Sunday Service - 9/5/2021 - Matt Chandler

[Music] with roses i am your worst mistake you are my everything i'm standing with roses in the rain screaming down your neck [Music] take me [Music] is [Music] lighting up the scene [Music] is [Music] feels like [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] with [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] finally the way [Music] [Music] good morning church we're gonna head straight into worship so could you stand with me [Music] seeing as the spirit as the spirit was moving [Music] as the spirit was moving over [Music] come rest on us come rest on us [Music] spirit when you move [Music] me [Music] [Applause] as the spirit was moving over the water spirit [Music] come rest on us [Music] come rest on us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on us [Music] [Applause] on us [Music] [Music] you're here [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] on us [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] i'm [Applause] [Music] i'm here [Applause] [Music] bring it through [Music] [Music] is [Music] holy spirit [Music] holy spirit [Music] yeah you guys can go ahead and have a seat good morning how are you doing oh good it's so good to hear my name is julie wilding and i serve here as our director of next gen ministries and guys it's so good to see your face welcome on labor day weekend we're so glad that you're here if you are a visitor with us we want to extend just a special warm welcome to you and offer you a few ways to get connected so the first way you can get connected is simply by texting belong to 56549 that's belong 56549 or you can take that little card that's in your seat pocket you can fill that out and drop it off in the joy boxes on your way out the door or you can bring it on over to connection central which is over to your right you can hand that card to a man or a woman who is serving over there they would love to have a conversation with you and then if you're ready to jump in if you're like man i just want to know more about this church i want to know where i can get plugged in how i can get involved then you might want to attend our first steps class which is happening today it happens the first sunday of every month which is today so you could join that class from one to two just right after the service over in suite 165 we would love to have you join us okay i have one announcement for you this morning and it has to do with our student ministry so i'm super excited uh we are hosting the showdown showdown that's right yeah the showdown uh this was formerly known as focus if you've been here for a while it is now the showdown and this is uh where we are uh joyfully and as friendly as we can having competitions between our small groups and we're going to see which small group comes out on top in the end there will be prizes and food and fun and your student is not going to want to miss it so make sure you jump online and register for that again october 9th is when that is happening okay um so in little village we have a foundational truth that says the church is god's family can you all say that with me the church is god's family good job um and listen the joy of the church being god's family means that when we gather we gather together like this no matter what has been happening in your week no matter what you're bringing in here we get to worship together as a family we get to sing to god we get to worship him through song we get to worship him through prayer we get to worship him through the opening of god's word together and this is a place where you can come and be with your family you can bring your sadness you can bring your joy you can bring it here and you can be surrounded by your church family and so i know this week has been tough um you know just a couple of things that we've heard this week is um a a pastor friend up the road in carrollton at covenant church passed away this week we had a football coach in the area passed away this week it's been a tough week it's been a heavy week and i'm sure so many of you know people who are in need of prayer in need of help are in the hospital and so we can come in this place we can bring our mourning and we can mourn together we can lament together those really difficult things that are happening and we can pray together and then we can also rejoice together so this morning we're gonna we're gonna do baby announcements here in a minute we're gonna we're gonna feast on god's word together we're gonna see baptisms and those are all things we get to do as part of the church god's family so let's watch some baby announcements how about that yeah hey tbc we're the reading family and i'm stuart and this is my wife sarah and this is emma nicole born on may 10th 2021. hey church family we are paul and jen hale hi my name is izzy [Music] and this is joanna hale we'd like to introduce you to reggie hale who was born october 26 2020 and adopted may 20th 2021 we love you bye hey church we're the carl family i'm landon i'm logan i'm neely i'm tamara i'm bo [Music] you're willow and i'm ashley and this is maverick isaiah carl born on may 24th hey church family it's the winers my name is cameron this is my wife ryan and this is walt walt was born on may 25th hey tvc fam we are the waldrops my name is jake and i'm aaron after several years of hoping for family to grow the lord finally answered our prayers and gave us twins and this is ian marcus waldrop and isabella sat in wall drop and they were born on june 8th hi thank you lord hi village family i'm maggie i'm graeme and this is our beautiful new addition to our family charlotte joe she was born on june 23rd and we could not be any happier [Music] [Music] was born on july 20th and we're so excited hi we're the day family and this is our new baby boy named micah named micah and micah was born on august 11th and we are so happy right guys [Music] hey so fun so fun that briscoe family gets me every time um if you are one of those families that was in the video and you're here would you stand up see you guys see you hail family look at that yay with the days and the carls congratulations to all of you keep standing keep standing we're going