Zero - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from LifeHouse Church.

Good morning, good morning.

Turn to somebody give them a high five.

Welcome them.

Give them a high five.

Tell them it's good to have you here at LifeHouse this morning.

Tell them they don't look bad for Sunday.

Come on, give them some encouragement.

Yeah, some of them need to hear it.

What is good to have you here at LifeHouse?

If you're listening online, thank you for joining us for worship online as well.

And we are excited about what's coming up.

We only got two more after today, two more times in this building.

I did get a little sentimental in the driveway this morning, back and out, but I'm over it.

We're ready to go, right?

Seriously.

Yeah, we're ready for the new place and excited about what God's going to do there.

And you know, along with that, I want to just remind you and I know they do it during announcements,

but I want you to remind you about LH3.

We're encouraging everybody find those three people, right?

Three people to get together with God for three minutes a day.

Now listen, you're not going to get the three people to your house, but you're going to

spend at least three minutes a day with the creator of the universe.

We don't call it just doing your devotions.

You got an appointment with God himself, right?

For at least three minutes, have three friends that you stay accountable to and do that for

at least three months.

And we're positive that you're going to start a pattern of just meeting with Jesus every

single day.

It will change your life.

I promise you will change your life.

So you haven't done that yet.

Find your three.

I know that takes some time to pray through.

Some of you have been praying about it.

Some of you have already told us you found your three and you're already connected.

Some of you've got a bigger tribe than three that you connect with.

So that's important.

Make sure you're doing that.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, that's good.

I can go with 50 percent for now.

But anyways, this morning, I want to they're going to put up the title slide and it's already

up there, right?

That is how many know what that is?

That's zero.

Say zero, zero.

That is the number of no value whatsoever.

It is the number of nothing, right?

It's the it's the number that holds no significance in the world around us.

As a matter of fact, some mathematicians actually don't even want it to be called a number because

it's a numeric value that has nothing.

Right.

There is no numeric value.

They've argued this as mathematicians.

And it is, you know, a number that represents nothing.

If you tell somebody, if you tell a child, if you know, a bunch of children just left

here, if you tell them, I need you to count one to ten, you know, or ask them to count

to ten, how many know they don't stand there and go zero, one, two, they don't do that.

Right.

If you tell somebody to take ten steps, they don't stand there and go zero, one, two.

They just don't do that.

And zero is just that number that has no value.

And it's certainly even though it's close to one, how many know it's not number one?

Amen.

Some of you into number one.

Yes.

OK.

Not even number two, not even number three.

There's no designation assigned to it like a gold or silver or bronze for first, second

or third place.

Right.

It's not a good thing if you score zero points in the game.

Right.

Good chance you lost the game.

It's zero quantity.

It's zero quality.

And if somebody calls you the big zero, turn to the person beside you right now.

Look him in the eye.

Don't call him zero.

OK.

Don't do it this morning.

Look, if someone calls you a big zero.

How many know that's not a compliment?

Right.

And there's a reason, you know, so few professional athletes actually have taken on the number

zero or even double zero.

I looked it up and there's been a few in history.

There's been a few in the past.

And the few that do have kind of these eccentric meanings for it.

You know, some of them think it's new beginnings and they had come up with all these other

ideas.

But this morning I submit to you that zero actually should be our number.

Zero should be a number as believers and followers of Jesus Christ said it's our goal.

It should be our mission.

It should be something that we grab hold.

Zero is actually the win.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you are in the kingdom of God, it is when

we get to zero that the mission is accomplished.

So if you got your Bibles this morning, I want you to begin to flip to Joshua chapter

two, verse one.

We're going to start with we're going to go to 21.

Joshua chapter two.

We're going to start verse one.

We're going to go to 21.

We're going to work down through that.

Hopefully you've got your Bible this morning and your notebook, right?

Your Bible because it's the sword of God and your notebook because your memory is not that

what?

Your memory is not that good.

All right.

So make notes.

Listen, write down what God's telling you.

Some will write some of you even write in the pages of scripture, right?

And the margins, but have that with you because God could speak to you at any time this morning

as the words coming forward.

Father, we thank you for this day.

God, thank you for the word that we're about to open.

God break the bread of life, Lord, pull it into our spirits, into our hearts and minds.

God, I pray that you would just get our ears ready and our hearts attuned, Lord, to what

you're saying today.

And we just give you praise.

We give you glory.

We give you honor today in Jesus name.

