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 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:29,980 We are glad to see you this morning. I am not Rachel, but I will endeavor to do my best this morning. We're going to begin in just a moment with a word of prayer, and then we're going to 5 00:05:29,980 --> 00:05:59,960 read from Romans chapter 5 together. So let's pray. Father in heaven, I just ask that as we come to worship, as we come to hear your word, as we come to sing, as we come to gather together around the table to celebrate the good news of the gospel, as we spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are such an encouragement to us, I just ask that you would be with us, that you would lighten our burdens, that you would point 6 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:12,960 toward hope, that you would give us peace, that you would call us to repentance, and that you would strengthen us in your grace. So be with us this morning as we worship. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 7 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:29,940 Just a couple of quick things. If you would like to partake with us in the Lord's Supper in a little bit, there are communion elements on the back table along with some sermon outlines and a sort of brief order of worship and a few announcements. 8 00:06:29,940 --> 00:06:46,940 if you would like to pick those up. Let's go ahead and be standing. We're going to read from Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. In a few minutes, we're going to be in Joshua, the 24th chapter, and we're going to see sort of the power of God's grace, and that's what we're kind of focusing on this morning. 9 00:06:46,940 --> 00:06:59,920 So if you would read with me from Romans chapter 5. It says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 10 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:14,920 Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." This is the word of the Lord. 11 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:29,900 What's interesting is Paul, after explaining to us where we stand and that we are found in the grace of God through faith, he goes on to explain how this sort of impacts and affects our life. 12 00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:47,900 Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 13 00:07:47,900 --> 00:07:59,880 And so Paul points us, first of all, to where we stand in grace, and then he points us to how grace is at work in our life, not just in the times when the road is easy, but the time when things 14 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:07,880 are difficult. So we're going to begin this morning by singing about the goodness of Jesus as we sing about the lion and the lamb. 15 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:52,880 He's coming on the house. Kings and kings will bow down. Every chain will break. His broken hearts declare His praise. But who can stop the Lord Almighty? 16 00:08:52,880 --> 00:09:08,880 Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. Every knee will bow before Him. 17 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:19,880 Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sins of the world, His blood breaks the chains. 18 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:26,880 Every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Every knee will bow before Him. 19 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:46,880 Open up the gates, make way before the King of Kings. 20 00:09:46,880 --> 00:10:01,880 The God who comes to save is here to set the captives free. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? 21 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:13,880 Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He is roaring with power and fighting the battle. 22 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:28,880 He will bow before Him. Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sins of the world, His blood breaks the chains. 23 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:38,880 Every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Every knee will bow before Him. 24 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:59,880 Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? 25 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:14,880 Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. Every knee will bow before Him. 26 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:26,880 Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sins of the world, His blood breaks the chains. 27 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:37,880 Every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb. Every knee will bow before Him. 28 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,880 We're going to right into Cornerstone. 29 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:12,880 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 30 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:25,880 I dare not trust the sweetest brain, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. 31 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:41,880 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 32 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:55,880 I dare not trust the sweetest brain, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. 33 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:21,880 Christ alone, cornerstone, weak made strong in Savior's love through the storm. He is Lord, Lord of all. 34 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:52,880 When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every light and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. 35 00:13:52,880 --> 00:14:20,880 My anchor holds within the veil. Lights down low, cornerstone, weak man. In the Savior's light, through the storm, He is Lord. 36 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:48,880 Lord our Lord. Christ alone, cornerstone, weak man. Strong in the Savior's light, through the storm, He is Lord. Lord our Lord. 37 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:54,880 Lord our Lord. 38 00:14:54,880 --> 00:15:16,880 He shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I then in Him be found. Dressed in His righteousness alone. 39 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:24,880 Faultless stand before the throne. 40 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:44,880 Christ alone. Corn and stone. Weak and strong. In the Savior's love. Through the storm, He is Lord. 41 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,880 Lord, I am Lord. 42 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:58,880 You may be seated. 43 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:16,880 You may be seated. 44 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:46,880 Let's pray. 45 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:16,880 Let's pray. 46 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:46,880 Let's pray. 47 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:41,880 All right. As we prepare for communion, we're going to be singing by the grace of God. 48 00:23:44,880 --> 00:24:13,880 I rest my soul on Jesus when the mountains shake. I put my trust in Jesus. 