to pray over you and then we're going to continue worshiping god through song so would you all pray with me for these friends father thank you so much that you are the giver of life you are the author of life you are good to give us these gifts of children you are merciful you are generous you are provider i'm just as i as i hear um of just fertility struggle in that video and i see adoption and i see families of four or five and six children you have just given abundantly and we're really grateful god we ask that you would in your kindness and in your mercy that you would save each one of these little boys and girls god if you would be so kind as to save them young they could give decades of their life wholly devoted in service to you we want that we pray that we need that would they just light a fire in this next generation father would they um would they be men and women who just are marked by their love of you and of others god would you be with these parents do you help them parenting is hard and so and we just pray that you would help them that you would guide them you would protect them you would give them wisdom you'd give them good counsel you'd give them friends who are willing to hold up their arms when they feel weak god we love you would you just do work in the service today would you help us we need you in christ's name amen would you stand with me hey good morning church family we're going to get to continue in worship uh through singing through reading this this prayer out of ephesians 1 where paul says this i pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of god's power to us who believe him this is the same mighty power that raised christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at god's right hand in the heavenly realms now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else not only in this world but also in the world to come god has put all things under the authority of christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church so friend the same same jesus that died and poured out his life for us is the same jesus that rose in victory defeated sin and darkness and now reigns above all things so let's worship this god of [Music] now ours ended in the kingdom of light [Music] in the kingdom of light forever under your dominion you're the king of my life you're the king of my life [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] just to give us [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] there is [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] out of an empty grave i seated alone in glory enthroned on the highest praise you sent the darkness running out of an empty crate now seated alone in glory enthroned on the highest face you sent the darkness [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is there [Music] let is the heaven and the earth [Applause] jesus [Music] [Applause] see you ready [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] god [Music] do just what you say though the storms may come in [Music] [Music] to pass is [Music] great [Music] through the earth [Music] there's nothing you can do [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] my anchor he'll never let me down [Music] foundation [Music] [Applause] foundation [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] the rising [Music] is [Music] rejoicing now [Music] hey family i'm gonna i'm gonna close this in prayer but this is not just not just transition into what's next this is our worship continue this is our praise and our thanks and our gratitude continued so would you pray this with me father you are so kind we don't have a song loud enough or dynamic enough to say that with all the rejoicing that it deserves so i pray that that this was a joyful noise lifted up to you for all that you are all that you've done all that you've provided through your son where you have showed us without a doubt without a question how much you love us that you loved us so much that you gave your only son to die in our place you have proven your kindness to your people and i so i i pray that that would be the foundation that that we move into hearing from your word in reminded of your goodness reminded of your love poured out for your people now would you lead us into a response of celebration and of action in our lives that we would walk boldly believing that's true believing that we have a foundation that can't be moved and can't be shaken no matter what comes no matter what changes no matter what's true of our past or what's to come in the future so anchor us in that holy spirit would you would you move among us would you illuminate your word would you guide us through this time and pray this in jesus name amen morning family my name is carlos palacio and i have served in recovery uh for over 10 years i will be reading in spanish from colossians 1 15 through 20. reconciliation foreign this is the word of the lord thanks be to god well good morning that makes me wish that i took high school more seriously if you have your bibles grab those uh i do want to show you something kids let that be a lesson to you dial in all right uh if you have your bibles i do want to pull some pretty significant things uh out of this passage and this is uh part two of a of a two-part series where i just wanted us to get back a little bit to the gospel to look at the gospel and consider what the gospel is and so we said last week in fact what we looked at last week was what i call the depth of the gospel namely that the gospel isn't some kind of past event in your life that you look back on and go that's the door that i walked through to become a christian but that the gospel actually was something that you and i are standing in right now it's not just a past event but it is the thing that marks and makes our lives as christians and so we covered that at length uh last week that in order to be a christian uh we have to believe that christ has died for our sins well first we have to believe that we're actually sinners that we've fallen short of the glory of god and then accept by faith alone grace alone that christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves and i wanted to press hard because