Dining With Jesus Revelation 3:20

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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May 27, 2015

Bill Smith; Revelation 3:20 Dining With Jesus Revelation 3:20

00:00: All right. Good morning. Good morning, Recast. Hey, I'm Rob Canold, an elder here, and I'll be just doing some introductory announcements this morning in Don's absence.
00:10: Don is not with us today, obviously. Glad to see you this morning on this Memorial Day weekend.
00:16: Hope you guys are enjoying the nice weather we had yesterday, and boy, there's been a lot of graduates lately.
00:22: In fact, many from this church. So congratulations to all those graduates, and hope you guys enjoy the graduation parties and all the festivities.
00:33: This morning, as far as announcements, I just want to point out a couple of things. First of all, you should have received this worship folder on the way in today, and inside this worship folder, you have announcements, just a few.
00:44: So please take a look at those. Secondly, there's a connection card, and if you fill out this connection card, it's a good way to get involved and connected here at Recast.
00:53: So there's a few checkboxes, and there's also a place for prayer requests. We do read those every week and pray for those.
00:58: I'd encourage you to put down any prayer requests that you have this morning. Last but not least, there's a giving envelope.
01:05: We don't pass a plate here at Recast, but we just encourage you to give as the Lord leads you. You can put the money in that envelope, and it goes in the black box in the back right corner.
01:15: So that's it for announcements this morning. I do want to introduce Bill Smith. He's a member of our church, and also a missionary with Youth for Christ here in Kalamazoo.
01:26: He works with the youth for many, many years. And I'm just really excited to hear from Bill Smith this morning as he preaches.
01:33: So he'll be introducing his sermon next. Thank you, Rob. Good morning. I'm really excited and nervous.
01:44: I'm excited about what God has given me to share this morning.
01:49: I've been praying about it for several months, and God made it clear what
01:55: I'm supposed to speak on. And I know from firsthand experience what a huge impact it's had in my own life.
02:07: It's life -giving. So I just want to start with a question to you all this morning.
02:16: Is anybody hungry? If you are, raise your hand. Okay. A few of you missed your breakfast.
02:23: Okay. Let me put it in a different way. Is anyone hungry for deeper meaning in your life?
02:36: Is anyone hungry for a deeper purpose in your life? Is anyone hungry for more hope in your life, for more love in your life?
02:50: Is anyone hungry for a deeper relationship with God? Anybody hungry?
02:57: Amen. I want to share with you this morning about a spiritual feast.
03:07: Okay. I want to share with you about the blessing of the bread of life.
03:16: You know, before I kind of dive into my introduction, though, I just want to say thank you to Recast.
03:24: You are one of my supporting churches. As a missionary, I raise support so that I can serve full -time at Youth for Christ, reaching out to troubled, hurting, lost kids.
03:37: And I want to tell you about a spiritual meal that I have every Monday with a group of boys in what we call
03:45: A -Pod in the juvenile home. So I get to oversee all the ministries in our county juvenile home.
03:53: So that would include Thursday night chapel, Sunday morning chapel, and Monday night Bible studies in the pods.
03:59: So we have A -Pod, B -Pod, C -Pod, and D -Pod. And I have a group of awesome dedicated leaders who help teach the word of God in each of those pods on Mondays, and I get to do
04:11: A -Pod. And so I get to sit down every Monday afternoon with a group of young men and we get to break the word of God together, the word of life.
04:22: I want to tell you about two of the boys in this group, okay? Tomorrow marks
04:29: Memorial Day, of course, but it also marks a tragic event in our city.
04:37: I don't know if you remember, but a year ago tomorrow, Michael Day was shot and killed on the south side of Kalamazoo.
04:45: A young teenage boy. He was part of a gang called the
04:51: Washington Street Boys, and one of his rival gang members from a gang called
04:57: Trap Money, both on the south side, shot and killed Michael Day.
05:04: When I heard this in the news, I knew that they would catch the young man who did it, and I knew that I would be ministering to him in the juvenile home.
05:16: And Victor has been in the juvenile home for almost a year now. So it wasn't long after the shooting that they arrested
05:24: Victor, ended up in the juvenile home 15 years old looking at murder. And I immediately went in to meet him.
05:34: He had never been in the juvenile home before. And it wasn't quite what
05:39: I expected. You know, you're thinking some hardened, you know, criminal.
05:46: Although I know the reality because I work with these kids every week. Well, Victor, of course, you know, was facing, you know, murder charges.
06:01: And we just began to pray for Victor and minister the word to him. And it wasn't long after he was in there that he opened his heart to Jesus.
06:13: And he, I've been ministering to him for almost a year now. He's in my APOD group. Okay, remember, he's from the gang
06:22: Trap Money. Now I want to introduce you to another boy. His name is Dominique. Dominique was a member of Washington Street Boys and a leader in that gang.
