The Grace You’ve Been Looking For - Grateful

Hey, good morning, real life church.

How you doing this morning, man? Stand to your feet and let's

worship together. I invite you just to sing out

this morning. Get those hands going, have some

fun today. And I was buried beneath my

shame. Who could carry that kind of

way? It was my tune till I met you.

Yeah. Let's get those hands going.

Come on, join me. And I was breathing, but not

alive. All my failures I tried to hide.

It was my tune till I met you. Lift this up.

You called my. Name.

And I ran out of that grave, out of the darkness into your

glorious day. You Call My Name.

And I ran out of that rain, out of the darkness into your

glorious day. You sound good, Church.

Keep those hands going and lift it up to him.

Come on. Now your mercy.

Now your mercy has saved my soul.

Now your freedom is all that I know.

The old menu. Jesus, when I met you, woah,

what a day. When you called my name and I

ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your

glorious day. You called my name.

And I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness the to your

glorious day. Yeah, there we go.

Man, I love. This part, it just reminds me of

my own story, and maybe it reminds you of yours too.

So let's reflect and sing this together.

Goes like this. I needed rescue.

My sin was heavy. But chains break out the way to

your glory. I needed shelter.

I was an orphan. Now you call me a citizen of

heaven. When I was broken, you were my

healing. Now your love is.

And then I'm breathing. I have a future.

My eyes are open, 'cause when you called my dad, come on,

shout at church, I ran out of that grave.

Amen. Out of the darkness to your

glorious day. You called my day and I ran out

of that grave. Out of of the darkness into your

glorious day. Come on, real life church.

Do you believe that this morning?

Is that your story? Did he call you out of that

grave? Did he call you out of that pit

to give him some glory today? It's a glorious day.

Come on, let him hear him. Come on, let him hear you pray.

Come on, there we go. What a way to start a morning,

baby. Give praise back to God.

Well, hey, thank you so much for being here today, for worshiping

with us this morning. We're so glad that you chose to

spend your morning right here with us.

You are newer with us. Thanks so much for coming.

We also have a group joining us online.

Can we give them some claps here?

Let them know we love them. Thanks so much for joining us as

well. Hey, before you guys take a

seat, take about 30 seconds, say hey, give a high 5A handshake, a

hug, and then take a seat. Right.

Well, hey, if you are newer with us, if this is your first Sunday

here at Real Life Church, thank you so much for being here, man.

We would love for you just to introduce yourself to us.

You can drop that, do that by grabbing that connection card

that's on your seats. Just fill out your information

there. You can take it to the new here

booth when you leave. Just our way, turn that in

somebody to get you a free gift there.

Just our way of saying thank you.

But we would love for you just to introduce yourself to us here

at Real Life Church. And here in Real Life, we are a

church on a mission and that mission is to see people far

from God discover their real life and purpose in Jesus.

I mean, we see that weekend in, week out, we had three people

raise their hands to commit their lives to Jesus last week,

which is so huge. And that's why we do it, to see

the prodigal come home, to see the lost be found.

And we are just so glad that you joined us here on mission today.

Hey, this Thanksgiving season and we are slowing down and

discovering all the what gratefulness is in our life.

And really gratefulness is more than just saying thank you.

It's more than just a reaction. It's really about discovering

grace in every corner in every season of your life.

And if you think about just that, Jesus gave thanks just

moments before the cross. And then in our own lives,

learning how to sing and how to worship through the struggle and

through the battle. And so in this two week series,

we're really going to dive in to learn that gratefulness is more

than just a reaction, but it truly is a far better way of

life. So join me in welcoming Pastor

Sean Petrie up to the stage. He's going to give us a word

today. Good morning, guys.

Dude, today is going to be an amazing day.

Today is Communion Sunday, so it's a little different than

most Sundays. Really.

Spend some time reflecting on what the Lord's done, and I'll

say the flow's going to be a little different today.

If you haven't figured out, we just did one song, right instead

of three. So we're going to flip the

script and really lead into communion after the message.

And then it's amazing in the scripture they did communion and

then they worship through song. And so we're going to sing at

the end. Amen.

And get the Spirit moving, man, I'll tell you, worship after the

message, worship after communion it it's going to be very

heartfelt today. I would encourage you with that.

A lot of times some of you guys sneak out and after I'm done

preaching, if you do, you're going to miss out on communion

and some great worship, even through generosity.

So I'd encourage you guys, man, to lean in and stay throughout

the whole day on this. Celebrate a few things.

One last week, commitment Sunday, Come on, somebody.

It is amazing as a church, as a family to do things in unity and

do things together. And last week was not an

exception. It was so humbling as a pastor

and a leader for the cause of Christ to watch so many of you

guys dive in and say, yes, let's do this in faith for God's

doing. I'm not revealing a number yet.

And y'all look, what's the number, pastor?

But on the 14th, we're going to walk through what the Lord has

asked us to do together. So I would encourage you guys

play part of the story. Maybe you were here last week or

I saw some people took cards and say, hey, I'm going to pray

about this. I would encourage you guys.

It's going to take all of us to accomplish what God's asking us

to do. Do you guys remember our number

one goal, the primary goal? You guys remember 100%

participation. And so we need everybody to lock

hands and join this. And it's really just you ask the

Lord, It's not me asking you, but it's ask the Lord.

How can you play a part of it? You know, we've been portable

for eight years. I believe God has called us into

a permanent home and just step out in faith.

And so if you did not turn a cartoon yet and maybe you're

online as well, there's a digital commit commitment card

online. I'll say thank you guys as well

who did that? But I would encourage you guys

to play a part of the story that God has you to write.

There's be something very special one day when we open a

facility and God moves us and that I sowed seeds in that.

And so it's not about the mount, it's about us doing it together

for the Lord. And so I would encourage you

guys, there's commitment cards on the seeds there.

There's plenty of room for us to step in.

I think we had 58 families and people commit together, which is

absolutely amazing. Can you give up those 58 people?

Amen families? And it's significant, but also

there is more than 58 families in our church, Amen.

And it's something significant. We do this together.

So I would encourage you guys if you want to know more about it,

you can take the book out front or go online to our difference

maker website. But play part of the story Today

we jump into a series, a little mini series called grateful,

obviously Thanksgiving this week, Amen.