49 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:41,880 The moment I awake, and when my soul is lost at sea, He will be my rock. My vision be in Christ alone. 50 00:24:41,880 --> 00:25:08,880 This grace is all we've got. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me. 51 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:35,880 Threw it all by the grace of God. So I, upon His shoulders, safely brought this far. Helper of my helplessness. 52 00:25:35,880 --> 00:26:02,880 The King of broken hearts. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me. 53 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:29,880 I do it all by the grace of God. You are the passion of my life, Lord Jesus. You are the song within my soul. My strength, my hope, my all in all is You. 54 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:56,880 Jesus, You. When breath grows still and night draws near, I will not be afraid. I know the plans He has for me. 55 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:23,880 He will finish at my grave. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me. 56 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:30,880 We meet through it all by the grace of God. 57 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:54,880 Good morning. 58 00:27:54,880 --> 00:28:11,880 The Lord's Supper traces its symbolic roots to the Passover meal at the time of the Exodus. 59 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:16,880 It was instituted by Jesus at the time of His final meal with His disciples. 60 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:21,880 The bread and the cup point to His broken body, and the shed blood 61 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,880 are the definitive symbols of the new covenant in Christ. 62 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:33,880 So that's kind of where it started, and where we get that. 63 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:40,880 We remember Jesus, when He instituted the Lord's Supper, He was at a Passover feast. 64 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:48,880 But today, I kept thinking about the words that we often read, and we'll read again before we partake. 65 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:56,880 "Do this in remembrance of Me." And it's like, how do we do that? What does that look like? 66 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:03,880 So we want to talk for just a minute about where do we look during the Lord's Supper? 67 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:10,880 You know, we're good at looking around. We're born with a knack for spotting the failure of others, 68 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:16,880 and we've been conditioned to develop that skill. But that's not what we're talking about today. 69 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:25,880 We're not talking about looking at others and focusing on them. We're talking about looking to Jesus, obviously. 70 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:32,880 The Scriptures encourage us to look in a number of directions with our eyes of faith as we share in the Lord's Supper. 71 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:38,880 First, we are to look back with gratitude to Jesus and His death at the cross. 72 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:47,880 First Corinthians 11 and verse 24 says, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 73 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:54,880 So we're looking back to the cross. Next, we're to look around at the body of believers. 74 00:29:54,880 --> 00:30:00,880 With them, we share the Supper. It is something we do when we come together. 75 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:06,880 We've noticed that in verse 17 of that chapter, First Corinthians 17, when they were gathered together. 76 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:16,880 And we discern the body of Christ. Verse 29 of First Corinthians 11, as we eat. 77 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:25,880 It is significant that we share this meal as a community. Sharing the one bread together is a sign of our fundamental unity. 78 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:35,880 First Corinthians 10 verse 17 tells us, "Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body. 79 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:40,880 For we all share the one loaf." 80 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:49,880 We also look up to heaven, where the risen and ascended Christ intercedes for us as our great high priest. 81 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:58,880 Hebrews 4 and verse 14, one of my favorite passages, says, "Since then we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, 82 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:09,880 Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, 83 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:15,880 but we have one who in every aspect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 84 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:27,880 Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." 85 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:33,880 Finally, we look forward to the day when Jesus will return. 86 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:40,880 1 Corinthians 11:26 encourages us to continue to do this until He returns. 87 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:48,880 The celebration of the supper serves as a proclamation of Christ's death, which anticipates His return. 88 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:56,880 Jesus Himself, when He instituted the supper, ate it in anticipation of the future. He says, "I won't do this again 89 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:05,880 until I do this in the kingdom of heaven." The ultimate outworking of God's salvation plan has long been 90 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:12,880 associated with the promise of a great banquet, and we find that in Isaiah and both Revelation. 91 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:19,880 So the Lord's Supper serves as a foretaste of that great banquet, even as it reminds us of the only basis of our 92 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:25,880 hope for participating in it. So we look back to the death of Jesus. 93 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:30,880 We look around to the body of believers who we celebrate this together with. 94 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:39,880 We look up to heaven, and we know that we have someone there, that it's our advocate, that we can find mercy and 95 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:44,880 grace in time of need. And then we look forward to Jesus returning. 96 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:50,880 Let's think about these things as we pray, and then we partake together. 97 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:59,880 Dear God in heaven, we just thank you for loving us. We thank you for sending your Son to die on our behalf. 