Church Online // October 11th Full Service

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] um [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well hello hello and hello harbourside good morning this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it i am so excited to be joining with you all tuning in from all over the place for this morning's service why don't you let us know right now where you're watching from we love hearing where you're watching from how many people are watching with you we're gonna uh shout that out later on in the chat uh i think it's so cool how we find that people all over the country and even on the other side of the world uh are tuning in with us who did we have last week ireland india canada all sorts of really neat places really really cool so right now live there's people all over the world all over our county and country tuning in with us for this service this morning i'm so excited for service it's going to be amazing the word is going to be fantastic this morning but before we get there we need you to get some things ready for service one of those is communion elements make sure you get some communion elements some bread some juice but also don't forget your family get everyone on the couch don't watch service alone this morning this is the meeting place where we get to be ourselves before god with other people and so we get to minister to him and worship him so grab everyone we got some resources if you've got kids we want to help you so there are some student resources there are also some kids resources there's a link that's coming in the chat right now for every week the kids department is actually creating material that goes with the sermon the message from every sunday that is awesome that is super super cool and actually many of the you middle schoolers are tuning in with us right now middle school they have a live that goes live every sunday at 9 00 a.m and then they come and join us so welcome all the middle schoolers who are tuning in with us now after you just had your service hey here's another thing that's live seven and sevens are live every single day monday through saturday we're live at 7 a.m and 7 p.m we start our day and we end our day allowing god to be the loudest voice in our lives and we have one of our staff members that leads a seven minute about a seven minute devotional every single day twice a day and the goal is for that devotional and that time to propel you into your secret place time with the lord if you haven't been tuning in to the seven and sevens you're missing it you're missing it so why don't you make plans to join us tomorrow morning at 7 00 a.m and also 7 p.m as we go live on youtube and the easiest way to find that honestly i think is the notifications on the app i i'm not going to lie to you sometimes i forget oh man we need those notifications we need those notifications five minutes before seven it pops up like clockwork and i'm right in there so make sure you have your notifications turned on and you can find us on youtube live every single day so awesome last week amos we were at honeymoon island dunedin florida 5 pm we had our first of three beach baptisms god stopped the rain for us for two hours it was so beautiful in fact it was it was unbelievable people were being baptized at the same time dolphins were jumping out of the y i've never seen this it was awesome it was amazing we thought people were clapping for the baptisms but they were like the dolphins jumping it was beautiful and so we again tonight we'll be going back to honeymoon island at 5 00 pm hey if you ever been curious or thought about being baptized this is the day this is the day for you to be baptized you can sign up right now there's a link in the description of this live video as well as a link's going to come into the chat register right now for the 11th or the 18th we're going to be doing at 5 pm at honeymoon island we can't wait after service we got a video of last week that we'll be playing so make sure you stay tuned for that even the dolphins know to give god praise as we baptize god it's so amazing how all creation praises the name of the lord hey right now in the chat right now why don't you answer this question for all the different people um that are are tuning in actually before that i think we've got some people we've got some people tuning in right now do that first i see san diego too so good morning oldsmar boston massachusetts welcome panama city awesome grace jones from atlanta let's go atl hey joseph hey lou hey aaliyah we see you you are welcome today to service oh man that is awesome petrie city georgia again the atlanta area good morning so good to see you guys it's really cool to see how many people are tuning in really from all over that's awesome well right now in the chat here's the question that i have for you this week is where have you seen god this week where have you seen god this week why don't you answer that question in the chat and allow your testimony of where you've seen god to encourage all the other people who are tuning in with you right now i love that so much it's really cool they have the opportunity to testify every single sunday morning of god's goodness in the chat what a world we live in that is so neat really really cool really really cool well right now i want to invite a very special person out to join me and andrew um this is elisa gilstrap and elisa hey elisa elisa is our director of uh harbourside kids and she also has a very special announcement of something that's happening this week this week we're so excited this saturday we're having women connect and hope it's a live online event and we're having watch parties all over the area where women can come together in meeting places like you were just talking about and we're so excited about that prior to that every woman who registers gets to come to a drive-through this wednesday and pick up a gift bag that's got goodies and supplies everything you'll need to participate in an event that we're super excited about we've got great teaching amazing worship it's going to be phenomenal it's awesome i signed up i'm just kidding oh i can't wait for that it's so cool there's so many good stories that are going to come from that and lives changed yeah we have hundreds who've already registered you still have an opportunity to register i think it's going to come up in the chat right now cool awesome thank you so much elisa i really appreciate that that's awesome so don't miss that register right now for the women connect and hope event happening this saturday at 5 00 p.m that's awesome they always have the best goodie bags too best goodie bags so i hope there's some left over i'm just gonna you know may or may not have made one okay all right all right we're not gonna confess our sins yet we're gonna take communion a little bit later that is awesome well church um two weeks ago kurt asked us all of us as a church to pray for two different dates two different dates that we were considering for our church reopening and we've heard the questions we've received the phone calls and the emails and we have been we have been praying for the right date the right time to reopen our church for in-person services so two weeks ago kurt asked us to pray last week we prayed again well this week i am happy to announce that harborside leadership the elders the staff the lord has revealed that date for us so save the date november the 8th our church is reopened for in-person services that's right november the 8th our church will be reopened for in-person gatherings we'll have two in-person services one at 10 a.m and another at 11 30 a.m and guess what the online service isn't going anywhere so you'll be able to tune in with us online at 10 a.m or in person at 10 and 11 30. now i know you may have some questions we have some more answers to give you we'll give you those answers as we move forward but for today save the date november the 8th 10 a.m 11 30 a.m we're on we're back right in here in the npr for in-person services and if you'd like to continue to join us online you can do so because we'll still have the online service at 10 am i feel like that deserves a little whoop whoop in the chat battle desserts hallelujahs claps party confetti or whatever you got yeah i'm gonna let here here for a second what i heard