we're in the bible belt so if all the gospel is is some past event and there's no present reality then i ask you just to consider whether or not you're actually a christian that the bible knows nothing of i was baptized when i was seven so i'm a follower of jesus the bible goes if you follow jesus you're a follower of jesus that's kind of how the the bible looks at it so now we're not talking about perfection uh we're not even talking about fully mature yet we are saying that in our lives there's some semblance of fruit that fruit being i hate sin and i want to follow jesus and so i wanted to press rightly press that if there's none of that in your life then i'm not sure how you're defining the christian faith you might be talking about being a moral conservative kudos but that's not christianity you might have a story of i used to do this and i don't do it anymore i do these things that's not christianity christianity is i believe that christ has died for my sins that i am in a relationship with god through his work and that i am to follow him with my life as best i know how in any given moment so even if it looks messy even if you're not quite where you want to be even if everybody else is like man you got issues that's okay as long as there's a jesus is my lord i'm pursuing him as best i can where i am and i am trusting that the spirit of god is gonna continually work on me the rest of my life and so that that was depth now this week what i want to do and i don't have enough time to do it we're going to do it is talk about the breadth of the gospel right so last week was the depth this is the breadth and the breadth of the gospel is wildly controversial in church history and even in our present moment because you and i are westerners for the most part and and there's nothing wrong with that right you should never despise where you live or where god placed you that's god's stuff right so we're westerners which means our plausibility structure orders our whole world around being an individual and so for many of us when we hear gospel we think of personal salvation now you're not wrong it's just incomplete the bible doesn't just talk about the gospel as individual conversion the gospel is the good news that god's redeeming everything the good news of the gospel is that god has bound the enemy and is taking all that is rightfully his back which is everything and so what i want to do is i want to look at the bible today and i want to show you that the gospel is bigger than your conversion and then i want to step into a space that's going to be awkward and heavy and somebody's going to wish i wouldn't have done it just stayed on the passage but conscience bids me to make things heavy and awkward today you looking forward to that i'm not no it's fine don't don't anyway um the the scriptures are clear that when god created man and woman he he gave them what has been called really throughout christian history the cultural mandate right fill the earth and subdue it the cultural mandate was this command to adam and eve so if you know your bible well that you had eden that was ordered for human flourishing that's what you're reading about in genesis one and two you've got the establishment of eden that's ordered the presence of god is there shalom is there joy is there the presence of god is there and the command to adam and eve the cultural mandate is have lots of babies and spread this all over the wild untamed world that's the cultural mandate and since that day human beings have done just that they have built governments they have created systems they have built cities they have they have subdued the earth and they have filled the earth this is the cultural mandate now what we believe as christians is that when sin entered the cosmos through our rebellion we talked about that last week that it fractured that and really made it that whatever we create has a bent towards it and that bent is not towards worship and acknowledgement of a creator god but actually is bent the opposite way so the gospel not only saves individuals but begins to redeem and reform and restore everything that's broken from society to the cosmos now i'm not saying that ultimately you and i build utopia that's not going to happen you heard me preach revelation that happens when christ returns but for your joy and the glory of god we have been made salt and light in a world and by faithful presence are meant to push back what's dark and establish what's light that's why i've said for 20 years christians should never be bored you just should not join in with the boredom of our age because the purpose for which you work live dwell and play has on it not only the eternal significance of belonging to the kingdom of god but on top of that you carry with you the visible representation of the defeat of darkness right no y'all don't want that y'all want to just watch netflix that's cool i heard there's some new stuff coming stranger things four go get it right so what i want to show you is that the bible paints a bigger picture of the gospel than just your individual salvation let's look at this passage here's a great study for if you don't know how to study your bible as we read this passage i would just incur you underline or circle every time this passage uses the word all and then this next week spend some time kind of chiseling away at that and figuring out what that means but let's read this let me read it for us this is colossians 1 15-20 really is one of my favorite passages in the bible he is the image he being jesus jesus is the image of the invisible god the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is head of the body the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of the cross i want to highlight a couple of all's all things were created through him and to him and he is before all things here's what we got you have a picture here of the authority of jesus christ remember when ricky bobby prayed uh dear six pound eight ounce baby jesus all wrapped up in swaddling cloth in a manger as much as the incarnation is astounding jesus isn't some helpless baby he is the king of kings the lord of lords and all authority is his he is before all things he