Faith Works – Eternal Comfort

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A sermon by Adam Barcott

November 10, 2019

Give ourselves to second to a kind of anchor. Ask the Lord to bless us and then we’ll read together the prayer of confession on page D, but first let’s pray.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you. We began by saying thanks for the cool weather. Thank you for keeping nature in order for us today that we could predictably get up and do things that we would want to, so we thank you for that. We don’t want to take it for granted. And we thank you for your love and your care, your power and your love towards us. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ who has died for us and saved us and is with us now. We praise you and by the power of the Holy Spirit we say, Jesus, you are Lord. We ask that you would bless us today. Fill us with your Spirit, minister your word and your sacraments to us, nourish and strengthen us and continue to bind us together to you and to one another. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

Lets take a moment of silence before we pray the prayer of confession to ask the Lord if there’s anything in between you and Him that you just want to take care of.

Thanks Lord, for even giving us the opportunity to check in and recognize any anxiety, recognize any fear or anger we recognize it and we want to give it to you. We want to at least enjoy today as we gather around your word with some peace. And so we begin by praying the prayer of confession on page D where we recognize, the situation here, but we also have a chance to settle into the forgiveness that is offered to you by Jesus Christ. So let us pray together.

Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone, we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment for the sake of your son, Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your Holy name. Amen.

And now receive the word of God. Almighty God in his mercy has given his son to die for you. And for his sake forgives you all your sins. And as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit.

You’re all forgiven. That’s good news from Jesus. I’m just passing it on. Thank you Lord. We want to sing to you now.

So prepare your hearts to hear from three chapters of the Holy Scripture. First we’ll hear from Joe, right? But it’s not from Joe, Joe’s reading the book of Exodus from God. Chapter 3 verses 1 through 15, and it’s found on page 27. This is early in our story.

Exodus 3:1-15Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[b] will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.[c] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[d] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

This is the reading of the word of God. Thanks be to God. Thank you Joe. And this story, will have a connection that I’ll let you discover for yourself. What Exodus three has to do with Luke chapter 20, but Julie is going to read for us. Luke chapter 20: 27-40. See if you can find how these even go together and then be proud of yourself.

Luke 20:27-4027 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man[a] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons[b] of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.”

Did you find the connection? Can someone tell me that connection? Right. Janna has got it.

The God of the living and the dead. But why does he say that? So at the burning Bush, he says to Moses, I am. I’m above time and space. I’m above all creation. I am the God who brings people back to life. I am the God of Abraham. I’m the God of the living. That means Abraham is not dead. Isaac is not dead. Jacob is not dead. I am the God of living people. So that’s being said to Moses. This is important because today we’re talking about the end times. You cannot be separated from God, a life with God by death. Moses says it, we know it. God says it to Moses because Jesus just quoted it. Jesus just said, you guys don’t believe in the resurrection. And he explained what the resurrection meant a little bit there. But then he’s like, God has always been about this because as God said to Moses, I am the God of the living, not the dead. And if you are in me, you are living. So that’s a cool connection.

This theme weaves into our discussion today as we go to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8: 13-17. This is a passage that is not easily understood right away. That’s why we’re reading these other passages to set us up to make sure that we’re rooted in the scriptures. A letter like second Thessalonians is easy to misinterpret and get derailed and that is not intention of Paul. So this would be found on page 575. You might want to have this open to try to understand everything that’s being said.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a] 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c] 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

2 Thessalonians 2:13-1713 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits[d] to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.Thanks be to God.”

So that’s a fun passage. Did you catch it all? Let’s talk about the end times or the day of the Lord. Paul wanted there to be no confusion, but he instead wanted… What instead of confusion? Comfort! Been saying that for awhile as we’re in this season where we think about the rest of our story, because at Christmas we’re going to get the beginning of the story, Christ’s coming to us. But at the end of the year you talk about the story that’s to come. He’s coming back again the same way he came the first time. And so there’s always confusion about these things because it’s hard to understand. And so today we’re going to break down real quick how faith works our eternal comfort.

Now when you think about comfort, my question is what makes you comfortable? What’s something you have at home that you’re like, Oh, when I want to relax, I want to ease the pain and the struggle of life. There’s some comfort. For me I have a, a pair of comfy shorts.

