What Do You Really Believe About God? - 11am

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] well good morning church and good morning to our online congregation welcome it's good to be here to praise the lord right in fact who's come to praise his name this morning should we stand together and give him praises heavenly father we just stand before you right now we give you all the praise we thank you for being our god our savior our king and our father we pray that the very meditation of our hearts this morning the words that we sing will be pleasing aroma to you we love you we give you thanks we pray in jesus name because you said we could amen amen amen amen church let's give god a sacrifice and praise this morning [Music] [Music] come let us worship our king come let us bow at his feet he has done great things [Music] see what our savior has done see how his love overcomes he has done great things [Music] god you do great things oh hero of heaven you conquered the brain you free every captive and break every chain oh god you have done great things we dance in your freedom awakened alive oh jesus our savior your name lifted up you have done great day [Music] you've been faithful through every storm you'll be faithful forever you have done a great thing [Music] and i know you will do it again [Music] for your promises yes and amen you will do great things yes god god you do great things [Music] yes you conquer the grave you free every captain and break every chain oh god you have done great things we dance in your you have done great things let's declare it together hallelujah and hallelujah above it all hallelujah unshakeable hallelujah i've done great things we declare this morning above it all hallelujah [Music] got a shakeable hallelujah you have done great things you've done great things oh of heaven you've conquered the grave you free and recapped break every chain oh god you have done great your things awakened alive oh jesus i save you your name lifted high oh god you have done great yes things have done great days [Music] amen church god you do great things thank you lord thank you god you do great [Music] yes lord amen [Applause] [Music] i searched the world [Music] but it couldn't fill me in man's empty praise the treasures that faith are never enough then you came along [Music] and put me back together and every desire is now satisfied here in your love so we sing together church oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you [Music] i'm not afraid no i'm not afraid [Music] to show you my weakness [Music] my failures and flaws lord you've seen them all and you still call me friends i guess lord cause the god of the mountain [Music] is the god of the valley and there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you [Music] lose tell them to get a church oh there's nothing [Music] nothing is better [Music] you turn more into dancing you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only one who can we sing that again you turn morning to dancing you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only one who cares you turn crazy you turn bones into armies you turn season to highway you're the only one who oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing [Music] nothing is better than you just tell them one more time together church yeah there's nothing better than you there's nothing [Music] better than you lord there's nothing nothing is better than you thank you amen amen [Applause] he's our matchless king nothing is better than him amen and there's one song that's from long ago that really describes what he's done for us awesome king our lord jesus [Music] when i served the one trust cross on which the prince [Music] [Music] lost and more content [Music] see from his head he is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] verse 3 for the whole world [Music] [Music] and amazing [Music] my [Music] [Applause] i sing the first verse again when i survey [Music] all which the prince [Music] and for content [Music] god [Music] forever [Music] oh god [Music] are you the night you count the stars and you call them by name the skies proclaim god you read [Music] your glory shines [Music] you teach the sun when to bring a new day creations sings gods [Music] and gods is [Music] god [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] i got you [Music] [Applause] got you ready [Music] forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] it [Music] let your voices in praise [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] does anybody have the lungs to praise god this morning does anybody want to say praise god to glorify his name does anybody want to express thanks to god this morning blessed be the name of our god blessed be his holy name let us exalt his name together amen praise his name praise his name praise his name he is truly worthy church amen and we read in the book of revelation how this perpetual praise before the throne of god the four and twenty elders multitudes of angels amen and the saints all gathered at that day praising his name we're just rehearsing for that well it's good to be together amen it's good to be in the lord's place with the lord's people let's greet one another extend a one blessing to all those around you across the aisles meet someone new and we welcome those in the livestream [Music] [Music] good morning and welcome my name is nick turner i'm one of the youth pastors here at hope chapel and whether you're a first time viewer or a regular attender we just want to say welcome to the hope chapel sunday morning livestream [Music] [Music] hope chapel is a bible teaching church located in hermosa beach california our ministry philosophy is to win souls to jesus equip believers in the word of god and then send them out to make disciples throughout the south bay and beyond if you'd like to know more about us please visit our website at hopechapel.org be sure to follow us on facebook and instagram for the latest news and updates you can call our church office with any questions needs or prayer requests tuesday through friday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m our phone number is 310-370 you can also send us an email at info hope chapel dot org and any prayer requests to prayer hope chapel dot org we have in-person worship services every saturday at 5 00 pm and every sunday morning at 9 00 a.m and 11 a.m pacific standard time we also offer our