Crisis, Call, and Confidence: God’s Answer to a Corrupt Age

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
How precious did the grace appear The hour I first believed My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior
[00:00:25] As I am so me, and like a flood, His mercy reigns anew in me.
[00:00:56] The Lord has promised the good to me This world my hope secures He will my shield, my version be As long as life endures
[00:01:25] My chains are gone, I've been set free My God, my Savior, has ransomed me And like a flood, His mercy rains Unending love, amazing grace
[00:01:58] Chosun is soft like snow The sun forbear to shine The God who called me here below Will be forever mine

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
We've got the Lord my King
[00:03:03] The name of Jesus Christ my King What a beautiful name it is Nothing compares to this
[00:03:32] Let's pray.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Let's pray.
[00:04:05] Jesus Christ my King What a wonderful name it is Nothing compares to this What a wonderful name it is The name of Jesus
[00:05:00] How sweet is your name, Lord How good you are We love to sing your name, Lord Love to sing of who you are That could not hold you The veil tore before you You silenced the boast of sin and grave
[00:05:27] The heavens are roaring The praise of your glory For you are raised to life again You have no rival
[00:05:56] Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory, yours is the name above all names.
[00:06:22] What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ my King.
[00:06:28] What a powerful name is the name of Jesus You have no rival, you have no equal

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Welcome to Center Church.
[00:07:03] We're really excited to be here with you all to worship.
[00:07:07] The theme of our service this morning is God's provision for us in crisis and his call on our lives.
[00:07:16] And so I want to invite you to stand up with me as we read a call to worship from Psalm 30.
[00:07:24] It goes like this.
[00:07:26] Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people.
[00:07:31] Praise his holy name, for his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.
[00:07:42] We believe in his favor tonight, for rejoicing comes in the morning.
[00:07:44] To you, Lord, I called.
[00:07:46] To the Lord, I cried for mercy.
[00:07:49] Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me.
[00:07:51] Lord, be my help.
[00:07:54] You turned my wailing into dancing.
[00:07:57] You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
[00:08:07] Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
[00:08:12] Let's praise the Lord together.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We're going to worship the Lord this morning with some really great songs.
[00:08:19] One is going to talk about God's mercy.
[00:08:21] One is going to talk about

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
God's love and want us to talk about God's faithfulness but our first song is really a call for us to to seek God open our eyes that we may see him you know we get up in the morning we open our eyes and see our surroundings but all through the day we should look for the Holy Spirit to lead us open the eyes of my heart Lord open the eyes of my heart

