What Do You Really Believe About God? - 9am

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning church happy labor day weekend to you all and welcome to our online congregation it's a beautiful day it's a day the lord has made and we shall rejoice and what be glad in it amen amen so who's come to praise the lord this morning shall we stand together and praise his holy name lord we've come to praise your name we thank you for a new day we thank you that your mercies are new every morning we thank you for your faithfulness to us thank you that you are still on the throne and we love you be blessed by the very meditation of our hearts and the words that we sing holy spirit have your way in our life this morning we pray and ask in jesus name because you said we could the church said amen amen church [Music] let's lift our voices he is worthy [Music] come let us worship our king come let us bow at his feet he has done great things see what our savior has done see how his love overcomes he has done great things he has done great [Music] [Music] you have done great things we dance with your freedom awakened alive oh jesus our savior your name lifted high you have done greatly [Music] you've been faithful through every storm you'll be faithful forever for you will do great things and i know you will do it again for your promises yes and amen you will do great things god you do great things [Music] you have done great things we dancing your freedom awakened alive oh jesus our savior your name lifted my have done heart things [Music] let's sing a hallelujah and shakeable hallelujah you have done great things you've done great things and hallelujah [Music] [Music] you have done great things you've done great things oh hero of heaven you conquered the great you free every captain and break every chain oh god [Music] you have done great things you have done a great day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] amen [Music] god you do great things worship you this morning [Music] god you do great amen amen [Music] i searched the world [Music] but it couldn't fill me in man's empty praise and treasures that fade are never enough [Music] then you came along [Music] and put me back together and every desire is now satisfied hearing your love 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 i'm not afraid to show you my weakness my failures and flaws lord you've seen them all and you still call me friend thank you lord cause the god of the mountain is the god of the valleys and there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again [Music] oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you alone let's tell them this morning [Music] you there's nothing nothing is better [Music] you turn morning to dancing [Music] you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only one who cares again you turn morning to dance [Music] you turn shame into glory you're the only one who [Music] you turn seasons oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you you sing one more time together oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you thank you lord amen [Applause] nothing is better than jesus nothing compares to him amen when we come back together to church to worship him exalt his dame there's just some songs that really remind us of what he did for us and this is one of them when i survey the one trust on which the prince of the lord red eye my richest [Music] [Music] see from his head [Music] [Music] slow [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] verse three [Music] far too small [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] god [Music] god [Music] god [Music] forever [Music] so [Music] you paid you count the stars and you call them my name the skies proclaim god you reign [Music] sings [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] you know my heart is [Music] [Applause] god [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] all together we sing [Music] [Music] you lift your voice [Applause] he's got you ready [Music] forever [Applause] [Music] forever [Applause] [Music] [Music] can somebody have praise in their lungs today this morning for god amen just lift up praise to jesus this morning hallelujah praise his holy name lord we just acknowledge that you reign and as we repeated that line god you reign we're reminded again that you do truly truly rain amen you reign over our lives you rain over creation you reign over this country no matter what we're going through you are sovereign and you ray blessed be the name of our god amen church amen amen well it's good to be together this morning amen amen it's great to be together it's a great day to worship and fellowship let's greet each other welcome each other this morning and we also want to welcome those on the live stream we'll be back in a few moments [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 live stream [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 310-374-4673 you can also send us an email at info hope chapel dot org and any prayer requests to prayer at 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 [Music] 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] [Music] i'm laughing but i'm not well good morning church welcome back how many have taken my suggestion my encouragement to pray through the psalms every day i have three three four eyes all right those hands are slowly coming up awesome three months if you do it consistently for three months then you'll begin to see some really exciting things happen in your life so i want to encourage you and if you've not done it do do take some time and pray through the psalms five psalms a day 30 days you made it through the whole book so okay well god's still on the throne aren't you glad for that amen amen and amen it is our custom to greet guests and visitors and if this is your first time with us this morning hope chapel i'd like to have our congregation greet you welcome you the warm hand of applause also our ushers have a little information i'd like you to receive but we do need to know you're seated and please know it's not my intention at all to embarrass you or 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 this is you if you'd be willing to identify yourself simply by holding your hand up real high do we have any first-time guests