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Good morning, everybody. Good morning. It is very, very good to see you. Very good to see you. And if it feels heavy in this room, it it's because it is.
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It is because it is. But there is hope. There is hope in this room, and there is victory. And it's because of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to know that, and I want you to rest in that because it is so true.
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Like, listen to this psalm that says, yes, my soul find rest in God. My hope comes from him. Let's pray on that. God, our hope, our joy, our victory, it all comes from you. You are the author of life and salvation and joy and peace.
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Thank you for your spirit, God. May your spirit comfort each person in this room today. God, would you give us a peace that passes understanding as we sing, as we lift our voices to you? I pray that that song will rise as just the as our victory is in you. In Jesus' name.
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Amen. Let's stand together and sing. Let's say spirit of the living God.
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Y'all can have a seat. This morning, I don't have any announcements. There's one announcement that I I imagine that the overwhelming majority of y'all have heard of the passing of our fellow elder Mark Upton, who was killed tragically this past week. So, things have changed a lot since the sermon was written and things have changed a lot since the bulletin was printed. But I want y'all to know that the family sends warm, warm love to all of you who have been praying this whole time and we spent the day with them yesterday and we are working through this together.
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We are to work through this together. We are not to grievous those who have no hope. We have hope. It's incorruptible hope. We're studying first Peter.
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We're going to point towards it again today but I do want for you to continue earnestly in prayer and in love for the family, the Upton, Sarah, and Brianna, Kirsten, Morgan, and Ben. And Isabelle. God, would you right now would you bind us together lord with cords that just can't be broken? Would you bring us to being the body of Christ? Lord, perfect and without spot, without flaw.
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I pray that you'd sanctify us as we rub shoulders with one another and serving one another. I pray that you'd fill us lord with your spirit, fall afresh on us that we would come to know Lord Jesus in his grief and in his sorrow. God, I pray that as you as you teach us today, as you use us in each other's lives today. Lord, I pray that we would all be built up and that we would come out of this having encouraged one another and built each other up. I pray that that Mark's legacy would be ongoing and apparent in every institution that he served in town and every sphere of influence where he spent so great a life and so God, I pray for his family this morning.
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I pray for all of us as his church family and I pray lord that we would direct our attentions to you that we would consider the great salvation which you have offered which Mark accepted, which he will is right now enjoying, and which we will one day. In Jesus name, lord, I pray that you would bind us together. That you'd bind up our wounds, that old rifts and wounds would be healed in the face of the current circumstances. Lord, may anything that we have held in our hearts against one another, lord, be just eclipsed and may it just go completely, completely away. God, I thank you for the cathartic times that you give, lord.
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It is not the way that we would do it but as we talked about last week, you are building us up into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to mediate. Salvation to this world. You are building us up lord but in this time, it's not the way we would have chosen but we pray that we would be building ourselves up, that we would be able to come together. In Jesus name, lord, I pray. For everyone in attendance here this morning and every family with whom they will interact this week.
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I thank you for all the other pastors in town, for all the other congregations in town that are meeting right now and mourning with us and it is in your son's precious name that we have hope and can go on. So, lord, would you speak to us this morning right where we are right now? In Jesus name, amen. So, norm, normally, after the announcements, I have y'all get up and greet one another and we are going to do that. Take an extended time if you wish.
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When we start playing the music, we will play. You may keep on visiting if you want to and please, there are a lot of folks standing in the back. So, everybody move forward if you will and just keep on kind of come forward when you come back from your seats and then join us in song. We'll probably sing it a couple of different okay? Thank you.
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Would y'all rise and greet one another this morning?
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My soul must sing. Listen, beautiful. Beautiful one, adore adore beautiful beautiful one, one, my my soul of seeing. You've opened my eyes. Open my eyes to your wonders of you.
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You've opened my eyes to your wonders in you. You captured my heart with this love. There's nothing on earth as is beautiful as you.
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You know what the verse that that comes to mind? And we sang it right there from first Corinthians. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. Just think about that. Consider that for a second.
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Think of the hope that we have in there.
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Won't be shaken by drowned over the storm. Peace that passes understand. It's my song for nothing. My hope
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Can I share just a few verses with you? Because, really, what what is our comfort? Where does our strength come from? It comes from the Lord, but it comes from his word. Let me just read a few of these.
