Sunday Service - 9/22/2024 - 9:00 am

e e e e e e e e e e all right hey good morning everyone hey Welcome to The Village Church if we haven't met before my name is Jason I serve as a volunteer here on the worship team and I hope I'm not the first person to have said this to you this morning but hey welcome um it's really good that you're here it's good to see you it's good it's good to be with you um I think as we've been um preparing for this weekend as I've been thinking about today I recognize and I look back on this week and recognize like uh man there's u i I don't know how you got here this morning I'm not sure if coming off of this week it's been heavy I'm not sure if it was tough to get out of bed this morning to get kids dressed to stop them from fighting and get them in the car and to get them here I'm not sure how you've come in this morning but the Lord does he knows you he knows your story and so I we want you to know uh that we've been active praying for you uh as you've been preparing and making your way here this morning we believe that the Lord is here and working uh and we've been asking him to meet you exactly where you are um with whatever you might be needing this morning with whatever you might be seeking for here today um if it's your first time here or maybe you've been um coming here for a while and I'm just wanted to make a church that can feel kind of big make that feel a bit smaller there's a few different ways you can do that and that's just by reaching out and chatting with us so you can do that by scanning one of the QR codes uh with your phone that's in one of those seat back pockets that are somewhere around you and you can fill out the form there and somebody will reach out to you here this week and just to chat with you and answer any of the questions that you have um but as always our preference is we'd love to talk with you we'd love to hear your story and get to share a little bit about uh the village and what's happening here and so if you want to chat with uh somebody about that you can do that by finding one of our amazing connections volunteers men and women who are wearing those blue l they're always stationed in connection Central which is out the doors here to your right after service and again they'd love to chat with you and get to know you and answer questions that you might have and share how to just be part of our family here at The Village Church well as I've been preparing for um worship here this weekend I've been thinking about this really uh kind of obscure verse at the end of 2 Samuel um so in 2 Samuel you've got kind of the life of David his Rise um to being King and and and what some of that Journey looked like for him and there's this part right at the end and there's this line that almost kind of feels like a throwaway line but I think it's really significant when we're thinking about our gathering here this morning um there's this moment when David is feeling uh the weight of his sin he's dealing with the Disobedience of his people and and they're under like discipline from the Lord um and so David gets this word from the Lord here's here's how to respond to this here's what to do he says um go to this this man named Aruna he great name and uh buy from him this go to his threshing floor and and build an altar there and make a sacrifice to the Lord and so David obeys he goes to Aruna he goes to this threshing floor um and and he offers to to buy it and to buy um these Ox to make the sacrifice with and Aruna is there before his King and he's in awe of his King and and this man says Hey listen David just just take them you can have them like because you're my king and because I want to be a good like you you can just take these like you don't have to pay anything and and here's how David responds to that this is 2 Samuel chapter 24 verse 24 he says uh David says no I will buy it from you for a price I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord that cost me nothing and I've just been thinking about what is it what do costly worship look like for us what does costly obedience sacrificial obedience look like for for us and so we're going to sing some songs about that here this morning our first song Just declares listen I I don't I don't want to go through the motions when the king is in the room like if we really truly believe that the spirit of God is here in our midst we're not here just to sing songs just to hear words spoken from stage but we're here expectant that he's going to move that he's going to reveal something to us and do something in our hearts we're going to sing the words that say I I I don't want to bring an offering that doesn't cost me anything anything like more than just money Lord I want to bring you my whole heart everything I have everything I am because I I want to look to Jesus who has offered all of himself for me that that that's our example of perfect obedience so we're going to sing some of those words we'll respond just to say Lord when I look at Jesus and his sacrifice I my response is just to just to surrender to surrender all that I am and all that I have even if it's not much and I want to make room for you to reveal in me where where those places might be that I haven't let some of those things go to you so Lord speak to us and and reveal some of those things as we surrender those to you so that's our hope that's our prayer that's our Direction this morning I'd invite you to stand I'm going to pray and we'll sing together Lord we come before you this morning grateful grateful for your goodness to us grateful that we are here and we have breath in our lungs grateful for the many ways that you even faithful to us Lord I ask that uh as the spirit is here and working that he would lift our eyes to help us see Jesus to help us see his goodness and his Beauty and Lord as we see the beauty of Jesus would you make us into a people who respond with sacrificial obedience who respond in a way that costs us who respond in a way that offers to you everything we have and everything we are so Lord we look to you this morning as we give this to you trust that you're here and working help us to see Jesus this morning as we become more like him as we sing we lift our hands to the heavens we are here for you we reach for the h of your garment we know what it can do we know what it can do we refuse to go through the motions when the king is in the room hear the sound of our Deo let it build a throne for you let it build a throne for you let everything that has bre praise praise let everything that has bre praise praise let everything that has sing a new song to oh let our pra praise praise we praise the ((music playing)) lord we have come to Pour our oil to wash our savior's feet every drug from every bottle can't compare to your glory we refuse to bring an offering that doesn't cost us anything cuz you're worth everything let everything that has praise praise let everything that has bre praise praise let everything that has bre sing a new song to the Lord oh let our Praises fora praise we praise the Lord ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) or dancing with joy we'll sing songs Never Ending we love to bring you praise if it's face down before you or a victory shout our hands ra to heaven we love to bring you praise the god of Salvation what great I am you're the AL we love to BR ((music playing)) you praise praise love praise praise let everything that has bre pra pra let everything that has bre pra pra let everything that iead sing a new song to the Lord oh let our praise is praise praise we praise the Lord we praise the ((applause)) Lord we praise can we bring him our praise continue to sing that together all praise King Jesus all praise King Jesus all praise King Jesus glory to God forever all praise King Jesus all praise King Jes all praise King Jesus glory to God cross your cross my freom your St for my healing all praise King Jesus glory to God your blood is still speaking your love is still reaching all praise King Jesus glory to God forever your cross my freedom your St my healing all praise King Jesus glory