1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Let's pray. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:29,980 Let's pray. 4 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:23,760 We're going really good today. Five? Six through 11? Okay. 5 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Good morning. We're going to get started. We're a little unorganized today, but we'll power through. 6 00:02:52,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Brandon's continuing in Acts today with Peter's sermon, and the crowd's question of what do we have to do to be saved? 7 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:11,000 And Peter offers an answer of hope, and he offers an answer that was God's plan all along. 8 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:17,000 And so, with that in mind, we wanted to read together Romans 5:8-11. 9 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:26,000 And so, if you can stand, if you would stand with us, we'll read that together, and it will be up on the screen there. 10 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:40,000 And just, I would just say, just kind of focus your minds on what Christ has done, what God's plan was all along, and how much He loves us, and how He saved us from our sins. 11 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,000 And so, we're going to start in verse 8. 12 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:51,000 For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 13 00:03:51,000 --> 00:04:01,000 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. 14 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:10,000 But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 15 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Since we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. 16 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:36,000 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, 17 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:47,000 shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:57,000 through whom we have now received reconciliation. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. 19 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:04,000 God, we thank you that we're able to gather here today. We thank you that everyone that is here with us in person 20 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:11,000 has made it safely, and we thank you for those that are watching online, and the encouragement that not only the people here, 21 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:17,000 but those watching are to us. And we just ask that you bless our service today, and may it glorify you. 22 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:24,000 We thank you for your goodness, and your steadfast love, and your plans that are always better than anything 23 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:31,000 we could even think about. And we thank you so much for Jesus who came to save us. In Jesus' name. Amen. 24 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Our first Song we're going to be doing today is "Who You Say I Am." And I don't have any words, so I'm going to be looking at the screen, too. 25 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:50,000 But we're going to be reading a couple of verses from that. And we've done this one before, so we should know it. 26 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:56,000 If not, just listen to the words and just find the hope that's in those. 27 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:26,000 Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost, but He brought me in. Oh, His love for me. Oh, His love for me. 28 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 29 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:52,000 At last He has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. 30 00:06:52,000 --> 00:07:03,000 While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, He died for me. 31 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:19,000 Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 32 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:46,000 In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. 33 00:07:46,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, we're free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. 34 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:26,000 I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 35 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:42,000 The song before our prayer and share time is going to be "I Need Thee Every Hour." And if you're watching online, we will have a slide up. We do mute during our prayer and share time just because 36 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:50,000 not everybody wants all their business all over the world. So that's one of the reasons why we mute during that time. 37 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:57,000 In the next couple of weeks, we're probably going to try to play some music so it's a little less droppy. Oh, today as well. We'll be playing music today. 38 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:05,000 So that way you still feel involved with what's going on. So if you have anything you need to share online, you can text that number or leave a comment and send us a message. 39 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:11,000 And we would love to pray with you together on that. And so we're going to sing "I Need Thee Every Hour." 40 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,000 I Need Thee Every Hour. 41 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,000 I Need Thee Every Hour, Most Gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can be served. 42 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:17,000 I need Thee every hour. 43 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,000 I need Thee every hour. 44 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:19,000 I need Thee every hour. 45 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Most gracious Lord. 46 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:21,000 No tender voice like Thine can be served. 47 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,000 I need Thee every hour. 48 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,000 I need Thee every hour. 49 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,000 Most gracious Lord. 50 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,000 No tender voice like Thine can be served. 51 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:38,000 I need Thee every hour. 52 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Can peace afford. 53 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,000 I need Thee. 54 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Oh, I need Thee. 55 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,000 Every hour I need Thee. 56 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:57,000 Oh, bless me now, my Savior. 57 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000 I come to Thee. 58 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:14,000 I need Thee every hour. 59 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,000 Stay Thou, live I. 60 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:24,000 Temptations lose their power 61 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:29,000 When Thou art nigh. 62 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:34,000 I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. 63 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Every hour I need Thee. 64 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:43,000 Oh, bless me now, my Savior. 65 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:48,000 I come to Thee. 66 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,000 I need Thee every hour. 67 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:05,000 Enjoy all pain. 68 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:10,000 Come quickly and divide. 