Raise Your Expectations | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

But this is a day of celebrating marriage, marriages.

How many of you know when you go to a wedding,

it reminds you of your first love? It reminds

you maybe of your own wedding. And so today I

was just, I kind of freaked Cole out a little

bit. I think when he walked in thinking this

was Marissa's gown. No, Marissa's taste is quite

different. This is a Goodwill special. You'll

be seeing what we do with that later. But today,

the verse as we were preparing for this weekend,

the verse out of Revelation 19, blessed are those

who are invited to the wedding supper of the

Lamb. Aren't you glad you are invited to the

wedding supper? Have you ever known somebody

and known they're getting married and no invite

showed up in your mailbox? Or nowadays it's text.

You know you didn't get a text or an email. And

you're like, I feel a little left out. The good

news today is that we all are invited to the

wedding supper of the Lamb. And we're going to

kind of work backwards from that. Because we

are heading toward this marriage supper of the

lamb. Now, this might be, and I feel for guys,

I feel like guys, this is a little harder. Women,

it's easy for us to identify as the bride of

Christ, right? Some of us that have been married,

we've been a bride. And the word talks about

us being the bride. Jesus is our bridegroom.

And one day we will be with him. Guys, you just

got to get on board with this. that you are the

bride of Christ. And I think of David, King David,

because King David was like the elite warrior,

wasn't he? He was the top of all of the warriors

of the soldiers. And yet the other side of David

was that he was a worshiper and a lover of God.

And he wasn't afraid of that intimate nature

of his relationship with God. So this morning,

we're going to walk through. See, Jesus was a

Jewish man. And so when we read in the Gospels,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we are reading

into their Jewish culture, that Jewish context.

So when we see how Jesus, he was born and the

goal, right, was crucifixion and resurrection.

But when we look at this overall life, we're

looking at it as a Jewish man. So many of the

things that Jesus did has so much significance

when we recognize what his end goal was and when

we recognize... what the ancient traditions of

the Jewish marriage ceremony was. And so I want

to encourage us today as we walk through this.

There were four parts, four main parts of a Jewish

wedding ceremony. And we're going to walk quickly

through those four parts. And we're going to

see it spiritually mirrored in the life of Christ

and what he did for us in this invitation. And

so the first part of the Jewish wedding was the

betrothal. It was the proposal. Now, if you have

not heard of the proposal, see, my husband, I

don't know what he knew about me when we were

getting engaged. But he took me for our engagement

for his proposal. Do you think it was some nice,

fancy place? I'll tell you, it was the nicest

drive -in hot dog stand you could find in Peoria.

And then he took me to a park where he carried

a duffel bag. I'm like, what's up with this duffel

bag? Well, it contained the ring. I look now

on Facebook at all of the proposals. I'm like,

man, it's another day here. Men have to really

like plan out a proposal. What fascinates me

is that they now have to do a dry run for prom

dates. I mean, a prom date ask is like a little

proposal to me. bringing cute cupcakes. I don't

know what they're all doing, but I see all the

mamas posting of these proposals for prom. I'm

like, these guys are just having their dry run

for the real deal. They're going to know what

to do when it comes time to marry somebody. We

didn't have media, online media, when we got

proposed. There was no posting pictures of our

of our proposal. In fact, years later, when Jeremy,

our oldest, was a teenager, I said, Jeremy, because

they were going to tear down Lou's drive -in.

That's what it was, Lou's drive -in. And I said,

I want you to come and I want you to get a picture

of the sign of Lou's drive -in before they tear

it down. And so I have that nicely framed in

our bedroom for him, Lou's drive -in. So proposals

today are a big deal, and everybody sees them.

The proposals in the ancient Jewish tradition,

there's no difference. The groom -to -be would

travel to the wife's family, and when he arrives

at the family home, he begins to negotiate the

bridal price. He's got to pay a price. For this

bride. And so negotiations begin. Once that negotiation

has been accepted. And the bridal price has been

settled. Then he takes the cup of wine. And he

drinks of it. And then he offers her the cup.

And if she says yes. She takes the cup. And she

drinks of it. If she does not drink the cup,

he's out of luck. She said no. So the cup is

the significant question. It's the ask. I'm giving

you this cup. Will you drink of it? Will you

become mine? Will you become my bride? I think

this is such a powerful mirror of Jesus. Jesus

at the last supper, he took the cup and he gave

thanks and he offered it to the disciples to

drink of. Take this cup. Will you drink of it?

