Fall Retreat 2022: Sunday Morning Service

Hey, I've been asked by many of you to tell some Will stories, so can we do that?

Do we have to record this?

Yeah, turn off the stream.

And he...

Love you, buddy.

Love being your dad.

Love being your dad.

Open your Bibles to Colossians.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2, I called an audible last night.

Matt and Sean affirmed it, that we'd move away from the mission mindfulness and just look at a message from our recent series from Colossians that will fuel our worship of Christ, both this morning and hopefully in everyday life.

And I hope it encourages you.

I hope it inspires you.

I hope it equips you.

And I hope you leave here feeling more treasured by Jesus than when we began.

I'll leave my glasses to read this.

Colossians 2, 6 to 15.

Could I have someone volunteer to do that?

Great.

Thank you.

Colossians 2, 6 to 15.

Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.

In him also you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

Colossians 2, verses 6 to 15.

Colossians 2:6–15

Thank you.

It's God's word.

Thanks be to God for his word.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for how you have already made your presence known to us through the reading of scripture, through the songs which point to and unite our hearts in Christ's beauty and sufficiency and glory.

Now we pray, Lord, by the work of your spirit, through the ministry of your word, through the weakness of my speech, Lord, draw out our faith, our affections, our minds, our attentions to him.

Lord, he is what we long for and desire.

Would you satisfy that longing?

In Jesus' name we pray.

And everyone said?

Amen.

Amen.

We spent the summer of 2022 in a series we called The Core, Keeping Jesus at the Center.

And it was a series based on, expositionally based on one of Paul's smaller letters, the letter to the Colossians.

It's one of my favorite Pauline letters because of the punch it packs and the emphasis it brings to both the supremacy and sufficiency and beauty of Christ,

but also what I've been talking about like a broken record, our connection to him through faith and what we call union or communion with Christ.

In other words, Jesus is the core.

And Paul hammers that nail every line of his precious epistle.

The challenge of my life, maybe it's your life too, is to figure out how to live with a conscious awareness that Jesus is the core.

And this book has helped us focus on that.

So there was an illustration I used in the beginning of the series that I encouraged our church to use in conversations with neighbors

that they are building a relationship with when spiritual topics come to mind.

And you're at a place in that relationship where you can begin to invite and offer an alternative perspective, which this is a whole other series.

Friendship in the Bible is one of the themes in Proverbs.

That means it is an aspect of fearing the Lord and walking in wisdom, but it's an art.

It's not a science.

And yet, clearly, to be someone who fears God, you demonstrate in your friendships with people outside the covenant in Proverbs

and people inside the covenant in the Old Testament, wisdom.

So I've used this.

I've tested this.

It seems to pack a punch.

I'll try it with you.

And you can decide whether it helps you think about not only Jesus as the core,

but how do we live in a way consciously of that as we're loving our neighbors and reaching to them for Christ.

In 1879, the USS Jeanette was captained by Lieutenant George DeLong.

Any of you heard of him?

I think there's a special in National Geographic about him.

Lieutenant George DeLong was an Arctic explorer.

We could have invited him to Wendell this morning.

There was frost on our car and said, this is sort of like the Arctic.

And they set out on an expedition to sail to the North Pole,

seeking to reach it by ship via the Pacific Ocean and through the Bering Straits.

George DeLong.

George DeLong's entire expedition goal was to reach the North Pole by ship based on one particular map.

The map suggested there was a thermometric gateway that had been produced by a warm Pacific current

and that this gateway would open up at a particular time of year.

And what you would find at the North Pole was not a sea of ice,

but rather there was this fair weather passage that ships or ships could pass through to reach the North Pole.

Sadly, DeLong discovered, as did his crew, that the map was completely inaccurate.

There was no such passage.

There was no thermometric gateway.

DeLong was a recognized, celebrated, credentialed explorer.

And so this astonishing mistake in judgment is only, ironically, and compared with his credentials, all the more tragic.

Their ship, of course, became stranded in the ice.

Their expedition became a fight for survival.

