Apologia Live - Jesus Calms the Storm - Dustin Nelson

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We're going to pray over Dustin as he brings the word to our family today.

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Father, bless our brother today with your words, Lord. Without the instruction and illumination of your spirit,

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Lord, we cannot hear and understand. So we pray that you would get

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Dustin completely out of the way today, that you would fill his mouth with your words, minister to your people today.

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Give him rest now and peace now. This very moment, God, let him be your voice today to this hurting people.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you haven't caught it yet, my name is

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Dustin. I'm one of the deacons here at Apology of the

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Church. I have also been teaching the youth since Isaac has left us to follow the

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Lord where he has led him on his journey in this life. You know, youth is fun.

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Not everyone agrees, though. Kind of takes a special type of weird to hang out with them for a night and to teach them.

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Now I have the opportunity to stand before you today for my first time following these events on Friday.

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My very first time at Apology of the Church, Jeff asked if the church would stay behind.

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He had something to go over. And I'm like, well, I really liked what

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I heard today. There's some solid meat. I think I will return and I'll probably become a member one day.

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So maybe I'll just stay. And it was a church discipline night. I was like, what on earth is happening right now?

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This is completely biblical. I've never seen this before. This is the weirdest thing, but awesome.

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Time goes on. And then I am asked to preach this Sunday, this passage more than a month ago.

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So Friday night, Friday night comes.

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I'm at the hospital and I realize I don't have to change anything. I do not have to change my sermon.

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I messaged Jeff and Luke and I gave them the option, you're the pastor, would you like to address your people?

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And he said, you got it. I said, okay, good.

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So I think this is very relevant to our circumstances. So we're in Matthew 8, 23 through 27.

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When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him and behold, there arose a great storm on the sea so that the boat was being covered with the waves.

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But Jesus himself was asleep. And he came to him and woke him saying, save us,

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Lord, we are perishing. He said to them, why are you afraid, you men of little faith?

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Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed and said, what kind of a man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?

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Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this day.

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No matter what happens in any of our days, God, you are king over them.

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You are sovereign over them. God, I thank you this time for this time that we can gather together as a church and gather around the

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Arringtons and just be there and be quiet if we must support them and show them we love them.

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Father, I pray that you would soften our hearts, open our ears so that your words may sink in deep, plant and grow in faith in God that my words would bounce off, that I would be forgotten that I was ever here today if I don't proclaim the truth.

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Father, calm me down and help me. It's a hard day, but it's still a good day.

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Father, we love you and pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. I also want to read

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Mark chapter 4, verses 35 through 41. Mark is one of the other synoptic gospels in Mark chapter 4, verse 35 is where this story is found.

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Now I like Mark. Mark is a shorter letter than Matthew, but Mark has more details in some of his stories.

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And in particular, this one, there's a couple other details I find relevant.

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On that day, when evening came, he said to them, let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him.

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And there arose a fear scale of wind and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.

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Jesus himself was in the stern of the boat, asleep on the cushion.

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And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

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And he got up and rebuked the wind and the sea and said, hush, be still. And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

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And he said to them, why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? They became very much afraid and said to one another, who then is this, that the wind and the sea obey him?

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I like that word fierce. There was a fierce gale of wind. The waves are breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.

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Jesus was in the stern asleep on a cushion, in the stern on a cushion.

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My favorite thing in Mark is that it records the disciples as saying, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

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It's a little different than, Lord, save us, we are perishing. I think it's a little more real to humans.

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Do you not care that we perish? Do you not care?

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Sorry. Do you not care what we are going through? Do you not care about this storm?

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Where are you? You're asleep in the stern on a cushion.

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What happened before this? Jesus had spent all day healing, casting out demons and teaching nonstop.

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He's walking along the sea and great crowds came around him, so much so that he climbed into a boat to teach from the boat.

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This is where we are just before. He's already in the boat. He's still teaching. And Matthew, it would have been a week ago, that it says he gave orders to go across the sea, to go across to the other side.

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It was at this moment that two men come to him. Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.

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Jesus says, foxes have holes and birds of their have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Another man says,

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I will follow you too, but first let me go bury my father. Jesus says, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.

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Pastor Jeff said that Jesus is displaying to them, to us, all future disciples, this is the cost of being my disciple.

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He always reminded them what it will mean to follow him.