06:33: In and out of trouble, I knew Dominique. He's been in and out of the juvenile home. Hearing the word of God every time he came.
06:39: Listening, but never opening his heart. Well, he stole a car. I don't know, this was probably 10 months ago.
06:48: He stole a car. The police were chasing him. He was out trying to outrun them.
06:53: He flipped the car and rolled it. They came rushing up, arrested him.
06:58: He had a handgun on him. He's 16 years old, facing adult charges.
07:06: And he came into the juvenile home, got locked up, started coming to our chapel services, hearing the word of God.
07:15: And this time he realized his need and he opened his heart to Jesus. And we've been ministering the word to Dominique for 10 months now.
07:25: Dominique and Victor sit next to each other in Bible study. This could have never happened without the reality of Jesus.
07:36: In fact, the juvenile home would never have allowed them to be in the same pod together. Because they don't let rival gang members be in the same pod.
07:45: But because they had seen the change and transformation in Dominique and in Victor, they knew that they were brothers in Christ and that they would be okay together.
07:56: We pray around the table right before every Bible study. Every boy prays. Victor prays,
08:02: Dominique prays. And then we open the word of God and we have a meal together, feasting in the word.
08:13: Victor, since he's been in, has probably memorized over 50 scriptures.
08:22: Because those guys memorize the scripture that I give them every week. And they always get it.
08:28: And Dominique, say a prayer for him. He's preaching next Sunday morning in our chapel service in the juvenile home.
08:36: So I'm really, really excited about that. He asked me if he could break the word, if he could share the word.
08:42: So pray for Dominique. He's getting close. He's been doing really well.
08:48: He's in a special program. He found mercy in the eyes of the court. And he should be getting out soon on what they call his 75 -day pass.
08:58: And he wants to become a minister with us at Youth for Christ. So I'm just really excited about what
09:05: God is doing in Dominique's life. So with all that,
09:10: I just wanted you to see that when you support our ministry, what you're helping be able to happen.
09:20: And so I just thank you so much for your prayers and your support for the ministry of Youth for Christ.
09:28: So I just want to pray, and then I want to introduce the message for this morning, okay?
09:34: So let's pray. Father, what a privilege to come before your throne of grace.
09:43: That you love us with a perfect love. That you long for us to come to you.
09:50: You long for us to spend time with you. And you want to do great things in our hearts, in our inner lives,
10:02: Father. And I pray that you would show us what this could mean in our lives.
10:10: I pray that you would help us to take an honest look this morning about our walk with you, our relationship with you.
10:20: And I pray that your spirit would just stir us to go deeper. And I pray that you would, from your word, show us practical ways that we can connect with you on a deeper level.
10:34: And just thank you because you're the perfect Father. You love each of your children with a perfect love.
10:40: And you long for each of us to spend time with you. You long to just wrap your arms around us and speak words of comfort and hope on a daily basis.
10:53: Help us to see that today. And bless our time, our worship time. We love you, we praise you.
10:59: In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so go ahead and open up your Bibles to Revelation 3, verse 20.
11:07: If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and Mike and the guys would be glad to bring you one. I'm going to look at a lot of Scripture today.
11:15: I'm just going to let the Word speak. You know, I love the way Pastor Don teaches that it's always the
11:22: Word and that's what you're going to get. But we're going to flip around a lot today. So that's a little different.
11:30: Revelation 3, 20. I want you to see some words that Jesus spoke.
11:47: Look at verse 20 of Revelation chapter 3. This is
11:52: Jesus speaking to the church. Look at verse 14. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words of the
12:02: Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. And so he has a message for the church.
12:10: So that would be us. Jump down to verse 20. Jesus says,
12:18: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
12:26: I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. Jesus is inviting us to dinner.
12:35: How about that? Gotta love technology.
12:58: Am I coming through now? Okay. I'll just keep going even if this thing doesn't work.
13:04: So you don't have to interrupt me. I'll just keep going. He's inviting us to come to a meal.
13:12: Okay. How many of you ever been invited over to somebody's house for dinner, for supper, for a meal?
13:19: Okay. Should be every one of us. Okay. So when someone invites you over for dinner, does that mean to just come over and have some food?
13:32: Come and eat at my house. It means a little bit more than that, doesn't it? Okay. So Jesus is saying,
13:39: I want to eat with you. I want to share a meal with you. And it means so much more than just because right now, you know, you guys are spiritual.
13:48: So you're thinking, oh, he's talking about the word, the food. The word is the food. But there's so much more to a good dining experience than just the food, right?
13:59: Okay. I want to propose to you that there's four things that make a good dining experience.
14:06: All right. Number one is good company. Because I'm guessing maybe you've been invited to somebody's house before you really weren't too excited about going.
14:16: Maybe, you know, even family. Like, oh, I really don't want to go.
14:23: Good company is key to a good dining experience. Of course, good food, right?