this morning and welcome well oh my gosh all right we're on the on the aisle there dale over there on the right on the aisle there okay good terrific it's good to have you with us this morning we almost have a whole row all right welcome welcome 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 have a question or comment or some way you think we might be of some encouragement to in your life there's room on the reverse side of those cards to write those comments or you can look in your bulletin and use the quick response code it's called qr i discovered that last week what qr means so you can use that just flash it on your phone and it'll automatically come to us so it's good to have you with us and if you're new in the community or you are looking for home church i can't commend a better church i love our church and we are a great church and i just tell people if you come seven times in a row chances are you'll find a home here and we will in fact grow on you isn't that true brian yes you're doing your qr code all right all right so i want to encourage you to open your bulletins if you would i want to highlight some things really important things for us this morning you see a whole sets of classes are starting this month and more particularly the women's bible studies ladies if you'd like some community with other women like-minded women and you want to study the bible together with them we have four different women's bible studies starting up and it would be good if you involved yourself and you probably just need to register ahead of time and you can do that i think using that quick response code i think don't hold me to that i don't know everything about that so okay and then um i'm still looking for volunteers for our children's ministry jesus said keep asking keep seeking keep knocking and the door will be open so with that i want to show you a video that we showed you last week about our children's ministry to encourage somebody who may be still sitting on the fence [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 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 when 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 is an absolute huge deal to volunteer because our children are our future and the more we teach them about the lord in 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 [Music] so you should still have a volunteer form in your bulletin and uh again i want to encourage you we do appreciate so much people who serve our children's ministry i have to tell you a real quick story a couple weeks ago my my son and daughter-in-law and my two grandkids are staying with us while they're having some work done on their house so it's a little tight and my grandson was in the shower taking a shower all by himself five years old taking a shower all by himself amazing i didn't know you did that when you were five so anyway i'm hearing him he's singing in the shower and so i i i creep over to the bathroom because i don't want him to see me listening so i keep over to the bathroom he's singing this is amazing grace at the top of his lungs in the shower i was going whoa that is so cool so i called julie over and i said you got to hear this and he was just he was wailing away using up all the hot water that's great also there's a flyer in your bulletin about our 50-year anniversary celebration that whole weekend volunteers is a volunteer call and if you've never signed up for anything or maybe you have and you'd like to help serve that particular weekend we're going to need a ton of people to help so look in your bulletin and do take some time and fill that out and say yeah i want to help out that weekend it's going to be a great weekend friday night we're going to have a special concert allen is assembling and his team are assembling hope hope chapel songs for 50 years just phenomenal and the music that god has given us over all these years is just spectacular and as well then on saturday we're having a church picnic down at valley park right down the hill we'll have shuttles and so forth so you can park and then we'll shuttle you down back and forth and uh lucille's is going to be catering it so if you like barbecue it'll be a wonderful time lots of food to eat and uh and then sun or saturday afternoon uh we're gonna host an open house so that if if this is the only place you've been in this room you can come and explore all the other rooms and uh areas of the church and more particularly next door in our administrative building and all the pastors will be in their offices you can walk through and see where we live during the week okay so and then of course sunday morning our worship services i've asked our founding pastor ralph moore to come and share with us and uh just just reflections on uh the life of our church over 50 years that's amazing 50 years so be a great weekend and we invite everybody to participate in that also uh my class starts up this next wednesday night i can hardly wait and just want to invite you if you've not been in the class or it's been a long time for you come and join us it's just a rich rich time and if you're peculiar if you're new to the church and you want to know kind of what we believe and what's our philosophy ministry and so forth all that is articulated in that class so it'll hopefully answer any and all questions you might have courtney did you find that true when you were here you're thinking of taking again good girl all right all right something told me to ask you about that all right good okay let's see if i have everything else covered here for you i think oh one more thing i want to give thanks to the lord and thank those guys who were here last week to help us take up the carpet in our children's church area daniel again thank you for your help and uh a week from today we're gonna have a major work afternoon sunday afternoon i need at least 50 guys how many 50 because we're going to remove the carpet from this room and the ov room it's gonna be a major project so if you can come and join us we're gonna provide food masks gloves whatever we need it's gonna be a major major effort church work day if you will we'd love to have at least 50 guys come and help us next sunday afternoon four o'clock okay four o'clock all right anybody here feeling the call daniel okay all right good all