Worship as War: Anchoring the Soul in the Cross

• Worship as Spiritual Warfare [00:35:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines worship as a spiritual battle where ascribing glory to God molds believers into Christ's likeness and reminds the devil that Christ sits on the throne.
• Worship Amidst Hardship [00:37:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses how to worship when one does not feel like it, using the analogy of eating when appetite is lost due to sadness or anxiety.
• Biblical Lament and Emotion [00:38:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites Psalms 13, 22, and 42 to validate negative emotions in worship, explaining that the psalmists moved from lament to commanding their souls to hope in God.
• Psalms of Lament and Soul-Talk [00:41:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that psalmists bring their real selves to God, quitting listening to their own turmoil and instead talking to their souls to choose praise over feelings.
• The Story of Horatio Spafford [00:42:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > An illustration of a wealthy lawyer and 'gospel patron' who lost his wealth in the Chicago Fire and his four daughters in a shipwreck, yet wrote 'It Is Well With My Soul.'
• Gospel Patrons and Ministry Support [00:44:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects Spafford's support of D.L. Moody to the congregation's role as patrons of the church and ministry partners like CFR, encouraging financial support for gospel advancement.
• John Chapter 6 and True Belief [00:51:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions to John 6, contrasting the crowd's desire for signs and bread with Jesus' declaration as the 'Bread of Life,' emphasizing that people need Christ, not just His gifts.
• The Bread of Life and Eternal Life [00:54:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Jesus is the true bread from heaven who satisfies the soul forever, contrasting this with the temporary manna given to Moses, and emphasizes that believing in Him grants eternal life.
• Divine Sovereignty and Election [00:54:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights the Reformed theology that no one can come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father, asserting that salvation is secure and cannot be lost because it depends on God's will, not human effort.
• Faith vs. Explanation [00:59:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that Jesus did not explain the metaphor of eating His flesh because salvation is by faith, not understanding; God owes no explanation to humans, who are called to trust Him despite their limited understanding.
• False Discipleship [01:01:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies those who walked away as 'false disciples' who followed Jesus for physical benefits or social conformity rather than genuine trust for salvation, contrasting them with the true apostles.
• Unanswered Prayer and Divine Silence [01:07:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the pain of raising children who leave the faith, divorce despite faithfulness, and suffering despite prayer, highlighting the human desire for God to explain or intervene.
• Peter's Confession and Eternal Life [01:11:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes Peter's response to Jesus, emphasizing that belief precedes knowledge and that Jesus is the only source of eternal life, making him the only viable option when circumstances fail.
• Transcendent Peace in Suffering [01:15:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses Philippians 4 and examples of grieving widows to illustrate a peace that 'transcends understanding,' which guards the heart and mind despite tragic circumstances.
• Faith in the Face of Tragedy [01:19:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites the recent shooting of Charlie Kirk and his wife Erica's response as a modern example of declaring God's goodness and the gospel amidst extreme evil and loss.
• Faith in Suffering [01:19:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the story of Erica Kirk to illustrate trusting God's goodness despite horrific loss, emphasizing that God's love is proven at the cross, not in current circumstances.
• The Cross as Redemption [01:21:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the cross is the ultimate example of God using evil for glory, transforming the most evil act (killing an innocent man) into the redemption for believers.
• Communion and Covenant [01:22:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the Passover lamb and the Exodus to Jesus as the Lamb of God, explaining Communion as a participation in the new covenant of grace rather than just a memory of an event.
• Prayer and Worship [01:29:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions into a corporate prayer and song, inviting the congregation to bring their anxieties to God, citing Philippians, and affirming that God cares and suffers with them.

• Sermon Illustration [00:16:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal memory of singing 'It Is Well' in the church's old room with low ceilings, noting that many current attendees were not present during that era.
• Sermon Illustration [00:37:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of eating: just as one must eat to survive even when sad or anxious and lacking appetite, one must worship to survive spiritually even when lacking the feeling to do so.
• Sermon Illustration [00:40:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reinterprets Psalm 42, explaining that a deer pants not out of cuteness but out of panic while being chased by a predator, illustrating the desperate soul's thirst for God amidst terror.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the historical context of the hymn 'It Is Well,' noting it was written by Horatio Spafford, a wealthy lawyer from Chicago, in 1873.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the historical anecdote of Horatio Spafford, a wealthy Chicago lawyer and patron of evangelist D.L. Moody. After losing his fortune in the 1871 Chicago Fire, Spafford sent his wife and four daughters on a trip to Europe while he stayed behind. Their ship collided with another vessel in the Atlantic, killing all four daughters. His wife survived and sent a telegram reading 'Saved alone.' Upon arriving near the wreck site, Spafford wrote the hymn 'It Is Well With My Soul.' The pastor uses this to illustrate trusting God in tragedy.
• Sermon Illustration [00:44:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of 'angel investors' or 'gospel patrons' to describe how figures like Spafford financially support great moves of God (like D.L. Moody's crusades) without always receiving earthly credit, comparing this to the congregation's role in supporting the church and ministry partners.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the narrative of John Chapter 6, where Jesus feeds 5,000 people and walks on water. He illustrates the crowd's superficial faith, noting they followed Jesus for 'signs, not a savior' and were still looking for physical bread ('first crumbs under their fingernails') rather than spiritual truth.
• Sermon Illustration [01:02:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a hypothetical scenario where he, as a Type-A disciple, tries to take over the service to explain Jesus' difficult teaching to the crowd, offering snacks and clarifying that 'eating flesh' refers to faith in the crucified Jesus, not cannibalism.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the 'Walking Dead' to illustrate the intensity of the word 'feed' when Jesus says 'feed on my flesh,' noting how the crowd misunderstood the spiritual metaphor literally.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor mentions an 'idiot on YouTube' who claims Jesus never claimed to be God, using this to highlight the absurdity of denying Jesus' divine 'I Am' statements.
• Sermon Illustration [01:17:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his friend Pastor Britt losing his mother in high school, where his father told him, 'Life is hard and God is good,' illustrating the balance of acknowledging pain while maintaining faith.
• Sermon Illustration [01:19:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the recent assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk, detailing how his wife Erica Kirk responded on national television by declaring God's goodness and sharing the gospel, serving as a contemporary example of 'it is well with my soul.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:15:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor mentions specific congregants, including a widow named Lisa who lost her husband on a motorcycle and Keith and Tammy Kelly who lost their 14-year-old son, to illustrate people who possess a peace that transcends understanding despite severe loss.
• Sermon Illustration [01:19:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of Erica Kirk, who, 48 hours after her husband Charlie was shot and killed, appeared on national television to share the gospel and declare 'it is well with my soul,' demonstrating faith that trusts God more than circumstances.
• Sermon Illustration [01:23:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor retells the biblical narrative of the Passover in Egypt, describing the plague of the firstborn, the shedding of the lamb's blood on doorposts, and the Israelites' hasty departure, to foreshadow Jesus as the ultimate Lamb of God whose blood saves believers from death.
• Sermon Illustration [01:28:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of an anniversary celebration to explain Communion: just as a couple celebrates their vow as being 'more true now than it has ever been,' believers participate in the covenant of grace through Communion, not just remembering a past event.

• Pastoral Charge [00:32:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > Join voices together to worship God as a spiritual warfare tactic.
• Pastoral Charge [00:32:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > Men are commanded to attend the men's worship night on Sunday at 6:30.
• Pastoral Charge [00:45:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > To financially support the church and its ministries as a 'gospel patron'.
• Pastoral Charge [00:46:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > To visit the ministry partner CFR and invest money to support gospel advancement.
• Pastoral Charge [01:06:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > To participate in the communion service, remembering Jesus' death and the ongoing efficacy of his sacrifice for believers.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > Believe in Jesus more than circumstances
• Pastoral Charge [01:13:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pick up unanswered questions/doubts and follow Jesus
• Pastoral Charge [01:31:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come forward to the altar, kneel, and verbally declare 'It is well with my soul'.
• Pastoral Charge [01:29:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up for prayer and response.

