Proclamation

Oh I'm glad you're here.

Uh Courtney and Bethany, if you're here, I'll really be glad if you come up here.

Woo-hoo.

Um as Adam is I'll give this to one of you.

It's uh juiced up.

Yeah.

As uh Adam, you guys can come up like all the way up.

Oh yeah.

Jesus says come up higher.

Um as Adam's uh said last couple of weeks, we're kind of doing a renewed push on our life groups and inviting people into community in an intentional way.

And so we've heard some testimonies and we want to hear this morning from Courtney and Bethany as they lead the co-ed uh um young adults group.

Yeah.

They just want to make sure just because it's two women folk up here, you don't think it's all women folk.

It's men folk and women folk.

That's enough for me.

Please go.

Yes, well, good morning.

Um as Randy mentioned, my name is Courtney Kane, and this is Bethany Harding.

And we co-lead um a co-ed, Young Adult Life Group, and we meet every Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Um and we have a slogan.

Um, so if you're part of our life group already, you're probably like, oh, we've heard this so many times.

But it really is the core of what we are as a group, and it's come when you can, leave when you need.

Um and that's really important to us because um I think what makes our group special is um you can come just as you are, and you are deeply seen, deeply known, and loved deeply just as you are.

Um, and no matter how long you stay.

And so on a typical Tuesday, um when we meet, it's usually at my house, but sometimes we rotate to other homes as well.

Um, you'll find snacks and hanging out, um, followed by Bible study and discussion.

Um we're currently in a study um going through names for God um in Hebrew and Greek, um, which sounds kind of boring, but we are learning who God says he is, um, how his heart and character can be revealed in his names, and what that means for how we actually live in our day-to-day lives now.

Um we also kind of end um the group by just practicing the art of noticing, um, paying attention to where God has been present and moving in our lives, and then close in prayer.

Sometimes it's corporate, um, sometimes we lay hands on each other.

Um, it just depends how the spirit moves, um, but the Lord is always present in it.

Um, we just started in January, um, but since that time, so the last nine months, we've celebrated one salvation, one rededication, two physical healings, and countless emotional healings.

Um so beyond the logistics, we just really want to open up to why life group is so important, not just young adults, but any life group, uh, why you should get involved.

Uh, but we're gonna use ours as a testimony to that.

So speaking of ours, um, it really has been a place for fellowship and friendship.

Um, we have so many uh parts of our life group who have just been seeking community and have been able to find it.

Um, and we're more than just a community for each other.

It's more than just fellowship.

We really are friends.

So beyond our Tuesday meetings, we are truly doing life together.

We go to the movies, we do Survivor Night, we go rock climbing, we go to concerts.

Um, so we really are living living life together.

And so um kind of with that in mind, um, we asked some of our members of our group just kind of like what their experience has been.

And so something that they uh share consistently is that by walking in life with fellow believers who are open, sharing their struggles and seeing them grow reminds them that they're not alone.

Um so we don't expect people to show up perfect or with a facade, um, just truly to come as they are.

Um, and in general, um, we truly believe like we're not created to follow Jesus alone.

Um, He designed us um to be in community, and that's what we desire for all of you.

Um we need people who know us and love us, but also will sharpen us.

Um, people who will celebrate with us, help carry our burdens, and join us in prayer and continually point us to towards God no matter what's going on.

Um in praying over some scripture that was applicable to why life group is important, we kept coming to Matthew 18, 20, where two or three gather for my name's sake, there I am amongst you.

Um I think our life group is really the a testimony to that, that we are really walking out the body of Christ.

And so um just to wrap up here, um I've been a part of and led multiple groups throughout the years.

Um, Courtney has been in some groups as well, and we can say that this isn't just about our group, um, that this is possible with any group.

Um, don't get me wrong, being in close relationship with people is hard.

Okay, it's gonna cost um you're gonna have compromise and sacrifice, but it is always worth it.

Um if you aren't currently in a life group, we hope you'll take some time to explore the options that we have.

Um, after church, most of the group leaders that are open currently will be in the back of the room.

Um so please take some time, read through them, talk to people, um, find a place to get plugged in.

If for some reason you don't see a group that you feel like that's the fit for me, um I would challenge you to take some time to pray about it and see if maybe God's asking you to step up and start a group of your own.

So thank you.

Guys, wait, stop, wait.

Yeah.

All right.