to God in heaven BL still speaking your love still reing all praise King Jesus glory to God ((music playing)) forever how can it be that there's a God who there's a God who praise the one who would reach for meelu to the son of ((applause)) suffering Hallelujah to the son of suffering Hallelujah to the son of suffering as we look to Jesus and his sacrifice confess together our surrender to him to his ways and his ((music playing)) life we make this confession together and we s all Jesus I surrender all to Jesus I surrender all to him I freely give and I will never love and trust him in his presence daily live I surrender all I surrender all I surrender all I surrender all ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) All to Jesus All to Jesus I Surrender me me Savor holy God seek the spirit and let me feel like my Holy Spirit true we know that thou all my I surrender ((music playing)) all I surrender ((music playing)) all I surrender all I surrender all ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) now we sing of the hope that we have as we look to the cross the freedom that we have the sacrifice of Jesus we sing and I am free sin has no Victory death defeated at the cross and I am free trusting his promise he is everything I need sing that again come on I am free sin as the victory death defeated I the ((music playing)) cross I am free trus in his promise he is everything I need yes you are he is everything I need I surrender all I surrender all everything I I surrender all I surrender all I am free sin as a victory death defeated at the ((applause)) cross I am free trust in his promise he is everything I ((music playing)) need is everything I ((music playing)) need he is everything I need he is everything I need All to Jesus I Surrender humbly At His Feet I ((music playing)) bow hey church family I just want to pause here for a second I just want to ask myself a question like do I really believe that do is is there is there a distance between the words of my mouth and the posture of my heart like do I surrender all to you Jesus do I do I see you as the treasure that you are willing to give you everything that I have everything that I am because you're good because you've laid down your life on my behalf you've showed me what it means to obey the father's will perfectly so we just want to seek the spirit and even ask him now holy spirit would you reveal in US places or things where we have not let go or surrendered to you where we might be clinging to things that we we know you've called us to let go of so would you reveal that Spirit to us even now or would you close the gap between the words of our mouth and the posture of our hearts you are worthy of everything that we have ((music playing)) so we know that as we turn to Jesus as we surrender to him it's not hopeless we're not handing over with heavy hearts we're handing over with joy trusting that what we give to him is better in his hands than it is in ours trusting we're not giving over out of some sort of requirement but trusting that in Jesus we find life not some sort of cold dead religion but a hope and a future in life so we sing and I will make for you to do whatever you want to do whatever you want to and I will make room for you do whatever you want to do whatever you you want to and I will make room for you do whatever you want do whatever you want to and I will make room for you do whatever you want to do whatever you want to we make room we welcome you here God we welcome you here God Holy Spirit move in this place we want to feel you shake up the ground of all my tradition Break Down The Walls of all My Religion your way is better your way is ((music playing)) better shake up the ground of all my tradition Break Down The Walls of all My Religion you're way is better your way is better shake up the ground of all my tradition Break Down The Walls of all My Religion your ways better it's always better shake up the ground of all my tradition break down the wall of all my religion your way is better it's always better for you to do whatever you want to do whatever you want to and I will make room for you ((music playing)) do whatever you want to do whatever you want ((music playing)) to here is where I lay it down you are all I'm chasing now this is my ((music playing)) surrender so Jesus we believe that this morning you are all we desire you are all we are chasing after you are worthy of Our Lives you're worthy of our Attention our affection because you are good you've laid down your life for us you've called us into life with you so we surrender all that we have and all that we are to you here this morning Lord As We Gather here we know that you're with us we ask your spirit to work and move now to lift up our eyes to help us see Jesus and become more like him it's in his name we pray amen y'all can be seated this is the good news of the gospel God made us showed us how to live but we chose our own way our sins separated us from God but God had a compassionate plan the father sent his son Jesus to restore all that was broken Bren we couldn't comprehend Jesus or his supposed Kingdom his message was Radical and offensive so we killed him but a greater story was being told the father placed the wrongdoings of the entire world past present and future on Jesus making a way back to himself now through Christ's death burial and Resurrection we are raised to New Life free from all guilt and condemnation as God is making all things new his Spirit now lives in those who believe to take his good news to all people even to the ends of the Earth this is the ((music playing)) gospel well good morning church family I'm excited to be here my name is Shawn Rodriguez and I'm a worship and production resident here at the Village um and I'm not the only one there are other residents here serving in different Ministry areas like myself so if you'd like to learn more about The Residency program what it is and how you can partner with us I'll be outside in the foyer for all these services and I'm new to Texas so I'm looking to meet some new Texans and gay of The Village Church um we're going to be in Mark 10: 42- 45 today read with me and Jesus called them to him and said to them you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Iles lorded over them and their great ones exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you but whoever be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many this is the word of the Lord thanks to God thanks Sean let me get in the box there we are um if you have your Bibles please grab them that's our reading for today that'll be the text that we walk through but I also want to reference the three or four verses right in front of it and so you can just believe me and trust me that I'm accurately kind of explaining those verses or you could just open to Mark 10 and you could just look back and see it uh real quickly uh I think it would be very difficult to argue uh that you and I do not live in a season culturally of great discontentment uh like like we we are um the like we have more than any generation that has ever lived on the face of the Earth and yet still there there's an angst and a frustration and an anger in us that we do everything we can to kind of mute um like let me let me give some examples uh we are safer than we have ever been uh and and I'll do like we'll just age each other up in this room right now anybody ever been in the back of a pickup truck on a freeway yeah like can you believe that that was crazy and like like now if you saw that you'd be dialing 911 and you'd be just so disorienting for you when I was a kid that's just how you got around like six kids in the back of a pickup truck going 70 M an hour on the freeway to your next destination they if there were seat belts in a car they were lat belts right which is going to do what nothing but break your pelvis and smash your face into uh the dash we we have uh more safety more by and large disposable income more entertainment more places to play more things to do and more information than any generation that has ever existed on the face of