If You Are the Son of God…

The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The fall on us, the spirit of the living God come fall on us. Come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. We pray, we pray, we pray. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. Fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us.

The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us.

The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. The spirit of the living God come fall on us. [MUSIC] ♪ I just wanna be near your heart ♪ ♪ There is nothing like your love ♪ ♪ There is nothing like your love ♪ ♪ Be where you are ♪ ♪ Be where you are ♪ ♪ Be where you are ♪ ♪ I can get more ♪ ♪ I can't get enough ♪ ♪ With your amazing love ♪ ♪ I can't get enough ♪

♪ No, I can't walk away ♪ ♪ I can't walk away ♪ ♪ You are one ♪ ♪ I can't walk away ♪ ♪ I see your faith ♪ ♪ I can't walk away ♪ ♪ I just wanna be where you are ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I just wanna be near your heart ♪ ♪ There is nothing like your love ♪ ♪ There is nothing like your love ♪ ♪ I just wanna be where you are ♪ ♪ I just wanna be near your heart ♪ ♪ There is nothing like your love ♪ ♪ There is nothing like your love ♪ ♪ Oh like, oh like your love ♪ ♪ It's no like, no like your love ♪ ♪ It's no like your love ♪ I'm on a divorce. ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Come on, pour what your praise is for ♪

♪ Sing, hold it before I sing, hold it ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language)

(singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) Our song is simple this morning, we love you, we give you our praise for it, we love, we just want to say we love, we're thankful for the cross, we're thankful for your blood, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you, (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music)

(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music)

(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Thank you for the cross Jesus. (upbeat music) Thank you that you rose again. (upbeat music) Thank you forever lasting life. (upbeat music) Thank you that I am made white as snow. (upbeat music)

Every blemish gone. (upbeat music) All of my sins watched. (upbeat music) Come on church, just thank Him this morning. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) One thing you're Jesus. (upbeat music) One thing you are My precious Jesus. (upbeat music) No one can pass you. (upbeat music) No one did what you did. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) But death was not the end

Years and now we meet No one to ever walk in love (music) Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus Our deep motion, poured out on the feet of Jesus ♪ Love, love, love, love, love ♪ ♪ We want just voices in the truth ♪ ♪ Oh, we know precious ♪ ♪ He's not who I am ♪ ♪ Praise me ♪ ♪ I ask for love, love, love ♪

♪ Hounds how you know ♪ ♪ You think about the blood ♪ ♪ We see a kingdom precious ♪ ♪ He's not who I am ♪ ♪ Praise me ♪ ♪ White and store ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ That's right, you know ♪ ♪ You think about the blood ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, we're nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪♪ Can we sing all praise? ♪ In all praise to the Lord ♪ ♪ Most high ♪ ♪ In all praise to the one who saved my life ♪ ♪ All praise to Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Our King of heaven ♪ ♪ My King forever sing again ♪ ♪ In all praise to the Lord ♪ ♪ Most high ♪ ♪ In all praise to the one who saved my life ♪

♪ All praise to Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Our King of heaven ♪ ♪ My King forever ♪ ♪♪ ♪ And who gave your life for mine ♪ ♪ Nailed to the cross you crucified ♪ ♪ All my sin and shame ♪ ♪ It was washed by your mercy ♪ ♪ And you are the treasure I find ♪ ♪ In my reason for living ♪ ♪ So live my life ♪ ♪ Become an offering to the one who is worth ♪ ♪♪ ♪ In all praise to the Lord ♪ ♪ Most high ♪ ♪ In all praise to the one who saved my life ♪ ♪ All praise to Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Our King of heaven ♪ ♪ My King forever ♪ ♪ My King forever ♪ ♪ All I say out today ♪ ♪ You stormed the gates of my heart ♪ ♪ The veil in between ♪ ♪ It was torn apart ♪ ♪ Now you hold the peace to the grave ♪ ♪ 'Cause you bring things to life ♪ ♪ And we will throw it away ♪ ♪ In all praise to the Lord ♪ ♪ Most high ♪ ♪ In all praise to the one who saved my life ♪

♪ All praise to Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Our King of heaven ♪ ♪ My King forever ♪ ♪ In all praise to the Lord ♪ ♪ Most high ♪ To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. To the one who said my life, to Jesus Christ, my King forever. We remember what it took for us to be here today. You came from heaven to earth, and you showed us the way. You gave yourself a way. You gave yourself a rise. You died for three days, but you didn't say that you are the Lord Jesus. Oh, we thank you for the cross. We thank you for the cross. We thank you for the cross. Oh, we thank you for the cross. We thank you for the cross, Jesus. We thank you for the cross. And we thank you for the cross. And we thank you for the cross. And all help in Jesus, and all help the Lord of heaven and earth. And all help in Jesus, and all help in heaven. # All hell, the Lord of heaven and earth #