I just want to pray for you guys and bless what God's doing in your group.

And uh seems appropriate that maybe anyone what's the definition of young adult, 18 to 30, 45?

No, we don't really put a cap on it.

Technically, we were told 18 to 40.

We have someone who comes that's 43.

I mean, so it's grace, lots of grace.

Okay.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 43, 83, 43, would you stand?

Because we want to pray for you too.

If that's your age group, just stand.

All right.

Well, how about us?

All right.

If you're over that age, would you reach your hand towards one of them or towards uh Courtney and Bethany?

Let's just pray.

We thank you, God, for what you're doing in this group.

Thank you for Bethany and Courtney's leadership and for your grace upon them and just the obvious unfailing love that flows in and through them.

We thank you for this group of people standing here in our midst.

These are brothers and our sisters, and ask that you would bless them with exactly what Courtney and Bethany talked about to be known, to be seen, to be deeply loved and connected.

So, God, let your grace of community fall on us, and we ask in the name of Jesus that you would lead each of us to that place and space of grace in our own lives.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right.

Thank you, guys.

Awesome.

Seems like we just planted a young adult church right there.

That was fun.

How was that?

Everybody doing okay?

As far as you know, we'll wait till I start talking.

Um My name's Randy.

I'm uh pastor of Formation in Prayer here.

Um often when we gather, God, God is always speaking, but sometimes when we gather, God seems to speak specifically for encouragement for someone.

And my sense was that God gave me a word of encouragement for someone specific.

Um, so I'm gonna be sort of bold.

And I I don't know if I've met you or not before, but um the woman in the white and the man in the sort of dark, yeah, the one who's looking at me like, are you kidding?

That one?

Yeah, would you mind would you mind standing?

Yeah.

I won't embarrass you, I promise.

I don't I don't know if we've met.

What what are your names?

Ron.

Ron and Debbie.

Okay.

Have we met before?

I don't remember.

Okay.

Um, well, it was specifically for Ron, but I I just in my brilliant brain, I connected the two of you together.

So um I was just looking, just as we started to worship, and I saw you, Ron, and I just saw this picture.

You were running off the end of a diving board, fully clothed, and splashing into the water.

And it was deep blue water.

And um the the verse that came to my mind was Psalm 42.7, where it says, Um, deep calls unto deep.

And my sense was it was a real significant invitation for you right now, um, sort of loving, faithful abandon.

That um, I mean, even this kind of like you know the pool, maybe you even helped build the pool, but the Lord's inviting you to just play in it, just to literally jump into grace, and that there's some depth of you that the Lord wants to connect with the depth depth of him.

It seems like a special invitation.

Does that make any sense to you?

Okay, sure.

All right, can we pray for you?

All right, and your name was Debbie?

Okay, yeah.

Lord, we thank you for Ron and for Debbie.

We thank you that you brought them here this morning, and that Lord, in your love, you're extending this really gracious invitation to dive in, to jump in with reckless abandon, every part of them to experience a deep and refreshing place of grace.

And we ask, Lord, that you would um let that be in their lives.

You bless them, God, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks for letting us pray for you.

Yeah.

Uh as I was praying this morning, I I did sense that today there's kind of a theme of an ex of a of an invitation of grace, that there's an extension of grace.

And a lot of the words that were given during worship for the to the discernment team were about invitations, were about like the doors open.

Um, even one picture of even as you turn uh yourself towards the open door, the Lord Himself is always already running through it to you.

That that's how wide and deep the invitation of grace is today.

And um though uh as I was praying that and all that came, I realized that's not exactly the emphasis of this message that I'm giving this morning.

I think it's the overarching uh theme of the morning is that extension of grace.

And um, I'll have a few more things to say at the ministry uh time about that.

I think the Lord gave me another word for all of us that we're invited into.

But we'll hope that the words between now and then are also Lord's that words that the Lord's given me.

We're in this uh series called Already and Not Yet, and Adam has been talking about the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth by Jesus.

That the kingdom has come, and so we see the power of God and the rule and the reign of God.

Adam defined uh the kingdom of God as the active rule of God in the world, God's rule and reign.

And so we're seeing that.

We know that that's present.

When Jesus came the first time, he said the kingdom is here, and at the same time, we we recognize that the world does not live under the uh the full lordship and leadership of Jesus.

