"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" - Kevin Namur

foreign so [Music] [Music] [Music] i got on check one two one two chest awesome are they doing a video [Music] good morning church happy september i don't know how we got here but we're here thank you [Music] oh thank you um would you just join me this morning in worship church [Music] all things are possible when we believe old chains are breakable when we receive your you keep your promises if you said it we believe it if you said it if you said it we believe [Music] we believe [Music] all things are possible [Music] when we believe old chains are breakable when we receive your way you keep on promises if you said it we believe it if you said it if you said it we believe [Music] we have this confidence [Music] patient with every heart god you have never failed you won't start with me [Music] [Music] do you take a moment this morning and turn around and greet your neighbor [Music] [Music] light of the world you step down into darkness open my eyes let me see [Music] beauty that made [Music] so here i am to worship here i am to bow down here i am to say that you're my god you're together lovely oh together worthy all together wonderful to me [Music] king of all days [Music] you came to the earth you created [Music] here i am to bow down here i am to say that you're my god you're together [Music] to me [Music] i'll never [Music] i'll never know how much it costs to see my sin above that cross [Music] know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross know how much it caused to see my scene open and cross [Music] here i am to say that you're my god you're all together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to me here i am to worship here i am to bow [Music] lovely all together worthy oh together wonderful to me [Music] yes lord god we just sit in your presence this morning grateful for who you are [Music] father god i'm grateful this morning that you have called us here i'm grateful that you have hand selected every single person in this room god oh god some of us are new here some of us have been serving here for years lord god but [Music] you called us all individually here this morning [Music] with that said lord god we just ask lord god with this message lord god would your holy holy word speak to our hearts into our lives this morning [Music] would be able to keep it with us and tuck it in our hearts [Music] lord we thank you that you have called us [Music] we thank you that you hold us in your hands we thank you that we are protected and surrounded by your love [Music] we thank you this morning jesus [Music] [Music] i'm no longer whistling [Music] i am a child of god i'm no longer asleep to fear i am a child of god [Music] me with the melody you surround me with a song of deliverance [Music] i am a child of god [Music] i'm no longer [Music] this morning [Music] i am a child of god [Music] oh [Music] from my mother's womb you have chosen me [Music] i've been born again [Music] i'm no longer i am a child of [Music] i god a child of god do i am surrounded in the arms of the father we've been liberated [Music] songs deliverance we've been liberated [Music] from my bondage were the sons and the daughters that i sing our feet [Music] [Music] [Music] you rescued me so i could stand and sing i am a child of god [Music] my fears [Music] you rescued me so i could stand and sing i am i am a child of god [Music] fear i am a child of god i'm no longer [Music] i am a child of god is father god let me proclaim that this morning that we are not children of fear lord that we are not to live in fear lord god i ask you to talk to us this morning speak to our hearts you have called us in so many places in our lives you've called us to jobs to cities to communities to friend groups lord god and with transition comes anxiety lord god it comes fear lord would you give us boldness to step into where you have called us this morning would you give us boldness to speak your truth to those we interact with every day would you give us the boldness that you have called us to god this morning this week this month lord would everybody that we interact with see you see your light and see the fire that burns within us god for you would we not be put down by our own fears would we be able to get off our mat and walk god and go where you have called us this morning [Music] lord god we just thank you god for your holy presence in this room right now for the calling that you have put on each and every one of our lives the calling that you have placed on our families and our marriages [Music] lord would every little thing that we do our marriages would it be would it give you glory would it be a witness for you [Music] we give you this day god in jesus name amen good morning thank you steve and maddie for that beautiful worship as you're seated we're going to start with a couple announcements for those of you who have kids that are going to be going to 217 kids you can go ahead and get them started they're going to be dismissed at this time they're going to be learning about jesus and nicodemus this morning we've got an activity and a craft and some other fun things in store for them so the kids can start to head that direction for those of you that are here this morning i would just like to welcome you for those that are online who are going to be watching this later on on some of our social media platforms i'd also like to welcome you to 217 church for those that don't know my name is adam polhemis i'm one of the elders and one of the board members here for 217 church on your seats you're going to find the card the card is one of the ways that you can go ahead and engage with both the ministry staff here at 217 church and