Cleaning House

[Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] good morning church you stand with us this morning [Music] ready to worship god in this place welcome if you're joining us online wherever you are in this house online today would you just lift your hands to god and let's worship him today father god we thank you that we're able to come into your house today god that you would just be glorified and lifted up today in this place and god that we as your people god would just embrace everything that you have for us in jesus name we pray amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh god and firm foundation i'll rock the on the solid ground [Music] bishops rise and fall [Music] kingdoms are strong now shaking we trust forever in your name in the name of jesus [Music] we trust the name of jesus [Music] forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever [Music] you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious [Music] [Applause] [Music] we bring our expectations our hope is anchored in your name of we jesus the name of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are the only king forever [Music] you are the only king forever forevermore [Music] the name of jesus [Music] jesus [Music] forever [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] [Applause] forever [Music] [Music] is [Music] we know there is more to come that we may not yet see so with the faith you've given us [Music] along [Music] [Applause] [Music] rescue every daughter brain is [Music] oh [Music] let us [Music] breathe the breath of god now breathe [Music] [Applause] [Music] free [Music] i'm alive [Music] is [Music] come on [Music] [Music] [Music] do you think these bones can live again so you know lord [Music] sometimes i feel like we go through our week we go through our day [Music] you just almost feel it in your bones don't you sometimes some days some weeks some sundays you just have to come in and say okay that bones inside of me today [Music] come alive [Music] how many of you want life in jesus that daily life that fresh spring as our prayer team comes down we're gonna enter into a time of prayer today if you're online with us today if you had a prayer need we've got a prayer team online ready to pray with you you can sing in the comments say i need prayer you can let us know what you need prayer for you can just direct messages [Music] if you're in this room you just lift your hand if you need prayer you can come down as we continue to worship i want to take a minute there's some pretty big things happening in our world right now talking with friends of ours across the globe here in our own nation and across the seas [Music] let's pray for our christian brothers and sisters in afghanistan that right now [Music] are living out of faith that hopefully we don't have to be faced with and with bravery they are standing up for their faith church you've got to understand something about them and their culture the christians that are there are not just christians because they were born into christian families they're christians because they converted from islam which is apostasy and they can't hide the fact that they're christians it's on their identification cards like our driver's license for them for strength for grace for peace many pastors right now are knowing that just to meet with their congregation is a death sentence you're so blessed right now we've got a lot of friends in the south their churches are meeting online only if they're able to at all because they are getting devastated by a storm so let's remember everyone sometimes it's easy to forget when you have your own problems to deal with that sometimes your problems might not be all that bad compared to what other people are going through amen so if you would pray with me about these things this morning and if you have prayer we're here to pray with you all so father god right now we just ask you to reach out your hand got here at home we're thankful for the safety and the security that we have but god i pray for those that are right now in the midst of a storm that is just devastating our southern coast that god just i just pray right now that you would just keep them safe but god you would use your people in this time to bring comfort to one another and god for our brothers and sisters in afghanistan god and not just there but all over the world in places that are dangerous for them god in china and russia places that it's not safe to call on the name of jesus in public god i pray for their safety i pray god for strength for them god i pray that we would learn something from their faith jesus name amen [Music] let it break [Music] jesus jesus make the darkness tremble jesus jesus he's silent fear jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus [Music] call these [Music] you make the darkness [Music] jesus jesus you make the darkness jesus [Music] jesus jesus you make the darkness jesus jesus jesus you make the darkness jesus [Applause] [Music] your day is [Music] [Applause] your name is [Music] [Applause] jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus jesus your name is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] jesus you make the darkness [Music] you make the darkness jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you sing the name of jesus today jesus [Music] the jesus tremble jesus jesus fear jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus [Music] father god we worship you in this place today trusting in the only name that we can trust in the name of jesus through all these things i know you speak life into these dry bones and it's through the name of jesus that they come alive the god that you continue to do a great work in us as we proclaim we worship the great name of jesus in this house in jesus name we pray amen can somebody give them some praise in this house today [Music] welcome to church you're seated today would you turn around wave at somebody real big tell them it's great to see them in god's house if you're online with us today welcome we're so glad that you're here go ahead and just like this video love it share with your friends and say hi in the comments below good morning valley view church what a beautiful name when we get to come here and just say jesus it is amazing welcome welcome if this is your first time with us here in person or online we are so honored to have you we hope