The Pursuit | 06.28.20 | Sunday 11AM

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on the live [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a miracle [Music] a miracle [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] all my [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] you have you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] pencil [Music] we'll see oh good [Music] [Music] spoken you see so yeah [Music] singing this course [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] yourself [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] and corn [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Jesus [Music] right [Music] but sickness no shadow no shadow you [Music] cygnus over the city over this church no shadow you [Applause] [Music] [Music] coming after me come on sling it kicked out [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] how many of you wanna sing that bridge again Oh [Music] [Music] yeah we again [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] there's no love like you love [Music] taste it and I soon [Music] I was UK you found me [Music] no one can touch my heart like you do [Music] because I tried and tried and tried the world none of that would do [Music] so you your view before so of you before [Music] eyes on you [Music] tell them this morning I'm sewing [Music] weally your view [Music] sorry stop you with just one everything changed I'm captivating I'll never with I'm captain [Music] I'm captain Oh with [Music] [Music] [Music] I fix my [Music] with you [Music] [Music] everything says so like come on let's administer to him minister to him right now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] thing change ah [Music] with just do you think I go from lost to found I go from broken to healed I'll never be with just [Music] you hear me [Music] everything makes sense with just [Music] I will [Music] [Music] why [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] forever [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] why why will [Music] River watch what David says assaults 1:45 he says great is the Lord and greatly to be praised his greatness is unsearchable our generation some praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts and I will declare your greatness they shall utter the memory of your great goodness and shall sing of Your righteousness watch what he says about the Lord he says the Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and great and mercy the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works all your works shall praise you all your saints shall bless you they shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power to make known to the sons of men his mighty axe and his glorious majesty of his kingdom your kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom in your domain or Dominion endures throughout all generations the Lord is righteous in all his ways the Lord is near to all who call upon him the Lord preserves all and my mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord and all flesh shall bless His Holy Name forever and ever David says this praise no worship it isn't just a reflection of what we do in this moment worship has a cascading effects meaning from one generation to the next Grayson so your worship is generational your worship is setting a standard in this generation for the next generation to follow and David reflects on the goodness in the faithfulness of God all throughout the Old Testament this term is used the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in Abraham who was the forefather in the patriarch of the faith the Jewish faith and it speaks to God's faithfulness to him in that moment and our God is as faithful today as he has ever been and so we worship Him not reflective of this moment in history but reflective of his great faithfulness in all moments in all generations so he might have trouble today trying to reflect on something that is praised work trying to reflect on something in your life by which God deserves worship and praise and if nothing can come to your mind in this moment could you just take a step back into history and see how good god has been in every season - every generation how good god has been to your family huh into this nation how good god is vengeance but instead grace could you just could you just reflect on how good god has been just for a moment as we cast our gaze in the direction of heaven as we enter his gates with Thanksgiving and with praise watch what happens when you open the gates with Thanksgiving a price his presence comes rushing it Freddie you can't get to the Holy of Holies without entering into the gate of Thanksgiving and in worship we take a moment and we just thank God for how good he is we thank God for His great faithfulness in every season of life now he might be here today with a series of questions our series of Pardons and or a series of leads that you have that God must intervene on and we're gonna pray for that we're gonna confess God's goodness by faith but just for a moment prior to getting the prayer could we just reflect on how thankful we are that he is our God and we are his people we give you praise now we give you thanks today you know that God has been way better than you deserve the things that you deserved you don't get the good news of the gospel that what we deserved in the form of sand and hell and punishment and wrath Jesus took on the cross and in exchange we have been clothed with righteousness destiny purpose forgiveness Oh not faithful we don't get what we deserve father this moment through thankfulness and praise as we reflect on your pattern of faithfulness we know that you've never failed us now you've never failed us then you won't start now God you've already finished the end from the beginning and so in that place of confidence and Thanksgiving we present our request before the Lord and God we ask that the lord of the breakroom the one whose voice is like the voice of many waters one who is who wasn't is and it is to come the Alpha and the Omega the and the finisher of our faith shall we pray now that you would intervene into the narrow our lives for those who are need of resource God we speak of resource of heaven over their life for those who are in need of healing we speak your anointing which breaks yoke of bondage father we cancel and we buy the spirit of affirmative instead that we loose and release in this atmosphere is healing and wholeness restoration that we pray that in this moment of worship that's your spirit moves it works arts you would begin to sense the supplies that we would begin to sense that restoration of the years of our life can we thank you that no person is too far gone no situation is too messed up no bondage is too strong now we confess by your spirit so God we say now in Jesus name with your spirit do its best work father we thank you that in this atmosphere abortion mohnish is broken addictions broken my story sickness heal poverty hamaji you know one of the great ways that you can combat generational curses in your life is through generational Thanksgiving and praise and so we combat the curses that have been passed down we come back the proclivities that have run in our family lines we come back the things that should be on us because the ways in which we were raised and instead through Thanksgiving we disarmed the powers and we say Jesus took the best one Jesus as you hear me say this all the time but not every spiritual moment feel spiritual or some spiritual moment that you feel like man somebody ever makes a movie about my life I hope they include that moment but I feel like the longer I follow Jesus the more that I recognize that there are a lot of spiritual moments that just feel like ordinary moments by which God is working in the of our story he's healing things that she doesn't even know we're broken he's fixing things that that she didn't even know was messed up he's working in your passion present in your future to bring all things together for the good of those who love him as scripture says that faith is confessing things that aren't as if they are faith is not wishful [Music] faith is not just name it and claim it faith is a confession motivated by the Spirit of God which takes residence inside the heart of a believer that quicken then quickens them in a moment of annoyance of no presence to begin to speak out what God declares about our situation it's like when Jesus encounters this little girl who's dead he says she's not dead she's only sleeping and that God could speak over your circumstance today something you think is dead something you think has gone something you think is broken something that you might think is beyond repair and that God speaks a word of faith over your life and change begins now jesus said so father we thank you for change how we thank you for redemption thank you for second chances now we thank you for restoration now we thank you for reconciliation and we say now by your spirit begin to do your best work in our hearts our minds our families our lives and we'll give you all the praise of Lord both thou Antrim in Jesus in Jesus that never ever him forever to take a minute so how does someone on the way back to your scene Thanks [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning pursuit family we are so happy that you're joining us at church this morning and for those of you joining us again online we are so happy to have you back and if you didn't already know all of our church we opposed to the CDC guidelines that we're following and we also are offering masks back inspections of you guys probably also heard that the governor did release another executive order requiring masks to be worn in public so we're asking that everyone attending our services comply with that hey guys I am so excited this Wednesday is going to be the first Wednesday that our youth group will be back since the shutdown in person and I'm juice I'm so excited because we're doing water Wars this