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:00:07] As always, I'm excited to be with you, and we're so excited that you've joined us right here for 1122 Online. Welcome!

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:02:04] I'm just glad you're still excited, because I know saturated is a lot, and now we're back, but it's Thursday, and it's going to be week two, so I'm pumped too, but I'm glad you're still excited.
[00:02:13] Always.
[00:02:13] Look, the Church of 1122, we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ, and when we say all people, we really do mean it.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:02:21] We do mean it.
[00:02:22] Yes, we do.
[00:02:23] All means all, especially around here.
[00:02:24] Amen.
[00:02:24] So we are actually, guys, in week two of a brand new series called Worship is War.
[00:02:29] If you were here on Saturated Sunday, you remember we actually kicked off the series in week one.
[00:02:34] So today is actually week two of our Worship is War series where we're studying how worship is a weapon against the enemy.
[00:02:42] And we're going to be doing that through unpacking timeless hymns and what they mean and kind of how they originated and the stirring of the soul that these hymns bring out of us because worship really is war.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:02:53] Absolutely, yes. And speaking of stirring of souls, Saturated, I think, stirred a few souls.
[00:02:59] What an absolutely wonderful time. I mean, that was probably my favorite Saturated we've ever had.
[00:03:04] And look, I don't want to make everything about numbers, except for the fact that numbers represent souls.
[00:03:08] And look, we had over 800 people get baptized. It was wild.
[00:03:13] People were lined up all the way out the doors after we had baptized people for 45 minutes. It was crazy.
[00:03:18] That's awesome.
[00:03:19] Over 340 salvations in one day. It was amazing.
[00:03:22] And for those of you online, I just want to point this out real quick.
[00:03:25] At 9 o'clock, we had 30 salvations online, which is the most salvations we've ever had in a 9 o'clock service.
[00:03:31] And then at 11.22, we had 31 salvations, which is the most salvations we've ever had in an 11.22 service.
[00:03:37] And then we got to 4.22, and we had one more salvation, which is also the most salvations we've ever had in a 4.22 service.
[00:03:44] So praise God for all of that.
[00:03:45] I love you guys online.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:03:46] It's so incredible.
[00:03:47] And thank you all for, you know, some of you drove into town and you were here in Jacksonville.
[00:03:53] Some of you did watch parties.
[00:03:55] Some of you had your outpost.
[00:03:57] Some of you were just like, I'm just going to tune in and see what this thing is about.
[00:04:00] We are just so thankful that you choose to do this thing with us and to worship with us.
[00:04:04] It's amazing.
[00:04:05] And I can't wait for the next one.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:04:06] Amen.
[00:04:07] And I think we have a new album out, too.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:04:08] Oh, we do.
[00:04:09] So what goes better with a new series than a new album?

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:04:11] That's right.
[00:04:12] Not H-I-M-S.
[00:04:13] I know it's the Year of Men, but not that.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:04:14] No, not that one.
[00:04:15] Yeah.
[00:04:15] H-Y-M-S.
[00:04:17] our worship team has dropped a new album, a hymns album, where they've taken timeless hymns and just reimagined them with the same lyrics, maybe just a little bit different tunes, but still the same spirit of what these timeless hymns that we all have heard of.
[00:04:30] And so I'm sure that album will stir our souls just as the original hymns.
[00:04:36] And you can stream the hymns album wherever you stream your music.
[00:04:39] So Apple, Spotify, all the things.
[00:04:41] So make sure you check that out.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:04:42] It's absolutely awesome.
[00:04:43] Yes, it's a great tool to go alongside this Worship is Worth series.
[00:04:46] One last thing, too, is we've got a whole bunch of new folks, and we've got these journals that we've been going through through the entire year.
[00:04:52] And if you want to get a journal, I want you to text NEWS to 441122.
[00:04:56] But look, we're getting ready to worship Jesus.
[00:04:58] Grab a Bible, grab a pen, something to write on.
[00:05:00] Let's worship the King of Kings together right now.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:05:03] Happy Thursday, church.
[00:05:05] It's a great night to be in the house of the Lord together.
[00:05:07] Come on, let's stand.
[00:05:08] We're going to lift our hallelujah to the Lord.
[00:05:10] Come on, let's sing together on our radio.
[00:05:16] Praise the hallelujah.

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[00:13:00] Reflection.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:13:01] It's called Worship is War.

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:16:06] Two.
[00:16:07] Last week, how many of you guys were here last week?
[00:16:09] Amazing.
[00:16:14] Because He Lives.
[00:16:15] We sang Because He Lives together.
[00:16:18] And this week, it is well.
[00:16:20] It is well with my soul is the song, the old song of the church.
[00:16:24] And how many of you guys know this song?
[00:16:30] We used to sing an arrangement of this song many, many years ago.
[00:16:34] There's probably, I mean, there's probably 1,000, there's probably 10,000 people or more that come to this church now that we're not here and we used to sing this song. I have vivid memories of singing this arrangement of the song we're about to sing together in the old room over
[00:16:46] there with the really, really low ceilings. Remember that? It's really dark. But man, just it is, well, a song for the church, an anthem for the church to give it language and expression and emotion for what it's like to praise God authentically in the midst of a hard place.
[00:17:10] you know what I mean and we need that we need that so we're going to do that right now we're going to sing this kind of older arrangement sing along with us

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:17:20] by the sound of these that are shaking and stirred can be calmed and broken from my regard through it all my eyes are on through it all Lord Jesus, sometimes the world that we live in

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:23:51] just feels like there is a raging tempest on the outside.
[00:23:57] But inside, God, there's a reality within the storm, within the turmoil, within the chaos.
[00:24:07] there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God there's a spirit of the living Christ that speaks peace be still that lives inside the believer the Holy Spirit the comforter the presence of the sovereign Christ
[00:24:24] that resides within the believer and we thank you God that we worship a real God who gives real peace in the middle of really hard times and we love you and our eyes We want our eyes to be fixed on you tonight, God,
[00:24:44] because you're the only thing that's eternal.
[00:24:46] You're the only thing that's stable and sound in a crazy world.
[00:24:51] We belong to you.
[00:24:53] And if you agree with this in Jesus' name, say amen.
[00:24:56] Hey, thanks for singing with us.
[00:24:57] You can have a seat.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:25:00] Amen.
[00:25:02] That was the sound of some war happening.
[00:25:05] When we sing true things about the one true God, that's how we go to war in worship.
[00:25:12] And we all brought different stuff in here.
[00:25:15] Some of you are singing that song, You're in the Valley.
[00:25:18] And you look around, you're like, it does not seem well, but I'm going to sing this.
[00:25:21] And some of you came in here, and life is sweet in this season.
[00:25:25] And you can sing that song with a lot of confidence, knowing who God is.
[00:25:29] And the beauty of the church is we all come into the same space, and we sing the same things together.
[00:25:34] And together, something happens in the supernatural where our burdens become each other, each other's burdens, our songs lift up together as one song. And it's a beautiful picture of what the church is. And so we're in this series called Worship is War, where we're studying hymns that
[00:25:52] have been sung just like this in the church for generations. And this week we're studying it as well. And so as we're walking in, I hope you got a series sticker and that goes in your year-long
[00:26:03] journal. And I hope you've had this journal all year long. If you've just joined us over the past few months. I hope you grabbed a journal as you came in. This is going to serve as our hymnal for
[00:26:12] the series. All the lyrics to the hymns are in there. So stick your sticker in there and bring that journal back next week and the week after. Because if you're not in a valley right now,
[00:26:21] we will be at some point. And what if this journal was that key piece of truth to remind you of how to sing that truth, it is well, when you hit that valley one day in the future. So bring
[00:26:33] that journal back. A couple other things alongside this series that we're doing as we study what it looks like to go to, to go to war through our worship. One is the men's worship night happening
[00:26:44] this Sunday night at 6 30 p.m. right here at San Pablo, also at our St. John's campus and Jessup and online. We're going to sing together and we have special guest Chad Robichaux joining us.
[00:26:56] he's like a former marine he's fought all kinds of worldly battles and won and he also is fighting the spiritual battle and so he's going to come and share it's going to be incredible Pastor
[00:27:07] Joby will be here so I hope you come and I know there's seats but our parking lots are full and so I really want to encourage you 722 you're going to double dip this weekend you're going
[00:27:18] to come to 422 starting this Sunday and then from now on and then you'll just be able to stay for men's worship night. It'll be perfect. So come to come and join us at 422. And then the other thing
[00:27:29] we have alongside this series is our hymns album. It just dropped last Sunday. Our worship team has put together this record of some really familiar hymns, the ones we're going to study and some more.
[00:27:41] And you can get that anywhere music is found, Spotify, Apple Music, all the places. And we hope that serves as a resource for you as we study God's word throughout this series and beyond.
[00:27:50] but for now grab that journal grab a pen grab your bible and let's continue in worship