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord Open the eyes of my heart I want to see You I want to see You To see You high and lifted up Shining in the light of Your glory
[00:09:23] Yes, I do.
[00:09:53] Open the eyes of my heart I want to see you I want to see you To see you high and lifted up Shining in the light of your glory Pour out your power and love As we sing holy, holy, holy
[00:10:23] Holy, holy, holy Our God is holy, holy, holy You are holy, holy, holy I want to see you Let's make it a prayer You are holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy I want to see you
[00:10:55] Holy, holy, holy.
[00:11:01] Holy, holy, holy.
[00:11:05] Holy, holy, holy.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Thomas Chisholm was a young businessman.
[00:11:16] Before he turned 20, he received Christ as his Savior, and he wanted to serve God with all his heart.
[00:11:22] He decided to become a minister, and he did.
[00:11:24] But shortly after becoming a minister, he got very sick, very ill. And it got worse and worse and worse, to the point where he couldn't even pastor anymore.
[00:11:34] Once he ended his pastorship, he couldn't have the money to pay his hospital bills and he got broke, went into debt.
[00:11:42] So he was very sick and he was very poor and yet he wrote a poem called, Great is Thy Faithfulness.
[00:11:51] Off of Lamentations 3, 22 and 23, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
[00:11:58] His mercies never come to an end.
[00:12:00] They are new every morning.
[00:12:02] Great is Thy Faithfulness.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father.
[00:12:19] There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
[00:12:26] Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not.
[00:12:34] As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
[00:12:41] Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness
[00:13:10] Summer and winter and springtime and harvest Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love Great is Thy faithfulness
[00:13:44] All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
[00:14:13] Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness
[00:14:40] And morning by morning new mercies I see And all I have needed I am not provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Psalm 23 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
1 Peter 1 3
[00:15:41] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:15:45] According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Hebrews 4.16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new everymore Our sins they are made, His mercy is more What love could remember, no wrongs we have done
[00:16:50] The Lord is with us, He is with us, He is with us, He is with us,
[00:17:21] What patience would wait as we constantly roam Our Father so tender is calling us home He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor Our sins they are many His mercy is more Praise the Lord His mercy is more
[00:17:53] Our sins they are many, His mercy is more What riches of kindness He lavished on us His blood was the payment, His life was the cost We stood in a debt we could never afford
[00:18:16] Our sins they are many His mercy is more Praise the Lord His mercy is more It's stronger than darkness It's new every morn Our sins they are many His mercy is more Praise the Lord
[00:18:43] His mercy is more It's stronger than darkness New every morn Our sins they are many His mercy is more Our sins they are many His mercy is more Praise God for His mercy.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Come before you this morning with thanksgiving.
[00:19:14] We come before you with gratitude because we recognize these words that we sang, they're not just words.
[00:19:21] Lord, but they are a truth that defines our reality, that guides our lives, that we live in each morning, Lord, that though our sins are many, your mercy is more.
[00:19:34] God, we praise you today for the way that you've shown us your grace and your mercy in very common ways already.
[00:19:41] Allowing the sun to rise, allowing us to have breath in our lungs, to gather here in this space to worship you, God.
[00:19:52] And we thank you for your specific mercies to us.
[00:19:56] As we come before you and into a holy space, we recognize, Lord, that we're not holy.
[00:20:02] Lord, that we've done things this week that we regret, that you've commanded us not to do, that we've failed to do the things you have commanded.
[00:20:11] And as we come to you repentant, covered with the blood of Christ, we recognize that your mercy is more than our sin.
[00:20:21] And so, God, we praise you today and we pray that your kingdom would come, that it would come in our hearts and in our lives so that increasingly we would experience freedom from the clinging ways of our old habits.
[00:20:38] We pray that your kingdom would come in our community
[00:20:41] that we would see peace that we would see justice that we would see mercy flowing in this place that we would love the things that you love the things on earth would be done the way they are done in heaven we pray for our world with wars raging with too many sad things on the news every day for us to possibly keep track of Lord we pray come Lord Jesus we ask God that you would put things back the way they're supposed to be
[00:21:12] And we know you will.
[00:21:14] We trust, God, that you're coming again to restore our bodies, to restore this world, to restore all of creation with us all worshiping you together in union.
[00:21:29] And Lord, we pray all of these things the way you taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[00:21:40] Thy kingdom come.
[00:21:41] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
[00:22:05] Well, everybody, welcome again to Center Church.
[00:22:07] We are a church that is making room for everyone to experience joyful, life-transforming connection to Jesus and his people.
[00:22:15] And we'd love for you to experience that beyond just Sunday mornings.
[00:22:19] We want to be a church that really is a community of faith living life together.
[00:22:24] And one way that we are trying to accomplish that is by
[00:22:28] Being together during the week.
[00:22:30] I want to encourage you to go ahead and pull out this little card that's in your bulletin.
[00:22:34] Everybody should have one.
[00:22:36] Just kind of wave it around right now.
[00:22:37] Let me know you got one.
[00:22:38] This is our prayer card.
[00:22:39] We gather on Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m. each week, and we try to pray for every person here.
[00:22:45] So if you'll just even put your first name on there, I guarantee we're going to pray for you.
[00:22:49] But if you want to give us more info on how we can pray for you, there's other boxes you can check there.
[00:22:54] In a moment, when the offering comes around, you can throw that in the bag.
[00:22:58] But we want you to be a part of what we're doing, and there's certainly a lot of stuff happening as we get going in the fall.
[00:23:06] I have a lot of announcements to share, but as we do, I want to tell you about a feature of our bulletin that has been there for a while now, which is this little QR code.
[00:23:17] If you look on the back page, it says Center Happenings.
[00:23:20] There's a lot going on, and there's this little QR code.
[00:23:23] Now I think since COVID we're all pretty familiar with how these things work but if you're not all you gotta do is turn on your phone camera and aim it at that thing and a little link will pop up and if you touch it it'll take you to a screen we have a picture of that screen up there on the slides oh okay
[00:23:42] There you go.
[00:23:43] So when you scan it, what you're going to see is a list of all the things I'm telling you about.
[00:23:47] So we're going to talk about signing up for the homecoming lunch, signing up for the fall restoration day that's coming up.
[00:23:53] We're going to talk about joining a transformation group.
[00:23:55] And rather than writing all those things down, you can just go to this one place and click those things, and it'll all be laid out for you.
[00:24:02] It's actually like that every week, and that's why we put it on there.
[00:24:05] So go ahead, check that out.
[00:24:06] We also have some printed bulletins.
[00:24:08] Printed announcements here in the bulletin if that's still a little bit of a leap.
[00:24:13] We understand.
[00:24:13] All right, so let's talk about it.
[00:24:16] Homecoming.
[00:24:16] So one of our church's longest traditions is this homecoming meal that we do.
[00:24:21] It is actually this year the 260th anniversary of Center Church.
[00:24:25] Can you believe it?
[00:24:26] I know, right?
[00:24:28] Thanks for all the hard work you guys have been putting in those 260 years.
[00:24:32] No, it's amazing, right?
[00:24:34] Generations of people have come through and God has faithfully provided.
[00:24:37] And one of these things is our homecoming meal.
[00:24:40] It's just a celebration each year where even we hope people might come back who've moved away and grown up and join us for a covered dish meal after the service.
[00:24:50] We would encourage you to be there, but if you could sign up, let us know you're coming.
[00:24:54] and what you want to bring with you to be a part of that meal.
[00:24:57] That'll help us a lot in our planning to make sure we got enough food for everybody.
[00:25:01] Also, the next thing I wanted to mention is whatever I just said it was a second ago.
[00:25:10] The fall work day.
[00:25:11] No, no, not that one.
[00:25:12] We're talking about it in a second.
[00:25:14] We have, what's the other one with the QR code on it?
[00:25:18] Yeah, transformation groups.
[00:25:19] Those are starting this week.
[00:25:21] So we're trying to form some smaller groups where people can build community.
[00:25:25] One of those is practicing the way that happens every morning, 9 a.m. before the service, where we're talking about what it means to follow Jesus.
[00:25:32] But on weeknights, Wednesday nights, every other week, we are having transformation groups.
[00:25:38] We call it that because we really believe
[00:25:40] transformation happens in community that we really learn what it means to follow Jesus not by listening just by listening to sermons but by living our lives together and learning what it means to follow him and so i'd encourage you to sign up for one of those if you haven't already there's a there are several different options there's also one that meets midday here on wednesdays uh that you could be a part of that's a women's group called connect and reflect but it's another one of our transformation groups so uh check out those things uh and
[00:26:07] avail yourselves of them and now i want to talk briefly i want to invite our ushers to come up and collect our offering as we talk about uh the election of new officers uh for this upcoming year we mentioned this last sunday but this is something that happens every year every september we open up nominations to elect elders and deacons and uh we are you you may not know we're a presbyterian church um
[00:26:35] If you're unfamiliar with the Presbyterian tradition, we have elders and we have deacons that lead the church.
[00:26:42] Our elders are split up into two groups.
[00:26:45] There are two categories.
[00:26:46] There's teaching elders, and those are pastors like myself, pastors who are examined and ordained, who've been to seminary and the presbytery.
[00:26:56] And then we have ruling elders who are lay elders.
[00:27:04] They serve right alongside the ordained pastors equally.
[00:27:09] So we have a group of both professional Christians and
[00:27:14] and non-professional Christians who shepherd, teach, equip, live lives that are examples for the congregation.
[00:27:23] Elders are meant to be spiritual leaders who guide and support the church and ensure its spiritual health and well-being.
[00:27:33] The other office that we have is the office of deacon.
[00:27:36] And deacons are first seen in the book of Acts chapter 6 when this faithful group of people are appointed to help the apostles with all of these things that needed to happen in the new church community so the apostles could go and preach the word.
[00:27:53] So deacons similarly assist the session, the elders, in a lot of different ways.
[00:27:58] They're responsible for the building and grounds.
[00:28:00] They focus on welcoming outsiders.
[00:28:02] They call and follow up on the prayer cards that we give out.
[00:28:06] And there are so many different things with the physical property around here, but also with ministering to the needs of the poor and caring for the sick.
[00:28:14] Those are some of the things our deacons do.
[00:28:16] And so we are looking for several people to step into these roles in the coming year.
[00:28:23] And there's a simple process to do that.
[00:28:24] The first one is to pray.
[00:28:27] To pray and ask the Lord about who he might be leading you to nominate.
[00:28:32] And the second then is to approach that person and ask them to pray for a week.
[00:28:37] Ask the Lord if the Lord truly is calling them to serve.
[00:28:43] And then after a week, to come back and if they agree, you would submit that name to Caroline, our church administrator, and they would go into a process of application and vetting.
[00:28:53] And then in a couple of months, we will
[00:28:55] Formally elect our new officers and they will then enter into a three-month training process where they will get to know how things work, study theology, study the Christian life, and get prepared for the duties of their office.
[00:29:11] And so I want to share that all with you.
[00:29:14] This is the season for doing it.
[00:29:16] The nominations are open for a few more days as the month ends and we are excited about who God is going to raise up to be our leaders.
[00:29:24] And to give you a little visual aid here, I want to invite up Rod.
[00:29:28] Is Rod here?
[00:29:29] Rod is one of our deacons.
[00:29:31] And we're going to talk to him just a little bit about his role serving as a deacon this past year.
[00:29:38] All right.
[00:29:39] So, Rod, thanks for being here.
[00:29:43] Let me give you this microphone to speak into.
[00:29:47] So, a couple of questions.
[00:29:49] It's on.
[00:29:49] You got it.
[00:29:51] How has the Lord been working in your life through your role as a deacon this year?
[00:29:56] And particularly, Rod is our deacon in charge of building and grounds, so your focus on that aspect of the job.
[00:30:03] Hold the mic like an ice cream cone.