Wednesday which means we're gonna be right across the street at the park we're gonna be going so hard with games playing water sports Ultra stuff it's gonna be the best we're also gonna do a grill out and man anybody that is sixth grade through senior year in high school we want to invite you out cuz honestly is gonna be the best time ever I cannot wait see you this Wednesday here in person live and in person I'm so excited it's gonna be the best time I hope see you there and tonight at 6 p.m. for the first time ever pursue is having over viable market it is gonna be so fun you do not want to miss it we're gonna have a worship prayer modesty cloths dancers painters literally anything you can think of it's gonna be there and if for some reason you can't make it we're gonna make sure we're live-streaming it and you can find that more on our social media you're gonna have to provide your own modesty thoughts though thank you for joining us at Sunday that's all the announcements we have to do and as always if you're a guest where this is your first time joining us please text persuit guests to nine four zero nine zero or follow us on social media to stay connected we'll see you next week awesome thanks guys hey in this service we have the privilege of doing a baby dedication today which is always awesome and fun I'm gonna invite Nathan and Rebecca and their son Perseus to the stage [Music] and their family out couple family member said two we dedicate babies here at the pursuit as a part of the activity of the church and we get of course this model from scripture where Jesus is dedicated in the temple and consecrated unto the Lord so we look at a dedication not as the moment of salvation but among the consecration and it's almost a prophetic act as family members and parents as we dedicate kids to the Lord to following Christ and those types of things so we make opportunity for parents and family members to pray and to introduce and so would you tell us a little bit about perseus dad and then we're gonna help you pray and then I think we're gonna have others pray as well this is my son [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] your works are wonderful I know that for me my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in sheet in his the secret place when I was moving together in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body in all the days we're written in your book before one of them came to be how precious to me your thoughts God yeah I mean that really sums it up there that it's it's just a pure miracle and then another of a reverse quick one Romans 12:1 therefore I urge you brothers and sisters and view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God do not conform to the pattern of this world but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and approve God's perfect will and that that verse I always kept right in my front pocket because it just reminds you get you back on track that there's there's more than just us out here and the Lord's leading us and it's been good my family and I and now we want to make sure our little son is on the right path as well so it's awesome we love you we lift him up to you and I love my brother say a few words [Music] my Perseus how you doing man our family is here for you we love you and we know that God has a big call in your life that you know as the years unfold under the leadership of your parents Nathan Rebecca that God's gonna call you in certain ways and I'm excited to sit down so Nathan I pray for you and Rebecca and I pray for Perseus excited to be a part of this journey with you and really really cool I love you Perseus hey grandpa you ready well I'm so blessed so blessed to be a part of the this family and this miracle of Percy is just one of the last few Merkle's we've been we've enjoyed I mean give me a clue when we talk about the Holy Spirit coming together with a egg and a sperm and creating this fantasy the example of your of his love and the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives and helps us to be representative of him and all that we do but it's so wonderful so wonderful for me to be a small part of it speak kind of that the great grandpa of all this whole thing and I just say wow I feel so blessed and the Holy Spirit has filled me with so much love it's so much fun to be a part of this so we go forward from here and looking for great things to happen in his life absolutely absolutely so I asked the Lord for a scripture and I was feeling I believe it's Matthew chapter 8 verse 37 or 38 and it says three of more than conquers and we emphasize them more than the the root word of that word conquers victorious but God says we are more than and for such a time as this for perseus more than a conqueror God's word over your life so father we we bless perseus we bless the family father we say have your way in their life we as a church decide to surround them and say we will part just have a partake in this raising of perseus father your hand of blessing be on the family father I pray that resources be there father I pray that the words of life would come from their parents father that that your word would raise Perseus in in into the stature of a man that you've called him to be so father bring forth those in his life that that need to be brought forth to speak to him to raise him to feed him God so that he can be all that you've called him to be father I prayed for the mom and the dad God that you would give them everything that they need every detail that they need that you would just surround them like a ring of fire God that your spear would be present in their home as they develop into the family that you've called them to be so father we we just pour upon them blessings and say have your way in Jesus mighty name we pray amen hey Ben come on quit date they said Rebecca they're family thanks for bringing Perseus this quarter [Applause] hey guys as we have mentioned in the announcement video we've got revival night happening actually tonight and it's going from 6:00 to 7:30 and this is something that we've never hosted here before but it is a night where we're gonna rally people to pray and worship and prophesy it's not going to be a normal service there's no announcements there's not an offering there's no kids ministry and this is why the stage is set up actually this way it's for revival night tonight so if you were wondering that that's the reason for the different setup today but we're go Riley people to pray in the prophesied because we sincerely believe that this is an hour for the church to find its voice in the way that we managed this moment sets us up for the next one so we've got different leaders and pastors from the region coming it's not just pursuit people that's going to be held here but really it's a it's an opportunity at a time for the Northwest to gather to pray worship and prophesy so we're taking the chairs out of the building we're gonna be walking around praying if you've never been to a pursuit prayer meeting just hold on because it we're gonna have one tonight but it's a is my conviction that if we pray that if we'll pray well it will if we'll manage this hour in prayer that we're going to see incredible strength from the church we're gonna see incredible resurgence revival Reformation I think we are on the verge of another Awakening in our country so we're gonna we're gonna pray it in anybody can pray after the baby's been delivered but unless you know the time or the season or the hour in which you live you don't know how to pray when you can't see things we're gonna pray in faith pray by faith because we believe that God is birthing something new in this region and so that's gonna be tonight and then Friday we've got something going on but you give some language to what's happening on Friday yeah we'll call it at the sound Seattle and what happened was is when Pastor Russell and I went down into the Chas chop the other night you heard about a couple weeks ago I was walking around the next Sunday I couldn't sleep I got up super early I went I'm gonna go walk through there and pray and I'm walking around I go you know we need we need to rally a bunch of worshipers into the Chas and just go rattle and like release a song and a sound and I reset to a buddy and I was like do we need to go in and like do this worship it he's like bro they're shooting people you know and I thought yeah that might not be a good idea so so what we're gonna do is we're gonna go to a higher place so I started talking with some prayer warriors and they go you know what remember in the in the Bible the the Israel army used would go to the high place and they'd take the high place and wait yeah that's right and so we found a park it's called volunteer park get this it's 12 blocks north of the Chazz get this it's on 12th Street and it's a might 1.2 or 12 miles away and we're doing 12 hours of praise and worship I feel like God is setting us up and so we started putting out the word we're look we're rallying the worship community from all over Washington state to meet us Friday July 3rd for 12 hours from 9 a.m. 9:00 p.m. we're meeting in volunteer parkas come bring your instruments come bring your voice bring your flags bring your tambourine like Pastor Russel said we need a voice of unity right now and here's what we're gonna do see here's the deal our doctrine won't unite us because we all believe a little bit differently right our practices won't unite us because we all do things a little bit differently right some speak in tongues some don't some way flags some don't some are loud some are quiet we're not going to unify around those things but what can we rally around we can unify around this one thing that Jesus is Lord and he deserves our worship everything else we're putting aside for now we're saying we're going to come together as the church in the northwest and so right now as of now we've got tri-cities coming we've got a group from Yakima Vancouver we've got Skagit County Snohomish County King County