Sunday Morning Live - September 12th

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it first happened the minutes felt like hours the hours felt like days and the horror of what happened one detail after another could hardly be processed much less understood then days turned into weeks and weeks turned into years memorials were built wars were fought victims names were red survivors tried to pick up the pieces over and over again but no matter how much time has passed we vow to hold these memories we will never forget those who were taken from us the world changes and shifts this way in that but one thing stays constant one thing is steady god god weeps with us god mourns with us god bottles up our tears and records them in his book he is closer to you than your own breath and remains the cornerstone of life god is the solid ground holding us up as the world moves beneath us it's as true today as it was on that day our god reigns he reigns over principalities and powers his dominion stretches beyond what our eyes can see and when the thief comes to steal kill and destroy our god reigns we will always remember [Applause] [Music] you unravel me with a melody you surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemies so all my fears [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] for my mother's room you have chosen me [Music] i've been born again [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] no longer [Music] [Applause] foreign i'm the longest [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am surrounded by the arms of the father i am surrounded [Music] we've been liberating [Music] [Applause] and we're the sons of [Music] let us sing a free [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] you rescue me [Music] [Music] i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] is [Music] for me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] with everything inside of [Applause] i will me the darkness [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] enemies oh [Applause] oh is [Music] is is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen we want to come into this place and just sing praise the lord no matter what our circumstances amen you guys can grab a seat we're going to transition into a time of giving and so if you're watching online there'll be a link that pops up on the bottom of the screen also in the room here in which we facilitate giving through calvary chapel east anaheim we want to do it out of a heart of intention to say praise the lord in every avenue of our life not just through singing not just through serving here at church or even just showing up here at church which is another act of worship the fact that you're here today that you've set this time apart is that you're saying i want to set them apart for the lord so you're giving of your time and then many of us are giving our talents and then we also want to give our treasure because where our treasure is our heart is also so we want to do it out of not out of obligation but out of adoration and intention to really glorify him with every aspect and so if you have our app we facilitate it there as well and uh we also have coffee boxes on the wall as you walk out but you know we're just singing those two songs especially the last one we're just saying you know in the middle of the mystery coming in out of season is a mystery i remember 20 years ago everybody that was alive at the time can remember exactly where they were on september 11th and i remember where i was that evening everybody flocked to the churches and i remember there at harvard christian fellowship the place was full it was a big sanctuary a place was full of people just praying and seeking the lord and this this tragedy drove us to seek the lord and i think we're in a similar time now but the difference is uh the the mystery of our season right now kind of kept us from gathering a little bit right and so instead of being able to flock to the churches we're stuck at home and i know that might be true for a lot of you that are out there right now but you can still run into the presence of the lord you can still run into his arms and know that even in a mysterious time you can raise a hallelujah you can say praise the lord it's not a circumstantial praise it's a praise that says you are on your throne because i remember where i was on september 11th but i know where i'll be when all of this passes away i know i will be in the presence of the lord worshiping perfectly forever you know two things last forever god's people and god's word and so we want to be with god's people here this morning encourage one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs and we want to open his word and let it sit on our heart and change the way that we think so i'm excited to do that but then also we want to look back in remembrance of the greatest sacrifice that has ever been made and so we're going to partake in communion in just a moment but you know we read in hebrews that the blood of jesus speaks a better word than the blood of abel all this tragedy all this heartache all this darkness this mystery it speaks a loud word it says doubt it says fear it says hey it wants to distract us right but the blood of jesus speaks a better word the blood of jesus has the final word because of the bloodshed on the cross the fact that the tomb is empty we can come freely to god we are no longer separated from him and so we can worship him in spirit and in truth and so i want to pray for us pray for our offering and our time and then we're going to continue to sing lord we're thankful to be here we do believe that the blood of jesus is is still working we believe that it does speak a better word than anything that would try to distract us or draw us or pull us away from you or we know that we are redeemed by it it covers our sin it washes us white as snow and so as we prepare our hearts to remember your sacrifice as we prepare our hearts to give back to you what you sort of visually blessed us with not just in finances but just really ourselves we want to lay ourselves on the altar lord we pray that you would not let the mystery not let the darkness distract us from our purpose and that is to glorify you to make much of you it's something we'll be doing for all of eternity and so we want to start now we love you we thank you we've raised in jesus name amen [Music] is [Music] again i [Music] [Applause] how beautiful [Music] this price [Music] i know the power is [Music] [Music] my name is [Music] [Applause] foreign still how beautiful this is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] when the lord came to the king he said where is your brother and cain said am i my brother's keeper god said cain your brother's blood cries to me from the ground which is what god says about innocent blood when it's shed it cries out to god for judgment and for justice but the writer to the hebrews and to us said there's a blood that speaks a better thing it's the blood of jesus christ it speaks better why because the blood of christ does not call for god's justice it calls for god's mercy and for god's grace 20 years ago our nation well the blood was crying out for justice but we're not here to cry out for justice we're here to cry out oh god have mercy on me a sinner i trust and pray you want that you need that see we celebrate today what jesus did 2000 years ago because he died on calvary i'm forgiven because he rose from the dead i get to live a new life because he poured out the holy spirit i have the power to be different and be a witness to people that don't know him we're here to celebrate what's ours in christ so we invite you to prepare your heart to be forgiven to be empowered to be changed to come whatever's happened whatever separated you in god it doesn't stand up to the power of what christ has done because the blood is still the blood so today would you prepare your heart to say i believe that i am forgiven i accept it afresh would you just go before the lord with me lord by your holy spirit would you search our hearts would you change our hearts would you soften our hearts we're sorry for our sin lord we have broken your law we have disobeyed you we have not reflected you lord we don't want to pretend or excuse or rationalize or blame someone else for what we've done jesus you died for it we just want to say thank you forgive us apply it thank you for this song but thank you for the sacrifice thank you for the forgiveness thank you for the celebration we have in your finished work help us to love you and forgive others the way you've forgiven us in jesus name [Music] is [Music] me [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] still [Music] is still [Music] still [Music] in the final hours of his life and in his agony he asked jesus to do what jesus is asking us to do today he just said lord when you enter your kingdom remember me the lord said as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup i want you to remember me i don't know that that thief that was dying felt any different when he put his faith in christ he was still being tortured to death i don't know if there was any inward peace the moment he came to faith i know when i came to faith and i received christ i didn't feel any different that night but everything was different that night the bible says even if your own heart condemns you god is greater than your heart faith won't always reveal itself in feelings but the bible does say come let us reason together saith the lord though your sins be a scarlet and they are i'll make them as white as snow though they're red like crimson i'll make them like wall but you've got to deem it true reckon it true consider it true by faith declare it true because it is so jesus took the bread and he broke it he gave it to his disciples he said this is my body it's being given for you when you eat it remember me [Music] lord we remember you in this moment but we cry out no more worthy than that thief on the cross would you remember us we believe you've entered your kingdom we know you're coming back to establish your kingdom lord we want to live to honor you and pray thy kingdom come thank you for shedding your blood thank you there's never been more valuable precious bloodshed in all of history the thank you that it was shed for us thank you now for this cup that we celebrate after supper jesus said these words this is the new testament the new covenant that's in my blood whenever you drink it remember me [Music] lord if we could only see into the spiritual realm the angels that are present right now celebrating the faith of the saints that are saying i believe rejoicing lord we know that you're here just as assuredly as you were for the two on the road to emmaus when they broke the bread and their eyes were open lord you're among us and so we're not here to do church we're not here to start a new week lord how could anything but cry glory in your presence how can we do anything but worship we love you lord you are our savior you are our master you're our friend you're our bridegroom we cry out for the day as the bride longs for the wedding even so come quickly lord jesus we love you we look forward to seeing you face to face in jesus name we pray amen amen praise god would you guys pass your cups to someone else and they'll pass it to someone else so on and so on thank you worship team that was awesome let's have uh josh terrata come and share a few announcements with us [Applause] um i want to announce to you the handy little bulletin you got from one of our wonderful greeters at the doors i want to encourage you to read it because um we want you to see all the announcements but i will only have time to emphasize a few announcements so therefore there are much more things going on around here than just what i say so take time to read it even either way go home or even as i'm speaking there's details on it so take a look at your handy little bulletin all right but today today is baptism sunday everybody we are celebrating what god has done in people's lives yes the bible commands believers to go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son of the holy spirit and we are fulfilling that command today by doing that so we are very excited to be in the courtyard after second service so if you're not being baptized you don't know anyone being baptized you are still invited to come and celebrate those who are being baptized and of course if you're being baptized come get baptized um also if you have not signed up to be baptized and yet you feel like you want to be baptized please come see um one of us one of our pastors and we'd love to connect you and set you up for that all right so there's a baptism after a second service today we also have our school of discipleship starting up this this sunday today and we have a class tomorrow as well with donald stewart and i want to encourage you guys to come and be equipped through god's word the bible commands teachers and pastors really our church leadership our job is to equip you to do the work of the ministry to build you up that we might find unity and faith and knowledge and that you would not just be infants which means like new believers we want you to grow up to be strong believers so you wouldn't be tossed by to and fro by different doctrines but different feelings or emotions i see too often christians who are tossed about by culture tossed about by feelings tossed about by life situations and yet as you know we have a firm foundation in god's word and our goal is to equip you to know god's word so that you can grip onto that firm foundation so when the times come whether it's testing of trials even the testing of the judgment one day you will stand firm to the glory of god so i want to encourage you if you've not signed up for the sod scope discipleship you can still do it today sign up online there's a variety of classes we'd love to see be a part of one of the most of them have still still have space my classes tell us space we'd love to see you be a part of one of them and then finally we have our men's retreat coming up very shortly uh and we want to encourage you guys men to sign up and be a part of it um i wanted to tell you the bible says that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood not in ephesians we don't it's not just the the political parties it's not just the taliban it is there's a spiritual warfare going on and the bible describes our unseen enemy like a prowling lion and if you've ever watched animal planet with all those australian accents you'll see that the lion always pounces not on the weakest animal by the animal isolated from the pack and if there's a weak animal in the middle of a pack he's fine but if he is separated from the pack he's toast i want to encourage you man to not be isolated in your walk with god though god is all you need god chooses to use other men to sharpen you he uses them as vessels of honor in your life and if you need encouragement you might need strength man god's given other men those gifts to give you that and you might be saving for that and those men that you don't know until you meet them so guys i want to encourage you two is better than one one if you fall you're stuck if two one can help up another one come out join us don't be vulnerable with the devil step out to be vulnerable with other guys and you'll find strength in that so guys i encourage you come up to our men's retreat if you come out i'd love to meet you show you around and we have a great time up there so that's happening in two and two weeks so sign up quickly we have some spots left there's a table out in the courtyard you can find more information about that but that's all my announcements pastor bob thanks josh thank you a couple of uh just additions in case i miss josh saying it we are going to feed you lunch if you're coming to the baptism so baptism starts at one so if you want to get here i don't know around 12 30 they'll be serving them free food and then also if you have one of our shirts let's uh i think raised to life it's a black shirt you got it at one of the previous how many of you have one of those shirts okay a lot of you and you're coming and you're going to go home first service might be going home in between grab your shirt we'd love you to support those that are going to be baptized if you never got one of those shirts and you'd like one we have some from the last baptism they're free they're out in the foyer we want you to wear those and i think there's over 40 people that have signed up to profess their faith by the way if you say well i didn't hear the announcements i'm just new and i've never been water baptized don't wait i i know this