when our faith becomes about do's and don'ts we'll find ourselves running to god only when things are bad rather than enjoying him every second of every day and what the psalmist says i was glad when they said to me come let us go to the house of the lord who did christ die for and why did christ have to die who did christ die for and why did he have to die these two questions is what fuels the christian these two questions ignite us catapult us into a world and causes us to preach boldly to a world that hates god may i put before you this morning it is far too much of a oversimplification to say he died for everyone it needs unpacking that that's just not helpful it doesn't make any sense it needs so much more unpacking than that may i put before you this morning as we look at the first part of that question who did christ die for on the authority of scripture christ died for the glory of god jesus christ truly god truly man sent by the father to do the will of the father for the glory of the father john 3 16 for god so loved the world he sent his only son he sent his son and his son joyfully with a joy set before him endure the cross despising its shame
later on in john john builds this whole area about my hour has not yet come my hour has not yet come the greeks come and say we want to meet jesus and he says finally the hour has come he then goes on to say this my soul is troubled but what shall i say father save me from this hour no it is for this hour that i have come father glorify your name
when i am high and lifted up i will draw all people to myself so the whole reason of jesus going to the cross was not about you but about the glory and the majesty of the father first and we get the joy of that obedience we get the outpour of that obedience so that when the church when the people of god saved by the blood of the lamb look at the cross we say that's my king that's my only hope that is my unshakeable ground in which i will stand and this is why christ had to die because without his death there is no hope without his death we have no hope and are still in our sins so why did christ die christ died so that he may make a people he may create a people for himself a few weeks ago we walked through psalm 139 13 and 14. you formed my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb i praise you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your works my soul knows them very well so everyone all of creation from the moment of conception god knitting together the little precious life in the womb of a mother and so always has his hand so from the moment of conception everyone has gone through creation but the church the people of god whom christ died for has a second creation second corinthians chapter five for anyone who is in christ he is a new creation the oldest come and the sorry the old so the new has come and the old is passing away and this is the joy of the church so therefore what god has done through the death of his son is he has created a people who are once revilers haters of him and they're now worshipers of him he has created a people who have rejected him and are now lovers and say where shall i go but only to the throne of god and so therefore we become worshipers of god but not only worshipers of god but enjoyers of god at one point we wanted nothing to do with god and now our whole life is about giving unto god and so we get to enjoy christ and enjoy the glory the majesty of god forever and ever without the cross and without christ we have no understanding of who god is without the cross without the christ we cannot know god but praise be to god without the cross without the cross without christ without understanding who god is we would be like the rest of the world worrying wringing our hands saying we eat we drink and be merry for tomorrow we die but this is not the message of the church is it for the church has great hope even as the world is bent on destroying itself even as the world is bent on ripping itself apart the church gets to stand and say hallelujah for christ has the final victory christ has won and he is one in full where he is there i will be also and this is the joy of the church this is the joy of those who know christ and this is the gospel not that we made a decision not that we prayed a prayer but that christ through his blood has brought us to the father and we are counted right this is paul's point romans chapter eight gets to the penalty says what what can separate us from the love of god contribution or distress or nakedness no we are more than conquerors in all things it is christ who justified it is christ who is seated at the right hand of god and this is the glory of the church that you and i have confidence in an ever shaking ever destroyed world that christ has done it and he has completed it in full if you have your bibles go ahead grab them we're going to be in ephesians chapter 3. ephesians chapter 3 is going to be our text this morning as you're turning to the book of ephesians i got to tell you i love the book of ephesians it is the cliff notes version of romans so if you want to read romans in a quick way just read ephesians it's paul's kind of cliff notes of romans and so what i love about the book of ephesians is how excited paul gets about the gospel and the glory of god and you can see it on the pages you know it you recognize it you see it and so if you are new to us and you're wondering how do we understand preaching how do we walk through preaching uh you're kind of in a unique part what we do is we take january it's vision month and what that means is we as pastors come before you we open up our journals and we preach to you what god put on our hearts the year before as we look forward into this coming year