The Gracious Finisher

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, good morning, church family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, my name is Andrew.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really glad that you're with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, isn't it good to be back together?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the snowstorm was kind of fun a little bit for like a day, and then, whoa, it's good to be back together.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was good for my heart to worship this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I needed those reminders.

[SPEAKER_00]: Turn to a neighbor, give him a fist bump or a high five because we made it through January.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go January.

[SPEAKER_00]: January was a hard month this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, it felt like it was like 49 days long.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think about the flow of the year with me for just a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: February, you get Valentine's Day.

[SPEAKER_00]: You also get the annual meeting, who's pumped for the annual meeting.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that might not be the highlight of the year, but...

[SPEAKER_00]: happens in February and it's good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Inomating March, you get spring break, April, you get Easter.

[SPEAKER_00]: May you get Mother's Day, June, it's summer, July, July, fourth, August, school year, starting back up, kind of exciting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fall, sports, or back in full swing, October, the joy of fall, November, Thanksgiving, December, Christmas.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's January.

[SPEAKER_00]: New Year's Day is kind of fun, but then you get freezing temperatures and polar vortexes from the heart of the North Pole.

[SPEAKER_00]: Snowstorms that bring all of life to a standstill.

[SPEAKER_00]: Normally the whole family gets sick.

[SPEAKER_00]: Post-Christmas Funk taxes, living on the horizon, possibility of failed New Year's resolutions.

[SPEAKER_00]: And to put it the ice on the cake, it's 31 days long, and man it just feels like it's forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to feel down in January.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a thing for a lot of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: This January was in some highs and some lows, and a bit of hard month for the Miller family.

[SPEAKER_00]: I felt down a bit disoriented, and I kind of feel like that every year this time year.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there was something else that came,

[SPEAKER_00]: into my mind and my heart and kind of a intense way.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a struggle in times of feeling a lack of purpose, a lack of purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to press on in our statement of faith series this morning, but I want to wrestle within that with the struggle of knowing and persevering in our purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think that's a struggle that can hit all of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: the Christian life is a marathon.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a sprint and there are times where we're going to struggle with knowing and persevering in our purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's an author, we're going to dive into the Bible in just a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk for a minute about this struggle of purpose just to kind of set the stage for today.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's an author named Victor Frankle.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was a psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor who wrote a book in 1946 called Man Search for Meaning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a professor in college, one of my favorites, who read this book every single year at the start of the new year because you just felt like it reframed stuff for her.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't necessarily agree with.

[SPEAKER_00]: every single thing in the book, but there's a really interesting quote in it about the topic of purpose and Franco who had been through a lot of suffering himself in the concentration camps.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said this, life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Never unbearable by our circumstances, but in a deeper way, by a lack of meaning and purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think about this way, humans can be really resilient in facing pain and struggle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think of Olympic athletes who train painfully for the purpose of getting to the Olympics.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think of the mom or dad who works a difficult job for the purpose of providing for their kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think of someone going through a,

[SPEAKER_00]: Incredibly difficult medical challenge and they keep going and fighting for the purpose of loving their family well But then take away any of those purposes that end that they're pushing for and what happens That pain becomes so much more intense and hard because we lose our why in the midst of it So it's it's not primarily circumstances that hurt though they can hurt they do hurt we know that

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a deeper hurt at times of a lacking meaning of purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can really affect our hearts.

[SPEAKER_00]: This struggle of knowing and persevering our purpose is way bigger than one month of the year, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: And for some of us, it can come in and take over seasons, big parts of our life.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are a number of places where I think we try to find purpose, family, friendship, money, pleasure, career, and impact.