you say essentially was that we are going to be open november 8th november 8th two services 10 o'clock and 11 30 but at the 10 people can watch online still continuing the live but also come for in person that's exactly right that's super cool that's really heaven meeting earth meeting place people coming together from all over the world it's not just harbor side of the building anymore it's a world coming together to worship god that is really cool it's amazing and we've been learning about worship and worship works and so i'm so excited for november the 8th as we come back in to worship with all the teaching that we've been getting over the last few months about worship for us to gather together in a meeting place and worship the king of kings and the lord of lords so save the date november the 8th we're going to give you so many more detailed answers as we move forward right now save the date november the 8th 10 and 11 30. now here's something else that you can do right now many of you have continued to your worship by giving by giving with your tithes and your offering you can do so right now there's a link coming into the chat you can click that link and it'll take you right to where you can continue to give online and many of you have decided to mail in your gift and you can do so right now you can write your checks and put them in the mail and you can send them to 2200 marshall street in safety harbor florida three four six nine five as you do that you are helping us charge and move forward we want to thank you for being so faithful to us but really so faithful to god through this whole time as we've continued to move forward as a church i love that the chat is literally blowing up right now earlier we asked you where have you seen god at work i know i saw someone saying with their job the beloved children at school this week with my job i see that zab and i'm so sorry if i said that wrong that is awesome it's really cool that people get to tune in in this capacity every single week love it i absolutely love it andrew i actually had someone email me this week and i would love to share just a brief do it 20-second story uh someone emailed me this week and they had registered for beach baptisms and they were like well i really wanted my whole family to be there and we all want to get baptized is it too late for me to register i'm like absolutely not and this particular person said you know november the 11th at five o'clock november 11th actually marks one year since my father passed away and so our whole family is getting baptized tonight together in unity our whole family is getting baptized on the anniversary of uh her father passing away and i think it's so incredible that november 11th will now be the date that you celebrate life the break the date that you celebrate life in jesus christ and i love how we're all coming together in unity community a family of god coming together this morning and you need to worship him why don't i pray us into service as you get ready hey why don't you grab someone's hand that you're in the room with right now we're gonna pray god thank you so much for this morning this opportunity that we have to enter into your gate with thanksgiving jesus you're so good we just praise you we exalt your name it's because of you that we live it's because of you we have victory but god we come to the altar we lay down the things of this week that we need to lay down the good things the winds but also the losses we lay on the altar this week god may it be a fragrant offering to you jesus but today jesus we're going to be washed we're going to be washed and so we come together in unity and in power we minister to you you are a great great god and so we love you and it's your name i pray amen amen amen well hello church family so excited to be here with you today so excited to hear about november 8th i don't know about you i'm so ready it's time right oh man it's an honor it's an honor and a privilege to be able to worship the one true living god and his son our king jesus jesus the christ he's so good he loves you he wants to be with you he wants to get to know you whether you're watching this in your living room your patio by the pool in the lanai as as curt likes to say god loves you and i just want to take a moment to pray this prayer over you it's actually a scripture found in ephesians uh it says i pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit then christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust him your roots will grow down into god's love and keep you strong this year has been a very tumultuous tumultuous time for everyone and i just wanted to encourage you by praying that prayer over you that god would come into your hearts and his roots would go deep down into your heart and you would become his so father we love you we worship you and we thank you we give you our hearts affection and our mind's attention as we worship you this morning in your son's holy name amen let's worship jesus together [Music] god you lord [Music] carry the cross on your back bleeding until your final breath tears up that crown of thorns you gave it all our sins thank you god you bore [Music] oh [Music] what you've done it was more than enough more than enough all the cross what you've done the power of your blood was more than [Music] enough [Music] all the nails in your hands [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is what you've done [Music] thank you forever thank you [Music] what you've done [Music] thank you for your blood lord so my heart will sing forever forever thank you lord and we thank you we praise you we praise god you saved our lives when you died on the cross and we thank you we thank you cause you're worthy [Music] jesus is mine rooted in my heart [Music] salvation purchase of god by the blood born of his spirit oh and washed in his blood [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] say this is my story and this is my story this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise your name lord [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] oh jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] please [Music] you want me you [Music] [Applause] yes [Applause] [Music] hallelujah father we will follow you father thank you so much for sending your son jesus and jesus thank you so much for creating the way for being the way for being the truth for being the life for being the path for being the gate [Music] there aren't enough words in any language to describe how great you are our father so here's our our humble attempt at saying hallelujah we worship you and we thank you but you have your will in our lives may have your your way in this place wherever each and every person is right now have your way lord we love you and we worship you in your son's holy name i pray amen oh what a savior [Music] thank you lord for your presence and thank you harbourside family for ministering to the lord with us this morning as we prepare for communion i'd like to invite you to join us by grabbing some bread which will represent the body of christ and grabbing some juice which will represent the blood of christ this morning i'm reminded of a passage of scripture that really echoes this morning's theme for worship ephesians chapter 1 verses 4 through 6 says even before he made the world god loved us and chose us in christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes god decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through jesus christ this is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure so we praise god for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear son another one of my favorite translations of that verse reads god made us accepted in the beloved christ jesus so this morning before we take communion i want to lovingly remind you that you are accepted in the beloved christ jesus and just as you have embraced jesus as your lord and savior god your father embraces you as his own [Music] before the foundations of the world were laid god loved you and he chose you to be holy wow let's take communion so jesus we take the bread that represents your body that was broken for us and we eat [Music] and we drink the juice representing your blood that was spilled on our behalf and we drink because of you jesus because of your sacrifice we have been reunited