right anybody else okay all right guys good richard are you raising your hand are you just waving at me all right thank you brother okay all right so i'll be announcing again next sunday so we again this is going to make it take a huge effort to get this up the more guys we have we get it done quickly and we save a lot of money by doing this rather than hiring a company the carpet company to come in and do this so as you might imagine okay all right should we pray lord we just again are grateful for your grace to us and for your provision in every way we thank you lord for just the hope that we have i pray to you again this morning god that you would increase our boldness that you would pour out your spirit revival in our own lives and lives of our families this community to the ends of the earth we think of still the tragedy going on in afghanistan and we just pray god that you would do a great and mighty work there reveal yourself to those people i pray to you for continued source of volunteers for our children's ministry for our 50th anniversary and as well next sunday to pull up this carpet father we too continue to pray and ask for rain god that you'd have mercy on this state we repent on behalf of all the craziness that goes on here we just stand in the gap and say god just pour out your rain please we ask in jesus name amen amen okay well i want to talk to you about what you believe about god isn't that exciting all right well i don't have an initiating passage of scripture for you but i do have a question for you if you're looking at your notes who of us hasn't experienced some kind of trial adversity affliction handy handicap hardship maybe a tragedy in their life most all of us have and if we haven't you certainly will this life guarantees it jesus tells us in this life we are going to have tribulation we're going to have trouble but i want to suggest to you also that these these events these things that happen to us around us they can they have this ability to uncover what we really believe about god think about that many times during these seasons during these experiences we find ourselves asking this question why we're looking for some purpose and meaning why this thing has happened why am i experiencing this we naturally try to make sense out of what may seem to us to be senseless does that make sense do you want to understand what i'm saying this doesn't make sense i've been doing everything i'm supposed to do i'm i'm honoring god why is this befalling me it doesn't make sense and sometimes when we try to summarize our feelings we think maybe that god god's let us down maybe maybe god who's supposed to be our best friend has let us down how could he possibly allow this thing to happen to me how could he allow these things happen to good people to his people have you ever wondered that why why why is this happening why is this going on who is this god that we worship who is this god that we pray to who is this god that we spend time with us many of us i believe in time learned that we have been worshiping the wrong god we've been worshiping the wrong god actually the wrong gods plural small g and there's five of them i want to highlight this morning with you and see if you can't relate and find yourself in that place each one of these false gods these each one of these if you will lesser gods attributes something that we try to place on the one true god and this is where it's important to know your bible the more you study the more you read the more you understand and know your bible you'll be more and more able to recognize and refute these false gods when they try to assert themselves and i believe that behind these images behind these gods there are dark forces of evil stimulating them and trying again to influence us and in effect call god's the real god his character into question and his purposes into question and though sometimes we may struggle the goal of our lives and this is i think important the goal of our lives is not money it's not pleasure it's not power it's not even fun i remember one time i was talking with the brother he's saying i just i just want to have some fun i said well let me look at my concordance and see if the word fun is there i said fun is not there that's not our purpose purpose is to embrace the great i am that's our purpose that's our purpose so what are these what are these lesser false gods that we are to leave behind we're to to recognize for who they are and to leave them behind well the first one and you'll like this one this is the god who does things my way how many like that god he wanted him to do things your way how many of us have ever said god i know i see who needs to happen and you need to do this and this is how you should do it do it my way there was a song like that i did it my way right we have a choice to make when we experience trials difficulties even tragedies we have a choice to make and that is to accept that god chooses to conduct his business differently than i would have huge i think as i say that all of us go yep yep yep but sometimes we're not always right there on that page are you with me most likely most of us would choose to intervene in a situation where you see we see something happen your natural impulses to intervene right you want to make a difference you want to save that person i meant that's my first impulse when i see someone in trouble i want to help i want to jump in there i want to provide some insight some wisdom some biblical counsel but you have to be careful because sometimes when you choose to intervene you may be getting in the way it's imperative for you and i when we see something going on in someone's life and we're tempted to jump in there really you pull back a little bit you just need to pray first god what if anything would you have me do otherwise we're going to be impulsive and we can actually make whatever situation is going on worse we serve a sovereign god do we not and we believe that he could have changed the outcome of whatever tragic events that anyone or we have experienced we know that he could change these events and for whatever reason he chooses not to that's a hard thing to take sometimes because to us we go change this there's a sense of urgency god do you see what's going on here he's the god who gives us the capacity to