98 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:07,880 Help us each week as we partake, that we would not lose sight of that, that we would not lose our focus on you, 99 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:16,880 that it would not become commonplace, but we would ever grow in our love for you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 100 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:28,880 Jesus said when he had given thanks, he took the bread, he broke it, and said, "This is my body. Do this in remembrance of me." 101 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:43,880 After supper, he took the cup saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me." 102 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:59,880 To God in heaven, we just pray that as we focus on you, and as we learn more about your love, that we would grow in your grace and your mercy. 103 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:06,880 Help us to be able to be proclaimers of that, of what you have done in our lives. 104 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:11,880 Thank you for loving us. Thank you for caring for us. In Jesus' name, amen. 105 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:47,880 One of the really, um, astonishing and breathtaking things about, um, the passage that Brandon is going to preach on this morning, 106 00:34:48,880 --> 00:35:12,880 is that, um, God is going to summarize six books of the Bible. Um, and Brandon has preached through a good portion of those, um, fairly recently. Um, and it's just, I don't know, really cool. Um, we're going to start in the first verse of Joshua 24. 107 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:36,880 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, the officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the Lord, 108 00:35:36,880 --> 00:36:00,880 the God of Israel, long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him 109 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:24,880 through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac, and Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and I gave Esau the hill country of the Seher heir to possess. But Jacob and all his children went down to Egypt, and I 110 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:48,880 sent Moses and Aaron. I played Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterwards I brought you out. Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued you farther with 111 00:36:48,880 --> 00:37:12,880 chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. 112 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:36,880 And you lived in the wilderness a long time. Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 113 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:56,880 Then Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and invited Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he would bless you. 114 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:23,880 So I delivered you out of his hand, and you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I gave them into your hand. 115 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:50,880 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, and two kings of the Amorites. It was not by your sword or by your bow I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. 116 00:38:50,880 --> 00:39:17,880 You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 117 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:43,880 If it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Emirates in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. 118 00:39:43,880 --> 00:40:09,880 This verse marks a transition from kind of this picture of grace, and the grace of God. 119 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:24,880 To ultimately, it kind of hits a dark turn in the very next verse. Let's dive into Joshua chapter 24. We're going to pray first. 120 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:37,880 Father in heaven, I thank you for our church. I thank you for the joy that you bring to us. I thank you for the hope that you give us, and I thank you for the peace that you move into our hearts with. 121 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:54,880 I just ask that you would be with us this morning as we open your word and as we study your word, that you would change us and transform us through your word, that you would help us to see the goodness of your grace and how you have changed and transformed our hearts. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 122 00:40:54,880 --> 00:41:08,880 So many of us, we may have a location that kind of brings to mind something to us that is special or is wonderful or we go back to that place over and over again out of a sense of nostalgia. 123 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:21,880 And I probably have one of the worst of those special locations. Rachel and I's very first date, we went to Chili's here in Winchester, so it was like, you know, it was super romantic. 124 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:28,880 And to make it even better, I brought one of my best friends along as well. I was like, "Hey, me and my buddy are here. It's nice to see you." 125 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:40,880 And I laughed thinking, "Hey man, this went really, really, really good." Now, after several years and almost a decade of marriage, we can look back on that and laugh. 126 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:47,880 And that's one of those kind of things that says a lot about who we are, mainly about who I am as a person. 127 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:56,880 But it's one of those kind of memories that defines us. And so every year we do this kind of fancy Valentine's Day dinner with the kids. 128 00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:02,880 And we come up with a ridiculous menu where we come up with elaborate names for normal everyday food. 129 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:09,880 And I always go to Chili's and get some chips and salsa, because Rachel was very adamant it wasn't going to be a date, so she was going to get her own food. 130 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:15,880 And so we get together, and probably rightly so, when your date shows up with his best buddy. 131 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:24,880 And so we get that as a reminder, and it kind of brings joy in how, even at a really bad beginning, something good can come out of. 132 00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:34,880 And so this morning we're coming to one of those places, biblically, one of those places that has a whole lot of backstory to it. 133 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:47,880 This place at Shechem, and not just the place, but the trees of Shechem, which is a remarkable thing to me. This gets mentioned more than once in the Bible. 134 00:42:47,880 --> 00:43:00,880 In Genesis chapter 12, God has brought Abraham away from where he has been born and where he has lived, and has brought him into Canaan, and ends up at a place called Shechem. 135 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:09,880 And we read this in Genesis 12:6, that Abraham passed through the land of Shechem to the oak of the terabith. It's a type of tree of morah. 