Questions Jesus Asked Part 1 | The Riddle Of Jesus with Rudy

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church.

If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

No Rain.

This song that you just heard was the highest charting, most famous song by the band Blind

Melon.

It was released in 1983.

While the song itself has a deep meaning and a pretty catchy opening guitar riff, it was

a music video that I felt drawn to while attending Hagerstown Junior College and that I still

relate to now.

The video opens with B-Girl.

She's a tap dancing young lady.

She's performing to a less than improving audience.

She is laughed at and booed off stage.

Running off, she meanders through town looking for someone to relate to.

As she dances and entertains different people in the street, she continues to be mocked,

jeered and generally rejected as an outcast who doesn't fit in.

At the end of the video, finds little Miss B-Girl at the gate to an open field.

In that field, a group of B-clad dancers.

Her countenance changes immediately as she's finally found a group of like-minded individuals.

She has found a place to dance, to be who God created her to be.

She has finally found her family.

I was born and raised a Southern Baptist.

I was baptized young because if you want to be a Southern Baptist, you are in the water.

I love my church.

I love the people, but I never truly fit in.

I would go on to try brothering Episcopalian churches among others.

And while I still love all of my Christian brothers and sisters from all tribes in the

Christian faith, and I cherish their views and respect them, I hadn't found my tribe.

So the first time Carrie and I were invited to the Vineyard, we were disappointed and

surprised that we weren't actually coming to a wine tasting vineyard.

So we declined.

The second time we did our research, we realized Hub City Vineyard was not a traditional church

in any way, so we declined.

Which is funny in retrospect because we were looking for something different.

The third time we relented because it was summer jams.

And the assistant pastor at the time, Matt Walker, walked out in an Elvis costume and

invited out Kevin Booth who was a local Elvis impersonator.

And then they sang the song Burning Love.

So we came.

Why?

As many of you know, Carrie and I were married in Las Vegas.

Yes, full fledged Elvis wedding.

Hopefully we're going back in November for my 50th birthday.

So forcing ourselves to have an open mind at a hippie church gathering with people outside

smoking cigarettes as we walked in, we were a bit surprised.

The band rocked.

The pastor had tattoos.

Everyone knew it was our first Sunday because I was the only one in the building wearing

a shirt and tie.

In fact, remember the crazy horse when he used to go in and I thought I was going to

have my tie cut off.

But Christmas message was straight from the word.

Chris talked about God's burning love for each of us.

It was the way I thought God had been talking to me my entire life.

No religion, all truth balanced with grace and love.

Like the bee girl, I had been searching.

Like the bee girl, I was shown the gate to a field full of dancing people who were accepted

as the miraculously made children of God that we were made to be.

Like the bee girl, I had finally found my family.

Good morning, family.

Thank you for joining us today.

I am not the lead pastor.

Sometimes they give me the microphone.

But I just want to welcome you here.

This is your first time here.

We want you to be a part of our family.

So if this is your first time here at the end of the message, I want you to go out to

the welcome hub and fill out a form so we can connect to you.

And Chris, who will be back next week, on stage, I think he's here today, will reach

out to you.

If you're watching us online, thank you.

Whether you're on the road to Branson, Missouri or wherever you are on vacation, welcome.

But man, I'm happy to be back.

Had a little bit of thermal.

While I had a relaxing vacation, dang it, I missed my family.

But man, how about these last two Sundays?

Did the guest speakers kick it or what?

God's word never changes.

But he does know that sometimes the delivery has to change.

And if you've got a thick head like me, you need a different voice sometimes.

Sometimes Carrie's voice doesn't penetrate.

So I needed another voice.

And the same thing happens with God.

Sometimes we need to be shaken.

And our lead pastor didn't even have to be here for it.

Other family members took the reins and made it happen.

Two weeks ago, Rhett took our normal Sunday morning service, put it in a shaker, and then

dumped it out in a completely different format.

And out poured Lauren and Carl and a timely message that we needed to hear before we worshiped.