# All hell, Jesus # # All hell, Jesus # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every tongue confess that he is the Lord # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # With all of heaven sing in holy # # We sing holy, sing in holy # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every tongue confess that he is the Lord # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # With all of heaven sing in holy # # We sing holy, we sing in holy # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every tongue confess that he is the Lord # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # With all of heaven sing in holy # # We sing holy to the Lord # # We sing holy, holy # # Can sing in holy, can sing in holy # # We sing in holy # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every knee come bow before the king of kings # # Let every tongue confess that he is the Lord # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # With all of heaven sing in holy # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # With all of heaven sing in holy # # Who lives up your shout, let us join #

# Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join #

# Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # # Who lives up your shout, let us join # don't hear what I'm not saying, it was the joy that was set before. be set before him, that he could see the joy that was extended on the other side of the shape, on the other side of the pain of it. He saw us and he saw joy. And when I read this phrasing where it says that we are perplexed but not driven to despair, who am I to despair? I'm allowed to be perplexed when life throws all these different things, but despair? My Lord chose joy. My Lord chose joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. The spirit of this world, the spirit of this age would say that you have to kill yourself. The Lord says, die to yourself. The spirit of the Lord says, die to yourself. You can be perplexed, but you do not have to despair. In Jesus' name, anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or any sort of heaviness, I just pray for you right now, I release the spirit of the Lord. You are not Judas. You are not Judas. Judas believed he had no other option. Peter remained. In Jesus' name, I break off any yoke of bondage. Any generational, my grandfather, my father, anybody who did in your bloodline, no, you have the blood of Jesus now. You can be perplexed. It can feel heavy. But do not despair, friends. I've been cooking a bunch of food outside with my son. I've just been cooking over and over an open flame, and I'll have him help by him gathering kindling. And he doesn't always know which sticks to bring. Sometimes he'll bring live ones. And I yelled out to him the other day, the dead ones, the dead ones bring the dead ones. If you want the fire of God in your life, if you want the fire of God in your life to do something, to be active, don't hold on to your life. You don't have to take your own life, but don't hold on to your own life. I'll let that be the cry of the church. Lord, bring the dead ones. Yeah, let us be the kind of people that you can send fire on and know that it's going to catch us and consume us entirely. What a good God we serve. What a good God we serve. Amen. I am honored to be here with you all today. If you are able to find a seat, this would be a great time to do that. We're going to receive the offering here shortly. But as you as you make

your way to your seat, we just thank the musicians. Let them know how grateful we are for them and their leadership today. Awesome. Awesome, man. What an awesome start to the morning. I don't know if there's anything that blesses my heart more than the sound of all the babies running around in the room and screaming and laughing and making jokes. I know parents that you're like, "Be quiet, this is church," and the kids are just overwhelming you. I love it. I'm grateful that we've got the sound of abundant life in our church, like too much life to be contained. The babies are being born faster than they can be trained. I'm grateful for this generation that the Lord is trusting to us. So we are going to, we're going to be giving the offering this morning. Come on. What a great honor and opportunity it is to invest into something eternal. You know, I was just my sister, y'all know Aunt Rachel, she got married, she and Chandler got married just yesterday. Very excited for the two of them. Thankfully, they're not here right now. I'd be like, "Y'all, just get on." But we love them. We're rejoicing in God's blessing on their life. So we had some family from out of town come in. One of the people that came in was my dad's college roommate. It was a long time best friend. We got a lot of big fans of Uncle Frank in the room. It sounds like he came and was telling me a story about something I think I'd heard before, but a story that I hadn't thought of in years that my dad, you guys, I've shared part of his story kind of growing up and pretty serious poverty surrounded by drugs, abuse and gang violence. And what happened is that there were a couple business owners in his city that got to chatting with him. can't afford college and in these business owners they owned a pizza place and they said we'll make it happen and so they started to make calls and they got him scholarships and they helped with his funding my dad at the time was a garbage man and and by the time he passed away he became a college professor was on his way to earning a PhD and and I think every one of our lives everybody in this room our life is different because of the investment the financial investment those business people made like consider I would not have planted this church in my living room seven years ago had I not been set on a course to faith by a father that loved God that that made a priority to pursue him and that showed up at a Christian University all those years ago