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You must deny yourselves daily, pick up your cross, follow me. It doesn't really get clearer than that.

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Be ready to lay your life down every day, moment by moment, on account of me.

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Now, it seems like there could be a contradiction in what Jesus says to the first one. Foxes have holes and birds of their have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.

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Yet, he gets, he's in the boat, they leave, he falls asleep, he's laying his head down. I don't think

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Jesus slept sitting up or standing, something weird, my dad does it, it's weird, but he's asleep on a cushion.

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Right, we know that Jesus is telling him, I have no home. There is no bed that is mine.

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No pillow with my name stitched into it. This is my special pillow.

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Jesus does not have that. He tells this would be disciple, you have no place to call home, to look forward to going home to your bed.

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While they're traveling, I'd imagine Jesus sees a nice patch of grass. This looks fine tonight,

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I shall sleep here. Or a long smooth rock that's diagonal, a nice one to lean on, he goes,

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I will sleep there tonight. He doesn't know, but obviously he knows where he's sleeping.

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Count the cost. He's always trying to scare us away, to make us sure that we know what we're getting into.

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Because it will be hard, it will be a constant storm.

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I don't know if you've heard the analogy of when someone comes to Jesus in faith and they're reborn, but it's like they are born into the military.

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They're born as a paratrooper and they're jumping out of an airplane into a war zone behind enemy lines.

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Because we don't really have time to learn to walk.

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It's go time, because storms are coming. And God knew what he was doing for today.

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He's teaching me as I'm speaking right now. Let's go back to Matthew.

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Behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves, but Jesus himself was asleep.

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Jesus is asleep in a storm. Does that ever catch you when you're reading this?

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There's a great storm, boat sinking, Jesus is sleeping. Jesus, again, he has been healing, casting out demons, teaching all day, all day long, caring for his people.

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He is exhausted, so exhausted, in fact, that he is asleep in the stern, stern is the back of a boat.

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If you've ever been in a storm in a little boat on a sea or a large body of water, that thing moves a lot.

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It's terrifying. When the bow comes up, it comes up much higher than the stern.

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The stern stays relatively calm. It's kind of rocking like this. Like Jesus is asleep, just like this, kind of lulling him to sleep.

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While the bow, when it goes down, it is diving, it is submarining into the next wave, filling the boat.

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The wave is trying to knock the people in the front of the boat to the back of the boat with a lot of force, because it's like hitting concrete, if you're going fast enough and hitting water.

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But Jesus is asleep, and these men who are in the boat, in the boats with him, are scared out of their minds.

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Some of these men are professional fishermen, they're professional watermen, they have lived their entire lives on the water, in this boat.

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That boat probably belongs to one of the men in the boat. It's not like they went around stealing people's stuff,

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I want to go over there, I'm taking your boat. It was somebody's boat, who knows these waters.

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These fishermen know what time of day, where at in the lake, and where exactly to cast the net, to catch the mud.

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We are going to die. Do you not care that we are perishing?

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Will you wake up? Will you grab a bucket? Start throwing water out of this boat, because we're going to sink, unless you get up and do something useful, grab a bucket.

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I don't know, I wasn't there, but I am a sinner, and I can see myself yelling at Jesus, not thinking a little bit bigger than, hey, grab a bucket, the next verse contradicts that.

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They don't know who's in the boat, because they ask, what kind of a man is this that even the winds in the sea obey him?

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This is where their lack of faith lies. They don't know who's in the boat.

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This man has been healing people of all their sicknesses, casting out demons, teaching with amazing words that no one's ever heard before, but now they're in a boat, and they still don't know who he is.

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A few weeks ago, Jeff preached about a man who did know who's in the boat, a man that Jesus lauded for his great faith in Israelite, right?

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There's a Gentile, a Roman centurion comes to Jesus and says, if you will, you can save my servant, and Jesus agrees to come with him, and he says, no, no, no,

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I'm unworthy to have you come under my roof, you just say the word, and my servant will be well.

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For I, too, am a man of authority, I say to this one, go, he goes, I say to this one, come, he comes,

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I say to this one, jump, he says, how high and how many times? Okay, I made the last part up.

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Need a little smile today, right? They wonder what, they got the same gift of the

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Spirit as we did. There really is no distinction in God towards people, there really is no slave nor free, male or free men,

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Jew or Greek. The faith he had was that Jesus could just speak a word, and his servant would be made well.