make choices in a fallen world and because we're fallen beings we live in a fallen world this whole idea of making choices even our choices are fallen and limited does that make sense you've all heard the term free will i'm always saying well define that for me what do you exactly mean when you use the term free will does that mean that you have the freedom to choose whatever you want to choose whenever you want to choose it hardly just free will mean that you can make a choice and then you can also you have the freedom to choose the consequence of that choice hardly so when i hear that term free will and it's thrown about all over the places in theological textbooks it's every place i wonder what exactly do they mean by free will i choose to believe that god has given us the capacity to choose albeit it's a limited capacity to choose i did not choose to get saved all by myself god worked in me to predispose me so that i could if i would make a choice to believe and trust in him there's certain things i i just simply can't choose i'm just i'm a fallen being i'm limited well my point is he gives us the capacity to choose in this fallen world we live in in these fallen relationships in which we are and in a domino effect we know that our bad decisions reach further than we can imagine don't they they have this long-term effect our bad decisions kind of live on don't they 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 the best thing in the long term we don't know we can't we don't we can't see down there we can only see so far and our choices can make a difference we have to be sensitive a greater more informed less contained god exists and he can usurp all of our goals and i would want him to if i'm being logical and thoughtful about this in effect we need to be dethroned most of time we're still sitting on the throne no no no not me yes you especially we're still sitting on the throne of our life we're still calling the shots we're still determining what we should do and how to do it and we're demanding that god support us in that the bible reveals a god whose ways little resemble ours have you ever noticed this disparity between our ways and his ways i love what isaiah says isaiah 55 most of us know this passage god says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways man that brings us up short doesn't it god is suggesting he's given us this book that we might have the mind of christ god is saying i want you to know my word i want you to begin to think the way i think so that you can act the way i want you to act we have to admit that there is a god way of thinking that we may not yet fully apprehend stuff happens doesn't it stuff happens and you just have to take a step back and say okay lord i'm going to wait on you i'm going to wait on you god does things the way i would never do them let me ask you this would you have loaded a boat with animals probably not would you have limited gideon's army how many know what i'm talking about how many were finally in gideon's army you remember 300 starts out with thousands god says no no no he wins it down to 300. would you have wager that david would beat goliath nobody in their right mind thought that david would be glad maybe except david would you have removed the sins of men by sending the son of god god does things differently than we do differently it's not too difficult i think to acknowledge that god is smarter he's wiser and he's greater than i am it's much tougher to convince my fleshly nature that i'm not as smart as i think i am in my mind i can understand these things but somehow there's a part of me that still grasps it my ways lead to death listen to proverbs 14 12 there is a way that seems right to a man this is how i should go this is how i should go but in the end it leads to death proverbs chapter 16 verse 9 puts it a little differently in his heart a man plans his course but the lord determines his stuff how many glad that the lord determines your steps i mean you got this fantastic plan i always amend my prayers i always amend my plans with god only if this is your will don't let me get out of your will we have to admit that however right it may seem going my own way apart from god's divine insight will not necessarily lead me down the correct path we can be very given to just doing things right rather than stop and wait and pray and say lord what would you have me do the realization that we need a god who knows more than we do who isn't in need of my perceived brilliance i submit to you that's truly humbling he doesn't need me he doesn't need me he wants me but he doesn't need me but on the other hand leaving our false god behind means that we have gained a much more powerful one this god has the independence to do things based on his superior and insightful knowledge and his plan he frees me he frees me up from carrying the world on my shoulders so that i indeed can be part of his bigger picture so many times you know we think we're the end-all and be all everything's dependent on us oh fine if i just i just i gotta i got no no he wants to free you up from that he wants to take that weight off your shoulders and when we learn to embrace the god who does things his way not our way we rest in his blessings a peace and grace and joy how many would like to have more peace and grace and joy in their life yeah you just you just learn to trust him don't take matters into your own hands acknowledge him in all of his ways in all of your ways does that make sense that help well how about the second lesser god small g this is the god who is harsh or cruel or mean when we decide to acknowledge the true god the next struggle may come in actually trusting him it's one thing to acknowledge him it's one thing to say i believe him it was a whole nother thing to trust him and evidence that i trust him is that i do what i obey him i obey him but the question is in the midst of tragedy but yet he he let this tragedy happen he let this trial happen he let this difficulty happen can i really trust him i know he's there i know i know i'm supposed to i i know he's sovereign but can i trust him it's one thing to know that god does what is best it's quite another thing to live as if he will do what is best logically rationally we're all sitting here together in church and so we all nod yes indeed