to meet my mother like this this thing right here would not exist for any of us if it weren't for the fact that some business people put their money where their mouth is and they said God's got a plan for your life and we're gonna resource that plan with our pocketbook and so I need us to understand that that what they did I'm sure that they don't miss that money I'm sure that they have long since gone to be with the Lord but they I'm sure they didn't miss that money that they gave to help some random kid from Indianapolis go to college but I don't know that even they could have imagined the generational multiplication that the seed they sowed into my father's life would have in the lives of not just my family but now hopefully all of your families as well and so I want you to understand I've said this before that we give in faith that God can do more with our money than we can right like what am I gonna do with it like stick it under my mattress you know and save it for a rainy day no no I'm gonna put it in God's hands and believe that God is able to do as Ephesians 3 says exceedingly and abundantly above all I could ask or imagine and we all are living in that reality today and so my hope today is that as you prepare your heart to give that you would give joyfully cheerfully as the Bible instructs us but also that you would give in faith knowing as I said before that God can do more with your money than you can and as you put it into his hands you might just see that he can make it infinitely more impactful than any one of us ever could have imagined amen so as you know there's a few ways that you can give there should be a an envelope in the seat in front of you you can use that to give or if you want to scan that QR code with your phone or if you've got the mobile app you can give through that would you stand with me and we are going to pray over this offering Lord we thank you for your incredible wisdom God thank you that you have given us a way through faithful giving to take something that that perishes like money and to turn it into something that will never perish like your kingdom and Lord we ask that our offering today would advance your kingdom we ask that it would glorify your name we ask that it would help to accomplish and partner with your resources Lord we thank you that you

provided for us and so now we turn back around and we give to you and we say Lord you are our provider you are our source and our sustainer we put our hope and our faith and our trust in you God be glorified be honored not just in our offering today but in the posture of our hearts as we give it and we asked us in Jesus name amen there it is alright you could you could be seated it's good it's great to see you good morning I wonder if we should be nervous past your David about that phone if it's just gonna be like the music is too loud the sanctuary is too cold we need more we need more parking spots you know I might just become a complaint line it's good it's good to see you guys I told you my baby sister got married very exciting and and so because my baby sister got married we had some family come in and I got to tell you my my mom my beautiful mother my beautiful stepfather are here would you guys stand and tell and greet everybody this is my my mom and my my stepfather Betty and Paul we love very very much so glad that y'all are here and now they have been here before and we always love it when they visit but there's some people here that have never been here before and and this is Aunt Barb and Uncle Ian and so we're not can I get y'all to stand and greet the people so y'all need to know about this couple some of my earliest memories in the house of God are watching Aunt Barb just shred the piano in a head covering you know somebody'd stand up and say him number 182 and Aunt Barb would just crank right up like she just knew she knew him all and you know and I remember Aunt Phoebe singing louder than everybody else just going crazy three times it's like they know yeah three sitting and reading along with these words that were the truth, and that became seeds of truth in my life, and I just, you know, I remember every year we'd go to an annual conference, the whole denomination would get together, and we'd go to university up in Pennsylvania, and it was at that annual conference that I met Uncle Ian's before they got married, you know, but he had this idea, he said, you kind of, he was a missionary for many, many years in Columbia, and he said, you know, you look like a Colombian, maybe you could be a missionary one day, and that was the first time anybody told me that I could do anything other than sit down and shut up, and so I'm so grateful.

I'm so grateful for him, maybe he just didn't know me very well, but he believed in me when not very many people did, and you know, I'm thankful for that, and so seeing their life through the years, the two of them have just faithfully served the Lord, it was an inspiration to me and an invitation to me to say, you know what, maybe God could do something with me too, and so Uncle Ian, I love you both so, so much, and they're still going hard for the Lord, they're putting more miles in for the sake of the kingdom than most of us will in our entire lifetime every year, and so I'm so grateful for the two of them, and if you ever want to speak Spanish, Uncle Ian would be more than happy to speak Spanish with you, sign up, so, so this, please don't take offense by the segway, but I need to tell you something that has happened in my world over the last week. If you remember last week I shared some of our vision for the church, and I shared about this gap that we had, you know, we have young adults and their kids, it seems like a lot of those in the church, and so maybe we do really good at hitting the target of like millennials, and we do, you know, really good about hitting the target of millennials children, but there was this gap in the middle, right, and so what we're doing is we're launching a young adults ministry to try to be more intentional about meeting the needs of, you know, college, age, men, and women, and I'm really excited about that, but I had a couple conversations with some people this week who brought to my attention, and I think this is right, that we have another gap in our church, and I'm grateful for people that helped me sort of see the things that I miss, and you want to know what that, the other gap in our church is, it is the senior members of our church, and I am curious how many of you all, I won't make you stand up, how many of you are 60 or older in the church? I want you to see, come on, first of all, I want to say to you, you are a precious gift to this house. I can speak for all the millennials when I say we're drowning trying to raise our kids right now, and having maybe the vote of confidence of someone who has raised their kids to say, hey, you're doing a good job, what you do matters, that means more to us than we could ever begin to tell you, and so to the silver haired members of the church, I want you to know that we see you and we need you here, we would be in real trouble without you, and I want you to know, I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly what it's going to look like yet,