Will you become mine? Will you say yes to me?

And you know that he himself drank the cup first.

As he's in the garden, he leaves that place and

he heads out. And his next stop is the Garden

of Gethsemane, where he's in anguish because

he knows he's going to have to go to the cross.

And what does he pray? Father, if it's your will,

let this cup pass from me. Not my will, though,

be done, but yours. Before he ever gives us this

cup to drink, he drinks it of himself. And then

he says here, as often as you drink of it, remember

me. So just as that bride had a choice, yes,

I'm going to take the cup. Jesus is standing

and he's offering it to each of us. Will you

drink of my cup? Will you say yes to me? Will

you be my own? What's interesting here is that

before they enter into the ceremony of becoming

betrothed together, the bride and the groom will

enter into the mikvah. the baptism waters. So

before they come to this ceremony of the cup,

they walk into the waters of betrothal baptism,

a sign of a new life, a new season. And I was

thinking, wow, Jesus, the life that Jesus lived

was just so amazing because before he even came

to the place of offering the cup, what did he

first do? He entered in to the waters of baptism.

Remember, John the Baptist said, Jesus, no, I'm

not going to baptize you. You need to baptize

me. And Jesus said, no, John, you're going to

do this. This has to be done to fulfill righteousness.

I have to be baptized, John. Jesus knew I'm entering

into something. I'm entering into a betrothal

with my bride, and I have to first walk through

the waters of baptism. When I was doing marriage

counseling with Cole and Marissa, some of our

topics, because we talk about having a Christ

-centered marriage. And in order to have a Christ

-centered marriage, what has to happen? I have

to be Christ -centered, and my spouse has to

be Christ -centered, right? Otherwise, it's lopsided.

It's not Christ -centered. So we were talking

about this, and you remember just a few weeks

ago, what did Marissa do? She entered into the

waters of baptism. And we purposefully scheduled

that Sunday. We were talking about you, Marissa.

We're talking about the waters of baptism. We

purposefully scheduled that because before coming

to marriage, she wanted to enter into the waters

of baptism, just like Jesus. Praise the Lord.

And so here in the betrothal ceremony, we have

the waters of baptism and we have the exchange

of the cup. And then we move into the second

stage now of this. And that is the separation

and the preparation. So from this point of drinking

the cup, the man leaves and goes back to his

father's home. And she there in her father's

home begins to prepare for her wedding, to prepare

for her marriage. For a year, around a year.

They are in this separation state. Darren and

I had this because I was a junior in high school

when we became engaged the summer before my senior

year. That's what my mother said, and then she

ran out of the room crying. Darren was left sitting

with my dad all by himself. She loved Darren.

She just didn't think that it was going to happen

that soon, right after I graduated. It was a

lot. You and her are a lot alike, Kathy. So for

that year, I was engaged, and Darren headed to

Missouri for a year of Bible college, and we

have said that was a good thing, right? It was

good for us to be separated for that year. When

you're wanting to live in God's ways, right,

then some healthy boundaries can be good. And

so he spent that year writing me letters, and

I was back at home trying to graduate and prepare

for a wedding. In John chapter 14. Jesus says

John 14 · chapter mention

this, my father's house has many rooms. If that

were not so, would I have told you that I am

going there to prepare a place for you? And if

I go and prepare a place for you, I will come

back and I will bring you back with me where

I am. You know the way to the place where I am

going. Well, Thomas. And you know, you got to

love Thomas. Thomas likes details. And Thomas

said, Jesus, what are you talking about? What

do you mean you know the way? I need to be sure

that I know the way. Could you just clarify the

way? And of course, Jesus says, I am the way,

the truth, and the life. No one comes to the

Father but through me. So here we have mirroring

Jesus. He's saying, listen, I'm here with you

now, but I am leaving. I am going away to my

father's house. I'm offering you the cup. And

so I want you to drink it and say yes, but then

I'm going to go away to the father's house and

I'm going to prepare for you. And this is the

season we are living in, the season of separation.

The season where we're waiting for Jesus to come

back for his bride to take home. And what's interesting

here is that it's not the groom who decides if

it's time to go for the bride. I doubt he would

have lasted a year were it up to him. It was

up to the father of the groom. The father of

the groom would decide and say, okay, son, it's

time. Go get your bride. Do you know that Jesus

himself said, I don't even know. I don't even

know the times. Jesus himself. is preparing a

place for us. And he's just waiting, just like

we're waiting. And we're all waiting and longing

for the Father to look at the Son and say, Jesus,

go get the bride. Go get the bride. It's time.

