1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Thank you. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Thank you. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:29,980 Thank you. 4 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Amen. 5 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:29,980 Thank you. 6 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,520 You don't live what can I 7 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:51,620 In the empty waters 8 00:03:51,620 --> 00:03:54,560 I call you to come 9 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,420 In the rivers of sorrow 10 00:03:58,420 --> 00:04:01,460 Don't try not to go 11 00:04:01,460 --> 00:04:09,000 For I will be with your troubles in my life 12 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:15,780 I'll be thankful for your weakness tonight 13 00:04:28,420 --> 00:04:42,720 When you're a fiery trial, your pathway shall lie, my correction shall be your supply. 14 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,340 The place where you're not hiding 15 00:04:46,340 --> 00:04:50,080 Our only desire 16 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,280 You're just to consume 17 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:57,460 And you're a goal to refine 18 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:23,560 And I don't know how to lead for you, though I want to lock it up to you, though 19 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:30,620 That's all the world has, should endeavor to show 20 00:05:30,620 --> 00:05:37,740 I'll never know now, but I'll never forsake 21 00:05:42,720 --> 00:06:12,700 Thank you. 22 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:42,700 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 23 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:54,080 I see the most of you, I will go to the end, which shall never come. 24 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:07,420 Christ, I'm sure you will stay here. 25 00:07:07,420 --> 00:07:11,800 The tempest of the rage is on. 26 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:18,060 The temptation, the battle and the sea. 27 00:07:18,060 --> 00:07:24,260 The light is warm, deeper still than gold. 28 00:07:24,260 --> 00:07:30,260 The end of the day, though I trust the least and the cure, 29 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:39,160 I will hold it to the end that shall never die. 30 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,560 To the flood above me 31 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:10,720 Hold this song now, oh my soul now 32 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,680 Lift your eyes to Calvary 33 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:19,840 This my vilest of assurance 34 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,140 Sees love forever 35 00:08:23,140 --> 00:08:29,040 I will hold you to the anchor 36 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:34,160 It shall never be removed 37 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:45,300 Christ is sure and steady anchor 38 00:08:45,300 --> 00:08:49,860 As we face the weight of death 39 00:08:49,860 --> 00:08:54,960 When these trials give way for me 40 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,100 As we draw our final breath 41 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:03,620 We will come by the great horizon 42 00:09:03,620 --> 00:09:08,040 Cloud behind and life secure 43 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:13,320 And the calm will be the best 44 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:17,820 For the storms that we see 45 00:09:17,820 --> 00:09:22,480 Christ the shore of our salvation 46 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:29,480 Ever pray for whatever you do. 47 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:37,480 Leave the whole hand to the ankle, it shall never be. 48 00:09:52,480 --> 00:10:22,460 Thank you. 49 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:52,460 Thank you. 50 00:10:52,480 --> 00:11:22,460 Thank you. 51 00:15:52,480 --> 00:16:07,140 I was buried beneath my shame 52 00:16:07,140 --> 00:16:15,880 Who could carry that kind of weight? 53 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:20,260 It was my tomb 54 00:16:20,260 --> 00:16:24,520 Till I met you 55 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:33,060 I was breathing but not alive 56 00:16:33,060 --> 00:16:41,520 All my failures I tried to hide 57 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,900 It was mine too 58 00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:50,520 Till I met you 59 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:55,340 You called my name 60 00:16:55,340 --> 00:16:58,720 And I ran out of that grave 61 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:03,500 Out of the darkness 62 00:17:03,500 --> 00:17:07,300 Into your glorious day 63 00:17:07,300 --> 00:17:12,420 You called my name 64 00:17:12,420 --> 00:17:16,080 And I ran out of that grave 65 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:20,640 Out of the darkness 66 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,320 Into your glorious day 67 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:37,260 Now your mercy has saved my soul 68 00:17:37,260 --> 00:17:45,800 Now your freedom is all that I know 69 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:50,320 The old made new 70 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,620 Jesus, when I met you 71 00:17:54,620 --> 00:17:59,780 You called my name 72 00:17:59,780 --> 00:18:02,960 And I ran out of that grave 73 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:07,760 Out of the darkness 74 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,520 Into your glorious day 75 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:16,760 You called my name 76 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,340 And I ran out of that grave 77 00:18:20,340 --> 00:18:24,880 Out of the darkness 78 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,740 Into your glorious day 79 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:41,060 I needed rescue, my sin was heavy 80 00:18:41,060 --> 00:18:45,260 The chains break at the weight of your glory 81 00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:49,480 I needed shelter, I was an orphan 82 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,760 Now you call me a citizen of heaven 83 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,180 When I was broken, you were my healing 84 00:18:58,180 --> 00:19:02,320 Now your love is the air that I'm breathing 85 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:06,780 I have a future, my eyes are open 86 00:19:06,780 --> 00:19:09,580 Cause when you call my name 87 00:19:09,580 --> 00:19:13,720 I ran out of that grave 88 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:18,460 Out of the darkness 89 00:19:18,460 --> 00:19:22,280 Into your glorious day 90 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:27,340 You call my name 91 00:19:27,340 --> 00:19:30,860 And I ran out of that grave 92 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:39,420 Out of the darkness to your glorious day. 93 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:23,320 I love you Lord, your mercy never fails me, all my days, I've been held in your hands, 94 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:36,600 From the moment that I wake up, until I lay my head, I will sing of the goodness of God. 95 00:20:39,860 --> 00:20:54,100 All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good. 96 00:20:54,100 --> 00:21:06,600 With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. 