so we're coming towards the end of vision month and so i get to close it off with i think the greatest and best message and that's the glory of god in the church like i said next week we start colossians i can tell you this we probably won't be there ten months but we'll be in there longer than two okay so there you go somewhere in that area so so that's where we're going to head it's going to be a great great time but what i want us to see is how ephesians is kind of structured so ephesians is structured in in halves you got the first three chapters and the last three chapters the first three chapters is the orthodox the theology and the last three chapters is the practicality what you should do with the orthodoxy we often try to pit orthodoxy and orthopraxy we often try to pit theology and application against one another but they are married together they're happily married and have no intention of ever being divorced you cannot say i'm just a doer i don't need the theology because who knows what you will be doing and you can't say i'm just a theology guy and i'm and i don't need to worry about doing because why the theology calls us to the doing right and so you need both theology and application simultaneously the bible constantly and consistently puts this before you my friends if i can go on a soapbox for two minutes do not lead the theology only to the pastors every christian is a theologian we study god we learn about god we grow in god read the bible read good books by men of god who want you to know who god is read them and read them well and don't be afraid of them and so that's that's my soap box for this morning so if i went on a rabbit trail sorry i love you so let's pray
father god we come before you humbly we bow our knees before you knowing that you're the only one who can do anything god that we are powerless without you but greater is he who is on us than he who is in the world and so father god we come before you in worship this morning and god we ask you to do a mighty work in our hearts amidst us now church says pray for me i pray that i'll be helpful to you pray that god will humble me behind beneath his cross and hide me in his word
now church says pray for yourself pray that god open up your ears your heart your mind he may remove distractions and that he may speak mightily and powerfully to you
our father this time is yours lift your word to our hearts god we pray this because of your son's atoning work on the cross to a spirit that's alive and active within all who believe amen so why i love ephesians is because of this i know that there is times in your life and i know there are times in my life when our walk with god becomes a little bit dry you all know what i'm talking about right where it just does it's just hard it's just really difficult we really have to fight our own flesh it's like the psalmist said as a deer pants for water so i pan after you sometimes our mouths get really dry and we we get a little nervous and we get a little scared and we don't want to tell anyone right and so here's here's what you can do always go to the book of ephesians one of the smartest dudes at the time of the writing of ephesians was a guy named the apostle paul who wrote our letter to you today again highly highly highly highly educated and what we see in chapter 1 verses 3 through 14 is the biggest longest run-on sentence in the history of academia he just keeps writing it's like he took the basics of grammar through him out the window because he's so excited that you may know and see and savor the glory and the majesty of god there's no punctuation it doesn't make sense from a from a grammar standpoint but it makes perfect sense praise be to god before the foundation of the earth he chose us in him you were chosen in him before the foundations of the world how great is that is what paul is saying and so we get to the pinnacle of his theology we get to the highest point of his theology and where we're going to look in verses 7 through 13. now i wish we had time this morning to get 14 to 21 paul's great prayer if you're ever struggling in prayer i encourage you no verses 14 through 1 21 for this reason i bow my knees before the father you know et cetera et cetera so read that tonight if you're ever struggling in prayer i encourage you to look at that but let us start verses seven through eight of this gospel i was made a minister according to the gift of god's grace which was given to me by the working of his power to me though i'm the very least of all the saints this grace was given me to preach to the gentiles the unsearchable riches of christ what is the gospel the gospel is the good news the fact that you and i were once enemies of god or to steal paul's language in ephesians chapter two we were children of wrath like who like the rest of mankind but god being rich in mercy because of the great love in which he loved us made us alive in him by grace we are saved not by works so that no man may boast how glorious is that good news that it was not about your choice not about your prayer not about you getting dunked but about his working in you to make you alive the only thing you did for your salvation is the sin necessary to make it happen you can't say amen you got to say out so here we go and so here you got paul and he's stating that he has two graces that have been poured upon him grace one the gospel the spirit of god being poured upon anyone and everyone who has put their faith and trusts in jesus the god the spirit of god the seal of salvation that's grace one grace two is the fact that he has been made a minister and so i want to take a few minutes and talk about what is a minister i find it fascinating that everyone knows what a minister should be