From Saul’s Excuse to Gospel Freedom: Do You Have a Big Enough Savior?

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
All my days and all my life have it all All my days and all my life have it all

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Oh Jesus have it all King Jesus have it all And I call

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
And you came to my rescue and I, I just wanna be where you are Oh I call, you answer
[00:02:06] And you came to my rescue and I, I wanna be where you are Oh I call on you and serve, yes I call on you and serve
[00:02:32] When you came to my rescue and I, I just wanna be where you are Oh I call, yes I call on you
[00:02:59] When you came to my rescue and I, I wanna be
[00:03:28] Let's pray.
[00:03:55] Let's pray.
[00:04:41] We lift it high in our love We lift it high in our love We lift it high When I call When I call You answer
[00:05:13] I came to my rescue and I I just wanna be where you are
[00:05:42] I just wanna be where you are Oh and I I just wanna be where you are Oh I
[00:06:11] I just wanna be where you are

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
You put no heavy weights on me You say come, rest and receive all All of those years I was wounded
[00:07:19] You calm all my striving You lay Your peace over me like blankets
[00:07:49] You put an end to my pretending show You are the least religious person that I know You put no expectations on me

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
You say, son, I just, I want you free.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Apparently I don't know how to ring a bell.
[00:08:40] Welcome, everybody.
[00:08:41] We're going to get kicked off here with just a few announcements for you.
[00:08:46] And I am so happy to see all of you.
[00:08:48] I'm really excited to worship with you today.
[00:08:51] But we do have a lot of great things happening that I want you to know about.
[00:08:55] The first of them is
[00:08:57] We are continuing to collect our Samaritan's Purse boxes.
[00:09:01] If you've brought yours back, you have a few more weeks to do that, but we're going to begin stacking them up and building a little fortress over here.
[00:09:08] So go ahead and join us.
[00:09:10] Also, we have lunch together this Sunday.
[00:09:15] We're going to go right after the service and head over to Barcelona Burger just down the street.
[00:09:20] If you don't know where it is, you can Google it or ask somebody.
[00:09:23] But the first Sunday of the month from here on out, we're going to
[00:09:27] Try to make it a point to eat together and spend some time together outside of the service.
[00:09:32] So I hope if you don't have plans that you might join us for that.
[00:09:37] But the really big announcement, the thing that I am excited to share with you all is from Brian, who is just now getting spoken to by his daughter.
[00:09:48] But I want to invite Brian up to tell us a little bit about what he has going on next week.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
That should be better.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
So Brian surprised me last week with a text message.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I didn't tell Logan a whole lot.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
And so I wanted you to surprise our church too and tell us what are you about to do?

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Well, I am part of an organization called Timothy II Project International, and it's a lot like the vignettes do.
[00:10:25] If you know Doug and Abby, they go to Zambia and serve pastors, indigenous pastors there, and they train them in the gospel.
[00:10:34] And the pastors there do not have an education, a theological education as we would.
[00:10:39] So Timothy II does a lot like the organization that they're with.
[00:10:42] We go train those pastors.
[00:10:44] There's a series of four workshops.
[00:10:45] I'm doing workshop three in Cameroon.
[00:10:47] The 9th through the 23rd of November is when I'm supposed to go.
[00:10:51] So, yes.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
And so when, what's going on in Cameroon right now?

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
a lot is going on in Cameroon right now just due to there's a lot of political unrest as you can see Logan won this picture uh this is this one scares my wife a little bit but it is just an election where they've elected someone who's been in power for a number of years and the person is 92 years old there's a lot of uproar from the people so that's something to pray for not just for me as i would go but just for the people there in the country as a whole

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
and we know that you have been uh raising some support to go on this trip um how much support are you still looking to raise i need a thousand dollars is what i still need to raise i'm going on uh is the goal is to go next week and for some reason due to the political things that are going on there it could get delayed a week or two but i still have a thousand dollars to raise so far so if you look inside of your bulletins you should have a little card with this information and a qr code if you would like to
[00:11:52] contribute to him online you're able to do that or after the service he'll be standing out by the door if you would like to write a physical check the instructions are also on that card with their family's name on it but before uh we you sit back down can i pray for you and yes and i was gonna mention that i need prayer i mean that i really would love i've never been away for this long from my family to a place i don't know anyone and so two weeks i'll be there so i really really would appreciate your prayers
[00:12:20] So, you know, we also should mention Brian, he works for an organization called PastorServe, and their main goal is to support churches and pastors.
[00:12:29] I'm sure you have a mission statement memorized that I don't, but he offers coaching, he offers
[00:12:34] He's going to take some of those skills and know-how and bring it to these pastors in Cameroon, which is an amazing thing and something, a real benefit that you can offer.
[00:12:48] And so I want to pray for him.
[00:12:50] Let's all pray for him.
[00:12:50] Maybe reach your hands up forward as we do.
[00:12:53] Lift up Brian to you we thank you so much for his faithful service to our church the way he has delivered us your word and cared for us and welcomed others and god we pray as he has this opportunity next week first that you would uh clear the way lord that you would allow everything to open up so that he could make this trip in the time that it was scheduled lord we pray that you would protect him lord keep him safe and
[00:13:17] Lord, keep him, all the pastors and the people that he's going to minister to, out of harm.
[00:13:23] And Father, Lord, most of all, we ask God that you would be glorified, that you would be honored, that your gospel would go forth, that these local pastors would have a powerful and more impactful ministry, that they would experience the gospel freedom for themselves in a way that is contagious to the people of Cameroon.
[00:13:42] And Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name.
[00:13:45] Amen.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Thank you for allowing me to share.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Well, I want to invite you now to just take a moment and pause.
[00:13:53] As we've all come in here from whatever places, whatever situations this morning, let's just take a moment and become aware of ourselves before the Lord.
[00:14:06] What it is that we might be bringing in.
[00:14:10] Joys and sorrows.
[00:14:19] Know in this moment that our God, He sees you.
[00:14:27] And He calls you to worship Him this morning.
[00:14:33] Would you stand with me?
[00:14:35] And let's say this call to worship.
[00:14:41] God, our Creator, from nothing you made our world.
[00:14:51] God, our Redeemer, you rescued us from sin.