the Earth and yet it it's not it's not working it's just not working in fact all the sociological data says we live in an age of discontentment that no matter what we get we discover that's not the thing we were looking for and here I I'll say this as as one of you and what I mean by that is I've lived here now for 21 years and the suburbs are trippy man uh because we present as pretty and all put together but I've pastored here too long um the sheer amount of men and women who use Aderall focal riddling bourbon weed and wine just to take the edge off of their restlessness is epidemic it's not a couple of us it's a lot of us and I'm not even going to mention the sexual perversity here uh I'm not just talking about pornography which is perversity I'm talking about adultery and swinging and it is a under the surface gross place and if you don't believe me ask a police officer if you don't ask me you don't believe me you're like oh you're overshooting it ask any police officer you come across it is grotesque under the surface covered up by Beauty and and it it just presents as a quaint little series of suburbs so much pain so much weight so much Brokenness so so much addiction so much confusion so much frustration it's like collectively we we all feel like we we should be more than we are like we got we got this thing in our chest where we know there's more and we're hungry for it and yet we we can't seem to find it now it's not new to our generation that angst is a part of Being Human uh Henry David throw said it this way the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation do you hear it there there's something I can feel it in me there's something more there's something I'm supposed to be doing there's something I'm and I just can't seem to find it and so let me shut up and watch Netflix right it it haunts me that's let me avoid quiet let me avoid Solitude let there always be noise so so that I don't have to and then it bubbles over in the evening and I've got to have some Bourbon and there a't anything wrong with bourbon it's a good gift of God's grace it's just when one bourbon becomes three it's when one glass of wine becomes three I I just think three is the Tipping Point now you're starting to take the edge off the edge off of what Mass discontent Mass discontentment Benjamin Franklin said it this way most men die at 25 we just bury them at 75 right so I that you just kind of you just kind of come to this place where you're like I guess this is just what life is and so you shut it down and not you can't shut down The Angst of the soul the soul will not be quieted it will haunt you it will keep trying to get you to look up and so many of us get stuck and we can't we feel stuck in ourselves there seems to be more here and we just can't get it out now the Bible has language for this the Bible calls this Decay bondage death in the soul of the person um and and that's why we're doing this gospel series because there's good news for those who feel stuck in themselves here's our sentence started last week if you didn't get to listen to last week please go listen to It's foundational uh it's only about 56 minutes long you'll be fine you love you guys love that long form podcast anyway I know some of you guys listening to Rogan for like four and a half hours you're like 50 minutes like come on it'll help you and um he here's our sentence for last week this week and next all of our sin all of it past present and future is fully free freely and forever forever forgiven in the person and work of Jesus Christ that that's our sentence I know you got that I know I didn't overshoot you because that's how we teach the gospel to our elementary school kids and and so I'm just fully confident here I'm not like I said last we I'm not throwing out the word propitiation for you I'm just throwing that on the screen even at propitiation I've heard some of your Starbucks orders so I think you could probably figure that out but but we're just going to go with this we're just going to go with fourth grade understanding of the gospel and the hopes that that sentence will stick in your soul and you'll be able to say this to yourself no no no you get haunted by your past no no no past present future fully freely and forever that it's just a good little sentence to memorize so last week and like I said it was 56 minutes let me do it in two um last week we talked about Jesus our reconciler it's important for us to understand that what sin does is it breaks along relational lines that you and I have a Creator and we were created by God for intimate relationship with him it's the fuel by which all of life is meant to go it's how we're meant to understand ourselves in light of our creator and it's how we're supposed to understand one another in light of what God has said about us now sin creates distance from God so so we're broken in our relationship with God which makes us misunderstand and mislabel our ourselves which leads to all kinds of beef with others and this is what sin does some of you just think sin is a moral action and I'm saying sure but what sin does at its core is create distance from God misunderstanding and mislabeling with ourselves and then Brokenness with others and we said last week that Christ has come to reconcile us to God and in reconciling us to God we rightly understand ourselves and can rightly relate to others and so I wanted to push home zealously last week that what Jesus wants is you all of you mind body and soul and no one else has given you that offer somebody might want your body but not your mind and your soul some people want your mind but not your soul and body but Jesus is like all of you for all of life that's what I want and so the call is to relationship with Jesus not a a lifelong disciplined pursuit of moral Improvement you tracking with me so the more distance you have from God the more life's not going to work and the more you're not going to understand who you are or what you're supposed to be doing you'll mislabel yourself and you'll live out of that false uh self and and and cause all kinds of havoc in the world uh around you now I want to dive into our passage because as we we talked last week Jesus is our reconciler this week we're going to say Jesus is our Ransom that's the thrust of the message let me set up the context the few verses right before this uh Jesus gathers the disciples and he lets the cat out of the bag we're going to get to Jerusalem I'm going to be arrested I'm going to be crucified mocked flogged I'm going to die and then I'm going to resurrect on the third day this was wildly confusing to them they thought Jesus was going to overthrow the Roman Empire set up a throne and Rule and Reign on Earth at that time that was their expectation uh that that shows you what sin does because that's certainly not how the Old Testament said the Messiah would be they they just got it twisted like we're prone um to do and so right after that uh James and John uh come to Jesus and say when you overthrow Rome when you set up your throne can me and my brother sit at your right and your left and then Jesus enters into this conversation with them but then the other 10 hear this and the text said they had great disdain for them like why why you two you you two think you're special now now do you see what I've been describing the last two weeks happening even in this text up until this point Jesus is like here's how I'm going to rule and Reign I'm going to overthrow sin and death forever but what do James and John here what's in it for me great but when you're ruling and reigning can we sit at your right and you're left mislabeled misunderstood which does what creates beef with the other 10 disciples this is a process we're stuck in and then we finally have Jesus who sees this happening call a team meeting and here we are in verse 42 and Jesus called them to him and said to them you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them so so let me um let me make this argument selflove is not opposed to God love they're they're not at odds with one another in fact To Love Yourself is to be