that on the day of pentecost they baptized people immediately there was no baptism class there was no sign up on the app they just baptized them right there so if you would like to be you still can be and if you do sign up on the app it's not that you have to do that to come and be baptized but you will automatically get that study that i would really encourage you to have to prepare your heart either before or after you get baptized to understand more about what you're doing so again t-shirts free wear them don't just take them home wear them to the baptism get the food and then one other thing about the school of discipleship since school starts today i i could and i have in a little video and a lot of you already saw it talk about each one of these classes i just want to highlight one that's really on my heart it's a class i've asked bob gaskin to teach called how to teach the bible and this is a class i used to teach in fact bob was one of my students many years ago bob not because of my class but because of god's calling on his life he's one of our excellent teachers he'll be teaching at the men's retreat and also he's teaching in our men's ministry he's really got a gift in this area and i think a lot of people when they think of a class like how to teach the bible they say well that's definitely not for me maybe you are someone who's called to teach and you don't know it yet maybe you already know it you're teaching you feel like i don't need it can i encourage you here's what paul said to timothy a young pastor who was in the ministry he said concerning doctrine and teaching take pains with these things be absorbed in them that your progress may be evident to all so if you're a sunday school teacher if you lead a home bible study if you're involved in teaching at all i challenge you i encourage you to say i want to sharpen my skills develop my gifts for the lord this is a class for you it's a small class you'll do some teaching in front of each other i'm telling you that up front but it'll help you grow and if you say i've never taken a class like that that would be scary good i think my son said something about being uncomfortable last sunday this is a good place for you to spread your wings and say i would like to be used i would like to grow in my capacity so don't ignore an opportunity like this it's really a unique opportunity we've only had this class about every two years so it might be a while but you can still sign up and then show up at three for bob's class but you do that on our app if you haven't already all right time to open your bibles to the book of james chapter one james one we're going to look at two or three verses today it looks like three james 1 verses 9 through 11. the context for those who weren't here or don't remember a week ago is a long time is trials james is talking about how faith actually expresses itself in the life of a believer and we're just have finished talking about going through difficult times and how we can honor the lord by having joy in the midst of our trials in context then verse 9 says but the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation because like flowering grass he'll pass away for the sun rises with a scorching wind boy that's true today i don't know about the wind but it's going to be 97. and it withers the grass and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away lord we need help to go through trials and honor you lord we can sit in a bible study we can hear good theology and remember your promises but then we have to actually live out what we've learned and learning something last week does not mean we're doing it this week so we want to be refreshed through your word to put fresh faith for the trials that we have this week this day we want to trust you for what you want to do not just through the trial but in us lord that we would believe and our faith would grow our faith would show and so lord would you just meet with us today and encourage us by your word for we ask it in jesus name amen you can be seated last week for those of you that weren't here we opened the book of james james introduces himself remember as a bond servant we talked some about that i don't want to go through the whole message last week but how to have joy in the midst of your trials because that just isn't natural it's not normal to be happy when you're sad to be happy when you're hurting but we talked about how it's important that you see yourself as somebody who is surrendered to the lord completely it starts with that we talked about god's sovereignty count of joy consider a joy as a believer because god's in charge remember because he's in charge i can trust him that he's only going to bring things into my life that he believes i can handle and that he'll use in my life and so we are to rejoice in the lord not to rejoice in the losses so we need to see god's sovereignty if we're going to have joy and honor god with faith in our trials we need to see ourselves as sold out god's in charge i'm not i'm his servant because he loves me remember and then supplication we're going to be a people who bring our trials to the lord and say lord i don't know what i'm going through or why i'm going through it but i don't need to know why if you don't want to show me i just want to be wise by having the fear of the lord i want to trust you and if you're with me i can make it through this and i can be the man or the woman of god you want me to be now he goes on to apply this truth that we just learned to the two classes of christians those who are of humble circumstances in verse 9 and those who are well off in verse 10 and 11. and so i'm going to talk today about what i'm calling the glory of faith that is the faith in christ that glories in him boasts in him even when things are not going well put this down don't let your lows keep you down don't let your lows keep you down again the brother or sister of humble circumstances literally low circumstances is to boast rejoice or glory in their high position um jesus said only in one verse in the new testament a description really of himself when he said remember come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and i'll give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am gentle and humble in heart he describes himself as being humble in heart and here this word humble doesn't so much mean a person who's humble but a person who has been humbled or brought low by their circumstances and there's a lot of ways this can happen not just materially but it includes that so i want to talk briefly about a few areas of how we get humbled in life through things that happen put this down it's possible you have been or are humbled financially being humbled financially now you know everything's relative maybe you used to have more money than you do maybe you've never had more any you know really much money and it's always been a struggle for you um we all know this being poor doesn't make you spiritual otherwise some of us would be really spiritual there is nothing particularly spiritual about not having enough it certainly can teach you lessons but the fact is being broke all the time for whatever reason does not protect you from being covetous right i mean you can still be covetous even though you're poor by the way you can be covetous when you're rich you just want more you there's never enough but i i i always think back to the time i saw this play years and years ago was in the 60s actually in la and you've probably seen the movie fiddler on the roof and there's a scene where tevye the star of the show who's a poor jewish man sings a song he he he sings what's a it's a musical so everything's being sung but he uh it's a prayer and here's uh what he says dear god you made many many poor people i realize of course that it's no shame to be poor but it's no great honor either so what would have been so terrible if i had a small fortune and then he starts thinking about it if i were a rich man the most important men in town would come to fawn on me they would ask me to advise them like solemn and the wise if you please rebtevia pardon me rebtevia posing problems that would cross a rabbi's eyes and it won't make one bit of difference if i answer right or wrong because when you're rich they think you really know and he's just dreaming about as he's doing his chores that day his work that day what would it be like if i were rich oh my wife and he goes on and on maybe you're like that you fantasize about what it would be like to be rich and how you'd be more spiritual have you had more time to serve the lord and i hear that sometimes from people well you know someday i'll be able to serve the lord more the fact is wealth often does tempt people to pride that's true and self-satisfaction and self-reliance solomon was the richest man according to the bible on planet earth he was uber wealthy but it didn't make him spiritually healthy at all he uh it talks about how wealth was not the answer in the book of ecclesiastes but jot down first corinthians 3 21-23 listen to what paul says to those who feel like they don't have enough who are christians so then let no one boast in men for all things belong to you if you're a christian whether paul or apollos or cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all things belong to you and you belong to christ and christ belongs to god so the writer is saying if you are poor financially but you're a christian here's where you rejoice you rejoice that you're a child of god you rejoice that you have eternal riches in heaven put this down maybe that's not your area maybe you've been humbled relationally humbled relationally you say what do you mean well i don't know what that means for you maybe you're in a difficult marriage maybe you wish you were in a difficult marriage maybe you are single in a sea of couples all around you and you've never found that right person or they haven't found you to be the right person yet or maybe you did find them but you lost them through divorce or death maybe if you're honest there's not a day that goes by that you don't suffer from a certain sense of loneliness that you live with and that's part of something that's really hard for you you know i want to introduce you to somebody from the old testament named naomi and i challenge and encourage every person who's struggling with loneliness to read the book of ruth in the old testament naomi her husband because of a famine in the land goes out of the country it doesn't seem to be a man who's really seeking the lord for answers but they live in bethlehem and they leave to go out of the country to live in moab because there's food there and they have two sons and malan and chilean are their boys and and they grow up evidently there or maybe they're young men but they get married to moabitess women and while they're there doesn't really record much about their life other than the sons get married and so things seem to be going pretty good for naomi and then we don't know how or why but her husband dies elimelech he dies and so she's a widow but it gets worse her two sons also die leaving her no heir leaving her nothing but living in a foreign country with two daughters-in-law who aren't even married to her sons anymore and basically she is poor and has lost everything and she becomes bitter how do i know that because she legally changes her name to bitter her name naomi meant pleasant she didn't like hearing her name and she did not sugarcoat it she said god has dealt bitterly with me she blamed god for what has happened she had lost every we hear people that are negative nancies well she was a miserable mara she called winter by mara which means bitter but she blamed the lord for that but even though she blamed god for her losses because she felt like she had no hope not only financially but in terms of any kind of a future relationally she was all alone she didn't abandon her faith completely instead she hears that god has visited bethlehem with bread in israel with with the famines over and she decides to go home she moves to bethlehem where if you know the story you know that really her story begins in bethlehem it seems like that's the place her story ends but actually no that's why so little is said about the beginning of her life the part that brought her to be alone and destitute is actually what prepares her for god to redeem it to bring her and her descendants actually redemption not only provision financially but to be part of the line of david and ultimately the line of messiah it's an amazing story of redemption for a woman you thought well it's pretty much over for her i think of moses we study on wednesday nights we're studying the book of exodus we're studying the life of moses as god uses him to bring the first covenant moses was 80 when he met the lord there in the wilderness there in exodus 3 remember the burning bush that happens when he's 80 years old now listen moses wrote one psalm you know what he said in the psalm if you're really strong and god's given you strength you live to be 80. he's 80 when his story begins you think it's the end nope it's actually just the beginning of god really using him maybe you're all alone maybe you're a widower maybe you're a divorcee maybe you're a single parent mom god's not done with you you need to know that even though you're in a humble circumstance maybe one you don't prefer maybe not one that you used to be in god has a plan for you but you're to rejoice in what god has given you even outside of that put this down maybe you've been hubbled humbled physically or medically you know some of you in this room are living with a disease some of you are living with chronic pain some of you feel like i'll probably never be as healthy as i used to be and things are getting harder and harder for me you know when you live with pain your life narrows and it's focused depending on the level of the pain if there's no relief and for some your whole life is kind of lived around that how can i get help how can i get this pain to diminish how can i get it to go away is it even possible and i think of the woman who had that internal hemorrhage for 12 years she was bleeding and she went to doctor after doctor she wasted all of her money on trying to find a remedy and she never got better she only got worse maybe you're suffering from cancer and maybe it's come back and maybe you're not sure if this is going to be the last time and maybe your whole life is frankly focused because god has allowed something in your life that has brought you low that woman had to discover that she could not find her answer in anybody i don't care what their skill level was or by talking to other people her answer would be found what she needed was coming to jesus christ alone listen pain can absolutely change you it can change you for the worse or the better in one of chuck swindoll's book come before winter he talks about andrew jackson seventh president of the united states listen to what he wrote he said they called him old hickory because of his tenacity and grit because he refused to black an enemy officer's boots he was struck with a saber at the age of 13 and he was struck across the face a scar that he'd have the rest of his life that was his introduction to pain jackson chose to settle arguments that he had in duels and lived most of his days with two bullets painfully wedged in his body he lost a narrow race with john quincy adams he ran four years later and he won but payne accompanied the victory two months before he took office he lost his beloved wife rachel as he was being sworn into the office as president he fought the anguish of a raging fever caused by an abscess in his lung caused by one of those bullets later one of the bullets which uh it was within him had to be surgically removed he endured that operation done without anesthetic in typically a courageous fashion but even his political career was painful a nasty scandal split his cabinet critics clotted him like hungry lions but listen to this he was one of the few men who left office more popular than when he came for once the rising was eclipsed by the setting sun wrote a contemporary sage and it was pain more than any other single factor which drew the qualities of greatness out of andrew jackson swindoll goes on to say this pain humbles the proud it softens the stubborn it melts the heart silently and relentlessly it wins battles deep within the lonely soul the heart alone knows its own sorrow the scripture says and not another can fully share in it pain operates alone it needs no assistance it communicates its own message whether to statesman or servant preacher or prodigal mother or child by staying it refuses to be ignored by