His Grace Reaches Me!

forget about yourself forget about yourself come into this house into this house to magnify the lord to magnify the lord jesus christ all of you who can stand would you please stand at this time please repeat after me this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it praise the lord like to be seated at this time i'd like to welcome all of you to our sunday morning worship service do up trust and pray that something might be said here that will motivate you to continue on to strive to walk a little closer to your lord and your savior jesus christ those of you who are viewing us by way of the internet we'd like to welcome you as well we got to ask all of you those of you that you will lift your voice praise your god when the song leader come before us and lead us in our own services all of you who are visiting with us for the very first time welcome you are an honored guest here at the figure wall street congregation at this time we're going to ask all of you if you will bow your heads as we give praise to god as we give praise to our lord and savior jesus christ let us vow at this time father god in heaven once again it is unto you that we come bow before you thank you heavenly father for allowing us to be able to assemble in this place to worship you in spirit and in truth we thank you only father for your son jesus christ we thank you lord for the holy spirit that you have blessed us with and we thank you heavenly father for the word that we read and study and that we strive to live and service those who are standing in need we do pray father that you will forgive us of our sins forgive us of our transgressions and help us always lean on you for strength and understanding thank you heavenly father for blessing us to be able to assemble here this day we pray father that you will open our ears open our hearts that we will receive with meekness being grafted words which is able to save our souls forgive us of our sins heavenly father guide us as we walk down this path of life help us a lot to always put you first in our conversation in our thinking and in our services it is in the strong and powerful name of jesus christ that we do give praise honor to you it is in his name we praise you and all the people said amen good morning aren't you glad to be announced the lord this morning he woke us up this morning and allowed us to get up on our own and make it here this morning isn't that wonderful yes hey amen as we get our devotional i keep falling in love with him over and over and over again [Music] [Applause] over and and over and over again i keep falling in love with him over and over and over and over again over and over and over [Applause] [Music] we together stand for our responsive reading and invocation prayer how we doing this morning church family all right all right please repeat after me and remain standing i waited patiently for the lord and heard my cry he also brought me up out of a horrible pit out of the maori clay and set my feet upon a rock and establish my steps he has put a new song in my mouth praise to our god many will see it and fear and we're trusting the lord kind father we're grateful this morning that you saw fit to give us one more day to express our love to you for all that you do past present and future father we've gathered this morning not because it's sunday but because it's the lord's day it's your day and we have come father not out of obligation but out of love and respect even now while we're standing it's not because we've been ordered to stand we we long to stand in your presence give you praise and recognize that you are god all by yourself and besides you there is no other it is because of you that we have our existence we live and we move and you give us meaning and purpose and so today as we worship you help us to find that purpose for our existence again to know that you've called us to be the light of the world to be positive change agents uh in an environment of of ugliness and hate so we're asking father that that as we stand as a light that we're mindful of our true light who is our lord and savior jesus christ who lights up this world who lights us up and help us father to allow our lights to be lit up on a consistent basis that people can see smiles and joy and love and kindness in our hearts we're mindful father of what we're experiencing right now in the loss of our loved beloved brother and the person of bruce fisher that would never evade our thinking today not tomorrow or in the days to come we're praying father for comfort and consolation for his family his daughters and his sister and those who were close to him we prayed primarily father for david craven who was very close to bruce they were good comrades strengthen david i know this is a heavy burden on his heart the big guy that he is he he has a tender heart and a soft spot and there are times father when he will need to be along with you and we pray that we will give him that space continue to bless us to be a blessing to him we're thankful for both he and bruce their service here as caretakers and and security people we just we just appreciate what they do and now you have so fit to take bruce home we're just praying that as a church we can process that together and father we realize that we must continue to remain faithful to you to live out the legacy of faith left to us by our lord and savior jesus christ and in moments like this we cannot help but think also about the many lives that were lost 20 years ago on yesterday in the city of new york and those families even today that are still reeling from the pain and the horror of that as well as the multiplicity of side effects that some of those who survived are still experiencing today such trauma does not go away overnight nor even in a season we're praying father for their families and for those who are still struggling and hurting and challenged we ask god that you would grant them a special measure of your grace to cover them in times of difficulty now father we have gathered this day to continue to give you praise we ask that you would grant us grace in these matters forgive us and build us up in jesus name we pray the church says amen amen [Music] [Music] oh robot [Applause] glory land is of glory [Applause] amen come on lee oh man yeah this one's for bruce my thou are gone oh me sweet countries [Music] that's why i'm calling on yourself oh [Applause] oh lord won't you hear me me [Music] oh [Music] oh me bye [Music] [Music] this morning's scripture will be taken from luke the 15th chapter verses 11 through 24. again that's luke 15 verses 11-24 after which we asked you please stand for prayer and i'll be reading for the new king james version and it reads then he said a certain man had two sons and the younger them said to his father father give me the portion of goods that falls to me so he divided them his livelihood and not many days after the younger son gathered all together journeyed to a far country and their wasted dispossessions with prodigal living but when he had spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in one then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him to the fields to feed swine and he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave them anything but when he came to himself he said how many of my father's higher servants have a bread enough and to spare and i perish with hunger i will arise and go to my father and will say to him father i have sinned against heaven and before you and i am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants and he arose and came to his father but he was still a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and the son said to him father i have sinned against heaven and in your sight and i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be merry this includes a scripture reading for this morning would you please stand for a word of prayer father god in heaven we come this morning giving thanks thanks father that you allow us to be your children that you take care of our needs each and every day we're thankful father for your mercy and your grace you show us each day grace the mercy that we don't deserve father but only because your goodness that you shed it upon us father we don't deserve to be here this morning it's only because of your goodness dear lord you woke us up out of our beds to be able to come here to fellowship to worship to saying honor and praises to your name and for that we're thankful dear lord we thank you for sustaining us throughout this past week and bring us to this point father giving us health giving us strength giving us clothing giving us food father and just sustaining us in all aspects of our lives father we come this morning just asking that you'll guide our hearts and minds this morning for every person under the sound of my voice father i'm just praying that you'll touch our hearts this morning touch our minds that as your word is spoken to us that we will obey it and live it out in our lives each and every day we're praying that our hearts will be touched father by the words being spoken by your man servant brother hawkins uh father please continue to use him as you see fit uh thank you for blessing him with so many skills and so many talents father and we're just appreciative for all that he's doing at this congregation we ask that you'll watch over him and his family and protect them dear lord from the evil one uh father please continue to keep him encouraged keep him uh motivated dear lord and just help uh guide him in his thinking and in his ministry father that all the things that he does we'll all bring glory to you this morning dear lord we're just asking a blessing on those who are