Go get the bride. And I guarantee you, Jesus

won't be wasting any time. He's coming for his

bride. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We should

have hearts longing for this moment in which

Jesus comes for us. Matthew 24, it says this,

that no one knows, only the Father. Right? We

just said that. Therefore, because we don't know,

keep watch. Because you do not know on what day

your Lord will come. So you must be ready. Because

the son of man will come at an hour in which

you do not expect him. We didn't know. They didn't

know. The bride didn't know. She just had to

be ready. She just had to be looking for when

the bridegroom would show up to get her and take

her back to the father. There is a readiness.

that we have to walk in. There is a watchfulness

that as the bride of Christ, we have our eyes.

Where? Is he coming? Is it today? My eyes are

lifted to the sky. Is he coming? Is he coming?

The separation is a hard place. It can feel long,

and we're going to see that in a minute. But

there does come, eventually, the third part,

which is the return for the bride. And so the

groom, it is unannounced, and it is usually at

night. It's usually at nighttime that he is showing

up for the bride. His coming would be preceded

by shouts. As he walked toward her home, there

would be around him. the friends of the groom,

and they would be calling out that the bridegroom

was coming. And her bridal party, carrying lanterns,

their lamps, would hear that call, and they would

go out with their lamps to meet him and light

the way to the bride. Beautiful. In this we see...

where Christ returns for the church. And we see

this in Matthew 25. We see the warning of this

in Matthew 25, the parable that Jesus tells.

At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like

ten virgins who took their lamps and went out

to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish,

and five were wise. The foolish ones took their

lamps, but did not take any oil with them. The

wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with

their lamps. I'm glad to know I have a grandson

who's wise. Our grandson is going to be nine

in July, and in a week, Darren and the girls

are taking him on his first Boundary Water camping

trip. And so Edmund is a planner, and he's been

walking through with Alexandra. Continually he

calls and gets on video call to show his stuff,

to show his supplies. And a big conversation

is, do we have enough fuel? I have, how many

cans do you have? I've got this many cans. And

Alexandra's like, no, no, we don't need all that.

We've got some. Well, just in case, should I

bring this can of fuel? Listen, this is the heart

of the wise virgin. I need to make sure I've

got backup fuel. I don't want to run out just

as the bridegroom is approaching. The bridegroom,

though, was a long time in coming, and they all

became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, the

cry rang out, here's the bridegroom, come out

to meet him. All the virgins woke up and trimmed

their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise,

give us some of your oil, our lamps are going

out. No, they replied, there may not be enough

for both us and you. Instead, go to those who

sell oil and buy some. But while they were on

their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.

The virgins who were ready went with them to

the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. Later,

the others also came. Lord, Lord, open the door.

But he said, truly I tell you, I don't know you.

Listen, these virgins, this wedding party, they

lost sight of what they were doing. They lost

sight of their purpose. They lost sight of their

mission, which was to be watching for the bridegroom

ready to attend. They lost sight. This oil is

so important because we're living in this place,

aren't we? We're living in this separation place.

And we have to be people that carry oil. Throughout

the Bible, we see oil representing the Holy Spirit.

And when Jesus left and was ascended into heaven,

he said, now go wait for what? The Holy Spirit

to be poured out. I'm leaving you, but listen,

I'm leaving you with fuel. I'm leaving you with

the power of the Holy Spirit. All through scripture,

we see oil, and Holy Spirit. We see anointing

for service. We see empowerment being set apart.

In fact, even in Acts 10, God anointed Jesus

of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. Always

the anointing. How were they anointed in the

Old Testament? With oil. With oil. And so in

Romans 13, it says, do this, understanding the

present time. The hour has come for you to wake

up from your slumber because our salvation is

nearer now than when we first believed. The night

is nearly over. The day is almost here. So let's

put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the

armor of light. Every generation has longed and

looked for the return of Christ. Listen. We're

one generation closer. The next generation is

going to say we're one generation closer. We're

nearer now than we ever have been before. We've

got to be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit.

We've got to be overflowing. The virgins obviously

have been using their oil. They have been burning

it, waiting for him to come. The problem was

they weren't refilling. They weren't getting

filled up again with the oil of the Holy Spirit.

