SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
unknown: Good morning.
SPEAKER_03: It is a great privilege and joy to be with you all today.
SPEAKER_03: I rarely make it to Houston or the Houston area.
SPEAKER_03: I'm glad to be able to be here with you all this Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_03: We had a wonderful time, at least I did at the men's retreat.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if anybody else did, but uh it was a privilege and a pleasure to be with all of the men who showed up.
SPEAKER_03: So without any further delay, if you have your Bibles, I want you to take them and open to the book of Romans, chapter 11.
SPEAKER_03: Romans chapter 11.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna read verses 33 to 36.
SPEAKER_03: Romans 11, 33 to 36.
SPEAKER_03: You follow along with me as I read.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.
SPEAKER_03: How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways.
SPEAKER_03: For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
SPEAKER_03: And as we just sang, from him and through him and to him are all things.
SPEAKER_03: To him be glory forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_03: Father, I ask you in the name of Jesus and for his praise and honor and through the power of the Holy Spirit that you would awaken us this morning in a fresh way to the majesty and splendor and beauty and transcendent glory of our great triune God.
SPEAKER_03: So, Lord, I ask now, uh, very simply in the words of Psalm 119, verse 18, open our eyes that we might behold wonderful things in your word.
SPEAKER_03: We ask this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: If you were to conduct a wide-ranging survey that asks one simple question, what's wrong with the church in America today?
SPEAKER_03: I am sure you would get a number of differing answers.
SPEAKER_03: I could give you a few myself.
SPEAKER_03: But this morning I have one answer and one answer only, which I think is the primary problem that we see in Christianity in our world today.
SPEAKER_03: It may strike you as odd when you first hear it, but bear with me.
SPEAKER_03: I think the greatest problem in the contemporary church is that people are bored with God.
SPEAKER_03: It's not so much that they're offended by him or that they're confused by him, they're just bored.
SPEAKER_03: Now, let me place that statement in the context of the passage we have just read.
SPEAKER_03: And I want to do it by directing your attention to the single most important word in Romans 11, 33 to 36.
SPEAKER_03: And contrary to what you think, it's not the word riches or wisdom or knowledge, it's not even the word God.
SPEAKER_03: It's that opening word in verse 11, in verse 33.
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
SPEAKER_03: Now you may look at that.
SPEAKER_03: Maybe you've read through this passage many times before, and you said, it's just an insignificant particle of speech.
SPEAKER_03: It's just Paul's way of transitioning from what he just said in chapter 11 into what he's going to say in everything that follows.
SPEAKER_03: And I want to contend that that is not the case at all.
SPEAKER_03: I think this is the apostle's passionate proclamation of the impact on his own soul of everything that he has written in the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_03: So I want to ask you this morning: where is the oh in your response and relationship with God?
SPEAKER_03: Where is the intensity of the awe and amazement that is obvious in the way Paul has reacted to the glorious truths that God has revealed through him in Romans?
SPEAKER_03: I fear that the church has lost the oh in its response to God.
SPEAKER_03: You want to know why Christians are just muddling their way through life?
SPEAKER_03: Why they're just hoping to escape hell and avoid some scandalous sin that would soil their reputation?
SPEAKER_03: It's because instead of oh, their response to God is who?
SPEAKER_03: Or so what?
SPEAKER_03: If you listen carefully, there is a sense in which you can hear an odd-sounding echo rumbling throughout most churches in America today.
SPEAKER_03: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Anglican, non-denominational, Lutheran.
SPEAKER_03: And it's the rumbling sound of a spiritual snore that comes from religious boredom.
SPEAKER_03: Professing Christians, I'm sad to say, are bored with God.
SPEAKER_03: That's why I personally am committed in my life and ministry in all that I say and all that I write to try to awaken people in the power of the Holy Spirit to the excitement and fascination and indescribably life-changing power of experiencing the beauty and splendor of God.
SPEAKER_03: The primary reason men and women today are in bondage to sin is because they're bored with God.
SPEAKER_03: The reason why they have these low-grade daily addictions from which they can't break free is that they're bored with God.
SPEAKER_03: Folks, we have trivialized God.
SPEAKER_03: We've reduced him to moral irrelevancy.