And let me tell you, our car was rocking the whole way across Indiana as we watched online.

Thank you God for YouTube.

Sometimes.

Then last week, Kelsey reshuffled the deck again.

And what a message she brought.

I was fired up to serve as I drove home back across to Ohio.

I couldn't wait to get back in the building.

Then she brought fuzz up.

I don't know about you.

I don't want to be a taker anymore.

I want to be a giver.

At the end of Vineyard, everyone gets to play.

Now, you might not get to steal the microphone like Scott Kretzer did, but God is calling

you to serve.

Here's the best part about last week's message.

Carrie's driving.

I get an email notification within 10 minutes of closing out YouTube.

Somebody was requesting, hey, I want to serve at Hagerstown Health Care Center.

But that was one person, and we need more people to do this on Sunday morning.

All you're doing is going over there instead of here.

They got coffee.

They all do communion today.

There's no excuse.

Is that you?

We don't want to send one person.

We're not doing a ministry to them.

We're worshiping with God's children.

That said, we want to get these guys baptized next Saturday at the pool party.

So we need two things.

We need to rent an ADA equipped van, hopefully three, for like $200.

So we need help with that.

But more importantly, we need some strong, big bodied men or women or anyone to help

get us those guys from the health care center to Potterfield Pool and into the pool so they

can be baptized.

Are you willing to help us?

Also after last week's message, I received a couple emails about growth groups.

Chad Collins wants to start a mentoring group.

He was inspired by Scott's testimony, and he was like, Rudy, this is what I've been

telling you I want to do.

I want to take young men and old men and have the old men speak life into the younger next

generation.

Katie Williams wants to start a knitting, crocheting group.

Gentlemen, this is for you.

She already has a couple curriculums that they're going to follow while knitting and

crocheting, maybe even knitting things for, I don't know, little babies that need beanies

on their head and donating them or a ridiculously hot outfit for the lead pastor.

Listen, if you're interested in one of those two groups, see me.

If neither one of those things is your thing, figure out what your thing is and then start

a growth group designed around that thing.

Everyone here has something that they can do, and there are other people here that want

to do the same thing you want to do just to get together and have a growth group.

All groups kick off in September.

Maybe now is your time to step up and lead a group or host a group in your house.

So again, the great, powerful couple of Sundays we had, and while Chris is still out today,

you're stuck with me.

Since you're stuck with me, the knucklehead that I am, instead of my words, let's just

pause for a moment and pray that the Holy Spirit have his way with us this morning.

Come Holy Spirit.

God, we thank you for rest.

We thank you for respite, for vacation.

I thank you personally, God, for the safe travels and the rest that you gave me.

I ask God that you just continue to speak life over Chris and Jess as they transition

back into the building.

God, I ask that you watch over each and every one of these folks who still intends to take

a vacation later this summer and in the fall.

Please continue to give us safe travels.

God, I ask that you speak through me today.

Let my words be your words and open the ears and the hearts of everyone here that needs

to hear just how much you love them.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Now, I do a little quiz here.

Show of hands, how many people get Chris's email every Thursday?

If you do not have your hand up, get signed up.

It's good stuff.

Show of hands, how many people read Chris's email on Thursdays?

I don't read them.

I read about two sentences and then... Now, the number of hands that went up for first

service was huge.

The number of people that answered my next couple of questions, it was like crickets.

We're going to do a quiz, so all of you that put your hand up better be able to answer

these questions.

Are you ready?

Riddle me this.

How many questions recorded in the New Testament was Jesus asked?

No.

Hang on to that number.

How many questions was, did the people around Jesus ask him?

Okay, let me ask this question.

How many people read Chris's email when it comes into their mailbox?

No, but it was Rudy this week, so we didn't read it.

The correct number is 183.

Of course, did he ask more questions?

Was he asked more?

Probably, but that's what was recorded.

Now, how many of those questions did Jesus directly answer?

