SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well, first of all, I want to start off by saying thank you very much. We're very, very grateful for the opportunity to come and share with you this morning. The Lord has so privileged our family to uh get to know the shocks, Pastor Nick, um, you know, just a very just a very good way. We actually moved, just a little bit about myself, we actually moved here like a um a year ago, and I got hired. I actually worked for this ministry called the Center for Latino Leadership. And so my job is to uh recruit and to try to see if I can help churches uh with Hispanic ministry. And so we recruit Hispanics, we help them go to seminary, and we train them to work in churches, and so that's why we moved here to Austin to do that. And so around seven months ago, I actually had the privilege of meeting Nick. And it just so happened that it was a Tuesday, uh a Tuesday evening at his house, and uh it was the it was actually the week that Pastor Josue had fully resigned. Uh and I remember that week so vividly because I met him for the first time, and uh he comes to me and he says, Hey, this is what's going on. You know, we've integrated with the Hispanic church, and he said, I really, really, really want to know how to minister to the people that the Lord has given us. And immediately the Lord used that to kinder, just to just unite our hearts. And so I love your pastor, I love what he's doing, and know, just know that he loves you. He really does. And so praise the Lord for for Pastor Nick, and I really want to encourage you guys, please keep him and his wife in prayer, even this week as he's out on sabbatical trying to hear from God. Um, we need we need him to really uh hear from God for us, for y'all. And so uh so this morning I get the opportunity. We've just a little bit of recap. You guys have been going through Hebrews chapter 11, right, where you guys have been talking about the heroes of faith, and uh Pastor Harley and others have been bringing these men uh to the forefront and have been teaching you guys about their stories and how when you see them, it's more than just seeing them. You're actually seeing the picture of Christ, and that's how God has intended for it to be, right? As a matter of fact, that's how the writer of Hebrews, that's what he's trying to bring across the whole time. You see, he's trying to say, hey, listen, we've laid out this for you, and the Old Testament has laid out this, but the reality is, is he's done this so that you can see Christ. There's a story within the story, right? And so today, I want to help us with three different things, right? First, I want to help us to understand what is the story that we should find ourselves in. Number one. What is the story we should find ourselves in? Number two, how should we see ourselves in the story? And number three, how are we to participate in the story? What story am I talking about? Why do we gather here this morning? Well, if you're anything like me, right, and you're on Facebook or you're in social media, you can see that our world, man, there's crazy stuff going on right now in our world, right? You've got everything from the race wars to men wanting to be women, to uh black people wanting to be white, to what's going on with our borders. It just looks like there's just so much upheaval going on in our society right now. And as if I was looking through these articles, I actually came across one that really intrigued me, right? And this article was about the baby boomers and what they're actually going on, what they're actually going through right now as as we speak. And this article goes on and categorizes that the baby boomers, right, the generation between 1940 to 1964, uh are at the point where they're there are elderly now, and they're flooding, totally flooding our um nursing homes, right? They're flooding our nursing homes. And what? And so what are some of the characteristics of these people? What what's going on? This article goes on to say that they're lonely, they're depressed, they don't have family, right? Pretty bleak situation for this generation. That, if you actually, I love history, and so if you actually study history, you will see that they're the children of who? The generation that we call and that we know as the greatest generation to ever live. Right? This generation was awesome. This generation were the they were the young men that actually stormed the beaches in Normandy, right? Amazing generation. There's a lot of advancements that this generation took. They're the ones that what took us to the moon and back. And so during this time, what was going on during this generation? During this time, there was something that I'm sure every single one of us is very aware of, and that is the spirit of the American individualism. Right? We can do things on our own, we don't need anybody to be to help us. We can, we can we can pretty much conquer the world. We can have all these advancements that are going on at the time that this is going on, and so there's something in the air, something in the water. And this actually directly impacted me growing up because, see, I come from a broken home, and my grandfather, who was actually uh born in 1927, uh, you know, this was within his DNA. And I remember growing up, him as a little boy saying, Mijo, listen, when you go out into the world, you don't have to covet and want someone else's possessions. You can work just as hard as everyone else, and you can garner, you can get these things for yourself. Right? We're Americans, we're here, don't let anyone look down on you because you're Hispanic or you're Latino. You can do this. And so a lot of these qualities shaped me as I as we grew on, and I guarantee you, many of these qualities have shaped you. We're in it, we're in America, we