SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning again.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to our one big gathering.
SPEAKER_00: It's fun.
SPEAKER_00: I was greeting people.
SPEAKER_00: They said, Oh, it's so great to see these people that are in the other worship gathering.
SPEAKER_00: But we have this for three more weeks.
SPEAKER_00: If you're just tuning in, we have some extra copies of this in the back.
SPEAKER_00: We printed 500 of these copies, uh, intended to be used in our small groups.
SPEAKER_00: We have several adult small groups.
SPEAKER_00: Our students are using this as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you have never jumped into a small group, many of them are meeting at nine o'clock before this one big gathering.
SPEAKER_00: Grab one of these and ask someone, hey, could could I come to a small group with you?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure they would love to have you.
SPEAKER_00: Another great way to use this is as a devotional guide.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there are five weeks today.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about glorify God and our 12 values here at our church.
SPEAKER_00: But but grab one, grab one on the way out, and please feel free to use that.
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna pray for uh a pastor friend of mine named Robert Moore, and he pastors in Palestine, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: It's out near Tyler, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: I was texting him earlier and I said, How can we pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Once a year, we get everyone together in an annual fellowship, we eat, we share a meal, and just pray that no one would feel left out.
SPEAKER_00: What a good prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Grace Bible Church out in Palestine, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray for us as we transition to sit under God's word, and then we will walk through this text.
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking where to open in the Bible, we're gonna be in Ephesians chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: So go ahead and open to Ephesians chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be our core text, thinking about our identity as new creation, that we were made to praise.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, and then we'll be right here in the text.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we have already experienced what we've been praying for.
SPEAKER_00: God, more of your presence.
SPEAKER_00: That we want to seek your face.
SPEAKER_00: We know that you're here when believers gather because we're sealed with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We know that you're in the room, you inhabit the praise of your people.
SPEAKER_00: But we have prayed for more and more, and Lord, I think that you continue to do that, and I praise you for that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we uh focus our attention on your word, I just ask, Lord, that you would help us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you would help us to continue with that open hand of surrender to say, Lord, if there's anything in my life that needs to change, show me right here from the scriptures that we're looking at, and help me have the strength to magnify Christ as I live for you.
SPEAKER_00: I do pray for Pastor Robert.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful for him and his encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: He really is a man of joy and a faithful pastor, preaching the word as he continues to preach your word today.
SPEAKER_00: Would people respond to your presence?
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit and the power of the word go together and changes us from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: God, would he continue to see that fruitfulness?
SPEAKER_00: I'd pray for their fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that new friendships would be made, new relationships, that sense of family and togetherness would be shared as they share a meal and as he asks that there would be no one left out.
SPEAKER_00: I pray for our church in that same vein that we would more and more see ourselves as a family, even as we get in the room and we lose our seat, and it's a little uncomfortable, that we would be intentional to have authentic relationships in this place, that there wouldn't be a sense of someone feeling left out, that there would be many avenues through serving in ministry or Wednesday night classes or small groups where people would not feel like they're on an island or alone.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help knit us together as we pray a lot on our pastor team as a family that you would be glorified in and through us.
SPEAKER_00: We pray all this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Melinda, our minister to children's and families, she she reminded me that I have not said anything about this in a long time.
SPEAKER_00: If you know what this is, just give me a show of hands.
SPEAKER_00: This is a family worship guide for young kids, older kids, for grandkids, and we have uh all grade school kids in the room.
SPEAKER_00: So if you've never used one of these, my wife who always is just on the spot there, she's going to grab them.
SPEAKER_00: They're always at the coffee bar, and on this, you have an opportunity to mark a keyword count.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna give you, kids, if I won't do this every week, but parents can do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you keywords to listen in.
SPEAKER_00: Today, as we look at Ephesians 1, listen in for these keywords: glorify, praise, and Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus on its own, Christ on its own, or Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And go ahead and start marking that and see if you can't track with me during the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Kids, if you've never used this, it's a fantastic resource.
