Stop 9 Church
We want to share important pieces of our worship service with those who might not have been able to be there in person.
Stop 9 Church
Loving Through the Patterns
Good morning. Tell you what? There's no place. I'd rather be than here this morning. So, let's all stand up. We'll sing a couple songs.
Speaker 2:This is the season for a new anointing.
Speaker 3:This is the season for fresh outpouring that the sons and daughters of the King of glory may arise and shine. That the sons and daughters of the King of glory may arise and shine as we declare this is the day this is the day.
Speaker 3:This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made. In the beginning, god created and for His pleasure, all creation sings and the sons and daughters of the King of Glory now arise and shine. Every son and daughter of the King of Glory now arise and shine as we declare. This is the day. This is the day.
Speaker 3:This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let your glory fill the earth. Let your glory fill the earth. Let your glory fill the earth. Let your glory fill the earth as we declare. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made. King of glory, fill the earth. King of glory, fill the earth. King of glory, fill the earth. King of glory, fill the earth. King of glory, fill the earth as we declare. This is the day.
Speaker 2:This is the day.
Speaker 3:This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made Over all the earth you reign on high Every mountain stream, every sunset sky.
Speaker 3:But my one request, Lord, my only aim, Is that you reign in me again. Lord, reign in me, reign in your power Over all my dreams in my darkest hour.
Speaker 3:You are the Lord of all I am, so won't you reign in me again. Over every thought, over every word, may my life reflect the beauty of my Lord, because you mean more to me than any earthly thing. So won't you reign in me again, lord, reign in me, reign in your power over all my dreams In my darkest hour you are the Lord of all I am, so won't you reign in me again.
Speaker 3:So won't you reign in me again, lord, won't you reign in me again. Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory. Divine Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story. This is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.
Speaker 3:Perfect commission all is at rest. I am my Savior and happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above. This is my song praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song praising my Savior all the day long.
Speaker 2:All right. Our scripture reading today comes from Romans, chapter 12. It starts in verse 9. It says Don't just pretend to love others, really love them. Hate what is wrong, hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
Speaker 4:Let's begin with a word of prayer. God. We thank you so much for today. God, we thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning and to worship together as a family and as a community. God, thank you for keeping us safe and watching over us as we traveled here. God, open up our hearts, our ears and our eyes to the things that you want us to know. Today, we're thankful for the words of encouragement and the words of guidance from Paul that we get to read through together this morning. Thank you for Jesus and his ultimate example of how to love and interact with people. We thank you for your love, father, and we thank you for the Spirit and its work in our lives. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 4:Before we get started, I'll go ahead and make this announcement and then we'll jump in. We were scheduled to have a deacon's meeting today. If you're a deacon, we were scheduled to meet today. We're going to, just out of precautionary, we're going to go ahead and cancel the meeting for this afternoon. That way, you don't have to travel back out. I do have some information for you. So, if you're a deacon, if you would see me after church, I have something I want to give you, but as far as a meeting this afternoon, we won't meet today. So if you're a deacon, I'm usually in the back Find me. I've got a piece of paper. I want to give you something for you to do for us. So, all right, we're going to continue our series on patterns this week. Actually, we're going to conclude our series on patterns and we've been looking through Romans 12.
Speaker 4:In Romans 12, as we've talked about before, paul is writing to a group of people that he's not actually got to visit yet. He's not actually got to experience life with them. He doesn't know exactly what they're going through and their ins and outs. He's probably heard some rumblings, but most of the time when Paul was writing, he was writing to a group of people that he knew he had taught them, he understood them, and this one, his letter to the Romans, is interesting because it's just to a group of Christians, and so there's a lot that we can take from it. Hopefully you've taken some from it already. We're going to conclude that this week.