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Since accepting the call to be a deacon, I've experienced this
[00:30:17] New sense of meaning and purpose in my life.
[00:30:21] I have this new realizing this sense of energy and excitement that I haven't felt since I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.
[00:30:34] Wow.
[00:30:35] So that combined and then it's also my walk
[00:30:44] I feel like I'm walking closer with God primarily because as taking over property and grounds I consider all this God's property.
[00:30:56] We are all tenants and therefore it's our responsibility to tend to the garden and from Genesis
[00:31:10] Genesis 2.15 says, God put man in the garden to tend.
[00:31:19] Those words haven't changed.
[00:31:22] Man has, but those words have not changed.
[00:31:24] He created all this for our benefit, but for us to tend to.

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Well, I know that we have an opportunity to serve that's coming up, and I wanted to ask you why people might consider
[00:31:39] I've got a different slide if John's got it.

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Like I say, the Word of God speaks to me more clearly and boldly than it has.
[00:32:02] So this scripture comes to mind that
[00:32:05] and I've always liked it because it shows that we are the body of Christ.
[00:32:10] The one difference is that you see all these faces but there's only one head and that's Christ and foundation on which the church is built and if you look at and I'm sorry I'm taking longer but I think this is important.
[00:32:26] I consider each one of us
[00:32:29] as a cell of the body.
[00:32:32] The human body has 38 trillion cells made up.
[00:32:37] And bone is cells united in one purpose, one cause.
[00:32:44] And that's what we're to do, to be hands and feet and that sort of thing.
[00:32:49] And through this body flows the Holy Spirit pumping new life through us all the time.
[00:32:55] So that's how I approach this.
[00:32:57] And then as far as, what's the next question?

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Well, so this weekend, next weekend, we have an opportunity to serve, and there's a list of jobs.
[00:33:06] We actually, on the page with the QR code, the one I told you about, if you click on that link, there are actually different jobs you can sign up for.
[00:33:13] We're hoping to have 20 people come to volunteer to do things like pressure washing, tending the garden.
[00:33:20] What else?

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Trimming throws around all-around property.
[00:33:25] but there's other things that needs to be done but not throughout the year.
[00:33:31] Twice a year we meet basically to spruce up the exterior but we're starting a adopt a plot and secure a room campaign where hopefully people will volunteer
[00:33:47] To step up and clean the inside of windows and clean if there's curtains, clean things like that.
[00:33:55] Our cleaning crew doesn't do those sort of things.
[00:33:58] So there's a place and a role and a purpose for each one of us.
[00:34:03] And so united we can do a lot of things to honor God and also draw people to Center Church in such a way that

[00:34:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
and based on our mission statement make room for everyone but everyone needs to be involved yeah well we would and thank you thank let's give a round of applause to rod for all his hard work rod you know as a pastor who's had people in charge of building and grounds for many years it's a wonderful blessing to hear someone say this gives my life a sense of joy and purpose it is a sense that we when we're looking for deacons we're not just looking for anybody we're looking for people who are called who are doing the job already
[00:34:45] and that God is already moving in their hearts to do these things and Rod has certainly been that kind of person so I hope you'll come next next weekend and then also we have some opportunities to serve in an ongoing way there's a gardening club that's starting up if you like to garden that will keep meeting you know early in the morning once a week and
[00:35:03] Like Rod said, we have an idea to maybe adopt a little section of the church to be yours to kind of keep an eye out on throughout the year and help us know what needs to be done and keep the place looking beautiful.
[00:35:15] So with that said, I want to invite you to rise and greet your neighbor and pass the peace of Christ.
[00:35:25] And the kids are dismissed for children's church.