SPEAKER_00: There she is in that beautiful red dress.
SPEAKER_00: There she is.
SPEAKER_00: Just put a hand up if you need one or more of those.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you can mark those keywords.
SPEAKER_00: And we got one over here on that far right side.
SPEAKER_00: I wanted you to know that we are intentionally trying to equip Christ-centered homes, which means even at a young age, after we give those kindergarten Bibles away, kids worshiping with mom and dad or grandma and grandpa, such a priority.
SPEAKER_00: So I said we are in Ephesians 1.
SPEAKER_00: The goal over these next weeks is to cover our 12 values.
SPEAKER_00: And we have those 12 values really under four categories.
SPEAKER_00: And in those categories, we have glorify God, abide in Christ, connect in community, and multiply disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And so seeking the Lord and praying, how do we cover glorify God through the text?
SPEAKER_00: Not just talking about it, but seeing it right here in the Bible that it springs out of the word for us.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord just reminded me of a passage that I am very passionate about.
SPEAKER_00: It's Ephesians chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Because in Ephesians chapter one, we have our identity in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And that phrase is repeated over and over.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, in Christ, in him.
SPEAKER_00: We're adopted, we're made holy and blameless.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're cleansed by his blood.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, we have the mysteries of God's will and his perfect plan unraveled for us.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, we have every spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as we consider our new life in Christ, there's this phrase that's repeated over and over.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you'll hear it when I read it in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to understand that we're not just covering these 12 values in a linear fashion.
SPEAKER_00: So, under Glorify God, we have trusting in God's word, worshiping in spirit and truth, and living surrendered lives.
SPEAKER_00: But I hope that you'll start to see how these relate with one another.
SPEAKER_00: And really, uh, your elder team, as we were praying and seeking the Lord on how to how to get our church focused on the valuable things of Christian life, we made the observation that it's it's the whole person, it's the whole self, it's it's transformed heart and mind, it's total surrender.
SPEAKER_00: It's we want to magnify Christ, we want to fulfill the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: And so these values start to intertwine and relate to one another.
SPEAKER_00: And I think as we walk through Ephesians 1 and you hear reminders of who we are in Christ and our new identity, you'll start to hear some of those values come out from the text.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll see that over the next three weeks.
SPEAKER_00: And so let me just read Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 14, and then we'll really camp out in that last section, 11, 12, 13, and 14.
SPEAKER_00: See if you can't catch the phrase, it's repeated three times.
SPEAKER_00: It's not in Christ or in him, because that's repeated 13 times.
SPEAKER_00: See if you catch it and you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_00: In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
SPEAKER_00: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
SPEAKER_00: In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in context, this passage is talking about many things.
SPEAKER_00: God, Father, Spirit, Son, has always called a people for his own possession through his plan of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But what was the purpose?
SPEAKER_00: For the purpose of his praise.
SPEAKER_00: When we consider living our lives to glorify God, I want to focus on that repeated phrase.
SPEAKER_00: I want to focus on that part that says, we are made for praise.
SPEAKER_00: That our lives count for the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you maybe weren't here three years ago when I preached all the way through the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: And it's almost three years ago to the date.
SPEAKER_00: It was in September that I addressed this passage, Ephesians chapter 1, and we took a little pause, like 10 minutes, because there's words like predestined and chosen.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, let's just handle this.
SPEAKER_00: If you're hoping I'm doing that today, I've got bad news for you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing that today.
SPEAKER_00: I've done it.
SPEAKER_00: You can find it on YouTube.
SPEAKER_00: I will have coffee or lunch with you.
SPEAKER_00: I'd be more than happy to have that conversation with you.
SPEAKER_00: I won't be focusing on that.
SPEAKER_00: If you really want to see that, go back to like the second Sunday in September 2023, and you can hear all about that.
SPEAKER_00: All about this balance of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm happy to have that conversation with anyone at any time.
SPEAKER_00: What I really want to focus on is what you see in verse 6, verse 12, and verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: This phrase repeated three times to the praise of his glorious grace.