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Yes. My soul find rest in God. My hope comes from him. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.
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They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
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The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
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Have a strong and perfect, a great high priest whose name is love. Whoever lives and pleads for Praise the warm, risen sun, oh, God. Sing that again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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You can be seated and, I'll invite the frontline team to come forward. Let's pray. Let's give thanks. God, there's always something to give thanks for. Always.
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Always. Thank you, God, for your kindness. Thank you for how you're sweet to us even in the even in the even through the valley. Thank you, God, that every perfect gift, it comes from. God, these are just they're just they're resources.
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They're just things. It's just stuff. Would
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you use it
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to grow your kingdom? Would you use this church right here, everyone in here to be salt and light? We're representatives of you. And we we fall short. Yeah.
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We fail, but it's it's you Christ in us. I know. That's what we want people to see. We want the world to know the hope that we for in Jesus' name.
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You are with me. You're not in your slave. They comfort me. They comfort me. You prepare a table before
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me.
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They comfort me. They comfort me. Surely good news and mercy shall follow me. Hold on in my life, and I shall dwell in the house of Lord They comfort me. They comfort me.
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They comfort me.
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So, we are having children's church downstairs this morning. So, parents, if you want to send your kids downstairs, you're welcome to. That would rather stay certainly can remain. As considering this morning what to what to say and where to go. I'm very very thankful for the process that we have undertaken to just keep going forward in God's word and so that's what I decided to do in the past couple of days.
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We will be having a funeral or memorial service plans have not been made or established yet. It's so soon and so early in the developments. We don't know what's going on. A lot of y'all have already talked to me about how can we help, how can we help, what can we do? And as we know, y'all are the body of Christ.
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We will let you know as as soon as we know. Some of you, I have a watch pocket full of cash that people have handed me and said, help the family with this. And so I know that we're all struggling to do what it is that we can do, and the church will administrate some sort of fund. I don't know exactly how we're we'll start it up. I don't know how it'll work, but if you wanted to give to that, you could.
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If you want to give up your time, I've heard Jennifer Lampas said she knows of projects that can be done that were started but not finished and so if you wanted to help with that, we will figure all of that out together. We'll figure all of that out. So, I'm prayerful and hopeful that we will be able to continue on doing what the body does on Sunday mornings but in between those Sunday mornings, I pray that we'd be able to help with everything else. Are you with me? I said that before I even started the sermon this morning.
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Are you with me? Yeah, it's not just grammar. We're actually together on this, alright? So, here we go. We're going to start.
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Actually, Romans 15, I thought. This was a benediction two weeks ago and Romans 15, this is not where we're going today but may the God of endurance and encouragement because that's what we need right now. I know that the family got less than two hours of sleep night before last. I pray they slept great last night. I did.
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I had a few minutes the night before and then slept great last night. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we are to do. That's what the church is to do. We're the continuing body of Christ and the healing balm that he applied by his salvific death on the cross is what we are to carry forward in our message of how we treat one another, how we live, and so we should live in a way that we fervently love.
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In fact, I'll go to that. We're getting to first Peter two. That's where we are today. First Peter two thirteen through 25 is what we'll study together but I'm going to ramp up to it with a few verses from past couple of weeks. Since you have church and obedience to the truth, that's the gospel.
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Purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, brethren, brothers and sisters, right? Fervently love one another from the heart. You've not, you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but that which is imperishable. That is through the living and enduring word of God. This is what's going to remain.
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It's the living and enduring word of God. All of us will pass. All of us will pass but the living and endure word of God will remain. As Peter says in one twenty four for quoting Isaiah, all flesh is like grass and all of its glory is like the flower of grass and so quickly it is gone, right? The flower, the grass withers, and the flower falls off.
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So, so whether you wilt or whether you're immediately taken, The word of the Lord endures forever and that's where we find our comforts, where we find our strength. We're going to stay there. This is the word that was preached to you and he said, since you've already obeyed that, you've accepted the truth of this gospel that Christ Jesus died for sinners and there aren't any other kind of people. We're all sinners, right? Next, from two one, therefore, putting aside all malice.
