Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Good morning, West.
[00:00:10] Speaker C: Kid.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: How's everybody doing?
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Well, let's give that another shot. How's everybody doing?
I said in the first row. You can be bad if you want. Bad, Adam, that's fine too. Just wanted an answer.
Well, it is good to see all of you this morning. It is good to worship together in the house of the Lord. Amen. Will you stand? We're gonna do a new song this morning. It' you at your word.
And we're gonna read from God's word this morning before we start this song. Hebrews 10, verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Let.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful.
[00:01:10] Speaker D: Amen.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: God is faithful.
[00:01:12] Speaker D: Right.
Your word is a lamp unto my feet.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: Your way is the only way for me.
[00:01:36] Speaker D: It's a narrow road that leads to life.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: But I want to be on.
It's a narrow road, but the mercy's wide. Cause you're good on your promise.
[00:01:52] Speaker D: I'll take you at your word.
If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it works.
If you start it, you'll complete.
I'll take you at your word.
Cause you're good when you promise.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: You spoke in the chaos, fell in line.
[00:02:27] Speaker D: I know cause I've seen it in my life.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: It's a narrow road that leads to.
[00:02:39] Speaker D: I want to be on it.
It's a narrow road. The tide is high. But you parted the water.
I'll take you at your word.
If you said it, I'll believe it. I see how good it works.
If you start it, you're competing. I'll take you at your wor.
If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it works.
If you start it, you're completed. I'll take you at your word.
You too. Promise.
Joy comes from the Lord.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:03:39] Speaker D: Yes, it does.
Sing this promise right here.
You said your love will never give up.
You said your grace is always enough.
You said your heart would never forget or forsake me.
You said I'm saved. You call me yours. You said my future, full of your hope.
You never fail. So I know that you'll never fail me I'll take you at your word if you said it, I'll believe it I seen how good it works if you started, you're completed I'll take you at your word if you said it, I'll be believe it I see how good it works if you start if you're completed I'll take you at your
[00:04:59] Speaker A: word
[00:05:02] Speaker D: Cuz you're good on your promise
[00:05:05] Speaker A: I'll take you at your word.
[00:05:09] Speaker D: Amen.
[00:05:12] Speaker E: Amen. You can have a seat just for a couple minutes.
Welcome. My name is Julie. I am so glad that you chose to worship with us this morning. It's so fun to just stand up here and see so many faces that feel like family and also sometimes some new faces. So if you are new, if this is your first Sunday here or you haven't taken the time to connect with us yet, we would encourage you to grab the connect card from the pew in front of you and just share some information about yourself and take it to the guest services out here. They would love to meet you and just learn a little bit more about you. Hopefully on your way in you grab the the sermon notes from the tables on your way in. It's also Communion Sunday so hopefully you got those elements. If not, the ushers will come a little later when it's time for that.
I just want to encourage you because we do every Sunday that if you do not have the app, we would encourage you to download that. There's so much great information there about the things that are coming up.
I'm going to give my own little plug because I have the microphone and I can. But starting a from Thursday we start rehearsals for our Palm Sunday Choir. So if you have not had the chance to sing with us here at Westgate Chapel, go to the events page or sign up in the app. Those of you who have served before, you'll be getting your invitation in the mail through Planning Center. So we hope that you join us for that. It's going to be a wonderful time.
But for now you got your rest for a moment. Take a minute to stand up and say hello to those around you.
[00:06:52] Speaker C: Well, good morning again as we, as we continue in our worship together,
[00:07:03] Speaker A: we're
[00:07:03] Speaker C: gonna move do things just a little bit different this morning for all those people who still need nachos out there. We're taking communion.
We're having the Bread of Life, my friends. So if you would take out your elements if you did not get communion elements. We've got our ushers are coming down the aisles, you can raise up your hand and they would love to bring you some of those.
You know, this world we're living in is pretty interesting, isn't it?
You spend any time turning on the news yesterday, today seeing what's happening all around the world.
How easy can it be to get not just distracted, but discouraged by what we see brokenness all around us.
[00:07:56] Speaker F: Not just things that we see happening on the grand stage of our world,
[00:07:59] Speaker C: but even things in our own personal lives.
But one thing that I am so thankful for as we gather together this morning is that we have hope in Jesus in the midst of this brokenness.
And this morning, as we come to our time of worship and song and beginning to focus our hearts on the Lord, I recognize that there can be so many things that distract us from what this moment is about.
And so before we continue in our worship and song, I want to take us to a time of communion so that our hearts are focused not on the craziness of our world and the brokenness that is there and the broken things in our lives or the things that would distract us, but to focus our hearts on the hope that we have that is found in Jesus Christ and Jesus alone.
Would you pray with me, God?
I'm so thankful that as we wait for the day when you will come again, a day, God, that I pray our hearts long for, where you will set all things right, where you will make us new, confess that it is easy to become discouraged and distracted, all the things that are going on around us.
But as we will see in your word this morning, Father, we were reminded that in the midst of that, the one thing that we have to cling to, that is constant, that is a firm foundation that will never be shaken, is the hope that we have through your son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Father, for loving us so much that you would send him into this world to die to save us from the penalty that we deserved of death and separation from you because of our sin. Thank you for taking that
[00:10:00] Speaker F: and for
[00:10:01] Speaker C: offering to us the gift of salvation that comes through faith in Jesus alone.
Father, this morning, as we come to this time of continuing in our worship, we want to center our hearts on you.
We ask God that you would take the burdens that weigh heavy on our heart from our individual lives, from this world, whatever it may be.
And we pray, God, that those burdens would be replaced, placed with incredible hope and determination and pursuing and following you.
Because we know, God, that you are in control.
We know that you love us.
And so, Lord, as we take Communion together.
We're reminded.
Thousands of years ago you stood, your son stood on this earth with his disciples.
And as he was preparing to depart, Lord, he reminded them of the depth, of what it meant that he would give his life so that they could have hope. Not just hope now in this world, but hope for all of eternity.
And we worship you, and we thank you together for that.
The apostle Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter 11, that I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is given for you. You do this in remembrance of me.
Let's remember together.
Paul continues and says in the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
Paul adds and says, for as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. And my friends, will he come again?
Absolutely he will come again, for he fulfills all of his promises. Let's drink together.
Lord, we give you praise and we worship you. Captivate our hearts with your love and your goodness. This morning, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Sacred for all my sin,
[00:13:08] Speaker E: your body
[00:13:10] Speaker A: crucified to make me whole again.
I will recall the cup poured out in sacrifice to trade this sinners end for your new covenant.
Hallelujah.
I'll live my life in remembrance.
Hallelujah.
Your promise I won't forget.
How much salvation is ro with fear and trembling.
Your born is my own as Christ is formed in me.
Hallelujah.
I'll live my life in remembrance. The rest, Hallelujah.
Your promise I won't forget.
If ever I should lose my way, if ever I deny your grace, remind me of the price you pay.
Hallelujah.
I live in remembrance.
You've been so, so good to me.
You've been so, so good to me.
Oh to think where I would be if not for you.