69 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:15,000 Oh, life is vain. 70 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:20,000 I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. 71 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:25,000 Every hour I need Thee. 72 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:30,000 Oh, bless me now, my Savior. 73 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,000 I come to Thee. 74 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:47,000 I need Thee every hour. 75 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:52,000 Teach me Thy will. 76 00:11:52,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And Thy rich promises in me fulfill. 77 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:07,000 I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. 78 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Every hour I need Thee. 79 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,000 Oh, bless me now, my Savior. 80 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,000 I come to Thee. 81 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:26,000 I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. 82 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:30,000 Every hour I need Thee. 83 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Oh, bless me now, my Savior. 84 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:40,000 I come to Thee. 85 00:12:40,000 --> 00:13:04,000 I come to Thee. 86 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:14,000 I come to Thee. 87 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:21,000 Amen. 88 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,000 Amen. 89 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,000 Amen. 90 00:19:43,000 --> 00:20:12,980 Thank you. 91 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Thanks, Russell. As we move into our time of communion, I just want to share a couple verses before our next song. We've read these together before, I think. It's from Psalm 103. It says, 92 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:56,000 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's wings." 93 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:18,000 The next song we're going to be doing is one that we learned a couple weeks ago called "Never Once," and it just talks about how we've never walked alone and we've never been without the Lord being close to us in the pit, in our diseases, in all of our iniquities in life, and that his steadfast love is what gives us the strength to continue in this life. 94 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:30,000 And so if you want to sing along, you can. If you just want to read the words or if you just want to focus on that and pray while we prepare for communion, I would just ask that you do that while we sing together. 95 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,000 Let's pray. 96 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,000 Let's pray. 97 00:22:48,000 --> 00:23:01,000 Feeling on this battleground, seeing just how much you've done, knowing every victory is your power in us. 98 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:15,000 Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can save. Yes, our hearts can save. 99 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:42,000 Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. 100 00:23:42,000 --> 00:24:09,000 But with joy our hearts can save. Never once did we ever walk alone. Carried by your constant grace, held within your perfect peace. Never once, knowing never walk alone. 101 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once, did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. Every step we are breathing in. 102 00:24:36,000 --> 00:25:03,000 Every step we are breathing in your grace. Evermore we'll be breathing out your praise. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. 103 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:18,000 You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. 104 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:37,000 Evelyn wanted to share a verse with you this morning, so we're going to let her do that. 105 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:43,000 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, 106 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:51,000 and these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, 107 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:57,000 when you walk by the road, when you lie down, and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 6, 5, and 6. 108 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:10,000 I don't know about you, but I require pretty regular reminders about a lot of things. 109 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:21,000 And when Evelyn was asking about saying her verse, one of the things that I thought about, especially as we prepare to gather around the table, 110 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:30,000 is the importance of being reminded. Being reminded of the greatness, and the goodness, and the holiness of God. 111 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:42,000 Be reminded of the cost of our sin. Be reminded of the salvation that we have in Jesus. The hope that we have in eternal life. 112 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:50,000 And one of the things that I like about those verses that Evelyn just shared with us, is that it's not just a one-time 113 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:55,000 acknowledgement, right? It's not just, you know, you should worship the Lord your God, right? But it's when you're 114 00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:02,000 sitting down, and when you're standing up, and when you're walking by the road, that there is a constant need in our 115 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:11,000 lives to remind us of the things that are important. And as we gather around this table, and as we remember 116 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:19,000 the cross of Christ, as we read this morning from Romans chapter 5, that while we were yet sinners, 117 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:29,000 Christ died for us. This is a moment where we remind ourselves, where we preach the gospel, where God 118 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:37,000 nourishes us through the good news. He strengthens us, he encourages us, he convicts us, and he helps us. 119 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:44,000 So we're going to pray, and then we'll read and partake together. Father in heaven, we thank you that 120 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:51,000 you are good, and we stand in awe of your holiness and your righteousness. And we know that without 121 00:27:51,000 --> 00:28:00,000 Jesus, we would never be able to stand in your presence. And so we thank you this morning for the cross. 122 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:07,000 As we break this bread, as we drink this cup, may we remember the sacrifice of your Son. May we remember 123 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:14,000 the nails and the thorns and the mocking and the suffering. And may we remember 124 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:20,000 that this was the cost of our sin, and may we remember forgiveness. May we be strengthened 125 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:28,000 by hope. May we be encouraged to share the good news of the Gospel with the world. May this be 126 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:36,000 a moment where we are strengthened in our commitment to you and our resolve to follow you in righteousness. 