97 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,340 I love your voice 98 00:21:10,340 --> 00:21:15,660 You have led me through the fire 99 00:21:15,660 --> 00:21:19,480 In the darkest nights 100 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:23,220 You are close like no other 101 00:21:23,220 --> 00:21:27,080 I've known you as a father 102 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,980 I've known you as a friend 103 00:21:30,980 --> 00:21:38,360 I have lived in the goodness of God 104 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:45,860 All my life you have been faithful 105 00:21:45,860 --> 00:21:55,660 All my life you have been so, so good 106 00:21:55,660 --> 00:22:00,700 With every breath that I am able 107 00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:08,140 I will sing of the goodness of God 108 00:22:08,140 --> 00:22:14,080 Your goodness is running after 109 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,260 It's running after me 110 00:22:17,260 --> 00:22:21,520 Your goodness is running after 111 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,440 It's running after me 112 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,900 With my life laid down 113 00:22:26,900 --> 00:22:28,820 I'm surrendered now 114 00:22:28,820 --> 00:22:31,700 I give you everything 115 00:22:31,700 --> 00:22:36,420 Your goodness is running after 116 00:22:36,420 --> 00:22:39,880 It's running after me 117 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:45,440 All my life you have been faithful 118 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:55,240 All my life you have been so, so good 119 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,160 With every breath that I am able 120 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:07,940 I will sing of the goodness of God 121 00:23:07,940 --> 00:23:15,280 All my life you have been faithful 122 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:25,120 All my life you have been so, so good 123 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:30,040 With every breath that I have able 124 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:38,600 I will sing of the goodness of God 125 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:46,420 I will sing of the goodness of God 126 00:23:55,120 --> 00:24:25,100 Thank you. 127 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:55,100 Thank you. 128 00:24:55,120 --> 00:25:25,100 Thank you. 129 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:42,440 I like, at least for, it is good for me to answer the question for myself, why? 130 00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:45,900 It's a question I probably asked a lot as a child. 131 00:47:45,900 --> 00:47:52,020 Also a question that I frequently ask when, you know, somebody says, well, you should do this. 132 00:47:52,020 --> 00:47:55,100 And oftentimes my first response is, why? 133 00:47:55,100 --> 00:48:05,600 And when it comes to our time of prayer, one of the important answers to that question is that this time of prayer we just went through 134 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:15,080 is a time to put our eyes on God and to put our hope in the midst of both the times where it feels like life is falling apart 135 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:24,000 and those times that are filled with joy, that in prayer, one of the practical effects for our hearts is it directs us to the goodness of God. 136 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:29,880 And in the psalm we began with this morning, the 33rd psalm, toward the middle of the psalm, 137 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:35,620 it talks about how God sees all things, but we're tempted to hope for things. 138 00:48:35,620 --> 00:48:44,320 Specifically, he talks about the king and how the king hopes for salvation in his army or in his war horses. 139 00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,920 And then he contrasts that with us as Christians. 140 00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:55,500 It says, behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love. 141 00:48:55,500 --> 00:49:03,740 And one of the ways in which we renew our hope on the steadfast love of God is by taking both our joys and our sorrows, 142 00:49:03,740 --> 00:49:09,840 our fears and our triumphs, our requests and our hopes to hymn and prayer. 143 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:14,340 So I'm just very thankful that we get to spend time in prayer each Sunday. 144 00:49:14,340 --> 00:49:21,840 And so as we come to gather together to celebrate the Lord's Supper, we're going to start by singing Man of Sorrows. 145 00:49:25,500 --> 00:49:41,480 Man of sorrows, Lamb of God, By his own betrayed, 146 00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:54,580 The sin of man and wrath of God, Has been on Jesus' leg. 147 00:49:55,500 --> 00:50:04,380 Silent as He stood accused 148 00:50:04,380 --> 00:50:10,520 Feet in mocked and scorned 149 00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:16,860 Bowing to the Father's will 150 00:50:16,860 --> 00:50:22,920 He took a crown of the Lord 151 00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:38,420 O that rugged cross, my salvation, where your love poured out over me. 152 00:50:38,420 --> 00:50:51,600 Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah, praise and honor unto thee. 153 00:50:52,920 --> 00:51:16,920 I am God's own Son, to purchase every deed, And reconcile the very ones who nailed Him 154 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:27,480 Him to that dream Oh that rugged cross, my salvation 155 00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:40,560 Where Your love poured out over me Now my soul cries out, "Hallelujah!" 156 00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:58,700 praise and honor one to thee see the stone is rolled away behold the 157 00:51:58,700 --> 00:52:01,600 The empty jewel. 158 00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:09,260 Hallelujah, God be praised. 159 00:52:09,260 --> 00:52:15,360 He's risen from the grave. 160 00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:21,320 Oh, that rugged cross, my salvation. 161 00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:28,160 Where your love poured out over me. 162 00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:47,260 Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah, praise and honor unto thee, praise and honor unto thee. 163 00:52:50,320 --> 00:53:01,080 In the 51st Psalm, it's a psalm that begins before the song itself actually starts with a little bit of a header. 