our AV ministry.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:30-02:36

  So all of the words and the pretty pictures and all of those kinds of things, Mike is the head of that ministry.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:36-02:42

  So today he's going to be delivering the word on this side of the room.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:42-02:52

  And I have been real excited to have Mike come because Mike and I are in small group together.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:52-02:57

  And this is gonna be just unapologetically, this is going to be a shameless plug for small groups.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:57-03:05

  But one of the things I appreciated about small groups so much was I really got to know Mike and Jessica.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:05-03:09

  I got to see their heart for the Lord, their heart for their family.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:10-03:17

  And also through that, as it pertains to preaching this morning, I really got to see Mike's heart for God's word.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:18-03:21

  And that happened through small groups.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:21-03:22

  That's where relationships are made.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:22-03:24

  That's where accountability happens.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:24-03:31

  And if you're here, if you consider this your church home and you're not part of a small group, you need to sign up.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:32-03:37

  And just email smallgroups@harvestpittsburghnorth.org and say, sign me up for small groups.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:37-03:41

  And Ryan and Sarah Stroop would love to get you plugged in to small group.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:41-03:51

  But I not only had the privilege of getting to know Mike through small group ministry, but at DeMar's Home for Youth, was that last year when you got up and gave your testimony?

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:52-03:56

  I get to hear Mike speak and he did a fantastic job.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:56-04:02

  And I thought this guy, this guy's got a heart for the Lord and a heart to give a message from the Lord.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:02-04:06

  So today, without any further ado, give a warm Harvest welcome to Mike Wolski.

  Mike Wolski:

  04:16-04:22

  You know, one thing you might not know about the A.V. ministry is that everybody that joins is required to be an expert in puns.

  Mike Wolski:

  04:25-04:35

  Peter when he was promoting Harvest Got Talent, he did that week after week because today what I wanted to say is I feel like a pony today because my voice is a little hoarse.

  Mike Wolski:

  04:37-04:41

  That has nothing to do with the sermon by the way, just circumstances.

  Mike Wolski:

  04:42-04:51

  So turn with me to Job chapter 28, and while you're doing that, I want you to think of the smartest person that you know.

  Mike Wolski:

  04:52-04:55

  And it doesn't have to be somebody that you know personally either.

  Mike Wolski:

  04:55-05:00

  Almost anyone in the entire world, whether alive or dead.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:01-05:11

  When I first thought about that and asked myself that question, my first instinct was to go towards an inventor or a scientist, like Thomas Edison or Albert Einstein.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:12-05:17

  These are men who refined scientific principles and have had a profound impact on our lives today.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:18-05:22

  Thinking about somebody more recently, Elon Musk.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:22-05:27

  He's the guy that is head of SpaceX and Tesla Automotive.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:27-05:31

  He's making autonomous cars and he's sending rockets in outer space.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:31-05:35

  All three people, very smart in their respective fields and studies.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:36-05:43

  But taking it a step further in a slightly different direction, I want you now to think of the wisest person you know.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:44-05:45

  There's a subtle difference there.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:46-05:57

  If you look up wisdom in Merriam-Webster dictionary, they define it as the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships, or accumulated philosophical or scientific learning.

  Mike Wolski:

  05:58-06:05

  That definition aside, I think we can all chalk up wisdom as being a combination of knowledge and experience.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:07-06:09

  But let's get more specific with our definition.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:10-06:12

  What kind of wisdom am I talking about today?

  Mike Wolski:

  06:13-06:18

  Well, there's the worldly wisdom we get from doing our everyday hobbies and tasks.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:19-06:22

  Those are tips and tricks we learn along the way to make those activities easier.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:23-06:35

  So for instance, if you work on your own car, the more you do it, the more pieces and components fix or replace, the more knowledge and experience you have with that, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  06:35-06:37

  The more car fixing wisdom you have.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:39-06:48

  I mean, I remember working on a car, Jessica and I have, and I had to do work that went beyond just oil change or simple brake pad replacements.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:49-06:53

  I had to venture into new grounds by working on the suspension and on the exhaust system.

  Mike Wolski:

  06:55-07:05

  I can laugh about it now, but there are numerous barriers and struggles I had that made what I thought would be a relatively easy repair into a weeks-long hair-pulling fun.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:07-07:12

  All the reading that I did up on how to do the fix didn't compare to my experience I had actually doing it.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:13-07:20

  But now I'm glad that I did because I was able to add a plus one to my car-fixing wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:21-07:27

  But while worldly wisdom is valuable, in the grand scheme of things, it's optional.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:29-07:33

  Knowing how to fix a car, cook a steak medium rare, or plumb a toilet isn't going to change your life.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:35-07:38

  Now the wisdom I'm talking about today is biblical wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:39-07:45

  Applying the word of God to every aspect of your life to answer the big questions.

  Mike Wolski:

  07:46-07:49

  For example, how can I be a good witness?

  Mike Wolski:

  07:51-07:53

  What should my role be in relation to my spouse?

  Mike Wolski:

  07:55-07:57

  How can I share my faith with a co-worker?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:00-08:02

  What values should I instill in my children?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:04-08:07

  Getting deeper here, what about questions we have during our trials?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:09-08:11

  How do I forgive someone who's hurt me?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:12-08:14

  I just lost my job. What do I do?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:16-08:20

  I don't think I can pay my bills on time. Who can I turn to?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:22-08:25

  I lost my child to a drunk driver. Why would God allow this?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:28-08:31

  We live in a fallen world, and with that comes deep and painful trials.

  Mike Wolski:

  08:32-08:35

  Each one has its own set of questions and answers we seek.

  Mike Wolski:

  08:37-08:40

  How to handle and react to the situation, defuse tension, or just heal?

  Mike Wolski:

  08:41-08:56

  Circling back to my first two questions and those two folks that you chose for being both smart and wise, I mentioned Thomas Edison, and he's credited with inventing the light bulb, so clearly a very smart and wise person in his scientific field.

  Mike Wolski:

  08:57-08:59

  But did you know he was an atheist?

  Mike Wolski:

  09:00-09:02

  Well, he called it being a free thinker.

  Mike Wolski:

  09:03-09:36

  But when you make statements like, and I'm paraphrasing quotes of his here, heaven and hell don't exist, there is no afterlife, all religion is bunk, you get the idea where he stands. The reason I mention this is because the people we look to as being smart and wise aren't necessarily wise when it comes to biblical wisdom. So with that said, those two people you identified in your life, would you go for them to counsel? Would you go for them for counsel? Could they provide biblical wisdom when you're going through a trial?

  Mike Wolski:

  09:38-09:45

  The title of the sermon today is "Seeking Wisdom During Trials." And coming to the text, we're in Job 28.

  Mike Wolski:

  09:46-09:50

  Now Job 28 is a little more than halfway through the book of Job, the entire book of Job.

  Mike Wolski:

  09:51-09:58

  And at this point, Job, a man righteous in God's eyes, has had his entire life turned upside down by Satan.

  Mike Wolski:

  09:59-10:01

  He's lost all his possessions and even his good health.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:02-10:09

  And his friends, they've come to comfort him, but instead they're arguing back and forth, accusing him of wrongdoings.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:10-10:15

  You know, Job is arguing that he's innocent, but Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar believe he must have sinned.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:16-10:20

  For all this bad stuff to happen to him, there's something deeper here that needs exposed.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:22-10:27

  And leading up to this chapter, Job is arguing back and forth within himself on God and His justice.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:28-10:30

  Is God being just with him?

  Mike Wolski:

  10:30-10:33

  Now wait a minute, I thought this sermon was on seeking wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:34-10:36

  Where does God's justice fit into all this?

  Mike Wolski:

  10:36-10:37

  Where did this come from?

  Mike Wolski:

  10:39-10:39

  Well hear me out here.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:41-10:47

  So when you're going through a trial or facing a difficult situation, you're probably wondering, what can I do about it?

  Mike Wolski:

  10:49-10:54

  Even if it's beyond your control, you still want to know what's the best way to handle what's being thrown at you.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:56-10:57

  What you're doing is seeking wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  10:58-11:32

  what Job was doing. He had no explanation as to why he was suffering, so him and his friends were pouring out their wisdom upon one another to try to come to some sort of conclusion. And chapter 28 is all about finding true wisdom. You know, each person had their own answers and understanding of God, but this gets to the core of where you and I can find wisdom. Let's pick it up in verse 20. "From where then does wisdom come, and where It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.

  Mike Wolski:

  11:33-11:39

  Abaddon and Death say, "We have heard a rumor of it with our ears." God understands the way to it, and He knows its place.

  Mike Wolski:

  11:40-11:43

  For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

  Mike Wolski:

  11:44-11:53

  When He gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when He made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then He saw it and declared it.

  Mike Wolski:

  11:54-11:56

  He established it and searched it out.

  Mike Wolski:

  11:56-12:08

  And he said to man, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and a turn away from evil is understanding." Not really what Merriam-Webster said, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  12:09-12:12

  You know, I thought wisdom could be found in any sagely person.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:13-12:18

  I thought wisdom would give me the answers right away and allow me to solve all my problems.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:19-12:23

  Well, God's definition is a bit contrary to ours.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:24-12:26

  This brings me to my first point.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:28-12:33

  My first point to be made about seeking wisdom in trials is that it cannot be found apart from God.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:34-12:36

  Look at verses 20-27.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:38-12:47

  And just as a side note, if you read the book of Job and especially this chapter, the poetry and the imagery in it is just very beautiful and I would encourage you to read the whole thing.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:48-12:53

  kind of what stuck out to me and why I wanted to use this passage for my sermon.

  Mike Wolski:

  12:54-13:04

  But it starts out asking the question, "Where then does wisdom come and where is the place of understanding?" It's a pretty straightforward question.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:05-13:19

  But in the following verses it says, "Both are hidden and even death does not know, but God knows it because he's created it, established it, and searched it out." So how can we say we found biblical wisdom apart from God?

  Mike Wolski:

  13:21-13:22

  Honestly, we can't.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:23-13:27

  I think we try to say we have based on, you know, the advice or experiences we've gone through.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:28-13:31

  But how can we say we know true wisdom when we aren't the Almighty?

  Mike Wolski:

  13:32-13:36

  To say we have intimate knowledge of the world around us on the same level as God.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:38-13:40

  And to understand our trials the same way God does.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:42-13:50

  There are plenty of times I've gone through turmoil and thought, "You know what? I can figure this out." Right? Let me Google it.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:52-13:56

  You know, let me Google what other people have said or ask some friends.

  Mike Wolski:

  13:57-14:01

  Isn't that the 21st century solution to everything? Google it. Google knows.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:02-14:04

  Or rather, something Google shows you knows.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:05-14:10

  Well, Google was telling me a few months back that eating Tide Pods is all the rage.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:11-14:17

  And that this sore throat that I have could be a common cold, or Ebola.

  14:18-14:19

  (Laughter)

  Mike Wolski:

  14:20-14:25

  So for all the information we have at our fingertips, there's a lot of garbage out there.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:26-14:34

  A lot to sift through, and a lot that is deceptively wrapped in a pretty present to tickle our ears or to bolster our self-righteousness.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:34-14:41

  Pages and videos of echo chamber rhetoric that takes the lens to others in the world rather than to yourself.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:44-14:48

  A lot of the wisdom I've sought in my life and received, God's hand wasn't in it.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:49-14:51

  So really you could say it wasn't wisdom at all.

  Mike Wolski:

  14:53-14:59

  You know, one thing I think we can all relate to is working through difficulties at our jobs, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  14:59-15:09

  And not just the person commuting back and forth to Pittsburgh or wherever, you know, there's mothers and caretakers, They all have important jobs, you know, take care of families, raising children.

  Mike Wolski:

  15:09-15:10

  So all of us.

  Mike Wolski:

  15:12-15:18

  But you know that bad day or week that you have makes you want to throw the towel and start searching around for something else.

  Mike Wolski:

  15:19-15:25

  I mean, I've had some really trying weeks that make me second-guess if I did the right thing in taking my current position.

  Mike Wolski:

  15:26-15:29

  Why would I leave my job that I like to go to this new position?

  Mike Wolski:

  15:31-16:01

  You can imagine it's easy to find advice online. That's how to handle job related stresses You see articles about your job satisfaction and how you deserve to be happy at your job You don't feel appreciated find a new role and tell your boss to pound salt Maybe that's not what God's plan is for you Maybe there's some character refinement or lesson to be learned from your struggles Like in Job, we don't always get a definitive reason as to why we're getting put through our trials.

  Mike Wolski:

  16:02-16:06

  But we can't expect to find wisdom in our trials apart from God.

  Mike Wolski:

  16:08-16:15

  This leads me to the next point. So if wisdom isn't found apart from God, then obviously wisdom is found with God.

  Mike Wolski:

  16:16-16:18

  Let's look at the first part of verse 28.

  Mike Wolski:

  16:19-16:44

  "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." You know this verse is so profound because it's so contrary to what we define wisdom to be in the worldly sense You see Biblical wisdom has its foundation in fear of the Lord Not purely on our personal experience and knowledge And I say foundational because yes biblical wisdom can be gleaned from others, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  16:44-16:58

  It's not like you fear the Lord and suddenly, you know get through your trial Right. There's still knowledge and experience that goes along with it But that fear of the Lord is just such a vital difference between biblical wisdom and worldly wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:00-17:04

  God's definition puts our reliance for wisdom entirely upon Him first.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:07-17:20

  Proverbs 9 10 is actually closely paralleled saying, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." So we know this is an established truth in God's Word. It's His definition.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:22-17:27

  So now we see what wisdom is, but what is this fear of the Lord?

  Mike Wolski:

  17:27-17:29

  Why would that be required for wisdom?

  Mike Wolski:

  17:30-17:35

  Well, fear here is not being scared of God, like He's going to smite you on a moment's notice.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:36-17:38

  Rather, it's reverence towards God.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:39-17:42

  It's what allows us to be receptive to God's wisdom and insight.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:44-17:45

  What He's teaching us during a trial or struggle.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:47-17:54

  You know, if we're not reverent towards God, then how do we expect to seek or gain wisdom from Him?

  Mike Wolski:

  17:55-17:56

  I mean, think about it this way.

  Mike Wolski:

  17:57-18:03

  He's the Almighty, Creator of the universe, who can number the grains of sand on the beach and knows the number of hairs on your head.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:05-18:08

  You can't fully submit to His authority and be reverent towards Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:09-18:10

  You're not gonna glean from His wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:11-18:21

  Like, has there ever been a time or times when you're seeking advice from somebody, You know, somebody even biblically rooted, like a Christian, the best people to get advice from, actually.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:23-18:47

  You hear what they say and you're like, "Yeah, that's good. I totally understand that. That makes sense." Then they say that one thing that you're like, "Ugh, no, you can keep that one. I'll take those first two points, that last one. No." You might be getting some of the best godly advice from that person, somebody who has fear of the Lord and understanding from God, So your reverence towards that person isn't fully baked.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:48-18:51

  You're allowing your feelings and thoughts to override that wisdom you're receiving.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:53-18:54

  I mean, I do it all the time.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:55-18:56

  It's hard to fully submit under authority.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:57-18:59

  Our pride always gets in the way.

  Mike Wolski:

  18:59-19:02

  In the end, we think we know what's best for us.

  Mike Wolski:

  19:05-19:50

  You see, if you believe in the Bible, if you believe it's God's book, and what he wrote is perfect, and exactly the message he wanted to convey to the world, then you can't pick and choose of his wisdom. It's all or nothing. To say you agree with a few pieces and disagree with others, you might as well just throw it all away, go back to Google and eating Tide Pods. I'm joking. I hope I'm clear here. Don't eat Tide Pods. Serious medical conditions, results. But God's wisdom is unparalleled. We can't even begin to compare what we think we know with what God already knows. So when you're seeking wisdom during a trial, it has to be found in God. What better source than Him?

  Mike Wolski:

  19:51-20:11

  Well, how do I do that? I am reverent towards God and I want to understand what He has for me. How do I glean wisdom from Him? Well, I've got good news. God has a book. You ever wonder why the Bible is so over 31,000 verses across 1,200 pages. It's chock full of wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  20:12-20:18

  And as Christians, we've got a 24/7 prayer hotline direct to the Almighty Creator of the universe.

  Mike Wolski:

  20:20-20:33

  The wonderful thing about both those sources is that God's Word does not return void, a truth that's been established in Isaiah 55 11, and that He listens to all prayers, another truth he's established in Matthew 7.

  Mike Wolski:

  20:36-20:41

  So when you're struggling and seeking wisdom from God, you can rest assured that He will provide.

  Mike Wolski:

  20:42-20:46

  In fact, God comes out and tells us His truth very blatantly and obviously.

  Mike Wolski:

  20:47-21:06

  In James 1.5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without approach, and it will be given him." Now I can't say exactly how or if it's going to be the answer that you want.

  Mike Wolski:

  21:07-21:08

  I mean that's the challenge, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  21:08-21:14

  If we knew how God is going to respond, then there'd be no point in seeking wisdom, seeking Him for His wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  21:16-21:28

  But to give a practical application of this, here's two ways that we can fellowship with God and His Word during trials, ways that we can get more and more of His wisdom while we're going through struggles.

  Mike Wolski:

  21:30-21:33

  The first one is utilize small groups.

  Mike Wolski:

  21:35-21:40

  See here at Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North, we have church on Sundays and small groups the rest of the week.

  Mike Wolski:

  21:41-21:50

  You know, these are breakout groups held across Beaver, Butler, and Allegheny County where we as a church congregation can get a little smaller but much closer together as individuals.

  Mike Wolski:

  21:52-22:06

  You know, I've been going to the Murphy's, now Howell small group for, my wife's been going for about four years now and the amount of wisdom that we've been able to pour out on one another is just absolutely incredible.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:07-22:12

  You know, as an individual, your understanding and lens on your trial is one-sided.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:14-22:21

  There might be a facet or a biblical truth that you aren't aware of or you're blinded to because you're just anxious or you're stressed out.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:23-22:27

  You know, for me, job stress has always been a big thing with me.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:27-22:31

  And it might just be because that's how I am as a person.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:31-22:34

  But I don't deal well with multitasking.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:34-22:38

  If five people asking the same thing, stress goes through the roof.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:38-22:45

  But all the men in my small group can probably agree with me that that's the biggest thing I ask wisdom for week in and week out.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:47-22:52

  But you see, I know I can go there because the wisdom I get from small group is biblically rooted.

  Mike Wolski:

  22:53-22:56

  It's not just someone's opinion or Google search, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  22:57-22:58

  is tested against God's Word.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:00-23:07

  And in the situations where you're overwhelmed or sometimes just frozen in place, you need that person to come alongside, to pick you up, to encourage you.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:08-23:10

  That's what small groups are all about-- fellowship.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:11-23:16

  Pray as a small group about our trials and send each other scripture verses and ask questions.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:17-23:20

  And then when someone else is going through difficulties, hey, that's my time.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:21-23:23

  It's my time to encourage that person.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:24-23:29

  So it's really a key thing I use because we as Christians need to use one another.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:31-23:35

  The second way you can fellowship with God and His Word during a trial is pray the Bible.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:37-23:41

  This might sound a little weird, but, you know, and I'm totally stealing this from Jeff.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:42-23:50

  He brought this up in the last prayer meeting we had as a congregation, and even before that there was another time that is, you know, job stress, you know, old story.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:51-23:53

  But he told me about this method.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:53-23:54

  What we can do is pray the Bible.