that you felt welcomed as soon as you came into this place valley view can we let our first-time guests know how excited we are to have them yes we have a connect card if you're here with us in person it there's a connect card in your worship guide if you will fill that out with your information and in the back you can drop it off when we leave here we have a special gift in the mail that we just want to send you just to say thanks for joining us today and if you're online with us the same goes to you please fill out that digital connect card we would love to send that to you we also have this amazing gift that we offer everybody and it's called right now media and it's this wonderful tool that you can use to grow spiritually they have bible studies they have things for kids they have things for teens it's just this beautiful thing and all you have to do is text valley view to 49775 that's all you have to do very simple we've already paid for it it's there just for you to start using and i have to tell you guys god is so good and you know we know that prayer changes things right and how many of you had a mama that prayed for you yes so we have this thing that we are starting tomorrow night and it's called a mama's revival a mama's revival and this is a time for you women to come in on monday from 6 to 8 30 anytime it's a come and go an event and we want to pray for you because as women we give back to people all the time sometimes you need to be prayed for and as school starts to say this is so vital you are going through a lot of decisions you're deciding on homeschooling or bringing your kids to school or private school whatever it is that you're dealing with we want to pray for you monday so i want you to like this event on facebook we want you to share it and invite your mamas to come and be a part of this invite all the women that you know we want to serve you tomorrow and guess what our prayers change things right yes and so next i've got to tell you you can take your profession of faith that you have inside outward and that way is by baptism and we would love for you if you want to go public with your faith we have baptism coming up september 12th and all you have to do is go to valleyviewchurch.online it's under events go ahead and sign up so we can get you set up to be baptized because there is something beautiful about being baptized and sharing your faith with everybody else and the last thing i want to explain to you is we have connect class coming up if you've never been a part of connect i encourage you please go through connect this is a time that you get to learn more about the church you get to learn what valley view is what our values are our beliefs and how you can get involved and this is a great way towards membership and it's september 19th through october 3rd it's every sunday following service immediately in the fellowship hall we'll have child care available for you and this is a great time for you to say hey i love coming to this church but i want to become a part of this church i want to become a member and i'm ready to serve and we would love for you to be a part of that so let's welcome pastor as we continue with our series rebuild the city [Music] [Applause] [Music] anybody remember what it's like to get a letter in the mail so strange isn't it so there's an older crowd in here that are like yeah i remember that that was childhood now for our millennials and genzirs that are in here and online let me explain what a letter is it's words written on a piece of paper folded putting on into another piece of paper that is then sealed and a stamp is put on that you hand it to a person and they put it in a truck drive it across the country and put it in your mailbox where you open it and read it and kids are thinking well that seems stupid why didn't you just email them that's way easier why you just text them why didn't you just chat you're right that is easier that's why your parents invented it so letters used to have these weird things that we just don't have anymore because with modern communication things happen so quickly that if you forgot to say something in uh your email you just send a follow-up email if you if you were texting someone you you think of something else oh i'm just gonna send that follow-up text well we lost the art of the ps the post script because you would write everything a letter and you wouldn't just send it off immediately but you would oh you know what i forgot there's something else i wanted to put in that letter and a day or two later you would put p.s and write extra stuff it's it's like extra stuff in the letter of what you already wanted and when you got a letter and there was a ps you're like yes bonus material it's like the dlc this is cool it just keeps going so today i want to talk a little bit about nehemiah's post script experience the extra bit the extra part and today we're coming to the close of the book of nehemiah but i want to give you guys kind of a a restart a refresher on what we've been talking about for the last five weeks this month so we started this and understand as we come to the end of nehemiah we're just really coming to the start of the work that god has put in our hearts okay we're going to move on to some other topics in scripture in the in the coming weeks but but this is something that god is settling in our hearts and the first thing is this to distraction to our enemy to all the things that would stop us doing for what god's called us to do i am doing a great work i cannot come down that is our attitude that is our action that is our declaration sorry i can't be bothered i'm doing a great work i cannot come down now the the question has been through this entire series what great work well what inspires me what inspires me what is the thing that god has inspired in us to do here in our community to do with our family members our friends the what is the great work he's called us to so once we've pinned that down then we we discussed we even came up with a strategy for success didn't we what was that strategy involve others anticipate resistance and invest yourself if you want to rehash on all these things go back on youtube and watch all these sermons okay and last week we talked about the most important ingredient the most important thing that people are the purpose to which the church is called this is the most important part of what we do everything