Aren't you glad you're at church today?
Baptisms, the move of the Holy Spirit, man, can I just,
don't you just know He's always moving?
He's always moving.
You don't have to come here on Sunday
to experience the move of God.
You don't have to come here on Sunday to do that.
Now He does do that, and I'm glad when He does,
but He will move Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in your lives.
I'm gonna tell you right now, I got a lot to share.
So I'm going very fast.
Get on your horse, you ready to saddle up?
Stand with me, we're gonna go to Genesis chapter 17.
And I would like you to read with some gusto this morning.
Here we go.
(congregation laughing)
When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him
and said, "I am God Almighty.
"Walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
"Then I will make my covenant between me and you
"and will greatly increase your numbers."
Abram fell face down and God said to him,
"As for me, this is my covenant with you.
"You will be the father of many nations.
"No longer will you be called Abram.
"Your name will be Abraham,
"for I have made you a father of many nations.
"I will make you very fruitful.
"I will make nations of you and kings will come from you.
"I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant
"between me and you and your descendants after you
"for the generations to come.
"Every male among you shall be circumcised.
"You are to undergo circumcision
"and it will be the sign of the covenant
"between me and you."
God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai, your wife,
"you are no longer to call her Sarai.
"Her name will be Sarah.
"I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.
"I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations.
"Kings of people will come from her."
Abraham fell face down.
He laughed and said to himself,
"Will a son be born to a man 100 years old?
"Will Sarah bear a child at the age of 90?"
And Abraham said to God,
"If only Ishmael might live under your blessing."
Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son
"and you will call him Isaac.
"I will establish my covenant with him
"as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
"And as for Ishmael, I have heard you.
"I will surely bless him.
"I will make him fruitful
"and will greatly increase his numbers.
"He will be father to 12 rulers
"and I will make him into a great nation.
"But my covenant I will establish with Isaac
"whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
On that very day, Abraham took his son Ishmael
and all those born to his household
or brought with his money,
every male in his household and circumcised them
as God told him.
Father, I thank you for your word.
Thank you that it brings truth.
I pray this morning that it would bring transformative truth
to our hearts and our lives
as we explore what you've done in the past
and how it connects to our story.
In Jesus' name, amen.
You are indeed a part of the greatest story ever told
and if you're following along on our Bible reading plan,
you will have already read this chapter
and the ones leading up to it as well
to kind of give some context to where we are.
But for those of you who may have forgotten what you've read
or have not read,
let me give some context building up to Genesis chapter 17.
In Genesis 10 and 11,
the nations are scattered at the Tower of Babel
and Abram's genealogy is introduced in chapter 10 and 11
and he's born into the family of Terah.
Now names and families are very important
and we're gonna learn a little bit more about that later
but names are very important.
In Genesis chapter 12,
God calls Abram to leave his homeland
and go to the land that he's gonna show him.
He promises Abram land, great nation
and a blessing of all the earth.
Abram obeys and he travels the Canaan
where he builds altars and he worships God.
Can I tell you that God will always move in a way
of blessing you with more
when you are faithful with the little.
So what we see here unfolding in Abram's life
is that God is introducing him to small moments
where he can have his yes on the table,
where he can obey so God can release in his life
more, greater things.
In Genesis chapter 13,
Abram and his nephew Lot separate
due to limited resources that they have
and God expands the land promise.
Abram is told his descendants will be as numerous
as the dust on the earth or the sand on the seashore.
In other words, your descendants are going to be so many
that you can't count them.
That's the type of promises our God makes.
God makes incredible, wonderful, miraculous promises
that he does keep.
Can you say to your neighbor, God keeps his promises?
In Genesis chapter 14,
Abram rescues his nephew Lot from evading kings
and he meets a guy named Melchizedek.
And this is the first time where we see the tithe rendered.
Abraham meets Melchizedek, the priest,
and he renders a tithe, a tenth of what he owns.
