LIVE: The Father's House (September 12, 2021)

oh the stone that the builders rejected became the the stone that the builders rejected [Music] the became that the builders rejected the stone that the builders rejected the stone that the builders rejected [Music] a grain of wheat may be knocked to the ground and suffer through the winter's cold only to rise [Music] the stone that the builders rejected became [Music] rejected [Music] a little child whose eyes are filled with a shining light to whom the night is [Music] of [Music] is [Music] [Applause] the storm that the builders rejected [Music] the cornerstone [Music] r [Music] to thee nearer to thee in though it'd be a cross [Music] [Music] me on to himself [Music] [Music] my god [Music] r [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning good afternoon and good evening church friends and family welcome back to shepherd's grove presbyterian church streaming to you live from irvine california my name is elizabeth and i am your livestream host for this morning and friends i just want to say i'm so happy that you're here you know my hope for this morning is that we can just build each other up as a community for jesus and friends i just want to say as i've been watching the chat it's been so encouraging to see how many of you are praying for and supporting each other and friends keep that going because the fellowship we experience here is just a small taste of what the kingdom of god is going to be like and with that said you know pastor bobby for the past couple of weeks has been talking on what it means to live our lives for god's glory and his kingdom and as i've been reflecting on this uh you know something i want to share something with you all that god has been reminding me of which is basically as i live my life for god's kingdom to do it filled and led by the holy spirit um you know in first corinthians two paul talks about being weak with great fear and trembling um when it came to his ministry but then he goes on to say that the only way he was able to do his ministry was by the power of the holy spirit so that even in his weakness people will be able to see more of god's power through him so friends i just want to say we can do anything when we're empowered by the holy spirit and being led by him so i encourage you all this morning to invite the holy spirit into whatever you may be going through and just ask him holy spirit how may you be guiding me today and friends just know that with the holy spirit you can do amazing things and in the end it will all be for god's glory but with that said friends service is about to start so don't forget to follow us on social media share this live stream link with your friends and family and as always share your prayer requests in the chat and i'll be here at the end of service with you all to close you all out but until then i hope you're encouraged and know that you are loved and i hope you enjoy today's service [Music] good morning church family we're so excited that you're here here are a few announcements for you this week hi everyone our 50-plus ministry is officially back this month it's september 23rd at 11 30 a.m in the fellowship hall across the way this month our special guest speaker is our very own bobby schuler we'll also have a moment where we honor anne waltz and the many years that she dedicated to this ministry we hope that you will join us we need volunteers to help pack meals that are going to go around the world to help feed those in need you can help on sunday september 26th go to the website to sign up today rudy changed my life it really uh enabled me to deal with some of the strongholds i was dealing with where the enemy likes to come and attack me and i can identify those now and i can be out ahead of him again and rebuke him and and come out on the upside rather than the downside of that whole thing rooted starts this wednesday september 15th at 6 30. you need to sign up today so go to the website sign up or stop by in the courtyard and see me but don't miss it sign up for rooted groups today we are updating our church directory which means we need your help out on the courtyard today you're going to find people with green badges and ipads go see them and they're going to ask you a few quick questions that we can make sure that all the information we have is up to date and we can connect with you the way that you want to be connected with we really appreciate your support and we look forward to finishing this directory together go out and do it today one of my favorite things about sunday morning is getting up getting ready and coming in to be with you all my church family i just love the love the compassion and the kindness that's shown to me every single sunday i would like those around me to experience the same love joy and hope so i invite others to church i challenge you this week to invite your friends to church have them experience the hope and the grace that we find in jesus here at shepherds grove as always we have more details up on the website and social media so make sure to check them all out there we hope that you have an absolutely fantastic week and remember as always god loves you and so do we [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] is [Music] is this is the day the lord is made we will rejoice and be glad in it good morning and welcome church family and visitors we are so happy that you're here you know i hadn't planned on talking about this this morning but i felt like the lord put it on my heart but something that i feel is just as important as confessing your sins is to also receive by faith forgiveness for your sins so if you sincerely confess your sins and