Horrible, rotten things happen, and horrible, rotten people do horrible, rotten things, and sometimes those horrible, rotten people are us.

And so the kingdom is here, but the kingdom is not here in its fullness, and so we live between the times.

Jesus has come and he brought his kingdom.

Jesus is coming to bring the completion of the kingdom, and we live right there, I think as Adam said, like between D Day and VE day.

The war is won, but we're still after it.

Sort of uh God is cleaning up things, and eventually when Jesus returns, he will make all things right.

He will redeem all things.

So part of that is uh Adam talked about his releasing the captives, deliverance, freedom in our lives from Jesus, in Jesus, and through Jesus.

So uh we're gonna talk this morning a little bit about proclamation of that kingdom.

Uh it was probably 34 years ago I preached my first sermon, at least my first official sermon.

I had done some speaking in the ministry context.

I had actually spoken quite a few times to a group of junior high students while I myself looked and felt like a junior high student, though I was married at the time.

The very first sermon I remember, I was in a homiletics, that is, practice of preaching lab at Trinity um seminary, and uh I had a three-piece suit on, uh pinstripe, if I remember correctly, pretty snazzy.

And um and uh I was giving a message.

Why I even remember the text, I don't know, but it was Ezekiel 34, I guess one of the texts that has been important to me for a long time.

So anyway, I'm standing up, I'm giving this message, um, I'm sweating profusely, and I'm standing in front of 10 other seminary students who are not in three-piece suits, who are not sweating profusely, who are not about to have a panic attack, who are not about to uh empty the contents of their stomach and run from the room.

Nevertheless, they're looking at me quite smugly and judgmentally, even realizing they're up next.

That was the context of my first sermon, and what it was really what I remember about it is just how scared I was.

Just like the the feeling of how many things could go wrong here.

Jesus' first sermon was a little bit different than that.

Jesus may have been sweating, it was hot.

I doubt there was a sense of fear.

There was there must have been this boldness, this like, wow, I could judge, but I will not judge.

And as the judge in the end, I'm about to release grace to the world by announcing the kingdom.

Jesus' first message, I will also point out, had three points.

It's in the text, I'm just saying.

Pretty short, very clear, three points, followed by a ministry time.

He must have been a vineyard guy.

Because right after Jesus preaches his his very short, very clear first message in the in the ensuing days, he goes to Capernaum and he begins to demonstrate the kingdom that he's just announced.

And uh a man is demonized and he delivers a man from a demon.

In other words, he proclaims the kingdom is here, and then he demonstrates that by saying, Oh, by the way, you're free.

No longer held in captive in uh captivity by the enemy.

The context of this first message of Jesus, Mark chapter 1, is where we're headed.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

You can turn to it.

It's just two verses.

Mark 1, 14 and 15.

You won't see any slides uh intentionally because Jesus didn't need slides.

And also I didn't get them to the person in time.

But mainly, Jesus didn't need slides.

So Jesus uh has just been baptized by John, he's just been led into the wilderness after the Spirit of God descends upon him.

He's been led into the wilderness to be tempted, and there um he uh defeats the enemy really in temptation and walks out of the wilderness strengthened, ready to begin his ministry by proclaiming the kingdom and demonstrating the kingdom.

So John has gone to prison and Jesus goes to Galilee to begin, and here's what the scripture says Mark 1, 14 and 15.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

The time has come, he said.

The kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the good news.

Title of the sermon The Time Has Come.

Three points, repent, the kingdom is here, repent, believe the good news.

It's it's the essence of Jesus' gospel proclamation.

I mean, every other thing that he says and does comes from this first message.

The kingdom is here, repent, reorient, reorient yourself towards the reality of the kingdom, and then believe the good news in an ongoing way.

And Jesus later will say, Hey, this ministry of the kingdom that I've had, I'm giving to you.

And so we carry it.

And so today we talk about proclamation.

The message we proclaim in kingdom ministry is the kingdom is here, so wake up.

Repent, reorient your life towards the reality of the kingdom.

Live your life as if the kingdom of God is present, God's active rule in your life, because it is.

And believe in an ongoing way, believe the good news.

In other words, keep waking up to the presence of God and keep repenting in an ongoing way so that what you proclaim is actually good news, and it goes through you to the world.

The world desperately needs to know that the kingdom of God is present.

They know all about the other kingdom.

That's declared over and over and over again in our world.

The world around us needs to know that the kingdom of God is present.