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That's been a prayer for the last two weeks. It's been coming up a lot. Anything that we're holding against anybody at all. Put it aside. Let it go.
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We're frail human beings. We sin against one another knowingly and unknowingly. Put it aside. All malice. Put aside all deceit.
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Put aside all hypocrisy. Acting like things are alright when they're not alright. Acting like you're great when you're not. Put it put aside all envy and all slander and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word so that by it, you may grow and respect the salvation. You will experience your salvation more fully if you know what the word says.
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And then, Peter comes back and says, if that is, you've tasted. If you've tasted the kindness of the Lord. If you know Jesus, then, long for. In fact, the word is crave the word. So, I'm going to that.
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In just a minute to something new. Coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men and it and Jesus is rejected all around us every day, all the time, right? By the society we live in, it's he's rejected but coming to him as a living stone. It's been rejected by men but choice and precious in the sight of God. When I see that this morning, all I think of is precious in the eyes of God are the death of his saints.
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Precious in the sight of God. You also, as living stones, you are being built up. That's the passive as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. They are acceptable to God. Your spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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He is the one mediator. There's one name given among men whereby we must be saved and that is Jesus Christ and that's what makes our actions and please and words acceptable to God is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Mention that are being built up. That's the passive form of that Greek verb but it's also you are building yourselves up and it may be conscious for some of you right now that I need to be doing something but you don't have any idea what it is. It might not be direct with the family.
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It might be with another brother or sister in the body of Christ and just get together with them and build one another up through this hard situation. Build them up. For once you are not a people but now, you are the people of God. He's calling people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. He's calling into one family, the ecclesia, those called out ones.
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You're the people of God. Now, I do have something. It's not quite a retraction but it's almost. Last week, I used this slide. This is hopscotch pumpkin pie.
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Some of y'all did not know from looking at that slide. This was a bunny. He's a rabbit. He's a lion maned bunny, and there was one row of people in the back, back there, that started laughing because she told herself, she says, Ray doesn't usually do this, but this is a rabbit trail. And when she said rabbit trail and there's a bunny on screen, she cracked up and never recovered, everybody around her.
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This is hopscotch pumpkin pie. A little more context. That's Pascal holding our bunny, hopscotch pumpkin pie, Boyd McDaniel, okay? He was not my bunny, but he's now my bunny. The point being that we did not have that bunny, but now we call him ours and we take care of him, and he's ours.
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You know, We take care of him, and there'll be other applications for this one, but I do want you to see this as a very small animal, two and a half pound bunny. So now we're up to where we're starting this week, five minutes of prologue. First Peter two thirteen to 25 is where we are and I take great comfort from Peter. I see him. He says, I exhort you as fellow elders and I'm so thankful that that's the way he saw himself.
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He didn't elevate himself. He says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and God will exalt you in due time. First Peter two thirteen through 25 starts like this, submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human institution. Whether to the king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him by for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every authority.
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If you think about how and who and where this was done and when this was, Nero was the emperor at this time. Nero was lighting his garden with Christians. He was feeding them in gladiatorial games to the beasts on purpose. And he says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake. That's the most operative clause there.
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Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. Governments were set up. Authorities were set up. School kids, schools authority boards were set up. Churches, church boards of elders, the deacons are set up in some position of authority.
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I I agree with Peter. I like just thinking of myself as a fellow elder and not someone that's a CEO but he says that authority is God given right here. I think of Jesus before Pilate and saying, you would have no authority. I might actually have that in the slides here. Authority.
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He's telling us to honor authority and in our society, actually, every time I see the word authority, when I'm thinking about preaching it, all I can hear in my head is John Mellencamp.
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I fight authority, authority always wins. I fight authority, authority always wins.
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I think of that and I'm thinking we always fight authority too. Well, God is saying that the authorities that be are there under God's sovereign hand and rule. As difficult as it is for those of you in this administration or for the opposite half, for those of you in the last administration of our nation's presidents, one of them upset you, I'm sure. They're sovereignly placed by the hand of God. Difficult as it is, unrighteous, righteous, doesn't matter, authority is.