we got some planning and dreaming and scheming to do, but I want you to know that in the future, we're going to be more intentional about events, gatherings, and opportunities for our 60 plus members in the church, because you guys really are a gift to us, and I want to do a better job at trying to be a gift to you in return, just expressing our gratitude and serving you and your contemporaries better than we have here, is that all right, all right, we love y'all, and I should tell you, you know, young parents, if you are trying to maybe not make so many of your own mistakes, please go grab somebody that has done it, you know, that has been there and done that and ask them, you know, what are the things you would do differently if you had a chance to do it all over again, and take notes, and you make those changes so that you don't have to make the mistakes, all right, go learn from them, they've got a lot to offer, even if it's just experience, even if they just say, hey, you're going to be fine, it's okay, the world's not going to end because, you know, you fed your kids some Doritos, like you're going to be all right, like just having someone that has been around the block tell you, you know, that it's not all as serious as Instagram would make you feel like it is, like your kids are going to be fine, like just having friends like that in your life, older friends in your life that can encourage you in that way is important, so please make an effort, be wise, take my advice as your pastor, make an effort to surround yourself with people that are more experienced than you, amen, all right, trying to stay away from the word old, you know, I said, I said more experienced, you know, that's smart, yeah. Can we do that? Yes, sir. All right. So, we're going to start in Luke chapter 4, and I feel to teach this morning on what we recognize as the temptation of Jesus. And I'll give you a little context. This is right at the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, at this point he's 30 years old. He has just been baptized by John the Baptist. The first thing that happens after he's baptized is he's let out into the wilderness and he

fasts for 40 days and 40 nights. And that's sort of where we pick the story up, and we'll see where we end up. The title of my message this morning is, "If you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God." So, we'll start in Luke 4, we'll start in verse 1, and we'll just stop as is needed, and we will draw out as the Lord gives us grace. He says, "Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for 40 days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing, and afterward when they had ended he was hungry. And the devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Now, I want to pause here after these first few verses and maybe pull some things out. So, here's how it starts. It says, "Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." How many of you know that the Spirit isn't primarily concerned with leading you into the spotlight? Right, the Spirit isn't primarily concerned with making you comfortable and famous and rich, right? The Spirit is going to lead you where your life will most glorify God. And sometimes that's the wilderness. Sometimes that's the hidden place. Sometimes what it means to be led by the Spirit is to be buried and entirely invisible to everyone else, so that someday you can sprout forth with fruit that brings God glory. So, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And then, verse 2 says, being tempted for 40 days, being tempted for 40 days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing and afterward when they had ended he was hungry. So, I want to talk about this Spirit that led him out into the wilderness. Why are we talking about that so much? Jesus has filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's led by the Spirit into the wilderness. What's the big deal about this Spirit? I'm glad you asked. Let's go to the chapter before this to get us some context. What do we need when we read the Bible if we're going to apply it to our life meaningfully? Everybody say context. Yeah, we're going to get us some context. So, in Luke chapter 3 verse 21, this is during the ministry of John the Baptist who is the first prophet after 400 years of prophetic silence. John the Baptist bursts onto the scene. He's the cousin of Jesus and he is proclaiming repentance from dead works. He's inviting people to come and be baptized for the remission of their sins. And then it says in Luke 3, 21 and 22, it says, when all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized and while he prayed the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven which said, you are my beloved son and you I am well pleased. Now I'll point to this. I'm kind of taking a rabbit trail here that I think is worth taking. I will invite you to see this when people say something like, well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. How can you believe that? And I would say, well, you actually see the Trinity sort of demonstrated or pretty explicitly explained here. The Holy Spirit descends upon him a voice came from heaven, that's the voice of the Father declaring, you are my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. You see the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit here dwelling together in harmonious unity. It's this sort of beautiful moment where we see the three persons of the God had put on display and their glory revealed their sort of unique attributes even revealed in an awesome way.