swim in it, right? And so but so what has that produced? We see this in the baby boomers. How can a how can the generation that that looks to be so full of promise, so full of greatness, end up at the at the latter part of their lives found wanting? Now, you might look at me and think, well, Tony, come on, you're you're kind of oversimplifying um the situation, aren't you? You know, is it did did is it really just because they you know took hold of the American spirit? Is that why uh they're where they're at? And the answer to that is yeah, okay, maybe I am oversimplifying. I'm sure there's a whole host of reasons why they're going through this, right? But the answer is also no. And let me tell you why. See, rugged individualism did not start with the baby boomers or with the greatest generation that ever go before us. This type of understanding or philosophy or thought actually started with Adam and Eve in the garden. Right? Here you have Adam and Eve, and they're walking in the cool of the day with God, they have everything, it's perfect. And they decide to say, I want to kind of go along my own way. I want to be my own individual. I don't want, I don't need God to tell me what to do. Right? And what did they do? They severed themselves from the story or the plan that God had before them. They cut themselves off. And so we can look at the baby boomers and see, wow, there's a story that they bought into that was different than the story of creation. Right? And so we get back to the book of Hebrews because this is exactly precisely what the writer of Hebrews is trying to tell us. He's saying, hey, right, at chapter 11, he brings up these saints of faith, and he says, Hey, you see all these guys and how they lived and the story that they gave? It was a partial story, it was a half story. We actually now have a complete story. And that complete story is Christ and how he comes to redeem. We see Adam and Eve in the fall, right? And then shortly after we see that whole that whole thing take place, we see what? In Genesis 3.5, what we what is known as the Proto-Evangelion, right? The story of the gospel for the first time. The story that actually gives us hope, right? That the seed of the woman would come and would crush the serpent's head and would bring redemption for you and me and for all of mankind. And not only mankind, but actually all of creation, right? He's gonna come and he's gonna restore everything, the new heavens and the new earth. Everything will be restored. The problem with us is that we often, very similar, like the baby boomers and the greatest generation, we often remove ourselves from the greater story and we decide to come up with our own story. Right? And then we have all these different problems. And so in the life of David, we're about to see uh how David actually knew his story. And when he failed to walk in the story that God had put before him, sin is birthed, failure, loneliness, sadness, and actually separation from God. We're all prone to this type of living, and so that's why it's so important that we understand, right? It's so important that we understand what story we're in, right? The story of creation, the story of God, and that we don't veer off and go to our own stories. But the reality is we're human, right? And we tend to often do this. And so I'm actually gonna kind of go really quick here through these stories because um I don't have that much time, but I kind of want to show you because the writer of Hebrews, what he's doing here is he is telling us, hey, when you look at the stories of the of the the children of old, it's good to see those stories, and it's good to try to learn from those stories, but those stories are bigger than the actual events that took place there. There's there's a story behind the story, right? And this that story is the story of redemption, and that is where the writer of Hebrews is trying to point us, right? The story of redemption. We see this in 1 Samuel 17 with the story of David and Goliath. See, a lot of us in the church, we actually tend to misinterpret this story. We tend to look and we tend to come to the Bible, for the most part, as the book that can give us answers or a way to live. Right? It's the whole, once again, rugged individualism, the spirit, the American spirit of listen, I can make my way, I all I need is uh a formalaic way to learn something and then get it done. Right? I need a four-step way to have a better life now, right? But the reality is that's not what the story of David, and that's not the story that we see here. It's not what is that's not the end all. Right? We see what's going on here. So we see King David in um uh in 1 Samuel. He's actually, he he's actually a young boy, the Bible says. And what we see here is we see him, um, and he had, and actually, the the chapter right before that, chapter 16, he has just been anointed king. He's still a young lad, and he hasn't he hasn't uh gotten to the throne. So we see him there, and we see him talking to his dad, and his dad says, Hey, I need you to go to the to the battle line, and I need you to bring bread and some food to your brothers. And so King David, uh young David, goes up there, and he gets up near the battle lines, and and and we know the story, right? So, what's going on there? We have Goliath, and Goliath is coming, and he's taunting the God of Israel, right? He says, This day I defy your ranks of the God of Israel. And so, and he's and the Bible says he's coming out for 40 days, he comes out for 40 days, and so here comes young David, and he hears this, he hears this, and he says, Well, wait a minute. Like, that story doesn't match up with my with my story, it doesn't match up with the story. There's something wrong here, right? And so David immediately says, Listen, I'll take care of the giant, I'll do it.