The world around us needs to know that there's an opportunity to turn.

Not repent like turn or burn, but repent like, hey, guess what?

Jesus is here.

And as you turn around, that open door you see, he's running towards you through it.

That's what the kingdom is like.

The king chasing you down with goodness and mercy.

And believe in an ongoing way.

This is what we get to live in.

Ongoing waking up and ongoing repentance, so that the the kingdom is proclaimed in the world.

Not just here on a stage, not just in an evangelistic crusade, not in just a ministry setting, but in your life, which is a ministry setting, every single day where God is present.

We better pray.

Don't think the sermon's over just because I'm praying.

It's just starting.

Thank you, God, that you're here, you're present, your love is abundant.

Psalm 33, 5, it says, the earth is filled with your unfailing love.

So we rest in that.

That truth, that reality right now.

God, it that as we sit here, this place is filled with your unfailing love.

Lord, if there is anything hovering around in our minds, in our hearts, even we feel in our body, that is not a demonstration of kingdom love, we just ask, Lord, that you would blow it away.

You'd fill us again with that sense of your love and your peace.

That this kingdom of God would come down upon us as Paul described it righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit for the sake of Jesus.

Amen.

So my intention is to replicate the first sermon of Jesus.

Um brief, concise, without a whole lot of sweating.

So guess what?

I got three points.

Like Jesus.

And the the call of uh the call of Jesus as he announces the kingdom is wake up, it's awareness.

You know, he he begins with, hey, the time has come.

Like, and that's a big that's a it's a big announcement for Jesus.

The time has come.

Not just this kind of time, a time has come.

The kingdom of God is here.

Like here's a whole new thing that's happening in your world.

And the reality is it is here whether we know it or not.

Whether you sense the kingdom of God, the active rule of God in your life every day or not, the kingdom is present.

It's it's um, you know, Jesus at first he says it's it's near or it's at hand.

As if you can just imagine, where's the kingdom?

Just put your hand out, it's right there.

Where's the kingdom?

Put your hand here.

It's right here.

The kingdom of God is that present.

That's just truth.

Whether we live with it, believe it or not, the kingdom of God is here.

The action of God's rule, the rule and reign of Jesus.

And the kingdom of God is an eternal reality.

It's always been, but when Jesus comes in Mark chapter 1, he announces it as manifest in present time.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

So the kingdom is an eternal reality.

It's not like Jesus said, What are we going to do to do today?

Let's make a kingdom.

Boop.

No, Jesus is the king over a kingdom that is eternal.

And what's so significant about this first message is he says that that eternally present kingdom is now presently manifest in your life.

This is a change of order.

This is a whole new season.

And Jesus' call is wake up to God's presence because God is present everywhere.

Psalm 139, David says, Where can I go from your spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

Sometimes we feel that when we're feeling under Conviction or feeling condemnation, like, oh God, how do I get away from you?

But that's not what David's saying.

David's saying, is there anywhere I could go?

Is there any horrible thing that could happen?

Is there any place that the enemy might drive me where you wouldn't be present?

And the answer is no.

There's nowhere.

You literally can't sin yourself out of God's presence.

It can't be done.

I'm not suggesting you attempt it.

But it can't be done.

And any gospel that says that somehow what I do prevents God from being who He is, I just have to say is a false gospel.

That was pretty bold.

That wasn't in my notes.

We'll have to check that one afterwards.

God is always gracious.

God is always compassionate.

God is always seeking the one who's lost, even the one who's running away.

Because God is present everywhere.

It's a declaration that Jesus made.

The kingdom is here.

And so a major part of our proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom is simply the presence of God.

It's why it's one of it's our main value.

The presence of God is value number one for the vineyard.

What else do we have to give if God isn't here?

That's what the Israelites, it's what Moses said.

God, if you don't go with us, basically, don't send us because we're toast.

And what does God promise?

I'll be with you.

And Moses says, then I guess I'll go.

God's present.

God's presence is what we carry.

I think even as a vineyard church, it's one of our gifts.

It's it's a it's something we get to steward is the presence of God among us.

The action of God's rule in our lives has now come to the earth.

And so where God is, the kingdom of God is.

Where the kingdom of God is, the king is.

To me, what that means is every attribute of God is available to us at every place in life.

And just think through sort of the mathematical progression.