Sadly, by the end, half of the crew perished, as did DeLong.

All because they weren't following a map that was accurate.

Friends, on phones and in our world and voices in our heads, there are all kinds of maps, competing maps that say this is where your life is found.

Follow this way.

Here is a life worth living.

Here is a path worth taking.

In the church of Jesus Christ today, were I to flip on YouTube or scan a podcast or even go to a Christian bookstore,

there would be a variety of maps saying this is the way, this is the path where true life is found.

In our culture, there are various and a variety of orientations that are held out saying this is the way you need to live.

Here is found true freedom.

This is what the path you need to take.

Here is your satisfaction.

Whether we realize it or not, and I put myself into this illustration, we are all following a map.

We are all making choices, small and significant, based on the map that says this is the way I want to live.

In fact, whether we realize it or not, the hope of the gospel is that you can bank eternity on Christ and the map he lays out.

But I am wondering, for myself and for you, when it comes to the everyday conscious choices we make, what is the map of your life?

What is the map you are trusting in?

What is the map that guided your choices to come to this retreat?

And what will be the map that you bring up, so to speak, on Monday as you begin a new week?

What is it that steers the orientation of your life?

What is it that steers the orientation of my life?

Colossians provides a unique map.

Four chapters.

And it is the way Jesus Christ has provided through which all of life makes sense.

This is the way to view the world.

When William, Bennett, Jacqueline, and Brittany took driving lessons at the TDA or whatever the name of the school,

TDA had a reputation, that's our driving school, that if you took their school,

they all but guaranteed you would pass the driver's test.

It's a pretty good deal.

I don't think they went so far as to say we'll refund you the money, but they had a reputation that their students never failed the driving test.

I shared this recently with my high school students, and they were like, are you being paid for this?

No, no, there's no reason I'm sharing this story with you.

I don't care what driving school you take.

Just don't hit me in the parking lot once you get your driver's license.

Most dangerous moment in my life is Friday afternoon at 2.35 as I'm pulling out, and high schoolers are going to their weekend.

They're like running me over.

But that's another story.

There's one particular part of the driver's test at the Taunton DMV where driver's testers priptically fail,

and that's, I believe, the three-point turn where you reach that part, and you say, stop the car.

Okay, I want you to park the car, bring it alongside the curb.

And I was in the car for one of those tests, and our student driver went through this ritual,

stops and adjusts the rearview mirror, puts his or her hand behind the headrest,

cocks the head, you know, and holds it for like two seconds, brings the head around,

now looks in the other rearview mirror, and then slowly but gradually makes the turn

and executes this flawless three-point turn.

Driver, evaluator, doesn't say anything.

Person finishes the test, pulls it into the parking lot, and with a big smile,

she says to, this was Bennett's test, you passed.

Then she said this, did you have Mr. Hillsdale as your driver instructor?

Well, yes, I did.

Do you know in 15 years of working for the RV, I have never failed one of his students?

And I said, well, why not?

I think you should fail more of these, these shuckalocks.

Do you see how they drive on Friday afternoon out of the high school parking lot?

They all follow the same steps when it comes to the three-point turn,

and they execute it flawlessly.

That's a good teacher.

Jesus is a good teacher.

Paul's a good teacher.

He's been sent by the ascended Lord as an apostle to give us more than driving skills,

but a map in four short chapters that covers the entire Christian life, our entire life.

And so it heeds us to give attention to it and to make efforts to bring it into everyday life.

I'm going to give you my closing comment now, not because I'm closing, but I'm giving you the verse.

I'm going to put my finger on the verse so you can hold me accountable,

because this, I believe, is the, if you will, the imperative of the passage.

It's one verse, and you're going to find it in verse 12, which was read so beautifully moments ago,

where Paul writes, speaking of what has happened to us when we put our trust in Christ.

Colossians, these were new believers.

Paul has never been to this church.

He is sending this letter to them to encourage their faith in Christ,

and he says this in verse 12,

having been buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith.

There it is.

