WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:08.720 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:13.759 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:17.839 Let's pray together. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.800 Father, we've come to remind ourselves what the truth is. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:22.480 That's why we say we believe. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.160 It's because we've come to orient ourselves and our lives around the truth. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:29.920 Last week we talked about the wise and the foolish person that you talked about. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.679 One of them digs down deep and builds a life upon the rock. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:37.439 And the other one just is kind of uh ruled by the convenient choice. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:40.560 And in the end, it's like a man who built his house on the sand. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:48.320 So when we say we believe, we're saying we build our life on something bigger than our appetites and our preferences, our kids' uh preferences. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.000 We've dug down deep, we've kind of built our life upon the rock. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:01:00.399 And so, Holy Spirit, we've come to testify to what we believe and to proclaim your death in the body and the blood of Jesus. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.640 And so, Lord, be over this time and shape our thoughts, influence how we move towards the table today. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:07.760 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:09.519 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:10.640 You could have a seat. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:13.680 Uh if you have a Bible, you can open up to Romans chapter 3. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:15.599 Uh as you can see, you look around the room. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.560 Uh if you're a guest today, we are receiving communion today. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:21.920 We are the Lord's Supper, whatever your tradition you call it from. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:22.640 Let me say this. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:28.560 We practice open communion here at Grand Parkway, which means if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, you're welcome to celebrate communion with us. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:38.640 What we like to do is kind of have a brief homily where we kind of say, hey, let's arrest our mind with these truths and think about this as it leads us to the Lord's table today. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:44.879 So I'm going to begin reading uh in verse 19 of Romans chapter 3, uh, verses 19 to 26. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:50.319 This is what the Bible invites us to think about this morning as we prepare for communion. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:58.480 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:05.439 For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.319 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:17.039 Although the law and the prophets, they bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:31.360 For there's no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:37.599 This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:45.360 It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:53.840 The Bible invites us to think about five things this morning I just want to point to to shape our thoughts and influence our thinking around communion. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:00.719 The first thing the Bible tells us in verse 19 is simply this that everybody, including those who do not believe the gospel, are accountable to God. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.360 Everybody, even those who do not believe the gospel, are accountable to God. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:14.000 That's what Paul means when he says that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:20.159 And people that say, hey, I'm gonna get right with God by doing good stuff and by keeping the rules, they're accountable to God. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:27.199 People that you and I work with, people that we're we live around that kind of say, hey, I'm glad that works for you, but I'm really not that into that. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:31.840 This still doesn't excuse them from this accountability to God. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:33.759 So everyone is accountable to God. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:35.199 That's what the Bible teaches us. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.800 Secondly, we're incapable of doing anything to make ourselves right with God. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.039 Now think about it like this, because it goes from bad news to kind of in worse news. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:44.159 We're accountable to God. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:47.680 And then secondly, we're incapable of doing anything to make ourselves right with God. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:49.039 That's what verse 20 says. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.639 For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:54.560 Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:00.400 In other words, by through works of the law, by trying to do good things or right things to get into heaven, I'm a good person. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.319 I do good things, I help people. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.319 The Bible says we're incapable of doing anything to make ourselves right with God. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.360 So the plight of humanity is pretty dire at this point. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:13.759 But the Bible goes on to say this we're invited to have faith in Jesus by believing. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.240 We're invited to have faith in Jesus by believing. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:17.199 Verse 21. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:23.360 But now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:27.360 The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus for all who believe. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:31.199 But there's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:32.160 And he goes on. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:42.879 But I just want to just back up and just point to verses 21 and 22 and say, if you're here today and you've yet to believe the gospel, the gospel invites you to have faith in Jesus by believing. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:57.360 Uh I I this past Monday I was talking with a friend of mine in my office, and uh he was not a believer, and uh we've been meeting uh on a consistent basis and just trying to explain and unpack the gospel and help him kind of walk through some difficult uh period in his life. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:04.160 Uh and uh we we were just talking on Monday, and and uh he was talking about how he's gonna, you know, I'm gonna be a better man and this, that, and the other. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:05.120 And I said, by what power? 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:11.439 And he says, Well, and in the course of the conversation, he said, I don't know if there's a right or wrong way uh to ask the Lord into your life. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:12.800 I said, Well, the Bible speaks of that. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:13.680 Would you like to hear it? 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:14.240 Well, sure. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.439 So I turned over to Romans chapter 10 and just read verses 9 and 10. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:22.879 For if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, God's raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:25.040 And I said, just stop right there, just walk that back. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.600 And I says, if you believe in your heart, God's raised him from the dead. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.279 For him to be raised from the dead, I said, You believe Jesus was raised from the dead? 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:32.079 He said, Yeah. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:35.120 I said, now for him to be raised from the dead, he has to be dead, right? 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:38.639 You ever say something that's so obvious, people look at you like you're stupid? 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.160 He just kind of looked at me like, they let you have keys to the building? 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:43.600 I said, just stay with me. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:45.920 So for him to be raised from the dead, he has to be dead, right? 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:46.560 He goes, Yeah. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:48.560 I said, for him to be dead, then back up. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.759 Then it then it begs the question, why did Jesus die? 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.720 And my friend looked at me and he said, Jesus Christ died on the cross as payment for my sins. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:58.480 I said, Absolutely. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:04.240 Now walk back from that and ask the question, why did Jesus Christ die on the cross as payment for your sins? 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.879 And he looked at me and he said, I don't know. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:08.800 And I said, Would you like to know? 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:09.759 And he goes, Yeah. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:16.000 And I said, The Bible says that Jesus Christ died on the cross as payment for your sins because he loved you. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:20.879 Have you ever been around anybody like this, been moved by that simple truth? 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.800 He just was kind of like, I said, that's right. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:30.319 Knowing full well everything you would do, he loved you and he went to the cross for you. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:38.399 So when I say we're invited to have faith in Jesus by believing, really, what the question that the gospel is asking us is, do I believe the gospel? 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:40.160 Do I believe the gospel? 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:43.839 If you watch college football yesterday, it'll help you believe the gospel better. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:48.000 You know, like you just said that because you're a man. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:49.120 Let me say that again. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:52.160 If you watched college football yesterday, it'll help you believe the gospel better. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:53.199 You say, How do you mean? 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:55.439 How many of y'all watch the OU Houston game? 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:56.480 Can I see your hand? 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:57.680 Yes, yes, yes. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:06:59.920 Now, some of you from Oklahoma are kind of like, Really? 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:00.879 You're going there? 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:02.560 Uh, just to make a spiritual point. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:04.240 Here's the thing, I don't have a dog in the fight. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:11.120 I didn't go to either school, but it in this, it was close game, first half, second half, uh, Houston came out and they began to kind of pull away, they begin to score. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:20.720 And every time they would score a touchdown or a field goal, they would shoot the camera would go to the crowd, and all the University of Houston people were just looking around like, oh my gosh, can you believe it? 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:22.879 We don't stink anymore. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:26.639 This is unbelievable. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:28.240 That's the gospel. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.839 The gospel says you don't stink anymore. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.839 Because a lot of times you come to church and you're like, Yeah, I just stink. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:36.959 My God, I just stink. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.519 I'm just a worm, and I'm just a sinner saved by grace. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:40.639 Not anymore. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.959 And so I was watching those people in the crowd, and they just kept panning to the crowd. 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:54.639 This one lady, I don't know if it's someone's girlfriend that kept showing her, she was so excited, she would turn around and look for somebody to affirm her a wonderment to, like, I can't believe it. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:02.399 You should come to one of these communion stations this morning with the same sense of, I can't believe it. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:04.480 I don't stink anymore. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:15.279 Because in the gospel, when Christ dies on the cross, and I say you're invited to have faith in Jesus by believing, that believing the gospel is not just how you become a Christian. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.720 That's how you express your Christianity. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:26.319 Fourth thing the Bible tells us is that grace is a gift that is experienced through a relationship with Jesus. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:27.680 Look at verse 24. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:28.560 What do you mean? 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:37.440 He says, hey, for there's no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:39.600 Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:43.039 We live in a culture that wants the grace of God, but not the person of God. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.720 You cannot separate the grace of God from the person of Christ Jesus on the cross. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:53.279 And so that's why I say grace is a gift that is experienced through a relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:05.120 You can appreciate grace, you can need grace, but until you come into a relationship through grace, by faith, with Jesus, the Son of God, the grace of God will never be realized in your life. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.519 Fifthly and finally, the the gospel tells us that the cross was a demonstration of God's righteousness. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:15.679 He says we're justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:20.879 Verse 25, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:28.320 Propitiation is a big word that means that God is angry with sin and sinners, but his anger has been appeased. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:29.919 The debt has been paid. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:39.200 He says that God put forward as a debt or paying sacrifice, a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:40.960 Look at the next sentence. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.840 This was to show God's righteousness. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.840 This, the cross, is a demonstration of God's righteousness. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:52.879 Let me say it like this God has a history of taking what is yours and making it his. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.519 But he also has a history of taking what is his and making it yours. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:09:59.840 Let me say that again. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.039 God has a history of taking what is yours and making it his. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.720 That's why the Bible says that God placed upon him the sin of all of us. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:08.720 Says we all like sheep have gone astray. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:10.960 We've all turned aside and gone our own way. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:15.120 And God took the sin of all of us and placed it upon Jesus. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.240 Because God has a history of taking what is yours and making it his. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.799 But that's not that's just part of the gospel. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:25.200 The other part is that he takes what's his and he makes it yours. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.240 The Bible says it like this in 2 Corinthians 5 21. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:36.080 He made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:39.759 As the Houston cougars would say it, we don't stink anymore. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:42.639 We're finally somebody. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:45.440 Now we're gonna go up in the poles. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:49.200 That's the gospel. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.639 What do you mean? 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:58.240 Well, for the Christian, it means one thing, and for the non-Christian here today, it means something else. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:02.720 For the Christian, it's an opportunity to unburden yourself, and for the unbeliever, it's an opportunity to believe. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:04.320 You say, What do you mean unburden yourself? 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.480 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 7 says this. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:10.240 It says, Cast all of your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:14.720 And so I want to ask you before we receive communion today, do you believe that God cares for you? 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.600 Not that God cares about you, but that he cares for you. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:23.919 He attends to that which affects you with this familial, this fatherly affection. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:26.720 Do you believe that? 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:27.840 You say, Well, I don't know. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:29.120 Some days I do, some days I don't. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:30.559 Here's how you know if you believe it. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:35.279 I believe that inasmuch as I give God that which makes me anxious. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:37.519 Let me say it again. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:46.720 I I believe God cares for me inasmuch as I give God what makes me anxious, is in as much as I cast all my anxiety upon him because he cares for me. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.200 Some of us don't do that because we think we'll do a better job of worrying about it than God will. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:55.039 So we hold on to it like it's a precious family heirloom. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.559 I'm gonna worry about this until Jesus comes through. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:02.799 When I was in college, I really struggled with the call to ministry. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.399 I did not want to be a preacher because I just thought they were phony people. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:07.519 I just couldn't do that. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.000 I was like, God, I'll teach Sunday school, I'll give money away. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:11.519 Please don't make me do that. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:14.080 You may be thinking, well, how'd he end up here? 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.600 Uh because I roomed with a guy in my senior year named Joey Butler. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.960 And he knew that I was running from the call to ministry, and so he would tell me on a consistent basis, I'm praying for you. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.320 And I was like, what does that mean? 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:32.000 And he said, Well, every day I just close my eyes and I just I just pick picture myself picking you up and taking you into the presence of God and just laying you in God's presence. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:35.519 And I just say to God, God, here, I found this, this belongs to you. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:38.399 And I'm just looking at him like, okay. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:40.320 And he goes, God and I both agree. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.639 You're you're you're running, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:49.279 But every day I just take you and just kind of lay you in in his presence and say, God, here, I found Neil, he belongs to you. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:53.600 It's hard to live with a man that tells you that on a daily basis. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:56.320 I would rather him say, I'm praying for you. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.039 Lead God in direct, bless the gift and the giver. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:01.440 Every once in a while he would just see me. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:06.000 He's I just laid you before Jesus, and we both agreed you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:10.320 And I would say, Well, I prayed to Jesus, and we both agreed you need to shut up. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:13.120 And he would just smile. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:14.399 Why do I tell you that? 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:19.919 Because this morning some of you need to take that which makes you the most anxious and kind of lay it before God. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.559 And sometimes it's not an it, it's a him or a her. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:24.639 You need to lay them before God. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:31.440 Because one of the reasons sometimes if it's a him or a her, they don't really have to deal with their sin is because you fret enough over it. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.720 You're anxious enough over it. 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:34.559 And so they look at you and think, you know what? 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:36.480 If I cared about that more, I'd become like them. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:38.000 I don't want to become like them. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:44.960 And so sometimes you just have to lay them before God and kind of say, you know what, Lord, I can't worry about this enough to change it. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:47.279 But I'm just gonna trust you. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:48.480 This makes me anxious. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:50.399 Would you do something about this? 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.200 Rumor has it that you care for me. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:14:02.639 And so as we prepare for communion today, I want you to just have these five truths in your head that everybody's accountable. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:04.879 Everybody's accountable to God. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:11.360 We're incapable of doing anything to make ourselves right with God, and we're invited to have faith in Jesus by believing. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:12.559 It's by believing. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.240 It's not math, it's music. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.440 And ask yourself today, do I hear the music? 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:23.039 The grace is a gift that's expressed, experienced through a relationship with Jesus. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:36.399 And finally, the cross was a demonstration of God's righteousness because God has a history of taking what is yours, taking what is ours and making it his, and taking what is his and making it ours. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:40.240 And that's what we've come to celebrate this morning. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.960 Now the Bible tells us how to celebrate that. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:49.200 If you notice at the end of the game yesterday, the the OU Houston game, no one told everybody, and now go crazy. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.039 No, there's just something in them that just instinctively took over. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:57.759 They knew what to do, they knew how to act in light of victory. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.840 And I just wondered this morning if we know how to act in light of victory. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:05.519 And so let's take some time and just kind of reflect and think. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:07.840 The Bible says, hey, examine yourself. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:13.679 Don't come to this, don't, don't, don't come to the Lord's table and receive these elements in an unworthy manner. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.480 Without thinking about, hey, you know what? 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.200 This is this is why it says, do this in remembrance of me. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.039 This is not a statement about our our worth or our significance. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:30.399 This is a statement about God's righteousness and the exchange that takes place at the cross. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:33.759 So let's give ourselves just a little bit of time and space to think about these things. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.960 I'm a voice of prayer, and Clyde may just sing something over us. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:40.639 And I want you just to kind of prepare your head and your heart to come to the table. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:43.360 And then we'll give you some directions about how we do communion. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:44.799 Let's pray together. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.240 Father, thanks for the opportunity that is ours because of the victory that was yours. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:57.759 We say again, Lord, thanks for the opportunity that is ours because of of the victory that was yours. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:02.799 And in that, you provided a lot for us. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:12.320 And so, Lord, whatever we're anxious about today, we choose to just kind of lay it before you and say, This I found this, this belongs to you. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:16.720 I've been carrying this around for a while, but I want to lay this before you because this is yours. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.919 And I lay this here not because I don't care, but because you do. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:21.279 You care for me. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:30.399 You don't just care about me from a distance, you care for me, up close, intimately acquainted with anything that has everything that has anything to do with me. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:37.039 And so for some of us today, Lord, the thing we need to embrace is that you care for us. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:50.000 And so, Lord, we want to just kind of take a moment just to kind of get our head and our heart calibrated towards what we're about to do. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.440 So, Holy Spirit, be over your people. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:55.200 Lead us into the truth. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.799 Regardless of how good it is, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:15.200 So I told the folks at my station this morning, all the servers came together watching the University of Houston football game yesterday when they started pulling away the second half. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:21.519 Every time they'd score, they would show the crowd, and the crowd was kind of like, we can't believe it, we don't stink anymore. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.920 And I thought about it this morning. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.440 And so I want you to believe the gospel. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:45.279 You're not that means that you're not just a bunch of sinners. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:48.400 You're the sons and daughters of God. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.400 You've been made right with God. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:58.559 You're saying you have the capacity to do what the Bible says, and you should never get over that. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:03.759 Hold your hands out. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:06.240 Take a blessing over you. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:12.559 On this labor day, you're able to rest. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:18.160 Because someone has accomplished something that makes you doing nothing possible. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:20.240 Depart now. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:23.920 And rest in the finished work of Christ. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.640 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.279 Amen.