but when you go out of here you're going hmm most of us are aware of this age-old question how if god is so loving and if he's such a good god how can he allow evil and tragic things to happen that question comes right out of the pit of hell i hope you know that it makes us question sometimes it brings you up short sometimes you think hmm if god is good if he is loving why then this why then that and when you ask that question then your next logical question is what's next what's next i was talking to a man last week who who quite frankly had fallen into this trap and he says you know i i'm just i'm waiting for the next shoe to drop i said no no no no no no that's wrong that's wrong you have the wrong view of god you're you're not really understanding who he is the next shoe to drop he doesn't trust him he's immobilized we have to realize that god is not the big guy in the sky who waits to zap me when i mess up it's just the opposite it's just the opposite one of the greatest verses in the bible one of the greatest if you don't know this verse you should memorize it first john 1 9. what is it what does john tell us there what does he assure us of that if we do what if we confess our sins now do we all sin yeah even as christians we still fall short we're still not yet totally perfect so if we confess our sins he is what he is faithful and he is what just why is he just because he's already dealt with those sins on the cross in jesus so he is just to what forgive us and what cleanse us of all unrighteousness all the yuck that is attendant to that sin that we just committed now he doesn't say to us beg for forgiveness he just says confess just confess admit admit where you are it's like in any relationship that we're in when sergio sins against trish's wife she knows that he sinned he knows that she knows that he sinned and she knows that he knows that he knows that she's that he's sinned against her now what has to happen is there going to be distance in that relationship as long as there's no admission yeah how do you close that distance you close that distance by what admitting confessing i'm sorry i sinned against you already assuming that there is forgiveness to be had that make sense this is one of the greatest verses in the bible this verse in fact rules out a god intent on handing down retribution to a repentant sinner now he will discipline us won't he the writer who writes hebrews reminds us in hebrews chapter 12 he reminds us that god disciplines those he loves so so if you are a believer you're a child of god like any good parent a good parent what disciplines their children what does that mean punishing them no punishment has the eye to the past it's retribution discipline has its eye toward the future this is a huge difference you heard me talk about this no doubt in the past if you're an athlete you you don't undergo punishment there's training you undergo discipline you live a disciplined life you eat right you train right you work hard always with an eye to the future is that true do we make am i making sense this is discipline i remember when i were an athlete in my younger years i remember the coaches just just wailing on us that's what my mentality was at the time i remember doing leg lifts oh man kill her on my abs keep those legs up keep those legs up double over there's legs i'm thinking is this worth it is this worth it no this is suffering this is so hard but later on i benefited by it i was disciplined i was trained for the future so god disciplines it says look it with me at hebrews chapter 12. verse 7. we're going to get there okay it's back up a little bit more i think no okay let me turn to hebrews chapter 12 here read it to you verse 7 endure hardship endure hardship he says ask what discipline 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 are illegitimate children and not true sons moreover we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it how much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best but god disciplines us for our what for our good that we may share in his holiness see that's the point we're we're embracing the great i am and we're he wants to make us more like him he says in another place you shall be holy because i'm holy i'm making you holy it's going to take discipline to do it he says no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful i can identify with that later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been what trained by it so god is not mean he's not cruel he is he's awesome in his purposes for us maybe this god who allows sorrow in our life is just plain mean that's not true the apostle paul writes in second corinthians chapter one but god what god is like he says praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of what compassion and the god of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles not just some of them all of our troubles so that we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received god just he's he loves his kids he's not mean he's not cruel god doesn't inflict pain just because he's mean but he does bind up our sorrows with his compassion letting it overflow so that we might bless other people you can communicate to other people you say you know let me let me tell you about god's grace and his mercy and his kindness and his compassion i'm a first-hand experiencer of it eventually we can trade our toxic god for the one who is who is so loved the world that he gave his one and only unique son that whoever should believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life this is the god that we worship god gave sacrificially so that you and i can live how can we how can we ever deny that kind of love and when we finally realize that we're safe in his hands the god who wants to bless us in spite of ourselves i'm always thankful i said god thank you thank you that you want to bless me in spite of me in the midst of my foolishness i don't have to earn it i don't have to be perfect before you you still love me and you still want to bless me and you know all about me you even died for me that i could live in a place where one day there will be no more tears and no more death no more tragedy no more trials no more difficult difficulties no more sorrow he's our rescuer he's our rescuer he's the god who went in and