Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Good morning, Westgate.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: How's everybody doing?
Let's stand and let's worship together. That sound good?
[00:00:16] Speaker A: It's good to be here today.
Father, let your kingdom come, Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven right here in my heart Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven right here in my heart.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us, forgive us as we forgive the ones who sinned against us.
Forgive them and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
Let your kingdom come, Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart Father, let your kingdom come.
Father, let your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us, Forgive us as we forgive the ones who sinned against us. Forgive them. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil one Let your kingdom come Surrender it all, it's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours. The kingdom, the power, the glory are yours. It's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours forever and ever.
The kingdom is yours, it's yours, it's yours.
The kingdom, the power, the glory are yours, it's yours, it's yours, all yours, all yours forever and ever.
The kingdom is yours Father, let your kingdom come Father, let your will be done worth as in heaven Right here in my heart Father, let your kingdom come Father, lift your will be done on earth as in heaven Right here in my heart.
What are that's in heaven Right here in my heart.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: All right.
Hey, good morning, everyone. How are you this morning?
It's good to be here with you. If you would go ahead and grab a seat. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet. My name is Rob Zurman, lead pastor here at Westgate and just thankful to be able to worship with you this morning.
If you are a guest here or new over the last few weeks, I want to give you also again my special welcome.
As you are thinking about getting connected here at Westgate and wanting to take steps to do so. The best first step to getting connected is to fill out that connection card that you see in the pew in front of you.
And if you grab that today and you start filling that out at the close of our service, you can actually take it out into the main entrance to our guest center. And our hosts there have a gift they would love to give you as you hand them that card. But also they would love to answer any questions you might have about our church, ways to get involved and all sorts of things. So we would love just the opportunity to meet you this morning.
So go ahead and do that at the close of our service today.
Also, one of the things I want to remind you about is that we have a lot of things coming up on our church calendar as we move into the fall season. And the best way to always stay up to date with that is with our Westgate Chapel app. If you have not downloaded that, you can do so in your app store by going to Westgate Chapel Toledo. If you don't type in Toledo, you might get all of the updates for a church in the state of Washington, so be sure to grab the right one. But a couple of things that you'll see coming up.
First thing is we have our fall classes that are gonna be launching and inside of your sermon notes, if you picked those up on the way in today, you'll this guide for our fall classes. Our Bible studies are going to be kicking off on Monday, September 8th in just a couple of weeks. And then also, or in just a week actually. And then also our various classes will be beginning after that, things like our membership class, our kid faith class and numerous other opportunities. And so we want you to be aware of that. Again, all of that information can be found in our app or on our website, but we would love for you to get connected as we launch into the fall season. Another opportunity that' coming up is if you have a young new child that you would like to have dedicated to the Lord. We're gonna be having a child dedication service that is happening on, I believe it's the 28th of September. And so if you would like to be a part of child dedication, you'll see in the fine black print up there on the screen that we have a class for child dedication that's gonna be happening on Sunday the 21st during our second service. And so you can register for that on the app or online. We would love for you to come and Jo for that as we prepare for child dedication.
Now, another great thing in ministry that we have that's gonna actually be happening in just a few weeks is our Kairos Prison Ministry. And we're very excited again about this opportunity. So would you welcome with me this morning Paul Schryock and also Darren Wise as they come to share with us.
Kairos Prison Ministry is a ministry that goes into Toledo Correctional Facility, holds weekends where there's lots of teaching, sharing of God's word and just caring for the men that are in there. And we have been blessed to be a part of that. Making cookies for the event year over year, having people be part of prayer teams in many different ways. And you'll remember the last time we held it, we offered, as we often do, and said, hey, if you would like to be a part of a weekend, go ahead and connect with Paul. Well, Darren, you were one of those people that connected with Paul and said that you would love to be a part of the weekend. And so you went to the last weekend and would you share with us a little bit of what that experience. Experience was like for you and why it was meaningful?
[00:07:28] Speaker C: Sure. So I did go to the closing service on Sunday last year and it was great. You could see what God had done in the lives of these young men. And I decided to participate in the next weekend. And wow, I was blown away by the way that God used the men that are part of the team to reach.
To reach these people. I mean, it wasn't even us. It was, it was the Holy Spirit. And I've been a Christian for a long time. I know the Holy Spirit lives inside me. I've seen the spirit working. But it was just so overwhelming to see just such a contrast between the, the team because we're all just a bunch of old guys and these people. These people, you know, the, the inside guys, it's a, it's a maximum security prison and you know, these guys, you know, have done things. And so it's just such a contrast. And then to see how God worked in the lives of these men in just the course of three days.
That Sunday night when I was relaying everything to my wife, I mean, I was tearing up. And probably for the first couple of months, every time I talked about it, I broke up because the Holy Spirit was just palpable in this room as we're doing the presentation. It was amazing.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: That's awesome. So if I heard you correctly, if you're old and you said first service out of shape, you would fit in really well. Yeah, I think I fit that bill. I think I fit that bill. Also, if you're young, you're allowed. We invite you to come and be a part of it as well.
And you know, this time you're going to be. The next weekend is going to be happening the last weekend of September and you're going to have a little bit different role, kind of getting a little bit more involved. Share about that.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Yeah, my role is called the agape coordinator. And of course agape is love. God's Love. And the way that Kairos uses that word is for outside people to be able to participate in visiting those in prison. By not actually going into the prison. But one of those ways is through the cookies, which everybody kind of knows about. Another way is that actually artwork is provided for placemats and posters that we put up during the weekend to let people know, let the inside guys know that there's a lot of outside people praying for you, loving you.
There's a prayer vigil that occurs Thursday, Friday, Saturday night that you can sign up for to be a part of that. I think it's half hour time slots that you can sign up for. And of course, financially to be able to support the ministry that way.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: That's great. And Paul, just share with us a little bit. You've been a part of Kairos for a number of years. And really keeping that ministry alive in this church, which we are so thankful for. But would you share with us just a little bit of a difference that it makes? Sometimes we make cookies for this event. We might pray for it. But share a little bit of the impact that that has as you guys go into the weekend.
[00:10:23] Speaker D: Sure, the Kairos weekend is very important. And it's a lot of fun and very powerful. But it's only the entry point for these men into Kairos, I would say, or into God's world.
The fundamental goal of Kairos is to create Christian community inside of the prison. Not having to do with us, but having to do with those men that live there.