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:27:54] jared go all the way back man how did you guys meet we're youth group church kids man i mean

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:28:56] like you know grew up in church this pretty girl walks in the door i remember telling my mom one day man i'm gonna date her yeah rose and i we got married a little bit later than i think the
[00:29:08] average person probably gets married i was 32 i was 30 and and so we wanted to wait a little bit So we thought, well, we'll wait at least three or four years before we try to have kids.

[00:29:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:29:20] Then we kind of just were like, you know what?
[00:29:23] Let's start trying.
[00:29:24] Let's start really trying.
[00:29:26] And it took like three years.
[00:29:31] I was 33 when my mom passed, and then we got pregnant finally.
[00:29:36] I think I was 35 turning 36.

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:29:39] After three years of trying, it's like, oh my gosh, finally.
[00:29:43] It's going to happen.
[00:29:43] It's happening.
[00:29:44] man on we go in for the first ultrasound and I remember that the nurse says well you're not gonna like what I have to say there's no heartbeat and it's like yeah

[00:29:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:29:59] there's a lot of things that you second guess like about yourself like why is my body not working like what is wrong with me like why can't this work as you think

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[00:30:14] through singing it as well what what comes to mind that guides you through the storm in this moment

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:30:21] there's two standout lines in that song really for me and it's just really how the song opens you know when when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll you mean it's possible to have peace in the middle of a storm like this journey of infertility has
[00:30:40] been like one giant wave of sorrow after another. And you think you almost recover from one piece of bad news just to get smacked with another one, you know? And so, but that song is such a good
[00:30:57] reminder that in the middle of that and in the middle of the parts of it that you don't understand and you don't know, it is still possible to have peace. Peace comes from the person of Jesus,

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:31:08] not these perfect circumstances the peace that passes all understanding is the only thing that makes me say it as well but yeah and i i i have full faith that god's gonna do it somehow i'm
[00:31:24] still praying and asking that he would do a miracle because he can do it you know your worship

[00:31:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:31:31] is war yeah and and we don't fight supernatural battles with natural means we fight supernatural battles and supernatural means and so our worship really is a weapon that's it and there's power when God's people come together and sing right and true things amen amen if you got your bibles

