The GraceWorks Sunday Service May 3, 2026 - Lacey Campus

Heat. Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Oh,

heat,

heat.

Heat.

Oh. Oh.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

It's coming on the clouds. Kings and

kingdoms will bow down

and every chain will break. His broken

hearts declare his praise. But who can

stop the Lord Almighty?

>> Our God is the lion, the lion of Judah.

He's roaring with power and fighting our

battles. And every knee will bow before

him. Our God is the lamb, the lamb that

was slain for the sin of the world. His

blood breaks the chains and every knee

will bow before the lion and the lamb.

Every knee will bow before him.

Open up the gates, make way before the

King of Kings.

The God who comes to save is here to set

the captives free. But who can stop the

Lord Almighty?

Our God is the lion, the lion of Judah.

He's roaring with power and fighting our

battles and every knee will bow before

him.

Our God is the lamb, the lamb that was

slain for the sin of the world. His

blood breaks the chains. And every knee

will bow before the lion and the lamb.

Every knee will bow before him.

Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

>> Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Who can stop the Lord?

Our God is lion, the lion of Judah. He's

roaring with power and fighting our

battle. that every knee will bow before

him.

Our God is the lamb, the lamb that was

slain. For the sin of the world, his

blood raised to shame. And every knee

will bow before the lion and the lamb.

Every knee will bow before him.

All of creation,

all of the earth, make straight a

highway path for the Lord.

Jesus is coming

soon.

Call back the sick. Wake up the saint.

Let every nation shout of your faith.

Jesus is coming

soon.

Like a bride waiting for her groom.

We'll be a church ready for you. Every

heart longing for our king we sing. Even

so come

Lord Jesus

come.

Even so come.

Lord Jesus

come.

There will be justice. All will be new.

Your name forever. Faithful and true.

Jesus is coming

soon.

Like a bride waiting for her groom.

We'll be a church ready for you. Every

heart longing for our king we sing. Even

so God.

Lord Jesus

come.

Even so come.

Lord Jesus

come.

So we wait.

We wait for you,

God. We wait.

You're coming

soon.

So we wait.

We wait for you,

God. We wait

for your coming

soon.

kind of bride waiting for her groom.

We'll be a church ready for you. Every

heart longing for our king. We say

like a bride waiting for her.

We'll be a church ready for you. Every

heart longing for our king. We sing.

Even so come.

Lord Jesus

come.

Even so come.

Lord Jesus

come.

Even so come.

Oh Jesus

come.

Even so come.

Lord Jesus

come.

You were the word at the beginning,

one with God the Lord most high.

Your hidden glory in creation

now revealed

you are Christ. What a beautiful name it

is. What a beautiful name it is. The

name of Jesus

Christ, my king.

What a beautiful name it is.

Nothing compares to this.

What a beautiful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

You didn't want heaven without us.

So Jesus, you brought heaven

down.

My sin was greater, your love was

greater.

Why could separate

us now? What a wonderful name it is.

What a wonderful name it is.

The name of Jesus

Christ my king.

What a wonderful name it is.

Nothing compares to this.

What a wonderful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

What a wonderful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

Dad could not hold you. The veil tore

before you. You silence the B of sin and

grave.

The heavens are roaring.

The praise of your glory

for you are raised to life again.

You have no rival.

You have no equal

now and forever.

God, you reign.

Yours is the kingom.

Yours is the glory.

Yours is the name

above all name.

What a powerful name it is.

The name of Jesus

Christ my king.

What a powerful name it is.

Nothing can stand against.

What a powerful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

You have no rival.

You have no equal

now and forever.

the new way.

Yours is the kingom.

Yours is the glory.

Yours is the name

above all name.

What a powerful name it is.

The name of Jesus

Christ might.

What a powerful name it is.

Nothing can stand against.

What a powerful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

What a powerful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

What a powerful name it is. The name of

Jesus.

>> Jesus, while we wait for you this

morning and think about you and worship

you, thank you so much for the day that

you brought us here. We look forward in

anticipation to the day you return. God,

until then, please help us make this us

as close to heaven as we can as we

possibly can. Help us to soften our

hearts towards you and towards each

other and towards this world. In your

name, amen. Good morning. You can have a

seat. My name is Lorraine Xstein. Happy

to welcome you to church this morning in

the first day of summer.

Right.

Excited to have this weather until

October. It can start raining in

October. It's fine with me.

It's a great morning to be here. I hope

you are warmly welcomed. Got a cup of

coffee and a snack. We only have three

announcements this morning, but I wanted

to tell you first that church center is

available for you to look at all the

things coming up because we are the

beginning the season of summer and the

season of outreach. There are a lot of

opportunities ahead. And uh do I hold

this back further? Uh there's a lot of

opportunities ahead to serve and we're

just looking forward to serving

together, being in community together.

So the first thing we're going to talk

about is people who are out running

right now. Actually, we do have a group

running uh marathon and half marathons

this morning. So if you will pray for

them, very excited to um join in them.

And on May 16th, you can come here at 8

o'clock in the morning. 8 o'lock and run

a 6K. You can walk it, you can cycle it,

you can bring your dogs, whatever you

want to do. Join us out in the parking

lot. The uh path will be clearly marked

and we are raising money for clean

water. If you want to know more

information about this or register, you

can get on

>> church center. There you go. There you

go. May 16th. Okay. The next thing we're

going to talk about is the Lacy Spring

Fund Fair. How many of you have helped

in the booth at the fund fair?

>> Okay. Okay, I want you keep your hands

up. Keep your hands up. Okay, all of you

all get to tell everyone else how fun

this is. So, everybody that's been

there, this is a hoot. We get a lot of

people coming to church from the spring

fun fair. So, what this is about is we

set up a big huge booth on Friday night

and we man that booth most of the day

Saturday and most of the day Sunday. So,

we're going to need some special

volunteers that want to skip church on

Sunday and go stand in the sunshine and

help out at the fun fair. This is the

15th is the day that we are setting up

and then the fun fair runs the 16th and

the 17th. We hand out water and smiles

and Tootsie Pops and invite to church

cards. We have some brand new ones we're

getting printed right now. So, please

join us. It is a hoot. You can see

Pastor Kevin in his element at this

event if you don't think you're seeing

him in his element every Sunday. And

then the last thing we're going to talk

about is what is next Sunday?

>> Mama's Day. Y'all got one. You have one.

You might not know her. She might be

gone, but there's a lot of moms around

here that we are going to s still

celebrate on Sunday morning. So, there

is a photo booth. It's going to be down

the kids wing hallway. And it's free.