Speaker 4:He kind of tells us how to deal with life, because there are things in this life that we love and there are things in this life that drive us crazy, and so I want you to think about those things for just a few seconds this morning, and you can even make a list. I thought of three things that I love and I thought of three things that drive me crazy. So there's room on your outline, I'm sure. Three things, and some of them they might be the same for you. Your husband might make both lists, okay, but three things that you absolutely love and three things that just absolutely drive you crazy. Here are my three.
Speaker 4:The first one they drive me crazy. I'm just kidding my children. Obviously, that's probably going to land on a lot of people's lists. I love my kids. I love the joy that they bring to my life. I love the things that they teach me. Children are fascinating in the ways that they teach us just how to enjoy the little things, and we're at a fun stage 6, 4, and almost 2. And so there's never a quiet moment in the house. There is never food in the house. There's always snack wrappers everywhere. That's where we're at in life, but that is on my list as a love.
Speaker 4:The next one is something that drives me crazy. It doesn't make any sense to me how a six-year-old can stay up until 11 o'clock at night and still wake up at 5.45 am Ready to go fully charged in its full go. It drives me crazy. No, I'm just kidding. What drives me crazy is that those kids grow up. And I know, at the 8.30 service everybody said just wait. And I know, just wait. But six years have went really fast already and four years have went really fast already and Jordy's supposed to be the baby and she will tell you she's not. It drives me crazy that that they grow up and your grandkids grow up, and it just drives me crazy.
Speaker 4:Okay, on to less serious things. I love Tim Hortons. I specifically love a double-double from Tim Hortons, an extra-large double-double. Tim Hortons loves me because I think I keep the establishment open. I pull in and the order is on the screen. It's really bad, it's really. And the question is is just one or two today? Are you getting one for your wife? And a double-double is just a fancy way of saying two cream, two sugar. That's all I'm doing. Okay, two cream, two sugar.
Speaker 4:But I love a good hot cup of coffee. You know what drives me crazy? A good hot cup of coffee. You know what drives me crazy when that good hot cup of coffee gets cold. You know what I'm talking about. You drink half of it, you set it down, you get busy. 20 minutes go by, you go back, you pick it up, you take a big drink and you're like ugh, there are just some things that are not designed to be cold after they've been heated up.
Speaker 4:Now iced coffee. We can have that whole conversation. It's got to be a certain degree outside to drink iced coffee and for it to actually work. But I hate. It drives me crazy. I don't want to use the word hate yet. It drives me crazy to have a to take a drink of cold coffee. That's supposed to be hot. Okay, that make sense. Anybody else, struggle with that. Okay, we're being honest today. All right, before you judge me, allow me to explain myself on the next one. Okay, because a lot of you are going to go. What in the world is wrong with him? Let me explain myself.
Speaker 4:I love the fact that we live in a part of the world that if we need something, it's available to us. Okay, walmart is. You know, when you were a kid, you always wanted to go to Walmart. Now, as an adult, you're like how can I avoid Walmart, especially right now? All the bread's gone, I guarantee it. Three snowflakes have fallen. The milk is wiped out.
Speaker 4:On a serious note, though, we do live in a part of the world that, if we need bread, we can go to a store and there's bread. If we need milk, we can go to a store and you can easily get milk. If you need toilet paper unless it's 2020, you can go to the store and you can easily get milk. If you need toilet paper unless it's 2020, you can go to the store and there's food. Not everywhere around the world experiences that there are parts of the country that have to wait in line for hours to get just a little bit of rice. There are parts of the country that are waiting weeks and weeks and weeks on end to just get the essentials for living, and we live in a part of the world where, hopefully, we appreciate it that we can walk into a store and get it. So that leads me to the next one, and just let me. Let me vent for a few minutes, because my wife has to hear about this every time I go to Walmart.