also the prayer team so as pastor kevin is coming and bringing the word please do fill out that card and place it in the popcorn buckets as you're leaving you can also go ahead and email in your prayer requests to kevin kevin 217 church.com those prayer requests are prayed for every day by not only the pastoral staff but also the prayer team as well so the more you get connected the more we can pray for you and the more we can be there for you i have two very important announcements that are coming up for this next week on september 11th at 8 30 to 10 30 we are going to be going ahead and partnering with street church ministries which is going to be on perry street in the city of trenton and uh the name of the event that we're going to be helping to sponsor and also to serve at is called breakfast and boxers so what this is going to be is is we're going to be giving uh boxers and socks to uh homeless persons that are connected to the street church ministry and we're also going to be serving breakfast so if you can see in the back gary is wearing a hat and a mask right there gary's waving his hand to you if you'd like to participate and help out and serve okay again on september 11th from 8 30 to 10 30 with serving breakfast and giving out boxers and socks and essentials go ahead and see gary over by the bibles as you're leaving okay he'll take down your information and make sure that you get connected for that serving opportunity um that uh serving opportunity is actually going to be blessed and sponsored by us 217 and it's going to be through uh the school supplies surplus that we had for our giving drive for uh the school that we helped to sponsor if you'd still like to give more towards that event okay or the homeless ministries that are occurring there if you go online to 217 church.com backslash give you can designate uh your funds to missions and uh money will go towards that opportunity that we're going to have the next uh thing that we're going to be doing is on september 16th this is going to be thursday evening at 7 00 p.m pastor kevin is going to be leading a every other week bible study okay it's called emotionally healthy spirituality all right or ehs and you can go um on either online or if you're comfortable uh in person you have to email uh excuse me don't email kevin he gets enough emails uh you're gonna go ahead and you're gonna go to 217 church dot com backslash ehs again for emotionally healthy no i did that wrong no i did it right okay emotionally healthy spirituality it's a lot of it's a lot of whys at the end it's very hard to come up with okay ehs all right so if you go there you can go ahead and sign up and register and then kevin will send you all the information that you need all right at this time we're going to pray before kevin comes just bow your heads dear lord and heavenly father lord please anoint kevin with your word as we continue in the i am series lord as we just sung that beautiful song with that promise for those that know you i am a child of god lord and there's no sweeter promise than knowing that we are your son or your daughter lord we're so thankful for you we're so thankful for your love and we're thankful for pastor kevin who's going to be bringing this word to us this morning in your name we pray amen amen amen how are we doing 217 great and i i most certainly felt the presence of god in this room this morning uh how about our worship director stephen and madeline this morning leading us in worship um they are they're also our our youth directors and so if you have a teenager anywhere in middle school high school we meet every single wednesday night at our youth in office facility which is at the five points area of hamilton you can email stephen 217church.com and anything that anyone asked to email me about you can also change your mind and email steven at 217church.com uh he knows how to handle everything in this church and he'll now receive all the emails how about adam delivering announcements this morning our elder one of our elders in our church where's adam i don't know where at okay he's already in the kids he just jumped into the kids i was just watching him online from my phone somehow it takes 10 pounds off of him and adds 20 onto me i don't know what's up with that man but you look great um thank you for doing that um it's great to see you and everybody here online look right now we have between facebook and youtube between 30 and 35 people viewing which represents i don't know how many people who are watching the same screen but the rest of our church family is represented here online can we just give them a shout yeah welcome everybody online so glad to be with you my name is pastor kevin i'm our pastor here at our church and um we are wrapping up today a series called i am the way the truth and the life and we have been last week and this week going to design our services we designed last week our service and this week's service to an experience of just being with the way the truth and the life how many guys are thankful for jesus this morning and the life he gives us the breath in our lungs the grace that we're showered upon to be here right now we had a moment with our staff here just before service we took communion together and it was a reflection time of just thanking god uh to center us for a second that we keep the main thing jesus the main thing at this church amen and so centered around communion just looking around them and i realized that you know a year and a half ago uh stephen i'm going to start speaking about him while he's playing and see if he can hit a wrong chord but uh he he was hired as our worship director and was really excited to start that sunday and his very first a day was in the middle of