164 00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:13,500 And the header is this, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. 165 00:53:13,500 --> 00:53:19,320 And the story behind this psalm is one of brokenness. 166 00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:23,180 It's one of awful decisions. 167 00:53:23,180 --> 00:53:30,020 It's one of intentionally disregarding what God has called you to do to seek. 168 00:53:30,020 --> 00:53:33,740 David's seeking his own pleasure. 169 00:53:33,740 --> 00:53:37,200 It's the story of a cover-up. 170 00:53:37,200 --> 00:53:39,620 It's the story of a betrayal. 171 00:53:39,620 --> 00:53:44,780 And it's the story of a loss of life of one of David's commanders. 172 00:53:44,780 --> 00:53:48,020 All because of David's sin. 173 00:53:49,480 --> 00:53:55,780 Charles Spurgeon writes about this prayer, this song, which is a song of David's repentance. 174 00:53:55,780 --> 00:53:58,700 In fact, it begins as David starts by saying, 175 00:53:58,700 --> 00:54:01,160 Have mercy on me, O God. 176 00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:06,100 And he calls to God for forgiveness and for restoration. 177 00:54:06,100 --> 00:54:09,900 Here's what Spurgeon says about this psalm. 178 00:54:09,900 --> 00:54:13,720 It is not enough to blot out the sin. 179 00:54:13,720 --> 00:54:18,120 David's person is defiled and he would be purified. 180 00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:23,940 He would have cleansed him, for nobody but he could do it effectively. 181 00:54:23,940 --> 00:54:27,720 The washing must be thorough. It must be repeated. 182 00:54:27,720 --> 00:54:31,140 Therefore, he cries, wash me thoroughly. 183 00:54:31,140 --> 00:54:36,280 And Spurgeon will say, the dye in itself is immovable. 184 00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:41,180 And I, the sinner, have lain long in it till the crimson is ingrained. 185 00:54:41,180 --> 00:54:53,700 But, Lord, wash and wash and wash again until the last stain is gone and not a trace of my defilement is left. 186 00:54:53,700 --> 00:55:00,500 Hypocrites are content if their garments are washed, but the truly repentant cries, 187 00:55:00,500 --> 00:55:08,020 wash me. The careless soul is content with the nominal cleaning, but the true awakened 188 00:55:08,020 --> 00:55:15,580 conscience desires a real and practical washing, that of the most complete and efficient kind. 189 00:55:15,580 --> 00:55:23,640 When we deal seriously with our sin, God will deal gently with us. And when we hate what the 190 00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:31,060 Lord hates, he will soon make an end of it for our joy and for our peace. Hear the words of David. 191 00:55:31,060 --> 00:55:39,080 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear 192 00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:46,500 joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot 193 00:55:46,500 --> 00:55:53,340 out my iniquities. Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 194 00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:58,500 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. 195 00:55:58,500 --> 00:56:05,260 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your generous Spirit. 196 00:56:05,260 --> 00:56:12,440 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. 197 00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:13,180 Let's pray. 198 00:56:13,180 --> 00:56:21,340 Father, as we come to the table, bring our minds to the cross where your Son 199 00:56:21,340 --> 00:56:26,460 stood in the place of broken and sinful people. 200 00:56:26,460 --> 00:56:31,820 And because of his sacrifice, we who are covered in sin, 201 00:56:31,820 --> 00:56:37,340 whose lives are filled with brokenness, can be washed clean and made whole again. 202 00:56:37,340 --> 00:56:43,680 And so remind us of the power of the good news. 203 00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:50,960 Remind us of your forgiveness and of the hope that you have given to us. 204 00:56:51,340 --> 00:56:59,820 remind us that as your people you have given us clean hearts remind us of all of your goodness 205 00:56:59,820 --> 00:57:08,700 to our lives be with us be with us as we partake of this bread and this cup may we see the cost 206 00:57:08,700 --> 00:57:15,160 of this meal that we are partaking that you would remind us of the seriousness 207 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:21,380 and you would remind us of the joy and the hope that lies in you. 208 00:57:21,380 --> 00:57:24,160 We ask that you bless this bread and this cup. 209 00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:26,540 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 210 00:57:26,540 --> 00:57:30,640 If you would, take the bread and partake with me 211 00:57:30,640 --> 00:57:32,920 as Jesus shares with his disciples, 212 00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:36,060 telling them that this is his body which is given for them. 213 00:57:36,060 --> 00:57:43,300 And if you would take the cup with me, 214 00:57:43,380 --> 00:57:46,360 which Jesus tells us is the blood of his covenant 215 00:57:46,360 --> 00:57:49,580 that is poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. 216 00:57:49,580 --> 00:58:01,200 Father in heaven, we thank you for this moment and this meal. 217 00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:04,500 May you help us feel the weight. 218 00:58:04,500 --> 00:58:07,380 You would nourish our souls. 219 00:58:07,380 --> 00:58:10,160 That you would strengthen our weaknesses. 220 00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:13,360 That you would give us courage in the face of our fears. 221 00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:17,720 Direct us to Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. 222 00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:27,260 So we just have a few weeks until we move into sort of the season, 223 00:58:27,260 --> 00:58:31,660 as the season has actually already begun, the season of Easter. 224 00:58:31,660 --> 00:58:35,460 And so what we're going to do beginning this week, next week, 225 00:58:35,460 --> 00:58:41,480 then Palm Sunday and Easter as we're sort of journeying together toward the cross 226 00:58:41,480 --> 00:58:49,780 to be reminded of the sacrifice of Jesus, but also to rejoice in the victory and the power 227 00:58:49,780 --> 00:58:55,320 of his resurrection. So we're going to go ahead and just pray one more time, and then we'll dive 228 00:58:55,320 --> 00:59:01,460 into it, and we'll read the text sort of as we go along this morning. Father, thank you for your 229 00:59:01,460 --> 00:59:09,820 word. We thank you for the testimony of the Gospels. Thank you that we can see and hear 230 00:59:09,820 --> 00:59:11,660 these wonderful things. 231 00:59:11,660 --> 00:59:13,580 May you ingrain them on our hearts. 