with the love of our father we are acceptable and we are now chosen to be holy god as your children we take a moment to pause and allow the truth of your word to sink into our hearts thank you so much jesus we are so grateful and we dedicate our lives to worshiping you and it is in your name we pray jesus amen well good morning family so the story goes that james garfield was a very intelligent man he was actually the principal at his denominational college he was also a lay preacher they said he was ambidextrous he could write latin with one hand and at the same time write greek with the other a very intelligent man in 1880 james garfield was elected as president of the united states of america and he was only in office for about six months when president garfield was shot in the back with a revolver they quickly rushed him to a nearby hospital where the lead physician began to go into the bullet wound with his tools and he poked and he prodded and pried and tried to find the bullet but that physician couldn't find the bullet and so he even went into the wound with his own finger now you need to understand that in 1880 they did not have anesthesia and so president garfield he was conscious during this whole procedure and they could not find the bullet wound so eventually they sent him back to the white house and just hoped that he'd maybe heal up and get comfortable and he and he did begin to heal but they they invited more physicians to come in and and see if they could find the bullet within the bullet wound and so they used their tools and they poked and they prodded they even used their own fingers to kind of go into that wound and see if they could find the bullet and they couldn't do it in fact they got so desperate they invited the inventor alexander graham bell to bring all his inventions to see if he could find the bullet wound in president garfield or the bullet within the wound and and even though he had all these new inventions and said he couldn't find it and so he even used his own finger and tried to poke and prod and pry and see if he could find it and didn't happen and so it was months later that president james garfield he died and the physician the physicians they noted they said you know it wasn't the bullet that killed him it wasn't the wound that killed him it was actually the infection that came from all those people putting their finger inside the bullet hole wound that it manifests itself in an infection and eventually that's what killed president garfield you ever find yourself picking poking prodding at old wounds wounds in your life that you know they need some healing you know they need room to to be forgiven and yet we just seem to dwell on them they could be past hurts they could be past sins past mistakes we made things we wish we did not do and we know we need that healing we know we need forgiveness in fact i think this whole idea even in christianity of complete forgiveness it doesn't matter if you're a christian or not this is a tough idea i mean the idea that jesus dies on the cross pays for your sins all in the past and the present and in the future i mean we'll sing wonderful worship songs like we just sang and and celebrate god's forgiveness and then walk out the door and do the very sin we just celebrated being forgiven for and yet we're forgiven somehow or at least that's what the scriptures tell us but but that's hard to digest that that's hard to accept and and so we can be forgiven yet somehow still feel guilt you know we we could still feel shame somehow and it could almost stick to us try to cling to us in fact it was the great theologian john wesley said when he looked inside internally at himself all he could seem to see was hell and so guilt and shame they they can stick to us and so this this message is for you i mean maybe me maybe all of us who sometimes we're we're forgiven but we still feel guilty we're saved but we still feel shame this message is for those of you who feel so dirty you don't think you can even think about god it just seems to cling to us this message is for those of us who keep catching ourselves picking and poking and prodding at old wounds this message is for those of us who are willing to to admit that we're not where we want to be maybe we've just fallen off track we've become distracted you know sometimes we can think that the opposite of distraction is focused if i could just stay focused on where god wants me to head but by the words very definition the opposite of distraction is actually traction traction being engaged on a track or on a path to where god wants our life to go and you see sin itself it the very definition of the word sin just means missing the mark sometimes we think sin is a full-out rejection of where god wants our lives to go and we're rejecting by sin but no sin is just a few degrees off the mark a few degrees off the path and all of a sudden we're headed in a direction that's not where god wants us to go we've somehow lost our engagement on the on the track on the path of where god wants our life to go and and kurt a couple weeks back he shared how sometimes people will think god is intolerant because he doesn't offer multiple paths and tracks to enter into his presence and but kurt really eloquently shared with us how god is actually very loving because he shows us what it looks like to be in his presence he shows us what heaven looks like and then he also shows us the path in order to get there in fact the way the truth and the life that is jesus and that's nothing new for god in fact god gave a path to his people even in the old testament in fact god met his people where they were he he knew that his people at least at one point in history they did not have a land to call their own and so he said fine i'm gonna give you a tent i'm gonna give you a tabernacle i'm gonna give you something you could take with you and use it through worship to enter into my presence and even gave a specific path in order to be able to enter into his presence so we've been talking about the different elements of the tabernacle we've been talking about milestones that god set for his people to to go ahead and interact with in order to draw closer and closer to his presence through worship and so the first mile marker we talked about was simply the gate there's the gate to the the tabernacle very colorful the gate i think is interesting it always faced to the east and so it means it always faced a rising sun and then later in the new testament jesus says well i'm the gate and you can enter into god's presence through me and i just think it's awesome that if we want to enter through the gate we have to also embrace a rising sun you know the second element we talked about last week the next mile marker is simply the bronze altar and there after you went through the gate you could go to this altar be the first thing you would see you could put your hands onto the the horns of the altar and plead for god's mercy but but typically what you would do is bring with you a sacrifice to bring to the altar it could be a goat it could be a lamb it could be a bowl and and it was supposed to then take your place you you would kind of place your sins onto this sacrifice and it's it would be slaughtered and they're sacrificed on this altar it would cover your sins at least temporarily and then there was a third milestone that i want to talk about today in fact i think amos you've got this verse in exodus that tells us a little bit about it would you mind reading that yeah absolutely exodus 30 verses 17 and 18 then the lord said to moses make a bronze basin with its bronze stand for washing place it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it yeah so we we see a third milestone it's called it's a bronze basin i i imagine it looked like a big uh bird bath that's kind of how i see it i know we have a picture there's an artist rendering on the back and that might be how how it looked although we know it at least had two parts it had the space and it had this pedestal and actually a lot of scholars believe that on the pedestal of this bronze basin or laver as it's sometimes called that even on the bottom part you could fill it up with water as well because that's where the priests were to go wash their feet and then wash their hands so it could probably hold water on the bottom and