I call them comfy shorts. When my daughter worked at Billabong she got me all sorts of great clothes, they’re these sweat pants shorts. When you put them on, they’re great. So here’s how it goes. When I know there’s this block of time where there’s nothing. I’m getting my comfrey shorts on. I look forward to getting them on. I know where my comfy shorts are, I know exactly where they are cause I very rarely washed them for fear that I won’t have them at the right time. I know where they’re at. As soon as I put them on I’m like…this is great. I get in my seat and I get my beverage choices, my snacks and I’m going to be watching football for a long time or soccer or something like that. This is my safe place, my comfortable place. I’m in my comfy shorts with my snacks and then when it comes to an end, like all good things because during that time I’m not being distracted. If you’ve texted me while I had comfy shorts on, you know it because I didn’t get back to you for several hours cause comfy shorts are on.

But it comes to an end and I put them back, but I know they’re there and the promise for me is Oh, there’s going to come a time, when is the next time I get to get my comfy shorts on? And like I know today after the picnic when you all leave and we break everything down. Comfy shorts, although I might put them on for the picnic now that I’m thinking about it. But this is, this is important because we are trying to find comfort and we’re always trying to be comfortable apart from Christ. And so sometimes in the church, we even sing a song repenting of how we have made comfort our King and that’s bad, but there is a correct comfort. And even my little comfort shorts are a type, a type of Christ. We have things that are a type, they function in a very small way the way that Christ functions. Not in salvation of course, but in comfort, joy, the fruits of the spirit.

And so Paul is saying the end times are supposed to be comfy shorts for you. It’s supposed to be something that during a hard time you go, let me just put them on again. Let me carve out some time and just relax and let down because of the future. But in our current culture, it almost is never like that. It’s actually causes more angst. If I said, let’s think about the end times and diagram it out and figure out what we ought to do. Because that’s our nature. We want to figure out things, we want to control it, and so when it comes to the end times, Paul is saying, guys, I want you to first of all find comfort in knowing the plan.

Half the battle to a happy relationship with anybody is always knowing the plan, right? What are we doing tonight? And you’re feeling good and you’re like, I thought we’d just kind of wing it! I’m spontaneous, and … Oh no. That’s the beginning of the end of this relationship. Relationships very rarely work with spontaneity. That is a luxury item. If you’ve built up enough emotional coins to afford spontaneity, it’s very rarely something you go into. Trust me, I’m pretty spontaneous and it doesn’t work. And I realize too, I’m coaching soccer and the younger soccer players, incessantly want to know whats next. Hey coach, what are we going to do today? We’re going to practice, but are we going to play this game? How are we going to run? I’m like, just warm up. I’m going to tell you what we’re going to do. But I want to know how are we going to do this? Am I gonna start the next game? I don’t know. If you keep talking to me, you’ll never play for me again. Now you’re uncomfortable.

But there is something comforting about these questions for the kids, they just want to know. And so when it comes to end times, we get a little bit weird. We all do because we’re asking questions. Just like the kid asking me about the future of soccer. I’m like, hold on, I got to see a lot of things and I don’t feel like describing it to you cause it doesn’t matter. You’ll do what I say. And that’s how God’s looks at us. He’s like, I know you want to know the time and the place and the person and you wanna have it all. But here’s where you get the comfort. It’s very clear. Look, look, here’s what we get to know. Chapter two, verse one, it’s right here before all the confusing stuff comes. He says, now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, boom. That’s it.

Comfort concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ is coming again. That’s the given. That’s the thing, you know, let that comfort you. He hasn’t forgotten. He’s not leaving forever. He’s coming back. And number two, he’s going to gather us together.

He’s gathering his people together. This is what we do know, simple and comforting. He’s coming again. We’ll be gathered together. So here’s why that’s important. Know those things. And when you know the goal, right? When we know what the plan is, we now know what to do. We know how to think about it, we know how to plan. So as soon as we plan the picnic, I now know what I have to do in my backyard. I should probably get rid all the garbage.

Hide the bodies. I’m just joking to see if you’re listening. I know what to do. So now that you know the comfort that Christ is coming back and he’s going to gather his people. So here’s what you need to know. Be comforted. Now I know my life is safe, my life will find value. I’ll kind of know what to do. What should I do? I should love God and worship him and make sure I’m good with God, okay? Because when he comes again, he’s going to judge the living and the dead.