Close.

Say it like you mean it.

Three.

Now, I want to clarify something here.

I'm saying these are the questions he directly answered.

Well, call me a heretic or a false prophet saying, no, Rudy, he answered.

These are the ones he directly answered.

If you didn't see it, go back and read the email because I told you what the three were.

Now, he did answer.

It's not like he just didn't answer the other 180.

He answered them.

He just, like the good teacher he was, would answer a question with a question.

Like I like to do as a math teacher, I also got answers like the first question I asked

you.

Or he would answer with a parable.

What we know as a parable is just a story that he told.

And then, sadly, not everyone got to understand the parable because you had to be connected

to the spirit to get it.

Now, Kirsten, how many questions recorded in the New Testament did Jesus ask?

I thought you gave me the answer.

Oh, it was Tony.

How many?

Does anyone know?

All right.

So, I literally feel like I'm grading a math test and I'm back like three years ago in

the building at Springfield.

306.

Jesus, 307.

No, wait, wait, wait.

Time out.

It was 307.

So, you were one off.

You're the only one who got it even close.

So, Tony wins today.

Now, this should be an easy one.

If you don't get this, what is the title of the New August series?

Questions?

I guess I got to start giving you a cheat sheet when I quiz you.

Geez.

All right, bonus question.

And you got this Thursday in the email, even today in the announcements.

What is happening directly after this service today?

Yay, we got an answer.

Start with why.

I will be leading it this time, not Kris.

Start with why is just our introductory kind of class.

It's just like a 10, 15 minute intro into like why did Christian just start to church?

How did that happen?

What did that process look like?

And then also, how can you get involved?

Because today's message, I'm going to reiterate what Kelsey talked about last week in the

serving.

Now, we have one person that kind of passed the test and everyone else failed.

Good job, Tony.

So, here we are today kicking off questions Jesus asked.

The first question that we're going to speak on today comes from Matthew 16.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do you

say the son of man is?

They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah, one

of the prophets.

But what about you, he asked?

Who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of God.

Now that's technically two questions.

We're going to cover two questions today and then Chris will handle the other 305 the rest

of August.

So, here's how I'm going to break it down.

We're going to first talk about a worldly view of Jesus.

We're going to move into a biblical view of Jesus and then at the end, it'll be your job

to personally answer the question that Jesus asked, who he is.

So, let's get started.

Who is Jesus to the world?

Point number one, the world doesn't understand Jesus.

So, let's take a look at the other major world religions.

Hindus, they consider Jesus to be a holy man.

They consider Jesus to be a wise teacher and they include him among their gods.

Buddha, Buddha was a fifth century teacher.

He believed that Jesus was enlightened.

He believed that Jesus was a wise teacher.

Muslims, Muslims based their doctrine on the writings of Muhammad and respect Jesus as

a prophet and a wise teacher.

They also think that he worked miracles and heals many, but Muslims reject that Jesus

was God or that he was the son of God.

Finally, Jews.

Jews agree that Jesus was born to Mary, but that Joseph was his biological father.

They agree that he was a traveling teacher with many disciples and that he performed

miracles and drove out demons.

They also acknowledge that he and his disciples proclaimed him to be the coming Jewish Messiah,

but they deny the truth of that claim.

See, these four major religions, as well as many other lesser known religions, they all

believe that Jesus is real, but they don't believe that he is 100% God and 100% man and

they do not believe, but we as Christians believe, that he came and died for our sins.

In John 18, Jesus confirms to Pilate that he is indeed the King of Kings.

Then in verse 37, he validates that with this.

You say that I am a king.

In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.

Now listen to this line.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

Notice the wording.

Many people hear the words that Jesus says, but not everyone listens to the message behind

his truth.

All those other religions believe that Jesus exists or at least existed, but they don't

believe in him as their Lord and Savior.

And then of course, you also have plenty of people that believe Jesus is a fairy tale,

just another made of God, but Rudy talks too much, so we're going to skip that and move

ahead.