we do is for and about people we are people driven now that's going to come out in a lot of different ways isn't it because we're going to do everything that we can to exalt god and encourage people you've heard that before god so let's talk about nehemiah we're at the point with nehemiah where he's built the wall he's rebuilt the wall around jerusalem and this is a wonderful and incredible thing because when we say he's rebuilt the wall he rebuilt the wall in 52 days isn't that amazing he rebuilt the wall around the city of jerusalem in 52 days and all the people that were were in trouble all the israelites all these jews are now in the safety of the walls from these evil people that are outside the walls that would want to you know rob them of everything and and hold them for ransom for the things that they are growing and building and creating so basically uh industry and economy has come back into jerusalem there now can be health for the people of god there now can be worship for the people of god so that's what nehemiah did he he reinstituted worship he reinstituted the reading of god's word out loud in the public square something that had not happened in decades which was an old practice but when they were driven into captivity they they stopped they were too scared now all this happens and he re rededicates the wall to god he really get ready rededicates the people in jerusalem to god then what you ever been in the then what moments in your life where you finished something and it feels good to finish something doesn't it you're like ah i built that i did that oh i completed that maybe you're in school taking classes right now you finish you're like i finished that it feels good it feels good maybe you got a project on the job everything is done you're like oh i finished that now what because there's always something else isn't there because this is what we have to understand just because uh he finished the work that god called him to do initially it doesn't mean nehemiah was done does it now we're just starting some of the works in our lives but when you get finished with some of these projects that god has put on your heart there's gonna be a what next moment there's gonna be something now there's this radical salvation that he works immediately in our lives and the thing is we love that first experience so well that we never think about what's next there's a lot next because sometimes what god has called you to do is really just the first step in the order of your life and this is what you have to understand the sun never sets on the legacy of the believer there's several different ways to say this one way i like to repeat is if you're not dead you're not done dead bones come alive i feel dead some sundays but i'm not dead so i'm not done so you keep pushing through but they used to say that the sun never sat on the british empire that's because at one point britain had its hands in countries all across the world and literally at any given moment the sun was shining on then the then british empire what you're building and what you're a part of is way bigger than your life it is the church that has gone on for centuries and will continue until jesus comes back and brings us home and you are a part of that legacy and the sun will never set on it isn't that incredible because once the sun sets on it here we spend eternity with jesus it never sets on what we're doing this is an eternal project doesn't mean it's going to take eternity for us to work on what god's called us to work on but once we get finished here we're with him for the rest of eternity if he has stuff for you to do here don't you think he's going to have something for you to put your hands to there i don't feel like heaven and eternity is boring i don't feel like it's a bunch of naked babies with harps playing on clouds that's weird strange thank you renaissance imagery that's just wrong i think there's going to be a reflection in the image of what god has created now but it's going to be this in perfection there's a lot of evidence in scripture for that now let's talk about what's next because after they did all this what did i tell you nehemiah started reading the word of god out loud in the square again and what happens is when you start reading scripture publicly you start finding out things don't you that's going to be one of the things that you notice is there are so many scripture that will be on the screen throughout the course of a year here in this church why because our our sermons don't start with what we feel they start with what god says that's important so in nehemiah chapter 13 this happens and on the day the book of moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found look at somebody and say it was found you don't know what it is yet but they found it you didn't know it was lost did you there's a lot in scripture that you don't know is lost because you haven't found it yet there's pieces of your life that are missing because you haven't found them in god's word yet they're the answer that you've been looking for you've just been looking in the wrong places so it was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found that no ammonite or moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of god now there was a reason for this reason in verse 2 because they had not met the israelites with food and water but hired balaam a false prophet to call a curse down on them our god however turned the curse into a blessing don't worry when people curse you our god can turn curses into blessings amen also you're like well that's really weird he's he's pushing the ammonites and the moabites out you have to understand there's a lot of history here the ammonites and the moabites were relatives of the israelites they had they shared some family trees and instead of the israelites getting out of egypt and getting out of slavery and going into the wilderness and the ammonites of the moabites said hey we've lived here for a while let you help you out on your way we know you're not staying here let us help you on your way to the promised land they didn't they fought them instead this did not make god happy rough isn't it so god cursed them it's one thing when god turns your curse into a blessing it's different when god says no you're in trouble that's different and then this verse three when the people heard this law they excluded from israel all who