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The disciples in the boat had opposite of that, they probably meant something like, wake up and grab a bucket, or start cupping water out, help us somehow, do something useful, wake up.

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They did not know who was in the boat. I keep saying this because I'm going somewhere, let's go to Isaiah 51, verse 15.

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For I am Yahweh, your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar,

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Yahweh of hosts is his name. I'm going to read that again.

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For I am Yahweh, your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, Yahweh of hosts is his name.

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It can't be literal, can it? Isaiah couldn't be literally read through 32.

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Now before I read this, when I read this for the first time, it was like reading

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Isaiah 53, and you're like, this is totally the crucifixion, like, was this written pre or post

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Jesus? Seems like something that would have been added later to go, see, prophesied, but we know it was prophesied, and it's like to the

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T. Psalm 107, 23, therefore, oh wait, not in 107.

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Those who go down to the sea in ships who do business on great waters, they have seen the works of the

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Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea.

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They rose up to the heavens. They went down to the depths. Their soul melted away in their misery.

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They reeled and staggered like a drunken man and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the

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Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed.

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Then they were glad because they were quiet. So he guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the

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Lord for his lovingkindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. Let them extol him also in the congregation of the people and praise him at the seat of the elders.

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The disciples know the scriptures. They're awaiting the Messiah. They're awaiting Yahweh. Just two passages of the

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Old Testament reference Yahweh and what control he has over storms.

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He's actually the one to raise them up. And when he does, his disciples draw near.

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And when they draw near, he calms the storm. Matthew says, perfectly calm, perfectly at peace.

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A few weeks ago, we remembered until Friday, our last big storm.

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Ezra. If you're new to Apology Church, you may wonder why some people have matching tattoos.

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Some say Ezra, some say Isaiah 62 .1. It's for a little 10 -month -old brother that we all say goodbye to.

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They've shared a video, one of the most beautiful moments he's ever seen.

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And I agree. Because in the midst of the storm, in the midst of this worship playing, who is leading?

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Ezra's parents were leading the worship. They're standing in the middle, holding hand in hand, praising the

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God who saves. Praying Yahweh of hosts.

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Thanking him for his gift to them. Still loving their father.

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For Ezra was loved more by God than his earthly parents.

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I wasn't a parent then. I still grieved.

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But now I am a father. Now it's a little closer to home. And I too remember now, from their experience, that my children are not my own.

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They're a gift, given to me for stewardship. Little image -bearers of God to raise.

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They're kind of on loan. They don't belong to me, but I take care of them.

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Until the giver decides to take them back. Then Friday I found myself in the same hospital.

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Different wing. Standing next to Christian and Esther. Esther was reminding me that he doesn't really like this hospital.

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And I agreed. Because last time I was there, it was the reason they were there.

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They were in a new storm. We must remember who is in the boat.

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We must remember that the Son of Man is in our boat. That the

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King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Commander of the Living Armies is in our boat. The one who rules the wind and the waves.

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He rules over sicknesses, diseases. He rules over demons. So much so that they are terrified in front of him.

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Because when they land on the beach safely to their haven, Legion approaches.

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And Legion is afraid of this man that just got out of the boat.

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Demons believe in shudder. I bring up Icon earlier because when

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I was asked to kind of take care of them,

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I didn't know where to start. Isaac had his series he was going through.

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He was going through Genesis. And I just thought, I need to go through James.

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James is good. I think I'm going to go through James. James 1 verses 2 through 4 are verses that I told them to memorize.

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Because storms will come. A few weeks ago

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Jeff went through in Matthew the wise and foolish builders. The wise built his house upon the rock.

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The foolish built his house upon the sand. And when the storm came, the foolish man's house was destroyed.

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If there were no storms, it would not be a wise thing to build your house upon a rock.

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You could build your house on the sand, next to the water. If there are no storms that come, there will be no huge raging waters that will come down and destroy your home.

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He was wise because he was ready for storms. He built his house upon the rock.

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His house stood. And the one who did not build his house upon the rock was destroyed.

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So this is why I told them, I encouraged them. It wasn't mandated. You memorize this verse or else.

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But James 1 verse 2 through 4. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds.

