Judges Wrap Up - Testimonies from Our Church

The first main section of the book has stories about the growing corruption of Israel's judges,

and the progression here shows how Israel's leaders go from pretty good to okay to bad to worse.

The concluding section is really disturbing and shows the corruption of the people of Israel as a whole.

So let's dive in, and we can explore each part a bit more.

The opening section begins with the tribes of Israel in their territories in the Promised Land.

And while Joshua defeated some key Canaanite towns, there was still a lot of land to be taken

and lots of Canaanites living in those areas.

And so chapter 1 gives a long list of Canaanite groups and towns that Israel just failed to drive out from the land.

Now, remember, the whole point of driving out the Canaanites was to avoid their moral corruption

and their way of worshipping the gods through child sacrifice.

God had called Israel to be a holy people, and that does not happen.

Chapter 2 describes how Israel just moved in alongside the Canaanites

and adopted all their cultural and religious practices.

And it's right here that the story stops.

For nearly a whole chapter, the narrator gives us an overview of everything that's about to happen in the body of the book.

This part of Israel's history, the narrator says, was a series of cycles moving in a downward spiral.

So Israel became like the Canaanites, and so they would sin against God.

So God would allow them to be conquered and oppressed by the Canaanites,

and eventually the Israelites would see the error of their ways and repent.

So God would raise up a deliverer, a judge, from among Israel

who would defeat the enemy and bring about an era of peace.

But eventually Israel would sin again, and it would all start over.

This cycle provides the literary design and flow for the next main section of the book.

It gets repeated for each of the six main judges whose stories are told here.

Now the stories of the first three judges, Othniel, Ehud, and Deborah,

they are epic adventures. They're also extremely bloody stories.

Either the judge themselves or people who help the judge,

they defeat their enemies and deliver the people of Israel.

The stories about the next three judges are longer,

and they focus in on the character flaws of the judges, which get increasingly worse.

So Gideon. He begins pretty well. He's a coward of a man.

But he eventually comes to trust that God can save Israel through him.

And so he defeats a huge army of Midianites with only 300 men,

carrying torches and clay pots.

But Gideon has a nasty temper,

and he murders a bunch of fellow Israelites for not helping him in his battle.

And then it all goes downhill from there.

He makes an idol from the gold that he won in his battles,

and then after he dies, all Israel worships the idol as a god,

and the cycle begins again.

The next main judge is Jephthah,

who's something of a mafia thug living up in the hills.

And when things get really bad for Israel, the elders come to him, begging for his help.

And Jephthah was a very effective leader.

He won lots of battles against the Ammonites,

but he was so unfamiliar with the God of Israel, he treats him like a Canaanite god.

He vows to sacrifice his daughter if he wins the battle.

This tragic story, it shows just how far Israel has fallen.

They no longer know the character of their own god,

which leads to murder and to false worship.

The last judge, Samson, is by far the worst.

His life began full of promise,

but he has no regard for the God of Israel.

He was promiscuous, violent, and arrogant.

He did win, brutally, strategic victories over the Philistines,

but only at the expense of his own integrity,

and his life ends in a violent rush of mass murder.

Now, a quick note here.

You'll notice a repeated theme in the main section of the book,

that at key moments, God's spirit will empower each of these judges

to accomplish these great acts of deliverance.

Now, the fact that God uses these really screwed up people

doesn't mean he endorses all or even any of their decisions.

God is committed first and foremost to saving his people,

but all he has to work with is these corrupt leaders,

and so work with them he does.

This whole section is designed to show just how bad things have gotten.

You can't even tell the Israelites and the Canaanites apart anymore,

and that's just the leaders.

The final section shows Israel as a whole hitting bottom.

There are two tragic stories here,

and they are not for the faint of heart.

They're structured by this key line that gets repeated four times

at the close of the book.

In those days, Israel had no king,

and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

The first story is about an Israelite named Micah,

who builds a private temple to an idol,

and that gets plundered by a private army sent from the tribe of Dan.

So they come and they steal everything,

and then they go and burn down the peaceful city of Laish

and murder all of its inhabitants.

It's a horrifying story.

When Israel forgets its God, might makes right.

The final story of the book is even worse.

It's a shocking tale of sexual abuse and violence,

which all leads to Israel's first civil war.

It's very disturbing.

And that's the point.

These stories are meant to serve as a warning.

Israel's descent into self-destruction is a result of turning away

from the God who loves them and saved them out of slavery in Egypt,

and now Israel needs to be delivered again from themselves.

The only glimmer of hope in this story is found in this repeated line

in the last part of the book.

It actually forms the last sentence of the story.

Israel has no king.

And so the stage is set for the following books

to tell the origins of King David's family, the book of Ruth,

and also the origins of kingship itself in Israel, the book of 1 Samuel.

But the story of Judges has value as a tragedy.

It's a sobering explanation of the human condition,

and ultimately it points out the need for God's grace

to send a king who will rescue his people.

And that's the book of Judges.

All right.

So there we got an overview of Judges.