doing except the minister himself have you ever noticed that everyone knows what i should be doing except me right and so everyone's got their opinions on what i should be doing except for me right and so so i want to talk about what is the role of the minister first and foremost a minister the minister of the gospel he is a servant first if you remember jesus what did he say if you want to be the greatest in the kingdom you must become the least if you want to become the most powerful you must be the most servant of all it is the upside down kingdom is how jesus phrased it so what that means is the minister is first and foremost a servant if a minister is not a servant if a minister has no desire to go low he has no business being in the ministry this church is why we at this church have elders i want to explain to you why our elders are who they are our elders have a responsibility to protect me to protect me from from nonsense that could happen from the people not saying that i'm not saying that's you it's not a knock it's not an accusation relax okay but also to protect me from me the elders have a responsibility that as soon as i if i get out of whack if i stop taking on the form of a servant if i start getting my head gets a little bit big they get a big knock on my door and they get to say we're going to have a talk and it's going to be a really serious talk because they do not want the preaching and teaching of god's word to be in vain because of my nonsense behavior so their protection for me and their protection from me and i want to tell you church it'll be four years this week four years this upcoming week when i came to the oasis church four completed years that time flies when you're having fun right and i want to tell you as i thought back over the last four years i've got to tell you i have failed more times than i want to admit and more times than i could even count and missed a lot and god has given me a grace and that grace as he has given you to me because you have taught me so much about what it means to go low what it means to serve one another what it means to give so sacrificially i love this church because of the love to serve one another and so that has spurred me on and it has matured me and god has used that in a mighty way so i want to say thank you to you church for who you are next a minister is also a man full of the holy spirit and therefore full of the holy spirit means he has an unquenchable desire and a call to make god known through the preaching and teaching of god's word this is hard and this is difficult i want to tell you a minister of the gospel is not a boss he is not a ceo the minister of the gospel is a shepherd an undershepherd of the sheep of god an undershepherd to the people of god he'll say later in in ephesians 4 he'll say what that god has given the church the apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds the teachers to equip the saints for the working ministry which means what i'm a gift to you now some of you like i want my gift back and i'm like amen praise god but this is what a minister is he is an under shepherd to the lord of god which means what my work is found in two places on my knees and in the word on my knees and in the word anything past that is things that you as a church are called to help do that's that's that's tough language for you but that is what is called to to feed the sheep is to teach and preach the word of god so this is the mandate by god teach them the unsearchable riches of god which means what there's not a point where we ever get with god and we got like i know it all i'm good to go as we continue to learn about god we learn more and more of how little we know about him so paul says here that it's the unsearchable riches of christ which means what you as a church have a responsibility to me as i have a responsibility to you and that means simply this if i ever come up here and preach a sermon where i preach god as small you must remove me from this pulpit i love you i love your souls too much to allow you to sit under nonsense and saying we are awesome rather than he is amazing may our pulpits may our preaching be filled with god's greatness
this is what preaching is may we never ever ever ever look to human beings for the answer may we always look to god in church you will know you will know if i am watching tv or reading my word more you will know it from when this pulpit comes i guarantee it and this is why i have surrounded myself with men who have the courage to say these things to me who can see it very clearly so god is made known by the preaching and teaching of his word you know god by knowing his word listen to this you hear god by hearing his word there is no substitute for the word of god this is essential it is central to the christian well god's word is central to everything and therefore that is why i have a responsibility to be bible open knees bent before the lord for your sake and for mine why because if i give you academia it'll produce what only academia can produce if i give you clever marketing schemes we'll only get what government clever marketing schemes can give if i give you what only a man can get then you'll get what only man can get but if i give you god and god alone we will get what only god can do and that is to save sinners to call dead men and dead women to life we saw this last week i was so thankful seth prince hit with very little very little time to prepare but he knows what the bible says be ready when in season and out of season right so came in pinched hit for me last week what did he go through acts 2 42 and they devoted themselves they devoted themselves to the apostles preaching to the breaking bread to the fellowship into the prayers and great fear and awe came upon them and what happened and the lord added to their numbers daily when we have an awe and a reverence of god god adds to our numbers this is the promise of scripture jesus said the same thing he said what the labor is plentiful but the laborers is few so pray for the laborers and he will send them so he has given us the unsearchable riches which means you will never get to the end you'll never get to the bottom of god you will always be growing and growing and growing in him