hurting it reduces its victim to profound depths of anguish and it is at that anguishing point that the sufferer either submits and learns developing maturity and character or resists and becomes embittered swamped by self-pity smothered by self-will then he says this i have tried and i cannot find either in scripture or history a strong willed individual whom god used greatly until he allowed him to be hurt deeply maybe god has humbled you physically and you're living with some pain and you don't see it maybe ever ending and there's no promise in the word of god that it necessarily will end paul had a thorn in the flesh he wanted it to go away god said i have a better plan maybe god has humbled you spiritually humbled financially humbled relationally humbled physically but humbled spiritually you say what do you mean by that i think of peter you know peter was a natural leader he's very outspoken he's either making huge mistakes or huge strides of faith he's doing one of the other you know and when he blows it we all like it because we feel like well even peter says stupid things you know peter had a type a personality but he gets an f in faithfulness remember he bragged that all the other apostles would fall away but not me i'm in a class of my own jesus and remember jesus said if i paraphrase let's talk about that tomorrow morning you know you're before the crows peter you're going to deny me three times peter fell away from the lord but if you think about it he fell farther away than the other apostles did oh they all forsook jesus in the garden when he was being arrested but the others did not deny jesus three times peter would discover though he loved the lord he was not the spiritual rock everyone including him thought that he was and maybe that's your testimony too maybe you've been used of god maybe you have been in the ministry maybe you have served god been a witness for god but that was then and this is now and you have done things you never thought possible and you live with shame you live in embarrassment to yourself your family you've lost your witness i think of david who was a great incredible leader and yet he stooped to some deep dark sins and how he caused even the enemies of god to blaspheme i have good news for you if that's you jesus christ is in the credit repair business he can heal you he can use you again even if you've been humbled spiritually it's not over for you unless you decide that but god hasn't decided that put this down fix your focus on all that is yours as a believer no matter what is bringing you low today if it's financial if it's relational if it's physical if it's spiritual god wants you to see what you have in christ look at chapter two james two and verse five listen my beloved brethren did not god choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him this is the same idea trials are god's equalizers whether you're rich or poor whether you're at the top of your game or the bottom of the hill faith in god it exalts the poor and it humbles the rich that's what this text is all about you see this world sees believers many times and the poor believers as the scum of the earth that's what they thought of paul the dregs of society but god says we're his beloved children christ says we're his beloved bride yeah we may get hungry but we have the bread of life we may get thirsty but we have the water of life if you're poor you may be poorly dressed but god will clothe you in christ's righteousness it's possible for some that they're going to be homeless on earth who are believers but they have a mansion in heaven and so no matter who we are whatever our circumstances god says get your eyes on what you have in christ and what's coming ahead because you're going to inherit it all you know there's a fund in california all states in the union have it all 50. it's called the office of unclaimed property you know there's 10.2 billion dollars of unclaimed property here in california and some of you you actually have money coming to you you just don't know it you say really what what's the website it might be 25 cents so you might not be interested but you know there are people at 100 sometimes thousands of dollars that either was left to them or they forgot or some deal with it and over the years it it builds up it's an amazing thing sometimes i just go through the church directory to see who's rich and who has my but uh you can go on the office of unclaimed property in california just put any name in there and you can do your research i recommend you do it on yourself but the fact is i think about that when i think about what we have in christ that we often neglect to see we are so tied into what's happening in our life right now we forget what we have that's why paul said to the church in corinth why are you all debating about your group and i'm for this guy and listen everything is they're all yours those leaders are all yours don't just be grabbing one why why do you worry about what you don't have in this life you're about to inherit the entire universe as the bride of christ you're going to rule and reign with him everything that's christ's is yours you've heard me give this illustration so many times you could give it remember the day i got married no you say i wasn't there but i told you about it the day i got married i had extra keys made everything that was mine became becky's right i made a key to our apartment because we now had an apartment together she didn't have an apartment her name wasn't on the lease my name was on the lease but it was suddenly hers everything that was mine became hers i made a key to my fleet of vehicles vehicle 72 nova you know what nova means in spanish no go trust me that's true most of the time but suddenly like it or not she didn't have she didn't have a vehicle she she had she had a share in mind everything that was mine the day we got married became hers guys do you remember we're going to a wedding and we don't just to get in and have cake and dance we're the bride everything that's his is yours everything you have an inheritance waiting for you that cannot fade away in heaven the bible says so if you're reduced in any way celebrate the fact maybe you would like to be married and that hasn't happened i have good news for you you're gonna be we're gonna be amen well put this down don't boast in fleeting beauty or fading glory far more in this room maybe find yourself in the next couple of verses although most of us always see ourselves as poor financially embarrassing though most of us we live at a level that most of the world will never know and so perhaps we're more in this other category verse 10 the rich man is to glory but not in his wealth in his humiliation what do you mean he's rich because like the flowering grass well he'll pass away the sun rises with a scorching wind withers the grass its flower falls off the beauty of its appearance is destroyed so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away will you jot down first peter 1 and verse 24 first peter 1 verse 24 for all flesh is like grass all its glory like the flower of grass this is what james is referring to from isaiah the grass withers the flower falls off but he who does the will of god or the word of god abides forever but the idea peter mentions that james mentions it's it's really a quotation from the old testament that everything that is of man ultimately is going to fade away it's going to be destroyed i don't care how glorious it looks at the moment man makes huge accomplishments and we're impressed by them and they're impressive compared to other things man has done it took 10 years to build the twin towers it took 10 seconds for them to completely collapse make no mistake the things of man are not worthy of our worship because they will ultimately be taken away put this down realize riches are a poor investment for security a poor investment for security we have in our country and i'm grateful for it social security but we all know that's pretty much a misnomer not to mention financial security right now they expect it to be depleted and unable to provide within 13 years medicare within five years don't put your trust in social security don't put your trust in what you've put aside either jesus said don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth it's not a sin to plan for the future it's a sin to put your trust in them remember the man that was so blessed in his harvest that he said what am i going to do with all this money i know what i'll do i'll tear down my smaller barns i'll build bigger barns and then i'll say to myself self i'm talking to myself eat drink and be merry you've got it you've got it all taken care of you got your nest egg and then what does god say to him thou hairhead that's what it says in greek afrain you brainless man thou fool it's translated tonight your soul is required of you in other words you're dying tonight so who's going to enjoy all that that you've saved up for this is exactly what solomon says in the book of ecclesiastes you work your life to save and to save so you'll have a security against the future and the reality is the moment you die all of your money becomes monopoly money why just like you can't go to another country with u.s dollars that don't accept them got trade them into euros or into pesos the dollars don't work somebody in the kingdom of heaven your money does not work it is absolutely worthless when jd rockefeller the richest man in the world died there was a news conference his attorney was asked how much money the wealthy industrialist industrialist had left the attorney said he left it all he left it all i've done a lot of funerals at a lot of cemeteries i have never once seen a hearse pulling a u-haul you can't take it with you jesus said so why are you saving up here as though that's your security it's an absolutely worthless security that's not a sin to plan it's not a sin to provide for your family we're not talking about that we're talking about being rich now but poor with god god's not against investing he's against too short a term of investing and it's all about now riches are a poor investment why they're going to fade put this down glory in your weakness and in god's strength glory in your weakness it says the rich man is to glory in his humiliation in his low point in the old testament the story of david is told in first samuel ii samuel amazing story david is this nobody he's a little shepherd boy he's not even old enough to to fight the philistines he's just at home with dad taking care of the sheep dad decides to send a gift to the commander probably so if the commander says what family are you with he might have some mercy for the brothers who are out in this battle and you remember this story how that dave little david comes up with this gift to give the commander and discovers there's no battle going on at all why because the philistines have made a challenge to the israelites hey why should we all fight and have all much bloodshed you just send out your biggest guy who's your best warrior send them out and we'll bring our best guy in and by the way that's him this is goliath and this ginormous guy comes out and he's challenging come on let's do it come on and day after day goes by and the israelite army is saying we're still thinking about it like they have no intention of sending anybody out there and david discovers that this is going on this little boy comes up he wasn't there to fight he didn't think but you remember how he is blown away that there's so much fear in the army of israel being taunted by this uncircumcised pagan and so he says this is ridiculous and then he hears there's also some if whoever will fight this guy and win if they win they get to marry into the king's family say what that's right you'll be living in the palace from now on your family will be free in israel meaning no taxes for the rest of their lives and the king will give you great wealth it's like where do i sign up and they bring them to seoul and of course the rest is history but that day david literally goes from being a zero to being a hero overnight talk about being famous he had lived in obscurity and suddenly he is a national celebrity everything changed for him in just a short amount of time and the bible says that he actually the king didn't even know who he was he said what's his name he literally he was not in who's who before this day he was in who's that or who cares but now everybody cared and that wasn't the end saul put him over the armies of israel he became the joint chiefs of staff he was in charge of the military operations against the philistines this kid is in charge and he's having victory and everybody knew david can you imagine that you know suddenly on people magazine and on you know every magazine every they were writing songs about david that became a problem they were writing songs about king saul but remember the song saul has slain his thousands but hey tens of thousands and saul didn't like that tune turn that off and saul who loved david initially started hating david deeply and passionately tried to kill him literally was committed to killing him because now he's married to his daughter now he has the friendship of jonathan his son jonathan who is the heir apparent to the throne had taken off his robe and put it on david he was accepting this is the guy god's calling into the position i have i'm stepping down it's an amazing story but david has to run for his and for a long time is on the run wondering if he'll even be able to live in israel it gets so bad saul trying to to kill him do you know where david goes he goes out of town out of the country it's the only way to stay alive and while he is down amongst the enemy because the enemy became protection for him he thought he was safe but then some of the enemy says wait a minute isn't this the guy that killed goliath isn't he the one that killed our champion and they go to the king who had accepted david initially thinking that david had given up on israel and they say you have got to get we got to kill this guy and if you remember the story david does something that he feels ashamed about he has to pretend he is crazy the bible says that he allowed the drool to drip down into his beard when he was brought before the king and like hey he had to pretend he was insane like he's 5150 and the king says i have enough crazies get rid of this guy and that's the only way david escaped with his life he did escape with his head but not his dignity why do i tell you that because here's a guy that was raised to prominence and suddenly lost it all he couldn't be any lower he's in the enemy's camp and here's the deal he was trusting the enemy for his protection and he would come to regret that jot down psalm 34 the first three verses david wrote a song about it you think he would kind of want to not mention this but he wrote a song about this this is a psalm of david when he feigned madness before abimelech who drove him away and he departed and here's what david said i will bless the lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul shall make its boast at his lowest point in the lord the humbles shall hear of it and rejoice oh magnify the lord with me let us exalt notice his name david whose name had been exalted and now he had gone from stud to mud overnight says you know what i don't need my name magnified we need to magnify the lord don't allow the success the prominence the material wealth the home the friends the the blessings that you have to keep you from realizing you are still going to lose it all it's all going to be taken away and it can be taken away at any time glory in your weakness not in your strengths shot down jeremiah 9 23-24 thus says the lord let not a wise man boast of his wisdom let not the mighty man boast of his might let not the rich man boast of his riches but let him who boasts boast of this that he understands and knows me that i am the lord who exercises has said lovingkindness or grace justice and righteousness on earth i delight in these things declares the lord what does that mean it means we need to check our our boast what is your claim to fame what is your what is the thing about you that makes you different maybe god has blessed you with something that is superior and you want to give glory to god for that that's good but be careful maybe you're strong maybe you're physically stronger than most maybe you work out or maybe you just have a natural strength or maybe it's your intellectual prowess you're intelligent people have always told you that you're a genius you know you're immense or whatever can i tell you something your physical strength your mental prowess will fade it will continue to fade