And I believe in that posture of obedience whenever we,
anytime we walk in obedience to the Lord,
not just in the tithe, but anytime the Lord continues
to expand his blessing.
In that same chapter, we look and we see how Abram
is not taken by King Sodom, he's taken into the wealth
'cause the King of Sodom came and said,
hey, listen, you can have the plunder of everything here.
Abram's response, my provision comes from the Lord.
Can I tell you that your provision comes from the Lord?
Doesn't come from man-made things,
it doesn't come from even your victories,
it comes from the Lord.
In Genesis 15, God formally establishes his covenant
with Abram, formally establishes his promise.
And the promise is that he's going to have an offspring
and it's going to come from him, a biological son,
not a servant, will be his heir.
In Genesis 16, I think most of us can find ourselves
in both Abram and Sarai at this point
because we often will go impatient,
waiting on God's promise.
Has anybody ever felt like you gotta help God along?
Need to help you along the way, God?
I don't think you've seen everything here,
so let me kinda fashion something or make something happen
so that your blessing can be what it is.
And so Abram and Sarai have an idea, they say,
hey, Abram, why don't you sleep with my servant?
And the blessing could come through her.
So Abram sleeps with Hagar and they have Ishmael.
And so, look, God, look what we've done.
Now you can bless us.
Now that we've righted what you've forgotten, God,
you can bless us, right?
And so here we are in chapter 17, 13 years later,
Abraham and Sarai, or Abram and Sarai
have a 13-year-old boy, Ishmael,
to which they think God's gonna convey this promise.
Now, in Genesis chapter 17, I believe that,
anybody here a formula type of person,
like a checklist type, I like a good checklist,
check, check, check, and we're done.
Anybody, is that just me?
Okay, I believe Genesis chapter 17 is a formula,
a form, formulaic, is that a word?
Yeah, formulaic, a checklist type chapter
of how we can be ready to receive God's great promises
for our life if we pay attention, okay?
So Genesis chapter 17, we pick up here,
and they've got this son, Ishmael,
and they have fashioned him, or they have made him,
and they said, this is going to be
where the blessing's gonna come through, okay?
When this chapter opens, the very first thing that it says
is when Abram was 99 years old.
Is anybody here 99 years old?
Who's close?
No, don't answer that.
(congregation laughing)
Can I tell you that God is not finished using you
no matter how old you are?
I wanna speak to the older demographic
for just a moment here, because it is very easy
for the older demographic, after you have what has been
your prime of life, when you feel like you have done
the thing, you get outside of that,
and you begin to scratch your head, and you say,
what's left for me to do?
Is there anything left for me to do?
Where do I belong?
And really, if you're not careful, discouragement can set up.
Frustration can set up.
But can I tell you that as long as you are breathing
on this planet, God has a plan for your life.
In the world, there is a retirement plan.
In the kingdom, there's no such thing.
God has a purpose and a plan for your life
as long as you are breathing here on the planet.
But here's where I think where we miss it.
Now, I'm not in the age demographic yet,
but I've witnessed enough and I've talked to enough
of you who have been in that demographic,
and here's where I think we kinda miss the boat, okay?
We miss the boat.
When you get into that older demographic,
you kinda look at that season in life
where you were in the driver's seat,
and you compare your life where you are right now
to where it was then.
And you know what comparison does?
It's a thief of joy.
You look at that season and you say,
why am I not able to do those things anymore?
Why does my life look like that anymore?
And can I tell you, older demographic, here's my charge.
Stop holding the younger generation responsible
to put you in places of leadership and value.
You are to hear from the Lord
and do what the Lord tells you to do.
When you hear from the Lord and you walk in obedience to Him,
you will find your place right where you're supposed
to be.
Here's the thing.
Listen, I'm the world's best driver.
(congregation laughing)
Okay?
Just this past week, I took a group of seniors downtown
to Nashville, went to an escape room and out to eat.
And when we were there,
I was driving down the interstate,
and I kept hearing them shout, bingo, as loud as they could.
And I was like, wow.