If this is your first wrap-up or even your first Sunday today,

what we do is at the end of a book study,

we have an opportunity to hear from other people

what God has been teaching them throughout the book.

The Bible Project has recaps for every book in the Bible.

So if you're ever reading somewhere and you just kind of want an overview,

these guys do a really great job.

It's a good group of theologians that have gotten together

to make sure that they're right on point.

But the Bible Project, all their videos are available on YouTube for free,

and I would recommend them.

There's some great stuff going on.

But let's pray, and then we'll get started here this morning.

Father God, we do come before you today,

and we thank you for an opportunity to gather today

to hear from our friends as to what you have been teaching them

and how they've been encouraged or maybe moved

because of what they've studied here in Judges.

Father God, I pray that our hearts and our minds will be open,

that we won't just take this Sunday off,

but that we'll be listening, Holy Spirit,

to what you have to say to us

through what our friends have to share this morning.

We thank you for the book of Judges,

even though it was difficult in a lot of ways,

that we were able to see that there are consequences to conformity

and that you have called us to be set apart from this world

to look like your son, Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost.

Help us to be a people that walk away from the world and its pressures

and that we reflect you and the way you want us to look

as women and men who are following Jesus Christ

as their Lord and Savior and their King.

We thank you for this morning.

We thank you for every person that's here,

and it's in Jesus' precious name that we pray, amen.

So I'm so glad you guys are here this morning.

We got a couple of quick announcements,

then we're going to release the kids,

and then we'll get started into the wrap-up session of it.

The first announcement is we meet in a school,

so what does it look like this summer?

So these are summer plans that we like.

Everybody put your hand out like this real quick.

This is how we hold our summer plans, okay?

You can put your hands down now.

Things might change, but we want you guys to have an idea

of what's going on because, well,

I don't want you from week to week wondering what's going on.

So the summer plans, although I'm going to talk about a few things,

things might change a little bit.

One of the things that's going to change

is what it looks like from Sunday to Sunday.

Typically, we get here at about 730 in the morning,

and we set this all up.

We got a crew that makes the coffee and bakes the donuts.

Okay, I heard one laugh.

We take them out, and we get everything ready for you guys to show up.

We're putting down chairs.

We're setting up the nursery, all those kind of things.

And then at the end of the service, we have to tear down,

and we load it back up into a 28-foot trailer,

and they do school here all week long, right?

So everything's got to come down.

Well, during the summer, we're able to keep some of the stuff set up

and or at least in the building.

And so starting next week, looking at my wife for a nod, got the thumbs up.

Starting next week, we don't have to tear down.

So next week, we still need a crew to come in and set up.

So if you're thinking about ways you might be able to serve here at the church,

and that was one of them, talk to Brian Brouillet or myself,

and we can get you some information.

But the set-up team, the tear-down team,

we'll be able to leave it up for just two weeks.

At the end of the second week, the 21st,

we're not going to necessarily tear it down and load it back up into the trailer.

We're going to tear it down and roll the carts down the hall

because for two weeks at least, maybe three,

we're going to have to meet in the lunchroom, that multipurpose room,

because they're redoing the gym floors.

So if you were here last summer, you remember that.

They do that every year.

So we'll still be in here.

We're going to be able to set up down there the next week.

Stay set up for a couple of weeks.

Then when we get the okay to come back in here,

we'll be moving the stuff back in here, resetting up,

and we're hoping that it might be a five or even a six-week time period

where we're going to be able to stay set up.

So that's what we're going to look like as a mobile church.

So if you want to help still this summer on set-up or tear-down,

come talk to us.

We'd love to have you help.

The next thing is we have a service opportunity July 4th.

Fourth of July, DuPont does it right.

We have a parade.

We have a big thing going on in the Clock Tower Park.

And with Miss Nikki and Mr. Justin's help,

we're going to set up a tent over there.

I'm going to be there.

We're going to have an opportunity during the 11 to 2 hours to have a tent

there to love on our community.

So if you're going to be in town, we want you to come over.

If you have kids, we want you to come over, be a part of what we're doing,

but also get to do all the other experiences that will be at the park.

But if you want a way to serve on Fourth of July to be a part of what's

going on in our community, we're going to have games,

and we're going to hand out a lot of candy.

So those are the things I know.

What exactly it looks like we'll know a little bit more as we're getting

closer and closer.

There is also an opportunity,

if anybody wants to stand at street corners to keep people from driving

down the road during the parade,

we're going to need some families to volunteer to do that.

You can be a single person, a couple, or a family.

If you're kids, you're able to keep them kind of under control.

But you could get an intersection and help the DuPont Police Department

with that.

Again, if you have questions on that, come talk to me.

We just need a couple of people to volunteer to do that if they would like

to.

August 16, if you have your phone out or you want to snap a picture of that,

write this down.

That day we will not do church here at the Grace Works Lacey or at DuPont.

We will all meet down in Lacey at our other campus.

We're going to do an outdoor picnic afterwards where we'll provide the hot

dogs and hamburgers.

Everybody brings sides.

So we'll have a church service.

We'll have games there.

We'll have all kinds of activities for the kids.

Probably do some baptisms that day.