Take your picture. You don't have to be

a mom to get your picture taken. Grab

some friends. Go do group group photo

shoots. And uh I think Susan's manning

the camera that day. So she is a mom. So

make sure you say happy Mother's Day to

her. Okay, that's it for me. What do you

need to do? Look at Church Center.

There's so much more to sign up for on

Church Center. It's a great couple of

three or four months. Okay, kids first

through 5th, line up over there

underneath that exit sign. If you have a

small one, we'd ask you to take them

back to the kids wing, drop them off. We

will not start the sermon till you get

back.

Hey, hey, hey.

Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat.

Morning

friends.

I missed you guys.

I did. I know you were in great capable

hands. The wonderful preaching of our

executive pastor Brian Bri the last two

weeks. But Amy and I got to get away. We

had a splendid time. It was a wonderful,

wonderful, refreshing time. A a good

friend of ours has a little house up in

down in South Lake Tahoe. And Amy said,

"I want to drive. It's less than 12

hours." I said, "Okay." So, I tell you,

we just had a great time getting to

know, well, getting to know each other.

It's 27 years now. uh g talking about

everything and everything and anything

in life and you know our parents and our

kids and us and just it was a really

great time on the road. Um I did realize

something about myself though is that

I'm a bit of a prideful man when it

comes to driving. I I I want the badge

of honor of saying I drove all 12 hours

both ways. I' I'm sorry but I feel like

I'm a decent driver. I think I have

skills. Been doing it a long time. Uh,

only one accident my whole life. Haven't

had a ticket in a couple decades. I'm

like, I think I'm pretty good at this.

And I want Amy to be able to relax and

be my little passenger princess over

there. She can choose some music. She

can do all that. And she's so sweet. My

wife is so sweet. Do you need me to

drive about seven billion times because

she because she loves me. And I'm like,

"No, no, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good."

So, I did it. I did both directions all

the way. I had the best co-pilot in the

world. And that's how what made it

possible. But I realized, yeah, this is

a badge of honor for me. Hopefully, it's

not a bad pride thing. I was thinking

about driving and my my wonderful

co-pilot and I remembered a a bumper

sticker that became really famous when I

was young. I think it was famous in the

late 70s, uh, when I was born in the

mid70s. And then I saw it a lot when I

was a kid in the 80s and it said, "God

is my co-pilot." Anyone remember seeing

a bumper sticker like that? a few of us

old people. Okay. I found out it

actually didn't start as bumper sticker

theology as I like to call it. But uh it

started there was a pilot in World War

II that wrote his memoirs. And it was

all about how in every mission God was

present. And he was, you know, he just

knew that God was present. That's how he

wrote his memoirs. He titled this book

that I think was published in the late

40s, God is my co-pilot.

It it had nothing to do with the fact

that um that that's bad theology. It was

about the fact that God was with him all

the way. Yes, he was in control of this

plane at the controls, but really God

was the one in control. But this bumper

sticker theology that came out of it

began to be criticized in the mid 80s

when I was going to church because uh

people would retort, wait a second, if

if God is your co-pilot, you need to

switch seats because that I mean it

really is a bad idea to say, "Yeah, I'm

just driving. I'm I'm in control of my

life and God's my co-pilot." No. That's

not biblical Christianity at all, is it?

No, it's not. You know, when we come to

know Jesus Christ and we trust in him

for the forgiveness of our sins and and

we put our faith in his work on that

cross, he becomes our savior. And he

loves being our savior. And we love

having him as a savior. But the rest of

your life as a Christian is learning

more about him, learning more about who

you are in him, learning more about his

beautiful word. And most of all,

learning to give him lordship in your

life. That he's not just our savior, but

we make him more and more each day as he

reveals his wishes, as he reveals who he

is, we say, you know what? You're the

Lord. You're the master. You're the

driver. And wherever you want to take

me, I'm ready to go. In our study in the

book of Judges, we're going to get to a

judge that uh honestly does some really

awful stuff.

Um he's he's a mixed bag like any of our

judges. There's some good things. He'll

call upon the name of the Lord. Um he'll

profess him in some ways. He seems to

have an understanding, a very basic

understanding of who God is. But because

he hasn't made God his Lord, fully

submitted himself to him, he also makes

some really foolish decisions with

disastrous consequences. And as we look

at the consequences of conformity.

That's our our judges overarching theme.

We're going to see today in this passage

that the cure for conformity is

lordship.

The cure for conformity is lordship. So

turn your Bibles to Judges chapter 10.

Judges 10 · chapter mention

We're going to cover a couple chapters

today, but they go pretty quickly. So

don't be too stressed out about that.

Let's read God's word. Let's ask him to

impact our hearts. Amen. Amen. Chapter

10 verse one. After aim there arose to

save Israel Tollah the son of Pua son of

Dodo a man of Issachar and he lived at

Shamir in the hill country hill country

of Ephraim. And he judged Israel 23

years. Then he died and was buried at

Shmeir.

After him arose Jaair the Gileadite who

judged Israel 22 years. And he had 30

sons who rode on 30 donkeys and they had

30 cities called Havjair to this day

which are in the land of Gilead. And

Jair died and was buried in Kamo. Now if

you can read our first verse uh with a

group of junior high boys without

laughing, you win the prize. Tola, the

son of Pua, son of Dodo, Amanda Visakar.

It just it's a little a little rhy for

me, a little strange. Chapter 10 gives

us these two what what we're going to

call minor judges. Have you ever heard

of the major prophets and the minor

prophets? Do you know why they're called

that?

Because some are long and some are

short. Seriously, that's that's the only

reason. It's not because their messages,

the minor prophets messages are not

quite as important or anything. No, it's

just a shorter book in the Bible. So,

since we get so much on some of our

judges that be our major judges, we're

going to call these our minor judges.

We're going to get two here. And believe

it or not, after the story of today's uh

judge, there'll be three more which we

won't cover today, but there's kind of

bookended around this judge. And I think

there's some biblical reasons for that.

The first is very practical in that this

is a historical record for the Israelite

people, for the Jews, is it not? So even

if the author chooses not to write about

their life story, they still existed in

this spot. And so as a historical

record, it's important for them to be

there. Really practical.

I'm going to reserve my second thought

as to why these minor prophets or minor

judges are listed for the end of the

sermon. And uh that way I don't give

away the whole sermon.

Back to chapter 10 though as the

Israelites are going to begin their

cycle of sin. You guys remember the

cycle, the judges cycle. It starts with

Israel rebelling. God disciplines.

Israel repents. God delivers. So let's

see what's going to happen as far as

Israel rebelling.