If not.
You've been so, so good to me.
You've been so, so good to me.
Oh to think where I would be if not for you.
If not for you.
You've been so, You've been so, so good to me.
Oh, to think where I would be if not for you.
If not for you.
As far as heights reach from the depths, as far as far as east is from the west. So far your grace has carried me until I See you face to face until at last I've won my race. Remind me you're not finished yet.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me.
All my days I've been held in your hand.
From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head I will sing of the goodness is God.
All my life you have been faithful.
All my life you have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the good God.
I love your voice.
You have led me through the fire in darkest night.
You were close like no other.
I've known you as a father.
I've known you as a friend.
And I have lived in the goodness.
Yes, of God.
All my life you have been faithful.
All my life you have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able.
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of. Go run.
Your goodness, it's running after.
It's running after me.
Your goodness is running after.
It's running after me.
With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now. I give you everything your goodness is running after.
[00:20:55] Speaker D: It's running after me.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Me your goodness is running after.
[00:21:03] Speaker D: It's running after me.
Your goodness, it's running after.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: It's running after me.
With my life laid down, I'm surrender now. I give you everything
[00:21:23] Speaker D: your goodness is running after me.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: It's running after me.
You.
And all my life you have been faithful.
All my life you have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able.
Oh, I will sing of the good is God.
I'm going to say.
I'm going to say.
All my life you have been grateful.
All my life you have been so, so good.
Every breath that I am able, I will of the goodness of God.
I will sing of the goodness of God.
[00:23:00] Speaker C: To our time of offering. So don't grab those buckets yet. I'm watching.
We want to take just a moment to just give you a quick update on our Germany missions team. And many of you know that over the last couple weeks ago, our Germany mission team went out to work with our partners Ben and Sarah Cary in Vaden, Germany. And as they went, the purpose was to work with their English day camp and to run the English day camp, really ministering to young children that are there, as they do this day camp. But really the purpose is to help our international workers continue to develop relationships with within the community, with people that don't know Jesus, but also to minister
[00:23:41] Speaker F: to the people that they work with
[00:23:44] Speaker C: on a daily basis that don't know Jesus and this team. There are many of them. I think you'll see a picture up
[00:23:50] Speaker F: here on the screen.
[00:23:51] Speaker C: But Julie led our team, and they wanted to take a moment just to share some stories of what God was doing and how God was teaching them over these last few weeks.
[00:24:00] Speaker E: Yeah, thank you. I said trying to describe and convey this trip in this amount of time is impossible. So if you see some of these team members, I would encourage you to just stop and have a conversation, because everybody's story is different. We're just a little sliver of what God did. I asked the team, challenged them to summarize the trip in one word, and these are some of the words that they shared. Provision, miraculous.
Teamwork, energy, energetic, patience, peace, and faith filled. That's not even all the words, but those are just a few. And if you followed the trip in our prayer group, you'll know that we faced a lot of challenges just getting there and then some issues with our luggage. And so, Sean, I want to ask you, how did the Lord meet you in the middle of those challenges?
[00:24:55] Speaker G: With grace.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: I don't know if a lot of
[00:24:59] Speaker G: you guys even know. It took us about 50 hours to even get there.
And as we got there, we dealt with a lot of stuff leading up to the point of trying to walk through our orientation stuff together as a team, not just with the Westgate team, but the whole team, and trying to get our footing as we did that. And I'm usually a very patient, easygoing person, but trying to shoulder some stuff for our team and deal with some of the travel stuff and the luggage stuff, I had a lot of anxiety, and it's not something I usually deal with, but tightness in my chest, everything that was going on in that moment. And there was a few times that I broke down, and God's grace,
[00:25:42] Speaker C: the
[00:25:42] Speaker G: way he showed up every step of the way, and I can't even give you all the examples of the ways that he answered every prayer, opened doors that were locked and reinforced.
But finally, the first night we were there, after all this frustration and stuff like that, I just told my wife and I told the team. I said, I'm just going to walk back to the house. And as I walked back to the house, I had a beautiful conversation with Jesus.
And to convey what he taught me in that moment was just to be quiet and to listen for what he was doing, not for what I thought I could control, for all these things. But even through the anxiety and the sleet and all the precipitation styles that we had what we were there. As I walked, I wasn't cold at all.
I just had a perfect peace. I wasn't worried about what was going on then. I just trusted in what he was doing. And this verse came to mind. Isaiah 43:19 says, Behold, I am doing a new thing now it springs forth.
Do you not see it?
And as I walked, he revealed more scripture to me and more things to be praying for for the people, not for the things. And in the uncomfort and the weakness that that's where he shines.
[00:26:52] Speaker E: Thank you so much.
And Chris, what would you say is your most significant takeaway?
[00:26:59] Speaker H: Once it was determined who the team would be, Julie started asking us what role we saw ourselves serving in. And I said, oh, I'll be an English teacher. My mom was an English teacher for 20 some years. It's in my blood. Piece of cake.
Nope, not at all. I personally was not equipped to serve in that capacity in my own strength.
But when you show up where you think you're supposed to be and stay out of God's ways, he shows up and as Heidi would say, shows off. He shows up and shows off and just.
It became easy. Not easy, but it was wonderful. And we had a great, great week. And the end of our week ended with a program for the family and friends of the students that we had been teaching over the course of the five days.
And when it was over, I headed back to my classroom to pack up from the week 66 steps. Ask me how I know. Counted them every single time, four times a day, ironically, 66 books in the Bible.
Irony? Maybe not, but anyway, as I was climbing those steps for the very last time, a song came to my mind that we have sung here many, many times.
Break my heart for what breaks yours. Everything I am for your kingdom come.
And I started to sob because I was overwhelmed with a heart for the lost that I've never had in that way before.
And my prayer would be that these kids, these first through fourth graders who were so eager to learn English someday, would have that same eagerness to learn about our King of Kings.
[00:28:30] Speaker E: Thank you so much. So we've probably said this before, but Northeast Germany is one of the darkest places spiritually in the world as far as the number of people who would say they're atheist or agnostic. And during our devotions, at one point somebody said, you know, you can't plant seeds in a parking lot. And so really I feel like our mission is to just come alongside Ben and Sarah because what they've been doing for 14 years is breaking up the pavement. And there has been fruit from that. And so I love the intentionality that they take into every day looking for gospel conversations and interactions and oh, that we would do the same here.
[00:29:10] Speaker C: Amen. That is so great. Would you thank our team for coming and sharing this morning?
[00:29:17] Speaker F: As I mentioned, I hope that you
[00:29:19] Speaker C: will find them and the rest of the team members and ask them about what God was doing and what God was teaching them over the course of this trip. And as well, I think it's such an important call and reminder to us to continue to pray that the seeds that were planted and the relationships that are continuing to be built and the seeds that are being watered by Ben and Sarah and their team that are there in northeast Germany, that God would produce an incredible harvest that would come from, from the efforts that were put forward.