14:29: Come on. You know, we want some good grub. Good conversation and a good atmosphere.
14:37: So I want to take those four things and use them to help us see how we can connect with God in a meaningful, quiet time on a daily basis.
14:51: That we would sit down with Jesus and have a meal every day.
14:57: Feasting in His word, enjoying His company, and letting Him minister and speak into our lives.
15:06: You know, I asked you at the beginning, do you hunger for deeper meaning in your life?
15:13: Do you hunger for more of a purpose in your life? In fact, do you hunger for hope? Then come and dine with Jesus.
15:21: Do you hunger for love? Come and dine with Jesus. Do you hunger for a deeper relationship with God?
15:30: Come and dine with Jesus. He is inviting us to a feast.
15:36: To a daily feast. You know, we've used this verse for salvation.
15:44: You know, He stands at the door, knock, if you open up, He'll come in and save you.
15:51: But this isn't a salvation verse. This is a verse to the church. And it's interesting,
15:57: He says, I stand at the door and knock. Like He's saying, please let me in. Please give me some time.
16:04: I plead with you. I want to meet with you. I want to sit down with you. I want to feed you the goodness of My word.
16:12: I want to help you grow healthy and strong in the Spirit. Will you open and let me in?
16:18: Will you give me time? Father, just please bring that home to us this morning.
16:27: Please speak to us. Father, You know that each of us really is desperate for You.
16:33: We may not know that. But we are. Lord, we need You so much.
16:39: And You invite us to come. Thank You for that. I pray that we could come to You now in worship.
16:45: And that this would be meaningful. And that Your Spirit would give us understanding. We love
16:50: You and praise You. And thank You that we can gather together this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
17:00: Amen. Thank you, guys. That was beautiful. Beautiful. So, I don't want to leave you hanging about what's going on with Victor.
17:09: I told you a little bit of his story. That he has come to Christ. I have seen him grow and change.
17:20: And he knows that his future isn't the brightest. He was found guilty of murder, homicide.
17:31: And he has been waiting for his sentencing. And at first, they tried to declare a mistrial.
17:41: And that wasn't accepted. And he was supposed to go in for sentencing like over a month ago at least.
17:52: And so, I don't know what's going on with him. He's definitely going to prison.
17:59: But he knows that he is a son of God. And he has hope because of that.
18:05: Regardless of, you know, what he did in his past and what he's facing. He knows that he has hope.
18:14: So, pray for him. I mean, you know, he got caught up in that gang life.
18:19: And, you know, these kids with guns, you know. They don't think that, you know, they can kill somebody.
18:34: Let's open back up to Revelation 3 .20. Father, just pray that you would speak to us through your word.
18:52: That your Holy Spirit would be our teacher. And that you would do something in our hearts and our lives.
19:01: That would spur us on to seek you, Father, in deeper ways.
19:08: And so, I pray that you would encourage us and speak to us this morning.
19:16: In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so let's read this verse once more, okay?
19:23: So, the first thing that I said that makes for a good dining experience, of course, is good company, right?
19:35: Very unlikely you're going to go to somebody's house for dinner who you do not like.
19:41: Or they're a mean person. I mean, they probably wouldn't invite you anyway, right?
19:46: Okay. But, I'm going to guess maybe you've been invited at one time to someone's place.
19:54: And you really weren't too excited about it. Maybe you went. You probably didn't flat out say, no,
19:59: I don't like you. I don't want to come. You know, you're probably like, oh, let me check the calendar.
20:05: I'll get back with you on that, right? And then, all of a sudden, you realize, oh, yeah, we were going to do something on that day.
20:12: And then, all of a sudden, you have a new plan of what you're going to do on that day. But I want you to think about who is inviting you to this meal.
20:23: That it's Jesus. He says this, Behold. That's a word to get our attention.
20:32: It's like, check this out. Listen. I stand at the door and knock.
20:39: If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.
20:48: He's knocking and wanting to come in and share this meal. This is
20:54: Jesus. He is some good company. This is
21:00: Jesus, the Prince of Peace, inviting us to come and dine with Him.
21:06: This is Jesus, the good, tender Shepherd, wanting us to come and lie down in those green pastures and to walk along those still waters.
21:18: This is Jesus, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Imagine this.
21:24: Your phone rings. I love caller ID because now we don't have to always pick it up, right?
21:34: So usually if it's a number out of state that I don't recognize, oh, they're selling something. Just let it go into voicemail.
21:41: If it's important, they'll leave a message. But you look and it's like District of Columbia, Pennsylvania Avenue or wherever the address of the
21:52: White House is and you're like, wow, this is weird. And you're like, hello? And there's this voice on the line that you recognize because you've heard it on television.
22:05: It's the President of the United States of America. And he's like,
22:12: Bill, this is President Obama.
22:19: Just wondering if you would like to come over to my house and have supper. I'm like, what?