live stream available every sunday at nine and eleven and whenever you feel comfortable we would love to invite you to join us for one of our in-person worship gatherings space is limited due to social distancing guidelines so please come early as seating is on a first come first serve basis our hope kids program is open so bring the whole family this october we are celebrating our 50th anniversary so mark your calendars for october 1st through 3rd and come join us to celebrate 50 years of hope chapel's legacy [Music] [Music] [Music] at the conclusion of today's message we will be taking communion together you may use any crackers bread and juice you have available at home this is a good time to prepare your communion elements if you have not already before we take communion we traditionally bring our ties and offerings for those that are tuning in at home there are still a number of ways to give online at hope chapel dot org forward slash give you can text the word give to 310-388-3448 you can utilize our alexio community app or by mail to 2306 pacific coast highway hermosa beach california 90254 so so thanks again so much for your faithful contribution your generous giving has allowed us to continue to minister to people both locally and globally now stay tuned for a very special message from the word of god [Music] well welcome back church good morning again happy labor day weekend to you all hope you got your full of football yesterday i'm curious how many are working toward developing the habit of praying through the psalms is it an encouragement to your life yes if you can do it for three months day after day week after week month after month for three months i promise you it'll make a difference in your life unbelievable difference so i'm encourage along those lines if you're visiting with us this morning it's your first time at hope chapel welcome it is our custom degree guests and visitors and our ushers are standing ready i'd like to have our congregation simply welcome you with a warm hand of applause and in addition uh our ushers do have a little information i'd like you to receive and please know it's not my intention to embarrass you make you feel uncomfortable we do want you to feel very welcome in our service this morning however if this is your first time i am going to ask you if you would be willing to identify yourself simply by holding your hand up real high do you have any first time guests this morning welcome real high you gotta hold it up real high okay welcome welcome good to have you back there okay that material we're giving you does include an information card that cards provided so that you can if you should so choose respond back let us know who you are and as well if you may have a question or comment if there's some way you think we might be of some help or encouragement to you there's room on the reverse side of those cards to write those comments or you can look at the qr code in your bulletin which is quick response is that right what is it quick read that's right i can never get that right quick read okay or you can use that in your bulletin and that will accomplish the same end and if you're new in the community or you are looking for home church i can't wreck can't recommend this church enough i came way back in the 70s and i are still here so praise god we're a great church and if you come six or seven seven times in a row chances are you will find a home and we will grow on you so again good to have you with us this morning if you do fill our cart out at the conclusion of our service at all of our exits there will be one of our team members with a basket you can drop that card in that basket okay so good to have you with us if you look at your bulletin i want to highlight some announcements for you real quickly we have obviously a continuing need for volunteers for help in a number of areas uh our parking ministry can still use some help children's ministry we're still looking for volunteers jesus says keep asking keep seeking keep knocking and he'll provide so we're looking for volunteers for our children's ministry and to that end i want to call you attention to the screens we have a special video for you to see [Music] my name is justin manzon hi my name is lindy couture my family is a family of five myself and my wife megan i volunteer at hope kids our first daughter estelle our son lincoln and our new baby turner he's three months old now my greatest joy serving here at hope chapel kids is serving the lord and the children i think the children are amazing my family and i have been coming to hope oh for just over a year now it's a wonderful place where we drop off our children when we come to service on sundays or other events during the week that we attend i came to volunteer at hope chapel during the pandemic miss christina would come and drop off envelopes for the kids and my kids were devastated when they couldn't attend church when these envelopes would be delivered my children would wait by the window anxiously and just so excited that church was here i knew that if they had this much joy i was missing out and i needed to be here too when we show up and we walk into hope it feels like we are walking in and being greeted by family we see so many people that we know when we come down to the hope kids room to drop off our children having that relationship with the people here the volunteers is just a wonderful experience it makes us as parents confident that our children are in good hands and together as we worship the lord i know that they're down here also worshiping the lord [Music] this is an absolute huge deal to volunteer because our children are our future and the more we teach them about the lord and the book and family it's just important that they learn they're our future we have to do this for them anybody that's on the fence about volunteering is such a valuable experience and a valuable service to the church body serves the individual and it serves the community and it helps to build up christ's body volunteer it's worth it the kids the family the lord do it [Applause] so again you have a flyer in your bulletin that allows you to sign up to volunteer for our children's ministry great great ministry the returns on your time investments and your efforts just are amazing and you have to be there to realize that so i want to commend that also coming up at the a uh first weekend of october is our 50-year