unknown 13:58

Right?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

And so we see the story, and immediately we say, Wow, look at David, look at his courage, right? Look at his tenacity uh to go and go before this giant. But the reality is that if we typically see the story that way, we've missed the reality of what God is trying to teach us in that story. What is God trying to teach us in that story? Right? What he's, I believe, what he's trying to teach us is that there is the grand story of him being God, right? And him coming and him conquering, and him ruling lovingly and bringing redemption. And so it makes it easy for David at that point to go forth and slay Goliath. Because it wasn't that he had all this courage, well, I'm sure he did, but it that that wasn't the point. The point was listen, that story doesn't match with the story of creation, it just doesn't match. And so he's able to say, This day the Lord will deliver you to my hands. Because the Lord will make straight, right? The story of redemption, he's gonna make it straight. And we can see that in the story of David. Now, we typically fail to see this, and trust me, if you're anything like me, um, you know, it's a lot easier for us to look at these swords and say, hey, how can I have a pattern to live right? Right? And just the other day, um, actually probably two months ago, I went to a men's retreat. And um and so we were at a men's retreat and we were playing basketball. And a friend of mine, so a friend of mine who's uh who's a little older than me uh said, Hey, let's play some basketball. And so we were playing basketball, and and the guy like ran circles around me. And so I came home thinking, oh my goodness, like I'm really out of shape. Like, I need to do something. And so I thought, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna go and I'm gonna I'm gonna uh sign up and see if I can do some jujitsu, maybe get in shape. And I remember telling my buddy, listen, give me four months, man, I'm gonna come and I'm gonna whoop you. And so I go, and uh so I actually I go and I remember telling my kids to them, hey, listen, I'm gonna go do a jiu-jitsu class and I'm gonna show you. And I remember vividly thinking in my mind, yeah, I'm gonna be the David and Goliath situation. Like, I'm gonna take him down and I'm gonna prove to myself that I can do this, right? And so I end up going to this, um, I end up going to this uh uh uh uh jiu-jitsu class and the the instructor's there, and let me let me tell you, it didn't work out too well for me. Within 30 minutes, I was huffing and puffing, and I was thinking, God, Lord, okay, plan B. Maybe I just gotta lay here. Uh but it was evident to me that even as I sat there 30 minutes into the workout, like I had really misinterpreted the scriptures, right? And so as I was sitting there, this is amazing, as I was sitting there getting my my breath, um, the instructor comes to me and he brings, he brings a dummy. And he says, Hey, uh, Tony, uh, you have you caught your breath? I'm like, Yeah. He says, Okay, I'm gonna show you this rear-necked chokehold. And he's like, But before I before you do that, I want to make sure that you know that uh we don't promote you doing this outside uh outside. And if we ever find out that you're using it this for anything other than self-defense, um you will be immediately removed from from our membership and we we won't have anything to do with you. And I was like, hey man, listen, I'm a pastor, I'm not gonna do any of that. And he looked at me and he said, You're a pastor. You're a pastor. And he fell on his knees and he started weeping. And I said, Are you okay? And he said, Tony, he said, this morning before I went I went to work, he said, My wife and I are going through we're going through a divorce, and I want her back so bad. And I wanted to get back, and I want to get back right with God. And I just asked God, God, please, would you show me a sign today? Will you show me a sign? And I thought, that's what it's all about, right? It's not about me going and proving or doing something, it's about God bringing people to the bigger story supernaturally, and by his goodness. That's how we need to be seeing these stories that the that the author of Hebrews 11 is talking about, and these guys. There's something bigger to the story, the story behind the story, and that story is Christ. Right? Hebrews 1, he actually sets it in in motion for us. He actually sums all this up. Long ago, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of the glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, so that he became higher in rank than all the angels, just as he, just as the name he inherited is superior to theirs. Right? The author of Hebrews, and he goes on through the entire letter, and he's and what he's doing is he's saying, Listen up, guys, you guys, you had shadows, you had types, you had half the story. But today, the story is through the sun. He's speaking through the sun, and we have a fuller story, a story that we can be one with, right? We often miss it. We often miss it. And we look at David and we we want to be like him in all his victories, but in the reality, God is saying, no, that's just a shadow, it's just a type. Be one with Christ. That's who you should need to be looking for. And so the next story I want to talk about is the story that actually we can link