SPEAKER_03: It's not so much that God is unfathomable any longer, it's just unnecessary for our lives.
SPEAKER_03: So, where did this word oh come from?
SPEAKER_03: Well, I want to argue that it came from Paul's deep reflection upon and meditation on everything that has preceded in the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, stop for just a moment.
SPEAKER_03: If you know anything about Romans, you know that in chapter one, he speaks of God as the one who has created all things, and all that can be seen is a reflection of his glory and his power.
SPEAKER_03: Oh! And then in chapter two, he talks about the goodness and the severity of God, specifically in the judgment of hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_03: Oh! And then in chapter three, he presents Jesus to us as the one who is the propitiation of our sin.
SPEAKER_03: He endured in himself and satisfied and exhausted the wrath of God that we deserved.
SPEAKER_03: Oh! In chapter four, he talks about being justified by faith, that God never justifies a godly person, he justifies the ungodly through faith.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, and then in chapter five, this incredible statement while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_03: Oh! And in chapter six, he talks about our being united with the Lord Jesus Christ and raised up to newness of life.
SPEAKER_03: And in chapter seven, after describing our struggle with sin, he asks, Who will deliver me from the body of this death?
SPEAKER_03: Praise be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: And then in chapter eight, oh, we could spend forever there.
SPEAKER_03: Verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ.
SPEAKER_03: Then he talks about our being adopted and crying out, Abba Father.
SPEAKER_03: And then Romans 8, 28, God works all things together for good that those that love him and are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_03: And in verse 32, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how will he not together with him freely give us all things?
SPEAKER_03: And then he closes the chapter by the glorious declaration: Who will separate us from the love of God in Christ?
SPEAKER_03: Oh, and on it goes through 9, 10, and 11.
SPEAKER_03: And then we reach this point.
SPEAKER_03: It's almost, if you can envision it, as if there is slowly building up in Paul this energy, this excitement, and in one final volcanic eruption of praise.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God.
SPEAKER_03: I've thought a lot about this little word O.
SPEAKER_03: By the way, it's in the original Greek text.
SPEAKER_03: That's what's not something inserted by some English translator.
SPEAKER_03: And if your English translation doesn't have it, get rid of it because it's there in the text.
SPEAKER_03: I've often wondered, is this the O of enchantment?
SPEAKER_03: As Paul reflects on the fact that he, like you and me, we are the bride of Christ?
SPEAKER_03: Or maybe the O of sheer excitement or stunned disbelief, as if Paul pauses and says, Can everything that I've just written really be true?
SPEAKER_03: Or the O of bewilderment, how do you get your hands on the providence and the power and the sovereignty of God?
SPEAKER_03: Or the O of surprise and shock and amazement and wonder, or just sheer fascination.
SPEAKER_03: Or maybe it's the O of yearning for more of God, or the urgency of, Lord, I need to see you even more clearly.
SPEAKER_03: Or the O of reverential fear as he bows humbly before the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: The O of joy and satisfaction when he says, How could I ever have trusted in anyone else when this God has given himself to me?
SPEAKER_03: Folks, this is the O that drives you to your knees in humility and then raises you up to dance and sing and rejoice in happiness.
SPEAKER_03: O is the very opposite, an absolute enemy of boredom with God.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I've spent a lot of time reflecting and meditating on this little word and all that it implies for us.
SPEAKER_03: Several years ago, in fact, it's been almost 25 years ago, when I wrote my book, Pleasures Evermore, The Life-Ching Power of Enjoying God, I was dealing with this little word, and I just felt inadequate.
SPEAKER_03: I just needed more language to put to this word to kind of unpack its significance.
SPEAKER_03: So I pulled out my thesaurus and I started exploring some synonyms that might give expression, put some meat on the bones of this little word.
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
SPEAKER_03: So I want you to listen carefully because I'm getting ready to tell you why you exist.
SPEAKER_03: This is what God created you for.
SPEAKER_03: You were made to be enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God, enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God, enravished, excited and enticed with God, astonished, amazed and awed with God, astounded, absorbed and agog with God, beguiled and bedazzled, startled and staggered, smitten and stunned, stupefied and spellbound, charmed and consumed, thrilled and thunderstruck, obsessed and preoccupied, intrigued and impassioned, overwhelmed and overwrought, gripped and wrapped, enthused and electrified, tantalized, mesmerized, monopolized, fascinated, captivated, intoxicated, infatuated, and exhilarated with God.