Speaker 4:My generation and other generations have discovered this thing called online ordering and pickup, and it's a great thing. We don't, I don't do it, I can't get behind it, because I got to see it, I got to put my hands, I pick. Plus, how am I going to know that there's a new Pop-Tart if I'm not in the store? And so? But people do it and they order their food, and there's this person. Now, I'm not discriminating on any job in the world, but there is a person that pushes this semi around the grocery store and their job is to pick up your groceries. But you know when they choose to do that, when I'm in there with my little Prius cart trying to figure out what groceries I need, and it never fails that when I need spaghetti, guess what? Semi is parked right in the spaghetti aisle, that thing right there.
Speaker 4:One of the things that drives me crazy is those big old carts. And they're doing their job, they're doing what they're paid to do and they're supposed to pick out groceries. But man, they are in the way and I have a perfect solution for it. You order your groceries, that's fine. Pickups from like 6 to 8 every morning. Those people can shop from 12 am till 6 am and they can fill those big carts. But at 4 pm, when Josh is trying to figure out what's for dinner. Please give me the aisle way right Drives me crazy. I love the people of Walmart. I love the workers at Walmart. Those semis are huge. Okay, all right, drives me crazy.
Speaker 4:Here's the deal, though. Hopefully you wrote out a list of things that you love and things that drive you crazy, but as we get into Romans, chapter 12, paul warned us. Paul told us way long ago, writing to a group of people he'd never even met. He said there are going to be things in this life that you love, and there are going to be things that's really easy to love, and there's going to be people that are really, really easy to be around. But you know what? There are going to be things that drive you crazy, and there are going to be people that drive you absolutely crazy, and he tells them, as Hunter read through, that there's going to be people that it's hard to love, but you're supposed to what Love them. There's going to be people that do things differently, but you're supposed to love them. There's going to be people that do things that you don't agree with, but you're supposed to love them. You see, everybody's got a pattern. We talked about patterns last week and some people's patterns look a lot different than your pattern, but all throughout Scripture, jesus reminded us that we're supposed to love one another, not just love those who are easy to love, but to love everyone.
Speaker 4:So let's read through this again. It says don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying when God's people are in need. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying when God's people are in need. Be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality Pretty simply, love people.
Speaker 4:We could take all of that and summarize it. There's a part of that, though, at the very beginning, that tells us that we need to don't write this down. I messed up, don't write this down yet we're going to fix it it tells us that we need to what Hate what is evil, and we need to cling to what is good. I wrote at first on Monday. I wrote that we tend to not do both. We usually hate what is evil or we cling to what is good. But we can't really do both. But here's what I've discovered after talking to my wife. What we do is we usually tend to hate evil and to cling to good when it's convenient. When it's convenient, we'll hate what is evil and we'll cling to what is good. And so change on your outline. Do not write not both, but cross out the not and put we tend to hate evil or cling to good when it's convenient. Everybody got that. That's what your outline should say.
Speaker 4:It tells us that we are to reject evil, not that we are to reject or hate sinful people and the people who do evil, but we're supposed to reject and hate the behavior. Does that make sense? And sometimes we get that backwards. Sometimes we get that backwards. But our genuine love for the Lord should cause us and motivate us in every circumstance to love people, cling to what is good and to reject those. That is evil. And here's what I mean when I say it's convenient.
Speaker 4:We will say things like adultery is not good, sex before marriage is not how it was designed to be. We'll say things like that. But you know what we do. We watch movies and we watch television shows that promote what, and so when it's convenient, when it's our life, we'll say, hey, we don't do that. But when it's for entertainment purposes, we'll say, yeah, I love. Love is Blind and I can say that because I have someone that's watched it. Okay, but isn't it funny how we do that? We say, hey, this is bad, we shouldn't fill our minds for all this stuff. But then when we sit down for entertainment purposes, what do we do? We sit down and we watch all that stuff.
Speaker 4:And I had a brother in Christ. A young kid asked me a couple months ago. He said hey, josh, I got a question for you. I've recently been baptized and I give my life to Christ. He said should I stop listening to certain types of music? And I thought, hmm, that's a tough one, you know. Should I change what I'm watching as a Christian? And I thought the first thought I thought really I really had was it'd be difficult, that'd be a challenge. It'd be a challenge to find things on TV that you could probably actually feel good about watching and could cling to.