probably hold water on the top as well but but notice where god tells the people to place it all right it's between two things it's between the altar and the tent the media the holy place there and so the idea was not that you would go and offer a sacrifice to your sins and go right into the holy place no you weren't to go around the the bronze labor you weren't supposed to go around this this bronze basin in fact god wanted his people to go to the labor to go to the labor why because in the scriptures water always precedes the presence of god even in the new testament we read about how there's the blood the water and the spirit all of which is as followers of christ we get to interact and so in the old testament the blood was at the altar the water was at the laver and then the spirit the presence of god well that was in the holy place but the blood always comes before the water and the water always precedes the presence of god even if you look at israel's history their story even before god gave them the tabernacle they were slaves in egypt and god wanted to deliver them out of slavery and so he started with the blood he started with the blood of a lamb that they would they would put over the the door frames of their homes and the angel of death would then pass over their homes and now their enemies the egyptians they didn't know about the blood and so they paid the cost they they lost their firstborn and so god first used the blood and then what did he do he took his people to the water he took the israelites to the red sea and he parted those waters so that they could go through the water but their enemy of the egyptians they wanted to re-enslave them so they tried to follow them through the water and so what happened once god's people made it to the other side of the red sea and the egyptians were still pursuing them trying to go through the red sea once god's people were saved god allowed the waters to collapse upon the egyptians he drowned the enemy in the water you see you got to understand this about the water the enemy never makes it through the water right the the enemy always drowns in the water that's why we need the water i like to do some chores around the house now and then typically on the weekends and i like doing yard work and i like even working on the car i know there is a chore at in our house that if i do it i'll be in good standing with my wife because she does not like to do that and that is to wash the dishes and if i can do this strategically if i can do maybe the yard work first then work on the car and save the dishes to last then then i know that even if i'm washing the dishes there in the sink with the water in 15 minutes the dirt and the grime from the other jobs doesn't make it through doesn't make it through the water it's like i was never in the dirt to begin with and that's what the water does it takes off the things of this world that are trying to cling to us trying to stick to us and that's why the priests they here they had they've done the sacrifice they they had they had killed this animal so they had blood most likely on their hands and on their feet and so they needed to go to the labor they had to go to the labor in order to get clean i mean that's important to get clean have you guys ever been on a date where the date decided to skip the shower it's not a good date you know it's not no that is a date already going wrong um you know you can if you can smell your date that's not great um so uh that's a t-shirt right there anyway um but but yeah that's not great i mean you can see what they're what's still sticking to them and smell it sometimes and so so we don't typically do that when we go on dates you know even even my wife away we got away for the weekend we got on dates and you better believe we got clean we got showered when you go on a date why you want to get as clean as you can because you don't want anything to possibly hinder the relationship into which you're about to enter into and i i can just share this i've got two middle school boys and it amazes me what happens in the middle school boy's brain somewhere there in middle school they go from loathing showers and baths you know like it's the worst idea on the planet uh to all of a sudden something changes in the middle school boy's mind to oh i've got to take a shower every day i'll tell you what changes in their minds uh which changes a middle school boy's mind is a middle school girl okay that that's what changes the mind because it's if i even got a shot of this girl looking at me you know being close to me whatever i got to get clean and that that's and so the look yeah it's not rocket science here the the priests understood this as well if i'm going to enter into the presence of god then i want to get as clean as i can in that and that and the dirt the filth the stuff that tries to clean this doesn't make it through the water the enemy doesn't make it through the water and so they need to wash their hands of feet and and wash before entering into the presence of god and you may say this is all very interesting tom but that's old testament what about us today i mean we're a new testament church and we don't have any big bronze bird baths you know sitting in our lobby before we go go into uh into the yeah wherever we go or even in your living room today you know um so what about us how do we wash how do we do that you know there's actually in the scriptures it's in the hebrew of the old testament and in the in the greek of the new testament when it comes to how we should watch there's actually two different terms for washing in both those languages in the scriptures and so there's one idea of we need to wash from head to toe that's that's that's one of the verbs we see there in the scripture that we need and a lot of times it's accompanied with immersion or submersion under water and so in the new testament for us for for us now it would be christian baptism that we do need to take a bath or as romans 6 talks about how we need to go under the water die to that old life and rise to a new life in christ and so for us there is this idea that we may not have a labor but we have christian baptism to wash head to toe to to be fully forgiven and uh and it's an important part in our walk with jesus in fact we we just celebrated that uh with several people who decided to do that honeymoon island uh last sunday we're gonna baptize a whole bunch more uh tonight and maybe it's it's gonna be you which would be wonderful and uh and so we're gonna do that bath of the scripture says head to toe in the new testament through christian baptism but but that's a significant part of our walk and and and i know you guys on stage you've got you've made this choice to be baptized in christian baptism so i thought it'd be worth just kind of pausing for a moment and let you guys talk a little and here's what i'd like to hear you share you know when were you baptized and what what do you remember about it what do you remember about it who wants to start us off i'll start hans yeah okay so i actually uh got baptized twice once as a kid when i was young that was probably not my choice but when i was 20 god put it on my heart that i needed to to go go through the process and make that my own decision so i got baptized when i was 20 but what i remember about that day is my grandfather was actually in town he was visiting from haiti and it was even more special because he ended up passing away just like i think two months later so he got the chance to see me get baptized and make that decision for myself thanks for sharing that hunt who else yeah i'll share so i was also baptized twice my father is an ordained minister in the methodist church and so part of being in the methodist church means that you get baptized as a baby and here we do dedications but probably several people can relate especially catholic can relate to this and so it was a great day of honoring i know through pictures that my grandparents were there who are also ordained ministers and i had lots of family and friends and everybody was there and a big cake and it was just this big deal i wore white which probably a lot of people can remember and then when i was 22 i decided to make the decision for myself it's not that i didn't think my baptism didn't count or something like that i just decided that i wanted to