then a month later you are feeling shame or guilt about those things that is not from the lord when you confess your sins and all sincerity god justifies you and do you know what that word justify means it means just as if i'd never done it just as if i'd never done it so when you pray in sincerity for forgiveness you should only feel joy and gratefulness there is so much power in receiving by faith your justification so even today as we do worship let's be full of joy and gratefulness that we are now the righteousness of god in christ you are so loved amen let's pray stand with us lord jesus we're here in the midst of many of us of our sorrows and difficulties and many of us in our victories but no matter what we pray that you would stand with us give us peace and help us to understand that the kingdom of the heavens is amongst us right now that your holy spirit is on the move breaking chains and drawing us to you lord we love you so much and we ask all of this in jesus name amen amen turn to the person next to you and say god loves you and so do i [Music] oh [Music] my [Music] me [Music] me [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] me [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] maybe seated in preparation for the message philippians 4 4-7 rejoice in the lord always i will say it again rejoice let your gentleness be evident to all the lord is near do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to god and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus amen [Applause] [Music] there's a wandering the power that exists in you jesus [Music] a power that exists there's a love that captivates love that captivates [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] no [Music] [Applause] all the darkness shakes [Music] is [Music] says like [Music] [Applause] all the darkness [Applause] [Music] your name [Music] drew and melanie enterline are a husband and wife who've been performing as interline since 2014. with the passion for ministry they lead worship and also write and record meaningful songs to encourage and uplift listeners earlier this year they signed a contract with bec recordings and released their newest ep colors bright please welcome interline [Music] hi guys welcome back thank you so much it is so great to have you back in the house last time you're here was in 2018 but we just appreciate you being here it's been a crazy season i'm sure for musicians it has um tell us a little bit for those who don't know you about how you guys got together and how you have this worship team yeah so back in 2014 it was kind of when we started uh working on projects working on music together and we released our first ep in 2015 and um so we've been just kind of plugging away at music we released a full-length record in 2018 and then as just mentioned we recently signed with a record label and partnered with them and we just released uh our another ep with them it's called colors bright and actually one of the song we just played just shared is on that so we're super excited to share that now awesome i i feel like um in the world of worship and even in ministry people like preaching and doing churches it's less common to see couples and yet my experience has been that when couples do ministry together is very powerful hannah and i do the ministry together we have a lot of pastors here who try and do it together do you feel like it's been useful for you guys to not have like one person doing it all the time or to be together definitely it's been really sweet and it's really sweet to do it as a family even as mentioned with our recent ap we had a new little baby girl our first baby congratulations andy ray thank you and so it was even cool like being pregnant with her and writing these songs and it's like almost feels like our family's just growing with it and it's all in alignment with ministry and just being able to do it together is just really sweet well that's great people love your new album colors bright and a lot of people who are watching now probably want to get that what was the inspiration for that album wow you know like you said we've journeyed through just such a crazy time so a lot of these songs were actually written in 2020 and even over zoom with some other writers and so it was just an interesting season to navigate but we really just felt like we want to direct people to hope we want to direct them to jesus that he's the answer and no matter what may be going on around us darkness that may come around he's stronger and so just pointing people to that i feel like it's just such an opportunity so i just wanted to stop you real quick you had uh writers gathering together on zoom tell me more about that yeah so traditionally obviously with uh the pandemic at the things have changed a little bit um but traditionally we'll you know write with other writers and kind of other musicians and stuff and being in the same room kind of having that organic fill and just but um you know that kind of changed over the course of this last year so you know just different writers whether it be in nashville or just other states and it's just even having that technology now like it's amazing that you could connect in that way in a time like this and just having that technology to still be able to do it you know you may not be in the same room but you can still have that you know that connection with somebody i love your lyrics too i mean i was listening to the lyrics and i thought these are really strong like a lot of worship lyrics now are a bit i feel like they always use the same kind of cliches over and over but uh i i can see i love i love the idea of a team coming together and really