Pierce County Centralia is coming guys we are rallying we're putting out the word listen if you're a believer and you believe in the power of prayer and worship like we're saying meet here tonight and then meet on at Volunteer Park 9 a.m. for 12 horrors of worship come spend part of the day if you want you can come and go we're gonna be there rattling so we're gonna rattle in Seattle so yeah I think we got people even from California poor driving you've got people in California two of my pastors from Vegas are flying in there's people from North Carolina that are hearing about what God's doing they're flying in this week and when we were in Vegas they said could you fly down here and host one of these in our city San Diego just called and said come and do this in San Diego we said new fellows were planted in the northwest we don't straddle the Northwest I think we can unite me to all we got Bremerton coming up later by Bremerton we gotta get guys Christians from all over are descending upon Seattle right and we're gonna come with a voice of love a voice of love unity and hope and healing and declare that Jesus is Lord over the northwest hey I'm excited yeah I mean scripture says where there's unity God commands a blessing like horizon all the 33 it talks about the anointing that comes from the head and drips all the way down the road there's an anointing that happens in unity okay so that's why we sing together right before we got lyrics on the screens because when we sing together it's in unit that's why we pray together in unity and this is our it everybody wants to be a prophetic church nobody wants to have ears to hear and eyes to see when you have ears to hear and eyes to see then you don't pray when the moment arrives you pray as the moment is arriving so this is our moment for the church we're gonna pray believe prophesy we're gonna see revival because the goal is not another nice church another nice meeting another nice sermon or another good worship set because if those could have changed the world the world would have already been changed it doesn't mean that we diminished what we do here on Sunday morning we're gonna rattle here every Sunday morning as part of the church coming together we're really gonna spearhead something in the northwest so we're gonna see the northwest known for a move of the Holy Spirit so I'm just convinced that that is the true culture of the Northwest I'm convinced that that's the true story because God is the author gets to finalize the narrative so I'm just convinced that the story of the northwest is gonna be revival and Reformation so we're gonna pray into that and then on Sunday a week from today we're having one of our friends pastor Tracy Armstrong from Citadel Church african-american pastor and believer but really an apostolic voice and he's going to be ministering here with us on Sunday morning it's going to be incredible and where's this excited the next couple of days I think are really going to be transitional for our church community so join us stay involved stay engaged and we'd love to have you with us the moment we can receive the tithe and the offering of the screen behind me are a couple ways that you can give you can engage digitally through our text to give program or through the giving envelopes on the back of your seat we encourage giving as a discipline we believe what scripture says to be true that where your treasure is there also is your heart and so we encourage people to have a heart for the house by investing financially in the vision and in the mission generosity is not a feeling because you don't always feel it it's a discipline because it's one of the ways that we honor and worship God together and so I'm gonna encourage you to engage not in the feeling of generosity but the discipline of giving and in doing so we're gonna believe that God is going to command a blessing on your life in ways that you can't even contain this is the lifestyle of New Testament believer so if you came prepared to give would you join me at the altar let's give together god bless you and your generosity [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you have a Bible open to the book of Acts Acts chapter 18 Acts is written by a doctor named Luke who's obviously one of the authors of the synoptic Gospels as well and Luke becomes a historian of sorts telling us the history of the New Testament church the first 1/3 of the book of Acts really revolves around the personality of Peter who becomes really the chief apostle of the New Testament church he preaches a message on the day of Pentecost 3,000 are saved and thus begins the story of how we got here but the last two thirds of the book of Acts really revolve around the personality of the Apostle Paul who has this radical transformative encounter with God by which he recognizes that that which he has been persecuting is actually Jesus as this radical life change and he goes really from being an antagonize er or terrorist of the New Testament church to its chief proponent talking to people planting going on three major missionary journeys and really spreading the gospel to multiple continents leading to this really first century cultural spiritual religious political revolution that we read about in the book of Acts Acts chapter 18 tells us the story behind the story of the planting of the church in Corinth now you're probably familiar with Corinth because Paul also writes two additional letters that we have first Corinthians and in 2nd Corinthians and in fact in 1st Corinthians Paul mentions that there is actually a third letter that was originally sent to them that has now been lost and so Paul is writing a lot to this church in Corinth court becomes this gateway city in a lot of ways I think about Seattle like I think about Corinth it was a gateway city to the region it was filled with commerce and trade and culture it was known for pagan idolatry and Paul planted a church right in the middle of it and acts 18 tells us that story so next time you hear somebody talking about the church in Corinth I want you to think not about first Corinthians but instead about Acts 18 that you would understand the story behind the story and we read about in acts 18 the circumstances that God uses not necessarily the circumstances that he authors but the circumstances that God uses to put strangers together for the purpose of influence and transformation and I want you to think about the local church as the construct by which God puts strangers together for the purpose of transformation and influence that's the crazy thing about churches you become friends with people that you would never normally engage with you cross paths with people that there would be no other way for you to connect with outside the context of church that's why I'm such a big proponent of the idea of the church leading the charge on diversity on on on racial unity because when I look at the church I see this opportunity for all of the tribes and all of the tongues and all the nations to come together under the banner of Jesus see the church is able to do something that political parties can never do which is unite people around a common cause the church is able to do things that arguing on social media can never do uniting people around a common cause and so it's a be that's why the church has to lead in these areas of social reform because the church is God's best blueprint for the development restoration and redemption of humanity it just it's as we read in acts 18 you're gonna read about three central figures the first is Paul and the second is Aquila and Priscilla Aquila and Priscilla are a husband-wife team as some scholars believe that actually Priscilla is involved in the writing of the book of Hebrews although we don't know that for certain she becomes a central figure in the development of New Testament heroes for example a man named Apollo's who became one of the chief evangelists of the first century was mentored and taught and instructed by Priscilla sometimes I think people take the writings of the Apostle Paul to the New Testament church out of context and they develop what I would call a rather misogynistic theological view like men are the ones who can hear from God and like we'll have like women around to help clean the church and that's kind of it and some people actually believe this and even worse some people actually teach it and when you actually take a step back and understand the Bible from a holistic perspective instead of cherry-picking verses reinforce your biases what you see is that Jesus values women Jesus honors women and that women are used in roles not just a follower ship but of leadership teaching and development anybody could say amen to that or is that just me is it anybody with me this morning okay so it's important that we allow scripture to inform the way that we interact with society and so I want my scriptural view or my theological view to inform my sociological view not the other way around if you allow sociology to inform theology then you will spend your entire life trying to be more woke than the liberal next to you but when you allow theology to inform sociology you can feel real good about taking people off on both sides of the aisle because you're grounded on the rock that is higher than you and see scripture doesn't fade away the Bible says that all of us will fade away but not one of his words will ever fail meaning this after all the loud voices have come and gone after all the arguments that have been had do you know what remains this and so you got to make a choice in your life what are you gonna build your life on because if you end up pledging your allegiance to anything less than this you are setting yourself up for perpetual disappointments anyways let me get off that but in acts 18 and by the way you know we're gonna do it our best you know two masks and just about every day there's a new order and and it's about a full-time job just to keep up with the press conferences I've watched more press conferences in the