[SPEAKER_00]: I put this on the screen rotating because I think,

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we try to kind of orient our lives towards one or two or three of these.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes we can feel some success, but then actually feel a bit disillusioned because it didn't provide the purpose that we were expecting it to.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so even though these are good things and can provide kind of a temporary sense of purpose,

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, a lot of people have given their whole lives to one of these and only found it empty.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's why some of the most, quote, successful people in the world's eyes are the most feel empty inside.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can gain the world, but lose your soul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Which of these areas of purpose resonates for you right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe family careers, they're one that kind of, you're orienting your life towards.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of our other pastors, Kyle, we were talking about this, and he said, man, these areas of purpose, they can be good gifts from God, but they're terrible replacements for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that was insightful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good gifts from God, so good things, we can, we can't, we can't should live into these things, but they can't become our ultimate God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have time to read the ecclesiasties today, but the short summary is Solomon tried all of these, apart from God he found the mempty.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's libraries full of books and endless catalogues of songs that attest to that same basic truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: We desperately, desperately search for purpose, but so many of our attempts to find it turn up empty.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the words of the great Theologian,

[SPEAKER_00]: I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was the best picture that I could find of him.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was copyright free.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a great song.

[SPEAKER_00]: I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

[SPEAKER_00]: We could have Eric just come out and play that guitar riff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really?

[SPEAKER_00]: Another theologian C.S.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lewis put it like this, human history is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that true if human history is that true of part of our lives, parts of our lives, true for some people their entire lives?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, so where do we find purpose?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where do we find true purpose?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hold on to that question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sit in the tension of it for just a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today is the last week of our series, what we believe about God.

[SPEAKER_00]: This has been such a good series.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you missed any of the previous weeks, please go online and watch them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Week one, we saw that God is the holy architect.

[SPEAKER_00]: that there's no one that is like him and that he is so worthy of our worship, weak to bear it, took us into a deep dive on the Trinity and wanted incredible weak.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was exploring the mystery of who God is, is three and one and one and three.

[SPEAKER_00]: So good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last week, we weren't in person, but Adam gave an amazing online sermon, really wrestling with the problem of pain and suffering and evil.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw that God is the sovereign king.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's all knowing.

[SPEAKER_00]: in control, sovereign, even in the midst of the tough stuff that we go through.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then today, God is the gracious finisher.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've kind of seen the height and the depth and the strength of who God is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today we get to see His heart for us, because His heart is that we would know and live into His purposes.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's God's heart for us that we would know and live into his purposes and God is the gracious finisher because he is the one who always brings his purposes to fulfillment.

[SPEAKER_00]: God never fails to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's part of who he is, part of his character.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so back to that question, where do we find purpose?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you find purpose in months like January 26 where it's really challenging?

[SPEAKER_00]: We find our purpose in aligning our lives with the purposes of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a big idea that I wanna explore for today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We find our purposes by aligning our lives with the purposes of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna see three of God's purposes and how we can sync up in aligning our lives with them.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be looking at statement of faith and the Bible and let's explore this together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray and then we'll dive in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, we pray that you would lead us deeper into knowing and living for your purposes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that you would do that through the power of the gospel, that was accomplished by Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we pray that even now as we're gathered together as a church, that you would do that in and through the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, let's dive into the statement of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is our last week to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's read it together and a group this big, reading something this long.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's always a risk that it's a little mumbly, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: But we're just gonna do it together.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna read this out nice and loud.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: We believe in one God, creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in the loving unity of the three equally divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposeed from eternity to redeem a people for himself and to make all things new for His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we zoom way out, back to the very beginning, what's God's eternal purpose?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not his backup plan because God didn't have a backup plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was his purpose from the very beginning.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna zoom in on that last sentence there in orange.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's God's purpose?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's his heart?

[SPEAKER_00]: One of them is to redeem a people for himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: God graciously purpose, to redeem a people for himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Redemption is one of God's purposes, and it's one of the places we can find purpose redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's look at this concept in the Bible because we need the Bible to shape our viewpoint of redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exodus 6, 6 and 7, God says to Moses and Aaron and the Israelites, therefore,

[SPEAKER_00]: say to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery and Egypt, freedom, rescue, and he says this, I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will claim you as my own people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And isn't that incredible that God would claim us as his own people, people of Israel, people of God today, I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: At that phrase, this is a bit of a parenthesis.

[SPEAKER_00]: They will be my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will be your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It echoes throughout the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's such a cool, throughline to the whole story of Scripture, because that's one of God's purposes to pull us into his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: But redemption, what do we see about redemption here?