Through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.

We are called to walk with Christ through faith in the fullness of who he is.

We are called to walk with Christ through faith in him and the fullness of who he is.

That's Colossians.

That's the emphasis from beginning to end.

It's through faith that we walk with Christ, of course.

That's how someone becomes a Christian.

But no, it's through faith that we walk with him in this map that he's provided,

in the fullness of him.

Let's look at the passage.

I'll move through it efficiently.

Hopefully, this will leave you with a sense of how much you are treasured because of him,

but also what a privilege it is to live our life in Christ for him.

Verses 6 through 8,

To receive Christ is to be united with Christ every day.

Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him.

Verse 7,

Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, there it is again,

just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

To receive Christ is to be united with Christ.

There we go.

I have more notes this morning than your vacuum cleaner has attachments,

so give me a second to figure out what I'm going to need.

There we go.

There we go.

Ready to roll.

Paul is teaching in this passage the grammar of the gospel.

There's a grammar to the gospel.

That's what your English teacher or your mom or dad, if you were homeschooled,

or I don't think I learned English grammar until high school because I didn't listen for the first nine or ten years of my public school education.

There is a logic in writing, and there is an order that it follows,

and there is a grammar to make syntax and sentences stand up.

Well, there's a grammar in the gospel, too, and I often confuse it,

and that is that something is true and is said about us,

which is rooted in grace,

before we are then given a demand

to then apply or walk out what is true and said about us because of that grace.

So the gospel grammar is simply this.

The gospel gives you grace.

Amen?

God's riches at Christ's expense, as Jerry Bridges defined it for me 20 years ago

in his marvelous little book, Discipline of Grace.

But often with that grace that we receive unconditionally through faith in Christ,

righteousness in him, dwelt by the Spirit, adoption to his family,

and inheritance that Christ is one, but we receive and enjoy with him,

seated with him in spiritual places,

on and on and on, there are always demands of the gospel.

We call them commands of the gospel.

And we need to keep both, both distinct, but also together,

because they're not separated.

It's the grammar of the gospel.

And you can determine, not a trinity,

but you can determine if a preacher or a pastor or a YouTuber

or a podcaster or an influencer or whatever voice is out there,

are they separating the grammar of the gospel,

or are they keeping it together?

That usually means they're either drifting from Scripture

or they're centering their influencing.

So the grammar of the gospel that we see here

is that when we received Christ,

when we put our trust in Christ

in response to the simple message of the gospel news

that Christ Jesus, the Son of God,

perfect, holy, blameless,

willingly, joyfully offers himself on the cross

as our substitute, as our, if you will, Isaiah's servant,

the Lamb of God taking upon himself our sins,

its shame, its guilt, its condemnation,

the wrath it deserved.

When Jesus did that,

when he died on the cross,

shedding his blood,

giving his life for the forgiveness of sinners' sins,

and was raised again triumphantly,

which we celebrate in these songs,

that he died and rose and is now seated.

When we hear that news

and we are called to turn

from putting our trust in ourselves,

from putting our hope in what we have replaced God with

and repenting of those sins and idolatries

and by God's grace,

repent and through a change of mind and heart,

say, Lord, I believe you,

I surrender to you,

I commit myself to walk with you.

When we do that,

and we've put our trust in Christ,

Paul says we are rooted,

verse 6,

and built up in him.

Paul says we are established in him,

in the faith.

So we should be abounding in thanksgiving.

There are these weeds

at Crossway Church 282

called,

are they called trees of heaven, honey?

They're really like trees of death.

And I've been pulling them

out of the ground now for,

I don't know,

we've been in the building 10, 11 years.

They look,

I first realized they're not poison ivy,

I'm highly allergic,

poison ivy,

I'm sure you are.

So,

I did have permission then to pull them.

But then someone who actually

knows something about nature,

which I know very little,

said,

you know,

these are called trees of heaven

because they grow,

like,

almost like a tree

if you don't pull them.

And I smiled and said,

well,

I've been pulling them for 10 years.