And then, again, we'll have a barbecue picnic that day.

So that is August 16.

The last thing I'm going to say, and these dates may change only because of

making sure that everything is working out,

but we're going to do a couple of big large community groups at Clocktower

Park.

Right now we have it down for August 20th and 27th.

We might do more.

We might have to shift the weeks depending on what's going on at

Clocktower.

If you're not a part of a community group,

this is a great opportunity to kind of come, hang out, eat some food,

meet some people, play some games,

and potentially connect for a community group this fall.

If you're in a community group,

we really encourage you those couple of weeks to not meet and come and be a

part of this.

So the church will provide the main dish.

So we'll probably do one night fried chicken, another night,

let's say maybe nachos or something like that.

And then again, people can bring sides for that.

So we're going to do some community group at the park, Clocktower Park,

August 20th and 27th.

All of those things will have normal announcements as we're getting closer,

but I wanted to get this kind of out ahead of you all going into the

summer.

Okay.

Dunes Bible camp coming up.

Youth sixth grade through 12th grade, June 22nd through 25th.

Again, we want every sixth grader through 12th grader to go to camp.

The cost on it is two 25,

but don't let the cost be the reason your child doesn't come.

We can help you out.

There are generous people in our church body who donate towards this,

that don't even have kids or their kids are have already grown in our past

high school age because they know how important it is for kids to go to

camp again, sixth grade through 12th grade.

If you have any questions on that, talk to Brian, myself, pastor Dave,

Wes will be here next week.

I mean, there are all kinds of opportunities to talk to people,

but we would love to get your kids to camp if at all available.

And finally, the kids are dismissed for class.

You have time to grab a cup of coffee, say hello to somebody.

And then we will start up again with a worship song and then have some

people share after that and enjoy the rest of our service.

She could pay.

So

yeah,

yeah.

With

tears on their face.

They laid him down inside.

But that wasn't the.

That wasn't the.

That wasn't the.

Let me tell you what happened.

The

women came before.

You.

Sunday.

Right.

She's coming soon.

Right.

My condolences.

Yeah.

Grades.

We go up in the silences, the enemy

that praise be a weapon that silences the enemy.

That praise be a weapon that conquers all anxiety.

Let it rise.

Let praise arise.

We sing your name in the dark and it changes everything.

We sing with all we are and claim your victory.

So let it rise.

Let praise arise.

We'll see you break down every wall.

We'll watch the giants fall.

For fear cannot survive when we praise you.

Let God of breakthroughs on our side.

Forever lift him high.

With all creation cry God we praise you.

We praise you.

Let faith be the song that overcomes the raging sea.

Let faith be the song that calms the storm inside of me.

Let it rise.

Let faith arise.

We'll see you break down every wall.

We'll watch the giants fall.

For fear cannot survive when we praise you.

Let God of breakthroughs on our side.

Forever lift him high.

With all creation cry God we praise you.

We praise you.

This is what living looks like

This is what freedom feels like

This is what heaven sounds like

We praise you. We praise you.

This is what living looks like

This is what freedom feels like

This is what heaven sounds like

We praise you. We praise you.

This is what living looks like

This is what heaven sounds like

We praise you. We praise you.

This is what living looks like

This is what freedom feels like

This is what heaven sounds like

We praise you. We praise you.

We'll see you break down every wall

We'll watch the giants fall

Or fall down on us

We'll see you break down every wall

We'll watch the giants fall

Our fear cannot survive when we praise you

The God of breakthrough's on our side

Forever lift him high

With all creation cry God we praise you

We'll see you break down every wall

We'll watch the giants fall

Our fear cannot survive when we praise you

The God of breakthrough's on our side

Forever lift him high

With all creation cry God we praise you

We praise you

We praise you

We praise you

We praise you

We praise you

That's good to see

That's good to see

Hello, my name is Derek Smith

When Mark said that video wasn't going to work and there were 7 minutes

I was going to do an interpretive dance to Judges

So you guys missed out

I did forget my glasses today so I apologize if I am squinting

What I wanted to talk today was

Following the defeat of the Canaanites

Deborah says in Judges 5-2

When the princes in Israel take the lead

When the people willingly offer themselves

Praise the Lord

One of the great lessons from Judges

Is that Israel repeatedly forgets to be thankful

God would rescue them, bless them, and provide to them

But before long, they'd focus on what they didn't have

Instead of what they did

I think we all do the same thing in our lives

But gratitude can change your perspective

And I truly believe in the power of that

Two people can wake up in the same job

The same house, with the same family

And the same challenges

One sees problems everywhere

And the other one sees blessings everywhere

And I think really the only difference is

Thankfulness

Thankfulness helps us all see the God's miracles

That we have in our lives every single day

We shouldn't wait until we lose our eyesight

To realize how precious that is

The fact that we have legs, arms to use

That we can stand up, talk

We have loved ones around us every single day

And I think that should be embedded in our prayer

And we should begin our prayer with

First praise to God

But then followed shortly by our thankfulness

And what are we thankful for

And I think that will truly change our perspective

This practice in your life

Will give you the perspective it needs

And will ultimately put you in the driver's seat

Of finding your own happiness

And changing your perspective

And so when we start there

Our problems don't always get smaller

But God definitely gets bigger

And when God gets bigger

Life looks very different for us all

Thanks

Thank you

Good morning

Why is the book of Judges in the Bible?