SPEAKER_03: That's why you exist.
SPEAKER_03: Now, does that sound like your life?
SPEAKER_03: Would you like it to?
SPEAKER_03: Do you realize how difficult it would be to get the consent of your soul to sin if that was true of your conception of God?
SPEAKER_03: Now, an immediate question people ask is, okay, that's that's really neat.
SPEAKER_03: But of what practical value is this?
SPEAKER_03: How does this help me in my battle with sin and temptation?
SPEAKER_03: Well, it's really very simple.
SPEAKER_03: People who are spiritually stunned with God are not easily seduced by sin.
SPEAKER_03: People who are in awe of God find sin less appealing.
SPEAKER_03: When you are dazzled by God, it's hard to be duped by temptation.
SPEAKER_03: When you are enthralled by his beauty, it's hard to be enslaved to unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_03: People whose attention is on God and his greatness and his majesty find little appeal in the glamour of this world.
SPEAKER_03: Now, let me give you an illustration of how this plays out in practical life.
SPEAKER_03: And it's an odd illustration.
SPEAKER_03: It's a story from Greek mythology.
SPEAKER_03: Don't be bothered by that because the principle involved is very, very relevant to how we live.
SPEAKER_03: In the aftermath of the Trojan War, the Greek king Ulysses with his men boarded ship and made their way back to the island of Ithaca where they lived.
SPEAKER_03: If you know anything about Homer's story of the Iliad and the Odyssey, you know that it took ten years for Ulysses to finally get home.
SPEAKER_03: And the story, of course, is about his encounter with the witch Circe and the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and the Scylla and Charybda and all these challenges.
SPEAKER_03: But the most fascinating encounter he had was with the Sirens.
SPEAKER_03: The Sirens were demonic cannibals.
SPEAKER_03: And they lived on this island.
SPEAKER_03: And anytime a ship would pass by, they would come out to the shore and they would disguise themselves as beautiful and seductive women.
SPEAKER_03: And they would sing these alluring songs and draw unwitting sailors to the shore.
SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, they would crash on those rocks that lurk just beneath the surface of the waters, and the demonic cannibals, the sirens, would consume their flesh.
SPEAKER_03: It's an ugly story, but it's vivid.
SPEAKER_03: Well, Ulysses had been warned about the sirens.
SPEAKER_03: He'd been told what would happen when he passed by their island.
SPEAKER_03: And so he decided, I want to hear their singing.
SPEAKER_03: So he told his men to put wax in their ears, and then they rowed to keep their heads down and don't pay any attention to anything else, but just simply to row as if their lives depended on it, which of course they did.
SPEAKER_03: But he instructed them to leave his ears unplugged and to tie him to the masthead of the ship, because he wanted to hear the sirens sing.
SPEAKER_03: Well, sure enough, they came out to the edge of the shore in all of their seductive beauty, and they began to sing these melodious and alluring songs.
SPEAKER_03: In fact, one of the sirens actually assumed the form of Penelope, Ulysses' wife, and he was utterly duped.
SPEAKER_03: And he screamed at his men at the top of his lungs, untie me, untie me, we've arrived home.
SPEAKER_03: There's my wife.
SPEAKER_03: Of course, fortunately, the men couldn't hear him, and they safely passed by the island.
SPEAKER_03: Were it not for the ropes that tied Ulysses to the mastead of the ship, his heart would have yielded to the temptation.
SPEAKER_03: He was utterly mesmerized by the temptation of the sirens.
SPEAKER_03: He safely passed by, but not because he wanted to, not because his heart was repulsed by the sounds of the sirens, but because he was held by an external shackle.
SPEAKER_03: That is the way, sadly, that many Christians go through life.
SPEAKER_03: You know the sounds of sirens in our society.
SPEAKER_03: It's everywhere.
SPEAKER_03: It's on the internet, it's on the billboard when you're driving to work, it's on television, it's in the books that people are now reading in the movies.