experience everything that the bible had taught and so i decided to be baptized and i was actually attending elevation church at the time in north carolina and i didn't have any family there no friends no family and i didn't even know the person who baptized me so the the young one was like this big family celebration i don't remember it the older one i was completely by myself in a in a church where i didn't really know a lot of people in a city where i was new but it was very personal and it was me making this decision that i want to be a part of what jesus had shown me so that's my baptism awesome joy thank you who else yeah i can go sure i was baptized twice as well well i guess if you call it dedication baptism so um yeah my father uh dedicated me uh in haiti back in the day when i was when i was a newborn um but uh it did i didn't get baptized again until we had already moved to the us my father was a pastor of a church in delray beach florida and um yeah it was one of those things where i've always wanted my father to baptize me just to kind of close the loop because he dedicated me and it was a really cool moment my father uh his health isn't isn't 100 anymore that was like towards the tail end of his good health uh but yeah it was awesome to share that memory with him uh and it was an opportunity for me to kind of make my faith my own and he walked me through that and he baptized me he's a strong man wise man love you dad if you're watching this but yeah it was great thanks for sharing it that's cool i was in seventh grade yeah when i was in seventh grade we were actually a part of a connect group and i remember really connecting to the content of our connect group for the first time i wanted to make a actual declaration a public declaration of what i actually believe in jesus and so it was more than just a faith that i got from my parents i remember after the group we went to target i don't know why for whatever reason we're on our way to target and it was like in my head i was like i need to do this i was like mom right now yeah right now i need to do this and so she drives home it's the middle of winter and we throw hot water in the jacuzzi and i got baptized that night wow that's awesome yeah i'll go um yeah i'm born and raised on the east coast of florida and we did beach baptisms at the church that i was in and so i was about 12 or 13 years old and we went to the beach to do our normal beach baptisms now the difference between the east coast beach baptisms in the west coast are the surfers know the waves um so there's lots of waves on the east coast and uh this was like a beautiful windy day and um there was a ton of waves so i remember being baptized in between the swells and trying to get dunked right there um but what was really cool was that it was me and about three or four of my closest friends we all made the decision to get baptized together and that was a really cool moment for us because we were used to getting into trouble when nobody was looking and now we had to hold each other accountable because we all got baptized at the same time that's awesome thanks for sharing that crystal i'll share mine i remember it very vividly i was transitioning from middle school to high school i had just received the lord my eighth grade year and i decided as a as a way to symbolize me being a different person the next time my peers saw me that i would be baptized and so my family and i actually did it together but my personal reason for doing it was because i wanted to be new on the inside and on the outside through baptism that's awesome thank you guys for sharing yeah i i was nine years old um a little church my dad was a pastor in hicksville long island and uh and i had told my parents that you know i want to be baptized and they said that's great you have to walk the aisle by yourself and so i remember that being a nine year old boy and being at the one end of the like the center aisle the old you know style church and going okay if i'm going to do this i'm going to do this and walk into the front meet my dad there my dad baptized me but yeah you remember it it's a powerful thing and so the bible does talk about that talks about uh that that's important for us to make that that decision too you know to be uh baptized head to toe and and that's one definition of we see washing there in the old testament and in the new testament but there's another kind of washing and i think this other kind of washing is maybe a little more what we're talking about when it came to the laver for for the old uh for the old testament um and that was it was it was a definition of washing that meant not head to toe but simply the hands and the feet and in fact jesus even talks about this in john chapter 13 verse 10. joy do you mind reading that for us jesus answered those who have had a bath only need to wash their feet yeah jesus says hey if you have that bath that's great but you still need to wash hands and feet why well if you think about it just just from the logical sense if you take a bath and and you go walking around in this world i mean we live in florida so so we wear sandals a lot of times or flip-flops or something like that and they did too in in the uh in the bible times there and uh and so they would get still the dirt the dust would cling to the feet and the hands i mean we know about washing hands right now right we're not taking showers and baths you know every five minutes but we are washing our hands that much because that's where the dirt and grime goes it goes to the exposed parts as we walk through this world things try to still cling to us and so so in the scriptures there was still this idea that maybe you've had about that's great but you still want to go ahead and wash your hands and feet and so they did it through the labor in the old testament they would go to the labor but but what do we have in the new testament to kind of keep getting the grime of the world off of us well in ephesians chapter 5 paul talks about the apostle paul talks about that there's actually this correlation between the water and the word of god the scriptures of god and that we can wash ourselves and cleanse ourselves through the interaction of the word through the interaction of the scriptures and so maybe we don't have to go to the labor but god definitely wants us to go to the word to go to his word you see let's be honest too you he's not just talking about going once a week all right you can't just go wash your hands and feet once a week you're gonna get pretty dirty pretty quick i mean tuesday you're gonna stink let's just be honest that's kind of how it works no a mature healthy body continually washes their hands and feet continually washes you know one of the things i think is interesting about the bronze labor is these other milestones these other you know articles of the tabernacle that we're going to talk about god also issued for them to for for the people to create covers for them but there's nowhere in the scriptures where god tells them to create a cover for the the bronze labor the bronze basin why i think god wanted wanted it fully accessible all the time for the priests that the priests could go to the labor as many times as they needed to throughout the day they could wash as many times as they needed to if they got dirty things starting to cling to they could go and wash and god sets up the same thing in his scripture for us there's no limit to how many times you can go to his word and be cleansed in his word when you start feeling that guilt and shame when you start poking at those old sins or dwelling on the things of the past god says hey it's right here you can go to my scriptures you can go to my word as many times as you need and get this junk off you that god opens it up for us anytime we need to we can go to the word you know that god had his priests go to the labor but they weren't just supposed to go to the labor you know what else god had for them to do was to look into the labor and we know that god wanted his priest to look into the labor in fact he kind of shares detail about it in exodus chapter 38 verse 8. i think john mark you got that one yes i do cool says they made a bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting yeah so you need to understand so they made the labor out of mirrors but vermeers back in moses day