ailing among us those who are sick those who are shut in those who are depressed father those who are going through trials and tribulations in their lives those who feel like they just said a robot roadblock in their lives father we're just asking that you intervene help them to be revived help them to be motivated their lord help their strength come back to them once again there are so many in the congregation right now that uh would like to be here but can't be here father because uh their their physical condition doesn't allow them to be here father and so again we're asking that you'll intervene and just bless their lives right now uh father praying for this world that we live in for this country for the city that we live in father we're praying that uh things will be done in the way of ultraviolet and glory to you uh we're asking prayers for our leadership of this nation father that shall guide them in the right way that will make proper decisions that will benefit those who are suffering and those who are in pain those who are downtrodden and those who are weak and father praying for this congregation that we can make a difference in the environment the community that we live in right now help us to see the things that jesus sees on a daily basis father please bless our hearts that we'll have compassion our fellow man our fellow sisters father that you'll allow us to reach out to them and help them in any way that we can help us not to pass people by father without trying to lend some form of aid to them and let them know more about you how good you are on a daily basis father praying for those who lost loved ones for this congregation dear lord we know that we have many who are believed right now and we just ask a blessing upon them not only in this congregation father but across the city uh people are still moving losing loved ones from this culvert virus father families are hurting the families are devastated right now father because the ones that they love are no longer there with them father we're just praying for these individuals as they go through their grief give them strength in their time of need give them comfort and as you comforted us father help us to be a blessing to others in the same way father we're just asking this morning that you please forgive us for the things that we've done against you and against others help us each day father just try to do better to please you to do the things you ask of us and just go out and just do a good thing that will bless somebody else's life father we're asking once again for uh wisdom for the leadership of this congregation please guide them protect them and the things they set forth for us and continue to uh bless them and their families as they minister here as well guide us and keep us dear lord these are all things we ask in the name of your son jesus we pray amen lord the people praise [Music] you are the holy one you are the holy one you're the only one you're the only one the only and we're singing [Applause] if you are the holy one you're the one you're the only one you're the only one if we had ten thousand times all the glory is to you and we're singing hallelujah you're the one you're the only one you're the only one [Applause] yes lord i look to praise jesus oh he is hallelujah is hallelujah hallelujah [Applause] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Applause] praise this morning i love to praise him thank you brother lee taiska and of course our garrett we appreciate you guys leading us in our selections this morning it's just good to be in the house of the lord amen he has given us one more sunday just one more sunday we're happy to be here it's good to see those of you who are with us this morning and those who are watching live stream we continue to appreciate your involvement in our worship services each week of course you know we're still going through uh this covet yet the god of heaven has graced us uh in this process to do the best we can in mitigating our movement so i want to thank each of you for your compliance and your self-sacrifice and helping us to maintain some level of protocol yet to not to be prohibited from worshiping god amen not us nothing will stop us from worshiping our god because he's worthy to be worshipped if you have your bibles let's move to luke the 15th chapter verses 11 through 24 will be our place of study this morning our text this morning comes to us out of luke's narrative about jesus luke a physician and disciple of jesus writes to his friend theophilus an orderly account of the events of the life and ministry of jesus this ministry is revealed in the context of the eyes of a physician who has meticulously given us bit by bit intimate exposures to the one who has become god man it is in his four-part narrative that he presents jesus both in his as well as his divinity from the early entrance of this writing up to the divine ascension luke gives us insight into who jesus is i find that to be very important because sometimes it's difficult for us to wrap our minds around god in man a god becoming fully man in luke's narrative luke presents jesus as son of man come with authority authority over demons disease death nature and sin all of which are realized in the daily affairs of people somewhere along the line we're going to have to wrap our minds around the reality of the presence of evil and demonic activity in a fallen world disease is prevalent this ease is the daily anxiety death and of course the turbulence of nature underwritten by sin are problems for which man cannot fix so god gave us jesus somebody ought to save me don't don't miss your shots all that stuff you got going on you need jesus i know i do i can't deal with my demons without jesus i can't address my diseases and my diseases without jesus i can't handle death without jesus and i can't tell the wind and the waves to stop all of that but i know that jesus came and when it comes to humanity's number one problem and that is the problem of sin we need jesus all of these plague us daily so luke writes to his friend theopolis and it's interesting to note that luke is concerned about his friend seeing jesus clearly theophilus no doubt has heard about him but he hasn't seen it he's been getting the news briefly but he hasn't seen hasn't come to know so luke writes these 24 chapters to lay out who jesus is in order that his friend but not only did luke know not only his friend but men and women to follow that they might come to know who jesus is and in doing so several things come to surface in luke's narrative one in particular is paramount to the biblical story and that is the love of god secondly the salvation of sinners these two things are self-evident in luke's and no wonder jesus would say of himself in luke 19 and 10 that the son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost driven by the love of god to reach out to the senate so luke presents jesus as a minister to common people an everyday preacher if you will prophet and priests to all people jew and gentile alike he's just not a jewish prophet but he's a gentile preacher he's not just the guy who who is concerned about the 12 tribes of israel he's concerned about our tribe your tribe all the tribes of the world i like luke's presentation of jesus because he's a real-time end-time everyday savior in luke jesus bridges the gap between the haves and the have-nots you'll see that in just a minute he bridges this gap and in our text specifically the text under consideration this morning we find jesus in the flow of public ministry as this is calling you do not know or maybe you do that in luke chapter 4 and verse 18 jesus lays out his ministry agenda he starts out by telling us that he has been anointed by the spirit he's under an unction he's under the influence and the poor of the holy spirit he's been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor to heal the brokenhearted to bring sight to the blind to release those who've been held in captivity and then to declare the year of jubilee the year of the lord the dawning of the kingdom of god that's good news to know that amidst all of the mess that man has found himself in there there is a solution and an answer and his name is jesus in verse 1 of our text the broader context of luke 15. it's born out of uh criticism and cynicism for the ministry of jesus luke chapter 15 and verse 1 tells us that the tax collectors and sinners get this now gathered around to hear him but not only did the tax collectors and the sinners come the pharisees and the teachers have come as well but don't miss this one group the farmer the tax collectors and sinners they came to hear him the other group pharisees and teachers they have come to critique him i'm asking you this morning what have you come for say amen somebody have you come to critique him and his church and his people have you come to complain have you come with a disinterested spirit and what the word has to say about jesus you'd be surprised you really would be surprised the motivation behind why some vote come but then there are those tax collectors folk in the centers your foe recognize that this ain't about me it's about him and i want to see him who can call a demon out of a man open the eyes of the blind open the ears of the deaf open mute miles lift up people from the dead walk on the water i want to see him and so they have come and in the midst of all of this the latter group that is the pharisees and teachers have no respect for the reverence and the holiness of jesus and so they start chitter chatting and and murmuring about him the bible says and this is in your bible verse 15 chapter 15 verse 1 they begin to mutter they had what i call the ministry of muttering