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Because you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, making you perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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I think I can say that trials are also storms. Storms are trials.

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Tomato, tomato. Some translations say perseverance, which is a good word.

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It still gets across the point of enduring. I like the words steadfastness.

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Because perseverance is used when you're moving, when you're going somewhere, when you're striving in the race.

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Steadfastness is more, you're steady.

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You're able to take what comes upon you. For an example,

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I brought Sage up and I just said, stand there. And he's like, okay, whatever. And I pushed him. And he just kind of flew away.

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Then I bring him back over. I'm like, come here. I'm not going to hurt you this time. I promise. Get ready.

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And he's like, okay. He's been trained by Jeff. So he kind of stands like, I'm going to fight him this time.

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I'm like, I'm not going to fight. I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to push you. And he just moved. Because he was steady.

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He was steadfast and ready for what came. And when trials come, we are to consider it pure joy because it produces more steadfastness.

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We have joy because it's more steadfastness. More storms will come.

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Some will be bigger than others. But this testing of your faith will produce your ability to stand through if you remain firmly planted on the rock, like the wise man who built his home upon the rock.

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You can't be steadfast standing on sand. If you do not stand on the truth of God, you won't.

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You might as well be laying down in sinking sand. Just make it quicker. Because it's worthless.

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If you have no rock, if you do not have the word of God to stand on. There's a verse

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I memorized a long time ago, too. I find it very fitting. Psalms 91, 2 through 5.

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I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

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Surely he will save me from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover me with his feathers under his wings.

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I will find refuge. His faithfulness will be my shield and rampart.

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I will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day. Jesus is our rock when we need to be steadfast.

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He's our refuge when we're being attacked. He's our stronghold that is impenetrable.

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We must remain in him. James 5 kind of finishes off this part.

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I like James. The book of James is kind of like Proverbs. It kind of bounces all over the place.

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But it's one cohesive thought. I like it. I can follow it.

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I have ADHD. Maybe that's why. James 5, verse 10, 11.

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As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the

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Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the

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Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

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How much, Lord? How much am I to endure until I give up?

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When do I quit? When do I say I'm done?

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James says, look to the prophets for an example of suffering and patience.

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I gave the youth a couple different examples than James did. I brought up Jeremiah, who preached repentance to the nation of Israel for 40 years and saw no fruit.

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Sounds a little frustrating. To love a people so much and to see nothing, to see none of them come to Yahweh for salvation.

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I also brought up Hosea, who was commanded by the Lord to marry a promiscuous woman and forbidden to divorce her.

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He had children with her. He loved her. And she did what promiscuous women do.

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Hosea didn't quit. He endured, sought after her, pleading with her to come home.

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God did that so that Hosea would understand a little bit of how he felt toward his people,

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Israel, his bride. And what it's like when his people,

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Israel, is promiscuous and sells herself to other gods that neither they nor their forefathers knew.

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Just read the book of Judges. It's just a repetitive thing. They sought after different gods that neither they nor their forefathers knew.

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They kept turning to other gods that they make with their own hands. All the fathers still standing there, come to me.

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I am your husband. I'm the one who redeemed you from Egypt. Why are you crying out to these gods in your affliction?

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You made them. Now Job.

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I think we all know the story of Job. I imagine this is why James used him as an example in his letter.

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Job was a righteous man. He had a wife, ten children, seven sons, three daughters, and was a wealthy man, had a lot of livestock.

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And within the same moment, three servants run up to him, tell him,

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Master, these people came. They killed all of our servants, all of your servants. They stole all your livestock.

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I'm the only one to make it out to tell you this. Three of them say the same thing, and the fourth one comes and says,

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Master, your sons and daughters were gathered together, having a party in the oldest son's house, when a fierce windstorm arose, knocking the walls out and killing everyone in the house, including all your servants.

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And I'm the only one left to tell you this. Job rips his clothes, hits the ground, says,

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Naked I came into this world, naked I will leave. You give and take away. Blessed be your name.

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His wife was very encouraging and says, Bless God and die. Sarcasm.

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But he didn't. He did not curse God and die. Verse 11, it says,

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You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the

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Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Job didn't know what was happening when he was going through it.

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Job's mind ran amuck with why. If only I could have a moment with the

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Lord to plead my case. James says, We now know why.