thinking even theologically about the and you know artistically too about this the the lyrics i think it's awesome thank you well if you want to know more about uh enter line you can check out interlinemusic.com and you can get their album anywhere albums are sold guys thank you so much for being with us today [Applause] [Music] [Music] by [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] let our hearts awake we desperate for your kingdom come breathe [Music] [Music] [Music] holy spirit [Applause] this place [Music] for your kingdom is [Music] is [Music] let our hearts awake with [Music] is is i can't hear [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you interline well what a privilege it is to continue in worship in prayer would you please join me in prayer heavenly father our minds are fixed on 9 11 on this weekend and lord we think of all those who lost their lives those who lost loved ones and their families and those who remain and all the first responders who jumped to help lord and so 20 years later we remember them and we remember the sacrifices that they made and their families made lord we are blessed that we have people who serve in our armed forces and as first responders all around who run in and help lord this morning there are folks who are experiencing anxiety their hearts are heavy their minds are racing we speak against anxiety lord and we pray for peace we pray for their minds to be restored and rested that anxiety shall not run their lives this morning there are people who are mourning the end of life and we pray for them for those who are grieving our hearts grieve and we pray for those who are beginning life our hearts are especially joyful for little evangeline this morning what a blessing it is lord that you make all things new and so it is that some are filled with sorrow and for those who are experiencing pain and loss we weep with them our sorrows are their shared sorrows with us and so we are present with them this morning just as you are present with them always and for those who are experiencing joy lord we're thankful that we have these seasons of joy in our lives that we get to celebrate joys and happiness and love and peace and we're so thankful for those opportunities as well so lord continue to bless us as we continue in worship bless this morning's message lord in christ's name we pray amen so why should you keep your mind focused on heavenly things well there are a few good reasons first of all you remember when you got that new iphone right it was fun for a couple of hours but then you sort of got over it it wasn't fun the next few days or you get a new car and it's fun for a week maybe a month but then it sort of loses its novelty well with heavenly things that's not a problem but i think there's another reason to keep our mind focused on heavenly things and i think we find the answer in acts chapter 3 where peter and john are going down to the temple to pray and they come across this lame man and that's how he's been his whole life and so this guy he's seeking alms we don't say that word alms anymore it's not a word we use a lot but he's seeking a handout right and so he sees peter and john apostles these guys must have lots of money he thinks and so he he fixes his attention on peter and john and and he's he's expecting something really great but what he gets is not what he expected he's just seeking a handout but peter and john said stand up rise you are healed go and walk and he does he stands up and he walks into the temple and he's restored to community so you see the moral of the story is he's not asking for enough he just wants the minimum he wants a handout just to survive but peter and john they know what he needs he needs to be restored he needs hope he needs healing and so often in our lives we seek the minimum when we keep our minds fixed on heavenly things we get to think larger than that because what we can get from god is bigger than anything we can even imagine and so friends this morning as we come together to give our offerings and our ties i want you to know that this ministry is about giving people hope maybe not as dramatically as peter and john healing a crippled man but we do offer hope and we give people hope around the world and if you could see the letters and the emails that we get you would know how wonderful it is to be an agent of offering hope throughout the world so this morning we invite you to partner with us and to help us continue this ministry and you can do it in so many ways if you're here you can drop your offering outside you can give online you can mail it in there are so many ways that you can help us minister do ministry as we continue to help those around the world [Music] [Applause] please always [Music] rejoice [Music] rejoice [Music] he is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] thank you choir appreciate you so much choir and orchestra thank you guys what a wonderful piece zach to chance most underrated pianist in the wrong you're super good thank you hey so we've been uh looking for a youth minister for a while uh through the summer you know the pressure was building schools started a couple weeks ago in most uh most places and uh after a long search we're so grateful that god brought to us victor akiyame yes victor come on up victor hi welcome hello it's worth noting first of all if you're watching on television that i am 63 205 pounds and you're taller than i am a little bit so you'll keep our kids safe you bet i'm gonna try yeah try well welcome victor uh one of the things that impressed me so much about you was your vision for the school across the street as well as other schools and your heart for discipleship