22:26: President? President of the United? Yes, this is the President. Will you come and dine with me?
22:34: Now, I'd be a little excited about that. You know, regardless of your political leanings, okay, to be invited to come and have supper with the
22:43: President of the United States, that would be kind of cool, wouldn't it? Go to the White House. You know, maybe you could share some things with President Obama on your heart.
22:51: I don't know, but it would be an honor. Let's put it that way, right? Well, who is
22:59: Jesus? He is the King of the universe. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
23:05: And He is inviting us to come and dine with Him. This is
23:10: Jesus, the fountain of living waters. This is the Alpha and Omega, the
23:15: A through Z. This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is the
23:21: Lion of the tribe of Judah. This is Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
23:27: This is Jesus, the resurrection and the life. This is Jesus, our all in all.
23:32: This is Jesus, the God of all comfort and the God of all hope. And He's saying, will you let me in?
23:40: Will you sit down with me and share a meal with me? Jesus is calling us to come and dine with Him.
23:52: He'll be all these things in our lives if we'll let Him. So let's break this verse down just a little bit, okay?
24:03: So when He says, eat with me and He with me, I almost entitled this message,
24:12: Sup with Jesus from the King James, because He says, you know, sup and I will sup with Him and He with me.
24:21: Okay, sup is short for supper, right? Sup with Jesus. But I thought, we'll call it dining with Jesus.
24:29: That's actually the New King James Version uses, and I will dine with Him and He with me, which is really a good translation because I looked this word up in the
24:42: Greek language, and it said that this is the principal meal of the day or the evening meal, okay?
24:51: So it's the big meal of the day. He's saying, come and have dinner with me.
25:00: That's kind of cool. And we're gonna break that down and look at that a little bit, what that means. The MacArthur New Testament commentary says this, sharing a meal in ancient times symbolized the union of people in loving fellowship.
25:18: Jesus is saying, come and have loving fellowship with me.
25:23: The pulpit commentary said, to take food with someone is an outward sign of brotherly love and reconciliation.
25:34: So, you know, even in our culture, we don't just invite anybody over for dinner, right?
25:41: We invite people that we want to get to know. We invite people that we want to have a friendship with.
25:48: And this was true in Jesus' day. And he's saying, I want to have friendship with you.
25:55: And then what is this door? He says, I stand at the door and knock.
26:02: So we got invited to someone's house for dinner. This was many years ago. And they had that painting of Jesus where he's knocking on the door.
26:12: Anybody seen that before? Okay. In their living room. And so, you know,
26:17: Jesus, you know, I got to check this out. You know, I've seen that before, but I never took a close look at it. So I'm standing right in front of it.
26:24: And the host says, do you see anything unusual about that painting? And so I took a closer look, you know, there's something unusual about it, right?
26:36: Okay. And I start looking at the door and I noticed there's no doorknob.
26:43: There's no door handle. That's unusual for a door, right? Okay. So I said, there's no doorknob.
26:50: There's no door handle. And he said, yeah, that's because that door represents our heart.
26:56: It can only be opened from the inside. He doesn't just open up and come in and start doing incredible things in our hearts.
27:07: We have to be intentional. We have to open this door on a daily basis. We have to come and invite him to meet with us.
27:15: He has this meal and he's bringing it, but we have to let him in to share this meal.
27:25: I love Matthew Henry commentary. I don't know if anybody's ever read them before, but he's like from hundreds of years ago.
27:32: But he said this, he said, Christ is graciously pleased by His Word and Spirit to come to the door of the heart of sinners.
27:41: He draws near to them in the way of mercy, ready to make a kind visit. Those who open to Him shall enjoy
27:48: His presence to their great comfort and advantage. Jesus wants to meet with us on a daily basis.
28:01: He wants to sit with us in one -on -one friendship. He wants us to feast with Him in His Word.
28:10: Some would refer to this as the quiet time. I remember when it used to be called devotions.
28:17: You don't hear that very many anymore. How's your devotions?
28:24: I like quiet time because you're sitting down one -on -one with the
28:30: King of kings and Lord of lords. And He wants to speak to you. Good company, number one.
28:39: Secondly, good food, right? If you're anything like me, when you get invited to go to somebody's house for supper,
28:49: I always ask this question to myself. I wonder what they're having, right?
28:56: Cheryl's mom used to invite us over quite often and I'd always ask her.
29:03: I'd ask Cheryl, what's she having? What's she having?
29:09: That's a good question, right? We want some good food now, right? Come on, okay?
29:15: Well, I want to show you what this good food is, so turn to Isaiah 55 with me.
29:32: Isaiah 55, starting in verse 1.
29:47: Quotation marks. This is God speaking through the prophet Isaiah. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
29:55: And he who has no money, come and buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money, without price.
30:02: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and you labor for that which does not satisfy?
30:07: Listen diligent to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.
30:15: Sounds like he's inviting us to dinner again, right? To a meal. So let's look at this meal a little bit, okay?