And now what you see here is the spirit comes upon Jesus like a dove and this voice from heaven comes and says this. This is what the Father says, you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This affirmation from the Father is sort of a stake in the ground for Jesus. It's the affirmation, the divine affirmation of Jesus' divine identity that Jesus wasn't just testifying of himself. He's not walking around just saying, hey, everybody, I'm the only begotten son of God. There's this sort of, this public affirmation or confirmation of the identity, the divine identity of Jesus. You are my beloved son, and in you, I am well pleased. And so here's how the story continues. It's important that we understand that in Luke chapter three, Jesus is being baptized, and as he comes out of the water, the Spirit comes upon him, and the Father says, "You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." And then in the next chapter, this is the very next conversation that Jesus has. So it's not like Jesus does six months of ministry. What happens is he immediately, the Spirit leads him out into the wilderness, and he begins to fast. He's alone for 40 days and 40 nights. He eats nothing. And then in verse three, it says, "The devil said to him, 'This is the next words, 'spoken to Jesus.'" The Father says, "You are my beloved son, "in whom I am well pleased." In verse three of Luke chapter four,

it says, "The devil said to him, "'If you are the son of God, "'command this stone to become bread.'" So the Father says, "You are my beloved son." And immediately, the devil says, "If you really are the son of God, "this is what you need to do next." You should know this about your enemy, and that is that if he cannot keep you from becoming a child of God, he will do everything he can to define for you what it looks like to be a child of God. Here's what I mean. Every one of the enemies schemes, it boils down to this one challenge. Do you actually believe what the Father has said about you? Do you actually believe that you're fully forgiven through faith in Jesus? Do you actually believe that you are no longer a slave to sin so you don't have to answer when temptation comes calling? Do you actually believe that God is able to work all things together for your good or are you gonna live your life in a perpetual state of anxiety and unbelief? See, we know that God said these things, but do we actually believe them? Like, the Father says over Jesus the Son, "You are my beloved son." And immediately, the next conversation Jesus has is when the enemy comes to him and says,

"Ah, if you really are the Son of God, "you should do it the way that I say you should do it." And he tells him specifically, "Here's what you should do, you should command this stone "to become bread. "Surely you're hungry. "It's been 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. "40 days of solitude. "40 days in which you have sown nothing to your flesh. "Surely you are exhausted. "Surely it's not a bad thing for you to eat. "Bread, right? "Why don't you just turn this stone to become bread? "He's saying something like this. "I know what the Father has said, "but you need to prove your identity." And the part he's not saying is this, you need to prove your identity the way that I say you should. This is one of the most common schemes of the enemy today. I would say this is one of the most common schemes of all the enemies of God today. They'll tell you that the Bible is a fable and God's not real. And then those same people will tell you, "Well, Jesus would want you to vote for our candidate." They'll tell you the Bible is a fable and God's not real, then they'll tell you, "Well, Jesus would affirm everyone just the way they are." They'll tell you that the Bible is a fable

and God's not real, but then they'll say, "Well, Jesus wouldn't do it "the way you're doing it." I've noticed that nobody has maybe deeper convictions about what Jesus would do than people who never read the Bible and don't have a relationship with Jesus. Like, it's astonishing, and yet it's so prevalent in our society today. You can get on social media for 20 minutes and see a hundred different people telling you what Jesus would or wouldn't do in a particular situation. Do you wanna know who tells us what Jesus would or wouldn't do in a situation? The Bible. Like this is what has the authority to tell us what Jesus values, what Jesus steams, what he does, what are his priorities, what does he love, what does he hate? The scriptures reveal to us the heart of Christ. The written word of God reveals to us the word which became flesh. And Jesus responds to this when the enemy says, "If you really are the Son of God, "you should command this stone to become bread." And Jesus responds by saying this, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, "but by every word of God." I want you to say it is written. (congregation laughing) Guys, we have a... I think it's Pastor Vodie Bacham