136 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:21,880 And at that time, the Canaanites were in the land, and then God will appear to Abraham here by this tree at Shechem, and will say to him, "I'm going to give you all of this land." 137 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:36,880 Later on, Abraham's grandson, Jacob, will come back to this land and feuding with his brother. He will make peace with his brother, and he will encamp at Shechem, and he will erect an altar to worship God. 138 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:56,880 And two chapters later, we'll find Jacob and his family getting ready to move on from Shechem. Before they do, Jacob will do something remarkable. He will say, "Put away the foreign gons that are among you, and pierce by yourselves, and change your garments. 139 00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:03,880 Now let's rise and go to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God, who answers me in the day of distress." And so here in verse 4, it says, 140 00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:14,880 "They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods they had, the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid, or buried them, under the terabith tree that was near Shechem." 141 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:22,880 And so if you're following along, this town, specifically these trees, are where Abraham first built an altar to God. 142 00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:32,880 And this town and these trees are where Jacob purifies his house, they get rid of all of their idols, all of the jewelry that was symbolic of pagan religion, 143 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:45,880 and bury them there amongst these trees. And then we come to Joshua chapter 24, and we find that the place where Israel is, is a place full of history. 144 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:52,880 And it's a place where these trees, to God's people, symbolize their history and show what God has done. 145 00:44:52,880 --> 00:45:01,880 This is the place where God has promised to give them the land. It's a place where Jacob has rededicated himself and his family to God, and it is now the place 146 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:08,880 where Joshua will renew the covenant of Israel with God's people. 147 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:19,880 And so it's here at this place that is filled with all of this history, Joshua will, first of all, remind God's people of the history of God's good grace throughout their life. 148 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:30,880 And Brant was exactly right. Five books of the Bible sort of summed up in just a few verses, four specific examples of God's grace that Joshua 149 00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:39,880 points to. First of all, he points to God's grace and the calling and the leading and the providing for Abraham. And he will talk about 150 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:49,880 how he called Abraham, and don't miss the fact that he talks about how Abraham and his family worshiped false thoughts. God calls Abraham not because 151 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:59,880 he is good, but he calls Abraham in his grace to make him good. And he brings him out, and God provides, and God gives him a link, and God gives 152 00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:09,880 him a family. We want to see that this is grace, not that Abraham earned or deserved it. From there, we see God's grace 153 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:16,880 in the rescue from Egypt, through the Red Sea and the plagues that accompany it. And we see God's grace in the 154 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:23,880 wilderness as he provides, and as they face enemies that seek to attack them. And then we see God's grace in the 155 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:28,880 conquest of the land. That God is doing this over and over again in these verses. 156 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:37,880 God will say, "I gave," or "I did," or "I sent." The focus of these verses is not on what the people of 157 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:42,880 Israel have done, but what God has done on their behalf. One of my favorite pictures is in 158 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:49,880 Joshua 24:12, where it says this, "Sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you. The 159 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:56,880 two kings, the Amorites, it was not by your sword or by your bow, but rather the hornets." And so if you ever 160 00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:03,880 watch a cartoon where some guy's over there poking a bee, right? This cloud of bees comes out, it's all 161 00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:08,880 swirling around, and it goes after the guy, and he just takes off and ends up, you know, hiding or trying 162 00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:15,880 to jump into the water to avoid the bees. It's kind of a humorous illustration that God is using to show 163 00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:21,880 that it wasn't due to the goodness or the strength of the power of Israel, but God was the one who was 164 00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:27,880 directing. And as these tribes ran, they're running not from the power of Israel, but from the power 165 00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:35,880 of God. And what we see is what Joshua is emphasizing. It is through God's grace, not the people's 166 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:42,880 goodness, that God has done these things. Whether in Abraham, or in Egypt, or in the 167 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:48,880 deliverance from Egypt, or in the wilderness, or in the conquest of the land, that God has 168 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:53,880 been at work for the good of his people. And at the center of these things, I want 169 00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:58,880 you to see that it's God, that God takes, God leads, God makes, God gives. And it's summed 170 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:06,880 up in verse 13 like this, "I gave you a land which you had not labored, cities that you had 171 00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:11,880 not built," you dwell in them, "you ate the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards you did 172 00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:17,880 not plant." The emphasis here is not on what God's people have done, but what God has done 173 00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:22,880 for his people through his grace. And one of the things that we see as we look 174 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:28,880 at this grace, we see that, well, grace is from the goodness of God, and it is free, and it 175 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:37,880 comes to undeserving people. It's not always easy. It doesn't always make the road smooth. 176 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:41,880 That God's grace, well, through us, through those difficulties, doesn't always lead us in 177 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:46,880 the place where we think, in our wisdom, it should go. You see this in verse 4. 