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For the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. As we know, the ending of Job is all of his livestock is doubled.

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He has seven more sons and three daughters who are more beautiful than any woman had walked the earth.

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And he lived to see like his great, great, great, great grandchildren. I only have two.

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I only have two children, one generation of them. I'm stoked for this generation. I would love to see my grandchildren.

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If I could see my great grandchildren, I would be ecstatic. And God blessed him with seeing multiple generations through his faithfulness in Yahweh.

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We must trust the one in the boat because of who he is, what he has promised.

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He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He says that all that the

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Father has given to me, I should lose nothing but raise him up on the last day. If Jesus fails and loses one of his, he is unfit for Godhood.

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That's a promise that we can rest in. That's the promise that our faith is in.

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Jesus told the man on the cross, truly, I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.

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That's a promise. That was a promise.

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And we must trust Christ, his promises, and his power.

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Because he now, well, he did it even then with Lazarus. He has power over death.

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He has power over the grave. Because he resurrected, death cannot hold him.

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That's how he can promise us the same. It is a promise, it is his word, it is his word that we must trust in.

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We trust him that waves and storms are coming. And have come, they've passed, they've calmed.

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Storms like this, there might be little ripples, little reminders. Some days there might be a large rogue wave that comes by and tosses our boat pretty good.

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But we must rest and trust in him. Because we know that it is producing steadfastness in the one who holds the keys of death and Hades in his hand.

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One who promises to save those who draw near to him.

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Brothers and sisters, as a church, this is our storm right now. The Arringtons, I want, well,

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I'm not your pastor, Jeff is, but we need to surround them with love, encouragement.

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Don't overwhelm them. We must stand there and be quiet until they say what they need.

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And we do our best to meet that need. What good is the body of Christ if it doesn't take care of itself?

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For those who aren't going through a storm right now, or are, I encourage you to tell the church body what it is you're going through so that we may surround you and help you in any way we can.

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Because that's what we are, is the body of Christ. Don't just go off on your own and try to handle this on your own.

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I don't want to burden the church. This is what the church is for. Don't go solo.

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Because you know the devil prowls about like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour. We've all seen those videos of predator cats going after their prey.

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They usually go after the weakest or the ones on the outskirts. Those are the ones that they get.

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They don't go into the middle. I saw another video of this lioness that went after a baby elephant.

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But the baby elephant got behind all the adult elephants and they formed a line.

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And you just see this lion all by herself weighing the option. That's all

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I hope we can be as a church. There's a line of elephants protecting the one who is weak and is suffering, needs protection and encouragement of the church to protect them from the evil one.

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I know this passage was about a literal storm. But obviously by now you all guessed that.

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I think it means more than a literal storm. That Jesus was teaching people what it meant, how much it cost to be his disciple.

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He's now teaching them more than just trust me in a literal storm when you're in a literal boat at sea.

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Trust me in everything because of who I am and what my promises are.

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In our practices, I couldn't figure out a good ending.

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Maybe it's because I don't want this to end. But I want us to continually remember who to put our trust and faith in at all times.

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Because the one who holds our salvation in his hands is perfectly capable to get us to that destination.

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Because he is the bringer of storms. He is the calmer of storms. And in between those, we draw to him.

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Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you again for today.

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Thank you for this church body, that it acts like a church body.

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There is so much support and love here. Unlike anything

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I've ever seen. Father, comfort the

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Arringtons. Send your Holy Spirit, the comfort of the counselor. It is his job to comfort and to counsel.

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Remind them the truths of who you are and give them strength.

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Help us to continue to mourn with them, although I don't think we need much help.

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Father, help us this week. Bless us in every way that we need to be blessed in, so that we may bless the

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Arringtons as a church. Father, we love you. I pray these things in Jesus' name.

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Amen. Amen. Thank you, Dustin. Death has the ability to focus the mind.

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Many of you guys have heard me tell the story about an old Puritan preacher, a pastor.

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And he went before his congregation wearing the death robe.

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It was a robe, the clothes they bury you in. How would you like me to come up before you wearing burial clothes?

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And so, obviously, it startled them. And this Puritan pastor goes before his people wearing the death robe.

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And he says to them, I come to you now as a dying man speaking to dying men, never sure to speak again.

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It's powerful. A dying man to dying men, never sure to speak again.