The people of Israel again did what was

evil in the sight of the Lord. Does that

sound familiar to anyone? Yes, we've

seen that phrase many times.

And they served the Bales and the

Asheroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of

Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the

Ammonites, and the gods of the

Philistines.

And they forsook the Lord and did not

serve him. So the anger of the Lord was

kindled against Israel, and he sold them

into the hands of the Philistines and

into the hand of the Ammonites,

and they crushed and oppressed the

people of Israel that year. For 18 years

they oppressed all the people of Israel,

who were beyond the Jordan in the land

of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And

the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to

fight also against Judah and against

Benjamin and against the house of

Ephraim. So that Israel was severely

distressed. Now let's go back to our map

that we kind of saw in our opening uh

sermon on this series. As Israel comes

into the promised land, some settle

these uh these two and a half uh tribes

of Israel settle on the east side of the

Jordan River, which is a really big

landmark, obviously. And then the rest

of Israel goes to the west.

So, we're talking about this area here,

which the whole area is called uh

Gideon,

Gilead. Sorry, I'm getting my G names

messed up. So, this is Gilead over here.

And we'll remember too that when they

entered the land, they were having

troubles with some various people

groups. The the the Moabites,

the Ammonites, um, and the Amalachites.

These were all peoples that way back in

the history of Israel were kin. They

were family. And yet, as they came in,

they didn't want to even let the

Israelites cross through their country.

And some of them battled the Israelites.

And so um these are some of the same

people now that we see in our story

today. Then also there was a couple

people groups, the Philistines and the

Canaanites. And the Canaanites are kind

of all over in there that were not past

kin of of the children of Israel. Not

that everybody doesn't go back to Noah

and for that Adam and Eve, but not not

quite close as kin. So these are the

people groups and it talks about the

fact that they kind of were the

Philistines and the Canaanites were

attacking on this side of the river and

then they also went in and attacked

Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim. So um

the Philistines and the Ammonites right

now they're they're serious enemies and

doing some serious damage to Israel.

That phrase though of the people again

did what was evil in the sight just kind

of starts our cycle every time and it

seems to always this idolatry

um serving the gods of the people around

them. Um previously we've heard about

them uh worshiping the bales or serving

the bales and the ashtaroth but five

more gods are added to the list. It's

like as they live amongst these people

who were they were supposed to get out

of the land and they didn't. They failed

to to do that. So now they're living

with the consequences. They keep

conforming and they're just adding gods

and adding gods and adding gods. And it

says the only one that they did not

serve, the only God in the land they

didn't serve was the Lord God, the true

God, the capital G God. That's the only

one they're not serving.

I said uh that there was five more added

and we had the two before. What's that

make? Five plus two.

Seven. Seven is a very important number

in the Bible, is it not? It is the

number of

perfection completion. Exactly. There's

different ways of saying the same thing.

The the number of completion. So the

reason that the author through Holy

Spirit records these seven is to give us

this fact that they have completely

sold themselves out to these false gods.

and and and and judges has just been one

downhill slide the whole way getting

worse and worse and worse. And there's

consequences. There's consequences for

conforming to the world around us rather

than knowing the words of God, knowing

God himself, and then obeying him,

making him our Lord. This is that this

word for serve is again that they've put

these gods above themselves as their

lords and they're not serving the one

who they who they are loved by who has

delivered them so many times in the

past. And the the one true God, the

righteous God gets angry.

The anger of the Lord was kindled. Think

about stoking a flame. It's just adding

more and more to this flame and the

anger is growing and it's a righteous

righteous anger.

The one true God is not only angry but

he also still loves this people and he

loves them enough to discipline them.

And so he sells them into the hands of

these people that they want to serve.

They're gods. Okay, try serving the

people that uh invented these gods and

let's see how that works out for you.

and it doesn't work out well.

18 years is a long time. Ask any

17-year-old, they'll tell you. Or ask

any parent who has raised a child. 18

years is a long time to be crushed and

oppressed. And again, it just keeps

spreading throughout Israel. So, we've

got Israel rebelling. We've got God

disciplining.

And the story continues. And the people

of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying,

"We have sinned against you because we

have forsaken our God and have served

the bales." And the Lord said to the

people of Israel, "Did I not save you

from the Egyptians and from the

Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from

the Philistines, the Sidonians also, and

the Amalachites, and the Malanites

oppressed you, and you cried out to me,

and I saved you out of their hand? Yet

you have forsaken me and served other

gods. Therefore I will save you no more.

Go and cry out to the gods whom you have

chosen. Let them save you in the time of

your distress.

And the people of Israel said to the

Lord, "We have sinned.

Do to us whatever seems good to you.

Only please deliver us this day." So

they put away the foreign gods from

among them and served the Lord and he

became impatient over the misery of

Israel.

I can remember a story about being a

young man and uh back in the day we

didn't know that burn barrels were a bad

thing and uh we were broke so instead of

paying for garbage service I was in

charge of the family burn barrel. It was

a fun task because you know I was 10 or

11 12 and I like fire. Fire's fun. Seems

like a good, you know, good little thing

to do. So, I'd gather the burnable

things and bring it out to the uh to the

bin. And it was Dad had one of these

plastic garbage cans that uh was like

Rubbermaid or whatever, about this tall,

pretty big, but it would get full and

I'd drag it out. It would be all heavy.

On the way back one day, um you know, it

was empty, not that heavy, but I was a

boy and I'd play and do stupid things

and win stupid prizes. So, I'm just kind

of swinging like Oh, it's easier if I

swing it and use the moment. Oh, man.

Oh, yeah. This is good. So, I'm walking.

I'm swinging. I'm walking. It's just

lazy me. And I'm like, how fast could I

go? And I just spin and spin and spin.

And then I just, oh, how far will it fly

if I let go? But I'm so dizzy and so

disoriented. I have no idea which way

I'm pointed when I let go. I'm pointed

right at my own bedroom window. And she

slams in and it's a two-pane window. One

of the pants breaks and falls in and I'm

like, "No,

there's no way I'm not getting caught.

This is bad."

And so when dad comes home, I'm like,

"Dad, a thing happened." I didn't say I

did a thing. I said a thing happened.

And and the story that I decided to

share with my father was that I was

spinning around with the garbage can and

it just slipped out of my hand, Dad.

Because that makes me look just a little

bit better. You see, it was truly an

accident. I was not doing foolish

things.

And guess what? Uh I got all the

discipline because my dad did not buy

what I was selling. I was not a good

liar because I was in general a pretty

good kid. And when I was trying to lie,

he's like, "No, you were being dumb,

weren't you?"