ourselves up to and see ourselves in David. And that is the story of King David and Bathsheba. Right? This is who we are in the story, the second point. In 2 Samuel 11, right? We see the story and what goes on here. So King David has just come from a um a time of just winning and conquest, winning wars, things are good for him, he's prospering, right? And he finds himself in a really good place, and he starts forgetting about God. He starts forgetting about the story. So much so happens to us so often, right? We prosper, we do well. It makes me wonder if you know these baby boomers I was talking about, is that something is that one of the things that kind of affected them? Right? That they prospered, they did really, really, really well. And they kind of forgot about God. Well, this is what's happening here with David. So he forgets, he's forgetting about the Lord, and what does he do? One day he's walking on top of his his uh castle and he looks over and he sees a beautiful woman, right? He sees a beautiful woman and he starts coveting. As a matter of fact, he brings her into his home. He lies with her. He impregnates her. He's gonna have a baby with her. And he's like, oh my goodness, right? Sin, he finds out, you know, he's at a point where he's thinking, okay, I've sinned, this has happened. He tries all these different ways to hide this, right, with uh her husband Uriah. And he's he's kind of scheming, right? Sin begets sin. So David is scheming. And and then, and then, you know, we know the story. He ends up murdering. So he commits adultery, he lies, he murders. And as we look at that story, really, that's who we are, right? If we want to look at the story of David, we don't have to look any further than that story. Right? But here's the good news: God in his goodness doesn't leave David there. He sends the prophet Nathan, and the prophet Nathan comes and he gives him a story. And David gets enraged because of this story that Nathan gives him, and he so he gets enraged, and David says, Hey, that guy needs to be put to death. And Nathan goes on and says, Hey, you know, that guy's you. That guy is you. To which immediately David realizes, oh my goodness, I have run away from the story. I have made my own way, and look at where I'm at. God, you and you alone have I sinned.

unknown 23:26

Right?

SPEAKER_00 23:27

In other words, we look at that story and we see the likeness of our of our own self, we're able to see that we so often fall in these traps of removing ourselves from the great story of God and Christ and walking in our own ways and in our own sins sometimes. And what the great thing about that is that we get to see here in the story that God, in the Lord, there is forgiveness, and He calls us back to Himself. Right? Another story about me, because I I just this is me. When I see this, this is me. I tend to fall often, right? The other day, um, probably around, it was like maybe three weeks ago, I get invited to my boss's home. We had dinner there, and uh he's cooking some barbecue outside. And so I walk outside and I look at his grill. And I see his grill, he's got this amazing grill. It's one of those vision grills. You guys know what I'm talking about. If you guys see a grill, especially you mexicanos in the here, you know, if there's anything mexicanos that we like to eat, right? So I saw this grill and I thought, man, I want that grill. I actually literally coveted the grill. It's my best Shiva. Right? And so I go home and I'm thinking, man, so I look it up online, wow, they're $800. Some go up to like $1,300. Like, man, it's gonna be a while before we get one of those grills. Well, it just so happened that my neighbor calls me up and says, Hey Tony, um I wanna, uh he says, we're getting ready to move, and um, I'm gonna be getting rid of some furniture. Why don't you come over and take a look at it and see what you might like? And so I walk, I so that day I go to his house and I walk in his home, and you know, he's like giving me some tables, he's giving me some things, some couches, and he says, Oh, one more thing. I got come here to the backyard. And I go to the backyard, and lo and behold, my bashiva, my grill, sitting there. He's like, You want that girl? It's too heavy. You can take it. And I'm thinking, thank you, Lord. So I said, Yeah, I'll come pick it up in a couple of days. Because I knew I was gonna need some help. So I'm at work one day and we're having a we're having a I invite some people from seminary to come over. I think, man, I'm surely gonna impress these people. You know, because I remember tasting that chicken at my boss's house, man. That was some good stuff, man. And I thought, I'm gonna impress these people with my new grill. And so the day went on, and and by the way, I'm not I've I've mentioned this to my son that I would share the story, so I've not really, I don't want to embarrass him, but so my son that day thought, you know what, I'm gonna help my dad. I'm gonna have everything ready for him so before he comes, uh, so so that everything just works smoothly. Well, the one thing my son didn't know is that thing weighs like 350 pounds because it's made of clay, right? And so my son goes over and he tries to pick up this thing and he puts it, I don't know how he did it, but he actually put it on a dolly. Well, there's steps going down, so you know where I'm going. And so as