We had an event. It's a one day event, two, three months ago, where all of the Kairos Weekend graduates in the institution were invited to.
And we were sitting in the chapel. We had spent half the day talking and listening to quick talks and praying.
And there was another young man that came through the chapel, into the chaplain's office in the middle of our program.
And 15 minutes later, maybe he and the chaplain came back out. And the chaplain told us that this young man, Father, had just died. And that was why he was there, so the chaplain could tell him.
And without prompting, the Kairos graduates that were in that room stood up, circled around this young man that was not one of them. And put their hands on him and prayed for him. And that is the Christian community that has been fostered in that very hard place through Kairos.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: That's awesome. And tell us again the various different ways that we can get involved.
Sure.
[00:11:41] Speaker D: As Darren had mentioned, the institution allows us to do this, but we have to pay our own way. So the volunteers on A weekend have to fund the weekend. And that's about a $5,000 cost that.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: We have to cover.
[00:11:54] Speaker D: The cookies, as many of you know, are huge.
The guys, as I've said many times, they've never had a bad cookie. They love cookies.
Attending closing, as Darren mentioned, is open to every adult men or women 18 years or older. It is a Sunday afternoon for a couple hours. It's a powerful way to see and hear from these men that went through the weekend. Just what the weekend has done to them and meant to them.
And for those men that may be interested, as Darren had mentioned, you can't possibly imagine the gift that it is to serve on a team inside this place, to see with your own eyes these very hard men with those walls broken down. And when you can see some tatted street thug with tears coming down his eyes or dancing around the room or smiling and laughing and singing for the first time many times in years, it's a very powerful thing to see. So there are a lot of ways to get involved.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: That's awesome. Well, Paul is going to have a table that is set up in the W Cafe area this morning. And if you'd like to get involved, whether it's your life group or get involved as a family or just as an individual, you can do so by a making cookies for that you'll see on the screen. Those are due here at the church on September 14th as well, the prayer vigil and being able to go down and be a part of the services. So be sure to stop by and connect with Paul if you would like to be a part of that. Would you thank Paul and Darren for coming and sharing with us this morning?
Well, we are going to continue in our worship through song this morning but before we do, would love to have you stand on up, turn around, find somebody you haven't said hello to yet this morning and welcome them to our service.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Sam I've seen my faithfulness God still inside the storm the promise of the shore I trust the power of your world enough to seek your kingdom first.
Beyond the barren place beyond the ocean waves I walk through the waters I won't be overcome when I go through the m I will not be drowned My God will make a way so I am not afraid you keep the promises you made There isn't one that is delay so I will not lose heart here I will lift my arms and start to sing into the night my praise will call the storm to rise declare the battle won declare that it is done When I walk through the waters I, I won't be overcome When I go through the rivers I will not be drowned My God will make a way so I am not afraid When I am in the fire I will not feel the flame I'll stand before the giant declaring victory My God will make a way so I am not afraid. Pray before me, behind me, always beside me no shadow, no valley where you won't find me. No, I am not afraid before me, behind me, always beside me no shadow, no valley where you won't find me no, I am not afraid I am not afraid When I walk through the waters I won't be overcome When I go through the rivers, I will not be drowned My cat will make a way so I am not afraid When I am in the fire I will not feel the flame I'll stand before the giant declaring victory.
My God will make a way so I am not afraid My God will make a way so I am not afraid.
I can't wait for eternity Join the song they're already singing Holy, holy, holy. Are you Lord Just to bow down before your throne?
See your face I'll cry out because you're holy, holy, holy. Are you Lord Jesus, King of Kings, Jesus Majesty.
I can't wait for eternity Join the song they're already singing Holy, holy, holy. Are you Lord just to bow down Just to bow down before you see your face, face. I'll cry out because you're holy, holy, holy. Are you Lord Jesus, King of Kings, Jesus Majesty.
O King of Kings, Kings, King of Kings Jesus Majesty.
Standing with those who have heard well done.
Proclaiming forever that you're the one who's faithful, Faithful, faithful are you what can we give you? An endless praise? Let Heaven show as we shout your name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. You are love, you are love.
King of King Majesty.
Jesus Majesty.
You are King of Kings.
Jesus Majesty.
Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord. Another glimpse of glory we sing once more worthy, worthy, worthy Lord. Forever, forever Worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy Lord. Another glimpse of glory we sing once more worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Forever, forever.
Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord. Another glimpse we sing once more worthy, worthy, worthy Lord Forever, forever Jesus.
Worthy Lord. Another glimpse of glory.
Worthy, worthy Lord Jesus, King of Kings.
O King of Kings.
Jesus Majesty.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Amen. Give God praise.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Amen.
You may be seated.
Would you. Would you do me a favor again and just thank our worship team for leading us this morning in worship? You may have noticed the new sound system went in this week and we're excited about that. And the old one was kind of on its last leg and I especially am thankful because many of you gave very generously to help us to be able to replace the old one and get to the new one. The only thing that feels a little funny is if one of those things breaks, I'm done. So.
But aside from that, give some grace as our team is learning how to operate with a safety sound system that actually has clean sound and figure out the balances. But they work very, very hard week after week. So thank you though, for those of you who have given generously.
We're going to take up our morning offering here in just a second, so would you come with me to a time of prayer?
God, you provide for all of our needs at all times and we are thankful for you.
You meet our needs in all seasons of all different kinds, spiritual, emotional, physical, even monetary.
Father. It's because of how you provide for us in so many different ways, God, that our trust is just built. And our trust has developed and it causes the deepest longings of our heart, God, to just be a part of what you are doing in this world. And it moves us to a place to be able to trust you with every area of, of our life and even our finances. I thank you Lord, for the many people who gave generously in order to make this system that needed to be replaced possible.
But we recognize, God, that that comes from you, that you have given us everything we have. Every good and perfect gift has come from above.
And so, Lord, we worship you. We give you thanks for that provision. And as we continue in our giving this morning, Lord, I pray that you would always, whether we give in this room or we give online, whatever it may be, that this would be a moment of joy for us and an expression of our surrender to you as we desire to be a part of what you are doing in this world to bring people to a saving knowledge of your son. So we give you thanks and we worship you in this time in Jesus name, Amen. If you're here on the center aisles as we take our offering, you can go grab those buckets that are there and we're going to pass them out to the sides and they're up in the corners in the balcony. You can pass those in and we'll just continue worshiping the Lord in this way for a couple moments.