say amen complaining ostracizing criticizing notice what they said this man welcomes sinners and eats with them how ironic that this group would say that i've often thought about this sex and i asked myself if he didn't eat with them who would he be eating with the problem here is the pharisees and the teachers saw themselves as being sinless they saw themselves as being above humanity they were the righteous ones and everybody else was unrighteous but what they missed is that he not only came for the tax collectors and the sinners he came for the pharisees and the teachers of the law by the pharisees because they thought they were fair you see no pun intended i had to work on that l they were the connoisseurs of the law if anybody should have known anything about the coming of the messiah it should have been the teachers of the law but like many of us you can read the bible and miss god you can read the bible and miss the heart and compassion of jesus you can read scripture and miss the heart of ministry and that's why jesus has to come and it's interesting jesus is hearing he hears the murdering he hears the chattering because it's not new because they were after him because he claimed to be god's son and that he had a new covenant and a new way of doing things and they didn't want that and i like what follows what follows next are a series of three parables told by jesus get this man primarily in response to his critics why is he hanging out with sinners and tax collectors because they they need him because that's why that's where he has to go that's why that's why he came and noticed the three stories that he tells to rebuff their criticism first the lost sheep second the lost coin and thirdly the lost son and i have in parenthesis in my notes behind son and s sons because there's one lost in the field and there's one loss in the house say amen this is in your bible amen so we thank all the lost folk out there sometimes they come here and they are disinterested in jesus they come with other agendas and jesus is aware of it so he tells these three parabolic stories each of which speak to the heart of the ministry of jesus in reaching that which is of value and loss it's a sad day and we are there when we devalue humanity and we lose a sense of the need for the lost to be saved you and i were having this conversation the other day even in the midst of a covet or whatever comes our way the mission and mandate of the messiah must still be the national anthem of the church of our lord and savior jesus christ seeking and saving the loss that's why he came that's why he said in luke 19 10 the son of man is come is come to seek and to save that which is lost it is interesting he made that statement in the house of a group of sinners and zacchaeus was the main one at the table around that table was our garrett vincent parker say hey man amen amen my good friend uh in the back was there jerry payne around the table lee was there say man and we were sitting there and and and jesus something about the presence of jesus at the table he creates a level of anxiety not vindictive not judgmental he says nothing he's enjoying his meal but the wing leader of the centers zacchaeus the little fella who was up in the tree too cheap to buy a first row seat he got up in a tree sometimes your move will get god's attention isn't it interesting that out of all the people in the trees nobody was up in any tree but him but the lord saw it come down out of that tree we're having lunch at your house jesus is there and i don't know where's the kid's life and i like his confession if i have done wrong we some of us are kingdoms the kids yes i have sinned as opposed to i have seen if i've done wrong to anybody i'm going to repay that when jesus didn't rebuff him because he used a conditional clause if he simply accepted his heart and no sooner than zacchaeus said what he was going to do the next verse says jesus said to zacchaeus salvation has come to this house today isn't that amazing somebody said he wasn't baptized he didn't have to be god can save whomever he chooses to say when he gets ready to save them now that's in that tax but baptism and faith are required of you and i hate men somebody i know i'm about to walk i said i've been waiting to hear that i don't have to do nothing i did not say that i'm talking about zacchaeus i'm talking about when jesus came to his house now when he comes to your house they ought to be somebody easiness and you two ought to declare we're gonna get right say amen somebody i'm gonna get to my sermon but this was just such rich stuff when i was working through it and so this business of him reaching uh to down to the lowly and the discontent is at the heart of his ministry and this of course is consistent with his incarnate mission found in john chapter 1 verse 14. y'all remember when john says we we beheld his glory the word became flesh and dwelt among us hung out with us and john says we beheld his glory i wish the church to get a glimpse of his glory i just i wish we could pull the veil back i think it would change all of us it'll change how we respond in worship if we would ever get a glimpse of his glory we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth it is this grace and truth that's been employed in seeking and saving the lost you cannot pursue the loss without grace and truth we traditionally have wanted to cram the truth down them minus the grace folk are not going to get everything you claim you know when you tell it to them that's why we teach the truth in love and love is our point of god's grace love says that i love you more than me trying to cram down your mouth but you can't chew right now but in the meantime i'll show you some grace do you want something to eat can i help you can i make myself available because until you show them some grace they're not going to embrace truth truth be told your brand of truth may not even be his brand and i'm getting to my sermon that was all stuff i bumped into on the way to the sermon and we still got 10 hours left that's beautiful i love you this is the large day that's what bishop said [Music] i know you come together i ask you why you come you come to clinton we've been here too long thank god you're here it's safety in here and so this third table that's what i was trying to say this third parable in this trilogy [Music] accentuates both the presence and power of grace and truth and reaching out to the lockout to the locked up locked down looked over left out and left turned people of the world i like this trilogy of parables the one with the lost sheep speaks to the fundamental reality that in that culture they cared more about their sheep than they did people to the extent that they would leave the 99 sheep and go out and find one and they value not only sheep but they valued even more their money which is the second parable where the woman loses her coin you may child at the fact that she lost a little coin she didn't just she just didn't lose a little corn history would tell us that women who later got married were given a diary by their dad and they would hang their money and you see this sometimes even when you go to israel they hang their money on the front of their little hats and it hangs down amen and that money was to be used if homeboy decided he wasn't gonna act right same man somebody she could she could have a last day it was a wedding gift given to her by her father and so when she lost it the thought of losing that i don't mean no harm it means worst case scenario i got to stay here with this joker who ain't working that's not in there but that's what i walk away my little sanctified imagination how do you know the bible says she tears up the house until she finds it and there's no accident that the word in luke 19 10 to seek is the greek word to look for with the intent on finding first parable the fellow with 99 with a hundred sheep loses one he's 99 he's willing to lead a 99 and go out and look for it until he finds the little lost sheep and maybe sometimes that little sheep is stuck in some barbed wire he doesn't snatch it he gently ministers to the sheep where it is pulls it out and binds it up with the things that he possesses and then we'll either put that sheet in his bottom or put it around his shoulders and he would bring it home gently and he would get back to the rest of them they would celebrate y'all with me found my little sheep that woman found her little coin she threw a party found the first two parables you think these guys would get it but then the third parable he moves get this now from a sheep to a coin to a person see he pulls them in if he just started with the person they missed it but they missed the two and maybe they started connecting because they had nothing to criticize unless they thought he was talking about them being lost sheep and having lost money but then he said now there's a man who had two sons y'all know the story isn't this great two two stories one of them of course uh the younger boy decided that the lights on the other side of the city and the noise were more palatable to his age group and his development so you know he requested of his dad his money you do remember the story right it's in the context of the story that we we begin to see the ministry of jesus worked out as it relates to grace and truth now remember now it is luke who's telling the story and luke uses a story to help theophilus understand who jesus is because he is the expression of grace and god's truth and these stories in the midst of conflict and criticism are designed to get you to see the heart and the hand and the feet of jesus as he deals with those who are who are different who are hurting and so this sign jesus