[00:35:29] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
.
[00:35:46] .
[00:35:46] .
[00:35:56] .
[00:36:10] .
[00:36:10] .

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Please join with me as we sing the doxology.
[00:36:38] Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

[00:36:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Praise Him all creatures here below.

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.
[00:37:01] Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

[00:37:13] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:37:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word.
[00:37:18] Our passage this morning is 1 Samuel 2.12-4.1.
[00:37:21] We're going to read selections from the passage this morning.
[00:37:26] It says, Eli's sons were scoundrels.
[00:37:31] They had no regard for the Lord.
[00:37:34] But Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.
[00:37:41] Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
[00:37:51] And so he said to them, Why do you do such things?
[00:37:54] I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours.
[00:37:57] No, my sons, the report I hear spreading among the Lord's people is not good.
[00:38:03] If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender.
[00:38:07] But if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?
[00:38:12] His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the Lord's will to put them to death.
[00:38:19] And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature
[00:38:22] and in favor with the Lord and with people.
[00:38:26] Now a man of God came to Eli and he said to him, Why do you scorn God's sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling?
[00:38:36] Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?
[00:38:47] The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house so that no one in it will reach old age.
[00:38:56] Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and mind.
[00:39:02] I will firmly establish his priestly house and they will minister before my anointed one always.
[00:39:12] The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli.
[00:39:15] In those days the word of the Lord was rare.
[00:39:18] There were not many visions.
[00:39:20] One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.
[00:39:26] The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the ark of God was.
[00:39:34] Then the Lord called to Samuel.
[00:39:36] Samuel answered, Here I am.
[00:39:38] And he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me.
[00:39:42] But Eli said, I did not call.
[00:39:44] Go back and lie down.
[00:39:46] So he went and laid down.
[00:39:48] Again the Lord called Samuel.
[00:39:50] And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am.
[00:39:53] You called me.
[00:39:54] My son, Eli said, I did not call.
[00:39:56] Go back and lie down.
[00:39:58] Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
[00:40:01] The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
[00:40:05] A third time the Lord called Samuel.
[00:40:08] And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am.
[00:40:10] You called me.
[00:40:11] Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.
[00:40:16] So Eli told Samuel, Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
[00:40:23] So Samuel went and laid down in his place.
[00:40:25] The Lord came and stood there, calling as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.
[00:40:30] And then Samuel said, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
[00:40:35] And the Lord said to Samuel, See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle.
[00:40:42] In that time, I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family from beginning to end.
[00:40:49] Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord.
[00:40:52] He was afraid to tell Eli the vision.
[00:40:56] But Eli called him and said, Samuel, my son.
[00:40:58] And Samuel answered, Here I am.
[00:41:01] What was it that he said to you?
[00:41:02] Eli asked.
[00:41:03] Do not hide it from me.
[00:41:04] May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.
[00:41:10] So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him.
[00:41:13] And then Eli said, He is the Lord.
[00:41:16] Let him do what is good in his eyes.
[00:41:18] The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up.
[00:41:21] And let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground.
[00:41:23] And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.
[00:41:30] The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
[00:41:35] And Samuel's word came to all Israel.
[00:41:38] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:41:40] You can be seated.
[00:41:44] Well, Jesus made a very powerful declaration in the Gospel of Matthew.
[00:41:53] You might remember the passage in Matthew 16, verse 18.
[00:41:56] He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
[00:42:05] And he's been faithful to that promise.
[00:42:08] Do you realize for thousands of years God has sustained his people and he has continued to redeem lives from all across the globe?
[00:42:19] But also if you go back and you look through the pages of history, if you study the history of the church, you'll find there have been in that history some pretty bleak moments.
[00:42:30] There have been times when it looked like all hope was lost for the church.
[00:42:35] There have been moments of crisis when the odds were stacked up against the church, when the obstacles appeared insurmountable.
[00:42:44] And as we open 1 Samuel again this morning, we are reminded that these moments aren't unique.
[00:42:53] In fact, in history, God's people have faced crises
[00:43:00] In every age.
[00:43:02] But also in every age, just like in this passage, God has been faithful to raise up men and women to faithfully restore and carry out his mission.
[00:43:14] And so today as we study this passage, I want us to consider how God intends to uphold this promise in our generation.
[00:43:23] And I want you to think about what role you have to play
[00:43:27] In this chapter of his great story that we're living in.
[00:43:32] And you know what, guys?
[00:43:33] I have a real treat for you today.
[00:43:36] Are you ready?
[00:43:38] Four points.
[00:43:41] I know.
[00:43:42] It's hard to believe.
[00:43:44] But here we go.
[00:43:44] We're going to do it.
[00:43:46] There are four things that we see in this story that I think we see in every age.
[00:43:50] The crisis, the consequence, the call,
[00:43:54] and the Confidence.
[00:43:55] So first we're going to talk about the crisis.
[00:44:00] The author of Samuel, right, he gets straight to the point.
[00:44:02] I'm sure you heard it when we read it.
[00:44:03] He said, Eli's sons were scoundrels and they had no regard for the Lord.
[00:44:14] It's hard to overstate how big of a problem this really was.
[00:44:19] Eli's sons, their names are Hophni and Phinehas, they were priests in the temple, just like their father Eli.
[00:44:24] And priests, they were allowed a portion of the sacrifices that the people brought to the temple.
[00:44:32] You can read about the laws for priests in Leviticus and Deuteronomy especially.
[00:44:37] You find out that they didn't farm the land.
[00:44:40] They didn't own property.
[00:44:41] And so these portions of meat, it was a means of their survival.
[00:44:45] It was kind of like their wages for their service.
[00:44:50] But here we read that rather than receiving the portion of the sacrifice that was allotted to them, it says the priest's servant would come along with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled and he would just take whatever he wanted.
[00:45:12] I had AI make a picture of this guy for us.
[00:45:15] The fork man?
[00:45:18] But seriously, this was actually an enormous problem, right?
[00:45:22] This was devastating to the worship in Israel.
[00:45:25] We read that sometimes he would even come and demand the meat raw so that the people wouldn't even get to sacrifice with it at all.
[00:45:34] See, the priests in the temple had started ignoring God's laws and ruining the worship of the people of Israel.
[00:45:40] And then, of course, in verse 22, we read that Eli's sons were also living in open immorality.