Okay.

That's a topic for another day, which leaves us the step or action or yeah, point two.

Let me take a drink and slow down.

The world uses God's word to their own benefit.

That's like three words to fill in, so you got an extra minute while I took a drink.

The world uses God's word to their own benefit.

Now understand something here.

When I talk about the world in this situation, I'm including ourselves.

Even as believers, we tend to fall into worldly habits.

Go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and at the fall, Jesus blamed God for sending

him to woman.

And then Eve blamed God for allowing a serpent into the Garden of Eden.

They took on worldly habits right from the start.

Also to us that are Christians, Proverbs 22, verses 22 and 23, don't take advantage of

Proverbs 22:22

the poor just because you can.

Don't take advantage of those who stand helpless in court.

The Lord will argue their cases for them and threaten the life of anyone who threatens

theirs.

Sometimes we take the words that Jesus told us, love your neighbor, and use those words

as a crutch.

See in the story, Jesus tells us everyone is our neighbor.

But oftentimes we walk past our literal neighbors to go help someone else over there.

You don't believe me?

How many of you can name the neighbors of every single house or apartment that surrounds

you?

Eight hands.

I can't name all of my neighbors' names.

Do we walk past the easier, the harder neighbor to take care of and go help the easier one?

If you don't agree, listen to my example.

Adultery.

One spouse commits adultery.

For the sake of this illustration, let's say he cheated on her.

What do we do when that happens?

We go to her and we lift her up.

We support her.

We encourage her.

We pray for her.

We invite her to dinner.

We tell her what a scumbag he is for doing such a thing.

But I ask you, in this situation, who is further from God?

Some say him.

Some say me.

Who actually needs our love and support more in this situation?

I'm not saying she doesn't.

Who needs to hear the truth of God more in that situation?

So sometimes we walk past the neighbors that need us most to get to the easier ones to

take care of.

Don't ignore the easy ones either.

Matthew 6, 5.

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues

and on the street corners to be seen by others.

Truly, I tell you, they have already received the reward in full.

That said, we need to refrain Christians from weaponizing Scripture.

In dealing with the cheating man, maybe say a prayer before you talk to him that the Spirit

softens his heart.

Jesus was not sent to condemn the world, but to save us from ourselves.

We are called to speak truth with love and grace.

Now sometimes it's tough love and they need a good kick in the rump.

Speak truth, but speak truth with love.

Now in 1 Corinthians, Paul warns us against judging outsiders to the same standard as

fellow believers.

We should be holding each other accountable, lifting each other up, but it is not our job

to condemn the rest of the world.

It is our job to tell them of the hope we have found in Jesus.

So who is Jesus?

Who does the Bible say that he is?

Plain and simply, our first point here, Jesus is love.

John 15, 9 and 10, as the Father has loved me, I also loved you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love.

Just as I have kept my Father's commands, they remain in his love.

The love Jesus has, he gets from his Father because God is also love.

Remember the family that I talked about in the beginning?

I am loved here because we take the love of the Father, the love that he sent down when

he sent Jesus to earth.

We take that same love and we show it to every brand new person that walks through that door.

And if you're not helping us, start helping us.

So we don't stop at the people coming through the door.

We go out there and show people the love of Jesus.

You don't have to memorize scripture to show people the love of Jesus.

But also memorize some scriptures.

Here's one that you probably know and have heard a ton of times, especially if you've

watched people make vows.

First Corinthians 13, love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

And if you're wondering why I got teary-eyed when I read that, it's because dag one of

my God loves me, no matter how I show up or what I look like or what ridiculous costume

I'm wearing.

But see the world is the opposite.

The world is full of envy.

Watch TV, scroll through social media for two minutes, and those of you who still don't

skip commercials, watch a commercial.

Nothing but envy.

The world is boastful.

The world is proud.

Which leads us to our next thought, Jesus.

Jesus is love.

Jesus is patient.