they weren't glass like we have now that's reflective no they would they were highly polished bronze and most likely bronze that they got from the plunder back in their slave days back back in egypt but but they were to take these these mirrors to give up their mirrors and have them melted down and reformed into this basin and so so the idea is when the priest would go to the labor they could see the reflection and the thing about reflections is reflections reveal certain things uh that you know they they could see maybe they wash their hands they they wash their feet but they got a little blood splatter from that sacrifice on their face or they got broccoli in their teeth or dangly from their nose or something i mean that's the thing about reflections is reflections show us where to wash and so the reflection would reveal to the priests where they still needed to wash and so they could right there in the labor wash and then they could see that a new reflection a reflection of them now cleaned all the way through but you need to understand the reason they could see their reflection to begin with is that they were willing to give up their old mirrors all right look you don't understand how much you miss amir until it's gone recently my wife and i or let's be honest my wife decided to redesign our bedroom in our house and uh it started like this it started we went away to to an airbnb over the summer uh we slept on this this mattress on this bed for for a number of days and i like a firm mattress she likes a soft mattress but we both liked this mattress and so we said you know what let's go ahead and order this mattress for our house and so as we're ordering this mattress we decide you know let's not get a queen size like we have let's get a king size and we're going that's great but we don't have a king size you know bed frame for this mattress and so my wife says no problem i'll buy one and uh and that's what she did and so so she buys a king size frame you know for our bed the mattress comes in we put it in the bed frame it looks great and wonderful the only problem is now it doesn't match our furniture that we currently have in the bedroom so what do you have to do well apparently yeah and yeah we had to get new furniture and apparently we also had to repaint the room and buy drapes as well but but uh that's standard is what i hear i don't know yeah and uh and so as we as we got rid of the old furniture uh we got rid of my dresser that used to have this big mirror on it and so we got a new one very nice dresser but doesn't didn't come with a mirror and so each morning i find myself hopping out of this new bed walking over to my dresser and just staring at a blank wall and not realizing why am i here what am i doing oh yeah i'm so used to getting up and seeing what i look like in the morning or where i need what i need to do to get you know to look decent because i'm used to that old mirror and we're talking about mirrors here we're talking about the the jews had to be willing to give up their old mirrors they were talking about images we're talking about how we know if you go back to genesis 1 we created the image of our creator god yet because of sin because of the fall it began to distort our image and how we would see ourselves and so the idea is that that the people of israel knew you had to melt down the old way of seeing yourself and let god reform it so that they could see themselves in a whole new light in a whole new way you see the jews were making a statement by giving up their old ways of seeing themselves by giving up their mirrors they're saying you know what we're just going to be honest we're going to we're going to stop looking at ourselves through slave mirrors we're going to stop letting letting a reflection that that has to do with our past define who we are today no we're going to let who god says we are reflect who we are today we're going to give up the old way of seeing ourselves to let god show us a new way to see ourselves you see you can't have fellowship with god until you can begin to see how god sees you and so they were not only to go to the labor they were to look into the labor and we're not only to go to the word of god we're to look into the word of god andrew would you share for us james chapter 1 verse 23 yeah it says if you listen to the word and don't live out the message you hear you become like the person who looks in the mirror of the word to discover the reflection of his face in the beginning you perceive how god sees you in the mirror of the word but then you go out and forget your divine origin what's james warning us about he's saying look if you look into the word of god you are going to see the reflection you're going to see where you need to wash but but don't forget that because if you allow god to help you wash through that well all of a sudden you'll begin to become a mirror for him you'll begin to reflect his image and you get to see what you look like as god is changing you because that's what happens when you when you look into the word of god it begins to change you crystal will you share with us second corinthians chapter 3 verse 17 absolutely and with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the lord jesus we are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another i love that we're being transfigured into his image see the idea is when we look into the word it shows us sin it's going to reveal some things there and and that that's okay that that's hard but it's going to show us where we need cleansing and that sin is we know it's unworthy of god and if we're in god's image then it's unworthy of us and so we need god's help to cleanse it to make it the enemy can't make it through the water we got a cleanse in the word we got to get it off of us so it's not sticking and clinging to us anymore and so if you're willing to get rid of old mirrors you're making a statement if you're willing to to stop looking at yourself through the ways you have in the past then you're making a statement you say you're saying you are not going to be defined by what you've been through you are going to be defined by who you're going to it's a big difference you're not going to be defined by your past you're going to be defined by who god says you are today and you will know who god says you are today if you look into his word yeah my friends we're going to the presence of god but before we can enter into his presence that we've got to go to the word to the water and we've got to look into the labor we've got to look into the word of god and god wanted his people in the old testament to also wash in the labor hans can you share with us exodus chapter 30 verse 19 yes aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it whenever they enter the tent of meeting they shall wash with water so that they will not die yeah look the reality is we still walk around a broken world filled with filth and and grime and things that want to cling to us temptations and sins that want to cling to us we're still exposed to it and so we need to continually go and wash in the word and wash in the labor we we need to look the altar it paid for the sins right that's where the sacrifice happened but the the labor it washed those sins away and i think it's interesting that the israelites well god chose to use their hands the washing of their hands because back in that culture and in the hebrew culture back then the hands were always an outward representation of the inward condition of your heart and so if the jews would raise their hands in worship they were saying lord we raise our hearts to you in praise if they were to keep their their hands extended out for an embrace it was like saying lord our hearts are open to receive what you have for us today if they were washing and cleansing their hands they're going god cleanse our hearts purify us as your people you see we don't have the labor but god wants us to wash in the word you see the word it cleanses us so we can look more and more like jesus and sometimes washing in the word it takes time sometimes we just need to soak in the word all right and it's hard it's hard to stay in the water um it's about 17 years ago that i started a really dumb tradition uh in my family i was so excited to move from the the cold of the north the snow in the north to to florida and and i