were of foreign descent this is amazing they're hearing this red for the first time in the square and they're going wait we're not supposed to let them into the temple oh we didn't know so what was the first thing they did they're like y'all got to get out of the temple go this is god's law and this is going to happen to you so many times when you're reading god's word revelation is the result of reading god's word people want revelation but they want revelation to fall out of the sky and hit them on the head that's just not how it works all that'll give you is a concussion it's not going to change your life revelation is the result of reading god's word and i challenge you if you begin to read his word you will find revelation you will find the answers to these questions that you've had for a long time or questions you didn't know you had just like the israelites they're like wait what we're we're not supposed to do this oh we've been letting this go on for years and you read god's word and you go oh i'm i'm not supposed to live like that i got to make some changes and this is what's going to be different than the world and this is there's some things that we're going to build out here these are some what next moments okay even when god is sometimes it's easy to just see the projects that god has in front of you but not the principles he wants you to live by i'll say that again sometimes it's really easy to see the projects god has in front of you but it's it's harder to see the principle he wants you to live by some of us want to know what god's will is and we're talking projects and god says i've given you my will it's my principles and if you begin to live by the principles you can start doing whatever projects are on your heart see we conflate these two things so this is what we go to god's word for we go to god's word is our source for conviction and morality nothing else and we'll talk about why first let's talk about what conviction is confiction is a firmly held belief how many people are getting their firmly held beliefs from whatever they watch on tv from whatever they read on the internet you don't think you do but whatever you consume the most will become your conviction you don't realize it but you're saturating yourself with other people's convictions you will begin to adopt them so where are we getting our firmly held beliefs from well we can't do it the way the world does it the way the world does it is whatever they feel is their conviction well that's not how i feel about it well let's talk about feelings your feelings change but god's word is constant that's why we don't take conviction for what we feel because what you feel is different depending on how you slept last night and what you ate for dinner you have ups and downs in your fields and let let's all be honest with ourselves for just a second our feelings lie to us why would you build firmly held beliefs on something that shifts as often as the tide can't do it can you because you believe something tomorrow that you didn't believe today and which of you was right yesterday or today so you go to something that doesn't change you go to a source that you can always measure your beliefs against you go to a source where you can always say okay i can be constant in my beliefs because i trust this i trust the bible i trust what god is saying to me more than i trust myself because i know myself and i have been the reason i have gotten trouble every time in my life and if you look back you'll probably notice most of those times that you got yourself in trouble is because you were ignoring what god was trying to tell you so let me give you three reasons to trust god's word this morning three reasons why this is a constant that you can trust okay the first one is this that god's word has been tested by men and women before you god's word has been tested by men and women before you what's beautiful about this is that you are not the first to try this no one wants to be the guinea pig that's fair enough isn't it you don't want to be the guinea pig you don't want them to put you in the amusement park ride and latch you in and go all right you're the very first person to be on this roller coaster good luck buddy have you tested with crash test dummies yet there are inanimate objects that you could run on this first don't make me your test dummy but we'll run test crash test dummy with our convictions try this belief out for a little while see if it works then you crash into a wall i didn't work stop trying things that haven't been tested the second reason is that god's word has endured centuries of debate centuries of debate and this always amazes me because you always have a generation of new atheists that come up with what they think are new ideas to refute god's word and if they have new ideas it's just because they haven't read anything historical ever they're just rehashing the same old debates as a matter of fact i think every debate over god's word has been settled for hundreds of years there have been arguments and counter arguments to literally everything you could possibly think of it just requires a lot of reading and i mean a lot of reading because there's a lot of things out there but there's nothing new trust me look at our generations do you think anyone in any of our generations is really smarter than all the people that came before us and came up with something new i mean we're starting to speak in hieroglyphics again with emojis guys going backwards a little bit then there's here's the last one three reasons to trust god's word god's word remains relevant in any every culture it's ever applied to this is across the board worldwide and let me tell you what the result is every time god's word christianity is introduced into a new culture that new culture is better they are more moral they're less evil it changes them i don't know anything else on the planet that you can introduce there's no economic plan that you can introduce into a new culture and change their morality the word of god consistently does now so that's conviction what about morality morality are the principles of right and wrong it's not like your firmly held beliefs it's really knowing the difference between right and wrong and i want to be really clear our principles for living cannot be found anywhere except in god's truth it is amazing because we have so many people today that have their truth