No,

I got the punishment.

And then the phrase began to appear in

our home. Kevin, are you sorry or are

you sorry you got caught?

Because they knew I was capable of this.

And I tried to pull the over their eyes.

I tried to do this partial confession,

this partial sadness about my sin when I

or I mean this thing that happened and

tried to dress it up. They saw through

it. The worst thing that Israel can do

here is try to polish a turd.

What did they do? And they're like, "Yo,

they they try they actually use the word

sinned, which I'm glad they did upfront.

We've sinned against you, God. Because

again, a lot of times we this culture

especially, we don't like calling things

sin. We don't like other people calling

our stuff sin. How dare you? How dare

you call that sin? Well, I'm just

calling sin what what God calls sin.

That's that's that's my uh my my

objective

and the standard by which I live by. But

we we don't do well calling us sin. So,

I'm really glad they did that much. But

then they're like, you know, we serve

the bales.

How many gods did they serve again?

Seven.

They they totally sold themselves out.

They There was the the totality of the

rebellion. And God knows their hearts,

too. Because the stupidest thing you

could ever do as a believer is think

that you can fool God with a partial

repentance. This partial repentance is

not repentance. And so God comes back at

them. You've shown me the totality of

your rebellion, but you're not even

owning up to it. Then he gives them a

history lesson.

And in fact, he names one, two, three,

four, five, six, seven peoples that he

has delivered them from.

Can I remind you of the totality of my

faithfulness?

In the midst of the totality of your

sin, can I remind you of the totality of

my grace?

to save you even though you don't

deserve it. I love that. Yet, verse 13

says,

"Yet

the way that you respond to the totality

of my forgiveness is to forsake me and

serve other gods."

And so, guess what?

I'm not going to save you anymore.

Why don't you I love the sarcastic

comment, too. Why don't you go cry cry

out to those other gods? Maybe they can

save you.

God's not pleased.

And I think he's also brokenhearted.

I think he's brokenhearted when Kevin,

though he has been forgiven completely.

The totality of my sin wiped away in a

moment on the cross. Past, present,

future sins, all gone. But instead of

making him the Lord of my day, of my

hour, of my minute, of my week, of my

month,

I'm in the driver's seat going, "No,

this is where we're going, God. Let's

go.

I need to get out of that seat. I need

to get in the back seat and blindfold

myself for goodness sake, and let him be

in control of where my life is heading.

Let him be control of what I do and what

I say."

Instead of getting better and better

with each they've gotten worse and worse

and he says, "All right, I'm not going

to do it anymore." But then again, this

tough love, this discipline of the

father, seeing through it and saying,

"I'm not going to save you anymore." It

looks like in verse 15, they finally

really repent.

They literally say, "God, you can do

whatever you think is best.

Whatever you think is best, yet we're

gonna we're going to serve you." They

say, "Yes, I mean, please deliver us,

but we're not in control. You are.

The cure

for conformity is lordship."

They also even prove it. They show with

their actions what their words have just

said. They take the gods from their

homes and from their city centers and

all that and they put them away and they

serve the Lord God. Then became

impatient over their mis misery. And now

it seems he will respond.

Then the Ammonites were called to arms

and they encamped in Gilead. And the

people of Israel came together and they

encamped at Misp. And the people, the

leaders of Gilead, said to one another,

"Who is the man who will begin to fight

against the Ammonites? He shall be head

over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

So, the confrontation is brewing. Again,

it's been 18 years and they've been

whooping up. Uh, and we have not done so

well as the people of Israel here.

But the leaders of Gilead seem to be

playing a a game of not it nose goes

about who's going to be the judge.

It's not leadership at all. If you call

yourself the leaders of Gilead, I don't

see a lot of leadership. It's it's kind

of uh frustrating to me. And I'll tell

you another thing about leadership is if

you are going to follow a man or a woman

in leadership, how much better to find

one that says the Lord is is my Lord.

And and so you know as you follow that

man or woman in ministry or or or maybe

in a business venture, definitely in

marriage,

you know they're being led by the

perfect one. I'm telling you, the

chances of that marriage being wonderful

and thriving and powerful go through the

roof when they're following the Lord

God. Amen.

So, none of them wants to do it. Those

goes, "Well, no, I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to do it." Draw straws.

No, let's not do that. Uh but but

whatever. Uh whoever will do this will

make the leader some sort of leader or

rulership of whoever it is. Maybe

that'll get somebody to step up. So who

is our judge gonna be?

Chapter 11 verse one. Now Jeffa the

Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he

was the son of a prostitute.

Gilead was the father of Jeffa. And

Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And

when his wife's sons grew up, they drove

Jeffa out and said to him, "You shall

not have an inheritance in our father's

house, for you are the son of another

woman." Then Jeffa fled from his

brothers and lived in the land of Tob.

And worthless fellows collected around

Jeffa and went out with him. So we are

introduced to this man. He is a mighty

warrior, but kind of a shady past, kind

of a shady beginning. Um, let's talk

again about the 12 tribes of is of

Israel. Um, all 12, they flow from the

lineage of Jacob. Most of them are

Jacob's literal sons, but a couple of

them are grandsons.

And so, um, when they get to Israel, uh,

we get one of the tribes. Let's take one

of the tribes. Remember the one uh that

that spanned both sides of the Jordan?

It was called Manasseh. Let's take

Manasseh for an example. That was one of

Jacob's grandsons. He was a real dude.

Okay? But he was also a people. When you

said Manasseh, you thought of those born

from Manasseh. All the people that kind

of flowed. So they were a a group of

people as well. and the land that they

got as an inheritance. What was it

called on the map? Manasseh. So, in some

of these stories, we could get a little

bit confused because Manasseh is a

person. It is a people and it is a a

place. So, don't get too confused

because Gilead likewise, Gilead is a

man. He was a real dude. And we hear

about Gilead here. He's the father of

our judge Jeffa. So, Gilead, a direct

descendant of Manasseh,

is uh is now fathering children of his

own. And it's a place as well. They just

they call that whole region on the east

Gilead. And it's a people. So, it's uh

don't get too confused. Sometimes if

you're like, "Wait, what did he just

say?" You have to reread it a couple

times. And I did that for you this week.

So, hopefully I can kind of keep us on

the right track. But Gilead, even though

he's the he's the I believe the grandson

of Manasseh, so powerful family, good

family, God-fearing family, Gilead

wasn't a perfect man. And uh he

wandered. He went and had sex with a

prostitute and fathered a son.

Interestingly, he took that that bastard

son into his home, which I think is

fairly upright. A lot of times that that

kind of a child, illegitimate child

would just be banished and have no part.