as you get older everything that man boasts of ultimately is empty maybe you're wealthy don't boast of your net worth boast of your eternal worth that god has sent a son to die for you at calvary don't be impressed with how many likes you have on facebook no one's impressed don't make your boast in how many followers you have on instagram make your boas that god has chosen you to be a follower of christ and if you're rich please don't boast in your riches you know i the fact that i like what uh raul reese used to say he'd say you know people get do all this cosmetic surgery i mean i don't know if you've seen some of these people that should have stopped a long time ago um or you know they they go to the gym there's nothing wrong with taking care of your body but it's almost like they're gonna perpetuate their physical prowess and it's going to make them live forever or something he used to just say no matter who you are and what you're doing at the gym just realize it's all going to fall your chest will wind up in your stomach and um you know for some of us it's it's not about maybe money or prestige but it's uh it's maybe about something else maybe it's a about something that we take care of ourselves and our health and that's a good thing our bodies are a temple of the holy spirit but we're not to worship them our nation be our idols beauty fades bible says charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the lord she shall be praised i'll never forget pastor chuck years ago was talking about this tendency in our culture and sometimes even among christians you know the fact is physiques are gonna fizzle chuck used to say this he'd say you know and he was older but he would say uh if i look at where the pinups of my day are back in my day when i was young the pinups of my day they're either extremely ugly now and wrinkled or dead and like that guy who said i went to my 40th high school reunion and he said it was amazing he goes everybody was so bald and fat no one recognized me and i have to think about that one minute i know jot down first peter 1 verses 3 and 4. first peter 1 blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again notice to a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable undefiled and here's the opposite will not fade away reserved in heaven for you jesus said whoever humbles himself will be exalted and maybe there are people that exalt you and the temptation is to let yourself be exalted for those things you know that you cannot keep and so the the rich man has more of a trial because when you're humbled circumstantially it's easy for people to have mercy for you or to say i'm sorry for you or for you to see it but when you are blessed no your faith needs to say you know what these things i'm grateful for them but i hold them loosely they can be taken away and they're not the ultimate treasure they're not what give me joy i can have joy or with or without them this is what paul the apostle taught but put this down no matter which situation you're in today by faith choose to flip the script flip the script why do i say that i can't help but think about the day that we all remember yesterday you know most of our parents lived with a day that they could never forget and that was of course december 7th 1941. as fdr in the national broadcast said a day that will live in infamy we'll never forget this day and no one who lived through the attack on pearl harbor and the 2400 servicemen and women that were killed ever did forget nor should we but we have our own day that will for sure live in infamy and 20 years has not removed our remembrance and many of you like us have been watching a lot of shows in the last week to remember what happened from all kinds of different angles and it's brought back a lot of those heartaches and hurts but 20 years ago yesterday four commercial planes that's funny because on pearl harbor there were 353 planes used and 2400 died on 911 there were just four planes not 353 just four they were hijacked by terrorists you know this and they took the lives through those four planes of 3 000 americans by the way they were not service men well some of them were but not military that same day when we experienced unimaginable and unprecedented treachery we need to remember there was also unforgettable bravery we should not forget that if it's a day to remember it's not just a day to remember what happened to the united states it's a day to remember what americans did 60 port of authority new york police died 60. running into a building as others were running out trying to save people doing their best i don't understand anybody saying defund the police i say defend the police refriend the police refund the police i really do i don't understand it i hope you don't understand it i hope you won't do it for those who are convinced that's the solution to our society is to defund the police then when their house is being broken in at three in the morning call a protester from blm to come solve your problem 343 firemen died four passenger planes were used to kill 3 000 americans but there were 40 passengers on flight 93. just ordinary americans on their way they thought to their destination and they've made a decision they were late taking off almost an hour by the time they got up there and the plane started changing directions and someone had been stabbed in first class they were making phone calls finding out that the twin towers had already been hit the pentagon had been hit and they realized they suddenly had become part of a terrorist attack a suicide mission they they now had no choice they were on board that plane they didn't choose that they were there and those 40 led by four by the way men had to make a decision that they weren't going to simply sit back and become victims of their circumstances they were going to stand up and fight no matter what happened one of those four was a brother in the lord named todd beamer they were all heroes that day that was the first attack against terrorism that happened after 9 11 by the way the very first response was on flight 93 not not the later bombing in afghanistan it was right then as some brave men and a brave believer by the way todd uh went to wheaton college christian college he and his wife taught sunday school and they were involved in the youth ministry at their church as he got on the phone to a airline operator he was describing what was happening the whole transcript has just recently been released you can look at it on my facebook page it's amazing as he's telling her i need you to call my wife i need you to call my children and tell them that i love them and then he asked her to pray with him and he prayed the lord's prayer and he recited psalm 23 with her and the others that were gathered around him and the call was only interrupted with the group saying it's time we're going to make our move they flipped the script of the enemy and they gave their lives to save americans and they did listen you do not need to be on a plane piloted by terrorists to flip the script on the enemy you have an opportunity to do that right now in your circumstances whether they're glorious or terrible whatever they are jot down second corinthians 12 verses 9 and 10. listen to paul do exactly that when he had cried out god take this pain away from me that's humbling me i don't want it god said to me my grace is sufficient for you power is perfected in what weakness most gladly paul says therefore i will boast that's our word here i will glory about my weakness that the power of christ may dwell in me therefore i am well content with weakness with insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulty for christ's sake for when i'm weak i am strong do you see what paul is saying satan is trying to disturb me he's trying to discourage me but god by faith i'm going to flip the script on that and i'm gonna allow what he is doing what the enemy is doing to bring me to a place to trust in god like i never have before what if just stay with me on this what if the circumstances you find yourself in that you don't want you don't like you didn't plan for that are embarrassing to you or hard for you are exactly what god wants for you right now to reveal who he is what if the ashes that you feel is all you got left with are the only thing that god will accept to exchange for beauty in your life because that's the deal it's beauty for ashes joseph new testament he's having his firstborn son oh i admit it was not your typical pregnancy almost got a divorce over mary getting pregnant but god had told him don't do that mary mary don't be contrary the angel said he accepted it that would have been hard enough in nazareth but you know when you have a child when you have a baby you want to do it right when you when you first find out your wife is pregnant you you want to be there for her you know maybe you went through the lamaze classes do they still have those total waste of time just pinch it just focus here on the wall yeah just get the epidural anyway so if you teach those classes i'm sorry i didn't go to your class anyway bring your pillow try again fact is you want to be there for your wife you want to help her through this you're having the greatest gift in your life delivered literally delivered it's gonna be life-changing for sure and you want to be the best mom the best dad you're reading every book about the development of the baby you're getting all kinds of clothes now you know the the gender so you're getting the right clothes and you're painting the right color and you know everybody's excited they're helping you to do this new launch in life it's amazing you got a room or an area bassinet crib baby minder prenate you're doing it all and suddenly without expectation joseph and mary super pregnant are moving that is not the time you want to relocate is when you're nine months pregnant even today to a place you don't call home they get there there is nowhere for them to even spend the night there's no hotels there's no inn there's zip no friends evidently to say come stay with us and so you remember they wind up in in a barn in a cave for animals that's that's utterly humbling for joseph who's the husband who's the father who's providing who's loving his wife mary and wants to take care of this baby his his child that he's going to raise hope but it gets worse the baby is born you do not read of a midwife midwives were not some new invention they had been going on since the book of genesis but there's no midwife evidently no money or no one available there's no one to help him i don't know if you've ever helped someone give birth but the majority of us haven't that's a life-changing experience all in itself so joseph helps mary give birth to their first born child and then he looks around in the barn it's nighttime i know that because i read in scripture there are shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night the birth announcement comes a night it's not a time where we'll just go to walmart and get a basset no there's nothing open there's nothing so where do we have to put our precious first-born son feeding trough could you wipe it down at least so he wraps it and he lays it in an animal feeding trough that's embarrassing oh it gets worse god says i'm sending some people to meet jesus tonight tonight just born in a cave babies are the feedings off not exactly my best day yeah those shepherds are going to come tonight and you know what your lowest point joseph your most embarrassing moment of the day is having no ability to provide for your wife except a lowly feeding trough for your baby that's going to be the sign that's going to be how they even know it's jesus i'm gonna use that which you're embarrassed about your shortcoming to be the way that they meet jesus could it be that the things that humble you the things that hurt you the things you're not proud of are the things that god might use the most to help other people find jesus through your life see i would rather it's my strengths i'd rather it's my bible teaching and study and encouragement and god says you know what bob that's fine but i'm going to change more people's lives by your failing by the hurt that i allow to come into your life because they'll now know and they'll see you need jesus too it will be your humility it'll be your humbling that god will use for his glory the glory of faith no matter who we are no matter what we've done at the end of the day in the midst of our failures and flaws and defeats our faith can say let's roll let's roll with that let's pray father we celebrate those heroes who gave their life at the twin towers at the pentagon we celebrate those 40 who voted and said take the cockpit or let's go down with this plane but jesus thank you for their real-time example 20 years ago lord i don't remember a time in my life when this nation was more united than on september 12 20 years ago and i don't know that i can remember a time that our nation has been more divided by political strife and social unrest that it has been recently so father i am praying for a unity in the united states of america that comes about by repentance and national revival rather than a tragedy of horrific injustice i thank you that your blood speaks louder to us lord than the blood of the innocent because of the innocent one that there's forgiveness and i pray you would pour that out on us i pray that you would help us to exalt you in our failures and our worst defeats and that you would use all of it to bring glory to yourself in jesus name i pray amen let's all stand [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] first service folks many times it's hard to come back to church you've got a day ahead plan but may i just encourage you if you can come back to celebrate this decision of faith i'll tell you why baptism isn't just a personal proclamation and confession of christ part of the symbolism of baptism as you're being put under the water according to scripture in the book of colossians you're being added to the body of christ and so these folks are being baptized in water but they're being joined into the family of god so would you come and celebrate their decision even if you don't know anybody they're part of your family so i encourage you to come to eat if you can but come to celebrate get a shirt wear it back here at one o'clock i hope to see all of you here have a great week god bless you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] much less understood then days turned into weeks and weeks turned into years memorials were built wars were fought victims names were red survivors tried to pick up the pieces over and over again but no matter how much time has passed we vow to hold these memories we will never forget those who were taken from us the world changes and shifts this way in that but one thing stays constant one thing is steady god god weeps with us god mourns with us god bottles up our tears and records them in his book he is closer to you than your own breath and remains the cornerstone of life god is the solid ground holding us up as the world moves beneath us it's as true today as it was on that day our god reigns he reigns over principalities and powers his dominion stretches beyond what our eyes can see and when the thief comes to steal kill and destroy our god reigns we will always remember [Music] you around [Music] of deliverance from my enemies [Music] till all my fears are gone [Music] and i'm no longer for i am a child of god [Music] i'm no longer [Applause] foreign [Music] you have chosen [Music] my me i've been born again [Applause] i am foreign [Music] [Applause] i'm no longer [Music] i am surrounded by the arms of the father [Music] i am surrounded by [Music] [Applause] let us sing our three [Music] is [Music] you rescue me [Music] is [Music] [Music] i am [Music] i am a child [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Applause] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] cause heaven comes to fight for me [Music] and i'm gonna [Music] [Applause] sing my cause death [Music] [Applause] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] i will watch the darkness [Music] [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a little louder [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] amen i love that we can be together and we can say praise the lord you know hallelujah praise the lord even in the middle of hard times in the middle of mysterious times i like that it says in the middle of the mystery there's so many mysteries to life right now you know and i think about 20 years ago on september 11th just that mystery of what's going to happen next and i remember vividly where i was and what i did i