I know that the team also wants to thank you and I want to thank you for the way in which you supported them. They were able to leave on this trip fully funded, but even more with an incredible prayer support that they desperately needed as they went. And so thank you for the way that which you support our missions teams that get sent out from this church. As we come to our time of offering, we want to just pause and give thanks to the Lord as well. So would you join me in prayer?
Father, I thank you. I thank you for how you so generously provide for all of our needs. I thank you for how you provided for our Germany team, Father, providing the resources that they needed to go, but also, Father, providing for every single moment, every step of the way on this trip, Father, the way that you provided and met every single need in the moments of frustration and difficulty and travel, arriving late. Father, you gave everything for every moment. And I thank you because that's what you do. God, we may feel ill equipped, but
[00:30:54] Speaker F: when you call us to something, you
[00:30:56] Speaker C: give us everything that we need to do what you have laid in front of us. And I thank you, Lord, for how even in this trip you taught this team how to move to a place of deeper trust and reliance upon you.
And now, Father, I pray that you would take the seeds that were planted and that are continuing to be watered. And that, Lord, truly you would bring a harvest of people coming to faith in your son, Jesus Christ in this city. I pray that for the church plant that is there that Ben and Sarah have begun with their team. I pray, Father, that you would just allow it to explode with people that are coming to faith in your son so that, Lord, in this dark section of northeast Germany where very few people know you, that your light would begin to shine bright and that Father, would be infectious and that it would spread and that that, Father, your kingdom, would continue to draw more people in.
Father, thank you for how you allow us at home to participate. I thank you for each individual here who gave so generously, whether it be through finances, through support, through prayer and
[00:31:59] Speaker F: Lord, this morning as we come to
[00:32:01] Speaker C: our giving of our tithes and offerings again, Lord, we give generously to you because you have given far more generously to us. And our desire, God, is that you would take what we give in our tithes and our offerings and multiply them again so that more people will know your son, Jesus, so be glorified with the posture of our hearts and our worship of you as we give. And we pray that you would receive glory. We pray this together in the name of Jesus. Amen.
We're going to take our morning offering. So if you're here on the center aisles, you can grab those offering buckets and we'll pass them out to the sides. They're in the corners up in the balcony, and we'll pass them in.
Let's continue to worship the Lord through the taking of our offering this morning.
[00:33:18] Speaker F: Well, again, thank you for coming and
[00:33:20] Speaker C: worshiping with us today.
[00:33:22] Speaker F: We are continuing in our series that
[00:33:24] Speaker C: we began a few weeks ago that
[00:33:26] Speaker F: we are using as a lead in into the Easter season. It is entitled the King Is Coming. And hopefully as you came in this morning, you were able to grab some sermon notes that you can use to follow along. So you can pull those out right now as if you've got your Bibles. We're going to be in Luke chapter 18, so you can begin to turn there in preparation for our message this morning. But as we approach Easter and as we go through this series together, what we are doing is following along with Jesus into the final stretch of his earthly ministry found in the Gospel of Luke.
[00:34:03] Speaker C: As he approaches the cross and as
[00:34:06] Speaker F: the cross sits on the horizon for Jesus as he is in his last days and weeks before he will give his life, we're taking a look together at Jesus teachings. And in doing so, what I believe we get is a very close picture of what matters most when eternity is near.
Jesus is sharing the very core of his heart and his mission with his disciples. Not only his disciples that walked with him on the earth, but truly his disciples, us, who are followers of Jesus for all time, sharing what matters most when eternity is near. And so again, as I mentioned, going to be taking a look together this morning at Luke chapter 18 beginning in verse one in this section of Scripture. Most of your Bibles is entitled the parable of the Persistent Widow. A parable that's fairly familiar to many people in the church. I want you to think about the word that is used there in its description, the parable of the persistent widow. What is persistence?
As I looked this week in the dictionary to kind of get the full rendering of persistence, here are a few ideas which there are many of what that means.
Persistence is the overcoming of obstacles, in other words, pushing forward when we're faced with challenges or setbacks. It also carries the notion of consistency, in other words, maintaining steady long term effort to overcome obstacles rather than just sporadic action.
It carries the idea of determination, a stubborn or firm commitment to achieving a specific result.
And the word itself in the Latin carries the idea of continuing with strength, giving everything that one has to accomplish
[00:35:55] Speaker C: what is set out in front of them.
Persistence.
[00:36:00] Speaker F: As I think about persistence in our own lives, there have been many times and probably many different situations where we have had to use persistence to get a goal accomplished that we've been trying to accomplish.
I was thinking this past week about, about how this last year I had to fly out to California to help my uncle who had found himself in a little bit of a health crisis. Early one morning, received a phone call about 6, 7am from him.
He had been in the hospital because he had a kidney stone. But my uncle also has Parkinson's and so there are a litany of medications
[00:36:36] Speaker C: that he is on.
[00:36:36] Speaker F: When he called me, the phone call sounded something like this. Rob, I need you to call the police. They're trying to, to kill me.
[00:36:44] Speaker C: And I was all, wait, what?
[00:36:46] Speaker F: You know, it's 3am what are you doing? Call me in California. It's 3am and so trying to figure
[00:36:52] Speaker C: out what's going on.
[00:36:52] Speaker F: His medication, the hospital had mixed up his medication.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: They weren't giving it to him on time. And so it put him into this psychotic episode and he, he didn't know what was going on. There was a ton of fear.
[00:37:05] Speaker F: So I got in touch with my family who now lives in Texas and we were talking about what to do and I, I said, okay, I will jump on a plane, I'll fly out there.
[00:37:12] Speaker C: I'm gonna go take care of this
[00:37:14] Speaker F: and try to help him get settled
[00:37:16] Speaker C: and advocate for him.
[00:37:18] Speaker F: So I did that. I jumped on a plane, went and saw my uncle. I can remember walking into the room, looking at him. I'm excited to See him. Cause I haven't seen him for a while, and he's kind of like.
[00:37:27] Speaker C: That phone call was kind of awkward, wasn't it?
[00:37:30] Speaker F: Yeah, it might have been. And he's apologizing and felt bad, but I'm like, hey, I at least get to hang out with you and spend some time with you. And what had happened is that the
[00:37:39] Speaker C: hospital had really messed up his medic. He was on so many of them that had put him into kind of that episode.
[00:37:45] Speaker F: They weren't bringing them at the right time.
[00:37:47] Speaker C: They were bringing the wrong ones. They didn't have certain ones, so they weren't giving it to him.
[00:37:52] Speaker F: And I thought, somebody needs to be
[00:37:54] Speaker C: persistent in advocating to make sure he gets what he needs so we can
[00:37:58] Speaker F: get him out of this hospital, get him back into a rehab facility so that he can go home. And so my journey over the next couple days before I would fly home to preach that Sunday was to do.
[00:38:08] Speaker C: Do just that.
[00:38:09] Speaker F: And I can remember day in and day out, just sitting there, spending time with Manko. It was really great catching up.
[00:38:14] Speaker C: But I was on a mission to
[00:38:16] Speaker F: make sure that he got his medicine at the right time, that it was the right medication so that he could get better.