232 00:59:13,580 --> 00:59:16,760 May your spirit use them to transform our lives 233 00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:18,940 and be with us as we open your word. 234 00:59:18,940 --> 00:59:20,320 It is in Jesus' name we pray. 235 00:59:20,320 --> 00:59:21,100 Amen. 236 00:59:21,100 --> 00:59:26,280 I was thinking back to the time 237 00:59:26,280 --> 00:59:28,160 when I first began to preach. 238 00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:30,000 I didn't really want to, 239 00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:32,460 but one of the requirements in my first year of college 240 00:59:32,460 --> 00:59:35,480 was that you had to take an oral communications class, 241 00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:37,560 which if you go to Bible college, 242 00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:38,380 that's just preaching. 243 00:59:39,100 --> 00:59:40,920 So I had never preached a sermon. 244 00:59:40,920 --> 00:59:45,780 In fact, I maybe had done, I think, in high school for a speech competition, 245 00:59:45,780 --> 00:59:48,800 I did a humorous interpretation of literature. 246 00:59:48,800 --> 00:59:54,460 And the literature in question was this comedian who wrote in the back page of Outdoor Life. 247 00:59:54,460 --> 00:59:57,480 So it was real deep literature. 248 00:59:57,480 --> 01:00:00,320 And so I remember that first sermon. 249 01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:04,580 You're preaching in front of your classmates, which is probably one of the weirdest things. 250 01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:10,420 To make it even more strange, our preaching class, the bottom floor of the men's dormitory, 251 01:00:10,420 --> 01:00:15,140 you know, no girls allowed, but that's where our preaching class was because they had a big extra 252 01:00:15,140 --> 01:00:20,540 classroom, the big heavy pulpit, and somehow my grandma snuck in the back door and was sitting 253 01:00:20,540 --> 01:00:26,240 in the front row. So not only, right, do I have all of my friends and buddies hearing the first 254 01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:31,640 sermon, but my saintly grandmother is sitting there in the front row. And so we had, I think 255 01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:37,200 we preached two sermons that semester, and then I remember going back home for the summer, and one 256 01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:41,980 of the things that our pastor at the time did was like, oh, well, you want to preach a Sunday? And I 257 01:00:41,980 --> 01:00:47,320 was like, well, how hard can it be? And there is something different, even as awkward as it was to 258 01:00:47,320 --> 01:00:53,360 preach in a preaching class, to preaching in front of a church, but it's even worse when it's your 259 01:00:53,360 --> 01:00:58,860 home church, right? Because everybody has known all the things you've done growing up, all the 260 01:00:58,860 --> 01:01:04,120 mistakes you've made, all the dumb decisions you've made. And at one point during my first 261 01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:09,880 sermon in my home church, I made a joke about how I was like super well behaved growing up and I was 262 01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:14,920 like the perfect child. And then to get only heckled by this guy named Frank going, you grew up here, 263 01:01:14,920 --> 01:01:19,200 we know about you, right? And I don't know what to do. I'm not used to like, we're the Church of 264 01:01:19,200 --> 01:01:24,060 Christ. We don't yell out in the middle of the sermons, right? And so I'm all thrown off and it 265 01:01:24,060 --> 01:01:29,320 was a weird experience. And so this morning what we're going to do is we're going to take a look 266 01:01:29,320 --> 01:01:36,720 at Jesus as he returns to his hometown of Nazareth and he goes into the synagogue. And what we're 267 01:01:36,720 --> 01:01:43,540 going to find is this is not his first time he's taught in the synagogue, but it is the first time 268 01:01:43,540 --> 01:01:50,620 that he has talked in his home synagogue. We won't read to the end this morning of what happens, 269 01:01:50,620 --> 01:01:55,400 but just to give you a spoiler alert, but he gets done teaching and answering their questions. 270 01:01:55,400 --> 01:02:00,660 They're so mad, they try to push him off a cliff. So it does not go well for Jesus, 271 01:02:00,660 --> 01:02:07,780 but I primarily want us to look at the two verses, sort of three verses that he says here. 272 01:02:07,780 --> 01:02:11,600 So we're going to begin in 17. We're going to go to 21 this morning. 273 01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:21,060 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and he unrolled the scroll, and he found 274 01:02:21,060 --> 01:02:26,620 the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to 275 01:02:26,620 --> 01:02:32,080 proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the recovery 276 01:02:32,080 --> 01:02:39,180 of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the 277 01:02:39,180 --> 01:02:45,820 Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes 278 01:02:45,820 --> 01:02:53,980 of all in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them, today this Scripture has been 279 01:02:53,980 --> 01:03:00,380 fulfilled in your hearing. So just a little bit of historical context. In Jesus's day, when you 280 01:03:00,380 --> 01:03:05,940 would have a traveling rabbi come in, often you would ask them to read some Scripture and make 281 01:03:05,940 --> 01:03:10,940 some comments on it. And so you would read from different parts of the, what we would call the 282 01:03:10,940 --> 01:03:16,320 Old Testament. They would just call it, you know, the Bible, God's word. And so Jesus is given the 283 01:03:16,320 --> 01:03:23,380 reading from Isaiah, just the scroll of the prophet. He unrolls it. He stands to read and 284 01:03:23,380 --> 01:03:32,100 they sit to teach. And so he begins to teach from these two verses in Isaiah. Now, I want you to 285 01:03:32,100 --> 01:03:39,600 notice just a couple things about what Jesus does and what Jesus says during this. The first is in 286 01:03:39,600 --> 01:03:48,540 Luke chapter 4, verse 17, where it says this about Jesus, he unrolled the scroll and 287 01:03:48,540 --> 01:03:57,280 found the place where it was written. And so these words of Jesus are intentional. This is not Jesus 288 01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:03,480 trying to come up with something real quick to share, he has a plan and a purpose in what he is 289 01:04:03,480 --> 01:04:07,840 doing. And I don't know if you've ever been in the situation where you've had to come up with 290 01:04:07,840 --> 01:04:13,920 something quickly. We have a church that is Spanish speaking that meets here. And when they 291 01:04:13,920 --> 01:04:19,620 were having a celebration service, because they'd been able to hire a new pastor, we came to the 292 01:04:19,620 --> 01:04:24,940 service. And I thought I was just coming to sort of observe. And I walk in and they said, pastor, 293 01:04:24,940 --> 01:04:30,220 come sit up here in front. So I'm sitting in front and they're singing and we sang. And then 294 01:04:30,220 --> 01:04:34,940 there was