who has gone to be with the Lord who said, "We have churches full of bread." We tragically have become a generation of people who are, for the most part, biblically illiterate and who are still trying to stumble our way through life in the church. We want spirituality without discipline. And so we pick up the Bible, you know, one nibble at a time, you know, in a 30-second reel, and we feel like that's our theological study for the day, or the week, or the year, or the month. Or we come to church on Sundays, and hopefully we pick a church where somebody will teach us the Bible. That's certainly not always the case, but we, you know, we end up at the church and we, you know, we learn some things from a pastor or preacher, and we're grateful for those things that we learn. But all throughout the week, we star a friend. If you only ate once a week, you'd be in big trouble. And so I need you to, to hear this, please don't make me the only person who cares about your relationship with God. I need you to care about your relationship with God. I need you to nurture your relationship with God. My sons are wonderful, and I'm doing everything I can to sort of, you know, provoke in them a passion for God's Word. And the way that I've explained it when I've talked to young people, my boys, and maybe people my boys age, is I've said, you know, if you're a boyfriend or your girlfriend, the love of your life sent you a text, would you read it? Yeah, of course you would, you know, you'd read it and you'd reread it. And what did she say to me now? You know, like, she's so cute. Oh, she loves me. You know, like, you would lay in bed at night and just like, scroll through that text again and again. I can't believe how much she loves me. Like, I want you to know that the God of the universe sent you a text. Do you care enough to read it? I hope that you will understand, like, that we'll hear what Jesus is saying. I don't want to get lost in maybe the parts of this story. I feel like people miss. The parts that maybe you've never heard today as I'm teaching, we've got to make sure that we take God's Word here at face value. Jesus said it is written, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." As he says this, he's quoting out of Deuteronomy chapter 8, but we have to take this principle and apply it to our life, that it is actually God's Word that sustains us. It is God's Word that gives our life shape and purpose. Listen to this, the Word of God is our source of life. This is what Jesus is saying. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God." It is our source of life. He was one, three, he says that he upholds

all things by the Word of his power, that you right now, the atoms in your body are being held together by the Word of God. You exist today. You have lungs with which to take in air. You have synapses in your brain with which to make connections, to have thoughts, to create, to understand, to explore the world around you. The reason you exist today is because he, right now in this moment, is upholding all things by the Word of his power. The Word of God gives shape to your life. It's not just your source of life, but it's also the thing that gives a shape to your life. Psalm 119 says, "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path." It is God's Word that shows us the path we ought to walk. I remember talking just last night to my uncle Ian, who was talking about being a young man and thinking, "I want to surrender my life fully to Jesus," and how he was in a meeting, or he read in a magazine about a missionary in Columbia, who said, "We're praying that God would raise up more young people who would answer the call." It was like God said, "That's you. I've got a purpose for you. I've got a plan for your life." This is what it looks like for the Word of God to be for us, a lamp to our feet that he guides and directs us. The Word of God not only is our source of life, they not only give shape to our life, but it also gives our life purpose, meaning, value. Psalm 37, it says, "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and he, this good man, delights in God's ways." Here's what it looks like for us to be people that find our purpose in the Word of God. It means that we can rejoice in the knowledge that we've been obedient. That's different than rejoicing when God calls us to something fun, because it's not always fun. The call of God is not always fun. Sometimes, the call of God could be catastrophic for you. We have many of our brothers and sisters who responded to the call of God, and it cost them their life. alive, laid horizontally above the fire, and one of his last words was, "You can turn me over. This side is done." And I think there's something so beautiful about our ability as saints to be able to say, "We've got joy even when everything is awful in the knowledge that we've been obedient to the Word of God." Like we can say, like we can join Paul in saying, "I've run the race. I've completed the tasks that the Lord has assigned me. I've done what I have been called to do. I've been obedient to the Word, and I find joy in that. When we find joy and obedience, we don't have to find joy in our circumstance. The circumstance can be awful, but knowing that we've been obedient. It can bring us peace. It can bring us joy. The Word of God, Jesus says here when he says, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone and by every

Word of God. The Word of God is the source of our life. It gives shape to our life, and it gives purpose or meaning to our life." And so then the devil in verse 5, he responds to this in verse 5 of Luke chapter 4, "Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, 'All this authority I will give you and their glory. For this has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be yours.'" Now, I want to talk about this temptation for a minute because you should know Jesus cares about the kingdoms of the world. That's actually his aim. Like he says to the disciples that the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and then you'll be witnesses of me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And in fact, you actually see that the nations are his inheritance. It's in Psalm chapter 2, the Father and the Son are talking, and the Father says, ask of me, and I will give you the nations as an inheritance. In chapter 28 verse 18, after his resurrection, Jesus says to the disciples, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." And so, when Satan comes to him and he says, "I will give you authority." If you'll just bow down and worship me, I will give you authority. Understand Jesus was actually after that authority. When he says, I'll give you the nations of the earth and the kingdoms of the earth, Jesus was actually aiming at the kingdoms of the earth as his inheritance. You can read about it in, like I said, Psalm chapter 2, here in Matthew 28, Jesus is declaring, "I have done it. The authority has been given to me." But he didn't get it by way of bowing to Satan. Paul would actually write to the church in Corinth later that Jesus triumphed over the principalities and powers of darkness by the cross. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. So, he actually stripped Satan of his ill-gotten authority by the power of his blood shed on the cross. Revelation chapter 11 verse 15, it says, "Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.'" So, that's how the story ends. But Jesus had a shortcut to the success he was after right here in Luke chapter 4. He could have avoided the cross if all he was after was authority. But Jesus wasn't after only authority. Jesus was after authority by way of obedience. So, here what I'm saying, I know this may all sound really doctrinal, and I want to make this practical for you. God cares not just what you get, he cares how you get it. This is what Jesus