  Mike Wolski:

  23:56-24:03

  And it's phenomenal that not only will you fellowship deeply with God, but this is a way to potentially change your prayer life.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:04-24:16

  The idea is that you take a passage or a verse or a chapter, say Psalms, and you read verse by verse, and after each verse, you take that truth that God's revealed to you and you pray about it.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:16-24:25

  So for instance, Psalm 23, the first verse is, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Something we, most of us are familiar with, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  24:27-24:34

  But imagine you're in a situation when you're under financial stress or you're eager about some incoming layoffs you heard about at your job.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:35-24:39

  Well, you can pray something like this, "Lord, you are my shepherd.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:40-24:41

  You provide everything I need.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:42-24:47

  I'm anxious about my finances or my job, but thankful that you've blessed me thus far with work.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:50-24:57

  And I know you will provide despite things not looking well, and I ask you to still my anxiety." You know, something like that, something simple.

  Mike Wolski:

  24:58-25:00

  And then you go on to the next verse, and so on and so forth.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:01-25:02

  And it's a double whammy.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:02-25:05

  You're gleaning wisdom from God, and you're praying about it at the same time.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:08-25:09

  This leads me to my final point.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:12-25:36

  wisdom brings us closer to God. The second part of verse 28 is, "And to turn away from evil is understanding." You see, we can seek God's wisdom in our trials, read scripture and pray about it. But if we don't submit to His wisdom, take it to heart and act upon it, it's just head knowledge. In this verse, it explicitly mentions turning away from evil as being understanding.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:38-25:44

  In the early verse in Proverbs 9.10, understanding is the knowledge of the Holy One.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:46-25:50

  Basically, it comes down to God's character, understanding and mimicking that.

  Mike Wolski:

  25:51-25:56

  Once we have some biblical wisdom, what would cause us to turn away from evil?

  Mike Wolski:

  25:58-25:59

  Well, it's part of God's character, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  26:00-26:02

  He is holy, and he abhors sin and evil.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:04-26:09

  And we can know that because as we're revering God, we gain wisdom into His character.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:09-26:19

  As we glean more and more from God and His wisdom, we'll understand more and more on how to act in and outside of trials.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:19-26:22

  How we can put on His righteousness daily in our lives.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:23-26:30

  I can speak for myself that when I turned my life over to Christ, my understanding of God grew exponentially.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:31-26:35

  what He was like, what He's commanded me to do, how I should act.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:36-26:37

  All wisdom from Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:39-26:42

  Most importantly, I drew closer to Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:43-26:49

  And I would urge you that if you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, a lot of this won't make sense.

  Mike Wolski:

  26:51-27:03

  Because 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:14, Paul talks about how we have a new heart in Christ, That Christ is the wisdom of God.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:03-27:07

  That His Spirit that dwells in us is what reveals God's wisdom to us.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:09-27:13

  So how can you get God's wisdom or draw closer to Him if you don't have that?

  Mike Wolski:

  27:14-27:18

  You might look to the Bible for advice or throw some prayers out.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:20-27:25

  But if you want a relationship with your Creator, you need to submit to Him, revere Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:26-27:30

  Only then will you have biblical wisdom and understanding of God's character.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:33-27:37

  I know getting started with seeking wisdom during a trial is a hard thing.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:38-27:42

  It's natural to feel deflated, beaten up, and tired.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:43-27:45

  Like what's the point?

  Mike Wolski:

  27:45-27:46

  Or here we go again.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:46-27:47

  Why now?

  Mike Wolski:

  27:47-27:48

  Why is this repeating?

  Mike Wolski:

  27:49-27:53

  For some of you, it can get to a point where you don't even know if God cares.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:55-27:56

  Job was at that point.

  Mike Wolski:

  27:57-28:00

  He had a really hard time understanding if God truly loved him.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:01-28:05

  I think when we're starting out, it's easy to push blame on God.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:06-28:08

  We look at Him as He's an almighty deity.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:08-28:11

  How could He possibly understand our plights? He doesn't need money.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:12-28:16

  There's a lot of things on this earth that don't even apply to God, right?

  Mike Wolski:

  28:18-28:21

  Well, He does understand our plights. He does understand our trials.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:22-28:27

  He came to this earth as a man, being fully God and fully man.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:28-28:34

  You know, Jesus experienced every bit of humanity we have-- pain, compassion, happiness, sorrow.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:36-28:39

  And he underwent the ultimate trial, quite literally.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:40-28:47

  He was sold out, taken without reason, sentenced to die, mocked, beaten, spat upon, and crucified.

  Mike Wolski:

  28:50-28:58

  And while we look to his death as a terribly painful, horrendous event, nothing compares to the trial he faced being separated from the Father.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:00-29:05

  To have God turn away his face from him while he bore the entire weight of sin upon himself.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:06-29:09

  That is a trial none of us could face.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:11-29:12

  And he did that for us.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:13-29:14

  So does God care?

  Mike Wolski:

  29:15-29:16

  Does he understand our plights?

  Mike Wolski:

  29:17-29:18

  Of course he does.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:20-29:25

  You know, Amanity has been sinning since the dawn of time, constantly rejecting God for generations.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:26-29:32

  I have a daughter who's a little over three years old now, and there are times when she can be the sweetest little girl.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:33-29:38

  You know, just watching her grow up, just things click in her brain, her understanding of the world.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:40-29:41

  And I love those times.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:42-29:47

  But there's other times where she's rebellious, mannered and just...

  Mike Wolski:

  29:48-29:54

  And I think every parent who's ever lived or people who have been around little kids know how fiendish they can be.

  Mike Wolski:

  29:56-30:08

  But when you think you're having a trial with your kid or your kids, what about God? He has 8 billion kids that all act that way. So yeah, even God the Father understands our trials.

  Mike Wolski:

  30:10-30:15

  You know, for Job and his friends, understanding this, that was a hard lesson for them.

  Mike Wolski:

  30:16-30:21

  His friends were giving Job the wrong counseling because their wisdom was not speaking the truth about God.

  Mike Wolski:

  30:22-30:27

  God even condemns them later on in chapter 42, verse 7, saying the same things.

  Mike Wolski:

  30:27-30:35

  "You're not speaking truth about me." They had a wrong view about Job, the situation, God's character, and his justice.

  Mike Wolski:

  30:36-30:37

  Their wisdom was faulty.

  Mike Wolski:

  30:40-30:44

  At the beginning I asked you all, who's the smartest person you know and who's the wisest person you know?

  Mike Wolski:

  30:46-30:50

  And again, reflecting back on that wise person, is their wisdom biblical?

  Mike Wolski:

  30:51-30:52

  Would you say it matches God's definition?

  Mike Wolski:

  30:53-31:02

  Do they seek wisdom apart from God or do they fear the Lord, revere Him, and understand their wisdom must foundationally lie within Him?

  Mike Wolski:

  31:03-31:06

  Those are the people we need to draw towards in trials.

  Mike Wolski:

  31:08-31:39

  You know, I said the best source for wisdom himself. That's true, but there are also many Christians who fear the Lord and have gleaned God's wisdom. They're a great source for counseling and advice, and they align with God's biblical standards. You know, here at Harvest we have elders and a prayer team. Those folks are exactly like that. They're fearful and reverent of the Lord. And I would encourage you to speak with them after service and use their wisdom to bolster your own.

  Mike Wolski:

  31:41-31:44

  If you're going through a trial right now, why continue to waste time on Google?

  Mike Wolski:

  31:45-31:49

  Or asking the world what they think about your trial?

  Mike Wolski:

  31:50-31:58

  And if you're not plugged into a small group, you can find all the information about the locations, the times, and the leaders online at our website.

  Mike Wolski:

  31:59-32:00

  And I urge you to take that step.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:02-32:05

  Life happens during the remaining 167 hours in the week.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:07-32:09

  When you're praying, try praying the Bible.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:10-32:13

  See how the verses come alive and directly impact you during a trial.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:14-32:19

  How biblical truths can calm your heart and encourage you that God is with you and He does care.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:21-32:23

  Seeking wisdom during a trial can be a tough thing.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:25-32:28

  Many of those big questions I mentioned earlier can be life changing.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:29-32:33

  We'd like to hear things that comfort us, but it might not be what we need.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:35-32:37

  I hope this message encourages you to seek God for your wisdom.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:38-32:40

  It cannot be found apart from Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:41-32:42

  It is only found in Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:44-32:47

  And as you glean from His wisdom, you'll draw closer to Him.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:48-32:49

  Let's pray.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:50-32:53

  Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:53-32:55

  We thank You for the church body.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:55-32:57

  We thank You for our congregation.

  Mike Wolski:

  32:58-33:01

  and all the wisdom that is contained within your Scriptures.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:03-33:13

  We thank You that You have Your Word and that we as Christians can turn to You in prayer and in Scripture to understand Your wisdom more and more.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:14-33:20

  That during our trials, we have a strong comfort in You and in Your Son Jesus Christ.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:22-33:40

  And I thank You for Harvest just the different groups, small groups, prayer team, our elders, all just full of your biblical wisdom that we can turn to and seek during our trials, Lord.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:41-33:47

  We might not always understand why You're putting us through a difficult situation.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:48-33:51

  Even years after, we might not understand.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:52-33:55

  But we know that we can seek wisdom from you, Lord.

  Mike Wolski:

  33:57-34:00

  That it can't be found apart from you, that it's only found with you.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:01-34:05

  And as we strive more and more towards you, that we will get closer to you.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:07-34:10

  We thank you especially for your son, Jesus Christ, and the redemption through him, Lord.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:13-34:23

  And that you've defined Jesus Christ as wisdom, that his spirit that dwells in us reveals Your wisdom to us.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:24-34:28

  We're just so humbled to be surrounded by these truths, Lord.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:30-34:31

  We thank You, God.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:31-34:33

  We pray this in Your Son Jesus' name.

  Mike Wolski:

  34:33-34:34

  Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Job 28:20-28

1. Where do you typically go first for your 'wisdom' during a trial?

2. Why do you think Christians struggle with seeking God for wisdom first?

3. What’s the worst advice you’ve received? Now applying biblical wisdom, how would that advice change [i.e. slight alteration, 180-degrees]?

4. What has been the most difficult piece of biblical wisdom you’ve received? [i.e. forgiveness, just waiting, etc.]

5. What is your go-to verse, chapter, book, etc. in God’s Word that has helped you out the most during a trial? What about that particular passage gives you comfort, guidance, etc.?

6. What fellowship activities with God and His word have worked best for you during a trial?

7. (For the sliding scale fans) On a scale of 1 <-> 10, how much do you enjoy sliding scale questions?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

The Last Jesus

Introduction (Mark 10:31, 35-45)

"But many who are first will be last, and the last first." - (Mark 10:31)

1. Only One can be First (Mark 9:33-35 | Luke 22:24-27).
2. The First are Killers (Luke 9:52-55 | Matt 5:21-22).
3. The Last are Servants .
1. The Transforming power of being last.
2. First, Adjust our Attitudes (Phil 2:3-11).
3. Second, Adjust our Actions (John 13:1-5, 15-17).

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. - (John 13:1-5 NIV)

"For I have given you an example..." - (John 13:15)

Rich Sprunk - Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North (Elder)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:25-00:29

  And if you're visiting with us and you're like, "What's this church about?" Simple. We're about four things.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:30-00:33

  Number one is proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:33-00:35

  We believe that God wrote a book.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:35-00:40

  And we're not shy about telling you what God said in His book.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:41-00:44

  The second pillar is lifting high the name of Jesus in worship.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:44-00:50

  As you've seen over this past, oh, half hour, we're pretty serious about lifting high the name of Jesus Christ in worship.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:51-00:53

  Our third pillar is believing firmly in the power of prayer.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:54-01:04

  Prayer is at the beginning and end, and during everything that we do at Harvest Bible Chapel here, small groups, outreaches, we believe that when God's people pray, God moves.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:04-01:08

  And our fourth pillar is sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:09-01:30

  And as it pertains to the first pillar, proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology, we do place an extremely high premium at Harvest Bible Chapel on preaching, Because preaching is the God-ordained method of getting the message out, speaking the Word of God through a man of God.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:30-01:37

  And years past in this church, in July, we would bring in other preachers to share the Word, but we're not going to do that this year.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:38-01:45

  We realize that even among our own people here, we have some men who have a message from God's Word.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:45-01:50

  And over the next four weeks, we're going to be having four men from our church sharing God's Word.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:51-01:52

  It's going to be fantastic.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:53-01:55

  Our first preacher is Rich Sprunk.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:55-01:58

  Rich serves as an elder here at Harvest Bible Chapel.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:58-02:00

  And you've been an elder, what, for almost a year now, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  02:01-02:02

  I think about eight months.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:02-02:03

  About eight months? Okay.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:03-02:08

  Something maybe a lot of people don't get to see and appreciate that I do.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:08-02:09

  Rich has a shepherd's heart.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:10-02:13

  And he loves the Lord, he loves God's Word, he loves his family.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:14-02:15

  But Rich loves his church.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:16-02:18

  It just happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:18-02:26

  I had a couple that was visiting came to me and they said, "Do you know, after church, the nicest couple came and just prayed with us.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:26-02:39

  And we were just kind of hurting a little bit and this really nice couple came and prayed and I said, 'Was it Rich and Bethany Sprunk?' 'Yes, that was it!' And I'm like, 'How did I know that?'" Because that's just the kind of people Rich and Bethany Sprunk are.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:39-02:42

  They have a great love for God and for God's people.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:42-02:44

  Rich is going to be bringing the Word today.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:45-02:46

  Let's just pray for Rich.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:47-02:50

  Father in Heaven, we are about to turn to Your Word.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:50-02:52

  And I pray, Father, You would speak through this man.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:52-02:56

  And I pray that the rest of us have ears to hear what You're going to speak through this man.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:57-02:58

  Do what only You can do.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:58-03:00

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

  Rich Sprunk:

  03:01-03:02

  Good morning, everyone.

  Rich Sprunk:

  03:03-03:12

  I have a $10 bill for anyone who can name three of the linemen from the 2008 Detroit Lions.

  Rich Sprunk:

  03:13-03:33

  Anyone? Once? Twice? No? Of course not. We don't know anything about the 2008 Detroit Lions as they finished absolute dead last. Since the advent of the 16-game season, the Detroit Lions were the first team to finish 0-16. Absolute last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  03:34-04:15

  See, we don't care about people who are last or things that are last. We want to first. When I was a kid we would test ourselves against one another. We'd wrestle and play games and sometimes fight. Now I didn't like to fight. I was not a fighter. I was a coward. But somehow one day in the summer I got into a contest with Johnny Van Parren. And Johnny Van Parren was bigger than me, but I got into it and the kids, the other kids are goading us on and so we're like half hard swinging at each other and pushing each other and I tackled him and I got him down on the ground and I'm straddling him but I didn't want to hit him in the face.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:16-04:31

  I didn't want to punch him. So instead I reached out and I grabbed his nose and went beep beep and he was just humiliated, absolutely humiliated. He got out from under me, he ran home crying and I didn't see Johnny Van Perren for a few weeks because he went off to summer camp.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:31-04:39

  I think he was gone most of the summer and one day towards the end of summer I heard all the kids outside making noise and playing.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:39-04:40

  I'll go out and join my friends.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:40-04:43

  And I go out there and there's Johnny Van Perren.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:43-04:45

  Except now he's John Van Perren.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:45-04:46

  And he's about this big.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:47-04:49

  And you all know where this is going, don't you?

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:50-04:53

  Next thing you know, I'm on my back, on the ground, and what does Johnny Van Perren do?

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:54-04:58

  Beep, beep, I was completely, thoroughly humiliated.

  Rich Sprunk:

  04:58-04:59

  And I ran in the house.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:00-05:02

  Yeah, we don't like to be last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:02-05:04

  We don't like to be on the bottom rung.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:05-05:06

  We want to be first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:06-05:08

  We want to be the best at everything.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:08-05:09

  We want the best grades.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:09-05:11

  We want to be recognized in school.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:11-05:13

  We want to be recognized at work.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:13-05:15

  We want people to notice us, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:15-05:16

  That's why we have social media.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:16-05:19

  Look, look it, look it, look, I got the best house.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:19-05:22

  Look at my kids, kindergarten graduate, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:23-05:24

  My kids are better than your kids.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:24-05:25

  My cat's better than your cat.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:26-05:28

  My dog's better than your dog and he doesn't even eat kennel ration, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:29-05:30

  Look at my feet on the beach.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:30-05:32

  My life is better than your life.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:32-05:35

  And if we can't be first personally, what do we do?

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:36-05:39

  And we identify with those that we think are champions, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:39-05:40

  We identify with the best.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:41-05:43

  That's why we love the Steelers and the Penguins.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:43-05:48

  That's why we love the stars who dance and the survivors and the idols, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:49-05:50

  We know who all those people are.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:50-05:53

  We know who won the Academy Award and the Emmy and the Tony.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:54-05:54

  They're first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:54-05:57

  And we buy their merchandise and we talk about them all the time.

  Rich Sprunk:

  05:58-05:59

  That's why we worship Jesus, isn't it?

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:00-06:00

  Because He's our champion.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:01-06:04

  He's absolutely first, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:04-06:05

  He's first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:05-06:07

  He's our Savior, our King.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:07-06:11

  He stands at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:11-06:14

  He's given us salvation and we owe Him everything.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:14-06:16

  It's why we love Him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:16-06:23

  But what we also do, church, is we identify with the privileges and rights that accrue only to our risen King.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:24-06:26

  You see, we all want the first Jesus, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:26-06:31

  We all want the Jesus who can do for us whatever we ask and we enjoy.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:31-06:34

  We are entitled to the benefits of being children of God.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:35-06:36

  We're adopted into his family.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:36-06:37

  We're loved by him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:38-06:42

  We're filled with his powerful spirit, the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:42-06:43

  He's at work in us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:44-06:51

  But when we start thinking we're able to exercise the rights that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ alone, we go astray.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:51-06:57

  See, in going directly to the first Jesus and identifying with him, we neglect the last Jesus.

  Rich Sprunk:

  06:58-07:03

  What would our congregation be like if we had sought to identify with this last Jesus?

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:03-07:13

  humbling ourselves below others, forgiving one another, falling all over each other in an attempt to get to the end of the line, the last place, so to speak, where the last Jesus is standing.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:14-07:23

  A place where instead of seeking to be great, we do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than ourselves.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:23-07:23

  Let's pray.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:24-07:31

  Gracious Father, I'm venturing out into dangerous territory here to think that I can preach the Word of God.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:31-07:33

  But this is not my word, This is your Word.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:34-07:35

  This is your truth.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:35-07:38

  Father, just make me the vessel.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:39-07:41

  You convey the message to our hearts this morning.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:41-07:52

  I pray we would all have listening ears, attentive hearts, that we would recognize, Father, we're not just here to sit passively in some seats and hear somebody talk.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:53-07:57

  No, we are gathered together around your Word, which is living and powerful.

  Rich Sprunk:

  07:58-08:04

  We are gathered around your word to continue worship, for to speak and to think about your word is worship.

  Rich Sprunk:

  08:05-08:14

  I pray you unite our hearts as one, that we would understand we are ushered into your presence at the throne to hear from you.

  Rich Sprunk:

  08:15-08:17

  Transform our lives, I pray, through your word.