so you might be thinking well that's great for you i'm glad we you got a job description for you but what about me a few things let's talk to the husbands first paul and later in ephesians 5 is going to say husbands wash your wives with what with the word of god which means what husbands listen to this is really just really important the only way you can do this is the word of god must be poured into you first before it can be poured out of you so you have a mandate to do what to know god's word and to pour it out of you mothers you have a responsibility especially those of little ones let the word of god flow out of you as you teach and admonish those precious little kids that god said is the most important in the church i'm single what about me you got a job don't you go to school don't you may you be a walking example of what worship is to everyone you come in contact with well i'm retired and i'm a shut-in you got email got text got a phone call somebody there is no excuse we have a mandate we have a call by our lord to glorify god we do not sit on the sidelines with nonsense loved amen thank you glad i'm saying something right this morning
which means what when you go out in the world do people see your joy in him my friends you can fake being a christian you could probably fool me because i'm not the sharpest bulb in the bunch but you cannot fool god nothing is scarier for anyone who is a christian only on sunday nothing is more terrifying than someone pretending to be filled with the spirit it won't last
next we have a call to pray we have a call to pray it should scare us church that we only go to prayer when in crisis when paul says this is the fuel for the christian life so what has my prayer been for you what is my prayer for you in 2022 my prayer is this for you that you would grow and grow and grow in the maturity of the lord and can i ask you i need your prayers for me don't be content thinking pastor's got it he's surrounded by all those really fancy books he's good it's only by god's grace that i'll be able to finish the race set before me and i can only do it through the grace of god which he uses through your prayers please continue in your prayers for me this is the only way we can explain what is going on in the oasis church is it's the work of god and so do not think little of prayer because jesus says it is the key to the kingdom of the lord verses 9 through 10 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in god who created all things so that through the church the manifold wisdom of god might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavens places i love this section i love this scene i love this this is the pinnacle this is the big point of paul and he's gonna double down on this when you all read tonight verse 14 through 21 when you're thinking about prayer read it tonight he's going to double down in this in 14 and 21. this is huge because this answers the question we're all asking why am i here you are here in this city in this zip code for a time such as this god did not make an accident he has a purposeful plan and why you are here is not for your hobbies it's not for your work it's not it for your family it's not for a comfortable retirement that you can coast to the end you are here so that god may be high and lifted up how do i know this at the end of paul's letter to timothy his swan song his last letter before he dies do you remember what he says i have finished the race we've all seen races haven't we we've all seen the olympics have you ever noticed no matter how long the race is that last little section what do they do they sprint through the finish line don't be coasting don't ever find yourself coasting in the race be sprinting through and who gives you the strength god gives you the strength to finish all the way to the end he gives you the power he gives it to you so what do we do we bow our knees before the heavenly father who gives without measure so why do you exist christian to glorify god through the church do you hear that the glory of god is found through the church i think one of the greatest tragedies in this country i cannot think of a worst tragedy in this country is that there is a cultural christianity that thinks has a low view of church there are people who have been deceived to think that the gathering of believers is optional and i am here to tell you that is a lie from the pit of hell itself and needs to be rebuked openly that's a tragedy not sure of a greater tragedy than someone says i don't need the people of god you know why because god says you do there's no one above the church christ died for his church he loves his church therefore his church loves him by loving his church i thought about this a lot this past week when he says through the church the manifold wisdom as christ of christ is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places this verse struck me because we got to think about who our author is the apostle paul do you guys remember that story in acts right where paul is just going through and he's just preaching up a storm and then there's those like players they're like you know they're posers and they're like you know what i can do this and so they go pick a fight with a demon y'all remember this story and what the demons say jesus we know paul we've heard of but who are you so so think about that statement for a moment right so that means when the demons are having their little battle plan strategy they're starting to whisper hey guys this guy paul comes around he's causing us a lot of issues so if there's anyone that really could say christ is known through me and what i'm doing it's the apostle paul but what does he say not through me but through the church