What can we possibly learn from this book?

It's filled with stories that are horrific

Grotesque

And complicated

Even the heroes in this book are deeply flawed

But I think the key answer to our question

Is the verse that repeats itself multiple times

Throughout the story

In those days Israel had no king

And everyone did what was right

In his own eyes

Let me say that again

Everyone did what was right

In his own eyes

So what happens when we

As flawed sinful human beings

Are governed by our own choices

It's a story full of compromise and failure

Bad decision upon bad decision

They had the law

They had the witness of God's faithfulness

Throughout their history

They had prophets and priests

Even the salvation that the Lord brought to them

Through the judges

Yet they constantly compromised

They made decisions based on the morals and the norms

Of the people around them

Everyone did what was right

In his own eyes

You see Judges is a cautionary tale

Listen to God

Follow his word

Seek out godly prophets

Seek out godly priests and pastors

To encourage and to guide you

Do not follow the world around you

Do not compromise

Avoid the cycle of sin

Rejection

Discipline

Rescue

And return

Instead

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

Lean not on his own

On your own understanding

In all your ways

Acknowledge him

And he will direct your path

Do not conform to this world

But to be transferred

Do not be conformed to this world

But be transformed

By the renewing of your mind

That you may prove what is good

And acceptable

And perfect will of God

Judges is a cautionary tale

A warning about the downfall of compromise

And living without the direction of God

Let us commit ourselves to heeding its warning

Reading this on behalf of my wife

The book of Judges was a good reminder

To not pin our hopes on anyone of flesh and blood

Our own nature will lead us away from God

If we set our eyes on anyone or anything of this world

Whether seemingly good or not

Everything in this world fades away

And Judges shows us how much the world needed Jesus

He's the only lasting peace

Not because the sins of the world stopped

Or because people stopped doing bad things

But because he was always the Lord we needed

And he's the only path that leads to life

And not to death

It kind of seems like we're still living in the times of Judges

And it's easy to look back and go

Wow, those guys are really screwed up

But it's still happening

It just looks a little bit different

But now we have learned the difference though

We now have the saver we desperately needed

And yet it's easy to see how often the Lord

Is treated like a crisis management tool

Just how the Israelites treated him

With a return to business as usual

The minute they were saved

But then and now God is faithful

And wants us to call out for him

But in both circumstances

It's easy to see how he's sidelined

And how he wasn't the Lord of their lives

Or the priority in our culture currently

So to not err

I encourage you to not fall into that cycle

It's important to be in the word

To practice self-reflection and accept accountability

We don't want to be in a place

Where his voice isn't the loudest one we hear

Because he's most often the whisperer

You guys want to stand?

I've searched the world

But it couldn't fill me

With man's empty praise

And treasures that's rare

And never enough

And you came along

And put me back together

And every desire

Is now satisfied

Hearing your love

Oh there's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Nothing is better than you

I'm not afraid

To show you my weakness

Failures and flaws

Oh you've seen them all

And you've still called me friend

Cause the God on the mountain

Cause the God on the valley

There's a place

Your mercy and grace

Won't find me there

Oh there's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Nothing is better than you

Oh there's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Better than you

Oh there's nothing

Nothing is better than you

You turn mourning to dancing

You give beauty for ashes

You turn shame into glory

You're the only one who can

You turn graves into skylines

You turn bones into armies

You turn seas into highways

You're the only one who can

You're the only one who can

Nothing is better than you

There's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Nothing is better than you

Oh there's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Better than you

There's nothing

Nothing is better than you

You've turned grass into gardens

You've turned coals into highways

You've turned seas into highways

You're the only one who can

You've turned rain into diamonds

You've turned bones into armies

You've turned seas into highways

You're the only one who can

You're the only one who can

You're the only one who can

You guys gonna miss me?

Can you guys hear me okay?

I am Nikki, or Nicole.

Oh, damn, that's my earbuds.

There's a couple things that I was going to speak on.

So I just wanted to touch on the ones that I decided not to speak on,

even though obviously I'm speaking on them.

This is like when people say, well, not to mention,

and then they mention it anyway.

But in Judges 9, when Jotham's

admonishing Shechem for appointing Abimelech

and letting him kill all his other brothers and everything,

I just really wanted to

just note the beautiful imagery that was in that,

that even as we're watching this,

and it's just horrible thing after horrible thing,

there's still just beauty even in the tragedy.

And so I just wanted you guys to

maybe look back in 9 and just read about those trees

and just consider just how powerful that imagery is.

And then in Judges 15,

I was talking with a friend about this again last night,

but Samson's story is just absolutely unbelievable.

And after we'd read through his story,

I talked with several friends and my son and my husband,

and I think the running theme was just like,

how could you possibly kill a thousand men

with the jawbone of a donkey?