last six weeks than I've ever wanted to ever in my entire life actually and so and all of them we got you know new regulations and face masks and all of those types of things in fact on my way to church today lighting light yeah we got we're just on our way to church as somebody just randomly cussing us out about-face message it I mean just people have lost their their minds and so we're doing our best to encourage people with the mass and encourage people but can I just can I just tell you don't don't don't spend your life being angry at wearing a mask in church if you've become a professional at wearing masks all the time any time you engage with somebody from church and so for us is not about you know physical you know those types we allow God to work in the deep places of our life because all of us have to resist the temptation to wear these masks that hide who we truly are when interacting with people around us you see the parallel that I'm trying to draw we get so used to pretending to be what we think other people will like or appreciate that we spend our entire life constructing lies to impress people that we don't like to gain things that we don't need and so if church can become the place where you just become honest about everything in your life and transparent about the journey you're on it can I encourage you today that you ought to give yourself enough grace and mercy to take a step back from your your-your-your kind of ontological development and appreciate how far the Lord has brought you you know most of us in this room are our own harshest critics we star yeah I don't need anybody to criticize me because anything that you say I've already said it to myself worse ten times and I think for us we need to have enough grace and mercy for it do you know that if you don't extend grace and mercy to yourself you won't be able to extend it to other people and so for us we eats the grace and mercy to ourselves to be able to take a step back from our journey and recognize even if I'm not where I should be thank God I'm not where I used to be now I've come a long way and I think sometimes in this spiritual process the way that we adjudicate whether or not we're moving forward in spiritual concept concepts spirituality is so esoteric it's hard to define it's not really quantifiable it's not a star you get or a degree that you have or a checkmark that you receive or a certificate that you get from the church that you're a part of this kind of spiritual life development it's hard to judge sometimes whether or not we're moving in the right direction and if you had permission today to take a step back from your own timeline and just look at how far you've come over the last 12 months 18 months 24 months I think you would be encouraged that God has actually been working on your behalf and in your life more than you give him credit for so many of you have come so far and if we don't give ourselves grace and mercy to continue to develop we'll stay stuck as a way to insulate ourselves against our own negative interior voices in acts 18 starting in verse 1 this is what the Bible says after this Paul left Athens and he went to Corinth and there he met a Jew named aquila a native of Pontus who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome and Paul went to see them Claudius was the Emperor at this time and he issued an edict some say in AD 49 others say in AD 52 but in or around that time period Claudius the Emperor issues and edict that all Jews and Christians must leave Rome he's kicking them out it's actually the third time that it's happened in the last 100 years because of the Jewish conversion because of Christianity coming on the scene in such a vociferous way it's creating this cultural upheaval it's destabilizing really the entire political establishment and so Claudius is concerned about what these Jews and Christians are up to and so his way to deal with that is to order all of them to leave Rome and go to another city and so a bunch of them end up in the city of Corinth and it just so happens that Paul Aquila and Priscilla end up in the same place in the same city at the same time here's why that's important in a time of great cultural disruption God was sovereignly moving people into the right places at the right times which means this when you're playing checkers he's playing chess and it's so hard for us to give credit to a God who works in the midst of the chaos of our lives because when we're in the midst of chaos chaos is all that we can see and yet God who works so diligently and quietly behind the scenes working all things together for the good of those who love him is strategically positioning people in the right places at the right times for the right things 2020 is a strategic year because what you see as chaos God sees as realignment and you know Fred sometimes we understood the chaos of Scripture because we're able to view it through his Oracle lynnes we know how it all worked out so it couldn't have actually been that bad and the next time that you read scripture could you develop just a little bit more generous quadrilateral for how you understand the historical events of this book because for us we we fast forward to the end because we know how the story ends we know jesus raises from the dead yeah but his disciples are scared to death hiding in an upper room because they think their next and guess what they are and all of a sudden the ghost walks into the middle of the room and says it's me Jesus I'm back just like I told you and they're freaking out losing their minds Thomas doesn't even believe and it's easy for us to kind of read this through a sanitized lens because we know how the story ends but in the midst of chaos thought is strategically placing people in the right place at the right time for advancement for influence and for transformation it's not that god is micromanaging the moments of our life but it is true that nothing escapes him and and that is what results in the unexpected junctures of our journey a God who is weaving himself into the human narrative leading us in the ways that we should go I've said this before but it's so true for you to adopt into your theology your view of God God doesn't cause the pain of our life but if we let him he will use it which means this you don't have to waste your bad moments and all of us have them and if you say that you don't have them you're having a bad moment now because you're lying all of us have tough moments in our lives tough seasons that we walk through things that we experience that we would rather not and it's not that God offers them it's that God uses them sometimes in an overly reformed view of God they take a high view on God's sovereignty and they begin to ascribe all these terrible things to the nature of God well if I'm sick it must be because God sent it if there's a plague it must be because God did it if there's a natural disaster it's all God's fault and anytime you question it in that theological construct it's always well it's just for the glory of God but I think Calvin was wrong I don't think the chief end of God is glory I think the chief end of God is I think God receives glory but he is loved he's filled with glory but he is loved which means this I don't have to blame God for difficult things but what I can do is in the midst of tough stuff I can choose to allow him to use the insecure moments of my life to form this beautiful patchwork for my destiny and we see this happening in in acts 18 people are uprooted from their homes a stout by government entities persecuted to the point that they're fleeing for their lives and yet God has a plan all along and Corinth Paul will meet Aquila and Priscilla Priscilla will become instrumental in the development of the church in Corinth and the growth and discipleship of key evangelists in the first century friend the next time that you are tempted to complain about the season of life that you're in just remember God does his best work in places you can't see and in seasons you can't understand man if you were to read the Old Testament today just between the book of Exodus in Leviticus 14 different times the Hebrew children stopped their progression towards the promised land to grumble and complain against the Lord and against Moses 14 times 14 times for some of us we're about 14 times an hour and the Bible says that the Lord keeps them out of the promise because of grumbling and complaining here's what's so dangerous when you develop a grumbling or complaining spirit against God is if you don't agree with him about what he says about your season eventually he'll agree with you about what you say about your season and I'd be careful not to say like this season is worthless this year is wasted because if you keep saying that you might be right and maybe the most scary thing in life is for you to be right about your own life right we purchase with a price my destiny is not my own my future is not my own I don't have the right to self-identify you know we live in a culture that says you can identify as whatever you want whenever you want however and scripture says you were bought with a price you're not your own you gave that up so that means I may have fallen into the temptation but that doesn't give me that identity that means that I may have had a bad day but it doesn't mean I get to have a bad life it may have been that I experienced something difficult but I don't get to become a victim for you and I we give up the right to self identify because our lives are not our own and don't we love to self-identify in the West what type of Christian are you while I'm at this Christian time of that Chris time on the right I'm on the Left I'm a Baptist on the charismatic I'm reformed I'm free we have all these things that we like to use to describe our Christianity and if there's anything that we ought to go back to we got to go back to a Jesus centric faith the type of Christian are you I don't even know how to answer that a Jesus Christian what do you be if we worship Jesus