[00:45:47] They were sleeping with the women who served in the temple.
[00:45:53] They had turned the worship in Shiloh into chaos and confusion.
[00:45:59] It was a place of sexual and spiritual abuse.
[00:46:05] Eli's sons were completely corrupt, and their actions were affecting more than them.
[00:46:12] They were scandalizing the entire community, and it was a heinous, offensive thing to God.
[00:46:20] When I imagine this scenario, I can't help but think of how powerless the people living in Israel must have felt then, right?
[00:46:30] Eli, the father of Hophni and Phinehas, he'd been the priest for a long time.
[00:46:35] And he had served faithfully.
[00:46:38] But now his sons were starting to take over.
[00:46:42] And as they began to do these things, it just looked like the whole nation was heading to a long period full of darkness.
[00:46:53] And they had no power to do anything about it.
[00:46:55] There was nothing they could do to stop it.
[00:46:58] And then on top of all that, chapter 3 starts off telling us that in those days,
[00:47:04] The word of the Lord was rare.
[00:47:06] There weren't many visions.
[00:47:10] I imagine these people were asking God, where are you?
[00:47:14] How can you let something like this happen to us?
[00:47:17] How can you just be silent right now?
[00:47:20] How can you let things get so bad for your people?
[00:47:26] It's actually not hard to imagine that because I think if I spent too much time
[00:47:32] Looking at our own present day, I actually can relate to those feelings.
[00:47:40] When I look at the landscape of the Christian church in America, I often feel similarly.
[00:47:49] Because the truth is, in every age there is a Hophni and Phinehas.
[00:47:54] In every age there are people, there are movements that rise up that abuse the authority of God for their own gain.
[00:48:05] There are people who rise up and they obscure the truth.
[00:48:09] They twist God's words and in the process they lead people astray.
[00:48:15] In our age, right now, I think there are several movements like that that
[00:48:20] We all need to be aware of that because they are bringing the church into a similar place of crisis like this.
[00:48:29] One of them is theological liberalism.
[00:48:33] Have you heard of this?
[00:48:34] Don't get confused by the terminology.
[00:48:36] This isn't a political party.
[00:48:38] This is a theological perspective, one that arose first in the mid-19th century when certain scholars starting in Europe and pastors
[00:48:49] began to approach Scripture differently.
[00:48:52] They began to question the authority of Scripture, whether it really is God's Word.
[00:48:58] And over the years that have followed that kind of teaching, it's led churches to dismiss some of the core doctrines of the Christian faith.
[00:49:09] Things like the resurrection of Jesus,
[00:49:13] It led to people to dismiss the miracles that we read about in Scripture as simply just myths.
[00:49:20] And of course, when you start to pick and choose which passages are real and which ones aren't, it leads people eventually to just ignore any passages that they feel like are too difficult for today's culture.
[00:49:34] As a result, this movement, it's created a lot of churches that are really indistinguishable from the world around them.
[00:49:44] Powerless.
[00:49:46] The spirit isn't moving.
[00:49:47] They're just social clubs where people gather up, and honestly, many of them are dying out.
[00:49:54] I think this type of thinking has produced at least two, maybe three generations now that are biblically illiterate, that are dismissive of the Christian faith.
[00:50:05] It's also, if you don't know, led to a split in every major American denomination.
[00:50:11] Theological liberalism.
[00:50:13] It's been a crisis for the church.
[00:50:14] And in recent years, there's another dangerous threat that also has arisen, and this is Christian nationalism.
[00:50:23] You've probably heard the term thrown around, but if you don't know exactly what Christian nationalism is, it is a false theology that's being taught in some churches where it equates our nation, the United States, with God's chosen people.
[00:50:42] And it teaches that America is the unique recipient of God's favor above and beyond the other nations of the world.
[00:50:52] And the reason why that's so dangerous, right?
[00:50:54] You might say, well, I think America is a blessed and good place.
[00:50:57] And surely it is.
[00:50:59] But the reason why this theology is so dangerous is because it blends worldly political ideology with eternal Christian truths.
[00:51:10] to the point where people have a hard time distinguishing between them.
[00:51:14] It's actually leading now to this generation that is increasingly incapable of telling you what's actually in the Bible and what is just American culture.
[00:51:27] In fact, there are even Bibles now.
[00:51:28] Maybe you've seen them.
[00:51:29] Bibles where things like the Bill of Rights and the Declaration and the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance, they're all just bound up together and they call that book the Bible.
[00:51:40] Now listen, as wonderful as the Pledge of Allegiance is, as great as the Bill of Rights may be, the Church is in trouble if we don't know the difference between the Second Amendment and the Ten Commandments.
[00:51:53] Amen?
[00:51:57] And thirdly, there's another one, right alongside theological liberalism and Christian nationalism, and this is the Prosperity Gospel.
[00:52:06] It's the teaching that you may have heard that faithful people will be blessed with financial prosperity and good health.
[00:52:17] It's that idea that if you just believe enough, if you just believe in the right way, then you're never going to be poor and that you're never going to be sick or you'll always be healed from whatever sickness you have.
[00:52:28] That if you aren't healed, if you are poor, well, it's because there's something wrong with you.
[00:52:35] because your faith is deficient.
[00:52:36] And sadly, I want to say all three of these teachings, they are rising up.
[00:52:43] They're captivating hearts and they are leading people astray.
[00:52:49] And when I think about that, I feel like these Israelites probably felt, right?
[00:52:54] When I see those celebrity pastors who are getting rich off of poor people, when I see them flying around in private jets and wearing $10,000 sneakers,
[00:53:05] When I see blatantly immoral public figures and politicians who call themselves Christians and then live lives that look nothing like Christ, I feel like Israel must have felt under these priests.
[00:53:20] And then when I see average people, people in the pews begin to follow their lead.
[00:53:29] Posturing themselves with that same aggression, with that same judgmental posture towards non-believers.
[00:53:38] When I see them, maybe on one hand, living lives of sexual immorality and cultural conformity, having no sense of guilt about it at all.
[00:53:49] When I see them, on the other hand, being judgmental and self-righteous to everyone else in the world, I feel like, I think we all should see this is a crisis.
[00:54:00] It's overwhelming to see all these people biblically illiterate, hostile, consumeristic, immoral, politicized.
[00:54:11] A church that looks less and less like Jesus.
[00:54:14] And that's my point.
[00:54:15] There was a crisis in Samuel's day, and there's a crisis in our day as well.
[00:54:21] And I know that's heavy, but it's going to get worse.
[00:54:25] So just hang on for a second before we get to the hopeful part, because first we've got to look not just at the crisis, but we need to look at the consequence.
[00:54:34] So as we go on, we see in verse 27, this man shows up, this unnamed man of God, this prophet, and he tells Eli, the priest, that judgment is coming for his sons and for him.
[00:54:47] Judgment's coming for Eli as well.
[00:54:51] And maybe you're wondering, why Eli?
[00:54:53] You know, what did he do?
[00:54:56] He seemed like a pretty nice guy in those other chapters we read, even here.
[00:54:59] Well, here's what Eli did.
[00:55:04] Nothing.
[00:55:06] And that's the problem.
[00:55:09] Eli was aware of everything his sons were up to.
[00:55:14] He even questioned them about it.