So he’s coming. So here’s what the day of the Lord means. The day of the Lord does not mean the end of the world. It means Jesus is coming back and that means judgment is coming. So if you are outside of Christ, you are judged for your own works. You’re responsible to make account for everything you’ve done and everything you’ve said. And the law is tough and it’s real. So that’s judgment. So if you want to be comforted, we go, Jesus, I love you. Cover me. Forgive me of my sins. Now when the Lord comes the day of judgment, he says, Oh, you’ve already been judged. I judged Christ. You’ve been judged in Christ. So the day of the Lord is this judgement, but you’re safe from judgment because you’re under the blood of Christ. If you didn’t want Christ blood, he’s not gonna make you a slave. He’s not gonna force you to, he’s loving and inviting you too. But if to the very end, you’re like, no thanks, I’ll take my chances. Then you get the law and no one is righteous. So you will be judged and separated from life. There is no comfort in that.

So knowing the plan though starts to settle us down and go, okay, Jesus is coming back, which is good and he’s going to gather us together. So you know the plan. That’s it.

Paul say’s, I don’t want you to be alarmed because people have confused the plan. At this point in time, people were saying, Jesus had already, come back, that his resurrection has already happened and therefore we’re in the resurrection. So now we can do whatever we want. And Paul says, no, that’s not true. And you have to remember that the original audience doesn’t have a Bible. They’re listening to the apostles and people who are with apostles. So you had to have like credit checks. Like how do you know Paul? And can we trust you? And that’s where they’re so concerned about corruptting the gospel because it has the effect of taking away all of our comfort and causing all this confusion. And so we either become antinomian where there is no law, or we become legalist where we demmand things must be done a certain way. Both ways we lose Christ. And so that’s what Paul is trying to protect here. I want you to know the plan. I want you to know how to live. You anchor around the words of God. And this should bring you comfort. But if you’re like most people, you’re like, okay, so what do I do now? What does this mean? What’s going to happen? I just still want to kind of know what’s gonna happen.

And so, Jesus says, I know. I would like to say the plan for you again, cause its important. Here’s what’s gonna happen according to the Scriptures.

Christ is with us. We get to know the plan. But he also allows us to experience his presence now. So this is very important to understanding scripture.

God works now and not yet.

I’ll start slow. Growing up in Seattle, we would sometimes go to Mount Rainier and we were so excited because you can see Mount Rainier from our house on a pretty day. It floats above the city. It’s gorgeous. One day you say let’s go to that thing. In high school you think it’s going to be a fun easy afternoon. Of course all my stories are before the cell phone was invented, so consequently I had no idea how long it would take to get there. But I can see it, which means it can’t be too far.

In my 17 year old mind, I confidently figure we were 30 minutes away. So let’s go! As you’re driving toward the mountain you see the mountain the whole time. I see it right now, and about four hours later you’re like, I don’t know guys. We didn’t really prepare for this. We’re already in the national forest, but we’ve been there for like an hour already. I don’t know where the mountain is. I don’t think we’re ever gonna get there. Right. You know what I mean? Like you see it, but then you’re still so far away from it.

And when you read the Bible, the prophets, Paul, this is the idea that Christ is now. He’s right now remaking us. We’re right now worshiping him. It’s happening right now. We see the mountain, but there’s a fuller expression. There’s the reality of it is still not yet. And this is important so that we experience the deliverance of God. We experience his salvation right now. We experience the hope and the Holy spirit is doing things, but we’re not fully resurrected yet. We’re not in our bodies, in the new creation yet. Right? You can understand that. Here’s why this is important. The same thing applies for evil.

We don’t like to think of it. This we’d like to think of just how God started work. He’s going to finish it. We’re going to rise again from the dead. But there is also evil. There’s pockets of evil that are working right now. But is it The evil? It’s not The evil yet. So Paul saying the antichrist, the son of destruction, the spirit of lawlessness, the word is antichrist or the beast. I know we have a sweet baby crying right now because it’s hard to hear. So I just want to introduced you to these ideas because evil works the same way. So Paul says some things like, “remember when I told you about the antichrist?” And the readers are going, we weren’t there. Paul tell us. But he doesn’t. And so we don’t speculate and try to figure out who’s the antichrist. When’s the antichrist coming? Because what do we know? All we know and need to know is Christ is comingagain in the flesh and will gather his people.