  Rich Sprunk:

  08:18-08:20

  It is healing and strength for our bones.

  Rich Sprunk:

  08:21-08:26

  It is life, and we thank you for this in your great name, Jesus, amen.

  Rich Sprunk:

  08:27-08:54

  In Mark chapter 10, after Jesus talked to the rich young ruler and told him, "Sell everything you've got and give it to the poor and follow me." And after he had told his disciples, "We're going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man is going to be crucified and he's going to be turned over to the Gentiles and be crucified by the religious leaders." Immediately after he tells them he's going to die, two of his disciples approach him, James and John.

  Rich Sprunk:

  08:55-09:03

  And Jesus says, "Many who are first will be last, and the last first." And if you want to follow along with me, I'm in Mark 10, verses 35-45.

  Rich Sprunk:

  09:04-09:21

  And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.

  Rich Sprunk:

  09:21-09:35

  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' And they said to him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.

  Rich Sprunk:

  09:35-09:46

  But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.' And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

  Rich Sprunk:

  09:47-09:55

  And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers "and their great ones exercise authority over them.

  Rich Sprunk:

  09:55-09:57

  "But it shall not be so among you.

  Rich Sprunk:

  09:58-10:03

  "But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, "and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:04-10:13

  "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, "but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." You see, only one can be first, only one, and that's Jesus Christ.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:13-10:17

  But James and John, they had the audacity to ask for first place.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:17-10:20

  And this wasn't the first time that this subject had come up.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:20-10:31

  In Mark chapter 9, verses 33 through 35 we read, "And when he was in the house, he asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?' But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:32-10:40

  And he sat down and called the twelve, and he said to them, 'If anyone would be first, he must be last, and servant of all.'" This topic comes up again at the Lord's Supper.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:41-10:46

  After the supper, a dispute arises among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:46-10:53

  "And Jesus said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles "exercise lordship over them, "and those in authority over them "are called benefactors.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:53-10:54

  "But not so with you.

  Rich Sprunk:

  10:55-10:59

  "Rather, let the greatest among you "become as the youngest, "and the leader as the one who serves.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:00-11:03

  "For who is the greater, "the one who reclines at table, "or the one who serves?

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:03-11:05

  "Is it not the one who reclines at table?

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:05-11:14

  "But I am among you as one who serves." You look at this in the scriptures, and you'll see every time Jesus tells his disciples, "The Son of Man is going up to Jerusalem.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:14-11:15

  "He's gonna be crucified.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:16-11:23

  "I'm going to die." Immediately, the disciples come back and they're arguing about who's the greatest, who's the best, who's first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:24-11:26

  You know, what's going on in the minds of the disciples?

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:27-11:30

  Are they thinking, "Well, if Jesus is going to die, somebody's got to take over.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:31-11:32

  Might as well be me." Right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:33-11:36

  I don't know what they're thinking, but it's deja vu all over again.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:37-11:42

  Three times, he tells them, "I'm going to be killed." And three times, somebody wants to be first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:42-11:47

  And Jesus says to remind them, "You've got to be servants of all." The disciples don't get it.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:47-11:51

  James and John are so bold as to go to Jesus and ask first place.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:51-11:52

  We want first place.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:52-11:55

  But they have not got a clue what they're asking for.

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:56-11:59

  And Jesus flips all their expectations upside down, doesn't He?

  Rich Sprunk:

  11:59-12:09

  "To be great, one must be a servant. To be first, you must be last of all." Jesus says, "Look at me. I'm among you as a servant, a slave." Where are you getting your ideas about greatness?

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:10-12:15

  Some people see Christianity as a gateway to getting ahead, to having the best earthly life, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:15-12:24

  A life with abundant material possessions, perfect health, holy ghost power that sets them apart from less spiritual Christians.

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:25-12:30

  Some even see it as a means to having respect and a good name and a reputation for good character.

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:30-12:32

  Through Christ, they get power for living.

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:32-12:34

  They become unshakable and fearless.

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:34-12:41

  They become purpose-driven warriors of the light, killing metaphorical lions and conquering all their enemies.

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:42-12:51

  I listened to a podcast not long ago where the pastor was just exulting about, "I just love this conqueror theology." Who are we conquering?

  Rich Sprunk:

  12:51-13:06

  In response to our, "We want you to do for us whatever we ask," Jesus replies, "Be a servant." In response to, "My faith is all about me first," Jesus says, "Be a slave, be last." So we're gonna turn to the stark differences between being first and the last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:07-13:12

  And I will tell you that those who want to be first, humanly speaking, those who want to be first are killers.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:12-13:14

  And there's a multitude of ways to kill.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:15-13:16

  Now that might seem like an overstatement.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:17-13:27

  But consider, not too long before they asked to be first, James and John wanted to turn an entire city in Samaria into crispy critters, because they rejected Jesus.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:28-13:35

  See, Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and they were going to go through a town of Samaria, and he sent messengers ahead to let them know he was coming.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:36-13:48

  And when the Samaritans found out he was going to Jerusalem, they were like, "We want nothing to do with you, Jesus." And when James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:49-13:51

  Do we do this when we see people rejecting Jesus?

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:53-13:54

  Yeah, yeah we do.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:55-13:57

  But this goes back even further, all the way to the beginning of time.

  Rich Sprunk:

  13:58-14:02

  Because, you see, Satan wanted, Satan still wants to be first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:03-14:09

  And Jesus said of him, "He was a murderer from the beginning." And what did he use to bring down Adam and Eve?

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:09-14:13

  Question, words, doesn't take weapons to kill.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:14-14:16

  Cain wanted to be first, and he just brought some fruit.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:17-14:18

  God be happy with this.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:19-14:20

  God was not pleased.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:21-14:21

  Cain got angry.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:22-14:29

  Cain wanted to justify himself, and he couldn't get his hands on God, but he could get his hands on Abel, the one whom God favored.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:29-14:30

  And what did he do to his brother?

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:31-14:32

  He killed him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:33-14:41

  Lamech, we read in Genesis, killed others for injuring him, and proclaimed that if Cain is avenged seven times, Lamech 77 times.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:41-14:53

  Moses, raised in the palace, but he knew he was a Hebrew, and so he goes out among the Hebrews, fancies himself the deliverer of his people, and he sees an Egyptian beating an Israelite.

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:53-14:54

  What does Moses do?

  Rich Sprunk:

  14:55-14:58

  "Hey, you two, don't fight anymore." No, he kills the Egyptian.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:00-15:02

  This impulse affects even people who profess love for God.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:03-15:04

  Look at the life of David.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:05-15:15

  When Nabal humiliated and embarrassed David after David and his men had protected Nabal and all his goods, David got angry. He was going to kill him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:15-15:18

  He was going to go kill Nabal, but for Abigail intervening.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:19-15:25

  And we know he did kill Uriah the Hittite to cover up his sin with Bathsheba and maintain his first place.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:26-15:32

  James points out that our passions are at war within us and that we desire and do not have, so we murder.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:34-15:37

  After the Passover, Jesus' disciples pulled out a couple of swords.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:37-15:39

  They were ready for insurrection in Jesus' name.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:39-15:43

  They were willing to kill people for the name of Jesus.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:44-15:46

  Peter even cut off the servant of the high priest there.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:47-15:56

  Jesus said, "Enough of this." The ultimate example of those who would be first among God's people committing murder is the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

  Rich Sprunk:

  15:57-16:02

  They plotted Jesus' death for years until they finally got what they wanted.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:04-16:06

  And if we think, "Well, that's not me.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:06-16:19

  "I wouldn't kill anybody. I wouldn't do those kinds of things." In Matthew 5, 21-22, Jesus reminds us that murder starts in our hearts, and it's in our hearts where we desire to have supremacy over other people.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:20-16:23

  We would do well to remember that there are many ways to kill others.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:24-16:34

  Harsh and cutting words, gossip and innuendo, condescending attitude, emotional and physical neglect, silence, verbally shutting down.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:35-16:38

  At the time of my marriage, I was shut down on my wife and I wouldn't talk to her.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:39-16:45

  I was killing my marriage. I was killing my wife. Jealousy, bitterness, anger.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:46-16:50

  We nurse grudges against people and think we're justified in doing it.

  Rich Sprunk:

  16:52-16:59

  Unforgiveness and refusing to be reconciled. It's a refusal to love as Jesus Christ loves us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:00-17:03

  And as a result of these things, marriages die.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:04-17:05

  Families split up.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:06-17:06

  Children run away.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:07-17:07

  People leave churches.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:08-17:09

  Churches divide.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:10-17:15

  See, the real problem with being first is someone else is going to be last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:15-17:17

  Someone else is going to be put down.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:17-17:19

  They're going to be put into a difficult and painful place.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:20-17:24

  We all have known people who build themselves up by tearing other people down.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:26-17:30

  They exalt themselves by denigrating and insulting others.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:30-17:33

  Look at our country. We're tearing ourselves apart.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:33-17:36

  Tearing ourselves apart, one tweet at a time.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:37-17:39

  One post, one insult at a time.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:40-17:42

  Maybe we do this in the church too.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:42-17:46

  There's no patience, there's no love, no long suffering for the unsaved.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:46-17:50

  We look with contempt on people who are different, who espouse different ideas.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:51-17:57

  We pass judgment and sinners who have never heard the gospel are nevertheless despised and criticized because they don't obey God.

  Rich Sprunk:

  17:58-18:00

  Of course they can't because they're dead.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:01-18:06

  How can you expect someone to obey the commands of God when they're dead in their sins and trespassing?

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:07-18:09

  How do self-respecting Christians treat each other?

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:10-18:17

  Why, what happens when there are two or more people who want to be first about some matter of doctrine or style of music, style of preaching?

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:17-18:18

  How about the color of the chairs?

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:19-18:21

  We fight and argue about colors of chairs and carpet.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:21-18:26

  Or maybe somebody has a ministry and they've been doing it for years and somebody else wants to join in.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:27-18:31

  And it's like, "No, no, this is mine. Mine, mine, you can't touch it, can't be part of it.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:31-18:52

  You can do what I tell you to do, but my minister." Yeah, those self-respecting Christians, they do what every self-respecting Christian would do. They fight. We fight about it. Or better yet, we don't talk about it at all. We just walk away from one another. And one or both sides nurses hard feelings. We have deep wounds and broken hearts. And someone thinks they're justified.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:52-18:54

  I'm right, they're wrong.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:55-18:56

  I don't have to forgive them.

  Rich Sprunk:

  18:57-19:00

  Or maybe there's an expression of forgiveness, but there's no true reconciliation.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:01-19:04

  So perhaps the person who can't be first, they go somewhere else.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:04-19:06

  They probably go somewhere else and pick a fight.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:07-19:08

  Person who stays, they stay put.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:09-19:13

  And in their self-justification, they become a cancer in the church and wreck it.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:14-19:17

  Or maybe instead of a church imploding, people just kind of slip away.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:18-19:20

  Nothing said, there's no conflicts.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:20-19:23

  the congregation just kind of slowly wastes away and die.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:23-19:26

  I've seen these things. I've lived through them.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:26-19:28

  To my shame, I've done some of them.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:30-19:31

  So you see, those who want to be first are killers.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:32-19:34

  And there's a multitude of ways to kill.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:35-19:37

  But the last, the last are servants.

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:38-19:50

  If I were to ask you, at the beginning I asked you, "Does anybody know anything about the 2008 Detroit Lions?" Nobody knew anything. But if I asked you something about 2018 Super Bowl champions, somebody could name the quarterback, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  19:50-20:10

  Anybody? Nick Foles. Nick Foles. Everybody knows about Nick Foles. Nick Foles' Cinderella story of winning the Super Bowl is a study of perseverance and faith. You know, a few years ago, he thought he was washed up. He was ready to retire. He was going to pack it in, but he just patiently persevered. And when opportunity knocked, he answered in a big way, didn't he?

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:11-20:18

  See, we approve of guys like Nick Foles, right? A seemingly humble, hardworking believer. Oh, Oh, he just happens to be first, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:18-20:20

  He's a winner, but he's a servant leader.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:21-20:22

  We'd follow a guy like that anywhere.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:23-20:24

  But would you really?

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:24-20:25

  Would you gear up?

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:25-20:36

  Would you get out on the field with Nick Foles and run a play and throw a sacrificial crossbody block on that 300 pound outside linebacker charging straight at Nick?

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:36-20:37

  Yeah, I don't think.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:37-20:39

  I wouldn't.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:40-20:42

  I don't think in that case I'd take one for the team.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:43-20:43

  But you know what, beloved?

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:44-20:46

  This is what Jesus asks us to do.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:46-20:46

  Be a servant.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:47-20:48

  Be a slave.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:49-20:50

  Lay down your life.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:50-20:51

  Put to death the sin of pride.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:52-20:54

  Put selfish ambition to death.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:54-20:55

  Put self to death.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:55-20:56

  Put to death your self-interest.

  Rich Sprunk:

  20:57-20:59

  You see, in the body of Christ, we don't get to be first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:00-21:01

  And we don't even get to be second.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:02-21:03

  We have the high task of being last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:04-21:07

  So let's look at the transforming power of being last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:08-21:11

  During His earthly ministry, Jesus did everything the opposite of the world.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:11-21:15

  He did everything opposite of what you would expect a Messiah to do.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:15-21:17

  He didn't insert His power or His prerogatives.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:18-21:23

  Unlike Adam and Eve, He didn't grasp at equality with God, but He showed us true humility.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:24-21:30

  In His earthly ministry, He did not assert His first rights, but He made Himself least and last of all.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:31-21:31

  He was poor.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:31-21:32

  He was homeless.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:32-21:33

  He was despised.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:35-21:38

  The challenge of being last begins with changing how we view ourselves as disciples.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:39-21:41

  It begins by adjusting our attitude.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:42-21:51

  We should, as Paul says in Philippians 2, verses 3-11, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:52-21:56

  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

  Rich Sprunk:

  21:57-22:17

  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grabbed, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

  Rich Sprunk:

  22:18-22:22

  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

  Rich Sprunk:

  22:23-23:20

  So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." We see that Jesus was obedient, pursuing identity not in the success and material trappings of this world. But in conforming himself to the will of his Father alone, we should notice that he was exalted to the highest place precisely because he made himself nothing. Precisely because he made himself last. You see, in this earth, we worship first Jesus, we worship the Son of God, and one day we will be like Him in glory. We will be like Him and we will see Him as He is. But right now, where we walk, we need to imitate the Son of Man. We walk like the Son of Man. So we need to adjust our actions. That's the next thing. We need to adjust our actions. Look with me at John 13, verses 1-5 and 15-17.

  Rich Sprunk:

  23:20-23:42

  "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

  Rich Sprunk:

  23:43-24:43

  He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. And then down further, 'You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If then I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." I'd like to look at this part of this passage in the New International Version. It says that Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power and that he'd come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him." I want to focus on some particular words in this passage.

  Rich Sprunk:

  24:43-24:53

  Read this, "Jesus had all power, so he began to wash his disciples' feet." Jesus had all power, and he began to wash his disciples' feet.

  Rich Sprunk:

  24:54-25:02

  Say that, "Jesus had all power, and he began to wash his disciples' feet." You see, Jesus has always been first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:02-25:07

  And unlike us who quarrel and kill and fight to be first, what does he do with all his firstness?

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:08-25:09

  What does he do with his power?

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:10-25:12

  He becomes a menial slave.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:12-25:17

  He becomes a doulos, the lowest, most menial slave in the Roman economy.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:18-25:21

  Beloved, this ought to pierce our hearts.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:21-25:25

  We ought to look on this scene and cry out, "Woe to me! I am ruined.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:25-25:29

  I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:29-25:32

  And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:33-25:35

  How then should we respond to God's word?

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:36-25:37

  I return to my opening question.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:37-25:51

  What would our families, our homes, our church be like if we sought to identify with this last Jesus, humbling ourselves below others, forgiving one another, falling over each other in an effort not to get to first place, but to last.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:53-25:54

  Let's look at a couple applications.

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:54-25:55

  How about the world?

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:56-25:56

  How about the world?

  Rich Sprunk:

  25:57-25:59

  What do you do when you encounter somebody different?

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:00-26:05

  Different color, different clothes, different ideas, you pass judgment.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:06-26:10

  I can't associate with this person because they have fill in the blank.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:11-26:14

  I'm not going to have anything to do with this person because they're fill in the blank.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:15-26:16

  I do this.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:17-26:19

  God forgive me when I do this.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:19-26:21

  What are you going to do when the world hurts you?

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:22-26:26

  What are you going to do when the world does what the world does to you?

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:26-26:36

  When somebody takes away your job, what are you going to do when someone hurts you, wrecks your stuff, and you got a lawsuit you could bring? What are you going to do when someone hurts your family?

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:37-26:40

  When someone nearly kills you, what are you going to do? You're going to go get vengeance?

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:41-26:45

  You're going to seek revenge? Are you going to seek to forgive? Are you going to show mercy?

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:46-26:54

  Beloved, what are we going to do in the church? Some mornings I come in here and the pain is I see it in people's faces.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:55-26:57

  Our brothers and sisters are hurting.

  Rich Sprunk:

  26:58-27:00

  Their marriages stink.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:02-27:02

  They're in pain.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:03-27:04

  What are we going to do?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:04-27:06

  Are we going to give them mindless little platitudes?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:07-27:09

  Or are we going to enter into their pain with them?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:09-27:10

  Are we going to pray with them?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:11-27:12

  Are we going to be compassionate towards them?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:13-27:19

  Or are we just going to, "Oh, God knows what he's doing." "The Lord has something better for you." Are we going to get into their pain?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:19-27:22

  and we're gonna get down into the place where our brothers and sisters are at.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:23-27:27

  Get down into that last place with them and love them.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:27-27:29

  When we're wronged in the church, are we gonna forgive?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:30-27:35

  Are we gonna do everything in our power to try to be reconciled with that person?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:36-27:37

  Are we gonna hold onto our pride?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:37-27:39

  Are we gonna seek to justify ourselves?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:39-27:40

  What are you gonna do?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:41-27:43

  Because Christian, that's where the rubber meets the road.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:44-27:46

  That's the litmus test of your belief.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:46-27:51

  What you do when you're wrong, What you do towards your brothers and sisters who are hurting.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:52-27:54

  I'd like to talk a little bit about families.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:54-27:57

  Husbands, do you serve your wives?

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:57-27:58

  You need to.

  Rich Sprunk:

  27:59-28:01

  If you've got little ones, you better be serving your wife.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:02-28:18

  "Honey, you've been in the kitchen all day. I'll do the dishes. I'll take care of this." "You go do something else you want to do." "Honey, you've been with the kids all day. I know they're sick. It's been a hard day." "You go get ready for bed. Go unwind." and I'll get the kids ready for bed.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:18-28:21

  I'll bathe them, I'll read to them, I'll pray with them, we'll get them to bed.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:21-28:22

  I'll take care of the kid.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:23-28:26

  Husbands, if you don't do this stuff for your wives, nobody else is.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:26-28:29

  And she wants you to do these things for her.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:29-28:31

  Do you spend time with your wife?

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:31-28:38

  Do you make time out of every day, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, sit down and talk with your wife?

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:38-28:39

  Listen to what she has to say.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:40-28:45

  I read somewhere, women have so many thousands of words they gotta speak a day, and man, we got like 100.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:45-28:47

  We come home from work and we're all talked out.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:47-28:48

  We're done talking.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:48-28:49

  Your wife is just getting started.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:50-28:51

  She needs somebody to talk to.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:52-28:53

  And you need to listen to her.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:54-28:56

  When she needs your help, husbands.