like five or six pastors who all got up and they would read something. And I'm like, 295 01:04:34,940 --> 01:04:38,800 you know what? I think I might be in trouble. I didn't realize I was supposed to prepare some 296 01:04:38,800 --> 01:04:43,400 remarks. Like, and you sort of see it getting closer and closer and closer to you. And I have 297 01:04:43,400 --> 01:04:49,280 my Bible and I'm like, well, what do I say? And so we got there and it was okay. That's not what 298 01:04:49,280 --> 01:04:55,660 Jesus is doing here, right? He knows what he is doing, and notice what it says. The scroll of the 299 01:04:55,660 --> 01:05:00,780 prophet Isaiah was given to them. He unrolled it. Remember, this is a big scroll, and so Jesus is 300 01:05:00,780 --> 01:05:07,660 going to roll and roll. This is chapter 61. He's going to unroll and roll and roll and roll until 301 01:05:07,660 --> 01:05:15,600 he finds this specific text. The second thing we find is that this is a declaration of the mission 302 01:05:15,600 --> 01:05:23,140 of Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the 303 01:05:23,140 --> 01:05:29,120 poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, and set at 304 01:05:29,120 --> 01:05:37,660 liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim the fear of the Lord's favor. And so Jesus, in reading 305 01:05:37,660 --> 01:05:43,560 these, is simply saying, this is why I'm here. This is what I have come to do. I'm proclaiming 306 01:05:43,560 --> 01:05:49,660 good news, I'm proclaiming liberty, I'm proclaiming sight to the blind, to those who are crushed, 307 01:05:49,660 --> 01:05:56,880 I'm proclaiming hope. But this is not simply a five-point action plan, right? We all hear 308 01:05:56,880 --> 01:06:02,840 politics all the time, and before a politician gets into office, they give a campaign speech, 309 01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:07,660 and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this. Now Jesus, as he says, 310 01:06:07,660 --> 01:06:13,800 This is not a sort of a campaign speech about, if you follow me, this is what I will do. 311 01:06:13,800 --> 01:06:18,040 But listen to what he says in verse 21. 312 01:06:18,040 --> 01:06:20,800 And he began to say to them, 313 01:06:20,800 --> 01:06:29,020 Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. 314 01:06:29,020 --> 01:06:35,000 Not today this Scripture is beginning to be fulfilled for God's people, 315 01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:38,960 but for those who are in Nazareth, in that synagogue listening, 316 01:06:38,960 --> 01:06:43,140 and for us as well, to hear these Scriptures read 317 01:06:43,140 --> 01:06:47,260 about the brokenhearted, about the captors, 318 01:06:47,260 --> 01:06:50,080 about those who are crushed and those who are blind, 319 01:06:50,080 --> 01:06:53,520 Jesus says, it's fulfilled. 320 01:06:53,520 --> 01:06:56,280 Today it has been fulfilled. 321 01:06:56,280 --> 01:07:00,200 So it's not just about what Jesus will do, and he does do all of these things, 322 01:07:00,200 --> 01:07:07,200 But to those listening, he is saying, it has been fulfilled. 323 01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:14,140 And so what we find is this picture of what the Messiah would do, 324 01:07:14,140 --> 01:07:18,200 and Jesus says, I have done it, and I am doing it right here. 325 01:07:18,200 --> 01:07:22,380 I want to zoom in specifically on what Jesus says just for a moment. 326 01:07:22,380 --> 01:07:24,480 This quotation from Isaiah, 327 01:07:24,480 --> 01:07:31,340 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, 328 01:07:31,340 --> 01:07:35,660 sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, 329 01:07:35,660 --> 01:07:40,800 to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the years of the Lord's favor. 330 01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:45,920 And one of the sort of conversations that happens around this text, 331 01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:49,880 and one of the disagreements that often happens in the church about this text, 332 01:07:49,880 --> 01:07:58,200 is Jesus is Jesus as he speaks. Is he speaking physically or is he speaking spiritually? 333 01:07:58,200 --> 01:08:05,380 Or another way maybe of wording that is Jesus, for example, saying, I'm here to deal with physical 334 01:08:05,380 --> 01:08:12,240 blindness or spiritual blindness. So we're coming into one of my favorite times of the year where 335 01:08:12,240 --> 01:08:17,480 we can start to cook outside with some consistency. And you go to a friend's house for a cookout and 336 01:08:17,480 --> 01:08:20,400 They say, we have hamburgers and hot dogs, which one do you want? 337 01:08:20,400 --> 01:08:22,460 And you go, yes, right? 338 01:08:22,460 --> 01:08:24,780 All of the above, yes, I just want it all. 339 01:08:24,780 --> 01:08:30,980 So the question about this text, is Jesus speaking physically or is he speaking spiritually? 340 01:08:30,980 --> 01:08:36,500 And the answer is yes, Jesus is going to come and he's going to heal the blind. 341 01:08:36,500 --> 01:08:39,340 He's going to set people free from their brokenness. 342 01:08:39,340 --> 01:08:43,720 He's going to break the chains of the demon-possessed man, casting out the demons. 343 01:08:43,720 --> 01:08:45,740 He's going to pick up those who are crushed. 344 01:08:45,820 --> 01:08:47,800 He's going to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 345 01:08:47,800 --> 01:08:56,680 But also, and I think more importantly, he's speaking spiritually. 346 01:08:56,680 --> 01:09:01,140 The problem comes when we sort of go to one or the other. 347 01:09:01,140 --> 01:09:04,600 If we only talk about the spiritual or the physical things, 348 01:09:04,600 --> 01:09:08,200 we end up being really nice people but with no depth. 349 01:09:08,200 --> 01:09:12,340 And if we only see the spiritual side of the text, 350 01:09:12,360 --> 01:09:18,860 We have great theology, but we don't put the teachings of Jesus into practice. 351 01:09:18,860 --> 01:09:29,680 Now, with that being said, that we should think both of Jesus physically healing the blind and helping them to see spiritually, 352 01:09:29,680 --> 01:09:39,000 my focus this morning is not to talk about both, but to direct us to what Jesus is saying spiritually this morning. 353 01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:47,780 And one of the questions, as I was reading and meditating and praying about this text over this past week, 354 01:09:47,780 --> 01:09:51,980 is this question, how do we end up needing this good news? 355 01:09:51,980 --> 01:09:56,880 How do we end up poor? How do we end up in captivity? 356 01:09:56,880 --> 01:10:01,440 How do we end up blind? How do we end up oppressed? 357 01:10:01,440 --> 01:10:06,260 There's two ways you can end up in any of these situations. 358 01:10:07,840 --> 01:10:10,640 Sometimes, it's through no fault of our own. 359 01:10:10,640 --> 01:10:12,660 Take, for example, when Jesus says, 360 01:10:12,660 --> 01:10:16,340 He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. 