Now, if you know me very well,
you know I like a good game of bingo, okay?
But I have no idea what they're doing
or why they're saying that and having a conversation
with somebody in the passenger seat there.
So I just let it go and get down off the off ramp
and they yell, bingo, again.
And I'm like, what is going on?
They are like into this bingo game, you know?
So we go play the escape room, we get back in the van,
we end up at the Thai restaurant.
So we get out of the Thai restaurant,
and when we get outside, the kids all run to the van
and they shout, bingo, and this is where the van is.
Now, you can't see that very well,
but there's actually a line that's underneath the van there
as I am taking two parking spots.
Before our excursion, before our excursion,
our seniors got a card together
and they created a bingo card that had spots on it
that said things such as,
he will be cut off by another driver.
He will slam on his brakes.
He will park illegally.
And they were shouting, bingo,
as I was doing all of these things,
not knowing that they had it on a bingo card.
Now, here's the thing.
Those in the older demographic,
the current generation is in the driver's seat
and we are needing some navigators.
We are needing some navigators because I am driving crazy.
I've got lines underneath my car.
I need somebody in the navigator seat
helping me as I drive the van.
But here's the difference.
There's a difference between being a navigator
and somebody who criticizes.
And if you're in the older demographic
and all you're doing is criticizing the driver,
don't get upset when they don't drive by your house
and wanna pick you up.
You have a role.
Never negate the power of presence.
One of the greatest gifts that Pastor Ronnie has given me
in this season, this leg of my race, is that he shows up.
And for those of you in the older demographic,
I want you to hear loud and clear
that there is so many places for you to serve
here at Springhouse.
It may not look like it did when you were in your,
quote unquote, prime.
It may look differently, but there are so many places
and it's not my job to tell you what that place is.
You have to hear from the Holy Spirit of God.
Lean into what he tells you to do
and as you walk in obedience to him,
you will be fulfilled beyond anything in your imagination
and you probably will be holding the arms up of somebody
who needs to gain from the wisdom that you have.
Can I digress from this point?
God's call is not limited by your age.
He appears to Abram at 99 years old
and he says, "I'm gonna deepen my covenant
"and my promise with you."
A.W. Tozer says this, "God does not call the qualified,
"he qualifies the called."
God's call is, and his gifts are, irrevocable.
That means no matter your age, where you've gone,
what you've done, his gifts and his call are irrevocable.
And so after he shows up, or as he shows up,
the first thing that God says is this,
"I am God Almighty."
All true God's stories start here.
I am God Almighty.
The very first thing God is going to do in your life
is establish the lines of authority.
The very first thing God is going to do
is to help you understand that anything that comes
that's good in your life,
anything that's about to be a blessing,
anything that comes of the kingdom or in this world
as it concerns you, if it's good,
it starts with I am God Almighty.
Because everything in your life is about bringing glory
to not yourself, but to the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords.
To the star breathing God.
What makes your story so powerful
is the radical transformative work of Jesus Christ
in your life, can I hear an amen?
So the very first thing God will do is establish
that he is who he is in the relationship.
And he doesn't start with you, which is very anti-cultural.
'Cause we do like to start with us
and we like to know what you're gonna do
and how it's gonna affect us.
And we expect everybody to do the same.
Arwin Jones says this, "The toddler does not run the house."
Can I tell you that the Christian does not run the kingdom?
The King runs the kingdom.
And it starts with I am God Almighty.
And right behind that, God says,
"I require two things, Abram,
"for you to walk faithfully and to walk blamelessly."
In other words, are you ready for this church?
I expect excellence.
I am God Almighty and I expect excellence.
Who's meeting the mark?
Raise your hand, anybody?
Well, here's the thing.
We cannot walk faithfully and we cannot walk blamelessly
unless we recognize I am God Almighty.
Because we need the help of the Holy Spirit
to do either one of those things.
The minute we get off the course
and think that we are faithful in our own right
and that we're blameless in our own right,
we have negated that He is God Almighty
and we put ourselves on the throne.