And so we are the light of the world. And that

light is not fueled by me. It's not fueled by

us. What is it fueled by? The Holy Spirit. who

was given to us to be a testimony, to share the

gospel of Jesus Christ. We've got to be filled

up as we're awaiting our bridegroom with the

oil of the Holy Spirit. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. And then finally, the

fourth portion of this wedding. is the wedding

feast, the glorious wedding feast. The bridegroom

has announced his arrival. They have gone to

meet him, and now he is taking back with him

to his father's house his bride. Now here's the,

here's now, I know we got, I think most of our

kids left. I'm going to be very careful in how

I say this, but here's what happens when the

bridegroom takes the bride back. There's a little

room for them that they go to to become husband

and wife, where they culminate the wedding, where

they become one as husband and wife. It's the

first thing they do. Everybody is outside waiting.

I know. How would you like that? I tell you,

it was a little weird when my son got married

and the next morning we all had breakfast together

and they joined us. I don't know, you feel like

you need a little distance from that. No, they

were all waiting outside for the deed to be done

when they came out. Some of you are turning red

in the face. After that followed a seven -day

feast. They had a great big party. Great big

party. This is what we're looking for in the

marriage supper of the Lamb. Now listen, I'm

not being weird about our relationship with Jesus.

When we talk about the bridegroom and the bride,

it is not weird in that human sense. As we have

already partaken of the body of Christ, We're

going to take communion in a few moments. And

we're going to partake of the body of Christ.

And the heart of Jesus was that as I am one with

the Father, I pray that also these children,

these sons and daughters of God would be one

with us. It is becoming one in spirit with Jesus.

It is coming and being united in the Father's

household with him again. So let's not get weird

about that. But what he's really referring to

is a union, a oneness. Just as the Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit are one in the Trinity. The fulfillment

will happen when he brings us home. And so we

see this mirrored in Revelation 19. And in this

passage down in verse 7, it says, let us rejoice

and be glad. You got nothing to be glad and rejoice

about in life. Here you go. Let us rejoice and

be glad and give him glory for the wedding of

the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself

ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given

her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous

acts of God's holy people. Then the angel said

to me, write this. Blessed are those who are

invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. The

wedding of the Lamb has come and the bride has

made herself ready. This is our end goal. This

is the prize. The prize of Jesus is why we run

our race. The prize of Jesus. is why we endure

hardship. The prize of Jesus is why when things

are going all wrong, we don't give up faith.

Because ultimately our goal is not to find victory

here on this earth, but to find victory and oneness

with him at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And so we keep our eyes on the prize, who is

Christ Jesus. This is going to be a joyous celebration,

and I can't wait for it. Back when Jesus first

offered the cup, he offered the cup and he said,

now you take it and drink of it. You know what

he said following that? He said, I will not drink

from the fruit of this vine again until that

day that I drink with you in the new heavens.

He's saying, I'm looking. I'm looking forward

to that day when you are with me in heaven and

we will drink of this cup again. in person together.

It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be

beautiful. But my question today is this. What

kind of fiancé are you going to be? What kind

of fiancé am I going to be in this time of separation

as we are anticipating the marriage supper of

the Lamb? It's said there in that passage, the

bride has made herself ready. We are in partnership

with Holy Spirit of preparing our hearts, our

lives for the marriage supper of the Lamb. The

five virgins who were foolish had a problem.

The bridegroom was a long time in coming and

they became drowsy and they fell asleep. They

lost their sense of expectancy. They lost their

sense of anticipation. This is why Darren and

I tell new couples all the time, we were giving

his brother and his wife a hard time because

she's not coming to family reunion this week

because he can't come. And we're like, hey, separation

is good for you. It's good sometimes to be apart

because you remember again the anticipation of

being together that you had at the beginning.

Those five virgins lost their anticipation. They

lost their expectancy. And you know what happens

when we get drowsy and sleepy? We no longer live

in a prepared state. We're no longer preparing

ourselves. We grow complacent and indifferent

when we grow sleepy and drowsy. You say, yeah,

I've heard it for four decades. Jesus is coming

again. I haven't seen him come yet, though. We

can't grow weary. Can't lose heart. We have to

stay in anticipation. When we grow sleepy and

drowsy, we no longer take care of our garments,

our wedding garments, our fine linen, our bright

and clean clothes. We no longer take care of

them. In the book of Ephesians, it says that

Jesus is going to present. to himself a radiant

church without stain, without wrinkle, or any

other blemish, but holy and blameless. Listen,

no bride. In fact, I saw your dress kind of laying

on the couch, and I thought, oh man, maybe we

need to hang it up. Right? It kind of worried

me a little bit. Why? Because there's a protectiveness

over our wedding linen. Our wedding clothes.