And the answer is you can't, right?

Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

And so it's meant to be that fantastical

and that just like impossible

because you have to say no man could actually do that.

You have to know that he did it because of God,

that he was only able to do it because of God.

And so anytime we're getting prideful in our own actions,

thinking we could do it,

if that story was about Samson killing 10 men,

really good for you, Samson.

But it's a thousand men.

Like we have to give honor to God.

We have to give glory to God for those things.

But so now what I'm actually going to talk about

is Judges 3.

So it talks a little bit about it here,

but that's when we're introduced to them.

And actually only two of the guys made it,

Othniel and Ehud, but the third guy, Shamgar,

he gets, I think, two sentences, Pastor?

Is that about right?

But the point was,

this was just a continued cycle of these guys

doing evil in the sight of the Lord

over and over and over again.

And so, or these guys is Israel.

But constantly doing their own thing

and then having to reach out and beg for repentance

and beg forgiveness.

And what I had written down in my notes was,

where you serve is where you will worship.

And so, whatever we're turning our eyes to,

whatever we're turning our hearts to,

whatever we're turning our energy to,

that's what we're worshiping.

So we might not like to think of all our idols.

And of course we don't have the golden calves

that are shown or whatever, the ephods.

Whatever we're doing,

we don't have our little altars in our house.

But guys, there's definitely stuff

that's taking our attention away from the Lord.

And so I just wanted to remind you that

because it reminded me

as I was looking back through my notes.

But then again in Judges 9,

I'd written down a similar thing.

So I'll read that note too.

It's with this.

God will not allow his people to sin successfully.

And then one of my takeaways from 9 was,

God will not allow wickedness to win.

And so, even as you see it

and even as you look out on this world,

when you're looking in the news,

when you're looking on social media,

when you're looking at your friends' lives,

your own lives maybe,

he will not allow sin to succeed.

So even though he does allow it,

that's not because he wanted it for us.

It's going to fail

and he's going to win every single time.

I think the last thing that I really just

wanted to touch on with that

was a community group question

that was shared that week.

And it's,

what inadequacies keep you

from sharing Christ with others?

And how can we overcome those fears?

And so,

one of my big notes for that was that

God loves to work in unlikely places.

And so I just want to encourage you

the inadequacy part.

If you guys are feeling that in any way

for sharing Christ with others,

I encourage you to begin in

community with other believers.

Share Christ with other believers first.

If you're equipped to tell strangers,

to tell your non-believing friends,

to tell people who have

left the church and maybe are

considering it again.

If you don't feel like you can share it with them,

be sharpened by other people first.

Be sharpened by other believers.

Share with them what you're feeling.

Talk with people.

We've got a couple community groups coming up in the park

if you're not connected with the community group.

If you want to make friends after church,

holler at people.

But start there.

Start by sharing with other believers

and then move on to other people because

whatever you're learning

is enough to share.

So don't ever think you're inadequate.

We're all capable of sharing by the Holy Spirit.

Thank you.

Hello.

If you don't know me, I'm Sarai.

And this is my first time speaking up here

so I'm quite nervous.

But I'm going to read

through a script because I tend to talk a lot.

So let me stay focused.

Okay.

So as some of you know, I work from home.

And every morning I take what I call

a Jesus walk.

And it's my time with the Lord.

And during this sermon series,

there was one walk

that I took, one conversation

that really lingered with me.

And the Lord had asked me

on that walk,

what do you desire?

And so I started answering that question right away.

And I shared two big desires

that I had.

And I went into super detail.

I was like, why I wanted these things,

what they meant to me.

And then as I was saying it, it kind of hit me.

Oh, out of everything I said,

the Lord wasn't on that list.

And my ultimate

desire wasn't Him.

And it was all these

other things that I was saying.

So I sat with that

because there is a phrase

that the other individuals

who spoke today have said,

and it appears four times in the book of Judges,

that I couldn't really shake.

In those days, there was no

king in Israel. Everyone did what was

right in his own eyes.

And I said, whoa.

That's me.

When I was answering that question about my

desires, I was doing what was

right in my own eyes.

And the scary thing is, I love the Lord.

But loving Him

and desiring Him

above all else are two different

things. And the whole book

of Judges shows us what happens

when that gap exists.

And there are consequences

to that conformity,

which is why I loved the title

of this series so much.

Now, how many of

you have seen The Big Bang Theory?

Okay.

It's one of my favorite shows.

There's this scene, and maybe you guys will know as I

start to describe it.

It's Christmas, and

Sheldon, who is this brilliant

but very particular kind of

scientist, he is

stressed because it's gift-giving season,

which means he has to

calculate the exact value

of whatever gift he receives

so he can return something

of equal worth.

Since he doesn't know what penny

his neighbor from across the hall

is going to get him for Christmas,

he decides to go to a

Bath and Body Works-type store,

and he buys a whole collection

of baskets at different price

points. And so his plan

is he's going to open

her gift, then he's going to fake

a stomach issue, he's going to run to

his room, he's going to look up the

price online, and then he's going to

grab the basket that matches

closest to that price.