I've been pulling them,

you know,

longer than you've been pulling

these trees of heaven.

I don't know what they're called,

but they don't stand a chance

with me around.

I've run the lawnmower over them.

I've sung as I whip them

with the weed whacker.

I mean,

I'm a tree of heaven exterminator.

She gets that smirk and says,

this is where you need to listen.

Oh.

Apparently,

without getting too much

into the weeds

on this illustration,

the roots of these weeds,

it's called a soft root.

And so,

when you yank them

from the top,

you know what I'm talking about?

They pull down

and they just expand out.

And so,

it's like rabbits.

They multiply.

You pull up the one

and the roots pull down.

They shoot out two shoots

and they've got a pretty,

pretty good survival instinct.

And I said,

oh,

that's why we get more of them.

And so,

she says,

here,

let me show you how to do this.

So,

she then pulls out

of her back pocket.

Not really.

She had it outside.

She pulls out this,

like,

four-foot pitchfork.

And she starts pitchforking

into the ground where,

you know,

mulch ground where

these weeds of heaven are.

And,

I mean,

she's going down

a good two feet.

And lo and behold,

I mean,

this is like that thing

in Stranger Things

that grows in the basin.

What's that called?

What's it called?

It's a plant,

right?

In Stranger Things.

I only watch one season.

Well,

whatever.

There's,

there's like this whole root network

of trees of heaven.

I mean,

the roots are thick.

And there's the little root

that I cut off at the half.

And you can almost see it moving

in that moment,

right?

I mean,

it's moving.

It's got a mind of its own.

It's mocking me.

I said,

ah,

you're an idiot.

You know,

you lose again.

And Rock takes that pitchfork

and she digs it down

and we grab that root

that's way down there

and we pull that sucker out.

And man,

the trees of heaven realize

they have met Galadriel.

You know,

she is,

she is wasting them.

I know I'm mixing,

but

if you're a Christian,

right?

someone has rooted you

in Christ.

Someone has established you.

Yes,

before you were a Christian,

the invitation was clear.

Come to me.

Repent of your sins.

Put your trust in Jesus.

But when you walk through that door

and you turn around

and look at the door

you walked through,

it now says,

you were rooted

and established in him.

And this is where

it really gets crazy.

Before the foundation

of the world was laid.

Hmm.

Hmm.

I came to school one day.

Someone knew I'd been

giving a sermon

and a fellow faculty member

or staff

or I don't think

it was a student

came up to me

and they were very excited

to share with me

what their sermon was about.

And so I,

or message,

they went to church

and I'm going to run into this.

I'm sure this is just

not working for me.

Do you know if I'm amazing?

But,

and I said,

what was it about?

And they said,

my pastor told me,

and I'm like hanging,

you know,

give it to me

that I'm the hero

of my story.

I'm looking around.

I didn't ask

what church they go to,

but I was,

who's the hero

of your story?

I'm thinking,

here she misspoke.

They're going to say Christ,

right?

You know,

God,

Yahweh,

something,

Elohim.

I was such a good message.

Three points,

simple,

and a closing song.

We're the hero

of our stories.

And because

I'm not

very subtle,

I basically said,

did he or she

preach from the Bible?

What passage

of scripture

was that?

You know,

and the person

like cited a scripture,

I said,

hmm.

I said,

I think we should

talk about that.

I mean,

I can't.

Homer,

bell's going to ring

and,

you know,

and don't listen

to my sermons,

but I later met

when I said,

I am not the hero

of my story.

Christ is the hero

of our stories,

right?

And this person agreed,

but that was the message

that day.

You're in control.

You need to take control.

You need to be

at the core

of change in your life.

You're at the core

of any future hope

you can have.

You need to get

busy.

You cannot reconcile

that

with when we receive

Christ

and walk in Christ,

we are rooted

and built up

in Him,

established in the faith

just as you were taught,

abounding in thanksgiving.

In other words,

Christian,

there are only two realities.

There are people

that are in Christ

this morning

according to the New Testament

and there are people

in Adam.