SPEAKER_00: To the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And we as new creations change from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: We live to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Three truths that remind us we were made for praise.
SPEAKER_00: If you're taking notes, you can write this down.
SPEAKER_00: Three truths.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the purpose of our new life in Christ is praise.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you know the word catechism.
SPEAKER_00: My wife knew the word catechism because she grew up going to Catholic school and Catholic church, and she was catechized.
SPEAKER_00: It's not really a Catholic thing.
SPEAKER_00: They don't own the word, it just means teaching.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Catechism, teachings.
SPEAKER_00: And in 1647, the Westminster Catechism was written.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the first question was?
SPEAKER_00: What is the chief end of man?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you've read some newer catechisms.
SPEAKER_00: There's one called the New City Catechism.
SPEAKER_00: If you're raising little kids and you just want to learn a lot of scripture in your home, grab the New City Catechism app.
SPEAKER_00: It's free.
SPEAKER_00: And you can ask all kinds of questions that lead us back to the word, and your kids can learn the answers and the scriptures behind them.
SPEAKER_00: But the answer to that question, which is repeated in a lot of Baptist catechisms, it's the second question in the Baptist catechism: what is the chief end of man?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you the answer.
SPEAKER_00: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
SPEAKER_00: We see that in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: So whatever you do, in all things that you do, whether you eat or you drink or you abstain, whatever you do, do all things to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be reminded from Ephesians chapter 1 that as a new creation, the purpose of our new life in Christ is to praise.
SPEAKER_00: Now there is this confusion in verse 6 because it says to the praise of his glorious grace.
SPEAKER_00: So is it to the praise of his grace in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Is it to the praise of his glory?
SPEAKER_00: Let me make this argument.
SPEAKER_00: It's both.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, because we have been lavished with every spiritual blessing, because we can be washed clean by the blood of Jesus, because we can have new life, that's all pointing us to the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: And because we can be forgiven and made new and declared holy and blameless and righteous, we live to praise the fact that we've been given grace.
SPEAKER_00: But can I tell you also that it's to the praise of his glory because that's the response of the bigness of God?
SPEAKER_00: Not just that we get salvation, praise God that we're saved in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But that our creator is the one that made salvation possible.
SPEAKER_00: That there was a rescue plan.
SPEAKER_00: That from since day one before the foundation of the world, there was this plan for Jesus to come and rescue us.
SPEAKER_00: We live to the praise of his glory, not just because we received grace, but because he's the big God that offered salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He's the big God that made a way, and so we live for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you ever prayed this prayer.
SPEAKER_00: God, show me your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Moses asked for it on Mount Sinai when he had the Ten Commandments and the burning bush.
SPEAKER_00: God, just show me your glory.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, You can't see my face.
SPEAKER_00: But I'll pass by and you can take a little peek as I'm walking, walking away.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know Moses.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that was like, but I do know that his face started shining with the Shekinah glory of God, and he had to cover it up when he went and addressed the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: We think about the bigness of God.
SPEAKER_00: I like Revelation chapter 21.
SPEAKER_00: In the new heavens and the new earth, the city has no need for sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: There's this beautiful reality that our lives can just be a small addition to the reflection of a huge God.
SPEAKER_00: And we say, we just want to make you look good.
SPEAKER_00: God, we can't make you look better because you are God.
SPEAKER_00: Holy, holy, holy are you.
SPEAKER_00: The whole earth is filled with your, you know it?
unknown: Glory.
SPEAKER_00: But I do want my life to be a reflection of that.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your grace.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you're big enough to save.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if if this sense of glory even goes deeper for you.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 1 says it like this.
SPEAKER_00: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you.
SPEAKER_00: These are the prophets that told of the story that a Savior is coming.
SPEAKER_00: And the things that have been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Things into which angels long to look.
SPEAKER_00: I love this illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know there are a lot of things angels can do that I can't do?