But when we grow drowsy, when we begin to get

sleepy, suddenly we begin to let things creep

in. Suddenly we begin to engage in activities

that stain us. There's no way I would wear my

dress out to do certain things. It's set apart.

But suddenly, when we're sleepy and drowsy and

we lose our sense that he is about to return,

we lose the sense of the imminent return of Christ.

Suddenly, we begin to turn our gaze onto something

that we shouldn't turn our gaze onto. I know,

don't you just feel like I've defiled something?

Suddenly, we're listening, we're allowing music

that is not elevating us. but music that is marring

us. We find ourselves entertaining in our minds

and in our thoughts and in our heart. Negative

thinking toward other people. Unforgiveness to

other people. Judgments on other people. I think

that one of the tools that the enemy most uses

is not some horrific sin that we would never

think of, but it's busyness. Oh, yeah. If he

can keep us busy, he can keep us out of the affections

of Jesus. Suddenly, we begin to entertain other

idols. Anything that would steal our affection

for God. Anything that we would put above our

commitment to God. Our affections begin to move

to others. Suddenly, you can name it for yourself.

What yours is. This is not the bride. That Jesus

is calling for. This is not the bride to be presented

at the wedding supper of the lamb. We have to

be busy about preparing and guarding our lives.

That when the call comes, that when the trumpet

sounds and we see our bridegroom approaching,

we're not saying, oh, wait a minute, I've got

to get ready. No, we're ready. Come look. Lord

Jesus, come. It needs to be our daily cry. Come,

Lord Jesus, come. Because if it's our daily cry,

I guarantee you're living prepared. You're living

prepared. I'm going to ask if the worship team

would come. In a moment, we're going to partake

of the communion table. And listen. This is not

just about an outward appearance. Religion is

about outward looking good on the outside and

going home and treating your family poorly. This

is not that. This here represents the inner life.

The inner life in Christ. This represents the

relationship with Christ. This isn't, we're going

to be singing this in a moment. This really is

not about us living perfect. Sometimes you're

going to just by engaging in life, you're going

to find a little bit. You're just doing life.

And as you're doing life, you know what? Oh,

you got something on that. This is not about

perfection. When this happens, we just have to

come back to the table of the Lord and drink

of the cup and he cleanses us and washes us.

That is part of the preparing for the return

of the bridegroom, being washed by the bridegroom.

This is about a state of the heart. And this

is why we can identify with King David so much,

who God said, he's got a heart after me. And

yet we find him committing adultery. We find

him murdering. When the prophet comes and confronts

him in that moment, he says, that's me. I repent.

And he walks through a season of repentance and

then God restores him. And he goes on. He leaves

his place of repentance and he goes into the

sanctuary and begins to worship. And he writes

Psalm 51, wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

If I had a big old tide stick, I'd just take

it right all over there. This morning, you're

going to be offered the cup. And in this house,

we practice open communion. You do not have to

be a regular attender or member here. You are

welcome to partake in communion if you have said

yes to Jesus, if you have decided to follow Jesus.

And so in a moment, we're going to be giving

you the bread and the cup. And as you take the

cup this morning, you have a choice. And maybe

you have never made the choice to receive the

sacrifice of Jesus. Maybe you've never made the

choice to be a follower of Jesus. You are welcome.

It's very simple. You take the cup and you say,

yes. Yes, Jesus. I am yours and you are mine.

Yes. And maybe you have already been a follower

of Jesus. And you're saying, you know what, though?

I've gotten a little bit of a stain. I've been

maybe doing some things that aren't preparing

me for the return of the bridegroom. Here's your

good news. You partake of the cup and the bread,

and with sincerity of heart, you say, wash me,

Jesus, and I will be clean. I will be whiter

than snow. And so as we partake of this today,

whichever place you are in, as you take of the

communion, you're simply saying yes. You're simply

renewing. You're renewing first love. You're

renewing your bridal place and your bridal commitment.

And you're fixing your eyes on the return of

the bridegroom. Amen. And so I'm going to invite

our ushers to come. And as they come, they're

going to offer you communion. And let's just

as they do for a few moments, we're just going

to worship as they distribute this morning.