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Why should I? For such is the will of God That's what Peter says. This is God's will. I like verses like that when people come to me and say, I'm seeking and searching for God's will. I want to know what God's will is for my life.
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Usually, it's about should I date this person or should I marry this person or should I take this job but most often, when it comes up, this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus, your sanctification. This is the will of God. Honor authority. That by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. There is in this great nation and in this great country, there is a place for civil disobedience.
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By all means, I'm all for it. You've heard me quote the letter from the Birmingham Jail I don't know how many times, and you know that I believe in civil disobedience. I think this country is great because it allows for that under our constitution. It allows for voices. Free right of assembly.
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It allows for voices of descent. I love that. And that is under our government still following along with this. For such is the will of God. By doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
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Act, do your acting as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil. That is we've talked about the ditches so many times. You can be in a legalistic ditch and then come up into the good freedom of the gospel and before long, you've over corrected and you're in the license ditch of I'm free and I have liberty in Christ and I can do whatever I want to and it says, don't use your freedom as a covering for evil but I can do whatever I want to. Paul says, yeah, all things are permissible but not all things are profitable. Come on back up and to the place of the good gospel where Christ has set you free to be bond slaves of God.
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Now, you can be an instrument in the life of another. You can be an instrument that leads them to the cross, the forgiveness. You can pull people out of this ditch. You can pull people out of that ditch by just proclaiming the message of a sinless savior who died and sets souls free. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.
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When he says that, you are bond slaves of God. He's saying, you're a people for his own possession and you as the body of Christ or what might have been referred to a hundred years ago of the army of God. We try to use less militaristic terms but we are we have orders and we are to be carrying out those orders of people for God's own possession, bond slaves and then he has four quick little quips that I think would make a great T shirt. Honor all people. Honor all people.
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They're bearers of the image of God. It doesn't matter left to right. Race, whatever persuasion someone might be. Honor them. Honor all people.
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They don't have to be right for you to honor. Just honor all people. Love the brotherhood. He's already said, love one another fervently as that command a couple of sermons back. Love the brotherhood.
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That is the believers in Jesus. Love em fervently. Fear God. Unreverential, awesome God. Revere him.
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Honor him. Honor the king. Those who are in authority over you. Honor all people. Love the brother who fear God.
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Here it is. Honor all people. All. It's Panta. All people.
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Let that set for a minute. Do I really have to honor those people? Yes. Love the brotherhood. Do I really have to love that one?
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Yes. Fear God because before him, who of us could stand without our sinless savior who died? Nobody stands before God, right? So, we should not presume upon his grace and flout it to do whatever we want to do or proclaim that we know it all and live in this ditch but we just fear God and say, you know what? There is a way that God has established and it is the message of Jesus Christ.
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Coming and living a perfect life, living an exemplary life, an example. Dying a perfect sacrificial death, providing that salvation for anyone who would believe. That's God's way. Why in the world would we presume to come up with a better or different way? Fear God.
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Have you no fear of God? Honor the king. Honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect. This is one of those household code pieces, and he talks about the servants.
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It's actually doulas, the same word is used for slaves or servants or bond servants. So be submissive to your masters. And I do think that I can actually make the leap to say, employees, be submissive to your bosses with all respect. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect. And not only to those who are good in general.
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We all have had bosses, most of us at least, have had bosses that are good in general. I think almost every one of us would agree We've had some that were unreasonable. That's the next line. Not only to those who are good in general but also to those who are unreasonable. Why?
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This finds favor with God. Honoring authority finds favor with God. Submitting to authority finds favor with God. For if for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. This finds favor with God.
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If for the sake of conscience, if you believe in your heart that the prompting of the Holy Spirit is telling you to do something that is right, don't let anyone convince you to do otherwise. Do it. You may suffer for it. You may give your life for another. And this finds favor with God If for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly or what credit is there if when you sin, you're harshly treated.
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Well, we're, it's to be expected, right? If you do wrong, I mean, the whole system of government really according to this was set up to praise those who do well and punish those who do evil. And even if today we feel like black is white and white is black and ups is down, down is up, and it's all confused, the reason that governments were established and the reason for greater accountability for those in authority is because it was set up to punish sin, the guilty. For what credit is there if when you sin, you are harsh and you are harshly treated? You endure it with patience.