SPEAKER_00: They've been given the authority of God to do things that are supernatural things, but one thing that they will never quite understand is salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The way we get to understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Because we know the depths of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 1, you were dead in your trespasses.
SPEAKER_00: So that's Ephesians 2.
SPEAKER_00: You were dead in your trespasses and sins and once you once walked.
SPEAKER_00: But now you can be made alive.
SPEAKER_00: Angels don't know that.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know the rags to riches.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know the sin to victory story that we know.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just picture in my mind's eye that there's this sense of angels gathered around the throne, and these thousands of years of history as people were trusting in the future Messiah and then trusting in Messiah who's come, and their lives are totally changed from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: That the angels are like, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And I can praise the eternal God in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because that is the God who saves.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that's like as an angel, but I get to see the pinnacle of God's creation experience redemption, restoration, and salvation, and I'm leaning on the edge of my seat, longing to look into those things.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we need to realize that the purpose of our new life in Christ is to bring praise.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you consider that purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if there's a priority that needs to change for you to consider that purpose with greater emphasis in your life.
SPEAKER_00: So we live for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, God's plan was always praise.
SPEAKER_00: The repetition of the word purpose and plan all the way throughout this section of scripture reminds us that the salvation of man and woman and boys and girls was not plan B.
SPEAKER_00: That was plan A.
SPEAKER_00: And in that plan of salvation, God deserves total praise.
SPEAKER_00: You see that repetition in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: According to His purpose, His purpose, His plan, a plan before the foundation of the world to rescue a people and unite all things together in Him, a plan for the fullness of time.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder, in your life, do you say this is God's purpose for me?
SPEAKER_00: To bring him glory.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's plan for me, to bring him the praise.
SPEAKER_00: And then later in that section, in verse 11, we're talking about an inheritance, something that's waiting for us, a future day, something that we can bank on, a promise.
SPEAKER_00: We have this great inheritance, and Peter talks about it like this in 1 Peter chapter 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy.
SPEAKER_00: He's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
SPEAKER_00: We think about the hope that we have, and we can't help remember, God, this was always your plan, this was your purpose, and you get all the praise.
SPEAKER_00: I know there's some kids in the room.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you're working on your key words, glorify and praise, but would you just look at mom or dad real quick and repeat after me?
SPEAKER_00: You're looking at him?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're looking at him?
SPEAKER_00: Say, I was made for praise.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all can do better.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all can definitely do better.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the young generation can lead us out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you one more chance because this is true of every Christian, no matter how old or how young you are.
SPEAKER_00: Look again one more time to mom and dad and just say it loud and proud.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at one right now.
SPEAKER_00: Is he gonna do it?
SPEAKER_00: Look to mom or dad and say this.
SPEAKER_00: I was made for praise.
SPEAKER_00: Much better.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This was God's plan from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: That we would live for his glory, that we would be remade, recreated, reborn, restored, made for praise.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your priorities, Monday morning priorities.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your goals this week, think about your goals this year.
SPEAKER_00: Are you remembering in all of that that you were made for praise?
SPEAKER_00: That was God's plan from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, when we think about this identity piece, we praise because of the promise of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I love this idea that we're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read it for you again.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, we're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: To the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: In this process of us being sanctified and renewed and re-reborn and transformed into the image of Christ, we are living for his glory, knowing that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_00: We are longing for a future inheritance tomorrow, but we have something about heaven living inside us today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have this seal, we have this promise, and that fuels our praise.
SPEAKER_00: It was promised in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 36.
SPEAKER_00: I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I'll put within you.
SPEAKER_00: I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, a living heart.
SPEAKER_00: And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
SPEAKER_00: There was a day that I asked my wife to marry me, and I gave her a ring.
SPEAKER_00: That was a promise of my future intention.
SPEAKER_00: And oh boy, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: I could not wait.
SPEAKER_00: And in that season and in that time, God grew us closer to Him and closer to each other, and our wedding was a celebration.
SPEAKER_00: But that ring was a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that God's given us that promise?