models for us here is that it doesn't just matter what he inherited, it mattered how he inherited it, that it wasn't just reach the nations at any cost, it was reach the nations by radical and relentless obedience to the Father. And this is what I think, this is a conviction we have to adopt as well, that we can take no shortcuts to the purposes of God for our life. We can take no shortcuts to the marriage that we want, the family that God has called us to, the ministry that God has called us to. We don't get to cut corners when pursuing the things that God has set before us. It matters to God that we walk in integrity as we pursue inheritance in Christ. Amen. And so, what you see here is Jesus actually reject the opportunity to get the thing that he actually was after, that is the nations of the earth. if you'll worship before me all will be yours and Jesus answered and said to him get behind me Satan for here's those three words again it is written this is Luke 4 verse 8 there's those three words again get behind me Satan for it is written you shall you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve Jesus responds again with it is written do you want to know what spiritual warfare looks like in this age of peace it looks like believing God's word I'm not worried about chasing demons around I'm worried about building my life on the solid rock of God's unchanging word and I'm telling you for a person who has built their life on the solid rock of God's unchanging word there is no storm there is no spirit there is no whatever generational curse or you know demonic assignment that can upend this house that you're building on God's word because his word remains true it stands forever and we are safe only as far as we are steady on his word amen this is what we see modeled here by Jesus he doesn't respond with some sort of you know cunning philosophical counter argument against the enemy he doesn't respond with therapy speech you know he responds with it is written because that is where we like Christ can find our shelter in moments of temptation and then lastly in verse 9 it says then he brought him to Jerusalem set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone so you see the devil he gets wise to Jesus approach here he says oh you can you want to talk about it is written I know what's written too right you see what I'm talking about I want to make sure you're not missing it are we follow nod your head or something so I know you're awake okay so Jesus responds it is written to the first temptation he responds it is written

to the second temptation and then in the third one Satan beats into the punch and he says oh you should throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple because it is written you know that the father will give his angels charge over you to keep you and in their hands they'll bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone and so there's this this moment where if Jesus wasn't wise enough to discern the conversation he was in or the situation he was in he might have said well it's it's what the Bible says this is where I see countless modern believers wander into deception or compromise when they they negotiate their faith because they don't know how to rightly divide or rightly apply or rightly interpret or rightly submit to God's written word you can this is something believers all through history have known one of the Puritan theologians Thomas Watson once said Satan in tempting baits his hook with religion and isn't that true Satan in tempting baits his hook with religion you hear things like well you guys are Christians you know how could you ever oppose love I mean love is love right as long as we call it love it doesn't matter if it's with someone of the same sex or a little child or whatever it's just love is love right no no God forbid right Satan in tempting baits his hook with religion he wraps his deception in pseudo biblical spirituality if you've ever been on the internet once in your life you are you're familiar with this reality sadly if you have ever been in many American churches you're familiar with this as well Matthew Henry adds and I think this is especially important he says this quote scripture is abused when it is pressed to patronize sin scripture is abused when it is pressed to patronize sin if you want to know how to discern whether this teacher you're watching on youtube or whose podcast you're listening to is someone you can trust ask yourself are they ever making scripture accommodate like moving scripture out of the way to accommodate sin or compromise if we are going to be people who rightly obey the word of god who build our life on the solid rock of the unchanging word of god we are going to have to be a people who refuse to make god's word or make scripture accommodate our sin and so the enemy uses scripture to try to convince Jesus that he should take himself to the temple, the center of their society. are special, that you really are the Son of God. That will prove to all the people that you really are worth following. And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