predates all things and all things everything was created through him and for him so that he not only is the active agent in everything that exists but that everything exists actually exists for him and is moving back to him this is the jesus of the bible he doesn't make suggestions he has complete authority there is no court for you to take jesus to you tracking with me like well ah there's no one you can appeal to he is the king of kings and lord of lords there is no authority greater than him he is before all things all things were created by him and they're also created for him he is perfect in his authority this is the god that we serve but we also see that all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell in him you want to know what god is like look at jesus he is the image of the invisible god that this all has to do with the presence of god and the purpose of god you want to know what god is up to in the universe look at jesus why did jesus come he came not to condemn the world but to save the world from condemnation you see in the person of jesus not just perfect authority but the purposes of god in his creation namely our joy and his glory and then lastly and the one i want to highlight is there in verse 19 for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell actually in verse 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven by making peace by the blood of his cross so if you want to you want to have some nerd fun this week you can look up that greek word all there uh and and here's what you'll find it means everything it means all and here's what's crazy about this passage like when he say all it's all all right in heaven and on earth visible and invisible so that god is reconciling to himself in christ not just individuals but everything even creation is being reclaimed and redeemed on the cross of jesus christ this is what the book of romans tells us when the bible says that creation was subjected to futility and hope as it awaits the revealing of the sons of god right so even creation is beautiful as it is i don't know if you saw that sunrise this morning you're in the 11 probably not but it was astounding and it was broken it was astounding and it wasn't as beautiful it was supposed to be why because all of creation has been subjected to futility and hope until what the revealing of the sons of god the reconciling work of jesus christ that means that the gospel saves us as individuals but then you and i get pulled back in to our purpose which is to live out and participate in that cultural mandate right to to form and to cultivate spaces where humanity flourishes in fact i love this quote by james davidson hunter he is uh the chair of sociology at the university of virginia he wrote an incredibly brilliant and difficult book called to change the world and here's a quote from that book indeed redemption through christ represents a reaffirmation of the creation mandate not its annulment when people are saved by god through faith in christ they are not only being saved from their sins they are saved in order to resume the task mandated at creation the task of caring for and cultivating a world that honors god and reflects his character and glory you hearing him so that that task given to us at creation where sin fractures what we build a fracture our systems fracture everything seen and unseen when we get pulled back into the life of god through salvation he reorders us to participate in our original purpose which is to push back darkness establish order and light for the flourishing of humanity and whether you believe me or not today that's just that's a lot better than netflix but like rather than watching other people do heroic acts what if he just lived your life as a heroic act in in the kingdom of god what what might that look like and so listen i know where we are i know how busy we are i've got three kids i know what that's like like so when are we going to find time to push back darkness pastor man i love when you ask you just walked right into it i'm glad you asked so here's the great news of the bible the bible's not asking you to add anything to your life the bi this only point with four subpoint um the only thing god is asking you to do in the scriptures because the holy spirit dwells inside of you is to live with a great deal of intentionality your life is you're living it you don't add things you just do what you do with greater intentionality we've called this for 18 years intentional living when we consider the proximity of our world when we consider where we work where we live where we eat where we work out where are we are constantly thinking through the lens of i'm a citizen of a different kingdom we're constantly looking through the lenses of the purpose that i am here is to be a herald of the good news of the gospel of jesus christ both in life and in speech and so let's talk about what it looks like to participate in the purpose for which we are created once we've become followers of jesus christ now here here would be the first ones we think about um as we think about intentional living uh in your domain excellence in your domain here here look at me quick question what's your reputation at work just a question uh if you if you're not working right now or you don't work what's your reputation with those that you spend the most time with but like i'm that that's not a like an ethereal spiritual question it's like seriously like what's your reputation here's what paul building on what we just read we'll say in 323-24 in the book of colossians whatever you do work heartily you need to do some work on that word work hard whatever you do work heartily as for the lord and not for men knowing that from the lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward you are serving the lord christ like our framework 20 21 is to find you a job that gives you meaning and purpose that's nonsense find you a job you're good at you can make money at and let the purpose of the job be to work for christ in the job like here i keep saying this the apologetic bar in 2021 is so low that you should excel at it right don't be a jerk don't fall in with the group that's complaining about stuff all