that's great and all but if you walk outside and you say that your truth is that the sky is green your truth is wrong see how truth works getting quiet a little nervous a little edgy like pastor that's upsetting my truth that's probably a good thing so we find true principles in god's word nowhere else and the reason why is because our truth changes on a daily basis but but god has actually given us morality see morality is established in the law of creation this is something god created right from the beginning he is the holy one he is the perfect one he is the standard of right and wrong he is the one that is right apart from him everything else is wrong why he created all things he is then the standard and the question is if you're not going to establish your morality what is right and wrong based on the creator of all the laws of the universe then what are you going to establish morality upon and this is the atheist dilemma because if you remove god from society who gets to determine what is right or wrong and what they'll say is well we we don't need some sky daddy to tell us y'all watch different videos than i do it's okay i listen to what the other side says all the time because i need to know how to talk to them we don't need some sky daddy to tell us that rape and murder are wrong which is really interesting because i can look at countries all over the planet that haven't been influenced they've resisted the influence of christianity and god's word and guess what under certain condensate conditions rape and murder are legal maybe you do need someone to tell you what right and wrong is because if not it just comes down to consensus and the question really is if you want to take god out of the equation are you really comfortable giving the mob the right to choose what's moral let me tell you what happens when the mob chooses its morality it gets woke and it begins to cancel people that it believes are immoral and the big difference between god's right and wrong and the mob's right and wrong is when the mob cancels you they offer no path to repentance they don't care you're over they declared you counseled but when god says look you have sin in your life this is wrong but right can be found he offers you a direct path to repentance restoration righteousness am i deep enough in it today so let me give you three three steps to transform your life step one read god's word daily now there's always going to be a couple of uh things that i hear when when we start talking okay read god's word daily uh excuses that we hear are constantly going to be well i don't have time okay take your phone out of your pocket set an alarm for whatever time of the day you want to and when that alarm goes off open your free bible app and read it so many of us our phones are making us work for them why don't you make it work for you it's your technology it can do some amazing things set that alarm and then the second is pastor i just don't understand what i'm reading yeah i get that make sure you can find a translation that you'll read there's lots of them there's lots of and this is what i know about god's word god's word is so powerful that whatever translation you pick up he can speak to you through it he's amazing that way because you need to understand it for step two step two is recognize this application reading it like the israelites were reading and going oh we're not supposed to let these people into the temple going to be things that you need to recognize the application in your life and go okay god i see what i'm reading how do i apply that to my life it could be prayer it could be relationships it could be actions it could be sins that you need to get rid of it could have been it could be good habits you need to start recognize the application and then step three respond to what you read see it's not just enough to read it and know it i didn't help you do it and this is why you don't have to read a whole lot every day because you don't need to change everything in a day you need to read something and go what does that mean and then you need to start practicing it read a few verses five minutes of your time is what we're asking and it'll transform your life and you begin to do these steps and you begin to to let your conviction immorality rest on god's word and in his conviction for your life and his right and wrong and his righteousness and all these things begin to change and how many of you know because you've been doing this for more than five minutes that those old things will still try to creep back in yeah sure they will just because you declared god's righteousness in your life do you think that just made satan give up giving up is not his style being defeated is some of y'all will process that later so what happens is sometimes things come back in and this is how we deal with it because nehemiah chapter 13 and it says in verse 4 before this elijah the priest now remember this is in response to what they just read in god's word out loud before this elijah the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of god he was closely associated with tobiah tobiah the ammonite they didn't say it here but it's so understood it's said so many times in the book of nehemiah that you get to this place and you're like oh tobias and ammonite we just read something about them not being in in the temple didn't we tobiah the same guy that said oh fox could knock your wall down that guy but he's friends with this priest in verse 5 he had provided him so the priest provided tobiah the ammonite with a large room formally used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles and also the tides of grain the new wine the oil prescribed for the levites singers and gatekeepers as well as the contributions for the priest but we just read that ammonites and moabites are not supposed to be in the temple and this priest elijah has given an anime ammonite named tobiah a storage room of his own in the temple what in the world why because of his association and this is what i'm warning you be careful associating with those that don't follow jesus and we've got to really break this down do we have a few minutes to break this down are y'all good with this because the response is always going to be well pastor i have to hang out with sinners i have to hang out with people that don't follow jesus because how else are they going to begin to follow jesus if i don't