SPEAKER_03: The allure of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
SPEAKER_03: And I wonder, how do you go about resisting the sounds of sirens?
SPEAKER_03: Are you trusting in the shackles, the ropes of religious tradition?
SPEAKER_03: Or maybe it's the rope of the fear of being exposed and of losing your job and your reputation.
SPEAKER_03: Or maybe it's the traditions and the rituals of an upbringing that you have experienced, or the legalistic dictates that come forth from pulpits all across our country.
SPEAKER_03: Is that what keeps you from submitting to the sounds of sirens?
SPEAKER_03: I don't tell you folks, I don't want to live my Christian life like that.
SPEAKER_03: That sounds miserable to me.
SPEAKER_03: For my heart to be captivated and allured and enticed by the sounds of sirens, all the while I'm just simply held fast to the masthead of a church, as it were.
SPEAKER_03: Well, there was another man in Greek mythology.
SPEAKER_03: His name was Jason.
SPEAKER_03: Jason had also been told about the sirens, but he made up his mind that his approach was going to be different.
SPEAKER_03: He didn't have the men put wax in their ears, he didn't have himself lashed to the masthead of the ship.
SPEAKER_03: He brought along with him on board a man by the name of Orpheus.
SPEAKER_03: Orpheus was the most gifted musician in all of ancient Greece on the lyre and the flute.
SPEAKER_03: There was not a lovelier sound produced by anyone than that which came from Orpheus.
SPEAKER_03: So sure enough, Jason and his men passed by the island of the sirens, and out they came, just as seductive in their appearance as they were with Ulysses.
SPEAKER_03: Wasn't they off singing off-key that day?
SPEAKER_03: Their songs were beautiful, the temptation was powerful.
SPEAKER_03: But the sirens didn't stand a chance.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because Jason ordered Orpheus to play his most beautiful music.
SPEAKER_03: And Jason and his men said no to the sounds of sirens because they had been captivated by a sweeter song.
SPEAKER_03: They had heard a more melodious melody, a more transcendent sound that was so powerful in enticing their hearts that they had no trouble saying no to the temptation that the sirens presented.
SPEAKER_03: Now think about the difference between Ulysses and Jason.
SPEAKER_03: Both of them survived, but only one was changed.
SPEAKER_03: Both of them said no, but one, it was because although his heart wanted to say yes, he was restrained by an external shackle, ropes.
SPEAKER_03: Jason, on the other hand, said no because his heart was entranced with something far more sublime than anything the sirens could say or sing.
SPEAKER_03: You see, the essence of living as a follower of Jesus isn't in trying harder, it's in enjoying more.
SPEAKER_03: Being captivated by the beauty and the splendor and the glorious song that is sung by our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: I'm convinced that the vice grip that the pleasure of sin exerts on the human soul can only be broken by trusting God's promise of a superior pleasure in knowing Him.
SPEAKER_03: You want to know how you resist the allure of the pleasures offered by this world?
SPEAKER_03: It's with another superior pleasure, that of knowing God is revealed in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: Our only hope, folks, is in maximizing our pleasure in God and our fascination with him.
SPEAKER_03: Want to know the answer to fighting the seductive allure of this world?
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I am so entranced by the beauty and the majesty of God.
SPEAKER_03: I don't want anything to do with whatever would draw me away from him.
SPEAKER_03: That's the only way to liberate the heart from the allure of sin.
SPEAKER_03: Now that you understand, you never thought that you'd hear that much talk about one little word.
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
SPEAKER_03: Let's look at actually what Paul says about this God.
SPEAKER_03: You'll notice in the verses that follow there are three declarations, three rhetorical questions, and three doxological assertions.
SPEAKER_03: Notice the three declarations in verse 33.
SPEAKER_03: First, God's riches and wisdom and knowledge are infinitely deep.
SPEAKER_03: You realize you cannot supply God with something that he lacks, he owns it all.
SPEAKER_03: The wisdom and the riches and the knowledge of God are bottomless.
SPEAKER_03: You know, there's never a time going to come in your life when you finally read one more book or listen to one more sermon, and you can say, Well, I think I got God figured out.
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure I've learned everything about him that's possible to know.
SPEAKER_03: There's no reason to read my Bible anymore.