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
You have given us new life and hope of healing to the world.

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
God, our Comforter, you are with us always.
[00:15:05] You comfort us, renew us, and guide us with your truth.
[00:15:10] Almighty God, for your gracious love for us, we praise you today.
[00:15:17] Let's worship the Lord.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Father God, we are here to see you.
[00:15:23] We are here to glorify your name.
[00:15:26] We are gathered in this place to be reminded of what we know to be true and we ask that Father today you would let it go deeper in our hearts.
[00:15:36] The truth that we believe that you created us in your image.
[00:15:40] That Jesus died for our sin.
[00:15:44] That he was raised to new life
[00:15:48] and through him we are raised up.
[00:15:52] Lord, we need your touch today, your healing touch.
[00:15:57] There are places where we are holding on and need to let go and surrender.
[00:16:03] So Father, in only the way that you can, we ask you would send your spirit
[00:16:09] that it would loom large flow freely and that you would awaken us to yourself once again this morning that we would come away changed and that we would walk out of this place made new again in Christ Jesus we give you our worship the reading of the word the praying the singing the preaching it's all for you and we give it all to you in Jesus name and all God's people said amen

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
A thousand generations Falling down worship To sing a song of ages to man And all who've gone before us And all who will believe

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest, your name stands above them all
[00:17:27] Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name stands above them all, and the angels cry, Holy, our creation cries.
[00:17:50] Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever And if you've been forgiven And if you've been redeemed We'll sing a song forever to the Lamb
[00:18:22] And if you walk in freedom And if you bear His name We'll sing a song forever to the Lamb We'll sing a song forever and amen And the angels cry
[00:18:44] Holy, all creation flies Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever Hear your people sing
[00:19:12] Holy, to the King of Kings You're holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever Your name is the highest
[00:19:45] Stands above them all
[00:19:49] Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name, Jesus, stands above them all.
[00:20:13] Jesus, Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name, He stands above them all.
[00:20:16] Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name is set above them all, and the angels cry, Holy, all creation cries.
[00:20:39] Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever Hear your people sing, hear your people sing Holy, to the King of Kings
[00:21:07] Holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever The angels cry Holy The ancient cries Holy
[00:21:36] We were lifted high Holy Glory forever Hear people sing Holy To the King of Kings Holy
[00:22:04] You'll always be holy, holy forever.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
You'll always be holy, holy forever.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Always be holy, holy forever.

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Oh things have passed away Your love has stayed the same Your constant grace
[00:23:56] The things that we thought were dead Are breathing in life again Cause you caused your sun to shine on darkest nights

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
For all that you've done we will pour out Our loveless will be our endless soul Jesus we love you Oh how we love you
[00:24:51] The hopeless have found their hope The orphans now have a home All that was lost has found its place in you
[00:25:18] You lift our weary head You make us strong instead You took these rags and made us beautiful
[00:25:41] For all that you've done we will pour out our love This will be our endless song Jesus we love you Oh how we love you You are the one
[00:26:16] Oh Jesus we love you Oh how we love you You are the one our Our hearts adore Our hearts adore
[00:26:46] The hearts adore, O how we adore you!

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
You've been loving other things this week.
[00:27:05] Before Him, this is the opportunity to confess it.
[00:27:09] Lay it down.
[00:27:11] Let Him rearrange your priorities.
[00:27:12] He is our first love.
[00:27:16] Let all of the other things fall away.

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Our affection, our devotion,
[00:27:31] Poured out on the feet of Jesus our affection, our devotion
[00:27:56] Lord, out on the feet of Jesus our affection
[00:28:06] Our devotion poured out on the feet of Jesus Our affection, our devotion poured out on the feet of Jesus Our affection, our devotion poured out on the
[00:28:40] We love you Oh how we love you You are the one and all Our hearts adore We love you Lord Oh Jesus we love you
[00:29:09] I love you You are the one
[00:29:45] Our affection, our devotion, poured out on the feet of Jesus.
[00:29:59] Our affection, our devotion,
[00:30:04] Lord, out on the feet of Jesus Our affection, our devotion Lord, out on the feet of Jesus Our affection, our devotion
[00:30:29] Lord, how on the feet of Jesus we love you Oh, how we love you
[00:30:59] You can be seated.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Father, as we
[00:31:29] Lift up these praises to you, declaring that you are the one our hearts adore.
[00:31:36] We are reminded that you've told us what that looks like.
[00:31:42] You've told us you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
[00:31:52] This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:32:00] On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
[00:32:05] And Lord, we acknowledge as we enter this place and as we see your holiness, as we declare that our hearts adore you and love you, that we also come bearing guilt.
[00:32:18] And so we take this time to look to the promises of Christ, to cling to his hope and to confess our sins.
[00:32:28] I want to invite you all in this moment just to take some time silently before the Lord and confess your sins to Him.
[00:32:59] Now please pray this prayer of confession with me.
[00:33:06] There are many times we think we love you well, O God.
[00:33:12] But upon hearing your call to love you with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our strength, we confess that our love for you is a deluded love.
[00:33:26] Made hollow and flat by lesser loyalties and a divided heart Our love seems pure only for brief moments Soon our affections are drawn away How easily our devotion dies Forgive us, in deep mercy spare us Despite our lost first love for you
[00:33:52] In grace we rekindle our love for you, seeing a new Jesus love for us.
[00:34:00] Amen.
[00:34:02] And as we've prayed those words, I also encourage you to hear this proclamation of gospel truth.
[00:34:10] In Ezekiel, God promises his people, he says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
[00:34:17] and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you a new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh this promise has been fulfilled for us in Christ and by his blood we are washed clean amen well as we
[00:34:47] Now have received freely the forgiveness of God's grace, we also have a moment to respond out of the overflow of our hearts by giving Him our tithes and our offerings.
[00:34:59] We always want to say that this is not a payment to God, but it's a testimony of His provision in our lives.
[00:35:07] And so as we collect
[00:35:09] The offering you're able to give online if you prefer, but we also would invite you to throw in your connection cards and your prayer requests as they come around.
[00:35:19] If you're a visitor, please don't feel like you have to give.
[00:35:22] We're so glad you're here with us.
[00:35:24] But let us give graciously, generously to the Lord.
[00:35:32] If you've been with us the last few weeks, you know that we've been talking about this little list that you have inside of your bulletins.
[00:35:39] It says, my list of five at the top.
[00:35:41] And I'd love it if you would take a moment and just pull this out and look at it with me.
[00:35:47] What this list is for, we've been thinking a lot about our mission statement.
[00:35:52] We say that we are making room for everyone to experience joyful, life-transforming connection to Jesus and his people.
[00:36:02] But as I thought about what that means for us to really be on mission, it struck me that if all we do is talk about it, it's really empty.
[00:36:12] What we're really called to do is to trust the Lord that He will accomplish His purposes in our life and in this world.
[00:36:20] And so we're going to, I want to encourage you to take this list and put on it five names.
[00:36:26] Think of people that God's placed in your life that don't know Him.
[00:36:30] People maybe that don't have a community, a church community that they belong to.
[00:36:35] One of our values here as a church is that we want to be making not just disciples, but we want to be making healthy disciples.
[00:36:45] And so as this week, the way I want to challenge you with this card, as we continue to pray for these five names, I want to challenge you to pray for yourself.
[00:36:56] I want you to pray that God would begin preparing your own heart
[00:37:01] As you think of ministering to these people, that he would not allow you to go and spread anything other than the truth of who he is and the love of Christ, that he would expose those areas of sin and shame, and that the gospel would become good news to us again.
[00:37:19] So if you would, fill these out, put the same five names on the bottom, and as you're walking out later, write your name on the back, and we'll pray with you, for you.
[00:37:30] That God might do something great, something unexpected here in this church.
[00:37:38] Well, now I want to invite you to stand with us as we sing together.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Has the tear panted forth?