[00:31:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:31:56] and I hope you do we're gonna be in we're gonna eventually be in John chapter 6 is where I'm going to end up. John chapter 6, as you're well aware, we are in this series called Worship is
[00:32:05] War. And Pastor Olson prayed a little while ago. He prayed we serve, we're praying to a real God that gives real peace in really hard times. Amen. And then Jared in that video, again, one of our
[00:32:18] worship leaders, he says that we don't fight supernatural means with just, with just, with natural means. And so what we, what God has given us as a church is that we join our voices together
[00:32:30] to say true things to God about God, and worship is war. Speaking of, I know it's already been announced, but we have a men's worship night Sunday at 630, and men, we're going to show up
[00:32:41] strong, okay? Just coming hot right after the Jags game, that's what I'm going to do, praise God.
[00:32:46] Hopefully with a really good attitude. If you go to 422, cool, just stick around right after that.
[00:32:51] It's here at San Pablo, it's at Jessup, it's at St. John's, and the Bible says, Paul tells Timothy, you tell men to lift holy hands in the sanctuary. All right? So if you're not a man, don't come.
[00:33:04] But if you are a man or want to be one, then I need you to be here. Amen? You're going to be here? All right, good. Please do. Hey, listen, what an incredible week last week here at the
[00:33:14] Church of 1122. There's a lot to celebrate. We just came off of Saturated. It was pretty incredible. Did you think it was incredible? Did it leak out already or are you still Saturated?
[00:33:23] yeah, praise God. Our total attendance was almost 75,000 people saturated this year. Praise God for that. The people that joined us around the country and around the world to worship live with us were 334,000 people around the world online worship with us. Pretty incredible. 2.5 million people
[00:33:44] this week have watched Saturated since it happened all over the place. That's right.
[00:33:48] And then even more exciting, 348 people surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
[00:33:57] Praise God.
[00:33:59] And 866 people went public and professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and displayed that publicly through water baptism.
[00:34:10] Man.
[00:34:12] So it was an incredible week.
[00:34:13] And then simultaneously, it's been a really hard week, right?
[00:34:17] I mean, again, I mentioned it last week, but I'm going to keep mentioning it because I can.
[00:34:20] that poor Ukrainian girl stabbed to death by that demonic killer it's all over the news two school shootings and what's crazy you don't even really hear about that because obviously the news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk has just swallowed up everything and then the response you know some
[00:34:44] people ask me pastor do you think things are getting better or getting worse I just think they're getting more clear. I think things are polarizing. Like one of the things you see is you see these prayer vigils on college campuses all over the place. I mean, people that were at
[00:35:00] frat parties two weeks ago are now lighting candles and singing an amazing grace, man. You know what I mean? So they're responding with prayer. And then other people are celebrating his death or they just immediately go, yeah, this tragedy, but in highlighting their disagreements,
[00:35:17] man listen but in America people flooded to church do you realize that last weekend was one of the highest attendance of church in the history of our country that's just true and in the midst
[00:35:30] of it we are in this series called worship is war it's not like I made this up last Wednesday we've been praying about this for a year and the reason that I say that worship is war in case you
[00:35:43] missed last week actually there's no way you missed last week everybody's ever been to level 22 came last week. Holy moly. Worship is war because worship is all about ascribing glory to God.
[00:35:56] That's what we do. We all get together and we say he is worth it. And the Bible says we become what we worship. So a part of the reason that worship is war is because if we are going to be
[00:36:06] molded in the image and likeness of Christ, the Romans chapter eight, a part of the way we do that is we join together. We lift our voice up to the one true God and God, God molds us into the thing
[00:36:17] that we worship. Secondly, a part of the reason that worship is war is because pride got the devil kicked out of heaven. And when we worship together, what, what we're doing is saying it's not about me. We're not singing about me. We're not singing to me. We're singing to God. And it
[00:36:34] is a reminder to the devil of hell that he can go back because he does not get to sit on that throne that Christ sits on the throne. And then one day he's going to come and take us home and we get to
[00:36:44] be seated with him on the throne. Worship is war. And we're going to take a hard left turn.
[00:36:54] And so what do you do when you don't feel like worshiping? When you don't feel like singing?
[00:37:02] When you don't feel like lifting your hands? What do you do? Well, here's what you do.
[00:37:12] You worship your way through it. You see, worship is like eating. You just got to have it to live.
[00:37:20] and you know this sometimes things happen in your life and it takes your appetite away and you don't feel like eating because you're sad or you're anxious or you're struggling right you know what I'm talking about you don't feel like eating but what do you have to do you have to eat
[00:37:35] or you won't survive worship is like that worship is like food to our soul so sometimes especially when you don't want to what we have to do is worship our way through it man this little verse
[00:37:49] in John chapter 4 my wife Gretchen pointed out to me one time we were writing letters to our compassion kids there's this verse in John chapter 4 Jesus is talking to the woman at the well in
[00:38:00] Samaria and the disciples go to get some food and when they come back and they talk to Jesus and they're like hey you need some food boss and he's like no I'm good I've got a food that you don't
[00:38:09] even know about it was the presence of God that would sustain him that's what worship is worship is like nourishment to our very own soul.
[00:38:20] But have you ever found yourself in the place where you're just overwhelmed and you don't feel like worshiping?
[00:38:27] You ever been there?
[00:38:29] Well, I got some really good news, man.
[00:38:30] If that's you, then you're in really good company.
[00:38:35] And you don't have to fake it.
[00:38:37] I mean, the Bible is full of real people with real emotions going through some really hard stuff.
[00:38:42] But we serve a real God that gives real peace in really hard times.
[00:38:46] if you if there are times in your life where it's not going your way and you don't feel like just lifting your hands you're in good company psalm 13 the psalmist says how long oh lord
[00:39:00] will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me how long must i take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day how long shall my enemy be exalted over me
[00:39:15] I mean, you ever pray and pray and pray and it doesn't feel like God's answering?
[00:39:22] Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:39:27] Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?
[00:39:31] Oh my God, I cry by day, but you don't answer.
[00:39:33] And by night, I find no rest.
[00:39:37] Before Jesus ever quotes that on the cross, David prays that in the secret place.
[00:39:43] And the God of the universe is like, David, it's really good.
[00:39:45] Jot that down.
[00:39:46] there's going to be some other people that need to pray that prayer how big part of what the psalms do is they give words to the emotion of the heart nowhere does god scold somebody for their feelings
[00:40:00] you see this psalm 42 i've told you this the bible book stores ruin this psalm and little campy songs have ruined this psalm as the deer pants from flowing streams this isn't a cute idea at all. As the deer pants for flowing streams. I've told you before, the only reason
[00:40:26] a deer would pant is because someone like me is trying to kill it, chasing it. It's on the run.
[00:40:34] It's panicked. It feels like the world is closing in around it. It says, as the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When
[00:40:47] shall I come and appear before God my tears have been my food day and night ever been there while I say while they say to me all the day long where is your God these things I remember as I
[00:41:02] pour out my soul how I would go to the throng and lead them in possession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise I remember some happy days at church God I'm just not in
[00:41:15] one right now a multitude keeping festival why and then here's what happens in every one of these psalms these are called psalms of lament and in every single one of those the psalmist doesn't fake it the psalmist brings they bring their real his real self to a real god because it really
[00:41:35] matters and then eventually in every one of these psalms of lament what begins to happen is he quits listening to himself and he starts talking to himself and so he starts talking to his soul
[00:41:46] why are you cast down oh my soul and why are you in turmoil within me you see instead of the circumstances being the loudest voice in his life he says praise is going to be the loudest
[00:42:00] voice in my life whether I feel like it or not because feelings are a gift from God so that we can navigate this thing called life but feelings make a terrible lord of your life and so he begins
[00:42:13] and start stop listening to himself and he starts to talk to himself and the psalmist is talking to his soul when he feels like God is a million miles away and he looks at his soul and he says
[00:42:26] soul hope in God for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God so what do you do when you're in tough times you're in really really good company you ever been there our hymn writer has
[00:42:47] been there. As you've heard about four times now, we're going to look at this old hymn written in the 1800s. It was written in, it began to be written in 1873. It was written by a guy named
[00:43:01] Horatio Spafford. He was a successful, wealthy lawyer from Chicago. See, God can save anybody, a lawyer from Chicago. Can you believe that? And if you're from Chicago, welcome. I'm glad you're here, but there's a reason you don't live there. Amen. All right. So in the late 1800s, man,