SPEAKER_03: Don't have to go to church.
SPEAKER_03: I've got it all tucked away in my brain.
SPEAKER_03: No.
SPEAKER_03: His riches cannot be written down.
SPEAKER_03: Down on a financial ledger.
SPEAKER_03: No calculator has enough zeros behind it to display all that God owns.
SPEAKER_03: Remember Psalm 24:1?
SPEAKER_03: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and those who dwell therein?
SPEAKER_03: Or David's incredible statement in 1 Chronicles 29 11.
SPEAKER_03: Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
SPEAKER_03: Yours is the kingdom, O Lord.
SPEAKER_03: And you are exalted as head above all.
SPEAKER_03: But not only is God's wealth infinite and unending, so too is his wisdom.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the depth of the wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_03: God is never at a loss to figure out the best solution to any problem.
SPEAKER_03: You know that God never scratches his head and thinks, let me try to figure this out.
SPEAKER_03: I do a little research and find out the best way.
SPEAKER_03: No, God's wisdom is without measure.
SPEAKER_03: Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God?
SPEAKER_03: He knows it all instantly, comprehensively and exhaustively.
SPEAKER_03: His knowledge is infinitely deep.
SPEAKER_03: And again, Paul isn't talking here about our knowledge of God.
SPEAKER_03: He's talking about God's knowledge.
SPEAKER_03: He knows it all exhaustively, comprehensively, simultaneously.
SPEAKER_03: Great is our Lord and abundant in power.
SPEAKER_03: His understanding is beyond measure.
SPEAKER_03: Psalm 145 or 147, verse 5.
SPEAKER_03: That's the first declaration.
SPEAKER_03: Look at the second declaration.
SPEAKER_03: God's judgments are infinitely unsearchable.
SPEAKER_03: In other words, his ways and means of carrying out his eternal purpose are infinitely beyond our capacity to grasp.
SPEAKER_03: I've spent all my life, and I will do so until I breathe my last breath, trying to search out God's judgments, trying to figure out why God does what he does.
SPEAKER_03: I don't anticipate ever coming to a conclusion.
SPEAKER_03: At least not in this life.
SPEAKER_03: I think about Romans and I think, why did you choose Isaac and not Ishmael?
SPEAKER_03: Why Jacob and not Esau?
SPEAKER_03: Why Moses and not Pharaoh?
SPEAKER_03: Why Paul and not Judas Iscariot?
SPEAKER_03: His judgments are unsearchable.
SPEAKER_03: Beyond our ability to decipher or comprehend.
SPEAKER_03: Notice also what he says.
SPEAKER_03: God's ways are infinitely inscrutable.
SPEAKER_03: I've been trying to scrub God's ways all my life.
SPEAKER_03: No, there is no, there's no such word as I just made it up.
SPEAKER_03: And I've just discovered once again, no, you can't screw his ways, Sam.
SPEAKER_03: They're inscrutable.
SPEAKER_03: Why does God prevent one storm system from producing a killer tornado but permits it with another?
SPEAKER_03: Why does God spare one city and decimate another?
SPEAKER_03: Why does a righteous man die and a wicked one lives?
SPEAKER_03: Why is one healed of cancer and another dies?
SPEAKER_03: Why does God elevate one world leader to a position of great prominence and humbles another in defeat and shame?
SPEAKER_03: Why do God prosper one person's efforts in a business startup and another falls into bankruptcy?
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
SPEAKER_03: His ways are inscrutable, his judgments are unsearchable.
SPEAKER_03: And you need to understand he never does wrong.
SPEAKER_03: What he does is beyond our capacity to grasp, but he never errs, he never regrets a decision he makes.
SPEAKER_03: And contrary to what you think, you cannot sneak a peek behind the curtain or look between the lines of scripture or peer into the darkness or gaze into the uh the fog of the future or around the corner or explore underneath the carpet and expect to fully comprehend what God is doing.
SPEAKER_03: You can't do it.
SPEAKER_03: His judgments are unsearchable, his ways are inscrutable.
SPEAKER_03: Well, now the three rhetorical questions.
SPEAKER_03: Look if you would.
SPEAKER_03: Who has known the mind of the Lord?
