Worship - Sunday, March 6
2022-03-06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVtpmBya6Do

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I don't have to go to the left, but it's just this bag sitting on the door. You have to worry, you have to worry, you have to worry, you can talk to them. I don't know.

I don't know. Thank you. five on Monday, it's been 12 on the first place. Yeah, so you're probably at some of the hundreds. Yeah, so I guess that's where it's going to be at the next day. So I have another couple of years for a few years. I'm working for a guy that's going to act. All of the men who are in the middle of the year. I'm going to have to go back to that one. I'm going to have to go back to that one. I'm going to have to go back to that one. Thank you. Oh, thank you. So, yeah. right

Thank you. It's not busy, but I'm doing it. And then if it's small, it can't cut the hands. And they're like, can you hear where's your nose? No way. So, they were like, so he's just like, you're like, you're like, that's about it. So, out there, you're like, no, where's your nose? I'm like, no, where's your nose? I'm like, no, where's your nose? I'm like, no, where's your nose? I'm like, you're like, you're like, you're like, you're funny, I'm not even wrong. I feel worried.

It wasn't like can you get a ticket here and it was like, let's go. You called me the way in there for a room for you. What do you call fire, blood, everything is in the back of the door. And so, so there's a lot of things. Thank you. the dog

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and all they have to do is help me out there. Like, y'all have to just give me shit here as well. 'Cause I'm like, I don't know where you're at. I know where you're at, I know where you're at. I know where you're at. I know where you're at. They didn't hit me, and they were like, you're gonna be a part of, and I was like a tall person. Like, I was just like, you know. But I do that all the wrong stuff to send a letter. Like, I don't know where you're going to fix them, but I didn't even know where you're at. I don't know where you're at. Thank you. Excuse me, no I didn't mean to do that in the microphone. Good morning everybody. It's good to be here.

another reminder about Brandon he is on a lot of immunocompromised medicine so can't hug him or kiss him holy kiss him or if you want to rush the stage Kathy well Audrey's gone she's downstairs she was the bodyguard so I have to get Stu and Kathy to to tackle you if you try to rush the stage so but it's good to be here today we're gonna get started by reading together out of Ephesians so if we want to go ahead and stand we're going to be reading out of Ephesians 3 doing verses 14 through 21 and begins for this reason I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through

his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all fullness of God now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you for the opportunity to be here today. We thank you for those watching online and watching downstairs, and we thank you for

just the encouragement that this group is, not just to me and Brandon, but to everyone here. We thank you for this strength that we can get through you, that we can only receive through you and we just thank you for uh so much for these words and how they can remind us of that be with our service today allow it to glorify you be with brandon as he preaches and just give him strength and energy uh to be able to share the gospel and to to uh just show just remind us again how much you love us and and and want us in Jesus name amen all right our first Song that we're going to start with today is going to be Build My Life. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring, Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, We live for you.

Jesus the name above every other name, Jesus the only one who could ever say, Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you, oh we live for you.

Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are. And fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. Worthy of every song we could ever sing, Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring, Worthy of every breath we could ever grieve, We live for you.

Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one in the name. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. I will build my life upon your love in a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone, and I will not be shaken. Oh, there is no one like you, there is none beside you, open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me.

All right. If you'd like to sit, you can, or if you want to remain standing, you can. We're going to be moving into our prayer and share time after this next song. So if you're watching online, there will be a slide up with a phone number for you to text if you would like to share any prayer requests or anything you'd like to share with us. So here we can do that. And then we're going to be muted here during that time for a few minutes. So give us some time to have that prayer time here and then when we come back we'll be moving into our time of communion. And so as we move into that we're going to be singing Waymaker.

You are here, moving in our midst, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, working in this place, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, moving in our midst. I worship you, I worship you. You are here, working in this place. I worship you, I worship you.

Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You are here, touching every heart, I worship you, I worship you. You are here, healing every heart, I worship you, I worship you. You are here turning lives around I'll worship you, I'll worship you You are here fending every heart I'll worship you, I'll worship you Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, My God, That is Who You Are. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, My God, That is Who You Are.

Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You may be seated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

about the grace of God and sometimes I ramble when I'm up here so I'll ramble a little bit the peace that I've felt specifically the past two weeks with everything with Brandon has been pretty indescribable and then when I think about that peace and the grace that God's extended for me to have peace in that and then I think about my small world with kidney transplants and everything that goes with that and then you expand it to everything that's going on with our friends in the Ukraine and where with our families or siblings or anything close to us here and just how God cares and his grace extends to the biggest things such as a war to the littlest things such as yesterday we had to give some fish away for Evelyn to pray for peace

for that is and God cares about it it's pretty remarkable how even just the tiniest thing God cares about and when you think about that you know that he is taking care of the huge things that we can't even understand and so and it's all because of his grace and so as we sing this song if you don't know it it's pretty easy to learn but just focus on the words and how God's grace changes us allows us even in the midst of our hurts and angers and traumas and all sorts of things, we're able to extend that grace to others only by his strength. And so just wanted to share that a little bit as we move into this, and then we'll have our time of communion together. So this by the grace of God. I rest my soul on Jesus when the mountains shake.

I put my trust in Jesus the moment I awake. And when my soul is lost at sea, He will be my rock. My vision be in Christ alone. 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 through it all by the grace of God. So I, upon his shoulders, safely brought them.

Helper of my helpless soul, 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 through 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 Oh, Jesus, you, when breath and night draws near, I will not be afraid. I know the plans He has for me don't finish my grave. His love is like the mighty ocean, his love will never stop. Oh, his arms are strong enough to carry me through it all.

In the 18th Psalm, David has been delivered from the enemies that have surrounded him. And as he is thanking God for what he has done, he talks about how he had felt just tangled up by all the things of life. He'll say, the cords of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of Sheol entangled me, and the snares of death confronted me. And what David is saying is in the moment of this conflict, he felt completely and totally overwhelmed. He felt like he was drowning and couldn't keep his head above water. He felt like he was tied up and he couldn't move. And God came to him, and this is how he begins the psalm. I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. And I am saved from my enemies. All of us from time to time, I think, can identify with those feelings of maybe not being able to keep our head above water. We feel like life has tangled us up. Maybe we're tangled in sin or in brokenness so many times because of the decisions that we have made. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has come and he has saved us by giving his life on our behalf. He has risen again for our victory. He has conquered all of our enemies. He's conquered the enemy of sin and death and Satan and hell. And through his grace, he brings us into his family.

And so communion for us this morning is a time for us to turn our eyes upon our rock, our deliverer, our salvation, and remember what he has done for us. So I'm going to pray, and we'll read a little bit of Scripture, and then we'll partake together. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace. Thank you for hope. Thank you that you took a drowning, tangled up people and you saved us. We thank you and we see the cost of our salvation in the cross and in the nails and in the suffering. And we see the hope of victory and the power of the resurrection, knowing that you are over all things. So this morning as we break this bread and drink this cup, remind us of the gospel. May it not just be an accessory to us, but may it be the air we breathe and the food that we eat and drink.

Thank you for Jesus. I ask that you bless this bread and this cup. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Jesus will say of this bread that this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Jesus will say of the cup, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And then he will say this, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

I'm going to read from 1 Corinthians, from Acts, the 18th chapter, not a long text this morning, which is good, because I don't quite have as much energy as I had at one time. A short text, and we'll read through it, and then we'll spend some time in it together. Starting in verse 24 of Acts, the 18th chapter, Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus, and he was an eloquent man, confident in the Scriptures, and he had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately through the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of

God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those through grace had believed. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the testimony of Apollos, the work of Priscilla and Aquila. This morning as we open this text, may you help us as we look to what you would have us to do and that we would see how you prepare your people, how you help your people, and that we would seek to serve God in your church. I thank you for Jesus. Be with me as I preach this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So this text on the surface kind of just seems like it's a little bit of filler. Here's this guy, Apollos. He shows up, learns some things, gets sent off to Corinth. He's an amazing guy. He can be a little intimidating because he seems like, if you read this description closely, He seems like he's almost sort of better than us in every way, right? Like, he's better educated, he knows the Bible better, he's more excited about the Bible than we all have these great things going for us. And so I've struggled with this text for a couple weeks, and I'll be honest, two weeks ago when I got called for a kidney transplant, this was going to be our text, and to be honest, I was a little relieved. I was like, oh good, I don't have to preach on these verses this morning.