hang out with them you're right but you need to make sure that association stays healthy because this is coming back to your conviction and your morality and this is how you know it's unhealthy and an association is unhealthy that leaves no room for worship when it stops to pull you from your personal worship when it starts to pull you from your public worship now sometimes this is friends sometimes this is activities isn't it these are things that pull us from worship and how do you know if that relationship between you and that other person is healthier and healthy well do you tend to listen to their truth more than god's truth do you go to their advice more than you go to god's advice are you influencing them or are they influencing you that's a hard answer isn't it because that means every relationship we have to bring up and we have to kind of like okay where am i on this meter of this relationship and it's not always at first bad things i don't it doesn't indicate that tobiah was storing idols in the temple but what he was doing was he was storing his stuff in a place that didn't belong and as a result this stuff had left no room for all the articles that they used for worship to be properly stored and then used it wasn't that he was putting idols in the temple he was just gumming up the works so that the proper temple worship couldn't happen and it's not always idols that just pop up in our lives it's activities and relationships that take so much time and replace the time that we could be using in worship getting closer to god and they just take time up that really should be for god and then what happens well it might not be bad stuff at first but if we're not worshiping god because we've made a mess of things and we've filled all those areas of worship in our life with other things we are made to worship we have a propensity to worship so what will happen is if you're not worshiping god and you fill this space with other things you'll start slowly worshiping those other things without realizing it why because we are made to worship so those things that weren't bad at first now become idols and this is what always happens sin will feel the vacancies left by open by lack of worship you begin to worship other things you begin to worship your kids you'll begin to worship their activities you'll begin to worship your job all of these things can become sin if you let them take the place of worship in your life they're not bad inherently are they as a matter of fact in the order of things you need all those things but god's first so what do you do nehemiah verse 6. but while this was going on i was not in jerusalem nehemiah says i leave for five minutes come on guys you ever done that with your kids you walk out of the room and then like five minutes later you walk back in the room and all you all you can smell is vick's vacuole rub because your two-year-old got into it and it's all over her daddy it smells good i smelled you in the other room that's why i came back what happened she said it's okay though it's not this is nehemiah he leaves for five minutes he said for in the 32nd year of artaxerx he's the king of babylon i had returned to the king sometime later i asked his permission and came back to jerusalem and this is what he found he found tobias stuff in the temple where worship should be happening here i learned about the evil thing elijah had done in providing tobiah a room in the courts of the house of god i was greatly displeased and throughout all tobias household goods out of the room isn't this amazing it's not idols it's household goods it's chairs and tables and cabinets but it's in the wrong place he said i gave orders to purify the rooms and then i put back into them the equipment of the house of god with the grain offerings and the incense and this happens to us in our lives sometimes that's kind of why we get that dead bone syndrome sometimes maybe what we really need to do is just clean house maybe there's things in our heart that should have been devoted to worship but we kind of left it open so we we let other things come into our heart and that that stuff is now crowding out worship in our lives because we can't stop thinking about we can't stop feeling about it we can't stop doing things about it and maybe all we need to do is clean house just take this and say okay i'm not throwing you away i'm just moving you these are good things i want to do but you know what i'm not going to do them on a sunday morning when i'm going to worship these are things i'm not going to look there are some things i won't watch won't read won't look at on a sunday morning before i come over to preach because i don't need those things on my mind i can do that all the rest of the week mostly news i won't watch any news read any news on a sunday morning because i don't need to think about that before i preach i need to be thinking about god's word not that it's bad that i'll do it tomorrow at its appropriate time but some of that is just cleaning house in our hearts and in our lives there might be sins that are keeping you from worshiping god the way that you should be worshiping god there might be activities or relationships that are in the way of you worshiping god and today might just be okay god i need to clean house and the way we return to worship is to let god clean our heart look if we're talking about cleaning house you didn't save yourself in the first place so you need to go back to him that saved you to clean house and this is the pattern of us returning to worship would you stand with me today every head bowed every eye closed in this place we're about to return to worship we're going to change the order up we'll give you an opportunity to give here after this psalm but but what i want to do right now in this moment is i want to respond to everything that we've been talking about this month the fact that god has called us to a great work and we can't come down all the way to the fact that god is talking to us saying okay are there things that you need to clean house some of you right here you already know what's in your heart that needs to be cleaned out some of us will find and discover those things as we begin reading god's word this week it'll be revealed to us but we're not going to be able to return to worship until we make space for worship amen so with your heads bowed your eyes closed right now i'm going to pray a