know that evening i went to church and it was harvest christian fellowship giant sanctuary completely filled with people praying posturing their heart petitioning the lord and saying god we need you and so it drove people into the churches to be together because it was a very mysterious dark time of storms and people were worried people were fearful but as we're just saying we're no longer slaves to fear we can experience fear but we're not slaves to it because of the finishing work of the cross amen [Music] and now in this past year year and a half it's a another mysterious time but this time it's a little bit different because it kept us from gathering and you might be there at home you're like yeah i'm right there there's a lot of fear there's a lot of anxiety there's a storm everything's a little bit mysterious right now but you even though you're not in here with us can still make jesus the focal point of your room and things will start to fade away as you gain perspective on who he is as he is seated on his throne he's not worried he's not pacing the throne he is seated on his throne he's in control and as we're just saying death is defeated and sin is defeated by his blood but then the king is alive he has conquered death he is the king that has risen from the from the dead he's in this place i wouldn't be here this morning singing these songs spending this energy if i did not believe it with my whole heart and uh maybe you've walked through those doors and you're like yeah i came here because i felt like i just i needed to be in church in a mysterious time don't let it end here jesus has something he wants to say to you he desires a relationship with you and so we don't want this place to be a place in which you feel like you're just a part of an audience we want to feel like you you are a part you've joined a family and more specifically the family of god because he shed his blood and it is sufficient we might come to a new trial we might come to a new season of life or a new mystery in life and think yeah okay it was sufficient up until this point but is it gonna work now well the same blood that worked back then it will work today you know it says in hebrews that the blood of jesus christ speaks a better word it speaks a better word there's many words that are being spoken into our lives here today to detract us and distract us from our goal and our purpose in life and that's to glorify him above all things but his blood speaks a better word than the blood of abel and so we have the opportunity to focus on that to sing about that and then to remember that we're gonna partake in communion here this morning which is always a blessing but not only that this afternoon right after the service we get to baptize people and so we get to do all the things that the lord has called us to do when we gather and uh so i'm excited for that we're going to sing songs to him about him we're going to encourage one another by gathering together because what two things last forever god's word and god's people [Music] so i remember where i was on september 11th and it you know something like that stays with you but i know and i have confidence of where i'll be standing when this life is over before the throne perfectly worshiping the lord and so why not start now and then so lord go before us clear the path of distraction clear the path of things that would keep us from glorifying you in this place lord distractions in our own minds distractions in our own lives or help us to focus on the fact that your blood does indeed speak a better word than all the death we see around us it speaks a better word than the consequence of sin that we see played out in our culture [Music] even in our own families lord we know that the same blood that worked back then to cover our sins is working still is still redeeming people and bringing people unto yourself and so we love you we pray as we give back to you your tithes our offerings or that you would take them multiply them use them in ways that we couldn't even imagine we don't give to you reluctantly we don't give to you out of obligation we give to you out of intention to see it glorify you just the same as we sing open your word gather together we want to give back to you so we love you we thank you we praise in jesus name amen [Music] i was city none would come close that you wouldn't let go what worked back then will work again i know the blood is [Music] [Music] work back [Music] [Music] you know how precious how beautiful [Music] this priceless love i've come to know and in the midst of [Music] still [Music] you called my name [Music] is [Music] oh how precious how beautiful [Music] [Music] oh how precious how beautiful this [Music] is [Music] you can be seated to prepare our hearts for applying what we just sang to say lord what happened 2000 years ago has already changed my life when i met you when i was forgiven that night that day but i still need to be refreshed and forgiven right now i want to be restored to you i want the joy of your salvation put back into my life so we're here to start a new day but we want to start today and the rest of this week with the power of god you know it was watchmen knee who says this he says because he died on calvary i'm forgiven of my sins because he rose from the dead i have a new life and because he poured out the holy spirit i have the power to be a witness we want all that christ came to give us and so to this morning whether it's getting right with god or just celebrating the victory that he has given us because he's our risen lord we want you by faith to come to this time don't go through a ritual rituals don't save they can do nothing for you not baptism after the service not communion during a service unless they're met with faith that says lord you're my savior you died for me i'm forgiven i want to be forgiven now so let's go before the lord and ask him to do that father would you meet us in this place jesus thank you that you are with your disciples whenever they broke bread it seemed like after the resurrection you appeared you manifested yourself your presence was known lord we need to be with you not just talk about you not just hear about you we need you and so lord would you make yourself known as we take the bread in faith as we break it and as we eat it lord we want to remember what you've done for us and believe that it's sufficient lord thank you that you did shed your blood but thank you that the power it's right now so forgive us refill us use us change us for your glory in jesus name amen [Music] it was [Music] the blood [Music] has shed [Music] me [Music] made me [Music] [Music] wow [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's too much [Music] the precious [Music] i've [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is still [Music] the bible says this even though our own heart condemns us god is greater than our hearts what does that mean it means that even though i'm forgiven even though i'm saved i can feel at times like i'm condemned i can feel at times like i'm still just guilty as sin because there's a sense in which even in my own soul i have a hard time accepting what god says is true when it comes down to forgiveness it does come down to a decision that you make based on fact based on what christ has done where he says it is finished where the bible says he became your sin so that god has judged him will you believe what god says is true or will you believe what you feel by faith you come to a place where you say lord i don't care if i feel it what i care is that it's true jesus you died for me and therefore i'm going to celebrate as though i'm forgiven because i am come let us reason together the bible says doesn't say feel let us reason together saith the lord though your sins be as scarlet and they were i'll make them as white as snow though they be red like crimson i'll make them like wool and so i'm going to ask you not because you feel it but because you know it's true to say jesus you are lord and savior you died in and for my sins so i could proclaim you as my lord today and you are jesus took the bread at passover he handed it out he said this is my body given for you whenever you eat it remember me lord i thank you that our salvation is based on history it's something that's done it's something that we can count on it's as solid as a rock the lord i also thank you that by faith we have to withdraw it from the account and apply it afresh so we ask lord by your holy spirit now would you give us the joy if we've lost it back of that salvation that is our birthright we want to know what you say is true is true father we want to live by faith that it is so now would you restore us to you if there's any gap if there's any separation and certainly our sin causes that whether we know it or not it does so lord we want to do what jesus said we want to remember him thank you for this cup thank you for what it cost him to give it to us now apply it in jesus name after supper jesus gave thanks for the cup he said this is the new testament the new covenant in my blood when you drink it remember me lord a roomful of sinners who have been called saints have just by faith said they believe what you've said so we pray now that you would give us that assurance in our heart that you're pleased with your son's sacrifice for us thank you that we're accepted not because we had communion but we're accepted in the beloved thank you that you're here now minister your word and power to us speak to our hearts lord we want to hear from you in jesus name amen amen thank you worship team that was awesome good worship today um the bags are coming by you please contribute your leftover unrecyclable cups and uh pastor josh is going to come say the word while we're doing that about what's happening today in this week thank you pastor bob good morning cowboy chapel how are you good morning good morning all right one announcement i want to make before i start all the announcements and that's this if you got a bulletin on your way in from one of our lovely kind greeters i'd encourage you to whip it out open it up there's some inserts in there you might find handy as well as a bunch of announcements that i won't have time to announce today uh because we only have so much time up here so on in this bulletins every announcement so get it maybe take it home read it or even read it right now as i share these announcements but just really see this as the go-to for all what's going on some of you guys get the e-bulletin as well same stuff but either way read it it's good stuff all right but number one today we are celebrating because today is baptism sunday everybody yes we can clap for that that's awesome yeah we are fulfilling the great commission which is to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and i believe the water is heated today as well so we have reasons to celebrate uh what baptism is is really an outward expression and celebration of what god has done in a believer's heart and therefore for those of you being baptized we want to celebrate you so we're going to be serving a pork lunch out in the courtyard as well as we have shirts for all of you who are being baptized we'd love for you who are coming to celebrate to also wear your shirt we've had him in in years past already so wear the shirt that you already have if you need one we'll have some in the foyer available for you but we wanted to celebrate those of you who are being baptized and celebrate with the good things god has done and will do in your life and if you have not signed up to be baptized and you want to be you can still do it just come see one of our pastors and we'd love to set you up to do that all right so that's happening right after second service in the courtyard we also have our school of discipleship which is starting today as well today is a very big day around here and uh we are as a we have a bunch of classes being offered this afternoon at three o'clock but also we have one by don stewart happening monday evening so today is the last day to sign up so if you're not a part of one sign up and it's really important to pastor bob and our pastors here because it's what we're commissioned to do is to equip the body of christ to do his work right and we want to build you up in your faith that we might be unified in our belief in christ but not only that that you would mature that you wouldn't just stay biblical or bible or spiritual infants that know god but not much else we want you to know god and believe god know why you believe god how you can defend god how you can share god so we want to grow you in your faith so that you would not be tossed to and fro by emotions of life problems of life issues in life but that you would stand firm on the firm foundation of god's word and therefore we want to give you the word of god which is able to equip you thoroughly for every good work so what better way than that right so a variety of classes are available today at 3 pm and they'll go on for 8 weeks and we have a shorter term class on monday evening starting tomorrow so sign up online on our website or app to do that and finally we have our men's retreat coming up very shortly in two weeks so guys i want you to encourage you to come on out because it's important for you to have brothers that can lock shields with you in this life we don't just battle flesh and blood the bible says in ephesians but we battle it's a spiritual warfare right this principality there's powers it's temptations and have you ever watched animal planet with all those australian accents but you know that lions go after the animal that's isolated and a weak animal can survive if it stays in the middle of the pack but if it gets isolated the lions are pouncing on them right and the bible describes our invisible enemy the devil like a prowling lion so therefore guys if you are isolated doesn't matter how strong or weak you are he will attack you and have a lot of success doing that but if you can learn to be more vulnerable with other christian men you'll be less vulnerable to the devil i know it's scary to be vulnerable but you can't be vulnerable to someone unless you trust them and you can't be you can't trust someone unless you know them so this is a great chance to get to know other men so you can find men you trust that you'll be vulnerable with so that we can do battle for the lord together so that's happening in two weeks sign up online we have some spots left and we have some great speakers pastor gary biehler chad williams i'll be in there for saturday and all most of our pastors will be there as well so we want to encourage you to come on out if you're new i would love to show you around the campus it's a beautiful campus we're going to so come say hello and sign up and today's the day to do that so that's all for my announcement pastor bob thank you very much it was fast so we always uh say this and i just want to remind you in case you're new uh or have never downloaded the app the caliber chat police anaheim app in your app store android or ios uh it has everything that we're hearing about from josh and what's nice about the app is you can push a button and sign up for stuff by the way if you're here you didn't know we were doing a baptism today and you're realizing how can i be a part of that yes why you you don't have a class you have to go through and get a certain grade to be baptized no acts 2 when they heard the gospel and realized they had sinned and they didn't know what to do they said to peter and the rest of the apostles brethren what shall we do he said let each of you repent and be baptized if you are a repentant person who want to give your life to christ or you have given your life to christ and you've never been water baptized you qualify we just need you to show up at one o'clock so maybe you have to run home and change your clothes or whatever you just want to get baptized we'll dunk you with what you got on but we want you to come i think there's over 40 people that are saying i want to profess and confess christ as my savior today we want you yeah praise the lord we want you there to receive them to celebrate them you say well i don't know anybody being baptized well change that get to know them they're part of the family of god so that's why we're gonna have the free sandwiches and uh just kind of a time of worship and then we'll i know it's hot out but we'll uh we'll be doing in the shade area so get into the cafe where it's a little air conditioned and we'll enjoy some time of celebrating uh their decision one other thing i'll say about the school of discipleship because it's my last moment to really plug it i wish i had time just to talk about every class