So Christmas comes, and he

gets the gift from Penny,

and he opens it,

and it's a napkin.

But not just any napkin,

it's a napkin

that Leonard Nimoy

wiped his mouth on.

And so with actual

Leonard Nimoy DNA,

Sheldon's favorite

person in the world.

And he loses it.

He runs and grabs every

single basket from his room,

he piles them in front of

Penny, and then he goes,

that doesn't feel like enough.

And then he says,

oh, I know what I can give you.

And he hugs her. Now,

if you watch the show, you know that

Sheldon's not particular to any

kind of touching or any

physical connection with others,

but he hugs her.

And Penny is so thrilled

by this response, because

that's all she ever wanted was

gratitude.

I share this story because it kept

coming to my mind, this particular

scene, because Penny

is God in this story,

and we are Sheldon.

We receive this gift, which is

the cross, something we could never

calculate or repay,

and we run around trying to figure out

how to make it even.

But all he ever wanted was us,

and our presence, and our hug.

So,

thank you, Robert, by the way.

Robert gave me this book of

Christianity, and there's a quote in there

that I really want to share.

It says, though our feelings

come and go, his love

does not. It is

wearied, it is not wearied by our

sins or our indifference,

and therefore it is quite relentless

in its determination that we

shall be cured of those sins at

whatever cost to us, at whatever

cost to him. And the key word

there for me was relentless.

He keeps showing up on

my Jesus walks. He keeps showing

up asking me questions,

not to shame me, but

because he wants me cured. He wants

me to be close.

And Judges 21-25,

that last verse,

that one that ends the whole entire

book, everyone did what was

right in his own eyes.

When you look at that verse, you can

probably think, wow, it's very haunting.

But the good news is that

God never changed. Through

every cycle of rebellion and

consequence and repentance

and rescue, he was there

and the gift never expires.

And that's what I got out of

this series and this season of my life.

Thank you.

Good morning. Oh, there you are.

Sorry, this wasn't planned.

I was sitting down

and a few verses came to

my heart and I

thought that I had to speak.

So,

as I was listening

to each person

and I thought about

Judges, a verse

came to mind in Corinthians

and it

made me want to say thank you to Mark,

Kevin, and just give some

affirmation to the fact that

you chose a book like Judges and that

you don't back away from God's

word, however hard it might

be to hear in the stories we don't want

to hear because they're not easy

and they're not fun and they're long-winded

and they, you know,

might go on a little bit

every week. But,

we need them. We absolutely

need them.

And if you don't want to hear them, there's

a room, if you go through those double doors

on your left-hand side, there's Children's Church

because we've heard all these stories before.

And Samson was a hero.

I remember

Samson when I was this big

and Samson was the hero

and he was strong and he was buff

and I wanted to be Samson. I don't want to be Samson

anymore.

And Paul said,

but I,

brothers, could not address you as spiritual people

but as people of the flesh,

as infants in Christ. I fed you with

milk, not solid food, for

you are not ready for it. And I hope

that everybody in here is a little bit more

ready for solid food because

that's what we're being fed. And

there's milk out the door to the left.

And I needed it

when I was this big. But I got

a wonderful

lesson

in Judges

in how I see

God's people and

how broken they are and how

easy it is to slip into

the normal pattern

of life. I see my

cycle the same as I see

all of Israel's cycle. Every

year, I go through some

of the same stuff and I go, why?

Why?

And so, not

to leave

Jesus out of this,

I want

to say also that it's very

easy to look at the Israelites

and the Canaanite behaviors

and the things that they adopted as

their own

and say, well, I don't do

that at least. But

we get to fast forward

thousands of years

and look at the lesson

that our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ gave to us

in Matthew. And

he told us about

anger. And he

said, you have heard it

said that you shall not murder.

But I say to

you that everyone who is angry with his

brother will be liable to judgment.

So, you might not have

killed anybody like they did in Judges,

but that's not what we're called

to, that's not the bar that we're called

to perform to. We're called to perform to the bar

that says you don't get to be angry with your friends.

Lust, certainly

in Judges.

And you have

heard it said,

you shall not commit adultery, but

I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman

with lustful intent has already committed adultery

in his heart. So, we get to judge

Samson, and we get to judge those people

outside that door.

Look back at yourself

and wonder about

the lesson

that

this message has left with us,

that we are those people,

and we are only days, years,

weeks away from becoming them

if we allow our hearts to travel in that

direction.

So, thank you, Mark.

Thank you

to Kevin.

And I ask that

God keeps

the grace

works on the path that it is on,

and not being fearful

of God's word, and not

allowing this world

to direct to the path

that God has set before you.

I appreciate it,

and I appreciate

the fun messages, and I appreciate,

really appreciate the not-so-fun

messages that

God has given you. So,

thank you, Mark. God bless you,

and thank you for everything you do.

Thank you.

Had I known what he was going to say, I would not have

given him the mic.

No.