And everybody said together.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, listen, before we go to reading those verses of scripture, let me give you just a

quick synopsis of what's going on.

Let me get you up to speed with what's taking place here in this very historic biblical

story that we're talking about today, because you got to understand a little bit that leads

up to this for it to completely make sense.

And just to go back to the beginning, the nation of Israel is birthed through a covenant

between God and one man, between God and the man Abraham and God, Jehovah, God, the great

I am speaks to Abraham and he comes to me and he says, Abraham, I'm going to make a

great nation of you.

It's going to come from your seed and I'm going to multiply.

This is he's talking about the nation of Israel that would come from him.

And your seed will be like the sands of the seashore.

Right.

And God does.

He actually fulfills his promise in what we would call a slow manner, but he does it.

And if we jump ahead just a bit, Abraham's family grows to about 70 in number.

And all of a sudden, the shift takes place because of famine in the land.

They end up moving to Egypt and he relocates his entire family to Egypt.

And it's in Egypt where Abraham's family literally grows into a nation of people, million plus

people.

They swell into this group of people, a free nation at first in the land of Egypt, but

then pulled into slavery by the Egyptians.

They spent 400 years as a nation enslaved by Egypt.

And God miraculously delivers Israel from this evil and from this slavery.

And how he does is he inflicts God himself through the man Moses inflicts 10 plagues

on Egypt and on Pharaoh both.

And by the 10th plague, which was the death angel that came through and killed all the

firstborn, Pharaoh finally, finally releases this nation of Israel out of slavery and says

leave and go.

And God miraculously goes with him because he leads this nation of people, these nation

of slaves, honestly, who are delivered now.

He leads them with a cloud by day.

It's a pillar, a cloud of what they kind of called a pillar or a cloud by day.

And by night it was a pillar of fire.

And God would literally lead them out into the wilderness by his promise.

And for 40 years now, listen, along with this, God said, I'm going to take you to a promised

land.

I'm going to take you to a place on the west side of the Jordan River.

And it's going to be the promised land.

It's going to be a land of milk and honey.

I'm going to get you there.

It's going to be amazing.

And they should have got there as a nation.

They should have got there in a couple of weeks.

But because of disobedience, they get right up to the edge of it and they disobey God

and they wander for 40 years in the wilderness.

They don't go into the promised land, but God's still with them.

And he and he's providing for them.

He feeds them with manna, say manna.

This is he puts manna out on the ground every morning, just like the dew on the ground.

They would go out and he said it was a lot like coriander seed and it would be on the

ground and they would pick it up and eat it.

And it was nutritious for them.

God also their clothes and their shoes did not wear out for 40 years.

Pair of Nikes lasted for 40 years.

Can you imagine?

Come on.

Right.

They're clothes didn't wear out.

God was with them the entire way.

But they wonder for 40 years, the original generation of doubters about going into the

promised land die off and the next generation of Israelites rise up their children.

And I don't know if they were called Gen Z or Gen Alpha or millennials.

They weren't millennials.

Millennials are getting old now.

I'm sorry.

All right.

You're not young anymore.

Right.

But I don't know what they called them, but the next generation go in with with God.

They go into the promised land by faith.

Moses led originally and now to Joshua.

And as they edge up to the Jordan River and get ready to cross over to the west side on

the east side, there's enemies.

They have to go through King Shehan, who's of the Amorites.

And they go up against King Shehan and God is with them.

And he ruled from the Arnon Gorge to Jabouk River.

And he took care of that territory.

He was king over that territory.

Israel comes and walks through and takes him in that whole east side.

And King Bashan, who is also there, is ruling and they step through.

And as Israel advances and readies themselves to cross the Jordan River to go into the land

in the first city that they're going to hit is Jericho.

Everyone knows in the surrounding areas on the east side and on the west side of the

river that the God of Israel fights for them and that he wins every time, every time, not

one time, not two.

They know that they got defeated Egypt.

They know Shehan was defeated.

All was defeated and they know and there's a reputation goes and it's in this moment

in time that we pick up today.

Right?

Right before Israel is ready to go in and take Jericho and Joshua is now leading him.

And it says this in Joshua 2 verse 1.

Joshua 2:1

Now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Asiagrove to spy secretly saying, go

view the land, especially Jericho.

So they went and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.

They're getting ready to go over.

Joshua says, I need spies to go in to check this all out, bring a report back to me.

These spies go into Jericho and they lodge at a harlot's house named Rahab.

Now the Bible doesn't really say why they went to a harlot's house, you know, prostitutes

house.