anniversary as a congregation and we want to celebrate what god has been doing in our church for 50 years and uh if you were here for the 45th it was just really great spectacular so the whole weekend is going to be occupied friday uh alan and his team have orchestrated a compilation of 50 years of hope chapel music and worship songs i can hardly wait to hear what he's put together and if you were here for the 45th uh i mean i've worn out my cd in my car listening to those songs and singing along with them they're just so rich and then saturday uh we're gonna be uh hosting a uh church picnic down below at the valley park and uh we've hired lucille's uh barbecue to come and and serve food for us it's gonna be a beautiful day for the kids so we want to commend that and then later in the afternoon uh an open house if if if this is the only room you've been in in the church and you've been here for a long time and you're curious about what what's behind that wall what's up in those rooms what's behind these walls what goes on next door uh we're gonna have open house you can come and just kind of wander through and just take a look and see what's going on and visit the pastors in their offices next door uh it's just it's really an eye-opening experience to see what god has done in this small space you'd be amazed and go back and visit hope and action and so forth so that's going to be and then sunday morning of course we invited our founding pastor ralph moore to come back and share with us uh his memories and as well a vision for the church so we want to ex just commend this weekend to you and given all that's going to be going we do need volunteers to help us and a number of you've already signed up thank you for doing that uh we just need a ton of people to help us pull this thing off for the entire weekend so you have a form a volunteer call in your bulletin take a moment just fill it out we'll get in touch with you and find the appropriate place for you to minister to the body that weekend the more people we have the shorter time we get to serve each one of us and we'll be able to enjoy the entire weekend okay sound good yo it sounds great pastor yes thank you so much for giving us another opportunity to serve yes amen come on you guys i'm working hard up here [Laughter] ladies you'll notice that the ladies bible studies are identified in the bulletin and they're boxed off for you so you have any questions you'd like to be involved in ministry uh with and to and by other women you know the the bible says let the younger women learn from the older women and so this is a great great opportunity and there's a number of bible studies coming up mark your dates and you can register for those bible studies to be involved my class hope 101 starts is wednesday night i'm excited i have just a list of people who've already signed up and a lot of them are new names i'm really excited to get to know who these people are and if you if i ever know you and you're signed up come anyway okay we're gonna have a good time and it's just gonna be really really exciting kind of getting things back up to speed somewhat so just alert you to that also um we are i want to say thank you to all those who came last or the last two sundays to help us remove carpet from the hallway out there and from our children's church lobby area and we allowed us to put down new flooring that is a lot more durable and easy to clean next sunday week from today is the big job this room i need 50 guys i need 50 guys to help remove this carpet out of here and prepare the floor so the carpeting company can come in and lay the new carpet i need 50 guys i got two three hands four hands five six okay i'll be recruiting again next weekend so 50 guys just be thinking about that okay and we're gonna we're gonna serve food it'd be four o'clock in the afternoon just need you here at four uh we'll have food for you um gloves masks whatever is necessary so uh we just the more guys we get the quicker we can get this done the floor the carpet comes up we get it removed carried out of here and we can all go home and uh thank god for that so thank you for those hands that are up remember god sees those hands that you yes yes right all right good okay let me see sure i got everything for you here okay all right let's pray lord we thank you again for your grace to us this new day and thank you that your mercies are new to us again today thank you lord that you forget our sins you don't remember them and you don't call them back and throw them in our face we're so thankful and lord we pray again that you provide ample volunteers as we ask this morning for children's ministry for our anniversary weekend and for the carpet pulling party that we're going to have next week we pray too lord that you would just grant us increasing boldness in our lives to live out our faith privately and indeed publicly we pray for revival we ask you to pour out your spirit and bring revival to our land to our very community to our homes lord we pray too for revival to break out in the middle east and more particularly in afghanistan and god we just ask again that you would do a great and mighty work we pray that you would pour rain on our state we just ask you for rain have mercy on california lord in spite of the craziness and the foolishness that goes on father we just stand in the gap and we repent on behalf of all the nuttiness and even our participation in it to whatever degree we repent of those things we say have mercy on our state lord we commit all these things to you and we pray and ask in jesus name because you said we could amen amen amen amen well i want to talk to you this morning about the god that you think you know okay so pull out your notes i don't have a a passage to jump off of so i'm just going to talk at you this morning so here we go i think it's fair to say that most of us if not all have experienced trials in our life yes adversity afflictions hardships maybe even tragedy these things are inevitable they come they touch everybody's life but the interesting thing about those things notwithstanding the rationale the reasons the whys that we ask about them they have this interesting capacity to uncover what we really believe about god think about it when stuff happens and you're a christian you begin to wonder you begin to ask questions you begin to think hey whatever and it gives some measure of understanding or it