Some of y'all set don't set your goals for next year's weight

till after this week. You know what I mean?

Like it's gonna start roll you out of the house on

Thanksgiving. But grateful comes from a word

Aladdin, which is great us. And that's where you get the

English word grace, which is really amazing.

I think that gratitude and grace go together so well, and we're

going to talk about that today. Even the word gratuity comes out

of gratitude and grace, a gift freely given.

And so to be grateful is to be full of grace.

It's to be full of Thanksgiving for the unmerited favor really

of God and the blessings he gives in our life.

And so we're going to dive in just like this concept and it's

going to be just eye opening for so many of us today.

And I experienced this even as a pastor, even this last week with

our with our commitment Sunday. This is overwhelmingly like,

thank you, Lord for moving in our people.

It is extremely exciting and encouraging as a pastor and

leader, especially when we have a vision that when people say

I'm behind that and I believe in that.

So I'm very grateful for each of you that are playing a part of

the story. Amen.

It just means so, so much to me. And last week we commissioned

this Sunday out dying read a scripture from Psalm 20.

And I, I learned this a few years back, but Psalm 20 and

Psalm 21 are basically married together.

They're they're two different Psalms, but they're together.

And the way David did it is he wrote Psalm 20 because it was a

Psalm that declared deliverance and victory that was to come to

go into a battle. And I told Diane said, if we

ever go into season where we're going to step into a battle,

we're going to step into something to require a lot of

faith. And we don't Sure, the outcome

is going to be really bold. Like I'm going to declare Psalm

20 over myself and this church. And I knew at the end of the

day, Psalm 21 is coming. And so I just want to just give

you a little picture of what this looks like and this the

gratitude even that you see in this Scripture and it'll lead

all together. But Psalm 20, this is from

David. Before a battle, they would sing

this in the temple. So just listen to these words he

says. May the Lord answer you when

you're in distress. It's a good prayer.

Amen. May the name of your God of

Jacob do what? Yeah, protect you.

That's a good prayer when your back against the wall.

It's a good prayer when you don't know how, if it's going to

turn out your way. But the Lord protect us.

The God of Jacob, by the way, he said he'd never leave him,

forsake him. That's where they came from.

It's not a New Testament scripture.

It's quoted by Jesus from what God told Jacob says, may I send

you help from the sanctuary and grant your support in Zion.

May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt

offerings. May may he remember your

faithfulness and what you did well.

He just bless you, says, may give you the desire of your what

your heart and make all your plans succeed.

I love that. You know, sometimes the heart is

an interesting thing because the Bible says the heart's wicked

beyond deceit, right? A righteous heart, a heart

that's aligned with God's will. God gives us those desires and

God answers and says, God answer our prayer.

And he says, may we shout for your joy, for your victory and

lift up our banners in the name of our God.

I'm telling you man, there's going to be a day and it's not

just for our church like a building, but there's seasons in

your life, you win battles and there's a banner that's put up.

This is only Jesus could do this.

You ever been in that moment where you're praising and you're

weeping like there's there's a season for that and I think

there's a season for us in a space as well.

Like they'll be banners in celebration with the Lord has

done. May the Lord grant all your

requests. Now this I know the Lord gives

victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly

sanctuary with victorious power of his right hand, that there's

nothing stronger than the right hand of God.

It is a symbol of his strength, his power, his will, his

sovereignty. He is in charge and says some

trusts and Chariots and some trusts and horses, which was

like the other, the greatest thing in the army could have at

the time. But we trust in the what?

Yeah, the name, Lord God. Like it's at the name of Jesus

that everything changes. Like deliverance happens,

freedom occurs, captives are liberated, the the past is gone.

And you're going to see it today with Jesus, how he changes

everything. It says they brought, they are

brought to their knees and fall, but will rise up and stand firm.

Lord, give victory to your King and answer us when we call.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine an army singing

that before they went to war? That's a humble army, Amen?

Like we're not counting on ourselves.

We're not counting on our Spears and our horses and all the

different things. We're counting you, Lord, this

is your battle. Like that's a great prayer for

victory. Amen.

Because it's the Lord that wins. And the back up to 21, there's a

song of victory and it's really a song of Thanksgiving and a

song of victory. And you got to keep in mind this

song was written before they won the battle.

Like this is something they would declare and believe in.

It was like, Lord, we're trusting you in.

And you know what? We've already prepared a song, a

Psalm, and we're going to sing and we get back because we know

you're going to do it. You know, you know, you really

have some faith and you really start to understand the power of

God when you write a song of victory before you go to battle.

Amen. And so these Psalms are tied

together. It's amazing, kind of outgoing

in going of how they do it. But says the king rejoices in

what? Your strength, Lord, Like, thank

you, Lord, you did it. And that's the key.

It's the Lord's battle and it's the Lord against the glory.

He says how great is his joy in the victory You give.

Like man, your heart is so overwhelmed with what you've

done. You have granted him his heart's

desire. There it is.

And not withheld the request from his lips.

He's talking about David like you.

You gave us the victory. You gave us life.

Verse 3 says you came to greet him with rich blessings and

placed a crown of gold on his head.

He won the battle. He asked you for life and you

gave it to him. You give him length of days

forever and ever. Lord, You're in charge of all

these things through the victories you gave.

His glory is great. You have bestowed on him the

splendored majesty. Surely you have granted him

unending blessing and made him glad with joy in your presence

for the King. Look at this.

Trust in who? Yeah, that's a king.

Amen. There's a lot of people that are

small kings, but a king that trusts in the Lord, that changes

everything it says. Through the unfailing love of

the Most High He will not be shaken.

It's because our walk with God that we can walk into battle and

know the Lord's going to see us through.

Says Your hand will not lay hold, your hand will lay hold on

all your enemies. Your right hand will seize your

foes. You'll appear for the battle,

which He always does, and you'll burn them up as a blazing

furnace. The Lord will swallow up them in

wrath, and as fire will consume them.

You. A story that distends from the

earth, their posterity from mankind.

Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes,

they cannot succeed. You will make them turn their

backs when you aim at them with a drawn bow.

Be exalted in your strength, Lord, we will sing and praise

your might. That's good, Amen.