And now verse 13, it says, "Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time." Now, Hebrews 4.15, it tells us that Jesus was tempted. We can sympathize with him as our High Priest because Jesus was tempted in every way which is common to man, yet he was without sin. And so this is actually what we see here in Luke chapter 4. What Hebrews 4 talks about, Jesus was tempted in every way which is common to man, yet was without sin. What we see in Hebrews 4, we can actually see here illustrated and played out in practice in Luke chapter 4. First John 2, 16, it actually summarizes the nature of temptation when it categorizes all temptation into one of three categories. It says that for all that is in the world, that is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but it is of the world. So all that is in the world can be boiled down to one of three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's all of temptation is one of those three things. You can actually see it play out right here in Luke chapter 4 and I want to take a step back and maybe look at it from the 10,000 foot perspective. Let's look at the big picture. Satan starts by saying, "Hey, you're hungry from fasting. You should use your authority to satisfy your flesh." That's the lust of the flesh. You see that? I want you to sow to your flesh. I want you to invest into your own sort of carnal desires. That's where the enemy starts. Then he continues on and he says, "I think you could go back and check me on this. I promise I'm not lying to you." In verse 5 it says, "The devil, taking him up on a high mountain, showed him all the

kingdoms of the world in a moment of time." What comes after the lust of the flesh? It is the lust of the eyes. Doesn't it look good to be powerful and influential? Doesn't it look good to be famous and admired and revered? Doesn't it look good to be able to get everything you dream of without having to go through the suffering that the Father has prepared for you? No, no, no. There's a way easier way. Just look at how beautiful it is. Look at how wonderful it would be. So first it's the lust of the flesh and then it's the lust of the eyes. And then lastly, Satan says to him, "Go to the temple." Let me take you to the top of the temple. That is the center point of their society. Multitudes, countless thousands of people gathered there day after day, the center point of their society and there show everybody that the angels of heaven serve you. This is the pride of life. Show everybody how special you really are. We have, according to Hebrews 4, a great high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. He understands the weight of temptation and we can find fellowship with him even in our struggles against it. Isn't that good news? We can find fellowship with Jesus even in our struggles against temptation. But Jesus was victorious where we have so often not been. He won where we have so often lost and through putting our faith in him as our champion and our representative, our sin can be forgiven and our debt paid so that his victory can become ours. As I have said so often here, he died a sinner's death so we can live a son's life. That is the good news on which we build our lives.

That is the good news that has given us hope and freedom and reconciliation with the just God. Now this morning, I can't think of any better way for us to respond to this message than for us to receive communion. And as we prepare to do that, I will go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, of course, but I'll have the team come forward and begin to prepare the elements. But I want to challenge you this morning to do business with God. I want to challenge you this morning not to let another day go by where all you're doing in this place is playing church. The gospel is too good. The love of God is too precious. The wrath of God is too severe. if we're not sure, if we don't have the peace and the rest and the confidence of knowing that our sin has been lifted off of us and laid on Christ and that by His blood we've been forgiven and made whole. And so I want to ask you, if you're in this place and you can't say with absolute 100% certainty that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, that you have made Him the King of your life, that you've given Him your heart, that you laid your sin before Him on the cross, and that you have been forgiven and accepted as God's child, I would ask you, do not leave this place. Don't come and participate in communion, but please don't leave this place until you come and talk with me or one of the other people up here, we would love the opportunity to chat with you about what it looks like to begin a relationship with God and to receive what the Bible calls new life in Christ. And now for those of you who are members of the church and you have received communion before, the Bible tells us that we need to discern the body and blood of Jesus. Paul, in fact, warns the church in Corinth for accepting the elements of communion inappropriately. He actually warns them by saying that whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

And so right now, examine yourself. Look at your life, and if there are offenses you need to forgive, let them go right now. If there are commitments you need to make, make them right now. If there are lies you need to divorce yourself from and cling to truth, I would invite you to do that right now before you come forward, deal with God. Would you stand with me and we will release the people in the back to come first. I think our hospitality team is going to be dismissing you row by row so we can try to be efficient here and make sure that we're as prepared as possible for second service. Let me read this out of 1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 23, it says, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took the bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, "Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me." In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." And in these moments we are by faith raised to fellowship with Jesus. As we do this in remembrance of him, we're brought again into sort of the visceral beholding of his broken body and his shed blood that we're given for our sake. And so as you come forward, we're going to ask you to take a piece of the bread and to tear it off with your own hands because it wasn't the Romans or the Jews that killed him. It wasn't the Father, it was you and me, it was our sin for which God had to reconcile us to himself through the cross. And then we'll have you dip that bread into the wine of the grape juice and receive it. I'll ask you to please parents discern whether your children are ready for this, whether they understand the significance of this moment. And in doing so, I'd ask you to come forward with great reverence and great honor for the sacrifice Jesus made for your forgiveness and for mine as we remember and rejoice in

the finished work of the cross. So Father, we thank you for the blood of the Lamb, the shed for us. We thank you, Lord, for your tremendous love that has sought us and saved us from our sin. And Lord, we thank you for this time that we as a family can come together to meditate upon and to remember and to rejoice in the great lengths your love went to, to bring about our salvation and to show up. you to dwell with us as we receive the elements this morning. In your name, amen. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]