how does this happen it happens through praise and worship so what does praise and worship look like what does praise and worship look like first one of the most distinguishing marks of the christian one of those distinguishing marks of praise and worship is thankfulness the christian never ever ever never ever never runs out of things to be thankful for every mature believer should have given me a huge amen because you know that better than anyone we never ever run out of things to be thankful for do you remember jesus and luke when he's telling the parables about salvation do you remember what he says he had the lost sheep the lost coin and the prodigal son the lost son do you know what happens each time it's found a party is thrown so sunday mornings are the mornings where we come in and we throw a party celebrating what god has done on our behalf which means what there is nothing more grating to the christian than someone who comes together for complaints and griping complaints and griping are not worship they're anti-worship complaints and griping is hating god this was a huge prayer of mine this past year and again if you think i'm picking on you i'm picking on myself because in 2021 i said i'm going to remove complaining not perfectly i gotta admit i failed a lot y'all but here's what i noticed is i really took a look at my complaints and my griping and my moaning and my whining and my crying and all that nonsense to happen here's what i notice number one when i caught myself complaining never once did i ever say man was that a good time with the lord as i was complaining not what i find myself in a moment of worship complaining in fact just the opposite i complain and i feel good for a second i'm like man i gotta go find someone else and be juicy on it and i also know that i was convicted because i had brothers and sisters go hey instead of complaining why don't we take that to the lord scott right in the heart right in the heart so complaining is the opposite of worship it's the hatred of worship if you don't believe me read exodus i don't have time to go through that but this is what's important thankfulness is important because it's ultimately recognizing god is sovereign and we are submitting ourselves on the sovereign rule and reign of him who is in charge of all things our friend my friends do you realize that our lord and savior has sat down at the right hand of god and the world is his footstool everything that is happening is happening according to his sovereign plan that he is going to work out for his glory
we saw this a few weeks ago we talked about hebrews chapter 10. do you remember what we talked about in hebrews chapter 10 we said what that god has to be spurred on to anger and you and i have to be spurred on to love and good works this is the glory of god this is the glory of god jesus himself when he had his disciples who's trained up right he sends them out how two by two never alone no such thing as a john wayne christian right always alone with the army the people of god sends about two by two they go do the work of ministry then they come back to the 12 and the 12 come back to the 72 they come back to the body of believers this is how jesus has set this up which means what to have a low view of church is to have a low view of christ and his cross to hate the church is to hate christ to love the church is to love christ next to praise and worship we get to see the glory and the majesty of god because it conforms us to the image of christ and one of the examples in which this happens is i know you and i know me first corinthians 13 love keeps no record of wrongs love does not insist how on its own way i know a lot of times i find myself insisting on my own way and i know bruises and scars often proceed from that right right so bruises happen in the church which means what how's the manifold wisdom of god made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places when pain and bruises happen amongst god's people answer through forgiveness through forgiveness we're going to go through this in a few months colossians chapter 3 as the lord has forgiven you so you also must forgive forgiveness is the first response for any christian and that's tough isn't it by the way again we're gonna get this in colossians so you also must that's imperative that's not optional forgive why we struggle with this is because we often think that god is in the heavens and he's rubbing his temples going i cannot believe scott hutchison still can't get this through his thick skull that's how we think god is treating us like he's just putting up with us like he's constantly frustrated with us but what does it say he's slow to anger he's abounding in steadfast love he is merciful a loving god patient with us which means what i'm quick to anger i'm quick to hurt i'm quick to inflict pain i'm quick to insist on my own way and most people hate that imperative we must forgive because we automatically go like this if i forgive that will make me weak and people will walk all over me that's why we hate that's why we've struggled to actually walk out forgiveness so let me put that thought that objection up against the bible philippians chapter two though he had though he was in the form of god he did not