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship Thee
[00:38:55] You alone are my strength, my shield To you alone may my spirit heal You alone are my heart's desire And I long to worship
[00:39:26] I long to worship you You're my friend and you are my brother even though you are a king
[00:39:52] I love you more than any other so much more
[00:40:02] and everything.
[00:40:25] You alone are my strength, my shield.

[00:40:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
To you alone may my spirit heal.
[00:40:26] You alone

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I long to worship thee I want you more than gold
[00:40:54] For silver only you can satisfy.
[00:41:17] You alone are the real toy giver and the apple of my eye.
[00:41:21] God, you more than gold or silver, only you can satisfy.
[00:41:45] You alone are the real joy giver and the apple of my eye.
[00:41:53] You alone are my strength, my shield To You alone may my spirit heal You alone are my heart's desire And I long to worship You
[00:42:21] Oh, you alone are my strength, my shield To you alone may my spirit give You alone are my heart's desire and I long
[00:42:48] I come to worship thee, O I come to worship thee, O I come to worship thee

[00:43:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Just take a moment to acknowledge this welcome that we have received from the God of peace today.
[00:43:35] And as you've received his welcome, I invite you now to go and extend that welcome to one another.
[00:43:43] Please pass the peace of Christ.
[00:43:46] Kids, you're dismissed at this time for Children's Church.

[00:43:54] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
... ... ... ...
[00:44:19] Thank you.
[00:44:35] .
[00:44:51] .
[00:44:51] .
[00:44:52] .
[00:45:13] .
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[00:45:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
If you would make your way back to your seats and please join me as we sing together the Doxology.
[00:45:31] Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

[00:45:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Praise Him all creatures here below.
[00:45:47] Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