30:23: So you might not get so excited if somebody said, hey, come over for dinner, man. We're going to have some good water, right?
30:30: Okay, well, must be some special water. He says, you who thirst, come to the waters.
30:39: Makes me think of Jeremiah 2, verse 13.
30:46: He calls himself the fountain of living waters in that verse. That's one of the names for God.
30:53: The fountain of living waters. It makes me think of the fountain of youth or something. You know, okay? He says living waters.
31:00: These are life -giving waters. I mean, absolutely, we need water to stay alive.
31:08: You know, you can only live a few days without it. I mean, it's essential to life, but this is special water.
31:14: This gives life spiritually. You think of water, what water does for you?
31:21: It's refreshing. Plunge into a nice cool pool on a hot, humid day.
31:30: Refreshment. Come in from working in the yard and you're all dusty and itchy and you let that water cleanse you.
31:39: It's refreshing, right? If you're anything like me, you get weary.
31:46: You get tired because life is not easy. And we live in a crazy world. We really do.
31:52: Things are not as they should be. And we get wore out. And Jesus says, Come, and I will refresh you with these life -giving waters.
32:03: The second thing that he mentions in verse 1 is wine. Okay, Jesus has got wine at this spiritual dinner?
32:13: No, we know he's not. You were going to sit down and magically a wine glass appears and there's some wine, right?
32:20: We know that, okay? When you look at how wine is used in the Bible at times, for example, in Psalm 104, verse 15, it's talking about how
32:32: God takes care of the earth and how he causes the vegetables to grow for the nourishment of the human race.
32:40: And then he makes this statement, And wine to gladden the heart of man. That's there for a purpose, okay?
32:48: He's not encouraging us to stop on the way home from church and get a bottle of wine.
32:54: That's not what this is about. It's a symbol of spiritual joy.
33:01: It's a symbol of celebration. That this wine that he has to offer you and young people, you don't have to be 21 to partake of this, okay?
33:11: This is the good stuff. This is the spiritual wine of the word. It's altering.
33:18: You know, I think of where in Ephesians 5 .18 he says, Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the
33:25: Spirit. Okay? Alcohol alters something in you, okay?
33:32: The Spirit and the word of God alters something in us if we approach it with a genuine, humble heart, seeking
33:40: God to speak to us through it. It's transforming. I can't tell you how many times
33:46: I've sat down through the years, like depressed, and just like cried out to God and got real with Him and opened
33:54: His word. And something started shifting inside of me. And I went from being depressed to having joy.
34:05: That's the power of the spiritual wine that he has in this feast.
34:12: Now he talks about milk too, you know? That should be familiar from 1 Peter 2. Long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow.
34:23: This is talking about the nourishment that the word of God brings to us.
34:28: You know, you think of a little baby, and that milk, it's all they need at that stage in their life.
34:34: And it helps them grow. It has all the nutrients in it. And you talk about some good, wholesome milk right here.
34:41: This word of God, it is powerful. What else is involved in this feast?
34:49: Look at verse 2. Toward the end, he says this.
34:56: He says, Eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.
35:06: This is talking about the good stuff, okay? Rich food, I don't know what you think of. I think of some lobster.
35:13: That's kind of rich, right? Maybe some really, really good steak. You know, some meat.
35:21: Hebrews talks about the meat of the word. You know, he wants to bring forth something substantial to us from the word.
35:30: It's the good stuff. I want to show you a few verses, so we're going to flip around quickly here for a minute.
35:37: Let's go to Psalm 119. You can keep your finger here if you want because we're going to flip back.
35:43: But turn to Psalm 119, 103 with me, would you? I want to show you how
35:50: God talks about his word. Psalm 119, verse 103.
36:01: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.
36:09: Ah, some dessert in this meal, right? Okay. It's sweet. Now, they didn't have candy back in David's day that I know of.
36:18: You know, I don't know. They didn't go to the candy store. I know that. And so, you know, what they had was honey.
36:28: Now, I don't know about you, but honey is amazing. How many think honey is amazing?
36:35: Anybody? Okay. All right, so I have some honey here, right? Is there anybody with us this morning who has never tasted honey?
36:46: Anybody? I figured everybody tasted honey.
36:51: Now, this is some good honey. Who would come up to me this morning and sample some of this good honey?
36:58: All right, come on now. You can't leave me hanging out here. You know, somebody be brave. I have a very clean spoon, trust me.
37:04: I put it in the bag. The honey is very clean. I'm not going to play a trick on you.
37:10: Come on up. All right. Hi. You going to taste some honey?
37:18: Okay. Now, doesn't that look good? You've had honey before? Okay. So I want you to pretend that you live like 2 ,500 years ago, and there's no candy stores, okay?
37:31: You've been having a lot of bread and oats and things like that, maybe a little lamb meat, but no candy, okay?