SPEAKER_03: Not me.
SPEAKER_03: I confess it up front.
SPEAKER_03: I have no idea how God thinks.
SPEAKER_03: Remember Isaiah 55?
SPEAKER_03: God says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.
SPEAKER_03: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
SPEAKER_03: I get that.
SPEAKER_03: It's frustrating, but I get it.
SPEAKER_03: You know, we often say to one another, I know what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_03: You can never say that to God.
SPEAKER_03: Never.
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
SPEAKER_03: Notice the second rhetorical question.
SPEAKER_03: Who has been as a counselor?
SPEAKER_03: Not me.
SPEAKER_03: You know, the one thing that I wish that I could give God is the one thing I can.
SPEAKER_03: Advice.
SPEAKER_03: He has never come to me for counseling.
SPEAKER_03: He's never come to me and said, Sam, can you help me kind of get out of this mess I've created?
SPEAKER_03: No one knows the mind of God in a way that he can become his counselor.
SPEAKER_03: So if you think that somehow you could run things better than he does in this world, you're sadly mistaken.
SPEAKER_03: And then notice the third rhetorical question.
SPEAKER_03: Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
SPEAKER_03: God is infinitely rich.
SPEAKER_03: He owns it all.
SPEAKER_03: Bill Gates and Zuckerberg and all these others, they're paupers compared to God.
SPEAKER_03: No matter how much we may own, no matter how wealthy anybody become, we're penniless in comparison with the wealth of God.
SPEAKER_03: So how could you ever put him in your debt?
SPEAKER_03: You actually think there's something you could do, something you could give that would then obligate God to you?
SPEAKER_03: You know, there's an incredible statement in 1 Chronicles 29 when David is reflecting on how they were able to amass so much wealth to build the temple.
SPEAKER_03: Actually, Solomon built it after David had died.
SPEAKER_03: And David says something remarkable.
SPEAKER_03: He says, From your hand we have given to you.
SPEAKER_03: In other words, whatever we have been able to earn and build up and amass and save to give to build this temple for you, it came from your hand.
SPEAKER_03: You can never put God in your debt or do anything that would result in him owing you anything.
SPEAKER_03: Folks, the only thing that God owes you and me is the one thing we'll never get.
SPEAKER_03: Hell.
SPEAKER_03: And then he closes with these three doxological assertions.
SPEAKER_03: Look at verse 36.
SPEAKER_03: For from him and through him and to him are all things.
SPEAKER_03: To him be glory forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: And oh all things are from him.
SPEAKER_03: He is the source.
SPEAKER_03: Your life, your clothes, your car, your family, your health, every beat of your heart, every breath that you breathe, all the knowledge you have been able to develop, the skills, everything ultimately comes from him.
SPEAKER_03: And not only that, but all things are through him.
SPEAKER_03: He is the means by which they continue to exist.
SPEAKER_03: He providentially governs all things.
SPEAKER_03: You ever thought about the fact that if God were ever inclined to withdraw his preserving power over the universe, we and everything else that exists would instantly vaporize.
SPEAKER_03: We would just cease to exist, would cease to be because all things continue to be through or by means of him.
SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, finally, all things are to him.
SPEAKER_03: Everything that exists came from him and continues to exist through him as he exerts the power to sustain it, and it is all designed for him.
SPEAKER_03: So let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_03: Are you okay with that?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, seriously.
SPEAKER_03: Are you okay with the fact that whatever you accomplish, whatever praise you receive from others, whatever awards are given to you, that ultimately is designed to be unto God and for his glory?
SPEAKER_03: I hope you're okay with that, because there's no way to escape it.
SPEAKER_03: What all this means is that there's no explanation for what is or for what happens that is deeper or more decisive than God.
SPEAKER_03: So, what better way to conclude than the way Paul does?
SPEAKER_03: To him be glory forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Forgive us for having the audacity and the arrogance to think that we can fully comprehend inscrutable ways and unsearchable judgments.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, forgive us for having uh arrogantly thought that everything that is exists for us and for our glory when in fact it's through you and for yours.