127 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:42,000 I ask that you bless this bread, and that you bless this cup, and that we proclaim your 128 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:47,000 Son until He comes again. It's in His name that we pray. Amen. 129 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:57,000 If you would, take your bread with me, and remember with me the words of Jesus. When He took bread, 130 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:04,000 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 131 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:20,000 Let's remember Jesus together. In the same way also, He took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in 132 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:32,000 my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." As we drink, let's remember the joy that is found in the new covenant. 133 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:39,000 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 134 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:47,000 Would you pray with me? Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son. We thank You for the empowering gift of Your Spirit. 135 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:53,000 We thank You for Your mercy and Your grace and Your love that has been poured out so richly and lavishly upon us. 136 00:29:53,000 --> 00:30:00,000 And we thank You that we truly do not walk through this life alone, but that You care for us, that You have 137 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:05,000 rescued us and You have prepared a place for us. Thank You for Jesus and for grace. 138 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,000 It's in His name we pray. Amen. 139 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:25,000 This morning's reading is from Acts 2. 140 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:36,000 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 141 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:50,000 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 142 00:30:50,000 --> 00:31:04,000 For this promise is for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." 143 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:14,000 And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." 144 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:23,000 So those who received his words were baptized, and there were added to that day about 3,000 souls. 145 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,000 This is the word of the Lord. 146 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:54,000 Let's pray before we dive into Acts chapter 2. Father in heaven, thank you for your word, for how it encourages us, how it convicts us, how it changes us, how it transforms us. 147 00:31:54,000 --> 00:32:07,000 We thank you for your spirit, who is at work in us to convict us of sin, to bring us to hope, to equip us for the ministry to which you have called us to do. 148 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:13,000 We thank you for all of these good gifts. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 149 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:21,000 I want to think with you just for a moment about surprise endings, and I guess it was 41 years ago, 150 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:28,000 so I don't think I'm spoiling anything by talking about this movie with The Empire Strikes Back, 1980. 151 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:33,000 And some of you will understand the surprise we're talking about, right? 152 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:41,000 Luke and Darth Vader are in the midst of a lightsaber duel. Luke's hand gets cut off. 153 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:50,000 Darth Vader says, "If you only knew the power of the dark side, Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father." 154 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:55,000 And Luke says, "No, you told me enough. You killed my father." 155 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:04,000 And the surprising line, the villain says, "No, I am your father." 156 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:13,000 And Luke says, "It can't be true," right? He's taken by surprise, and Darth Vader replies, "Search your feelings. You know it to be true." 157 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:23,000 And one of the reasons we named Luke, Luke, was for the Apostle Luke, and also because I get to say, "I am your father. Search your feelings. You know it to be true," right? 158 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:30,000 And evidently, and I wasn't alive in 1980, I wasn't alive in 1981, but in 1980, evidently this was a shocking moment, right? 159 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Luke, the Jedi hero, and Darth Vader, the twisted Jedi, turns out to be his father. It turned everything on its head. 160 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:51,000 In Acts chapter 2, in verses 37 through 41, I think we have a similar incident. Now, most of us don't feel the shock and the surprise 161 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:59,000 because we become accustomed to it. Just like when we watch Star Wars with the kids, and we get to that scene where Darth Vader 162 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:05,000 is revealed to be Luke's father, right? I was like, "Oh, I know what happened," right? And so many of us approach this text the same way. 163 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:13,000 We say, "Well, I know what's happened," and we miss the shock and the surprise of this reaction, right? 164 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:20,000 In these verses, everything turns upside down. So you have a crowd, and we've seen this over the past year, 165 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:29,000 that when you have a large crowd, it can be a recipe for disaster. It can be a recipe for violence and destruction. 166 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:40,000 So the first ingredient that we have in this text is a large crowd. The second thing that we have is that this crowd is guilty. 167 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:49,000 They are all guilty of the sin that made Jesus' crucifixion necessary. Some in this crowd have literally stood and said, 168 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:56,000 "Crucify him." And so you have a large crowd. Emotions are running high. You have people who are guilty. 169 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:02,000 And then what does Peter do? Most of us would say tactfully that we just don't say anything, right? 170 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,000 We just kind of pretend like everything is okay. But look at what Peter says. 171 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:18,000 "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." 172 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:29,000 And so that seems like a recipe for a bad reaction, right? For anger, for denial, maybe even violence. 173 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:36,000 If I was reading this for the first time, I don't know that I would expect transformation. 174 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,000 Verse 41 sums it up like this. 175 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:49,000 So those who received his words were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. 176 00:35:49,000 --> 00:36:00,000 So instead of a riot, instead of violence, instead of angry outcry over Peter's accusation, in fact, you see people coming to God. 177 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:10,000 And in this text this morning, what we will see is God calling sinners to himself, and those sinners responding to the call of God. 178 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:19,000 And so the first thing that we see is that brokenness of sinful men and women is revealed through the good news of the Gospel. 