march on a wednesday and we did all the paperwork and everything when you bring on a new employee and then i began to tell him i'm sorry but we're shutting the church down for a bit because there's this thing called covet 19. and so steven saw his first entire year as a worship director without seeing anybody and doing the whole thing online and in some ways in a lot of ways we feel like just desperately desiring to be obedient uh children of god asking him for clarity leading our way forward and god has chosen us as a family to lead forward in the direction that we're going and the reason why i'm having this moment with us right now church is because next week starts our fall rhythm and i don't know about you maybe unpopular opinion but i've been over summer for quite a bit and i'm all about the fall feels can we make some noise for the fall i'm all about some leaf color changes i'm not going to go to pumpkin spice lattes we'll talk later about what your drink should be but um i'm excited we wrap up the way the truth and the life and we go this morning into wrapping up this series and we talk about jesus's final proclamations in the gospel of john as the way the truth and the life and the very last one in john 15 i am the true vine and we've spent a significant time together about the church as the church talking about jesus our true vine and this morning is going to be no different my only question is this morning are you ready for the word on the count of three let's just say i'm ready for the word i'm ready for the word one two three tim our director of ministry operations gonna read the word this morning and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and will take you to myself that where i am you may be also and you know the way to where i am going thomas said to them lord we do not know where you are going how can we know the way jesus said to him i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me if you had known me you would have known my father also from now on you do know him and have seen him what a powerful passage what a powerful beginning passage to today because i see thomas's question i see the disciples question here in this moment trying to begin to process that the very jesus in the flesh that they've been walking with and seeing do miracles is now changing the circumstance a little bit and beginning to talk about his departure beginning to talk about them going through specific difficult circumstances that they had no idea would be comprised of what is coming our way and how exactly are we going to manage this without you jesus how are we going to manage this and jesus starts off by saying i am the way i am the truth i am the life that is how but practically speaking how and i feel like many times we have all collectively as individual families as a church family we've asked that question jesus how do i find a tangible evidence of your presence in my life answers to the deepest questions that i have in this season without feeling sometimes like you're even here have you been there or is it just me and so in the midst of this time we can sometimes feel just like thomas how do we know okay you're the way the truth and the life but how do i know that i'm walking with that jesus how do i know that i'm walking by your holy spirit power how do i know that i'm walking within the full love that god the father has for me as his son and daughter how do i know [Music] and jesus says well i am the way to the father there is no other way let's start there not through your good deeds not through any other man or woman not through a priest or a saint but through jesus and jesus christ alone in james chapter 5 it talks about us having the ability to confess uh to one another the sins or the transgressions or the shortcomings that we go through in life and then we go to jesus with them because he is our direct lying to the father and i believe that some of us this morning need to hear this message to be reminded that we don't look anywhere else in culture we don't look anywhere else in the headlines i say this every week we don't look even anywhere else to those people who we might see as a great way maybe right to the father but anywhere you sit any way you drive anywhere you are focused on any time of the day any stretch of a season jesus is there and jesus is seated at the right hand of the father interceding on your behalf when you pray jesus hears jesus then whispers to the father and the father moves by the power of the holy spirit in this world in tangible ways that you and i cannot explain and jesus knows that you and i cannot explain and you know who else knows that these ways in which the holy spirit moves these things that jesus does do you know who else knows can't explain it jesus knows who else can't comprehend this the world the world so in the midst of this proclamation proclamation i am the way the truth and the life he continues let's continue reading the word of god together lord show us the father and it is enough for us jesus said to him have i been with you so long and you still do not know me philip whoever has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father do you not believe that i am in the father and the father is in me the words that i say to you i do not speak on my own authority but the father who dwells in me does his works believe me that i am in the father and the father is in me or else believe on the count of the works themselves truly truly i say to you whoever believes in me will also do the works that i do and greater works than these will he do because i am going to the father whatever you ask in my name this i will do that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask me anything in my name i will do it