[00:55:15] We read it.
[00:55:17] But when they ignored him,
[00:55:20] He just let it continue.
[00:55:23] And so we read that passage where God himself called him out on it.
[00:55:28] He said, Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling?
[00:55:35] Why do you honor your sons more than me?
[00:55:40] By fattening yourself from the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel.
[00:55:46] Hophni and Phinehas, they are the obvious villains in this story.
[00:55:52] We read about those guys and we think, yeah, those fools deserve whatever they get.
[00:55:59] But Eli and his whole household after him are the ones that actually are condemned for his inaction.
[00:56:09] And Eli's story is a reminder to us that we all have a responsibility in times of crisis.
[00:56:17] Eli's silence, Eli's refusal to stand up for the truth, to protect the people of God from his son's deception and all the harm that they were doing, it made him guilty, just like them.
[00:56:35] I once knew a teenage girl who had a friend convince her to drive him to commit a robbery.
[00:56:46] And while he committed that robbery, she was sitting in the car.
[00:56:50] Things got out of hand and he ended up shooting someone.
[00:56:56] She drove him back home and she found out what happened.
[00:56:58] I'm not even sure she knew he had a gun in the first place.
[00:57:02] But when she found out what happened and then didn't turn him in, she was charged as what they call an accessory after the fact.
[00:57:10] Meaning, she was charged with his crime.
[00:57:13] She went to jail just like he did for attempted murder.
[00:57:18] Her inaction was counted as guilt.
[00:57:24] And so was ours.
[00:57:28] These false teachings, these false teachers around us today, they might think that they're getting away with something, but we know with God as judge, they ultimately are not.
[00:57:42] But what we see here with Eli is also those who tolerate them, those who excuse their actions, those who refuse to speak up and stand against them.
[00:57:53] They might think, well, it's no big deal what they do.
[00:57:55] But one day, Scripture says, we're all going to stand before a holy God.
[00:58:01] One day, we're all going to have to give an account.
[00:58:03] And like it says in the book of Hebrews, it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
[00:58:13] Now, I want to talk about the call.
[00:58:16] My kids, they make fun of me for liking Shaboosie, but I do.
[00:58:20] I like Shaboosie.
[00:58:21] I think he's good.
[00:58:23] And I'll say, after all this heavy stuff I've just laid on top of you, I think maybe a quote from one of his songs is appropriate right here, right?
[00:58:30] All I really need is a little good news.
[00:58:34] We need something to lighten up because this crisis is real, and the consequence of sin is no laughing matter.
[00:58:41] It's serious.
[00:58:44] But this passage is here to tell us that in the midst of crisis, God shows up.
[00:58:51] In the midst of crisis, God shows up.
[00:58:53] And here he does it big time, right?
[00:58:56] Actually, it's kind of beautiful when you read the text.
[00:59:00] You should probably all go home and read it again.
[00:59:02] We only got to read pieces of it.
[00:59:03] But it's really neat that as we're reading about this bleak, painful, terrible time that's happening in the history of Israel,
[00:59:13] We also find this little thread of hope that gets woven throughout the story.
[00:59:20] We hear about all the sins of Hophni and Phinehas, but then in verse 18 it says, But Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.
[00:59:34] And then the author tells us about their blatant immorality, and he follows it with another reminder, And the boy Samuel...
[00:59:42] continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people and then we read that terrifying declaration of judgment that's coming from Eli's house all the things that's going to happen to them but then there's this reminder the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli this little boy he's waiting in the wings
[01:00:10] In this moment of darkness, when everybody in society thought that God was absent, when everybody would have told you that God is silent, here he is working.
[01:00:24] See, there is a crisis in every generation.
[01:00:27] That's just a part of life in a fallen world.
[01:00:31] There have been so many dark moments all throughout history in the church, yet God is still there, always.
[01:00:39] And it's because in every generation, God raises up new leaders.
[01:00:45] He raises up people and calls them to rise to the moment.
[01:00:51] And of course, you probably know about some of those great titans of church history, right?
[01:00:57] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, standing up and dying as a martyr under the Nazi regime that was ruling his nation.
[01:01:06] Or William Wilberforce, who, because of his faith, he stood against the tide of culture and fought to end slavery.
[01:01:15] Or maybe Martin Luther, who took his own life in his hands to reclaim the heart of the gospel when it looked like the church was hopelessly lost to corruption.
[01:01:30] Or what about in Scripture?
[01:01:33] Do you remember Daniel?
[01:01:36] Who lived out that bold, consistent faith in the nation of Babylon to the point where eventually the king himself bowed before the Lord.
[01:01:47] Or Esther, who risked her royal position and her life in order to rescue the nation from genocide.
[01:01:58] So when we get to chapter 3 and we see this little boy
[01:02:02] That God calls this little boy that never expected it, that didn't, it said, know the Lord yet.
[01:02:08] In fact, we read, right, it took three attempts before he even had a clue what was really going on.
[01:02:16] But God showed up, and with Eli's good advice, eventually Samuel said, speak, for your servant is listening.
[01:02:28] And God is still calling.
[01:02:30] God's still calling people to come and stand up for his truth.
[01:02:36] If you've read it before, maybe you remember that story of Esther that I mentioned.
[01:02:40] You might remember she initially, when people proposed that she speak up, she hesitated.
[01:02:46] She resisted.
[01:02:48] She was afraid of what would happen if she stood up to the king, if she spoke against the status quo.
[01:02:55] Do any of you remember what Mordecai said, how he challenged her?
[01:03:01] Do you remember that passage?
[01:03:01] He said, If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.
[01:03:12] But of you and your father's family, they will perish.
[01:03:16] And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.
[01:03:26] God is still raising up people to stand for his truth, and I bring up that
[01:03:30] There was no way Samuel could ignore God's audible voice coming to him again and again and telling him exactly what it was that he needed to do.
[01:03:45] But usually our call is a little bit more like Esther's.
[01:03:49] It's scary.
[01:03:52] It's something that we're tempted to resist, maybe even to question.
[01:03:57] But it doesn't change the fact that God's call
[01:04:00] is still coming.
[01:04:03] And in case you're somebody out there and you're saying, I don't know that I've heard God's call.
[01:04:07] I don't know what God has said to me.
[01:04:09] Well, here's what God has said to all of us.
[01:04:12] He says, whoever wants to be my disciple must take up, deny themselves, and take up their cross daily and follow me.
[01:04:22] That's his call on your life.
[01:04:25] He calls you to become his disciple, to learn his ways.
[01:04:31] To study His Word thoroughly and understand it so that we can see through the lies, so that we can teach the truth, so that we can understand when people are trying to deceive us and deceive others.
[01:04:45] But then the call keeps going.
[01:04:47] He says in Matthew 28, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[01:04:59] See, He calls you
[01:05:01] To go out with that truth that's in you that you've learned from him and to make disciples wherever you are, in your workplace, in your home, in whatever sphere of influence you may have.
[01:05:23] Think of Samuel's story so far.
[01:05:25] Think of all the things we read the last couple of weeks, those miraculous events, right?