count equality of god as something to be grasped rather he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore god has highly exalted him which means what that we don't teach people by withholding forgiveness we teach people by giving forgiveness we trust god for his exaltation and we and we humble ourselves so that christ may be exalted and we let him worry about that jesus said it this way right remember what he said he said the father will what humble the self-exalted and exalt the self-humbled which means you and i have a responsibility to humble ourselves before the lord and we saw how the cross worked out now you might be in here like look bro you don't know what i'm going through you don't know what they did to me and i'm going to say to you you're absolutely right but could you imagine if jesus said this you know what i'm not going to let these romans walk all over me i'm going to show them whose boss if he did that there would be no hope for anyone in here but he trusted in the father and said i'm putting everything in your hands father let's go and that's how he fought christ fought through humility and servanthood that's how the church is called to fight
finally the church reminds us that our christian walk is not about do's or don'ts our christian walk is not about i have to but rather i get to it's really important when our faith becomes about do's and don'ts we'll find ourselves running to god only when things are bad rather than enjoying him every second of every day if your life if your christian walks about i got to do this i can't do this i got to do this i can't do this you will find god only necessary in times of trouble rather than joy at all times you will find yourself saying well the weather's nice i guess i have to go to church rather than what the psalmist says i was glad when they said to me come let us go to the house of the lord again later in the psalms i would rather be a door keeper in the house to my god then dwell in the tents of the wicked
you see why the church is necessary for the believer why the gathering growing together is necessary because a church is where heaven and earth meet together the church is where heaven and ea earth meet together it is a little slice a little peek into heaven it is the gospel that fuels our souls it is a gospel that compels us for the love of god and service to him is what helps us see and understand god and this is the good news the church is seen as foolishness to the world the world thinks this is all foolishness you guys are wasting your time not doing anything but remember what paul says what is foolishness to the world is wisdom to god therefore we do not bind the lie of unregenerate sinners in what is wise and foolish and we do not call what god is called wise foolish
verses 11 through 13. this was according to the eternal purpose that he realized in christ jesus our lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him so i ask you not to lose heart over what i'm suffering for you which is your glory finally we have the call to endure to not lose heart to keep going and we realize that god's eternal purpose his eternal plan was set in motion before time even began that he had a plan for you before time began he had set you apart before time had began he knows what he is doing nothing has taken our lord by surprise he has planned for it and so this is what gives us great confidence and so we realize that you and i have not only been saved from something but we have been saved for something we have been saved to something we've not only been saved from sin and death but we've saved been saved four and two righteousness and good works and glory and majesty all the ways to the end of the earth so therefore we do not lose hope i want to talk to you about losing hope for just a moment if you ever sit and disciple and get serious about discipling people you will recognize that very quickly you will have someone who eventually at some point in some way who will be on fire for the lord will start to cool and cool and cool and they'll start to drift and drift and drift and you will go to them and you will say what happened and they will say to you hey man i haven't killed anybody it's okay you're worrying too much but over time you'll start to see it drift and drift and drift and drift and it will break your heart it will crush you
and so you do not lose hope in the gospel you do not lose hope in god's eternal purpose because god has given the world his church and he says this is my glory
what we see in sections especially verse 14 through 21 is the call to not lose heart and this is going to be the wisdom to the heavenly hosts you will see the greatness of god only through the church
and you'll realize that there's only two types of people those who are in christ and those who have rejected christ those covered in the blood and those who are spitting on the cross
and niceness is not is not an evidence of salvation there are plenty of nice people who are lost in their niceness and as lewis said are probably the hardest to reach
so what do we look for we look for those who want to glorify god in all things we as a church must have the sobering reality that every single person will stand before the judgment seat of god and they will give an account and the question will not be what was your zip code how much money did you make how much retirement did you make what did you do what this what that will be what what did you do with the salvation in which i gave to you and we recognize church this one truth time is short that it's a vapor it's a myth here here one day gone the next and so time is precious