37:38: So all of a sudden, go ahead and taste that.
37:46: Turn around so everybody can see how it's going to go. Go ahead. Take it all. Did you hear that?
37:59: Is that good? Isn't that amazing, okay? Bugs can be good, right?
38:04: Because bugs made that. Thank you so much for tasting that. I love that.
38:12: Mmm. I like to eat honey by the spoonful. I just like to put it on a spoon and put it in my mouth and just like, wow,
38:21: Lord, you are amazing. You are amazing. So what did the Psalms just say?
38:28: What did it just say? It said that his word, his word is better than honey.
38:35: It's sweeter than honey. It's the good stuff. When I ran cross -country in high school, just about everybody on my cross -country team had one of these little honeybears, and we would literally drink some honey before the race, thinking it would give us a boost of energy, right?
38:55: You know, when the troops were starving and Saul said, you can't eat.
39:01: You've got to fast until we defeat this enemy army, and Jonathan didn't hear that, and they're walking through the woods and he finds some honey.
39:08: Everybody else is just like totally wore out and drooping. And he finds this honey and he tastes it, and it says that it revived him.
39:18: That's what the Word of God can do for us. It can revive us. It can be sweet.
39:26: Now, the reality is that there's been times when you've opened it and you didn't get anything from it.
39:32: It seemed boring or it seemed hard to understand. And there's a reason for that when that happens.
39:39: And we'll talk a little bit about that. I wish I had like another hour. I do this every time. I always plan way too much.
39:46: Turn to Psalm 36, but I promise we'll get you out of here. Normal time. Psalm 36, verses 7 and 8.
40:08: Psalm 36, 7 and 8. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
40:17: They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the rivers of your delight.
40:25: For with you is the fountain of life. They feast on the abundance of your house.
40:33: Look at Psalm 63, verse 5. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.
40:55: Fat and rich food. Now there's a steak for sure, right? You've got to have a little fat in with a steak.
41:02: I don't know about you, but it just... That's the lobster, that's the meat.
41:08: He wants to give us a substantial spiritual meal. He wants us to experience a meaningful quiet time.
41:16: Look at Psalm 23. The shepherd's psalm.
41:25: Psalm 23, verse 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
41:36: My head with oil, my cup overflows. So he says in the presence of his enemy.
41:46: Like that's extreme, right? Enemies are facing him. And God says,
41:52: I still have a table for you. You know, you're going through a crisis in life. God says, come to my table.
41:58: Even in the presence of your enemies, the table is set. I want you to feast with me.
42:05: I want to nourish your soul. I want to nourish your spirit. I want to speak into your life. I want to renew you.
42:12: I want to bring transformation to you. This meal does have a cost though.
42:20: There is an investment that we have to make. Turn back to Isaiah 55 with me, if you would. Isaiah 55, starting in verse 1 again.
42:34: Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat.
42:40: Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. That's kind of weird.
42:45: He says come and buy, but not with money. He's saying there's an investment that we have to make.
42:56: Look at verse 1. He says, come everyone. Come to the waters.
43:02: Come buy and eat. Come buy. Four times in one verse he says, come.
43:08: That's the investment. It's an investment of time. You have to be intentional about this.
43:14: You have to make the time. There's an investment in listening.
43:21: Okay, look at verse 2. He says, listen diligently to me.
43:27: Verse 3, incline your ear. Give me your heart. Give me your mind.
43:33: Give me your focus. So there's an investment. If we don't make this investment, this is not going to happen.
43:40: If we don't take the time and intentionally meet with Him one on one, this is not going to happen.
43:49: So what enhances a meal? Number one, come hungry. You know, don't go to somebody's house full, right?
43:58: You ever play the two Thanksgiving dinner thing? Both parents live in town.
44:05: You go to one family and you have Thanksgiving dinner, and then two hours later you're supposed to eat another Thanksgiving dinner? The first one you're holding back a little bit because you don't want to get too full, but it doesn't work because you get to the second one, and it just doesn't taste as good.
44:18: You've got to come hungry. In Matthew 5 Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for I will fill them.
44:26: In the Psalms He said, Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.
44:33: He came to fill the hungry soul. He can feed and nourish our soul.
44:41: Come expectantly. Hebrews 11, verse 6,
44:49: He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
44:54: Him. Come hungry. The third thing is a good conversation. This is what
45:03: He says to us, Call to Me, and I will answer you, and tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. He says,
45:09: I want to share deep and intimate truths with you that you don't know.
45:15: He wants to speak into our lives. He wants to teach us. I love this quote from Frederick Faber, Only to sit and think of God, oh what joy it is,
45:25: To think the thought, to breathe the name, Earth has no higher bliss. What kind of a meal would there be if there was only one person talking?
45:39: They never stop, right? Or you never stop. Are you that person? Some people have that gift, okay?
45:45: The gift of gab. I don't know how they do it. It's amazing. But, you know, a good conversation is two -way, right?