[00:43:28] he's crushing it. Everything's up and to the right. Everything's going good. Every decision he makes turns to gold. And so he's got so much money, he doesn't know what to do with it. And so Chicago was growing and growing and growing, especially downtown. And so he invests almost
[00:43:41] everything he has. He invests in real estate downtown. It's going great. Also, he had a friend from the YMCA before it was a basketball league and it was actually like a Christian missions organization he had a friend named D.L. Moody Dwight L. Moody and they were good buddies and
[00:44:01] they would pray together and D.L. Moody came to Chicago and did a big revival and D.L. Moody was a traveling evangelist all over the world D.L. Moody was like the Billy Graham of his day in fact
[00:44:14] If you trace the salvation history of Billy Graham, D.L. Moody is like Billy Graham's great, great spiritual grandfather.
[00:44:25] Like a guy got saved at one of D.L. Moody's crusades, and then he became a traveling evangelist.
[00:44:33] And then a guy got saved at that, he becomes a traveling evangelist.
[00:44:36] And then Dr. Billy Graham got saved at one of his events.
[00:44:41] and so this rich guy Horatio Spafford he was he was what theologians would call a gospel patron of D.L. Moody I don't know if you ever thought about this but every time there's a great move
[00:44:55] of God there's always a bunch of like angel investors behind them and they only get credit in heaven but when somebody like Billy Graham is traveling around the world and renting out stadiums and proclaiming the gospels to millions of people there's some people that are paying the
[00:45:13] bill well as D.L. Moody was traveling around at this point Europe our guy Spafford was paying the bill there's a book called gospel patrons I would love for you to read it and it says this the
[00:45:25] pattern of history is that God raises up preachers and patrons to work together to spread his word some will speak and others will support but both are partners in the gospel so before we dive into
[00:45:39] it listen man be a gospel patron of the work of God and be a gospel patron of the work of 1122 good job man you're a generous church but you individually don't get credit for sitting next
[00:45:52] to a generous person I hope you realize that you know and so the fact that 2.5 million people this week tuned in to hear the gospel from the church of 1122 every single time you bring your first
[00:46:06] and best then you partner with what God is doing in and through this church and then also out in the lobby at all of our lobbies we have one of our ministry partners called CFR and what they do is
[00:46:19] man I don't know anything about banking I'm the worst person to like do a promo for this here's all I know is that you can invest your money with them with returns and all that crap and they
[00:46:28] leverage all of that to fund and help give loans to ministries and partner with churches and ministries so that the gospel can advance. We partnered with them to gain access to the retreat center. That's how that thing works. So you Spaffords in the room, go see him on the way
[00:46:46] out. Take some of your money. Honestly, man, if you're with the bigs in the nation, you might want to see what the things that they support and maybe park some of that cash in somebody that
[00:46:54] loves Jesus and is trying to advance his gospel. Amen. All right. Do that. Yeah. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. So, all right. So anyway, back to Horatio. So he's a gospel patron of D.L. Moody.
[00:47:05] all right so they planned this extended vacation for their family and they were going to get on some boats and they were going to head over to Europe and they were going to travel Europe with
[00:47:16] D.L. Moody and be a part of his crusades and see people come to the Lord I mean it was going to be great right and you would think this guy loves God this guy's involved in his church this guy's
[00:47:30] bringing in evangelists to the city of Chicago this guy's funding the biggest known preacher in the known world at that point. And you would think that somehow he would have a kind of under the
[00:47:42] table deal with God that God would take care of him and protect him, right? Yeah, it's just not how it works. In 1871, these great fires break out in Chicago and a whole lot of Horatio Spafford's
[00:47:59] stuff gets burnt to the ground. By the time they're ready to go on this trip in 1873 to go see D.L. Moody, right as they're about to board the boat, Horatio finds out that he's got some
[00:48:11] business to do back in Chicago with the rebuilding of Chicago. So he says to his family, all right, you guys go ahead. Y'all have fun. I'm going to catch up with you in a little while. And so he
[00:48:20] sends his wife, Anna, and their four daughters. And I want to read you the names because when you hear these stories, you kind of feel make-believe because it's so long ago. This is, this is,
[00:48:32] here's his four little girls he had an 11 year 11 year old little girl named Annie a nine-year-old little girl named Maggie five-year-old little girl named Bessie and a two-year-old little daughter named Tanetta and they get on this boat and I can't say the name
[00:48:54] because it's French can you imagine me speaking French Gretchen and I listened to Google speak about a hundred times but I can't say it I don't know what it is and on November 21st they collided
[00:49:07] in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with another boat, the Lockern. There were 380 passengers on their boat. A little over 250 of them perished. Anna, Horatio's wife, clings to a piece of floating wreckage. Their daughters don't make it. A guy on the other vessel sees Anna floating by, scoops
[00:49:31] her up. She's saved. They take her to Wales. She sends a telegram back to Chicago to her husband after losing her four babies, and it simply says, saved alone, what shall I do?
[00:49:51] Horatio immediately jumps on a boat. He's going to go to be with his wife.
[00:49:56] When they get to near the place where the captain of his boat believes the wreck happened, it was the middle of the night. He wakes him up. Horatio Spafford wakes up, and he says, the captain says, somewhere, this is about the place where your children perished.
[00:50:10] and in that moment he pens these words when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrow like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul any parents in the room how do you write that right how do you how do
[00:50:39] you right that how do you get there now again I've told you this 10,000 times if you we can't imagine it because new mercies come in the morning and we don't have the mercies that God
[00:50:52] God has not given us the mercies for something like that and he won't until we need it that's why you can't imagine it but how in the world does somebody say something like that it is well
[00:51:05] doesn't feel well it's not actually well but it is well with my soul this is why we're going to go to John chapter 6 another way I would say this is what do you do when God doesn't do what you
[00:51:16] think he ought to do I know you're not supposed to say that in church but don't worry about it you ever been there John chapter 6 is a very very very long chapter 71 verses that's a lot
[00:51:29] it starts out great it starts out really great well it's great on the surface the crowds are growing. They get up to 5,000 men. The Bible only counts men, you know, just because whatever's old.
[00:51:43] So there could be, like if everybody's got a date and a kid, man, that's 15,000 people.
[00:51:47] Pastor math, that's like 35,000. I don't know how many it is. It's a lot.
[00:51:52] The problem is, is that they're following after Jesus for signs, not a savior.
[00:51:59] They're not saying, how can we serve you? They're saying, here's what you could do to serve us. And so they get hungry because it happens. And then a big miracle, you've heard about this, Jesus feeds
[00:52:07] the 5,000. Just a little bit of fish, a little bit of bread. There's 12 baskets full left over.
[00:52:11] It's pretty awesome. Then as the crowds are getting huge, Jesus is like, all right, I'm over this. I think Jesus was an introvert. Maybe he needed his alone time. He goes to be alone for a
[00:52:20] while. And then he sends the boys in a boat. He's like, y'all head across the sea of Galilee and I'm going to catch up. And he literally catch up. He walks on the water. So you got two miracles back
[00:52:29] to back to back. Everybody wakes up from their like, you know, trip to fan that, you know, like You do it Thanksgiving, the next day, and then Jesus is on the other side.
[00:52:38] So they go the long way around.
[00:52:39] When they get around, they realize, how did Jesus already get here?
[00:52:42] He walked on the water.
[00:52:43] You got two miracles back to back.
[00:52:46] Now, if you're in ministry, if you're working for Jesus at this point, you think we have made a wonderful career decision.
[00:52:54] Because those nets ain't doing nothing.
[00:52:55] I mean, we look at the crowds, man.
[00:52:57] This thing's going great.
[00:52:58] We're stacking up miracles.
[00:52:59] People are following us wherever we are.
[00:53:01] We just had High Attendance Sunday.
[00:53:03] Let's go.
[00:53:03] Pastor Matt Carter talked about this a few weeks ago often the dark night of the soul comes after some pretty good days ever notice that verse by the time you get to about verse 26 Jesus looks
[00:53:19] at the crowd and he's gonna thin it out Jesus says you guys aren't following me for me but you're following you for you right and the people say well what must we do and Jesus says here's
[00:53:33] what you must do believe and the people go show us a sign it still smells like fish and bread from the previous day you realize that like people still got first crumbs under their fingernails
[00:53:46] from the miracle the day before and then the people say well listen Moses gave his people bread manna from heaven to prove that he was from God so what kind of bread can you give us that's
[00:54:01] the setup you get to verse 35 and I got to go quick he says this and Jesus said to them so Jesus you can tell he's a little bit agitated already because people trying to use them for their own
[00:54:11] benefit they're trying to fill their bellies instead of their souls they're just following around the crowd because that's the cool thing to do and Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst
[00:54:28] he said you don't need gifts you need me you see the thing that Moses gave them actually God gave them and they needed a refill every single day but when you come to me I am going to fill that
[00:54:39] place in your life forever and ever and ever I'm the only one that can fully and finally satisfy verse 36 but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe all that the father