to really pour into kids the way jesus poured into his disciples tell me a little bit about that and why you feel called here yeah i think just this is the first time i've ever been part of a church where literally across the road there's a high school of a place where we could do ministry amongst thousands of people and i just think jesus poured into those he was closest to and i think that's the way we should be and i think when you have thousands of people right across the street who need jesus who don't know him right now why not go be the people who approach them and serve them and let them know hey if no one else lets you know this we love you we care about you and we serve a god who loves you amen so at the end of this school year if everything went perfectly and trust me it will uh what would your what would your vision be what would the youth group look like and feel like at the end of the year school year yeah so i think man the first thing i would think just numerically i don't ever want to judge ministry success off of numbers but i think just growing the group to 40 50 students who love jesus who know jesus who care about his word and then having those people be the people who go out and do the work amongst their friends i'm 29 but to a high schooler they're like man you're old so but they could go speak to their friends they know the language they know the music they know the culture better than anybody in this room probably does so having disciples who make disciples is the ultimate goal victor thank you so much and if you see victor and his girlfriend mckenna after the service make sure to go say hi to them and welcome them home we're so grateful you're a part of our team we appreciate you guys so much thank you um before i jump into my sermon i just want to say welcome to shepherds grove i know we're a church that feels a bit different if you're used to going to church i have a question for you how many churches are there in america now in 2021 anybody know how many just take a guess how many 400 000 anybody else any other takers that's wrong anybody else there is one church [Music] in america there's one [Applause] okay it's the same number in irvine globally there is one church and every part of the church has a different job our job is to reach the unchurched that's what we do here that's why we have television cameras that's why we design the worship the way we do we are always thinking about who's out there who's out there hurting who's out there suffering who is out there who has been tricked into thinking god hates them or god is judging them or god has cast them out who out there has been fooled by the heresy of works righteousness theology who out there grew up being told if they danced or wore makeup or all of these things that they would go to hell or that if they didn't confess every single sin and they remember them all they're going to go to hell and this is their picture of god see these are the people we're trying to reach we are a church of missionaries that's why we do what we're doing and i want to invite you no matter who you are whether you've been a part of this congregation for years or whether it's your first day here get involved help us do the thing god's calling us to do if you want to get more involved there's a thing in the back you can talk to someone but one of the best ways to start is to plug into a rooted group where you're going to learn the basics of our you know our faith even if you've grown up and you've gone to seminary it's still a good thing to do because you can kind of see where we are in our vision and values and ultimately that that rooted group will hopefully plug you into a small group so i encourage you to do that well anyway no matter who you are we are so thrilled you're here we just love people this is a hospitality church and we're grateful that you're here would you stand with us hold your hands out like this is a way of receiving from the lord let's say this again i'm not what i do i'm not what i have i am not what people say about me i am the beloved of god it's who i am no one can take it from me i don't have to worry i don't have to hurry i can trust my friend jesus and share his love with the world thanks you can be seated today i'm going to talk about the importance of peace in a time when many of us are feeling super stressed out by the way uh hannah and i just posted on instagram a prayer chain if you have a prayer you want us to pray for we're going to pray for everybody in that group or if you want to pray for some of those people check out my instagram and post your prayer there and we will pray for you tomorrow remember when we pray for you it's the same as when you pray for you god doesn't listen to the prayers of me and hannah more than he listens to you we come boldly before the throne of god but we also want to support you okay the bible says that perfect love casts out fear but did you know that the inverse is also true fear is the only thing that casts out christian love fear casts out love fear casts out empathy it casts out a listening voice fear casts out a loving hand a compassionate gaze fear casts it all out we are scared to death of people we should be loving we are scared to death of people that need our love the thing that casts out christian love is worry fear anxiety what's going to happen what are they going to do to me what are they going to do to us trust those things to the lord and love your neighbor you're such a loving person i remember hearing dallas willard tell a story about going to the tool shop tool shop you guys can tell hardware store as he's walking in he sees a man walking by a pickup truck and the pickup