178 00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:52,880 And Isaac, this is God speaking, "And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau," so he says, "I gave 179 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:59,880 him the sons, and to Esau I gave the hill country of Seir to possess, but to Jacob and his children 180 00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:06,880 they went down to Egypt." So there's this intentional contrast, right? He says, "To one of the children 181 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:11,880 I gave the hill country," and the implication here is that Esau goes, he takes his land, he's 182 00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:19,880 done. But to Jacob, what happens? He goes down into Egypt. We might say, "How is it God's 183 00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:24,880 grace that they go to Egypt? How is it God's grace that they are in captivity? How is it in 184 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:29,880 God's grace that they are pursued by the army in Egypt? How is it in God's grace that they 185 00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:35,880 struggle in the wilderness? Why couldn't it have just been like Esau? Why couldn't they 186 00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:41,880 just have taken their inheritance in that moment? It's because in God's grace what we 187 00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:50,880 find is not identifiable blessings, but we see God's grace when He corrects us. We see God's 188 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:57,880 grace as He matures us. You see, God's grace, one of the purposes of God's grace, isn't just 189 00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:02,880 to give us something and leave us alone, but it's to correct us. And if you think through 190 00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:09,880 these examples of grace, how did Jacob end up in Egypt? Was it because they said, "Hey, 191 00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:14,880 let's all go to Egypt." What happens if the young guy by the name of Joseph, he's one of the 192 00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:19,880 youngest of his brothers, in fact the second youngest, goes to visit his other brothers 193 00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:25,880 at Shechem. What do they do? They plan to kill him, and they're killing him, they just 194 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:32,880 kidnap him, and sell him into slavery in Egypt. And they end up, as clay and sand comes, 195 00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:38,880 they end up going to Egypt, they find Joseph there. At the end of their line, Joseph will 196 00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:43,880 say this, "You meant this as evil against me." Right? You sought to do evil against me, but 197 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:48,880 God, in His grace, what did He do? He turned it into something good that many people might 198 00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:54,880 be kept alarmed. Why did Israel spend 50 years in the wilderness, all this extra time? 199 00:50:54,880 --> 00:51:01,880 Extra 40 years in the wilderness? Because God's grace was correcting them. He brings them 200 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:06,880 to the land, and they say, "No, we're not going in." Right? So what you find is that God's grace 201 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:12,880 is patient, even when we decide not to walk in it. And part of the reason you find this long 202 00:51:12,880 --> 00:51:17,880 story is because God has laid out a road for His people, and you and I are constantly trying 203 00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:23,880 to detour into our own ideas or our own plans or after our own desires. And in His grace, God 204 00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:34,880 brings us back to where we should be. God's grace corrects us. We also find that God is 205 00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:40,880 developing character and maturity, not just as reward. So as a dad with kids, I don't want 206 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:44,880 to just get them to the point where I can say, "You've been at my house long enough. 207 00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:52,880 You're old enough. Get out of my house." Right? With my children, I want to seek to develop them into people who are strong and 208 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:57,880 good and responsible and who love God with all their hearts and who love their neighbor as themselves. 209 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:04,880 I don't just want to get them to a point where I can say, "Go about your business as a dad." Right? 210 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:12,880 I want to teach them and I want to see them grow. And part of the reason that you have this 400 plus year detour 211 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:21,880 between Esau and Jacob and their families is because God is growing in teaching and maturing His people. 212 00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:28,880 You see, grace doesn't always take us the easy way, but I will say this: it takes us the way that is best for us. 213 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:36,880 And if I've learned anything about myself, I would rather have the easy way than the best way. 214 00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:50,880 And what God does is against our laziness or our selfish desires, He says, "In my grace, I will bring you the way that will correct you and bring you to maturity." 215 00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:55,880 But in these chapters, we also see how God's grace is for everyone. 216 00:52:55,880 --> 00:53:03,880 And if you think back to Abraham, who is not a perfect man, he's a man of faith, but he also gives away his wife twice. 217 00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:09,880 His son Isaac plays favorites with his son, and his family ends up broken. 218 00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:13,880 Jacob is a liar and a cheat, and lives until God confronts him. 219 00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:19,880 And they have a wrestling match where his hip is dislocated, but Jacob is humbled enough to see the goodness of God. 220 00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:25,880 His sons sell one of their brothers into slavery in Egypt. 221 00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:30,880 As Moses comes to lead the people out, they say, "Who are you that you should speak for us?" 222 00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:34,880 And at the Red Sea, they panic and want to turn back, and God opens the Red Sea. 223 00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:39,880 On the other side, they're thirsty. God gives them water. 