[00:45:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I'm going to allow you all to be seated for the reading of your word today because we've got a lot to cover and our God is a God of mercy.
[00:46:20] Amen?
[00:46:23] So here we go.
[00:46:24] We are reading selections from 1 Samuel chapter 13 and 15.
[00:46:31] Saul was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned over Israel two years.
[00:46:38] When...
[00:46:40] Saul chose three thousand men from Israel.
[00:46:43] Two thousand were with him at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin.
[00:46:51] The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.
[00:46:54] When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard-pressed, they hid in caves and thickets among the rocks, in pits and cisterns.
[00:47:04] Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
[00:47:08] Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.
[00:47:13] He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel.
[00:47:16] But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter.
[00:47:21] He said, Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.
[00:47:25] And Saul offered up the burnt offering.
[00:47:28] Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.
[00:47:35] What have you done?
[00:47:36] asked Samuel.
[00:47:38] Saul replied, When I saw that the men were scattering and that you did not come at the set time and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, I thought, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor.
[00:47:51] So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.
[00:47:55] You've done a foolish thing, Samuel said.
[00:47:58] You've not kept the command of the Lord your God.
[00:48:01] And if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.
[00:48:06] But now your kingdom will not endure.
[00:48:09] The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people because you have not kept the Lord's command.
[00:48:17] And then in chapter 15, on another event, Samuel said to Saul, I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel.
[00:48:29] So listen now to the message from the Lord.
[00:48:31] This is what the Lord Almighty says.
[00:48:33] I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.
[00:48:40] Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them.
[00:48:46] Do not spare them.
[00:48:46] Put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
[00:48:54] Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt.
[00:49:01] He took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive, and all the people he totally destroyed with the sword.
[00:49:07] But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good.
[00:49:15] These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
[00:49:21] Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.
[00:49:31] Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
[00:49:36] Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to Saul, but he was told, Saul has gone to Carmel.
[00:49:42] There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.
[00:49:49] When Samuel reached him,
[00:49:51] Saul said, The Lord bless you.
[00:49:53] I have carried out the Lord's instructions.
[00:49:57] But Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears?
[00:50:03] What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?
[00:50:06] Samuel answers, The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites.
[00:50:10] They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.
[00:50:17] Enough, Samuel said to Saul.
[00:50:19] Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.
[00:50:22] Tell me.
[00:50:23] Saul replied.
[00:50:24] Samuel said, Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel?
[00:50:31] The Lord anointed you king over Israel, and he sent you on a mission, saying, Go and completely destroy those wicked people.
[00:50:39] Wage war against them until you have wiped them out.
[00:50:43] Why did you not obey the Lord?
[00:50:45] Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?
[00:50:51] But I did obey the Lord, Saul said.
[00:50:53] I went on the mission the Lord assigned me.
[00:50:55] I completely destroyed the Amalekites, and I brought back Agag their king.
[00:51:01] The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.
[00:51:10] But Samuel replied,
[00:51:13] Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?
[00:51:18] To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
[00:51:25] For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
[00:51:30] Because you rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.
[00:51:38] Until the day Samuel died, he did not see Saul again.
[00:51:42] Though Samuel mourned for him, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
[00:51:49] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:51:53] Well, let's pray.
[00:51:56] Lord, as we open your word, we acknowledge, God, that you are the only one who can change our hearts.
[00:52:04] And so we ask, God, that you would move powerfully in this time, that you would speak truth into our lives,
[00:52:13] And most importantly, Lord, that you would transform us and change us.
[00:52:17] We come to you in this moment with our needs, and we ask that you could hold them, that we could trust you with them, and that you would allow us to focus our hearts and our minds on you.
[00:52:28] We ask this in Christ's name.
[00:52:30] Amen.
[00:52:34] Jesus said, If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
[00:52:43] He said that, but a lot of times I wonder whether most Christians today are really experiencing that freedom.
[00:52:54] I wonder if we have truly known and believed the good news that God has proclaimed over us so that we are increasingly free in our lives, so that we are increasingly aware of God's delight and God's joy
[00:53:13] or whether most of us are just maybe going through the motions, putting on a happy face, trying to live a decent life, going to church, doing good things, but all the while living life with hearts that are still burdened by guilt and shame and fear.
[00:53:38] Well, today as we get to these chapters where we are looking at the demise, not the death, but the downfall of Saul, we have a case study in what it means to know God's heart.
[00:53:54] And as we look at this, I think we're going to have an opportunity also to examine the state of our own hearts before God, to consider whether we are living like people who really know Him.
[00:54:08] and hopefully as we're asking those questions we we also might rediscover some of the truth of the gospel or maybe even who knows discover it for the first time see today what we're going to find in this passage is that we have an opportunity to experience more of that freedom that christ came to bring us and so we're going to dive into this and we're going to do it by breaking it up under three headings we're going to look at the deceptive nature of our sin
[00:54:37] The freeing power of the truth and the path to God's own heart.
[00:54:46] So let's do it.
[00:54:47] The deceptive nature of sin.
[00:54:50] So we just read these two moments in Saul's life.
[00:54:54] And these two moments, they really illustrate just how deceptive sin can be.
[00:55:03] In the first account, we read that Saul and his army are waiting for Samuel to show up and offer this sacrifice that needed to take place before the battle.
[00:55:15] But he's taking a long time.
[00:55:18] He's late.
[00:55:19] And the longer it takes, Saul's mercenary army starts to scatter.
[00:55:25] And Saul becomes concerned that if this keeps happening, well, everybody is going to flee.
[00:55:31] And so Saul takes it upon himself to offer the sacrifice.
[00:55:36] And right as he finishes, Samuel shows up and he confronts him on the spot.
[00:55:41] And you saw in that moment that rather than admitting what he had done, Saul tries to justify his actions.
[00:55:51] Well, then in the second account we see something similar.
[00:55:53] Although God had instructed the people to completely wipe out the Amalekites and everything that belonged to them.
[00:56:03] He told them to do this.
[00:56:03] It was an act of divine judgment.
[00:56:07] They were against their relentless oppression.
[00:56:10] They were attacking the enslaved Israelites as they left in weakness out of Egypt.
[00:56:15] It was judgment on their brutal violence towards everyone who lived around them.
[00:56:19] This wasn't some military action.
[00:56:21] It was God's judgment.
[00:56:24] And instead of doing what God asked, Saul spared the king.
[00:56:28] And he kept the best of the livestock.
[00:56:31] And when Saul comes and he confronts him again,