I tend to think that the nurse
[00:38:24] Speaker C: felt I was a little bit overkill.
[00:38:26] Speaker F: Okay.
[00:38:27] Speaker C: But I was like a. I'm telling you, I was like a hawk to make sure that it happened appropriately. Persistent advocating, Right.
[00:38:35] Speaker F: And then I remember being told one day that, okay, our goal is to get him to out into a place that will, you know, where he can go to a rehab facility to get stronger so that he can go home and be honest. And I'm like, that's great.
We're waiting all day long, all day long being told that it would come and it never came, and we got to stay overnight again. And I'm starting to look at the clock going like, I've only got another day here before I've got to fly home. So the next morning, we got the same thing, and they're telling us this, and we're waiting and waiting and nothing's happening. I keep checking in and asking them, being persistent, and. And then they come in and the nurse says, you know, they don't have
[00:39:08] Speaker C: any beds, and that's what the hold up is. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me.
[00:39:11] Speaker F: So what did I do? I whip out my phone, I look up the rehab place, I call them on the phone, I ask for the director of housing. I say, hey, I need a bed for My uncle. And what does he say? Well, we told the hospital about five hours ago that we had a bed ready. It's just sitting here.
You can only imagine the joy of
[00:39:29] Speaker C: my conversation with, with the nurse.
[00:39:31] Speaker F: And by the way, it wasn't the nurse's fault, but I said, I might want to talk to your supervisor. Right? And so we figured that part out. And then they came to me and they said, oh, but we're not sure we're going to be able to get a transport today. I said, that's not acceptable.
[00:39:45] Speaker C: I'm leaving tomorrow. Do you have a phone number I can call?
[00:39:48] Speaker F: 30 minutes later we had a transport.
[00:39:50] Speaker C: It was fantastic.
[00:39:52] Speaker F: We got everything settled.
[00:39:53] Speaker C: My uncle got settled in.
[00:39:55] Speaker F: I, in my mind and my heart,
[00:39:57] Speaker C: cared so deeply about this that I
[00:40:00] Speaker F: was persistent to make sure that everything was done the way that it needed to be done to accomplish the goal
[00:40:06] Speaker C: that was set out in front of me.
Persistence, overcoming obstacles, being consistent, being determined, continuing with strength.
Jesus is going to use a similar illustration of perspective persistence to teach his disciples this morning in our passage about the type of focus and mentality that will be required as they await his second coming.
[00:40:34] Speaker F: And this passage this morning has so
[00:40:36] Speaker C: much to preach to our hearts and our souls today as well.
We live in a world that is broken.
We live in a world that, as we look around it, I've heard so many people say, I don't even recognize it.
[00:40:50] Speaker F: I can't even fathom the things that are going on.
[00:40:53] Speaker C: Looking at wars that are happening, the
[00:40:54] Speaker F: way that people treat each other, like the world feels like it's falling apart,
[00:40:59] Speaker C: let alone our own personal issues that we are dealing with.
And we feel the pain and the difficulty as well as followers of Jesus Christ that Jesus disciples felt. As we await for the day where Jesus will come again and set all the things right.
This passage preaches deeply to us as well this morning.
[00:41:19] Speaker F: And so I want to give you
[00:41:20] Speaker C: a setup before we get into Luke 18 to just remind you of the conversation that Jesus has been having with his disciples that we looked at last week.
[00:41:29] Speaker F: If you're following along in your notes,
[00:41:30] Speaker C: the first thing is this. Jesus has given his disciples some pretty hard news.
[00:41:35] Speaker F: You'll remember that they believe now that
[00:41:37] Speaker C: Jesus was here and they believed he
[00:41:38] Speaker F: was the Messiah, that that meant his kingdom had come, that he was there, that he was going to fully establish his kingdom, that he was going to wipe out their oppressors in Rome, and that he was going to set up a time of everlasting peace and prosperity. And all the nations of the world would come underneath his rule and his reign. This was the moment where all things
[00:41:57] Speaker C: would be set straight.
[00:41:59] Speaker F: And yet what Jesus tells them is this is this truth that, yes, the king has come, I am here and my kingdom has come come as well.
But it looks a little bit different coming in its full consummation than what
[00:42:12] Speaker C: you have in your mind.
You see, the disciples, their passion for Jesus was rightly placed. But what Jesus needed to do was to correct their understanding of what the coming of the how the kingdom coming of the kingdom would play out.
[00:42:26] Speaker F: And so, as we looked at together
[00:42:27] Speaker C: last week, letter A. The king will eventually restore all things, but not yet.
Jesus wants them to understand that this will eventually happen.
But one of the things that he says to him is at first he must suffer and die. You see, the kingdom coming wasn't just about a physical kingdom. It was about a spiritual kingdom.
[00:42:46] Speaker F: He had not just to come to
[00:42:48] Speaker C: rescue them from Rome and the broken world, but to rescue them spiritually from their sin.
And so Jesus came and he had to suffer and to die. And what he was doing in that was saving them from a much bigger problem than Rome.
And it would be some time before Jesus would restore all things. And so Jesus lets them know, like there is going to be a time period of waiting before I come for what you desire. But letter B, he says in that waiting, life would also get much harder before he would return and come again.
This time Jesus says to them, the time is coming when you will will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man. In other words, it's going to be so hard that on one sense, disciples,
[00:43:33] Speaker F: you are going to long for the
[00:43:34] Speaker C: moments that we have now where I am with you, but as well even
[00:43:38] Speaker F: more, not only for his present disciples, but for us today.
[00:43:43] Speaker C: We will long for the day when he will finally come again and restore all things.
A time is coming. Why?
Because of the rejection that we will face as Christ. Christians suffering in this world. Persecution with no answer to when the time would actually come that he would return.
[00:44:03] Speaker F: And what Jesus does as he shares
[00:44:05] Speaker C: this is he reminds them of the hope that they have in him. But he also gave a clear warning, letter C, number one. And the warning was filled with these three things. One, that many people will reject the King in this time of waiting.
He uses lot in Sodom and Gomorrah as a picture of the evil that was rampant in those cities and the destruction that came upon them.
[00:44:25] Speaker F: And the warning is there are going to be many people who will Reject
[00:44:28] Speaker C: the King during this time as well.
[00:44:30] Speaker F: Number two, there will be many who
[00:44:32] Speaker C: will be lulled into indifference by the world.
[00:44:36] Speaker F: That there will be many who are so caught up in the things of the world and not keeping their eyes on Jesus that they will be lulled to sleep. They'll be caught up in the day to day pursuits of life, trying to find their joy and their happiness and their fulfillment in a world that can't possibly provide it.
[00:44:52] Speaker C: And it will be at the expense of their following of Jesus as well. Number three, there will be many who confuse proximity with possession.
He uses the illustration that there will be two in bed where one is taken and the other left. There will be two that are grinding
[00:45:07] Speaker F: at the mill where one is taken and the other left at the coming
[00:45:09] Speaker C: of the King of Kings.