SPEAKER_03: Father, I pray this one thing for Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_03: That these people would receive by revelation through the Holy Spirit a fresh awakening, that the scales would drop from their eyes and their minds, and that they would see you in such a way that they're only left with one response.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, what a magnificent God, what a gracious, kind, generous, powerful, transcendent, majestic God He is.
SPEAKER_03: And to think that this God would have found the consent of his holy will to send his son to die for scurless sinners like us.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, the majesty of all that you are for us in Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: Holy Spirit, help us, open our eyes, open our hearts, enthrall us, captivate us with your greatness.
SPEAKER_03: And lead us to worship you in a way that truly brings honor to your name.
SPEAKER_03: We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's take a moment, church.
SPEAKER_02: Just kind of marinating what we've heard.
SPEAKER_02: What you've heard is what you uh, what the Bible teaches, who God is.
SPEAKER_02: Back in Exodus 5, Pharaoh, at the time, the most powerful man in the world, asked a great question that everyone in this room has asked before, and you got to get an answer to it.
SPEAKER_02: Today, Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Sam Storms just laid out a lot of convicting evidence to help you answer the question.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the question.
SPEAKER_02: Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey him?
SPEAKER_02: I do not know the Lord, and I will not do what he says.
SPEAKER_02: We are all born with that rebel in our heart.
SPEAKER_02: Until you get an answer to that question, who is the Lord?
SPEAKER_02: And this morning, by the grace of God and from the word of God, illuminated by the Spirit of God, you got an answer to that question.
SPEAKER_02: And now you gotta ask, what do I do with that?
SPEAKER_02: Let's just take a moment while Clyde plays and just ponder that question.
SPEAKER_02: Think about what you've heard this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we take comfort this morning that the promise of your word is that the promises are for you and for those who are far off.
SPEAKER_02: So pray for anyone today that feels far from God.
SPEAKER_02: It's like, man, there's no way.
SPEAKER_02: There is no way that God loves me.
SPEAKER_02: Even now, Holy Spirit, you would just kind of tweak their heart and remind them, yes, I do.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02: My wisdom is enough to compensate for your foolishness.
SPEAKER_02: And my grace is enough to override your sin.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, put deep in us, uh, oh, just a guttural, oh, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02: Now that I understand who God is, I have this deep, fond appreciation and affection for him that's kind of coming out of my inmost being.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we were created for, God.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that for anyone in this room that's that's never responded to that, that today would be the day.
SPEAKER_02: So, Lord, thank you for the weight of your word and the consequence that it brings in our lives, on our lives, and for our lives.
SPEAKER_02: We are humbled and grateful.
SPEAKER_02: So we say thank you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a guest today, let me say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02: You're always welcome.
SPEAKER_02: Every time we stand up here, whether it's myself or Leo or teaching pastor or a guest uh like Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Storms over here, you're always going to hear the word of God taught because here's why.
SPEAKER_02: We believe that's your native environment.
SPEAKER_02: That's what you were created uh to be in a relationship with this God.
SPEAKER_02: Not religion, but in a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: And so if you've never experienced that, you got questions about that, or you're just like, hey, I'd like to take my next step, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not ready to go all the way, but I'm ready to take a step.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just say this to you myself and some of us will be available down front.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna ask Sam if he would make himself available, because some of you might want to come in and express a word of appreciation, or just remind him how God used him in your life this week.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna ask you to do that before you head out to Bible study, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh there's always things going on in the life of our church we want to make you aware of.
SPEAKER_02: And so before we're dismissed today, let's take a moment and be reminded of what God's doing, how we can be involved here at our church.
SPEAKER_02: Give your attention to the screens.
SPEAKER_04: Here's what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_04: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_04: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_04: Did you know that we have a church app?
SPEAKER_04: You can use it to get involved, register for events, listen to sermons, podcasts, and more.
SPEAKER_04: Find it wherever apps are available for your devices.
SPEAKER_00: Hi, Church.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Richard Mendez, and I serve on our missions team here at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: I have the honor and pleasure to serve as a liaison for our Costa Rica partners, Bart and Heather Cardi.
SPEAKER_00: We're going back to Costa Rica in February of 2024.
SPEAKER_00: February 12th through the 17th, we will be in Costa Rica for a construction trip.
SPEAKER_00: We will be constructing a church for Pastor Julia in the La Cassona Reservation.