361 01:10:16,340 --> 01:10:21,120 Throughout the New Testament, there's all kinds of people who end up in captivity 362 01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:26,120 for doing what is right and for good and for proclaiming the gospel. 363 01:10:26,120 --> 01:10:31,180 And so in all of these, there's some way we can end up in these through no fault of our own. 364 01:10:31,180 --> 01:10:37,280 However, that's not the case for us. 365 01:10:37,280 --> 01:10:42,580 We find ourselves spiritually poor and broken, 366 01:10:42,580 --> 01:10:46,540 in slavery to sin, spiritually blind, 367 01:10:46,540 --> 01:10:49,800 crushed by the burden of our shame, 368 01:10:49,800 --> 01:10:54,400 with everything seeming to be broken and out of kilter 369 01:10:54,400 --> 01:10:57,720 because we have walked away from God, 370 01:10:57,720 --> 01:11:00,880 choosing ourselves over Him. 371 01:11:01,180 --> 01:11:04,580 Isaiah says it like this in Isaiah 53. 372 01:11:04,580 --> 01:11:07,280 He just says this very simply. 373 01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:10,900 All we like sheep have gone astray. 374 01:11:10,900 --> 01:11:13,620 We have turned everyone to his own way. 375 01:11:13,620 --> 01:11:15,460 Now Isaiah will continue to talk about Jesus. 376 01:11:15,460 --> 01:11:18,960 But what I want us to focus on in this 377 01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:22,480 is that these categories Jesus has given us 378 01:11:22,480 --> 01:11:26,080 of captivity and blindness and the need 379 01:11:26,080 --> 01:11:28,940 and the brokenness, 380 01:11:29,500 --> 01:11:31,620 They all result from this. 381 01:11:31,620 --> 01:11:37,100 We have turned everyone to his own way. 382 01:11:37,100 --> 01:11:38,900 We need this good news. 383 01:11:38,900 --> 01:11:44,600 All of us have walked away from God, choosing ourselves over him. 384 01:11:44,600 --> 01:11:47,840 And it always leaves us broken. 385 01:11:47,840 --> 01:11:51,220 So I want to talk about that just for a minute. 386 01:11:51,220 --> 01:11:57,200 Because sin, in the most simple definition, is breaking the law of God. 387 01:11:58,140 --> 01:12:04,720 1 John 3 says, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. 388 01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:11,980 And then he summarizes like this, sin is lawlessness. Sin is ignoring the law of God. 389 01:12:11,980 --> 01:12:20,040 And there's a lot that we could say about that, but I want us to consider that law of God that we 390 01:12:20,040 --> 01:12:27,340 are breaking. I want to do so by reading as God gives the law to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 391 01:12:27,340 --> 01:12:35,220 chapter 6. Listen to what he says. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes and to fear 392 01:12:35,220 --> 01:12:42,720 the Lord our God for our good always. That he might preserve us alive as we are to this day 393 01:12:42,720 --> 01:12:49,200 and it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment before the 394 01:12:49,200 --> 01:12:55,080 Lord our God. He has commanded us. Specifically hear these words. The Lord has commanded us to 395 01:12:55,080 --> 01:13:05,840 do all these statutes. To fear the Lord our God for our good always. I want you to understand that 396 01:13:05,840 --> 01:13:15,320 God's commands do not keep you from joy, but rather they bring you to joy. They are for our good. 397 01:13:15,320 --> 01:13:24,880 So in our house sometimes we have secret ice cream that we hide from the kids, right? And then 398 01:13:24,880 --> 01:13:29,560 after they go to bed, it's like, oh, we got our secret ice cream. Let's have our secret ice cream. 399 01:13:29,560 --> 01:13:37,620 Some of us, when it comes to sin, we feel like maybe God has some secret ice cream and he just 400 01:13:37,620 --> 01:13:45,440 doesn't want to share the goodness with us. In fact, that's Satan's argument to Eve in Genesis 401 01:13:45,440 --> 01:13:52,140 chapter 3. Like, did God really say? He doesn't want you to taste this fruit because he knows the 402 01:13:52,140 --> 01:13:58,140 good that it will bring into your life. And I want you to understand when it comes to sin 403 01:13:58,140 --> 01:14:05,740 and ignoring the law of God, it's not because God is keeping joy from you, but his commandments are 404 01:14:05,740 --> 01:14:15,680 our path into joy. They are for our good always. If you want to understand how commitment can be 405 01:14:15,680 --> 01:14:24,460 for your good always, get some animals, specifically domesticated animals, right? So we have a rabbit. 406 01:14:24,460 --> 01:14:30,240 One of the things I did not know about rabbits is they like to chew through wires, right? So like 407 01:14:30,240 --> 01:14:36,620 our particular rabbit chewed through an entire set of jumper cables. Like we're not talking small 408 01:14:36,620 --> 01:14:40,640 wires, right? And it was fine because they're not hooked up to the car, but what if they were, 409 01:14:40,640 --> 01:14:45,220 right? We don't want her chewing through wires, not because we're trying to steal the rabbit's 410 01:14:45,220 --> 01:14:51,860 joy, but because we're trying to keep her safe. Our hamsters, when they're running around in their 411 01:14:51,860 --> 01:14:57,740 little hamster ball on the floor, right, and they're like, oh, there's the stairs, right? We don't shut 412 01:14:57,740 --> 01:15:02,760 the door to the stairs because we're trying to hide the joy of going down the stairs in a hamster 413 01:15:02,760 --> 01:15:09,520 ball from the hamsters, right? We are doing so to protect them. Well, one of the dogs go, oh, is that 414 01:15:09,520 --> 01:15:14,400 chocolate you're eating? I would really love some of that chocolate. I'm not keeping chocolate from 415 01:15:14,400 --> 01:15:22,580 them because I'm trying to steal their joy, but to keep them safe. And what God is doing in regard 416 01:15:22,580 --> 01:15:32,600 to sin is in his righteousness and in his goodness. It is a front to both his nature, 417 01:15:32,600 --> 01:15:42,080 but it also breaks us and leaves us hurting spiritually poor, spiritually imprisoned, 418 01:15:42,080 --> 01:15:49,340 spiritually blind, spiritually crushed with everything out of sync. And what happens is we 419 01:15:49,340 --> 01:15:54,280 in our pride think we know better. Like the hamster heading for the stairs and its ball going, 420 01:15:54,280 --> 01:16:03,320 I can't wait to have this joy of the stairs. Thinking we know better and in our pride we only 421 01:16:03,320 --> 01:16:10,580 find brokenness. And so there is this picture here that I want you to understand 422 01:16:10,580 --> 01:16:19,160 that God's commands is not to steal your joy, but to lead you into it. And so in our brokenness, 423 01:16:19,160 --> 01:16:25,360 Jesus comes to proclaim the good news. Listen to what he says. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me 424 01:16:25,360 --> 01:16:31,620 because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, 425 01:16:31,720 --> 01:16:35,980 recovery of sight, the blind set at liberty, those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of the 426 01:16:35,980 --> 01:16:43,880 Lord's favor. And he starts by talking about those who do not have enough. And we come and we find 427 01:16:43,880 --> 01:16:50,520 ourselves spiritually bankrupt because everything we've tried to satisfy our soul turns to dust. 428 01:16:50,520 --> 01:16:57,240 And maybe you've experienced this, right? If I can get this, if I can have this, if I can achieve 429 01:16:57,240 --> 01:17:03,760 this. If this event works out how I want it to, then I'll be happy, and then I'll be content, 430 01:17:03,760 --> 01:17:10,760 and then everything good will be right in my life. And then at the end, when we get those 431 01:17:10,760 --> 01:17:17,080 things, we find that there's still not enough to fill that void. And Jesus says there's good news 432 01:17:17,080 --> 01:17:23,420 to those who feel like they are empty. He says liberty to the captives, 433 01:17:24,400 --> 01:17:26,660 Locked up where you don't want to be. 434 01:17:26,660 --> 01:17:30,880 Like our pups when we open that door first thing in the morning 435 01:17:30,880 --> 01:17:33,540 and they see that freedom and they go out into the yard. 436 01:17:33,540 --> 01:17:39,060 The picture here is that our sin has locked us away from joy 437 01:17:39,060 --> 01:17:41,900 and the peace and the goodness of God. 438 01:17:41,900 --> 01:17:44,680 And here we are confined. 439 01:17:44,680 --> 01:17:48,140 He talks about sight to the blind. 440 01:17:48,140 --> 01:17:52,560 Those who spiritually can't see but now can. 441 01:17:53,720 --> 01:17:56,320 And this, at least for our family, hits pretty close to home. 442 01:17:56,320 --> 01:17:59,400 So I think most of you know what he went through over the last couple of months 443 01:17:59,400 --> 01:18:02,600 from one of our kids not being able to see it all from one eye. 444 01:18:02,600 --> 01:18:09,600 And by God's grace and his provision and the goodness of his common grace through medicine, 445 01:18:09,600 --> 01:18:13,080 sight begins to be restored and comes back. 446 01:18:13,080 --> 01:18:14,480 And it's a joyful thing. 447 01:18:14,480 --> 01:18:18,460 Many of us are spiritually living with blindness. 448 01:18:19,980 --> 01:18:22,600 He says, he comes to release the oppressed, 449 01:18:22,600 --> 01:18:25,040 those who have been broken. 450 01:18:25,040 --> 01:18:27,320 The word here literally means broken into pieces. 451 01:18:27,320 --> 01:18:30,920 Crushed by a burden that is so heavy, 452 01:18:30,920 --> 01:18:32,660 it just shatters you. 453 01:18:32,660 --> 01:18:35,860 And maybe you've seen those hydraulic press videos. 454 01:18:35,860 --> 01:18:37,980 Some guy said, I got a hydraulic press. 455 01:18:37,980 --> 01:18:39,720 Let's make some money on YouTube. 456 01:18:39,720 --> 01:18:42,060 We'll put stuff in it and we'll crush it 457 01:18:42,060 --> 01:18:43,300 and see what happens. 458 01:18:43,300 --> 01:18:45,400 And they're fascinating, but here's the thing. 459 01:18:45,400 --> 01:18:47,960 Everything gets crushed and ends up in little tiny pieces. 460 01:18:49,080 --> 01:18:52,860 And there's times when the burden of life comes crashing down onto us. 461 01:18:52,860 --> 01:18:56,800 We find ourselves crushed, and Jesus says, 462 01:18:56,800 --> 01:18:59,780 I am here for those who have been broken into little pieces. 463 01:18:59,780 --> 01:19:05,460 And then he says this, proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. 464 01:19:05,460 --> 01:19:10,060 Literally, the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee. 465 01:19:10,060 --> 01:19:14,560 And what happens in Israel when you would sell property? 466 01:19:14,560 --> 01:19:17,680 You wouldn't sell it forever. 467 01:19:19,060 --> 01:19:21,480 you would sell it and it would be returned 468 01:19:21,480 --> 01:19:24,700 on the year of Jubilee, 50 years after you sold it. 469 01:19:24,700 --> 01:19:26,520 So you're not selling forever, 470 01:19:26,520 --> 01:19:28,200 you're selling it for a period of time. 471 01:19:28,200 --> 01:19:30,400 So all that land that you've sold, 472 01:19:30,400 --> 01:19:31,360 those things that you've sold, 473 01:19:31,360 --> 01:19:33,640 all get returned on that 50th year. 474 01:19:33,640 --> 01:19:35,340 And the point is that everything gets put back 475 01:19:35,340 --> 01:19:36,180 where it's supposed to be. 476 01:19:36,180 --> 01:19:38,780 All those things that have been given away 477 01:19:38,780 --> 01:19:40,080 or sold or taken, 478 01:19:40,080 --> 01:19:42,640 or because of our brokenness and our need, 479 01:19:42,640 --> 01:19:43,600 we had to sell them, 480 01:19:43,600 --> 01:19:47,100 it all comes and is put back together in that year. 481 01:19:48,140 --> 01:19:53,660 And what Jesus says, I have come to proclaim that I am the one to put everything back where it is 482 01:19:53,660 --> 01:20:02,980 supposed to be. In this text that we have been looking at this morning, these verses from the 483 01:20:02,980 --> 01:20:09,420 prophet Isaiah, in many ways they may be the opposite of what you have heard about Christianity. 484 01:20:09,420 --> 01:20:14,600 Because there is a lot of Christianity that says you need to clean yourself up and you need to 485 01:20:14,600 --> 01:20:19,760 make yourself look good, and you need to stop being broken and get yourself fixed. And Jesus 486 01:20:19,760 --> 01:20:23,480 says, no, I'm here for the broken, and I'm here for the blind, and I'm here for the hurting, 487 01:20:23,480 --> 01:20:27,900 and I'm here for the crushed, and I'm here for those whose lives have been scattered everywhere, 488 01:20:27,900 --> 01:20:37,560 and I'm here to restore them. And it's not just what Jesus says in this text, it's what he doesn't 489 01:20:37,560 --> 01:20:44,740 say so as he reads this passage from Isaiah and he ends with to proclaim the year of the Lord's 490 01:20:44,740 --> 01:20:51,900 favor Jesus intentionally stops do you know what the next phrase in Isaiah 61 is 491 01:20:51,900 --> 01:20:59,280 says to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God 492 01:20:59,280 --> 01:21:06,480 and Jesus says that day of vengeance is not yet but as Isaiah sees it he just sees the line of 493 01:21:06,480 --> 01:21:14,900 history. And we know that Jesus comes, proclaims the year of the Lord's favor, and that God is 494 01:21:14,900 --> 01:21:24,340 patient with us. But there is coming a day when there will be judgment. What Jesus is saying is 495 01:21:24,340 --> 01:21:31,860 there is time. As Paul says, today is the day of salvation. And Christians, there's a tendency for 496 01:21:31,860 --> 01:21:38,200 us to think God's kind of got us on the right track. I'll take it from here. I'll figure it out. 497 01:21:38,200 --> 01:21:44,980 You can see it throughout Scripture of where God works in somebody's life and pride sort of slips 498 01:21:44,980 --> 01:21:52,300 in and God has been working and instead of trusting him, they go their own way. Think about 499 01:21:52,300 --> 01:22:00,040 Abraham and Sarah and the promise of the heir. You think about Saul made king, then turns to his own 500 01:22:00,040 --> 01:22:07,840 plans and his own provisions right throughout Scripture there is this tendency for us to try 501 01:22:07,840 --> 01:22:17,560 to do it ourself and Christians we need to be reminded that's not how it works that we need 502 01:22:17,560 --> 01:22:25,940 Jesus just as much now as we did the day we came to him and one of the symptoms of this wrong view 503 01:22:25,940 --> 01:22:33,100 of thinking that Jesus gets me on the right path, I'll take it from here, is Christians who are tired, 504 01:22:33,100 --> 01:22:42,780 discontent, frustrated, and angry. Because instead of trusting in the good grace of God, we have 505 01:22:42,780 --> 01:22:49,580 begun to trust our own strength, and it's never enough, and it's never good enough. And we ended 506 01:22:49,580 --> 01:22:58,400 up tired, frustrated, discontent, and angry. And so, Christians, and to our church, we need this 507 01:22:58,400 --> 01:23:06,680 reminder that Jesus is the one who brings good news to the spiritually broken and empty. 