SPEAKER_00: You've trusted Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let me seal you with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You have a piece of heaven today, you're longing for tomorrow, and you know how we know that we can take that promise to the bank because God's presence is living in us.
SPEAKER_00: We've bought four houses in our last 20 years, and every time they say, Well, we're not going to take your offer seriously until you put earnest money down.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta show us that you're serious, and so give us that earnest money.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: If you walk away, you lose the earnest money.
SPEAKER_00: So I guess you would never walk away.
SPEAKER_00: Away from a contract that we put on a house.
SPEAKER_00: Us, we didn't want to lose the earnest money, right?
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 1, God is saying, Here is the earnest money.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sealing you with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You can take this promise all the way into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And we praise him because we have that promise in our life.
SPEAKER_00: We give him the glory.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Romans chapter 8, it says, For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba Father, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
SPEAKER_00: So when we sing in corporate worship, when we gather, we sing with a different affection.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're sealed with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That motivates us worshiping in spirit and truth, which we'll talk about here in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: We want to think just generally about our lives counting for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: But under that, we've got three specific values.
SPEAKER_00: We trust in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just tell you: do you know how you know who you are in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Because you read it right here.
SPEAKER_00: When I preached Ephesians, I said there's this phrase about our identity.
SPEAKER_00: Who I am is who I am, because of who I am in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know?
SPEAKER_00: Because it says it right here.
SPEAKER_00: So we we're trusting in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: That shapes our ability to glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: We're worshiping in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna remember Jesus and his encounter with the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: And then we are living surrendered lives.
SPEAKER_00: All of these things point to us glorifying God with our life.
SPEAKER_00: Just briefly, let's look at those more in more detail.
SPEAKER_00: Three ways to glorify God that connect to our core values.
SPEAKER_00: Trusting in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: I said it.
SPEAKER_00: We only know our identity because it says it right here in the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Now I only became preacher here about three and a half years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I was at a church in New Mexico for nine years.
SPEAKER_00: I got to preach almost 400 sermons in that nine years, and we did a renovation of our worship center, and as we were doing that, we completely gutted the platform that I'm standing on here, one similar.
SPEAKER_00: And there was this old family Bible, almost 100 years old, that was on display in our four-year.
SPEAKER_00: And I went to one of the people in that downline in their genealogy and said, Hey, I would think it really special if we took this Bible that's been displayed in our church for all these years, and I know that it came from your family, so I'm asking for your permission.
SPEAKER_00: When we rebuild that platform, could we place that Bible right where the preacher stands?
SPEAKER_00: So that there's this symbolic idea that when someone stands to proclaim the word of God, they're standing on the truth of the word.
SPEAKER_00: Not their opinions, not their jokes, not their stories.
SPEAKER_00: They're standing on the word, and they're preaching the word because that forms who we are.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know when this stage was built 17 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if there's a Bible under it, but I give you this guarantee.
SPEAKER_00: As long as I'm one of the preachers here in this church, we're gonna stand on the word.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not my authority as a man, it's the authority of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because the scriptures have been written by the capital A author, God using men, lowercase A authors.
SPEAKER_00: I like how it says it in 2 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention, as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's making an argument here that even his testimony doesn't compare to the prophetic word of God.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I can be an eyewitness testimony that Jesus was a historical man, that he died on the cross for sin, he rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: I saw it with my own eyes, but don't just listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to the word.
SPEAKER_00: That the word has more authority than Peter's testimony.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about our words.
SPEAKER_00: His word is superior.
SPEAKER_00: My question to you, Christian in the room: are you living, making scripture a priority?
SPEAKER_00: Is this superior to you?
SPEAKER_00: Is this where you find authority?
SPEAKER_00: We gotta know it.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta read it, we gotta be in it, it's gotta be on the front of our mind, we gotta hide it in our heart, we gotta know it, and then we have to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: So, in that value, it says trusting God's word, not just reading God's word, trusting God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, even if it's hard, if you said it, I'll obey it.