SPEAKER_00: Um, men, if you love to work, get dirty, work in the sun, uh humid rain, whatever it takes, this trip is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Um and some of you may be sitting here wondering, why are we still going back to Costa Rica?
SPEAKER_00: And this is why.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is Lysandro.
SPEAKER_00: This is the father-in-law to Pastor Julian.
SPEAKER_00: He was a part of um an indigenous cult called Mamatanta.
SPEAKER_00: And Mamatanta is a mix of Catholicism and Aminiism.
SPEAKER_00: Lisandro fell ill and praying to his gods, and all of his pastors were praying to their false gods, and he continued to fall even more ill.
SPEAKER_00: And then he came to Pastor Julian and said, Pray to your God.
SPEAKER_00: And God came through and healed him.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is Lisandro being baptized in the river on a trip in March from when Paul McCarty was down there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so this is why we continue to go.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is continuing to move forward.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're continuing to train pastors uh down on the village and the reservation.
SPEAKER_00: So, man, if you want to come and be a part of what God is doing in Costa Rica, we'd love to have you.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see you down on the reservation.
SPEAKER_04: As mentioned by Richard Mendez, we'll have a mission trip informational meeting after second service on October 29th.
SPEAKER_04: That's 12 p.m.
SPEAKER_04: in the Fellowship Hall.
SPEAKER_04: We will discuss not only Costa Rica but our Sri Lanka trip as well.
SPEAKER_04: We are bringing back Pumpkin Palooza on Friday, October 27th at 6 30 p.m.
SPEAKER_04: Each family will bring their own pumpkin to carve or decorate.
SPEAKER_04: A food truck will be available to purchase dessert, we will show a movie on the outdoor movie screen, and have prizes for our pumpkin contest.
SPEAKER_04: Tomorrow is the last day to register to receive a free carving kit for your family.
SPEAKER_04: Finally, our October outreach is nearing its end.
SPEAKER_04: The last opportunity to share the good news is on October 31st at our ESL party.
SPEAKER_04: All you have to do is hang out and play games with our ESL students.
SPEAKER_04: This allows a great opportunity for them to practice their English in a natural setting and for you to love your neighbors.
SPEAKER_04: For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparquay.org.
SPEAKER_04: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_02: Also, what Richard left out in that glowing endorsement about a men's construction trip in February to Costa Rica is if you like working all day in the sun, mixing concrete, sweating uh through your clothes three or four times a day, only at the end of the day to get a plate of food and look over, and there's 10 to 12 kids standing there watching you, and you know they've not eaten all day, and then you gladly give your food away.
SPEAKER_02: If you're up for that, men, we've got a trip for you.
SPEAKER_02: It's February 12th through 17th, and we especially need men that can weld.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you don't have to do a Bible study, you don't have to talk.
SPEAKER_02: If you can weld, we need you because we weld trusses for the roof.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we don't make we don't build Mickey Mouse things, we build things that are gonna be there 50 years from now, and we build a beachhead for the gospel, and we keep going down and investing in pastors on the reservation, teaching them books in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: So as 2 Timothy 2 22 says, they can in turn teach faithful men as well.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's February 12th to the 17th.
SPEAKER_02: Uh the informational meeting for that in the Sri Lanka mission trip is next Sunday, the 29th, right after the second service in the fellowship hall, which is in our old sanctuary building across the parking lot, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Did you enjoy Sam's storms this morning?
SPEAKER_02: Sam, would you be willing to make yourself available at the conclusion of our service?
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I want you to speak a word of appreciation if the if the Holy Spirit puts something in you, because uh a lot of what you heard this morning doesn't come from just getting up and preaching.
SPEAKER_02: It comes from closing the door and no one touching and putting your face in the book until God reveals something.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so I want Sam to walk away uh motivated to do that even more.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so stand to your feet if you would.
SPEAKER_02: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: God has put a deep oh in you for him.
SPEAKER_02: Let it out.
SPEAKER_02: Live it out, and love that it's in there.
SPEAKER_02: It will keep you from doing things you shouldn't do, and it will compel you to do things you've always wanted to do.
SPEAKER_02: Depart now and give yourself to this reality in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you.