should what do i really believe about god many times during these seasons or the these experiences that we go through we find ourselves again searching for reasons why why we try to find meaning in these things we naturally try to make sense out of what may seem to us to be senseless sometimes when we try to summarize our feelings we think maybe maybe somehow god has let us down now we're all gathered here we've just sung his praises we believe that he's in control of everything and we would never say in church god would let us down but maybe out there by ourselves that thought may occur to us we believe that god's our best friend don't we he's our best friend best friend and yet sometimes it may seem and we may feel that god has failed us we have certain expectations don't we we have certain expectations of ourselves of each other we have certain expectations of god and when those expectations go unmet where does that leave us hmm we have questions we wonder how could god let this happen to me how could god allow this to happen to good people people of faith even his people who is this god that we worship who exactly is this god that we pray to who is this god that we spend time with now many of us in time learned that we have been worshipping the wrong god actually gods plural with a small g and there are five of them this morning that i want to identify and i think we'll all be able to relate to one degree or another each of these small g lesser gods reflects attributes that we try to place on the one true god this is where it is so important to know your bible if you don't know your bible if you're not reading your bible if you're not studying your bible the bible is not really [Music] a hold a special place in your life it would be very very difficult to recognize and refute these false gods you got to know the truth you got to know the truth it's like it's like tellers in the bank i'm told that they're they recognize counterfeit money just because they know the real money the just the feel of it they know counterfeit bill when it comes through we have to know the truth so we can recognize that which is counterfeit and might i add what the with the the darkness kingdom of darkness is trying to influence and how the kingdom of darkness is trying to influence us and though sometimes we may struggle we have to remember that the goal of our lives is not money the goal of our lives is not pleasure the goal of our lives is not power the goal of our lives is not even now get this one fun i had a conversation with man no longer he says pastor i i just i just want to have some fun i said well let's just look back in the concordance for the word fun it's not there the goal of our lives is to embrace the great i am that's the goal of our lives he says what love me with your whole heart mind and soul and strength that's the goal of our lives so given that what are these lesser false gods what do they look like we are to leave them behind the first one and this is one that's a favorite of most of us the first god is the god who does things my way have you ever found yourself talking to god in prayer and telling him what to do and how to do it all the time we have a choice we have a choice when experiencing difficulties trials afflictions tragedies to accept that god chooses to conduct his business differently than you or i would have most likely we see something happening a difficulty a tragedy we want to intervene and the quicker the better we call 9-1-1 right call 9-1-1 say we want to intervene that's our natural impulse and stop the tragedy stop the difficulty and yet because we serve a sovereign god we believe that he could have changed the outcome of whatever tragic events that were experienced but for whatever reason he chose not to i submit to you that when you see something going on and i experience this all the time i see people's lives in trouble i see trials i see challenges i see stuff happening and i want to jump in there and say i'm the pastor i have a job to do i'm supposed to i dare not do it unless i'm first in prayer god give me wisdom here give me wisdom i don't want to step into a situation where god may be doing something in that person's life and i'm going to subvert it you understand what i'm saying i don't want to get in there and do or say something that's going to lead that person off track as much as i know i know that i can be wrong about some things only god knows the heart doesn't he it's wonderful you hear something from somebody and you go oh my oh my oh my then you got to go get the other side of the story right pretty soon you're going whoa you don't know what's right you have to be careful you have to be careful about these things he is the god who does give us a capacity to choose and he means for us to make right choices we make these choices in a fallen world remember we are still fallen beings we're still imperfect beings and hence our choices are going to be imperfect there's no perfect choice that we're going to make and when sometimes we make bad decisions there's the domino effect of those decisions true and those that domino effect can reach further than we can possibly imagine how many of us have ever said words that we just wish we could grab them and pull them back because we see that those words are going to have an effect and we don't know where that effect is going to go it may take us a while to let go of the god who does things my way and in doing so we need to admit that we don't know what is best in the long term that's always something you have to calculate do i know what's best in the long term no who does he does he does a greater more informed less contained god exists and he can usurp all of our goals we need to be in effect dethroned we love nothing more than sitting on the throne of our life we love nothing more than to be in control we love nothing more than to make the decisions and i promise you he says you must deny yourself we must be dethroned if he is truly to sit on the throne the bible when you read it reveals a god whose ways little little resemble my own you ever noticed that isaiah chapter 55 this is these verses are are famous and most all of you probably know these verses and god says my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways she's saying you you know you don't think the way i think and you don't do what i do and how i do it so his his purpose is to get us in his book when i