I'm thinking they did it just for the sake of not blending in and maybe just trying to

get a place to stay.

How many know we're going to go with that this morning?

Amen.

We're going to believe that it was for good reasons and good purposes, but they go to

this harlot's house and this is where they're hiding out.

They're in spying out the land.

And verse 2 says, and it was told the king of Jericho saying, behold, men have come here

tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.

So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying, bring out the men who have come to you, who

have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.

Then the woman then the woman took the two men and hid them.

So she said, yes, the men came to me, but I do not know where they were from.

And it happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark that the men went out where

the men went, I do not know, pursue them quickly for you may overtake them.

But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stocks of flax, which

she had laid in order on the roof.

Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan of the the fords.

And as soon to those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

These guys go to this.

These spies go to Rahab's house and they're hiding out.

And the king finds out that they're there, that there's spies in the land.

And when they come to question Rahab, Rahab lies and tells them all they left.

I don't know who they were.

They went out the gate, but she really took them up to the roof, left them hide among

the flax stalks to keep them safe.

And you got to think, why would this Canaanite prostitute cover for Israeli spies?

Why would she risk her life and her family's life hiding out two men that she doesn't even

really know who are from the enemy's camp?

And I'll tell you to hear.

I'm here to tell you this morning.

The reason she did it is the number zero.

Let's read a little further.

Now before they laid down, she came up to them on the roof and she said to the men,

I know the Lord has given you the land that the terror of you has fallen on us and all

the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came

out of Egypt.

I didn't even tell that story.

Just suffice to say, God opened up the Red Sea.

The children of Israel went across.

Egypt tried to follow and God just filled it all back in, wiped out the entire Egyptian

army.

And what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan,

Shehan and Og, who you utterly destroyed.

And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted.

Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you.

For the Lord your God, He is God of heaven above and on earth beneath.

Now listen, she's talking to people.

These two spies are nomads with their Israelites, man.

They live in tents.

She's in a fortified city with fortified walls, walls so thick that there was housing built

in the walls, walls so thick that chariots could go around and race on.

And she's telling them, we're fearful of who you are because of your God, right?

Now in verse 12, she says, now, therefore I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since

I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house and give

me a true token and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all they have

and deliver our lives from death.

So the man answered her, our lives for yours.

If none of you tell this business of ours and it shall be that the Lord has given us

the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you.

The heart of the Rahab, she helps these Israelites spies, right?

She hides them.

This goes down as one of the greatest.

She goes down as one of the greatest people in biblical history.

A woman of a very questionable occupation, right?

A sinful occupation.

A woman who was a citizen of the enemy's camp.

She's a Canaanite.

She's not an Israelite.

A woman who knows nothing about the God of Israel, except that he fights for the Israelites,

right?

Risks everything to protect these two Israelite spies.

Why did she do it?

This is the reason.

A broken heart will cause us to do whatever it takes, right?

To have zero casualties.

A broken heart will cause us to do whatever it takes to have zero casualties.

Rahab's heart broke for her family.

She knew when Israel came in, because God of the Israelites was so powerful that her

family would be destroyed in the war that was about to take place.

She was so worried about her mother, her father, her brother, her sisters.

Her heart broke.

She was not okay with any of them.

Zero casualties was in her mind.

And the fact that the Israelites were intense was irrelevant to her.

She knew and she heard about the God, right?

She lived in this fortified city, but she knew everything around her was about to crumble

because God was with Israel.

I can imagine her thinking about all this.

I can imagine her thinking about her family and probably in her mind's eye, like we do,

right?

In her mind's eye, she probably sees the invasion taking place.

She probably sees, and I don't know how she pictured this in her mind.

We don't know because the word doesn't tell us.

I don't know if she saw, because God literally does crush the walls of Jericho.

If you read the story of that, I don't know if she saw the walls or felt like God somehow

is going to let them, somehow in her mind, she saw the invasion taking place.

She probably pictured her family being killed, possibly at the edge of a sword, taking captive

and it broke her.

It broke her.

She couldn't bear the loss of one family member.

It had to be zero casualties, so much so that she would risk everything to hide the two

spies, to talk to them, to work out a deal with them.

Zero casualties in her family was the only acceptable outcome.

She couldn't bear the thought of maybe witnessing a family member who would die at the edge

of the sword.

She couldn't do it, right?

And she had it right.

She sends a clear message to all of us.

She lets each of us know, right?

Does my heart break for those who will perish and be far from Jesus?