Well, as we get started this morning, we're going to be wrapping up a series that we have been in together for a number of weeks in the book of First Peter. If you have your Bibles, you can begin to turn with me to First Peter, chapter Five. But before we jump into God's word together this morning, you know, as I said, there are a lot of things that are launching as we move into the fall, and one of those is our Wednesday night kids programming. And many of you received an email from me this week letting you know that we have a need still for a number of teachers to kind of step in and help volunteer and lead in this coming year for our Wednesday night kids program. You know, one of the things that we've recognized is that over the the last three years, our church has grown by about 40%. And in that time frame, the number of children has grown quite a bit as well. And some of the pressures that we're feeling because of that is in the area of consistently needing more people that would say, hey, we would love to step up and be a part of helping to disciple the next generation, and this is a great way to do so. And so I believe that our kids ministry is still looking for, for about five people that would be willing to be a part of our Wednesday nights during this next school year. And so if God lays that on your heart, I just encourage you to connect with them today. Again, there is no greater blessing than being able to be with these kids, to experience the joy that they have, but also to see them like memorizing God's word and getting the opportunity to disciple them. And so we would love if a few people would step up and help volunteer and support in that way. As we move into this year, we do have an awesome kids ministry team. And, and we also have, as I was looking and thinking about it this week, a really awesome staff team here at Westgate Chapel. The team that I get to serve with on a week in and week out basis, loves doing life and doing ministry together. And probably I can say without a shadow of a doubt one of the best teams that I have ever worked with. Unified in our mission and our vision and our desire to honor Christ.
Really, truly enjoying and having, having good relationship with each other. And if you've been in some churches, that is not always the case. And so we have been just super blessed as a church family. But I can remember and look back to when I was a youth pastor in California. Actually when I went back to my home church, I took over a youth team of about 20 youth leaders that were serving in our junior high and high school ministry. And one of the things that we do, as I stepped in, we had kind of a retreat away to begin my time as the youth pastor there is that we wanted to have, like, a team building exercise. Has anybody here ever been a part of, like, team building exercises? Whether it's a work team or maybe you were serving, you know, our work team or our youth team. We got on this thing, and I just noticed that I thought it would be good for us to go through and figure out how we work together, because team building exercises are really good to help us understand how respond when we're under pressure. So I had this idea with one of my other leaders to do this team building event where you take a rope and you tie it to a tree, and you'll see a picture of that here on the screen. And we found three trees to make a triangle. And you took the rope all the way around, tied it all the way around so there was a center. And then we took a second rope, and the second rope was about that far apart from the other one, about waist high. And we took it all the way around. And this. This particular activity has become affectionately known as the Triangle of death.
And. And here's why.
What we did is we took our entire youth team, we put them inside of the triangle, and we explained. Now, if you would like to have dinner tonight, you have to get outside of the triangle. But the way you do so is by passing every single person between the two ropes without touching the ropes. If you touch the ropes, everybody goes back in. And you got to start over now. Come on. I mean, certainly they had been together for some time. We would figure this out. Well, as we started, everybody looked kind of excited and they were gung ho to try this new thing. It was a challenge, and some groups of people would gather together. Some of our youth leaders would gather together and try to find their way to work together to get through. Other people tried the solo route of trying to climb through by putting their hands on a tree and going through. But inevitably, you know, maybe one or two people would get out, and then somebody would accidentally touch the rope, and everybody would go back in. After about 10 to 15 minutes of this, you could feel the temperature rising. The people were hungry. They wanted to. They wanted to, you know, move towards snacks and dinner, right? But I just kept saying, nope, we got to go back in. We got to figure out how to. To do this. Well, the pressure began to become so intense that the team actually began to break apart and break down. People were going off, doing their own thing, not working together.
Some people would stay together, trying to work together. Then we had one leader in particular, and because we're online, I won't say that person's name. But he literally would go to the other side, they would get some people out and then he'd be like. And he'd touch the rope and make everybody else go back in because he was so upset about not being able to, able to get out. And it was just interesting to see this hot mess begin to fall apart in front of my eyes. Well, you know how long it took us to do this?
Three hours.
Three hours.
After about two hours, I looked at the people that were with me. I said, they need some leadership. We gotta get in there. And so we jumped in with the entire team. Instead of playing, you know, bad cop, of saying, you touch the rope. And we jumped in, in there and we began to try to unify people, bring people together, figure out the right way to do it. And eventually after three hours, we were able to get everyone out and through the ropes. The trick to it was is that the people that were most agile would have to get themselves through, get two or three people on the outside. And then we would literally have someone lay on the ground and we would lift them up and pass them through. And then we would have a couple people on the, the inside. After three hours, we pulled it off. It was great. It was wonderful. And then when we were done, I looked at everybody and said, now back in. And you can only imagine the looks on their faces.
How long do you think it took them?
Three minutes.
Three hours to three minutes.
The pressure had been being pushed in on them. They were getting frustrated, they were fracturing because of the pressure.
And it required leadership to come in and to pull everybody together and say in the middle of this pressure we came and we will work together to figure out a solution.
We've been in a series together over the last many weeks in the book of first Peter entitled A Living Hope. And as we've gone through this, we understand that the church that Peter is writing to in Northwest Asia Minor has been under incredible pressure. Peter, as he writes to them, understands that the pressure they face is they are non citizen residents of Rome because of that status of that they had. They were just above slaves, but did not have the rights of citizens. They faced heavier taxation.
There were all sorts of difficulties they faced because of their status within Rome.
But also we know, as we've talked about over the last many weeks, that the Christians in Northwest Asia Minor also faced persecution of varying forms because of their faith in Jesus Christ. It was not popular to not worship the gods of, of Rome and especially to not worship Caesar because emperor worship was such a big deal. And because they wouldn't do that, they would isolate themselves away from the rest of the community. And so there was always a suspicion about those Christians. And so they would face varying forms of persecution. Oftentimes people would look at them suspiciously. Sometimes they would be dragged into court. There were difficulties that they would face. We know that just a couple of years after this is when. When the great fire in Rome happened and Nero began to use Christians as scapegoats and the pressure was rising and persecution turned into death because of who they were as followers of Jesus.