it was expression of grace and truth is now going to use these stories to show you what grace looks like and it is this grace and you're familiar with it this grace that has invaded our hearing for the past several sundays amen if you've been listening if you've been coming to see jesus clearly you know we've been talking about grace do you remember a few months back the grace of god that teaches us from titus chapter 2 and verse 11. do you remember god's sufficient grace from second corinthians chapter 12 do you remember the fullness of grace from john chapter one and the place where you got grace from brother maxwell himself so i thought this morning for just a few moments in the midst of all that we are experiencing that we will continue down this grace trajectory and explore grace further that grace that reaches me and what better witness than to talk about the grace that reaches you so let's let's explore this grace from this parable you see no matter how you slice it you can't get away from grace you might try to dis dismiss it but you can't miss you might even try to disgrace and if you're not careful you might become a disgrace someone has said that when you run alone it's a race but when god runs with you it's called grace grace and it is this grace that reaches me it's this grace that has reached you as a matter of fact this grace is part and parcel to our salvation ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith not of yourself it's the work of god unless any man should boast this grace is amazing it is this grace in this story that helps us to appreciate the significance and the power behind grace because everybody is not going to come to see him the way you have and that's why god gave us grace you may have been born in the church but you still needed grace say amen maybe he was born north of the track you need grace maybe you were born south of the trap and maybe you were born on the track doesn't matter where you were born you need grace grace is defined in the new testament is god's unmerited favor it is what he does for us when we can't do any better for ourselves and it doesn't do it out of obligation he doesn't do it out of necessity he does he does it rather out of love he just shows you grace because he loves you and i just gotta ask myself why am i so lovable by this god and it dynamite you got to go back to where love got started it's called the principle of first mention genesis 1 verse 1 when the bible says in the beginning god that's love how do you know first john 4 and first john 5 john says god is love and if his name got started in the beginning guess what got started in the beginning his love and very close to his love is his grace his unmerited favor and this morning i want to hang out with this grace because i believe this grace reaches me and i believe it reaches you in three areas number one disgrace get this now meets us in the context of our crisis number two ministers to us in our woundedness and then number three it moves us to the father so i'm convinced that you're not here simply because it's sunday either i think you've been moved here by god's grace to come visit with your god to come give him praise and i think things get in the way of that i think an unhealthy diet of who he is can get in the way of that it's kind of like you know about it but you don't have any respect for it any reverence form you don't have any attentiveness you don't have any sensitivity to who it is so it's easier to sing about him than be about him but i drive by to tell you when you experience his grace his grace makes you in the context of your crisis even when you don't want it consider this story the bible says once this boy got all of his stuff hung out with his friends he ends up where we usually end up broke say amen bitter and in a bad place but what he didn't know god could meet him in the bad place help me somebody god has met some of us in a bad place he's met us if you will verse 15 in the hall of pens of our life and it's jesus who's telling this story anybody know anything about hog pin living tell me you're saying when i'm from california even know what a hog is you know exactly what a hall is amen you may not know about the four-legged hall but you've seen bishop thompson pull up here in this vintage cadillac hall same as about rolling the big gangster white walls i think that's a hug say amen don't get it twisted you know exactly what i'm talking about but the whole pin here is a place in life that's not healthy and i want you to understand no matter who you are and where you are god can meet you there if you think you're on top of the world god can meet you there but sometimes he can't deal with you on top of your world so he wastes fighting in the whole pill see when you're on top of the world you can't see him clearly because you're too busy blingy say man you're looking at the bling bling but if you like gold you got gold like some of us which is which ain't really gold it's been gold covered say amen oh his food's gold amen by that spend all that money they said be careful now don't wash it all that money and you can't because it's wash catholic church what color you know turn greed and i always wonder why does it turn green well when you turn green you're going to get gangrene fully with that fool's goal doesn't matter where you are god couldn't meet you and what he does in this story he meets this young fellow not in the house when he gets his stuff but in the hall opinion and i've learned something about jesus this is consistent with this ministry in john chapter 4 he met a woman at the well in the whole pen of her life help me here now five husbands and the one you written that's a hard pit say amen but he met him didn't judge it he didn't condemn him but he showed a grace john chapter five he met a fellow by the pool of bethesda in the temple been lame for 38 years didn't complain didn't judge didn't criticize but simply graced him with do you want to get away john chapter 8 he meets a woman who's been caught in adultery and her colleagues wanted to well not even her colleagues but her critics wanted to condemn her and judge her and wanted judgment right then but jesus graced her he didn't let her off the hook but he graced her grace says i'm not going to judge you because i already know i'm not going to condemn you because i didn't come to condemn people i came to show some kindness so he asked the woman after he asked them you who are without sin you you you throw that's the first song the book says cash but texas boy you you chucked the first though say amen you you chunk it and then after a while everybody left nobody with that in there but high in grace can you imagine being guilty and standing in the presence of grace she was there to be adjudicated a judge by her critics but jesus does not stand to adjudicate politics he simply says are all of your accusers and then he says something graciously neither do i condemn you some of you get happy oh i'm out now but then he told her go and stop sitting and i don't know what she did that day but i know she was released by grace and i just want to believe in my sanctified mind when grace released she left all six of them fellas i know she did i know she did because of the first time in her life she met a real man was not concerned about the size of a breast or the shape of her hips but the size of her heart grace ministers to the heart and if that's not enough he meets a guy in john chapter 9 have been blind blind from birth it's interesting healing comes and as a result of healing he tells him later on stop sinning unless something worse happens to you this correlation between grace and confrontation but it's a loving confrontation it's not condemning confrontation because jesus did not come to condemn he came to save john chapter 3 and verse 17 this grace will meet you where you are doesn't matter where grace can come and when that encounter takes place you can cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you and because he cares for you his grace will meet you wherever you are no condemnation and no jesus i i want i want to stand before this kind of a lord but i believe even in judgment here have mercy of course today have one agenda and it's a political gender to do what their constituents say jesus showed up in the midst of a highly political world and decided i'm not gonna even judge you i didn't come to judge you i came to save you i didn't come to condemn you because if i condemned you i would condemn the whole world because everybody's guilty but i didn't come to do that i came to show you some grace and i'm just going to tell you that wherever you are whoever you are his grace can reach you there is no sin on the alphabet continuum that grace cannot reach so it'll meet you number one in the context of your crisis but then when grace gets there number two it ministers to our woundedness look at verse 17 of this little story sometimes god has to allow you to get where you need to be so he can get your attention right now minds in there god didn't put him in the whole plan he picked that by himself and most of us pick on all pins it doesn't have to be a literal hog pin but sloppy flip say and messes mess say hey man saying man some folk like shopping mates and then some folk are just messy sloppy but the point is my point is i can meet you there and sometimes it's being left in the hall pen that grace really do its less work because notice the friends are gone the money's gone and he had to hire himself out the book says he hired himself out the word there he he signed up to be a day laborer it wasn't a permanent job he was working for that day say man and while frog taking that job he might have thought i