truck windows were rolled up you know halfway and inside the pickup truck was a dog and as the man walked by the the truck the dog went and the man jumped back and said i'll kill him i'll kill you i'll kill you he was scared that's all i think he really hated dogs maybe but if he did it's because he's scared of him you can see plainly how scared being scared of our neighbor being worried about what our neighbor thinks about us or how our neighbor will vote being scared about how our neighbor might affect our neighborhood or street causes us to not love the people who need it the most our world may be more afraid today than it's ever been in my lifetime i'm older than i look that's a long time a lot's happened in my life but in my humble opinion there is more fear today than there was the day after 9 11. our businesses particularly in the media thrive on fear politicians in both parties thrive on fear a lot of pastors thrive on fear i'm not one of them i thrive on positivity i thrive on the feeling of knowing and being in god's abundance and kingdom right now that even right now right in your seat or in your home and even me up on this wooden platform i know christ stands with us and has all power to do what needs to be done for our benefit and that everything he wants for you is what is good and not what is bad all that he has planned for you is good and not evil and the best place to be is right here standing with jesus in a world that's always talking about shots and variants and nations at war and boats getting caught in the suez canal our fear goes up and up and up our worry what's going to happen if you're an intellectual it's hard not to get into the trap of predictive behavior well if this happens then that and if that happens then this and if this happens then that and you can feel as you do this you can feel in your body fear go up and love and empathy leave you can feel fear go up and eternal living going away you can feel that when you take christ off the throne of your heart that fear just plagues everything because deep down inside is very hard to trust the loving words of christ who says do not worry do not worry do not worry i've got this he does got this he's got the whole world in his hands you remember that song man it is true i know all the times i've been worried all the times i've been afraid all the times i've been scared and for good reason i can say one thing has always been true god is faithful to his promises the best place i can be is in the will of the father it's the safest most peaceful most joyful fundamentally the most prosperous loving good place i can be if i've learned anything is that people are not good at predicting stuff they're worse at predicting than a quarter being flipped is does that make sense what i said i you know you never end a sentence in preposition irene that's what you should have said to me uh i remember in 2008 when the market crash happened there was all sorts of predictions before that and boy were they wrong and then after the crash happened there were lots of uh predictions about what would happen next and boy were they wrong by at least 50 percent most of those guys still have their jobs by the way and they're still predicting so how much can you trust in that oh you remember the uh forgive me you remember the trump election i sure do the first one i remember where i was i was in braunschweig germany and assumed i just made a lot of assumptions i remember watching air france it was the only station in english and the chances they gave for hillary clinton to win was 98 percent the chance they gave to trump was one percent and the chance they gave to other was one percent i remember i just sort of went to bed and i got up at eight in the morning which in germany my first day there actually sarah was there with me i remember uh it was like three in the morning los angeles time that's not right 11 and night anyway it doesn't matter trump won and without commenting at all in politics the most astonishing thing to me was a just a repeat again of how bad we are at predicting anything i've decided that i'm a happier person if i just try not to predict anymore and try to become the kind of person who can thrive no matter what happens that is one of the best decisions i've ever made and i want to recommend it to you if you're a friend if you're an enemy don't do it look just kidding jesus says loves your enemy love your enemies right i can tell you prediction really doesn't help much and spinning your wheels doesn't help much what helps is recognizing that right now we are in the kingdom of the heavens that even as we're sitting here that god is at work in every aspect of your life of your country he's at work in every aspect of your family and the more we loosen our fists and open them up to his spirit the more peace we have the more success we have the stronger we become to be anti-fragile peoples in the midst of chaos that is one thing i will predict for you chaos there will always always always be random stuff you cannot predict but in the midst of that chaos you can trust that god will make you the kind of person you're supposed to be to come through victorious look don't be afraid of it don't be afraid of change don't be afraid of all the things that will happen most of the things we are worried about we cannot control and very often in the rare chance that we can control it what happens well we make it worse so trust the lord do the next right thing study his word and most of all allow his spirit to abide in you through prayer listening a quietness of heart and an unhurried life you do that long enough you're going to start seeing a lot more success and joy in your