the time right like i'm not asking you to learn presuppositional apologetics gosh 20 years ago we had to know presuppositional apologetics and explain where the dinosaurs came from you just got to not be a jerk and not complain all the time and work hard at work like this is what the past said you don't need a job that gives you meaning and purpose your meaning and purpose is behind the job you work the job because of your purpose right you got far too many young men and young women refusing to step in to hard labor and hard work because they're trying to find meaning and purpose it's behind that it's not in that so work and work unto the lord work unto the lord what's your reputation at work you an encourager you a hard worker can they count on you i think you know right i think you know your reputation work i'm i've been at this a while i know some of you are just oblivious but mostly right mostly like what's your reputation how do people see you how do they experience you how do we push back what's darkness how do we establish light how do we reveal the beauty of the gospel well you do it first in the domain in which you've been placed you've been uniquely wired and uniquely placed for such a time as this i keep telling you this is our moment it's a messy one it's a dark one but we got a shot but you'll have to operate with excellence in the domain that god has placed you it's why he placed you there that's number one the second thing hospitality in our homes so so how do we live out the gospel rejoin the cultural mandate rejoin god establishing human flourishing in the world one excellence in our domain second hospitality in our homes now i'm 47 when when i think about hospitality my my minute goes back to martha stewart pre-jail time for insider trading right if you're watching martha i'm sorry it was just there so now now it's probably more uh joanna gaines right and and so if we're not careful hospitality becomes about candles and leaves on the table and not about welcoming the outsider around our table but biblical hospitality is terrifying biblical hospitality is a meal and a blessing to the outsider you thought about how strange it is that for a man to be an elder in a local church hospitality is on the list like the other ones kind of makes sense you got to manage your household well you got to have a good reputation with outsiders you can't be an early convert who's arrogant you can't right but hospitality ain't talking about setting a table guys anytime about getting those pumpkins out early he's saying you have to open your home your dinner table to even those who disagree with you not to to just be a space that invites them and this is such a great quote dustin willis and barton brandon clements wrote a book called the simplest way to change the world listen to this quote let's use our homes to be micro representations of that final banquet table places where believers gather around the food and drink god has graciously provided celebrating that god has brought us to himself and opened that sacred space to all who are far from him i love this sentence let's become relentlessly warm and welcoming because we've been relentlessly welcomed in christ let us become relentlessly warm and welcoming again i'm not asking you to add a dinner i'm asking you to add a chair you want to push back what's dark in the world you do it around good food and good drink you do it by working hard and being an encourager and and being the kind of person at work that people would look at and go something something's different there he won't get sucked into constantly complaining about everything he won't get so i've never heard him say a negative word her say a negative word about this or that that stuff becomes a profound apologetic in a day of outrage three seek the welfare of the city jeremiah 29 verse 7 people of god are in exile um they're they're actually trying to absorb them outright pull from them their roots pull from them their worship of god and rather than withdrawing the prophet says but seek the welfare of the city where i have sent you into exile and pray to the lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare so so that you and i i'm not i'm not thinking any bigger if you're watching online you put your town your city your whatever in there i'm not thinking any further than our immediate area what does it look like to seek the welfare of our city in in one sense every october we prayer walk our neighborhoods and we just bless the houses on our street that's seeking the welfare of our city if you guys didn't know this our staff here works with the police departments in this area we are chaplains for them if something brutal happens we go with them and then we walk with the officer afterwards that's one of the ways we seek the welfare of our city i want to encourage you this way you should join every pta board you should run for school board you should get on town council somehow we've been taught that that stuff's off limits for christians and a very vocal minority is hijacking quite a bit while we're nervous about getting involved in the welfare of our city i'm not saying that you're coming uh to the the town hall meeting with you know a series of bible verses where you're ready to christianize the entire no you're just bringing yourself and you're a lover of jesus and you've been in that space with the gifts and abilities that god has given you in that space really is is a way of holding back the the darkness around us like i'm we have been convinced that if we will just say the truth nicely with men the right amount of compassion in our voice and that everybody's going to go you know what you're right like jesus said they hated me and they're going to hate you and so the withdrawal that occurs when we refuse to seek the welfare of the city gives over the city to those who ultimately are not seeking her welfare or maybe by the grace of god they're what the new testament calls a man or woman of peace who is seeking the welfare of the city so i'm saying get involved however you can wherever you are again i'm not trying to add anything this is as you go seek the welfare of the city i just think we should be involved in