Speaker 4:Here's what I told him and I thought I had the perfect answer. And this is looking back now and I think what a knucklehead. This is what I told him. I looked at him. I said, man head, this is what I told him. I looked at him. I said, man, that's a tough one.
Speaker 4:I said that kind of feels like a personal conviction moment that there's not a black and white answer, that you have to come to a conclusion yourself. But I said, but I think it's like an awareness thing. That's what I told him. I said I think if you're watching it but you know you shouldn't watch it, then you might be okay. This is what I said to him. I said, but it's like an awareness thing, like you should be able to tell after so long, like oh, it's getting to be too much. And in the moment I thought, man, I gave him a really good answer. Like, dude, as long as you're aware of it, as long as you've been thinking on it and you've been thinking, hey, maybe I shouldn't, then you're good. But you know what we do. You know what our tendency is To fall. Our tendency is to fall into temptation. Our tendency is to fall into our flesh desires. Our tendency is to fall into the world. And so here's what I basically said to him.
Speaker 4:It would be like telling somebody that's trying not to eat cookies anymore that it's okay to go stand in the bakery, it's okay to go stand at Crumble and just study how they make the cookies. Because you know what's going to happen to you. You know what's going to happen to me If I'm trying not to eat cookies and I walk into Kennedy's and I start looking in the glass case. What am I going to have the desire to do and what is Kennedy's going to push? Hey, why don't you try one of these? It's pretty simple right here. Guess what I'm going to do. I'm going to eat one of those tea cookies. Or even if I don't take the actual physical cookie, guess what? I'm going to start thinking about how good that cookie would taste right now. And here, I know what I'm saying right now and I know how hard and I know you're like there's no way, josh can't do this. But I'm just telling you through personal study, I've started to feel conviction that I do have a tendency to fall into worldly things. So why would I continue to put myself in a position where Satan can just open up a door and I'll fall right through? So hopefully that makes sense. I'm not telling you to go home and cancel Netflix. I'm not telling you to do that. I'm just saying.
Speaker 4:I told a 19-year-old kid who's been struggling with this idea should I be listening to this rap music that talks about sex and objectifying women? Should I be listening to that or should I not? And I said dude, as long as you've got awareness, you're good. Maybe I won't be here 30 years telling you, but doesn't that make sense? I'm sitting back here. I'm sitting here this week.
Speaker 4:I'm studying this passage where he says hate what is evil and cling to what is good. And I'm going. I just told this 19 year old kid, who has convictions, that he doesn't want to listen to this. Dude, as long as you feel all right about it, you're fine. So I told him, I talked to him, I said, hey, dude, does that make sense? I got to change my answer. Can I have a redo? Because if you feel like you don't want to be a part of that, then I think that's the Spirit telling you to remove yourself from it.
Speaker 4:So, anyway, we are called to cling to what is good and to hate what is evil as we continue along. You know we don't have to toe the line. We can cling to what is good because there is good out there. Sometimes we've got to look for it and sometimes it's harder to find. But if you want to listen to music, any kind of genre music, there's music that points to Jesus and same with movies and things like that you can find good. But I think that's what he says when he says cling to it, seek it Actively, pursue the good and you can find it. He also tells us to do a few other things in that group of verses. There he says that we are called to be genuine and to be kind. What's it mean to be genuine? Real, be real. Chuck says be real, be who you are, don't fake it, don't put on this mask, don't put on this idea that you are better than what you really are. Just be genuine, be who you really are, love and be kind.