So, so whenever the Lord shows up, he already has with the

generosity of this. But when he gives us a space,

Psalm 21 is happening, Amen. Like we, we're declaring that

like we're, we're, we're following him.

We're right on the coattails of Jesus and whatever he does,

we're going to give praise and glory for his might and his

strength. But Can you imagine like writing

a Psalm of victory for your life?

Like I would encourage you, if you're like struggling walking

the Lord and you're, you're struggling to feel his presence

and you don't know what to do, I would encourage you to read a

Psalm every single day. Like if you're not in the Bible,

like this is the thing I'd ask you to do.

Just start at Psalm 1 and just read and experience the grace of

God. Not just know about it like

intellectually, but to know about it from a man who's

struggling most of the Psalms, right?

Struggling to chase down God's grace, struggling to understand

and put that grace in your life. But what it looked like for you

to write a song of Thanksgiving, a victory.

I mean that would truly trust the Lord.

And for for doing this as a pastor of this church for eight

years, some of us are still singing a song of defeat.

Some of us are still singing a song that's not victorious.

And I'm just going to play it out a few ways because I only

encourage you guys to write some different Psalms and some

different mindsets in this season.

And especially as you think about next year, like, Lord,

what would you really have to me to set free from my life?

And one of the things I see as a pastor that that we struggle

with our church has a lot of people that come from broken

churches. We, we have a lot of church

hurt. Like there's been broken

relationships. There's been severed churches,

there's been people that are just been very hurt, very

wounded. And if you've been through that,

it is very difficult because it's like, like somebody

compared last week to going through a divorce.

You have relationships, you have friends, you have so much.

And then those dreams kind of disappeared.

There's a lot of loss, there's a lot of pain.

And I've seen that. You know, I'm not downplaying

that because it's very real. It's very hard.

And I've been through that myself.

But I will say as a pastor, when you get 5 years out or you get

10 years out and you're still saying the same thing, you're

still going down the same Rd. defeat and you're on the

sideline like you've benched, but not in the game because

you're just too wounded to get back in the game.

I would encourage you that it's, it's time.

Amen. It's time to say, Lord, what did

you show me through that? Because you did not create me to

live in defeat and bitterness and to sabotage my life and to

live in trauma and to look back at my life and my past.

And it's not just church, right? Like relationships or things

that happen as kids, right? We have this trauma that we

carry and we say, Lord, I give it to you, I need victory in

this area. Like what would it look like for

you to actually write a Psalm where God gets the glory and

it's his strength that delivers and you trust in him and he

actually with belief brings you through a season where you write

a new song of victory. Now says he picks your feet out

of the mow your clay and says upon the rock and he puts a new

song in your heart and then your feet start dancing, right.

And for a lot of people like the joy's gone.

And I would encourage you that joy can be there.

Amen. It can be there and it's a

choice of victory. And today we're going to talk

about communion and we're going to talk about remembering.

What Jesus did for us and the grace he did for us.

And I would encourage you just out front of this message that

what you remember and you focus on be very important for your

lap of victory. If you look back and you see

wounds and pain, defeat and trauma and all these things, you

find all these things, but you don't remember the grace of God.

You're going to struggle coming through this, but you can Amen.

But you can so and encourage you guys, especially guys.

I mean, I've talked to people, I've came out of a church that

was the very broken situation. I would encourage you, you need

to change your song, but you got to let Satan stop having victory

in your life. Like you got to get off the

sideline and you got to step into the victory that God has

because you're creative for something more.

Jesus does not save you to make you defeated and to stay in this

this funk of defeat when he's giving you the power of the Holy

Spirit. And so I'd encourage you to take

that really seriously and do some self reflection.

And there's some great men in our church and women in our

church that I've been through a lot.

But at the end of the day, you can say God is good and I'm

stepping into my calling. I'm not holding back.

And it looks like every ways I see this with writing a song of

victory financially it it's revealing.

We can do it like a generosity initiative.

There's it's money makes things weird because it's tied close to

your heart. Amen.

And I've got guys like that, like man full of faith.

And I got guys like, hey, I'm not so sure.

And I got guys like, Oh, no, I'm not doing nothing, right?

And not even just doing nothing like people upset.

And you've got all these levels of people.

And I've seen people that want to be generous that can't

because they're slaves to money, right?

The Bible says you can't serve God and Mammon, you love the one

who hate the other or or, or love the one who despise the

other. And it's interesting because

it's the only idol that God elevates.

Money itself elevates to the position of a God like Mammon is

a false God, the Old Testament, and he elevates money to the

position of another false God in our life.

And I see this in our church, like we, we are struggling in

consumer debt. We want to be generous, but we

can't like we, we haven't owned our finances.

Like we either either make money your slave or money is your

master. There's only two options, right?

And and as a pastor, like I, I see this song of defeat like

while we try and we can't get there, we try and can't get

there. Why try again?

I don't encourage you guys that you can like, what would it look

like this next year to put yourself in the master of your

money and do some things a little differently and get some

help with that. But to pay off some debt or to

get things organized or to add a generosity line in your budget

because you know, that's what Lord asks you to do.

Like, why not? Like what's stopping you?

And I, I think we got to ask ourselves a different question.

How can I, Lord, show me how to. I desperately want that, Lord, I

know you can. So I declare that you can and

you'll have victory. And I'm going to find out.

So I'm going to ask some people around me.

I'm going to talk to the pastor. I'm going to jump in some

different life groups. I'm going to get this nailed

down because I'm not going to live the rest of my life as a

slave to a piece of cotton that are green with dead presidents.

See a lot. And I think about just a song of

victory, maybe like a more personal side of a sexual sin.

There's so much pornography and there's so much of our lives

that are given to false idols, into brokenness.

And I think Satan uses that to keep us silent and to keep us

defeated and full of shame. And what if like 26 or this next

season you wrote a song of victory?

You say, you know what, Lord, this is the season where I'm

done. Like, I'm trusting you with this

and I'm going to go to battle like for something much deeper

than anything else I could have. I'm going to go to battle for my

soul. And there's a Psalm I want to

just or Psalm. There's a verse I want to share

with you. So I found in Second Timothy

220. This verse is just like gold

says in a large house. There are articles not only of

gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, and some are for

special purposes and some are from common abuse.

You guys remember that China cabinet growing up?