179 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:28,000 And we see this in 37, the first part of 37. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart. 180 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:34,000 And so what we're seeing here is a revelation of brokenness. 181 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,000 Now this word, cut to the heart, literally means to pierce deeply. 182 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:45,000 And we probably understand this a little bit because there are cuts, and there are cuts, right? 183 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:50,000 We probably all had a shallow paper cut, or we're prepping some food and we cut our finger a little bit. 184 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:56,000 But then there are cuts. And I remember in college I was changing the brakes out on my car. 185 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,000 It was before I realized that that's the job best left to professionals. 186 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,000 And I had unhooked the emergency brake cable, and it had a little hook on it. 187 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000 It was under a whole ton of tension on the back brake. 188 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:11,000 And I was trying to put it back on because I'd replaced the parts, and my pliers slipped, 189 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,000 which was not the right tool for that job. And that hook just went right through my hand. 190 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:22,000 And not like a surface cut, but like a cut cut. It went deep. 191 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:29,000 And the picture here is not a surface cut, right? This is not just a scratching the surface of emotion. 192 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:39,000 This is a diving down deep. This is a surgical incision by the gospel to the center of their being. 193 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:46,000 This is a deep wound. And you might say, "Well, why is this happening?" 194 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:55,000 Why, to the people who some would call "Crucify him, crucify him," how are they all of a sudden cut to the heart? 195 00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:03,000 How do those who oppose Jesus desperately see their need for them? Does it just sort of simply come at random? 196 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:10,000 Does Peter just somehow put together the perfect logical argument that just instantly convinces them? 197 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:23,000 What you see happening in this text is that God's truth in conjunction with the power of the Spirit is what reveals their deep brokenness. 198 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:35,000 This is not an artificial response manufactured by some kind of manipulative argument, but rather this is the turning on of the light and the opening of the door, 199 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:43,000 and the light of God shines in and reveals the mess of their lives in perfect detail. 200 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:49,000 The writer of Hebrews says it this way, "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, 201 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:56,000 piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joint and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart, 202 00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:04,000 and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed in the eyes of him to whom we must give an account." 203 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:10,000 And what the writer of Hebrews says is that when the Word of God is brought into our lives, 204 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:16,000 that it helps us to see clearly, it cuts deeply, and it reveals our sin. 205 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:21,000 It uncovers us. It shows us as we truly are, not behind the mask that we have put up, 206 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:27,000 not behind the front that we have put up to make ourselves look good or respectable, 207 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:34,000 but it shows us as broken people. It cuts down deep. 208 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:39,000 And I want to emphasize the power of the Word of God, right? 209 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,000 This is not simple emotional manipulation. 210 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,000 That's one of the things that has often happened with the declaration of the Word of God. 211 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,000 I remember in high school, so I went to a Christian high school, 212 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:54,000 and part of the high school we had sort of an orientation week before the school year started. 213 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,000 And so they would take all the students, they'd load us all onto buses, 214 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:02,000 and we would go to this camp for a week, and we would pick, you know, get our class schedules, 215 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:07,000 we would meet our teachers, we would do all these activities to get us to know our classmates. 216 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,000 But because it was a Christian school, it was also kind of a revival meeting. 217 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,000 And so I remember one year, very, very, very clearly, 218 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:18,000 they brought in this guy who was a karate expert. 219 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:23,000 And so what he did is, you know, before you sing your songs in the chapel in the evening, 220 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:27,000 then he would do a karate demonstration, which was generally pretty impressive, 221 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:33,000 like cutting a watermelon off the chest of your gym teacher while blindfolded, right? 222 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,000 And then he would yell at you about Jesus. 223 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:40,000 And so we get to the last night of school camp, and if you've ever been to any kind of church camp, 224 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:45,000 you know that this is like the emotional around the campfire. 225 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:50,000 Everybody is, you know, changing their lives, and they're going to go back to normal on Monday. 226 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,000 And so I stumbled into something before this that I should not have seen. 227 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,000 And so I came around the back of our chapel building, getting ready to head down to the campfire, 228 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,000 and there is the karate expert with one of the teachers, and he's got a list of names, 229 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,000 and they're writing them on these wooden boards. 