But Peter, as he's writing this, is concerned about how the church is going to respond because of the pressure that is pushing in on them. When we feel pressure like that in our lives, our most natural response is not necessarily to push together and to work together, but oftentimes the most basic and natural human response is to respond in ways that are not necessarily positive. Well, Peter speaks into their situation, and he says, what you need to do is to remember in the midst of your suffering the hope that you have in Jesus, the fact that Jesus died on a cross for your sin, and because of that, and you have put your faith in him, that there is a hope that you have of eternal reward with him. Don't lose sight of eternity. And the hope that you have through Jesus in the midst of that, he knew that one of the pressures that they would face would be to conform to the society that was around them, to compromise because it would be easier so that they wouldn't face near as much persecution or suffering. But in the midst of that, he says, no. Live holy lives. Keep your eyes fixed on what is most important, not worldly to temporary things, but what God has for you in the now, but also for eternity. But then he also exhorted them to see their suffering as an opportunity for the gospel, that as they suffer, that people, because they were different and because they stood out and because they kept their hearts fully for the Lord, that people would see Jesus in them and it would give them an opportunity to share the good news of Christ with others, literally so that the gospel would go forward.
And in the middle of this, we've looked at all of these over the last four chapters together, and it feels like what's about to happen as we move into chapter five, is that Peter's going to make a little bit of what feels like a hard right turn, but I want you to understand it. And so let's take a look together. He is going to give some instructions to the elders within the church and if you have your Bibles again for First Peter chapter 5, we're going to take a look here at verses 1 through 4. To start, I'll be reading in the ESV, and you'll also see it here on the screen as well.
Here's what Peter says. He says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
After having just spent four entire chapters of his letter writing to the church in Northwest Asia Minor, encouraging them and exhorting them in the face of persecution, why, this seems kind of random that he would change course now and just begin giving instructions to elders. And I want to help us to understand that a little bit. So let's at least dive into the context of what he's saying to the church Letter A first, what we see is this, is that he refers to elders as shepherds. He refers to them as shepherds. Now, to understand the metaphor that is being used here, let's just think about what a shepherd was and what a shepherd did. A shepherd would go out and it would tend to sheep out in the fields, right. Oftentimes when we read about shepherds in Scripture, if you read anything contextually in different history books, you'll understand that the sheep always knew the voice of the shepherd, that there was this tight connection and, and, and connection and tie between them. And the reason for that is because the shepherd is the one who would provide for all of the varying needs of the sheep. They would lead sheep to safe places in the midst of unsafe territories. They would feed the sheep to make sure that they were in good health and well cared for and nourished. They would protect, protect the flock from things like wolves and wild animals and any type of danger that might come, oftentimes even putting themselves in harm's way in order to protect the sheep as well. When a sheep would fall into a thicket or become injured, or if it would go away, the shepherd would go after and pursue them, bind them up, care for the wounded. And the picture that's being painted here for us is one that is a metaphor that has been used all throughout Scripture. Jesus was often talked about as the good Shepherd. Correct. He was the good shepherd. He was the one that would care for God's people. We see that Jesus, even in his interactions with Peter, after Jesus had died and resurrected and Peter had denied him that they sit on a beach together. And when Jesus reinstates Peter, what does he tell him to do? Go and do what? Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. There is this picture that's been painted throughout the whole of Scripture and even here with this metaphor, which is this, is that elders, while called shepherds, are first and foremost spiritual leaders.
First and foremost, their responsibility is to be spiritual leaders of God's people.
And what I want to point out is that it says that you are shepherds of the flock of God. In other words, elders aren't the owners of the. The sheep. They are the stewards of God's sheep and they are meant to oversee the spiritual care of God's people.
But the problem is that I have seen for a number of years is that oftentimes in our churches, this is not how eldership functions. In so many churches and many that I had been in from the time I was a child to numerous churches that I have worked in, churches that my friends have been a part of, I've heard the horror stories often. Oftentimes what elders are seen as is those who are elected in order to just do the business of the church, to make financial decisions and business decisions and make sure that the lights are kept on and people are paid, and then to just deal with issues that may arise. And over the years, as I've seen this model play out in the church, I've heard so many horror stories. Even where many boards will find the elder, boards will find themselves with explosive army arguments where the spiritual shepherding of God's people isn't even thought of as a responsibility.
But here's the thing.
All throughout the Bible, when you look at eldership, it doesn't talk about the business and financial decisions. What does it talk about? The spiritual shepherding of God's people.
And as I have grown as a pastor, it has become one of the deep personal convictions that I have had is that we have to, in our church is get to a place of an understanding of what biblical eldership is, what it looks like, and how it should be played out in our churches. There's an important reason for this now. When I came to Westgate a number of years ago, I walked into my first elder meeting as the high school pastor, and there were 20 men sitting around the table, 20 elders that were having a conversation And I noticed that the majority of what we did was business. I think we spent about 30 to 60 seconds in prayer to start the meeting, maybe a minute or two to close the meeting. And occasionally there might be a little word that is in there. But otherwise, it was always business decisions. It kind of followed what I understood elder meetings to be as I grew up.
Now, what's interesting is that I always too, when I told people that we had 20 elders at Westgate Chapel, people would give me that look like, you guys do what? Right? You got 20 people sitting around a table trying to make decisions. How does that go for you? Not great. But one of the decisions I made when I became lead pastor is that I want us to get back to what I believe is the biblical call and mandate for eldership in the church. And so I want to walk you through a picture of what we changed to in our structure a number of years ago so that you can understand how eldership functions here at Westgate Chapel. The first thing is this, is that when we made the switch, I thought, 20 elders, that's a lot. Let's add two more so we have 22.
And yes, my friends think I'm nuts till I explain it. Here's. Here's how this works. You'll see a picture that's up or a diagram that's here on the screen. Every elder, all 22 of them at Westgate Chapel are called Shepherding Elders. I chose that title specifically because when you become an elder at Westgate Chapel, I want you to understand your primary job is not to make decisions or to gain control. It is to shepherd the people of God. It is to be the spiritual leaders of the church, first and foremost, primary. That is our role. And as I mentioned here, you'll see in this next thing, the focus of our role is on the spiritual health of Western Chapel through shepherding and oversight of the ministries of the church. And as I mentioned in the next bullet, there are 22 elders that we have that do this. Now, I'll give you an explanation as to why so many. When I look at the size of our church and I look at how many ministries there are, if we are going to shepherd the church the right way, we have got to have eldership that is infused into every single area. Because, again, it's not just about making decisions about understanding the spiritual health and temperature of our church and helping to guide and direct people. So you'll see that these are the roles that our elders play. They regularly pray for the ministries and people of Westgate Chapel in our meetings that we have every single month.