human it's just e even if you look at the greatest commandment you can see all the components there of self-love and God love he he the the greatest commandment the law and the prophets can be summarized like this that you would love the Lord your God with all your heart heart mind soul and strength and you would love your neighbor as yourself so Augustine who's my ancient friend he's my guy uh he he would say that right there you have the template of rightly ordered loves in in a way that we can flourish as humans uh we love ourselves best when we love God most and we create great harm to ourselves when we love of ourselves most and try to add God on as an add-on that what you're really about is yourself and you're hoping God can help you in your godness in fact I I think you've got all sorts of pictures of how this plays out one of my favorite um one of my favorites is uh Luke 15 The Prodigal Son uh because the tricky thing about Sin and distance from God is we always do it for our own good that we purs perceive that if I give myself this that's going to make me happy if I do this thing that's going to make my life better if I give into this impulse then maybe this this discontent this angst in me will finally stop and then it backfires and Spirals and leads to all sorts of individual and corporate destruction so let's use the Prodigal Son The Prodigal son's from a very wealthy family I mean they've got land they've got cattle they've got gold they've got silver they they're killing there're a family you would look at and go that that's what I want my life to look like a good little Suburban family except think out in Argyle on 30 Acres 40 acres 50 acres right uh and and so the son uh has some discontent and so he goes to the father and says I I want out I want you to give me my inheritance and I'm going to go give my soul what it needs it's not working for me here and so the father can't imagine how heartbreaking gives him the inheritance and we find out later in the story that he went and squandered it on prostitutes and the party scene that's where he went I I need this to be happy so he gets enough wealth to deliver on it and he goes and he does it and so he creates distance from the father he mislabels and misunderstands himself and he gives himself over to his impulses for what reason listen don't sleep on this because this is what he needs to be happy this is what he needs for life to work this is what he needs to get by this is what he needs to finally be who he thinks he should be and when everything finishes out he ends up in a pig sty with pigs wallering around in mud and excrement starving to death and then there's this great little sentence and when he came to his senses he got up and started to go home now he he still now I want you to watch how he heals on the way home on the way home not reconnected to the father still confused mislabeling misunderstanding himself on the way back he's saying my father would never receive me back as a son but maybe he'll just let me be his servant maybe he'll just let me serve him I can't be his son I am not his beloved but maybe he'll just let me work the back pasture maybe it'll just give me a job since I know I've already broken his trust misunderstood mislabeled identity and then the Bible tells us that as he kind of crests the hill back home the father's eyes were scanning The Horizon and when he saw his son covered in excrement skinny as all get out from nearly starving to death the Bible says he ran towards him and the sons ready with that mislabel right if I could just be a servant if you just let me work the back 40 I I know I've kind of ruined our relationship if you'll just and the father never even acknowledges the nonsense if you want to read it later he grabs his hand he throws a ring on his finger what does that mean no no no you're you're no servant you're my son he here's the Ring The Ring our seal by which you say you are mine and I am yours and let's put a cloak on them let's get you dressed in your true identity and then kill the fatted calf cuz I'm going to party cuz you're home do you see how he heals the same way he's he doesn't understand who he is or what he's supposed to be doing until he gets back to the father and the father reminds him you're my boy you are my beloved and you will not be a servant of mine you will be my son and now he's back back into his inheritance back into where he belongs and should be but what sin does guys is it bends us into ourselves so this is Augustine and later Luther that sin the essence of sin is it turns into us so that we then get stuck inside of ourselves here's how Augustine would put it we commit sin to promote our welfare listen if you're actively willingly sinning I I don't think you're a terrible person I think you're doing that because you think it's for your own welfare you're doing it because you think it's for your own good uh you're doing it not not because you're terrible evil people you're just going this is what I need to make like life work it's the bondage of sin it turns Us in to ourselves it doesn't make us flow out it turns Us in there's like this Arc that bends back in into us and then we just get stuck inside of ourselves and that thing you're feeling in your chest those things in your guts where you're like there's just more I know I'm M meant for more I know I'm built for more I I know there's something greater than what I'm living in doesn't need to be numbed it needs to be acknowledged and the result is rather to increase our Misfortune what is the reason for this except that well-being can only come to man from God not from himself and he forsakes God by sinning and he sins by living by his own standards the great irony is that we pursue our own happiness yet in the end destroy ourselves God created us to pursue happiness and to love ourselves by loving him the inward turn towards oneself does not merely destroy an individual remember these things are connected relationally but the very fabric of human community in our pride and that's what it is I know better than God in our pride we attempt to make ourselves our own God the ground of our existence this moves me from the life life that only God can bring me and instead makes me misunderstand and mislabel myself putting tension on my relationships with everyone else this is what we're seeing he's he's using this little what's in it for me that's happening among the disciples to go no we don't no no you're bent inward we're not meant to be bent inward we're meant to be bent outward not inward like let me ask this we use phrases here all the time we've used these phrases for 20 years uh like we have said you have been uniquely wired by God you have been uniquely placed by God like there's only ever been one of you there's nobody like you on Earth never has been and never will be you are a uniquely perfect person in regard in regards to God's good design we say this you were made for the day and the day was made for you like this is our moment all of that now how can you ever live into that uniquely wired uniquely gifted uniquely placed reality that God has woven into you if you're bent inward like I If sin's got you bent inward of course you're feeling stuck of course you're feeling like there's one there is more but you're bent inward you can't get out of yourself you're stuck everything in life is about you from church to work to play to like there's a bend in here and now we're stuck and can't seem to get ourselves out because we're we're not meant to be bent inward it's toxic it's like the Dead Sea that always receives and never flows out there's no life there there's no life there and I'm and I'm just saying that's so many of us I look at me I ain't talking about out there I'm talking about in here bent inward that's why Jesus said that everyone who practices sin this is John 8 is a slave to sin practicing sin creates distance from God it bends me into myself I misunderstood and mislabeled myself and then I've got drama around me and and so the good news about where this text goes next is there's a promise and a plan to get us out