You might still have one, right? Probably not full of China

anymore, but maybe it is. And you took those out for what

special uses, right? Thanksgiving and Christmas and

the other than that, don't touch it.

Stay away from it. And there's the rest of it.

It's all kind of jankety. Nothing matches.

It's just all chipped up and whatever, it's everyday use.

And that's, that's how we grew up, right?

And that's what the Bible says. It says those who cleanse

themselves from the ladder will be instruments for special

purposes. Those who cleanse themselves

from everyday use will be used by God for special purposes.

What that means is if, if you don't get your life so dirty

from all the things of the world, like if, if you don't put

yourself in the same circumstances and go to the same

things and get wrapped up in the same problems everybody else

having. If you, if you just say, you

know what? I'm, I'm, I'm better than that.

Lord, you, you call me something different, like I'm reserving

myself for marriage. Like I, I, I'm going to be pure

Lord, like I'm not stepping into all this other stuff because I

want you to use my life for special purposes.

Pull me out of the China cabinet.

Lord, that that's what you're doing when you're setting

yourself apart to God. And look what he says.

He says he'll, he's for when you set yourself apart for special

purposes, He's made you holy. Because there's this doctor.

We don't talk about a whole lot, but separation, like just

because you can doesn't mean you should.

All things are lawful, but all things are expedient.

Just because your friends do it and it's not a sin, doesn't mean

it's right. Like there's some better ways.

And you can say, well, you know what?

I'm going to kind of step into a different direction here.

Like for me, like I know everybody, the world's doing

this, but I don't care. Lord, I want to follow you and

you draw us in different lines. It says it makes you holy and

it's useful to the master and prepared to do any good work.

Like I want to be the person when the Lord says, hey, I need

somebody to step in the gap. That's the guy I'm picking.

Because righteousness and holiness and blamelessness and

pursuit and devotion, It's all those those secret self sins

that you battle that God sees and then he elevates you.

Amen. And so there's a war that we

have to step into. And I think maybe this season

that you write a Psalm of victory for yourself.

Like I'm not going to go back to the I'm not going to be the

same. Like I'm going to get some help.

I'm going to get some direction. I'm going to battle like heaven

and hell matter because I know the Lord's looking at different

hearts and I want the Lord to see mine.

And so I'm going to get pure in front of you, Lord.

Like that's just, I mean, if you want to get a great battle, plan

a victory, then set yourself apart to God, that's almost a

guaranteed victory because God protects his anointed.

God protects the righteous. God takes from the unrighteous

and gives it to the righteous. It's in the Psalms.

It's unreal what God does just with a single righteous person.

I heard this verse or this verse, this, this idea last

week, you all heard a post traumatic, right?

All the stress, right, all the, all the syndromes, all the

things. But I heard, I heard this term

post traumatic growth. I've never heard that term, but

I thought, man, if anybody should be good at posthumatic

growth, it should be Christians. I mean, we should be like the

model of what it is to get like wounded and hurt and broken, and

then the grace of God is just effectual and then we grow

through it. I mean, if anybody, Amen.

The Lord can and the Lord will. And so I'd encourage you to

write your own Psalm of victory, and I will share this with you.

Jesus actually did. He wrote his own Psalm of

victory. As a matter of fact, it's Psalm

22. It's the very next Psalm.

It's absolutely amazing. Psalm 22 is written 1000 years

before Jesus was born. It it, it's written 500 years

before crucifixion was even invented.

It was created by the Persians, not the Romans.

The Romans took it from Persia and then they mastered it.

And so this is well beyond like it's just God's sovereignty and

it and there's some of the imagery in there is verse 16

says they'll Pierce my hands and my feet.

That sound familiar, right. It's a picture of the cross.

All my bones are out of joint. They divide my garments among

them and cast lots for my clothing.

Verse one, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Like like Jesus gives the most vivid, clear, prophetic picture

of the cross ever written in Psalm 22, and it's a Psalm of

victory. Like I want to read the ending,

verse 27. It says all of the earth will

remember and turn to the Lord. That's us, Amen.

And all the families of the nations will bow down before

him, for dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the

nations. And all the rich of the earth

will feast and worship, and all who go down to dust will kneel

before him. Those who cannot keep themselves

alive, which is everybody but Jesus is all of humanity.

They turn to dust. They will bow down before me.

He says, verse 30. Posterity will serve him.

Being Jesus, future generations will be told about the Lord.

That's us, Amen. Still talking about Jesus, They

will proclaim his righteousness, which we're going to talk about

today, declaring to a people yet unborn, What's it say?

He has done it. He has done it.

You're the words. It is finished.

He wrote them 1000 years in advance.

That's amazing. And that's the greatest war cry

of all time. It's called the telestai.

It's the Greek word for it. It is finished.

What's finished? Sins finished, Amen. 1000 years

in advance. They're going to declare for all

of eternity. He did it.

He did it, He did it, Amen. How many guys are grateful Jesus

did it? Amen.

I mean, look at this Psalm and it's a Psalm that's written 1000

advance declaring the victory of Jesus.

Wow, it's amazing. I think of Thanksgiving and

Thanksgiving is born out of grace.

You got to understand some of these words of this is just mind

blowing to me. But the word to give thanks in

Greek and just hold with me here because like I'm not like, let's

go in the Greek all the time. Got a couple years on my belt.

That doesn't really much mean anything, right?

But the word to give thanks in Greek is eukaristio.

You guys say Eukaristio, Eukaristio and that the base

word of eukaristio is the word grace, which is the word charis.

If you spell it out, it's right in the middle, right in the

middle, EU, the TO, and it's eukaristio is built on grace.

It literally means to be full of grace.

Grace is what God gives us unmerited favor the love of God

common grace like we're alive like God restrains sin.

All the grace of God, but Eucharistio to give thanks is

our response to grace. So so if you're like am IA

grateful person isn't determined on my circumstances.

It's determined on the level of which I understand grace.