224 00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:45,880 And they say, "Even though you've opened the Red Sea, even though you're going to swore, now we're hungry. Did you bring us out here?" 225 00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:57,880 A constant cacophony of complaints, and God loves them and is gracious towards them, even while correcting them and maturing them through the wilderness. 226 00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:01,880 You see, there is no sign of the grace of God. 227 00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:08,880 The first thing we see in this chapter is that God's grace in the past has been poured out upon His people. 228 00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:14,880 And now the point that Joshua is trying to make is not just simply a reiteration of historical facts, 229 00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:19,880 but he wants them to see how it impacts them now. Not just look at what God has done in the past, 230 00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:23,880 but how does that past now impact your future? 231 00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:29,880 And so Joshua will then present them with this choice. 232 00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:36,880 You see, as a result of being reminded of God's grace, Joshua is going to call his people to serve Him. 233 00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:39,880 Now therefore, this is verse 14, 234 00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:48,880 "Fear the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river, and serve the Lord." 235 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:54,880 Right? Four commands Joshua gives them in relation to serving God. First of all, it's fear the Lord. 236 00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:58,880 And when he talks about fearing the Lord, he's not talking about being startled. 237 00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:03,880 So some of our kids are going through a phase right now where they're trying to sneak up on their dad. 238 00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:09,880 Thankfully, so far, they've been really not as quiet as they could be, so I hear them coming. 239 00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:14,880 Right? They want to jump out of somewhere, and they want to startle me and go, "We scared you." Right? 240 00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:18,880 That's not the thing we're talking about where you walk around the corner and God goes, "BOOM!" Right? 241 00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:28,880 We're not talking about being startled by God. We're also not talking about being scared of something that tries to make us run or hide. 242 00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:37,880 I remember the first time that I ever road-tripped as kind of an adult. We were like 18 years old, and some of my cousins and I were coming back from Iowa. 243 00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:43,880 We stopped at this little, shady motel because we were all really tired. They rented a store, and we went and got some take-out. 244 00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:54,880 We were sitting there eating dinner, and we were watching, I think it was The X-Files at the time, and it was one of those X-Files episodes that's really dark, always rainy, and the creepy guy or whatever is coming around. 245 00:55:54,880 --> 00:56:01,880 I realized, you know, after three or four episodes that I'd left my backpack in the car, so I talked to the youngest cousin that was with us. 246 00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:09,880 I said, "Hey, get out there and get my backpack." He's like, "Absolutely not. I'm not going out there." I was like, "Well, you're not going out there. I'm not going out there. Who's going to go out there?" 247 00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:21,880 And so here we are, and again, we deal with this plan where they unlock the car from the window, open the door, ran out, got the backpack, and they opened the door, and I got back in, and we locked all the bolts and put a chair under the door, right? 248 00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:33,880 We're not talking about that kind of fear. Although there is a fear that comes from encountering the Holy God. That's not what this is speaking of. 249 00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:46,880 The fear here is one of reverence and honor and holding something in esteem. So Rachel started a project last night with a bunch of her grandma's recipes. 250 00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:53,880 She's going to turn into a book for the family members, and sitting there looking at them, and the girls are looking at these recipes. 251 00:56:53,880 --> 00:57:02,880 And there's this really heartwarming, wonderful moment of all of these memories sort of pouring back, and they're being so careful, right? 252 00:57:02,880 --> 00:57:10,880 Because those things are precious. And you want to honor them and take care of them. And you put them in a place of special honor. 253 00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:21,880 When we talk about fearing God, we're not being startled, or in this case, being afraid. We're talking about reverencing Him, that we lift Him up, and that we treat Him with honor. 254 00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:32,880 And the first result of seeing God's grace is that we honor Him. We fear Him. The second thing we see is that we serve the Lord sincerely, sincerely with our hearts, right? 255 00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:49,880 There's a difference between obedience in our action and obedience in our heart. I remember, might be the only sermon I remember from my childhood, but I remember my dad using an illustration either in a class or in a sermon, talking about obedience in the heart. 256 00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:58,880 And there was this little boy in school, the teacher says, "Well, you need to sit down. You won't sit down." And the teacher says, "You need to sit down." And he doesn't sit down. 257 00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:10,880 He says, "You need to sit down." And he sits down, but goes, "In my heart, I'm standing up." Now, I don't know what character this person could have been based upon. 258 00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:21,880 It certainly was not me, right? But we all know that there is a difference between doing something with a full heart and doing something just because we have to. 259 00:58:21,880 --> 00:58:34,880 And one of the results of seeing the grace of God poured out around us is that we serve God not just externally like the Pharisees in the New Testament did, but we serve Him with our whole heart. 260 00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:44,880 We also serve the Lord faithfully. That's what Joshua said. The picture there of faithful is obedience. Being trusted to take care of what you need to do. 261 00:58:44,880 --> 00:58:53,880 In Nehemiah chapter 7, there's a problem in Jerusalem that people are ignoring the law of God and they're buying and selling on Sunday. 262 00:58:53,880 --> 00:59:07,880 So Nehemiah gets a couple of burly guys he knows are trustworthy, and he says, "On Friday night, you close the gates, and on Sunday morning, you come back up and you don't let anybody in or out of those gates." 