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:57-28:58

  What?

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:58-28:59

  What do you want now?

  Rich Sprunk:

  28:59-28:59

  I'm busy.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:00-29:01

  I'm watching the football game.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:01-29:04

  Just, I tell you, wait, let me finish this level, right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:05-29:05

  No.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:06-29:07

  Put your controller down.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:08-29:09

  Yes, honey, what can I do for you?

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:10-29:11

  How can I help you?

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:12-29:13

  Not, give me 15 minutes.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:14-29:18

  No. Your wife is you. Right?

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:18-29:20

  Your wife is you. You are one.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:22-29:23

  Wives, what can you do for your husbands to serve them?

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:24-29:24

  Some simple thing.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:25-29:26

  Respect your husband.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:27-29:28

  You may not think he's worthy of respect.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:29-29:31

  Maybe he's doing things that you don't respect him for.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:31-29:32

  But respect him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:33-29:37

  And don't go out talking trash about him to your girlfriends or other people.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:38-29:43

  Now ladies, I'm not talking about a husband who abuses you, who hurts you physically.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:43-29:45

  You need to get out of that.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:47-29:54

  But if you've got a husband, even if he's just kind of a lump, you've still got to respect him and love him and bring him along.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:54-29:56

  My wife was patient with me.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:57-29:58

  It took me 31 years.

  Rich Sprunk:

  29:59-30:00

  Spend time with your husband.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:01-30:02

  Find out what he likes to do.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:03-30:04

  And just be there.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:04-30:07

  You might not have to help him with what he's doing, but just be around him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:07-30:11

  I read one guy, he said, you know, my wife, I like to work on cars.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:11-30:17

  and my wife, she'll just come out and she'll pull up a chair and she'll sit there and she'll do her nails while I'm changing the oil.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:17-30:18

  He loved that.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:19-30:21

  He loved that his wife was just there with him.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:22-30:24

  That's how she respected her husband and loved her husband.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:25-30:28

  These are some simple things, beloved, simple things.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:28-30:29

  There's more that could be said.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:30-30:34

  I wish I could say I do all the things that I've just talked about.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:34-30:35

  I don't.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:35-30:36

  I fail.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:38-30:59

  But I don't go around hangdog and (groans) of failure. No, I realize, and all of you should realize, God has begun a good work in us and He is faithful to complete it. And it's our job to walk and work out our faith with fear and trembling, not give up, but to put the death, the desire to be first.

  Rich Sprunk:

  30:59-31:03

  We should remember that those who are last, those who seek to be last, are not losers.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:05-31:14

  We're the real overcomers of the world. And it's there where we find true victorious living, And it's precisely there where real fellowship with Jesus exists.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:15-31:16

  None of us here wants to be a killer.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:16-31:19

  We want to be imitators of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:19-31:22

  We want to be imitators of the Son of Man.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:22-31:23

  He has set us an example.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:24-31:26

  Beloved, it's time to gear up and get in the game.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:27-31:27

  Let's pray.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:28-31:32

  Our gracious Father, we thank you for your patience and long-suffering with us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:33-31:36

  You didn't look at us and say, "Oh, look at that miserable sinner.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:37-31:45

  I'm not going to save him or her." No, while we were yet enemies, while we were still enemies, Christ died for us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:46-31:50

  He loved us with steadfast love.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:51-31:52

  You served us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:53-31:54

  You still serve us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  31:55-32:01

  Father, we ask that You help us to be imitators of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.

  Rich Sprunk:

  32:02-32:11

  To treat others with the same love and compassion and generosity that you have lavished on us.

  Rich Sprunk:

  32:11-32:19

  And it's for the name of Jesus and in the glorious name of Jesus that we ask these things.

  Rich Sprunk:

  32:20-32:20

  Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read a selection of the passenges above...

1. Why was it necessary for Jesus to come in poverty rather than power in His first advent?

2. In what ways do we seek to be first in the world?  In the Church?

3. If we should not seek to be first in the Church, how should one lead?

4. Is it an exaggeration to say those who seek to be first are killers?
   Consider these verses:

   1. Luke 9:53-55

   2. John 8:44

   3. Genesis 4:3-8

   4. Genesis 4:23-24

   5. Exodus 2:11-15a

   6. 1 Samuel 25:10-13, 21-22

   7. 2 Samuel 11:14-17

   8. James 4:1-4

   9. Matt 5:21-22

   10. Luke 22:36-38, 49-51

   11. Mark 10:33-34

5. What are some ways people serve?  Are we susceptible to involving ourselves in “activities” as a substitute for serving?

6. Why, in God’s economy, are the last not losers?  Why, in the world’s eyes, might we look like losers?

   1. What are some ways we can adjust our attitudes?  About who and what do we need to adjust our attitudes?

   2. What are some ways we can adjust our actions?

   3. Will our actions matter if we have not first adjusted our attitudes, i.e., the motives of our hearts?

“For I have given you an example….”

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

The Courageous Mother

Not to be confused with Wonder Woman™

1. Motherhood (Titus 2:3-5)
2. The Gospel (Romans 1:1-7, 16)
3. Gospel + Motherhood = Courageous Motherhood

Motherhood is primarily about Chaos and Order (Genesis 2-3).

• Mothers have a new Power

Steven Canfield - Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh East (Associate Pastor)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:43-00:45

  What is a great privilege to be with you.

  00:47-00:54

  My brother Jeremiah and the staff at Harvest Pittsburgh East have told me a lot about your pastor and speak very highly of him.

  00:55-00:58

  And since Jeremiah is my boss, I have to just believe what he says.

  00:58-01:03

  So I don't know Jeffrey well yet, but Jeremiah says he's good, then I'm all good with that.

  01:03-01:05

  So yes, sir, Jeremiah.

  01:07-01:11

  Before I tell you briefly a bit about, well actually I'm gonna start with just telling you a little bit about myself.

  01:11-01:15

  Jeff kind of already filled in some of the important details my love for coffee and Andy Griffith Show and things.

  01:15-01:20

  But I did want to mention again, my wife Christy, we've been married for almost 20 years now.

  01:21-01:26

  I know I look really young and I don't know how to help that it is a problem.

  01:26-01:27

  You may think it's kind of cool, but it's not.

  01:27-01:29

  It's a problem because I have an 18 year old daughter.

  01:30-01:36

  And so occasionally I'll take her on a date or something and people think that I'm actually dating her and it makes me very angry.

  01:38-01:40

  So it's a privilege to have five children.

  01:41-01:56

  I have a 18 year old daughter, a 17 year old daughter, a 15 year old son, a 12 year old son, and we had another one a little bit later who is now six, and will put us in our grave before too long.

  01:57-02:01

  Yeah, so I love a lot of things.

  02:01-02:03

  I love my family, I love the church.

  02:03-02:07

  I love just being able to encourage a body like you all.

  02:07-02:13

  And I'm excited to be a part of this kind of family of Harvest kind of network churches.

  02:13-02:22

  We're actually planting out of Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh East, about 45 minutes from that main campus there in a town called Greensburg.

  02:22-02:28

  I don't know, I'm still figuring out Pittsburgh with what they call a town, city, whatever, borough, I don't know.

  02:29-02:30

  But that's where we are.

  02:30-03:01

  We're living there now, so we can kind of get to know the community and just kind of sense what God wants to do there. So we're very excited about that. We have like a small group meeting in our home and that'll kind of be the beginning of the core group and looking to launch in about a year. So just taking our time, getting to know the church harvest and getting to know our community and just beginning to pray that God will do what he wants to do in that area. So we're excited about that and it's a privilege to be a part of this kind of family, this network of churches.

  03:02-03:03

  And so we're glad to be here with you all.

  03:04-03:06

  I wanna tell you a little bit about where we're headed this morning.

  03:07-03:10

  It's gonna have to do with mothers, since it's Mother's Day.

  03:10-03:11

  Thought that we thought that would be appropriate.

  03:12-03:17

  And I'm gonna talk about motherhood, but I'm not gonna talk at moms only, okay?

  03:18-03:22

  I realize that on Mother's Day, there's two categories of people.

  03:23-03:25

  There are moms and non-moms.

  03:25-03:27

  And if you're a man, you fit into the latter category.

  03:28-03:33

  And so I don't want you just to check out and say, well, this is to mother, so this has nothing to do with me.

  03:33-03:35

  This has everything to do with you, actually.

  03:36-03:45

  There's also those of you-- I understand that motherhood is different depending on which phase of motherhood you're in.

  03:45-03:48

  And so we've walked through a lot of those phases.

  03:48-03:50

  And my wife, as a mother, has walked through many of these.

  03:50-03:52

  I've got to watch her walk through those phases.

  03:53-04:00

  And I have the privilege of having had a great mom in my life. I know many of you may not have had that experience.

  04:00-04:27

  I had a mom who loved Jesus and loved us and I'm very grateful for that and I'm growing to appreciate what she did more every day. When I was 15 I didn't think she was very cool and she rained on my parade an awful lot and I was actually oftentimes very bitter at her but as I've grown older and examined and seen my wife, mother, our children, I've realized what a great gift I had in a mom.

  04:27-04:34

  And so now on Mother's Day I celebrate her and I'm so grateful for the godly mother that I had.

  04:35-04:39

  I'm also very grateful for the godly mother that I get to watch every day with our children.

  04:39-04:41

  We have some chronically ill children.

  04:41-04:46

  Two of our children have kind of a chronic Lyme disease and that's actually why we had to move up here.

  04:46-05:24

  They couldn't live anymore in the south and so they're pretty bad and so we've had to wrestle through that and just watching my wife mother them and be their primary caregiver and there were some periods of time where we were kind of at the end of our rope and just been a great great privilege to watch her mother well. And so I I have the blessing of like watching motherhood like in 3D like really good healthy motherhood but I know not all of us have experienced that And I know that there's different as a mother, there's different stages that you go through.

  05:25-05:32

  If you have children in the range of one to five, it's a very different mothering experience than if you have children in the range of 11 to 18.

  05:32-05:34

  A whole different ball game there.

  05:34-05:37

  And we learned that very quickly when our children started to become teenagers.

  05:39-05:43

  There's a difference between having three five and under than having just one.

  05:43-05:56

  So all the different phases and the challenges of motherhood are compounded depending on the needs of your children, the different time frame of your children, how involved your husband is in the process.

  05:56-06:02

  I mean, you put all these things in and you just, motherhood can be a mess and be very challenging and overwhelming.

  06:05-06:14

  My point here this morning is that motherhood is a very big category and there's a lot of variety in the joys and pain that a mom experiences.

  06:15-06:23

  And so my message today is about all of you but it's not just to the mothers, it's for all of us.

  06:24-06:26

  And there's a reason, it's a very simple outline.

  06:26-06:30

  I don't even need slides this morning because it's gonna be, the outline's gonna be so simple.

  06:30-06:34

  You don't even have to write it down, you can, but hopefully you're gonna remember it, okay?

  06:34-06:37

  Because point one is gonna be about motherhood.

  06:37-06:40

  I think we can stick, we can remember that, right?

  06:40-06:43

  Okay, point two is gonna be about the gospel.

  06:44-06:47

  And this is why, when we get to point two, you'll realize why this is for everybody.

  06:48-06:50

  And point three is gonna be how the gospel changes motherhood.

  06:52-06:56

  So gospel plus motherhood equals what kind of a mom?

  06:56-07:07

  And so that's what we're gonna look at this morning, and I hope that's simple enough that you can kind of get your head around motherhood, gospel, gospel plus motherhood equals courageous motherhood.

  07:08-07:17

  So we're gonna jump right in, but before we do, before we kind of look at some scripture and just consider mothers, let's just pray.

  07:17-07:20

  Let me just pray and ask God to just give us clarity here this morning.

  07:21-07:27

  Lord, I just thank you for the great privilege of being able to speak encouragement to the moms here.

  07:27-07:41

  God, we pray that it wouldn't just be one day a year that we celebrate them and encourage them, but it would be just a habit and pattern of our life that we'd be speaking into the lives of moms and encouraging them and celebrating them.

  07:41-07:50

  And I thank you for their dedication, their hard work, their desire to even learn from your word how they can be better moms.

  07:50-07:52

  And so we want to encourage them in that way this morning.

  07:53-08:01

  For the rest of us, Lord, as we are just coming this morning to the text, I pray that you would open our hearts to hear the power of the gospel.

  08:02-08:03

  God, we want to be changed.

  08:05-08:06

  We want to be transformed.

  08:06-08:10

  We don't want to just come in here and sing and hear something interesting and then head off without being changed.

  08:10-08:13

  God, we want to be transformed by the power of the gospel.

  08:13-08:16

  So please do that in us this morning.

  08:16-08:18

  It's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

  08:20-08:28

  So motherhood, I would say biblically, and we're not gonna wrestle through all the text to keep it kind of brief, and I have two Bibles, by the way, I have my sword and my dagger.

  08:29-08:35

  If you feel like I'm getting too long, just kind of flip the dagger, you know, and I'll be shorter if I preach with my dagger.

  08:35-08:43

  But anyway, so I'm gonna start with my sword, and what we're gonna do, though, is we're not gonna examine all the texts that I wanna just kind of think about this morning.

  08:43-08:55

  we're gonna go to like two specific texts, and we'll get there in a second, but motherhood is primarily, if you go back to the book of Genesis, you'll see the motherhood is primarily about chaos and order.

  08:56-09:08

  So God gives this gift of woman within the created order to be a helpmate to man, to help be a priest in this garden temple called Eden.

  09:08-09:19

  It's this beautiful picture, and they're supposed to, as husband and wife, man and woman be the kind of vice regents of the world and display the glory of God to the whole creation.

  09:20-09:32

  So God took them out of the chaos, the unbridled kind of universe, and stuck man in a garden, a beautifully cultivated space, and he said to Adam and Eve, okay, here's what I want you to do.

  09:32-09:39

  I want you to cultivate my glory to the whole world so that the Garden of Eden would have spread throughout the whole world.

  09:39-09:41

  It wasn't just supposed to stay right there.

  09:41-10:01

  God's presence, His glorious, beautiful, delightful presence was through man and woman and their children supposed to spread across the whole world so that the whole world would have been a garden temple to God and all the earth would have sung His praises as the waters covered the sea, His glory would have covered the entire universe.

  10:01-10:02

  Great vision, isn't it?

  10:03-10:03

  It would have been awesome.

  10:04-10:13

  Except that the primary representatives of this priestly work, turned their back on God and said, "No, thank you.

  10:13-10:21

  We'll do things our own way." And with that, they plunged the whole earth into chaos and disorder.

  10:21-10:29

  And you see that happen in chapter 3 all the way to chapter 11 as chaos is brought into the world and everything unravels.

  10:29-10:48

  It's like this downward spiral of humanity all the way to chapter 11 where they're building this tower and saying, you know, it's like this priest, they were looking at themselves like, we're gonna build this tower and we're going to, God's gonna love it so much, he's gonna come bless us, and our name is gonna spread and we're gonna be great.

  10:50-10:56

  The very opposite of what God told man and woman to do in the garden, to spread a passion for his glory across the world.

  10:56-11:06

  And now mankind, at the lowest point, even as they're ascending high, the lowest point of civilization and human life are saying, "It's all about us and our glory.

  11:06-11:33

  "God bless this, it's all about us." And so we just say, "Oh man, this is a mess." Well, in the midst of that, you have this little thing called motherhood that God had originally intended to be this piece of the puzzle of spreading his glory where a mother would, in a special way, would be empowered to bring order out of the chaos, to sink roots into the home life.

  11:35-11:46

  And it was a powerful, beautiful calling to bring order out of the chaos of infancy and childhood and to establish maturity and fruitfulness and flourishing.

  11:47-11:57

  She was called to do this in a space or a home, the space where protection and love and provision and growth could happen so there's this flourishing environment.

  11:59-12:13

  But just like the rest of creation, home life was crushed by chaos and sin as well. And now mothering is even more difficult. I don't know if you're a mom, you know that mothering is challenging.

  12:13-12:36

  I don't have to tell you that. Mothering is disturbing because to be a mother means you probably have children, which means you're just disturbed a lot. This came to us very quickly when we had our first daughter. I actually was preaching at a church in Georgia, and my oldest daughter, she was screaming so loud in the middle of the service.

  12:36-12:38

  My wife was pregnant with our second.

  12:38-12:52

  She was screaming so loud that my wife had to pick her up out of the service and carry, I'm preaching, you know, I'm preaching away, you know, and she's carrying our daughter out screaming, and my daughter's biting her stomach, which is, you know, a little bit larger at that point, and so she's biting her stomach.

  12:53-13:00

  People are like helping, you know, I was like an associate pastor at that time, you know, one of the pastors, you know, the wives like pull the child off her.

  13:01-13:04

  And we're just like, oh my goodness, what have we done?

  13:04-13:05

  We broke her.

  13:06-13:09

  What have we, this is terrible.

  13:09-13:19

  Parenting is not, I mean I had this like, you know, kind of fantasy kind of view of parenting where we'd have these little kids falling in line with us, you know, and all in matching outfits going, hey, we love Jesus, you know, with their Bibles, you know.

  13:20-13:22

  And it was nothing like that.

  13:22-13:25

  It was like she's carrying her out, she's screaming, biting her stomach, and like, there's my daughter, you know.

  13:26-13:26

  Happy Mother's Day.

  13:29-13:38

  I remember one time we overheard my son Hudson, he's 12 now, he was about 3 or 4, he was sitting on a step in our house and he was talking to himself.

  13:40-13:46

  You know how you try to like listen in to your child's conversation, try to get a little insight into their psyche, you know, by listening to them when they don't know you're listening?

  13:48-13:51

  So I was listening to him and he was talking about his mother.

  13:52-13:54

  He was preparing for her.

  13:55-14:05

  else around, he's sitting there, he's saying this to himself, "No, mommy, I don't want to. No, mommy, I don't want to. No, mommy, I don't want to." He was practicing his rebellion.

  14:08-14:23

  So that when his mother said to do something, he was ready, "No, mommy, I don't want to." This is the disturbing reality of being a mother. This is what you have to deal with.

  14:23-14:29

  And so I'm not just gonna preach you a nice little happy sermon about how to be a great mom because we know that's a joke.

  14:31-14:33

  Motherhood is hard.

  14:34-14:47

  It is difficult because we have been plunged into a world of chaos and just like creation groans for its redemption in Romans chapter eight, mothers groan for their redemption.

  14:49-15:04

  As they watch their children turn away from God, as they watch their children's hearts be hardened by deceitfulness and worldliness around them, and they groan and they ache as they watch their bodies breaking or their minds not in the right place and making bad decisions.

  15:04-15:07

  They groan for their children, and it's not a joke.

  15:07-15:08

  It's the reality we live in.

  15:10-15:12

  And so on behalf of moms, I groan with you.

  15:15-15:23

  I feel the pain because I read the Bible, and I know that the pain is real and deep, And you can't escape it.

  15:24-15:34

  The very essence of motherhood is self-giving sacrifice, embracing the chaos, embracing the sin of our children.

  15:36-15:38

  And it's difficult, and it's hard work.

  15:40-15:42

  Now, moms have a problem.

  15:43-15:44

  Sorry, moms, you're not going to get out on this one.