But the spirit of antichrist is working inthe same way as God, he is always conterfieting God’s real work. He too started a rebellion and will manifest himself, appear at a time he thinks is right. The spirit of antichrist is already at work, the spirit of lawlessness. So Paul looks at his audience, writes to them, and at this point, the year 41 AD Caligula was the Roman emperor. He was a real weird and evil leader. I’d get in trouble for saying that back in his day. But he created a huge statue of himself that he was going to put in the temple to be worshiped. This was going to end in the temple of God in Jerusalem. This was going to instigate a war, but someone murdered Caligula before he could do it. But then Nero who may have been even worse came to power and it is these current emperors to which Paul is referring. They make themselves God. They are of the son of lawlessness they are acting as the sons of destruction. These leaders the types of Satan himself.

They say and do satanic things currently which is why Paul says the work of lawlessness is already at work among you. So it’s happening. But does this mean Jesus is coming back now? Paul would say, no, you just see the mountain, you see the works of lawlessness and you will continue to see it locally. But one day in the future a day we don’t know the son of lawlessness or the antichrist will be like flushed out to show himself. So think of guerrilla warfare, right? Satan works from the bushes sniping us. He is not showing himself, but creating counterfeits because he doesn’t actually have the backing to afford what he is doing to the world. God sent his son. So Satan will try to send an emperor, find someone to do his work, because he can’t stand up to God face to face. But fear not Jesus will destroy him.

If you were around during the time of Hitler, you would think he’s gotta be the antichrist, right?

Joseph Stalin or name a politician…every generation can find the spirit of antichrist. They can find someone who is acting like Satan. And so Paul is saying, don’t be decieved, that’s not the Satan yet. Those leaders and their actions are just playing out in little pockets an evil reality. And the reality is Satan has rebelled against God. He’s wants our inheritance as humans because he knows we don’t deserve it. And he’s made a case against you over and over again. Stans case is always along these lines, Look how you squandered your inheritance. Look how you’ve rejected your father. Based on his evidence he wants to lead us into destruction. And so that’s at work in this world. And because of that, we’re surrounded by death. The Apostle Paul says that is your reality.

But what I’m doing now is Christ has broken into that reality and you have Jesus. Jesus will win. He has won. You are safe and we worship him now, and he will win. That’s where he says this great line, verse eight, “and then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” So there’s a day coming when things get l bad, not just locally, but universally all over the world. All hell breaks loose. And as soon as that happens, Jesus appears and kills him, separates him with his breath. Just how Jesus creates with his breath, with his spirit, He judges and saves, His breath kills and creates, and one day Jesus will say, oh hey, Satan you finally decided to show yourself. Justice is eternally served.

So our comfort is in what we know of our savior, not when it is going to happen. We know it’s going to happen and we can experience it now in little ways. Lord supper, worshiping, gathering. We experience salvation in little ways now and look forward and anticipate his saving appearance in the future. That ought to give us comfort. It can give us comfort because we can experience some of that right now. And that’s what God has been doing. When you look at the conversation Moses had with God, the scripture says God heard the cries of his people. He came to his people to deliver his people. He said, I am. I’m above all these things. I’m for you. That’s an experiential comfort while you’re in slavery. So Egypt is a little type of our whole life, right? God has a land flowing with milk and honey, the new creation set apart for us.

We are his people now. He protects us at night with a fire in the sky and cloud cover during the day and water from a rock and manna. He’s doing that now for us because one day we will be there. This is what we’re moving toward and the comfort we can have is enjoying his presence now that he has won and he will win, he will fight for you. And then really finally the idea of promise, we can find comfort in his promise.

Has anyone ever promised you anything? Did they keep it? I hope when someone keeps the promise you start to gain more trust. Right? So when someone said they could give me a ride home in high school and then they gave me a ride home and then the next day I was like, hey, can I get a ride home again? Since you live close to me. It only takes like two or three days before now you’re making plans, banking on that ride without ever talking to the person. Right. Which can be foolish, but it builds trust because they’ve done it.