this community we should love this community we should love our schools we should love our teachers we should love our mayors we should be ca we should care about who's getting elected where and what that means we should not pull out hard from all of those things i don't know where we got it it's absurd you being involved isn't you believing that america is greater than the kingdom of god you getting involved is you understanding that the kingdom of god should shape and ultimately give space in the kingdoms of this earth okay so that i probably need to teach more on that but that's all i've got for today now let me put a banner over all of these three things right the banner over all three of these things and if you're not a christian i just want to be really honest with you you ready i'm just going to because you're like what is he talking what's he want to do i just want cards on the table i want you to love jesus and become a follower i want you so don't if a lost friend invited you you know what they want they want you to hear the good news and and love jesus and see that no matter what your past is whatever your struggle is presently god loves you and he'll ransom you out of that and that's available to you so i'm not i'm not trying to bait and switch i do want you to be converted i do want you to follow jesus i do want our society and our country to look more and more and more christian and less and less and less secular i do want it i'm not i'm here that's what i believe that's what the person who invited you wants you to leave so as we are faithfully working hard in our domain our hope is to share the gospel with those who are far from it why because we have good news listen if you're not a christian how cruel would we be if we believe what we believe and didn't share with you didn't want that for you right if we're saying man god has made known to us the path of life but i'm not going to tell you about it right like how cruel you know the the reason why in all honesty the reason why i want to seek the welfare of the city be because i think that how god's revealed himself to us in scripture in the person and work of jesus christ leads to human flourishing and leads ultimately to what's best for the family for women for children and for men for the economy for the it is remember all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him so what happens when you submit to the authority of the one who designed it all ever have to call a subject matter expert because you're out of your depth some of you are so handy that's never happened to you that that is my life whole story of life i'm not preaching i'm calling somebody to fix something right yeah so the one who created it all is saying like this and to come under that doesn't rob us from life but leads us into it i believe that with my guts i think history testifies to that i think we're reaping our secular moment all around us right now and the madness that we find ourselves in and yet everybody seems to be blind to the fact that that's what's happening okay evangelism in all of those spheres i am constantly looking for a surface conversation that leads to a serious conversation that leads to a spiritual conversation the entire framework of how i'm thinking about life i go to the same places for lunch i work out at the same place in the same class most of the time i go all of that is intentional living for me to know people know their names pray for them surface to serious to spiritual that's what i'm after and so if man if you're you're a barista you keep seeing me you a waiter waitress you keep seeing me you got to know man i'm praying every time i'm looking for your section i'm praying for your soul and i'm hoping that we can take that conversation from surface so what are you doing are you in school you just to something more serious oh okay that's going on let me pray for you to spiritual how how have you experienced right i want to do that in all the domains now here's here's where i feel like we have a have a talk and i i can feel the weight on me in light of what i'm talking about today i think we have to talk about the heartbeat bill let me let me frame it i have been a bit mortified at how christians have embraced some of the propaganda against the heartbeat bill that i'm gonna just you just stay with me please we are a society that has lost our capacity for reason here's what i mean by reason i'm not talking about think better i'm saying that there's literally something called reason and rules to reason that help us navigate complex gut-wrenching heartbreaking stuff did you know that like in in the framework of western civilization reason has been the thing that has anchored us so that we might see complex issues in a way that that's rooted in reality where we don't get tossed all about by madness and the propaganda machine against what's going on right now is an overdrive and i'm telling you most of it is not true so here's what i mean by first principles here's first principle according to orthodox christian faith all the way back it is never okay to murder a baby period no wait wait no wait so what the the bait and switch right now is let's get rid of that first principle i mean i had like five people christians send me i'm pro-life i'm pro-cynthia's life who this is her situation anybody see this on facebook i'm pro this person's life here's her situation here and i'm like gosh that's awful like my heart breaks for that but the answer according to first principles can't be well then kill the baby that can't be the answer ever that's never been the church's answer the church's answer is let us come alongside of you and love you and walk with you and help you in any way we can with our money with our houses with our homes with our resources we are for you right and the the church moves towards that we've never shrunk back from that and i'm telling you the game that's being played right now it reminds me of some demonic old testament nonsensical madness there was a deity called moloch that demanded the sacrifice of children in the return for comfort and and blessing and dad gummit if our country's not worshipping at that altar by eight weeks baby has a heartbeat