we gather well what type of church do you have it's a Jesus Church it's a little bit loud and Andy we got smoke and we got some lights but other than that I'm not sure how to answer the question because we have reduced faith to all of these qualifiers about how we ought to self-identify that maybe just maybe Jesus is interested not in your right to identify but in his prerogative to command your destiny if you curse your season by saying there is no purpose be careful you may end up being right I think often times we use a word like coincidence to describe a spiritual reality and that spiritual reality is this God was working behind the scenes the entire time watch what happens in verse 3 of Acts 18 the Bible says this and and because Paul was a tentmaker as they were he stayed and and and and worked with them and because he was a tentmaker as they were he stayed and he worked with them friend let me communicate this to you this morning the best way that I know how vocation isn't the enemy of mission it's the Avenue meeting this there's not two separate worlds that you live in if there's something that we ought to break off of our mindset as believers it's dualism that plagues our ability to interact with the world will live in these two realities where like God is really power we'll hear but as soon as you as soon as you leave the front doors of this church like his power is diminished by 50% there is no atmosphere that you will ever be in that Jesus is not Lord there will be a lot of atmospheres that you're in where there are people who don't agree with that sentiment there's people who don't clearly see it the way that you see it but friend there is no atmosphere where you will ever go where Jesus is not Lord where he is not king so he is not more king in the church than he is down the street now it's more realized here in this atmosphere because together we agree and by faith magnify the Lord but he is not more Lord here than he is down the street and sometimes what we've done is we've allowed ourselves to fall into this weird version of dualism which essentially communicates to believers that you're only significant valued or used when you're in the church and what I love about the Apostle Paul the chief author of two-thirds of the New Testament the one who we primarily draw our theology of how we understand God and how we interact with the church and all sorts of things from the the most profound you know could communicator in the first century outside of Christ himself one of the most radical transformation stories what I love about the Apostle Paul is that Luke takes time to mention his commonality he was a tentmaker a friend for you and I it is how we manage the common that sets us up to receive the supernatural it's sometimes people have these weird perceptions of like maybe what I do as a pastor or what it means to work as a church and like somehow like I just wake up every morning and stand up on a stage and just preach to the masses can I tell you that most of the time pastoring looks rather common it looks like managing a budget or cleaning a building or building a chair or setting up a stage and the things that appear uncommon are less than 1% of what I do and the things that are really common are about 99.9% of what I do and I think sometimes for us because of dualism we have this category of that are really important and then this category of things that aren't really important at all and we only feel valued when we're in this camp instead of that camp and yet scripture says that everything that your hand finds to do do it with excellence as unto the Lord why because what makes you significant is not the job you do it's the spirit you have so I can be as significant as a tentmaker then I can as a developer of theology for the New Testament church and we see Paul's significance as a constant not vacillating depending on what he's doing significance doesn't start when I walk through the doors of the church it begins when I wake up to the reality of God's presence taking residence in my life making whatever I do matter for eternity when God makes covenant with Abraham in the book of Genesis he tells Abraham that he says wherever your foot treads I'll give you the land wherever you go why because what you're going with is actually what's most important so wherever you go Abraham I'm giving you that place I think sometimes for us it's like well I only work in tech or or I only stay home with the kids or or or I'm only serving coffee or or I'm only doing these things yeah this is you know this is kind of what I did but I'm only doing that we artificially devalue the season of life were in because of the dualism that we've constructed in our own minds like I can if I could just work at a church or if I could just feel more significant about the job that I have friend if you're lonely in the world you're gonna be lonely in here it's when you develop a value and an honor for what you're finding your hand to do in that moment that causes significance to come from your life tech nation wasn't a spiritual gift that Paul imparted it was a skill that he learned and God honored what Paul had developed and used it as a mechanism of his resourcing equipping and mission now Paul has something in common with Aquila and Priscilla they both are tent makers and watch commonality breeds relationship which leads to transformation when you honor the common you reap the supernatural it's like the old joke of the man who God give me money need resource then God responds with a job application what's God not that I just wanted the deposit my bank account I just I didn't but I didn't want the job application and God works through the common you know what you'll find in your life is that the more that you engage with the common the things that you thought were common we're actually more sacred than you realized it's like when Jesus turns water into wine he takes the common and by his presence interjected into it makes it sacred can't you see your work through that lens well I'm only working behind a computer screen well I'm only working in this medical well I'm only working in this and but can't you see that when you carry God's presence wherever you go becomes significant and then that way it gives you value for your left I'm not just working forty years so I can retire so I can finally do something significant now what I'm doing right now matters for eternity whether I'm making tents and it's blue-collar whether I'm in a different environment and there's white color or whether I'm making a lot of money little money no money whether I'm in school or staying home with the kids what I do matters why because I'm significant when I do it is under the Lord and his presence is interjected into my common your water becomes white so a lot of us are looking for wine and God gives us water and he says if you just manage the water if you will allow my comment to be valued in a way watch what happens it becomes sacred so for us that's the heart that we have as it pertains to the season of life that we're in out of all the ways that Luke could have described Paul he said and Paul was a tech maker and isn't it just interesting the way God works he happens to bring a husband-wife team to the city of Corinth and guess what coincidence guess what they also do they make tents and that's how they connect in the common and it breeds the supernatural and verse four the Bible says this every Sabbath Paul reasoned in the synagogue he trying to persuade Jews and Greeks and when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah I love this but when they opposed Paul and became abuse if you shook out his clothes in protests and said to them your blood beyond your own heads I am innocent of it from now on I will go to the Gentiles and Paul left the synagogue and wit next door to the house of Titus justice a worshipper of God I saw somebody mentioned this on social media let me communicate it to you because I think it's important the first verb ever attributed to the whole church wasn't preaching it wasn't singing it wasn't giving it wasn't eating it wasn't drinking it wasn't even praying the first verb ever attributed to the church comes in acts 2:42 they devoted themselves devoted I think if there's something that we need more on this hour than ever before its Holy Spirit inspired devotion because all of the world is raging against your devotion and commitment to the high ethic of Christ just as sometimes we got to make daily decisions wake up today I'm going to be a spirit-filled believer I know I was one yesterday but I gotta make another decision today it's been a rough week I'm making a decision today to be devoted this year's crisis will fade we need a long obedience I love the scripture said well when they oppose Paul and became abusive Paul left the synagogue and went next door you know prior to working in in you know full-time ministry context my background is politics many of you know that and what we would do especially during the summer is one of my Jobs was to knock on doors in people's neighborhoods and to get them to register to vote if they weren't registered to vote and then inform them about the candidate that we were working for and I worked on races that were federal that were 2025 million dollar races we also worked on really local State House races as well lost a lot of them we want a couple of them but one thing remained the same every summer we'd be knocking doors in people's neighborhoods and you know what people hate more than anything is when you knock on their door on a Saturday morning to talk about politics people hate it like really hate I've been cussed at I've been chased I remember this one lady in specific I never forget it because this scarred in my memory but we were in this cul-de-sac and we're knocking on the door and all of a sudden she opens the door she doesn't come out but her dog just starts writing up and I was running around this cul-de-sac for the life of me this dog is chasing me she said oh he doesn't buy