[00:56:36] When Samuel confronts him again, Saul does the exact same thing.
[00:56:39] He tries to justify his actions.
[00:56:45] Jeremiah chapter 17, it says, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
[00:56:55] Who can understand it?
[00:56:59] We see the truth of that on full display in these stories.
[00:57:05] In both of these moments, right, Saul is obviously in the wrong.
[00:57:09] He has been caught red-handed doing the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do, and yet he does everything in his power to assert his rightness.
[00:57:21] He tries to prove how the thing he did was actually fine, maybe even good.
[00:57:29] And the issue in this moment is so grave.
[00:57:35] The thing that stands out so starkly, both to Samuel and to the Lord, it's not just that Saul has done wrong in these moments, but that he can't even acknowledge it.
[00:57:48] Perhaps he can't even see it.
[00:57:52] It's like there is something in him
[00:57:55] that will not allow him to admit or acknowledge what is really happening inside of his heart, what really the motives are in his life.
[00:58:06] And Saul's actually not alone here, right?
[00:58:08] In fact, this might be one of the most common struggles in the world.
[00:58:16] It's one thing to know intellectually that we need God to rescue us because we're sinners.
[00:58:23] But it is another thing
[00:58:26] To have to face our sin directly and to acknowledge the impact that it has on the people around us.
[00:58:35] The basic message of the gospel is summed up in Romans.
[00:58:38] It says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.
[00:58:49] It's one thing to believe those verses, to read them and to say, yeah, yeah, I am a sinner and I need a savior.
[00:58:58] But it's another thing to have somebody who knows you look you in the eye and tell you about the sin they see.
[00:59:10] That's when Jeremiah comes in, right?
[00:59:13] That's when this desperate sickness starts to bubble up inside of us.
[00:59:18] Because when somebody comes out and they point out the sin in your life, what is your reaction?
[00:59:26] Our natural reaction when we have our sin presented to us is rather than owning the truth, we do everything we can to deny it, to self-protect, to defend, to cover it up, to try and prove how we aren't really all that bad.
[00:59:47] Do we actually even need an illustration?
[00:59:48] Right?
[00:59:50] I think anybody who's ever been married, anybody who's ever lived with a roommate, anybody who's ever had siblings, you've seen this.
[00:59:59] You know how this works.
[01:00:00] I can't tell you how many times in my marriage Melissa has pointed out some little thing that I've failed to do, you know, clean the dishes before I go to bed or whatever.
[01:00:14] And when she brings it up, rather than just acknowledging it, well I decide what she really needs is to hear a long list of all the great things I've done, right?
[01:00:25] That maybe she's forgotten about when she noticed this one bad thing.
[01:00:31] I joke, but I really do it, right?
[01:00:33] She's nodding her head, right?
[01:00:36] My resume of righteousness that I love to present has never once helped me and yet still every time I have to catch myself because in the back of my mind when my sin is presented to my face I think well I need to show the world that I'm good see that's the deceptive nature of our sin it's not simply that that sin
[01:00:59] makes us hide the true state of our hearts, which it absolutely does, but in a sense it blinds us to it.
[01:01:08] It makes us allergic to the truth.
[01:01:10] We don't want to see what's in there.
[01:01:14] Our sin wants us to live in the illusion of our own goodness.
[01:01:20] It wants us to believe that we're good enough on our own.
[01:01:25] In fact, this is so common.
[01:01:26] Let me just quickly go through a couple of other examples of the ways we tend to do this, the ways we tend to minimize our sin, because Saul manages to do almost all of them here.
[01:01:37] Saul manages to hit a lot of them.
[01:01:38] First of all, we see from this passage that when we're confronted with our sin, we often rationalize.
[01:01:44] When Samuel confronts Saul for offering the sacrifice before he got there, he asks him, what have you done?
[01:01:51] And Saul tells him, well, when I saw that these men were scattering and that you weren't here and that the Philistines were rising up against me, I thought, well, now the Philistines are going to come.
[01:02:03] And so I needed to seek the Lord's favor.
[01:02:09] When we rationalize, this is what we do, right?
[01:02:11] We say, I know what I did.
[01:02:13] It seems like it's wrong on the outside, but here's all the reasons I had to do it.
[01:02:18] If you had been me, if you were in my shoes, you would have done the same thing.
[01:02:23] What I did was okay.
[01:02:25] It makes perfect sense.
[01:02:29] We rationalize.
[01:02:30] We also, we blame shift.
[01:02:33] After the battle, when Samuel
[01:02:37] Here's the bleeding of the sheep and asks why they're still alive.
[01:02:42] Saul responds by saying, the soldiers brought them.
[01:02:48] They spared the best of the sheep, but we totally destroyed everything else.
[01:02:57] That one's pretty familiar, right?
[01:02:58] When we blame shift, we say, yeah, what happened, what I did, it might have been wrong, but it wasn't really my fault.
[01:03:07] If X hadn't happened, then I would have never done Y.
[01:03:11] It's really what they did that was so bad, right?
[01:03:16] If they hadn't cut me off in the road, I wouldn't have flipped them off.
[01:03:24] We don't want the blame to be on ourselves and so we show how it rightly rests on someone else.
[01:03:29] And then third, we see here that we often deny and defend ourselves.
[01:03:36] Samuel again asks him, why did you not obey the Lord?
[01:03:42] And in verse 19, Saul says, I did obey the Lord.
[01:03:51] Despite all the evidence to the contrary all around him, he said, I went on the mission the Lord assigned me.
[01:03:57] I completely destroyed the Amalekites.
[01:04:01] Pretty much.
[01:04:04] But I did it for a good cause.
[01:04:05] I did it to offer the sacrifices in Gilgal.
[01:04:09] Can't you see?
[01:04:10] I'm actually pretty good.
[01:04:14] When we deny and we defend, we say, what I did, it wasn't that bad.
[01:04:20] Actually,
[01:04:22] It was maybe right and you just don't see it.
[01:04:24] So give me a chance.
[01:04:25] Let me stand and testify on my own behalf.
[01:04:28] Let me show you all the reasons why what I did wasn't even sin.
[01:04:35] You just don't understand.
[01:04:36] Now see, I can list these things out, right?
[01:04:39] Rationalizing, blame shifting, denying and defending.
[01:04:44] But it's really just filling up time in the sermon because you already know this.
[01:04:50] Right?
[01:04:51] Nobody needs to teach you how to do this stuff.
[01:04:54] We know it as soon as we're born.
[01:04:55] It is the natural tendency of our deceitful human hearts.
[01:05:06] But as common as these things are, as familiar as they seem, as often as we have done them ourselves, this passage tells us that, in truth, they're deadly.
[01:05:18] And when we constantly live this way, it is a sign that we have not understood the heart of God.
[01:05:27] It is a sign that maybe we don't even really know Him at all.
[01:05:32] And so that brings us to this next point, the freeing power of the truth.
[01:05:42] After the first confrontation,
[01:05:44] Samuel gave Saul a pretty tough pronouncement.
[01:05:47] He told him that the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart.
[01:05:54] It's not you.
[01:05:56] Your kingdom will not endure.
[01:05:57] He's sought out someone else.
[01:06:02] That was a difficult message to hear, but it really looks like, as we read our story, it's in the second instance when Samuel starts to understand it.
[01:06:12] When Samuel begins to witness this deceit in Saul's life.
[01:06:18] And we know that because when he does, it breaks his heart.
[01:06:21] I'm really struck by the emotion of this story where it tells us in verse 10 that Samuel, when he heard this, was angry.
[01:06:33] And he cried out to the Lord all night.
[01:06:37] And then the final verse that we read, it tells us that Samuel continued to mourn for Saul for the rest of his life, even though he never saw him again.
[01:06:49] This was not just an abstract, incidental fact.
[01:06:56] There was real pain here for Samuel.
[01:07:00] His heart was aching for Saul.
[01:07:04] Saul was not his rival.
[01:07:06] He wanted Saul to truly know the goodness of the Lord.