prayer with you i'm going to ask you a question really quick if you're in here or maybe you're online today you say you know what pastor i know there are some things in my heart there are some things in my life that need to be cleaned out and i want to return to worship would you just lift your hand right now lift your hands online god for all these hands that are raised i see all these hands in this place today god i pray this prayer god clean our house clean our hearts out of all those vile things the strife the distractions god let us return to a heart of worship [Music] god let us return to your word let us return to the words that you speak into our lives let us begin to ignore the words that the world has spoken over us and god when you speak let us listen [Music] let it transform our outlook let it transform our actions let it transform our attitudes with hands lifted high let us worship you in your house on this day as god you have cleaned this place out let us return to worship in your wonderful name in the name of jesus amen so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the world was dark the sound of hopelessness [Music] there is life [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are strong and you are [Music] that i know that you are with me like you've been for all the time [Music] [Music] oh you said the world's in motion [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] your word is [Music] [Music] you try to start to shine [Music] speak and drive [Applause] [Music] you can go ahead and take a seat we are going to continue worship a time of giving and here at valley view we have several different ways you can give you can text any dollar amount to 84321 you can give online at valleyviewchurch.online and if you're watching online with us we have that link in the description for you you just gotta click it it'll take you right there or you can mail it in 1435 33rd avenue longview washington 98632 and you can drop it in our secure mailbox it locks it is perfectly safe to drop that in there as well and after you've filled that out you can use a giving envelope that is in your worship guide you can drop that in the basket on your way out today and grab an invite card on your way out as well they're right there next to it made that easy but as we as we prepared to give today i want to say thank you for your generosity for your faithfulness all the things that we've been able to do this summer summer effects giving away backpacks thank you your faithfulness has made that possible your giving has made that possible god has blessed us and in return we have blessed others and we're going to continue to get these opportunities to bless as long as we are faithful we've got a lot coming this fall we're excited it also means we need to be faithful we need to remain faithful we're not done yet amen let's pray lord thank you for this day heavenly father we thank you that you have given us this opportunity and this blessing to join you in the work that you have for this city [Music] spirit i ask that you rest on this offering and on these people and on this city as we set out to do the work that you have prepared for us you've gone ahead of us you've made it ready it's waiting on us inspire us lord to do your work bless this offering and bless these people in your name we pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music] mountains you're speaking there is life [Music] explain all your [Music] there goodness your word is truth your word is [Music] word is truth your word is [Music] you said the world's emotional [Music] you speaking there is life [Music] here in a couple of days we've got kids that are going back into school teachers that will be welcoming those kids in the classroom so right now we're going to have our kids come up front if you'll stand with me and as our kids come up front if we have any school faculty or school board members we want to pray over you [Music] church don't we love our kids all students all the way up elementary junior high high school you guys get up here [Music] you guys are beautiful [Music] and if you work in any schools or daycares we want you guys up here too look would you just lift your hands this way church father god i just pray that you bless our kids this year god i just pray that you would give them confidence in their classrooms god i pray that you would give them an ease of knowledge that they would learn effectively the things that their teachers are teaching them god i pray that our kids are the most well-behaved most respectful kids in the schools that shine the light of jesus everywhere they go with their friends with their teachers god i pray that you would just shine a spotlight on them lift them up encourage them in your spirit and in your word god i pray that you bless their parents god give their parents strength for the trials that is having a kid in school god let them have wisdom each day as we trust our kids with our teachers with our faculty god i pray for our teachers god for all of our parents for our our school board members god for our principles god i pray that you give them strength and confidence and wisdom that comes from your holy spirit and god let them love on these kids and pour into them more than knowledge but pour into them worth and well-being and that confidence and let them stand out in their schools because of the name of jesus let them be the best teachers let them be the best educators let them be the best workers god i pray for our church if you would lift your hands today church let god bless you god i pray blessings on your people today i pray that you bless the rising up they're lying down they're coming in they're going out god i pray that you bless them with favor as the light of your faith shines upon them god i pray that you bless them with health and strength for their journey ahead god i pray that you bless them financially as they continue to be generous to others and god i pray that you bless them with the greatest of all blessings the honor the privilege the opportunity of introducing someone to jesus christ as lord and savior of their life this week i pray in jesus name amen and amen god bless you church have a great week [Music] you

Channel: Valley View Church

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Id: pCEkwleLRSY

Length: 88min 56sec (5336 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021