230 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:12,000 So we get down to campfire, they do the devotion, read the Bible verses, 231 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:17,000 and then he's like, "You need to come to Jesus, and if your name is Steve and you don't know Jesus," 232 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:21,000 and he throws the board up in the air, cuts it in half with his hand, and throws it in the fire, 233 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,000 you're going to burn in hell, right? 234 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:32,000 It was simple, emotional manipulation, and the worst part was they got a name of all the kids they thought weren't Christians, 235 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:38,000 wrote their names on board, and then broke them in half and threw them in the fire in front of them. 236 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:42,000 That is not what is happening here. 237 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:52,000 This is not Peter somehow twisting and emotionally manipulating his audience in order to get some kind of great response 238 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,000 to an invitation so he can go home and brag about it, right? 239 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:04,000 This is the Holy Spirit of God, through the power of God, convicting people in the depths of their being. 240 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:09,000 Paul says it this way, "When I came to you, brothers, 241 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:15,000 I did not come to you proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 242 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:22,000 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 243 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,000 And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and in trembling. 244 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:31,000 And my speech and my wisdom were not in plausible words of wisdom, 245 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:36,000 but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 246 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:44,000 so that your faith may not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 247 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:50,000 Would that we knew this power. 248 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:57,000 Would that we, as Christians and as a church, would dive into the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, 249 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:05,000 and to see our lives revealed in Him, and to be transformed. 250 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:14,000 And so we move from this revelation of brokenness to the depths of their need. 251 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:24,000 In verse 37 and 38, we read this, "When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 252 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:32,000 "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, 253 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:35,000 and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 254 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:44,000 Now, there are times when I come home, and there's a lot of things happening all at once. That's what happens when you have three kids. 255 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:53,000 And I'll say to Rachel, "What do you need?" And she'll tell me exactly what she needs. And so, these people, they're coming, and they feel a deep need. 256 00:43:53,000 --> 00:44:02,000 And they're saying, "What do we do?" And before we talk about that, I want to talk about the need that they feel. 257 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:08,000 What is it that drives them to this question? 258 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:21,000 The second half of verse 38 tells us, right, they need their sins forgiven, and they need to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 259 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:29,000 You see, they needed forgiveness, and we need forgiveness. In verse 40, Peter will say it this way, 260 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:36,000 "And with other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'" 261 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:42,000 That word "crooked" literally means warped, that it should be straight, but it's not. 262 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:48,000 And I remember the first time I ever went to pick out two-by-fours with Dad. We needed, you know, thirty-two-by-fours. 263 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:52,000 I don't know if that was the actual number. So I start loading him on the cart, and he was like, "No, no, no, no." 264 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:58,000 Make sure that they're not twisted sideways or bent sideways. 265 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:06,000 And the problem here is that you and I, and Peter's listeners, our lives have been warped. 266 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:16,000 They're no longer the way they should be. God sets the standard, and we have taken, and we have warped, and we have twisted the standard of God, and we have followed our own way. 267 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:21,000 Now, I want you to make sure you understand this. It's not just that we've accidentally gone off track, 268 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:34,000 but this is an intentional twisting of God's design and God's plan that results in us being objects of the wrath of God and facing judgment. 269 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:42,000 He says, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." 270 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:53,000 And then, into the midst of the wrath of God comes forgiveness, that God no longer holds our sin against us. 271 00:45:53,000 --> 00:46:03,000 And it's not just that He pretends like He doesn't see it, but the psalmist will say this in the 103rd Psalm, "As far as the East is from the West, 272 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:09,000 as high as the heavens are from the earth, so His steadfast love is toward those who fear Him. 273 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:14,000 As far as the East is from the West, does He remove our transgressions from us?" 274 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,000 This is what we're talking about when we talk about forgiveness, right? 275 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:21,000 So we can go to the North Pole, the northernmost part of the earth. 276 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:26,000 And we can go to the South Pole, the southernmost part of the earth. 277 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:30,000 And we can get there as a destination. 278 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,000 But what happens if you go to the East Pole, right? 279 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:37,000 There's no East Pole. You just keep going, right? You will go East forever. 280 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:42,000 And what happens if you go to the West Pole, right? You go West forever. 281 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:45,000 I don't think this language is accidental. 282 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:53,000 As far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. 283 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:58,000 He's talking about an infinite distance, right? You never get East. 284 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:03,000 You can go East, but you'll never ever get to an East Pole. You can go West, you'll never ever get to a West Pole. 285 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:08,000 That's how far God removes our sins from us. He doesn't just pretend everything's okay. 286 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:12,000 He doesn't just simply say, "I forgive you," and then bring it up in a fight later. 