[01:05:30] The barren woman having a child.
[01:05:32] Everything that had to happen so that this boy would be born in the first place and then so that this boy would end up in the temple being raised precisely where he needed to be at precisely the time he needed to be there.
[01:05:49] Think about Esther's story.
[01:05:52] How she rose to that place of authority and was able to act.
[01:05:58] And then think
[01:06:00] of your own story.
[01:06:03] Think of where God has put you and how he's gotten you there.
[01:06:08] Think about your neighborhood and all those people around you who don't really know what the good news is.
[01:06:16] As you see your friends, who maybe their only knowledge of the Christian faith is what they learn about it on TV.
[01:06:25] As you look at your children or your grandchildren,
[01:06:29] The people at your job, the people in your school.
[01:06:35] Think about those words of Mordecai.
[01:06:39] Who knows whether you've been put into this position for such a time as this.
[01:06:48] See, God still calls his people in a time of crisis.
[01:06:52] And if you know him as your Savior, then you must respond.
[01:06:57] You and I, we have to respond just like Samuel did.
[01:07:01] We need to stand before him and say, Speak, Lord.
[01:07:05] Your servant is listening.
[01:07:08] That's the call.
[01:07:10] And the fourth thing I want to talk about here is the confidence.
[01:07:15] So far, I know that basically what I have said to you in this sermon is there is a huge, overwhelming problem, and you need to fix it.
[01:07:23] Right?
[01:07:24] There is this big terrible thing out there, and it's all up to you.
[01:07:28] And I imagine that somewhere along the line, every one of us has had a boss or a relative or a parent or a teacher that liked to communicate with that same kind of message.
[01:07:40] There's a problem.
[01:07:41] You need to fix it.
[01:07:43] So you probably know that a guilt trip, it can lead to immediate action.
[01:07:50] But it won't motivate anybody's heart for long.
[01:07:54] And so here's the thing we really need.
[01:07:56] Here's the moment we've all been waiting for.
[01:07:58] Here's where the really, really good news comes in.
[01:08:04] See, the last verse that we read, it says, after all this, Samuel's word came to all Israel.
[01:08:13] This little boy, as he grows up, we'll see in the next few chapters that he rises to a place that is special.
[01:08:22] He is the last judge that rules over Israel, but he's not just a judge like some of those other judges you read about in the book before this.
[01:08:31] But he also is a priest.
[01:08:35] He also is a prophet.
[01:08:38] Samuel is special.
[01:08:39] He's the first person since Moses to stand in all three of those places.
[01:08:47] But
[01:08:48] It's interesting, as you read about Samuel here in this book, you notice that even though he was such a great figure in history, the author does not show us that Samuel is the answer to the problem.
[01:09:03] There is one crisis that not even Samuel could resolve.
[01:09:09] There's one crisis that not even Samuel had the answer to, and Eli is the one who says it in the passage.
[01:09:15] He says, it's when Eli's talking to his sons about their sin, he said, If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender.
[01:09:24] But if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?
[01:09:30] If anybody sins against the Lord...
[01:09:32] Who could possibly stand between us?
[01:09:35] Who can possibly intercede, right?
[01:09:37] All of these things, all these crises, all these problems that we face, they are all just symptoms of the real problem.
[01:09:46] They're all just symptoms of the bigger problem, the problem of a world that is at odds with its creator.
[01:09:54] The problem of a people whose hearts are, by their nature, turned towards rebellion and rejection of Him.
[01:10:05] When I look at this story, I love Samuel.
[01:10:10] I love learning about him.
[01:10:11] I admire his character, but I also realize a lot of times I'm a lot more like Eli than Samuel.
[01:10:21] I couldn't stand before the Lord today and say that I have been bold and faithful to stand up for the truth at all times.
[01:10:31] There have been times when I've been passive.
[01:10:35] When I've been silent, I could not stand in front of him and say that I'm innocent, that I haven't sinned against him.
[01:10:42] And the truth is, you can't either.
[01:10:45] None of us can.
[01:10:50] But here's the really cool thing.
[01:10:51] A few verses later, after he says this, after that unnamed man of God makes this prophecy about the consequences that are coming for Eli's unfaithfulness, he says this,
[01:11:05] I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and mind.
[01:11:12] I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my Anointed One always.
[01:11:22] Now, who is that prophecy really about?
[01:11:24] You might be thinking, oh, well, it's about Samuel because Samuel becomes the priest just a few verses later, but it's not Samuel.
[01:11:32] That's going to be a big part of the story in the next few chapters.
[01:11:36] Samuel doesn't have a priestly house.
[01:11:39] His descendants don't follow in his footsteps.
[01:11:43] His priesthood ends with him.
[01:11:47] No, see, this verse, it is pointing to the great high priest.
[01:11:53] It's pointing us to that great priest to come, Jesus Christ.
[01:11:58] The only one who is fit to intercede between God and man.
[01:12:02] The only one who can stand before the Lord and in all honesty say, my heart is clean, I'm innocent.
[01:12:09] Hebrews, that same book where it says it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
[01:12:14] Well, here's something else that it says in chapter 7.
[01:12:18] Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
[01:12:22] Therefore, he's able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for him.
[01:12:30] Such a high priest truly meets our need.
[01:12:34] One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
[01:12:45] unlike the other high priests he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people he sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself see jesus he's the true and greater samuel he is the prophet priest and king and
[01:13:11] If we are going to respond to this call that I've laid out today, this call that God has given us to stand boldly and to faithfully declare the truth of the gospel in a time of crisis, if we're going to respond to that call as a joy and not as a guilty burden to weigh us down, well first we've got to come and receive his sacrifice.
[01:13:37] First we've got to come to him by faith and with
[01:13:40] Repentance, and we have to receive His perfect righteousness for ourselves.
[01:13:47] We've got to realize that He's actually done all the hard work for us already.
[01:13:51] He's already taken all the risk.
[01:13:55] And that means that even if it costs you your life to follow Him,
[01:14:03] When he calls you, whatever that crisis may be, even if it costs you everything, in him you can't lose because you belong to him.
[01:14:15] See, Jesus promised he will build his church.
[01:14:20] It's a truth you can rest in.
[01:14:21] The gates of hell won't prevail against it.
[01:14:26] So take up your cross, follow him, and join him.
[01:14:32] Let's pray.
[01:14:37] Father, we thank you for this word.
[01:14:39] We thank you as we look at the lives of people who've gone before us who've fallen, who've sinned, who've rejected you.
[01:14:47] People who've gone before us who have turned to you in faith and served you faithfully.
[01:14:52] God, we recognize, Lord, your working in history.
[01:14:58] You're working in our lives, and I want to pray for anybody here who may not know you today, Lord, that they would hear your invitation to come to a Savior who's laid down his life, to come to him in confidence and joy.
[01:15:12] And I pray for all of us, Lord, who are here today, that we might hear your call, that we might not follow in the spirit of Eli and be silent and refuse to act, but that you might lead us into the world
[01:15:29] To take up our cross and follow you and to declare your good news to those around us.
[01:15:34] We pray in Christ's name.