got some relief only to find out that where he was working it was very different than where he was living he was in his dad his house everything he needed but he saw the lights had to go see the lights his bible says he spent his money on riotous living and one virgin says on prostitutes say amen don't go now you know exactly and you don't have to sell your body on the corner to sell your soul give me a break people israel's first sin the hebrews first sin man's first sin was spiritual adultery divorcing themselves from god and worshipping false idols prostituting themselves it was jeremiah ezekiel and prophets told israel prostitute prostituting yourselves in the presence of your gods so don't get it twisted we use words like that and start thinking about now we're talking about us but god could meet you there he knows all about your situation but before he meets you there he allows his grace to work on your mind and notice the boy was in the hog pin and the text says he began to reason with himself yeah yeah yeah the one virgin says he he came to himself another virgin says he came to his senses and it dawned on me if he had to come to his senses he was out of his mind you know anybody out of their minds as a matter of fact have you lost your mind anytime you think worship is a science show you've lost your mind anytime you think prayer bible class spiritual matters or things that are secondary you lust your mind so you stay out of other folks i was telling them they crazy and work on the cray crate in your own house amen somebody gets raised his graves can reach you but it won't until you see yourself and that's why god has sometimes god has the law of satan to shake up stuff take stuff sometimes god has a allow your arrogance and your stubbornness to cause you to be a failure so god can have some quiet time with you nobody in all things but the pigs and so he ain't got nobody to talk to but himself book says he started reflecting [Music] on some reflection and first thing out of his mouth ah and my daddy's house the servants eat better than this he's reflecting that he's thinking about the father's house speaking about us where he had everything and squandered all of it for a night and say amen for a night across the track and in the area of the bright lights but notice grace doesn't condemn grace allows for a processing grace allows you to think about how did you get here and very few folk including myself do we want to hang out with how we got to where we are especially when the rug is pulled down usually we play the atomic chord and that is that woman you gave me adam adam and eve blew it and started blaming each other say man reflecting but not experiencing grace why would you call a wrong man and then turn around and say oh man unless somebody's been in your ear say amen say amen but grace allows you to reflect that it allows you to assess evaluate so grace will minister to your woundedness usually we want our stuff six right now but that's not how grace works grace has to get you to see who you are where you are say amen and until you see that you're not gonna appreciate grace because some folk really believe that because they've got baptized they save themselves so they can have what the old preachers used to call real worship i worship what i want nobody tells me what to do you're wrong you're wrong especially when you touch the clock tomorrow morning i bet if you didn't punch that clock you know on time for three sundays helping somebody you wouldn't be punching it on the fourth sunday we would turn right around and tell god what we're not going to do same are you listening to me you can claim christian if you want to great cool but you can still be in crashing in the hallway because he can use sickness and a pandemic to everybody and even you to get you to be still to see maybe that your brand of christianity is not looking like what he had in mind christianity is not a real worship christianity is about submission and surrender it's about availing oneself so y'all listening to me i'm trying to get you out of your heart this morning you know all people you're gracious me today but i want to get out any time for you to get out we need to reflect jonah wanted out on the first night god didn't let him out i don't want to get out on the second night sometimes god has to keep some of us where we are until we begin to see clearly so that when you come out you come out following directions you come out praising god and thinking god y'all getting real quiet on me y'all all right yeah all right i'm just just trying to work with the text to help my woundedness this grace ministers to my woundedness but in my woundedness i gotta recognize how i got wounded and then that young son looked around he couldn't blame the pigs you know why pigs were doing what they do swapping around in the slot the problem was he didn't belong there but he had to get there or you listen to understand that he don't belong there so the bible says after he'd been processing he came to himself i don't know where he went to go get his mind but it came back and it comes back when you start remembering the grace you had in your daddy's house and all that was available for you to sustain your life you traded it in for a fistful of dollars and that's why that's why he hasn't me that's where we are you see i i want to tell you that god sees god here is god knows and responds to your pain first peter 3 and verse 12 the eyes of the lord over the righteousness and his ears are open to their prayers hebrews 4 and 15 helps us to understand the nature of the incarnate christ so we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but who in every respect has been tempted as we yet without sin you know god knows our struggle he knows the anxieties he knows the development of issues that all of us will face and what he has available for us in these seasons is grace and the bible james says he gives more grace to the humble he resists the proud but he gives more grace to them hebrews 4 15 helps us to understand that jesus like luke presents him is the end time real-time old-time savior who will meet you where you are isaiah 53 and 5 he was wounded for our transgressions he was he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes kept his snap by the beating he took for me and my sins drop your mind around that we are healed because he paid the price that's why we ought to celebrate on sunday for no other reason without understanding that's why we celebrate at least that's why i celebrated if you don't come clean with your faith then you'll never be clean with your faith you will never be clean with your faith not clear with it because it's easy to let the bright lights and the stuff get in the way of you and god that's satan's agenda it can make you start feeling good well i'm educated now i don't have no no i'm not educated people they're the ones that really need god that's right the ignorant man has a better chance it's when we claim we know something now we claim you know something god is not concerned about your academic achievements say amen anyway what about your soul what about the time talent and telling what about me the brand of christianity we have is all about love i call that hall opinion christianity where the emphasis is on us every now and then god has to arrest all of us and make us be still and think about the goodness of god so that you don't have to wait till you get here to celebrate to start celebrating in the bedroom celebrating in the living room just thank you god save me two dollars in my pocket bricks in the pantry honey still here kids ain't insane ain't no don't thank you mama's still here i walk with a hitch but i can walk a little bit pray thank you because some of us don't get it we've become too solidified in our religion and lost sight of god's grace in this relationship that we have and then finally this same grace after it meets us in the context of our crisis and ministers to our woundedness and listen to me everybody in here wound it let me say that again without batting my eye we're all wondering some worse than others some of us on spiritual life support others and i see you yeah they got a geriatrics floor for older folk like us say amen who are getting physical third help me somebody and then they got some who on their way out but all of us are wounded and what we need is grace to come along and help us and when grace moves in get this now then we move towards the father look at this boy he's in the heart open but by verse 20 he says i'm going to get out got this little speech together father seeing the whole thing your eyes are open you can begin to see clearly pigs don't care the slop ain't for you how did we get it i did it what did you do i have sinned against heaven and my daughter i'm gonna get up from here i'm headed back home watch the speech and when i get back there i'm gonna tell my daddy listen i'm not even it to be called your son grace won't let you trade in who you really are i don't care who you are you belong to god and you can never not be anything other than what god wanted you to be don't let this mess mess with you grace won't let you belittle yourself grace on shadow for nothing more than being the son of god i'm his child the problem is you need to recognize and then decide what start acting like and no sooner no sooner than he got his speech together he had it back home and look what and look who he's looking for grace i got to quit grace and got up in the morning looked out over the horizon looking for my child in the evening when the sun begins to say great looking off in the distance maybe he'll come home grace won't rest until you get home say amen we get tired and warm but god doesn't