some of you saw my video this week where i did but for those of you that didn't or didn't listen i want to mention it we have a variety of classes that if you don't even know what they are you don't even know what you're missing so you can find them on the app and and it describes them but i want to highlight one probably the one that few of you would sign up for just on your own it's a class called how to teach the bible it's taught by bob gascon who leads our men on friday mornings in their bible studies and it's a class that i really believe in obviously i have correct created the curriculum myself for all the classes but this is a class that i think many more of you should consider taking even if you're not involved in teaching here's what the writer to the hebrews the book we just finished said by this time you ought to be teachers he's talking to christians who have not started teaching yet they've not matured to that point but he's saying you've come to need milk and not solid food and he says real you ought to be teaching every christian should in some capacity be able to communicate the truths that they've learned how to teach the bible we'll give you some principles of how to present god's word in any kind of a setting it might be a home bible study it might be at work it might be here in sunday school if you're currently teaching and you've never taken the class let me encourage you to give the time to take the class it does start today at three you can still sign up for it but we want you there so please take advantage of it go on the app you can read more about it but it's an awesome opportunity to grow in your capacities to be used by the lord we're in the book of james so if you'd get yourself there i'm going to read our text today it's james chapter 1 beginning in verse 9. james 1 verse nine if you were with us last week we opened the book of james started studying and it starts out by talking about trials and i mentioned that the book of james the theme of the book of james is faith how faith works how faith demonstrates its life or in the life of a believer so we're going to be talking all through the book of am i living by faith and how do i exhibit faith in this or that well we started out last week with something that we all deal with which is what the bible calls trials christians don't have problems yay hello they have trials that's not just another fancy spiritual word the idea is my problems have purpose in them i tell people i don't mind going to the dentist that's a lie i don't mind going to the dentist i'll accept the pain because it's usually going to stop pain or it's going to fix something if i know there's purpose in the pain i'm going through i can handle it so as believers we're going through tests we're going through trials that's not just to make us think that they have value they really do and so we talked about that last week he goes on beginning in verse nine talking still about joy in our trials and he says let the brother or the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position and the rich man is likewise to glory but in his humiliation because like flowering grass he'll pass away for the sun rises with a scorching wind and it withers the grass and its flower falls off the beauty of its appearance is destroyed so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away lord we want to learn how to express our faith in the times of great joy and in the times of greatest sorrow in the times of our hard times lord we want to learn how to honor you and i thank you that this book is teaching us we can and how to lord learning that we are to see ourselves as bond servants that it's not about our will it's about yours and selling out because you loved us so much voluntarily lord thank you that that's where it all began last week in verse one then lord teaching us that we can count enjoy and again a mental word to deem it to be true because you're sovereign you're overseeing everything that you're on the throne even though we can't see you we can trust you and then lord to tell us what to do when we're lacking wisdom to go and pray to supplicate and to cry out to you for wisdom lord we want to keep doing that but today teach us some principles about wherever we're at in life right now that we can still rejoice there's reason to rejoice in jesus name amen you can have a seat oh i've entitled the message as you can see the glory of faith and what i mean by that is how faith glorifies god in the midst of your circumstances the boast really of faith might have been another good title for this passage last week we talked about having joy in trials now he really is still talking about that and he divides his audience into two groups the kind of the haves and the have-nots the brother of humble circumstances and the rich guy and by the way there were a lot more poor people in the early church a lot of people were slaves and a lot of people were very poor who responded to the gospel quite often it is people who are having difficulties in their life who know they're sinners who are open to the hope of the gospel that's why jesus said it's hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of god why well they tend to depend on themselves they tend to feel like my life's pretty good i don't really need any help and so we're going to learn regardless of what situation we're in how faith should bring glory to god so first fill in put in the word down don't let your lows keep you down don't let your lows put in the word down verse nine the brother of humble and by the way the word humble in the greek just means low lowly it's the only way jesus ever described himself in one word in matthew 11. he said take my yoke upon you and learn on me for i am gentle proud taste which is power under control meek and humble lowly that's who he is he said become like me learn how to become like me the bible says god gives grace to the humble but he is opposed to the proud it is the number one problem i will face that you will face in your life remember pride is that only disease that makes everybody else sick but the person who has it and so that thing is you know humility by the way is not a fruit of the spirit if it were he wouldn't command us to humble yourself no no it's a decision we need to make there's plenty of reasons we should humble ourselves but it's still something we have to choose to do but here it's not talking about humility in that sense of having humility it's talking about the person who's been humbled by their circumstances they are yet to glory or to boast or to rejoice in their high position that's interesting now of course in context for the most part it's talking about finances but that's not the only way that we become humbled it is one of the ways and maybe you're in a humble time financially maybe you're out of work maybe you've struggled you know maybe insufficient funds is not a notice you get from your bank it's just daily living jot this down some of us are humbled financially or you can put in materially the fact is being poor doesn't make anybody spiritual automatically at all any more than automatically being rich makes you carnal it's just not automatic that way the fact is sometimes very very poor people are also very very covetous people i mean i don't see the rich playing the scratchers at 7-eleven to be honest with you maybe they do i just don't see them there i remember a play many years ago and uh in the play fiddler on the roof tevye plays the part of a very humble jewish man who is very poor and in one scene he sings a song well the whole thing's a musical so everything's a song called if i were a rich man you remember that one he says this dear god you made many many many poor people i realize of course it's no shame to be poor but it's no great honor either so what would have been so terrible if i had a small fortune if i were a rich man you remember the song the most important men in town he said if i were rich would come to fawn on me they would ask me to advise them like solomon to the wise if you please rebtevia pardon me rebtevia posing problems that would cross a rabbi's eyes it won't make one bit of difference if i answer right or wrong because when you're rich they think you really know and he talks about how his life would be so different how his wife would be with her proper double chin and how he had time to read the word of god and you know this is we we imagine how life would be and we'd even be so much more spiritual if we were rich as though somehow poverty keeps us from really growing in our faith it is true that wealth and riches can tempt us all to pride to a sense of self-accomplishment and more often than not dependence on what we have achieved solomon as you remember god blessed him it was a blessing i like to say this wealth or riches are a blessing from god that moonlights as a curse what do i mean by that god's not against you enjoying what he gives you he commands it it's not wrong it's not sinful to enjoy what god's given you the problem is when you depend on it or you take credit for it solomon was uber wealthy but he was not spiritually healthy he talks about this in the book of ecclesiastes paul writes to the saints in corinth most of them pretty poor and i want you to jot down the passage first corinthians 3 verses 21 through 23 listen to what he says this is to a church that was divided about who the greatest bible teacher was in their time so then let no one boast in men for all things belong to you whether paul or apollos or cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all things belong to you and you belong to christ and christ belongs to god now here's what he's saying if you're poor as a believer think about what you have you see i think many christians are excited about going to heaven and they picture themselves as saying i don't really care about rewards in heaven i'm just going to glad to be there it's kind of like going to disneyland i just like it when i walk in the gate you know all expenses paid now i can go on different things well they charge you for the food and everything else they can charge you that you want to buy but uh but you're there that's all that matters i'll be listen i think sometimes we don't really believe or we don't really know what the bible says folks you're not just getting to go to heaven you are the bride of christ you're not just going to get to go to the marriage supper of the lamb you're the bride do you know what happens when somebody becomes a bride listen you do legally everything that the groom possesses becomes hers did you know that everything i like to talk about when i got married my wife becky she didn't have the apartment that i had rented my name was on the lease her name wasn't there but the moment we said i you know when he said i now pronounce you husband and wife legally at that moment my possessions became hers some of you've heard me talk about she became co-owner i made keys all my keys i made copies and i gave her one she didn't have to buy them from me earn them she got a key to my fleet of vehicles [Laughter] my fleet of vehicle it was a 1972 nova do you know that nova in spanish means no go anyway yeah my mine fit the bill but the reality is christ's wealth all that he has and by the way he runs the universe you're the bride of christ that's why paul says why do you act like you know you're you're holding on to the things that you have value in you know who you follow your stuff don't you realize even the poorest christians owns it all in just a little bit of time you'll be inheriting it all some of us have been humbled financially some of us are humbled relationally what do i mean by that well maybe you're in a relationship maybe you're married and it's not gone the way you had hoped you know chuck smith used to say a marriage a healthy marriage or a healthy husband and wife relationship is the closest thing you can experience on earth to heaven and a bad marriage well you can fill in the blanks that's not the only way maybe you've been humbled relationally is a struggling marriage there are many people who feel very alone in this world because they're single in a sea of couples everywhere around they go they see everybody else their friends their family even here at church and maybe you just have never found the right person yet and you're starting to wonder if you ever will or maybe they haven't found you to be the right person yet or maybe you did find the right person but you lost them through death or divorce there are many people that suffer from loneliness and they feel humbled in that position it's something they live with whether it's a stigma in the people they're with it's just something that is part of their life and they wish it weren't that way can i introduce you to the old testament character of naomi you need to you need if you're single and you struggle with willingness go read the book of ruth she doesn't even get the book named after her naomi naomi's married she's got her guy elimelech god's going to eliminate elimination in a little bit but uh she's married to a limit i can't say his name right now elimelech and they have two sons she can be more fulfilled as a jewish woman she's got two boys mellon and chilean and i'm sure they were the pride of their life but god visits the nation of israel with a famine and so her husband who i'm not so sure is the most spiritual knife in the drawer decides without seeking god to go out of the country to get help because hey moab has food so they go to a foreign land a people that are cursed by god because they need to eat and so he lives there and survives there his sons marry moabite women things are going fine and then all of a sudden we don't know how or don't know why but elimelech dies and so do melon and chilean she has no husband she has no sons she has foreign daughters-in-law she's got nothing she is bankrupt but she hears that god has visited the people back in israel with food and so she's trying to figure out what do i do with my life now and by the way she's not real pleased with god and she doesn't sugarcoat it she her name naomi means pleasant she says i want my name legally changed don't call me you know you've heard of negative nancy well this is she changed my name to miserable mara mara means bitter i'm bitter betty from now on and she says for the lord is dealt bitterly again she blames god look at god took my husband god took my sons i got nothing no future nothing but god does give her one daughter-in-law ruth she doesn't even she says ruth stay here i don't you'll have no future with me and so she makes her way because while she blamed god for allowing the things that had brought her to that loneliness she didn't really completely give up her faith said i'm going home to bethlehem you know what bethlehem means beth is house lechem is the word bread i'm going back to the house of bread because bethlehem is in the bread basket of israel and now the famine's over so she goes home and she is destitute i mean she is on welfare the she and she can't even work she's too old but ruth goes out gleaning in the fields that would be the same as being in the welfare roles or in the soup lines but if you know the story you know that her story doesn't really end it seems like it's at the end of her life she's lost her husband she's lost her sons it's just all gone oh no it's the story of redemption and it begins there even in that place where she had lost everything financially and lost everything relationally god wasn't done with her i love that so we feel like this is how my life's going to end who says i think of moses how old is moses when god starts working with him he's 80. exodus 3 14 i am that i am burning bush 80 years old that's how old moses is what's the significance of 80 oh moses writes one song one psalm psalm 90. you know what he says in that psalm you get to live about 70 years three score and 10 king james or if due to strength i mean if you're really healthy and you ate all your fiber you get to live to be 80 that's it 80 years and god decides you know what i'm going to start your story at 80. that's really what i'm going to start using you when you think it's all over it hasn't even begun you see sometimes god is producing in our life the ashes that he'll exchange for beauty by the way that's all he'll give you beauty for according to isaiah his ashes maybe he's humbled you physically or medically put in the word physically i think of that woman who had that well we just sang about her i had an issue she literally had an issue with blood 12 years internal hemorrhaging went to every doctor she could find every specialist she could find and they were of no help in healing her and probably