if you love me you will keep my commandments and i will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him or knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you i will not leave you as orphans i will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more but you will see me because i live you will also will live in that day you will know that i am in my father and you and me and i in you whoever has my commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and i will love him and my manifest myself to him judah said to him lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world jesus answered him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him whoever does not love me does not keep my words and the words that you hear is not mine but the fathers who sent me these things i have spoken to you while i am still with you but the helper the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all the things and bring your to you to your remembrance all that i have said to you peace i leave with you my peace i give to you not as the world gives do i give it to you let your not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid you heard me say to you i'm going away and i will come to you and if you love me you would have rejoiced because i'm going to the father for the father is greater than i and now i have told you before it takes place so that when it does take place you may believe i will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming he has no claim on me but i do as a father has commanded me so that the world may know that i love the father rise let us go from here the scripture and the final scripture that we will read rounds out our series that we just went through i am the way the truth and the life with this idea jesus is saying right now that the world will not fully understand the type of peace that we will have or the ways in which he will move unless unless we are connected to jesus who then is proclaimed as the last i am statement in the gospel of john the true vine jesus says i am the true vine but what i want to focus on is this saying i've read over and over and over again as i've seen john 14 and john 15 be such a critical passage uh two critical passages in my life can he actually say this does it actually make sense you then ask me anything in my name and i will do it anything in my name and i will do it are you sure is anyone else thinking maserati right now is anyone thinking uh something material you wish you always had or an extra bedroom in your house or an extension or another garage or a job opportunity or a broken chain in that addiction anything god how is that possible he's telling this to the disciples after talking about persecution so how about then in your name i pray that i'm not persecuted anymore can we do that jesus is saying the world won't understand but the main question from the disciples is how do you come to know how do you come to know what you do when it feels like you are gone we don't know who the holy spirit is yet but guess what every single one of us in this room has the power of the holy spirit living inside of you the same power that conquer the grave lives inside of each and every one of us and jesus says how do you come to know the way the truth and the life you abide how do you come to know the way you abide the truth how do i know the truth in everything that i'm seeing in front of me and all that people are saying and all of the advice and all of the self-help books you abide in jesus for he is also the truth there is no other truth than the truth of a resurrected jesus christ and this finished work on the cross amen the life how do you know the life you have with jesus you abide and i'm asking myself is it really just that simple could it really be that we could be a church and individuals sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and husbands and wives and extended family that simply learn how to abide in christ and then we would experience this full life that he promised us in john 10 10 is that it yes it is see there is this mystery to who god is there is a splendor to his glory an inexplicable draw to how he moves and works and reveals himself so how do i live in that space you abide and the next and last statement we see is jesus saying i am the true vine and he opens up this idea that we've talked about before about abiding now here's the interesting thing we love spending time with people in our church my wife and i love spending time with you guys if i could make the room smaller which i love to do i would call each and every one of you guys by names and we're getting to a place where we have some awesome memories with most of the room and about a month ago we had uh some some sunday afternoon a sunday afternoon play date with kids and dinner and there is a couple in our church that when we walked into their beautiful home there were plants everywhere okay and the husband's obsession and joy is to propagate plants or experience the joy that comes from grafting and he's got quite a green thumb can you raise your hand as i confess this for a second that anything i buy from home depot that is a living plant dies within two days amen i see you thank you for that hand i see you thank you for that hand you you you yes thank you but they begin to explain to me this process and why it brings them so much joy and then we're talking about plants we're talking about plants over dinner and then the next day we do a home depot run and lo and behold my wife sees a giant for sale plant section as soon as we walk in and i went god i need that holy spirit to move right now could you miraculously send my wallet back home from my pocket or could you resurrect these plants we're about to