so this morning i'm offering you a solution to your woundedness and this is grace this is grace that reaches me reach me in the context of my crisis ministers through my woundedness and they need to move me move me towards my father's house see this morning you need to understand it's not a privilege to be here it's an honor and until you understand that listen to me this smug irreligious attitude that we have about assembling will continue to pervade our minds yeah i don't mean no harm but sometimes you can't tell if any of us know jesus and there ought to be some some movement i mean we do better than this set from foolish stuff when it comes to bowling we get our shoes yeah you get your balls same man and then you before you even start boring you be in the house but when it comes to worship all of a sudden you go out you're tired you ain't got how witness to this world out there that god is in this place if he ain't in you say amen if you can say amen there it is now you now you didn't go on pharisees or pharaoh siricon what time we getting out were we not getting out how about dead and some of us gonna wind up in the wrong place and get to heaven to how long we gonna be if you get to heaven and you ask how long you have to be there you ain't no you got duped again you won't be not releasing grace all day long happy happy all the time no more pain no more woundedness grace don't you want that grace and this morning that grace is available his grace if you're listening by live stream it can reach you right now where you are and it starts with faith romans 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god i've given you god's word i've used this this this parable to help you see the manifestation of god's grace matthew mark luke and john are a vivid uh uh expressions of the grace of god in the person called jesus you gotta embrace him not man but him by faith believing that he is the christ the son of the living god acknowledge him and decide i'm going to turn my life over to somebody that knows what to do with it because i keep making a wreck i'm a train wreck waiting to happen a cigarette on every freeway in life amen but grace can come along and meet you it could meet you in your car wreck and help you with your woundedness and then that healing that healing i said that healing ought to move you to the house of the lord and when you get there don't sit there like he ain't done nothing fighting give him some praise give him something we had him or something i'm just i don't need no harm here but that's what grades do grace to get you excited even when folk ain't excited there's one thing i'm not going to let satan do take my joy ever again i turned up a whole lot of stuff too but not now listen now i'm right this grace on out of here whatever comes my way and even when i'm stretched out and they say he won't make it i'll say amazing grace how sweet the sound save the wretch like me i once was lost but now i'm fine well i got to quit the boy got home i don't have time to talk about the other boy he's a member of the right road church of christ got home and had all this party and going on and the father had to explain to the boy in the house that's why i know he was just as lost as before as a boy in the field he says this your listen listen and the boy said to the daddy this this your this your son and the father says not this your brother this what happened to my brother he says this your brother has come home he once was lost but now he's found watch this we have to celebrate rain decided to put my ring on that boy shoes on his feet get in my room and get the fatted cast why we're getting ready to party if you're here this morning the angels will celebrate if you'll come home give him give him give god your heart and your head and your life you can be saved this morning you can be saved in the midst of a co-repentant grace can reach you there but you got to acknowledge that he's the christ the son of the living god choose to be baptized not because i tell you but because jesus said so for the remission of your sins he then will give you his holy spirit and will add you to his church church of the firstborn church of the living god pillar and ground of the truth the church of god the bride of christ breaking news he's coming back together here this morning you need to respond maybe you need prayer maybe you've been taking god for granted i'm talking to somebody i ain't preaching through these pews i'm talking to somebody who's been taking advantage of god out of all the good stuff he does for you you would rather pay your sale bill than to bring god the first fruit of your labor got real quiet somebody said oh he went there yeah because that's the only manifestation god gonna see from you your money is where your heart is that's i got to quit but if you don't get that you're missing the point time talent and treasure god gave that to us and if we're using it all up out there then shame on us let his grace be the reason we run this race if you hear you need to respond why don't you stand maybe you need prayer maybe you like me i need prayer even as a minister you know i need prayer i live in your world i have to preach to myself most of the time until i get maxwell down here i listen to some of the preachers during the week you know but the word of god the word of god deals with where we are travel times on your feet let's sing a bit just so to in eat just to take him out his word is that one who needs to respond jesus jesus jesus christ foreign jesus how i lost jesus jesus praises once again we want to give thanks to brother hawkins for another powerful message that he brought to us this morning teaching us once again about god's grace and as a result of the message we have one individual that would like to put the lord on in baptism we have ashley sanchez would you please come forward this is sister annette williams great granddaughter ashley we're going to ask you a question do you believe do you believe with all your heart that jesus christ is the son of god she's answered yes this confession brought death to our lord and savior jesus christ but my life eternal to you once you complete your obedience to him in baptism if you go to my right the sisters and brothers will help you there that they prepare you for baptism happy church amen this morning ashley sanchez we have several prayer requests that have come in from the audience and also online i'll go through these and i'll ask the audience if they have any prayer requests as well first we have sister annette williams she's confessing that she has sinned and repented she's asking for healing for illness she's asking a special prayer for a friend that has a need prayers for traveling grace and also thankful for the blessings we also have another request from sister annette goffny a prayer for my family aunt neil jamie and anthony we have another prayer request from roslyn williams she's thankful for her blessings she also says to pray for healing for our son daniel williams and we'll be doing that pam choctaw it's asking says pray for my sister deborah mccree she has now been feeling well lately pray for brother choctaw and his health conditions and pray for washington's brother who was suffering from cancer complications and he is not doing well at this time but we have several requests that came in from online uh anthony robinson he says we are praying for our beloved bruce who this 57th neighborhood will miss please god give strength to assist his family and members of the community friends and church family i'm asking for forgiveness also to the church for any sin i have done and fell against jesus as he has blessed me to serve in a way beyond the blue here i am send me and prayers for mom so so we can be back in the service of our church family members and we have several requests that came online uh from our brothers and sisters in nigeria um the requester for um anthony robinson who has been assisting and encouraging them uh through facebook and through other means and so they're asking for blessings for him for his health and livelihood and also prayers for his mother uh sister robinson we have other requests from ibm nelson bazaar he says i'm asking for prayers for god to bless the works of my hand amen uh young richie wilson i'm asking for prayers over my life and god's favor and mercy over my family paul aduralere please church pray for me that god should give me divine health and healing from every ill health and cure every sickness my body that jesus christ the bomb of gilead will heal me completely in jesus christ's name amen casey darlington the buckwheat and i'm sorry if i'm pronouncing these incorrectly um asking prayers that god will console all those families that lost loved ones and this and many more that i ask in jesus name i pray amen and one more from for male 10 of sola i'm asking for prayer from the church that god should bless me and protect my family so those are the prayer requests that i have from online and requests that have been sent from the audience um i look to my right does anybody have a prayer request on this side can you please stand and give us your name hey man anyone else on the right side oh kristen um amen uh anyone in this intersection with a prayer request yes amen yes thank you caleb anyone to the left any prayer requests uh sister earls jerome yeah [Music] in the rear yeah i'm sorry oh um [Music] are you fully trusting in his grace oh blood [Applause] [Applause] oh yeah they're in there huh me [Applause] o victory in jesus my savior forever he saw me and bought me with his redeeming you punish me oh hey [Applause] is [Music] oh [Music] we're gonna go to our father on behalf of all these prayer requests been made