when i read the bible for years and years and years i said god i want to think like you think i want to know your mind better i want truly to have the mind of christ i want to live how you would the only way i'm going to do that is by spending time with him reading reading studying thinking we have to admit that there is a god way of thinking and that we may not fully apprehend it after all would i have loaded a boat with animals would you have loaded a boat with animals probably not never occurred to me would you have limited gideon's army or we go to war we want the biggest baddest armor we can find right what does god do whittles it down to how many people 300 would you have done that no would you have wagered that david would beat goliath nobody in their right mind believe that and he does it with a stone would you have removed the sins of men by sending the son of god last thing i had ever done it's not too difficult to acknowledge that god is smarter that god is wiser and that god is greater than i am however it's much tougher to convince my fleshly nature that i'm not as smart as i think i am on one hand i agree but on the other hand i go i don't know my ways ultimately lead to death the writer of the proverb says this there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death that's why the proverbs also say acknowledge him in all of our ways don't lean on your own understanding proverbs 16 9 says this in his heart a man plans his course but the lord determines his steps aren't you glad aren't you glad god thank you for blunting the harvest of my foolishness thank you we have to admit that however right it seems going our own way apart from god's divine insight will not lead us down the correct path don't lean on our own understanding the realization that we need a god who knows more than we do and who isn't in need of our personal brilliance that's truly humbling you don't need me you don't need me i love when people say oh god needs you i said he needs me he's in bigger trouble than i thought he doesn't need me he wants me but he doesn't need me leaving my false god behind means i have gained a much more powerful god this god has the independence to do things based on his superior and insightful knowledge and plan he frees me from carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders do you ever get consumed with stuff you watch the news man you get exhausted watching the news and you you're you find yourself carrying the weight of the world he frees us from that he frees us so that we can be part of his bigger picture he has a plan for my life but if i'm consumed with thinking that i got to control everything i'm going to miss his plan and his purpose for my life so he frees me from all that and when we learn to embrace the god who does things his way not our way we rest in the blessings of his peace we rest in the blessings of his grace and his joy it's his joy all of a sudden life takes on a whole new perspective when we learn that he really has a plan how about the god who is harsh cruel or mean what about that god when we decide to acknowledge the true god the next struggle may come in actually trusting him this is important i may logically rationally acknowledge the one true god but the whole another case is do i really trust him do i really trust him after all he's let this tragedy happen he's let this trial happen he's this thing's in my life can i really really trust him it's one thing to know that he does what is best but it's quite another thing to live as if he will do what is best again according to my understanding there's an age-old question probably most of you heard it if not thought it yourself how can a loving god allow evil and tragic things to happen have you ever heard that i've heard a thousand times people say when i talk about jesus as somebody who's not a believer they say well well if god is so loving if he's so kind and so good why that and they point out all these crazy things you see when that occurs to us we begin to sometimes question god if he's allowed that to happen what's next are you with me you understand if that's happened what's next have you ever thought this i'm waiting for the other shoe to drop i talked with a man last week he's in the same dilemma he's just suffered this huge big trial tragedy and i'm encouraging him to trust god he says i'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop what's his he's saying i don't really trust him i don't trust him we have to realize that god is not the big guy in the sky who waits to zap me when i mess up no it's just the opposite here's one of the greatest greatest promises in the bible first john 1 9 how many know that verse what's he saying if if what if we confess our sins now just think with me we're talking about a relationship a relationship with me and god right if i can use an analogy of human relationship you're in a relationship with this person you sin against that person but you don't acknowledge it does that create a little distance in the relationship now you know you've sinned the other person knows you've sinned you know that they know that you sinned and they know that you know that you sinned figure that out but unless and until you step up and say i'm sorry i sinned against you there's still going to be distance and tension in that relationship true story so what has to happen the person who sinned has to come and say i sinned i did this or that god's no different he says i know what you did i already know what you did but your sin distances you from me not me from you it's imperative that you come and fess up it's imperative that you come and say i was wrong i sinned against you but we do it in the confidence that he is what what is he faithful and just he's just to forgive me because he's already poured his wrath out on his son for that sin that i did he's faithful and just to forgive me i don't even have to beg for forgiveness you know where does he say do that he says just confess it admit it and let me forgive you let me cleanse you from all the kaka all the attendant unrighteousness see that verse that verse rules out a god intent on handing down retribution to repentance sinner now that doesn't mean he won't discipline us how many know there's a difference between punishment retribution and discipline discipline always has a side to the future punishment has a side toward the past our parents punished us grounded us