People in Christ

have been rooted

and established

in Him by grace

through faith

in the gospel.

And people in Adam,

as Paul says

in Ephesians 2,

Ephesians 2:3

verse 3,

are children of wrath.

They are dead

in their sins.

So the question

that Paul then

wants to ask them

as he moves forward

in the text is,

so why add

anything to Him?

Why add

anything to Him

that diminishes Him

or takes away from Him

or substitutes

with Him?

Christ plus this.

Christ is

the Christian life.

Let's look at

the next section.

See to it

that no one

takes you captive

by philosophy

and empty deceit

according to human

tradition,

according to the

elemental spirits

of the world

and not according

to Christ.

For in Christ

the whole fullness

of deity

dwells bodily

and you have been

filled in Him

who is the head

of all rule

and authority.

there seemed

to be what

Paul calls

a philosophy,

a worldview,

a way of thinking

that was capturing

the Colossians'

attention.

See the word

in verse 6

or verse 8,

captive.

That's when someone

who is walking

with Christ,

literally their attention

is kidnapped,

taken captive

by a teaching,

by a premise

or a promise

envisioned

with an orientation

that may feel

like a small change

but in its substance

is like that

tree of heaven.

It's got a deep root

that's going to lure

them away

from Christ.

I was a new believer

at Bucknell

struggling with

understanding grace

and faced with my own

slow growth

and sanctification.

I had enormous

issues.

I was a heavy drinker

in high school.

I was a libertine

in all my relationships

and here I am

a new Christian.

I know I've been

born again

but I'm really

struggling to walk

with Christ

and I met

some sincere

Christians one day

as I was

walking in Lewisburg

and

they

seemed like

I thought I was

radical.

That's why I called

myself that.

I'm a radical Christian.

I'm not just a Christian.

I'm radical.

Have you met me?

We're radicals.

They told me

in so many words

that my Bible

was corrupt.

That it was

full of teachings

and verses

that aren't

in the original text

and they invited me

to come into

their service

that Saturday evening.

We met on Saturday

evening so I said

why would I go to that?

Because I go to New Covenant

in Lewisburg

and we meet on Saturday

and he says

well because

your Bible

is false.

now I'm not

discerning

and I'm just

like it is?

Well what's wrong

with it?

And they began

to tell me things

that the Bible

says that are

not true

and things

that I need

to do

that their Bible

their scripture

says are the truth

and it really

I don't know why

it really

messed me up.