just decided now i live in florida whenever it's christmas day no matter where i am i'm going to jump into a pool somewhere it seemed like a great idea of 17 years ago and uh and as you know over the last 17 years there have been some really cold christmas days and uh there have been times where i've jumped in that pool and it's hard to stay in the water i mean it can feel like knives kind of digging into your your skin and and but we do it it's a tradition and and so we'll you know we'll have hot cocoa in the morning and open presents and that's all real pleasant and my wife will say okay i'm gonna get the camera so you can jump in the pool and uh and so we have year after year we've got video of me jumping dumbly into our pool jumping into this this cold water and it's interesting too there's video two of our kids they watch daddy do this and and uh they're all smiles they're like if dad can do this surely i can do this so especially when they're younger you watch them they're little kids and they they'll take a risk and they'll jump in with smiles on their faces into the water but they come up with tears in their eyes and screams from their mouths you know like well this is terrible who would do this and um and so but it's interesting our kids have gotten older over the years and and they'll still jump in the water with me and as we've gotten older there's no longer tears i mean there's there's some hoops and hollers but no longer cries and the interesting thing is the more we've done this over the years somehow we can stay in the water even a little bit longer than before and that's the thing with god's word if you're willing to take the plunge if you're willing to to try and stay in there the more you spend time in god's word the easier it is to spend more time in god's word and so some of us we need to just soak in god's word today and tomorrow and the next day there's no limit to how many times we can go to god's word and you may say yeah tom but you don't know my story you don't understand it doesn't matter how long i soak in the word of god it doesn't matter you know how much water we use you don't understand the sins of my past you don't understand the shame that i carry around you don't understand the guilt that sticks to me you don't understand that the stains that i have in my life [Music] you know something i think that's interesting about the bronze laver is that god never gives dimensions he never gives measurements for how big or small this thing is he does for the other articles but not the bronze labor you know why i believe because the work that god does through the water is immeasurable there's no limit there's no limit there's nothing you've done that's too big that can't be washed that can't be healed that can't be forgiven there's no stain you have that can't be removed that's the power of the water and the enemy doesn't make it through the water the enemy drowns in the water and so for you today what do you want to do with the water what do you need to do with the water [Music] is that the altar that the sacrifice has made and it paid for those sins it's at the water that it washes those sins away so what do you need to do with the water maybe maybe today it's simply you need to sign up to be baptized tonight so we can have a celebration like we talked about here so we can we can hear your story and be a part of that and celebrate your baptism that you will wash from head to toe that you will be forgiven of all sins in the past all sins of the present all sins in the future that you'll be baptized in christian baptism and for you maybe you want to sign up in fact as we close the service we're gonna we're gonna share the celebration of what happened uh this last sunday night and you'll get to see the video of that and we'll celebrate that but maybe that's what you need to do is sign up to be baptized today and you can do that it's not hard at all it's on the app it's online it's easy you just got to click on that button and make the decision to do that maybe for some of you you've you've had the bath it's just time to wash those hands and feet you know that somehow you've gotten off track or you've been catching yourself picking and prodding that old wounds dwelling on things of the past really hindering that healing from taking place and you know it's just time to go to the word of god and let him reveal what he needs to reveal to you and then let you be able to see you how god sees you and you can go as many times you want you should show up tomorrow at seven for the seven and sevens but you don't have to stop there and it's time to go to the word and maybe for some of you you've been baptized in christian baptism you've got you go to the word when you need the word and it's time for you to do with the water what jesus did with the water you see it was the night before he was to be crucified the night he was going to be betrayed by one of his friends that he decided to have a last supper with his disciples and it was a holiday meal the celebratory meal they were about to have and this meal was filled with traditions one of those traditions was that that before you would eat you would wash your hands i mean that's we still have that tradition today you wash your hands before you eat but but in that hebrew culture and especially with this holiday meal they would they would have this basin this this bowl of water to wash your hands but they would always give honor to the most honorable person in the room and they would do this by allowing the most honorable person in the room to wash their hands first in the basin the idea was they would have the cleanest water and then everybody else would follow suit and use that that water basin and so you can imagine that the disciples are sitting around getting ready to start this meal and they just kind of got these half grins on their face because they know they're going to give jesus this high honor he's the most honorable person in the room and they're going to have let him wash his hands they're not even getting close to it and the scripture said that jesus walked over to that bowl that basin of water and he didn't wash his hands no he took a towel and he wrapped it around his waist and he took that basin of water and he brought it to the feet of his disciples and he began to wash their feet and here the disciples don't know what to do we were trying to give jesus the most honorable thing at the ceremony to honor him and yet what did he do he's using this to honor us we're trying to say you're you're the most powerful most interesting most important person here and yet you have taken on the lowliest of positions you're washing our feet we don't know what to do and so jesus said you know what i'm going to tell you what to do with this amos can you share with us what jesus tells his disciples in john chapter 13 verse 14 of 15. sure so if i'm your teacher and lord and have just washed your dirty feet then you should follow the example that i've set for you and wash one another's dirty feet now do for each other what i have just done for you jesus let me tell you what to do with this do for each other do for others what i've just done for you and so maybe you need to be take a bath in the water you need to be immersed in the water and sign it for baptism maybe you need to spend some time in his word or maybe it's time you took the water to somebody else's feet somebody who needs the cleansing power of god in their life somebody who needs to hear the hope of the gospel the promise within the scriptures maybe it's time you carried the water to somebody else and you may say i don't know about that i mean if i start telling people about jesus if i start telling people about the scriptures that i'm reading if i start trying to talk and be all christian people are going to look at me as a hypocrite because they know i'm broken they know i got cracks in my life they they know you know who am i to to carry water from one place to another i'm a broken vessel with cracks all the way through it you know god often does his his best work through cracked vessels he pours his love into us and that love just gushes out through the cracks of our lives onto the people around us it's interesting how god will often take the most broken vessel and use it for the most noblest of tasks so it doesn't disqualify you it's