I've got another couple weeks to sort of think through them. All of us, I think, and we talked about it just a moment ago, have had those moments where the task that is ahead of us seems overwhelming, right? It may be something that's physically overwhelming. You're trying to move something heavy, and it's either too big or too bulky, and there's not a good way to get your hands on it by yourself, and so you need help. Or maybe we feel small and insignificant. Or when it comes to the mission of God, we look at our lives and it's just like, what about me? I'm just sort of an ordinary Christian. And what's interesting, if you move through Scripture, the most frequent responses to the call of God is an immediate recitation of our weakness. We've got to tell God why we can't, not necessarily because we don't want to, but because we don't

think that we can. So for example, Moses is one of the most familiar examples. There's like a chapter and a half in Exodus where he just sort of talks about how terrible he is. He'll say, when God says, I'm going to send you to Egypt, he'll say, oh, my Lord, I'm not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, I am slow of speech and tongue, and God will kind of correct him, and then Moses will kind of get to the heart of the matter and say, please send somebody else, right? I don't really want to do this. Or one of my other favorites, because I think it's relatable to us, is in Judges, the sixth chapter, where God is speaking to the guy who's going to be a future judge of Israel, speaking to Gideon.

And he'll say to him, go in this might and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do I not send you? And he'll say, please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my house. And I can understand these kind of objections to the work of God because they see what God has set before them, and they see the task is so big, and their strength is so small. And you and I so often, I think, feel the same way as we see the task of God. And it may be helping with the hurts in this world, or sharing the good news of the gospel, or whatever God has called us to see this, and we go, I don't think that my strength is sufficient

for the task that God has set in front of me. And we begin to recite our weaknesses. So what I want to do with these short verses, verse 20 this morning, is try to encourage you this morning with how God prepares people for service into a church where there is help. And so we come to the city of Ephesus, which is, I think, a gospel battleground. Paul has ended his second missionary journey by sort of stopping in Ephesus, likely for just about a week. He leaves this couple, these laborers that have been traveling with him, Aquila and Priscilla. And Ephesus, for the first century, is a big town. It's somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 people. Now, in our day and age of cities that are millions of people, that doesn't seem very big. But in the first century where you don't have running electricity, you don't have indoor

250,000 people concentrated in one city, that's a big deal. Not only is it sort of a big city in terms of population, but it's big in terms of its sort of commercial appeal. situated right on some overland trade routes, which means the trade that's moving through Turkey moves through the city of Ephesus. So you've got caravans coming in, travelers coming in, they're bringing in wealth, they're taking wealth out, all of this commerce. But additionally, because of its location, it has sort of an inland port that's fed by a river. So you're not out in the middle of the Aegean as a port, but you can sort of come into town and you unload and send the stuff on the trade routes. There's an overwhelming amount of people passing through this town. Additionally, there is a temple.

It's a very religious city. There is a temple to Diana, not Wonder Woman, but if you're Greek, it'd be Artemis. There's a temple to her, and it is a massive temple. In fact, in the ancient world, you have all of these remarkable accomplishments It's called The Wonders of the Ancient World. It's said about the temple of Diana or the temple of Artemis. It says, I have set eyes on the lofty wall of Babylon, which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the sun, and the huge labor of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausoleus. But when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, Those other marvels lost their brilliancy. And I said, lo, apart from a limpid never, looked on ought so grand.