it he's happy he doesn't look happy and I'm running as fast as I can and and and and finally I had all these pamphlets that I was handing out for our candidate I threw him hit the dog I said take that whatever this lady's yelling from her door said quit harassing my dog I see her dog is chasing me it's harassing me and we we had those encounters all the time and I what I realized like a decade later was that God was actually preparing me for ministry and that there was actually a lot of crossover between some of what I encountered in those environments and and some of what I encountered in these environments but like in a real sense what God developed in my life was this tenacity to have door after door after door slammed in my face and have to go to the next door and knock and hope that I could talk to somebody reasonable and can I tell you that that quality has helped us get loans when nobody wanted to loan us money to buy this building it helped us go to 23 banks when 22 of them said no and the 23rd said yes I believe in you it's helped us build a team that's helped us advocate for vision it's helped me when people have left the church and said mean things and been terrible to me and and it has been a skill that God has used in my life to keep me relatively stable in this environment and that's why it's so important that you honor the common that you're in because you never know what God is equipping you with for the future see Paul lands in Corinth and the first thing he does is not plant a church it's make tents but God was using something in his past to empower his present to attract the right people for the vision and the transformation of that city mad God God works all the time through things like this just meet somebody randomly and all of a sudden they had the same interest they went to the same school they have the same friend say Network when we were in a Vegas this week I was in Vegas milady this week and we were ministering at I CoV one of the nights and and when we're checking into the hotel and and and the lady says to lady she goes I know you I mean Vegas is a huge city may have millions of people tours about we're checking in the hotel the lady goes I know you I look at him and I'm like are you serious this happens everywhere we go people know you she goes you played Jesus in that play that one year and I took a video of it I showed all of my friends and we had this whole like conversation with her for 20 minutes and I said can we at least get an upgrade out of this can you put us in a penthouse or something this is a man of God you know and so and she didn't she didn't but I just thought God has people everywhere and they're randomly connected to the cross-section of your story and you begin to recognize mating that dumb thing that I was in or that thing that I was involved with or that job I had now all of a sudden has become my connection peace in this present day environments see nothing is wasted nothing is wasted nothing is wasted and there are enough lost people to reach in this city that I don't have time to argue with other Christians most of the Opposition you'll face in your life won't come from the world it will come from the religious and you just got to make a decision what barking dogs you want to take care of because most of the time you got to keep your eyes on the prize and just keep going everybody will have a professional opinion about your faith and while they talk you work and will they talk you develop and well they talk you just keep going in the direction that God has called you to go in and at the end of time he'll balance the scales at the end of time he'll make what was wrong right at the end of time he'll defend your narrative and defend your reputation but you got to make a commitment to keep your eyes on the price I think we encounter resistance so that God can see how we respond it what I found is that it actually never gets easier to follow Jesus but the more I grow the more tools I have to manage the conflict in my life I think some of us like signed up for this and like man this is really rocky like I hope this gets easier it doesn't but what you do get is better at managing the difficult seasons of life and you begin to recognize man God's actually equip me I got tools you know what all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail and so you just try to use one tool for every issue in your life and the more that you develop them once you grow in faith the more you recognize know God's equipped me with everything I need pertaining to life and godliness I've got enough tools to manage this season in my life you know what we planted the church I thought to myself you know when we planted that maybe we had 30 or 40 people I just thought man if we could just grow to a hundred how all of our problems will go away you know what I found when we grew to 100 we went from having 40 people size problems to a hundred people size problems what's a hundred said God if we just get to our I know that these problems will clear up guess what I found we went to 200 and we had 200 people size problems God if we can just get a building God gave us a building God if we could just get a bigger building God gave us a bigger building and what I found time and time and time again was that every time that I leveled up it didn't get easier but God's grace increased in my life and gave me better tools to manage the season that I was in and proverbs 24 and verse 10 the Bible says this if you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small watch what happens in verse 8 the Bible says this crispest the synagogue leader in his entire household believed that'll disrupt the city you know this is actually happening right now in the Middle East entire mosques are getting born-again just in a moment just in a moment you'll have leaders iman's they have these visions like who is this Jesus people get born again all of a sudden an entire city region strike just pause getting abused and hated on and so he goes next story a man gets born again his entire family gets saved the entire synagogue gets turned around the Bible says there's a many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized I love that Paul winds up in Corinth not to plant the church but as the results of governmental persecution and because he stays faithful to the narrative and the journey he's on what is planted out of his purpose is a community of Christ's followers watch this because this is important one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision he said do not be afraid keep on speaking do not be silent for I am with you no one is going to attack or harm you because I have many people in this city friend God has put people in your life not just to resource your vision but God has put people as resources for your life for your development and for your transformation that's why it's so important for you to develop meaningful relationships in this church be people are just a byproduct of the Turkish people aren't just the ones that you see and kind of interact with real quickly when you come in and when you come out and I'll see you next week now God has placed people in this house for the express purpose of your transformation your vision and your destiny and people don't just provide resource they are resources and that's why David prays in Psalms 2 it's this prophetic Davidic prayer messianic in nature he says God for my inheritance give me of people a people reminded of the story that is told in first Kings 19 where Elijah has confronted Jezebel and the prophets of Vail and had this incredible supernatural experience and then finds himself in the caves and he's depressed and he wants to kill himself and he's over it and he's complaining and the Lord speaks to him it says Elijah I have seven thousand who haven't bowed their knee to bail and all of a sudden Elijah's perspective changes cuz man I'm not alone do you know what happens in your spiritual life when you come to the realization that you're not alone yeah I know in this crazy world it can feel like man I am I the only person who's thinking right am I the only person who has a clear perspective or the right perspective on the events that are happening around me and it feels like in this region and ain't nobody interested in Jesus ain't nothing happening is that is there anything is there any good thing coming out of the Northwest is there is there any work that's happening here that's signa god am i all alone on this journey and the same God who spoke to Paul in a vision in the city of Corinth is the same God who spoke to Elijah in a cave and first kings it's the same God who speaks to us in Snohomish and he says I've got people in this city that you haven't even met yet who are gonna be instrumental in the transformation of this region and friend I'm here to encourage you today that for your life for your family for your development God's got people as resources lined up and you don't even know their names but God in times past has so constructed the chaotic narrative of your life to converge on this one grand idea that God has people in places that you don't even know that's why I gathered faith in a gathered Church and a gathered Christianity is so integral to the message of Jesus because as we gather and as we engage and as we allow the community of God to help in the developmental process of our faith what we recognize is that God has people in places I didn't even know existed [Music] Northwest is a tough area plan this world is not designed to encourage your faith the place where you work is probably not insulated with a bunch of encouraging news about the message of the gospel and if we don't tune in to the right voices it's really easy to fall into a depressive view of what lays ahead but if you could hear the words of Jesus do not be afraid no horrible company keep on speaking why because I am with you I will protect you and I've gotten people in this city friend that could function as an encouragement for your life today God's