He is God Almighty and He says,
"I need you and I want you to walk faithfully
"and blamelessly."
Over in the New Testament, it says, "Be holy."
Anybody doing that well this morning?
"Be holy as I am holy," says the Lord.
You can only do that with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Day by day, moment by moment.
Walk faithfully, walk blamelessly before me.
And so we rarely bring the best to the table.
We rarely, would you guys lift your hands, lift your hands?
Lift them higher.
Why didn't you do that the first time?
Because we're only willing to bring
what we're comfortable with.
We're only willing to get to the line
to where it doesn't cost us anything.
And so God is saying, "I want the margin
"between comfortable and sacrifice.
"I want all of those things in the in-between there."
He's calling us up, He's calling us higher.
But in order to do that, we've gotta understand
who's God and who's not.
He is God Almighty.
So then after that, He establishes His promise
and He uses this word covenant.
Covenant is another word for promise
but it's a deeper word.
It's a word with foundation and has legs
and it says, "We're gonna put some meat to this promise
"and I'm gonna convey to you what I promise
"and what I'm needing from you.
"We're gonna put it just like a contract of sorts.
"We're gonna really understand each other here
"in this agreement."
It's a deeper level of promise.
Have you ever had somebody break a promise?
How did it feel?
You know, I've broken promises to my kids before
and man, it's like you couldn't probably wound me more
than me realizing I've broken a promise to my child.
God always keeps His promises.
You can always count on Him to keep His promises.
Think about in real time, we're talking about 13 years
between what Abram did and where we are right now.
13 years.
I don't even have a 13 year old yet.
13 years.
And God is coming up behind them.
Guess what, He's gonna keep His promise.
He's gonna keep His promise.
I don't know how long you've been waiting on God
to do what He said He was going to do
but God will always keep His promise.
It may not be in your timeline,
might not look the way that you want it to look
but if God said it, He will do it.
If God said it, He will do it.
And can I also say everything that He said
He was going to do, He's done
and everything that He said He's going to do, He will do.
He is God.
He is God Almighty.
The reliability of a promise depends on the one making it.
And so we can count on God
because He's the one making the promise.
I've made promises to God and I've kept every single one.
That's not true.
Anybody make a promise to God?
I asked God if He would let it snow
so we can get out of school.
As a high school, I would read all the books of Psalms.
Didn't happen.
He made it snow.
I didn't keep my end of the bargain.
How many times have you let the Lord down
with what you said you would do?
I've done it lots of times.
You can always count on Him.
You can always count on the Lord.
God never breaks His promises.
Everything He has said will come to pass
and continue to come to pass.
So God appears to Abram, declares that He's God Almighty,
tells him to be faithful and blameless, shares His promise
and Abram responds.
Can I tell you, this is so important guys,
how we respond matters.
How we respond matters in everything, how we respond.
And this is Abram's response.
Abram fell face down.
We could end the message right here.
Because our number one go-to of response
is to open our mouth and say.
But guys, can I suggest that we need to close our mouth
and fall down in a posture of worship?
Recognizing that He is God Almighty,
recognizing who He is, Abram falls down
in a posture of worship.
Guys, worship is not just coming in here on Sunday morning
and singing a couple of songs.
You do understand that, right?
Like a fraction of our worship is us gathering together
to enthrone Him on our praises this morning.
We had a powerful moment of worship this morning,
but it is a fraction of what it is.
This is what the Scripture tells us that worship is.
I urge you, brothers and sisters,
in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies
as living sacrifices.
Any living sacrifices in here this morning?
Holy and pleasing to God,
this is your true and proper worship.
This is Monday morning.
This is Tuesday afternoon.
This is Wednesday night.
This is every day of our life,
offering our bodies, our lives, holy to the Lord.
I need the Holy Spirit to help me with that.
I need the Holy Spirit to help me in my worship.
Worship was Abram's response.