[01:07:12] He wanted Saul to rule and reign in God's favor just like he had his whole life.
[01:07:20] He wanted Saul to live in the freedom and the confidence of God's blessing.
[01:07:25] He wanted him to know that no matter what was happening all around him, he could trust the Lord, even when things looked bleak, that he could live in obedience and trust Him with his life.
[01:07:39] But in this moment, it became clear that Saul didn't, and that he never would.
[01:07:50] But he didn't know the heart of the Lord and that he probably never would.
[01:07:56] And we know that because the first words that Samuel speaks to him in this second confrontation, they point out the core issue.
[01:08:07] The way that Samuel addresses Saul shows that actually Saul's main issue is unbelief.
[01:08:16] He says in verse 17, Although you
[01:08:21] were once small in your own eyes did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel the Lord anointed you king over Israel and if you remember the story a couple of weeks ago we read about the rise of Saul and we saw how in the beginning Saul he was very humble in chapter 9
[01:08:45] When Samuel tells him he's going to anoint him as a king, he says, but am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel?
[01:08:54] And is my clan not the smallest of all the clans of Benjamin?
[01:09:00] He questions it.
[01:09:01] He knows he isn't worthy.
[01:09:05] But now look at him in chapter 15.
[01:09:09] Here he was building monuments in his own name after the battle.
[01:09:12] Here he was playing fast and loose with God's commands.
[01:09:17] Here he was arrogantly defending and denying and shifting blame to others when he is confronted about his own actions.
[01:09:31] Okay, so I always show these slides at our Welcome 101 class.
[01:09:36] But that's because they're really good.
[01:09:37] They're very helpful, and I think it does a great job of kind of explaining what's going on in this passage.
[01:09:45] See, on the surface, Saul's circumstances, they look maybe a little bit difficult for us to relate to.
[01:09:52] None of us, I don't think, have ever been kings in the ancient world.
[01:09:57] But if you look a little closer, you start to realize that the kind of unbelief
[01:10:03] that Saul is wrestling with is actually something every Christian encounters in their own life.
[01:10:09] It's something that every Christian must face.
[01:10:11] And this image, it represents basically the beginning of the Christian life.
[01:10:17] It is this moment when we start to first understand the gospel.
[01:10:23] We find out that God is holy and that we are sinful and that there's nothing that we can possibly do to reach Him.
[01:10:30] There's no amount of good works we can perform to earn our way to God.
[01:10:35] And so then we find out that the solution to this
[01:10:38] is that God in the person of Jesus because he is loving and merciful he came down to bridge that gap to do the thing that we couldn't do right he lived a perfect life of obedience and he died a death for the sin that we had earned and because of that by faith when we turn to him it means that we can be with him forever covered in his righteousness his record not our own
[01:11:07] But I show you this because I think maybe we've all seen this.
[01:11:10] Maybe we've had one put under our windshield wipers while we're at the grocery store.
[01:11:15] But this is the starting point.
[01:11:19] But a lot of time as life goes on, we find this experience.
[01:11:26] We start to follow Jesus and we realize that God is not just this holy, but he's actually this holy.
[01:11:32] That his holiness is more than we could have possibly known.
[01:11:36] And that our sin is not just right here, but our sin is actually way down here.
[01:11:43] We start to see that there is all of this garbage that is lurking in our hearts that was hiding behind those big obvious things that we saw when we first responded in faith.
[01:11:55] That's a normal experience.
[01:11:58] But what happens then if we don't really understand the gospel in that moment is actually pretty dangerous.
[01:12:06] See, what happens is we start to do exactly what Saul did.
[01:12:11] We try to bridge this gap on our own.
[01:12:17] We do it first by performing.
[01:12:20] By offering the sacrifices, by keeping up with the rituals, we get on a committee at church.
[01:12:30] We try to read a one-year Bible plan.
[01:12:33] We try to keep all the rules.
[01:12:35] We try to do whatever we can to help us feel like maybe I am holy.
[01:12:40] Maybe I am good enough.
[01:12:42] We perform.
[01:12:44] But then on the other hand, we see the thing we do is we pretend.
[01:12:50] We act like we are better than we really are.
[01:12:55] Rather than acknowledging our sin and seeing it for how gross it really is, we try to minimize it.
[01:13:02] We do those things.
[01:13:03] We rationalize it.
[01:13:04] We shift the blame.
[01:13:06] We compare ourselves to others.
[01:13:09] But we pretend and we perform anything that we can do to fill the gap.
[01:13:17] Now this may look like that first diagram, but
[01:13:20] I want you to understand this actually is not faith in Christ.
[01:13:25] This kind of life, this way of living that is so common in the church actually has absolutely no power in it.
[01:13:37] And that's where this other slide comes in.
[01:13:41] See, this is what it truly looks like to believe the gospel.
[01:13:47] Yes, it's true.
[01:13:48] You actually are a bigger sinner than you realized at first.
[01:13:53] And yes, it is true that God, He really is holier than you understood when you first came to Him.
[01:14:00] But guess what?
[01:14:02] If that's true, well, it just means that Jesus is a bigger Savior than you understood.
[01:14:08] See?
[01:14:14] Wherever we are in this journey, the good news is that Jesus is still able to bridge that gap.
[01:14:22] Maybe our understanding of who we are and who God is has changed, but the reality of the gospel, it remains the same.
[01:14:32] See, what happens here, as you start to go down this time, you're actually just starting to realize what was already true in the first place.
[01:14:42] but here's what's amazing see when this good news actually starts to take root in your heart when you start to realize that that Christ actually is big enough for you he's big enough for you in the depths of your sin he is big enough to bring you all the way to the throne room of God when you know it not just in your head right when you not just recite the facts but you start to rest in him
[01:15:10] When you realize that He really has taken you, someone who once was His enemy, and He has brought you into His household, and He has seated you at the family table, and He is looking at you with delight.
[01:15:29] When you realize that God looks at you and He has a smile on your face, and you don't just know it in your head, but you really believe it,
[01:15:39] That's a sign the Holy Spirit is at work.
[01:15:43] That's when your life will really start to change.
[01:15:52] If you have a big Jesus, you don't have to be afraid of seeing your sin.
[01:16:00] In fact, if you have a big Jesus, you don't have to be afraid when somebody else shows you your sin.
[01:16:08] Especially sins that maybe you didn't see before.
[01:16:12] When you have a big Jesus, you understand that when you see more of your sin, you have a new opportunity to run right back to Him and receive more of His grace and mercy for you today.
[01:16:27] Amen?
[01:16:29] The Reformation Day, that was just a couple days ago, October 31st.
[01:16:34] We may have celebrated some other things, I can't remember.
[01:16:37] Actually, I should have brought my picture.
[01:16:39] I was the manager of the K-pop All-Stars on Halloween, which I thought was an epic costume.
[01:16:45] Nobody here even knows what that is, but it's a Netflix thing.
[01:16:47] Glory told me about it.
[01:16:50] But anyway, Reformation Day.
[01:16:51] It was a couple days ago, too.
[01:16:53] October 31st.
[01:16:54] It's the day that the church celebrates this amazing moment of gospel renewal that broke out in the church all around the world.
[01:17:03] And it was kicked off, you may know, by Martin Luther.
[01:17:06] When he nailed the 95 theses to the door at his university.
[01:17:09] But I wonder if you knew that actually the very first thing in those 95 theses, the very first statement, dealt directly with this very dynamic about how we keep seeing our sin and running to Jesus that all of the Christian life.
[01:17:26] He says, when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent,
[01:17:32] He meant the entire Christian life should be one of repentance.