287 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:18,000 What does He do? He literally separates us from our sins. 288 00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,000 And their desperate need, as they see their brokenness so clearly, 289 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:32,000 and our desperate need, as we see our brokenness so clearly, is to have our sins removed from us. 290 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:39,000 The second thing that is promised, that meets the depth of the need, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. 291 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:45,000 And so the question has been about this text, what is this gift of the Holy Spirit, right? 292 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:51,000 Are we talking about, in Acts 1:5, the baptism of the Spirit, or the empowerment of the Spirit in Acts 1:8, 293 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:57,000 or the filling of the Spirit in Acts 2:4, or the indwelling of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6? 294 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:06,000 And I think the answer to that, to what we need in regards to the Spirit, is yes, that God gives us His Spirit. 295 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:12,000 Romans 8 says this, "You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. 296 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:20,000 If, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him." 297 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:28,000 And Paul will say, "Now there are varieties of gifts." This is from 1 Corinthians, but the same Spirit. 298 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:38,000 There are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but the same God who empowers them in everyone. 299 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:45,000 That God gives His Spirit to His people to help them live, to strengthen them, to equip them for ministry. 300 00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:52,000 Now, God does that in many different ways according to the need that is presented, but God gives His Spirit. 301 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:59,000 And this is such good news, right? God doesn't just clean out our sins and say, "All right, you're all set." 302 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:09,000 I remember when Evelyn was first learning to ride her bike, her big mountain bike, and she just started going on two wheels, and she was doing so good. 303 00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:19,000 And she was new to hand brakes. She used to pedal brakes. So she's going down to the bottom of the parking lot, and here comes my truck sitting there, minding its own business. 304 00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:29,000 And here comes Evelyn, and you can see it happening. We say, "Hit the brakes." And in that moment of being new at bike riding, she hits the truck instead of hitting the brakes. 305 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:37,000 And so what did we do? We got back up, and we tried again, right? Picked her back up, put her on her bike, and off she went. 306 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:43,000 And even though she was bleeding, and her lip was big, she was so brave. 307 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:52,000 That's not what God is talking about here. He doesn't just sort of clean out your sins, set you on your feet, and say, "All right, get back on the bike, good luck," and let you go, right? 308 00:49:52,000 --> 00:50:02,000 That's not what this is saying. It's saying that God takes you, He picks you up, He cleans your sin, and then He gives you His Spirit so that you are not doing this alone. 309 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:13,000 That you are empowered, that you are strengthened, that you are helped, that you are guided, that you are brought to repentance, that you are testified to of your salvation in Jesus. 310 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:21,000 Through His Spirit we cry, "Abba, Father." This is such wonderful news. 311 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:32,000 Verse 39 says this, "For the promise is for you and your children, and all who are far off, everyone to whom our Lord God calls to Himself, 312 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:39,000 and so God has called through His Word and through the power of the Spirit, and this call has an impact, 313 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:47,000 and people are cut to their hearts, and they see their need, and the answer to that need is forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit." 314 00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:53,000 So what happens next? 315 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:57,000 Peter says, "Respond with repentance." 316 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:07,000 Repentance, and I think this is so important for us to understand, is more than simply knowledge of our sin, right? 317 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:12,000 Because we know that there are things that we shouldn't do, and we do them anyway, all the time, right? 318 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:16,000 Speed limit's 55, man, my car goes a lot faster than that, right? 319 00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:19,000 I shouldn't eat this, but I'm going to do it anyway. 320 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:25,000 Repentance isn't simply knowing that what we are doing is wrong. 321 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:32,000 Traditionally, repentance is not simply feeling bad about doing wrong. 322 00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:35,000 And I've shared this before our previous dog, Rigby. 323 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:42,000 Every time that she did something wrong, like helped herself to the remains of a pork shoulder out of the trash can, right? 324 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,000 You could come home, and you could tell from her face that she had done something wrong. 325 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:55,000 Her head was down, her little nub wasn't wagging, and she looked like the saddest dog in the world, and there was this sorrow over wrongdoing. 326 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:59,000 But guess what? Next time we walked out the door and there was a pork shoulder in the trash, right? 327 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,000 What did she do? Right back to it, right? 328 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:08,000 Feeling sorry over our sin is not repentance. 329 00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:17,000 In fact, Paul will say this in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 as he talks about how he has had to correct the Corinthian church. 330 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:24,000 He'll say this, "As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. 331 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:28,000 For you felt a godly grief, so you suffered no loss through us. 332 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:37,000 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." 