pulled us out of the fiery fiery fate i've always loved this verse in zechariah it's kind of an obscure verse in the old testament prophet zechariah chapter 3 verse 2 and he says this a burning stick snatched from the fire that's what we were we're burning sticks he snatched us from the fire somebody say praise the lord who couldn't love and a trust to god like that when you see that and you read about him and you see what he does in his constancy there's a third god small g lesser god that sometimes we think is the god we want to worship and that's the god who is apathetic maybe just maybe you've wondered at some point does god really care about what i'm going through does he care we all know how caring he is on sunday morning right when we're here gather together singing his praises enjoying the community but does he care on monday morning when i may whimper and groan in pain sunday's a different story isn't it we're all full of excitement when we come together on sunday we put all this stuff aside but monday's a whole different story i even found a passage of scripture where god appeared what is what's the word there is when he appeared to be indifferent in joshua chapter 5 now when joshua was near jericho he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand joshua went up to him oh wrong slide and ask are you for us or for our enemies and how does god respond neither neither but as commander of the army of the lord i have now come so when i read that here's joshua he's a he's about to embark on the very first battle in the promised land to take in the city of what jericho right and by the way does jericho come down as normally we would expect it to no god has a different plan right so he's about to embark on this battle and he encounters this man presumably the lord the theophany and ask if he's for the israelites or for their enemy and the lord replies neither i thought neither neither you would think that he would have said i'm for you i'm for the israelites he didn't say that i thought god was always on our side what do you think it's a trick question is god always on our side at first i thought this meant that he was apathetic to joshua in his situation when he said neither and then i read on as commander of the army of the lord i have now come and i finally realized that this is not indifference this is not a difference at all god has appeared to joshua israel's leader at a time when joshua really needs some answers notice that the lord did not show up as a shepherd he did not show up as a sacrificial lamb but rather how did he show up commander of the army of the lord just what joshua needed he was at a point of if you will military crisis he had a decision to make here joshua had to learn as you and i must continually learn and maybe sometimes relearn god is not in the business of taking political or social sides he is in the business of taking his own side of taking his own side and his side always wins you just read chapter six of joshua so joshua asks whose side are you on god responded with his own question in effect joshua whose side are you on you want to win do it my way i'm forever telling people if you want to live a life that's blessed do it god's way make my job easier that's that's a refrain i repeat and some of you heard me say that to you make my job easier do it god's way if you want to come to me and talk to me i'll point you in that direction but you got to do it the true god is not apathetic he always knows where he stands he always knows where he's going he always knows what his plan and purpose are we are the ones who have the decision to make do we really believe he's in control if you really believe that you will find yourself trusting him more and more and more so let's place ourselves on god's side shall we okay number four the god who is impotent when situations sim seem to be raging out of control it's easy for us to ask god why he doesn't do something about it god why don't you do something about this once you do god stop these fires stop this stop that do something sometimes you may wonder not everybody some people wonder do i is god powerless is he wimpy is he what's going on here i ask god every day to intervene in all kinds of situations and again i fall into the trap of doing it my way god you should do things the way i would do do this that the other thing and the way that i know that i'm i'm on the wrong track is that nothing happens nothing changes be careful when you come and ask me to pray for you some time ago i went to god with my cries about his seeming lack of ability and he brought to my mind the book of job job was not afraid to ask god hard questions and eventually god turned the tables on job and god was the one who would do the asking if you recall toward the end of the book of job in chapter 38 god says to job where were you when i laid the earth's foundations 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 i had to admit as did job but job says in chapter 42 i know you can do all things no plans of yours can be thwarted and even when i can't understand why god allows certain tragedies he's not shaken and his power is not limited nor is he destroyed in any way he's not weak it's like the song the song i used to sing to my son michael when he was a small child and i was had been most recently singing it to my grandchildren you'll recognize this we are weak but he is strong yes jesus loves me you're all familiar to that so shall we put away our weak god and embrace the omnipotent one embracing this all-powerful god will bring i promise you a new peace embracing him will bring a new peace you'll feel the weight lifted off of you as you exchange your burden for his yoke his yoke is light you begin to come to the place where he knows all the why's in life we don't and that's got to be okay you ever stamped your feet and said why why you're not always going to get an answer most of the time you're not going to get an answer he knows best he literally as the song says has the whole world in his hands he's in control he's not impotent and the fifth god that some of us worship is the god who changes i believe this is the god we struggle the most to let go of and sometimes we don't always let go this is the god who always seems to be changing this god is here today and gone tomorrow this