And this writer, Antipater, will say, I've seen all the wonders of the world. And he says, the temple to Artemis is so beautiful and so big and so glorious. It makes those other wonders seem small. And as a result, official battleground. Paul has more time in Ephesus than any other city. He's going to spend three years there. Most of the time, Paul kind of comes in, has some converts. Sometimes he'll spend some time teaching and helping the church. But in terms of Ephesus, he stays there for three years because the labor is so large and the need is so great and there is so much work to do that he stays the longest he stays anywhere. In chapter 19, verse 9, we get a glimpse of the opposition When some became stubborn and continued in unbelief,

speaking evil of the way before their congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. We'll talk a little bit about that next week. But basically what happens is some of the people that they've been preaching to, they get what the Bible calls. We have two pretty big dogs, and our dog Dodger, when he finds a place generally in the middle of the couch where everybody's trying to sit, and you're like, Hey, Dodger, I'm going to sit on the couch. Please get off. He just kind of looks at you, and so you kind of grab him, and he just goes limp because he knows that it's harder to move him when he's trying to do when the gospel comes. Rather than changing and being transformed, they immediately just say, we're not moving.

We're going to sit where we are. We like it here, and that's the beginning of opposition. And then what you find is there's this weird couple of verses in chapter 19 where it says, God was... doing extra work by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons in their skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left him, and the evil spirits came out of them. And so the power of God is moving in such a great manner. People are going to rub their handkerchief on Paul, taking it to their sick. Here is what Luke says about it. He says these are extraordinary miracles. Now, miracles by themselves are already extraordinary, But these are extra, extra ordinary. And one of the reasons I think the power of God moves so greatly in Ephesus

is because when there's incredible opposition, God's power is often revealed more clearly. And so by the size of the miraculous happenings, you can get a glimpse of what they're really up against. And then in verses 13 and 14, they have to do the same kind of things. There's these seven sons of Sceva who are trying to cast out demons. After the demon casting out incident, which is a remarkable and really interesting story, there's sort of this revival that sweeps through town. And everybody brings their occult books, and they burn them in the middle of the city. And those in number who had practiced the magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the Cytoball and they counted the value of 3,000 pieces of silver. Now, the problem with that, we don't know what kind of pieces of silver.

It's just literally 50 silver. So it could be small coins, could be big coins, run somewhere between 5 million on the low end and 5 billion on the high end in terms of value. It depends on how big the silver is that we're talking about. If we're talking about a bigger measure of silver, it's on the higher end. If you're talking about just regular silver coins, we're on the five million end. What we're talking about here is that there is some massive spiritual opposition. And as a result of this revival, everybody who gets their living from the temple of Diana gets angry. It drags Paul in front of the council, so much so the gospel has turned the economy of this town upside down. So you come to this task, this city that is large in terms of people,

in terms of converse, in terms of spiritual opposition, and it seems like it would be an overwhelming place to try to plant a church. So let me show you what God does in the Ephesian church. Let's pick it up in verse 24. Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus, and he was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. Now, this guy is amazing. He comes from Alexandria in Egypt, which is a city that has been rooted in education and knowledge. It was in Alexandria, the Old Testament is first translated from Hebrew into Greek. And so if you read what they're talking about there is this Greek translation of the Old Testament that these 70 scribes did in Alexandria. And additionally, Apollos is Jewish, which means he has grown up learning the Old Testament,

but not just sort of a random way, like we might just sort of read through Genesis or Exodus, but he's learned among some of the best Old Testament scholars, right? Apart from going to Jerusalem and studying in Jerusalem, this is probably the best Old Testament education that you can get. And not only does he know all of this stuff, he's able to articulate it. And we all have experienced that. The difference between knowing something and clearly being able to articulate it is a big difference, right? We've all probably said, well, Apollos didn't run into that. He knew the information, but he had the gift of being able to speak it in a way that was clear. It says he's been instilled in the Lord, being fervent in spirit. I could also read being fervent in the Holy Spirit.