It's determined it's determined a level of which I experienced

grace. It's not about your

circumstances. It's about what God has done for

us. Grace is the basis for

gratitude. Think, think of all the things

we're thankful for. You're going to make maybe this

somber moment you see like a an awesome Hallmark movie this

week, right? And you're going to be touched

and you're going to start thinking about your family and

you're starting thinking about people that maybe aren't around

the table anymore. And you're going to think about

your job and your house and, and just the blessing of these other

kids that have been born. And you're going to be like a

little tear in your eyes. You think about Lord, thank you

for the life I have. Amen and and if you don't

understand that maybe you're like, well, it's hard right and

it's a difficult season, but nothing is greater than the

grace of God, no matter how hard it gets.

God's grace fills our heart full of gratitude and that's what

Thanksgiving is about is built on the very grace of Jesus's

grace act of grace. It's ever given.

So we got your Bible. Give me a Luke 22 and talk about

this great grace that God's given.

It says verse verse 7, it says then came the day of unleavened

bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

Just think about this. So we're we're leading up like

Passover right before the crucifixion.

This is this Passover has been celebrated since the Egyptians

had all their first born sons killed from the death Angel that

passed over. So the Passover is a celebration

of when the the Hebrews were free from slavery.

And so they prepare that Passover lamb, just like in the

the Old Testament where they took the the lamb and they had

the doorpost was with blood and the lentil was blood.

And the Angel flew by if the if the lamb blood was over the

doorpost or over on the doorpost and over the lentil and it

passed over and that lamb was prepared that day.

Jesus as the whole Jewish community is sacrificing their

lambs literally to prepare for the feast, for the Passover, the

day of Unleavened bread. Jesus at the upper room, He's

preparing himself to be the permanent sacrificial lamb

sacrifice for us. Like it's not an accident like

this. The minutes in the timing that

Jesus is not a victim, he's in total control of everything

happening and being our Passover lamb.

Verse 14 it says when the hour came Jesus and his apostles

reclined at a table and he said to them, I have eagerly what

I've eagerly desired. When the Lord says he's desired

something and eagerly done it, we should lean in and see what

he's really excited about. He says to eat this Passover

with you before I suffer. God himself.

The word desire actually means he desired with desire.

Like He wanted to be in that space with those disciples so

they would recognize that His suffering was for them, that He

is a sacrificial lamb, that He's going to go to the cross, that

he's going to pay the debt. And they don't understand this

yet, but he was excited with desire that they he would meet

with them and that last Passover because he was going to abolish

all of their Passover's and they know that he is a sacrifice for

their sins. Verse 16, next verse for I tell

you, I will not eat again until it finds fulfillment in the King

of God. This is literally Jesus Last

Supper we call the Last Supper, right?

We've heard of it. That's an awesome picture of the

Last Supper. They'd probably look nothing

like that, I guarantee it. But the Last Supper, this the

last time Jesus sat down and it was the Passover.

And Jesus is not going to sit down with those disciples again

in this kind of setting until the marriage feast of the Lamb

in Revelation 19, nine. That's the next time that you're

going to have the this group together in this kind of

setting. But what's amazing is we know

Jesus. You actually get to dine with

Jesus out of Revelation 2. Behold, I stand at the door and

knock and he opens in me and lets me in.

I will dine with him and him with me.

That we could actually get to sit with Jesus anytime we want

to at the table through the Spirit of God, through Jesus and

us, and actually fellowship with him in communion.

Is that amazing that God lives in US and he wanted us to know

in that last moment that he was paying for our sins because he

loved us and he's going to go to the cross in a certain way and

you're going to see it here in this next verse 17 after taking

the cup, he what he gave thanks Eucharistio.

Isn't that amazing? The cup is representation of his

blood that he's going to pour out on the cross and he took a

cup that is going to be representing him in just 12

hours from then. He's going to do false trials

and beating and scourging and whipping and mocking and

everything, and he's going to say it is finished 12 hours from

this moment and he takes that cup and he gives thanks.

That's incredible, like the grace of God is built on the

grace of God, like giving thanks to die for us and shed his blood

is the greatest act of grace. And this is what he does in the

moment of like humanity's wickedness and worst, Jesus is

still his best and shows what's in his true heart is to love us

and to give thanks for the suffering that's going to

happen. And so he said, take this and

divide it among you, for I tell you, I'll not drink again from

the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.

This is his last drink of wine, grape juice.

If you're Baptist, this is his. This is his last and he gets the

hyssop right on the cross like as a picture of him being a

sacrificial lamb in the verse 19 says he then he took the bread

and what gave thanks and broke it.

You Christio, the grace of God that that that that that bread

represent his body being broken. The Bible says in Isaiah that he

he was to the point of unrecognizable as a human is how

bad he was beaten and scorched. You were saying that you guys

didn't be the passion right? Most of you may be seen the move

the passion got a lot of Catholic things in there, but

it's pretty accurate and that movie was rated R and what that

really the movie could not be rated If you saw what actually

happened to Jesus would not been put in movie theaters and we've

lost its ability to market to the people that need to see it.

It is far worse than what you even saw in the movie.

It was derated so they could actually publish it and this was

Jesus knowing that he's going to be broken.

Jesus says Eucharisteo. Thank you father, he prayed.

Thank you that I can suffer for humanity.

The grace of God is built on the grace of God.

And then he broke it and he gave it to them saying this is my

body given for you. Remember?

This is why she excited me with them because I'm going to die

for you. He says this, do this and what

remembrance of me. There's some amazing furniture

in churches with that, that symbol Hunter, right?

You guys remember that table up front?

You guys grew up in church, do this remembrance of me, right?

And I didn't know much when I was first started going to

church. I just thought, man, that's the

place to put the casket. You know what I'm saying?

I had no idea how to do about communion.

I had no idea I was talking to somebody yesterday or Friday and

they're like, they started reading job or job.

I said, brother, it's job. But guess what?

When I first started reading it, I was looking for a job and I

started reading job. They did the same thing, right?

It's easy to do. But here, you know what the

early church called the Lord's Supper?

You guys know the Eucharist, y'all?

Maybe you're going Catholic traditions and stuff.

They're called the Holy Eucharist, the Holy give thanks.

The early church called this like the great gave thanks.

Isn't that pretty cool? Like, you know, sometimes think

communion like, Oh yeah, yeah, communion.

No, you understand, like this is 10 levels deep.

When he says do this in remembrance of me, the word for

remembrance in Hebrew is haka or zaka, and it means to bring the

past into the present. So, so when he said do this to

remembrance, it wasn't like, oh, just remember Jesus, just what

he did. Just look back every once in

awhile. What he's saying is do this

remembrance. It means re experience it like

it you just lived it again. That's a whole new level.