Speaker 4:There's a study back in 2006. This is the latest study I could find. In 2006, they started asking people that don't attend church why is it that you won't attend church? Do you know what the most common answer was? They're hypocrites. Somebody said it the churchgoers are hypocrites. You've probably heard that before. Right, you've probably experienced that conversation with somebody before. 72 percent of people that were interviewed in that survey said I won't go to church because it's full of hypocrites. Now I have an argument for it as well, and we may get into that in just a second.
Speaker 4:But I asked a question in the 830 service do what do you think that number has done? That's 19 years ago, which is crazy to think about. 2006 was 19 years ago, but here we are. What do you think that number has done? You think it's went up? Raise your hand if you think that number's went up, that more people would claim I don't go to church because it's hypocrites Okay. So some of you how many of you think that number's went down? Okay. Do you think it's hypocrites? Okay. So some of you how many think that numbers went down? Okay. Do you think it's just turned to a different excuse? Or you think more people's in the church?
Speaker 4:Gary brought up a point in the 830 service. He said I think now more people would just claim they don't believe that God is real, and that might be the more. I don't know. The truth is is I couldn't find another study. There hasn find another study. Everybody's scared to find out, I guess. But here's what I'll say Are there hypocrites amongst the church? Yeah, if we're being honest, absolutely, there is there, absolutely is. I've been a hypocrite in some of the things that I've said and the way that I've lived. Is everybody a hypocrite?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 4:Have some people had poor experiences with certain people? Absolutely. Has that led to the reason why they don't come to church? Absolutely? Are those same people willing to go to the same restaurant that served them bad and try it again? Most typically yes.
Speaker 4:And so the idea that I kind of, when I have conversations with people and they say, hey, the church is full of hypocrites, I'll say no, I don't agree with that 100%. Yes, there are. There are people that misrepresent what we are and who we are and what we strive to be. But when I think of church, I think of our members and us as a community. We come to church because we believe we need a Savior, right. We know we're not perfect, so we come to church because we believe we need a Savior, right. We know we're not perfect, so we come to church because we know we need to learn more about the Savior and the God that loves us. That make sense. It's not that I come to church because I think I'm perfect, but that's the misconception that the world has sometimes with the church is that, oh, there's just everybody that thinks they're perfect, but instead it's more of the idea, at least I think. I truly believe that we're here because we know we're not perfect and we need a Savior, but that's one of the things. So it tells us that we have to be genuine and it's one of the most common things I've told our teenagers over the years and you've heard me say it up here is that because of that number, because there are that many people that won't step into the church, you and I have a challenge.
Speaker 4:Church, you and I have a challenge. You and I have an opportunity. God has given you an opportunity to be a light in the world. He's given you an opportunity to show the love of Christ in how you live your life. And so Paul's writing to a group of people he's never met before and he says remember, just be genuine and be kind, because that will make a lasting impression on the world. That make sense. Okay. He tells us to do a couple other things. He tells us to work hard and serve. God wants us to move. He doesn't just want people to sit in pews. God wants us to move. He wants us to seek, he wants us to serve. He wants us to work hard. God wants disciples. Now, what's a disciple? Let's see if we've learned anything over the years. A follower how do you follow someone? What do you have to do If I'm playing, simon Says and Carrie is Simon, and you say, simon Says, touch your nose. If I never touch my nose, am I ever going to win the game? No, because I have to move right. I have to follow the instruction as a disciple. We have to move, we have to live our lives and work our way in such a way that we serve A couple other things. And we'll jump into our story.
Speaker 4:Rejoice in hope, not in results. Oftentimes we rejoice in results when life is good. We rejoice when the doctor's visit is good. We rejoice when the doctor's visit is good. We rejoice when we get the results that we needed. We rejoice when we get the job. We rejoice.