felt like i'm going to die from this or die with this i wonder how many in this room live in pain chronic pain or a disease that maybe you have cancer or maybe you've overcome it but you fear it coming back you know pain has a way of reducing our life to a very narrow focus it becomes if it's intense enough often enough all we think about how can i get this to stop how can i get this really how can i ever get it to go away this woman gave up on telling her story to people even people who thought they might be able to help her she won't find help from any of them until she finds jesus when she comes to jesus she will find what she needed all along listen pain has a the power to change us and god uses pain as c.s lewis said god whispers to us in our pleasures he speaks to us in our conscience but he shouts to us in our pain he said it's the megaphone that god uses to arouse a deaf world and maybe god is using pain in your life there in chuck swindoll's book come before winter he talks about andrew jackson and he talks about all the hard things our seventh president went through starting from when he refused to to black uh officer's boot when he was younger and he was cut by uh the so the soldiers the officers a saber and he had a scar the rest of his life was involved in all kinds of duels jackson was this fighter kind of a guy and he was a he was just feisty kind of guy he lived with two bullets in him one they finally removed without anesthesia that's just no problem you know that's just kind of the way this guy lived but he had all kinds of pain he first ran for president he lost uh when he finally became the seventh president before he was sworn in his precious wife died uh during that season between him being elected and being sworn in when he was actually taking the oath of office he had a super high fever because of a lung because of one of the other bullets this guy just lived with a tremendous amount of pain but what's interesting about him is the way his term in office ends one person wrote at the time in the newspaper for once the rising was eclipsed by the setting sun because jackson actually was more popular when he left office than when he came to office which is extremely rare and swindall concludes this whole section about andrew jackson in pain with these words he says pain humbles the proud it softens the stubborn it melts the heart silently and relentlessly it wins battles deep within the lonely soul the heart alone knows its own sorrow and not another person can fully share it that's from proverbs pain operates alone it needs no assistance it communicates its own message whether to statesman or the servant preacher or prodigal mother or child by staying pain refuses to be ignored by hurting it reduces its victim to profound depths of anguish and in that anguishing is the point where the sufferer either submits and learns developing maturity and character or resists and becomes embittered swamped by self-pity and smothered by self-will and then he concludes with these words swindle says i have tried and i cannot find either in scripture or history a strong-willed individual whom god used greatly until he allowed him to be hurt deeply maybe you have been humbled physically and even at this moment that's true of you then there are those of us that have been humbled spiritually put that down humbled spiritually what do i mean by that think of peter in the gospels peter was a leader peter was outspoken literally outspoken kind of a guy sometimes he said the most incredible things thou art the christ the son of the living god blessed are you simon barjona flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven ding ding ding ding give that man a cigar he said the right thing he said he got it right the spirit of god showed you that god this is amazing peter was saying the right stuff nobody else was but peter also had to be rebuked by jesus when jesus said i'm going to go to the cross and peter said that'll never happen lord i won't allow it to happen so jesus told peter who claimed that all the rest of the disciples would forsake him because jesus said they will they're all gonna she said you're all gonna forsake me and peter maybe they will yeah they probably will knowing them but not me i'll be standing alone i have to die with you no problem and you remember what jesus politely i'll paraphrase it said let's talk in the morning let's see how that all plays out peter peter was a type a personality for sure but he gets an f in faithfulness in the gospels why do i say that because while all the disciples fell away and were scattered that night in the garden including peter peter fell further he's the only one who denied jesus three times and peter would discover along with everybody else that he wasn't the rock that he thought that he was maybe you're here and there was a time when god was using you when people could see the lord in your life where you spoke the word of god you encouraged other people something has happened and you have fallen away you have you have done things you didn't think you'd ever do i think of david who is more anointed than david in the old testament who's an example of christ who is this incredible man of faith and yet he fell deep in his sin with bathsheba and killing uriah her husband nathan the prophet and rebuking him said you've given cause for the enemies of god to blaspheme how the mighty have fallen and sometimes people that god is really using can fall very far and people walk away from you maybe you've done things you never thought were possible you've embarrassed yourself you've lost your witness i have good news for you the lord is in the credit restoring business he can heal your character he can use you again he's not done with you even if you feel like everybody else is even you he's not done with you put this down fix your focus on all that's yours he says to these poor people these humbled people you need to glory you need to exalt in who you are what does john say behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of god we are children of god do you know the bible says in romans 8 all of creation is groaning you know what they're waiting for to be set free all the creation the inanimate objects the stars the planets the universe is waiting to be set free from its corruption to the effects of sin that adam and eve brought in this universe not just this planet and they're awaiting the revealing of the sons of god they're waiting for you and me to be glorified that's what it's talking about that's our future jot down james 2 and verse 5. just over one chapter he goes on to talk about this some more briefly look at what he says listen my beloved brethren did not god choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him the fact is trials are god's great equalizers i don't care if you're rich or poor you don't escape trials as a christian faith in god exalts the poor and it humbles the rich that's what the scriptures clearly teach when we believe god it will exalt us no matter what's humbled us and it should humble us no matter what earthly material blessings we have see the world looks at christians in general as according to paul as the scum of the earth we're the fools that believe the bible and the dregs of society that's what paul said they called him but god says we are his beloved children christ says we're his beloved bride yes it's possible that circumstances will be that you'll get hungry but remind yourself you have the bread of life you may be thirsty but you have the water of life maybe you're poorly dressed most of you look great but god clothes us in the righteousness of jesus christ maybe even you're a christian and you're homeless but you have a mansion waiting for you in heaven i would say we have great reason to rejoice in what god has given to us god uses trials for both rich and poor the rich believer should rejoice when trials come their way why because the trial reminds them their possessions are temporary and unable to bring peace when you lose a daughter or a son or a wife or a husband or a loved one wealth is absolutely no comfort if you lose your health if you are betrayed by a friend if you've been wrongfully maligned by somebody money can't give you peace of mind and it can't decrease your pain trials have a way of leveling us the poor can rejoice they have spiritual riches awaiting them in heaven and that's coming soon and the rich can rejoice that they have spiritual riches that they can never lose put this down let it be don't boast in fleeting beauty or fading glory verse 10 of james chapter 1 says this the rich man is to glory or boast or exalt in his humiliation because like flowering grass he'll pass away for the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass in other words it's very temporary whatever glory comes your way so if the lord takes you as a rich person and takes some of it away or allows you to go through trials rejoice in that because that was never permanent anyway shot down first peter 1 and verse 24 if you would listen to what peter writes quoting from isaiah and james is making reference to it in our text all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the field or the grass the grass withers the flower falls off but the one who does the will of god abides forever anything of man i don't care how glorious it is is temporary it took 10 years to build the twin towers and 10 seconds for them to completely collapse they certainly looked glorious but they were very temporary much more so than anybody could have imagined put this down realize riches are a poor investment for security poor investment money is a terrible investment for real security now listen christians get mixed up on this they think that uh to save and to plan to have life insurance is sinful not trusting god the bible doesn't teach that don't believe that don't don't deceive yourself into that the bible says go to the anto sluggard who prepares for the future there's nothing wrong with financial planning the proble there's nothing wrong with investing god's not against investing he's against short-term investing too short of term you're all ready for this life well what about the next one i remember pastor chuck sharing once a couple years before his cancer he said you know i have saved up money for my retirement he said he's i think that's wise to do he said i hope i don't have a very long retirement and he didn't he he preached the week he died but he said i think it's wise to save up for that he said but there's so many people who are on this planet who are christians who have nothing for eternity there's no wisdom in that at all we call it social security what a misnomer now i'm thankful for it don't get me wrong but if you know anything about the social security fund you know it will be inadequate in 13 years in fact medicare they're not going to be able to handle you in five years unless something changes so for that man that was blessed financially in jesus story who said well what am i going to do i've got so much income i know what i'll do i'll tear down my little barns and i'll bake build big barns so that i can just save it all up and i'll say to myself relax eat drink and be merry man you've got it you got your furrow you've got it all goose egged up here nest egg and jesus said to that man who thought he was so wise by putting a security in what he had earned thou fool literally in the greek thou airhead he said i'm not kidding the greek word is ah frame fraying is mind ah is without you mindless man you fool for tonight your soul is required of you who's gonna enjoy all this stuff it's not you can i tell you something i don't care how much you save up think about it the moment you breathe your last breath all of that money it's like monopoly money as far as you're concerned it's like going to another country and trying to take us dollars and they don't they don't deal with that currency you can't take your money with you there are no hearses that have u-hauls attached to them they asked the richest man in the world's attorney the week that he that john rockefeller died how much did he leave he said all of it and so will you riches are a very poor investment for any kind of security the bible says put this down glory rather in your weakness and in god's strength glory in your weakness and in god's strength in the old testament we have the story we all know it of david david's a shepherd boy not a soldier his brothers are all out there to fight the philistines he's at home with dad watching the sheep and dad probably out of concern for the brothers sends a gift to the commander through david that's all he was supposed to do is go deliver this gift to their commander probably to get some kind of you know hey take care of my boys and uh david shows up and there's no battle going on the philistines are over there the troops of israel are here there's no battle and he says what's going on and well what's going on is the philistines have said there's no reason for us to kill each other you just send out your biggest guy your best warrior and we'll send out our biggest guide and we'll see who wins and israel probably thought that sounds good until they saw their biggest guy and goliath this massive hulk comes out and bring them out i'm ready it's like well we're still thinking about who wants to do this you don't have any applications yet for 40 days every day this guy would come out and belittle them and they were just terrified nobody could take him on nobody could fight him david walks into this and he says what what is going on here somebody tells him and he says well what happens if somebody does fight him and actually wins they said oh the king's gonna allow his daughter to be married to that guy and they'll be wealthy beyond anything they can imagine in fact they'll be tax free their whole family for the rest of their i mean it's incredible if anybody would actually go and do a suicide mission there and win and david says well where do you sign up well the line's really short it's right over there in fact there's nobody in it and you know what happens david kills goliath it's an amazing story of faith and god suddenly takes little david who was anointed years before by samuel wondering when that's ever going to take place that this anointing was going to happen and suddenly he's married into the king's family he's married to the king's daughter he's best friends with who the heir apparent to the throne who by the way jonathan during this time takes off his robe and puts it on david that's an expression of great faith in david and his future you're taking my role it's going to be your throne amazing and he made him incredibly wealthy and not just wealthy but he didn't just have victory that day carrying the head of goliath back to encourage the troops let's go fight the bible says saul king saul made dave little david the joint chiefs of staff of all of israel he was in charge of all the army that's incredible he'd never done it he had been a soldier before and suddenly he's telling him about and he's leading him to victory it's amazing i mean david goes from nobody to somebody overnight from zero to hero everybody knows about david they're starting to write songs about david remember they had a song that the women of israel sang they it was not just about david it was about king saul saul has slain his thousands and david is tens of thousands and the king said well what did they say i want that taken off the radio right now and uh david who literally even the king didn't even know who he was when this first happened who is that guy oh he's the son of this guy jesse why bring him over here i mean he he became the number one name and who's who in israel but before that he was who's that or who cares amazing but because of the king's jealousy he decides to kill david yeah david has to go on the run he has to leave town he doesn't just leave town he leaves the country because if he doesn't get out of the country saul has taken the entire army of israel and he's out for one guy he's going to ate the army of israel and fighting how'd you like an entire nation's army after you david despairs of his life and so he goes down to gerrard and he stays with a king named abimelech abimelech is one of the kings who's tied in with the philistines he's an enemy king but david is defecting from israel and so hey we might as well let this traitor from israel come live among us and so abimelech kind of likes david the problem is abimelech's commander say are you kidding this is the guy that killed the giant this is the guy that killed our champion he can't we he needs to die and so the king says well break bring him here and david becomes terrified