[SPEAKER_00]: Redemption is a freeing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a rescuing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a take.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a...

[SPEAKER_00]: taking of something difficult and fixing it, rescuing from, making it better, bondage into freedom, slavery, into liberation.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how this concept is introduced to us in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then as we continue to journey through the Bible, we see something else about redemption, and this is really important for us to see.

[SPEAKER_00]: It becomes clear that God is not just redeeming his people from heart and broken situations, but from heart and broken sinful hearts.

[SPEAKER_00]: So redemption is not only about situations, it is, God is in the business of redeeming difficult situations, but it is primarily about sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's primarily about sin, God's redeeming us from that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look, it's Psalm 130.

[SPEAKER_00]: We could see this so many places in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to hit Psalm 137 through eight, and we're kind of going to be jumping around to a bunch of different places in the Bible today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can fall along on the screen or turn in your Bibles.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to try to keep up,

[SPEAKER_00]: But we're gonna, we're gonna be kind of quick because it's annual meeting of Sunday.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's gonna be, it's gonna be fast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 130, what do we see about redemption?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh Israel, hope in the Lord for with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's unfailing love, this is good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: His redemption overflows.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is a God of overflowing redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is waterfall of redemption to his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then what does it say?

[SPEAKER_00]: He himself will redeem Israel from what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Would you read it with me from every kind of sin?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not a situation, but from every kind of sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do not talk a lot about sin in our culture.

[SPEAKER_00]: And any time we do, we almost do it apologetically.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, look at us, there's so much that we can do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are just such a me-centered culture.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the urgent and clear message of the Bible is that we're not just victims,

[SPEAKER_00]: You and I were rebels against God at who we were.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not just sufferers, but those who actually contribute to other people's suffering.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're slaves, captives, and prisoners.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing, we deserve it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We deserve it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a just sentence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not heard often in culture.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe that hits you the wrong way, maybe.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the Bible also says that we actually know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like maybe just faintly, just a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we actually know that in our hearts when we really look at our lives and the depths of our sin and brokenness and what we think and how we live and secret towards God.

[SPEAKER_00]: we know in our hearts that we're broken, and that we're in need in need of his redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what's such good news about the Bible is that it provides the answer to our need.

[SPEAKER_00]: So,

[SPEAKER_00]: Moving forward and just hang with me for just a second in the Old Testament, there was a sacrificial system that pointed toward the reality of a future redemption and then we get to the New Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a once-in-for-all sacrifice that accomplishes it forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at Hebrews 9, 12, this is such good news, talking about Jesus and His work on the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: with his own blood, Jesus Christ, with his own blood, not the blood of goats and calves, as back in the Old Testament, pointing forward to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus entered the most holy place in once for all time, and secured, read these last three words with me, and secured our redemption forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a permanent redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is such good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a forever freedom,

[SPEAKER_00]: eternally declared innocent, righteous in Jesus because on the cross, Jesus took the penalty that we deserved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: He took the penalty, I deserved.

[SPEAKER_00]: He took the penalty that you deserved and you can have eternal redemption because of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see what that means for you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Your life can be a part of the story of God's redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that good news?

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I keep saying that phrase, but it is, it really is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our lives can be part of that story of redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the first takeaway truth that I want to key in on, we find purpose in God's story of redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a place that we can find, purpose, and John mentioned it so eloquently.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love our stories, our stories, our messia, and God.

[SPEAKER_00]: How good of God to have this amazing, huge story that we can be a part of.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other day, I was doing some research for the sermon, and I bumped into a friend that I had not seen for like 10, 15 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we actually didn't recognize each other at first.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know when you bump into someone out of context, and you're like, whoa, you know, you just don't expect to see that person in that place.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was at the Covenant Seminary Library, and he was there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was feeling kind of down, but seeing this friend was so good for my heart and soul because back in 2010,

[SPEAKER_00]: just to be honest, I was in a place struggling with sin and that sin was stealing my purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I felt really stuck in it and I was not in a great place connected to my walk with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God brought this person into my life and we were super different.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was quite

[SPEAKER_00]: bit older than I was, different cultural background, different spiritual maturity, but we had walked the same road of some struggles.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he started to share his struggle and story with me, he helped me understand my story in new ways, and God used him to bring Jesus' redemption in a deeper and true way into my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so giving him a hug and catching up with him,

[SPEAKER_00]: It was just so good for my heart to remember God's power to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what's interesting, God used this friend, not only in his strengths, and he did use his strengths, but he used his weakness.