god is whimsical he's capricious you can never depend on him he's left unsure this is a god that in the back of our minds is on the throne that it leads us to give up praying i don't i don't pray anymore nothing ever happens he's you can't depend on him this god wants me to live my life in fear that someday he'll take away all my blessings and my joy we think this god can do the most damage because his credibility is verified by the tragedies and disasters have already happened look what he's done look what he's done accidents diseases death these things enter our lives totally unexpectedly true you just you get up in the morning you just don't know what's going to happen they have the potential to shatter all of our hope wars come trials come tribulations are guaranteed we seem in the face of these things powerless they overwhelm us this is a world of change this is a world of change there's some good changes too we fall in love we get married we have babies we get a good job we start a ministry we point someone to jesus regardless life on earth is volatile life on earth is constantly changing is it any wonder that we expect the same from god everything's changing does he change the real one true god actually embodies what our souls long for the most constancy consistency faithfulness hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 jesus christ is the same yesterday and today and forever his very nature is unchanging he remains stable regardless of our circumstances past present or future so we are able to move about confidently in changing times knowing that our lord the one true god goes with us through these changing times he doesn't change he walks with us through these things he'll never leave us or forsake us he's promised that i'll never leave you i'll never forsake you that's the kind of god we need even when a crisis threatens to chip away at the foundations of our faith our god stands unmoved unshaken unchanged the false gods that we have enthroned over the years give us nothing but grief they give us nothing but grief you look at your life if your life's in turmoil if you're fearful if you're anxious if you're uncertain if you're full of these kinds of things only it's only a testimony that you put your faith in these wrong kinds of gods occasionally though we may have eschewed them from our life occasion they still show up occasionally they come up for a visit but it's only through knowing the truth it's only through knowing the bible knowing the scriptures that we are able to withstand their lies about who our god really is so today beloved as we face the sorrows and difficulties and trials of our lives the disappointments the things that have come up unexpectedly as we face these things let's commit to do so with the god whose ways are not our ways let's commit to face these things with the god whose mission is to love and comfort us let's commit to face these things with the god who calls us to join him in his best let's commit to face these things with the god who has the power to make positive changes in our lives and he does make those changes and lastly let's commit to face these things with a god who will stick with us and never leave us no matter what comes we are never ever alone he's promised us these things i love what thomas said in john's gospel when he exclaimed my lord and my god that's our explanation my lord and my god to worship any other god is absolutely futile amen i hope this helps i hope this helps in your daily walk lord thank you again for your grace to us help us to understand and see how easy it is to be entrapped in our thinking lord because quite frankly we don't trust you these evidence of that is the fact that we how i respond or how i react in the face of difficulties and trials do i react in panic i resort to leaning on my own understanding lord thank you thank you for reminding me of these things once we were your enemies now we can come to your table we give you thanks amen let's take a few moments to prepare ourselves for the lord's table i'll come back and we'll all take communion together in just a moment [Music] so [Music] [Music] father how great thou art thank you that we can come to your throne of grace and we can receive mercy and grace in our time of need thank you too that we can confess our sins to you confident that you are faithful in your justice forgive us and cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness thank you lord for just a new start every day thank you that you are the great god we thank you for your salvation lord we contemplate these elements and as jesus said please remember me and so lord we focus right now on that great sacrifice that brought us into your kingdom via your son jesus said about the bread this is my body given for you let's take and eat he described the cup as the cup of the new covenant in his blood poured out for the forgiveness of our sins he says remember me thank you jesus drink the cup amen well i'm glad i came today hope you're glad you came today let's take a moment and pronounce a blessing on your neighbor if you would 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 my soul my savior god to thee how great thou art how great thou art [Music] [Music] and when i think that god is [Music] my [Music] declare a truth this morning then sings my soul my savior to me [Music] how [Music] then change my soul [Music] how great thou art [Music] how [Music] how [Music] father bless your church as we go from this place we pray your kingdom come and your will be done more fully in our lives lives of our families our church this community and to the ends of the earth use us oh god give us wisdom and spiritual understanding and knowledge of your will and strengthen us oh god with the strength of your might for your glory bless you church i pray in jesus name amen god bless you have a blessed week i love you bye please tell somebody about jesus bye if you need prayer the elders will be available down the front to pray for you 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.blue hope chapel dot 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] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach

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Length: 109min 39sec (6579 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021