Our elder team also leads the prayer team that you see up here at the close of our services every week. Another responsibility we have is to guard the theology of Westgate Chapel to guard against false teaching. You know, in our culture and world today there is so it is so easy to try to make a decision to just twist scripture a little bit because it would feel that much more expedient to what's happening in our culture. And that's no different than even what Peter was experiencing in that day. Certainly throughout the churches in Northwest Asia Minor, but other places, one of the key roles that elders play is to guard the theology and to make sure that we are staying true to God, God and how he has revealed himself in his word. Each of our elders here at Westgate actively serve within Westgate Chapel ministries, leading by example that we're not just people that come to make decisions. We are actively engaged in a ministry, doing real work alongside lay people, alongside our staff members. As you go to the next slide, you'll see that we do that in a couple different ways. Elders oversee and support Westgate Chapel ministries through what we call our ministry councils. Ministry councils are made up usually of a staff member that is leading it, two elders that serve within the ministry, and then three to five lay people that serve within the ministry. And what they do within these ministry councils is help to provide vision for the church that comes from the overall vision that we have. And then as you see in that bottom bullet, ensuring ministry alignment with West Coast Chapel's vision as a whole as we continue, another role that we play is to participate in the teaching ministry of Westgate. Many elders do this in many different capacities, whether that's by leading a life group or teaching in our Sunday morning communities in our various Bible studies and classes. As you've seen in the last few weeks through preaching or even one on one mentoring.
Lastly, you'll see that they also play a role in overseeing the deacons of Westgate Chapel who are responsible to care for the needs of the body.
We oversee the membership of Westgate Chapel, which again has an understanding of protection of our theology in the process. But also we oversee the restorative care of people who have walked away from God. It's a heavy responsibility, but what I want you to catch and see is that there is nothing in this description about you get to make the decisions of the church.
The idea of an elder is that we spiritually share shepherd God's people. This is the design of God's Word. Now, certainly you'll see, as we continue to move, that Peter also calls the elders not just shepherds, but also overseers. In your next bullet in your notes, overseers. In other words, elders oversee the spiritual needs of the church, but they also oversee the practical. There is governance that has to take place.
And so here at Westgate, the way that that happens is not with 22 people anymore sitting around a table, table, all trying to make the same decision and come to unity. But what we do is a little bit different. We elect governing elders to be the ones that do the governing. The way we do that is this. We elect them from the shepherding elder board. So we have 22. We have eight shepherding elders that are elected to govern.
We also have our treasurer, church treasurer, and recording secretary of the church who serve as shepherding elders on the governing elder board, and then the lead pastor and the executive pastor. And it is these 12 people that are the ones that handle the governance of the church.
A couple of the roles you'll see here on the next slide is this is that we ensure Westgate Chapel stays on mission, striving towards the vision that God has given to us. You'll also see that we oversee the business decisions of Westgate Chapel, including the financial, financial, the operational and the personnel decisions that are made. And lastly, we also handle difficult disciplinary matters that often arise within our churches.
As you look at this, what I want you to see and understand is that we are striving here at Westgate to truly have a biblical form of eldership that understands our role is to be spiritual leaders within the church. And Peter, as he describes this role of shepherding and also of being overseers, he also makes clear letter C, that this role requires a heart that willingly serves others in humility.
What does he say here in this passage?
He says, to shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
We understand that the call that God has placed on us as elders is to do so with a great sense of humility. We don't do it out of compulsion, feeling like it's something that we have to do or to fill a role. We do it because we feel that God has called us to this moment and that it's not serving our needs, it's serving what God desires for. In other words, it's not about me getting to make decisions or guide the church, but it's having a heart to serve other people.
And we want to be examples of godly men within the church that will help to drive us all towards Christ.
Now, why is it so important that Peter himself, in the midst of talking about suffering and difficulty and persecution for four chapters in this letter, all of a sudden makes what feels like a hard turn in talking about eldership and what their responsibility and role is. Well, here's why. The elders served as a crucial part of the preservation of the church in the midst of a very dark world where God's people were enduring all forms of suffering during the many trials that the church was facing. The church community needed strong, humble leadership that would remain faithful to God and point the community to him consistently in order to remain united and also spiritually healthy. And I would say even more that today, in a post Christian world where it is increasingly unpopular to be a follower of Jesus Christ and where the world, at times even some in the church would want to destroy, distort the truth of God's word. It is essential that we have elders and leaders who know and stand firmly on the truth of God's word. We need elders who won't waver under cultural pressure to compromise on God's Word when it comes to the hard and even unpopular topics, things like the sanctity of human life or the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, that there is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ. We live in a world today that wants to distort truth to make it more palatable to the world as a whole. But the church in the midst of that, even as Peter would exhort, the church in his time, needs elders who will unashamedly keep our eyes focused on Jesus and His mission, no matter what the cost may be for doing so. That is why Peter addresses elders, but not. And notice, he doesn't just address elders, he also addresses believers as well. In these Next verses in 1 Peter 5:5, he gives instructions to the young, but also to all. Read with me verse 5. It says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourself, all of you, with humility toward one another another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Now, when he begins this and says, likewise, you who are younger, who is he talking to? That's a question that scholars have wrestled with for years. And there have been a lot of things. Maybe it's just really young people within the church. Maybe that's a possibility.
Maybe it's like, you know, the comment that I often make to my children, which they despise me for when needed to make a decision. And I'm not sure they're going to make the right decision or the wise decision. I'll be like, you really need to listen to me. Your frontal cortex is not fully developed yet.
And because of that you don't quite have the wisdom that you need. Right? I don't know if Peter understood that the frontal cortex wasn't developed until about 25 to 30 years old, but there is something here that has to do with wisdom. And what most scholars believe is that what he's talking about about is not just talking about young people, he's talking about non elders. He's talking to the church as a whole, people that are not serving in that authority position, saying, hey, God has placed elders here for a good purpose for you.
And he immediately follows up the address, not just by using this term of younger, but he says, all of you need to clothe your yourselves with humility toward one another. Letter A. What we see is this, is that Peter is helping the church to understand that God has given the elders authority to lead you to lead his church. That is an authority that has come from God. It's not just to teach, it's not just to lead, but it also includes providing accountability.