45:53: This is what God says. It says in Psalm 62, Trust in Him at all times, oh people.
46:00: Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. He says, pour out your heart before Me.
46:08: One thing I've learned about my Father is He knows everything. I can't hide anything from Him.
46:16: I know that. He knows everything. He knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. And He loves me with a perfect love.
46:24: So I can talk to Him about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I tell God things that I would never say to another human being.
46:32: I mean about my personal struggles. Because I know He loves me, and I know He already knows it.
46:37: So, I'm not hiding anything from Him. I talk to Him about it. I talk to Him about my guilt and shame and my struggles and my doubts and my fears.
46:48: And I just pour out my heart to Him. I am honest with Him. Because I know He loves me, and He hears me, and He already knows it.
46:55: And He's the only one that really can heal it and transform it anyway. And so, be honest with Him.
47:04: Try praying the Scriptures. When I read the Scriptures, I turn them into a conversation with God.
47:12: I talk to Him about what I'm reading. I thank Him for things that I see. This is a quote from a saint from the 1600s.
47:22: And this is what she says about praying the Scripture. Praying the Scripture is a unique way of dealing with Scripture.
47:29: It involves both reading and prayer. Turn to the Scripture. Choose some passage that is simple and fairly practical.
47:36: Next, come to the Lord. Come quietly and humbly. There before Him, read a small portion of the passage of Scripture you have opened.
47:45: Be careful as you read. Take it in fully, gently, and carefully what you are reading.
47:50: Taste it and digest it as you read. Coming to the Lord by means of praying the
47:56: Scriptures, you do not read quickly. You read very slowly. You do not move on to the next thought until you have sensed the very heart of what you've read.
48:05: You may then want to take that portion of Scripture that has touched you and turn it into a prayer.
48:11: You will be surprised to find that when your time with the Lord has ended, you will have been drawn closely to Him.
48:21: Try praying the Scriptures. I approach the Word so much differently than I used to.
48:27: I used to like an academic study. I'd have my notebook. I'd have my Strong's Cordon.
48:33: I'd have my Webster's Dictionary. I'd be looking up every other word, you know. And it was just a study, but I learned that that's not connecting with God as He would have me.
48:45: He wants, like, to have friendship with me. He wants to share a meal. He wants us to have conversation.
48:51: And so I pray the Scriptures. I read slowly, and I think about what He's saying, and I talk to Him about it, and I ask
48:58: Him questions, and it may trigger something that's going on in my life. And so then I talk to Him about that as well.
49:09: You know, I'm going to have to turn this into a two -part message. I get to come back and speak,
49:17: I think, in three weeks. But I want to ask you, what is hindering you from this if you're not experiencing this, if you're not having a daily quiet time?
49:32: What is keeping you from this? Is it time? You say, I don't have enough time.
49:38: Well, let me ask you this. How much time do you spend on Facebook? How much time do you spend watching television, talking on the phone?
49:49: Do you have 15 minutes for God? If you do that faithfully, it'll turn into 30, and then you'll want an hour as you grow in this.
50:04: Maybe you've said, I can't get anything out. I'm just not getting anything out of it. You need to read Proverbs 2, verses 1 through 4.
50:11: He talks about crying out for wisdom and understanding. If you approach it from your own intellect, you only get what your own intellect can give you.
50:20: You have to ask God to teach you. You have to ask Him to speak to you. That is key.
50:25: If you don't do that, you're only going to get what your own brain can tell you.
50:31: And then it becomes dry and boring. You have to ask God to speak to you.
50:37: And then lastly, maybe you feel unloved. Zach, you can go ahead and cue that up.
50:43: Don't start it yet. I'm going to close with a video clip. Maybe you feel unworthy.
50:49: Maybe you feel unloved. Maybe your dad wasn't there for you growing up, and when you think of the
50:56: Heavenly Father, it's foreign to you to have a close relationship with your father.
51:04: Anybody heard the song, Our God is an Awesome God by Rich Mullins? What I didn't know about Rich is that he struggled with the love of God.
51:15: His dad was a farmer. He grew up on a farm, and his dad was very harsh. And his dad never told him that he loved him.
51:22: And so Rich struggled with the love of God. And I didn't know Rich Mullins had so many ups and downs in his life and so many struggles until I watched this movie called
51:31: The Ragamuffin. And this is at a really, really low time in Rich's life, and he's just kind of spiraling downward.
51:43: And his friend Justin, who plays with him, plays the guitar and traveled with him, he asked him,
51:49: Hey, will you listen to this tape with me? It's a very short clip. If you could go ahead and play that.
51:59: Hey, can I play your tape? What is it? It's this preacher,
52:05: Brendan Manning. You should know better than to even ask me to listen to a preacher. Just give it 10 minutes.