263 00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:14,560 And it says he chose these men because he knew that they were faithful, meaning that they would do what they said they would do. 264 00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:19,880 And they wouldn't change what was said. They wouldn't make an excuse. 265 00:59:19,880 --> 00:59:28,880 You see, when we see God's grace, we don't just hear what he says and serve him joyfully, but we serve him as he has commanded us. 266 00:59:28,880 --> 00:59:39,880 And then he will say, "Put away the gods that your fathers have served." Right? Echoes of Jacob in Genesis 31. 267 00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:48,880 And it means that as you're traveling, you throw it out the window, or you drop it behind you, or you bury it under a tree. 268 00:59:48,880 --> 00:59:54,880 And so having said, "Here is what grace looks like. Here is what grace leads to." 269 00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:59,880 We don't do these things to get grace, but we do these things because of God's grace. 270 00:59:59,880 --> 01:00:03,880 He leads the people with a decision. Listen to what he says. 271 01:00:03,880 --> 01:00:08,880 "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day who you will serve. 272 01:00:08,880 --> 01:00:17,880 Whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 273 01:00:17,880 --> 01:00:23,880 And the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. 274 01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:28,880 For it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery, 275 01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:36,880 and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among the people through whom we passed." 276 01:00:37,880 --> 01:00:45,880 "The Lord drove out before us all the peoples and the Amorites who put to the land, therefore we will serve the Lord, for He is our God." 277 01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:51,880 And this is the best answer that you could possibly hope for, right? These people have finally got it. 278 01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:58,880 Joshua says, "Who are you going to serve?" You see God's grace, you see what that grace produces in your life, now what are you going to do? 279 01:00:58,880 --> 01:01:06,880 Are you going to follow God or follow somebody else?" And they enthusiastically reply with, "We will serve God." 280 01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:19,880 Right? After five books of the Bible of disobedience, it seems like these people have finally got it, they've finally figured it out, they've seen God's grace, and they're going to follow them with all of their hearts. 281 01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:35,880 But Joshua, how he responds to them is far less optimistic. Joshua will say to people, "You are not able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God and He is a jealous God, and He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. 282 01:01:35,880 --> 01:01:48,880 Take the Lord and serve foreign gods, and He will turn on you and do harm and consume you after having done your good." And he'll say, "No, we're going to serve God." You hear what Joshua says, he looks at them and says, "I don't think you can do it." 283 01:01:48,880 --> 01:02:04,880 He's not optimistic about what will happen. And honestly, rightfully so. One generation after the end of Joshua 24, these people are serving foreign gods. But Joshua will say, "I don't think you can." They will promise they do. And so what Joshua does, 284 01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:33,880 he does something remarkable. As they make this promise, "Of course we're going to serve God." Joshua will then write it down. And so, I don't know if you've ever had this experience or seen somebody in this experience, right? You have an argument, maybe through text message, and it comes out one way or another. Time goes by, and time goes by, and time goes by a little farther. And you get into a similar argument, and the person says, "Well, you said you would do this." And you say, "No, I didn't." And they say, 285 01:02:33,880 --> 01:03:02,880 "Here's a screenshot of what you just said," right? That's what Joshua is literally doing to the people of Israel. He says, "You're not going to serve God." They say, "Yes, we will." And he says, "All right, let's write it down and see who's right." So he writes it down, and not just on paper, but he engraves it into stone, and he puts it on a tree, right? The same tree, or the same group of trees that Jacob likely buried the idols that his family served under. 286 01:03:02,880 --> 01:03:31,880 Now, this is not Joshua being passive aggressive, right? It sounds like it. We're going to do this. No, you're not. I'm going to write it down to make sure I can kind of shut it in your face later. Joshua here is not being passive aggressive. What he's trying to do is help them to see that they can't do this on their own. That the only way that they can follow God and trust in God is through the power that God gives them. They are so focused on themselves and what they have done. 287 01:03:31,880 --> 01:04:00,880 In the words of Jacob, they put aside their idols, just like your great-great-great-grandfather Jacob did. Put aside their idols and buried them under the trees. I tell you to do the same. And almost everywhere else in these first five books of the Bible, when you find a command, you find an almost instantaneous, obedient response. But here he says, "Put aside your idols," and they say, "Okay, yeah, we'll do that." And then a generation later, those idols are back. 288 01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:29,880 You see, Joshua is trying to impress the people that serving God is more just saying that you will serve Him, right? You ever agreed to something and then instantly regretted it? For the last two weeks, I've had this reality, right? I agreed to something, and every morning at 5 a.m., I absolutely regret agreeing to it. And what he's saying to the people is, "Make sure that you are thinking this through." Right? This is more than just saying the words, right? 289 01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:58,880 This has to be accompanied by a life that obeys, right? It's easy, especially when things are going well, to turn our eyes to ourselves. Moses will say to the people, he said, "When you come into the land, and God gives you wealth, and He gives you vines, and He gives you fields," he'll say this, "Beware lest you say in my heart, my power and my might have gotten me this wealth," instead of pointing to the goodness of God. And the problem that surrounds this tree, 290 01:04:58,880 --> 01:05:27,880 in Joshua 24, these people are saying, "Yeah, we can do this, in our strength, and in our ability, and in our power." And so Joshua, in a reenactment of Genesis 35, under a terebinth tree, will say, "Put away foreign gods," and they don't do that, so under this tree, he puts a copy of the law of God. And what we find in one generation, this covenant is broken. And Joshua doesn't get any more 291 01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:56,880 cheerful from this, because immediately we move from this covenant that Joshua says, "I don't think you're going to be able to follow," to immediately the three funerals. The funeral of Joshua, the delayed by 400 years funeral for Joseph, and the funeral for Eleazar, the high priest, the son of Aaron. And it sort of ends on this dark note, right? 