If God is everywhere and God is who he is everywhere he is, then everywhere in my life, every attribute of God is accessible.

That means if the kingdom of God is here and the king is here, then the love of the king is always present.

If the king is here, then the peace of the king is always present.

If the king is here, then the justice of the king is always present and accessible.

Yes, there's a part of our cooperation.

If the king is here, then every attribute of the king is present in our lives.

So, audience participation, what attribute of God would you like to see more present in your life in your community?

Shout it out.

Peace, reconciliation, joy, healing, love, breakthrough, faith, righteousness, justice, joy, mercy, it seems like we could go on for a while.

And all of these are attributes of the king exemplified by Jesus, every single one.

So what that means is I mean, just think of the faith that rises when we walk out into the world knowing that the kingdom of God is here, the king is present, and every attribute of the king is accessible to me today.

I mean, what a relief to know that you don't go into that work meeting alone, but that the king's justice and peace and truth and righteousness is all available there.

There is a cooperation piece.

We just can't go presto changing, you get to be changed.

But when we open ourselves to the presence of the king, we open ourselves to the power of the king and what what the king wants to do in our settings.

Jesus began by proclaiming, the kingdom of God is here, the king is present.

It's a whole new time.

And his encouragement to us, I think, is wake up.

Wake up.

I think he would say to us, to the vineyard, to me, to Randy, wake up.

Are you awake?

Do you realize not just here, are you recognizing in your life the presence of the King that God is here and active?

Jesus' second point, one word, a hard one, a command, repent.

Repent.

Matthew asked for a Greek word, okay, Matthew, metanoia.

There you go.

You got one.

The Greek word for repentance, just to just to turn around, it's a change of mind.

It's a different way of looking at the world.

It's not just intellectual, it's a whole life change.

It's a reorientation, I think, is a good way to look at repentance in the New Testament.

So Jesus says, repent.

If the kingdom is here, if God's active rule and reign is present in your life, then turn around and reorient your life towards it.

And even in preparation for the message, I'm just thinking, God, what where are there places in my own life where I need to reorient my life, my mindset, my thought patterns to the reality that you're present?

I mean, I just literally get a sigh of relief.

I'm not alone.

Some of you carry that same sort of deep wound like I do, like, God is big and great, but I'm but I can't find him, I'm on my own.

Well, you're not on your own.

So we get to change our mind about the way we walk in the world.

This is a message that's for us, but it's also a message that goes through us.

Because God gives us ways to proclaim repentance to the world without judgment, without condemnation, without self-righteousness.

In the early 60s through the mid-70s, in uh a little part of a little island in Indonesia, a place called Irian Jaya, Don Richardson and his wife Carol were missionaries.

They were there for about 15 years, and they were working with a tribe called the Saui tribe.

And the Saui tribe was notoriously savage, as probably many of the tribes were.

In fact, the Saui tribe, they their virtue was treachery.

The thing that was valued among the tribe was deceit.

And so these were tribes in this region that were notoriously at war, like constantly at war, a lot of death, a lot of attacks in these tribal villages, tribe against tribe.

Um, they were cannibalistic.

And so, like you think headhunters, these were headhunters.

They would go and for spiritual power, they would um get people from other tribes, take their heads, consume their bodies, and they felt like that gave them power over them in the spirit.

There actually was a phrase within their language called fattening with friendship.

And so what they would do is they would pretend to be friends, they would lure people into friendship, give them a false sense of security, and I think you get the rest of the story.

They they they majored in treachery.

So Don and Carol Richardson are trying to figure out how do we communicate the gospel to these people who may eat us tomorrow, honestly.

I mean, talk about surrendered lives.

How do we do this?

And um so as they were living amongst the people, they found out about a specific ritual among the Saui tribe and the tribes around them, and it was called the ritual of the peace child.

And what that meant was um, in order for one tribe to be at peace with another tribe, the the head of one tribe would give a son to the other tribe.

And as long as that son stayed alive in the other tribe, those two tribes would be at peace.

So the only way that they could be at peace was literally the sacrifice of the son of one for the other.

So Don and Carol Richardson, they're praying and they're realizing God has spoken into this culture a gospel message.

And so they come, they came to the tribe and they said, You know, this ritual you have of the peace child.

Do you know that the one true God who's created all of you is doing the same thing?

And that one true God has literally given his one and only Son to make peace with you.

Not peace for a time, but peace eternally.