[SPEAKER_00]: He used his vulnerability, his willingness to be authentic with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how God used him most powerfully to bring Jesus' redemption into my story.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I've got two questions for you, and I don't want to rush through these two quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you need redemption in your story?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's a place in your story where you were longing for redemption?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the second question, what if God wants to use that very place to help others know his redemption?

[SPEAKER_00]: What if that's the place in your story where it's actually most going to align with God's big story?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that part of your story that you're like, oh Lord, I don't think you can ever use that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if you're going to be able to redeem that.

[SPEAKER_00]: What if that's the place that God might actually have as most powerful ministry through you?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is who we get to be together as a church.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's our theme for last year in this year?

[SPEAKER_00]: On mission, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: On mission, a people who are called to be like special agents of Jesus' redemption, not only in our strengths, but also in our weaknesses.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we get to do that together.

[SPEAKER_00]: What an amazing source of purpose for our lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the purpose of redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second purpose that we see is God's purpose of restoration.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look again at the statement of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's graciously purposeed from eternity to redeem a people for himself and to make all things new for his own glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our God is a restore.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a God who promises to make all things new.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look with me at Revelation 21, one through five.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got this full screen because it's just a longer passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Use your imagination as I read this a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jesus talking to John, his disciple.

[SPEAKER_00]: The sea was also gone and I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I heard of loud shout from the throne saying,

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have a very loud voice, the worship team will tell you that, but imagine the shout from the throne, just think about what would it sound like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look, God's home is now among his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will live with them, and they will be his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: God himself will be with them.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen?

[SPEAKER_00]: And there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: All these things are gone forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I should have tried harder.

[SPEAKER_00]: I should have shouted that out even more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of went out, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine the voice of God shouting that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's just excited to share that good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he said to me, write this down for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God who's making everything new and that's such a good news again.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like a ray of sunshine and the midst of a really cloudy day that we have this hope of heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: This world as we know it, that is so marred by sin and brokenness, it's not the end.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's purpose is to be with His people forever and a new heavens and a new earth, and it's going to be glorious beyond anything we can imagine.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is going to be so good, not sitting on clouds, playing a harps.

[SPEAKER_00]: That

[SPEAKER_00]: There's not even a mention of that in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: First Corinthians says we're gonna have new bodies that are no longer broken.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna feel so good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 8 says that creation itself will be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not even sure we fully know what that means.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or can wrap our mind around it, but scripture invites us to imagine it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most importantly, there's lots of questions that the Bible doesn't answer about heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get to explore some of them in Revelation later this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who's excited for that sermon series?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be good.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be good, but the most important feature of heaven from the Bible is we will be with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see him worship him, love him, and serve him, and it's going to be incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's an invitation for us today if you're like, I want to be a part of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do we know that we get there believing the gospel?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's as simple as believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's an invitation for you, if you're not sure, you can be certain in any of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Myself, Adam, John, Kyle, we would just love to talk with you if that's something that you're wrestling with.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can I know that I'm going to go to heaven?

[SPEAKER_00]: but this isn't just a future hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is future.

[SPEAKER_00]: But did you catch what he says in Revelation 21, 5?

[SPEAKER_00]: And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I will make, but I am making, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I am making everything new.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this was something that one of our other pastors helped me see.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's a future hope, but God has involved doing it now.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it say in 2 Corinthians 5, 17?

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's already started in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then think about Romans 12, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really, for a familiar passage, I had never thought of it in this light before.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into what?