has its own dna its own blood type brain waves recoils from pain you tell me when it's okay to kill that baby it's not we have lost our minds like even now i know some of your idea how do you say that you're a man i it doesn't matter what i could be a cat this is true this man hey and by the way the man who said it was okay were seven men 12 men so what's our response our response continues to be what it's always been there are over 160 advocacy and care centers for women across the state of texas there are 18 abortion clinics you tell me who's really for the woman 160 we've got free diapers we've got money we've got homes we've got training we're committed to you 160 something of them 18 abortion clintons tell me who's anti-woman gosh if you study christianity get tom holland's book domain he's not even a christian and he's going to write about the effects of christianity across the ages not even a christian and he can't get away from the fact that hospitals orphanages and the consistent practice across the ancient world of killing unwanted babies was all pushed to the margin by the christian church spare me anti-women there's never been a religion that's elevated women like the christian faith has so our role and i know gosh i know some of you aren't believers and i sound like a madman right now listen i love you this is crazy we house in this church a ministry called young lives it is a ministry to teen moms and their i believe the phrase is baby daddies we walk with those little we those young bucks we walk with those ladies we have a store filled with free clothes and diapers and strollers and and it's and you can get on my face with that we're pro we're just pro birth we're you know all of life absolutely we're all of life that's a lie guys explain to me 18 verses 160 if all the church is worried about is the unborn now we care cradle to the grave creator of the grave it's what marks us so here's what i want to lay before you in light of this moment one if you're in here and you're a woman that's had an abortion you're a man who's paid for it or pressured somebody to do it you have not outside the grace of god he loves you he pulls from the edges of darkness those who will be his brightest slights we have dozens of women here who have that testimony some that are even on staff god's not done with you you see here you hadn't out sin the cross of christ you haven't pushed past his mercy and grace you should just hear what i'm saying because he loves you he sees you he knows exactly the brokenness you felt in that moment the alone that you might have felt in that moment the the i have no other option that you might have felt in the moment he loves you hear what i'm saying through the filter of the gospel of jesus christ you have not outscened his grace you have not outside his love or his mercy he is for you not against you and you want help navigating all of that we're here we have men and women here men for the men women for the women we'd love to just walk with you in this here's how it would encourage you regardless of what you feel about the heartbeat law by the way it's so orwellian i don't know if you're noticing this nobody wants to they don't want to use the word heartbeat i've counted four other words that they're using to not use the word heartbeat why what's overwhelming it's the same reason why you can't really find an animation or a video of what actually occurs in an abortion because if you could actually see it you would know why it's so evil you don't think this is orwellian you don't think this is straight up orwellian young lives is always in need of resources and volunteers i'd encourage you to look to get involved there the human coalition we partnered with them for over a decade cradle to the grave committed to the woman there are their couples families in this church actually bought land and put houses so that they might ultimately walk with women who are pregnant all the way through having the baby and on into the future like you just gotta you gotta spare me the anti-woman thing it's just absolutely untrue in every metric available so continue church to get in the game look up young lives that will be on our website we might even do a push notification to you have some ways that you could get involved to make sure we're coming alongside of women in very desperate and difficult situations and then keep in mind as the propaganda machine continues to kick up that first principles is can you kill a baby that doesn't make the story behind it less heartbreaking but it helps us navigate complex situations that's terrible is the answer to kill the baby that's heartbreaking should we kill the baby that's how we get rooted in reason based on the imago day and live lives of faithful presence in our day and age i'm going gonna end with this illustration and i really am i know you're like i think you've already said you're gonna no let me in africa at the very southern portion of the sahara desert 12 nations have come together to build what they call the green wall the green wall is this shared across 12 at 43 hundred miles across africa from east to west 10 miles deep of trees that have been planted and nurtured to stop the spread of the sahara desert pushing southward overcoming fertile land and communities when jesus says you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world he intends for us to be a kind of green wall that as we work in our domains as we live in our neighborhoods as we play our sports as we live our lives we stop slow down the erosion of the lifelessness that is life outside of christ i want us to be a church that embraces these things like i know this is the kind of sermon that creates a little space but i don't want to manage a big church i want to cause trouble for the enemy and i want you to come with me as we do it let me pray for us father i pray right now in the name of jesus for any sister of mine daughter of yours brother of mine son of yours who've been directly touched by abortion in particular i just pray man some ladies are carrying a secret that's ancient i just pray you free them from it the shame and guilt thank you that you're not done with them i ask that you give us