Does my heart break for them?

Can I picture in my mind what it's like for somebody not to know Jesus as Lord and Savior

and one day come to the end of their life and slip out of this life into all of eternity

and enter hell and be separated from God?

Does that break my heart enough that I'll do whatever it takes?

Is zero my number?

Zero, it's zero, right?

Zero casualties.

That's the only number we can have.

And I had to ask myself the question.

I want you to ask yourself the question.

Are you okay with one casualty, two casualty, three casualties, a hundred casualties?

Do you not even think about it?

Or is it only zero?

Is our heart broken because those around us don't know Christ and they're far from Him?

Is my number zero?

Is it zero?

Turn to somebody, tell them zero.

Just tell them zero.

Speak it out.

Zero, right?

Rahab was a difference maker in her family for a reason.

And it's never a reason that it would cross our minds because when we think about somebody

that's a difference maker, right?

We think about somebody who's charismatic.

We think about somebody who's got it all going on.

We think of somebody who can crush it, right?

But that's not what made her a difference maker.

What made her a difference maker in her life is that she was crushed.

That she was broken, right?

That she, her heart hurt for her family.

Psalms 34, 18 says this, the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and say such

as have a contrite spirit.

Contrite means crushed.

It means, it actually means crushed to powder is what it really means.

A contrite spirit.

God supplies the power to make the difference, but He's looking for people that have broken

hearts for the people that are around them.

God doesn't do it like the world.

He's not looking for charisma.

He's not looking for somebody who's got it all going on.

He's looking for somebody that's broken about the world around them.

Amen?

It's true, man.

It's quiet in here, right?

Psalm 51, 16 says this, for you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it.

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

These O God, you will not despise.

I think God Himself is looking for heaven, from heaven.

He's looking at Jesus followers and I think the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are

looking down from heaven and they're looking and they're saying, you know what?

Right there's one.

I see one.

Their hearts broken for the people that are around them.

Their hearts broken for their family.

Their hearts broken for their friends that are far from God.

And I think and they look and they said, that's one right there.

We can use them.

Right.

They can be a difference.

How many times have we seen this?

Right.

How many times have we seen somebody that their heart gets broken and it changes everything?

They go to a foreign land and they pick up a starving child in their arms who's not going

to make it unless they get nourishment and it breaks them.

It breaks them.

And God uses them to make a difference.

Right.

So somebody somebody's family is ravaged by addiction and they walk with that family member

and Dixie and I know what that is in her side of the family in history to have a family

member who is ravaged by addiction and their life taken from them through the addiction

and it breaks your heart and somebody will do something.

They'll be a difference maker.

Right.

So a family member, one co-worker, somebody that's perishing and far from God.

Once we're crushed for those who are being crushed by the enemy, that's when God can

use us.

Even if you're a Canaanite prostitute in the city of Jericho.

Right.

I remember many, many, many years ago after high school, I had a friend that I went to

high school with.

His name was Brian.

And Brian's kind of one of those guys that I would call got kind of a raw deal in life.

He came from a really good family.

Originally his family was together.

He had brothers and sisters and they actually attended a Pentecostal church and him and

I chat and talk about that kind of thing.

But something happened.

Brian's mom passed away when he was pretty young.

And I think he was somewhere around 10 years old when that took place.

His mom passed away, which was brutal.

It was very difficult on the family, but they began to walk through it.

And his dad remarried.

And the woman that he remarried was not somebody who brought healing to the family.

And matter of fact, she hated the kids, literally hated the kids so much so that the family

broke apart and all his siblings went to live in different homes.

And I met Brian around that time.

He ended up going to the high school where I was at and I became friends with them.

And I remember him walking through that and struggling with that.

And I watched him go through high school and I watched him slip into drug use.

And I watched him begin to spiral going through high school.

And I remember getting out and graduating from high school.

And because the path he began to choose, we kind of kind of went separate ways because

of where he was walking in and where I was walking.

And I remember not seeing him for a long period of time.

I started going to school.

I was working two jobs.

I got really busy.

And one day I was driving up through Richland, which is right above Wimber from where I lived.

And it was pouring down rain.

You know when it's raining like buckets, right?

Cats and dogs.

It was pouring down rain.

And I saw Brian walking along the road and I stopped and picked him up.

He was skin and bones.

He was living in this dirt hole of apartment, just this little one room apartment.

I took him to where he lived.

He was leaving work from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

He worked in KFC and he was a wreck.

He was a mess.