[SPEAKER_00]: A new person, a new person.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's future, but it's also right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is at work restoring you and me, preparing us for eternity, for the people that is called us to become.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the hope of heaven should impact the way that we live now.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's the second way that we find purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: We find purpose in God's promise of restoration.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it is a promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: don't miss that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can build your life on the life on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can trust this.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a family member who has trusted in Christ, who goes to be with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a promise of restoration, but not just for then, also for now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, um,

[SPEAKER_00]: For any of you who are discouraged in that or feeling down and Philippians 1, 6, it says this, I am certain that God who began a good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're struggling with like, I just, I feel like I keep falling short in this process of restoration is not coming to fullness in me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Keep trusting God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Keep promises that he's gonna keep doing that work in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think the application question for us is to try to get really practical for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there a way I need that you and I need to cooperate with God's process of making me new?

[SPEAKER_00]: and we're invited into it to cooperate and God has steps for us to take.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so maybe it's a sin struggle that needs like fully surrendered to the Lord, where you just, you need to invite God into it and say, God, I need you to help me with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: If struggle with this for a long time, please help me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's a relational pattern that needs work in your life and...

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the person sitting next to you could help you with that because they know you really well.

[SPEAKER_00]: That never happens in our marriage But I'm kind of kidding, but but seriously God uses the people in our families to grow us to sharpen us to sanctify us I'm so grateful for ways that the Amber has grown and spoken into my life and help me grow

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's a healthy discipline that God could use to renew you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our God is practical, and he can use something as simple as a healthy choice to transform and renew you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can use those habits in powerful ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: So keep leaning into that with purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's redemption, God's restoration, he's the gracious finisher.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's the one who promises to ultimately finish the work of restoration in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's the ultimate purpose of all of this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Statement of faith one last time, got his graciously purposeed from eternity to redeem a people for himself and to make all things new for his own glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: For his glory, that's the ultimate purpose of all of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christ be magnified.

[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 11 36 says, for everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: All things, that thing in your life that you don't understand, that the mundane, the amazing, the big, the small, it all exists for His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it wrong for God to be so focused on His own glory?

[SPEAKER_00]: People who are very focused on their own glory are vain and conceded, forgot it as different.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he's truly the most glorifying glorious being in the whole world, may say that again, if God is truly the most glorious being in the whole world, what's the most loving thing he can do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just share that glory with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you do when you see something glorious?

[SPEAKER_00]: You see a rainbow?

[SPEAKER_00]: in our house.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, come outside.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at the rainbow.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: If Robert Thomas and Jordan Cairo showed up at your office, what would you do?

[SPEAKER_00]: You've texted your co-workers and be like, come talk with these guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: The blues are here.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we do that as people, isn't it right for God to do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: glorifying him as what we're made for and sharing things that are glorious, completes, and amplifies the enjoyment of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's an idea that, um, see us Lewis and John Piper and others have fleshed out deeper if you want to dive into it, but just hear this, it is good of God to share his glory with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: For that to be his ultimate purpose, it is the most loving thing that he can possibly do for us to share himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's why being part of a church and worshiping and small grouping and all the things, it's why they're so important because we get glimpses of God's glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one day we're going to see all of it and it's fullness.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Westminster Confession of Faith, the shorter catechism, a bunch of theologians who are wrestling with some really deep questions, they started with,

[SPEAKER_00]: and to enjoy him forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see how those go together?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not separate.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not that the glory of God leads to our misery at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the leads to our enjoyment, thus finding our purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this talk of glorifying God feels a bit vague and ethereal, first Corinthians 1031 reminds us, really practically, whether you eat or drink,

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in the big and the small work at home, school and church in our joys and in our struggles, the purpose of all of it, our ultimate purpose is to glorify God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen God's purpose of redemption and restoration and glorifying God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to wrap up pretty quick here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish we had a little bit more time because we've got communion, which is another powerful way that we can experience the purposes of God and we've got the annual meeting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Quickly, let me ask two side questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me kind of zoom out.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what we've seen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, we find our purpose in, has this already been on the screen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Help me out here.

[SPEAKER_00]: We found our purpose in God's story of redemption, God's promise of restration and living to glorify God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you guys already see this?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's this the first time.