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And death does have the ability to focus the mind. Consider it for a moment.

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Those of you guys that are older, you know what I mean. I mean, my wife and I were talking about this, seems like just so fairly recently.

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I mean, it just dawned on me now, even as I think about it, how we were talking about how now it just seems as you get older, you're losing more and more friends and family, loved ones to death.

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And the amazing thing about death is not only that God is sovereign over it, and God has defeated it in Jesus Christ, but death has the very, very unique and untouchable ability, like nothing else, to focus your mind.

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It focuses your mind on the fact that we are all living under the grace of God and mercy of God every moment of our lives.

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Every one of us is on borrowed breath, borrowed heartbeats from God.

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And these moments ought not to be wasted. Death has the ability, the unique ability to focus the mind.

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Think about it. Consider for a moment, before we come to the table together, brothers and sisters, I know that I am fallible.

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I know that I am not a perfect pastor and that I fail in many ways and I have many shortcomings and I'm still a work in progress.

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But I have made it my life's goal to make sure that I point people to Christ and His gospel every opportunity that I can, especially during worship together, to point people to Christ.

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And you know that you've heard me say behind this pulpit so many times that none of us know when

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God requires our lives of us. And the unique thing about human beings is just this, is that we actually think that that message is for the other person and not me.

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The unique thing about human beings is we always consider, well, that's for somebody in this room. Someone better listen to that message because he's talking to somebody here.

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But the unique thing about human beings is we almost never consider that it really is about us.

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It's about me. It's about you. The message that God right now holds your heartbeats in His hands.

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The breath in your lungs, that's the breath that God has given to you right now. The next one you draw in, that was from the hand of God.

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And death has a unique ability, the untouchable ability to focus your mind, to remember that God is the one who creates the storm.

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It's His world. He's sovereign over the mechanical processes.

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He's sovereign over the water. He's sovereign over the waves, the wind. He's sovereign over every detail of that.

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He's sovereign over the storm. He's sovereign over the stilling of the storm. He's sovereign over the giving of life.

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And He's sovereign over the taking of life. And, and the glory of this moment for us as a church, as it always is, is that it draws us into sweet and deep, lasting intimacy with our

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Savior. But it also serves to remind each and every single one of us right now that we live on time borrowed from God, life borrowed from God, under the very hands of God, and it makes the gospel, the good news of what

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Jesus has done, so much more glorious, tangible, palpable.

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You have to see in this very moment of death where, watch, what we constantly try to hide ourselves from.

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You have to see in this moment the fact that you are finite, you are a creature in God's world,

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He's sovereign over it and you. And every single gift that we have, whether it's ours in our own body, our own talents and gifts, our finances, our spouse, our children, our singleness, our anything, all of that is from God's hand, and He is the

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Father who gave it to you out of love, and at any moment He can require it of you.

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And our response, what death teaches us, is not only our need for Jesus Christ, but our response, death teaches us to say, the

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Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the

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Lord. And if you're in this room right now, and you've been under the hearing of the gospel for so long, you've heard the preacher come up, the pastor come up and tell you about your need for Jesus Christ, and the fact that you need to get your mind focused on Him, and you need to get real with Jesus Christ and examine your own heart to see whether you're in the faith.

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You've heard me say that so many times, and here's the moment, brothers and sisters, we're in the midst of the Arrington's pain, where God focuses our minds together.

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And I believe with everything that I am, and I know that is within me,

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I believe that this very moment cannot be wasted. Jesus shows just how unbelievably majestic and awesome

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He is, because you know what no other religion has? You know what no other philosophy has and worldview has?

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It does not have a God of love and mercy and peace and life like us.

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The God who actually steps into this ugliness and our death, and He does so to chase rebels who do not deserve it.

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You don't, I don't, and He comes to chase the very people who are at war with Him, and He comes to taste the death that you should have tasted, and He gives you the life that you should not even have.

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He's God, He's perfect, He came to take away your death, He died and rose again, and that, brothers and sisters, listen, is the message.

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John 5 24, truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears my voice and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death and into life.

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Brothers and sisters, Sarah passed out of death into life long ago. And you, if you don't know

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Jesus today, you need to pass today from death into life.

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Because Jesus' promise is sure, it is true, it is amen, it is without question.

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He says, whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

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Never. Believers, children of God, Christians, don't die.