333 00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:40,000 And Paul says there's two kinds of grief. One is where you just feel bad about it. 334 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:46,000 One where you feel bad, and you are grieved, and you do something about it. 335 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:49,000 The word repentance literally means to turn from your sin. 336 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:57,000 This past week on Friday, I was taking Evelyn to her little school group, and we were in the middle of a good conversation. 337 00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:04,000 We're driving along, and we're on the road, and I look over right as we pass the driveway where we're supposed to go, right? 338 00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:08,000 So now did I keep driving and say, "All right, well, sorry we missed it. That's it." Right? No? 339 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,000 I pulled into the next driveway, turned around, and went back. 340 00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:18,000 That's the picture of repentance. You understand, and you know your sin, you are grieved by it, and you turn around, and you go back, right? 341 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:25,000 Repentance isn't simply knowing or feeling bad, but it's turning around and doing something about it. 342 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:31,000 If you want another picture of repentance, in Acts chapter 26, where Paul is sharing his testimony, 343 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:35,000 he gives us a glimpse of repentance in a little bit of a different language. 344 00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:42,000 And he does so talking about the mission that God has given them, that God has given them the mission to open their eyes. 345 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:49,000 Now here's where you see repentance. "To turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, 346 00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:56,000 that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." 347 00:53:56,000 --> 00:54:02,000 And so God gives them this instruction. You're going to instruct people to turn around, to go the other way. 348 00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:11,000 And so what Peter says is that we see our brokenness, we feel our brokenness, and we turn to God. 349 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:22,000 And notice how they do that. They turn to God through being identified with Him in baptism. 350 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:30,000 And before we talk about baptism just for a moment, I want to deal with, I think, two errors which tend to be prevalent in the church. 351 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:40,000 One is that sometimes we tend to ignore the significance of baptism. And so a couple weeks ago we had a gift card to a restaurant, and I was ordering 352 00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:47,000 for delivery, and so as I was checking out, I had my burger and my fries, you know, the kids' chicken tenders, Rachel's food. 353 00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:53,000 And as I was checking out, I was like, "You want to add a Caesar salad for a dollar?" And I was like, "Of course I want to add a Caesar salad for a dollar. 354 00:54:53,000 --> 00:55:00,000 When would I not want to add a Caesar salad for a dollar?" And so our delivery driver comes, the bag of food, and I meet him, and I take it inside. 355 00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:06,000 And about that, my phone rings, and it's the restaurant from which we ordered, and I answer. They said, "Is this Brandon?" I said, "Yes." 356 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:09,000 "Did you make an online order?" I said, "Yes." "Did it get delivered?" I said, "Yes." 357 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:17,000 They said, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but your Caesar salad is here at the restaurant." And I said, "Well, it was a dollar." Not a big deal, right? 358 00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:24,000 They said, "Well, we'll make a note, and the next time you come in." And I was like, "Well, if this service is any indication." You know. 359 00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:35,000 But our tendency sometimes is to say, "Well, it's really not that important." We can ignore that. We can not think about it. 360 00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:45,000 That's not what Scripture tells us. The other side of this is we can become sort of tunnel vision focused on baptism. 361 00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:56,000 And I remember when I was first learning to drive, and you see the speed limit that says 55. And as a young driver, my thought was, "I am going to go 55," right? 362 00:55:56,000 --> 00:56:01,000 It doesn't matter if it's ice in the road. It doesn't matter if there are children in the road, right? 363 00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:09,000 It's going to be 55 miles an hour, and I am not going to move from that speed, right? It doesn't matter about the road conditions. 364 00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:17,000 If the car is in front of me, it says 55, I'm going to go 55. And there is a tendency among some Christians to do that same thing. 365 00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:30,000 To ignore faith, to ignore discipleship, to ignore all of these different things, and simply have tunnel vision on this one aspect. 366 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:37,000 I want to just briefly point you to the wonder of what is happening here. 367 00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:41,000 This is a remarkable event in these people's lives. 368 00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:47,000 And to understand how remarkable it is, we need to have a little bit of cultural context. 369 00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:54,000 And so if you were a Gentile, and you wanted to become a Jew, you were called a proselyte. 370 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:59,000 And there are two different kinds of proselytes. There was the proselyte who simply was maybe known 371 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:04,000 as a God-fearer, right? They believed in the God of the Bible. They might follow some of his commandments. 372 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:08,000 And then there were the people who actually took the steps to follow him. 373 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:14,000 And so what that required in the first century was, first of all, you would bring a sacrifice to the temple. 374 00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:19,000 And then if you were a man, you were circumcised, which is a big commitment. 375 00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:28,000 And then third, after you had done all of that, you went into a pool of water, witnessed by the rabbi if you were a man. 376 00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:32,000 Rabbi stood outside the door if you were a lady, and you immersed yourself in this water. 377 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:44,000 And in that moment, you signified that you left your Gentile way of life behind, and that you were trusting in the God of the Bible, 378 00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:51,000 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you were going to follow him with a new line. 379 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:57,000 Now, we need to understand that New Testament baptism and Jewish ritual washings are not the same thing. 380 00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:06,000 But understand what this crowd is thinking, right? We're beginning anew. We're beginning afresh. 