And whenever we worship, listen,
worship unlocks greater revelation.
When we worship, it unlocks greater revelation.
Some of us have been sitting on a word,
we have created an Ishmael,
we bring Ishmael with us into this place,
and we sit there and we are waiting for a revelation
from God and God is saying, you have not surrendered to me.
You are doing more talking than you are listening.
Your heart posture is, I've got it all together,
God, I want your plan to fit into my plan.
And this morning, I believe the invitation
is for us to evaluate our lives
to see if we've got any Ishmaels running around
that we need to trade in for Isaac's.
That we need to say, God, I've fashioned this Ishmael,
I put this work and all this time into it,
and God, your word, just like you did with Ishmael,
you're not gonna forget about Ishmael,
but that's not what you said.
And I believe your word in what it says.
God will always deliver on his promise.
God had more for Abram.
You will be the father of many nations.
This is what the scripture says.
You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram,
your name will be Abraham.
But listen to this.
For I have made,
I have made you a father of many nations.
What is will be?
It is, what is will you?
Future.
Will be is future.
Have made is?
Do you see what God did there?
I'm giving you, I'm going to make you fruitful
based on something that I've already decided to do.
It's already done.
You being a father of the nations
is not predicated on something that you do.
It's going to be based on what I do through you.
Are you with me?
And in that, in the future,
because of the past thing
that I already decided to do in present,
I'm going to bless you and make you fruitful.
Can I tell you that God has spoken promises over your life?
Some of you have just decided that they're no more.
But past tense, he has done it.
He's going to keep his promise.
He will prosper you in it.
He will keep the thing that he said he was going to do.
And so he changes Abram's name.
And Abram's name changes from an exalted father
to the father of nations.
Which is better, an individual exalted father
or the father of nations?
Can I tell you, God always has more
than you can ever expect.
Or imagine.
God has always got more than you can ever expect or imagine.
And so he changes the name.
And when it comes to names, church,
what I want you to understand,
it's not about what you are called,
it's about what you answer to.
I have been called so many things in my life.
And the only time that I try to render power
to what I'm called is what I answer to.
You give power to what you answer to.
The world has assigned a whole bunch of labels
and names for your life.
But God has some other names.
Which one are you answering to?
Which one are you, because Abram could have said no,
no thank you, I'll just continue to be Abram
and not the father of nations.
But the blessing rested in the father of nations.
Which banner, which name are you living your life under?
Which banner and name are you answering to?
Because let me tell you, this enemy's out to kill,
steal and destroy and he's got a lot of crappy things
to say about you.
A lot of crazy things to call you.
And some of you are answering that call,
going to those vices, destroying your life,
not understanding that the God of the universe
has a name for you.
That he has a promise for you that negates all other things.
If you just believe it and receive it in worship,
in worship, God says I have so much more for you.
Stop answering to a name that is beneath the call
I've given you and begin to allow me to identify you
based on my plan and my purpose.
Do you realize friends that you are a new creation?
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come,
the old has come and the new is here.
I found this verse in Revelation this week.
To the one who is victorious, I will give a white stone
with a new name written on it, known only to the one
who receives it.
God is in the business of renaming things.
The old is gone, the new has come.
Are you ready to receive it?
So what about this deal of circumcision?
Ouch.
Circumcision.
Circumcision is listed here as a covenant side
between God and Abraham, marking a deeper commitment
and responsibility in their relationship.
You understand that every covenant,
every, in order for us to get to the covenant promise of God
there has to be the shedding of blood every single time.
There has to be the shedding of blood.
We live post-Christ, post what he did on the cross.
He shed the blood, he was the perfect lamb on the cross
and so therefore we don't have to kill goats and lambs
and pay and spill blood for our sin,
including this whole deal of circumcision,
which symbolically represents separation from the world
and devotion to God, much like the other covenant signs
in biblical history such as the rainbow after the flood.
Circumcision also signifies a cutting away
of a reliance on human strength,
especially in contrast to Abraham and Sarah's attempt
to fulfill the promise themselves with Hagar and Ishmael.