of this so let's look at this let's pick it back up in 43 but it shall not be so among you that's the promise right so he he's saying hey there's this bent inward that devours there's this bent inward that breaks and shatters but it isn't going to be like that with you guys fellas it ain't going to be like that you you won't be stuck in side of yourself like that and then he goes on to say but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave to all and I know servant slave stuff it fires people up not not just because of the grotesque History of the United States and further than that the world but I would like to remind you of this right now you are a servant you are a slave to something e either Yourself by being bent inward or under the reign and Rule of a Kind generous God that wants to see all that he put in you flourish and grow so how do we get on the path well the there there's two ways that you and I stop the inward Bend into ourself a and and by the grace of God see that crooked path made straight that there's two ways um one that God would call us to deep life with each other and secondly God calls us into the Brokenness of those who are far from him so those are that's the path let's talk about deep life with one another first there are 54 one anothers in the New Testament uh and they they're broken down almost a third a third a third into these categories unity love and humility so a third of these is around Unity listen to some of these be at and I want you to hear as I'm reading through these texts very quickly how how outward they flow not inward be at peace with one another don't Grumble among one another be of the same mind with one another accept one another don't bite devour and consume one another like seriously guys don't eat each other don't boastfully challenge or Envy one another here's my favorite this is if you've been in church or you've tried to do life with other Christians you you'll appreciate this verse gently and patiently tolerate one another you ever met a brother it's just clear we ain't going to be tight but I can tolerate him he can tolerate me no you so I'm guessing you haven't ever tried to connect okay great no I love that the Bible's just really honest now what what's happening like you and I are colliding in this place with different backgrounds different experiences and then here we are like if you would read the Bible with eyes wide open you would see this is God's big plan to take these different backgrounds the these different experiences and create something new like I've always loved Philippi you can read about the church in phili Philippi you had Lydia the first convert super wealthy fashionista house in Paris house in New York and then you had a slave girl who who was trafficked and abused and then you had like a former special operator who was a prison guard who was angry and violent this is the first Home Group in Philippi what are they talking about you know Lydia's like I'm just really I don't know where to Summer this year you know the weather last year in thyra was just brutal so I had to go to the beach a lot and I know it was right like what's this how's the slave girl hearing that it could it be that our former special operator thinks she's the problem like this is a strange Dynamic that Jesus goes yeah I'm going to reveal my go understand each other move towards one another that's outward focused inward focused is these people better be what I need how dare no it's a seeking to understand like what what's going on here what's the background what's the I mean how how fascinating to live curious about the people of God who what you hold most in common is the thing that most matters not whether you're blue collar or white collar you grew up getting back scratches from your daddy as he prayed over you before you went to bed or you were getting different kind of wax on the back from your dad growing up because of his Brokenness yeah he's going to put us together and what's going to happen we're both going to be better for understanding The Human Experience is difficult but Christ is near let me keep going I just love that tolerate one because I just like yeah sometimes you got to do that be kind and tenderhearted and forgiving to one another bear with and forgive one another seek good for one another and don't repay evil for evil don't complain against one another confess sin to one another and you got a third of them that are love like 12 of them just go love one another but then we also have through love serve one another greet one another with a kiss of Love single Brothers don't try to use that text all right it's like it's the book baby it's it's just what the text says get in here it's not it's contextual we don't have time be devoted to one another in love and then the last third is about humility give preference to one another regard one another as more important than yourselves serve one another don't be proud be of the same mind be subject to one another clothe yourselves in humility towards one another one of the ways we stop the inward Bend inside of ourselves I is to serve one another is to have eyes for how I can serve you and how I can understand that my gifts my abilities both my spiritual gifts and the kind of natural Bend of my personality has been given to you for your good that haven't been given for me for my my good and so man I am much to my wife I am in like I am pegged on the extrovert meter like if I see a room full of strangers I get Giddy and my wife gets tired and so it's not uncommon for Lauren to go go do I'll be in the room go just do that thing you do I'm walking around meeting people I want to know where you're from what your background is what you did Growing Up and you know where where your parents are and how when didd you come to Christ and and how like what's he doing in your life right now and Lauren's just like oh my gosh I can't and so but I that's why I'm not in my green room before Services that's why you're going to see me walking around in here and out there because this is how God's wired me and I believe he's wired me that way for you and and then my spiritual gifts of leadership and discernment Proclamation and edification that those are for you those aren't for me like if I bend into myself I become a narcissist like if all the gifts have been given to me for me for me to make a make a fortune or or become something for myself or I'm bent inward I get stuck in here but if I understand no this frenetic energy God has put in me is for you then I get to be rung out and it makes me really happy so man you don't see yourself that way you're bent inward no wonder you're stuck all the goodness God put in you for your own Joy you're terminating on yourself you're going to feel that in the your chest for the rest of your life then the second move is to move towards those who are in the bondage of sin and death look at me like we were 2 Corinthians 5:20 therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us so we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God you hear this we'll be in this text in the Thrones and Thorns series which is my um political series that starts the first weekend of October but this one here today is like no no you you are an ambassador a representative of Jesus this is about sharing with others the goodness of King Jesus and don't overthink it it to me this is just introducing other people to my friend this is just introducing other people to the best person I've ever known the most faithful and gracious and present person I've ever known you don't have to overthink it like entering into broken spaces with broken people isn't answering questions about the dinosaurs it's about introduction to this person in fact he here's my I love this I'm doing okay and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching teing them to observe all I have commanded you listen to this and behold I Am With You Always to the End of the Age so think about that last sentence I I love that he's not like go and let people know that I'm reconciling them to God I'm forgiving sins I'm covering condemnation