And when this takes place, what he
[00:45:13] Speaker F: shows is that there will be something people who believe that they are the
[00:45:17] Speaker C: kings because of their proximity, whether that be to another Christian or because of their proximity to the church. But it draws into a question of are we truly placing our faith in Jesus and following him. And Jesus finishes this section, letter D by saying that the answer that you need is this.
Losing your life is how you will save it. Now that seems weird to say, but think about what he means means.
He says whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will keep it.
In other words, whoever seeks to preserve
[00:45:50] Speaker F: his life in this world, finding their hope in a broken system that can't give you what you want, where certainly you will die and you can take none of it with you. If you seek to preserve your life in this material world, you will lose it, no question about it. But for he who loses his life,
[00:46:07] Speaker C: who gives up this world for the
[00:46:09] Speaker F: life that God offers through Jesus Christ,
[00:46:11] Speaker C: it is he that will keep it.
[00:46:14] Speaker F: And so what Jesus is doing is the disciples are approaching this time where they are going to go into a continued waiting period for the King to come and to fully restore and to consummate his kingdom on the earth.
He wants to encourage them in the waiting, encourage them to continue to follow and to keep their eyes on on Jesus as we follow along in your notes. Jesus in this parable that he is going to tell in Luke 18, encourages
[00:46:42] Speaker C: his disciples with how to endure the waiting.
[00:46:47] Speaker F: So if you have your Bibles, look with me at Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse 1, verse 1 says this. It says he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always
[00:46:58] Speaker C: to pray and not lose heart.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: Heart.
[00:47:02] Speaker C: Let's stop there.
[00:47:03] Speaker F: Letter A Jesus, focus as he begins into this parable, is that the disciples, the people who choose to follow him, wouldn't give up in the waiting, because the truth is, we don't like to wait. Can I get an amen? My wife and I, we broke a rule that we have, which is don't go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. And we haven't done that for years. This year, we decided. We decided to go out to dinner together on Valentine's Day. We went to a nice restaurant. We had a great gift card, which made it even better to make it free. And we got there and was super excited. We got seated fairly quick, and we started enjoying our time together.
Everything felt like, hey, why haven't we done this for so many years? It's not that bad.
As we sit there, one of the things, as time kept going was we noticed there was no food coming out of the kitchen. None. The place was full. There was a line out there, the door to get in. No food was coming out.
[00:47:57] Speaker C: Now there's an acceptable time to wait, correct? Is there not?
[00:48:00] Speaker F: We expect it an hour and a half later, and no food is coming out. People are getting up and leaving and saying, we're done. We're not waiting. And Rochelle and I are looking at each other going, maybe. Maybe we should join them, right? This is absurd. And, you know, our waiter, not his fault, Would come out occasionally, and he would. He would say, hey, it's just gonna be a few more minutes.
[00:48:21] Speaker C: Sorry.
[00:48:21] Speaker F: For more minutes. And then the manager finally comes out, and she says, hey, I'm just gonna be honest with you. We got hit with a ton of phone orders for people to do pickup. And the kitchen has been focusing on that.
[00:48:32] Speaker C: And I'm like, they've been what?
[00:48:33] Speaker F: You know, and they've been focusing on that. But then it became so overwhelming, the cooks just threw up their hands and gave up.
[00:48:41] Speaker C: I said, what?
[00:48:42] Speaker F: And so as we're sitting there, but don't worry, we'll make it right.
[00:48:46] Speaker C: Okay? So we held on for a few
[00:48:47] Speaker F: more minutes, and miraculous.
[00:48:49] Speaker C: Miraculously, our food finally did show up. So we ate it.
[00:48:51] Speaker F: It didn't taste near as good as I thought it would, you know, them
[00:48:54] Speaker C: having to kill the cow and all right. Before they cooked it, but.
[00:48:59] Speaker F: But, you know, they made it right.
[00:49:01] Speaker C: They gave us, like, half off, you know, which was a great way. And so we.
[00:49:05] Speaker F: We got in the car after having
[00:49:06] Speaker C: eaten, thinking to ourselves, all right, that was horrible.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: We'll.
[00:49:08] Speaker C: We'll keep the night going, and it'll be great.
[00:49:11] Speaker F: We're going to go over to Perrysburg
[00:49:12] Speaker C: to this, like, place to grab some
[00:49:13] Speaker F: dessert that we wanted to go to.
[00:49:15] Speaker C: And what do we do? We get on the freeway and the freeway shut down.
[00:49:20] Speaker F: We sat and stopped traffic for 30 minutes. And I looked at Rochelle and I'm like, we can keep going. I'm sure we can get there before it closes. And she says, I am done. Let's go home.
And I was with her.
It was painful, right? Here's the deal.
[00:49:38] Speaker C: We hate waiting. Amen. We don't like waiting.
[00:49:42] Speaker F: We have an expected amount of time that we are comfortable with waiting.
[00:49:46] Speaker C: But here's the deal.
We gave up eventually because other things
[00:49:51] Speaker F: became more important, like not sitting in
[00:49:53] Speaker C: traffic, just going home and doing other things and spending time together there. As I read this passage, Jesus understood something about our humanness, that we're prone to immediate satisfaction of our desires within reason.
But then when we have to to wait, we easily get distracted. Other things become more important, or we end up giving up altogether.
And Jesus knew that his disciples for his disciples, but also for us today, that as we wait for his coming again, that the long wait would not be easy for some people.
They would become distracted by other things that would bring more immunity, pleasure for some other priorities would seem more urgent as the waiting drew on.
The long wait would even cause for some people doubt about his return.
And for many, they would be discouraged and prone to losing sight of the significance of the return of the king and the mission that they have been called to.
Jesus understands, not only for his disciples, but but for us, the difficulty of living in this world and waiting for his return.
And so Jesus tells this parable to encourage his disciples, but to encourage us as we wait in a world that is broken for the day when he will set all things straight. Here's the parable that he tells.
[00:51:23] Speaker F: Luke 18.
[00:51:24] Speaker C: Beginning in verse two, he said, In a certain city that there is there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
[00:51:32] Speaker F: And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continued coming. Let's pause there. Let's inspect this parable that Jesus is
[00:51:58] Speaker C: telling and the significance of the actors and the characters that are within it.
[00:52:02] Speaker F: Here, letter A. Let's look at the judge.
What do we read about the Judge?
It says he said Jesus, in a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
So there's a judge in a certain city. It's important for us to understand contextually, in Jesus Day, the judges played an important role in maintaining religious, civil, and sometimes criminal order within Jewish cities. The judge that Jesus speaks of in his parable is likely what would have been referred to as a bet den
[00:52:36] Speaker C: or a house of judges.
[00:52:38] Speaker F: These were judges who settled civil disputes, property disputes, debt disputes, sometimes even minor criminal cases.
And what we learn about this judge, this is his role. But we learn, number one, that he had no reverence for God.