spanked us but the wise parent disciplines their child that discipline has an eye to the future when i was younger i was an athlete and our coaches if you're an athlete you know if you had a good coach that coach disciplined you trained you with an eye toward the future isn't that true i remember i was in the eighth grade and we had this gym coach who's gonna get us in shape he had us laying on our backs doing leg lifts i've never done a leg lift in my life he says don't lower those feet keep those legs up keep those legs up screaming at us walking through the rows all these all these young boys crying like babies i was among them oh this hurts so bad this hurts so bad but then the result of that was that we were able to form at a higher level because he what he trained us he disciplines he wasn't punishing us hebrews chapter 12 we read this endure hardship is what endure hardship is what not punishment endured is discipline god works all things for our good god is treating you as sons for what son is not disciplined by his father if you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline then you're illegitimate children and not true sons moreover we have all had human fathers who discipline us and we respected them for it how much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live our father's discipline is for a little while as they thought best but god disciplines us for our good that we may share in his what holiness remember he says you will be holy because i'm holy he's using all these things in our life to make us like him to make us holy he says no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been what trained by it god's not mean he's not cruel he's good he's good he has a great and wonderful purpose for us maybe maybe this god who allows sorrow in our life is me no no no first second corinthians chapter one says that's not true this is what paul says peace or praise i said praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of what compassion and the god of all what comfort who comforts us in all our troubles if you're if you're focusing on the wrong god you're going to miss the comfort he comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those who are also in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from god no waste in god's economy he uses everything for our good and for the blessing of his kingdom god doesn't inflict pain as some cruel cruel god he binds up our sorrow with his compassion so that that compassion can't overflow into other people's lives you can say i understand i understand i've been there i'm still there and eventually we can trade our toxic god for the one who so loved the world that he gave his one and only son whoever should believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life god gave sacrificially so that you and i can live how can we possibly who can possibly compete with such love and when we finally realize that we're safe we're actually safe in the hands of the god who wants to bless us in spite of ourselves do you ever think you have to qualify you have to be good enough to get his blessings earn his blessings so you're saying okay i'm going to really work hard today i want to i want to be really spiritual today so god will bless me you can't earn it it's called grace he blesses us in spite of ourselves take that home he blesses you in spite of yourself he has the long view of your life he has a long he knows what he's doing you can exhale you can learn to enjoy his blessings that wonderful he died for us he died for us so that we may live and we may live for eternity in a place where there will be no more pain no more sorrow no more tears and no more death can you hardly wait he is our rescuer he rescues us he's the god that goes in and pulls me out from the fiery fate in which i'm surely going to enter into i love this passage for years and years and years i love this passage it's kind of an obscure passage it's in the prophet zechariah chapter 3 verse 2 he says a burning stick snatched from the fire that's who we were we were burning sticks he snatched us from the fire somebody say hallelujah to that amen there's a third god and this god is apathetic apathetic maybe you've wondered at some point maybe you've even asked does god really care about what i'm going through not only does he know but does he care does that make any difference to him we all know how caring he is on sunday morning when we're here singing his praises well what about monday morning what about monday morning when we may whimper and groan in pain i found a passage of scripture where god now notice this god appeared he appeared to be indifferent what did i say he appeared to be indifferent this is in the book of joshua in chapter 5. look it with me now joshua's just he's brought the people into the land he's getting ready now to attack what city jericho the first city of the land jericho is going to be a tithe of the land because god says to them don't touch anything don't take any spoils for yourself this is mine so it's a tithe of the lamb so when joshua was near jericho he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand joshua went up to him and asked are you for us or for our enemies what does the man reply neither neither but as commander of the army of the lord i have now come now when i read that and the lord replied neither i thought wait a minute i thought god was always on our side he's always a republican but when he said neither i thought this meant he was apathetic to joshua's plight joshua has to make a choice he's got this huge military crisis in front of him and then i read he'd come as commander of the army of the lord i finally realized this is not indifference at all god has appeared to joshua at a time when joshua needs answers and notice that the lord doesn't show up as a shepherd he doesn't show up as a sacrificial lamb but as commander of the army of the lord just what joshua needed since he was in the middle of this strategic military crisis joshua had to know he had to learn as do you and i god is not in the business of taking political or social sides that's not what he does he is in the practice of taking his own side stand with me he's in the practice of taking his own side and his side always wins just go read the following chapter chapter 6 of joshua so josh you asked whose side are you on god in effect responds with his own question joshua whose side are you on