381 00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:19,000 They would have understood this as a life-altering commitment, a public commitment, saying that I am no longer going to follow this, but I'm going to follow Jesus. 382 00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:30,000 And more than that, what does Peter say? That you'll be baptized in who? In the name of Jesus, the one that you called to be crucified, the one that you rejected, right? 383 00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:43,000 This is an incredible moment of humbling of pride. And what you find biblically is that just as you don't save yourself, you don't baptize yourself, right? 384 00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:54,000 So come, he says, surrender your life to Christ. And in baptism, you proclaim your faith in the good news of the gospel. 385 00:58:54,000 --> 00:59:07,000 In the death, burial, and resurrection, you proclaim your repentance. You proclaim your allegiance. This is a proclamation that my life has changed. 386 00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:23,000 It's a declaration, an unmistakable one, that my life is different. I love this text. I love it because we see the power of the Word of God. 387 00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:33,000 We see the power of the Spirit to convict and to call people to himself. We see our deepest needs met in forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 388 00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:44,000 And we're called to repentance and to proclaim our faith and our repentance and our allegiance to Jesus. 389 00:59:44,000 --> 00:59:52,000 For us as Christians, we need to be reminded. We tend to forget things. I forget things all the time. 390 00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:56,000 I'll wake up in the morning and Rachel will say, "Hey, did you remember?" I said, "I absolutely did not remember." 391 00:59:56,000 --> 01:00:03,000 And if you wouldn't have reminded me, I wouldn't have remembered at the end of the day when I had missed something important. 392 01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:09,000 As Christians, we tend sometimes to forget. We tend to take things for granted. 393 01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:17,000 And I would encourage those of us who are Christians this morning to not take the good gifts of God for granted. 394 01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:23,000 That we would be a people of the Word and we would dive into the Word, empowered by the Spirit to be transformed. 395 01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:30,000 That we would be a people who see our forgiveness and are grateful of our forgiveness and proclaim our forgiveness 396 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:35,000 through the power of the Spirit to the nations. 397 01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:40,000 That the church would grow and be added to. 398 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:44,000 And that people would see salvation and respond with joy. 399 01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:46,000 Would you pray? 400 01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:50,000 Father, we thank you for Jesus and for grace. 401 01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:54,000 We thank you for hope. 402 01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:56,000 We thank you for forgiveness. 403 01:00:56,000 --> 01:01:00,000 We thank you for how you have called us. 404 01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:03,000 We thank you for how you have empowered us. 405 01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:05,000 Help us to live for righteousness. 406 01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:08,000 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 407 01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:12,000 Let's stand and sing our hymn of invitation. 408 01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:14,000 A song, a Revelation song. 409 01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:19,000 One that we're familiar with based on the description of Jesus in Revelation. 410 01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:24,000 That calls us to worship the goodness of who he is. 411 01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:55,000 The Lord is the Lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is he. 412 01:01:56,000 --> 01:02:25,000 Sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. 413 01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:40,000 With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you. 414 01:02:54,000 --> 01:03:23,000 Clothed in rainbows, all of a living color, flashes of lightning, rose of thunder. Blessing the dawn of strength and glory and power be to you the only wise King. 415 01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:52,000 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings. You are my everything and I will adore you. 416 01:03:52,000 --> 01:04:21,000 Jesus said, "Filled with wonder, o'er struck wonder, at the mansion of your name. Jesus, your name is power. 417 01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:50,000 Bread, the living water, such a marvelous mystery. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise 418 01:04:50,000 --> 01:05:19,000 to the King of Peace. You are my everything, and I will adore You. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Peace. 419 01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:29,000 to the King of Peace. You are my everything, and I will adore You. 420 01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:48,000 I want to thank you all for joining us, whether you are here with us in person 421 01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:52,000 or you are joining us online. We are thankful that you are here. 422 01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:57,000 We'll be back here Wednesday night, and that may be weather permitting 423 01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:01,000 because they're talking about some form of precipitation all week long. 424 01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:05,000 We're going to be wrapping up our study of the parables of Jesus, 425 01:06:05,000 --> 01:06:11,000 and so if you'd like to join us, you can do so here at the church in person or online, 426 01:06:11,000 --> 01:06:17,000 and then we'll be back next Sunday in the Book of Acts. If you haven't signed up for our email list, 427 01:06:17,000 --> 01:06:21,000 I would encourage you to do so. You can do that by giving me your email address 428 01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:24,000 or just going to our website right there on the center of the front page. 429 01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:29,000 There's a place to do that, so I'd encourage you to do that to keep up to date with what's going on. 430 01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:32,000 We'll go ahead and have a word of prayer and sing the doxology. 431 01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:35,000 Father in heaven, thank you for your word and your church and your people, 432 01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:38,000 and thank you for the grace which you have poured out upon us. 433 01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:44,000 We thank you for your spirit who empowers us. We thank you that you have called us to yourself. 434 01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:48,000 We just ask that we would share this good news with the world that surrounds us. 435 01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:51,000 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 436 01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:39,000 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 437 01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:49,000 Thank you.