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You did the crime. Do the time. It's the consequence, the natural consequence of an action. But if when you do what is right, you suffer for it, and you patiently endure it. This finds favor with God.
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There is something redemptive about suffering and I know y'all are suffering but I am suffering. Today So, my prayer has been that God would use the sorrow. We're going to sing man of sorrows at the end of the sermon. Man of sorrows and try to associate with the sorrowful side of Jesus's passion, his suffering. If when we are sorrowing and suffering, we are connecting to God and he is directing us to do.
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We do. Does that make sense? Do you feel it? Do you hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in your life prompting you to do? I know you do.
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Believers, I know you do. So, I say, do that and you may encounter resistance and you may suffer for it. I say, do it. God, would you take the suffering and would you turn that into action and would you turn it into action that would bear fruit and fruit that will last. In Jesus name, we ask that through Mark's death, we would be moved into action that would bear fruit, that would advance the gospel, that would advance the good news, that he fervently, wholeheartedly believed, proclaimed, lived out.
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And that it would find favor with you almighty God. For you have been called for this purpose. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. Christ is our example. If you didn't know that, he's not only our example.
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He is our savior. He is the only way. He's the mediator between God and man, but Christ is our example, and I think sometimes in the Baptist church we underplay that. Maybe not, but I think we do. Christ is our example.
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Here it is. John 19. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid because he heard that Jesus was a king and he entered into the praetorium again and he said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer like a sheep before his shearers is silent, right? So, Pilate said to him, you don't speak to me?
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Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you? And Jesus answered, you would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. Amen. He understood exactly what authority was all about and he was willing to go with whatever that decision was from Pilate and he knew that. Actually, if you'd go one level deeper, he did not speak and then when Pilate and authority over him said, you don't speak to me, speak to me and he asked him, he did speak right there.
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For this reason, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin and you can look back and say, who delivered him? Well, it was Judas or well, it was the Jews or well, it was so and so but the honest truth is, he died for sin and everyone of us is a sinner. It was me and it was you. It was everyone of us that delivered over Jesus to Pilate. As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release him but the Jews cried out saying, if you release this man, you're no friend of Caesar.
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They use political means. Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar. The thing is Jesus didn't make himself out to be a king. Jesus was a king. The king.
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Honor authority. Why should I? Because Christ is our example and he did. He committed no sin. I've already said that about 12 times but Peter makes it explicit.
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He committed no sin. Second Corinthians, Paul makes it explicit. Him who knew no sin, he was made to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. This is a subtle call but it's a call for holiness. He committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
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Just up above this, we just mentioned again, let go of all deceit whether deceiving yourself or someone else nor was any deceit found in his mouth. All deceit, put it aside. Tell the truth to yourself and to others. Why? Because Christ is our example.
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And while being reviled, he did not revile and return. I I think sometimes we overplay gentle Jesus making miles but a lot of us want to hold on to him flipping over those tables and say, we're right. You know, when he was being reviled, he did not revile in return. Actually, we see this in Mark 15. It's also in Luke.
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They crucified two robbers with him. One on his right and one on his left and the scripture was filled which says and he was numbered with the transgressors. Was he wrong? No, but he was numbered with those who were. Those passing by were hurling abuse at him and they were wagging their heads and they were saying, You are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.
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Save yourself and come down from the cross and in the same way, the chief priest also along with the scribes, they were mocking him among themselves and saying, he saved others. He can't save himself. Let this Christ, the king of Israel, now come down from the cross so that we may see and believe and those who are crucified with him were also insulting him. Actually, it says that those who are crucified. Right here, it says, those who, that this plural.
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There were two of em and both of em were a violent him. If you look it up in Luke, it says and then one of em turned to him. They saw when he was being nailed to the cross. He said, father, forgive them for they know not what they do and it changed the heart of one of those other guys and when they're standing up on the cross beside him, one of them said, remember me when you come into your kingdom. All these people are mocking you and you're not mocking back.
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You're not saying anything. You're asking for forgiveness on their behalf. Remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus said, today, you'll be with me in paradise. Turn to God. He saves everyone who calls out to him.