Jesus is kind.

Jesus is our lifeline.

Jesus always protects, he trusts, he hopes, he always perseveres for us.

John 15, 5.

For those of you who wonder why the vineyard is called the vineyard, this is why.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without

me, Jesus.

So I want to kick it back to the Old Testament for a minute.

I'm going to go all the way back to Daniel and his three buddies, Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego.

Fun fact, I have a distant relative whose literal name is Shadrach Meshach Abednego

Rudisil.

I'm not lying.

I think Nathan Beard knows them.

We'll double check with Nathan.

They call him Shad.

I've never met him, but I digress.

You learn something new about me every day.

These three men were faithful to God, and as we will see in this story, God was faithful

to them.

In those days, King Nebuchadnezzar built a statue of himself, and he declared that everyone

must bow down to the statue.

Shadrach Meshach and Abednego refused to conform to Old King Nebby's edict.

So what did he do to them?

He threw them into the fiery furnace.

You guys remember this story, right?

Remember they turned up the flames up so... Do you remember how hot they turned the flames

up?

Anyone know?

So hot that the soldiers that threw them in... What happened to those dudes?

They burned up, consumed by the fire.

That's how hot this fire was, right?

So here they are in the fire, and in Daniel 3, this is what we read down in verse 24.

Then King Nebby was astonished and rose up in haste.

He declared to his men, did we not cast three men bound into the fire?

His counselors answered and said to the king, yes, that's true, O King.

He answers and said, but I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they

are not hurt.

And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.

See centuries before God sent Jesus into the world, we find Jesus in the furnace with these

three men.

He was their lifeline.

He unbound them.

Now listen, they were still in the furnace.

They were still sweating it out.

I don't think Jesus gave them the latest under armor, heat gear, robe technology.

I'm sure they felt the heat, but Jesus was there with them the whole way through.

Jesus was their lifeline.

Hopefully I don't have to go too much deeper into the symbolism there.

But I do want to show you a photo.

I had Sean Doward, thank you Sean, paint this photo, or painting, because many of us know

Jesus is our lifeline, but still don't hop on the train that Jesus has to offer.

This is for you, Christians.

Here's the story.

You see the guy.

Anyone notice anything about this guy?

Ah, yes he is.

Okay, now listen.

Here's the story.

Here's the scenario.

Old farmer driving down the road in his pick-em-up truck.

He sees this young man walking, carrying a burden of his baggage on his shoulders.

So he says, hey, we're going in the same direction.

We got the same destination.

Why don't you hop in?

So he does.

He hops in the back of the truck.

And here he is sitting in the back of the truck.

The driver's driving.

He looks back and he notices, huh, something weird about this guy.

Maybe you can see it.

Notice anything weird about this guy?

So he gets out, steps to the back, and this is the picture you see.

Dude, you're in the bed of my truck.

You're wearing the backpack.

Dude, you're in the bed of my truck.

Why are you wearing the backpack?

If I picked up any of you and had you jump in the back of my truck, what's the first

thing you would do with your baggage?

You'd take it off and lay it in the back of the truck.

Why are you still...

So he says, it's my baggage.

I'm carrying it.

Folks, Jesus is the truck.

If you're in the bed of the truck, headed to your destination, why are you still carrying

the burden of your own baggage?

Throw it in the back of the truck.

Jesus is your lifeline.

Remain in him and he will remain in you and you will produce much fruit.

Before we move into your action steps, I want to take a look at Jacob and a subtle change

that you may or may not have noticed before.

Throughout Jacob's life, at home with Isaac and Esau, Mommy, away with his Uncle Laban

and his two daughters, even on the road home.

This is how Jacob refers to God.

And I'm not putting it up there.

I want you to hear these words.

Genesis 31, 5, but the God of my father has sent me.

Later in a chapter, verse 42, if the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear

of Isaac had not been with me.

32, verse 8, then Jacob said, Oh, God of my father Abraham, God of my father, Isaac.