got people and you're one of them do you know that not only does God have people for you but you're somebody else's person you're somebody else's resource you're somebody else's instrumental figure in their life you're somebody else's testimony or somebody else's friend who in a time of need came alongside of them and encouraged them in the way that they should go you're somebody else's testimony about why they should have killed themselves but they did it because you were the right person in the right time and at the right place it's not just that God has people for us in this city that we are the people that others have been waiting for in this city as well you are the answer to somebody else's prayer you are that other person that other resource and together as a community we encourage ourselves with these words knowing that Jesus isn't finished with us he's not done with the church he's not done with the region and that our best days aren't behind us they're ahead of us I challenge you to believe that today I challenge you to understand the history in the context of the church in Corinth it wasn't awesome it wasn't happy all the time it wasn't brilliant all the time it was difficult it was tough it was the result of massive cultural disruption and while the world was weeping in chaos God was working in strategy and this God who isn't surprised by anything that life or earth throws at him has been weaving us together for this moment we've been made for this we've been made for this God knows what you've been constructed with friend we've been made for this moment you're not gonna fail you're not going to quit you're not gonna give up you're not going to shrink back in fear you're not gonna give territory to the enemy you're not gonna go back to old habits you're not going to go back to toxic relationships you're not gonna go back to past seasons of immaturity you are gonna advance you're gonna go forward you're gonna grow you're gonna win you're gonna develop you're gonna have life and life more abundantly friend that is what we have been called to and God's got people city would you stand with me as we close [Music] [Music] let me pray for you father we love you go we honor you we thank you that you are at work at ways that we can't comprehend we can't understand we can't quantify that is part of the mystery of godliness that is part of the mystery of Christ followers you're at work in significant ways so God would pray for your supernatural help in time of need for this region for our area for our families for our lives as individuals well I thank you that for those who feel alone you would speak over them today I am with you and so god we resonate with the idea of the Incarnation a God who has come close to the person of Jesus who has empowered us in relationship through the reality of the Holy Spirit and God today it is our desire to draw near to you as you draw near to us that we would know that you are with us in every season every Valley every mountaintop that you're working things together far good now we pray for your help in our time of need and God in earnestness we pray for this region thank God you would continue to bring the right people at the right time that you would continue to marshal the resources needed for what lays ahead that you would continue to awake in the eyes and the ears of those who can see in here that this is our moment not to shrink back but to advance at boldness and encourage God we pray for Supernatural encouragement on your people today [Music] we are your people in this city Bhau will give you all the praise give you all the glory we'll give you all the honor in Jesus hey Ben anybody have right thanks so much for joining us in the church we're gonna be back tonight to pray at 6 p.m. if you want to join us feel free to do so if not god bless we're gonna see a lot of you next week it's gonna be incredible with my friend pastor Tracy our dog we'll see you guys 9:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. next week invite a friend god bless [Music] you [Music] [Music] hey pursuit kids welcome back today we're gonna be talking about the big God story today's main theme is God wants everyone to be part of his family that's so exciting I mean I love spending time with my family going on trips like I call it going on Avengers and we're gonna learn more about how God wants us to be part of his family okay guys let's pray can you shake shake shake shake them keep it clap clap them fold your hands bow your head dear Jesus thank you so much for today thank you for my friends thank you for this time that we can learn more about you Lord I just asked that our hearts are open for maybe new things or maybe these are stories that we've heard before but we'd be able to learn something new about them be with us wherever we are let your presence just fall in Jesus name Amen hey Jake how's it going what's going on that's right well I have some family photos here to show you and I see that you brought some of yours too that's awesome because today the main theme is God wants you to be part of his family so can I be my first yeah sure right here so this is my family I have three older brothers and we're all there together for at Christmas then you know what I did before with my family we ran a race in Disneyland and it was a 5k and so were there together um I do love Disneyland so here's another one of us together and guess what I got all the characters to sign it is that pretty cool that's pretty dull yeah okay and my last one I have two nephews and a niece and they're kind of my favorite so I picture of them so that's my family so what do you have there Jake oh my god couple few things here you did I see that one you're riding on the Dumbo ride yes but you're alone in this one oh okay Jake so what what Steve another one you're down the slide Jake I was your family like it's just you there with your mom taking the picture yeah of course my mom was there what do you think it's true safety first um and then this one here oh it's was this your last birthday yeah yesterday or something oh I mean do you get to blow out all the candles so we're like all your friends and family there are you sure okay Jake I just kinda seemed like maybe you don't have a big family or okay oh my goodness cuteness overload Jake I mean look at me Jake I mean like it just seems like maybe you were alone in some of these pictures but you know what you need to hear about the big odd story about how we're talking about how God wants you to be part of his family do you know that Jake yeah I gotta cycle okay let's take a listen and hear about the big God story pursue kids let's talk about the big bad story like I said our main theme is God wants you to be part of his family we're actually talking about like three different stories today they're found in Matthew and in Luke and these cool envelopes here to help us with the story so right here it's a storyteller and guess what that's me so let's check it out and see what's inside here has a clue to go along with what we're gonna learn about it says clue number one I'm wooly and soft and I say ah if I am lost Who am I okay you're right at this piece right I'm gonna have a cute little one right here well let's find out if we go on to number two right here what's inside to make us confirm that sheep Oh cotton balls be soft like it's wool so what's that story that goes along with the Sheep have you heard about that one okay so you know what it's in Matthew 18 and there's a shepherd and he had 100 sheep like that's so many like I mean like if I babysit kids I mean I only want to be was it like couple you know but to have 100 to be able to have to like watch after well you know what happened one went away and he realized it he noticed that he only had 99 there and you know what he could just be like hey you know ninety-eight ninety-nine good enough but no he left to go find that one because he wanted to make sure that that one was safe and was back with the family and that's just like Jesus he too wants us to be able to be part of his family and we're so important to him just like that one out of the 100 sheep that he's gonna go looking for us okay within this envelope there was another clue so let's see here it says you have found number one but your hunt has just begun so look around for the next envelope that has a number 10 and your next clue is just around the bend okay so that is right here my envelope that has a 10 on it so let's see what's inside that 10 that would go along with the story Hey it's like money here we have one two three four five six seven eight nine ten coins ah that's it that's that by the okay so there was a story about this lady and she had ten silver coins no did she had ten nickels probably not but that's what I have here to show so she had ten coins as she lost one she was searching everywhere all over the house like you know moving things taking up baskets whoops almost lost another figured out baskets moving things around and she was so concerned for that one and she took the time to find it and she finally did do you think she was like well found the coin no she was so excited she rejoiced she was so thrilled that's just another another word to be like I'm so happy like yeah this is so exciting I found my coin because she this coin meant something to her and again it goes back to the story of Jesus and our relationship with him that something was lost and maybe you know one coin like okay might lose change all the time but it was so important to be able to find that one and they rejoice they're so happy when it was found so those are my let's see what's inside here or the next clip it says you've done great with clues one and two now it's time for something new one son went far away helped bring him back to his father today hmm a story about a son and his father this one right here cuz you can see well it's like a son maybe like maybe I'm sorry a father and a son and definitely someone's missing it says lost son family picture so I think this is