  15:45-15:50

  Because you also have been plunged into a world of chaos, and you also are part of the problem, aren't you?

  15:51-15:53

  If you know yourself, you know.

  15:54-15:58

  I mean, despite all what the Hallmark cards have told you today, you have a problem.

  15:59-16:01

  They just don't make for good Hallmark cards.

  16:03-16:06

  Your problem, well, I see three.

  16:06-16:10

  I see three different kinds of moms who kind of work in three different kinds of ways.

  16:10-16:14

  You have the moms who are trying to be the cool mom, you know, because their mom wasn't.

  16:15-16:21

  Their mom was the hard nose, you know, And so there's just like, I just got, my children just need to love me.

  16:21-16:27

  So they do whatever it takes for their child just to love them because they're so afraid of their children not loving them.

  16:27-16:30

  And so that actually perpetuates the chaos.

  16:31-16:38

  Instead of taming the children in orderliness that glorifies God, it perpetuates that chaos.

  16:38-16:46

  And they tend to make bad decisions on behalf of their kids and be very naive toward the heart issues of their children.

  16:47-16:51

  This is played out very dramatically in a series called The Gilmore Girls.

  16:52-16:53

  These aren't the kind of shows I watch, just so you know.

  16:55-17:00

  But my wife enjoys it sometimes, and so I've actually sat and watched it, and it's basically, this is the premise.

  17:00-17:02

  It's a cool mom, she's cool.

  17:03-17:09

  Her mom wasn't, and she's cool, and so her and her daughter, I mean, she's the party one, she's the crazy lady.

  17:09-17:11

  Her daughter sometimes is trying to tame her.

  17:13-17:17

  And so as funny as it is, it's a disturbing way of thinking of motherhood.

  17:18-17:19

  It's a terrible idea.

  17:20-17:26

  It's the opposite of Genesis 1, 2, and 3, and what we're called to in just a second in Titus chapter 2.

  17:27-17:30

  The other opposite problem is the controlling mom.

  17:32-17:34

  They're afraid of messing their kids up.

  17:35-17:47

  They're afraid that this chaos all around them is going to be their undoing, and their children are going to turn from God, or their children are gonna be in jail someday, or they're gonna be just messed up, and it's all gonna be their fault.

  17:48-17:49

  I was a terrible mother.

  17:49-17:52

  There's just this constant voice in their head that says, you were a terrible mother.

  17:52-17:57

  All your children's problems are your fault, your fault, your fault, and they live in that fear.

  17:57-18:00

  And so the only way they can get around it is just by controlling it.

  18:00-18:02

  And these kind of moms tend to get angry very easily.

  18:04-18:10

  So from the cool mom to the controlling mom, to the carefree mom, Some moms have just kind of given up altogether.

  18:11-18:14

  It's like, this isn't gonna work, so I don't care.

  18:14-18:16

  And I meet a lot of ladies like this.

  18:17-18:32

  They're afraid of losing their own freedom because their kids, in the chaos of their home life, it's just too much for them, and they see it as too much sacrifice, too much hard work, and so they just kind of give up and say, I'm just gonna live my life.

  18:33-18:36

  And the culture's very happy to encourage us in this.

  18:36-18:37

  You know, right?

  18:37-18:38

  Just watch some show.

  18:38-18:44

  I mean, I don't even, I don't know what they are, the view or whatever, you know, and they're gonna tell, they're gonna like pound the freedom of the mother.

  18:45-18:46

  It's all about your freedom.

  18:46-18:47

  You need to know who you are.

  18:47-18:48

  You need to have time for yourself.

  18:48-18:50

  It's all about you, you, you, you, you.

  18:51-18:54

  And that's the very opposite language of motherhood, isn't it?

  18:54-18:55

  Motherhood is sacrifice.

  18:56-18:59

  It's laying your life down on behalf of your children.

  19:02-19:05

  So the movies come out that are, you know, I've never seen these obviously either.

  19:05-19:07

  Bad Moms, I don't know, one and two.

  19:07-19:08

  They keep coming out.

  19:08-19:10

  I guess people liked them so much, you know.

  19:10-19:12

  I just remember seeing the preview for it back in 2016.

  19:13-19:17

  I saw this preview and it was called "Bad Moms." I'm like, that looks edifying, you know.

  19:17-19:19

  Let's get our tickets now.

  19:21-19:22

  It was such a hit, I guess.

  19:22-19:25

  They made a second one, you know, "Bad Moms at Christmas Time" or whatever.

  19:25-19:27

  It's just like, what in the world?

  19:27-19:28

  So I mean, I'm sure it's funny.

  19:28-19:29

  I actually looked it up.

  19:29-19:33

  Since I hadn't watched it and I really don't care to, I looked up what is this about, you know.

  19:34-19:35

  Is it really just about moms being bad?

  19:36-19:37

  Like, you know, this is great.

  19:38-19:44

  This is what it says, "When three overworked and underappreciated moms" - overworked and underappreciated moms, isn't that every mom?

  19:46-19:47

  That's what I thought too, but okay.

  19:47-19:52

  When three overworked and underappreciated moms, and I think you're supposed to be like, "Oh, I can't believe that.

  19:52-19:57

  How could that be?" "Are pushed beyond their limits," which I think for my wife feels like every day.

  19:58-20:01

  If you're a mom, you feel like you're pushed beyond your limits every single day.

  20:03-20:09

  They ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom fun and comedic self-indulgence.

  20:11-20:14

  So obviously, that's a problem biblically.

  20:16-20:17

  So this is where we come to the text.

  20:17-20:18

  So let's just look at Titus.

  20:18-20:20

  We're just gonna get a couple little texts this morning.

  20:20-20:21

  Look at Titus chapter two.

  20:22-20:29

  And I think it's just interesting how Paul deals with this a little bit in Titus chapter two, verse five.

  20:30-20:36

  He's talking specifically to Titus, telling him how to be a good elder in this church setting.

  20:37-20:42

  And he's telling him how to approach different people in his congregation, in the body here.

  20:43-20:50

  And so he speaks specifically to Titus about how to encourage the older women to encourage the younger women.

  20:52-20:59

  This is what he says, Titus 2, 3, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slave to much wine.

  21:00-21:21

  They are to teach what is good." what's the good thing these older ladies are teaching, verse four, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands that the word of God may not be reviled.

  21:22-21:26

  Now there's a lot here and I'm not gonna break all this down because of time.

  21:26-21:28

  I just want you to see something here.

  21:29-21:33

  Paul is not relegating women to home confinement here.

  21:33-21:34

  That's not the point of this text.

  21:36-21:41

  He's encouraging them toward an anti-chaos mentality and work ethic within their home.

  21:42-21:44

  This is what he wants.

  21:44-21:52

  He wants them to understand their gifting as the order bringers of their homes, the root sinkers in the context of their home.

  21:53-21:59

  Because women by nature, and when I say nature, that's like code language for the creational intention of God.

  21:59-22:00

  This was God's idea.

  22:00-22:15

  So women by nature, in their physical, mental, relational, emotional makeup, are especially gifted by God to bring order in a powerful and fruitful way in the home life for the good of all.

  22:15-22:17

  This is a beautiful vision, by the way.

  22:18-22:22

  And so Paul is pointing Titus to talk to the older ladies.

  22:23-22:24

  They've been there, done that.

  22:24-22:25

  They know what this is about.

  22:26-22:34

  They're supposed to tell the younger ladies and train them and teach them how to bring order and beauty in their own home context.

  22:35-22:39

  It's a beautiful vision that God is giving to Titus here.

  22:41-22:49

  Now, this doesn't mean from a biblical perspective that women have nothing to do or to offer in the church or the community at large.

  22:49-22:50

  Quite the opposite, actually.

  22:50-23:07

  If you know the Bible, you know the Bible gives many examples of strong, gifted women who helped their family, their community, their nation in heroism, leadership, unction, wisdom, courage, teaching, discipleship, testimony, financial backing, and more.

  23:08-23:15

  I mean, the Bible is full of strong, godly women who spread a passion for God's glory, okay?

  23:16-23:22

  But what this doesn't mean is that a woman's special gifting to bring order to the home should be overlooked.

  23:23-23:25

  It should be celebrated.

  23:25-23:29

  And it shouldn't just be abandoned because the culture says home isn't as important.

  23:31-23:34

  It's not as meaningful as the community, or the marketplace, or government.

  23:34-23:35

  That's just absolutely not true.

  23:37-23:47

  Our culture will admit-- I think you'll agree with this-- that women are better equipped and more intuitive at home life cultivation than men are.

  23:48-23:49

  Our culture will tell you that.

  23:49-23:50

  You can watch interviews.

  23:50-23:50

  You can watch movies.

  23:51-23:56

  and read the books, they will say that women are more intuitive and better at this.

  23:58-24:10

  But the problem is, this is where the culture feels the rub, motherhood by its very nature is a demanding and sacrificial endeavor, so no matter how you slice it, to be a good mom is hard work.

  24:11-24:13

  And our culture pushes back on that for some reason.

  24:13-24:25

  And so in the soon to be released movie I am excited about, Incredibles 2, I just saw in theaters, this preview, and it was like, oh, this is about motherhood, so this is gonna be interesting.

  24:25-24:35

  So the preview basically was showing the incompetence of the man, the husband, to run the home when mom is called on to save the world.

  24:36-24:37

  There's been lots of movies made like that.

  24:37-24:50

  But the point is that yes, the culture is saying yes, moms are better bringing order and a life giving to the home, but we're not supposed to think that they're not better at everything else too.

  24:50-24:52

  That's the message, right?

  24:53-24:56

  I'm a better mom and I can save the world just as good as you can.

  24:56-25:01

  That's kind of the message of this and it's intended to lift high women.

  25:01-25:03

  And I totally agree with lifting high women.

  25:03-25:05

  I just think we should do it in a better way.

  25:07-25:09

  Biblically, Incredibles 2 misses the point.

  25:11-25:19

  The question isn't are moms better at other things than men but how valuable is the work that mothers do primarily behind the doors of their home?

  25:19-25:22

  How valuable is this work called motherhood?

  25:23-25:28

  The answer of course is it's really, really, really valuable and important.

  25:29-25:40

  To lose good mothering is to lose order and love in the home, and to lose order and love in the home is devastating to the next generation as well as to the communities and the nations with which they are a part of.

  25:41-25:47

  To lose a passion and perseverance in the difficult work of being a mom is to lose too much.

  25:49-26:02

  And so biblically, like Paul, we celebrate what mothers are doing behind the doors of their home, even if our culture and our community doesn't see the great glory and value of it.

  26:04-26:13

  So this is why older women need to encourage the younger women to love their husbands and their children and to be good workers at home, because the biblical task of motherhood is massive.

  26:14-26:25

  It's so big it can scare some moms, either because they fear failure in the future or they fear they're to blame when their lives of their children take a chaotic turn.

  26:26-26:29

  And this brings us to the second part of our sermon and the good part of our sermon.

  26:31-26:34

  Because I told you this is about motherhood and it's about the gospel.

  26:35-26:36

  This is good news for moms.

  26:38-26:40

  Good news for moms and the rest of us.

  26:41-26:50

  Because the good news of the gospel is that Jesus, His rescue and reign has already begun, has broken into life through his death and resurrection.

  26:51-26:57

  Okay, so this is, we're doing a little biblical theology here with these rackets, okay?

  26:58-27:00

  These are, I don't know, what are these things?

  27:01-27:02

  Badminton, yes, thank you.

  27:02-27:03

  It's not really my sport.

  27:04-27:06

  Basketball's more my thing, you know, or anything physical, punching people.

  27:06-27:07

  No, I'm joking.

  27:08-27:12

  So badminton, I don't really use it much for badminton, but we do have carpenter bee problems here.

  27:12-27:19

  I don't know if that's a normal thing around here, so I use them to kill, I've killed about 50 so far, but this is my weapons and my kids use them for badminton.

  27:20-27:24

  But they're gonna serve to help us see something about the gospel, this is awesome.

  27:25-27:31

  So a lot of us just think the gospel is how we get saved, but that's not how Paul talked about the gospel.

  27:31-27:34

  The gospel isn't how to get saved, that's part of it.

  27:35-27:41

  The gospel is about what God is doing as he breaks in onto this world and fixes the chaos and mess.

  27:42-27:43

  It's an announcement.

  27:44-27:47

  It's not even a theology, it's an announcement.

  27:47-27:49

  Jesus is Lord.

  27:50-27:51

  That's the essence of the gospel.

  27:53-28:09

  That Jesus, Jewish man Jesus, in answer to all the promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and on and on it goes, Jesus is the one who steps into time and space and brings in a rescue operation.

  28:09-28:14

  He's rescuing the world, he's rescuing Israel on behalf of Israel, the whole world.

  28:15-28:16

  So here's what happens.

  28:17-28:22

  We are living, I want you to let this little circle represent the present age.

  28:22-28:23

  How many of you live in the present age?

  28:23-28:27

  Do you guys live in, okay, if you don't raise your hand, we got a problem, okay?

  28:27-28:32

  'Cause I don't know where you live, but you live in the present age, so this circle represents the present age.

  28:33-28:35

  Now this circle right here represents the age to come.

  28:36-28:36

  Right?

  28:37-28:39

  So you're the present age, and you have the age to come.

  28:39-28:41

  Now here's the, this is the good news.

  28:42-28:46

  When Jesus died on the cross and defeated death, something happened.

  28:46-28:50

  He actually won a victory, all right?

  28:51-28:54

  This is world shattering.

  28:54-29:16

  When he rose from the grave, he defeats death, forgiving sins, bringing Israel out of their exile, and now we are able to be a part of this, and so we're living in this present age that's chaotic and full of sin, and so we're like, Lord, help us, And so he sends Jesus to defeat the powers that be, the chaos that's going crazy in this sphere.

  29:17-29:21

  And when Jesus rises from the grave, he does something unbelievable.

  29:21-29:26

  He brings in the coming age into the present age.

  29:28-29:32

  And you know, if you are in Christ, if you trust in Jesus, do you know where you live now?

  29:33-29:39

  You live in this little section of this present age and the age to come.

  29:41-29:48

  In other words, new creation, the coming age, new creation has broken into the old.

  29:49-29:54

  And we now, if you're a follower of Christ, you live in this part, this little sphere.

  29:54-30:00

  That's why Paul can talk about you like seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and he can talk about you being perfect and all these crazy things.

  30:00-30:02

  You're like, I don't know what world he lives in.

  30:02-30:03

  I don't know what he's smoking, you know?

  30:04-30:05

  You know why?

  30:05-30:06

  Do you know what he's saying?

  30:06-30:13

  He's saying that this heaven, the age to come, has broken in, and now we live.

  30:13-30:22

  Jesus was the first fruits of the new creation, and we live in this little sphere that Jesus resurrected and is rectorated.

  30:22-30:25

  New creation body lives in.

  30:25-30:28

  We live with him in that new creation realm.

  30:29-30:31

  Oh my goodness, this changes everything.

  30:32-30:34

  This changes everything for motherhood.

  30:35-30:42

  This is the good news for mothers God said in Revelation 21, I am making all things new.

  30:42-30:45

  And sometimes we think, oh yeah, that's at the end of Revelation, Revelation chapter 21.

  30:46-30:51

  No, he's saying that on behalf of everything that has happened since the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  30:51-30:56

  When Jesus raised from the grave, God says, I am making all things new.

  30:57-30:59

  Which means that we're a part of that project.

  31:00-31:02

  We're a part of the making all things new people.

  31:03-31:08

  That makes every mother in here a different mother than any other mother in this culture.

  31:09-31:13

  Because you're a part of God's project of making all things new.

  31:13-31:14

  That's who you are.

  31:15-31:16

  You're new creation.

  31:18-31:25

  This is massive and significant because it means there is a new reality that we live in.

  31:28-31:35

  This new reality is this new creation, that new age breaking into the old present age.

  31:36-31:39

  This also means that we have a new identity.

  31:40-31:41

  You can see this in the book of Romans.

  31:42-31:45

  Turn to the book of Romans, this is the last text we'll turn to, Romans chapter 1.

  31:47-31:50

  We have a new identity now.

  31:51-31:55

  We are the ones in Romans 1-7 who are called to be saints.

  31:57-32:00

  We are the ones who belong to Jesus.

  32:02-32:08

  Let me just read this awesome text, Romans 1, 1-7, and then we'll skip to page 16.

  32:10-32:15

  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the glory of God.

  32:15-32:18

  Now he's getting ready to tell a little synopsis of the gospel story.

  32:19-32:41

  Which he promised, the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord." All that is loaded.

  32:41-32:45

  We don't have time to unpack it, but if you have time to wrestle with that text, I would highly encourage it.

  32:47-33:05

  "Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations," which was the promise he gave to Abraham thousands of years prior, that they would be a light to the nations, that this Israel, this people of God would be a light to the nations.

  33:05-33:18

  Now Paul is saying that is happening, including you, so the people at Rome, the church at Rome and us, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

  33:19-33:20

  Here's the good news.

  33:20-33:27

  If you are in Christ, if you have trusted in what Jesus Christ did in the cross and the resurrection, then you have a new identity.

  33:27-33:30

  You are those who belong to Jesus.

  33:32-33:35

  I wish I could explain to you how big this is.

  33:37-33:41

  You are those who are loved by God, who are called to be saints.

  33:41-33:42

  This is who you are.

  33:43-33:46

  This gives you a whole new vision for life.

  33:48-33:50

  You belong to Jesus Christ.

  33:51-33:52

  You have a new identity.

  33:52-33:55

  There's a new reality that is broken in.

  33:55-33:57

  Not only that, but you have a new power.

  33:58-34:00

  Look at Romans 1, 16.

  34:01-34:02

  For I am not ashamed of the gospel.

  34:03-34:04

  You say, Paul's talking about the gospel a lot.

  34:04-34:05

  I know, it's great, isn't it?

  34:06-34:07

  The whole book of Romans, by the way, is about the gospel.

  34:08-34:10

  It's the whole gospel unpacked.

  34:11-34:17

  And it reaches its climax at chapter 11, which is really weird if all you know is the Romans road, because the gospel goes way farther than the Romans road.

  34:19-34:33

  It goes to Romans chapter eight, where God's gonna restore all of creation, and it goes to chapter 11, where God's gonna be faithful to the promises to his people, and all his people and all creation are gonna experience a great renovation and renewal.

  34:33-34:34

  It's unbelievable.

  34:34-34:39

  The vision will just blow your mind, which is why Paul, at the end of chapter 11, just breaks out in praise.

  34:39-34:40

  He can't even know what to say.

  34:40-34:42

  He just kinda like, "Hallelujah," you know?

  34:42-34:43

  And that's what happens.

  34:44-34:50

  It's because if you track with him from Romans chapter one to 11, you're left just like, I don't know what to say.

  34:51-34:53

  The vision's so beautiful, it's so big.

  34:54-34:55

  It's the gospel.

  34:56-34:58

  It's the announcement that Jesus is Lord.

  35:01-35:12

  He says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, "for it is the power of God for salvation "to everyone who believes." Now don't miss this.

  35:12-35:17

  I don't normally talk a lot about the Greek and all that kind of stuff, you know, but just indulge me for a second.

  35:18-35:20

  So this is a misunderstood passage.

  35:21-35:23

  The gospel isn't just for unbelievers to get saved.

  35:25-35:27

  That's so not how Paul talks about the gospel.