What do you hear?

Whose God is it?

It's his father's God's.

His father's God.

Then in Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with an angel of God.

Now most scholars believe that this is the same man that was in the furnace, Jesus.

Other people believe that it was truly like one of the archangels.

Regardless, Jacob had a heavenly encounter.

Heaven touched earth and something changed.

And in Genesis 32, this is what we read.

Jacob renames the place Peniel.

And this is why.

It is because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared.

Once Jacob meets God, he is no longer the God of his father.

He is his own personal God.

See, all of us have at least a chapter, most of us, many chapters of our life that we didn't

know God.

For some of you, that's you sitting here today.

You don't know God.

He was someone else's God.

Today, my prayer for you is that you meet God and that you will start to call him your

own.

Jacob walked away from a wrestling match with a broken hip.

He struggled with that broken hip the rest of his life.

He was broken, but he still remained connected to the vine.

I just want to show you another photo.

Eli, will you put the other photo?

This photo is my backyard.

This branch fell a couple years ago in my backyard.

I live next to the city park.

The trees at the city park have branches that are also trees.

Right?

They're huge.

So this tree branch fell.

It was huge.

It was heavy.

I even tried to get like some rope to move it and the rope snapped.

Like it's probably a couple tons.

It stayed connected to the tree, which was part of my issue because I couldn't cut it,

while also laying on the ground broken in my yard.

It actually took me about two and a half years to mow around it until it was removed.

Thank you to Wayne Miller for removing the tree.

But I want you to notice something.

At this point, it's probably, it's like two and a half years down.

Like this is what I posted on Facebook to say, hey, can anyone help me remove this?

What do you notice about that branch?

There's green stuff on it.

Even broken branches produce life.

You may feel like I did when I first came into this family, that I was too far gone.

You may feel like you are too broken.

But if you are connected to the vine, even broken trees produce fruit.

So now it's time for you to answer God's question or Jesus question.

Who do you say that I am?

Now back in the 80s, this dude named Robert Fulgram wrote a book.

If you ever took an education class, you might have heard this book.

The book is called All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

Anyone heard of that book?

I'll post the poem from that book later on Facebook.

All I need to know I learned in kindergarten.

Does that sound like anyone we know?

Pretty sure it sounds like one of the commandments Jesus himself told us when he said to view

God as a…

Thank you, John.

Be thankful you don't have any tests at Hub City Vineyard.

But here's what happens.

Jesus told us to view him, view God, view himself as a child, but we all grow up.

We all get older and we forget what it means to view Jesus like a child.

But today we're going to take our action steps and use them to remind us to view Jesus

as a child views Jesus.

Step one, quick and easy, three letters.

To see Jesus as a child, we need to live in awe.

Psalms 4, 4.

Tremble at the sight of his majesty and do not sin.

Reflect in your heart while on your bed and do it quietly.

See all of God's creation through the eyes of a child seeing a rainbow for the first

time.

Take a walk on the beach and admire the vastness of the ocean.

We live in the mountains.

Take a walk in the mountains.

Go to Greenbrier.

Plan a trip to the Grand Canyon or just go out your back door.

Stand in awe of his creation.

Do that at sunrise or sunset and take in the splendidness of his creation.

View God like a child.

Exodus 15, who like you, O Lord, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods, who is like you,

majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders.

Consider all the miraculous things that he has done for you, that he has done for your

family, that you have seen him do personally.

Stand in his majesty and like Rhett and the team told us two weeks ago, give him praise.

Which leads us to step two.

Like a child, be curious.

Ask questions.

Jesus asked a lot of questions.

How many?

307.

Maybe we just need to study more for this test.

Listen, some of you in here are parents that have kids.

Why, why, why, why, why, why?

Guess what?

God doesn't get annoyed like we do.

God encourages us to ask questions and he cherishes your inquisitiveness.

Remember when Thomas doubted and asked questions to Jesus?

Did Jesus get mad at Thomas?