buy from like from death to life but here's the amazing thing about this process is that it set me on a couple of days of just looking into this as i knew the true vine would be preached about in our series and it's this amazing thing that happens and many of you guys know how this happens you can take a branch from another tree and with the proper technique you can attach that branch to another uh system of life in a whole other root system and grab have that unattached plant grab from the life spring and the entire root system from another place another plant another tree and get life from that existing root system and grow as it once was to the point where i had an extreme amount of fun on youtube watching hybrid fruit trees where like you can actually get peaches on one side and apples on another for example have you guys do you guys know this or am i just like today years old when i found out about this stuff like i knew about grafting i knew about propagation but trees that bear different fruits respectively according to the best qualities that they had and this might be the most important possible message that jesus left the disciples because what jesus is saying to the disciples as they were about to establish the church by the power of the holy spirit is that he is saying there is already an existing life-giving root system and it's me and if you can tap into everything that i have for you and in a couple days everything i'm about to do for you you can bear that fruit according to your gifts according to your purpose if you just abide and there is not one of us that does not have a place on the vine called jesus the true vine amen and my desire going into the fall as a church is that we would grow like we've been saying this year healthy meaning knowing what it's like on a practical level to tap into the root system of jesus and watch him spring life into our bones and into this church and we know what your gifts are we did that together as well and my desire is that we would spring up into the most amazing looking church tree with all kinds of fruits making all kinds of impact that the world has never seen before let's allow jesus to expand on this truth as we read from john 15 in our last passage are you ready for another word amen church we're going to do something a little different just to be reminded of just who that truvine is as we read through the scripture the verses will be on the screen behind me but we're going to listen a little old school i'm going to read a verse that you guys are going to read reverse i want us to be reminded of who that true vine is 15 it says i am the true vine my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit already you are clean because of the word that i have spoken to you abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me i am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and i in him he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples as the father has loved me so have i loved you abide in my love if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as i have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love these things i have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full this is my commandment that you love one another as i have loved you greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends you are my friends and if you do what i command you no longer do i call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing but i have called you friends for all that i have heard from my father i have made known to you you did not choose me but i chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask in the father ask the father my name he may give it to you these things i command you so that you will love one another amen there is an entire root system that gives life that provides wisdom that gives peace that is waiting for you to attach so that it can spring forward life in us church is that though really it because the world says you'd have to work really hard and grind and achieve and stand out and you're telling me god that life can come by just abiding yes because as we abide in christ i want you to hear this this morning abiding in christ is not just about living out our daily rhythms but it's about walking in your eternal promise it's a mindset it's a foundation from which you stand it's a perspective from which you see when christ is at the center of our families that's part of jesus's life-giving root system when christ is at the center of our gathering as the church this here as you look around jesus's bride is part of the life-giving root system and so you have to then ask yourself ask whatever you wish in john 15 and it'll be done that's after the call to abide because the more that we draw from this spring of life that he gives us the more that we abide in the church and keep jesus at the center of our church and jesus at the center of our families jesus at the center of our own relationships guess what happens we begin to desire the same things that god desires we begin to believe the same things that god believes about us we begin to walk in the same power that he has given us as a result of his finished work on the cross and when you walk that way when you desire things that are that way your desires align with god's desires and so when he says ask whatever you wish and it'll be done what he's saying is what you want is now becoming what i want what your desire for your life is my desire for your life how you want to see the church make an impact in the community that's what i want to see for those who don't know jesus yet or don't know where their next meal is coming from we're celebrating providing book bags for hundreds of children on tuesday sending money