And this is important for us to catch. As a judge, he would have a very serious duty before God to uphold
[00:53:01] Speaker C: the law with justice and demonstrate sympathy
[00:53:03] Speaker F: and compassion with wisdom, not showing partiality. If you think back and look even into the Old Testament, about a time where King Jehoshaphat was appointed judges to different cities, look at what it says in Second Chronicles 19 as he instructs them, he says, consider what you are doing, for you do not judge for man, but you judge for the Lord who is with you when you render judgment.
Now then, let the fear of the
[00:53:32] Speaker C: Lord be upon you.
[00:53:34] Speaker F: Be very careful what you do. For the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness or part impartiality or the taking of a bribe.
You see, the judge, it tells us,
[00:53:45] Speaker C: had no fear of God. But in the Old Testament, the fear of God is a fear of God as judge over you.
Thus, what we learn about this judge
[00:53:57] Speaker F: in the parable that Jesus tells is that he held a very low view
[00:54:01] Speaker C: of God and a very high view of himself, and that he, he does not take God seriously.
[00:54:09] Speaker F: Number two, he had no care as
[00:54:11] Speaker C: well for the common man.
[00:54:13] Speaker F: In an honor and shame culture that
[00:54:15] Speaker C: Jesus lived in, to respect or honor
[00:54:18] Speaker F: your common man and avoid bringing anyone
[00:54:20] Speaker C: public shame was of utmost importance.
[00:54:23] Speaker F: What the Greek word for respect here, which is intrepo, would mean is that
[00:54:27] Speaker C: it identifies that this man has no personal shame.
[00:54:32] Speaker F: He did not respect men or God,
[00:54:34] Speaker C: and he himself or he himself could not be put to shame. Why?
[00:54:40] Speaker F: Because his highest value, number three, is described as acting only in his own self interest.
In his own eyes, he is accountable to no one but God or no one, to no one but himself.
[00:54:53] Speaker C: He's an atheist in the truest sense of the word.
[00:54:57] Speaker F: His highest priority being whatever would bring him pleasure, disregarding anything that might get in the way of that pursuit.
[00:55:04] Speaker C: And so, number four, what we see
[00:55:06] Speaker F: is this is the description that is Given here that this judge is a man who did not fear the Lord.
This description in ancient literature was only
[00:55:15] Speaker C: used of the most wicked and rebellious people.
[00:55:18] Speaker F: In other words, those who are a
[00:55:20] Speaker C: God unto themselves, who seek value in people only as long as it benefits them.
[00:55:26] Speaker F: So Jesus has set this parable up with understanding that this judge is a
[00:55:30] Speaker C: corrupt man who does not care about people.
[00:55:33] Speaker F: He cares about what benefits him. And he has no fear of the
[00:55:36] Speaker C: judge who sits over him, that is God.
[00:55:39] Speaker F: Now he introduces into the story the widow.
[00:55:41] Speaker C: Let her be in your notes. The widow.
[00:55:43] Speaker F: And this is what the passage says about the widow, that there was, there
[00:55:47] Speaker C: was in the that city, or I'm
[00:55:49] Speaker F: sorry, there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and
[00:55:52] Speaker C: saying, give me justice against my adversary.
[00:55:55] Speaker F: Now, widows were among some of the most vulnerable people in society, socially, economically, legally. And what we understand, number one in this parable is that is that this
[00:56:05] Speaker C: widow has been significantly taken advantage of.
[00:56:08] Speaker F: We don't know how, we don't know
[00:56:09] Speaker C: what the circumstances were, but we can
[00:56:12] Speaker F: surmise that likely in a civil case, that there is, there may have been
[00:56:15] Speaker C: a way that she was bamboozled out
[00:56:17] Speaker F: of money or had been taken advantage of, and she is pleading with this judge for help.
We also see because she is doing it herself. Number two, she has no male to
[00:56:30] Speaker C: plead her case, leaving her defenseless and leaving her vulnerable. In Israel, a woman's security was tied to men.
[00:56:38] Speaker F: A father in the case of a daughter, a husband in the of case,
[00:56:41] Speaker C: case of a wife or a son in the case of a widow.
[00:56:45] Speaker F: You see, if a husband died, a widow often lost her primary source of income and protection. And without sons, a widow could easily fall into poverty and be taken advantage of by anyone. This widow has no one to plead
[00:56:59] Speaker C: her case for her, leaving her defenseless and vulnerable.
[00:57:03] Speaker F: However, this parable has a very big surprise in store. Because widow number three showed unrelenting persistence in pleading her case. This was out of the norm. It was not normal. This widow will not allow herself to be a victim of her dire situation. With an unexpected tenacity, she goes daily to this judge pleading her case, begging for justice that he would do what is right. And with unshakable perseverance, she continues daily to plead pleader case. She refuses to give up until she not only is heard, but she gets a response and she gets the justice that she is due.
[00:57:42] Speaker C: So number four, the setup of the parable draws attention to the evil and the injustices that God's people face as they await Jesus Return.
Jesus is telling this parable because he knows that the way to long.
He knows that his followers are going to experience persecution and injustice and suffering and it will be a long wait.
And in the parable the widow represents those who are alone, those who are destitute, who are powerless and helpless and unloved and uncared for and destined, desperate. It is a picture of us as we live in a broken world.
It is a true picture of humanity where it seems that everything is working against you, where there is disappointment at every corner, where you fear what tomorrow might hold and each person, it seems, only seems to be looking out for.
I ask you this question.
Do you ever feel this way when you think about your circumstances, the difficulties that you face in this life?
Do you ever feel like crying out God, where are you?
When will you finally come and set all things right?
Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you're dealing with a broken marriage, constant fighting, not sure how to fix it. What is the answer gonna be?
Feeling like you've tried everything, but it just feels like you're banging your head against a wall and getting nowhere. Maybe you've been dealing with broken relationships and hurt with other people and it feels like where is the answer? I feel like I'm constantly getting hurt and there is no reconciliation.
Maybe you've been wrestling with any other thing, number of different things.
Sickness, a bad report from the doctor that on the one hand feels incredibly hopeless.
Maybe you're looking at the world that surrounds us and watching wars that are happening and the way that people are responding, turning on social media and seeing the hate that is constantly shared by non Christian and Christian alike.
Do you ever feel when we look at this world, like God, where are you and when will you set it straight?
I know in my own life I feel this so deeply.
And Jesus speaks into the long waiting for his return and the injustices and the evil and the difficulty and the burdens that we carry with this response.
Let her see the response.
Jesus continues and says for a while the unjust judge refused.
But afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. Now this is interesting to me as I read this last part of the
[01:01:02] Speaker F: parable Number one, what we see is
[01:01:04] Speaker C: the judge had has no interest in helping the widow. No reason is given for his refusal. We can merely assume that he did
[01:01:11] Speaker F: not care to waste his time with
[01:01:13] Speaker C: someone that couldn't benefit him in some way.
[01:01:16] Speaker F: And so he refuses for a long time to help her. When you look at the Greek word that is there, it actually gives the
[01:01:23] Speaker C: connotation that he had no intention of ever helping her.
[01:01:26] Speaker F: But number two, he finally relents to stop the beat down. And this is what I love about this passage in the Greek that is here in this passage, because it says that the judge said to himself, self, I got to get this woman off my back.