Amen. Like imagine you just got saved

today. Imagine you just recognize that

Jesus died for you today. Imagine you just watch God wipe

away all your sins with a giant eraser and he says I love you

and adopted you and put you as an heir to his throne.

That's what that means. Eucharist, give thanks.

And so when you struggle with I have past trauma.

I have church heard I've been wounded.

Things happen in my past. This person.

I'm not downplaying any of that, but the only thing Jesus tells

us to remember is His grace every day.

And so if your song is a song of defeat, I would challenge you

that you have no Eucharist in your life and you can afresh you

choose what you want to remember.

You don't forget. But God's grace is so much

greater. Amen.

Like I have enough mercy and grace for today and tomorrow

there'll be his own troubles. And I wake up and I say, Lord,

you got it. I trust you.

Thank you for dying for me. You never get past the cross,

Amen. You never graduate from holding

on to the old rugged cross. You can't say, well, all this

tragedy happened, all this hurt happened, all this pain

happened, but what but Jesus, Amen.

And his worst moment of suffering in pain with weight of

sin, crush on his shoulders, Father, Father, why have you

forsaken me? When he turned the Father's

turned his back on the Son and he poured out the wrath of God.

Bell says in first John 22 that he's our wrath bearing sacrifice

like he took our hell. And before he took our hell, he

said Eucharistio, thank you Lord.

And if Jesus can suffer with that kind of hell, God help me

to live like I can't break free from mine.

Amen. That's the grace of God.

And so you think about communion today.

I want you to relive it. I want you to experience it for

yourself again. It is to be the highest song in

your heart and be the greatest. Praise on your lips is the most

humbling thing in your life. There's nothing greater.

There's no weapon formed against it.

There's nobody can take it away. No matter what you've done

yesterday or how far you've ran or what's going on in your life.

The grace of God is the greatest story ever told.

And it starts with why have you forsaken me?

And it ends with He has done it. And so how you walked in today,

wherever kind of defeat like Lord, where are you?

I can't feel you. Maybe you've forsaken me.

Walk in the Tri valley. We can leave the day because of

communion. Eucharistio.

We can say he has done it. Amen.

That's the church and that's the call to communion.

That's the grace of God. And so you can write your Psalm

today. Jesus wrote Psalm 22 and then he

did it. And anything you declare, that's

the will of God, that's the righteousness of God, that's

God's will. You can just say, Lord, you got

it, You're going to do it. I trust you.

You did not make me to be defeated.

You did not put me in a grave. You did not put me in this, this

life, in this body to relive every tragedy in my life and

grow bitter. You put me in this body to

relive your greatest tragedy, which is the greatest act of

grace. So every day afresh I can

declare your glory that you've done it.

Amen. And so, Father, we come before

you. God, I pray for our church, God,

that we full of gratitude that we'd be full of joy, that we'd

be full of victory. Then this world, there's

suffering and there's hardship. But Lord, you're far greater.

And in your hardship you cried out.

Eucharistio. Thank you, Father, for the

suffering I'm going through because your grace and so they I

pray for those of Jesus followers in the house, God that

we be full of gratitude because of your grace for us.

God, if you're Jesus followed the house and God just speaking

to you, maybe a moment of surrender, maybe a moment of

saying he has done it, a moment of worship.

We just open your hands to the Lord out in front of you and say

Lord, thank you for your grace. God, a fresh God.

I have walked away of my first love, I've put my heart on

everything else, and I've forgotten what it is to live in

communion. The disciples thought they were

going to celebrate the end of slavery, but they didn't realize

they were celebrating the end of sin.

And so, Lord, every time we eat, we have the opportunity to say,

Lord, thank you. Because when I see this bread

and I see this cup and I see what you provided for me, I

remember what you do on the cross.

Lord, every single meal from here on out, I'm going to live

under the grace of God as a symbol that my life is

submission to the one who paid it all.

Lord, help us to be those people.

Lord, I'll pray for one group of people in the house that says,

you walked in and said, you know, I don't really know Jesus

like this one that died for me, that sacrificed for me.

The Bible says he gives it away as free, a free gift of

salvation to anybody that would call the name of Jesus, to

anyone that would humble themselves and say I'm a Sinner

and need of a savior. I've been writing my own story.

But Lord, you already have a story.

The story of Jesus is not taking bad people to be good.

It's a story of taking dead people to life.

It may be that you recognize that you came in here

spiritually dead, but Jesus, the only one that didn't turn to

dust, made a way for you to have eternal life.

And so if you need Jesus today, if you'd hope today, if you'd

humble yourself today, I want to invite you to do so.

If God's speaking to you, Holy Spirit's calling you to have

relationship with him, that's you.

We just lift your hand high in this place.

I need Jesus, I need this Eucharist you're talking about.

I see your hand this I need Jesus and I called out, but you

need Jesus if that's you. I'm a lead to the prayer and the

prayer has nothing to do about your salvation.

It's your heart. Just cry out to the Father and

say Eucharistio thank you for sending your Son the greatest

gift of grace who laid down his life for me, that I can have new

life today. And then I need you to exchange

all my wrongs for all your rights and declare my life it is

finished and you can leave the day declaring he did it, he did

it again. So God take my life and use it

and I pray in Jesus name, Amen. You guys give some worship to

Jesus. Come on.

Man wasn't that good. Just the idea of gratefulness,

the idea of knowing that God has your best in mind and everything

he's ever done for you has been with that goal.

So in this moment, we're going to share the Eucharist.

We're going to take a communion. And as we do it, and I loved how

Sean just framed the idea of what God's doing in this story.

And there's a moment that this that this communion references

and remembers. It's the moment that splits

history down the middle. And what I love about it is as

you read the Bible and if you want to look at it from a 30,000

foot view, is, is that everything in the Old Testament,

starting in Genesis, through the Mosaic law and the temple

sacrifices, through the Psalms that David wrote and through the

prophets like Isaiah, which we're going to read in a minute,

point to Christ, point to the moment that God and his

sovereignty picked to redeem humanity.

And I love the stories and the vision of what God laid out in

the Old Testament. And the apostles are a lot like

us. We were a little slow sometimes.