Speaker 4:But what Paul is reminding them is, he says rejoice in the hope, keep an eye on heaven, knowing that this life is not all about what happens here but the fact that you get to go to heaven one day and rejoice in that. And when life is hard, rejoice in the fact that you're going to heaven. And he tells us that. A couple other things. He says be patient and stay in prayer. Life is going to be a challenge, life is going to be difficult. You're going to go through some frustrating things. Stay patient and stay in prayer. Don't just pray when it's good, don't just pray when it's hard, but consistently be in prayer. That's her to the group of Christians. And then, lastly, he says pursue people. It says desire hospitality. Hospitality is just showing love towards people and towards strangers. Simply put, we could sum it all up, all of those verses, all five things into love and action. Put it into action.
Speaker 4:Matthew, chapter 8, is one of my favorite stories in all of Scripture and you've heard this story. We've talked about this story before, but hopefully we'll look at it in a little bit different perspective. There was a large crowd following Jesus as he came down the mountainside and suddenly a man with leprosy fell at the feet of Jesus and knelt before him and he said Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me and you can make me clean. So a man comes to Jesus in desperation, he comes in need. He's got a rare skin disease that will remove him from the city, that removes him from being any part of the family. He now has to live on the outside of the city. It's a rare skin disease that there's no cure, there's nothing that can make him better. There's no oil, there's no pills, there's no lotion. There's nothing that's proven that they can heal leprosy.
Speaker 4:As this leprosy develops, he's going to experience a loss of sensation. He's going to have damage to his nerves. He's not going to be able to feel things anymore. His muscles are going to waste away. Over time. His muscles are just going to waste away. His tendons are going to contract and freeze up To, which is going to lead to loss of fingers and toes. It's going to consistently eat at him until he loses his hands and his feet.
Speaker 4:And they say, as you read about leprosy, they say it's basically, it takes 20 to 30 years and you just die by inches. 20 to 30 years, you're just going to suffer and day by day, your body's just going to fall apart. Day by day, you're going to be aching, you're going to be hurting, you're going to be broken, you're going to be damaged, you're going to be physically in pain, day by day, for 20 to 30 years before it finally takes your life. And so he's battling all of this physical pain, but along that physical pain he's isolated. He's not allowed around people. He's got to stay at least six feet from anybody If he's outside of the city gates and somebody walks by, he has to physically move six feet to get away, and think about the pain that he's in. That wouldn't be easy. He's probably crawling and scooting his way out of the way just because the average citizen is walking by. He has to remove himself.
Speaker 4:I read this week that if the wind was blowing towards a person with leprosy, they had to move 150 feet away from anybody because there was a fear that the wind was going to spread the leprosy. Think about that. You're standing outside and every time there's a gust of wind you have to look around and go. There's a guy. Let me move over here. The only thing worse than touching someone with leprosy, they considered, was touching somebody that was dead. There was laws against it. You couldn't touch a person with leprosy.
Speaker 4:During the Middle Ages. If you were diagnosed with leprosy, they would read you the burial service. You were considered dead by all human means. You would read you the burial service. You were considered dead and by all human means. You didn't have a life anymore. You were just waiting until it was over.
Speaker 4:Terrible condition. Can't imagine the heartbreak. Can't imagine the emotional stress that this person is under and over the years we've compared leprosy to sin the idea of sin that sin does. It has the ability of making you feel isolated. You feel like you're the only person to ever struggle with anything. You feel like you're the only person to have gone through something. You feel isolated. You feel like an outcast. Sin makes you feel dead when you're really still alive. It makes you feel that way. Sin makes you feel like you're despised and scorned by people just like this man with leprosy. And so here's what this guy does. Here's what I want you to understand.
Speaker 4:This man's pattern had been destroyed by his condition. He's now forced into a new pattern. He has to live a whole different way because of his condition. I don't know what he did for a living, I don't know how long he's had leprosy, but I'm sure at one point in time he was experiencing family and what it was like to have a family. He was experiencing what it was like to have a family. He was experiencing what it was like to have a life. But because of his condition, he's in a whole new spot. He's living outside of the city. He's got no family contact, no job and hasn't had any kind of connection with anybody.