and I'm willing to walk intimately with them no Jesus says hey let's go do that and I'm coming Le let's go do that and I'm coming coming so that I'm not when I'm sharing the good news of the Gospel with other people saying and he's out there somewhere for you I'm saying he's right here right now you want to talk to him he he's right here right now you want to talk to him well why don't you say that to him you don't have to say that to me I get your disappointed remember what we said last week confession is bigger than just I've sinned confession is telling God the truth and and so one of the things I want to do if somebody starts to tell me well I feel like God didn't do this or he didn't bail this I was like okay let's tell it let's just stop right here and tell it just tell you don't have to use thou and these that's not the language God speaks so so why don't we just bow our heads right here tell them that tell them that you were frustrated by that tell them that you were and then I'll be so bold as to go okay let's ask him what he wants to say back to you and listen so I'm introducing someone to a person not an idea let let me show you a quick video of this it's about three minutes and then I want to come and tell you how all this is possible I just kind of see my role of sharing the gospel as like I don't need to know all the answers but I know the character of Jesus and it's like I can introduce them to a friend that I know like it's not this concept that I need to memorize it's a person that I'm introducing them too I was inspired to join an Outreach group cuz I went on my first mission trip at a year and a half ago and I got to see the Lord do Insane things that I just didn't even know were possible it just opened my eyes to how big God is there's lost people all over and the Lord is actively trying to reach them and I just really wanted to get in and see what he was doing so we have a group of just people from our home group and we just meet every Monday night and we go to a store or just wherever we feel led and we pray for people share the gospel hand out Waters when it's hot um whatever it may look like we just um um want to be available for the Lord to use us we went to a mall once and I was actually my sister was with me we felt led to go to this one guy and I shared just how the Lord has recently just taken me out of so much darkness and I got to share the whole gospel with him it was truly just the simple gospel and that was our focus of the night of just the idea that the simple gospel brings salvation and so we went in and I shared my testimony then Bare Bones gospel and he wanted to accept the Lord and it was I wasn't really expecting that much of a reaction but it was truly nothing that I said it was just the Holy Spirit working through the simple ((music playing)) message it's really shown me more of Jesus himself like it's deepened my relationship with him I have to depend on him I have to lean on him in those situations it's definitely still scary like it's still I still get that initial feeling of just being nervous to go out and it's so helpful for me just to have someone by my side and so I'm not just going alone I heard a quote that said if you stay at the feet of Jesus long enough you'll go where his feet go so just in loving Jesus I feel like I've seen so much more of him when I join in the mission that he's doing which is reaching lost people next door to us and at Walmart and all the other places that he is actively moving and encountering lost people and it's like I just want to make myself available to just share the gospel and share this message of love and yeah I don't know Jesus changed me so I just want to share that with as many people as I can now a couple of things to see about Danny is here's this beautiful young woman and and you can just see marked by Joy who is Not Bent inward at all she's bent outward and she's like grinning like she's had too much to drink as she's talking about what she's doing that's flowing outward so she's not stuck in herself she's flowing out of herself into others she's embracing awkward and the nervousness and she's not thinking will I look cool or will I not look cool will this get me this or will this get me that she's like I have experienced reconciliation to God I understand who I am and who I belong to a and that helps me rightly understand myself and now there's this flow outward in Danny not just in her connection with hom group here and classes here and the stuff that she's doing here but outward out there there from Parks to Walmart to neighbors and this is the good life that you're invited into out of being stuck in yourself and and being bent out towards this Community of Faith if we're your church if you're visiting today than wherever you go to church if you're not a Believer here we'd love to have you join us and become part of our family here I think you need to pray about that and see what the Lord has but how does this happen H how does that bend inward that we can't seem to get out of that three bourbon that three wine that stealing our kids Aderall or riddling the the the incessant entertainment that we used how does that bend inward get straightened well not by your effort like I've already said like the good that the man human wants to experience can't come from himself or herself has to come from God and so here's what Jesus says in verse 45 of our passage today for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve so he's the model he's not asking you to do something that he hasn't said look at my life this is what I'm doing and then he says and to give his life as a ransom for many I if this theme of bondage and being stuck in ourselves and being trapped inside of ourselves is true well the ransom for to be set free has been paid in full that means look at me you don't know anybody Penance you don't need to punish yourself you don't need to run away or hide or make some deal with God where you're going just just let me do this for you so I can so I can come back home that that's not the way this works in fact let me show you this this is Romans 66 earlier we looked it at the fact that Jesus said that anyone who sins is a slave to sin they're stuck in it here's what Jesus says or this is what Paul says about Jesus's life and death we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to what what's the word nothing Greek word there means nothing like that the power of sin the enslaving power of sin that bends me inward has been brought to nothing by the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ why so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin listen it is for Freedom that Christ has set you free it is for life real life life life to rightly know him and then rightly understand ourselves what has this been given to me for what am I supposed to do with this how it does my life matter there there's meaning and purpose and Beauty in in hard things and in easy things in victories and in losses and it's tied back to Christ who paid the ransom for our souls th this this idea of Ransom it's only found one other place in the New Testament It's actually an illusion to quite a few things back in Leviticus I didn't think I needed to do that figured you guys were you loved you some Leviticus so I didn't need to spend my time that way this is 1 Timothy 2:5 I want you to listen to all the good news here for there is one God and there is one mediator you get that one mediator like somebody that's on your behalf like yeah yeah yeah we're bent inward we're broken we've fractured this relationship with God but now we have a mediator one who's come in to repair and to fix between God and Men the man Jesus Christ who gave himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time your hearing that testimony at the proper time right now this is the offer of the Gospel this is the good news of the Gospel look at me you don't have to be stuck in yourself you you don't have to figure out ways to take the edge off your discontentment you you and here's here's my frustration I I'm just just going to I'm I'm done with