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Christ is our example. While being reviled, he did not revile in return and while suffering, he uttered no threats. While suffering, he uttered no threats. He was oppressed, Isaiah 53 again. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, like a lamb that's led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before his shearers.
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So he did not open his mouth. This is quoted again. Actually, I love this. It's quoted again in Acts. It's where Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, you know, are going along the side of the road, and this Ethiopian eunuch is riding in a chariot, and he's reading scripture, and the passage of scripture which he was reading was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and a lamb before his shearer is silent so he does not open his mouth and the eunuch answered Philip and said, please tell me.
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Philip knew Jesus. Philip knew Jesus. He had him in his heart. He knew him. He understood, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
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The eunuch answered Philip and said, please tell me of whom does this prophet say this of himself or of someone else? And then Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this point of scripture, he preached Jesus to him because that was forecasting Jesus nine hundred years before and this was just a little while after. Jesus's resurrection. So while suffering, he uttered no threats but he kept entrusting. I love the form of the verb there.
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He kept on entrusting. He had been entrusting and he kept entrusting. He kept on continuous action. In the past, he continually was entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. That's what we have to do.
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In order to in order to gain ground for the kingdom, in order to advance the gospel, we have got to entrust ourselves to the one who judges righteously because the truth is, no one else judges righteously. That makes sense? That's how the innocent are punished. That's how the guilty go free because no one except God judges righteously. So we need to continually be entrusting ourselves.
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Why? Because Christ is our example. You will not go wrong in trusting yourself to God. He does and he will judge righteous. I think that's the last.
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Nope. That is not. Jesus, I gave you an example. Christ is our example and Jesus crying out with a loud voice said, father, he kept entrusting his last words from the cross. Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit to Telestai.
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It's finished. Having said that, he breathed his last. Christ is our example. He himself bore our sins and his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live unto righteousness. Again, not as subtle a call, but it's a call to holiness.
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We might live for righteousness. Going forward, entrusting ourselves to him who judges rightly. It's nice that we know the judge. It's really nice that we know the judge. It's nice that we know the judge through his son and that the judge is actually imparted to us his spirit.
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We can act righteously. We can. If we will submit our will to the will of God and submit our will to the spirit. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds, you believers in Jesus, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep.
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Peter doesn't let us forget that without God, we're all over the place. But now, you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your soul. So, God is able. He's able to corral us up. He's able to bring us in.
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He's able to put his loving arms around us. He leaves the 99 to go get the one straying and when he leaves the 99, we have to take care of ourselves. So, he is building us up and we are building ourselves up and I pray this week that we'll continue to do that. I'm going ask you all to stand and the band to come forward. The altar is always open for prayer, but I want you to know it's open right now today.
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If God is tugging at your heart and you feel like you got to make some physical different act, come forward. Bow right here for prayer. I'll ask all of the other elders if they come forward. Frank.
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Ray said to act and I know that he didn't want to do this as pastor but as the treasurer for the church, tomorrow morning, we're going to open up a fund. Awesome. Alright? At First Interstate Bank where I work. Today, if it's alright with the pastor, we'll take up the second offering to start funding.
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Okay.
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Alright?
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Sure.
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Do that today and tomorrow. Thank you.
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Thank you. Alright. So, Man of Sorrows, if you haven't heard this song, pay attention to the words. We'll sing through it. Come forward if you would like.
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All of the elders are going to be here awaiting you and praying also. For more
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being polluted by the world.
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Again? Yeah. I think so.
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James one twenty seven. Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
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Thank you. For the benediction this morning, I'd turn to John 11. And John 11, my favorite, one of my favorite memory verses when I was little because I had time trouble memorizing verses was Jesus wept. Jesus wept and he wept after the death of a loved one but he asked that loved one's sister this question. After this, what he asked her a question, he said, I am the resurrection.
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I am the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after he dies. Do you believe this? It was the question. Amen.
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We believe this. So, we're not to live as those who have no hope. We have a hope. It's incorruptible. It's kept in heaven for us.
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Mark is experiencing it right now. God almighty, would you allow us to live out that faith in that great example as we honor authority and submit, lord, may we do so in such a way that changes the world around us. In Jesus name, amen.