And I remember dropping him off and I remember talking to him and I remember being kind of

crushed.

But I'm going to be honest, I didn't do anything about it.

And I left broken hearted, but I didn't do anything about it.

I went back to try to find Brian.

I couldn't find him.

Later on, days later, I went back.

I never did.

I've never I haven't found him since.

I can't find him on Facebook.

I can't find him anywhere.

I don't know where he's at.

I don't know what happened to him.

But I should have been crushed enough to stop, right?

I should have been crushed enough to follow up.

And I walked away.

And to this day, it tears me up when I think about Brian because I don't know where he's

at.

I don't know what happened to him.

I just pray that God somewhere God met with him with somebody else because I didn't do

it at that moment when I should have.

Right.

We got to get crushed.

You might get a moment in time with someone.

And the numbers got to be zero.

Zero casualties.

Rahab's number zero.

She continues to cover for the two spies.

Fifteen says this.

Then she let down.

Then she let them down by a rope.

Now, listen, they're in her place.

She's talking with them.

She wants them to save her family.

Right.

And she negotiates with them.

And she she in verse 15 says, then she let them down by a rope through a window for her

house was on the city wall.

She dwelt on the wall.

And she said to them, Go to the mountain, let the pursuers meet you.

Hide there three days until the pursuers of return.

Afterward you may go your way.

So the men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath of yours, which you have made

us made us swear.

I love this part.

Right.

She she.

Rahab is so intense about this.

She made these two spies swear that they would follow through with protecting her family.

You can see right here.

She made them swear.

Right.

Unless they come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through

which you will let us down.

And unless you bring your father, your mother and your brothers and all your father's household

into your own home, so it shall be that whatever goes outside the doors of your house into

the street, his blood shall be on his own head and we will be guiltless.

And whoever is within your house, this blood shall be on your head if a hand is laid on

him.

And if you tell us this business of ours, then we will be free of the oath, which you

made us swear.

Says it again.

And she said, according to your words, so be it.

And she sent them away and they departed.

And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

She makes them swear these spies that you'll protect my family.

I've helped you out.

I'm I'll let you down through the wall.

You run to the mountains.

Right.

And here's the deal.

If number if your number is zero, if God's broken your heart for something, it will cause

you to have a plan.

Right.

You won't just think about it.

You won't just pray about it.

You won't just talk about it.

You won't even get just emotional about it.

You'll have a plan.

Ray have engaged in a plan to save her family.

She thought this through.

She spent time thinking, OK, I have these two spies.

I can hide them on the roof or I can turn them in or I can use this to save my family.

Right.

She was crushed.

She was moved.

But she didn't just she didn't just get crushed and praying and sit aside and wait for God.

She began to work a plan.

She made these guys swear that they would not harm her family.

And these spies tell her, listen, when we come back and we come back to invade, you

better have your family.

You better have your father.

You better have your mother.

You better have your brothers and sisters in your house.

All your stuff in your house, because we come if they're outside, we can't guarantee their

safety.

But you keep them in the house and you put a red cord out the window.

Right.

On the wall.

And we'll know it's you and you will not be harmed.

They swore to her they wouldn't.

And she weighs out the risk.

She had a plan.

This woman had a plan.

She didn't just get broken and sit off on the side.

She was she counted the cost.

She knew she might die in the middle of all this and somebody she gets found out every

day.

I can see her.

Right.

She lets these guys go.

They go to the mounts for three days.

They hide out.

Go back to Joshua.

I don't know how long it was in between, but I'm sure it was some days every day.

I can see her getting up.

She's making sure the scarlet cords right out the window because this could be the day.

Right.

She's talking to her family and instructing them saying, look, if you hear anything, if

you hear a trumpet sound, you hear a blast, if you hear rumblings, that an invasion is

taking place, you get to my house immediately.

Get in here and we're going to lock the door.

Right.

Let's talk about your routine each day.

How can you make sure you don't get caught up in the chaos?

Don't talk to anyone.

Don't tell anybody what's happening.

You just keep your head down and get here as quick as you can.

She had a plan, man.

She was crushed and she was working the plan.

And Israel does invade Jericho.

If you read this story, God crushes the walls of Jericho.

And I, you know, when I thought about that, when I read the story of Jericho and it's

actually they've uncovered some of what they believe is Jericho.

And they said, literally, it looks like somebody just took a hand, a giant hand and pushed

the walls in, in Jericho and in some of these ancient ruins.

And I got thinking about that.

Rahab lived in the walls of Jericho.