52:20: In the 33 years since I was first ambushed by Jesus in a little chapel in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, and the literally thousands of hours of prayer and meditation, silence, solitude in those years,
52:35: I am now utterly convinced that on Judgment Day, the
52:42: Lord Jesus will ask one question and only one question. Did you believe that I loved you?
52:53: That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day?
53:01: That I longed to hear the sound of your voice? The real believers will respond and say,
53:08: I believed in your love, and I tried to shape my life as a response to it.
53:13: But many of us who are so faithful in our ministry, our practice, churchgoing, are going to answer, well, frankly, no, sir.
53:27: I never really believed it. And there is the difference between the real believers and the nominal
53:34: Christians that abound in our churches across the land. No one can measure like a believer the depth and intensity of God's love.
53:43: But then again, no one can measure like a believer the effectiveness of our gloom, our pessimism, our low self -esteem, our self -hatred, and despair that block
53:52: God's way to us. Do you see now why it's so important to lay hold of this basic truth of our faith?
54:00: Because you're only going to be as big as your own concept of God. We make
54:06: God in our own image, and he winds up being as fussy and rude and narrow -minded and judgmental and legalistic and unloving and unforgiving as we are.
54:16: I've been in churches in Bangor, Maine, Miami, Seattle, San Diego, and St. Louis, and honest, the
54:22: God of so many Christians I meet is too small for me. Because he is not the
54:28: God of the Word. He is not the God who is revealed in and by Jesus Christ, who at this moment comes to your seat and says,
54:36: I have a word for you. I know your whole life story. I know every skeleton in your closet.
54:44: I know every moment of sin and shame, dishonesty, and degraded love that's darkened your past.
54:50: Right now, I know your shallow faith, your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship, and my word to you is this.
54:58: I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are, not as you should be, because none of us are as we should be.
55:19: What's up? You all right? Rich.
55:59: He loves you with a perfect love. He loves you with an everlasting love.
56:06: And he longs to meet with you on a daily basis. He knows.
56:16: But he loves you with a perfect love. If his love is perfect, there's nothing you can do to make him love you more.
56:22: Because his love cannot grow. It is a perfect love.
56:31: There's nothing you can do to make him love you less because it's a perfect love. It doesn't grow weak, it can't.
56:40: He longs to meet with you on a daily basis, in a quiet place where you get real with him about your heart, your life, and you let him speak into your life.
56:55: He loves you just the way you are, but he loves you so much that he doesn't want to leave you just the way you are.
57:03: He wants to transform your life. He wants to help you grow in faith, in love, in hope, in peace.
57:13: He has a rich feast prepared for you. Will you come? 37 years ago, when
57:22: I realized the value of this Word and how God could speak to me, I made a commitment that I would not spend a day for the rest of my life without spending time alone with him in prayer and his
57:35: Word. And next to being saved and marrying my wife,
57:44: I had to get that in there, making this commitment has been one of the best decisions
57:49: I ever made. And I have not missed a day in 37 years. It has seen me through raising children, raising teenagers, through the struggles and the health issues and the death of both my parents.
58:04: It has kept me in ministry for 28 years when often
58:10: I could have burned out, I could have crashed, but time alone with God. It's the food for the soul.
58:18: It's absolutely necessary. And he, I'm not pleading with you, he is pleading with you.
58:26: Meet with him daily in his Word. Find a quiet place, let him speak into your life.
58:34: Make that investment of time. Get real with him and he will become real for you.
58:42: And hey, I still have a lot of growing to do in it myself. And I did,
58:48: I apologize, I went over a little bit. Hopefully your lunches aren't burning at home.
58:54: Apologize to the children's workers. You know, I know that extra 10 minutes can be like, wow, where are they?
59:01: When are they coming? So I'm just going to turn it over to Zach for communion. So thank you for letting me share.
59:07: And we'll talk about this some more in a few weeks when I get to come and share again.
59:16: Thanks, Bill. So we're going to wrap up our service, I think, appropriately in celebrating the
59:22: Lord's Supper. That is, we take part in communion. If you're visiting Recast, you are welcome to participate with this.
59:29: We have tables set up in the front here in the corners and in the back. And the idea here is we are worshiping
59:34: God by celebrating what he did for us. The only way you could do this in an unworthy manner is to not be in Christ.
59:42: He mentioned Psalm 62a, that we can trust in him and pour out our heart before him.
59:48: So this is an opportunity to trust in him. And we invite you all to do that. We celebrate his death on the cross with the cracker and his shed blood for our sins through the
59:59: Jews. So please join us if you are trusting in Christ. Let's pray as the band comes.
01:00:04: Our Father God in heaven, Lord, we do desire to pour our hearts before you. You are a loving
01:00:09: Father. You have paid the price to bring us into reconciliation with you. There is now no condemnation for those of us that are in Christ Jesus.
01:00:19: And we praise you this morning and pray that we're able to celebrate that truth in a real way this morning.