But it looks like Jeffa raised or Gilead

raised Jeffa.

But his true wife also bore him sons.

And of course, there's going to be

jealousy and division. And when they

grow up, they're like, "No, we're not

sharing our inheritance with you. You're

only our half brother." And so he kind

of gets run out of town.

Now I want to tell you about the the

name Jeffa because it's important.

Biblical names always have a meaning

that kind of helps us understand their

story. It means to open up as in to open

up your mouth to speak or cry or worship

or whatever. And what we're going to see

is that Jeffa has a serious problem with

opening up his mouth to speak when it

says rather foolish things.

Jeffa again is forced out of his home,

forced out of his inheritance, got a

really bad, difficult situation that he

deals with. And I tell you what, when we

as believers go through a difficult

trial, when we're oppressed unfairly,

when we're persecuted unjustly,

when somebody is mistreating us, we we

have two choices to either run toward

God in that trial, tribulation, or

difficulty, or we could run further away

from God. And uh the way that we respond

to trials says a lot about our maturity

in the Lord. And definitely it says a

lot about whether he is our Lord, the

lordship that we are giving to him. Jeff

the unfortunately runs farther away from

the Lord as he's kind of banished out of

his family and he surrounds himself with

what? Worthless fellows who went out

with him. This is the picture of

somebody who takes on like a pirate or

raider, you know, kind of a thief, a

band of of thieves. So, picture the old

western where, you know, the trains

going by with the gold and all the

outlaws come out following one really

tough, strong guy and they rob the train

of its gold. This is the kind of life

that he chose to live, a life of

violence and a life of crime. So, it's

really sad.

After a time, the Ammonites made war

against Israel. And when the Ammonites

made war against Israel, the elders of

Gilead went to bring Jeffa from the land

of Tob. And they said to Jeffa, "Come

and be our leader that we may fight

against the Ammonites." But Jeffa said

to the letters leader or the elders of

Gilead, "Did you not hate me and drive

me out of my father's house? Why have

you come to me now when you're in

distress?" And the elders of Gilead said

to Jeffa, "That is why we have turned to

you now, that you may go with us and

fight against the Ammonites and be our

head over all the inhabitants of

Gilead."

So again, remember they're playing not

it. They decide uh we've heard of Jeffa.

He's become very powerful. He's a minor

warrior. Has all these men that follow

him. He's ruthless. He's brutal. He gets

stuff done. Yeah. Maybe his, you know,

his his birth was a little scandalous,

but this guy's a boss. We need him to be

the one that leads us into battle.

Now, comically, the way that this uh

interaction happens is very similar to

what happened with the Israelites when

they go to God. It starts with the

halfbaked ask,

the half repentance ask from Israel, and

then there's a rebuff, a rebuttal like,

"Yeah, seriously." You know, God says,

"What? You come to me when you're in

trouble and that's all that that's all

you want from me is your little vending

machine, your your emergency room. Am I

the emergency parachute? That's all I am

to you?" And then they come back with

the full ask and the full repentance and

similar thing. And it's again God

calling our attention to this thing so

that we understand when we come to the

Lord, we come to him on bended knee

giving him all the control and we don't

hold anything back. That's the recipe.

So, it's kind of a fun little parallel

there. Jeffa said to the leader or to

the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me

home again to fight against the

Ammonites and the Lord gives them over

to me, I will be your head." And the

elders of Gilead said to Jeffa, "The

Lord will be witness between us if we

don't do not do as you say." So, Jeff

went with the elders of Gilead, and the

people made him head and leader over

them. And Jeff thus spoke all his words

before the Lord at Misva.

Really cool. This is one example of a

time where where Jeffa opens his mouth

and out comes the name of the Lord. He's

the first to invoke invoke the name of

the Lord and uh and the elders are like,

"Yeah, may the Lord be the witness

between us." And then again, he speaks

all his words when he gets there before

the Lord. So, it's it's wonderful to see

that. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep

kind of going that way. And and just

invoking the name of the Lord doesn't

mean that you truly know the Lord, his

his personality, his ways, how he does

business, what he's like. You don't know

those things. When you don't understand

the Lord, sometimes you make foolish

decisions. So, before they're all

gathered for battle, uh it's looking

like it's going to happen. We get Jeff.

We get him home. speak these words

before the Lord. And Jeffa is actually

going to try the diplomatic approach

first. This this could work. Then Jeff

sent messengers to the king of the

Ammonites and said, "What do you have

against me that you have come to me to

fight against my land?" And the king of

the Ammonites answered the messengers of

Jeffa because Israel on coming up from

Egypt took away my land from the Arnam

to the Jabok and to the Jordan. Now

therefore restore it peaceably.

The first things the words that come out

of his mouth in this uh tells us that

he's embraced his new role as ruler

because we have I I I and my. Why do you

come against me? You've come to me to

fight against my land. Whose land is the

promised land? That's that's the Lord's

land. It's the Lord's people that you're

making war against. And Jeff the already

is kind of getting a little bit of a big

head in his new leadership role here.

Not a good sign. And not a good sign

that the Amorites seem to say, "No, uh,

unconditional surrender and that's all

we'll take. Well, this isn't going to

work for us." And the king is wrong on

so many of his facts that he's going to

try to correct that real quickly. Jeffa

again sent messengers

to the king of the Ammonites and said to

them, "Thus says Jeffa, Israel did not

take away the land of Moab or the land

of the Ammonites. But when they came up

from Egypt,

Israel went through the wilderness to

the Red Sea and came to Cadesh." Israel

then sent messengers to the king of

Edom, saying, "Please let us pass

through your land." But the king of

Edom, again, old old kin, old

They should be okay with the Israelites.

But the king of Edom would not listen.

And they sent also to the king of Moab,

but he would not consent. So Israel

remained at Cadesh. Then they journeyed

through the wilderness and went around

the land of Edom and the land of Moab

and arrived on the east side of the land

of Moab and camped on the other side of

the Arnon. But they did not enter the

territory of Moab. For the Arnon was the

boundary of Moab.

Israel then sent messengers to Sihon,

king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon.

And Israel said to him, "Please, let us

pass through your land to our country."

But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass

through his territory. So Sion gathered

all his people together and encamped

Johaz and fought with Israel. And the

Lord, the God of Israel, gave Si and all

his people into the hands of Israel, and

they defeated them. So Israel took

possession of all of the land of the

Amorites who inhabited that country. And

they took possession of all the

territory of the Amorites from the Arnon

to the Jabok and from the wilderness to

the Jordan. So then the Lord, the God of

Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from

before his people Israel. And are you to

take possession of them? Will you not

possess what Kimosh your God gives you

to possess? and all that the Lord our

God has dispossessed before us, we will

possess. Now, are you any better than

Bailac, the son of Zippor, king of Moab?

