WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.439 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:17.519 Amen. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:18.399 Let's pray together. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:27.120 Lord, we've come to bask in that fact, not just to say it or sing about it, but to marinate in it, to think biblically about what it means for us. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:36.079 We say hallelujah for the cross, but also we say hallelujah for everything the cross made made possible and available and real to us. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.960 And so Holy Spirit, brood over us today. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:53.359 We've come today to the table to remind and reorient ourselves around all that you say and all that you are and what it means for us in our living and in our dying, in our getting up, our rising up and our lying down, our going out and our coming in. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:01:01.600 Everything we do, whether we're riding motorcycles in North Dakota or we're going to a job we hate tomorrow, you're a God that says, I'm over all of this, okay? 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:02.799 I got this. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.359 And so because of that, Lord, we just sit down the inside today. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.519 Speak to us now from your word and prepare us for the table in Jesus' name. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:13.359 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:14.079 You can have a seat. 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:17.439 If you've got a Bible, I want to invite you to take it and open up to Romans chapter 8. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.560 And I want to give you just a brief meditation on the love of God. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:22.719 A brief meditation on the love of God. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:30.640 And it's a hard thing to do because we live in a probably the love of God is the most common thing in the church that gets talked about the most and understood the least. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.599 And so I want to talk about it in a way that helps us to understand it. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.799 Because in just a moment, as you can see, our set our sanctuary is set up to where we're going to observe communion today. 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:41.439 And so let me just say this while you're fine in Romans chapter 8. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:49.280 We practice open communion here at Grand Parkway, which means if you're a Christian, you have a relationship with Christ, you're welcome to come and receive communion with us today. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.519 We'll give you some instructions as to how we do that. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:53.680 We don't hurry for us, it's the whole service. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:59.840 And so uh in just a minute, I'll I'll read and have just a few words to say, and then I'll say, hey, let's think about this. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:05.200 Let's kind of meditate on this and prepare ourselves to remember the body and the blood of Jesus. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:09.840 Jesus says, the Bible says, as often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.919 And so we're going to make a proclamation by our coming here in just a moment. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.599 But for now, let's let these words from Romans chapter 8 shape how we think about what we're about to do. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:26.240 The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shouldn't perish, but have everlasting life. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:32.960 And we we hear that the the love of God kind of in that context so much, it's almost like the pre-flight instructions on a plane. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:38.719 White lights lead to red lights, red lights indicate an exit, and you're, yeah, yeah, yeah, just fly the plane and shut up. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:45.919 And so every once in a while the Bible has to kind of stab our conscience to awaken us to what it means to be loved by God. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.759 Paul does this in Romans chapter 8, verse 31, when he says, What then shall we say to these things? 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.719 If God is for us, who can be against us? 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:02.000 He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how we not also with him graciously give us all things? 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.879 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:06.719 It is God who justifies. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:07.919 Who is to condemn? 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:15.599 Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, and who and is indeed is interceding for us. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:17.840 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:28.560 Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.280 We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:34.960 Knowing all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:49.759 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:57.439 Now Paul asks a couple of questions when he kind of says, Hey, what's gonna separate us from the love of Christ? 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.120 And in verse 35, he says, What shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:06.080 Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.000 Um we don't relate to those a lot. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:13.520 I mean, as we sit here this morning in our building, we have some people from our church that are out uh doing flood relief right now. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:16.959 We have people that are out taking care of widows who's had some damage to their home. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.600 We have people who are ripping carpet out of homes that were flooded and hauling it outside and getting the recovery process going. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:32.240 But we don't relate really much to things like tribulation and distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, or danger or sword like they did in biblical times. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:34.000 He says famine or nakedness. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:38.800 That was like famine, in other words, they were starving to death and they didn't have any clothes to wear. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:46.720 Our nakedness that we struggle with is not that we don't have clothes to wear, but we knowingly take our clothes off and we engage in sinful behavior sometimes. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:49.759 Did you feel what just happened? 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.959 Some of you are like, I'm glad the lights are down. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:05.199 I bring that up because I'm your pastor, not because I like to say awkward things, but because some of you in this room, sometimes when you engage in those kinds of behaviors, you walk away. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:09.600 When you put your clothes back on, you walk away and you think, Man, there's no way God could love me. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.959 I'm here to tell you today that he never stopped loving you. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:17.040 So when the Bible says, What shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:19.680 That's not one of the things that can do it. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:26.959 He goes on in verse 37 and says, Knowing all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, for I am sure that neither death nor life. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:28.720 Now stop right there and think about that. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:30.560 The Bible says death nor life. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.839 Some of you have experienced death in your family recently. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:39.360 And some people get mad and they think, I just can't believe in a God that will let my grandmother die or let my dad die like this. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.519 Not that they died, sometimes it's the manner in which they died that you take offense to. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:49.199 Sometimes it's death that separates you, and sometimes it's just life that separates you from the love of God. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:50.800 You just think, how in the world? 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:52.560 I mean, being out of school is a great thing. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:57.759 About a month from now, you're gonna just be looking at your kids, kind of going, When can August get here? 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:02.240 Life has a capacity to separate us from the love of God. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.560 In our mind, it doesn't happen realistically. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:09.759 God doesn't stop loving us just because we think, man, my kids are on my last nerve. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.079 My kids have been out of school three days, and that thought's gone through our home. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:22.399 He says, No, I'm I I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:26.560 There's another juxtaposition we need to think about, nor things present. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:32.720 Some of you, it's what you got going on right now that's really taxing, that's really affecting the way you relate to God. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.360 Some of it, it's things to come. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.879 It's things to come, it's your fear of the future. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:52.319 Paul says, Hey, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:07:02.079 And so, what I want to say to you in this brief meditation on the love of God is that you and I have to learn to live as people who are loved by God regardless of our behavior. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:03.839 I'm not making light of your behavior. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.360 I'm not winking at sin. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:09.600 I'm just saying that sometimes we convince ourselves that there's no way God could love us. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:12.079 And I'm saying that God's never stopped loving you. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:13.759 There's nobody or no thing. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:18.560 One thing you'll recognize about this passage is it starts off talking who shall separate us. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.160 And then as it progresses, it gets into what shall separate us. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:29.439 So what God is saying is no person or thing has the capacity to separate me from the way I feel about you. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:34.319 Which is why the Bible gives us some clear direction in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:42.480 Paul he writes words like this: he says, For what I've I pass on to you what I received from the Lord on the night Jesus was betrayed. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:47.600 Now, what Jesus did took place in the context of betrayal. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:50.079 Some of you in this room have tasted betrayal. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:51.439 People betrayed you. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:55.759 People have done things they shouldn't have done, they've said things they shouldn't have said. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:57.680 And Christ relates to that. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:02.480 But the Bible says that he took bread and he broke it and said, This is my body which is given for you. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:04.319 Take and eat, and then he took the cup. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.439 After that, he said, This cup is a new covenant, my blood. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:09.519 Drink, take and drink this. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.800 And as often as you do this, you know, do this in remembrance of me. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.839 And he says, Hey, as often as you do it, you proclaim the Lord's death. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:17.519 So here's what I'm getting at this morning. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:33.759 Uh, in just a minute, I'm gonna pray a prayer, and then Clyde and Lynn's are gonna come back, and they'll just kind of sing a song or reflection over us, and we'll do what the Bible says, because the Bible says to examine yourself, and it says to judge yourself, not in a negative way, like you stink, you need to do better, but just think rightly about yourself. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.639 Tell yourself the truth as you prepare to come to this. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:37.759 Why? 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.360 Because the Bible says if you don't, you'll you'll come to this in an unworthy manner. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:42.960 In other words, you'll sleepwalk through it. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:46.480 You'll sit in your seat and kind of go, Oh man, there's no preaching today. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:48.080 I came to hear a sermon. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:52.639 I brought friends and we're doing this. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:54.639 Yeah. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:55.600 Why? 00:08:55.759 --> 00:09:04.240 Because we like to have communion early in the summer because it things can get off the reservation and we can just kind of drift in the summer and kind of act like, hey, you know, it's summer. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:05.519 Come on, relax. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:16.639 And I want to say to you, regardless of anything you've done or you will do this summer, nothing or nobody has the capacity to separate you from the love of God. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:32.879 And so, in just a minute, I'm gonna pray a prayer and then we'll just kind of spend some time thinking and preparing to come to the table, fully aware of the body and the blood of Jesus, that I'm by nature, as your pastor, am so sinful I couldn't get to heaven on my own good works. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.519 I couldn't, because if I could get to heaven by being a good person, Jesus died in vain. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:47.200 So I will receive communion together with some other believers this morning, because apart from the death of Jesus, I have no hope of forgiveness or eternal life. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.279 So I am by nature that sinful. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:53.759 But at the same time, I'm so loved by God that he was glad to die for me. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.639 Jesus said, No one takes my life from me. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:59.919 I willingly lay down my life for my friends. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:09.919 So I'm saying to you today, if you're if you if you're a Christian, you have a relationship with Christ, you're not only loved by God, but God no longer considers you as enemy, but his friend. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:18.720 And so, in all of your examination and you're kind of telling yourself the truth today, you you you have to get your head around that. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:25.840 And so, in just a minute, after we have a time of examination and just kind of preparing ourselves, we'll just continue to worship. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.879 And you'll just kind of get up as you feel led, and you'll come to one of these stations. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:30.639 There's three in the front, there's two in the back. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:37.279 And let me say this if you come, what you're coming, what you're proclaiming is is Jesus' death. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.960 You're saying it was necessary for Jesus to die for me, but it was also enough that Jesus died for me. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:53.440 And so let's just take a moment, let me voice a prayer, and let's just spend a moment and kind of getting our head and our heart, our heart calibrated to what's about to happen. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:54.879 Let's pray together. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:02.240 God, it is a humbling thing when we think about the love of God and all the who's and what's that try to separate us from that. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:06.159 And sometimes we try to separate ourselves by our sinful behavior. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:15.120 And so things like nakedness and the present and the future or the past, it kind of gets in the way and kind of clouds the way we think about ourselves and you. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:23.440 But over all of that, in a voice louder than all the voices of self-hatred in our head, you come just kind of announcing, I love you. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:28.240 Nothing's gonna separate you from the love of God that is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.759 Because in Christ Jesus, in his death, burial, and resurrection, we see and savor. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:38.240 We taste and we see that we are a loved and forgiven people. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:46.320 And so we come to the table to proclaim your death, to say, Yes, I'm a person that Jesus had to die. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.159 Why did Jesus have to die? 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:54.159 Because of me, because I can't keep the rules, I can't keep the law. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:05.039 And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into the fullness of the understanding what it means to be loved by God. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:13.519 In keeping with Scripture now, Lord, we want to just be still and kind of get ourselves calibrated. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.399 We want to examine ourselves, not to find new reasons to hate ourselves. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:29.519 We want to examine ourselves and to speak the truth to ourselves so that anything that anybody says to us about us that's true doesn't take us off guard. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.559 We've been calibrated by the truth of God. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:34.799 And so we say, speak, Lord. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.720 Your servants are listening. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:47.279 So just take a moment before we're dismissed here, and just kind of get your arms around what the Lord has said to you. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:58.480 You are a loved people. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:01.600 He is unchanging. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.200 And his pleasure towards you, and his love for you is unconditional. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:17.039 Unconscious and unconditional. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:29.200 The Apostle Paul explained his behavior by saying things like, the love of God compels us. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.440 Because we're convinced that Christ died for all and therefore all died. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.360 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:46.159 To be loved by God is to be emancipated, set free from just this infatuation with yourself. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:51.919 Which for some of us works itself out in real practical ways. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.519 You don't have to check your Facebook status eight times a day. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:00.240 And wonder how people are thinking or feeling and what they feel about something you post. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:02.799 I'm loved by God. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.000 That's enough. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:16.159 There's a verse in the Bible that says of this Jesus and his disciples that they were gathered together one time, and then it says they ended it, and it says they sang a hymn and departed into the night. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.120 I'd like us to do that here this morning. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:24.480 We'll sing a hymn or a chorus or whatever, stirring and Clyde, and then I'll speak a blessing over you, and you'll be dismissed. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:26.799 Before you flee out of here, I want you to look around. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:28.320 The lights will come up slowly. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:31.360 I want you to look around and just encourage the people around you. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:32.480 Chat with some folks. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:35.360 Don't run to your truck like your hair's on fire. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.039 This is a very communal. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.759 Communion is a communal and a community event. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.720 So just take some time to kind of go, hey, we go to church together. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:43.679 I don't know your name. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.279 Or see people that you know and go, hey man, just catch up. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:48.240 All right. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:51.679 Let's let's make this confession together. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:09.039 Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so little. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:25.279 Yes, Jesus loves me. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:31.600 Yes, Jesus loves me. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.440 Yes, Jesus loves me.