do it my way and when i'm forever telling people i'm forever telling married couples i'm telling couples who are in premarital counseling i'm forever telling them do you want god to bless you yes yes yes do it his way do it his way don't take shortcuts you find out what he says do it his way you want to win you want to get blessed do it his way it's not rocket science it's not complicated you have to humble yourself though right so the true god is not apathetic he always knows where he stands he always knows where he's going and he always knows what his purpose is for us we're the ones who have a decision to make will i follow him or not will i trust him or not do we believe god's in control you know how you really know that's true is because you trust him and how do you know you trust him because you obey him so shall we place god ourselves on god's side i'm on your side i want to learn what you want i want to do what you want when i first became a christian i didn't no one led me to the lord in a formal sense i just knew i knew he was there i said i said i said i know you're there i just don't know what you want yet but i'm gonna find out what you want and i'm gonna do it that was it that's how i became a christian the fourth lesser god is the god who is impotent sometimes when situations rage out of control we'll often ask god why doesn't he do something about it why don't you do something about this why don't you do something is it too much for him some time ago i went to god with my cries about his seeming lack of ability and indifference and he brought to my mind job job's always a fun read isn't it he brought to my mind the book of job job was not afraid to ask god some hard questions and eventually god turned the tables on job and he was the one doing the asking in the 38th chapter of the book of job god asked job these questions where were you when i laid the earth's foundation he's trying to give job some perspective have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place do you know the laws of the heavens can you set up god's dominion over the earth now i had to admit as did job i know you can do all things no plan of yours can be thwarted even when i can't understand why god allows certain tragedies he's not shaken and his power is not limited his power is not diminished his power is not destroyed it's like the little song that i sang to my son as he was an infant and consequently when i had grandchildren saying it to them as they were young and infants you'll recognize this we are weak but he is strong yes jesus loves me shall we put away our weak god and embrace the omnipotent god embracing this all-powerful god will bring us i promise you a new peace and a new strength you'll feel the weight lifted off you as you exchange your burden for his yoke which is light a whole new whole new whole new experience happens a whole new experience you begin to come to the place that only he knows all the wise we won't and it has to be okay that has to be okay you and i because of our imperfect natures we try to bring closure to everything we want to wrap everything up with a nice ribbon and bow right you're not gonna be able to you're gonna have to come to the place where where you realize he has all the whys and the rationales and the reasons you won't and that has to be okay at some point as the song says he has the whole world in his hands the fifth lesser god is the god who changes this is the god that we struggle the most to let go of and sometimes we still do this god who seems to be always changing capricious whimsical can't kind of pin him down wouldn't it be nice if he could pin god down get him nailed down this god is here today gone tomorrow this god wants me to live my life in fear that someday he will take away all my blessings and joys he's going to he keeps me on my toes keeps me on the edge scott is always changing we think this god can do the most damage because his credibility is verified by the tragedies and disasters he's already brought if he's done all that my gosh what can i expect now accidents diseases death these things enter our lives a lot of times unexpectedly isn't that true when you're walking down the street boom you got so you got this cobit where'd this come from how did i get this you're knocked down for what 10 days two weeks a month sometimes longer some people die from it stuff happens stuff happens and all these things have the potential to shatter any sense of hope that we have we just kind of live on the edge wars come trials tribulations are guaranteed jesus says in the face of all this we seem absolutely powerless this is a world of change the world is always changing but there are some good changes also you meet somebody you marry them you have babies you get a good job you enter a ministry you point people to jesus all really good things but regardless life on earth is volatile and it is constantly changing is it any wonder that we expect the same from god we have a habit of extrapolating our experiences here onto him our motivations on to him we do the same because of this changing world we live in we automatically assume that he's changing the real one true god actually embodies what our lives our souls everything that we are longs for what is that constancy consistently just be consistent just be consistent there isn't a wife around that doesn't want her husband to be consistent isn't that true a lot of us guys are just all over the map our wives don't know what to expect except inconsistency they just want us to be consistent just be consistent i'm fond of telling husbands that's your word of the day so i'll call him in the middle of the day what's the word of the day consistency hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 reminds us jesus christ is the same yesterday and today and forever his very nature is unchanging he remains the same he is stable regardless of my circumstances past present or future so we are able we're able to move about in this changing world we're able to move about knowing that he is with us fact he's promised to never leave us no forsake us wow i don't care what i'm going through he's with me he's with me he's with me he's with me he's not abandoning me he's not taking a nap he's not in the restroom he's with me he's with me he's with me that's the kind of god we need and that's the kind of god he is even even when a crisis threatens to chip away at the foundation