And the Greek word that is used here, where it's translated beat down, hippopiazo is a boxing term that is used metaphorically. Literally, what he's saying is, she is beating me black and blue. It carries the idea of a face that is swollen and discolored by blows. He's like, I can't handle this anymore. She's unrelenting. She keeps coming and pounding me and pounding me. Number three, it is in my best interest now to get her off of my back.
[01:02:11] Speaker C: Therefore, what does he do? He decides to help and to answer her plea because she will not relent.
And what is the point that Jesus makes?
Luke 18, verses 6 through 8.
The Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says.
Pause. What does the unrighteous judge say? I'll help not because I care.
I'll help to get this woman off my back. She is a burden to me, and I will only do it because this will benefit me.
Jesus says, hear what the unrighteous judge says. Will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?
[01:02:57] Speaker F: Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. And what does Jesus do in this moment? Letter A is he paints a contrast.
And the contrast that he paints for us, number one, is this.
That of the unto unjust judge and the righteous judge. And what Jesus does is gives a sharp contrast between what we experience in this world, the injustice that we face, the long waiting for answers. And he compares it to what God offers through Jesus Christ, the righteous judge.
He says that this world is unjust. There is so much, so much difficulty that we face. It seems that answers do not come. But will not God be the one that comes to your rescue?
Number two, he compares and contrasts by showing the judge with limited power or the one with all power. You see this unjust judge in the parable. If he wants, the unjust judge can help the situation.
But the real truth is he's actually limited in his power because of living in a broken world. You'll likely have to come back to him again.
He may find a way to meet a momentary need, but you will likely find yourself in peril again because he cannot change your situation.
That's the way this world works. We might find momentary moments of happiness or fulfillment, but it constantly fails us. It is broken. It is not meant to get give us our heart's desire because it is covered by sin and leads to death. Physical death, but spiritual death as well. But the comparison is to a world that can't provide but a God who promises eternal hope. The righteous Judge who has all power, power over the world and every circumstance within it. He created all things. He's the one that promises that one day he will return and restore all things.
[01:04:59] Speaker C: Things.
[01:05:00] Speaker F: And through faith in Jesus Christ you can have hope for eternity. Not just in the future, but now. You can have it now where you find yourself bound by sin.
Jesus can free you. Where you found that you have been broken by this world. He can heal the brokenness in your heart when life is cut short because of sickness. That is not the end end of your hope. He promises you will live forever with him and the one who created all this mess from the get go. Jesus promises justice when one day he will bind Satan and his demons forever in eternal judgment.
There is power that the righteous Judge has that this world does not have. It is the power of the living God. And not only is he all powerful, but number three, he is the Judge who cares about.
I'm sorry, the unjust Judge only cares about himself. But the righteous Judge is the one who has given everything for you.
The world will promise you everything.
But one day it will take it all away. It will leave you broken. It will leave you destitute. It cares nothing for you but God, the Righteous Judge has proven the depth of his love for you. Where he the world takes everything from you. God has given everything for you. He has sent his son, Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords into the world. His kingdom has come. He has died on a cross to pay the penalty for your sin. So that one day you will live forever where everything will be restored. And you will experience what God has intended for us from the very beginning. The question that it leaves us number four. What judge do you want to put your trust in?
Which one will you put your trust in?
Will you put your trust in the things of this world that are passing away, that always fail you? Will you put it in the leaders of this world that promise you all the riches that you could imagine and the glorious life that you want and all your troubles will Be gone. Have you recognized it doesn't matter what
[01:07:06] Speaker C: aisle you sit on, they all fail us.
There is one who never will, and his name is Jesus.
[01:07:14] Speaker F: And the hope that we need to put our. The place we need to put our hope is in the righteous Judge, trusting
[01:07:21] Speaker C: in him, not in this world, but in the One who controls all things. And so let her be the ominous question.
Luke 18:18.
Jesus says some of the most ominous words in all of Scripture.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?
Will you sit with me? In the sorrow of that statement for a minute, Jesus has said, I am the King to his disciples. The kingdom has come.
It's not just a physical kingdom, it's a spiritual kingdom. And I'm establishing my kingdom and I'm calling people into my kingdom. And for centuries, from the time that Jesus came and gave his life on the cross and resurrected, people for centuries have been coming into the kingdom of God, placing their faith and their trust in him, following him with their whole
[01:08:22] Speaker F: heart and their whole life, and telling his disciples to hold on as the waiting will be, because one day he will come again.
[01:08:29] Speaker C: But the sobering statement he makes is when that day comes, will he find faith?
Do you know how many churches in our world today are full of people who claim faith?
And Jesus is questioning whether there will be faith when he comes again.
That's a sobering statement.
What is faith?
It's not proximity.
It's not just coming into a building. It's not knowing the right people or just saying the right things.
You see, what Jesus reminds his disciples is, is that faith is a picture of persistently following Jesus, especially when it is long, when it is hard, and when it feels like it is taking forever.
Number one, when Jesus returns, he says, will anyone be found pursuing the King?
Will there be anyone?
And number two, this question reveals the significance of Jesus encouragement to pray. At the very beginning of this section, what does verse one say again?
He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray. What type of prayer is this?
Is this a prayer of living a monastic lifestyle, of going off into a quiet place and escaping the evil of the world and just being in a state of perpetually pursuing God's presence?
Is it meant to be a general prayer for needs?
A specific type of prayer like regularly praying for his coming?
I think as we read this passage and understand what Jesus has been sharing, what we find is that this prayer is a prayer number one of surrender.
It's a prayer of surrender that we would Recognize our hopeless state and our need for a Savior and that we would give our lives to Him.
There are some in this room today who have never placed their faith in Jesus.
My prayer has been that as we approach this passage this morning, that God would open, open up your eyes to see the brokenness of the world that is around you, of how it promises you everything your heart has ever desired, but that you would see how it fails you. Constantly I experience that. We experience that there is a God in heaven who has loved you so much that in spite of your sin, our sin against him, he sent His Son, Jesus into the world to die on a cross to pay the penalty
[01:11:30] Speaker F: you deserve, which is death and separation from God because of sin. But he loved you so much he
[01:11:35] Speaker C: had his son take that penalty that
[01:11:38] Speaker F: if you would put your faith in
[01:11:39] Speaker C: him, you could experience eternal life and
[01:11:45] Speaker F: hope that this world cannot provide.
[01:11:48] Speaker C: Maybe today, as you think about the birthday that you carry and the brokenness that you experience, but the truth that we read that Jesus Christ is coming again and he will come soon. The King is coming.
The question I have for you is will you today make the decision to put your faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?
Will you receive the gift of salvation that he so graciously offers? He loves you and he wants you as a part of his kingdom. He wants you to experience the blessing of having hope and peace in the midst of a broken world, to know that one day you will rule and
[01:12:28] Speaker F: reign with him forever.
[01:12:30] Speaker C: He simply calls you to faith. And following Him, I'm going to invite you to pray.
Maybe God is saying to you this morning, today is the day for you to surrender your heart to me for the first time.