Speaker 4:But despite his new pattern. He came to Jesus and worshiped. The man with leprosy came to Jesus despite how terrible his problem was. He still found a way to get to Jesus, despite everybody else quitting on him. The man with leprosy found a way to get to Jesus Despite nobody helping him, nobody reaching out a hand and nobody helping him in any situation. He reaches out to Jesus Despite there not being any example of Jesus having power over leprosy. He decides I'm going to go to Jesus.
Speaker 4:Despite there not being any kind of promise that God would help him in this situation, he still finds himself trying to get to Jesus, despite not having an invitation. He finds himself at the feet of Jesus, despite feeling ashamed and alone and in a situation that was desperate. He finds himself at the feet of Jesus and you read different versions and it says as he knelt, he worshipped. Well, how did he worship Jesus in this moment? Well, he worshipped Jesus in this moment by coming to him and saying you're the one that can make the difference, you're the one that could heal me. He worships Jesus by bowing and kneeling before him. He worships Jesus by saying Lord, if you are willing. It's the first time in scripture that Jesus is called Lord.
Speaker 4:The man with leprosy is the first guy that looks at Jesus and says you are Lord, lord, if you're willing, you can make me better. He worships Jesus by falling at the feet of Jesus and not demanding, but saying if you are willing. He understands, he's worshiping Jesus because he understands Jesus' power. He's not doubting but saying if you are willing, he understands, he's worshiping Jesus because he understands Jesus' power. He's not doubting whether Jesus can do it. He's questioning will you do it? He has all the faith in the world that Jesus can. He confidently falls at the feet of Jesus and says you can make me clean, you can make me healthy, you can make everything better my health and my condition. And he can do that because he made Jesus Lord. He decided that Jesus was Lord, jesus was King. Despite his condition, despite his current status, he says Jesus, you are Lord, jesus, you are King. Give me the strength to fall at the feet of Jesus and say, no matter what I'm going through, you are Lord. What if, every situation that we came across, we fell at the feet of Jesus and said you are Lord. Despite my condition, despite what's going on in my life, you are Lord. Here's what happens.
Speaker 4:Here's how the story ends. He says Jesus reached out and touched him. I am willing. He said. He was healed Instantly. The leprosy disappeared. Then Jesus said to him don't tell anybody about this. Instead, go to the priest, let him examine you. Take along the offering required required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.
Speaker 4:I love this part of the story because you can tell that the man with leprosy understands who Jesus is and he respects Jesus as King and as Lord. But he also still kept his distance. Because we know that? Because it says Jesus reached out. Jesus reached out. Jesus reached out. Jesus put love into action by reaching out. We have to put love into action by reaching out to the world, reaching out to people.
Speaker 4:There were laws that said you were not to touch a man with leprosy. Did Jesus break the law? Some of you are shaking your head. Here's the neat part. What happened to the man when Jesus touched him? The leprosy was gone. Jesus had the power to take it away in that moment. So you could almost argue did he ever touch a man with leprosy? He healed him right as he did? Why does Jesus touch him? We've asked that question before. We thought about that question before. Could Jesus have just said hey, hey, you're clean, absolutely. Could have He'd done that before. He did that in other miracles and things like that.
Speaker 4:I believe that Jesus is in the relationship building business and he knew that this man needed a connection. And so he says I'm going to reach out and I'm going to put my hand on you, brother, because I love you and I want a relationship with you. That's what Jesus does for each and every one of us. He says I love you and I want a relationship with you. The neat part of this story is after he discovers a relationship with Jesus. Here's what Jesus does for him. He says now go to the priest and get yourself like fully clear that you can go into the city because you need a community. He says you now have a faith in me. Now you go into the community, go be a part, go find that community. And so the man goes into the city. He gets cleared of all of his leprosy and he's now a part of a community.