this morning and we ask you please remember these individuals in your prayers throughout this week the father god in heaven we come this morning just rejoicing giving thanks father that satan has lost another one there lord you've allowed uh young ashley sanchez father to be baptized into your body and uh we're thankful for that dear lord we're asking that you'll watch over her father as she continues to grow as a young christian uh that we do whatever we can father to help her in her growth as a new babe in christ dear lord that we can help her to continue to grow to be all she can be in you uh we're thankful for her great grandmother sister williams we pray that uh she continues to work with her and bless her father uh and her growth we're praying right now dear lord for sister williams um she's confessed that she send her lord and independent we're asking that she will bless her father give her strength and we just ask her forgiveness for her for the things that she's going through right now she's asking for also healing father for illness for self and also a special prayer for a friend of hers that's in need dear lord we ask that you'll hear her request and grant it according uh to your uh to the way that you see fit dear lord bless her as she's traveling uh keep her safe and return her to us safely once again uh we lift up sister annette goffny father who's praying for her family uh branch nil for jamie and for anthony uh whatever they're going through dear lord we just ask that you'll bless them and protect them for all hurt harm and danger we're praying also for uh roslyn dear lord we're praying for daniel right now the request that she's asked for the lord we just want the very best for him we all love daniel and we just want to strengthen health in his body once again she's thankful for her blessings father the way that you worked in her life and we actually continually watch over her and guide and protect her we're asking on behalf of sister pamela choctaw father she's asking for her sister deborah mccree who hasn't been feeling well lately we ask that you'll heal her body and your strength once again father as well as her husband dear lord brother choctaw whose health has been suffering lately please bless him and keep him in your care as he's dealing with a lot of health issues that he's going through right now we're also praying for um the brother vinette washington father who's suffering from cancer and we just asked lord that you look down upon him and just share them with your grace your mercy once again father we ask that you'll give him strength in his body uh restore him back to the help that he once had if it'd be your will bless those who are watching after him right now father they'll take care of his needs um as he needs them we're thankful also dear lord for uh brother anthony robinson he's requested prayers on behalf of the fisher family for the loss of bruce dear lord praying for the neighborhood for the impact that bruce had on those around him in this neighborhood just continue to bless those who believed right now those who are struggling those who are going through so much in their lives give them hope in their time of need father give them comfort and build them back up anthony's also asking your lord that you'll please forgive him for the sins he's committed and ask that you'll help him to continue to grow and he just knows that you're blessing him uh beyond belief right now and doing things that he hasn't been able to do before we're praying for his mother sister robinson that should watch over her and that once again their lord that she'll be able to bring them back to their service once again to fellowship with all the believers we're praying for um the many requests been made on anthony's behalf of nigeria father and the brothers and sisters there who are just so thankful that he's been assisting them and encouraging them not only with the word but financially as well and we just ask that you look down upon all these individuals father um as they're being said by your word through the online ministry and uh through the fellowship of anthony father and all that he's doing to help them uh just bless them all in their time of need and may they continue to grow in understanding your word uh we're praying for uh ibm nelson she was our father he's asking for prayers that you'll bless the works of his hand father whatever he's doing that that you bless him with father we pray that everything that he does will be a blessing to you and to others continue to bless him with gifts and the things that he does that they may be a benefit to others we're praying also for young richie olivasan he's asking prayers for your mercy and grace over his life and favor over his family right now father we just ask that you'll crown him whatever he stands in need of father help him to know your presence and his life but help him under to understand the word father and just to live it out in his life on a daily basis we're also praying for paul a duralay father he's asking for uh healing for his body from the illnesses that are in his body at this time dear lord he knows that you can completely heal the lord and if this is your will we ask that you'll look down upon him and just restore him back to good health once again we're praying also for causing darlington father who's asking for prayers on behalf of those families who lost loved ones recently please bless them father comfort them all we thank you uh for the tender heart that they're showing this time to all those who are suffering and we just ask that you'll uh do it according to your will we're praying also father for sula maleo asking prayers for protection for his family please bless and protect him father and all that he stands in need of at this time we're also praying for uh jermaine father jermaine watts who's asking prayers i'm of his family and friends for his co-workers and also for the family of bruce as well father just thank you for his heart and concern for those who are hurting dear lord please ask that family and watch them protect them we lift up kristen casteel right now dear lord she's praying on behalf of her daughter's health that she'll uh give her the strength that she needs mentally and physically father for the things that she's going through with this time be with kristen as she's helping and assisting the best that she can father give her wisdom give her understanding and dealing with this situation she's also asking prayers on my health for god's father who's in hospice right now uh we just pray that you'll make him as comfortable as possible father and that those around him dear lord will uh give him whatever he stands in need of and just help them in this time of need we looked up to wanda thomas right now father who's asking the person we have for her family for her daughter for her father for her grandmother um just continue to bless and protect this family dear lord watch and guide them in the things that they're going through right now we know that they're going through a lot in their lives and we just ask your mercy upon them that they can maneuver through this uh with your help heavenly father we lift up caleb urango right now who's confessed that he send their lord and asking forgiveness for sins a blessed father in his time of need to help them to know that he can come to you ask for forgiveness and try to do better each and every day through the power of your holy spirit father just protect him from the evil one and guide him in his daily walk with you we lift up sister earl's right now who's asking prayers on behalf of our against daughter pamela we ask that you watch over pamela father give her a strength to give her whatever she stands need her father to go about her daily tasks we thank you for sister earls for just being such a wonderful sister and just being a blessing to us for all these years father and we just ask that you'll watch over her and her family and keep them all out of harm's way so we looked at brother jerome williams father he's just thankful this morning uh for the church for the outreach to him and his family during the many health issues that they've been going through at this time we continue to ask that you'll watch over this family father and give them strength heal them um continue to be with daniel and just bless him um with health and strength once again father and we lift up uh sister carter father for her oldest daughter doreen carter uh who's going through some things right now we just asked again father that uh your mercy and grace would be upon her and his family we pray for health for her we pray for strength for her dear lord we just ask your blessing to guide her each every day that she seeks you out on all things so father we looked up our minister brother hawkins we thank you so much for him for all the work that he does for the outpouring of your word each and every week that he brings to us um we know it's difficult father and we just know this is an amazing task but we just thank you for the blessings that you've given him and for the gifts and abilities you bless them with father and we ask that you can we watch over him and the family and keep them all in your hear and your care father you've heard the many requests been made and we pray that we can keep all these individuals uh in our thoughts and our prayers throughout this week as we lift them up and try to encourage them along the way we thank you we love you we ask you all these things of them your senses we pray amen [Music] now concerning the collection for the saints to give is to freely transfer possession of something to another the lord jesus in the sermon on the mount in luke 6 38 says give and it shall be given