overseas for countries that are suffering this didn't just come from any kind of strategic idea that we have it's from the wellspring in the root system of jesus when we say get in a group we're asking you to tap into the life-giving source that is providing life to the rest of the church and to you in your personal relationship with jesus there's no nothing more important that we can possibly talk about going into the fall going into our next series called masterpiece in the making what it means to pursue health and being a church so he saw jesus the way the truth and the life he's asking us to abide well what does it mean to pursue him as a healthy church and the answer i don't ever want to forget from this series is through abiding is through strengthening the root system and that root system has a name and his name is jesus for i received from the lord would i also deliver to you that the lord jesus on the night that he was portrayed took bread this is the reminder that paul is giving the church in his letter [Music] going through a significant amount of challenges asking themselves consistently what does it look like to lean in to know the way the truth and the life to abide in the vine he brings it back to the table and on the first sunday of every month we've said this is just something that we're going to do we're going to take communion together so on your seats you will see the communion cup with the wafer there on top and we're going to take communion together and we're we're going to celebrate just this focus that we've had over the last several weeks on the way the truth and the life we're gonna spend some time with our root system our life giving jesus i want you to think about as we take communion this morning the greatest weight that exists on your shoulders and i'd like you just to lay that down at the feet of jesus may we just tell him as we take communion as we pray god i want you to change the foundation from which i'm standing on i want you to change the perspective the perspective from which i'm seeing [Music] i want to be grafted back in to your life-giving root system in jesus so father we take a moment just to pray to you [Music] hear your sons and daughters as they just focus their hearts on jesus so we remind ourselves that every ounce of effort that we put forward to try to earn our way every ounce of effort has already been completed on the finished work of the cross spend a minute laying it down with him right now [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] for i received from the lord would i also deliver to you that the lord jesus on the night he was portrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you take this in remembrance of me let's take the bread together church [Music] [Music] in the same way he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me [Music] for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes let's take the cup together jesus we're taking the time to thank you for your faithfulness to us [Music] father going through this series we have seen you proclaim yourself as the i am in so many different ways through the gospel of john we thank you that we have the holy scriptures we thank you lord that we have been able to study through the practical implications of those i am statements this was what it all culminated to the way the truth and the life our true vine so father for those of us who maybe have gone about our days and even planned into our fall even planned into next year without considering the life-giving root system that already exists in jesus i pray a prayer forgiveness for each and every one of us and i asked god that we would turn the other way which is a word repentance and that we would ask you to place beneath us the foundation to stand on the fact that we are child children of the most high god sons and daughters of the king of kings god some of us need to change the perspective in which we see life and so i'm asking god that you would shift and change our perspective that although there's much going on in this world this is our temporary home we belong to a kingdom that has never lost and your kingdom is advancing all the more in spite of everything we see and father for those of us who have laid down specific things this morning in communion i pray lord that you would shower them with your grace and mercy to know that they're forgiven that you see that weight that's been laid down and you invited them you're inviting them as a good and loving father to lean into you to tap into you to rest in you to spend time with you to feel your presence to know you because you are the way the truth and the life our true life-giving vine our king of kings our lord of lords our shepherd our friend our god we love you in jesus name and we continue to worship you now in song and the church all said together amen amen let's stand together [Music] so [Music] worthy of every song we could ever sing worthy of all the praise we could ever bring worthy of every breath we could ever bring but live for you jesus the name above every other name jesus the only one who could ever save [Music] of every breath we could ever breathe [Music] holy there is no one like you there is none beside you open up my eyes in wonder show me who you are [Music] worthy of every song we could ever sing [Music] worthy of all the praise we could ever bring worthy of every breath we could ever breathe live for you [Music] jesus above every other name [Music] jesus the only one who could ever save worthy of every breath we [Music] there is no one like you [Music] show me who you are [Music] there is [Music] show me who you your are and lead me in your love to those around me [Music] as father god god would you lead us in you in your