family your ministry and your life become the kind of person that like jesus can just thrive in a storm and thrive in the calm that's who you that's who you're supposed to be that's who you are that brings us to our passage for today uh paul writes to the book of philippians before we get to this chapter in philippians allow me some preamble in the book of acts remember the book of acts is luke 2 so luke wrote the gospel of luke we're going to be reading from philippians 4 in just a sec but the book of acts is luke part 2 and so when the author says paul and i yada yada went somewhere he's talking about himself luke luke was a a gentile who came to christ he was from antioch originally and he says that he and paul went to philippi a colony a roman colony this is a big deal everything in the bible is a big deal nothing is there on accident pay attention to every little word we think okay well it's not a big deal in in the ancient world a colony was a big deal there were many big cities that rome conquered and annexed into the empire but then there were some that were meant to be centralized cities that were totally roman through and through in their design this is the ancient city of philippi built by caesar augustus and it was meant to be uh an outpost for romans that when you go there it's like you feel like you're in rome this is going to be important later when paul talks to the church there it says that paul wanted to go and pray and so he went down to the river because he assumed that there would be people there praying if you've gone here for church long enough you might be able to guess why they would think there would be a synagogue or a place of prayer down by the river do you remember because whenever you go into a synagogue you need mikvah first every synagogue has to have running water so that water has to be from a natural source like the water comes from god it can't be still has to be like a river or a spring and before you go to pray the jews would take the water and wash their legs and hands and head and chest in order to prepare their whole body that lord give me clean thoughts and a clean heart and clean deeds and clean ways and let me come before you cleansed ready to receive what it is you're gonna say to us through your word and through your spirit and so paul goes down there and he finds at the river a lady named lydia of tiatira so lydia two important things to said about her one she dealt in purple purple the color purple and purple dyes were regulated by the roman government and only royalty could wear purple so the the reason luke wants you to know she dealt in purple was to know she was probably aristoc aristocratic wealthy powerful this is why she's near philippi a roman colony and this is a big deal she's a big deal the second thing it says it doesn't say she's jewish or christian it says she's a worshiper of god and i've assumed that maybe this is some kind of a bridge like when the bible says it's a righteous man there were certain jews before jesus are not jews certain gentiles before jesus who would obey the noahic commands and if they did that they were considered a righteous person even though they weren't jewish and it was considered they would go to heaven and so she she's probably this type of person seeking god communing in some way with the jews that live in philippi and a heart completely open to god paul meets her shares the faith with her and she has this radical transformation and this is how the church in philippi is born this wealthy woman who who opens her house and her business and everything invites all of these people into her house and this is kind of how the church starts we assume now luke wants you to see the reason i point out luke luke is very big on well jesus is very luke is very big on comparing the kingdom of rome to the kingdom of god and how they are opposite to each other they both make the same claims both the kingdom of god and the kingdom of rome preach a gospel so rome actually called it the gospel both of them claim their emperors to be the king of kings and the lord of lords both claim to be catholic or universal meaning they're everywhere and they claim everything both claim to bring pacts or peace but one is right one is wrong one will endure one will fall one will last forever one will not and this is a core message of luke when a woman who is completely has everything power as a single woman probably influence a name has everything in the world a woman in the first century roman world would want she seems to turn her back on that because it is just not enough remember what we said last week big temple little god you see it in lydia big temple little god i need more than whatever it is the world offers and i believe this poor prophetic missionary itinerant preacher paul that he's got something that rome doesn't have boy was she right she had the kingdom of rome he had the kingdom of the heavens the kingdom of the heavens and that's what you have it's easy to look around to see all the wealth and power and influence that people have many of them have it on your life and there's nothing you can do about it they have influence in your city or your school or your country or your church there's nothing you can do about it but there is something god can do about it and trust me my friend he's doing it he's doing it right now so we can relax we can do the things we're supposed to do according to our convictions and our values but at the end of the day we just abandon outcomes to god and trusts that i am right where i need to be right in his kingdom i'm safe i'm at peace my future is bright good things are coming change your thoughts and your whole world will