We trust the Lord. His promise. His promise to us is to come again to raise us from the dead. And he keeps his promise. His promise to Abraham and to Moses was also given to David, was that he would come in the first place. And so for the sake of his promise to David, this is what the old Testament says, God would send Jesus. God was so done with the people of Israel because they were hard-hearted, stubborn and stiff necked just like us, always doing the wrong thing. They didn’t have the right heart or the spirit and God said I should be done with you. But for the sake of my promise to David, I’m going to save you and I’m going to give you a new heart and a new spirit.

Now Jesus came and we got the same promise. Is that for the sake of Jesus, I’ve given you a new heart. I’ve given you his spirit and I’m going to raise you from the dead because I’m the God of the living. I’m going to bring you back at the end. We ought to always give thanks to God.

So what do we do now? If you don’t feel very comforted by this, you have to ask yourself why and then talk to the Lord about it. I’ve become more and more comforted by it. But honestly, the only way to be comforted by God’s promises about the end are to grow into your powerlessness over everything. So the more you’re able to recognize and trust the Lord, I can’t even take care of the things you’ve given me. Lord, I missed so many things. I make so many poor choices. I’m just weak and tired. I can’t control my own body. I just get sick. Sometimes things happen. Begin by confessing Lord, I’m powerless. I need you.

The more you look to HIm the more he blesses you with the Gospel. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn their powerlessness mourn the body of death that encases them right now, the death all around them. The world says everything ends. Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn for you shall be comforted. God knows something about death. Jesus knows and he puts his arm around you. He says, I will come for you. I’ll help you take one step at a time, but I want you to know the end. It’s good and I want you instead of moving randomly this way or that way, I want to slowly put my arm around you and comfort you and I want to lead you to this good and wonderful story of everlasting life. Otherwise, we spend a lot of time doing things in our lives, but you never know was it good enough? Am I going in the right direction, how could you? The end comforts you. You’re worshiping Jesus today. I’ll tell you what, you are headed in the right direction. That’s from God, not me.

You’re worshiping his son. You’re saying, Jesus saved me! With great faith or very little faith with no doubt or all doubt it doesn’t matter. You’re doing it. God have mercy. He keeps his word. He keeps his promises to you and he will comfort you and all the brokenness, and all the things you’re longing for. Now, I know we have so many prayer requests. I pray for them and I pray God would give them all to us, but we don’t manipulate him. We trust him. And that means trusting him as we wait and trusting him as one day. All of these things will be taken care of. And that’s where we began to find comfort in this life.

So if the idea of the day of the Lord gets you really scared or you think you don’t want it to come, you just don’t know yet. It’s an eternal comfort for us. Christ is going to make all things good for you and for us, and that’s all he’s ever done is gather us together. So be comforted. God loves you and he’s going to love you forever. He’s the God of the living.

Let me pray. Father. Thank you. I thank you that you’ve loved us and you’ve given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. I pray that you’d comfort our hearts today and establish them in every good work and word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If everyone could turn to Psalm 148, I want to read it together. It’s where we praise the name of the Lord. So a lot of these songs would be written for people as the people of God were making their way to the temple. They would sing them together. It was a communal book of songs. And I thought, it would be cool to praise the Lord together much like those thousands and thousands of years before us did, because God is the same. He hasn’t changed.

let’s praise the Lord together by reading Psalm 148.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the Heights. Praise him. All his angels praise him. All his hosts praise him, sun and moon. Praise him all you shining stars, praise him. You highest heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created and he established them forever and ever. He gave a decree and it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth. You great sea creatures and all deeps fire and hail, snow and mists, stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains and all Hills, fruit trees and all Cedars beast and all livestock creeping things and flying birds, Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth. Young men and maidens together, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For his name alone is exalted. His majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people. Praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord.

So, we will have a chance to give back to God. And as we pass around our offering plate, we thank you and encourage you to always be about the word of God on earth as it is in heaven. So we support any of the ministries that come from and through the church. Also, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this, but uh, on the wall, you know, Troy made these beautiful pictures, but they’re really our values. So as we have time of quiet or reflection, we, we kind of go in this order and we have one more that’s going to be made soon. I just have to get on that. But the first one is in your mercy, hear our prayer that we’re a church that has access to relationship with God and to one another and we are known and in his mercy he hears us and then we’re out of church. That gets to be a, place of rest. Well, we can actually rest and more is not being demanded of you for the success of this church or this or success that it’s, we get to rest and Sabbath with the Lord. And so be still and know the Lord. That’s with a deep reservoir of is being funded and will come. And then the hope that we have or celebrating today’s, we will rise again.