Because the truth is, as we've said, when pressure pushes in on the church, the temptation to stray from one's relationship with God, to become focused more on the world than God, to give yourself over to sin so that it's more palatable in the world system around you, so maybe you won't face persecution when false teaching was creeping into the church or when that pressure caused divisiveness within the church.
Peter is reminding them the elders are given authority to lead you and to provide you with accountability, to keep your eyes focused on God, so that even in the worst of situations, in the hardest of situations, one of the roles that they played was to carry out church discipline.
But the purpose of church discipline was much different than what we understand you see today.
When we think about church discipline where somebody has strayed in their relationship with God, oftentimes we see church discipline as a way for the church to say, you're not like us, you're not good enough, and so we're going to to give you the boot out, right? And oftentimes I've seen that most often is the way that churches respond. But when you read scripture, when you read Peter, when you read Paul, what you actually understand, even in the Gospels, is that church Discipline is supposed to serve a very different purpose. It's not to boot people away because they're not good enough and not like you. It's meant to be restorative.
It's meant to draw people back to Christ. Correct.
You know, when I was a pastor at the first church I ever worked at, Shore Life Church in Huntington beach, it was the only time I ever saw this done well and done right. I can remember that there was a couple that was there and this couple were super involved within the ministry of the church in some pretty prominent positions. They weren't married, they weren't engaged, but they were dating. And it came to the attention of the elders that they had moved in together, were living together, having sexual relationships with each other. And so the elders approached them and over a fair amount of time really called them to surrender their lives to the Lord, to honor the Lord in this area of their life. But they refused. They wouldn't move out. They said, no, we're not going to do that. And the elders made a painstaking decision to remove them from the church. And when they did so, I remember watching them, but also the lead pastor, who is a very good friend at the time, he made that decision to remove them and he had to go in front of the church and he shared it with them, what was taking place, because they were in a very visible role and it burdened him so heavily to do it. But he reminded them, we are not casting them away.
We are praying that God would bring them to their senses so that they would return to him and we are going to pursue him. And I watched as that else had a group of elders that went and continued to track with these two people over a period of months where they were constantly talking with them, meeting with them, continuing to call them back to Christ. And you know, the most beautiful thing is that they made the decision individually and then together that they would move out and seek to honor Christ in their relationship. They were restored back to the church, eventually restored back into ministry. They got engaged, they got married, and today they continue to serve the Lord in full time ministry, helping to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It was one of the most beautiful restorative stories that I have ever watched take place.
Sometimes elders find themselves in a situation where they are called by God to be that accountability and to even go to places that are hard and difficult in order to call the flock of God back to a fidelity of heart in following Jesus Christ in the midst of that, it requires not just the authority that God has given but letter B that the church as a whole is marked by the humility of Jesus.
Elders have to function with great humility in that role, not putting themselves in the way, but truly the heart of Christ. But even more, it requires us as a church family to understand the role that that God has given to elders and to allow ourselves to be under that authority and to have humility in the process to understand their heart. And their goal is to shepherd us towards keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.
This is so important for us because guys, as the church, as the world around us becomes darker, it is going to become harder and harder and harder to follow Jesus.
As the church at large in our world world makes concessions to the secular world and starts to shift to become more like it, it is going to require us as individual followers of Jesus Christ to have an even deeper fidelity to who God is and to give our hearts fully to him. And elders have been given the purpose of continuing to help to guide God's church to stay true to him. They serve as shepherds of God's people, keeping God's people from danger, caring for our needs and guiding, guiding us through hard seasons. Now, before we shift to the last part of this passage, I thought it'd be crazy for me to talk about eldership and not have a few of our elders actually come and share with you this morning. So I'm going to invite Isaac Villa, Chad Suan and Norm Weimer to come on up here on the stage with me. Would you welcome them as they come today in your notes? If you flipped them over, you'll see on the inside. I have listed pictures for all of the our elders in there as well. You'll see not only their names, but also the various ministries that they are serving in within the church. And I'm excited for you to get to know them. You'll get to know these guys a little bit. If you see one of our elders, stop them, talk to them, ask them questions about what they enjoy, about the role that God has given them, and ask them especially what God is doing in their life. I wanted you to hear just a little bit from these three this morning. And. And Isaac Villa serves as the vice chairman of our governing elders, which means he's a shepherding elder also serving in a governing role. And I wanted to ask you, Isaac, to share what are a couple of things that you have enjoyed in your time serving as an elder.
[01:00:27] Speaker E: Absolutely. Thanks for having us up here. I've had that opportunity to see both shepherding and overseeing roles and really Enjoy seeing and experiencing that, not only for myself, but as a team. And as Rob said, there are 22 of us. And so there are a lot. Recently, a chance to be at one of our sister churches in New Jersey, in our alliance Church, and told one of their ministers, yeah, we have 22 of us. And I got that eyebrow raised from him as well. But one of the things we see is we have a lot of different men in the room with a lot of different gifts. And so the strength of our group is where one may not have it, somebody else may excel in it. And I see that in our governing elder meetings where somebody, David, who is very blessed in financial ministry and spiritual gifts. That's not my gifts, but I'm happy to be a part of that and be there with him or somewhere like Nate and Chad and Sean, who excel in worship arts. Not my gift. You don't want me up here singing.
That's somewhere that they have excels. But I am very passionate about our outreach and missions, and I can champion it and serve in those areas and say, hey, guys, this is what we really need to focus on. So as a whole, we have a lot of guys that make up the pieces that just make us a stronger team. And as it says in Proverbs 27:17, as iron sharpens iron, right? So one man sharpens another, and we get to experience that as a whole, which I absolutely love. The other thing I've gotten to experience for myself personally as an elder this year has grown a lot. Not only serving as a vice chair and the governing and seeing a lot of the things that go on behind the scenes and what that looks like, but being in that spiritual shepherding role that we talked about. And as you if you were here at the beginning of this series, myself, I did week one, Norm did week two, and we got to give a sermon up here. And I will tell you, that was terrifying to me. And the first time Rob asked me, I gave a resounding no.
[01:02:10] Speaker B: I don't take no.
[01:02:12] Speaker E: So he asked again, and I said, let me pray about it. So I could think of a reason to say no. That made sense.
[01:02:17] Speaker B: I sensed that, by the way, I knew what you were saying on the phone.