No, he literally let him feel his wounds.

In Proverbs 18, 15, an intelligent heart acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Don't just ask questions, seek answers.

Ephesians 5, 17, don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

There's only one place we can go for that.

Where should we go for knowledge and understanding?

Thank you.

Last word, to the Bible.

Listen, your first go-to should not be YouTube or Google.

Listen, I know some of you are like, what does the scripture for, what does God say

about loving my neighbor?

Tell me you haven't Googled a scripture before.

The internet, however, is peppered with lies and misdirection.

I'm not saying you can't find answers.

Some of us do.

I'm not saying you can't find good information on the internet, but the best search engine

is the Bible.

The Bible is literally the only place where you can always find nothing but truth all

of the time.

This leads us to step three in taking and lovingly Jesus like a child, take in His love.

Did you know that you are God's favorite?

Say that right now, I am God's favorite.

You're not supposed to have a favorite child.

You personally are God's favorite, and He wants you to feel His full presence.

The great thing is you're no more favorite than the person sitting next to you, and that's

how powerful His love is.

Listen to Isaiah 54 verse 10, for the mountains may depart and the hills may be removed, but

Isaiah 54:10

my love, God's steadfast love, shall not depart from you.

He's always there.

And my covenant of peace shall not be removed.

It's always there.

Who said that?

The Lord who has compassion on you.

And then in Zephaniah 3, 17, we read this, the Lord your God is in your midst, the mighty

one who will save.

He will rejoice over you with gladness.

He will quiet you by His love.

He will exalt you over and over and over and over and over with loud singing.

So while the rain falls, I want to move now into communion.

So to take in God's love, I want you to stay seated.

I want us to do this quietly.

If you did not receive your communion element when you came in, please raise a hand.

And if you need gluten-free, raise them both in the air like you just don't care.

Now for those of you who already have your element, I know that you like to pre-open.

I want you to, listen, you got to focus on me, not the people passing out.

Open only the bread and take the bread out and hold it in your hand.

And then set the juice to the side or hold on to it.

Still have a couple of people up front.

You're holding this for a reason, which we'll get to in a second.

The definition of communion, pay attention, the definition of communion is the sharing

or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings.

Before we take the elements, that's what we're going to do.

We're going to commune with God.

We're going to take in God's love.

We're going to allow His thoughts to be our thoughts.

Now of course, like I always do, I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 11, 27.

Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner

will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.

Let a person examine himself first, then so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

So I want you to just sit in silence.

Ask God in this moment, God, what do I need to get rid of before I partake in communion?

I want to do a quick exercise because we're communing with God.

That's the breath of God.

I want you to keep this bread in your hand because this bread represents Jesus' body.

This bread is literally the bread of life.

Now I want you to ask God for a picture.

We ask God for a childlike picture.

Maybe it's you playing catch with God, your Father.

Maybe He's pushing you in a swing.

I think of my own Father and the things we used to do.

These are the things God, your Father, wants to do with you.

Now God is also speaking directly to some of you because some of you have had a less

than perfect relationship with your earthly Father and your God, your Father, does not

want that for you.

So if you struggle with your relationship with God because of that, I want you to ask

God now to replace one of those daddy images with a positive image of Him, God, your Father.

Ask God how He wants you to take in His love this morning.

God, give me a picture of how you want to play with me.

Maybe dancing in the rain.

Now for some of you, this may be the first time you've ever experienced something like

this.

For some of you, maybe you listen to the message and you think, Rudy, I need to know more about

Jesus.

If you've never considered asking Jesus into your heart, today is your day.

If you're ready to allow Him to be your lifeline, I want you to repeat these words after me.

You're going to ask Jesus in your heart.

And because we are the family that we are.

We're going to all do this together in unison.

So repeat after me.

Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.

I believe you died for my sins.

I'm broken, but even a broken tree produces fruit.

Jesus, this morning I ask you into my heart.

I ask Jesus that you be my lifeline.