Did he ever contend against Israel? Or

or did he ever go to war with them?

While Israel lived in Heshbon and its

villages, and in Aror and its villages,

and in all the cities that are on the

banks of the Arnon 300 years, why did

you not deliver them within that time? I

therefore have not sinned against you,

and you do me wrong by making war on me.

The Lord, the judge, decide this day

between the people of Israel and the

people of Ammon. But the king of the

Ammonites did not listen to the words of

Jeff that he sent to him. Let me

summarize this all for you. I know that

was a lot. He gives three main arguments

of why the king of of Ammon is wrong.

The first is a historical argument. He

sets the record straight saying,

"Listen, after all the trouble we

endured trying to make way to our land

and nobody would let us go through, we

went around and around and around and

around and and we people even killed us.

They they battled against us and then

finally we we beat Sihon so that we

could go through his land and we

possessed that land because we won."

Then he goes to kind of a theological

argument and and the the assumption of

anybody of that day that served any god

was that if your god because their god

Kimosh was mentioned he's the god of

war. If your god gives you a victory in

battle he also gives you the land of

that people that that's just the spoils

of the war. And so he says again

theologically um and he's using their

theology not necessarily God's theology

but we also know that God did give them

the land. So it it works both ways but

he uses their own religious premises to

say that the Lord God of Israel gave

them the land and so that's why they

have it. And then finally he goes for

kind of a legal precedent. He says it's

been 300 years of us living in this land

and nobody's challenged us to the rights

of the land. None of these kings that

could have have said, "No, you don't

belong here." And now now now you're

telling us we don't belong here. It's

almost like a squatter's rights kind of

an argument there. But it's like this

doesn't make any legal sense either. So

whether it be the theological, the

historical, or the legal precedent

doesn't matter because the king who is

wrong uh doesn't care and he wants to

kill the Israelites anyway. And he

didn't listen. So the battle is

inevitable.

Then the spirit of the Lord was upon

Jeffa, and he passed through Gilead and

Manasseh, and passed on to Mispa of

Gilead. And from Mispa of Gilead, he

passed on to the Ammonites. And Jeff

thou made a vow to the Lord, and said,

"If you will give the Ammonites into my

hand, then whatever comes out from the

doors of my house to meet me when I

return in peace from the Ammonites shall

be the Lord's, and I will offer it up

for a burnt offering."

So Jeffda crossed over to the Ammonites

to fight against them. And the Lord gave

them into his hand and he struck them

from our to the neighborhood of Minith

20 cities and as far far as Abel Carmen

with a great blow. So the Ammonites were

subdued before the people of Israel.

We need to pay attention to the order of

events in verses 29 through31.

The first thing that happens, the very

first thing as he's going to be this

judge, this deliverer of the Lord, the

spirit of the Lord comes upon Jeffa,

infusing him with power and authority

and inevitable victory.

Then in verse 30, he opens up Jeff the

open up boy opens up his mouth and makes

an oath to the Lord.

an incredibly foolish vow he makes. In

fact, he adopts a Canaanite practice.

And then and and the Canaanites believed

and he's he's highly Canaanized at this

point. He's lived there too long. Again,

he adopted this life of violence and

pillaging and warfare and murder and

thievery. He's he's too Canaanized. And

so, the Canaanites thought they needed

to appease their gods with bribery and

manipulation. They had to get their God

to do what they wanted them to do,

which is the exact opposite of faith,

which he should have been infused with

when the spirit of the Lord comes upon

him. And and he knows now he's God's

judge. There's a history of of what nine

or 10 judges up until now. He knows what

happens. They tell these stories. They

know.

But instead of faith, he decides to make

this vow and try to bribe God into doing

what he wants.

Not only that, but the bribe that he

uses is strictly forget forbidden by

God's laws.

Whatever comes out from my house, he

says that I'm going to offer as a burnt

offering. In fact, whatever can be

translated whomever.

So his plan is to sacrifice one of his

servants or or or business managers or

somebody. He's going to sacrifice them a

human sacrifice

so that God will give him victory.

Kimosh, the god of the Ammonites, he

required human sacrifices to appease

him. So this is demonic Canaanite

behavior

that he he foolishly opens his mouth and

vows to the Lord.

Verses 32 and 33 are hilarious to me.

They go by like a blank. This is the

actual battle. This is all the author

needs to really talk about because

battle apparently even though it was 20

cities and it's this massive area and

this massive victory, he's like that's

not the important part. So he quickly

tells us that the battle is won and the

battle is not won because keep uh

because he made a vow. The battle is won

because the Lord gave them into his

hand. He gets the credit. It was not

because of this vow. And so he heads

home.

Then Jeff came to his home at Msot and

behold his daughter came out to meet him

with tambourines and with dances. She

was his only child. Besides her, he had

neither son nor daughter. And as soon as

he saw her, he tore his clothes and

said, "Alas, my daughter, you have

brought me very low and and you've

become the cause of great trouble for

me, for I have opened up my mouth to the

Lord, and I cannot take back my vow."

I have no idea why it didn't occur to

this man that it could be his only

child, a precious daughter, who comes

out to greet him first.

Perhaps he expected her to be staying

with a relative while he was away.

Perhaps it was it was like always a

servant that came first.

We don't know. But we do know the

consequences of his conformity to the

Canaanite culture around him.

Man, even his words as he finds out are

foolish. He blames her. Alas, you you

have brought me low. No, Jeffa, you

brought yourself low. You didn't need to

do that. It was sinful.

You've become the cause of great trouble

to me. No, your conformity was the great

trouble to you.

And and the consequences of conformity

often go far beyond just consequences

for me.

But when I conform to the world, it

impacts my wife. It impacts my children.

It impacts my community.

It impacts my church. The consequences

are great.

You open your mouth. And she said to

him, "My father, you have opened your

mouth to the Lord. Do to me according to

what has gone out of your mouth, now

that the Lord has avenged you on your

enemies, on the Ammonites." So she said

to her father, "Let this thing be done

for me. Let me alone two months that I

may go up and down on the mountains and

weep for my virginity, I and my

companions."

So he said, "Go." Then he sent her away

for two months, and she departed. she

and her companions and wept for her

virginity on the mountains. And at the

end of two months, she returned to her

father who did with her according to his

vow that he had made. She had never

known a man. And it became a custom in

Israel that the daughters of Israel went

year by year to lament the daughter of

Jeffth the Gileadite four days in the

year.