[01:17:37] In other words, a Christian should not be surprised when somebody tells them that they've messed up again.
[01:17:45] Because until we are with Jesus in glory, we are going to mess up.
[01:17:50] We are going to battle with the reality of our sin and our life.
[01:17:54] But Jesus also says, if the Son has set you free, then you are free what?
[01:18:00] Indeed.
[01:18:05] If you're free, you don't have to deny it.
[01:18:09] You don't have to hide it.
[01:18:11] You don't have to defend yourself.
[01:18:12] You don't have to blame others.
[01:18:14] Instead, you can own it.
[01:18:16] And then through this lifetime pattern of repenting and believing the gospel and receiving His grace, repenting and believing and repenting and believing over and over again, you will become more like Him yourself.
[01:18:33] See, that's the power.
[01:18:36] of the Truth.
[01:18:38] But the last thing that we need to see here in this text is the path to God's own heart.
[01:18:47] See, unfortunately for Saul, this gospel reality never took root.
[01:18:52] God had made him the king.
[01:18:56] He had set him above the entire nation, but rather than having the freedom to live in the promises of God, his heart remained enslaved to his own weakness, to his own insecurities.
[01:19:10] And as we keep reading these next few chapters, you are going to see that his life continues to spiral as it follows this path.
[01:19:18] Tim Keller put it this way, he said, because Saul didn't really believe the good news about him,
[01:19:25] He could never accept the bad news about him.
[01:19:30] I wonder if that resonates with you as well.
[01:19:35] Saul, he tried one last time to defend himself to Samuel when he claimed that he had kept all the livestock because they were just going to offer sacrifices to the Lord.
[01:19:49] And Samuel said,
[01:19:51] Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?
[01:19:59] To obey is better than to sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.
[01:20:10] I was thinking about these verses this week and it struck me that in this last moment, the thing that Samuel asks Saul to consider is what it is that brings God delight.
[01:20:23] He says, what is it that delights the heart of your God?
[01:20:30] He said, it's not sacrifices.
[01:20:33] It's not rituals.
[01:20:34] It's not checking off some list of good deeds that you've done.
[01:20:39] But he said, it's obedience.
[01:20:41] And of course, we hear that word and maybe we think, oh, well, that is just a list of things to do.
[01:20:47] But Jesus told us what obedience was when he was asked, what's the greatest commandment?
[01:20:53] He said, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
[01:21:02] He said the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself.
[01:21:04] There is no commandment greater than these.
[01:21:10] See, the message is clear.
[01:21:13] God does not want
[01:21:17] He doesn't just want your actions.
[01:21:19] He doesn't simply want your performance.
[01:21:22] He wants your hearts.
[01:21:26] And folks, as we come here to this table this morning, it strikes me that here upon this stage, I also need to resist my own urge to hide like Saul did.
[01:21:43] I think it's important for me to share, even as I prepared this text for you, how this has been a battle for me.
[01:21:52] As I was writing this sermon, Melissa and I, we got into an argument over something trivial.
[01:22:07] And even as I was trying to teach you all
[01:22:13] About the dangers of minimizing sin, I found myself doing all of them.
[01:22:21] Rationalizing my anger.
[01:22:24] Blaming her for my problems.
[01:22:29] Denying, defending.
[01:22:33] How by God's grace, I was eventually able to apologize and she forgave me.
[01:22:39] I'm not dealing with this in front of you all.
[01:22:45] But I want to share that very fresh moment with you because I don't want this to be abstract.
[01:22:57] This is where we are.
[01:23:01] And the Lord hasn't asked you to bring Him sacrifices.
[01:23:05] There's nothing we can do that can erase the guilt and the burdens of our sin, but this table is the proof that our God has provided for us the only remedy that we need.
[01:23:18] He has made the sacrifice once and for all.
[01:23:23] And our only hope, the only thing that He requires for us to come to this table is that we admit our need, that we see it, and that we come.
[01:23:36] And so, this morning, as we come here together to this table, I want you to know we come here as big sinners.
[01:23:54] But we do it as sinners who've been set free.
[01:23:58] Sinners who don't need to pretend or to perform.
[01:24:05] We come here
[01:24:07] as big sinners who have an even bigger Savior who invites us to come again to repent and believe, to repent and receive, to feed on His mercy and His grace.
[01:24:32] I imagine that as you think about this, there's something maybe on your own heart
[01:24:38] that you might need to deal with before the Lord.
[01:24:40] And so I just want to give us a moment here as the music plays to sit and listen.
[01:25:07] Lord, where have I minimized
[01:25:10] My sin before you.
[01:25:16] Where are my anxieties and my fears exposing my unbelief?
[01:25:36] God, we pray that you would take
[01:25:40] This moment.
[01:25:45] And that you'd set us free.
[01:25:48] We pray God that by your grace you would allow us to see the full picture of our sin and the full majesty of your holiness and to know that right now you have provided everything we need.
[01:26:04] God, we thank you.
[01:26:11] Well, now as we come to this table, this is really the moment.
[01:26:15] It's the time where you've got to ask yourself, do I really believe this?
[01:26:19] Is Jesus big enough?
[01:26:21] Is He the one that I'm trusting in to save me?
[01:26:27] If that is true in your life, if you know that He's the one that you need, well, this meal is for you and you should come and you should get as big of a piece of bread as you can get because you're a big sinner.
[01:26:43] You should trust Him.
[01:26:45] You should run to Him.
[01:26:47] But if you're here today and you don't yet believe, I want to first say welcome.
[01:26:54] I'm glad that you're here.
[01:26:56] I hope you'll come back.
[01:26:57] I'd love to pray with you even here at this table.
[01:27:01] But if you don't believe, I'd encourage you to wait because there's power here.
[01:27:06] This is a moment where we are going to encounter God's power to nourish our souls.
[01:27:15] and we want to know that's something we desire.
[01:27:19] In fact as we come we want to be thankful and so together there is this liturgy of thanksgiving I want to invite you to say with me.
[01:27:26] The Lord be with you.
[01:27:29] Lift up your hearts.
[01:27:31] Let us give thanks to the Lord.
[01:27:38] It is right and good and a joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
[01:27:48] Because on the night that Jesus was betrayed, after giving thanks, he took bread and he broke it and he said, This is my body, given for you.
[01:27:59] Take and eat of it, all of you.
[01:28:04] And then in the same way after the supper, he took the cup and he said, This cup,
[01:28:08] is the new covenant in my blood.
[01:28:14] As often as you drink of it, do this in remembrance of me.
[01:28:19] Because as often as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again to set everything right.
[01:28:31] As we take this in just a moment, I want us to profess together this gospel truth.
[01:28:37] Christ has died.
[01:28:39] Christ is risen.
[01:28:40] Christ will come again.
[01:28:43] Christ, our Passover lamb, was sacrificed for us at Calvary.
[01:28:50] These are the gifts of God for you, the people of God.
[01:28:53] Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
[01:29:02] The way we do this here at Center, if this is your first time, we're going to form a line.
[01:29:06] It's going to start on this side and circle around.
[01:29:09] We have gluten-free bread for anyone who requires it.
[01:29:12] We also have juice here in the center and wine around the outside.
[01:29:19] Jim and Cheryl, an elder and a deacon together, are going to be there available to pray for you, for any needs that you may have.
[01:29:27] And I would encourage you, please receive prayer.
[01:29:31] Whatever it is that you're wrestling with, don't wrestle with it alone, but find hope in this community.
[01:29:37] As you collect these elements, take them back to your seat.
[01:29:41] Spend your time reflecting and praying and then we'll take it all together at the end.
[01:29:45] But if you're hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of Christ, please come.