[SPEAKER_00]: First time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got tired and I couldn't remember if I had shown it to me or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, here's the sum up.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what God has created us for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um,

[SPEAKER_00]: Even, let me ask two quick questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even when we are living into this, are there still times when Christians will feel down discouraged and even struggle with the lack of purpose?

[SPEAKER_00]: Even when we are living into this fully, are there still times where we will feel some of that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think yes, biblically, I think yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you look at the stories of the Old Testament, the Psalms of lament, the experience, even of Jesus, his disciples in the Apostle Paul, Paul even said, he faced so much pressure that he'd despaired even of life and Corinthians.

[SPEAKER_00]: There will be times in this broken world where it's heavy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just tough to keep going, and we need God to give us the grace to put one foot in front of the other.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're there, please do not hear, oh, just do these three things, and God's gonna make your life super better.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not really the message of Christianity.

[SPEAKER_00]: Does it deepen and strengthen our lives?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, absolutely, but even more than that, in a really beautiful way, it gives us purpose in the times where we're struggling to find it.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're at a place where like God, I don't understand how you could redeem this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's just purpose and trusting him with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And saying God, I don't know how you're gonna work all this out, but I trust you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's glorifying to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then another question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember the, the shape of purpose we looked at?

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens to these purposes when we fully live into God's purposes for us?

[SPEAKER_00]: They actually don't go away.

[SPEAKER_00]: They actually get bigger and stronger and richer and deeper, because instead of just pursuing them in our own wisdom, we are pursuing them with the wisdom of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he shows us how to love our families, how to glorify God in our pleasures, how to be agents of redemption and the midst of our career.

[SPEAKER_00]: So again, it's not that these purposes are bad, but bring them under the Lord and they'll find their full expression.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to go deeper, if today has like hit home with you, and you're like, I need to think more about this topic of purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me recommend well-known book, many of you have probably read it, but the purpose driven life by Rick Warren.

[SPEAKER_00]: I read this when I was 18, had a big impact on me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pulled it off the shelf two years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: and man it hit home is relevant and helpful for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Actually as I started out the year, it was probably January February that I was reading this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me encourage you to read that.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't, or to read it again, he dies into community, spiritual gifts, some other purposes of God that we didn't have time to go into today.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as we close, can I just encourage us as a church, this I am,

[SPEAKER_00]: I was awake somewhat early this morning, which normally when I preach, I'm like, super tired and I'm like, a long arm, like, no, I was up earlier than normal, and I was just thinking about this message.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I felt like one of the things God laid on my heart was Andrew, what an opportunity, first free has to live into these purposes, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: What an opportunity we have here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look at how much God has given us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have this amazing church in this family.

[SPEAKER_00]: And think about where we've been the last couple years,

[SPEAKER_00]: all in and on mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't those align with God's purposes?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just felt like maybe God had this word to say to first free like, guys, come on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go all in on these purposes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give me everything you got first free and watch what I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Watch me restore families that are broken.

[SPEAKER_00]: Watch me bring people to Christ, not through us, not because first free is this great church because we serve an amazing God, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So come on, let's go, let's go all in together on mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: United, free from sin in the power of the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we're going to celebrate together in communion, biblical, mission all, all in all together for the purposes of God in His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, thank you that we get to celebrate communion together this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: We really need the gospel to sustain this,

[SPEAKER_00]: Missional purposeful living because we cannot do it in our own strength, the part for meow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we invite you to strengthen us as we take communion in God we pray that would be a place a church of people that lives for you and your glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone said amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: There I am, sorry, it's a pleasure to be with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're the Samurai and one of the pastors here at First Free Church.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, man, I'm interested in a wonderful job that's teaching about how sometimes when it comes to us, trying to figure out, like, man, what is my purpose?

[SPEAKER_01]: What do I live for?

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we can treat it like a cobe need to crack, when in reality it's just a matter of letting God lead us to know who he is, and letting him lead us to join him in his redemptive mission that he is doing in the world that starts,

[SPEAKER_01]: with us being reconciled to the work of Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this morning, as we take communion, we're gonna just be re-centered to that because we all need to be reminded of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because if you're like me, sometimes you live in the list of to-do's and what we can forget as what he has done, done.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this morning, I hear it first free, just a few things that we believe about communion.