he's hauling this, my bestie, he's hauling it, it falls and breaks. And so he ends up manhandling it and taking it to the house. I'm totally unaware of this, what's going on here. So I rush home after work and I'm thinking, yes, I'm gonna cook on this grill. And I get to it, and I open it, and pieces are falling off of it. And let me tell you, the sin that ran through my heart. I was mad. And instantly I fell before the Lord. Because it ravaged me. I mean, it was, I guarantee you, murder went through my heart. There are all these things that went through my heart at that time. I remember going inside and just, you know, just not knowing how to react and thinking, oh, you know, and um and then the Lord in his goodness sends me anathan. My wife comes to me and she says, and oh man, this stings all the time. She comes and she says, Tony, you're not being like Jesus. And I'm thinking, I don't want to be like Jesus. I want my Bathsheba. I want my chicken, man. I don't want to be like Jesus right now. I don't want to be part of that story. I want to be part of my own story. The story where I cook my chicken and I impress my friends. See how so easy it is for us to be beset by our longings and our cravings. And what God is doing, and what God often does, is he calls us back in his loving mercy. He calls us back to his story. It's really so beautiful in how he does that. And really, guys, as I kind of was praying this week, man, I was really praying that God would help you guys see Jesus and how much he loves you and how much he wants you to be part of his story. Right? There's so many, many stories that are going on right now in our midst. I guarantee you, just in this room, there's heartache going on. I guarantee you there's loneliness going on, there's confusion, there's struggle, there's all these things going on. But if we would just listen to the writer of Hebrews, I mean if we would look at this word and we would say, God, God help us, to dying with him. And I guarantee you we're gonna have the best chicken that we can possibly eat at that time. Because of a good God, a God of redemption and a God of hope. That's the story that we need to connect ourselves in. The last and final story that I want to talk about is the story under the heading is how are we, now that we know the story, now that we know that you know we we know what to be connected to, how are we to participate with this story? So and what? How does, now that we've seen this, now what what happens? And that story we can see in the story of 2 Samuel 9, where King David says, right, at the same time, all these great things are going on. This was the period where David had just prosperity, lots of wealth, things were going on, things were going good in the kingdom for David. And out of his kindness, he looks around and he says, Is there anybody in the house of Saul or in Jonathan that I can bless? And one of his servants, Ziba, comes up and says, Hey, yeah, there is. There's a man called Mephiboshev. This man has been crippled from birth on both legs, but he's part of the lineage of Jonathan, your covenant brother. He's part of the story. And what does David do? David, David brings this cripple, this man who's been lame from birth, and he brings them and he says, You can dine at my table today and forever. Come and dine with me today and forever. And as we see this story, I think, wow, praise God. Why? I don't see myself as David in this story, as much as I see myself as the Krebor. Right? As the one that's broken, that's in need of a good God. That's who I see myself. I'm the Mephibushef that God says, Come and dine with me forever. See, there's the story behind the story. We see the flat reading of the actual of the actual events that took place, but the bigger story is the story of God, the God who created the heavens and the earth, calling you and me to come and dine in his presence. What an amazing story. And so for you guys, right? For for if this morning, if there's if you're going through something, I want you to know that God is gonna call is calling us to come and dine with him. He's calling you to be part of his story. Here in a moment, we're gonna be taking communion. Right? We're gonna be taking of the sacrament that God has given us. Why? What does he tell us? He's saying, he tells us in the New Testament, when you guys get together, partake of me, eat of my flesh, and drink of my blood. Come and celebrate the Lord's Supper so that you can remember what I've done for you. So that you can remember that you are part of the bigger story, the story of redemption, the story of wholeness, the story of being in me, he says. For one day I will make all things perfect. That's amazing. That's what the writer of Hebrews is pointing us to. He's pointing us to Jesus. And so as we see all these guys, as we see all this, and I I challenge you, when you go to scripture, don't go to scripture looking for answers on how to live life. Although we can find some of those things. But even better, how about this? When you go to scripture, ask God, God, show me Jesus, show me the Lord. And I guarantee you that as you walk in the things of God, and as you walk and you desire to be like Jesus, all the other things that don't matter fall off. And the ones that do end up getting in. I guarantee you. Because it's about Jesus and it's about the story that we're in. Pray with me.