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Our sister, our beautiful, our precious, wonderful sister, Sarah, she didn't die.

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In God's eyes, in His perspective, in what He knows and what is actually real, she did not worship a

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God of the dead, she worshiped the God of the living. And she is very much alive.

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And brothers and sisters, the message of the gospel needs to come and penetrate right now in this very moment.

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Do you know Him? Are you alive? Have you passed from death into life? Are you the one that Jesus says will never die?

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You will never die. You may shed this tent, you may pass for a moment out of this physical, to spend eternity rejoicing with God in the eternal realm with Him.

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Yes, you'll pass this, but Christians never die. Do you know Him? Here's what

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I say, come to Christ and live. Come to Christ and live.

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Today is the day of salvation. Death focuses the mind. Listen, if, if you don't know

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Jesus, how can you remain hard -hearted in the midst of a God as glorious as this, who gives life as beautiful as this?

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Hear the message of the gospel. Jesus is Messiah. He is God. He is righteous.

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He was perfect. He died for sinners. He rose from the dead. He has ascended and seated and commands men and women and children everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.

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Come to Christ and live. So, death has the ability to focus the mind, and this, let me just step down for a second, this particular death, it's what it is, it's what it represents, should speak to us,

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I think, in a very powerful way today on this Sunday evening as we struggle, as we rejoice with tear -filled eyes together.

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We struggle with the death that we all experience around us. We hurt, and it's going to hurt for a long time, and that's good that it hurts.

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It's good that it hurts. But the table that we come to every Sunday together as a church, we come to this table, and what are you coming to?

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You're coming to elements that represent death, death.

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You know how powerful this moment is as a church. Our sister in Christ, the one that we love, went to be with our

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Savior, and it hurts. And this table is the death of the

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God that she went to. Do you see? Broken body, shed blood.

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Jesus says, this is my body broken for you, this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant poured out for many for the remission of sins.

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So, you come to the table, right, hurting right now, hurting. But you're coming to the table to receive into your body the very picture of the death that God took for you, to purchase you for himself.

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So, if you say, God, where are you, God, how can you understand, God, where's your presence in the midst of this storm,

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God? Where were you this week? Where are you at this moment, God? Are you asleep at the wheel of the universe,

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God? Are you far from me? And then you come to this table and you remember, this is the God that we worship, the one who actually meets us in death.

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You take it in to yourself and receive it. But remember, brothers and sisters, he didn't just stay dead.

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And that's what makes the resurrection so unbelievably awesome, is that you know what?

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Every person who's ever come into this planet has died and stayed that way. Jesus shows how absolutely supremely valuable he is, and that he died, and then he conquered that death, never to die again.

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Which means you have absolute guaranteed assurance that Jesus has the power to raise all of his children to eternal life.

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So when you come to this table today, please remember, God commands us to come to the table in a worthy way, which means that if you're not in Christ, please repent and believe from where you sit.

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Trust in him. Turn away from your sin, your self -righteousness, and come and abandon yourself to Jesus.

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But if you're in Christ today, brothers and sisters, come to this table in a worthy way, confessing sin, rejoicing.

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Let death focus your mind today. Let it focus your mind.

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And then come rejoicing, because he's not dead anymore. And if you're in Christ, neither are you.

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Let's pray. Father, please bless your church. God, we all come to you right now, again, with tear -filled eyes.

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God, we do not presume to step into your presence right now and to tell you how to be a better God.

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God, all we do right now is, in the midst of this, is say, Blessed be the name of the Lord, God. We know that if we were to call you down to stand in the defense box, we know that,

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Lord, that would be sin. Lord, we know that all we could do if we commanded an interview with you is cover our own mouths like Job and say,

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I've spoken too soon. I cannot contend with the Almighty. Here's what we know, God, you're God. Here's what we know, you're good.

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Here's what we know, and we proclaim, is that you cause all things to work together for good to those who love you, even this.

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God, as we come to this table as your church, remind us of our hope in you, please.

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God, as we come to this table as your church, we confess to you now, united together, that we're unworthy of it, that we don't deserve it, we shouldn't have it, and Lord, all we can do is thank you.

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We have nothing else. All we can do is boast in you, so please, God, bless this moment as we worship you as your people, and we remember how you purchased us through your death and resurrection.