Death will not interrupt our life with God. And then the last one we’re going to get made is, the Lord bless you and keep you that we receive his blessing, but we are ministers of blessing to people and the earth. It’s part of our story. So I just, I would have remembered to say this later, but God gave it to me now. So as you, if you ever have time where we’re sitting and praying or giving, or you can look at these and kind of anchor into one of them, whichever one you find yourself. But, , let me pray and ask the Lord to bless our time of offering. Father, thank you for every good and perfect gift that you’ve given. We give back our praise. We give back our talents, our money, our time because you’re worth it. You are the author of all good things and you have brought us out of worshiping, created things for life too. Worshiping the God of the living. Thank you. And receive our gifts in Jesus name. Amen.

It’s also during this time if you have a prayer prayer requests, we put them on the back board and enjoy praying for you during the week.

God, we thank you for all these gifts. We thank you that you keep a space like this available for us and work for us to do where we can love each other and serve each other. Thank you God. In Jesus name. Amen.

Because the story, uh, that God has given us is so counter intuitive. It’s counter to what we naturally think and feel because we naturally feel like we have to do it. We were on our own, we gotta we can never really rest because as soon as you rest more is demanded. And so God in his wisdom sets up things like

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the word of God, gathering his people to worship, to remind each other, to gather around his story. Then he gives us things like the Lord’s supper that become rituals because rituals start to create who you are and how you think.

That’s why advertisers understand this and they do the same stupid commercial over and over again because repetition will change you and all of a sudden you’re like, I need something new from that store. It’s true. Just facts of nature. And so the repetition of coming to the Lord’s table as the repetition that you are being reformed, recreated as the person who has fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, that you aren’t the one that has to die anymore. You’ve died in your baptism. Christ has died for you. All. Glory to God, all comfort to his people. And so we do this weekend and week out. And I hope that it’s becoming a part of you and a source of authority that says you’re forgiven and you’re loved and you have fellowship with God. There’s peace between God and you through Jesus Christ. And for my perspective, the opportunity for Matt and I to pray is a great gift that we get to do. Now, a lot of churches get to pray for people at the Lord supper, but we love it and we love you. So the night that Jesus was to be betrayed, celebrating Passover, he says to his friends, give me the bread. Something’s changing. This is this bread. Now is my body which is being broken for you. You haven’t done enough and you never will be able to. Death is demanded of you, but I will die. I will fight the war and sacrifice on your behalf. And in the same way he takes the cup, he pours it, pours out the wine. He says, now this is a new covenant. A new deal has been cut for the forgiveness of sins and there’ll be by my blood, you are saved. It’s hard for the guys there that night to understand what was going on. It’s hard for us always to understand, but what we know is that God’s word on anything makes it something new. So God’s word on a Bush becomes fire, but it doesn’t burn it up. It’s something different. God’s word on us we were sinners but we are something different now we’re saints and God’s word over bread and grape juice on the outside, wine in the middle. It is the true blood of Christ, something different something that sustains, strengthens our faith and assures us that we are as children. That’s cool. So I invite you if you have faith and you’re trusting in Christ, come forward and have a meal. If you don’t trust him, still come forward and we’ll bless you.

Dear heavenly father, we offer these things to you knowing they’re just bread, wine. But in the name of the father, son, and Holy spirit, we assign your word, which is, this is my body. This is my blood. We take that by faith and we put ourselves under your word, by faith, believing that you’re doing your work, you’re saving us. You’re beginning resurrection in us. Holy spirit, you’re already governing and pastoring us. And so I encourage our hearts, strengthen our faith, feed us spiritually as we get a foretaste, a small little type of the great banquet that is to come one day fully in your presence. Bless this. We ask, and bless us in Jesus name. Amen. So Jesus says as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death and his coming again. So amen to that. That’s pretty cool.

Receive God’s blessing. May the Lord bless you and keep you May the Lord make his face shine upon you and give you grace. May he look upon you with favor and give you peace now and forever. Amen.