Don Richardson called it a redemptive analogy.

It was literally the gospel waiting to be preached within a savage culture.

So they communicate this message of the peace child and mass conversion happened in the Saui tribe.

I mean, uh large percentage of the tribe came to Christ, tribes around them came to Christ.

Eventually, those tribes that were killing and eating each other built a church and they worshiped together.

For years, Don and Carol, his wife was a nurse doing health care.

The tribe grew, they grew in in faith and strength and health.

For 15 years, there's still a gospel church and witness in that culture.

Why?

Because the kingdom of God was present, and God was offering a way for people to reorient themselves to the reality of the king and his kingdom.

We live in that.

We live in a savage culture.

I don't need to illustrate that analogy much more, but it does illustrate also that God's giving us redemptive analogies.

I mean, every single one of us in our families, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, the places where we have impact and influence.

God's the kingdom is there, and we don't have to bring the kingdom with our justice and our anger and our aggression.

We get to discern the presence of the kingdom.

What if our prayer was, God, how are you redeeming this people?

What are you doing in this people?

What redemptive analogy is out there?

What are you just waiting, God, in this culture that you created and got twisted to somehow use and morph and turn so that these people in this culture can be at peace, at eternal peace, not temporal peace, but peace forever.

Because the kingdom of God is here, the king is here, and our call to repentance is a reorientation of the way we think about our lives in God and about our lives in the world.

And so the message that we proclaim of the kingdom is the kingdom's here.

I mean, think of it, it is like a treasure hunt.

It's like, where's the kingdom in my place today?

Where's the kingdom in my workplace today?

Where's the kingdom at the school I go to?

Where's the kingdom working in this workplace?

What about in my neighborhood?

What about in my family?

What around, what about around my dinner table?

What about around this culture right here within me?

Where's the king making himself known?

When Don Richardson wrote a book about this, he wrote one book called Peace Child and a second called Eternity in Their Hearts, because he realized that in the midst of his ministry, he saw this verse, Ecclesiastes 3.11.

God has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the human heart.

It's a beautiful image of every single person out there, however we might feel about them or them about us.

Eternity is in their hearts.

The kingdom is there and beckoning them to reorient themselves towards the reality of that kingdom and come to Jesus.

Jesus says, the kingdom of God is here, repent or reorient accordingly.

And finally, he says, believe the good news.

Believe the good news.

Believe the good news that seems literally too good to be true.

God has become man.

God by man sacrifices himself so that man become become at peace with God.

That's incredible news for those of us who are sinners or ever have sinned.

That's like 99% of us.

That is really, really good news.

Jesus says, believe that in an ongoing way.

Believe that over and over and over again.

I think in this context, believing the good news is just living in the reality of point one and point two.

Waking up every day to the reality of the kingdom and reorienting ourselves every day to the reality of God's presence and his active rule in our lives.

I think that's what ongoing belief looks like for us.

Wake me up again to know God that you're here and help me reorient my life to live as if you're here.

It's ongoing repentance.

The um the Benedictines as a monastic order have a word for this.

They call it conversatio morum.

Fun Latin phrase you can use in anywhere you want.

Conversatio morum.

It means ongoing conversion.

And so for the Benedictines, they have three vows that they make.

One is stability.

I'll stay, God, I'll stay here, God, until you make me move.

That's a tough one.

I'm staying, I'm not leaving on my own.

Obedience.

I will do what God says in their context through the person who's over me spiritually.

There's another tough one.

Number three, conversatio morum, ongoing conversion.

What that vow really is, is every day I will let Jesus call me back to himself.

Every day I will allow Jesus to wake me up to his presence.

Every day I will turn again, I will repent again from my own way of making my life work back to God's way of leading my life.

If the kingdom of God is present and the king is present within us, wouldn't it be great if the king led our lives?

Wouldn't it be great if we could let go of control?

Wouldn't it be hard to do?

But wouldn't it be great if we could let go of control because God's present and he's inviting us into his kingdom in an ongoing basis?

It seemed like Jesus over and over had to remind the disciples of a couple of things.

Hey, look, remember, I'm here.

Over here.

You don't have to worry about food, bread, storms, death.

I'm over here.

Remember, I'm present.

And two, remember, I'm the king, I'm the Lord, I'm the Savior, I'm the Messiah.

You don't have to be looking somewhere else.