God crushed the walls of Jericho, but not Rahab's house.

He had to preserve it because we see her later on in scripture.

Right.

We see her later showing up.

She actually her and her family are saved.

She actually go back.

She goes back and marries an Israelite.

God spared her.

God spared her family.

But she had a plan.

Right.

Her number was zero and she worked the plan.

I'm going to ask for the worship team would come.

I got to ask us, is our heart broken?

And are we working the plan?

That God has.

Right.

Rahab's testimony is incredible.

Rahab goes on to marry this Israelite and his name is Salman and she becomes the mother

of Boaz.

Now, you probably don't you may or may not know Israelite history, but she becomes the

mother of Boaz.

And you might say, well, what's the big deal about that?

Let me read you Matthew chapter one, verse two.

And then I'm going to go a little further with this.

It says this.

Remember, we started with Abraham, right?

Father Abraham, who was the beginning of the nation of Israel.

Abraham begot Isaac.

Isaac begot Jacob.

Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.

Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

Perez begot Hezron.

Hezron begot Ram.

Ram begot Abedab.

Abedab begot Nashon.

Nashon begot Salman.

Salman begot Boaz by Rahab.

Right.

Boaz begot Obed by Ruth.

Obed begot Jesse and Jesse begot David the king.

David the king.

14 generations after David the king.

Do you know who's born?

Jesus Christ.

This Canaanite prostitute is a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ.

A direct ancestor.

She is in the line of Judah.

She is in the history.

14 generations later.

You want to talk about redemption.

All because she had a broken heart and she worked the plan, right?

What's your number this morning?

Is it zero?

What's the, what's your plan in the middle of God's plan?

What is it, right?

I started thinking about this a little about a heart being broken and I started thinking

about Brian and and here's what it's like honestly and we got to see it this way.

The day that I just walked away and didn't really do anything.

It's a little bit like seeing somebody in quicksand, right?

And, and they're sinking in quicksand and you never extend a staff.

You never throw them a rope.

You never extend any effort.

I'll stand out here and pray for you, right?

That's what I did for Brian.

I prayed for him.

I prayed for you but I never extended a stick.

I never threw him a rope.

I never worked the plan of any kind.

And that's what it's a little like.

And they'll sink into the sand and disappear.

I mean, I asked you to stand.

It begins with a broken heart.

And if your heart isn't broken for those who are lost and far from God and what they will

one day face, it should be.

It should be.

Every one of us.

Somebody's heart was broken and you're here because of that.

If you're in the kingdom of God and you're saved it's because somebody else's heart was

broken and they went and did the plan.

They went and did the work.

And you're here, you got the gospel message because somebody else did that.

That's why you're here.

Somebody along the way.

You could probably name the people.

You could probably remember some of them.

But you've got to be crushed first.

God only uses what's crushed.

What's contrite.

As a matter of fact, he says you resist the proud, right?

It's what's crushed.

And then you've got to work the plan.

Some people sit around for a long time and never start working the plan.

They get crushed.

Listen, start working the plan and pray while you're working.

God will start directing what you're doing, right?

If you know that, if you're crushed, just go for it.

He'll start directing you.

It's okay if you mess up.

He knows, I mess up all the time.

He'll just kick you back in the right direction and keep you going.

Amen?

It's true.

You got to start the plan.

But you got to be crushed first.

And we're about to take communion, and I'm going to have you come down the middle and

go back to your seats with the communion.

We're going to take it together.

But God never asks you to do something that he doesn't do himself.

And you have to understand, God the Father was crushed first.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God could have just blew it all off, honestly.

There was only a couple humans on the face of the earth at that time.

He could have said, you know what, this isn't working out very well.

How about we just kind of wipe this clean and start all over again, right?

He could have done that, but he didn't.

He got crushed over the whole thing.

And he said, you know what, one day I'm going to send my son Jesus.

I'm so hurt, I'm so crushed about them being separated from me, that I will send my son

Jesus.

He will die on the cross.

He will be buried in a tomb.

He will rise three days later.

And because of what he's doing, that sacrifice that he's going to make, he will make, there

will be remission of sins.

There will be an ability for sin to be pulled out of people's lives and for people to come

back in a relationship.

God was crushed first and most.

And now he calls us to be crushed.

So this morning as we take communion together, we want you to remember Jesus because he's

the one that made the sacrifice.

That's what he said to do.

But we got to ask ourselves, were we crushed like he was crushed?

Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church.

We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message.

If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with

us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com.