  35:29-35:34

  The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

  35:34-35:38

  In the Greek, that's in the present tense, okay?

  35:38-35:39

  Which is really important, especially here.

  35:40-35:47

  Because what that means is it's saying that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who goes on believing.

  35:48-35:50

  It's not just a one-time thing.

  35:50-35:52

  The gospel is supposed to be with you every day.

  35:53-35:55

  Like if you're saying, how do I navigate as a Christian?

  35:55-35:57

  How do I be, you know, what am I supposed to do in my work?

  35:57-36:01

  And all the questions that you have about Christianity are answered in the gospel.

  36:03-36:07

  The gospel is the power of God for salvation.

  36:07-36:11

  And when Paul's talking about salvation, he's not just talking about getting saved.

  36:11-36:17

  He's talking about the work of salvation that God is doing, which he's gonna unpack in the rest of the book of Romans.

  36:17-36:28

  So here's the point, God gives us this power called the gospel that's like a grenade in our life that constantly goes off and rearranges us and changes us.

  36:29-36:41

  The more we understand the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ and his great reign over all things and the renewal that is brought into this world, the more we change and are transformed and become like Jesus.

  36:43-36:47

  You can't just become like Jesus by going, "I wonder what Jesus would do." It's nice, but it won't work.

  36:49-36:54

  You can say, "What would Jesus do all day?" But what you actually need is you need to look at the gospel.

  36:55-37:01

  The gospel, Paul says, is the power of God for salvation to those who go on believing.

  37:01-37:07

  The more you understand the gospel, the more you embrace the gospel, the more like Jesus you will become.

  37:10-37:15

  It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

  37:16-37:17

  You have a new power.

  37:19-37:27

  It transforms your trust, it transforms your existence, it transforms your thinking, it transforms what you treasure, which is why Paul said he's not ashamed of it, he doesn't fear.

  37:30-37:32

  And you have a new vocation now.

  37:32-37:33

  You're called to be saints.

  37:35-37:38

  You're ushered back into this priestly role that Adam and Eve lost in the garden.

  37:39-37:42

  You get to be priests to God now.

  37:42-37:50

  You get to like mediate between the world and God God is like. This is who He is. He loves truth and beauty and goodness and order.

  37:50-38:16

  And this is how He's remaking us. He's making all things new and I'm part of this project. I'm being transformed every day by the power of this good news, this announcement that Jesus is King of the world, that He is Lord. Now, the last thing I want to say is simply this. How does this change motherhood? I mean, I could spend all day in the gospel and we can do that.

  38:16-38:20

  We can go through the book of Romans and we can just like celebrate the gospel, but we gotta close out here.

  38:21-38:26

  The way we close out is just by applying this to, how does the gospel impact mothers?

  38:27-38:29

  Because I just said it's changing everything.

  38:30-38:31

  If that's true, then it's changing motherhood.

  38:34-38:38

  So how does the gospel make mothers courageous?

  38:40-38:51

  In other words, how does the gospel help mothers to live without fear, because what I've seen, I'm not a mother, but what I've seen, is that one of the greatest challenges with motherhood is fear.

  38:53-38:56

  Fear that you will fail, or fear that you have failed.

  38:58-39:13

  So how does the gospel change the sense of guilt and fear of failure that mothers have, the fear of losing control, the fear of losing your children, their life or their love or their respect, the feel of losing your own self and your own freedom.

  39:13-39:16

  How does the gospel flip that all upside down?

  39:18-39:25

  So the good news of Jesus's great renewal project, the gospel gives mother's permission to parent without fear.

  39:26-39:35

  And I'll just say as simply as I can in this way, the gospel centers moms on their new identity, okay?

  39:36-39:41

  So if you're a mom out there today, I celebrate you, as you know I do.

  39:44-39:49

  But being a mom is not primarily who you are.

  39:50-39:55

  I know, ladies, that their motherhood is-- it defines them in every way.

  39:55-39:56

  It is who they are.

  39:57-39:58

  Their children are everything.

  39:59-40:02

  And I would say, as a Christian mom, that can't be.

  40:04-40:06

  Your identity is no longer mother.

  40:07-40:08

  That is part of it.

  40:08-40:14

  but first and foremost, your identity is follower of King Jesus.

  40:15-40:17

  And it's not if you just like, that's what I want it to be.

  40:17-40:19

  No, this is the reality, this is a fact.

  40:19-40:25

  If you are in Christ, if you trust in Jesus, then as a mother, your chief identity is Jesus follower.

  40:27-40:31

  And oh my goodness, what a beautiful thing if your children can see this.

  40:34-40:35

  You're not a cool mom, that's okay.

  40:36-40:37

  You don't have to be a cool mom.

  40:38-40:40

  You're a Jesus follower, Mom.

  40:40-40:40

  That's who you are.

  40:41-40:43

  That's your primary identity.

  40:44-40:47

  A gospel-centered mom, though, also has a new power.

  40:47-40:48

  This is good news.

  40:49-40:52

  You have a power that other mothers don't have access to.

  40:52-40:52

  What is it?

  40:53-40:54

  It's gospel power.

  40:55-40:58

  You know that grenade of the gospel that changes our life?

  40:58-40:59

  Here's the good news.

  41:00-41:05

  You're only gonna become a better and better and better mom because the gospel will do its work in your life.

  41:07-41:07

  It's a promise.

  41:08-41:12

  Jesus said that he's gonna be faithful to us to the end.

  41:12-41:24

  The promise is that if you rest in the gospel, if you find your strength in the gospel, that it will make you the best human possible, the best mother possible, you'll become more like Jesus.

  41:25-41:27

  So we have this new power.

  41:27-41:34

  So when you fail as a mom, when you lose your temper as a mom, when you make stupid decisions as a mother that negatively affects your child.

  41:34-41:38

  How many of you mothers have ever made a bad decision that's negatively affect your child, right?

  41:40-41:42

  Honestly, we do it every day.

  41:42-41:44

  I mean, I'm gonna speak as a father now.

  41:44-41:45

  I do it all the time.

  41:46-41:51

  And I can either live and beat myself up, or I can say, no, I have a new power.

  41:51-41:54

  The gospel is changing this messed up dad.

  41:54-42:00

  Just like I can look at my wife and I can say to my kids, your mother has issues, I know, she knows it too.

  42:01-42:04

  But here's the good news, Jesus is changing her.

  42:06-42:07

  The gospel is doing its work.

  42:07-42:09

  She's only gonna get better from here on out.

  42:10-42:11

  That's good news for children.

  42:13-42:14

  I've seen this in my mom.

  42:15-42:20

  I've seen her mature as a mother, the older she gets.

  42:21-42:22

  And that's the work of the gospel.

  42:22-42:24

  It's the work of Jesus in her.

  42:24-42:26

  And that's the good news.

  42:27-42:28

  Here's more good news for your mom.

  42:28-42:30

  This might be even more enjoyable for you.

  42:31-42:33

  This power also works towards your children.

  42:35-42:40

  The most potent thing you have in your back pocket is not threats or strategy or the newest book.

  42:40-42:54

  The most potent thing you have is the story of God's grace breaking into a world of chaos and sin, rescuing humanity by the power of Jesus Christ and his powerful redemption, his powerful resurrection.

  42:55-43:00

  That story, the gospel, is the most powerful thing you have in parenting.

  43:01-43:04

  It's funny, we never even access it.

  43:04-43:09

  It's the most powerful thing you have to change the hearts of your children.

  43:10-43:17

  So you don't have to be a controlling mom anymore because grace will always override your control anyway.

  43:18-43:24

  And so we're freed to not fear, to trust, and to keep bringing Jesus before our children.

  43:26-43:28

  Jesus, he is the rescuer.

  43:28-43:29

  He's the one who fixes everything.

  43:30-43:37

  I am broken, you are broken, but Jesus rescues and fixes the mess that we are.

  43:39-43:42

  Gospel-centered mom has a new vocation.

  43:42-43:49

  Her primary vocation is not her job or even her motherhood, as important as all that is.

  43:50-43:55

  A mother's primary vocation is one of sainthood and priesthood before God.

  43:55-43:58

  If you don't understand that, you're gonna have to wrestle with that in scripture a little bit, but here's the deal.

  43:58-44:09

  Your primary vocation is to demonstrate and display the glory of God to people around them, whether it be your children, your husband, your neighbors, those who work with you.

  44:10-44:12

  This is your primary vocation as the people of God.

  44:14-44:15

  So here's the deal.

  44:16-44:24

  The reason this is to everybody is because the gospel doesn't just change moms, it changes dads, it changes kids, it changes all of us.

  44:25-44:45

  I mean, the gospel, the powerful story Jesus did, the announcement that He is here and He is Lord and He's bringing in new creation, that changes everything. And so I want to encourage you as mothers to embrace that in your motherhood, to embrace the gospel in your motherhood.

  44:45-45:00

  And what you will find is that you will have a new power in motherhood that you didn't know you had. The powerful resurrection of Jesus, you get to participate in that in the gospel. That's why Paul says it is the power of God.

  45:01-45:52

  It's not just talking about the power of God, it is the power of God. Unto salvation for all those who go on believing. And so I want to encourage you as moms and as dads and as young people and as those who are in college and those who are just working the job and those who are retired and those who children have left, every phase and group of people in here, we will be transformed by the powerful gospel. And when that happens, you'll look around and you'll see courageous moms, fearless moms. How do they get like that? How are they, how do they don't live in guilt and fear? And it's because the gospel, new creation is here, and we're a part of it. So we can rest in what Jesus has done and nod in our ability to fix our kids and to make it all work in our home.

  45:52-45:53

  Would you bow your heads and close your eyes?

  45:55-46:05

  Would you as a mom just rejoice in the beautiful news of the gospel and how it changes everything about motherhood?

  46:05-46:10

  And would you just say, Lord, I wanna be a courageous mom.

  46:11-46:12

  So I'm gonna start looking at the gospel.

  46:13-46:17

  I'm gonna start accessing the power of the gospel that you've given.

  46:19-46:23

  Truth, the reality, the announcement that Jesus is king of the world, that changes everything.

  46:25-46:29

  And then for the rest of us, I mean some of you may be sitting here and you don't even understand what I'm talking about.

  46:29-46:35

  You don't understand the gospel, you don't understand what's the big deal about Jesus being Lord, you don't understand how that changes literally everything.

  46:36-46:45

  I would encourage you to seek one of the elders out or somebody in this, Pastor Jeff or whoever and just ask them to wrestle with you.

  46:46-46:50

  about the significance of what Jesus Christ did in his death and resurrection.

  46:52-47:00

  And for those of us who do know Jesus, but we have not accessed the power of the gospel in our everyday life, man, we need to repent.

  47:02-47:05

  We need to turn and we need to look at the cross and the resurrection.

  47:06-47:08

  That needs to be the very paradigm we live our whole life by.

  47:09-47:11

  The new power we live in.

  47:12-47:23

  Lord, I just pray that you would help us to see the beauty, the power, the glory of the gospel, so that we would exalt Jesus Christ, and so that we would be part of this new creation project.

  47:23-47:37

  We thank you for this beautiful vision, and we thank you for moms, and how they keep working and pressing, and God, I just pray that this would be an encouragement to them, and it would free them to not live in fear, but they would live by the power of the gospel.

  47:37-47:38

  It's in your name we pray, amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Titus 2:3-5

1. What ways do God's grace allow you to be a better mother?

2. How did you see God's grace presented in your mother's care for you growing up?

3. How can you give grace back to your mother this week?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for your mother and specifically the mother's in your group.

Imago Dei - In His Image

Does God Need A Little Help From His Friends?

Intro:
 Eccl 3:11
 Genesis 1:26 - 

QUESTION: Are we made in HIS image or is HE in our image? We will decide either by Observation or by Revelation. (Prov 29:18)

Exodus 32

The Israelites tried re-making God and they got a Holy Cow! What did you get?

Bob Huber - North Street Christian Church

Four spiritual pointers to help you live IMAGO DEI:

1. God does not have a Self - Image problem!
2. God's created spiritual image in man has become Tainted since the fall
• God's image does not need Redeemed.
• God’s Image in Me does need redeemed.

Review: Isaiah 6:1-8

3. The image of God is Perfected in the Gospel of His Son – Jesus Christ

Review: John 14:8-9 | John 8:54-58 | Colossians 1

4. The Church is the chosen vessel to portray God as He presents Himself.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

5. Imago Dei – a serious call and mission! So does God need a little help from His friends? The answer is to OBEY HIM!

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:29-00:38

  It certainly is an honor to be asked to come to Harvest, and a great honor to fill in for Jeff.

  00:40-00:42

  Jeff and I go back a ways.

  00:42-00:44

  He is my S-I-T-G.

  00:44-00:46

  That's my Son In The Gospel.

  00:46-00:50

  And I'm his F-I-T-G, his Father In The Gospel.

  00:51-00:59

  And I would have to say that I'm proud of him humbled by Him in many, many ways.

  01:00-01:03

  And one thing about Jeff Miller is he is sincere.

  01:04-01:07

  And in the Greek language, sincere means see-through.

  01:08-01:10

  It was a way of judging cloth that had been dyed.

  01:11-01:16

  And you would hold the cloth in the sunlight and look through it to see if the dye took evenly.

  01:17-01:19

  And there's nothing fake about Jeff.

  01:21-01:25

  And we're knit together in the Lord and I can tell.

  01:26-01:27

  rubbed off on you.

  01:28-01:34

  I want to say to you that this place is well-oiled from the inside out.

  01:35-01:35

  It's genuine.

  01:37-01:41

  And just continue to humbly serve the Lord together.

  01:42-01:44

  Now today you had two fundamental Baptists.

  01:44-01:46

  Now you have an altar boy in front of you.

  01:46-02:03

  I grew up Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy for many years until God got ahold of me in a new way and just led me to share His Word and His love and the message of the Gospel as often as I can and with as many people as I can.

  02:04-02:15

  Today's message is entitled, "Immago Dei - Does God Need a Little Help from His Friends?" I want to tell you about my ride home from my church.

  02:16-02:18

  I live about four miles from the church.

  02:19-02:26

  And on my way home, I come to the intersection of three roads - Route 68 east and route 38 north.

  02:27-02:31

  And I have to turn left on 38 north and it's on a grade up.

  02:32-02:44

  And sometimes when I sit in that left lane waiting for the arrow to turn left, I notice the traffic on my right beginning to move, but I feel like I'm drifting backwards.

  02:45-02:45

  You ever been there?

  02:46-02:48

  Not really paying attention, but paying attention.

  02:48-02:53

  And I hit the brake, and I hit the brake harder, and I realize, "Oh, I'm not going backwards.

  02:53-03:03

  They're going forwards." And I think when we look at our condition of our spiritual world today, sometimes we wonder who's moving here, and who needs to move.

  03:03-03:13

  Now the way to bring truth to what's really happening is if I look at a road sign, or a building, or a tree, something that's not moving, find a fixed point of reference.

  03:14-03:15

  Then I can tell what's going on.

  03:16-03:19

  It's not me that's moving, it's them that's moving.

  03:20-03:23

  And spiritually, I think the same is true.

  03:24-03:41

  We look around and we say, "Where are our spiritual bearings?" And we compare our positions one to another, but that's not the best place to look because we might be looking at each other as we're moving forward, moving backwards, going in circles or not making progress at all.

  03:41-03:42

  We're losing ground.

  03:43-03:47

  And I would say, how do we hold on in a day like today?

  03:48-03:50

  And that brings me to Imago Dei.

  03:51-03:57

  That means "in His image." We'll find some spiritual bearings here.

  03:58-04:01

  Crowder, in his song "Praise the Lord," says this about God.

  04:02-04:06

  He says, "I used to shake you like an eight ball." You know what one of those are?

  04:06-04:08

  You shake it to get your fortune.

  04:08-04:10

  We do that with God.

  04:10-04:12

  And he says, "I used to shoot you like a gun.

  04:13-04:16

  I used to hold you like a hammer, try to nail down everyone.

  04:17-04:22

  And I've got to tell you, the older I get, the longer I go, the more I know this.

  04:23-04:26

  We live by faith and not by sight.

  04:27-04:31

  I used to have the answers for lots of things, and I know the answer now.

  04:31-04:38

  His name is Jesus, but I may not have every answer for every need, and God is not my spiritual gun that I shoot.

  04:38-04:40

  He's not my spiritual eight ball.

  04:40-04:47

  not the hammer that I can win an argument with any longer." And Kruidiger's on and he says, "I used to keep you in a steeple.

  04:48-04:50

  I used to bind you in a book.

  04:50-05:12

  I used to take you like a prescription without knowing what I took." And today, I want to challenge your thoughts about God and about your view of God and about your very life and your theology and everything about you so that you might find those spiritual bearings or return to the one true God.

  05:13-05:18

  Now listen, God is not bigger than the sum of all truth.

  05:19-05:20

  Right doctrine.

  05:20-05:23

  Because He is equal to the sum of all truth.

  05:23-05:34

  All that is God is truth and all that is truth is God, but He is bigger than our comprehension of all truth because none of us have comprehended God completely.

  05:34-05:39

  We don't have every doctrine examined and understand it as he presents himself.

  05:40-05:45

  Ken samples in a book called Reasons, I Believe, says this about God and man.

  05:45-06:04

  He says, "The Bible reveals that all of God's creatures, of all of them, only man, only humankind was created in the express image of God." The word image and the word likeness convey the idea of an object similar to or representative of something else but not identical to.

  06:05-06:10

  God created human beings to be similar to himself but not identical to himself.

  06:11-06:16

  Therefore the biblical perspective, human beings are in some sense both like and unlike God who made them.

  06:18-06:22

  And so if we are Imago Dei, made in His image, what does it mean?

  06:23-06:27

  A complete understanding of Imago Dei's meaning simply isn't possible.

  06:28-06:33

  It would require an exhaustive comprehension of God's nature.

  06:34-06:45

  Finite creatures by definition cannot comprehend or fully fathom the infinite nature of God, therefore by necessity people are faced with mystery and limited knowledge.

  06:46-06:55

  And so I ask, is our spiritual, rational, volitional natures, is that what makes us like God in His image but not God?

  06:56-07:02

  Is it that we engage in complex interpersonal relationships that best reflect the divine God in us?

  07:02-07:09

  Is it when we take dominion over nature or appropriately represent God on earth that we are made in His image?

  07:09-07:10

  Is that what it means?

  07:12-07:15

  Well, here's a verse from Solomon - Ecclesiastes 3.11.

  07:15-07:31

  He says this, "He made everything beautiful in its time, and He has set eternity on the hearts of men." Yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end.

  07:32-07:34

  And so I think that verse tells us something.

  07:35-07:36

  Do you ever wonder why we look up?

  07:36-07:39

  Why would I even preach about the image of God?

  07:39-07:41

  Why would you come to worship God?

  07:41-07:45

  Why do you even have that spiritual, you know, desire in your life?

  07:45-07:49

  It's because God put eternity on our hearts.

  07:51-07:56

  Have you ever noticed cats and dogs and horses and cows don't have funerals when one of them dies?

  07:57-08:03

  A cow doesn't stand in a pasture and wonder, "What happens if my calf dies tomorrow?" Wanders out on the road and gets hit.

  08:03-08:04

  Will they go to heaven?

  08:05-08:07

  God didn't put eternity on their hearts.

  08:07-08:09

  He put eternity on our hearts.