And I'll say this, the apostles, we're looking for so many things

that ultimately Jesus will bring.

They were looking for a king, they were looking for a Kingdom,

they're looking for a ruler. And that's us.

Sometimes we're looking for answers.

But in this moment Jesus says I have all those things, but what

you really need is me and Isaiah 53 five these apostles had read

this probably hundreds if not thousands of times.

But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his

wounds we are healed. So everything in the Old

Testament pointed forward and in this moment we recognize we are

now the chosen people and that people are the church people

that find their their identity in Christ.

People have given their lives to God.

So communion is this beautiful moment that we can look back to

what God did for us through Jesus, the broken body, the

covenant of spilled blood. And it gives us a unity as

fellow followers, fellow disciples.

And Paul in Corinthians, he reiterates what happened in

Luke, what we read a moment ago. And so why don't you guys read

this with me? And I'm going to break this down

just real quickly for you guys. For I received from the Lord

what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus on the night he

was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he

broke it and said this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. And Sean's 100% right when you

see what Jesus actually did in his body, it was broken, it was

destroyed, it was pierced, and all of those were for you and

that was for me. And it was to do something that

we could never do on our own. And that's what Jesus did in

that moment. He was looking forward to it and

he did it willingly. And then if you pick it up, it

says this. It says in the same way after

supper he took the cup, saying this is the cup of the new

covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it

and remembrance of me. And whenever you eat this bread

and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes

to spill blood. The whole Bible, the whole

sacrificial system, points to the problem of sin and death.

And it can only be fixed with a price.

And the price isn't anything that you've done or anything

that I can do, other than accepting what God's done for us

in that moment. And his Son, his, his blood

covers the sin of all of us. Anything you've ever done in the

past, anything you ever do in the future.

And so in this moment, this communion, it's so significant

for so many different reasons. It is a time of remembrance.

It's a time of reverence. The Corinthians messed this up

so bad is that they took this as a common meal.

And so Paul had some admonishment for them that says

you need to take this in a worthy manner.

So in, in, in a moment here, we're going to take a moment of

self examination where you come before the Lord.

And if there's anything you need to lay out before God, something

that this standing between you and him a way that you may be

divisive or or maybe there's some hurt, there's some sin in

your life that you need to give God.

This is the time to do it. And communion is also for those

of us that are that are not only in this body here in this

essence of this church, but for disciples.

So if you have never made that decision, this moment is is for

family. So I would encourage you to take

this on a worthy manner. So be a disciple, be a follower

of Christ, and then in this moment, take whatever you have

before God. And then finally, as we do it,

remember this is a moment of unity.

The church throughout the centuries, throughout the

generations have taken this every time as remembrance of

what God did and how it unites all of us, past color of skin,

past financial situations. This is what divides not doesn't

divide that unites us either male nor female, slave nor free,

Greek or Jew. So I'm going to encourage you

guys in this moment, for the next 30 seconds, come before God

in a silent moment of just remembrance and just self

examination. All right, would you guys go

ahead and stand your feet as we enter into this moment of being

grateful for the thing that God has done for us?

I'm gonna echo something that Sean said.

It's beautiful to see God's people called to a common

vision, called in unity, not in any one thing that we all have

individually, but in the mission of what God's given us as a

people. So in a moment, I'm going to

pray. And then after I pray, I'll have

you guys come down. You guys will come down this

the, the, the middle aisles, You'll come up, you know, take

communion, you'll take the bread.

And then if you want wine that's on the outside, juice is on the

inside, and you'll have a moment to take communion.

And as you finish, go back out the outside and come back in.

Would you guys pray with me? Got to stand here in a moment of

humility. You got to think of the things

that you that you have designed and built for us.

God, just thank you for your plan to take a chosen people, a

royal priesthood that you called the nation of Israel to bring

forth your Messiah. And the Messiah is Jesus.

God thank you for the life that he lived, his death, his burial,

his resurrection. God, thank you for this moment

that as as a people of God, that we can come together in

remembrance of what you have done for us.

God help us to not take this moment lightly.

God, help us to remember the sacrifice that it cost you to

redeem each person here because you love each person here.

And God, finally, thank you for the the significance of the

unity of your church in the way that the world tries to divide

and separate us. God, this is what we are united

in, in remembrance of your love for us and your calling for us

on our lives. So God, I pray for the broken,

the broken body. God, I pray for the spilled

blood. God, just thank you for each one

of those sacrifices you've given each one of us.

And God, as we take these elements and remembrance of what

you've done for us, God, help us to not take this lightly.

God, thank you for everything you've done that we pray this in

Jesus name, Amen. Would you guys come?

Take the bread of life broken for all my sin, your body

crucify to make me whole again. I will recall the cup poured out

in sacrifice to trade the sinners in for your new

covenant. Hallelujah.

I live my life in remembrance. Hallelujah, your promise I won't

forgive our salvation with fear and trembling.

You're way born as my own, as Christ is formed in me.

Hallelujah I live my life and remembrance.

Hallelujah, your promise. I won't for you.

Never I should lose my way. If ever I deny your grace.

Remind me of the rise you made. Hallelujah I.

Live in remains. Well, we thank you,

love. You've been so, so good to me.

Good to know. You've been so, so good to me.

Oh, to me. Where I would be if not, If not

you, 'cause you've been so, so good to me.

You've been so, so good to me. Don't you know where I would be

if not for you, If not for you? That you've been so, so good to

me. You've been so, so good to me.

All the sides reach from the depths as far as E is from the

West. So far, Your grace, eyes can't

read me until I see you face to face.

Until and last I've won my race. Remind me you're not finished

yet. Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

Hallelujah. I live in Riemann.

Let's continue worshiping day. Rumors are the Son of Man,

stories of the Savior, holiness with human hands, treasure for

the traitor. No, we had heard.

No, I had seen the image of the Father until heaven came to live

with me. A rescue alike no other.

Let him hear it. You are worthy.

You are worthy of your name. You are worthy.

You are worthy of your name, my Jesus.

You did not speak, you made no sound.

You died for your accusers. That's you and me as you belong

fell to the ground. You redefined my future every

step. From the day that you rose,

darkness rain from the cover for the King of Kings, His planes,

his throne now. And till forever you are worthy,

You are worthy of your name. You are worthy, You are worthy

of your name. Jesus, we.