Beyond a mere physical sign, circumcision symbolizes death
to the flesh to avoid judgment.
It echoes the themes of Noah's Ark
like we learned about last week.
Who appreciated Josh's message last week on Noah's Ark?
The Passover blood, God's judgment against sin
demonstrating a need for spiritual renewal
and reliance on God's power.
By instituting circumcision, God calls Abraham
to reject self-reliance and trust in divine intervention
to bring about his promises,
particularly regarding the promised offspring.
The act serves as a reminder of salvation and blessing
do not come through human schemes,
but through God's faithfulness.
In the New Testament, circumcision is fulfilled
through Christ who was cut off in his death
for human redemption.
Let's look at the book of Colossians chapter two.
It says this, "In him you were also circumcised
"with a circumcision not made with hands,
"but by the circumcision of Christ
"in the stripping off of the body of the flesh,
"having been buried with him in baptism, raised with him."
This is why we are dead to the world
and alive in Christ when we baptize.
'Cause you are dead to the world, you are cut off.
It's as if you have been circumcised
to signify that you are cut off.
But guess what?
We don't have to go through the circumcision process
because Jesus was the perfect lamb.
He paid the price.
Jesus' sacrifice replaces the physical circumcision
as the sign of God's covenant,
emphasizing that righteousness comes through faith,
not through human works.
Your works are like filthy rags.
So we don't do works.
No, we learned last week that we have a job to do.
But when our value and our salvation
and our relationship with God is defined by those works,
it's like filthy rags.
Because the only way that we can have a relationship
with Jesus Christ is through his blood,
through the spilt blood of Christ.
Abraham was called to trust in God's ability
to bring life from barrenness.
Believers are called to place their faith in Christ's power
to bring salvation, transforming human weakness
into divine fulfillment.
The covenant, listen to this friends,
the covenant is not so much about what you get.
This promise, he's outlining this promise to Abraham.
You're gonna be a father of many nations.
Kings are gonna be all of these things.
But guys, can I tell you at the crux of the promise
is not what you get, it's who you belong to.
You get to be in relationship with God Almighty,
the one who breathes stars, the one who creates your story,
that pins your story so wonderfully well.
Thankfully, the shedding of the blood was taking care of us
and we no longer have to circumcise
to be a part of his great promise.
The blood allows for the covenant to take place
and now we are charged as to live
as ones marked by the covenant.
This is what Jesus said in Luke.
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Can I tell you, listen, for some of you,
this is harder than circumcision.
Because you are holding so tightly
onto the things that you want to control
and God is inviting you to relinquish those things
so he can give you something so much better.
So much better.
Some of us are following symbolic crosses
but we're really being led by our own mind
and our own heart and our own thoughts.
The invitation and the promise is a daily invitation
to follow him, a daily invitation to come.
Pain is often the price tag for purpose.
Some of you may have been going through a season
in your life where you're thinking,
man, this doesn't feel good.
Have you ever done something that God's told you to do
and you're like, this doesn't feel good, I don't like it?
Anybody?
Can I tell you that pain could be the catalyst
to your greatest, greatest blessing?
And if we really are attuned to the kingdom
and this whole thing, some of you, he had a 13-year-old.
Who has a teenager here, anybody got a teenager?
Can I tell you it's selfish for you
to just believe a promise for your life
and not believe that that promise
affects your offspring and your kids?
It doesn't start and end with you.
So some of you are so focused in on,
I'm not feeling, I'm not seeing.
What if the greatest act of love as a parent
was that you were to suffer your entire life
so that your children could inherit the blessing?
Would it be worth it?
Would it be worth it to say, God, I don't understand
why I'm having to suffer and go through this,
but I believe beyond my death,
I believe that you're gonna make your promise
come true because you said you would.
You said you would.
So he's gonna ask you to render what you've done.
There's a story of a guy who had a toddler girl
and the mom had to go on a trip.