SPEAKER_00: Even if the culture's going the opposite direction, if you've made it clear to me in your word, I will swim against the tide.
SPEAKER_00: God, I want to live for you, I want to bring you glory, I want to live in obedience to you, trusting God's word.
SPEAKER_00: That second one, worshiping in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_00: We're reminded, yes, we're made for praise, but it's more than just our singing.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's there's important things we learn about singing to God, but we we worship God in spirit and truth in our daily life.
SPEAKER_00: I received this yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: We were in Austin doing some fun things with some friends, and just on my car, I received this that today's prayer, it's Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: And someone decided the way that I'm gonna glorify God is I'm gonna spend my money to print these out, and then on Saturday, on my day off, I'm gonna go around and I'm just gonna put this on cards.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: That's a beautiful way to glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where they're singing today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know which church they're in this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how they're worshiping in spirit and truth, but this was a beautiful obedience to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just singing.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, it is singing, but it's even more than that.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know it's not just singing?
SPEAKER_00: This passage, worship in spirit and truth, comes from John chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus meets the Samaritan woman, which was a big cultural faux pas.
SPEAKER_00: Why is a man talking to a woman?
SPEAKER_00: Why is a Jewish person talking to a Samaritan person?
SPEAKER_00: They're the half-breeds, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has this beautiful encounter where he says, There's a day coming when Messiah will be here.
SPEAKER_00: And the woman's like, I know about Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna worship him on this mountain and that mountain.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, No, the Messiah is gonna be worshipped everywhere, worshiped in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Oh, I want to know this man.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am he, the one sitting in front of you, and I'm offering you living water if you'll take it.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what her response was?
SPEAKER_00: She runs into town and says, Come see a man that told me all about my heart, even the dark places of my heart, but he's offered me living water, eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: That's worship, amen.
SPEAKER_00: It's more than singing.
SPEAKER_00: And so we worship in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_00: It's John 4, 23 and 24.
SPEAKER_00: How do we worship in truth?
SPEAKER_00: It's when we know the truths of God's word, and his truths inform our thoughts about God, our emotions about God, our desires to honor God, because we we've read it here in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: How do we worship in spirit?
SPEAKER_00: It's when the spirit controls our actions and our attitudes.
SPEAKER_00: When the spirit leads and guides, it says the spirit is our wonderful counselor.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of living surrendered life.
SPEAKER_00: Just this week, I was going through some old text messages.
SPEAKER_00: I missed this summer.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if y'all realize I had the craziest summer probably of my 42 years of life.
SPEAKER_00: And I missed some messages, and one popped up of a guy that comes to our church, and uh I had seen them here at our church with their family, and uh I didn't get around to say hi to them, so I just said, Hey man, missed saying hi to you in church.
SPEAKER_00: It was great to see you.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you today.
SPEAKER_00: Immediate reaction.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not making this up.
SPEAKER_00: This was Monday.
SPEAKER_00: Immediate reaction.
SPEAKER_00: He called me almost in tears and said, You will never know what that text message meant to me.
SPEAKER_00: Because I went to church on Sunday, I had a bad attitude, I didn't sing the songs, I didn't read the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking, why do I mean going to church?
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming here with the wrong heart and the wrong attitude.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I'm gonna keep coming to church.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I want to go to church next week.
SPEAKER_00: And then the this is what he said, his words.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit led you to text me that I might be encouraged today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be led by the by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We stand on the truth and we we want the heart and the emotion and our mind and our attitude to engage.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit does that and leads us, not just in our singing, even in the way that we walk through our daily life.
SPEAKER_00: And so, how are you worshiping God in spirit and truth?
SPEAKER_00: Is that part of your desire to give him glory?
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, we have this idea of living surrendered lives.
SPEAKER_00: When we baptize here at First Baptist, we ask three questions.
SPEAKER_00: The first is, have you trusted in Christ alone to pay for your sins?
SPEAKER_00: The second is have you surrendered your life to Jesus as King and Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And the third is have you committed to follow him all the rest of your days?