a vision for what it looks like to live faithfully in the world that we find ourselves in we might push back what's dark establish what's light live as ambassadors i thank you that when all said and done you will reconcile all things unto yourself we bless you it's for your beautiful name i pray amen would you stand with me as we sing [Music] my gift of grace is jesus [Music] there is no more for heaven he is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] at night [Music] the future the price it has [Music] and he was raised [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] i long to follow jesus for he has said that he will break me home and day by day [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is only jesus [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] but through christ in [Music] a seat and turn our eyes towards baptisms hi y'all my name's lindsay this is my son cole conley and he wants to get baptized today he's going to read you all his testimony hi my name is cole hi my name is cole and i'm ready to be baptized i want to be baptized because i want to follow the lord i understand that that we are all sinners and i am too before jesus saved me i had a selfish heart in the past i lied so i could get what i wanted and disobeyed my parents and got annoyed with my brother sometimes but before i was saved i would punch my pillow if i was angry not just pray or listen to a christian station on the radio to fall asleep what happened was i read the bible and i got really interested in jesus and wanted to be a part of his family i said the prayer at church which was when i asked jesus in my heart this means i believe that jesus died for my sins and now i am a child of god i want to be baptized to obey god and show everybody and show everyone that i am now dead to self and alive to christ i'm excited to come for what will in the future and i'm hoping god will help me with it i am thankful that he gave us the bible so i can read read to know how god wants me to live he provides me a way i think that's really cool of him my favorite bible verses right now are proverbs five five five through six 5-6 trust in the lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him he will make your path straight and john 11 25-26 jesus said to her i am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me so he die yet shall live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die thank you [Applause] do you confess and believe that jesus christ is your lord and savior all right it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit [Applause] man i love that you know these these kids they don't have to do that they could just be baptized they don't have to share their testimony and so the ones that are like no i want to tell them what jesus did to me those just kind of rock me to have that kind of faith when you're that age we're going to end our service together by celebrating the broken body and shed blood of jesus christ we provide communion for baptized believers in jesus christ and so if that's you i would love for you to join me here all that we're talking about today has been made possible by the finished work of jesus christ and so let me remind you again uh that man if i have said anything today that creates in you a great deal of of um self-hatred or uh conviction i want to just lay before you again that what we're celebrating right now is that there is no sin with more power than the cross of jesus christ that you literally cannot out sin his grace the bible says that where sin abounds grace abounds all the more and so no matter what your story is what you're watching us celebrate if you're not a christian is that we have embraced believed and are walking in this reality that all of our sin past present and future has been fully freely and forever absorbed by christ making us righteous in the sight of god who now by his spirit empowers us toward holy living that process is slower than any christian you'll ever meet would admit but he's committed to us he who began the good work will be faithful to committed uh completed is what the scriptures say so in light of the sacrifice of jesus christ for our sins we celebrate that by the table so the bible says that on the night that jesus was arrested that he took bread and he broke it saying this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance of me then at the end of the meal he took the cup said that as long as we gathered in his name which is what we're doing right now gathering in his name we should remember that we've been forgiven of our sins because it's a tough week out there right so we should remember we've got to remember right we stand in the gospel it's not a past tense thing we remember the gospel and we look forward to all things being made new and in the space in between we remind our hearts and our minds of his goodness and grace let's remember saints we're gonna sing the doxology and be dismissed listen i love you there are men and women they're going to be up here if you need to pray with somebody or talk with somebody they'll be men and women in connection central for that if you need it i love you jesus loves you he is not finished with your life he's got big plans for you i pray that you would surrender to that the world has not been given the work of the gospel has not been given to enneagram three sevens and eights and extroverts it's been given to the children of god what would it look like for you to step in to what he's called you to be salt and light be a part of the green wall why don't you stand with me as we sing praise to god [Music] blessings lord praise him all creatures healing [Music] praise [Music] [Music] your dismissed church gone peace [Music] [Music] gracious [Music] is [Music] my god [Music] my god [Music] teach [Music] me [Music] my god [Music] every moment of each day says i need you i need you each breath to see your praise says [Music] says [Music] each day says [Music] of says day says [Music] [Music] me [Music] my [Music] my god [Music] every moment [Music] [Music] so so yes [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 95min 26sec (5726 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021