Man, Wrap-Up Services,

I'm telling you, they really are

our favorite as pastors

because the five or six people that speak

are a reflection, I think,

of the rest of you. I mean, we're all

in this path, in this journey

together. We're trying to learn to look a little bit more

like Jesus and a little bit less

like ourselves, and it's

a lot of fun to hear from

you guys. So, thank

you. I just

have a little something to say, and then we got a couple

more songs.

This doesn't necessarily have to do

with judges. I kind

of thought we might have a little bit of time

at the end, and I just wanted to talk about

communion here at

the GraceWorks Church and

what we think

about it. If you're new or newer,

and you just kind of come in, you're like, well, man, towards

the end of the service, people start getting up, and they

go back and grab some bread.

It's not always explained in any

length or detail,

and I don't know that it always

needs to be, but I think that there are times where we

can, and so I hope I don't lose

you in this, but I just want to tell you a couple

things about communion that are important to

me and important to our

church body. Let me start by reading Luke

Luke 22:19

22 verses

19 and 20, and it says, And he,

that would be Jesus, took bread,

and when he had given thanks, he broke

it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body,

which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance

of me. And likewise

the cup after they had eaten, saying,

This cup that is poured

out for you

is covenant

in my blood.

Matthew 26,

26 to 28 says, Now they were

eating, Jesus took, these are

the gospels, a little bit

different version of the same story.

Now they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and

after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to the

disciples, and said, Take,

eat, this is my body, and he took

a cup, and when he had given thanks, he

gave it to them, saying, Drink of

it, all of you, for this is my

blood of the covenant, which is

poured out for the forgiveness

of sins. There's a

passage in Mark 14, and one

that we refer to a lot of times in

1 Corinthians 11, a few

others that talk about this idea of communion.

And so just really, really

quickly, I wanted to kind of

talk about what communion is, and

if you've been around the church a long time, you might know

all of this. It's still

good to be reminded of it. And if you're newer,

or even have had questions that maybe

you haven't asked yet,

we would love to talk to you about those

and there are some at the end, you

can talk with any one of us. But

just quickly, Jesus

started the practice. So

why do we do communion? Well, because on the night

he was betrayed, at the

last supper, he called

his disciples to

a special way

of eating some bread and drinking

of the cup,

the wine that night,

to remember him.

Now, he hadn't been crucified yet,

but what he was doing is he was like,

this is a way that you can remember

my body, which is going to be given for you,

my blood, which is going to be shed

for you. And so Jesus

instituted communion.

And so for us as a church,

we want to continue on following

and doing what he has called

us to do. By doing

it, it outwardly shows love

for Jesus Christ

and it allows us as a church

body, individually, with

your family, with a friend,

and yet, all of us

together, to remember

the death,

the burial, the resurrection,

the atonement for

our sins, the forgiveness

that happened at the Christ.

It also gives us an opportunity to

look forward to the kingdom.

And Jesus

again partaking in this supper, because

that night he said, I'm not going to eat of

this anymore

until the kingdom comes.

And so Jesus is planning

on celebrating with his

people in heaven, in

eternity, when we're all

there together, and that's the next

time that he was going to partake

of it. But he's called us

to do that. And so as the

bride of Christ, we as the church

have an opportunity to take communion,

to remember, to think

about. And all of those

things are so important. And so, even

not be able to get through the entire story

every week as we build

up to communion, it's part of

worship that we need to take serious.

Now we need to remember

it doesn't save you.

Taking communion doesn't

save you. It doesn't give you a check in a box.

Right? It's

for remembrance.

Right? We do it not

to be saved, but we do it

because we are saved.

And I want the cross

to be on the forefront of my mind

in every conversation I have and every

decision that I need to make.

And this is the time where we can stop

and Gwen and I together can

reflect on the beauty of the cross.

The beauty of the blood that

was shed for forgiveness

of my sins. And then

hopefully as we move forward into the week, we

remember. We remember Jesus.

We remember the cross. We remember

the cost of the cross.

And this gives us a great opportunity

to do it. Now that means sometimes

you may get up or you might not even get up

but you might be sitting there going, I've got

some sin in my life that I need to talk to God about.

And on those weeks, I would

encourage you not to get up and go back to the

table. Because we want to make sure

that we're in a place with God where our

communion,

not just what we're taking, but our communion

or relationship with

him is in that sort of a place. And so

you and I need to make sure that our

relationship is correct here.

Also, maybe you have,

maybe you fought with your spouse before you came to church.

Maybe you fought with a friend

this week. Maybe you be harboring

some anger towards a co-worker.

You may need to pass on taking

communion that day

until you're able to make it right with that other

person. And again, these are scriptural

things that sometimes will come up in

scripture and we'll have more opportunity to talk about.

But we want to be in a right place

as we go into a time

of communion.

We

also, as a church, have

decided to do it weekly. There are

some churches that do it once a month.

Some churches do it quarterly.

We have taken the phrase

as often as you get together

or gather, remember me,

and chosen to put it as part of what we do.

The only problem with that

is we don't want it to become rote.

We don't want it just to become something that you do.

I know that with the last song

coming up, I need to get up, go back

and grab a piece of bread and dip it into the juice.

We want this to be

meaningful for you.