[SPEAKER_01]: First and foremost, we believe it's one of the ways in which God nourishes us by just reminding us that He is with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like if you're here today and you're in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit of God and dwelling within you, to encourage you to empower you, to embolden you, to make you be quiet, and be equal, and be equal to make a day everything that God would have to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have the Holy Spirit of God living within you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a time when we slow down to remember that and it's also a time where we think God that He gave us a tangible and tasteable way for us to be reminded of the redemption that we have in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: We live in an existence of time and space and experience.

[SPEAKER_01]: And our redemption is not some idea or some thought to ascribe to.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's about a risen Lord who reigns and rules and reigns in heaven, and it's death on the cross for us that He died, amen?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so communion is one of the ways in which we celebrate that we remember it and she has said it's good for us and it's something that we're to do until he returns.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so just a few practical things before we go ahead and pass out the elements first.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you are not yet a believer in Christ, we would just ask that you just let the elements pass by and here's the reason why.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is something that Jesus gave for people that had trusted in Him and who have turned to Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's something He gave for them to do for us to do in that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so if that's not where you are yet, feel, do not feel awkward at all about letting the elements pass by.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was me for years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't really get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was a reason I wasn't in Jesus yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: If that's you, we're so glad you're here.

[SPEAKER_01]: But just let it pass by, but would you please do this?

[SPEAKER_01]: Would you please invite a conversation with us where we can tell you about the difference that Jesus has been in our life and the difference that He will be in yours, all right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Secondly, if you are a follower of Jesus, two quick things.

[SPEAKER_01]: First and foremost, practically remember that the two elements are stacked on top of each other.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're like, I'm gluten-free, we thought of you, and there is a gluten-free option for you, located in the middle of the tray for you to take.

[SPEAKER_01]: Secondly, just to speak biblically and pass thoroughly,

[SPEAKER_01]: When we're taking communion, it's a time for us to slow down.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a time for us to give space for God to bring something to our attention.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's something that we need to confess.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's some confusion we need to cry out to God too.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there are some things we just need to give him praise for.

[SPEAKER_01]: But again, maybe we've just been on the to-do to-do to-do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Man, can I possibly get warm?

[SPEAKER_01]: It hurts so cold, it hurts outside.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're just on to the next thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: but God gives us communion to help us slow down and to give Him things and to give Him praise for what He has done.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, as the elements are passed down, if you just want to take some time to do that and then once everyone is served, we will take communion together.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And here's everyone's been served.

[SPEAKER_01]: These are the words, the apostle Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, for I pass on to you, what I receive from the Lord Himself.

[SPEAKER_01]: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks for God for it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then he broke into pieces and said, this is my body, which was given for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do this, and remember, and save me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, we thank you for your body that was broken for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you that you gave it willingly.

[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you that you gave it lovingly.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then in the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, this is the new covenant between God and his people.

[SPEAKER_01]: And a greener confirm with my blood.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.

[SPEAKER_01]: For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, we thank you, we thank you for your blood that you shed for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are indeed rebels, rebels who go astray, but in your love and in your grace, and in your attempt of heart, you have taken rebels off like us, and you have made us righteous through what you did Jesus, and we give you thanks today.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we also give you thanks that you give us a way in which we can with taste and with texture.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember and reflect upon what you have done for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus, we thank you that it was enough back then.

[SPEAKER_01]: We first came to know you as Lord and Savior.

[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you that it's been enough every day since to the day that we're in now.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus, we thank you that will continue to be enough as you sustain us into the future.

[SPEAKER_01]: and until your return, and on thinking upon that day, we live with hope today.

[SPEAKER_01]: We live with peace.

[SPEAKER_01]: We press on with purpose.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, Lord, please just rekindle the fire within us, Holy Spirit, lead us to see people, to see ourselves, to see life as we need to, to give Jesus glory and to make His name known.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's in your name, we pray to Jesus, amen.