[01:30:26] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!
[01:31:36] In Jesus name we pray.
[01:31:55] Amen.
[01:32:20] Thank you for watching!

[01:32:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
In Jesus name we pray.

[01:33:14] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.
[01:33:53] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:34:15] Amen.
[01:34:28] Let's pray.
[01:34:58] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:35:14] Amen.

[01:35:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
When Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
[01:35:47] With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
[01:35:50] And then I said, Here I am.
[01:35:52] It is written about me in the scroll.
[01:35:55] I have come to do your will.
[01:35:59] Receive now this great gift of the one who has perfectly done God's will in our place.
[01:36:04] Take and eat the body of Christ.
[01:36:16] Take and drink the blood of Christ.
[01:36:27] Lord, our hearts overflow with praise for the blessing you've poured out.
[01:36:34] Lord, as we receive from you in this place, do not let it stop with us.
[01:36:38] But God, would it become a river of life flowing from us?
[01:36:43] Into our homes, our workplaces, our schools, and our community, God, would your kingdom come and your will be done through us.
[01:36:50] Amen.
[01:36:52] Stand with us as we sing.

[01:37:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure

[01:37:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
The pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away Has wounds which mar the Chosen One

[01:37:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Behold the man upon the cross My sin upon his shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice Called out among the scoffers

[01:38:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
It was my sin that held him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished
[01:38:52] I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ
[01:39:17] Should I gain from His reward I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart
[01:39:35] His wounds have paid my ransom What should I gain from His reward?
[01:40:01] I shall not give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom

[01:40:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Well, as we head out from this place, I want to remind you that we are heading over to Barcelona.
[01:40:24] We'd love to fellowship with you, to share our joys and our struggles together, to receive, after we've received this meal, to receive one as a community.
[01:40:36] I want to send you out here also reminding you that Brian would love to speak with you about his trip and he'll be out in the back as we head home.
[01:40:44] But hear now this blessing from the Lord.
[01:40:47] May the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:40:49] May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[01:40:54] May the Lord lift up his face upon you and give you peace.
[01:40:58] In the name of Jesus.