WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.640 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.679 For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.200 You can have a seat if you have a Bible. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.400 I invite you to take it and open it up to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:17.120 And I'm going to read a couple of passages and I want to do a shorter uh sermon because if you're our guest today, let me just tell you what you see. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:18.160 Some of you arrive late. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:20.239 Today is communion at Grand Parkway. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:28.960 And uh we we do communion, we practice open communion, which means if you're a Christian, if you have a relationship with Christ, uh you're welcome to receive communion uh uh with us today. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:31.199 Uh some of you are like, hey, we just came for the first time. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:31.839 That's okay. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:32.719 You're more than welcome. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:43.759 I'll do a brief homily uh and then we'll have some time where we'll just kind of examine ourselves, and then there's three stations here, and there's two in the back corners, and they'll be manned by staff, pastors and elders and their wives. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:50.000 And we'll the way we do it is in the context of worship, we'll just keep the band will come back and we'll just be worshiping. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:59.119 And people come as families, as friends, and we serve you communion, and then you can go back to your seat and you can worship and reflect and pray or whatever, and then we'll conclude our service, okay? 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:04.000 But the Bible gives some gives us some instructions uh around how to do this. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:04.959 And I want to read that. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.599 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.120 Paul says, For I receive for the Lord what I also deliver to you. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:18.319 That the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, This is my body which is for you. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.319 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:26.400 In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:29.920 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:35.439 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:36.879 And I want to stop right there. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:40.239 We'll pick up in just a minute, but I want to point out just a few things. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:46.400 As a pastor, I want to I don't want to get on autopilot when it comes to communion. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:47.760 It's not a break from preaching. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:49.840 It's not, oh, I don't have to study as much this week. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:57.040 No, you you should even, you you should probably study more when because one of the great sins of the American church is familiarity. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:04.799 We look at something like this and we think, I got it, I kind of know how that goes, a little cracker, a little juice, and we miss the whole thing. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:13.199 And so I want to just uh I want to just point out a few phrases from the text for us to think about, to orient our minds towards receiving communion today. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:23.840 And the first one is uh about in verse 23 there, when it says, excuse me, verse 24, it says, and and and on the night he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:32.159 And it's that phrase, and when he had given thanks, in the context of betrayal and abandonment and death, Jesus gives thanks. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:33.280 He knows what's coming. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.639 He's already been in the garden. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.960 He's he's gonna be in and he's like, hey, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:40.319 Uh but it doesn't. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:42.000 And so he knows what's coming. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:45.520 He's fully aware uh of the reality that awaits him. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.479 And yet, in that context, he gives thanks. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:53.520 It reminds me of what I saw on the TV this past week about the tornadoes that devastated Moore, Oklahoma. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.439 If you've never been in a tornado, what it smells like, it smells like wet pine. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:05.520 And as a kid, a tornado hit our farm, and it didn't, when it hits a house, it just like it's like it explodes and it splinters the wood, and it smells like wet pine. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.599 That's what tuberflops are made out of, and and and dank insulation. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:11.120 It's a very pungent smell. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:12.319 You'll never get over it. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:18.000 But it in the midst, one thing that struck me is they showed people that their schools and their homes are devastated. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:19.360 All of them were thankful. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:23.360 There was the video of the one guy, his family got in the storm shelter, and it sounds like a freight train. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:24.639 That's exactly what it sounds like. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:35.199 It's just whirling, and he opens the storm cellar and he's videoing, and the mom's talking to the kids, and he's videoing, and he looks over, and there's where his house used to be. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:36.639 It's just a concrete slab. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:42.240 And he just says spontaneously, when he rehearsed, he just says, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.560 And then they go down the news cameras, go to the next house, and everyone's thankful. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:53.199 They've lost everything, and they're saying, Oh, we just want to thank God because blah, blah, blah, and you're like, hello, what's going on here? 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.240 It's what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.000 He says, in everything give thanks. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:01.120 For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.840 Now, be aware of the prepositions when you read the Bible. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:05.840 It doesn't say for everything. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:07.759 He says in everything. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:12.719 A lot of people try to be hyper-spiritual when something horrible happens and go, I thank God for this. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:18.079 That's not what the Bible that that that kind of pseudo-spirituality is not what the Bible teaches. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:19.839 He says, in the context. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:28.720 And so Jesus models what the Bible teaches, and in the context of something that wasn't very enjoyable, he gives thanks. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:36.800 I just wonder what you would, when you prepare to come to the table this morning, what you are aware that you're thankful for. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:54.079 My favorite picture from this past week, if you could use a word over a tragedy like what happened in Moore, Oklahoma, was one home was just a pile of debris and down there buried beneath the two by fours, but you can make it out with a little sign that simply said, Life is about more than things. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:56.879 And they asked the lady, Are you going to rebuild? 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:57.839 And she said, Of course. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:04:58.959 This is my town. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.519 See, it's possible in the midst of a horribly devastating situation to give thanks. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.399 Second phrase that jumps off the page is it Jesus, Paul quotes what Jesus said. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.560 He says, This is my body, which is for you. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:15.680 This is my body, which is for you. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:27.040 I read this past week, John Stott was a he's a writer, thinker, theologian, pastor from England, and he he said this he says, The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God. 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:31.439 Well, the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:36.879 Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:43.839 And God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:46.240 That's the cross. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:52.959 Man asserts himself in the place of God, and God sacrifices himself in the place of man. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:59.040 That's what Jesus was talking about when he says, This is my body, which is for you. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.560 And the question we have to ask is, what is our response to this? 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.240 Well, our response is to in turn say the same thing back to God. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:08.560 This is my body, which is for you. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.519 We hear all the time in our day and age, what's my body? 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:12.480 I can do what I want. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:14.560 Not if you're a believer, not if you're a Christian. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:19.279 The Bible says, Don't you know you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:32.639 First Peter tells us you are not redeemed from this empty way of life, handed down from your forefathers with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish or spot. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:39.759 You look in Revelation 5, and there's a picture around the throne room of God, and they're singing to Jesus, this lamb who was slain. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:45.439 Worthy are you to open the scroll, because with your blood you purchased men for God. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:50.560 You purpose, you purchased people for God from every tribe and nation and tongue. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:53.600 People often ask me, How did your church get so diverse? 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.079 This church looks like heaven's gonna look. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:01.120 Every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every kindred, every people. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:21.439 And yet you read in Romans and Paul, after he finishes Romans 11, uh, where he has this great, this great kind of a Christological passage about how God, who's ever given to God that God should repay him for from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:22.079 Amen. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:42.160 And he starts chapter 12, verse 1, and says, Therefore, in view of God's mercies, in view of how big God is, and maybe that's it for some of you today, you just need to be reminded, have your breath taken away by how expansively, uh all-consumingly huge God is, and yet how available he's made himself. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:51.920 He says, in view of God's mercies, the problem with most of us is that we don't have a robust enough theology of God, an understanding of God. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.439 We have a big self-image and a little bitty God image. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:02.319 And maybe you could just say, I want to have a bigger view of God, and maybe a smaller view of myself. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:05.519 But because otherwise a lot of the Bible doesn't make sense. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:09.439 If you're big and God's small, this is probably not going to be for you. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:15.040 But if you feel small today and your God is big, you're in a great place. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:24.000 Because Paul says, therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, in view of the fact that God owes us nothing and yet gives us everything. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:31.600 I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing unto God, because this is your reasonable act of worship. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.919 So what do you say, and what do you say in Neil? 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:46.080 What more importantly, what the Bible is saying when Jesus says, and he's celebrating Passover with his disciples, when he kind of institutes the new covenant and says, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:57.279 He said, when he says, This is my body, which is for you, our response to back to that, that we understand the ramifications of that is that we say, This is my body, which is for you. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:03.200 Which that sounds all heady and spiritual, and you're like, Yeah, yeah, talk to them teenagers. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.759 It's you know, their body belongs to God. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:08.080 Let me talk to you men who won't go to the doctor. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.399 Your body belongs to God too. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:14.320 Your wife's nudging you, isn't she? 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.159 Because my wife reminded me the other day, hey, you're getting close to 50. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.360 And I'm like, listen, it ain't no crime to whack our surly bartender. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.039 What are you running your mouth about here, woman? 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:27.360 She said, Well, I want you to know there's certain procedures men need to get when they turn 50. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:34.159 I looked at her like, I ain't got no idea what you're talking about. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:36.559 And she goes, Well, we'll be talking about that. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:44.799 And the thought went through my mind because I knew I was going to stand here and say, by the way, when Jesus says this is my body that is for you, he wasn't just making a statement. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.279 He was making a claim on your body. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:50.480 And making a claim on my body. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:53.519 I can't say, well, I just don't like going to the doctor. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:57.919 There's many a man that die of very preventable things because they were stubborn. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:00.159 Don't be stubborn. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:03.279 You didn't expect to hear that in a communion homily, did you? 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:07.440 Men and mother self, go to the doctor. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:09.440 It's not your body. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:11.360 It's not your body. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.279 All through the Bible. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:22.080 Just over and over it says, hey, when you get married, your body belongs to your ladies, your body belongs to your husband, and men, your body belongs to your wife. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.960 Men are like, all right, now talk about that song. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:26.240 No. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.120 It's just not your body. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.480 Third thing Jesus says is, do this in remembrance of me. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.679 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:36.799 Now why would he say that? 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:40.639 Because we have an infinite capacity to make everything about us. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:46.559 We have this innate ability to take whatever God says and flip it to where, oh, it's a statement of my worth, not his. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.360 Oh, no, he says, do this in remembrance of me. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:50.879 Keep your hands off of this. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.279 Drill down and think about this. 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:55.360 And when you do, you'll remember a couple things. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:11:00.960 A couple things will become obvious when you think about Jesus and this, that he, his body and his blood. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:05.039 He offered up his body and he shed his blood because he had to die. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:08.240 You realize a couple things. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.639 And I'll close with them this morning. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.480 You realize, first of all, that not only did Jesus die, but you have to die as well. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:21.440 John 12, Jesus says, unless a kernel of weight falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:30.399 Some of you are well on your way if you're not careful to be in 75 and wrinkled and lonely, sitting in a rocking chair, having lived a life of no consequence. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:31.759 Not because you didn't go to church. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:32.799 You went to church a lot. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:36.720 And some of you are kind of got this angst in you, like, hey, I don't have this all figured out. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.720 As a matter of fact, the older I get, the less real this feels to me. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.759 Because you haven't fallen to the ground and died. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:48.000 Jesus says, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:51.039 But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.720 My wife and I, man, this communion station right here, and I probably should warn you. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:01.519 I try to have a meditating thought coming into communion every time we serve communion. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:10.720 And my meditating thought today, and if you come to my station, I will look you in the eye and say to you, and you receive these elements today, be reminded that you're not always going to get your way. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:19.759 Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane pleaded with his father and said, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:21.519 He did not get his way. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:27.200 And I will smile and say to you, as your pastor who loves you, it's a good thing that you don't get your way. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.840 Some of you are like, uh, we'll be going to the other stations. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:33.600 That's fine. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:40.799 Matter of fact, I'll press it even harder, and I'll tell you this, because I told somebody this morning in the first row, they're like, Oh, what you talking about, Willis? 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:49.600 In the moment you're most aware that you're not getting your way is the most Christ-like emotion you'll have that day. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:53.759 Jesus knows what it feels like to not get his way. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.960 See, the American church has kind of sold you a bill of goods that if you love Jesus, you're always going to get your way. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:00.000 No, you're not. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:02.639 If you think you are, get married. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:07.679 You don't always get your way. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:08.799 And it's a good thing. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:10.559 It's good that I don't always get my way. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:14.240 Now, in the moment when I realize I'm not getting my way, it don't feel good. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:18.159 Because my wife has this one eyebrow and it kind of goes up like, ta now. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.679 Did I tell you I used to be on the debate team in college? 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.240 And sometimes I think, boy, I could just slice up your bad logic right here. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.080 And I even take a breath to say some stuff and nothing comes out. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:36.639 Okay. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:39.840 Alrighty. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:41.919 Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:43.039 Awesome. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:45.440 I have to die. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:47.360 It's not a one-time thing. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:48.559 Sometimes it's a daily. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:49.679 I gotta die. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.799 Jesus said, if anyone wants to be my disciple, let him deny himself. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:54.960 Take up his cross and follow me. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:56.799 It's not enough just to deny yourself. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:02.159 You need to have your cross, the means by which you put self to death on a daily basis. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.360 Because that rascal can get up and rise up from the dead. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:09.200 You can kill him on Monday and wake up Tuesday and he's there going, Hello. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.639 Second thing you realize is that there's a rest for the people of God. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:16.159 There's a rest. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.360 Hebrews 4 talks about there's a there's a Sabbath rest. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.519 There's this, and it's not this like a nap. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:33.840 It's a position that is ours because we've kind of entered in, we've ceased from all our religious duties, all our checking the knots in our suit of fig leaves to make sure no one realizes that we're kind of no, no, no. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:34.639 There's a rest. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:40.799 There's a uh in a world where everyone takes a shower, there's a hot bath awaiting you. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.240 When's the last time you took a hot bath? 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.440 You men are looking at me like, that's creepy. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.399 The women are kind of like, oh, I got some candles. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:58.080 Your wives have got candles that they break out and surround the bathtub and smelly stuff they put in there. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.759 And they just get in there and just turn into a prune. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:04.799 And the Bible says there's a rest. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:05.759 You say, What do you mean? 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:15.840 I was tangibly reminded of this because for whatever reason, the high school my daughter goes to across the street, all the teachers waited until the last two weeks of school to make all these big projects to group projects, okay? 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:21.919 And usually my daughter's the overachiever who's in there, and I'm looking at all the other kids like, listen, I got my eye on you, you little lazy one. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.679 But these kids are like in pre-AP classes and they're gonna like fix the world. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:27.759 And so at my house, and I said, Who we got here? 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:34.399 One of them said, Well, you got three Hindus, a liberal Catholic, the son of a Chinese Baptist pastor, and you got your preacher's kid. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:38.960 And then my nine-year-old, who was a voyeur on the outside watching the whole thing. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.600 And one of those little girls said to Madison, Madison, your little sister is funny. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:45.759 That was like crack to our nine-year-old. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.919 She was just like, Oh, you think that's funny? 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:48.960 I got a lot more than that. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.799 And so we're trying to keep her at bay. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.279 And and and and then Monday night they worked on it. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:59.679 By the way, it is a because my kids think I just kind of hover around waiting for them to need something, and then I just go get it. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:03.120 Madison texts me on Monday, oh Dad, I need a sheet of plywood. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.200 What for for my school project? 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:06.240 And I need it right now. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:07.759 Like I need it. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:11.120 She said, I need it as big as six carpet squares at the church. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:12.240 I'm like, what? 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:13.840 Is that what you do when I'm preaching? 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.720 Just look at the carpet. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.080 Yeah, about that big. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.120 So I run to Home Depot and get it. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.759 And come back and well, we need some air-dry clay. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:26.159 They're making uh like a the world out of clay, all the continents out of clay and the ocean. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:29.519 They made the Panama Canal, they got Mount Everest, all this stuff. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.919 They work on it Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday, they work on it Thursday at our house. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.279 This is at my house, by the way. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.480 It is like a high, and 15-year-old girls smell funny. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:44.240 There's like this collision of perfume, and it's just kind of like, oh, that is like rank. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:51.600 That's like going to the mall and walking in that perfume, kind of like, ha! How about y'all go like like fragrance-free for one day? 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.080 But no, and and they eat like pigs. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:58.399 Oh my gosh, my wife's like, you know, Paula Dean, and she's over there kind of every day. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.519 Here's chocolate chip cookies, and you know, when pigs you ever heard pigs eat? 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:03.519 That's what it's like. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:07.920 They're just shoveling stuff in, and I'm like, you girls ain't no bigger than a knick knack. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:08.720 What are y'all doing? 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:14.880 I'm like, I think some of these girls got a curly tail in their pants. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.799 My wife is like said to me, Shut up and go to your room. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:20.480 I'm 48 years old. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:22.480 You can't tell me to go to my room. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.279 I gotta stand in here and see what this is all about. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.279 And then we gotta feed them. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:28.240 They stay there today. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:33.279 Thursday night, about 9.15, our freshman comes out and goes, Dad, can everybody spend the night? 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:38.400 Because I know you're not this way, but my house is like my castle. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:41.519 I got a moat around it and a drum bridge. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.720 And when I go across, a drum bridge comes up. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.200 I want to walk around in a holy t-shirt. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:48.880 I want to walk around my shirt off. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.880 I'm gonna go, hey, five old B need this coffee. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:51.920 Where's my wife? 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.519 But I got a house full of 15-year-old girls running everywhere. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:58.319 And and and and so now I said, What do you mean spending that? 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:07.519 Well, we're gonna step away, we're really working on a project, and we gotta do some studying, and I just looked at my mom and I was like, uh, because at this point I was so just like, I need my life back. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.400 And there's my wife over there like the prom queen. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:14.240 You girls need anything else? 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.079 I am resenting my wife that she's not as frustrated as me. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:19.599 That's horrible. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:21.839 It's I was just like, get out of my house. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:22.880 I want my house back. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:25.519 I haven't seen my TV in four days. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:30.160 And I looked over there, and then then the Holy Spirit's like, hey, what's your wife know that you don't know? 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:31.200 Really? 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:32.240 Really? 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:34.160 I don't. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:35.279 There's a rest. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:37.039 There's a rest. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:40.160 It's not like taking a nap, it's a it's a it's a position in life. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:42.480 There's a rest for the people of God. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.240 That's what Jesus says. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.200 That's what He He makes available in this. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:48.880 He says, Do this in remembrance of me. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:56.880 Hey, this time of year where weddings and graduations and projects are all coming due, and somebody's cranking the flywheel, and it's going faster and faster and faster. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:18:58.240 There's a rest. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.079 And oh, by the way, they when they spent the night, they I don't get this. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.400 You gotta be 15 and a girl, I guess. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:11.039 They went home and got clothes to come back and spend the night. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.880 And I said, as they're going out the door, why don't you just stay home when you go home? 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:20.079 You ain't gotta come back, it's a school night. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:23.359 Remember a long time ago when you didn't spend the night on a school night? 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:24.319 Nobody does that. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:27.359 Oh, yeah, they do, because they got a project. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.200 I'm gonna show up across the street over there with an axe and a clown mask. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:33.279 Who assigned the project? 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:42.400 But Thursday night, the Holy Spirit just said, Hey, by the way, what are you gonna do such a twist about? 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:43.039 Just rest. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:44.960 Look at your wife, it doesn't bother her. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.039 That's because she's crazy. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:49.039 Nothing bothers her. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.039 Why does it bother you? 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:52.480 I don't know. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:53.920 It just does. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:56.720 There's a rest. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:03.359 Last thing I would say too, the Bible says to you is that remember this your sins are not just forgiven, but they're forgotten. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:05.839 Listen to me. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.400 I'm gonna mess with some of you right here. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:15.359 Some of you, when anytime people talk about sands in your mind, you go to your pet sand, the one you keep repeating over and over and over. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:22.319 Some of you think there's a closet that God has, and when you start getting a little cocky, he puts his hand on the doorknob and says, You want me to open this? 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:23.519 We both know it's in here. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.480 It's where I put all the sins I forgave you for. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:28.960 It's kind of like when you tell your kids to go clean the room. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.200 They come out two minutes later, it's clean. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:35.599 If I open your closet, am I gonna get smothered? 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.079 You think God's got his hand on the doorknob? 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.440 He's like, we both know it's in here. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:40.400 You want me to open this? 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:42.400 Alright, you better get being moral. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.039 Here's what you don't know. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:47.759 The Bible says in Micah chapter 7, Micah. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:53.279 That's back in the minor prophet section of the Old Testament where homeschoolers get names for their kids. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:58.160 Come on, Habakkuk, we're going to Chick-fil-A. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:01.519 Micah. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:02.880 You hadn't read Micah lately. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.119 Here's what the Bible says in Micah chapter seven. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:06.559 Check me and see if it's in there. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:08.160 Verse 18 to verse 20. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:08.880 Here's what he says. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:12.240 He says, Of God, he will tread upon our iniquities. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:13.440 That means he walks on them. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:17.119 And then it says this he will cast them into the sea. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:19.599 You're not just forgiven, you're forgotten. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.079 The sea is where they can lose the Titanic. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:25.599 You know, they lost the Titanic for like years, they couldn't find it. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:26.319 Hello. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:32.400 And you act like God's got his hand on the door, kind of going, yeah. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:35.440 Don't you get out of line because I'll yank this door open. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:37.039 We both know what's in there. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:38.319 God knows what's in there. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:38.880 You don't. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:40.880 God knows there's nothing in there. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.039 Because He is casted into the sea. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.680 When you read the Bible, look at the little words. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.400 You see, God He doesn't waste a word. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.000 He doesn't say tossed or He kicked. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:53.359 It says He cast. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:56.960 Unless you've gone fishing with a real fisherman, you don't understand casting. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.759 When I was a kid, my dad would take us fishing, and me and my brother. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.640 Brothers would tie on to the to the riding reel the heaviest thing in the tackle box because it would go the furthest. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:07.519 And we just had contests who could throw it the furthest. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:12.319 Until I was about in the 11th grade and I went fishing with a man who was a real fisherman. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:14.000 And he cast with his left hand. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:14.640 He was right-handed. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:16.000 I said, Why'd he cast with your left hand? 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:19.359 He said, As soon as the bait hits the water, son, you gotta start working the bait. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:24.160 And he would say, Set stop over there, right on it. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:25.200 See that thing? 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.920 He would cast underhand, under the limbs of a tree. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:29.359 I was like, Shazam. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.039 It was unbelievable. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.599 I came home and I repented of throwing my ride and reel. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:39.359 Why? 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:42.000 Because to cast implies intentionality. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:45.599 I want this to go to a certain place and yield a certain result. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.160 I fished with that man half a day. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:49.599 He caught eight fish. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:51.279 I caught a sunburn. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:23:00.400 I mean, I would throw mine like a big rainbow and when it hit like and he'll throw his and you wouldn't even hear it. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.039 Why? 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:09.359 Because cast implies intentionality. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:14.880 When God cast your sins into the sea, he had something in mind. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:20.240 So when he says, do this and remember to me, you need to remember that this morning. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.960 Let me read the rest of the passage and we're gonna do what it says. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.000 If you're our guest today, we love the Bible. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:29.200 Every time somebody preaches, we're gonna preach the Bible. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:30.880 We're preaching through the book of Romans. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:32.559 We took a hit the pause button. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:38.480 This summer we're gonna do a series on the parables of Jesus, and in the fall, we'll do a couple topical series. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:44.000 We're gonna talk about the gospel and marriage, things like that, and then we'll pick right back up in the book of Romans. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.559 Here's why we love the Bible. 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:50.559 Because it's so practical, and it doesn't just tell us what to do, it tells us how to do it. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:51.920 This is no exception. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.720 It picks up in verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 11. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:24:01.359 Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the Lord. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:11.039 Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.880 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:32.480 But if we judge ourselves truly, translation, if we stop being religious posers who can't even tell the truth about ourselves, if we stop misrepresenting ourselves, if we stop practicing impression management, if we stop caring more about what people think than what God thinks. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:36.000 If we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:42.960 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:47.440 I want you to hear in that, and I'll be quiet. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.559 Or as I like to say, I'll shut up. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.359 I want you to hear in that God's not about going around condemning you. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.839 He says, examine yourself. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:59.839 Shoot straight with yourself. 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:04.000 Then you won't live in fear that you're gonna be found out one day. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:07.200 Be the first person to find yourself out. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:10.480 That's why he says, examine yourself. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.160 So what we're gonna do is I'm just gonna pray. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:18.559 We're gonna spend just a few moments just examining ourselves before we come to the table. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.160 Let's pray together. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:33.599 Holy Spirit, we want to do what the psalmist said in the 139th Psalm when he said, Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, Lord, and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and then lead me in the everlasting way. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.599 We've come to ask you to do that, to search us and to try us. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:42.160