love in your spirit lord god would we truly abide [Music] would we truly abide in you god in our workplaces and doctors offices [Music] lord god with our friends lord god in our marriages would we abide in you with our kids would we abide [Music] lead us lead us in your love [Music] lord god that everybody in hamilton everybody in mercer county or god through you they wouldn't know your name they would know your love [Music] they would have a peace [Music] beyond all understanding through you god through you [Music] so we declare this morning [Music] i will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation i will put my trust in you and i will not be shaken i will build my life [Music] i will put my trust in you [Music] upon your [Music] i will put my trust in you [Music] there is none beside [Music] show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead [Music] there is none beside [Music] show me who you are [Music] around me i will build my life we will build our church upon your love jesus we will build our lives we will build our families we will build this church upon your love [Music] we will not be shaking god [Music] we rebuke our false securities god we place it and i will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation and i will put my trust in you [Music] alone and i will not be shaken [Music] can we just give god some praise this morning so next week marks the beginning of fall season at 217 church and for many of us for many of us our rhythms change drastically within the next week or two and so we really wanted to do this series to really acquaint ourselves with the i am so that there can be a depth and power behind the things that we'll do in the fall so that you can know that our team's real desire is to see everything we do every table that's set up every new ministry effort as everything we are doing within our heart so that every family unit has a way to learn to abide and hear the voice of jesus over every other voice in this world because it's loud out there these days amen and so next week you're going to see and meet our leadership team i'm going to introduce our staff again you're going to see all of our small groups there's seven small groups meeting in the fall you're going to hear a couple of the different plans that we have going forward and it's going to be a great time we're going to celebrate together and go into the fall together all for the sake of us coming to understand and know what it looks like to draw from the wellspring of jesus in the fall and that's what i shared last week is my desire is that his voice would be louder in our lives than any other voice that we will be obedient um man pretty incredible to announce we have 150 book bags headed over to greenwood elementary on tuesday we got supplies we just got we just got word the last couple of days from the bridge right down the road pastor ron's a friend of mine he said hey can we do this together we'll add another 50 book bags and more supplies so we're partnering with the church right down the road um yeah and we are going to now have the ability to do 200 backpacks and uh that means every student in the elementary school is going to be covered with supplies and book bags um we've decided to send a significant donation to our churches in haiti i shared with our church just a couple weeks ago that we have a lot of pastors on the ground in haiti looking to recover from the devastation that's existed there and so that came out of the missions fund and those funds were already given by our church so that we could designate them out to help our pastors there we're in contact with other local alliance churches up in north jersey some in south jersey that have been impacted by the recent hurricane and tornadoes and so we'll also be able to help because the funds are there as god has provided for us to be a church that is being the hands and feet of jesus and so as we gather here we are the church out there and that is a very powerful thing as my prayer is that as those who are on the receiving end of simple uh the simple love that we found to live by from jesus that they would also come into relationship with jesus this is all good news this is all good news so if today you came with uh your tithes or your offerings there's a popcorn bucket out in the back on the high table and on your way out you can leave your gifts and offerings there you can also give online 217 church dot com forward slash give and uh we will continue making an impact in this community i'm so excited about next week so don't miss next week bring a friend uh online if you're kind of weighing coming in come in in person if you're going to stay online invite somebody to log on with you it's going to be an awesome weekend and i'm looking forward to it let me pray for you one last time and we'll get out of here and we'll see you next sunday god i thank you for this morning i thank you that the way the truth and the life is the center of this service and that we got some time as a church family to take communion together we look forward to this next season of what you're calling us to and how you're calling us to do it may you bless every single person this week who's on the receiving end of the generosity that is in this church to help and to serve and to love and may you god give us a new perspective give us a new foundation as we look forward to abide in you this week going into new rhythms the way the truth and the life abide in you our life-giving root system we thank you in jesus name amen amen all right we'll see you next week

Channel: 217 Church

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Id: lE2ENfeJxIc

Length: 84min 18sec (5058 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021