292 01:05:56,880 --> 01:06:25,880 The one who provided for us and brought salvation in the famine in Egypt, Joseph, he's dead. Joshua, who has brought us into this land and who has led us in righteousness, is dead. Eleazar, who stood between God and his people making sacrifices for the atonement of sins, he is dead, right? Our leader, our rescuer, and our priest are gone. And it seems pretty bleak. And I think in part it is intended 293 01:06:25,880 --> 01:06:54,880 to, so that we, as we read millennia later, we see that our strength doesn't come from ourselves, but it comes from God. And in many ways, Joshua 24 is not just an ending to the story of Joshua. It's a sign that points us forward to something better. The grace, the call to respond to grace, the free funerals, they're all a sign that God is calling us to 294 01:06:54,880 --> 01:07:23,880 something better, a grace that is bigger, right? Not just a physical salvation in the wilderness, or a physical salvation from captivity, or a physical victory over enemies, but there is a grace that is coming that will bring us out of a spiritual wilderness, out of a spiritual captivity, that will bring us victory over our spiritual enemies, and that grace comes through another Joshua. In English, it's Jesus, but in Hebrew, it's Joshua. 295 01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:52,880 Obedience is coming deeper. Not just a surface agreement or a surface picture of what God has called us to do, but there is an obedience coming through that will cut to the heart of God's people. There is a leader, a priest, and a rescuer who will come and save His people. In Ezekiel, we read this: "I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, 296 01:07:52,880 --> 01:08:21,880 and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." And if you are a Christian this morning, right, we look to the grace that has been poured out upon us through Jesus, the grace that rescues us, the grace that leads us, the grace that has been victorious over our sins through the cross, and we're called to follow Jesus. 297 01:08:21,880 --> 01:08:38,880 If you're not a Christian this morning and you hear these words, know that there is grace for the hurting and for the broken, and that there is a rescuer and a deliverer who has come to save you. His name is Jesus. 298 01:08:38,880 --> 01:08:50,880 So if you ever have any questions about this or would like to know more, I'd be happy to talk to you at any time. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for Jesus and for grace. 299 01:08:50,880 --> 01:09:01,880 I thank you for hope. I thank you for how you've changed us and changed our hearts and your spirit who dwells within us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 300 01:09:01,880 --> 01:09:10,880 We're going to go ahead and we're going to stand and we're going to sing "This is Amazing Grace." 301 01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:34,880 Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty and so much stronger? The King of glory. The King above all kings. 302 01:09:34,880 --> 01:09:49,880 Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder? Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder? The King of glory. 303 01:09:49,880 --> 01:10:18,880 The King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bend my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. 304 01:10:18,880 --> 01:10:47,880 Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter? The King of glory. The King above all kings. 305 01:10:47,880 --> 01:11:16,880 Who rules the nations with truth and justice? Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. The King of glory. The King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is a failing love. 306 01:11:16,880 --> 01:11:45,880 That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. 307 01:11:45,880 --> 01:12:14,880 You are here with us this morning. We are thankful for those of you who are joining us online. Just a couple of announcements before we close. We'll be here Wednesday night. We are going through the Book of James. That is at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday night. Also, as we mentioned earlier, Debbie is about to get some knee surgery. One of the things you may not know is that Debbie 308 01:12:14,880 --> 01:12:43,880 she successfully serves in helping us keep everything clean and straightened up, and she does a wonderful job, and we are so thankful for her. But she is also going to be recovering from knee surgery for a whole bunch of weeks, so we would like maybe to get some volunteers, if you're willing, to come in and help once a week kind of straighten things up. You can talk to me or talk to Rachel, and we can kind of coordinate those weeks and those times. But I told her the other day, 309 01:12:43,880 --> 01:13:12,880 I said, "Well, it's going to take like eight of us to fill in for what you have done by yourself." And so we are so thankful for her, but we are going to need some help while she is recovering. Also, we're getting ready to do some work downstairs. We haven't used a couple of our rooms for a while, and so we are working on getting that done. Our big room several years ago, we had a little bit of a basement flood, and it had some 310 01:13:12,880 --> 01:13:41,880 problems with the flooring. And so we have some volunteers to help with some of the repairs, and we are getting ready to pull out and replace that flooring. So if you would like to help with some of those things, whether that is sort of physical help, we're going to need a group of people to come help pull stuff off the floor, or if you would like to sort of donate to the materials for that project, you are welcome to do that as well. 311 01:13:41,880 --> 01:14:10,880 A couple ways to do that is if you give online, there is a little checkbox for basement project that's just been added, or if you want to write a check for that, you can put that memo in the memo line so that we can use that. So our goal is to get that back functional, because we have a couple things we would like to do with that space and use that space for the encouragement of the church. And so if you want more details, I can fill you in on that a little bit later. 312 01:14:10,880 --> 01:14:31,880 So I'm going to go ahead and have a word of prayer. I'm going to read a verse, and then we will sing the doxology. Father in heaven, we thank you for your church and your people. We thank you for the joy that you bring us through gathering together. And I just thank you for all of your good gifts. Be with us as we leave this place. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 313 01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:55,880 From the book of Jude, starting in verse 24. "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now and forever." We're going to sing the doxology and be dismissed. 314 01:14:55,880 --> 01:15:24,880 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. 315 01:15:24,880 --> 01:15:31,880 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 316 01:15:54,880 --> 01:15:56,880 Amen. 317 01:16:24,880 --> 01:16:26,880 Amen. 318 01:16:54,880 --> 01:16:56,880 Amen.