  08:10-08:14

  And there's no doubt, we are here to reflect God.

  08:15-08:20

  So a lost and dying world has become more and more like Him in His image.

  08:22-08:28

  And so, open your Bible to the book of Genesis in chapter 1, and we'll begin in verse 26.

  08:28-08:30

  Where do we even get this idea?

  08:32-08:47

  In Genesis 1 and 26, the Bible says that God said, "Let us, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, man in our image, in our likeness.

  08:48-09:00

  That's what he said and here's what he did in Genesis 1:27, it says, "So God created man in His own image, and the image of God He created him, male and female." He created them.

  09:02-09:06

  And then if you look at Genesis 2:7, here's how he did it.

  09:07-09:25

  It says, "Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." I would have to say, even to the church, "Do you believe that?" I believe that.

  09:26-09:29

  This is the God who spoke the world into existence.

  09:30-09:37

  And when you study the Word, you find out it wasn't God the Father, it was God the Son who gets the credit and the glory for being the Creator.

  09:39-09:44

  And so out of the dust of the earth, He spoke the world into existence, and then He took some dust and He made man.

  09:45-09:51

  And the Father said to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, "Now let us make Him in our image." Let's make them male and female.

  09:52-09:54

  And He took dust and made a man.

  09:54-10:09

  And then Genesis 2, 20-22, "But for Adam there was found not a helper fit for him, and so "The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed it up in its place with flesh.

  10:09-10:16

  And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, He made into a woman." It's an out-of-man.

  10:16-10:17

  That's what woman means.

  10:17-10:21

  He made a woman out of man's rib and brought her to the man.

  10:22-10:24

  And so we see that God declared it.

  10:24-10:25

  Let us make man in our image.

  10:25-10:29

  And He did it out of dust and out of a bone in the man's side.

  10:29-10:31

  And I'm always mindful of this.

  10:31-10:32

  Isn't it interesting?

  10:32-10:49

  He didn't take a bone from His head nor His foot to make Him above or beneath her or her above or beneath Him, but from under His arm that two should become one in Christian union and just like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, three are one in marriage, two are one.

  10:51-10:53

  And so I just make this observation.

  10:53-10:56

  So we are made in the image of God.

  10:57-11:02

  Who takes time to think about these things when you're driving down the road these days?

  11:02-11:05

  These things are left to the philosophers and the theologians.

  11:06-11:09

  We have things to do and places to go and people to see.

  11:10-11:13

  We have such a fast-paced agenda today.

  11:14-11:20

  We are gullible consumers who just go for the next and the latest and the greatest trend.

  11:21-11:25

  And to a great extent, we have become a society of dupes and fools.

  11:26-11:28

  We lose our bearings.

  11:30-11:42

  When our eyes are caught up on, like 1 John says, the strong desires of the eyes, strong desires of the flesh, and our own pride, we forget where we came from, we forget what our purpose is, we forget who made us.

  11:43-11:44

  I know this.

  11:44-11:52

  We are way too busy, and we're way too preoccupied, and we want things to fit our way of thinking.

  11:52-11:53

  It's built in.

  11:54-11:55

  It's our nature.

  11:56-12:05

  And so listen, when my leg vibrates and I know to answer my phone, I become conditioned like Pavlov's dog.

  12:06-12:07

  And you have too.

  12:09-12:14

  I purposely left my phone in my car today, told my wife I'm shutting it off, don't try to get a hold of me even if it's an emergency.

  12:15-12:17

  I said call Brooke Rotenberger if it's an emergency, she'll be there.

  12:19-12:29

  But listen, when my leg vibrates and my phone's not even in my pocket, that says something worse and something greater about our conditioning.

  12:29-12:31

  Does that happen to you sometimes?

  12:31-12:46

  Where you think, "Oh, and it's not even there." When I pick up the air conditioner remote to send a text, and I pick up my cell phone to change the channel on the TV, it says something about all that's at my hand and how mindless I become.

  12:48-12:54

  And have you noticed that the more forms of communication we have, the less personal we become?

  12:56-12:58

  Everyone wants to be a star in their own show.

  12:59-13:00

  See we think it's about us.

  13:00-13:02

  We don't remember it's about him.

  13:04-13:06

  Look to Facebook and the many ways we communicate.

  13:06-13:08

  It becomes evident daily.

  13:09-13:24

  We can be in the very presence of another person, face to face, eye to eye, having a conversation and that'll take back seat to communicating with someone who's not even present. All it has to do is ding. All it has to do is make that sound.

  13:24-13:25

  Oops, excuse me.

  13:27-13:36

  And I think we've not only disconnected from one another, we have become quite busy and quite too busy even for the deeper things of God.

  13:37-13:50

  We have become professional at growing impersonal relationships. And that's oxymoronic when you think of that. Growing impersonal? How does that happen?

  13:50-14:09

  Here's how it happens. We just put everybody out here somewhere and we do what we have to do to get through the day. And I think the Word draws us back to say, "Hey, remember, take a look." So I would say, are we made in His image or is He made in our image?

  14:12-14:16

  Someone said this one time, "You know, God made us in His image and we return the favor.

  14:18-14:23

  We've made Him in our image." And here's how I would answer that question.

  14:23-14:28

  And I think it depends if you decide by observation or by revelation.

  14:30-14:32

  See the Scripture proclaims God's truth.

  14:33-14:38

  In fact, the Scripture says without revelation, the people cast off restraint.

  14:40-14:42

  That's found in Proverbs 29 and verse 18.

  14:43-14:47

  It doesn't mean without the book of revelation, people cast off restraint.

  14:47-14:52

  It means if God's not speaking, if there's not word revelation, how would we know?

  14:53-14:57

  But most of us are not into what God has said.

  14:58-15:09

  And those who try to make decisions about God and life and people and meaning and purpose by observation only always end up with their own version of the same thing.

  15:11-15:12

  And here's what it is.

  15:12-15:31

  If there's a God, by observation, you say, "Well, if there's a God, and I think there might be, if there's a God, and who can know for sure, then we just live the best we can and do the best we can, and when we die, if there's an eternity, we'll find out how we did." And I think of it this way.

  15:32-15:36

  I think in most people's mindset, you see, this is a balanced scale.

  15:36-15:42

  My mom had on our dining room table growing up this brass looking balanced scale.

  15:42-15:45

  had grapes in it, wax fruit on one side, grapes.

  15:45-15:46

  Did your mom have one of them?

  15:47-15:49

  And a balance scale works this way.

  15:50-16:02

  If I was a businessman and I sold grapes for a living and you wanted three pounds, I would put a known three pound weight on this side and I would add grapes until the weight evened out and then I would know this weighs three pounds.

  16:03-16:11

  And so I think this, by observation, we typically conclude if I've done more bad than good, then I don't go to heaven.

  16:12-16:15

  And if I've done more good than bad, then I go to heaven.

  16:16-16:18

  And that's where observation will get you.

  16:19-16:29

  Those who make decision about God and life and people and meaning and purpose by revelation as revealed in the Bible, find out this, that God's ways are not our ways.

  16:31-16:32

  And God's thoughts are not our thoughts.

  16:33-16:35

  He says that about himself in Isaiah 55.

  16:36-16:37

  He doesn't think like us.

  16:37-16:39

  He doesn't perform like us.

  16:39-16:43

  But when we want to remake Him in our image, we want Him to fit our mold.

  16:43-16:45

  But He said, "That doesn't happen.

  16:45-16:48

  I'm not like you." His supernatural ways are higher.

  16:50-16:51

  And His thoughts are higher.

  16:53-16:57

  John MacArthur says this, "There are basically two religions in the world, or two kinds.

  16:58-17:03

  Those based on human achievement, and the one based on divine accomplishment.

  17:04-17:06

  One says you can earn your way to heaven.

  17:06-17:11

  The other says you must trust." God's provision, Jesus Christ.

  17:13-17:15

  And so, let's move over to the book of Exodus.

  17:15-17:27

  I want to just look in on the Israelites as they were journeying in the wilderness, and they had an opportunity to trust God or not trust God.

  17:29-17:42

  They were missing their leader, and when he didn't return when they thought he should, They began to doubt Moses as their leader and they began to doubt God as their God.

  17:43-18:18

  If you look in Exodus 31 and verse 18, it says, "When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God." Now 32 and verse 1, "When the people saw that Moses was long and coming down from the mountain and as they gathered around Aaron - remember Aaron was Moses' brother and he was the high priest - they gathered around Aaron and said, "Listen, come and make us gods." Not turn us into gods.

  18:18-18:22

  Make us some small "g" gods like we had back in Egypt.

  18:24-18:32

  Make us some gods who will go before us because as for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him.

  18:33-19:28

  gone 40 days, you know. And he says, "Listen," they told Aaron, "this isn't working." You might remember there were 603,550 fighting men that left Egypt. So 2 or 3 million people at least. And Moses goes up on the Mount Sinai and doesn't come back and they look around and said, "Where's our leader?" And so Aaron, being the high priest, wanting to please the people, said, "Take off your earrings that your wives and your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me." And all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, and he took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.

  19:29-19:49

  And they said, "These are your gods, "O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." Now look at verse 5, "When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, 'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.'" And "Lords" with a capital "L", I think Aaron's intentions were half good.

  19:51-19:54

  He didn't want the people to give up on God even though they'd given up on Moses.

  19:55-20:01

  And there's this golden calf and he says, "We're going to make a festival to God by going through the golden calf.

  20:02-20:13

  And the Scripture goes on in verse 6 and says, "So the next day the people rose early, and they sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings.

  20:14-20:14

  They went to church.

  20:16-20:35

  But it says, "Afterward, they sat down to eat and drink, and got up to indulge and revel." And so they tried to follow Aaron, but he didn't have a complete picture, They were following Jehovah God, the Shekinah glory, and then Moses disappears up in the Shekinah glory on Sinai and they made a God substitute.

  20:37-20:39

  And they tried to worship God through their substitution.

  20:40-20:43

  They found it didn't work and then things fell apart.

  20:44-21:04

  When it says they went to revelry and they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge, What happened was, in the end, they ended up overindulging in food and drink and then actually having a sexual orgy.

  21:06-21:07

  That started with church.

  21:07-21:09

  They had lost their way.

  21:11-21:20

  Now if you pay attention to this passage, God says to Moses, "Go down because your people that you brought out of Egypt, they've become corrupt already.

  21:21-21:26

  They've quickly turned away from I've commanded them." And here's what God says to Moses.

  21:26-21:29

  He said, "I'll wipe them all out." Every one of them.

  21:30-21:41

  And if you look at verse 10, the last sentence says that God said to Moses, "Then I will make you into a great nation." Now He already did that with Abraham, didn't He?

  21:42-21:48

  When He called Abraham, you see at age 75, He said, "I'm going to make a mighty nation out of your family." There was a problem.

  21:48-21:50

  Abraham didn't have a child.

  21:51-21:54

  And at age 100, he has the child of promise.

  21:55-21:58

  In the meantime, Abraham and Sarah had tried to help God out.

  21:58-21:59

  They had second-guessed God.

  22:00-22:01

  Have you ever second-guessed God?

  22:02-22:05

  Have you ever thought, "He's not delivering, so I'll help him out here.

  22:05-22:11

  I think he didn't mean what he said." They had done it, and God said, "Listen, I can do it again.

  22:11-22:13

  I'll just wipe out the whole nation of Israel.

  22:13-22:16

  All two or three million, because they've all turned against Me.

  22:16-22:19

  And Moses, I'll do what I did through Abraham through you.

  22:19-22:20

  But Moses, look at this.

  22:21-22:21

  This is gutsy.

  22:22-22:38

  Moses sought favor with the Lord, and Moses went directly before God and interceded for the people, and he says to God, verse 12, "Why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent that He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth?

  22:38-22:39

  Turn from your fierce anger.

  22:40-22:44

  Relent and do not bring disaster on your people." This is Moses talking to God.

  22:44-22:45

  Talk about prayer.

  22:45-22:48

  Whoever was doing that prayer thing, go to that thing on Wednesday night.

  22:49-22:50

  I could go on a whole other sermon, but I won't.

  22:51-23:00

  I think oftentimes we say, I tried prayer and it didn't work, or I tried fasting and there was no result, or I really tried giving to the Lord and there wasn't a blessing.

  23:01-23:06

  And I would say, I would agree with you that sometimes it looks like it didn't work, but I would disagree.

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  I think we never have really tried.

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  We've never really sought the Lord.

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  We've never drawn ourselves into the presence for season after season and kept after the Lord and gone before the throne time and time again.

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  And Moses had the guts to say to God, "Listen, if you wipe them out, it's going to make you look bad." That's the reasoning he used with God.

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  Verse 13, he says, "Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self, 'I'll make descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.

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  I'll give you descendants.

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  All this land I promise them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'" Look at verse 14, "And then the Lord relented, and He did not bring on His people the disaster that He had threatened." Do you know what Moses did?

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  He said, "God, this is Your image we're talking about.

  24:00-24:03

  And You don't want to destroy Your own image because You're the God who made a promise.

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  You'll come through." And God said, "Moses, you're right." And Moses turns and Joshua meets Him part way down the hill and he went down the mountain And then verse 17, "When Joshua heard the noise of the camp, he said to Moses, 'There's sound of war.' And Moses said, 'It's not the sound of victory.

  24:20-24:21

  It's not the sound of defeat.

  24:21-24:29

  It's the sound of singing I hear.' And when Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned.

  24:29-24:33

  He threw out of his hands the Ten Commandments, breaking them into pieces at the foot of the mountain.

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  And he took the calf they had made and burned it with fire, ground it into powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.

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  And he said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you that led them into such great sin?" And Aaron said, "Do not be angry, my lord." You know how prone these people are to evil.

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  You know what they're like.

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  They have the reputation of being stiff-necked and hard-hearted.

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  And Aaron says, "They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us.

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  As for this fellow Moses who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what happened to him.' And so I told them, 'Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.' And then Aaron, the high priest, becomes the lying high priest.

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  And he says, 'They gave me their gold.

  25:24-25:31

  I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf.'" Now we already learned it didn't just come out.

  25:32-25:33

  He had formed it.

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  And Moses saw the people were running wild and Aaron had let them get out of control, had become the laughing stock of their enemies, and so he stood at the entrance of the camp and said, "Whoever's for the Lord?" "Who is on the Lord's side?" And I'd say to us today, we've made a profession of taking things in our own hands and going our own way and second-guessing God, and we've ended up, you see, pleasing ourselves, enjoying our party.

  26:01-26:30

  And Moses said, "Whoever's on the Lord's side, to me and I would say, "Whoever's on the Lord's side, let's get back with Him the way we need to be." There were 3,000 slain. There was a plague amongst them. And so listen, if you think you need to remake God in our day, if you need to make God more palatable for culture, you've got to understand that God has not changed.

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  He's still for what he's been for, he's still against what he's been against.

  26:36-26:42

  I continue to say at North Street one of these days soon I'm going to preach a sermon called Does God Have Enemies?

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  And he does.

  26:45-26:55

  But we want to be friends with everybody and we want to make peace with everything and we want to make it as if everything's okay and it's not.

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  And so I say this, the Israelites tried remaking God and they got a holy cow.

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  What did you get?

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  I mean, how do you make your God?

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  And every one of us probably has our own little version of God.

  27:14-27:25

  So now, I want to share with you four truths to drive you toward measuring life and circumstance from a fixed reference point.

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  And that fixed reference point is the God of the Bible.

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  And it's here we'll find our spiritual bearings.

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  First of all, understand this.

  27:37-27:40

  God does not have a self-image problem.

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  God is serious about His name.

  27:47-28:00

  When we look at the Word, when He called Moses, Moses said, "Who shall I tell them sent me?" God said, "You tell them that I am sent you." That's who I am.

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  God has always been and will always be.

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  He didn't have a beginning.

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  He doesn't have an end.

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  He said, "I am." And if you look at those commandments, the first four are all about Him.

  28:11-28:12

  Do you understand that?

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  The Ten Commandments?

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  He says there is only one God.

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  Don't forget it.

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  There's only one God.

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  And He doesn't combine Himself with small g-gods.

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  He doesn't need a committee.

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  He doesn't ask opinions.

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  He is, I am.

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  And he warned the people, the very tablets that Moses broke, the commandments that the people had broke, the commandment says, don't be making homemade gods.

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  Don't make any images.

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  And I want to say, you probably haven't taken a stick or a stone or some clay and tried to make a god for a shelf in your home.

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  But I'll bet you you've shaped a homemade god.

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  See, your God's for what you're for and against what you're against rather than you joining Him, you ask Him to join you.

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  And God says My name is a big deal.

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  God is masculine.

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  He said I'm a father.

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  He is strong.

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  He is right.

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  He is jealous.

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  He said call Me jealous.

  29:16-29:18

  My name is jealous.

  29:19-29:21

  He doesn't share His glory with anyone.

  29:21-29:23

  He is ready to punish.

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  That's one side of God.

  29:25-29:40

  And if that was the only side of God, we couldn't understand Him as a Father because the other side is He is merciful and He's loving and He's full of grace and He's ready to forgive.

  29:41-29:44

  Just like any good dad in this room.

  29:45-29:47

  And listen, God's not like good dads.

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  Good dads are like God.

  29:51-30:03

  See, good fathers are strong and right, righteousness, living by the things that are right, thinking the things that are right, saying the right things that are right, doing the right things.

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  And good fathers are jealous.

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  They'll guard their families and their children.

  30:08-30:09

  They'll protect them.

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  They'll lay their life down.

  30:13-30:20

  And dads are ready to punish, but you see, dads are also merciful and loving and full Full of grace.

  30:20-30:23

  And ready to forgive and to begin again.

  30:23-30:27

  When we look at the characteristics of God, we find out that He is everywhere present.

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  He is all-powerful.

  30:29-30:30

  He is all-knowing.

  30:30-30:35

  He is immutable, eternal, holy, just, merciful, and loving.

  30:37-30:39

  So let's not make Him less than He is.

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  And let's not forget about His justice, but let's not forget about His grace.

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  He is the same for eternity.

  30:49-30:50

  He does not change.

  30:51-30:52

  We change.

  30:53-30:58

  He remains the same, but He grows bigger in our eyes as we grow smarter.

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  In Prince Caspian, one of C.S. Lewis' works, Lucy, the youngest of the children, goes to Aslan, the lion, who is the Christ figure.

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  And upon seeing him after a period of absence, Lucy says to Aslan, "You're bigger now." Aslan says, "That's because you're older, little one, not because you are," she says.

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  He says, "I'm not, but every year you grow, you'll find me bigger." And I think that's us.

  31:30-31:32

  Don't turn from God, turn to God.

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  Draw closer.

  31:35-31:44

  Secondly, understand this, God's created spiritual image in man has been tainted since the fall.

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  See, God's image didn't change.

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  God's image doesn't need to change.

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  God's image in us did change when sin came into the world.

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  It became imperfected.

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  It became damaged.

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  And so understand this.

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  God's image does not need redeemed.

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  It doesn't need made new.

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  It doesn't need bought back.

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  It doesn't need taken from the junk pile and made useful again.

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  And so I would beseech you to say, "Please quit trying to redeem God's image." But God's image in man does need redeemed.

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  I love it in the book of Isaiah, when Isaiah has a heavenly vision.

  32:33-32:40

  He says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

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  And above Him were seraphs, Each with six wings, two wings, they covered their faces, two they covered their feet, two they were flying, and they were crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!