[01:15:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Amen.

[01:15:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.

[01:15:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Let's stand and sing this beautiful song of worship about the love of Christ.

[01:15:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
[01:15:57] And I wonder how he could love me A sinner condemned unclean I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
[01:16:20] and I wonder how he could love me a sinner condemned unclean we're singing how marvelous
[01:16:36] How wonderful and my song shall ever be!
[01:16:45] How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!
[01:17:05] He took my sins and my sorrows He made them His very own And He bore the burden to come
[01:18:07] It'll be my joy through the ages To sing of His love for me How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be
[01:18:32] How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me!
[01:18:43] How marvelous, oh how wonderful, and my song shall ever be!
[01:18:54] How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.

[01:19:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Our Savior's love for us.

[01:19:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[01:19:16] Well, hey, can we have a round of applause for our band today?
[01:19:21] Really thankful for them filling in while Shannon's away.
[01:19:24] I also want to say a special thanks to Andrew.
[01:19:25] He is a member of Story Hill, one of our sister congregations.
[01:19:29] And we're grateful that he was willing to come and play the keys today.
[01:19:34] Also, I want to mention, as we leave from this place with this great charge to go and follow the Lord's call, oftentimes we can leave with tons of energy and excitement and by Wednesday be sputtering.
[01:19:48] And because of that, every Wednesday at noon, we're having a communion service.
[01:19:53] It's a short service, a liturgical service.
[01:19:55] It's only 30 minutes.
[01:19:56] 1215 to 1245 so if you're working you can get back to work afterwards but I'd love for you to join me for that if you're able this Wednesday at 1215.
[01:20:07] And now receive this blessing from the Lord.
[01:20:11] May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:20:23] He who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it.
[01:20:26] Amen.

[01:20:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Go in peace.
[01:20:48] Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All thrones and dominions All powers and positions Your name stands above them all And the angels cry
[01:21:16] Holy, all creation cries Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever If you've been forgiven
[01:21:46] We'll sing the song forever and amen And the angels cry
[01:22:39] Hear your people sing Holy to the King of Kings
[01:23:08] Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All thrones and dominions All powers and positions Your name stands above them all
[01:23:33] Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all Above all thrones and dominions All powers and positions Your name stands above them all And the angels cry
[01:24:05] Holy, all creation Christ Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever And your people sing Holy, to the King of kings