SPEAKER_00: This idea of surrender is important.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a tent revival, easy believism, but no, when you take on Jesus, he says in Luke chapter 9, you deny yourself and you take up your cross and you follow me.
SPEAKER_00: That surrender means there will be days we're uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: There will be days that God is calling us to do the thing that we're not quite sure we can do on our own, but he will strengthen us to be surrendered to him.
SPEAKER_00: There will be days that we have to leave things of the flesh behind us, Colossians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: That we put off the flesh and we put it to death and we put on Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not a one-time moment the first day I receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's a life of repentance and faith and transformation, and it's a reminder daily, God, your mercies are new.
SPEAKER_00: I've got to be surrendered to you.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 2 says, I've been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I no longer live.
SPEAKER_00: Christ lives in me.
SPEAKER_00: That's the life I want to live.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I want to live this new life through you, not my old life on my own power.
SPEAKER_00: That means you might pray prayer like this.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you get all of my hopes, all of my dreams, all my ambitions, all my talents, all my gifts, all my possessions.
SPEAKER_00: I am living surrendered to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's all yours.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: I went to a wedding last night.
SPEAKER_00: There's some young church members here at this church that got married last night here in Wimberley.
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful thing through all their premarriage counseling.
SPEAKER_00: My wife and I learned that yes, the best man was going to give a speech, and yes, the maid of honor was going to give a speech, and then the bride and groom were gonna stand.
SPEAKER_00: And they were gonna share their testimony.
SPEAKER_00: Say, we want to use this celebration to point others to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The bride did a beautiful job pointing people to Jesus, hoping Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The groom gets up and shares more detail about this story that all through his young adult life he had been desiring and wanting and longing for a wife and how she's gonna look and the who she's gonna be and the gifts she's gonna have.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't until he went to the Lord in total surrender, saying, God, my desires are on the shelf.
SPEAKER_00: You have a plan, you have a purpose, I will wait for you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm giving it all.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have an idea of what she's gonna look like.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have an idea of the things she's gonna be passionate about or where she's gonna be from.
SPEAKER_00: I just surrender to you.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: 24 hours later, he met the bride that he married last night.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a powerful testimony?
SPEAKER_00: We've got to get to a point where our whole life is hidden behind Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says in Colossians 3.
SPEAKER_00: Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things of this earth, for you have died.
SPEAKER_00: Your old life has died.
unknown: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: And your life is hidden with Christ in God.
SPEAKER_00: When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory.
SPEAKER_00: I just wonder, does anything in your life need to change for you to live more fully surrendered?
SPEAKER_00: Church, I want my life to count for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And we were singing that song, and it said, Lord, your strength, your power made known in me.
SPEAKER_00: And I just changed that word.
SPEAKER_00: It said, Lord, your strength, your power made known in us.
SPEAKER_00: Us as a family, I want God to be glorified in us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so I individually need to come to the Lord and say, Does anything need to change in me so that we might live better, God, for your glory?
SPEAKER_00: As we come to this response time, that's a beautiful way to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want your life to count for his glory?
SPEAKER_00: I know I sure do.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you be a part of this big adventure that we're on in this church family to glorify God and abide in Christ and connect in community and multiply disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you for these truths from your word and help us to stand on these truths.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to live in response to these truths.
SPEAKER_00: And even at a time like this where we respond, there's an opportunity to come pray at these steps.
SPEAKER_00: That's a physical sign of humility to bow down, God, in front of your great glory.
SPEAKER_00: Come speak to a pastor or minister on our team.
SPEAKER_00: Come up with a friend or family member.
SPEAKER_00: God, I know, I know that your word is living and active, and it's not just we checked off a box and we sang a song and we did it.
SPEAKER_00: No, we we are totally surrendered to you.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you would want to do anything to change in us through this time, Lord, we just say, have your way.
SPEAKER_00: Even as we sung, have your way.
SPEAKER_00: We want you to be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: Praise this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.