And so as a church, we need to think of ways

that we can do that. And that's why I encourage you

to go back, not necessarily always

with the same people. Maybe it's you and your wife

normally, but sometime invite another

couple to go with you and ask them to pray.

And do it as an opportunity

again for unity and for love

for God. So we've chosen

to do it weekly, but it

can happen daily. It can

happen monthly. It can

happen as often

as a church or a person would

want to do that. So again, we've

taken the bread, we've taken the juice.

We can't have wine on the property here, so

down in Lacey they have juice and wine,

but we have juice there. And we

want to think about Jesus' words

as that happens. The

broken body for

you, the shed blood

for you, the love that Jesus

has for us. And it's a beautiful

moment of reflection,

of unity, of what

Jesus has done for us and what he will

do for us in eternity.

So as we stand, we have just

two songs left. Normally we have

a couple of songs for communion,

and then at the end there are a couple of young

men will walk up and down the aisle in

case you want to give as part of your

worship.

Today we only have two songs left.

So you might have to

accelerate your worship just a

little bit. But we do have the elements

set up in the back on both sides.

And I just pray that communion will never

become something that is just

something you do on a Sunday morning.

But that you'll think about the cross, you'll

think about the cost, you'll

think about your Savior hanging there

in the blood that was shed for your sins

and that he

willingly gave

his righteousness to you

in exchange for your sin. And

it's just a beautiful moment. So stand

up if you're able. Let's worship

together through these last

couple of songs which will include

communion if you choose to do so.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

God is able

He will never

fail

He is almighty

God

Greater than

all we see

Greater than all we

ask

He has done

great things

Lifted up

Defeated

the grave

Raised to life

Our God

is able

In His name

we

overcome

For the Lord

our God

is able

...

...

...

...

...

...

God is

with us

He is on

our side

He will make

the way

Far above

all we know

Far above all we

hope

He has done

great things

Lifted up

Defeated

the grave

Raised to life

Our God

is able

In His name

we

overcome

For the Lord

our God

is able

Lifted up

Defeated

the grave

Raised to life

Our God

is able

In His name

we

overcome

For the Lord

our God

is able

...

...

...

...

...

...

God is

with us

He will go

before

He will never leave us

He will never

leave us

For us

He has

opened arms

He will never fail us

He will never

fail us

Lifted up

Defeated the grave

Raised to life

Our God

is able

In His name

we

overcome

For the Lord

our God

is able

Lifted up

Defeated

the grave

Raised to life

Our God

is able

In His name

we

overcome

For the Lord

our God

is able

For the Lord

our God

is able

For the Lord

our God

is able

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Before I go

Before I ever go

I pray

You answer me

When a thunder

hides

I cannot run

This heart untethered

to

With every step

I collide with

You

Like a tidal wave

Crashing over

me

Rushing in to meet me here

Your love

is fierce

Like a hurricane

that I cannot

escape

Tearing through the atmosphere

Your love

is fierce

You cannot

break

This only thing I've found

Is through it all

You can never

let me down

You don't know

about

Relentless

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Chase me down

Seek me out

How could I be at loss

When you have caught me found

Chase me down

Seek me out

How could I be lost

And you have caught me found

Chase me down

Seek me out

How could I be lost

And you have caught me found

Like a tornado

Crashing over me

Pushing in to meet me here

Your love is fierce

Like a hurricane

That I can't deceive

Take me through the atmosphere

Your love is fierce

Your love is fierce

Your love is fierce

His love is fierce

Your love is fierce

Galatians

Be a great way to follow through

And by the end of it, you'd have notes

At the end of the book

So grab one of those if you'd like

But we'll be in Galatians

Lastly, if you want to be a part of our setup crew

Come talk to me or Liz Hanley

She's the captain of our team

We can get you plugged in for that

But today, we would love to have you hang out

Get to know somebody, talk a little bit

And then if you could help us stack some chairs

Put some equipment away

Today would be a really good day for you to help with that

All right?

Yeah

All right

Ready?

Take a break

Who am I?

That you keep me on your mind

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

All my life

You've been right here by my side

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

Yeah

Whoa

You kept me all my life

Been here with me all this time

And I

I'm lifting both of my hands

You gave me chance after chance

After chance

And I

I'm giving all that I have

You gave me chance after chance

After chance

Come on

And I

I'm lifting both of my hands

You gave me chance after chance

After chance

And I

I'm giving all that I have

You gave me chance after chance

After chance

Who am I?

That you keep me on your mind

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

All my life

You've been right here by my side

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

Who am I?

That you keep me on your mind

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

All my life

You've been right here by my side

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

I'll survive

God, I'll survive

And I'm here to testify

God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you

All my life

All my life

How could I express

All my gratitude

I could sing these songs

As I often do

But every song must end

And you never do

So I throw up my hands

And praise you again and again

Cause all that I have is a hallelujah

Hallelujah

And I know it's not much

But I've nothing else good for a king

Except for a heart singing

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

I've got only spawn

I've got just my moon

With my arms stretched wide

I will worship you

So I throw up my hands

And praise you again and again

Cause all that I have is a hallelujah