[00:54:51] gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out that means you can't lose your salvation okay by the way he's very reformed in his theology I don't know if that bothers you
[00:55:00] or not but that's why I am verse 38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of
[00:55:13] all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father. You want to know what God's will for your life is? Here it is. That everyone who looks on the son
[00:55:24] and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. God's will for your life is that you would believe in Jesus and be saved. That's God's will. That's what he
[00:55:34] says. Verse 41, in the Jews, by the way, this doesn't just mean all the Jewish people. These are like the Jewish leaders, okay? And the Jews grumbled, murmured. You know why? Because they didn't get what they wanted. They wanted a sign. They wanted their bellies to be full. And so the
[00:55:57] Jews grumbled about him instead of believing. Why? Because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
[00:56:08] how does he now say I have come down from heaven and so Jesus is about to call the herd he's about to draw a line in the sand and see who's with him for him and who's following him
[00:56:21] for themselves and Jesus answered them do not grumble among yourselves no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day it is written
[00:56:34] in the prophets and they will all be taught by God everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. Do you realize what Jesus is saying? You cannot say that you believe and
[00:56:47] follow God the father and simultaneously reject God the son. Very scandalous these days, is it not? Verse 46, not that anyone has seen the father except he who is from God. Jesus is saying except
[00:57:04] me. He has seen the father. Verse 47, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
[00:57:13] The Greek word for believe there is not believe that.
[00:57:16] It means believe in.
[00:57:17] It's the Greek word pistouo.
[00:57:19] It means to believe, to trust, to commit your whole life into.
[00:57:25] Whoever trusts, pistouo, believe, has eternal life.
[00:57:30] Then he says, I am the bread of life.
[00:57:32] This is one of the seven I am statements of the Gospel of John.
[00:57:36] I am is the covenant name of God in the Old Testament.
[00:57:39] Anybody, if you've ever seen some idiot on YouTube saying, well, Jesus never claimed to be God.
[00:57:44] They're just, they're dumb. They're honestly dumb. They should stick to coloring books because this is too advanced for them. Seven is the number of completion. Seven times in the gospel of John, Jesus is saying, Yahweh is God's covenant name. Yahweh, the bread of life. Yahweh,
[00:58:02] living water. Yahweh, the way, the truth, and the life. And no one gets the Yahweh except through me. This is what he does over and over and over. I am the resurrection in life. He just does it
[00:58:12] over and over and over and he says your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die I am the living
[00:58:24] bread that came down from heaven any if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh this is gospel this is just straight
[00:58:37] gospel so what he's talking about is he's saying I'm going to give up my flesh for you I am going to die and go to the cross for you I'm going to take your sins upon me I'm going to nail them to
[00:58:52] the cross I'm going to push up all my nail pierced feet I'm going to yell it is finished and whoever would believe when I died on the cross the encounter for you you will receive the right to
[00:59:02] be called to be called a child of God that's what he says and it just goes right over their heads man because they heard flesh and they're like whoa whoa 52 the Jews then disputed among themselves
[00:59:12] saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat they're like wouldn't flesh did he say fish maybe he said fish we got 12 baskets left over is that what he said that he's gonna make it worse I mean
[00:59:28] because these people are thinking listen man we're Jewish we can't even eat pork there's no chance we can eat the prophet like what is he talking about now what I want you to see here is Jesus is not
[00:59:40] going to explain anything. This is why I'm using this passage. He's not going to explain anything.
[00:59:47] He's just going to double down on it. Why? Because we are saved by grace through faith, not through explanation. I cannot explain to you into heaven. Even the demons believe, but they don't, they haven't surrendered their life to Jesus. You get this? Theologically,
[01:00:07] the demons are perfect and they're enemies of God. And here's what's crazy. This is going to hurt your American sensibilities. God owes you no explanation, and we owe him belief and worship.
[01:00:24] That's just true, man. All right, so Jesus is going to make it worse. This is what he does.
[01:00:28] He's not a good preacher if the goal is crowds. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you had no life in you. And
[01:00:43] They're like, what?
[01:00:45] Then he makes it worse.
[01:00:46] Whoever feeds on my flesh, like to eat is one thing, but feed reminds me of the walking dead.
[01:00:53] It's like, you know, it's like, yeah, you got to get into this.
[01:01:00] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
[01:01:04] For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
[01:01:09] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him, as the living Father sent me.
[01:01:14] and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
[01:01:21] This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not like the bread the fathers ate and died, whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum. And then this is just, I don't know, this will freak you out. Look at
[01:01:39] verse 60. And when many of his disciples heard it, did you know there is such a thing as a false disciple somebody that does not believe does not trust Jesus for their salvation but they're just
[01:01:53] going with the flow because they think it works for them and when many of his disciples heard it they said this is a hard saying who can listen to it this is why I want to look at this passage
[01:02:05] it's not so much the teachings of Jesus for us that are I mean they're they're they're very hard to enact in our life but they're not that hard to like understand you know but you ever had a
[01:02:18] situation in your life and you're like well this is this is hard and I don't understand God I don't understand why you would allow this or cause this or whatever it is I don't even know the difference
[01:02:31] did you cause it or did you allow it now listen if if I was a disciple listen I know me I'm type a I'm driven I'm very goal oriented I would have been counting I'm like what did you do but we
[01:02:49] got 5,000 men in the house. Let's go. And then when Jesus started going, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me. And when they started leaving, I'd be like, oh,
[01:02:58] somebody do something. This isn't going good. Tell you what, I'm going to take over. That's what I like to do. Hey, Jesus, why hold? You seem tired. Why? Hey, guys, we're going to an intermission in the teaching. The Messiah is a little tired. Remember, he walked here on the
[01:03:11] water. Remember that? So we're going to hand out some snacks. We've got 12 baskets left over from the previous miracle. And while you're snacking, let me just explain real, can I, I'm from the future. Let me explain what's going to happen. He doesn't actually mean you got to come up here
[01:03:27] and bite him on the tricep. There's this thing called communion and it, and it, it points us to the gospel. So what he actually means, hold on Jesus. What it actually means is without the
[01:03:43] life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, if you don't put your faith in the crucified, resurrected Jesus you have no part with me we're not cannibals we're Christians all right they're yours that's what I would want to do okay he didn't explain anything verse 61 but Jesus knowing in himself
[01:04:10] that the disciples were grumbling about this he said to them do you take offense at this they're like uh-huh then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before that's
[01:04:20] going to happen in Matthew 28 what's really crazy is there some people that see that and don't believe. He says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have
[01:04:34] spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who don't believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. Here's what
[01:04:46] he's saying, man. Your feelings and even your limited understanding make a terrible God.
[01:04:51] that god is god and he calls us to trust him even when we can't wrap our little pea-sized mind around it verse 65 and he said this is why i told you that no one can come to me unless it is
[01:05:06] granted him by the father so again i even though i study the bible and i have degrees in this stuff i will never be able to fully talk i can't talk into heaven and i can't explain the hurt away of
[01:05:23] your circumstances. You just got to trust God. And then this is kind of makes, this is kind of icky. I don't know how this worked out this way. Verse 666 says this, after this, many of his
[01:05:37] disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. And Jesus doesn't go after him. Jesus doesn't run, whoa, whoa, whoa, come here. Just hang in here for like two and a half more years and I'll be
[01:05:53] back. And it'll make, it'll make a ton of sense. He doesn't explain himself. He doesn't go after And again, he could have.
[01:06:01] We're going to close our service with communion.
[01:06:03] We're actually going to do what he said to do.
[01:06:06] We're going to take the body and take the blood, and we're going to remember not just that Jesus died, but when he says it is finished, it still counts for us, for those who believe.
[01:06:18] That's what we're going to do.
[01:06:21] And he doesn't go in and explain it.
[01:06:24] And the crowd that trusted their belly and didn't believe the Son of God, they begin to walk away. I've seen a lot of people walk away because God didn't do what they thought he ought to do and he didn't explain himself. And then Jesus turns to the 12. These are
[01:06:49] the apostles. This is like Peter, James, John. These are these guys. Andrew. These are these guys. And he asked a question. Do you want to go away as well? Now you think Jesus just asked
[01:07:03] rando questions? Think he doesn't know? In Mark chapter 2 and John chapter 9, all throughout the Gospels, we find out that people think something, and Jesus knows what you think. So you better check yourself up here in church, thinking negative thoughts about the preaching and stuff.