Maybe you recognize that God is coming soon and you want to be a part of his kingdom.
I would invite you where you are right now in the quietness of your heart, just to pray this simple prayer. Father, today I confess that I believe that you are God.
I believe that you are in control of all things.
I believe that you love me.
And I believe that you have demonstrated that through sending your Son Jesus into the world to die on a cross to pay the penalty for my sin.
So that if I would put my faith in you, I could receive the promised gift of eternal life that only you can give.
As I look at the broken world and I look at you, God, today I surrender my heart to you.
I invite you into my life and I choose to follow you.
Thank you, Lord, for what you have done for me in Jesus.
If you prayed that Prayer this morning I just want to ask you before the service is over today, you'll find a small cart that is in the pew in front of you that says I said yes to Jesus.
Can I invite you to fill that out? One of the best steps that a person can take as they make that commitment is to share it and to begin a journey of walking and following with God and learning what that means to walk with God. At the close of our service today, we're going to have our prayer team up here at the front and people will come forward for prayer of all different kinds of I would invite you to bring that card.
Let the team know that you made that decision today. They have a small packet they want to give you. It's got a really awesome Bible in it, some devotional materials, but we want a journey with you as you begin this and celebrate the work that God is doing in your life.
Church there's one other thing.
This prayer is a prayer of surrender.
To make that decision to give your heart to Jesus. But it's more than that as well, because letter B, it's a picture of daily dependence.
See, surrender isn't a one time decision.
It is a daily habit.
A daily habit of confession, of sin, of living in the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit and being persistent in our seeking of God.
How is it that we overcome the waiting and the burden and the brokenness of this world?
It is by daily giving our hearts to Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to give us the strength that we need to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Him. And maybe today for you Christian,
[01:15:40] Speaker A: where
[01:15:41] Speaker C: this needs to begin is with a prayer of daily dependence, but also of coming to the Lord and just saying, Lord, there are walls that I have put up in my life where I have been going through the motions and not allowing you to transform me.
Maybe there's sin in your life that is unconfessed that you've just been allowing to reside and today you need to get that right with God.
[01:16:05] Speaker F: Maybe you have allowed yourself to be
[01:16:07] Speaker C: lulled asleep by the pursuits of this world rather than keeping your eyes fixed on God and His kingdom, whatever it may be.
[01:16:16] Speaker F: Let today be the day where you
[01:16:18] Speaker C: make that decision that I am going to daily choose to depend on God to allow him to transform my heart from the inside out so that my focus is not the things of this world that will leave me wanting, but that I will experience the fullness of what God offers me is I follow him with my whole heart and my whole life.
Daily dependence is Surrender. It isn't a one time decision. It's a daily habit. But lastly, I believe that this prayer is also a prayer for the Lord's return where we keep our eyes fixed on the truth that he has promised that one day he will come again.
And I will ask you again, is he coming again?
Church Keep your eyes fixed on that day and allow God to use your life until the day that he comes again.
Father, we surrender our hearts to you.
We need you.
We confess to you that the waiting is long.
We confess to you, Lord, that we easily get ourselves mixed up in sin that separates us from you. We easily, easily wrap ourselves in pursuits of this world to find our fulfillment and joy and happiness at the expense of finding the perfect joy and happiness that we find in relationship with you.
And Father, as we confess that to you this morning, Lord, we return our hearts and our eyes to you, knowing that one day you will come. And we ask Holy Spirit that you would come and reside within us.
[01:17:48] Speaker F: And that day by day, as we
[01:17:49] Speaker C: surrender to you, that you would be changing and transforming, transforming our hearts. That our cares and our pursuits in this world would not be about what the world can provide us. It will be about what you can provide us and what you want to do until the day that we meet you in eternity. And so God, fill our hearts with your love, transform our hearts that we
[01:18:09] Speaker F: would be busy about your kingdom work
[01:18:11] Speaker C: until the day that you come again. And we long for it.
[01:18:14] Speaker F: Jesus.
[01:18:15] Speaker C: It's in his name we pray. Amen.
[01:18:17] Speaker A: Sam.
Assurance
[01:18:47] Speaker D: Jesus is mine.
He's been my fourth man in the fight time after time.
Born of his spirit, washed in his blood love.
And what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough.
I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
Yes, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
[01:19:59] Speaker A: In
[01:20:02] Speaker D: perfect submission all is at rest.
I know the author of tomorrow has started my step.
So this is my story and this is my song.
And I'm praising my risen king and savior all the day long.
Yes, I trust. Oh I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will be never fail.
He will never fail.
Oh I trust in God, my Savior.
Will never fail.
God never fails.
[01:21:27] Speaker B: You believe God never fails.
[01:21:35] Speaker D: I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered.
That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord.
[01:22:06] Speaker A: Yes, he heard me, answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust
[01:22:14] Speaker D: oh I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered
[01:22:24] Speaker A: I sought the Lord and he heard
[01:22:27] Speaker D: and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust in myself Sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and
[01:22:41] Speaker A: he heard and he answered I sought
[01:22:44] Speaker D: the Lord and he heard Any answer that's why I trust him that's why I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail Fail
[01:23:07] Speaker A: he
[01:23:07] Speaker D: will never fail oh I trust in
[01:23:13] Speaker A: God my Savior the one who will never
[01:23:22] Speaker D: fail he will never fail
[01:23:30] Speaker A: I sought the Lord I sought the Lord
[01:23:34] Speaker D: and he hurt and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I sought the Lord and he
[01:23:54] Speaker A: heard and he answered I sought the
[01:23:58] Speaker D: Lord and he heard Any answer I thought the Lord any hurt Any answer that's why I trust him that's why I trust in God my Savior the one who will never fail Every voice He will never fail I trust in
[01:24:31] Speaker A: God I say I will never fail.
[01:24:47] Speaker D: Sing that chorus again. I trust in God I trust in God Lift your voice.
[01:24:58] Speaker A: Amen.
[01:25:19] Speaker C: Wrap our time together this morning our prayer team will be here in the front.
No matter what your prayer needs are today, I just invite you to come. They would love the time to have with you this morning to be able to pray and minister to you.
If today you made that decision, put your faith in Jesus for the first time. They would love to just give you that Bible and help you and encourage you as you begin this journey with following Jesus. So I invite you to the close of the service, whatever your need be, just come.
Secondly, I believe our ministry fair is still happening. A great opportunity to get connected into different places of relationship with others and serving. I'd encourage you to stop by and talk with some of our ministries, especially if you're newer here at Westgate.
[01:26:01] Speaker F: And lastly, church.
[01:26:02] Speaker C: Do we believe those words that we just sung?
I trust in God.
Do we believe that he is the answer?
If that is true, then as we go out from here today may pursue him with great persistence and determination that he would be the one that is filling your heart and life every day, giving purpose to your life and keeping your eyes fixed on him and his mission until the day that he comes again. God bless you. Serve him with all your heart as you go out today. We'll see you next Sunday,
[01:26:41] Speaker A: Sam.