time to take that water and carry it to the feet of somebody else who needs it i'm going to pray for you here in this moment that you have the courage to do what god is calling you to do with the water with the word whether sign up for baptism whether it's spend time in his word and be cleansed to get that guilt and shame off you or if it's time to carry the water to the feet of somebody else what do you need to do with the water today i'm going to pray for you right now to have the courage to do it let's pray [Music] father god the truth is we are all broken vessels the truth is we all have cracks in our life we've all fallen off track we all have wounds we pick at we all have guilt and shame that as we walk through this world it tries to cling to us god but lord you did not leave us helpless you gave us a savior you covered us in his blood you've washed us through the water of your word god and lord we want to be your people who dwell in the presence of a mighty god so lord i pray i pray for courage we know that courage is doing is moving forward despite fear and so lord place on our heart who do we need to bring the water to whom do we need to serve and how do we need to serve them who can we share what you poured into our lives with and pour it out into theirs lord give us the courage to soak in your word to spend time in your word and let us cleanse us through and through and father god i pray for those who have never been immersed into you give them the courage to be baptized to not wait but to celebrate tonight or give them the courage to take the step to die to that old life and rise to a new life in you through christian baptism lord we ask all of this in the name of your son jesus amen [Music] doing an actual baptism underwater is just like that renewal the last sunday they said somebody we were doing baptism and my daughter megan looked at me and she said mom i said i'm ready i am ready and it was at that moment that i knew [Music] i was in the sandbox bee for a long time i was trying to get into sandbox a when i was younger some things happened in my life over time um some storms and stuff where you know you're trying to hang in there and you know god's with you and he is with you but sometimes you forget about that and um you know you've recommended your the past 21 day fast and it changed my life you said some people say it changes people's lives and i want to stay in san boxer now you know i want to walk with with you made my day [Music] one of the women baptized from this video she sent me this response she said the peace i've felt since my baptism on sunday is something i didn't expect and i love it i have a brain injury from a car accident which is where my surrender journey really began and i've had several difficult years in vision and physical therapy to regain my capabilities to process information god has hemmed me in and he has met me where i was laying down my own capability was terrifying but every time i've laid down something i couldn't do he has carried me through i've been blessed with all that i need praise god for every one of these miracles there are so many and she finishes this response by saying harborside online has been so opening for me i feel like every message was written especially for me thank you for sharing that with me and i appreciate you so much for being baptized it was awesome to connect with you and i'd like to do the same for each person watching today you know we we give a lot of permission in the church and we give a lot of time and it's good because the lord has been gracious with me he's given me time i think patience is one of his best characteristics but there is an urgency in accepting christ as your savior and being washed in baptism yes there is grace and yes there's patience but there is an urgency and if i don't share that with you i haven't been faithful because we're not promised tomorrow we're not promised tomorrow and somebody needs to just hear this today that there is an urgency for you to make this decision to follow christ as your lord and your savior and the time is now if you've been waiting for the right time to be baptized waiting for all of the signs to align waiting for whatever your reason i'm going to tell you the time is now jesus has come and he has taken the cross upon his shoulders he has placed himself upon the altar he has given his own shedding of blood and he has led us to the laver to be baptized so the time is now the time is tonight i will see you at the baptisms we're going to be singing a song called oceans and it starts by saying you call me out upon the water the great unknown where feet may fail and i will call upon your name so spirit lead me where my trust is without borders let me walk upon the water wherever you would call me and take me deeper take me deeper take me deeper so let's sing this today spirit would you lead us you call me out upon the waters the great i know where feet may fail and there i find you in the mystery in oceans deep my faith will stay and i will call upon your name jesus and keep my eyes above the ways when oceans rise my soul rests in your embrace cause i am yours [Music] [Music] is [Music] surrounds me [Music] [Music] upon your name and keep my eyes above [Music] you might pull me deeper [Music] without borders let me walk upon the water wherever you would call me and take me deeper than my feet could ever wonder and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior [Music] and take [Music] and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior is my [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] so i will call upon your name jesus jesus and keep eyes above the waves and when oceans rise my soul will rest in your embrace cause i [Music] let's just rest here for a moment we say you're just watch us in the word jesus oh you're so faithful and wonderful [Music] your mighty god and i trust you god oh [Music] i'll follow you wherever you will [Music] oh [Music] i love you lord [Music] yes jesus so we honor you today we give you all that you deserve you've washed us you've washed us and we we worship you for that god thank you for what you've done thank you for how you've pre-known this since the beginning the symbolism with the labor god is beautiful but jesus we we receive that this morning for ourselves head to toe and with your word jesus it's your name i pray amen hey we want to help you we want to help you wash head to toe today and so today at 5 00 pm we're gonna be at honeymoon island there is a link that's coming in right now this is the button for you to hit hit the button that's coming into the link right now as well as there's a link in the description of this video as well as there's a link on our church website harborsidechurch.org hey if you're like not a link person not a button person we want you to watch head to toes so much that we're just asking that you just show up 5 to 6 30 at honeymoon island just show up and we want to baptize you but we also want to wash you in the word we want you to wash in the word every morning every evening tell us a little bit about seven and seven crystal seven and seven is an awesome resource that we have every day at 7 00 a.m and again at 7 00 p.m we gather together one of our awesome staff members they lead us into the secret place and they just bounce off of the word that we receive on sunday they share small thoughts it's between seven to 14 minutes super short great start and into your day please join us live 7 a.m 7 7pm there's been so many amazing stories that we've heard in the past few weeks and we want to continue to hear your story and so if you have a story of your testimony of what god is even just testifying of what god did in your life this week you can email us at my story at harborsidechurch.org again my story that's one word at harborsidechurch.org we want to hear from you we want to connect with you and thank you again for your generosity you've been so good for us good to us so we just want to bless you go in peace this week head to toe but also washed in the word every day every moment we love you guys we'll see you next week [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Harborside Church

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Id: _XM1GXYX7S4

Length: 119min 44sec (7184 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020