I began

to become

suspicious

and doubt

not only

like my scriptures

which that's deadly

but that then

the people

that I'm walking

with

they aren't really

true Christians

and my pastor

I loved Randy

he was such a gentle

soul

and he was so faithful

asked me out

Randy sometime

how the Lord

used him

and blessed him

as a faithful

pastor

extraordinary story

and it took

me captive

it was a momentary

interaction

but I was like

six months

in detox

over that

because now

and this is for

Google

it's for the internet

that's how old I am

I just was like

suspicious

that God first

and the scripture

second

and that there

was another way

there was another

voice

that I was

missing out

but Paul says

that we can

discover fullness

of spiritual life

in Christ

that's what he says

and then he tells

them

in him

verse 9

so that we would

we would not feel

the need to look

anywhere else

in him

the whole fullness

of deity

dwells bodily

and you have been

filled

in him

listen

I'm on my third

cup of coffee

I feel a little

empty

but spiritually

speaking

I am full

so I want to

grow into that

fullness

I want God

to open the eyes

of my heart

through his word

I want

I want there

to be prayers

praying

I want to pray

I want to

I want to know

the spiritual

life that I

seek

that is found

in Christ

for it is

Christ

who has been

has been made

head of all

rule and authority

and then

Paul goes

on to say

as if to say

from beginning

to end

from beginning

to end

not only in your

life but my

life but from

beginning to end

in the story

of creation

fall

redemption

and consummation

it's always

been about Christ

so when we make

it not about him

we've missed

the picture

all together

I used to think

the picture was

are you charismatic

or not

I remember

telling Wayne

Grudem that

Wayne

I'm having

trouble with

those

cessationists

they're driving

me crazy

and I'm in

pastor's college

I should have

been kicked

out of school

right away

since I struggle

without two

power but there

aren't two

categories of

Christian

we're in

Christ

please pray

for me

because I love

to categorize

Christians

and I'm always

in the categories

that's good

favorable

right

they voted

a certain way

or they didn't

they have

certain cultural

issues that

define them

or they're not

they root

for the Red Sox

praise God

you're a Yankees

fan

but I'm missing

the picture

altogether

for Christians

the picture

is we

are

filled

in

him

and then Paul

goes on to say

in verse 11

this is my

second point

I think

third point

my second point

was to be united

with Christ

to be filled

with Christ

to be united

with Christ

verse 11

12 is to

receive all the

benefits of his

death and

resurrection

to receive all

the benefits

verse 11

in him

you were also

circumcised

with a

circumcision

made

without hands

by putting off

the body

of the flesh

by the

circumcision

of Christ

verse 12

having been

buried with him

in baptism

in which you

were also

raised with him

through faith

in the powerful

working of God

who raised

Christ

from

the dead

you see that word

circumcision

Jesus was

circumcised

this was the law

at eight days

I believe

for a Jewish

boy

and

he suffered

right

in that act

of circumcision

the removal

of skin

and there was

blood

and it's a

foreshadowing

of the cross

that he

will

as our

Messiah

our representative

literally

have his

body

torn

from him

as he

bears the

sins of the

world

and shed

his blood

and experience

not only

spiritual

not only

physical agony

but

spiritual

agony

as he

becomes

the lamb

whose

death

satisfies

the judgment

of God

in him

it says

we

were

circumcised

in his

death

somehow

we

were

included

we're

distinct

from Christ

he's

unique

but

somehow

in the

mystery

of our

union

when he

died

as our

representative

wasn't

you

over there

somewhere

and him

we are

somehow

in the

mystery

of that

union

included

in that

I can't

figure that

out

but Paul

says it

repeatedly

in Romans

talks about

it again

in Ephesians

not only

that but

then it

says

having been

buried

with him

in baptism

he was

baptized

by

John

the

Baptist

and so

it

signifies

not only

that he

kept

the law

as our

representative

and fulfilled

the law

as our

perfect

representative

but that

he would

die

and in

him

we were

buried

with him

too

so that

when he

was raised

by faith

through the

powerful working

of God

we were

somehow

raised

with him

too

there is

in

Colossians

and other

passages

this

mystery

that to

be filled

with Christ

when we

trust in

him

is to

fellowship

with him

in a

profound

way

in other

words

before we

were in

Adam

and we

shared

nothing

with him

now we're

in Christ

and we

somehow

have shared

everything

with him

so that

our

fellowship

with him

may

be

full

you

were

delivered

from the

dominion