[01:02:21] Speaker E: And so he came back again and. And I felt God working during that second time.
And that was the face to face time, which I think is where he got to me a little more.
[01:02:29] Speaker B: Right.
[01:02:31] Speaker E: And I said, rob, I'm scared, I'm nervous, I'm anxious of the weight of this. And he said, I think you're ready. And I felt like that's where God really gave me an opportunity. Because preaching is not like teaching a Sunday school class or a life group or community. There was a weight and a heaviness to it of, like, standing up, up here and. And saying what Rob said, the things that were shepherding the church. And I can tell you a lot of you are very complimentary, which I appreciate. But I felt God, through the spirit working through me on that Sunday morning that. That his words were being said, that his power was being amplified, and that I just got to be a vessel for it. So it's just an awesome opportunity for me. I've prayed and asked for a group of men that I feel like we have in this group. And I feel like all of us need a Timothy and a Paul in our life. Somebody we can mentor, somebody we can. Can be a mentor, too. And I'm just really happy to have experienced that in our group.
[01:03:21] Speaker B: That's awesome.
This is Chad Suan. And Chad serves as the vice chairman of our shepherding elders, all 22 of the cats. So, and Chad, you have been an elder for quite some time and share with us how have you seen God shaping our elders over this past year? And what excites you about where you see God leading us?
[01:03:42] Speaker F: Yeah, a couple things that I've seen change over the years, I would say.
One is each year, we typically pick a topic to study and for the purpose of, like, training, understanding how to better serve the church and shepherd the church well.
And this last year, we did a book called you Found Me, and it was all about connecting within the community, outside of the church, church, and creating relationships with people in those spaces. And one of the things that really connected with me was how you can take something that you're super passionate about, something you love to do, and be able to utilize that to connect with that community. And so, for example, I love pickleball.
And it's an opportunity for me to, like, go with an intention of doing something I love to do, but with the intention of making connections. Connections, creating relationships, and ultimately, hopefully being a point of contact where you can share the love of God with people. And so, guys, this is your chance, right, to tell your wives, like, hey, I need to join a pickleball league, or I need to join a golf league.
[01:04:51] Speaker B: Do not let the secrets out, Chad.
[01:04:52] Speaker F: Yeah, I need, like, my 2001 board game, you know, that I've got to have all for God's Glory. And so.
But it is cool to see how you can connect with People doing something you love and that you're passionate about.
The second thing I'll say is we recently restructured how we do our ministry councils and, and so every shepherding elder is required to be on a ministry council.
And so, so like a student ministry, outreach and missions finance, whatever that council may be be, we're all required to be on there.
And what we decided to do is dedicate one of our elder meetings each quarter to the purpose of gathering as all the councils together. So we get in a big large group and it's an opportunity for Rob to share the vision that we've been discussing in our shepherding Elder meetings or that God has just been laying on his heart and to share that with the whole, all the ministry councils as a large group. From there we break off and we're able to, to meet in our individual councils and kind of see how are we going to take this big picture vision and push it down through our ministry councils and find like unique ways that are going to be applicable to our, our various ministries and apply those things. And so the, the shepherding elder of the group, the staff member of the group, the lay leaders of the, the council, we all gather together and, and can brainstorm. That's, I love that. I love like getting together as a group and brainstorming me different ideas of ways that we can use that vision and direct our ministry. And so that's really, really helped to break down our ministry silos and to really develop this beautiful sense of unity around kind of just where we're going as a church and how all the ministries follow in that vision.
[01:06:37] Speaker B: That's awesome. And this is Norm. Norm, you get to see him up here preaching as Isaac mentioned. And Norm, would you maybe share with us a little bit of what God has been teaching you this year and how he's been growing you as an elder?
[01:06:50] Speaker G: Yeah, I'll start with the most recent and work maybe two about a year ago. But you know, I help teach in community one in the chapel at nine o' clock and you know, that just incrementally, you know, softens my heart as we pray for people and have people pray for me and my family.
And you know, that's the same is true in our life group. So I'm deeply appreciative of how they affect my heart.
Secondly, as Isaac mentioned, the sermon that you know, about a month ago, preparation for that, just diving into it really, really changed my heart.
I'm an engineer. I think I maybe mentioned that during the sermon and I love facts. I Like to get them in my head.
And one of the challenges I've had as a Christian is to convert what's in my head and get it down to my heart.
And the challenge of writing and delivering a sermon I think really, really helped accomplish, meant that. And you know, as first Peter 2:2 says, really, you know, crave that pure spiritual milk.
Chad mentioned the book. I like props, as you guys probably know. This is the book you found me and it was written by a guy by the name of Rick Richardson. And we studied this as a group of elders. And what I like about it, it's very data based. You know, it appeals to up here. But the underlying theme of this book that we studied as elders is how do we convert from here and make it empathy for those who don't know Jesus Christ.
And that that has also really, really been working on my heart. And, and lastly, I would encourage all of you. I mean, you know, Kim and I have been blessed to be able to go to Israel and you know, other, other portions of the Middle east or even, you know, go on a mission trip, which we also have done. And you always think, hey, you know what, we're going to be helping other people.
But you know what, it ends up that they're helping you. And you know, just the culmination of all these things have just really changed my heart. We've been going here I think a little over 13 years, but in the past year, Rob, that's really, it's converting from here to down here.
[01:09:20] Speaker B: Would you thank each of these guys for coming and sharing with us this morning?
I'll just share briefly that one of my favorite things this year with our elders as we've read the book that they were talking about is we would gather in each of our meetings together and we would begin by sharing. Who over the last month has God put in your circle that you took an opportunity to share Christ with? And it was really cool to hear these guys put into action like the things that we're calling you to as a church to think about how you neighbor and who God has put and sharing your faith. Each one of these men has been taking it seriously and we gave them the freedom in these groups that we were meeting in also to say I missed opportunities, I didn't take them, I was afraid or this got in the way. And there has been this incredible growth that is taking place. What I want you to hear and know is that this group of elders we have is probably one of the best that I have ever been a part of. They are unified.
We don't always think the same, but we stay unified in our love for Jesus and we treat the way Christ would have us treat one another. But these elders are leading by example every single day in the way that they are living out their faith. And God has given them to us. He's given them to me to help guide and to shepherd all of us together as we seek to follow the Lord.