change so then eventually paul says to this church in philippi in philippians he says first in philippians 3 he says your citizen ship is in heaven it's interesting when like in seminary when you start to translate the bible you have to go through an arduous process of learning two dead languages well one language is resurrected hebrew actually that's weird but and you just recognize how many liberties translators are taking one that drives the one that drives me the most crazy is heaven because we're platinizing a jewish idea so when you read heaven you think of the place i go to when i die right something like paris in the sky good croissants hey when a jew jews almost never said heaven they said the heavens and when you read it in greek it's plural so translators are taking a massive liberty when they say heaven instead of the heavens jews believed that there's really three heavens and they're all kind of the same remember paul said i went to the third heaven the three heavens are one that place you go to in you know where the throne of god is and angels are that's where we go when we trust in jesus christ as our savior if we put on christ and we die that's where we go that's the that's the third but the first is like just the air around you that's heaven in a jewish in a biblical view just every right around you so the birds are flying through heaven and the trees are growing into heaven right and even the clouds are in that first level of heaven then the second level of heaven is the stars and the skies and the planets and then the third is you know heaven heaven like what we think of the reason i make not just i i mean a lot of people make a big deal about this translation is because saying the kingdom of heaven versus the kingdom of the heavens which is what it actually says is a big difference because the kingdom of the heavens says that it's not just something i get when i die it's something at hand right here it's right around me it's right here it's in the air the birds are flying through it i'm walking through it right now i'm i'm literally standing in heaven right now that it's right all around me so that has a big effect when i read treasures in the heavens it's not a mountain of gold i get when i die and i swim through it like scrooge mcduck it's literally something boom i grab out of the air right now boom that's that's treasure in the heavens wisdom joy peace favor that's the kingdom of the heavens it's the rain and rule of god in my life actually around me happening in my midst in my time at this moment so when paul says your citizenship is in the heavens i'm sorry not paul yeah it is paul he's saying in the same way philippi is supposed to be like a colony of rome thousands of miles away you know i always grew up thinking my your citizenship is in heaven that means like i'm going to go to heaven when i die that's not what he's saying here although that's true he's saying you're a beach head for the kingdom of god so nt wright said you're it's like right now you you are a little heavenly colony in the midst of roman imperial injustice you are this beachhead of grace joy and life in the midst of a place where everybody lords it over them and that's that's who you are you are a beachhead of heaven wherever you go uh that that your cup overflows with the spirit life and presence of jesus christ everywhere you go wow isn't that powerful that every time i even look at someone there's a small chance they might see christ in my soul wow i hope that happens for you that you can trust that in your very body you carry around with you the redemptive work of the lord you're like oh bobby you don't know about the sin or this baggage i got or this or my past or my desires all of that happens through training and discipleship but don't disqualify yourself today from from being an ambassador of peace joy and life to the people that need you and finally we get to this philippians 4 paul first says in philippians 4 1 he says that there are these two women yodya and sintaki who the phrase uses contended by my side that phrase contended by my side comes from uh picture the gladiators so there were these gladiators and most of the time we think of two gladiators fighting each other but usually did it in teams so you'd have like team a and team b and in the roman colony gladiators would fight in the theater all the time so this is a picture that you would have imagine two lines and they're fighting together and then one gladiator turns at the other because he said something and then they start fighting each other and the crowd begins to laugh that is the picture that paul is giving about these two amazing women of god who have been now causing strife with one another it's like two soldiers on the same team fighting each other and he basically says encourage them to quit that and he says offers an alternative rejoice in the lord always i wish paul would say this twice you know oh he does i will say it again dorky dad humor rejoice let your gentleness be evident to all the lord is near do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to god and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in christ famous passage the paul is imploring that you as a representative of the kingdom of heaven a kingdom of the heavens that you is a representative of god are meant to bring peace in the same way jesus brought peace to the storm that in a world of strife and fear you will not allow perfect fear to cast out christian love that you choose that out of your love for god and your love for your neighbor you choose for perfect love to cast out fear in your life we're going to get rid of our hurry we're going to get rid of our prediction