So he said, I'm gonna hang out with my daughter,
my little toddler.
And he says, what do you wanna do today?
And she says, I wanna paint.
So he goes out to the store and he gets these paint colors
and these brushes and sets up the water and the canvases.
He's got it all set up so perfect at the table.
And so the toddler, he invites her to the table
and she sits up there and he's expecting her
to grab that brush and dip it in the paint
and just nicely go against that canvas
and dip it back in the water.
She takes that paint, she throws it on the walls,
on the table, on the canvas.
She takes that water and knocks it down all over.
He takes her hand and places it all on that canvas like this
and he is just so frustrated and upset
'cause it didn't go the way that he thought
it was gonna go.
Well later on that day, that little toddler walks up
and grabs her canvas and brings it to her daddy
and says this, look what I did.
That dad's heart changed immediately.
Because all of a sudden it didn't matter what was done.
What mattered was who did it.
And can I tell you, some of you have labored in ministries.
You have raised an Ishmael.
You have crafted things on your own strength
and it looks no better than that painting.
But can I tell you the graciousness of our God?
He'll take that mess and he'll hang it
right on the fridge rater and say,
Kurt, look what you did.
You're such a good boy, right?
Doug, you just painted that and I know you're so proud of it
but he says this, I'm gonna hang this here
and bless you for it but I've got so much better for you.
I've got so much more in store for you
if you will let me move in your life.
So what about your Ishmael?
Have you been sitting on something
that you've crafted together to try to make it happen?
Have you taken a job that you weren't supposed to take?
Have you gotten in a relationship
you weren't supposed to get in?
Have you said that, have you disconnected
from a relationship that you were supposed to stay in?
Have you stopped ministering in an area
you should be ministering in or have you averted
not going out there and signing up
for a ministry at those tables
because of past wounds and hurt?
I don't know what the story is
but I believe that there are some Ishmaels here.
And God wants to tell you
that he will bless what you've done
but there's something so much better if you'll let him,
if you'll surrender.
Now, Jesus Christ paid the price.
The reason we come to the table,
if those who are gonna serve the elements come forward,
the reason that we go to the table every week at this church
is because when we are gathered
as a part of our worship time together in this moment,
we are reminded that we are not having
to circumcise ourselves, to kill goats and lambs
and all to do all of those things
because of Jesus and what he did.
And because of his great big promise
and laying down his life and shedding his blood,
because of that promise, because he did that for us,
we get to come to the table freely but here's the thing,
he's got a blessing for you.
He's got some things for you to do.
He's got some unwritten pages of your story
that if you will just render the pen
and allow him to take it up,
he'll write some remarkable things in your story
that you never thought possible.
But at the end of the day, when you read the story,
when we read the greatest story ever told about Ted's life
or Bob's life or Kurt's life or Hannah's life
or Ronnie's life or Mary Sue's life or April's life,
when you read the end of the story,
it's not going to be an amazement
on all these things you did.
Well, you did that ministry and you did this thing
and look at that that you built.
Oh, it's going to be, I got to be with Jesus.
I got to be with the star breather of the universe
and I had a relationship with him
and there was nothing that could supersede that.
And so when we come to the table,
you're not thinking about your sin.
He forgave your sin.
He said he forgot about it from the east, from the west.
Isn't that glorious?
We want to think about how bad of a wretched person.
We come, the word tells us we come and we remember.
What are we remembering?
I'm such a wretched sinner.
No, we remember that he came, lived a perfect life,
paid the price, was buried, rose again.
And here's the best part of all.
We remember past tense, a future promise.
He's coming again, guys, and he's going to split the sky.
And so we rejoice.
Amen?
We rejoice.
Would you stand with me this morning?
We're going to go to the table
as we close the gathering this morning
and my encouragement to you is
as you take the elements this morning
that you would remember who he is
and that you have access to him this morning.
You'll come, take communion, go back to your seats
and then I'll bless you when it's over.
Let's worship.
(gentle music)