I was talking to my dad about the end of

Judges. She's like, I am really not

looking forward to the story of Jeff,

though. I was like, yeah, it's hard.

It's really hard. An innocent young girl

killed because of the foolish talk of

her father.

Some scholars and pastors have tried to

make the story a little bit more

palatable by saying, you know, perhaps

uh perhaps she just had to live as a

virgin the rest of her life. It talks

about her virginity twice. She had to

gave up hopes of a family or whatever.

Um, unfortunately, the text doesn't seem

to allow for that.

First of all, because he literally said

in his vow that he was going to do what?

Offer up for a burnt offering.

That's what was to be done.

Secondly, if it was simply her

virginity, why the why the two months in

the mountains?

She was either a virgin or or she was

not. She couldn't become that. And then

And then her sentence starts after two

months. Her sentence of Virginia. No,

she already was. So it just doesn't

really logically make sense either.

But here's the most difficult part of

the story.

Scholars have pointed out that there are

at least

three ways

that the law of God gave an escape to

you when you made a foolish vow.

At least three. There were three legal

options for Jeffa to not have to do this

thing. But he did not know his God. He

did not know God's words.

He didn't understand the God of grace.

First one is called the redemption of

purpose of persons in Leviticus chapter

Leviticus 27 · chapter mention

27. And it provide uh provided a

specific mechanism to buy back a person

dedicated to God by paying a specific

price to the priest was written in

there.

Atonement for foolish vows. Leviticus

Leviticus 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. If someone swears a rash

oath, they could confess their guilt,

repent, and offer a sin offering instead

of carrying out that destructive vow.

Super clear, really easy one to use. And

third, the vow itself, because it

violated Torah,

was considered null and void.

Deuteronomy 12. So,

uh human sacrifice is against the Torah.

That that is not a vow that's valid

because you shouldn't have ever made it.

And again, there was consequences. He

would have to repent. You would have to

offer sacrifices, go before the Lord,

admit these things. But because he's so

cananized that he foolishly thinks that

he has to fulfill this vow or or or

somehow heavenly father would would hurt

him or kill him or take the victory away

from him. He pridefully believes he's

got to do it so he doesn't face

destruction or maybe just so he doesn't

have to face shame.

And nobody nobody stops this man. Not

even his own daughter.

And again, she's young. She doesn't know

better. She's still a victim in this

whole thing. But I think this is a

difficult but important part of the

story of judges because again of the

decline that we keep seeing over and

over over and over till we get to this

place where they're killing their own

children.

They did not know God and they paid the

price.

Sadly, Jeff's foolishness doesn't stop

here. There's one more tragic story in

the chapter. The men of Ephraim were

called to arms. They crossed Zaffon and

said to Jeffa, "Why why did you cross

over to fight against the Ammonites and

did not call us to go with you? We will

burn your house over you with fire."

Jeffa said to them, "I and my people had

a great dispute with the Ammonites. And

when I called you, you didn't save me

from their hand. And when I saw that you

would not save me, I took my life in my

hand and crossed over against the

Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into

my hand. Why then have you come up to me

this day to fight against me?

I've heard it said before that um and

this is how I truly try to live as a

leader, that that the great leaders um

they give away the credit and they take

the blame. If something goes wrong,

that's on me. Not on my team. That's on

me. and they take the blame. But when

something goes right, they they're so

quick to point out, "No, no, this team

right here, they did that thing. They

were amazing."

But in in this scenario, this is

actually the second time that the men of

Ephraim get all hurt that they weren't

involved in the battle because they want

the glory.

We've all seen our, you know, our

politicians play this game. They they

don't want to take any of the risk up

front, but if something goes well,

they'll definitely take the credit.

And Jeffa even says, "Hey, I asked you.

I asked you to come and you didn't

respond." So, you're not going to just,

you know, not take the risk and and take

the reward. But instead of his words

swaying them, which Ephraim was kind of

swayed before by another judge, he's

he's going to go straight to war. And

everyone's they're just bloodthirsty at

this point. Then Jeffa gathered all the

men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim.

And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim

because they said, "You are fugitives of

Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of

Ephraim and Manasseh." And the

Gileadites captured the fords of the

Jordan against the Ephromites. And when

any of the fugitives of Ephraim said,

"Let me go over," the men of Gilead said

to them, "Are you an Ephraimite?" When

he said, "No." They said to him, "Then

say Shibth."

And he said, "Caleth." for he could not

pronounce it right. Then they seized him

and slaughtered him at the forge of the

Jordan. At that time 42,000

of the Ephromites fell. Jeffa judged

Israel six years. Then Jeffa the

Gileadite died and was buried in his

city in Gilead.

Israelite on Israelite carnage.

Again, this is the depths to which we

have sunk and plummeted.

Foolish, heated words that lead to

unspeakable violence on your own

countrymen.

And not only not just any country, the

covenant people of Israel.

What I found especially painful as I was

looking at the 12 tribes of Israel.

Remember, a couple of them were

grandsons whereas others were sons of

Jacob. Guess who the grandsons were?

They were the sons of Joseph. They were

Manasseh and Ephraim.

So those families should have been

closer than any other tribes. Blood

brothers they come from and they kill

each other.

There's some strange game of can you

pronounce the word because you have

different accents. Apparently that they

couldn't pronounce the shh sound. When I

was a child I couldn't say s's, L's, ps

or rs. So slippers was a very difficult

word for me.

Luckily I call them hoowi.

And to this day my mother and I, we call

our slippers our our woowise.

I don't know where I got it, but I think

it'll catch on.

But again, this this this kind of

normalized bloodshed was exactly what

the Canaanites did.

And the summary in verse seven points to

the shame of Jeffa. Verse 7 tells us he

only ruled six years, shortest of any

judge in judges.

We weren't even given the name of the

city. He gets buried in his city in

Gilead. So it's it's kind of this

unmarked grave kind of a picture that we

get which is shameful in that culture.

Unlike previous judges, there are no

years of rest for the land. There's no

peace years

at all.

And we know that he had no offspring.

His daughter was never married. And so

his family name dies out as well.

which I think is the second reason why

the minor judges are listed before and

after the contrast between those five

judges and the length of rule and the

amount of children they had and

sometimes some of them rode donkeys and

camels and such. This this again this

offspring feeling

to show the contrast of Jeff, a man who

would not bend his knee truly to the

Lord and who foolishly just opened his

mouth and said whatever he thought and

even when he did something wrong didn't

make it right. When he said something

foolish didn't make it right and spare

his own child but killed her.