[01:07:21] Jesus knows, man. He says, do you want to leave too? Because they're thinking, this doesn't make any sense. I mean, man, I left my dad's fishing business to do what? This thing looks like it's
[01:07:45] going to fail and I don't know about eating blood or eating flesh and drinking blood like I just I just don't so no so again let's be honest and I know church is no place to be honest but you can
[01:07:59] be honest here you ever been there you ever had some kid pain like what are you doing God I raised that joker in kids ministry and I prayed the prayers I had the Jesus storybook bible and I did
[01:08:14] the things and the guy said if you train them up in the way they should go when they're old they will not depart from you. And they've departed from you and they departed from me. God, I thought
[01:08:26] I did my part. Are you going to do your part? You ever been there? Or get divorced? And I know nobody's perfect, but this one wasn't your fault, man. I know nobody's perfect, but you stood in an
[01:08:40] altar and you promised, I'm going to leave my father and mother and I'm going to cleave only to you. And you were, you were faithful. You cleaved only. And they broke your heart and they
[01:08:53] lied to you. And now it's jacked up everything, man. You got so much in there about your ex and then you got to try to act like you don't when you're talking to your children because you're
[01:09:05] talking about their mom or dad. You ever been there? Or you got some like legitimate, the people that you were serving God with, you got like legitimate church hurt. Now I don't mean like you stumped your toe on a hymnal and then called that church hurt and then left. That's not what
[01:09:23] I'm talking about but the people that were supposed to shepherd you didn't or sickness or infertility I've told you before I'm just going to admit this is the one that bothers me the most or the one I have the hardest time getting my heart around as a as the pastor of
[01:09:46] this thing man I just know so many godly couples like the one we put on the video I mean Jared's a worship leader right I know this isn't how it works but doesn't your mind kind of go like all
[01:09:57] ready to give his whole life to ministry. Can you just slide him a baby? I mean, for real, like they're going to do good with it. They're going to raise it here. That kid might take over the
[01:10:08] thing. How did the worst people get babies? And the best people don't get babies. And you pray and you pray and you believe and you pray. Or like Rebecca talked about several weeks ago when we did
[01:10:24] the Jesus in your mental health depression. And you feel the way that you don't want to feel.
[01:10:29] and you've prayed. I mean, you've done steps. You've read her book. You went to counts. You know, you've done all the things like, Lord, can you come on? I'm not even asking for a miracle.
[01:10:42] I'm just asking, can you get me out of the ditch just to like minimally okay? You pray and you pray. What do you do when God does not do what you want him to do? And Jesus walks up on Peter
[01:11:00] because you know, he's going to talk first. He's going to talk most. It's a little bit of a speculation. I know the Bible says he asked the 12. I think he's looking at Peter and he's like,
[01:11:09] yo, Rocky, you want to leave too? Because he wants to walk. He's considering it. Peter's answer is an anchor for my soul. And Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
[01:11:30] life. I don't think this was a quick answer. I think most of the time Peter was like, oh, I'll go, I don't think this one was it. I think Peter looks around and evaluates the situation.
[01:11:43] I think Peter understands Jesus. If I walk away from you, I got to walk to something else and nothing else in this world offers what you offer. I have no idea what you're talking about
[01:11:56] with this flesh and blood stuff. But if I go somewhere else, it doesn't offer eternal life.
[01:12:04] Listen, I've been doing this thing, what I'm doing now professionally for like 33 years.
[01:12:08] I cannot tell you the number of people that I have seen walk away from Jesus because they didn't get what they wanted and then they went looking for it and they still didn't find what they were looking
[01:12:19] for. And if and when they returned, they just came back dirty, beat up, bruised, scarred, and full of regret. And yet Jesus still takes them back. So what do you do, man, when he doesn't do what you
[01:12:38] want him to do? Where are you going to go? He says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Verse 69, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of
[01:12:50] God. I want you to see here that belief precedes knowledge. Believe and come to know. So what do you do with your unanswered questions? What do you do with your doubts? What do you do with your
[01:13:02] unanswered prayers? Here's what you do. You pick them up and you just follow after Jesus because he is the one that offers eternal life Horatio Spafford is on a boat he's heading over to be with his wife as they just lost their four little girls and he does what Peter does
[01:13:18] and he says this when peace like a river attendeth my way and when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has taught me to say this is not a natural response the spirit of God's
[01:13:32] got to teach you this. It is well, it is well with my soul. And then in this song, it is rooted in the gospel. This is one of the things that I see the hymn writers do over and over and over, that
[01:13:44] they always root it in the gospel. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my
[01:13:58] soul here's what the song is teaching us when God doesn't do what you think he ought to do don't look at your circumstances to see if God loves you but you better fix your eyes on the
[01:14:13] cross because God has demonstrated his love for us in this while we were yet still sinners Christ died for us and then one of the things the hymn writers do is they never they hardly ever finish
[01:14:27] the hymn on earth you ever notice that they always talk about the hope of glory when we get there one day when he's going to be reunited with those little girls and lord haste the day when faith
[01:14:42] shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the chump the trump shall resound and the lord shall descend even so it is well with my soul he get here's what he's saying is that this world
[01:14:56] does not have the last word that the author of eternity has the last word it reminds me of a very famous verse in Philippians chapter 4 do not be anxious about anything but by prayer and
[01:15:09] supplication with thanksgiving make your request known to God and the God of peace that transcends understanding ESV says surpasses I like transcends better and the peace of God that does not make sense on paper. Does that make sense? It's going to guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
[01:15:38] Anybody want that kind of peace? You ever met somebody like that? You ever met somebody like that? We've got a lady on the second row right there, Lisa. She's a widow. She lost her husband.
[01:15:51] He died on a motorcycle a few years ago. If anybody has a right to be bitter at God, dude, he's a godly man. He's at church. He's helping Ben Williams and some missions thing in like Nicaragua. That's what he spent his free time doing. If anybody's got an excuse to be
[01:16:09] bitter at God, it's that chick right there. You know what she does? She's singing, I raise a hallelujah with two hands in the air, man. Keith Kelly, Keith and Tammy Kelly, they sit over here
[01:16:21] on Sunday morning where y'all are. He just retired though and got him a real nice place in Palatka.
[01:16:27] So he attends down there now, but he'll sit right over there and they lost their 14-year-old son in a freak car accident? And they sing with their hands up. You go, how in the heck, man? How?
[01:16:38] It's because the God of peace that doesn't make sense on paper gave them a peace that transcends my understanding and your understanding. And the king of the universe is standing guard at their mind and at their heart. And that's how you do it. This is what Horatio Spafford does. So how do you
[01:16:58] do this? Here's how you do this. You believe in Jesus more than you believe in your circumstances.
[01:17:04] I ain't trying to steal my man's story, but when Pastor Britt lost his mama when he was a teenager in high school, he's standing at the back of the funeral parlor for the viewing.
[01:17:19] It's rough, right?
[01:17:21] He's like a, I don't know, sophomore in high school or something.
[01:17:25] And his daddy stands next to him, puts his arm around his little boy.
[01:17:33] And he says, life is hard and God is good.
[01:17:40] If you deny either one of those, you're going to be in rough shape.
[01:17:42] You got me? Life is hard. Nobody is denying that life isn't hard, man. Tears are to be shed. We mourn, but we don't mourn as those without hope because whatever the situation is, it doesn't
[01:17:56] get the last word. You ever seen this in action? This is going to give me a couple more emails, but just send them all. I don't care. Yeah, man. I got some mad Charlie Kirk emails last week.
[01:18:16] Seriously, I'm praying for you.
[01:18:19] I'm praying for you hard.
[01:18:23] Gretchen sent me Erica Kirk's address to the nation.
[01:18:32] And I think it hit different because you sent it as a wife and a mom of a guy that stands on stage and says some stuff that some people don't agree with.
[01:18:48] Now, I'm not afraid.
[01:18:49] I don't know if you know.
[01:18:50] I just don't do fear.
[01:18:51] So whatever.
[01:18:52] Bring it on.
[01:18:53] But I'd be real sad to leave mine behind for their sake.
[01:18:56] You understand?
[01:18:59] And you see this lady, Erica Kirk.
[01:19:03] I can't even read her words, and I'm not related to the guy.
[01:19:06] Get it?
[01:19:07] And she stands up, and this is not the script she would write.
[01:19:15] And she says, two days ago, my husband Charlie went to see the face of his Savior and his God.
[01:19:21] Charlie always said that when he was gone, he wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith.
[01:19:27] and one of the final conversations that he had on this earth my husband witnessed for his lord and savior jesus christ now and for all eternity he will stand at his savior's side wearing the
[01:19:41] glorious crown of a martyr just put my cards on the table she's using the right word a martyr for the gospel you can agree with him or disagree with him he probably shared the gospel with more