Trust you, we believe, who say you are.

You're my helper, my healer, my blessing, Redeemer, my answers,

my saving grace. We're not done yet.

You're my hope. In the shadows, my strength in

the battle, my anger for all my dears.

And you stand by my side, and you stood in my face.

Jesus, the one name only, Jesus, the one name.

You are worthy. You are worthy of your name.

You are worthy, You are worthy of your name, You are worthy so,

and God you are worthy of. Your name, yes.

You are worthy of you are worthy of your name.

Always they know you lay brought my heart up out of the crowd.

Let him erase my worthy. You are worthy of your name.

You are worthy. So worthy God, you are worthy of

your name, Jesus. Come on, let's give God some

praise this morning. I mean, he's so worthy of all of

our worship, of all of our praise.

Man, you guys can take a seat. Man, just such a reminder today.

Just the power of God's grace in our lives and how we can live a

life that is grateful man. Some of you recognize today for

the first time the grace that God has given you in your own

life. And you raised your hand during

that prayer and you committed your life to Jesus today.

And if that is you and you prayed that prayer, raise your

hand. We are so excited for you as you

are taking your first steps with your with Jesus today.

We got a couple things for you. If you would grab that

connection card for all your information there on the top,

but make sure to check that box that says I committed my life to

Jesus. And you can drop that in the

giving buckets as they pass here in a few minutes.

But just by doing that allows us to get you a couple things that

we know will just be a blessing to you this week.

The first one just a free book. It's called Begin, but it is a

really powerful a read and will help you in your next steps with

Jesus. Also, as you exit the worship

center, there's a table with some red bags inside is a free

Bible just for you and a few other resources in there for you

as well. We would love to get that to you

this week. And if you are newer with us at

Real Life Church, if this is your first Sunday here with us,

thank you so much much. We are so glad that you are here

today. We've been praying for you and

planning for you for today just with you in mind.

So thank you so much for being here.

We don't want anything from you today other than this.

And that's just to introduce yourself to us.

And you can do that simply just by grabbing that same connection

card, fill out your information there.

And actually you can take it to the New here booth as you leave

the worship center, just to your right, there's a smiling face

there that would love to introduce themselves to you as

well. And just to get you a free gift,

just our way of saying thank you so much for being here today.

And I just get to echo what Pastor Sean had shared earlier

in the message. I just want to say thank you to

those of you who turned in commitment cards last week.

I mean, so far we've had 58 individuals and families commit

to be difference makers. Can we give them a hand this

morning? So good.

Yeah, thank you so much for those of you who stepped in to

do that. Man, there is still room for you

to jump in. Maybe you just weren't here last

week as some of you I know took that card.

You weren't prepared last week, so you took that card home this

week and we're going to pray over it.

Some of you are joining us online.

We love you guys. By the way, you're joining us

online. I mean, there is still time for

you to give. And so I invite you to turn a

commitment card in today. You can do that just a few

minutes as the buckets pass, you can drop a commitment card right

in there. You can also scan the QR code

that's up on the screen. That'll take you to our

difference Maker website and on there is a digital commitment

card as well that you can turn in that way.

And then this is all about 100% participation.

There is room for all of us here just to get behind all that God

is doing and we are excited to see what is next for real life

church. And that's why over the next few

weeks as we continue to collect commitment cards, we are going

to celebrate all that God has done together on Sunday,

December 14th for Celebration Sunday.

Man, it is going to be just an amazing day and we're still

working through the numbers, but man, that is the day where we

get to share that committed pledge and just be excited for

all that God is going to do through that.

Also, that's the first Sunday that we get to come together and

give together as a body of Christ towards us.

Difference Maker initiative and so on that Sunday the 14th,

we're just asking that you'd bring that stored resources gift

so we can give 1st and kick off this difference maker

initiative. It is going to be so amazing to

see what God is going to do through that And hey, if you

call real life church home, there are a lot of ways that you

can give you can check it out up there on the screen.

You can text to give, you can give cash or check in the

envelope or in the buckets that they pass here in just a few

minutes. You can head over to our website

to give. There's also a giving box in the

back if that's more convenient for you as well.

And as those buckets pass here, and just just a minute, if you

and your family find yourself in any kind of immediate need this

week, maybe it's food or it's shelter, it's clothing, would

you please reach into those buckets and grab any loose cash

that you see in there just so that we can be a blessing to you

and your family this week. Man, what a blessed day.

Did you guys enjoy that? Man, just the attitude of

gratitude is the heart of the, the people of God.

And I love how I don't care what biblical writer is, but

especially Paul, he almost ends and he almost begins and ends

every one of his letters with a thankfulness to God's heart.

So man, I can't wait to, to, to keep in in this series.

Hey, once you guys mark a couple things in your calendar.

The big one is I know for all you Christmas people, it's

almost Christmas. We're not Thanksgiving out.

But once you mark your calendar for Christmas Eve, man, we

always kill it here. So we're going to have Christmas

Eve service at 2:00 and 4:00 before I start inviting your

family and friends. Can't wait to hang with you, you

guys. I'm really looking forward to

that. Hey, I want you guys just to

just to be ready for next week. We're going to continue this

idea of gratitude and I can't wait for it to see what Pastor

Sean builds on from this week and just to just keep pushing

our hearts forward just to be thankful for what God's got for

us. I want to, I want to pray or I

want to give you guys the scripture and just read it over

you guys as you guys get ready to go out of here.

And this is comes from Colossians and this is one of my

favorite books from Paul. This comes from Colossians

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. And I want you guys to think of

it, and as you guys are heading out over a lost and dying world

and take this really to heart and what Paul's speaking to even

us today says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and

be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell

among you richly. And whatever you do, whether in

Word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving

thanks to God the Father through him.

Amen. You guys need prayer.

Yeah, Amen. Amen.

If you guys do prayer for any reason, whether it's as a

family, as individuals, we'd love to pray with you up here.

Come pray with an elder. Can't wait to see you guys again

next week and 9:00 or 10:45. And as always, remember, whoever

finds Jesus discovers real life and purpose.

This is the end of this podcast, we hope you've enjoyed it.

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