Truly the cure for conformity is

lordship.

to say, "God, you are God and I am not.

You know everything. I know nothing.

You are full of grace and mercy, and I

just throw myself whatever you want to

do with me. Lord, you do whatever you

think is best, but I'm going to serve

you and serve you only."

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would

help us first of all to be men and women

of wise words and not foolish words.

Help us to be men and women who open up

our mouth less often. That as James

says, we would be quick to listen, slow

to speak, and slow to become angry. That

we may live a life that glorifies you

and that protects those around us.

Lord, forgive us for the foolish vows

we've made previously, for the foolish

things that we've said. Forgive us for

our selfishness, self-centerness.

forgive us for making you our co-pilot.

And today we bend our knee to you. We

submit ourselves to you. And we say

thank you for the forgiveness that we

have in Jesus Christ. Thank you that

he's our savior. And we also want him to

be our Lord. In the powerful and

precious name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

As you bend your knee to the Lord, let's

remember what made it possible for us to

be forgiven. And that's the cross of

Jesus Christ.

that he willingly gave up paradise in

heaven and his his authority and his his

command. He gave it all up. He became a

man and lived the perfect life that you

and I could not. And then he died in our

place that we could be called children

of God as well. We have communion tables

set up that's just a self-service

communion if you'd like to take it while

we sing a few more songs in response. Uh

we do it every week. Uh, some people

take it every week, some people do it

every other week. So, you won't you

won't stick out if you don't take

communion today. But make sure your

heart's right with the Lord. You've

confessed your sin. You've bent your

knee to him. And take that bread that

represents the the body of Jesus Christ

given for you. Go ahead and dip it into

the juice or dip it into the wine just

so we can stay sanitary with with one

cup. And thank him for the blood that

flowed for you as well.

for my

for my daily

bread.

I depend on you.

I depend on you

for the sun to rise,

for my sleep at night.

I depend on you.

You're the way, the truth, and the life.

>> You're the well that never runs dry.

I'm the branch and you are the vine.

Draw me close and teach me to

>> where the spirit

leads

as I'm following.

>> I depend on you.

I depend on you

for the victory

still in front of me.

I depend on you.

You're the way, the truth, and the life.

You're the well that never runs dry.

I'm the branch and you are the vine.

Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be

my strength, my song in the night.

Be my own, my treasure, my prize.

I am yours forever. You're mine.

Draw me close and teach me to hide.

When I pass through death,

as I enter

rest,

I depend on you.

I depend on you

for eternal

life

to be raised with Christ.

I depend on you.

Yes, I depend on you.

You're the way, the truth, and the life.

You're the well that never runs dry.

I'm the branch, and you are the vine.

Draw me close and teach me to lie. Be my

strength, my song in the night.

Be my all, my treasure, my prize.

I am yours forever. You're mine.

Draw me close and teach me to abide.

I depend on you.

I depend on you. Oh, I depend on you.

I depend on you.

How great the chasm

that lay between us. How high the

mountain

I could not climb.

In desperation,

I turned to heaven

and spoke your name into the night.

Then through the darkness,

your loving kindness

tore through the shadows

of my soul.

The work is finished.

The end is written.

Jesus Christ my living.

Who could imagine

so great a mercy?

What heart could fathom

such boundless grace

the God of aes

down from glory

to wear my sin and bear my shame.

The cross has spoken.

I am forgi.

The King of Kings calls me his own.

>> Beautiful Savior.

I'm yours forever.

Jesus Christ my livinging

hope.

Hallelujah.

Praise the one who set me free.

Hallelujah.

Death has lost its grip on me. You have

broken every chain. There's salvation in

your name. Jesus Christ my living.

Sing hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Praise the one who set me free.

Hallelujah.

Death has lost its grip on me. You have

broken every chain as salvation in your

name. Jesus Christ my living.

Then came the morning

that sealed the promise.

Your buried body

began to breathe.

Out of the silence,

the roaring lion

declared the grave has no claim on me.

Then came the morning

that sealed the proise.

Your buried body

began to breathe.

Out of the silence,

the roaring lion

declared the grave has no claim on me.

>> Jesus, yours is the victory.

Oh,

hallelujah.

There's no one who set me free.

Hallelujah.

He has lost his grip on me. You have

broken every chain and salvation in your

name. Jesus Christ my living

hope.

Jesus Christ my living.

Oh God you are my livinging

hope.

Amen.

We serve a risen savior, a victorious

one, and he deserves to be the Lord of

our lives because his is the kingdom,

his glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's

uh in our last song here, let's joyfully

give to the Lord uh whatever he calls

you to give and do so cheerfully because

the Lord loves a cheerful giver. If

you're not a member of our church or a

part of our church family yet, please

don't give. We don't want anything from

you. Uh the Lord just wants your bent

knee and we want your friendship. So

make sure you stick around for a few

minutes after the service ends.

Sometimes we just run down that hall

like you guys are in a race. So stick

around for a little bit, meet somebody

you might not know. Uh greet the

pastors, ask us any questions you might

have and let's worship.

Yours is the kingdom and the power and

the glory forever is yours. Heaven and

earth bow down now in the wonder of your

name.

Heaven is open, death is broken, and the

glory forever is yours. Nothing can

overcome the power of your name. King

above kings. All the universe will sing.

Everlasting God, you are wonderful.

You are wonderful.

And the shout of the earth will be your

praise.

God forever and a light unto all will be

your wonderful name. For the glory

Lord is yours,

God forever. All the glory

Lord is yours.

Yours is the kingdom and the power and

the glory forever is yours. Heaven and

earth bow down in the wonder of your

name.

Heaven is open, death is broken, and the

glory forever is yours. Nothing can

overcome the power of your name. King

above kings. All the universe will sing.

Everlasting God, you are wonderful.

You are wonderful.

The shout out of the earth will be your

praise.

God forever and a light unto all be your

wonderful name. All the glory

Lord is yours,

God forever. All the gloryy

Lord is yours.

the king above kings. All the universe

will sing. Everlasting God, you are

wonderful.

You are wonderful.

King above kings. All the universe will

sing. Everlasting God, you are

wonderful.

You are wonderful.

And the shout out of the earth will be

your praise.

The God forever and the light unto all

be your wonderful day. For the glory,

Lord is yours,

God forever. All the glory

Lord is yours.

Shout out of the earth be your praise.

God forever and light it unto you to all

will be your might. Your name for the

glory

Lord is yours.

God forever. All the glory

Lord is yours.

You are dismissed. Have a great week,

guys.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. N.