Commentators debate back and forth about that. He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he only knew the baptism of John. And so he knows about Jesus. He knows about the Old Testament. He's speaking accurately and teaching accurately, but he is missing a few things. And likely this is because he has gone to Jerusalem at some point, maybe during that transition period in the ministry of John the Baptist. He's learned from John. He obviously knows about Jesus and is teaching about Jesus. But I want you to sort of zoom in on those words being fervent. If you ever had one of those tea kettles you put on your stove, you turn it on, water bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, and then it just starts this really, really loud, high-pitched whistling, that's the picture of the Greek word.

That his spirit, he doesn't just know this information, he doesn't just articulate it, but this is information that is boiling out of him like a tea kettle on fire for the gospel and sharing the gospel. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, beginning in verse 26. And so what I want you to see about Apollos specifically is that his whole life, God knows the Bible, his heart is on fire. God has been at work preparing Apollos to lay this foundation for the Ephesian church. And what's remarkable, God hasn't just prepared Apollos for the mission, but he's also prepared the mission for Apollos. Because you see, Apollos has some theological problems. He doesn't know about the baptism of Jesus. He knows about the baptism of John. And so look what God does. Apollos passes through Ephesus.

And while he's there, he leaves behind Aquila and Priscilla. That's not an accident. God is at work in the normal events of our life. The people who will help Apollos are already there as he begins. The mission isn't just prepared for Apollos, but Apollos is prepared for the mission. And you see that God is at work. And what I want you to see and understand is that God is at work in the normal events of your life. Where Apollos went to school, the background, his childhood, God's using that powerfully for the gospel. And he does the same thing for us. Those events that we experience in this life that change us and shape us, God can use those in a powerful way in his church. God doesn't just use the good things in our life as well,

like the good education, knowing the Bible, but he uses those struggles and that suffering as well. I think about Joseph, who in captivity God prepares him to lead Egypt, Or Moses, who in the wilderness, God prepares him to be a shepherd for his people. Or the woman at the well. Remember when Jesus says, go get your husband. And she says, I don't have a husband. And he says, yeah, that's right, you have a whole bunch of husbands. And the one you're living with now is not your husband. Remember what she says when she goes to the town to tell them about Jesus? He told me everything that he did. Do you see what God does? He takes the hurt, the brokenness, or the sin of her life and uses it as a powerful testimony for the gospel.

I want you to see from this text that God uses both the good in your life and the hurts and the struggles for your good, right? It doesn't feel like that in the midst of the situation. But when we look back on it and we see how God has been at work, it encourages us and strengthens us. And with the woman at the well, what is so striking to me is the broken becomes the foundation for her joy. thing I did. Recalling all of that brokenness is ultimately what points her to Jesus. So God prepares, and then God sends help. Look at this. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard

him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. So there are many things that he's good and he's educated in, but he probably doesn't have all of the details that he needs. And I want you to think what would happen in a church today if this kind of thing happened. Because I've seen this happen in the church. I remember probably 10 or 12 years ago, there was a young man and he really wanted to preach. And so I said, yeah, we'll set aside a Sunday. And he sat down and, you know, worked very hard on a sermon. And just like any brand new preacher. He's really, really excited about and tries to fit everything that everybody in the world knows into this, right? So you're packaged to the exploding point. And he got up and preached

a bad sermon. Now, it could have been maybe a little more precise. You know, it wasn't a perfect sermon by any means. No sermon is a perfect sermon. And I remember there was an older gentleman in the church who got so angry about that sermon. So angry he didn't come back to church. When I called him, he said, well, I can't, I can't listen to somebody speak. I said, well, what did he say that was wrong? Well, it wasn't that it was wrong. It just wasn't worded rightly. And, and ate the young guy alive, right? And here, what do you have happen? That could have happened to Apollos, right? A young guy on fire for the gospel. Somebody comes in and just eats him alive because he doesn't have all of the details, but that's not what Priscilla

and Aquila do. They don't embarrass him. They don't make fun of him. They don't belittle him. What do they do? They say, hey, come over for dinner. And let me tell you more about Jesus. Right? He's something that is so wonderful about the church and our part. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says this, but as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he We're a Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.