the correct clue right here well let's look inside it what we would find it's the son and it was exactly to this picture well again the third story is about something that was lost and it was a son he made some choices that weren't that weren't so great like his behavior wasn't good he decided to turn away from his family and he left well you know you would think like his dad would just be super angry at him and be like okay that's it no when his son came back his dad forgave him and it says says in the story that he embraced him with a hug and a kiss like he was so excited to see him like a he's been lost for that time and he forgave him and he was able to come back and the father just had this love for him you know what friends that's the same that's the same for our Heavenly Father he has a love for us and he's searching just like that she just like that point just like this little boy that went away like he would be searching for us and he'd be so excited for us to come back I mean part of his family I remember the main thing was God wants you to be part of his family and that's accepting Christ in your life and knowing that you know wouldn't we die that we would go to heaven but most importantly right now we get to have relationship with him remember the weeks ago we talked about prayer but it's not just you know you just pray for your meals or that one time like we can pray it anytime anywhere doing anything and he will answer us so friends I encourage you this week think about these stories about how God wants you to be part of this family but also remember you can talk to God anytime if there's something that comes up or a problem or you know what just something you want to thank him for you can do that too because he wants you to be part of his family so let's pray dear Jesus thank you for my friends Lord I just asked that they would just feel your love that they would know that he wants you part of his family and that this week maybe when things come up they would be able to talk with you just like I am right now just communicating and that you would just show your love and your peace and your joy over my friends thank you so much for today into this name amen hi boys and girls can you believe it it is the last week of June and that means it's the last week with our memory verse and I wanted to see if Pastor Hillary has got it down this month let's see if she doesn't that one okay so close oh hi go ahead okay your father knows what you need before you ask him Matthew six eight be perfect so since it's the last week with this memory verse we thought it would be fun if you just have it printed out on a piece of paper and you can color it and decorate it to hang it up somewhere in your house so you'll always remember that your father knows what you need even before you ask so pastor Hilary Knight we have some pens here we and we're going to decorate the memory first to hang up in our homes awesome you said to that you could print it out but you also could can write it too right oh you couldn't just write it yeah you know it's those of us that are you know learning to spell some of the words you should just yeah right there and we talked about a couple of times ago lesson but there's different versions I think when we were talking about the Lord's Prayer so if you look this up in your Bible you might have a different version so the words might be a little bit different and that's okay too this was just the one that we chose to learn all together your father knows what you need before you ask him 8b I got a border going on you choose to do some little doodles and some underlining of some important words so have fun with it at home and thank you for memorizing this first with us this month it was fun hey you guys look what I have bean boozled have you ever seen these before it's these jelly beans that some of them have disgusting flavors and I thought it would be fun if we make pastor Hilary play this game hey Hilary come on over I got a fun game for us yeah I guess dude last week I told you meet you at that M&M game that minute to win it so it's something like that yeah well I didn't want to have a competition with you again because you beat me at both the games last week so instead this is just gonna be a you game okay I mean I'm cool with that okay so she's gonna play feed boo so what do you think about playing bean boozled um I've actually I have played something similar to this before I did hear though that there's like some different flavors so yeah we'll see so I have a spinner here and I'm gonna spin it to see what flavor pastor Hilary has to try and there's two options it's either gonna be a delicious flavor or a disgusting Laver you're not gonna know till you eat it okay okay I might choose like a week there's actually juicy pear that's actually one of my favorite ones right or it's Booker okay but I'm gonna go I'm gonna hope that you spin on that one because I love juicy pear like lollipops I filled it up with juicy pear so good okay ready if either birthday cake oh okay or dirty dishwater okay so that was one of the new ones and dirty dishwater okay birthday cake or dirty dirty dish okay here we go oh that's birthday cake like that is like frosty vanilla frosting right there okay okay go spin it we gotta get her a gross yeah Oh at the end of the worst one on here peach okay or barf Oh like it's gonna taste like barf like my own bar for someone else's bar okay okay wait I gotta like finish this birthday cake okay I finished that one Oh future Bart future Bart I don't - watch this - that's work spit in a city okay do mi ly - spit it out yeah yeah okay can you spin again oh my god like I think feel like that was someone else a bar see just a parrot or do you smell my breath okay you're booger ah parents gonna be too bad I mean like rotten grass like I don't even know how to describe that can you spin again please okay let's do at least two more chocolate chocolate oh I don't like that one to begin with okay we're dogs Oh dog food no no you just have to like no Reagan this we don't we don't do none of that we just go hey guys so it's kind of like I have like fish grass in my mouth okay so chocolate all your taste is gone I sees dog food oh yeah Pat where's that chocolate that's bad that means they're dead chocolate one problem yeah see that's but that's why I told you I don't like to talk to putting one to begin with so maybe it was chocolate one but last one sure I was able to like eat it that's okay let's go two more two more that we're done hey these people have things to do no but you see Onoda like every single one they're all disgusting oh my gosh strawberry banana smoothie okay lightful you did maybe they gave me the wrong oh okay strawberry strawberry banana smoothie ooh that's what I gave you okay hey last one guys last one please that's it okay but seriously like okay I'll tell you something a second but like let's do last one at least toasted marshmallow oh okay no I was curious about this one or stinkbug - you're not like I love it the least - face I think you need the - yeah I feel like it's a little bit of dead fish / grass I think the chocolate pudding I don't toast it marshmallow or stink bug or stink bug here we go guys last one oh that's toasted marshmallow around the campfire have a little more here you got Reese's Peanut Butter Cup or something oh that would have been good to top it all off okay I do appreciate that we're gonna end it that way but I will tell you we played this with my family before hilarious cuz you know you get your you know aunts uncles and brothers and all that yeah hey she have a puke bucket and then like some something to drink in between the VPI to and stuff but yeah it's just fun so thanks for playing thanks for playing yeah okay see you later guys hey hey Jake how's it going it's going pretty good that was a breakup story you were talking about God's family it was a good one because God wants you to be part of his family you know I don't really have any family yeah I mean I guess we could realize that when you're showing your feeling pictures like you didn't say that you'd have your mom but you're right like you don't have lots of siblings around but you know what that's okay well I was caught thinking about it because I think maybe myself maybe some of my friends watching would want to be a part of God's family it is so true they would want to do that and you know what Jake I actually heard like in Sunday school you asked Jesus to become part of your life and to have him in your heart and that you are part of God's family really be a part yes I mean it's it's so excited you have your mom with you and you know what there are friends that are like family but Jake you are part of God's family and I love that so you know what - you're part of our pursuit family yeah I know for reals and I have some pretty dope merch here for you it's a pursuit t-shirts are you so excited you have nothing okay um I'm gonna put it over your head okay let's see how this will fit very nice and it has a P there for pursuit I mean you're looking pretty good because that's a whole part of the big guy story Jake and the whole reason while we're doing this is to let all of our friends know not just you but you're right the friends that are watching so they know that they can be part of God's family and be part of our pursuit family I have one other surprise for you Jake it's a picture of you and me check it out yes we're family I think he likes it and you can have this maybe put up in your room because you know what friends are like family too and we're all in this together so Jake I'm so happy that you're part of God's family does it make your heart happy you bet you bet are you loving the t-shirt your bad Oh do you want to like go get lunch yeah let's go get some ice cream okay let's do it [Music] you

Channel: The Pursuit NW

Views: 353

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: IZPzVvPteQ4

Length: 144min 0sec (8640 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 28 2020