of my faith my god stands unmoved he stands unshaken and unchanged the false gods we've enthroned over the years quite simply gave us nothing but grief you just have to look into your life if you're if your life is full of confusion anxiety fear all those negative kinds of things and you say well i'm a christian i believe in jesus but if your life is is bearing that kind of fruit you have to think maybe i am giving credibility to these lesser gods maybe i'm thinking this is what god is really like and it's resulting in this kind of grief and sadness in my life we recognize that we give them the heave hope but every so often they come back for a visit they try to gain a foothold again in our life and remember behind these false understandings of god our demonic forces and powers seeking to deceive us discourage us to defeat us and it's only through the truth of the scriptures that we are able to withstand their lies about who god really is so church today new day amen as we face the sorrows and griefs and tragedies and difficulties and tribulations in our life today let's commit to do that with the god whose ways are not our own let's commit to face these things with the god whose mission is to love and comfort us let's commit to face those things with the god who calls us to join him in his best let's commit to face those things with the god who has the power to make positive changes in our lives and lastly let's commit to face these things with a god who will stay with us who will stick with us and never leave us no matter what comes thomas said this thomas said this recorded in john's gospel when he realized who jesus was he says my lord and my god that's our proclamation amen say that with me my lord and my god hallelujah hallelujah to worship any other god absolutely futile let's stick with the one true god aren't you glad you're warned alerted all right let's pray heavenly father thank you again for your word thank you for the truth of of of what you reveal to us you teach us and thank you that you are you are god who whose ways and whose thoughts are higher than ours and lord you are instructing us and teaching us more and more so that we can think more like you and lord we can act more like you thank you thank you that you give us understanding and wisdom he said if you lack it ask it'll be given abundance thank you that once we were your enemy and now we sit at your table thank you for jesus search our hearts oh god show us show us those things that we have involved ourselves in that we need to admit and confess to you as we come to your table amen take a few moments let the holy spirit search your heart examine yourself and as he reveals anything to you just confess it to him knowing he's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness i'll come back in a moment or two and we'll all take communion together so [Music] so [Music] [Music] mm-hmm [Music] [Music] comes a time when we come to the table for the specific purpose of our focus on jesus everything else we push to the side we're reminded of his words very simply remember me remember me don't forget me during the week we may forget him we're busy stuff happens but right now we focus on him and more particularly we focus on his sacrifice he took some bread that night before he died he gave thanks for it he told his disciples he said this is my body given for you take and eat it was not only the bread pointed to his body but also the cup he described as the cup of the new covenant in his blood which would be poured out for us for the forgiveness of sins he says do this in remembrance of me thank you jesus drink the cup what a gift what a gift to be a christian to be a christian amen well i want to encourage you turn to your neighbor if you would pronounce a blessing on your neighbor in the name of jesus and if it's appropriate only if it's appropriate give your neighbor a holy hug and very possibly even a holy kiss let's stand together and sing his praises one more time before we dismiss then sings [Music] how great though how great thou art [Music] sings my soul my savior god [Music] and when i think [Music] [Music] can take [Music] [Applause] my heart [Music] is [Music] [Music] right [Music] then sings my soul my savior how great thou art [Music] thank you jesus this is his name he's a great god he has come to free us up and to give us life and life to the full amen father bless your church as we go from this place lord i pray your kingdom come and your will be done more fully in our lives lives of our families our church this community to the ends of the earth help us lord to be sensitive to you thoughtful and prayerful and bold use us oh god for your glory i ask and pray in jesus name amen god bless you have a blessed week i love you bye please tell somebody about jesus we need the men to help us stack the chairs guys if you help us stack the chairs nine high if you need prayer the elders will be available down in front [Music] thank you for tuning in today we truly hope that you were blessed by our time together we also want to thank you for your faithful continued giving here again are the various ways that you can continue to support the various ministries at hope chapel you may give online at hope chapel dot org forward slash give text give to 310-388-3448 or utilize our alexio community app or by mail to 2306 pacific coast highway hermosa beach california 90254 stay connected with us throughout the week by visiting our hope at home webpage or by following us on facebook or instagram we want to hear from you please send your prayer requests and your praise reports to prayer hope chapel dot org if you need prayer or support outside of our office hours please call our elder helpline at 310-318-8105 your pastors and elders are continually praying for our church family now is a good time to connect with one of our small groups for additional encouragement and support throughout the week you may visit hope chapel dot org forward slash mini church or contact pastor jared blue at jarrod.bluehopechapel.org to find a group to join thank you again for joining us today we look forward to gathering again online next sunday we hope to see you then and may god bless your week [Music] [Music] uh [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach

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Length: 114min 30sec (6870 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 06 2021