to you pressed down shaken together running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure you use it shall be measured to you again giving is woven into the fabric of our faith the bible says in john 3 16 that god so loved the world that he did what he gave jesus gave his life and so it is incumbent upon us as believers to be generous to be awful to have the spirit of the good samaritan to have the spirit of the widow who gave a little but it was a lot and we have many opportunities in which to give uh to give to the church you can uh bring your offering in on saturdays from 11 to two uh here sunday morning from eight to ten uh you can give online uh and you can mail it in so we encourage you to give for the work of the church that we might reflect in our giving how much we love and appreciate the lord shall we pray for the contribution at this time to you o god we come the giver of every good and perfect gift father we are thinking just now how good you have been to us and how you shower us with our blessings of salvation of peace of love and life and so father we want that to be reflected uh in everything that we say and do and how we externalize our faith uh specifically now in the area of giving of contribution father and help us father to first give ourselves to you father so that uh whatever we do it will be in keeping with the relationship that uh you have cultivated with us as we uh come before you in prayer and we study your word father and we model christ wonderful example of giving we're thankful father for this privilege that we might give back the one who has given us all things that we might glorify you in jesus name we do pray amen each day i do all gold indeed is [Music] the is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] no we've come to another another part of our service where we recognize the great sacrifice of our lord and savior and as we prepare to take communion we ask that you sing a song to bring us to remembrance why did my savior come to earth why did me me [Music] [Music] [Music] attention to acts 20 and 7 where luke under the inspiration of the holy spirit records these words and upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight the apostle paul also instructs the church at corinth in first corinthians chapter 10 verse 16 where the bible reads the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the blood and the communion of the body of christ the blood of christ the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of christ let us pray at this time for the cup and the bread father in heaven we are so thankful for the teachings father of scripture that indicate the importance of coming before your table that we might suffer king jesus father we're thankful for jesus giving us this weekly reminder father that we might never ever forget and to do this in remembrance of the pain and the suffering and the sacrifice they made on calvary's cross that he purchased our redemption by his precious blood by his precious body and we're thankful father for this weekly reaffirmation of our covenant relationship lord uh that we might not uh take it lightly because we do it every week but that we will thoughtfully examine ourselves father and consider our walk before you that we might consider the great grace that you have showered upon us and so let us partake of this bread and this cup mindful father of the love that you show us each and every day and this is our prayer in the name of jesus christ our lord and savior amen he loved me he loved me so he gave his precious life for me for me because he loves to acknowledge any visitors and our presence i don't have any visitors card but we would like for anyone who is visiting with us who's not a member of the church of christ to please stand and give us your name not you anthony you're a member uh how about in the center do we have any visitors here we would love to acknowledge your presence uh at this time and how about on this side if not well we're on the subject of attendance we would like to report that we have 123 people presence on this morning so good job we want to continue uh to raise that number uh god is good and we're glad that people are starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with assembling for the saints so let us continue to pray and that we love everybody we love everybody even when you're at home worshiping with us and we're going to continue to pray that god continue to bless the environment that we are living in uh i'd like to share with you a few announcements that we have at this time first we have a card here from the mallard family it says we are so appreciative of our figaro church family thank you for all the calls text messages flowers cards and prayers sent on behalf of the loss of our beloved caleb mallard your support truly made a difference during this difficult time love the mallard family also this is in the bulletin but we would like to uh highlight the women's conference the midwest virtual women's conference which will take place september 17th and 18th 2021 our free registration will be at www.midwestwomen'sconference.com that's all one word www dot mid that comes from stephanie in our church office our bulletin is chock full of wonderful information i'm loving the wellness ministry letter so please uh take note of that and also all of the wonderful health tips obviously because of the environment that we're living in now our health is of the foremost concern so please uh take the time to read the information that will help us to live sustainable healthy thoughtful lives the sole session speaker for this sunday evening at 4 30 will be our own uh sam bailey and i talked to him earlier in the week and he said that he was excited for the opportunity to get to see you all so uh we'd love to have you on and turn on on your videos so he can and get a good look and he's gonna give us a good word from the lord all the way from dallas texas amen and also on the 29th we also have david holmes will be speaking at the soul session so just continue to pray and support that great work and i'm just going to deviate from the program a little bit just because we have so many birthdays in september this week and so you can see them there in the bulletin but i just want to wish a happy birthday to naomi payne on the 13th marion payne on the 14th henry payne on the 15th darren lewis on the 15th bonita johnson on the 16th leveretta garland childs on the 17th rosalind russell on the 17th williams debbie on ward on the 19th so uh happy birthday to all of the september birthdays this week and with that i'm going to turn it over to our luxurious heart preaching minister vincent hawkins thank you see so i'll give you the 20 after service i got your doc i'm gonna invite the bishop up now about you but i've been fed this morning about that powerful summary from brother vincent hawkins he did a wonderful job powerful job grace god gives us grace and i woke up this morning thinking in my mind i don't care what i think or how i feel i thank god for his grace i just thank him i mean i might have negative thoughts i might be down and now but i just thank god for his grace that he's given up to me with that said we have a very unique young person at this time we're going to ask her to step this way and we're going to present her with a very special gift her name is keisha sanchez that's actually sanchez absolutely we got to get it right ashley ashley sanchez this is a new birth for ashley she obeyed jesus christ so this is a boring new birthday for you and we praise god for your decision that you made and we pray that you continue to remain faithful to remain focus on the lord and give god all the glory because without him like the preacher was saying we wouldn't be here today so we have a special gift that we would like to give to you she stated to me i already have a bible brother tom said i say but we want to give you a brand new bible this is a brand new day for you so we're going to present this holy bible to you it is the king james version please put your name in it your date of birth that you obey jesus christ and fellowship with god read his word ask question because i know you have a lot of questions now so continue to stay focused stay praised up and god will bless you with understanding god bless you for your decision thank you [Music] this time there is no uh information that we need to know brother hawkins has asked me to close us out so at this time i'm going to ask all of you to stand and uh we're going to ask brother barkins to mike and give us our closing benediction prayer continue to pray for brother hawkins pray for his wife pray for his mother-in-law vincent is doing an outstanding job and the church we got all work together in unity and in love god bless you all and have a good week let us pray at this time we thank you heavenly father for blessing us to arrive here safely to sing and to pray and to hear scriptures and then to hear a wonderful lesson we pray that what has been said that we apply to our lives that you look down upon us protect us as we leave here and our families that no harm or danger come to any of us that we can again meet at the next appointed time in jesus name we pray amen

Channel: Figueroa Church of Christ

Views: 291

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: figueroa church of christ, church of christ, gospel preaching, gospel, preaching, faith, works, satan, god, jesus, lord, word, word of god, message, answer, heaven, hell, help, assistance, calvin bowers, minister, ministry, david holmes, vincent hawkins, david g holmes, vincent e hawkins

Id: 5wbGkOz3GeQ

Length: 128min 38sec (7718 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021