You know, it looks like as we get into this last part here, that Peter again makes a little bit of a turn. He's talked to El he's talked to the church and said the elders have authority here. And he comes to the end of this letter with kind of a summation of everywhere where we've been.
Remember that the purpose is that the church has undergone persecution. It would be very easy for them to walk away from their faith. He calls them to the hope that they have in Jesus and listen to these final words and the power that is in them.
He says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all of your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
Be sober minded.
Be watchful.
Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Here is what he says. Letter A.
Surrender your heart and life to God in all circumstances says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that the proper time he may exalt you.
Trust him no matter what you face. That the God who created you, who has purposed every single day and moment of your life, who has prepared good works for you to do, no matter what you face in this world, in this life, he has a plan for it. Surrender your heart and your life in all circumstances, in good seasons and hard.
Letter B. He says, God cares about you. He cares about your burdens and you can trust him with them.
He says, under the mighty Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so the proper time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. He sees you.
He sees your every need.
The things that you speak and the things that you keep to yourself, the things that you worry about, he sees them all. Can you imagine how that message preached to a group of people who are facing alienation in society and all forms of persecution. He sees you.
He's with you.
He's proven to you that you can trust him because he sent his son Jesus to die on a cross to pay the penalty for your sin and to be raised to life so that you could experience forever with him away from the brokenness of this world. He cares about you because he gave everything. Trust him.
And then he says, let her see. Be self controlled and alert because your enemy is not asleep. He says your adversaries, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. He reminds us that the devil is constantly looking for opportunities to drag us away from God, using the pressure that comes in on us as followers of Jesus and on his church. Knowing that when pressure comes, comes, it often causes us to result to our own devices as humans rather than to trust God. And sometimes that is expressed in walking away from God. Sometimes that is expressed in becoming kind of a bitter and horrible person, even at times treating other people that we love in ways that does not glorify him. Satan knows that if he can push that pressure in, he's always looking for that opportunity. And so Peter says, remember, be so self control, be alert, be on watch, because there is a battle that you are in, but it doesn't leave them there. He says Letter D. Be encouraged. Be encouraged because your King is coming.
After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthening and establish you. He has not left you here alone. His eyes are on you. He sees you. And he has purposes for your life here and for eternity. And he is coming. And one day he will wipe away all pain, all suffering, all sadness, all sin. And we as followers of Jesus Christ will reign with him forever. Is that good news?
That is the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
So Peter speaking to the church in Northwest Asia Minor. His words ring out throughout the centuries to God's Church that no matter what you face, no matter how hard things get, there's a God that is for you, that is in control of all things. He has given everything for you. You can trust Him.
Keep your heart wholly devoted to Him.
Let your life be a testimony to this broken world of the goodness of God.
And be encouraged because your King is coming.
Father, I thank you for this word.
And I pray God, that this word would change and transform our hearts and our lives every day.
That as we face the pressures that come on us from this world and living in a fallen world and at times experiencing rejection because because of our love for you. Keep our hearts from bitterness, keep our hearts from sin. Cause us, God, to keep our eyes fully fixed on you, fully devoted to you.
And use our lives, God, as a testimony to this world of who you are and that your son saves.
And Father, help us to be faithful all the way until the day that you come again.
We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand and worship.
[01:17:21] Speaker A: The spirit and the bride together Testify.
All things shall be made right.
Amen.
The law shall be restored, the grave shall be no more and all the church will roar.
Amen.
Prepare the way the King is coming Enthroned on Praise the King is coming the King the last, the first the living word in glory shall return.
[01:18:20] Speaker B: We.
[01:18:22] Speaker A: Prepare the way with thoughts like lamps that bird has light upon the earth we went wait for his return.
Amen.
No fear of what's to come I hope said in the one who said that it is done.
Amen.
We prepare the way the King's coming Enthrone on Praise the King is coming the last, the first the living one in glory shall return for we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way the trumpet soon shall sound he'll ride.
[01:19:54] Speaker B: Upon the clouds and every knee will.
[01:19:59] Speaker A: Bow the honor and the fame the glory, power and praise be unto Jesus name Amen Amen Amen Amen we prepare the way the king is coming he throw on praise the King's coming the last, the first the living word in glory shall return the great I am the Son of man the lion and the Lamb the cornerstone who stands alone in light will lead us home so we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way Repair the way the King is coming yes, he.
[01:22:10] Speaker B: Is enthroned on Praise the King is coming.
[01:22:21] Speaker A: He'S the last the first the living word in glory shall return.
[01:22:30] Speaker B: So we prepare the way Sing it out, Jesus we yes, we do, Jesus we.
[01:22:50] Speaker A: Prepare the.
[01:22:54] Speaker B: All for you Lord Jesus we let's give God glory together as we close our service this morning. I know that there are some that have probably, probably walked in this morning with heavy hearts or burdens that they've been carrying throughout the week. Maybe that's from something you've been wrestling with God about. Or maybe there's something you've been wrestling with with your health or maybe even relationally within your family or relationships. And you're thinking to yourself, I just would love the opportunity to pray with somebody today. Our prayer team is here as they are every week at the front of our auditorium and at the close close of the service. I would love to invite you to come forward if it's prayer for healing or just somebody to talk to and to pray with, or maybe today you want to give your life to Jesus for the very first time and you recognize that it is the greatest gift that you have ever been given. Our team would love the opportunity to talk with you and to share in the joy of that decision and pray with you today. And so we just invite you to come as our service closes and church families, we go out out this been. I don't know about you, this has been such a good study in First Peter for me, but a constant reminder that as we live in a world that is rapidly moving away from God, that is just simply a reminder that our King is coming. But that also means that we need to be ready, that we need to be prepared, that he is giving us opportunity every single day of our lives to be the light of his son, Jesus Christ, in a world that desperately needs him. So go out this week with that commission, being reminded of those opportunities he is giving you, and live your life this week with your whole heart, serving him and giving him glory and honor. Father, thank you for the day and I just pray your blessing over this congregation that they would continue to go deeper with you, that our the extent of our relationship with you would not be just here on Sunday mornings, but the that God, we would find depth and intimacy with you every single day where you are sustaining us and giving us life and all that we need to live out our faith in this world so that others would come to know your son, Jesus Christ, and so that your name would be glorified. Do that in this group of people, God, and use them as your conduits of the good news of your Son this week. We love you, Jesus. It's your name. We pray. Amen.
God bless you as you go out and you serve him this week.