the clock some of you in your pride and comfort believe you're the one whose story is going to end different than all the chaos in our culture you're the one that that three drinks isn't going to turn into four and wreck your marriage and destroy your relationship with your kids and cost you your job and end up right you you just think that you think you've got it under control you you think let no I'm I'm not I'm not doing it as much as I used to to do it the mind's ability to justify should terrify us and so know this is so many of you like so many of you just trying like trying to get by no flourishing just trying to make it this next week just trying to calm this thing down a little bit longer and what if you didn't have to calm it down at all what if the chains could just be broken off of it you live out of the real you the you God designed you to be and those gifts could come bubbling up out of you like you do your own research this week you Google anything about service and happiness and see what you see you're not going to find any data any like from Time Magazine to The Washington Post to the New York Times all sorts of articles about you got to get out of yourself to ever experience happiness that's just secular people just kind of figuring out that the Bible's been true all along they just don't know that that's what they're doing yeah this is the invitation come out from yourself stop it there's freedom and life and beauty and goodness for you to experience not that life's not going to be hard life's going to be hard it's just that it could be beautiful but if you stay inwardly bent internal chaos will bleed over into external chaos and and I would love it if you didn't have to find out the hard way that I'm not lying to you and so why don't you do me a favor why don't you bow your heads and close your eyes just got a couple of questions and then we're going to respond to the Lord this morning I said last week because I believe it that I I think we as a church we do a poor job of responding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit I I honestly believe that's our desire for comfort and pride that that's so pervasive maybe there's a sprinkling of unbelief in there like we just don't believe that the spirit could actually do this that the spirit could actually give us that freedom that we were promised or we feel like our sin is too big for the power of God which is pride and so I just want to ask a question for you it's not for me uh I'm I'm not going to matter I mean I'm I'm off this stage in a couple of minutes and you're back to life as you know it but I want to ask you this when I talk about being stuck in inside yourself and and I talk about um man needing to find ways to take the edge off discontentment maybe I've nailed the ones that that you're giving yourself over to or maybe I'm missed that all together but if you like in your heart where I'm preaching you feel the Holy Spirit resonating with this idea of I just feel stuck I I feel like spiritually constipated I feel like I know there's more and I can't seem to get to it a and so I'm doing all sorts of things that I believe are for my own good but it's creating chaos in my heart and my life if that's you would you just raise your hand where you are you don't need to be ashamed about that just get that hand High I say this all the time like we're not Baptist great man yeah this is being I mean you are not alone with that hand up right now all right praise God won't you put your hands down man there there's probably about 25 or 30 of you in here today that are like man I'm I'm stuck and so let me say this to you I'm going to pray for us and and as I pray for us our prayer team they're going to come up front here and they're just going to be waiting for you and when I say Amen we're going to stand together and here's what I want to ask you to do uh I want you if you're like I'm stuck uh I want you the second we all stand we're just going to sing a little song quietly called homecoming I I want you to get down here and grab one of our prayer team members and I just you you you can get as detailed as you want but I would just say hey I am stuck inside of myself and they might ask you some questions about that but will you believe will you fight the fight of belief that the Holy Spirit might Grant you the freedom that you're so hungry for this morning that that he might in a moment break some things loose in you so you could live into your design and what God has for you and and I know that's hard for us I I know for some of us we've got social anxiety and like the idea of coming up here where people are looking is just too much for us but pleasa like why would you leave with it I if the holy spirit's convicting you in this moment to come and taste and see that he's good come and receive freedom and if you're not a Christian today and you feel this exceptionally man you come up and you you lay your yes down we'll baptize you today we'll lose our minds in this joint we've got shorts and t-shirts and a towel waiting for you and this place goes nuts over celebrating New Life and so if that's you today you're like no I I want to become a Christian today we had two uh people last night do that at the Saturday at 4: and it was just epic and so maybe that's you this morning maybe it happened last week maybe it happened a couple weeks ago you've never just gone I want to be publicly baptized to say I'm in I want to invite you to do that this morning so I'm going to pray prayer team's coming and as soon as we stand I want you to move forward do not argue with yourself you will justify staying in your seat father I bless these men and women in the name of Jesus we are stuck and you know we are thank you where you revealed to us that we are would you grant us freedom this morning will you free that thing up in our chest will you let us experience your presence and Beauty this morning will you open us up to will you help us stop numbing the edges by creating distance from you and instead help us believe that we can run to you we need you in this moment Lord Lord if you don't it's going to get worse for us help us it's for your beautiful name I pray amen will you stand with me the Lord has moved towards you you will need to move towards him let's ((music playing)) go Lord I confess that I've been a criminal I've stolen your bread and sing my own ((music playing)) song Lord I confess that I'm far from innocent these shackles are we I bought on my ((music playing)) own Scarlet s had a crimson cars nailed my to that old ruged cross an empty SL at the empty grave thank God that stone was own ((music playing)) way Lord I confess I've been in the for your house but I walked my own Road Jesus came and he tore down my Prison Walls death came to life when he called me by name star s had a crimson C and my death to that old rug cross an empty Slave at the empty grave thank God that stone was ((music playing)) roong Scarlet SS had a Crimson Cross then my death to that old rug cross and then SL at the empty graay they God that was wrong ((music playing)) away I see bright crimson R draped over the ases wide open Tomb where there should be a the children are singing and dancing and father is weling this is our homeing roses in blue pushed up from the end rivers of Tears flow from Good Times remember families are singing and dancing and laughing the father is welcoming this is our homecoming Heaven joint in with the glor and a great cloud of witnesses all around cuz the ones that were lost are finally found the father is welcoming this is our homecoming scar s how a CRI na my to that old rug cross empty SL at the empty grave thank God that s was Ro praise God why don't you go ahead and have a seat we're going to let these men and women just continue to receive care uh we end our service this way every week it's just a celebration of the finished work of Jesus Christ his reconciling power his ransoming power the gift of Freedom made possible by his broken body and shed blood we provide communion primarily for our members but if you're a believer in Christ you're in good