we're going to get rid of trying to figure out everything that's going to happen and anytime we feel worried or anxious we just bring it to the lord can i confess something to you i'm bad at this i'm a pastor and i teach people to do this and i'll feel myself getting wired up about a flight or about uh something that goes awry in an organization or a budgetary problem or some issue in my family and i'll just get riled up and i'll spin my wheels and i'll talk about it and talk to people and god has put people in my life who cut me off and just say man let me just pray for you people like hannah people like my brother-in-law i was nate who's really good at this one of my closest friends i was getting wired up about something and i when i finished saying it he goes gosh his heart and then he just said lord you know it's like i didn't feel shame i felt peace it's amazing how much peace you'll find it's amazing how much peace you find that when you're in a corner at the end of your rope and you feel like there's nothing left you can do you just say lord take it how when that happens you're just full of peace you're just full of joy you become the kind of person that you need to be that's what god wants to do in your life today all right lord jesus stand with us in the midst of all of the chaos of the world help us to see the chaos that we see as not outside of your loving care we pray that you would change the way we see the world heaven is not far it's right here heaven is not far it's right here we ask the lord that we can feel it right now or that even as we open our hearts lord we would feel your spirit lord we cannot be like jesus if we're afraid so remove it from our hearts no more worry no more anxiety no more prediction no more trying to sort everything out help us lord to trust in you and to be wise and to make right decisions and to know that's enough we love you it's in jesus name we pray amen would you stand with us [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] again i say [Music] with is [Music] [Applause] and now the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen [Music] well church family thank you so much for joining us today um i just hope that you found encouragement in today's message which was so great wasn't it you know i just love when pastor bobby was talking about things that we can or we can't control or we can't predict but that we can just trust god and be the person he created us to be um and just this idea of abandoning our outcomes to god uh and just yeah that we can just trust him to be exactly like he's he's we ha he has us exactly where we need to be so friends i just hope you found encouragement in that today and um yeah i just hope that you can just trust god today and whatever you may be going through know that he has you in his hands so um with that said friends um as i was going through the chats and as we talk about things we can't control um we just want to be praying for um some of you today we want to be praying for scarlow who is dealing with fibromyalgia and a project on youtube um just for god to be your guide um as well as just the the continual job search that you are going through and we just wait we see you we and and i i know too like i know what job searching that the anxiety you can feel in that and i just want to say i see you we see you and we're praying for that um we also want to be praying for brenda's mom norma who fell last sunday and damaged her feet and legs we just want to be praying for healing and protection um over over brenda over your mom so um and just anyone else who just needs healing today um let me just go ahead and say a prayer for uh scarlet brendan just um all of us today heavenly father lord uh just thank you so much for bobby's message today just thank you so much for speaking those words um to us lord i'm just being able to trust you even the myths of uncertainty things we can't control things we can't predict or that we can just trust those outcomes to you lord uh lord i just pray for um everyone today lord who needs that reminder who needs um just the reminder that we can trust in you no matter what we're going through and needs that peace um lord i just pray uh that you would um yeah that would peace would just cover everyone uh today who needs to hear that and so um god we just pray for scarlow um and brenda lord we just pray for the things that they're going through lord would you continue to guide them with your holy spirit continue to be with them giving them peace and protection lord and all the things they're going through lord would you just um just be with them and everyone else who is dealing with something similar going through something where they just need healing and you lord would you just be with them god so i just pray lord maybe just cast all our anxieties on you lord and would your holy spirit continue to guide us in this season lord and again i just thank you for all that you're doing lord and just this that we can trust you that you're a big god who loves us lord so maybe we rest in that today um so yeah god i just thank you for today and pray this all in your son's name amen well church family as always thank you so much for joining us and don't forget to follow us on social media follow us on youtube twitter instagram facebook um and as always don't forget to tune in next week to next week's livestream at 9am sharp but until then i'm elizabeth and god loves you and so do i

Channel: Hour of Power with Bobby Schuller

Views: 2,639

Rating: 4.9466667 out of 5

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Id: qKQtcmF851Q

Length: 80min 5sec (4805 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021