Speaker 4:Romans 12 ends like this. It says bless your enemies, no cursing under your breath. This is the message Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy. Share tears when they're down. Get along with each other. Don't be stuck up. Make friends with the nobodies. Don't be the great somebody. That's how Paul recaps, or ends this letter to the people of Rome, or ends this chapter. He says love people, don't think of yourself too highly. Be considerate of people. That's what he tells us to do. He says be considerate of people. Imitate Jesus In everything you do. Imitate Jesus and how Jesus would handle situations. Treat people well. He tells us to celebrate the good when good things happen. Take moments to celebrate what God is doing in the world. Take moments to celebrate the good things that are happening. But also he tells us just let God handle it. Let God handle each and every situation.
Speaker 4:I was reading just different things about Romans 12, and somebody in a commentary wrote said basically, what Paul is telling you to do is to destroy your enemy. Destroy your enemy. And that's what we think about when we have enemies. The idea is that we want to destroy them. Right, if you have an enemy on the basketball court, your goal is to absolutely beat them. Just destroy them. When we play Notre Dame tomorrow night, what's the goal? Destroy them. We want to win that national championship Most of us at least. I don't know if we have any Notre Dame fans.
Speaker 4:Here's what Paul is writing, though. He says destroy your enemy by making them a friend. Destroy the idea that they're your enemy by making them a friend. Destroy the idea that they're your enemy by making them a friend. Because a friend guess what you're going to do for a friend. You're going to reach out in times of hurt, when a friend is hurting, you're going to reach out. When a friend is struggling with something, you're going to reach out. When a friend is going through something, you're going to be there. And so Paul writes to a group of people and he says I know how this life is going to be. I know you're going to go through some patterns and I know you're going to have some hard times and I know it's going to be difficult to love people. But love people. Destroy your enemy by making them a friend. Let's pray.
Speaker 4:Father, we thank you so much for your love. God, we thank you for the way that you work in our lives. God, we thank you for Jesus and we thank you for his action on this world and how he came into this world, desiring to build relationships with people, desiring to be with the people that everybody else didn't want a part of, desiring to solve solutions that didn't have an answer. God, we're thankful for the way that he worked in the man with leprosy, and God we're thankful for what that means for us Through the cross. We're thankful that you sent your son to take away our sin, to take away our shame, to take away our guilt, so that we can be forgiven, so that we can keep an eye on heaven, to know that this life is going to be challenging but we have a future, that we have a hope in heaven.
Speaker 4:And, god, I pray that we continue to do that. I pray that this week that you will give us opportunities to be friends with an enemy. I pray that this week that you will give us opportunities to go into the world and be a light for the community, that we can be people that point people to your love, that the Holy Spirit would come into our lives and continue to fuel and to point us in a way of love, so that we can love this community, so that we can love this community, so that they can experience Jesus and that they can experience the community that comes with that. Thank you for everything that you do for us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen, load of care Are you?
Speaker 3:a soul that's seeking rest from the burden you bear. Do you know my Jesus? Do you know my friend? Have you heard he loves you and that he will abide till the end, till the end? Who was Abide till the end? Who knows your disappointments? Who hears each time you cry? Who understands your heartaches? Who drives the tears from your eyes? Do you know my Jesus? Jesus, do you know? Do you know my friend? Have you heard? Have you heard he loves you and that he will abide till the end?
Speaker 1:He will abide till the end. You know, josh, that was an awesome message you gave to us today, thinking about that leper bowing down before Jesus. This is his song. As you listen to this song, this is exactly what that leper was saying and it's very. This is us. You know, we are the lepers. You are my strength when I am weak.
Speaker 3:You are the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all, Seeking you as my precious jewel. Lord, to give up I'd be a fool. You are my all in all. Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. You are my hope and all. You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my hope and all Seeking you as a precious jewel.
Speaker 2:Jesus Lamb of.
Speaker 3:God. Worthy is your name, jesus, lamb of God. Worthy is your name, jesus, lamb of God. Worthy is your name worthy. Is your name worthy. Is your name name.