508 01:23:06,680 --> 01:23:14,540 He brings liberty to those who are enslaved to sin. He brings us sight in the midst of our blindness. 509 01:23:15,460 --> 01:23:22,480 He takes those who are crushed and sets us at liberty and he proclaims the year of the Lord's 510 01:23:22,480 --> 01:23:29,880 favor. If you're not a Christian this morning, Jesus's message is this, right? Today is the day 511 01:23:29,880 --> 01:23:34,260 of salvation. I have come this time and I am proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor and we 512 01:23:34,260 --> 01:23:44,500 know that he's coming again, right? This is a call to come to the one who loves and who saves and who 513 01:23:44,500 --> 01:23:52,840 has given his life for you and to hear that good news let's pray father in heaven i thank you for 514 01:23:52,840 --> 01:24:00,680 Jesus and for grace for watching over us for giving us strength bringing us to hope help us 515 01:24:00,680 --> 01:24:06,240 as we seek to walk with you that we would not simply try to do so under our own ideas or our 516 01:24:06,240 --> 01:24:12,040 own plans, that we would put our trust fully in you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 517 01:24:12,040 --> 01:24:19,060 We're going to stand and sing about how we're transformed by the goodness of God. 518 01:24:36,240 --> 01:24:46,580 Man's empty praise and treasures that fade are never enough 519 01:24:46,580 --> 01:24:57,220 Then you came along and put me back together 520 01:24:57,220 --> 01:25:04,200 And every desire is now satisfied 521 01:25:04,200 --> 01:25:07,220 Here in your love 522 01:25:07,220 --> 01:25:15,980 Oh, there's nothing better than you 523 01:25:15,980 --> 01:25:21,460 There's nothing better than you, Lord 524 01:25:21,460 --> 01:25:28,000 There's nothing, nothing is better than you 525 01:25:28,000 --> 01:25:44,200 I'm not afraid to show my weakness 526 01:25:44,200 --> 01:25:50,640 My failures and flaws, Lord, you've seen them all 527 01:25:50,640 --> 01:25:53,380 And you still call me friend 528 01:25:53,380 --> 01:25:58,460 Because the God of the mountain 529 01:25:58,460 --> 01:26:03,760 Is the God of the valley 530 01:26:03,760 --> 01:26:08,840 And there's not a place 531 01:26:08,840 --> 01:26:11,280 Your mercy and grace 532 01:26:11,280 --> 01:26:13,800 Won't find me again 533 01:26:13,800 --> 01:26:19,320 Oh, there's nothing 534 01:26:19,320 --> 01:26:22,740 Better than you 535 01:26:22,740 --> 01:26:24,900 There's nothing 536 01:26:24,900 --> 01:26:27,700 Better than you 537 01:26:27,700 --> 01:26:30,060 Lord, there's nothing 538 01:26:30,060 --> 01:26:34,600 Nothing is better than you 539 01:26:34,600 --> 01:26:40,200 Oh, there's nothing 540 01:26:40,200 --> 01:26:43,340 Better than you 541 01:26:43,340 --> 01:26:45,460 There's nothing 542 01:26:45,460 --> 01:26:48,320 Better than you 543 01:26:48,320 --> 01:26:55,240 Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. 544 01:26:55,240 --> 01:27:02,720 You turn mourning to dancing. 545 01:27:02,720 --> 01:27:07,880 You give beauty for ashes. 546 01:27:07,880 --> 01:27:13,060 You turn shame into glory. 547 01:27:13,060 --> 01:27:18,300 You're the only one who can. 548 01:27:18,320 --> 01:27:23,460 You turn graves into gardens 549 01:27:23,460 --> 01:27:28,700 You turn bones into armies 550 01:27:28,700 --> 01:27:34,060 You turn seas into highways 551 01:27:34,060 --> 01:27:40,120 You're the only one who can 552 01:27:40,120 --> 01:27:47,620 Oh, there's nothing better than you 553 01:27:47,620 --> 01:27:53,140 There's nothing better than you, Lord. 554 01:27:53,140 --> 01:27:59,500 There's nothing, nothing is better than you. 555 01:27:59,500 --> 01:28:08,120 Oh, there's nothing better than you. 556 01:28:08,120 --> 01:28:13,720 There's nothing better than you, Lord. 557 01:28:13,820 --> 01:28:20,020 There's nothing, nothing is better than you. 558 01:28:20,020 --> 01:28:27,620 You turn graves into gardens. 559 01:28:27,620 --> 01:28:32,840 You turn bones into armies. 560 01:28:32,840 --> 01:28:38,160 You turn seas into highways. 561 01:28:38,160 --> 01:28:43,140 You're the only one who cares. 562 01:28:43,420 --> 01:29:01,440 Just a couple of quick announcements on the back table. 563 01:29:01,440 --> 01:29:03,000 There's some information about VBS. 564 01:29:03,000 --> 01:29:06,020 If you would like to learn more about that, 565 01:29:06,020 --> 01:29:07,920 I'll be happy to answer your questions 566 01:29:07,920 --> 01:29:10,220 or direct you to where you can get those questions answered. 567 01:29:10,220 --> 01:29:12,580 Also, we need volunteers, 568 01:29:12,920 --> 01:29:15,560 So there are some volunteer sign-ups there. 569 01:29:15,560 --> 01:29:18,380 If there's not, we gave out a couple this week. 570 01:29:18,380 --> 01:29:21,800 There are some more downstairs we can grab for that. 571 01:29:21,800 --> 01:29:24,220 So that's where we're at for VBS. 572 01:29:24,220 --> 01:29:28,640 We'll be back here Wednesday night for Wednesday evening Bible study 573 01:29:28,640 --> 01:29:30,820 and then back here again next Sunday. 574 01:29:30,820 --> 01:29:32,240 Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. 575 01:29:32,240 --> 01:29:35,280 We'll read from Ephesians 3 and sing the doxology. 576 01:29:35,280 --> 01:29:42,020 Father in heaven, thank you that you transform the broken into something that is wonderful. 577 01:29:42,740 --> 01:29:45,560 We thank you for your power and your strength and your grace. 578 01:29:45,560 --> 01:29:48,500 And we're thankful for how it is at work in our lives. 579 01:29:48,500 --> 01:29:50,800 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 580 01:29:50,800 --> 01:29:53,480 In Ephesians 3, Paul writes this, 581 01:29:53,480 --> 01:29:58,640 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, 582 01:29:58,640 --> 01:30:01,820 according to the power at work within us, 583 01:30:01,820 --> 01:30:07,300 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, 584 01:30:07,300 --> 01:30:09,960 forever and ever. Amen. 585 01:30:12,740 --> 01:30:26,280 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. 586 01:30:26,280 --> 01:30:31,120 Praise Him, all creatures here below. 587 01:30:31,120 --> 01:30:37,160 Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. 588 01:30:37,160 --> 01:30:42,160 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 589 01:30:42,740 --> 01:30:44,800 you 590 01:31:12,740 --> 01:31:42,720 Thank you. 591 01:31:42,740 --> 01:32:12,720 Thank you. 592 01:32:12,740 --> 01:32:42,720 Thank you.