[01:19:55] college kids in the last five years than any human being on the planet then she says this this next section is the it is well with my soul part she says I mean the mom of a couple of kids
[01:20:17] she says I will never ever have the words to describe the loss that I feel in my heart I honestly have no idea what any of this means I know that God does but I don't but Charlie
[01:20:32] I know you do too I know you do so it is our Lord and our world is filled with evil but our God you guys our God is so good he's so incredibly good and we know that for those who love God all things
[01:20:51] work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose and then she shared the gospel. On national television, 48 hours after somebody shot her husband in the neck with a high-powered rifle, she says, and for anyone who would believe that when Jesus Christ died on the
[01:21:11] cross, if they put their faith in him, that your sins will be forgiven and then you will be saved.
[01:21:17] How do you say that? How do you do that? Here's how you do that. Here's how Horatio Spafford did it, here's how Erica Kirk is making it, is because you believe and trust God even more than your own
[01:21:33] circumstances. And so how does she say God is good? Because of the cross of Jesus Christ. What do you do when you don't understand? The number one example of evil in our world that God used for
[01:21:49] his own glory is the cross. The disciples standing at the foot of Golgotha are looking at God going, what are you doing? God, have you lost control? And he's taking the most evil thing that has ever
[01:22:04] happened in the history of man. A perfectly innocent man is wrongfully accused and wrongly killed. And God uses that for the redemption of anybody that would believe. And so we're going to do what John 6 says. Some of you are walking through it, man. This is the perfect time for
[01:22:24] us to celebrate communion. If our, I don't know what we call our people, our hander outer people would hand out the communion. I don't feel like we have ushers. I feel like you have to have
[01:22:32] khakis to have ushers. What do we have? What do we call them? Do we have a name? Somebody should get on that. We should make up a name for you people. When Jesus says, unless you eat my flesh
[01:22:48] and drink my blood, he's talking about the gospel. On the night Jesus was betrayed, he sits down with the disciples, the 12 disciples in the upper room. And they're celebrating the Passover meal. So they
[01:23:09] all for their entire lives, they have been preparing for this and they didn't even know it.
[01:23:14] And the Passover meal hearkened back to God saving his people out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and rescuing them and taking them to the promised land. And he sent 10 different plagues to defeat 10 of the gods in Egypt. And then Pharaoh thought he was God. And so the 10th
[01:23:34] plague that he sent. It's called the plague of the firstborn. And Moses warned him. And God says to Moses, why don't you, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go and I want you to take the blood
[01:23:47] of a lamb. So you got to, you got to shed the blood of a lamb, a spotless, innocent lamb. And I want you to take that blood and take a hyssop branch. And I want you to put it on the doorpost of your
[01:23:57] house. Okay. And tonight you're going to cook a meal. And the reason we have unleavened bread is he was basically saying, listen, you're going to have to sleep with your tennis shoes on because this is going to get, it's going to, you're going to leave quick tomorrow morning. So you don't have
[01:24:14] time for the bread to rise and you're going to eat this meal. And tonight the angel of death is going to fly over and whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house, the angel of
[01:24:26] death will pass over. And whoever does not have the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their house, their firstborn will be taken. Well, sure enough, God is faithful to his word and the angel
[01:24:35] of death passes over kills every firstborn including the pharaohs and the pharaoh says get out of here and they get to the red sea and God parts the red sea and Moses and the people of God
[01:24:51] cross over on dry ground and then God tells Moses you remember this every year you remember this exodus and so every year ingrained into the ethos of the disciples they have celebrated this and then on the night jesus would be betrayed he sits at the table and they're like they're real
[01:25:12] traditional they're supposed to say traditional moses exodus stuff and the bible says that jesus breaks the bread and he says this is my body broken for you and the disciples like whoa whoa no it's not i mean you're not saying the right words you're supposed to talk about exodus and
[01:25:35] lambs and plagues and pharaohs and jesus is saying yeah that remember what my cousin john said when he said behold the lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world that Passover lamb was actually a foreshadowing of me I am the lamb of God and they have no idea
[01:25:59] what he's talking about but the next day when he's hanging beaten and bruised and battered and broken on a cross then it begins to make sense to them that he was shed he was sacrificed that his body
[01:26:17] was broken, that he was pierced for our transgressions, that when the people of Israel were a slave nation to Egypt, the lamb paid the price on their behalf. And Jesus says, that's what I'm doing for you. He says, this is my body broken for you. As often as you eat of it, you should do so
[01:26:46] in remembrance of me. Go ahead and partake. And then at the end of the meal, he held up the cup and they're like, what is he going to say now?
[01:27:00] I mean, he's breaking all the rules and he holds up the cup and he says, this is my blood.
[01:27:07] And it's obviously not his, I mean, it's not his blood.
[01:27:09] His blood's in his body at this point.
[01:27:11] It's wine in a cup.
[01:27:14] And he says, this is the cup of the new covenant.
[01:27:17] And by the way, covenant and testament mean the same thing.
[01:27:19] So the old covenant was a covenant of law and the new covenant or the new testament is a covenant of grace.
[01:27:26] The Bible says that Moses brought the law and Jesus brought grace.
[01:27:29] and in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus says father if there be any other way let this cup pass from me is the cup of the wrath of God stored up against the sins all the sins of all mankind
[01:27:42] not my will but your will be done and he goes to the cross and this is the greatest exchange you'll ever be offered in your life and because Jesus drank of the cup of the wrath of God you and I
[01:27:58] are invited to drink of the cup of the grace of God and he says whenever you drink of this you do so in remembrance of me but it's not just remember that an event happened the reason that I think
[01:28:10] Jesus gives us communion is for us to once again participate in a covenant that we were brought into at some point in our life when Gretchen and I celebrate our anniversary we don't just remember
[01:28:26] oh yeah 25 years ago I said I do the celebration the remembrance of that anniversary is that vow is more true now than it has ever ever been and when you drink of the cup of the grace of God
[01:28:40] what you are saying is the grace that saved me whenever I put my faith in Jesus sustains me today and I remember and fully participate in the gospel of Jesus Christ he says as often as you
[01:28:55] drink of this cup you do so in remembrance of me and then the Bible says that when the early church would celebrate communion, they would do two things. They would sing a hymn and they would
[01:29:12] pray. So I would invite you to all stand. Let me pray for you. And then we will respond. Our good and gracious heavenly father. God, I thank you for the broken body, the shed blood of Jesus
[01:29:23] as a constant reminder that life is hard. Life is so hard. It sent you to a cross and God is good that though you were buried you did not stay in that tomb but you were resurrected
[01:29:43] from the grave and God when life is hard when things are not going our way when we pray we pray and we pray we don't understand why you're not doing it our way God will be just be reminded
[01:29:55] Lord if the tomb is empty anything is possible and that your love for us is not primarily demonstrated in our current circumstances your love for us is demonstrated once and for all at the cross of Jesus Christ. So God, when it's hard, we can run to you and when it's good, we can run
[01:30:13] to you. And God, you are a God who cares and knows and even bleeds and has scars because of your great love for us. And so God, we pray to Jesus, not some foreign entity, but a God who became a
[01:30:41] man that has suffered every temptation that we have and knows exactly what we are going through and because he has been resurrected we can be too we pray this in Jesus name so we're going to sing
[01:31:00] we're going to bring and we're going to pray some of you like Horatio Spafford are called to be gospel patrons man we all are if you're a follower of Jesus then we partner with the move of God
[01:31:12] for the advancement of the gospel that's a part of what we do when we bring our first and best it's an act of worship and we sing and obviously we're going to sing it as well as a as a prayer
[01:31:23] campuses all over the places including prisons man guys I wish I could take you into the prisons when we sing it as well it just hits different and we're gonna sing and we're gonna pray in
[01:31:38] Philippians when Paul says be anxious for nothing four different ways he just says pray he says be anxious through nothing but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your request known to God. And some of you are walking through it in your own life. It's not just a national
[01:31:53] ordeal for you. It is a very personal thing. And I would invite you to sprint down here, get on your face and tell your soul. It is well with my soul. Let's sing. Let's bring, let's pray.

[01:32:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:32:04] Let's respond. You think he ought to do you worship, you worship and life is hard and God

[01:45:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:45:34] is good. And one of the gifts that God has given us is the local church to do life with when things are good and when things are hard so if you are not plugged in to this church family we want you
[01:45:45] to be plugged in so go see us at one of our connect centers come up to anybody with a badge fill out a respond card but don't leave without getting plugged in to this family to do life with
[01:45:54] church we love you we are praying for you we'll see you next week