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  The earth is full of His glory!" At the sound of their voices, the doorpost and the threshold shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.

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  And Isaiah said, "Woe is me." "Woe is me. I'm ruined." "I'm a man of unclean lips And I live amongst a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty, and one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, that he had taken the thorns of the altar, and he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips.

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  Your guilt has taken away.

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  Your sin is atoned for.' And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send?' And I said, 'Here I am.

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  Send me.'" And I just have to say, that's when you get it.

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  I think when we see God as high and mighty, many of us say, "Holy mackerel, what's that about?" And we just observe, but we don't get it.

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  We don't allow the revelation to come alive in our lives and for us to be changed.

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  And isn't it interesting we see ourselves as high and mighty?

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  I'm in control.

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  I set the standard.

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  I'm the captain of my own ship.

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  until we fall before the Lord and allow Him to perfectly cleanse.

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  We'll never get it.

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  His image in us needs redeemed.

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  Here's something James says in James 1.

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  He says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows." God does not change.

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  He never has.

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  He never will.

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  In Matthew 24, Jesus said this, "Heaven and earth will pass away." Meaning all the atmosphere, all that's above us, all of outer space and this earth will pass away.

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  But He said, "My words will never pass away." God is the same.

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  The Word is the same.

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  Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever." And so, you see, here I am on my way home.

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  I think I'm drifting backwards.

  35:08-35:09

  I'm hitting the brake.

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  I'm thinking I'm going to have a wreck.

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  I'll have to call the insurance company.

  35:12-35:13

  I'll have to call a tow truck.

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  Why won't my car stop?

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  And then I look to that building or that sign post or that tree and say, whew!

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  I'm not moving.

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  They are.

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  And what I'm saying in this world when it doesn't look like it's adding up and you feel like where am I going?

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  Am I going in circles?

  35:28-35:29

  Don't be looking to other people.

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  Don't be looking to new philosophies.

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  Don't be looking for some combination of spirituality.

  35:35-35:40

  You look to the one true God who never changes, and you'll get your spiritual bearing again.

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  And you'll go, "Whew! I'm okay." So I have two words of advice.

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  The first one is this - get over yourself.

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  And the second one is, remember that worship travels in one direction.

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  We are here to honor Him.

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  He is not here to worship us.

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  So thirdly, understand this, the image of God is perfected in the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ.

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  Listen, we are so egocentric.

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  When we hear that we're created in the image of God, we naturally think this.

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  That must mean then, when I look in the mirror, I see God.

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  Because we're made in His image.

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  So how am I going to know God?

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  "Look, look, I'm made in His image.

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  Look at me!" But that's not so in order to see God as He presents Himself.

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  See, God made the universe to be Christocentric.

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  We think it's about us.

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  It's not about you.

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  It's not about me.

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  It's about Him.

  36:50-36:51

  It's about Christ.

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  In John chapter 14, Jesus said this.

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  14, 8 and 9, it says, "Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.' And Jesus said, 'Don't you know me, Philip?

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  Even after I have been among you such a long time, anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.'" Do you want to know what God's really like?

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  Look at the Son, because He said, "You'll not miss the Father if you see Me." In John 8, Scripture says, "Jesus answered, 'If I honor myself, my honor is nothing.

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  It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that He is your God.

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  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.

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  And if I say I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you.

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  But I do know Him and keep His word.

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  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he sought and was glad.

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  And the Jews said to him, 'You're not fifty years old yet, and you've seen Abraham?' And Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.'" He didn't say, "Before Abraham was, I was." He was saying, "I'm God." That's the name of God.

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  That's what God told Moses.

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  They ask you, "Who sent you?" Tell them, "I am sent you." And now Jesus said, "You want to see the Father?

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  Look at me, because I am, I am." And they took up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple going through the midst He passed by." Colossians 1, the Scripture says, "He is the image, He's the icon of the invisible God.

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  He's the firstborn over all of creation.

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  By Him all things were created in heaven and earth, visible, invisible, thrones, powers, rulers, authorities, they were created by Him and for Him.

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  He's before all things and by Him all things hold together." In Him God was pleased to have the fullness dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross." And so what I want to tell you, when you feel like you're losing your way, when you're wondering when's our leader coming home, when you're thinking is God still able, focus on His Son because He is our everything.

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  He is the stability that God has chosen.

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  And then I would close, last point by saying this, how will the world know all of this?

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  I want you to understand that God chose the church to portray Him as He is.

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  We're not here to sharpen God's image.

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  We're not here to dull God's image.

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  We're not here to color God's image.

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  We are here, you see, to reflect God's image.

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  As the Ecclesia - that's the name of the church - we're the called out ones.

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  We have a new citizenship.

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  We live in the kingdom of heaven while we yet live in the kingdom of this earth.

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  But we as the called out ones have the purpose of representing God as He represents Himself.

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  We are the image bearers of Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

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  Now I think if you look around, you would agree with me that we have many similarities to the Israelites.

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  We desire the old life over the new.

  40:25-40:30

  Remember they got out in the wilderness and they had to trust God for everything.

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  And they wanted to go back.

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  They said, "Yes, we were slaves in Egypt, but we knew where our murals were coming from, we had a bed to lay down in at night." It was hard.

  40:42-40:45

  They were slaves for 430 years.

  40:45-40:50

  And by the way, their slavery in Egypt represents for us our slavery to sin.

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  And you see, sometimes we get free from sin and we look back and say, "Ah, I sort of liked it back then." And that's what they began to say.

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  They complained about God's provision.

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  See how would you like it if every day when you got up, you never had to go to the grocery store anymore, you never had to worry about cooking a meal, every day you got up there was some white stuff on the ground and you would pick it up and you would eat it every day.

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  On the weekends you could pick up two days supply, if you took too much during the week it would rot, but you could pick enough for two days and it had every vitamin, every mineral it would sustain you.

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  You never had to have a steak again, you never had to have tofu again, you never had to make a meal.

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  Would you like that or not?

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  Wouldn't that be great?

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  Never had to spend another nickel on food.

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  But see, we're torn.

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  Don't take my steak away.

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  Don't take my hand.

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  Look at all the places that would shut down if that were true.

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  You understand how much of our life revolves around our physical appetites.

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  And God said to them, "I'll provide for you perfectly for 40 years." In fact, the Bible says their sandals didn't wear out, their clothes didn't wear out, their ankles didn't swear.

  41:59-42:00

  God interrupted.

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  He made a supernatural provision that's a miraculous deliverance into their lives.

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  But that wasn't good enough.

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  They said, "We like the leeks and the onions and the fish and the melons.

  42:11-42:19

  We want to go back." And in the wilderness, they became known as stiff-necked and hard-hearted people.

  42:20-42:21

  Stiff-necked.

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  That doesn't mean they worked out too hard or were playing a sport and got a stiff neck.

  42:26-42:28

  Neck means like a runaway horse.

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  If you know much about horses, they can be trained to be ridden and you control a horse with a bit in its mouth.

  42:37-42:44

  And when a horse is first trained, you have to pull on the bit this side to get them to turn right and this side to get them to turn left.

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  But after a horse is trained and the nature of some horses, you can neck rein them.

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  You don't even need to use the bit.

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  You just lay the rein on their neck and they feel the rein on the right side of their neck on the left side of the neck, they'll turn right.

  43:00-43:04

  But if a horse spooks, it stiffens up.

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  And you can't control it.

  43:08-43:10

  And that's how the Israelites were described.

  43:10-43:12

  They got out there.

  43:12-43:13

  They trusted God.

  43:13-43:14

  They were under His control.

  43:15-43:18

  And then they spooked and they just did what they wanted to do.

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  Have you ever been like that?

  43:20-43:25

  Where you went along for a while thinking God's in control, I can handle this, this is really good, this is better than I thought I could ever do.

  43:26-43:28

  and then suddenly you take things back.

  43:29-43:30

  And they were hard-hearted.

  43:30-43:35

  They continued to repeat the same things over and over and over again.

  43:36-43:49

  Now if you study that story of the Israelites, the whole oldest generation of people except for two men - Joshua and Caleb - were not usable to God.

  43:49-43:51

  That's why they wandered for 40 years.

  43:51-43:52

  It wasn't that long of a journey.

  43:53-43:55

  It wasn't because they didn't have a GPS.

  43:56-44:06

  They got out there and got close to entering the promised land, and because they're complaining, they're making of God's, their immorality - read 1 Corinthians 10, you'll see what they're accused of, five sins.

  44:07-44:09

  God said to them, "I can't use you.

  44:09-44:10

  I'll just wait you out.

  44:10-44:11

  God is not bound by time.

  44:13-44:17

  And so don't put God on a deadline, because He doesn't have to meet any deadlines.

  44:18-44:24

  He can wait you out too." And so they got out there and they became known as stiff-necked and hard-hearted.

  44:24-44:26

  They complained about God's provision.

  44:26-44:27

  They wanted to go back.

  44:28-44:32

  Please understand that we are not here to refine the image of God.

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  We are here to magnify the image of God.

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  Now when you do that, here's something I think needs to be well known.

  44:42-45:05

  2 Corinthians 2, Paul says this, "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal possession in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge Here's what he says, "It's like we've been to war and we come back and there's a Roman triumph, a parade being put on to show the victory, and we smell like one thing.

  45:08-45:30

  Victory." 2 Corinthians 2.15 says, "We are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." Verse 16 says, "To one, you are the smell of death, and to the other, you're the fragrance of life." You're not going to smell good to everybody.

  45:32-45:34

  Your commitment is not going to stand with everybody.

  45:36-45:54

  Paul uses the olfactory senses and he says, "Whatever perfume you're wearing, some people really like it, and other people can't stand it." And he says, "When Christ is in you, and you're in Christ, to one, you smell like a dead dog alongside the road." I like to bicycle.

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  I don't like to run.

  45:57-46:14

  If you run or bike, or you get outdoors much, and you happen to be going down the road, your motorcycle, whatever it might be, and there's a dead deer, dead dog, and you get a good whiff of it, and it sticks up in there, and you can smell it a mile later, and it's almost like you swallowed it.

  46:15-46:16

  You know what I mean?

  46:18-46:24

  Paul says you Christian people, to the world who's perishing, you're going to leave that aroma behind.

  46:25-46:28

  They're going to say, where's this guy coming from?

  46:29-46:30

  What's he mean?

  46:31-46:36

  But to those who are being saved, it's the finest, the sweetest, the best smell that there is.

  46:36-46:40

  It's like the lilac bushes that are just ready to pop.

  46:40-46:41

  You think, oh, is that nice.

  46:43-46:52

  You've got to know, you know, everybody wasn't happy with God and not everybody was happy with Jesus and everybody's not going to be happy with you or me or the church.

  46:54-46:59

  And so I would say this is a good day to call upon the name of the Lord.

  47:00-47:04

  It might be for salvation for the first time that you might say, "You know what?

  47:04-47:23

  I thought I knew God, but I really made my own image of God and I want to know the one true God through Jesus Christ as Savior." But I think for many of us, it might be agreeing to lay down our artwork and the ways we have shaped and reshaped God and added a little here and taken some away.

  47:24-47:27

  And let's get back to simply the God of the Bible.

  47:29-47:57

  And so my appeal is, shouldn't you turn from your homemade understanding of God and of the truth of God's Word which says, "If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you shall be saved." Now when it says saved, of course it's speaking about your spiritual salvation, your eternal salvation once and for all, but I like to substitute the word delivered because I have to come back to God again and again, not for eternal salvation, but to get back to where I need to be.

  47:57-48:05

  And He rescues me again, and it is through His Son that we turn and confess and call upon the name of the Lord.

  48:07-48:13

  So as we close, we go back to where we started, a mago day.

  48:15-48:20

  The image of God is a serious call and a serious mission.

  48:22-48:26

  And I want to ask you then, so does God need a little help from his friends?

  48:27-48:28

  The answer is no.

  48:30-48:31

  He doesn't need us to remake him.

  48:32-48:34

  He doesn't need us to tweak him.

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  He needs us to obey.

  48:38-48:46

  So as our worship folks come back forward, I want to share a closing Scripture and some imagery with you.

  48:47-48:57

  A couple of weeks ago, I got onto a passage in the Word that I had read many times, but it just stuck.

  48:58-49:06

  And all that week, I probably told 25, 30, 40 people, "Do you know what the Scripture says?" I painted a picture for them.

  49:08-49:11

  By the way, there are two words for the Word in the Word.

  49:12-49:12

  One is logos.

  49:14-49:17

  That is the logic, the reasoning, the message of God.

  49:18-49:26

  That's like in John 1 where it says, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the Word became flesh." Jesus is God's logic to the world.

  49:26-49:28

  But there's another word called rhema.

  49:30-49:33

  A rhema isn't a supernatural deliverance of some word out of the sky.

  49:33-49:37

  That's when the Word of the Bible becomes personal to you.

  49:38-49:41

  And these are the phrases and the verses that stick in your heart.

  49:43-49:46

  Well Jeremiah 2:13 became a rhema to me a couple of weeks ago.

  49:48-49:49

  And here's what it says.

  49:49-49:54

  It says that God says, "My people have committed two sins.

  49:56-50:04

  They have forsaken Me, and they've dug their own cisterns - broken cisterns - which won't water.

  50:05-50:07

  So the two sins were these.

  50:07-50:13

  One they turned their back on God and secondly, they started digging to find the answers.

  50:14-50:16

  And so I want you to picture this.

  50:16-50:33

  Here you see we're out in the wilderness and we're terribly thirsty and out of this cliff over here there's this flowing fountain of water, pure and clean and life-giving and God says have at it, have all you want, drink of this and you'll never thirst again just Just like Jesus told the woman at the well.

  50:35-50:36

  And we say, "No thanks, God.

  50:37-50:42

  I like my way better than yours." And we get a shovel and we go over here and we start digging this well.

  50:44-50:47

  And we dig and we dig and we dig and we start to see water.

  50:47-50:50

  We walk away to get a bucket so that we can get a drink.

  50:50-50:50

  We come back.

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  All the water's gone.

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  The well's dried up.

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  And we look over there and that spring is still over there flowing.

  50:56-50:57

  God says, "Have a drink.

  50:57-51:01

  Have all you want." And we tell Him, "No thanks again." And we go and dig another hole.

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  And another one and another one.

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  We refuse to accept what God has offered, and we continue to do it our way.

  51:11-51:14

  And when we're digging those holes, we try to improve ourselves.

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  I've just got to get better so I can be pleasing.

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  I've got to get better so I can feel better about going to church.

  51:19-51:20

  I've got to get better.

  51:20-51:22

  And self-improvement's not going to get it.

  51:22-51:24

  And then we turn to our friends and our families.

  51:24-51:29

  Have you ever noticed when a couple gets married, that husband thinks, "She's going to complete me.

  51:30-51:32

  We're going to be happy ever after.

  51:32-51:35

  We'll never have a problem again." And he thinks that about her.

  51:35-51:41

  Go visit them in about two weeks, and you'll find out it didn't work because nobody can complete us.

  51:42-51:44

  Nobody can fill what we're thirsting for.

  51:45-51:47

  And we try all the stuff of the world.

  51:47-51:48

  If I could just get a better job.

  51:48-51:50

  If I could just buy a bigger car.

  51:50-51:52

  If I could just get shinier wheels for my Land Cruiser.

  51:53-51:58

  Whatever it is, we think, "Then I'll be happy." And we try that and it doesn't work.

  51:58-52:00

  And then we get religious.

  52:00-52:08

  Matt Chandler says when we do those things, he said the religion is just self-improvement with an "amen" on the end.

  52:08-52:11

  Because it's something we just do more of.

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  We read the Bible more.

  52:11-52:12

  We go to church more.

  52:13-52:14

  We fill in the blanks more.

  52:14-52:16

  We go to seminars and concerts.

  52:16-52:17

  We listen to W.O.R.D.

  52:18-52:19

  Everything we can do.

  52:19-52:24

  But we find out, you see, that it's Jesus we need.

  52:26-52:33

  And if you think about it, a cistern, a hole, a well, with no water, it's a grave.

  52:35-52:41

  And that's what we end up doing, is just digging our own hole over and over and over again.

  52:42-52:46

  And so God says, "Come home. Come to Me.

  52:46-52:58

  Take what I have to offer." When C.S. Lewis was asked by some scholars, "What's the difference between Christianity and all other religions?" He quickly answered and simply answered, He said that's easy.

  52:59-53:02

  The difference is grace, not appeasement.

  53:03-53:04

  It's a gift.

  53:05-53:13

  Take a deep spiritual breath and let God bring His perfect healing in your life today.

  53:14-53:20

  Isaiah 55:6-7 says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found.

  53:21-53:23

  Call on Him while He is near.

  53:24-53:38

  Let the wicked forsake His way evil man his thoughts, let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God for he will freely pardon. Let's bow our heads.

  53:39-53:56

  Almighty Father we come before you this day and we thank you that we are not confused, we thank you that we have not lost our way, we thank you Father that you are the same yesterday and forever. When I first started following you Lord I often would I think you need to catch up with the times.

  53:56-54:03

  You need to become more contemporary, and I'm sure glad you didn't hear my prayer and answer it, because I need you to be the same.

  54:03-54:05

  I need you to be that loving, protective Father.

  54:06-54:14

  And Lord, I just lift up every person in this room, and I pray that as the Word has been proclaimed, that You've come amongst us.

  54:14-54:20

  And Lord, there has been a word or a phrase that has touched a life here or there that says you know what?

  54:20-54:24

  I do need to turn around and get my eyes back on the one true God.

  54:24-54:26

  I need to quit redefining Him in my life.

  54:26-54:29

  I need to quit trying to depend on everybody else to fulfill me.

  54:30-54:33

  And so as your word teaches, we are made in your image.

  54:34-54:36

  In order to see that image, we look to your Son.

  54:37-54:45

  And Father, that becomes the very mission of our lives, to share you with a lost and dying world that's looking in all the wrong places.

  54:46-54:49

  But Father, we praise you for the cross of Christ.

  54:51-55:00

  the cross of forgiveness and the cross of victory, the cross of crucifixion and the cross of resurrection, knowing that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

  55:00-55:02

  Glorify your name in us and through us.

  55:03-55:05

  Through Christ I pray, amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Imago Dei Small Group Discussion Starters:

1. Listen to the David Crowder Song PRAISE THE LORD.
   Discuss: In what ways have you tried to shape God into the image you imagined/wanted Him to be? In what ways has God not met you expectations? In what ways has He proven Himself to be better than you imagined?

2. Read Ecclesiastes 3:11. What does it mean that God has "put eternity on our hearts?"

3. Discuss: What are the ramifications of shaping your worldview BY OBSERVATION versus BY REVELATION?

4. Read Colossians 1:15-20. Find and discuss the various qualities, roles and positions attached to Jesus. What does He have to do with us understanding the image of God? See John 14:6-14.

5. What role does the church play in Imago Dei? "We are not here to refine the image of God, we are here to reflect the image of God." See 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

6. In C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian, Lucy (the youngest of the children) says to Aslan (the lion who is the Christ figure) upon seeing him after a period of absence: 
      Lucy to Aslan - "You're bigger."
      He answers, "That is because you are older, little one." 
      "Not because you are?" she responds. 
      "I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger." answers Aslan.
   Discuss: Are you finding God to be bigger and more satisfying as you continue to grow in the faith?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another