That you guide me and direct me.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread.

And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Now when you consume this bread, you consume all of the nourishment that you need from

Jesus, who is the true bread of life.

He is your lifeline.

Let's eat.

This is why everyone prays in the same way He also took the cup after supper saying,

this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

When you drink this wine, when you drink this blood, you take in all the healing power Jesus

has to offer.

And that blood washes away all of your sins to which He remembers no more.

This is the new covenant.

Let us drink.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until

He comes.

I pray and trust that many of you feel better after communion with God.

Can we take a minute just to give God thanks?

Clap.

Which leads us to the last action step of approaching Jesus as a child.

Share His love.

Like a kindergartner was taught to share, I want you to go out and share the love of

Jesus.

Remember guys, I'm not done.

Remember in grade school, in Valentine's Day, rolled around, and you drug your mom to the

dollar general so you could pick out the perfect box of Valentine's cards.

The coolest pack on the shelf that had you stamped all over it.

And then you took out those cards and you wrote your name carefully on each one.

And then you picked out the perfect card for your BFF.

Or you wrote the best message for the cutest little girl on the cutest card.

And then with excitement, you walked down the line and dropped in your cards into each

kid's perfectly decorated Valentine's box.

Remember that excitement?

Remember that feeling of waiting for the other kids to open your card?

That's what it feels like to share the love of Jesus.

And John, sorry, 1 John 3.16, this is how we have come to know love.

He laid down His life for us.

We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Do whatever it takes to show people, to share with people the love of Jesus.

Anything it takes because they need to know the love of Jesus.

Then in Romans 10, how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus has sent us to preach.

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet who bring those good news.

Their feet are beautiful.

Jesus has sent us on mission to bring the good news.

This Saturday is our annual backpack giveaway.

It is the next way to partner with us.

It is our biggest on-site outreach of the year.

We've had volunteers that have been working around the clock for the past few weeks, but

we still need backpacks.

We still need supplies.

The last count, I don't see Tracy, was about 800.

We need 400 more to get to 1200.

Can I challenge you, let's get to 1300?

The quiz is over.

Show up on Saturday.

Handicap a backpack.

Handicap a hot dog.

Watch a kid get their first professionally done haircut they've ever had.

Play a game with them.

We were intended to share the love of Jesus.

We're going to do that on Saturday.

Do it like a child with no inhibition, a true child of God.

Then you won't have to verbally answer the question of who God is.

You will be actively answering it through your own actions.

Family, thank you for allowing me to dress up in this crazy costume and share with you.

Thank you for listening to God's word.

Before we go, if the prayer team wants to go ahead and slide up front, as always, we

had a couple words of knowledge.

Now this week, these words of knowledge are very specific.

So if I specifically say something on this list and it pertains to you and you specifically

don't get your butt up here to get prayer for you, I will specifically need prayer for

my pinky toe.

Here they are, there's four of them.

Tennis and elbow.

A painful condition mainly on your left arm, elbow.

That's got to be someone in here.

Someone with a painful left hip.

Maybe it's because I talked about Joseph.

Or in the butt area.

Again, if that's you, get your hip and your butt up here.

I'm joking about this, but this is serious.

Right foot pain, specifically pain in a joint of the toe next to the big toe where the

digit actually meets the foot.

Specific.

But if that's you, dag on it.

Could be the bearing and tendon of the joint and then fourth, the last one, your right

foot pain, a painful heel, specifically when you're walking.

If any of those things describe you, please come up here and get prayer.

Now if you're in the fifth or sixth or seventh category, that does not preclude you from

getting prayer.

If there is anything in your life that you need prayer for, please come talk to a member

of the worship team.

We as a family are in the prayer business.

We pray for you today.

Now in a minute, they're going to play a song.

Okay.

It's just a song we started with.

I want you to get up and dance with your family as I walk back there.

There's no impossible, I believe that you are working now.

Pour it out.

Oh, pour it out.