what finds me what strikes me is so interesting is how many people are talking about revitalization and saving the world and all all of these things and yet will reject bowing their knees before their father i find it so fascinating that everyone talks about strategies to do this and to do that and to do this and will neglect the one major weapon of warfare in the kingdom of god and that is the prayer and the word of god there is no prayer and there is no word there is no strategy of revival revival happens when the people of god with boldness and access with confidence enter into the throne room of grace
paul tells us the secret to reaching the world tells us the secret boldness and access with confidence through faith and so we trust in what the word of god says everyone who puts their faith and trusts in him will not be put to shame which tells us what we do not need a famous person to be a christian we do not need some sort of rock star person in the limelight to be a christian what we need is we need a church holy and devoted to the glory and the majesty of god we need a whole bunch of no names like scott hutchison saying here i am lord crush me into oblivion if that means your glory go out let that be my message to the world that's what we need not rock stars not superstars not popular people friends we must we must walk through spiritual health more than physical health we must talk about physical excuse me we must talk about eternal security more than physical security great you could put around and hit a target 300 yards downrange but can you tell me what the bible says you're not going to appear before god and say man you shoot really well he's going to say did you shoot the word of god really well we must talk more about spiritual wealth not physical wealth because god will accomplish his plan not through the wisdom of the world not through clever schemes but us being resolute in every aspect of our life being joyous and praising god in everything for everything and so we as a church come boldly before him and we shine in the darkness
my prayer for us church is that we'll be a living sacrifice holy and pleasing the lord and that our sacrifice will echo out into all eternity my prayer is that the oasis church will be a place where people can come and know god through the power of god because of the preaching and teaching of god's word in the church because that is how people know him through his word through the church so we've gathered by god's grace we've grown this morning so how do we go and take this to tucson first we must see that this glorious truth that god's greatness is seen through the church it's not seen anywhere else and we should not look anywhere else but the church god has promised through his word that he who began the good work in us will see it to completion at the coming of our lord which means what god started it god's doing it god will finish it which means what he can never leave us abandon us or forsake us which means what do you understand what that is saying if god leaves you he is not god at all his name's on the line and so god will do the work so what does that mean that the church has confidence the church can stand boldly risk great things from god knowing that it cannot fail it will be sure why because god cannot abandon a praying church he cannot cast off a worshiping church let us be that church praying worshiping laboring for the unmeasurable riches of christ next if worship is not changing you it is not god you are worshiping if worship is not changing you it is not god who you're worshiping i love how the apostle paul towards the end of his life is still blown away by how great god is the scary thing for me is so many of us are no longer blown away by the greatness of god because he says what the peace of god that surpasses all understanding which means what you'll never grow to a point of maximum love for god you will constantly be transformed into the image of god you're going to look more like christ today than you did yesterday you'll look more like christ tomorrow than you did today but let us run the race set before us come into worship expectantly come to the word of god expectantly this is how god is known this is how the people grow is through worship finally the church is god's plan for the world the church the people of god gathering together for the glory of god for the joy of god is how god is known in the world and when this happens the world will pay attention your church will inform your worship and when you walk into a world that hates god they will see you worshiping they will see who you worship they will see what you worship that the god with his great love sent his son crushed his son on the cross for his church
so what do we do we admonish we call people come know this great god where does it start it starts in the morning when that alarm clock goes off you say lord your mercies are new every morning praise be to god send me here i am lord god is at the top the bottom in the middle of our worship he is everything he is what we worship he is what we are called to worship and this is what worship accomplishes let us pray father god we thank you for your word god we thank you god that for this reason we bow our knees before the father god knowing that you have one plan for the world and that is through your church that we may know the breadth and length and height and depth of you that surpasses all understanding god may we be blown away by you father god we ask you to continue to grow us into worshipers of you god we pray as amos says as the water covers the sea so may the glory of god fill the earth god let our worship fill this earth we pray this in your son's holy and righteous name amen
hi i'm pastor scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards christ and that your joy in christ will be ever increasing