and reign

of sin

I was

delivered

not from

its presence

but from

its power

authority

and rule

over me

set free

to live

for the

Lord

when

he

was

and so

when my

conversion

occurred

it brings

kind of

full

circle

this

spiritual

reality

it says

as well

that we

are

forgiven

of our

sins

through

the

canceling

of our

record

of debt

and you

were dead

verse 13

in your

trespasses

and the

uncircumcision

of your

flesh

God

made

alive

together

with him

having

forgiven

us

all

our

tresses

by

canceling

the

record

of

debt

that

stood

against

us

with

its

legal

demands

this

he

set

aside

kneeling

to the

cross

I love

Matt

what you

do

in your

services

somehow

we have

to

benefit

from

your

example

I love

that you

take

time

to

assure

us

that our

sins

are

forgiven

because

most of

the

Christians

I'm

pastoring

and

myself

as well

do not

live in

the good

of that

assurance

they

live in

the good

or the

reality

of

I'm

a

sinner

I've

sinned

I'm

sinning

constantly

now

there's

truth

in

that

because

we're

broken

we're

fallen

but

there

needs

to be

space

and

places

to

rejoice

in

I'm

forgiven

I'm

free

somebody

say

hallelujah

because

I'm

in

Christ

I'm

in

Christ

I'm

free

from

guilt

I'm

free

from

shame

I've

been

delivered

from

my

past

not

its

influence

perhaps

but

certainly

the

charges

last

week

I'm

on my

high

school

reunion

I'm

the

only

Christian

on

the

call

they

think

I'm

a

wacko

they

still

like

me

I've

shared

gospel

with

all

of

them

some

of

them

more

than

once

they

still

think

I'm

a

crazy

man

but

when

I

have

the

opportunity

I

don't

because

at least

they have

heard the

gospel

to announce

to them

yeah I'm

a sinner

I've

done

I've done

things

I

shouldn't

have

done

and

you

know

some

of

those

things

some

of

you

participated

in

them

some

of

them

I did

them

to you

and my

past

is

but I'm

forgiven

there's

no shame

there's

no guilt

there's

no condemnation

I

I

think

a

majority

of

Christians

do

not

benefit

from

the

assurance

that

you

guys

provide

in

your

liturgy

that

when

you

declare

through

faith

in

Christ

we're

forgiven

we can

walk

differently

yeah there's

still growth

to do

there's

progressive

sanctification

but the

guilt

and the

debt

and the

shame

it's

gone

because

I'm

in

Christ

I have

a new

identity

I have

a new

identity

and so

do

we

it's

glorious

because

the

charges

against

me

and

against

you

were

nailed

and

we

can

choose

to

live

out

of

that

fullness

of

grace

and

then

he

talks

freedom

through

Christ

and I'll

end

with

this

that

he's

disarmed

the

rulers

and

authorities

those

spiritual

realities

that were

stacked

up

against

us

he

has

broken

them

he

has

defeated

them

he

has

brought

them

to

open

shame

these

forces

that

bind

people

in

their

guilt

and

shame

it's

amazing

what

Jesus

Christ

has

done

for

us

so

as we

conclude

at least

my portion

of this

tree

the question

that's

begging

to be

answered

by you

with the

help of

the

Holy

Spirit

is

what

fills

your

life

and

what

fills

mine

is

it

Christ

if

it

is

then

all

of

the

riches

of

his

grace

should

be

invading

our

life

so

that

we

with

him

would

grow

into

this

progressive

understanding

and not

be taken

captive

by the

maps

and

orientations

and

philosophies

that

would

rob

him

of

his

centrality

we've

been

given

the

map

and

it's

almost

just

too

audacious

to

believe

but

by

God's

grace

and

for

his

glory

Trinity

may

we

together

take

hold

of

this

map

that

leads

us

to

Christ

because

it does

lead us

somewhere

do you

know where

it leads

us

it

leads

us

to

Jesus

and

that's

why

God

brought

you

to

Trinity

yeah

it

was

fun

seeing

your

friend

get

mayonnaise

all over

them

yesterday

I

agree

but

even

better

oh

Lord

we

are

in

you

you

are

in

us

we

pray

open

the

eyes

of

our

heart

to

see

even

more

clearly

not

the

foggy

windshield

of

day

to

day

life

as

real

as

those

are

not

the

not

the

guilt

or

shame

of

the

past

or

present

but

the

new

creation

of

being

hidden

in

you

Colossians

3

of

being

filled

with

Christ

Colossians

2

of

having

the

hope

of

glory

Christ

in

us

that

we

would

see

him

Jesus

this

salvation

you have

provided

it's not

just

plentiful

it is

blessed

so we

thank you

for this

grace

Lord

we

abound

in

thanksgiving

for your

mercy

in light

of your

cross

and we

pray

Lord

we would

be

mission

mindful

as we

are with

others

this week

that this

awaits

them

help

us

help

us

Lord

to display

your

character

as well

as in

our

words

point

clearly

to the

hope

of our

salvation

we pray

this in

Jesus name

and everyone

said

amen