standing with the church you're visiting us from I want to invite you to the table it's a good right thing for us to Rejoice together in this the Bible tells us that on the night that Jesus was arrested that he took bread and he broke it saying this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance of me then at the end of the meal he took the cup and blessed it said as long as we gathered in his name and that's all we're doing here gathering in his name we should drink and remember let's remember the freedom given to us another thing that we do every every week you know we're talking about being bent outward is we pray this prayer together we just call it the generosity prayer we're asking God to make us a kind of people but I wanted to give you a story of generosity before we read this together how organizationally we're trying to model what we encourage you to model as individuals um a few weeks ago now I was over at our former Plano campus citizens Church um they they're doing it incredibly it's been five years since they've been an autonomous church and it's incredible what God's doing over there and so I was going just to celebrate so Josh and I were over there um and and if you don't know our background we used to have uh five other campuses than us and we rolled off those churches to be autonomous churches and when we did we gave them their buildings and then we also gave them Ju Just a lump sum of money which I mean they had been giving into our fund all along anyway to to make sure they didn't have much to worry about Staffing their first year well uh I preached and then we Josh and I were in the back and they they gave the village a massive check for the Beyond campaign for building uh our space here how crazy is that and and then we've been able to over the last really the last year and a half we've been able to help some of our church plants get into buildings permanent residence in Dallas Fort Worth outposts of light and hope and and and this is the kind of generosity both organizationally and individually we're asking Jesus to create here we're asking the Holy Spirit to create here so will you stand with me as we read this prayer together and then I've got two quick announcements and and we'll head into the day Holy Father there is nothing we have that you have not given us all we have and all we are belong to you bought with the blood of Jesus to spend selfishly and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world but generosity is the way of those who call Christ their lord so help us to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person Among Us help us to be trustworthy y with such a little thing as money that you may trust us with true riches above all help us to be generous because you father are generous may we show what you are like to all the world Amen two quick announcements but I'm going to set it up with this story um we had a team overseas last week in a place that I won't Name by name um it is a closed country country a country where you can be imprisoned or killed uh for loving Jesus and we were in a city where there's no church that we know of not underground not above ground a and so we we just when we go to place like we're just prayer walking we're just asking the Holy Spirit to do something and then when you see a in those kinds of count if there's a gaggle of white people anybody who can quas speak English is moving towards them they want to practice their English and so we were just praying over people and praying for people uh and then the the refrain we kept getting as we were kind of sharing you know with people and praying over people was that if you know it hadn't rained there in a while they're in a bit of a drought and um they they were like if if your God Will Make It Rain we'll we'll listen um and then we also learned that on Friday of that week the the Muslims were heading up onto the mountain to ask Allah to Make It Rain uh and so we started praying on Thursday let it rain on Thursday let it rain on Thursday let it rain on Thursday let it rain on Thursday and and and so they were praying over there we were praying over here you look at the forecast no rain in the forecast in fact the opposite of rain kind of like a Texas fall you know was was in the and then here's the video we got on Thursday morning I I don't know how well that's coming through that's said pouring down rain on Thursday in that place now here here's why here's why I'm sharing that in Exodus 3 we read this that God has seen God has heard and God has come down uh and and so I want to continually invite you into deeper expectant contending prayerfulness I said it last week I'll say it again everything we want to see happen in our homes our community and this country will be brought about not with good preaching but deep praying uh and so I want to throw this up this is our weekly prayer schedule these are rooms that we're in all week long I know you work I know you're busy I know your kids play sports but if you could find your way into one of these rooms just to join us in contending prayer and if you don't know how to pray like you're better at reading your Bible than you are praying then come join us the the only way to learn to pray that's going to sound crazy to you is to pray you can read all the prayer books you want listen to all the sermons about prayer you want the only way you'll ever learn to pray is to pray and and so join us in some of these spaces and and then here's the last thing October for us is our month of prayer uh and and that doesn't mean we don't pray the other 11 months it just there's an emphasis there and what we're going to invite you to do we're going to give you a guide is twice a week prayer walk your neighborhood and just pray blessings over homes pray that God and then what we're going to do in October is we're going to do encounter every Sunday night in October and the purpose of that is to gather and rejoice and testify to the good things God's doing as we're prayer walking every year this leads to spiritual conversations this has led to people people coming to know Jesus this is led to and I want I want us to participate in force this year a and so like the god that can make it rain on the other side of the world when no rain is forecast and don't get bent inward there don't get cynical don't think we got lucky is the same God that's hearing our prayers here like why wouldn't we contend why wouldn't we ask for more why wouldn't we dream bigger than We're Dreaming why not an outpouring of the spirit spirit of God in the suburbs of Dallas why not why not let's let me pray for us we're going to sing the doxology and get out father bless these men and women thank you for some of the freedom that you've wrought in this place I pray for the man or woman they just couldn't do it they there just stayed at their seat that they wouldn't be too quick to leave this room they wouldn't take that out but that they would come up and when there's not lot of people looking or watching and they would just leave that here today and walk into the freedom that you have for them in Jesus we love you we need you we bless you it's for your beautiful name we pray amen let's sing the doxology ((music playing)) together Praise Him All Creatures here below Praise Him Heaven host praise Father Son and Holy ((music playing)) ghosten amen church family you're dismissed if you're in need of prayer for anything there are men and women up here at the front love to pray with you head out into the week ((music playing)) I've been criminal so in your breath sing Lord I confess that I'm from inoc Shack are ((music playing)) I on my Scarlet had a Crimson Cross na myad to that old rugy cross an empty slate at the empty Gra God that song was roll Lord I confess that I've ((music playing)) been for your house but walk my own Road Jesus came and he tore down my prison wall death came to ((music playing)) life when he called me ((music playing)) by Scarlet s had a crimson cost nail my death to that R across empty Sligh at the empty grave thank God that stone was wrong ((music playing)) I see