terrified that he had sought refuge among the enemy he didn't trust the lord at that point he didn't ask god to protect him he went in among the enemy and he found shelter there and so you know what he has to do he has to pretend that he's insane when they bring david in front of a beveleck he literally started drooling into his beard you know i don't know what he did but he looked nuts and the king says i have enough crazies get rid of this guy throw him out of town one of the most embarrassing moments by the way it kind of reminds me of paul when he gets saved he goes into damascus he was going there to arrest christians he goes in there to preach jesus you know how he thinks he's ready and he gets let down in a basket over the wall very humbling david is at a low point in his life he had not trusted god to protect him and he has to act like he's crazy otherwise he's going to be executed and he writes a song about it it's psalm 34. you can jot down the reference psalm 34 the first three verses a psalm of david when he feigned madness before abimelech who drove him away and he departed here's what he said at that low point i will bless the lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul shall make its boast that's what we're studying in the lord the humbles shall hear about it and they'll rejoice oh magnify the lord with me let us exalt not my name like everybody's been doing or used to do let us exalt his name together you see this is the desire of god no matter what position you've ever had is to say god no matter what comes into my life i am going to exalt you whether i'm rich or i'm famous or whatever the bottom line is my glory will never be in those things that are temporary jot down jeremiah 9 verses 23 and 24 thus says the lord let not the wise man boast of his degrees of his wisdom let not the mighty man boast in the size of his biceps let not a rich man boast of his net worth let him who boasts boast of this that he understands and knows me that i'm the lord who exercises loving kindness justice and righteousness in other words we need to check our boast what are we so proud of see you might be or have been the smartest person in your class and maybe you've been gifted with a higher iq than a lot of other people and you remind people about that all the time well i guess that's not very smart maybe you're in mensa or you have been blessed with intelligence fact is your memory is going to fail as time goes on it will maybe you were the most attractive person in your high school and you don't mind putting that on facebook so people remember what you used to look like the bible says charm is deceitful beauty is vain but a woman who fears the lord she shall be praised the fact is beauty strength intelligence and ultimately money it just fades it fades physiques fizzle i like what raw reese used to say you can go to the gym and do your best with what you have get your surgeries but in the end it's all going to fall your chest is going to wind up in your stomach pastor chuck used to talk about he'd say you know and i think about the pinup girls when i was a youth he said they're all wrinkled old or dead or that guy i think the guy who went to his 40th high school reunion and he said it was such a weird thing he said everybody there was so bald and fat nobody recognized me you need to think about that one shot down first peter 1 verses 3 and 4 blessed be the god and the father of our lord jesus christ who according to his great mercy he's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable undefiled and this is the opposite of this text it will not fade away reserved in heaven for you that's what you and i have as believers that's where our glory is to be put this down by faith learn to flip the script by faith choose to flip the script now i can't help but today think about september 12 20 years ago of course most of us have been watching these documentaries on 9 11 and of course we lived through it our parents most of our parents lived in a generation who had a devastating attack on the united states it was december 7th 1941. that fdr on that national broadcast said a day that will live in infamy and it will but we will never forget that 353 japanese planes attacked pearl harbor base in hawaii killing 2 400 american service men and women terrible loss of life but for most of us in our generation who've been alive for over 20 years and old enough to know that day as raymond was sharing our day is not december 7th that we remember etched in our minds it's 9 11. and it's interesting for me to think about 2400 people killed by 353 bombers fighters destroyers torpedo planes in 1941 on 911 there were just four planes four planes not 353 and the death toll was higher over 3 000 and they weren't service men they weren't military men anyway they were american citizens and first responders that were there three thousand americans died that same day there was literally unprecedented and unparalleled treachery there was also unforgettable bravery 60 port of authority police officers and new york police officers ran into the buildings ran into those towers and died trying to save people doing their job that's why when i hear people say defund the police i say you've got to be kidding i say refund the police refriend the police defend the police listen if you're a person that says defund the police let me tell you what i want you to do listen to me if you're here's what you say to somebody who says that the next time somebody that's saying defund them when their house is being broken into at two in the morning let them call one of the blm protesters to come help them do that then [Applause] 343 firemen paid the ultimate sacrifice that day we know their stories there's a lot of stories that come out of the pentagon and the twin towers that are still being told that we should remember but for flights but i want to just take a moment to talk about the 40 passengers on flight 93 because they are heroes do you know that those 40 passengers were the actually the first true response to the terrorists that our country mounted that didn't start with the bombing of afghanistan it started that day they weren't service men they weren't policemen or firemen they were just passengers and by the way they voted to try to get into that cockpit and stop because you see their plane leaving out of newark was delayed almost an hour and by the time that passenger was stabbed in first class and they became aware something is wrong here they also through phone calls became aware that the twin towers had been hit and had come down and that the pentagon had been hit they knew they understood they were suddenly apart these are four men that led those 40. and you should remember them they were led in part by todd beamer who was a man young man i want to mention in particular todd beamer was a christian a born-again bible-believing christian he and his wife by the way taught sunday school in their church ministered in the youth group todd beamer got on the phone and he called an operator from the airlines secretly and he said please tell my wife that i love her please tell my children that i love them promise me you'll do that he knew the seriousness of the situation he was in and he talked to that operator and was informed quite a bit from the fbi about what was going on and then todd beamer led her and the others around him in the lord's prayer and then in quoting psalm 23. by the way the entire transcript of the communication is available it's on my facebook page you should read it it'll bring you to tears and a sense of of honor that should be coming to this man you see these four who led that attack on that cockpit and those 40 that voted on that plane decided that rather than just sit back and be victims of their circumstances they were going to stand up and literally flip the script on what the enemy was doing we're not going to let them decide how this ends and they didn't that plane was headed either for the white house or more likely the capitol building who knows how many more people would have died but they made a decision that's not the way it's going to end can i just say something to you today while i respect and honor them i want you to see a principle and that's this you don't need to be on a plane piloted by terrorists to flip the script of what the enemy is doing faith flips the script by how it responds to the circumstances the tragedies the hard times we're in jot down second corinthians 12 verses 9 and 10 paul wanted one thing he wanted this thorn in the flesh this messenger of satan removed god says it's not going to happen and here's what he said god said to him he said to me god spoke to me my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness most gladly then paul says i will boast i will exalt i'll rejoice about my weaknesses that the power of christ may dwell in me therefore i'm well content with weaknesses and with insults and distresses and persecutions difficulties for christ's sake for when i'm weak then i am strong this is exactly living out what this passage is all about you see i want to make an impact on people because of my strengths i want god to use my strength there's nothing wrong you of course want to dedicate your strengths to the lord but what if god wants to use your failings and your weaknesses in a bigger way than your strengths can i remind you of joseph new testament josufu had gone through a rocky engagement can we all agree a little tough like almost ready to divorce had decided to divorce mary she's pregnant isn't mine get it got it not good but god spoke to him and said mary mary don't be contrary the poetic version that which is born of her is of the holy spirit and by faith he accepted that though nobody else was going to understand this he was going to trust god first pregnancy of their marriage first baby i think sometimes we forget that they really had to have a real pregnancy and a real delivery for those of you that have never had the privilege of being a part of a marriage where you had a baby being born let me just remind you of what i know to be true i have three sons it is one of the greatest privileges in life to go through that experience with somebody and to have the blessing of a child that god is giving to you to raise that was true for joseph and mary there's something unique about the first child usually there's special attention paid you know the the wife is all concerned about her health the husband wants to take care of her he wants to provide for the whole you know you go to these classes you know lamaze classes don't waste your money or your time complete waste of time if you teach le mans forgive me i didn't take your class but uh you bring your pillow you focus on the wall doesn't work anyway get the epidural okay so but you you try you think about how is this gonna go you know and you got your plan and you're all there you're the witch's which hospital and make sure the good doctors are there and the whole birthing i mean you you special here it's the first time you're going through this you care about your your wife and your child can you just put yourself for a moment in joseph sandals his wife already is being looked at by people she's pregnant they're not married yet let me tell you that culture that would not have been good that would have been hard she's pregnant she's very pregnant oh and by the way you're going to move you're going to have to go 100 miles which is nothing for us in a car but they weren't in a car okay they're walking around donkey bible never said she was on a donkey we just picked her that way because who would vlog right they they got there she's fully pregnant was a hard trip oh it's going to get worse they get to town there's nowhere for them to even stay there is no inn by the way the night that the baby boy is born there's no midwife go read the story they had midwives way back in the book of genesis but not in matthew chapter one and two there's no midwife helping joseph is alone i don't know if you've ever helped somebody give birth probably not that's why we have 9-1-1 you know okay so he's not where he wants to be he's not where he expected to be he's in a a cave he's where there are animals being taken care of that's not where you plan you're not proud of that and the baby is born and uh i'll help where can we uh here's a feeding trough i'll put him in the feeding trough i mean i wonder if mary said do you have those disinfectant wipes probably not huh and kind of embarrassing i i'm talking about being born in a bar in a cave with animals in a feeding trough just not something you're proud of oh and there's visitors sent by god tonight of all nights my lowest failure as a husband and as a father yeah in fact we're checking to see if you have a baby born oh but they've got to be wrapped in swaddling clothes and there he is yep lying at the bait the lowest thing that joseph would have been most embarrassed about becomes the sign becomes the way for these shepherds to meet the savior listen god wants to redeem your flaws your failings the things that you're embarrassed about again i want people to take my strengths and be ministered to but you know what i found it's my weaknesses it's my faults it's my failings the things that god has allowed in my life to humble me that minister far more to people than anything i'll ever accomplish and it's true about you too god is in the business of redeeming those flip the script if you're in the midst of a trial and it's humbling you say lord i'm dedicated to you let's roll let's pray father i pray that you would help us to express faith in our flaws in our disappointments in our discouragements the things haven't worked out the way we wanted the way we thought we should have behaved we didn't do it and now lord you're allowing others to know about it may it give us a chance to glory not in anything about us but in our sweet savior who has grace to give right now lord i remember 20 years ago the day after 9 11 and i have never seen a nation so united as i did that day and lord i confess i look around today and i don't know that i've ever seen our nation more divided in strife and political and social unrest but i pray for a unity lord that's born of repentance and national revival in this nation not born of a desire for revenge and patriotic commitment to getting justice i'm thankful lord for that at the time but we need something far greater than that now and i know that by your holy spirit you can do what no tragedy could ever accomplish bring this nation together in christ i thank you that in christ there's neither male nor female there's neither democrat nor republican i thank you that in christ lord it's not about our nationality it's about our spirituality a oneness in the blood of christ that we are brothers and sisters forever not just americans but believers fill us with your spirit in jesus name i pray amen let's all stand and sing together [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] always oh yes [Music] [Applause] i know it's that time of day that we think about lunch that's why we made some for you it's free we want to encourage you to go eat and stay you say it's hot outside well don't stay outside go to the cafe stay in here hang out be together or there's shade out there and i don't know if we got the sprinklers on but we'll try to sprinkle you but uh but be here endure the heat it's only for a little while one o'clock sharp let's do a little worship and they'll get people in the water some are going i think i need to be baptized again no no if they'll do it for the water but if you let's celebrate these folks let's honor them by our presence please come get a shirt if you don't have one wear it wear it over what you have on if you don't want to change but let's make these people feel loved accepted and by the way if you're being baptized or rather if you're having a son or daughter be baptized and you want to be in the water with them we'd love to make room for you so dads we'd love to help you uh baptize them to stand there and of course you want to take your pictures but i'm so glad you guys are here you're the body of christ god's doing incredible things through this church in our time i just can't wait to see all that god wants to do this year i saw him take care of us through covid can i just celebrate that with you we exist we're open we're healthy may god's protection be on you may the lord bless you and keep you that is protect you may he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost god bless you see in a few minutes [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Chapel East Anaheim

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Published: Sun Sep 12 2021