You don't have to take control and make this thing happen.

I'm the king.

You can just look to me, follow me, and my will will be done in your lives.

It just seemed like over and over that is what Jesus continued to remind the disciples.

I'm present and I'm active in your life, and you can live peacefully and faithfully and confidently in that reality.

What if everything that's going on in your life right now is simply the presence and the action of God in your life waking you up?

What if all those conversations and situations and conundrums and issues and confusions and what if all of that stuff is simply God saying to you right now, lovingly, wake up.

I'm here.

I'm present.

You're not alone.

I'm with you.

And lovingly saying, Would you just turn?

Just turn.

Just look back to me.

Don't look at yourself.

Don't look at the problems.

Just look back to me.

I'm Lord.

I'm present.

Now let's do this together.

What if everything in your life right now is God orchestrating your life to become like Jesus?

I think it is.

Don't take that too far and blame God for all the tragedies.

That's not my point.

My point is that in all things, God is able to bring redemption because the king is here.

Um I wanna.

I think that was a good message, so you can have that message.

It's done.

All right.

You don't have to clap.

I'm just, you know, just talking it through.

Uh and I and I know that that was a message for some of us.

I also feel like there's just this other message, and it it came to me in a strange way, kind of like the diving board uh vision.

I was just asking the Lord this morning, hey, what are you doing?

I've got all these words to say, but just God, what are you doing?

And I felt like God said, I heard the words, it's a day of grace.

So I wrote it down in my notes.

It's a day of grace.

That's awesome.

I love that.

And then I heard this strange phrase.

I've heard this before in ministry context, but I just heard this back from 40 years ago in my childhood, I guess, um 55 years ago in my childhood.

Ali income free.

Who remembers yelling Ali Ali income free?

Okay, notice it's none of those others that stood up under 40.

Sorry, it's us.

Ollie income free.

We played a terrible game called Ghost in the Graveyard back in the old days.

And so, you know, one would hide, and then that person would try to find the others, and it was all very frightening and horrible.

But when the game was over, then one person would yell out through the neighborhood, Ollie Oli income free, indicating this, the game's over.

You can come out of hiding.

You're safe.

Um, it's all changed now.

And I I went, I felt the same thing.

When I when I when I heard that and I thought through what that meant, I realized I think this is a word for our church.

And I think it's a day of grace, it's not a day of condemnation, it's not a day of repent, you terrible, horrible.

It's a day of repent.

I love you.

Turn back.

The game has changed.

It's what Jesus said.

The kingdom has come, it's the time is now.

The game has changed.

It's a new day.

It's a new season.

From celebrating last week, 40 years of this church, it was beautiful.

It's a new season for our church.

It's new leadership in our church.

There's new grace upon our church.

And I think the message of the Lord for us today is Ollie Oli, income free.

If any of us are in hiding, it's time to come out of hiding.

Take a breath, you know, dust yourself off from the bush that you're hiding in, or even the people that you're hiding with, and come out into the light because you're free.

And and let's be honest, for some of us, this is an invitation to repentance of life and lifestyle, of habit or attitude.

Come out of hiding.

It's scary and it's awesome to come out of hiding and be real about what's real in you with other people.

For some of us, that might be an invitation to come from isolation into community.

We're in this game and we're so happy to be doing it alone.

We're not so much bound in sin as we are just afraid to be who we are in front of others.

And so the call to community is terrifying.

And God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, living in community, say to you, Come into community.

Yes, it's scary, but it's needed.

So some of us are just being called out into a new place of community.

For some of us, it's time to wake up to the gifts that we have.

God, okay, you know, He's given you a gift, you know it.

You've been afraid to use it.

You don't want to you're living in false humility.

You're living in false humility.

You don't want think people you don't want people to think that you think that you're all that in a bag of chips.

Well, you are.

You are, because God's called you and gifted you.

And it's just time for you to stand up confidently and in humility and to be who God's called you to be.

So I I let's all stand.

So I think and uh who whoever wants to play tinkling music, I'd be great up here.

Just to Thanks, Wesley.

So uh I just want you to all if you're comfortable put your hands out.

Um I guess ministry team, if you could come forward, if the ministry team could come forward and and turn to the rest of us and ministry team, you too can put your hands out in a in a attitude of reception.

Let's just pray for a minute and let the Holy Spirit speak.

So God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, here we are, your people, your beloved.

And Lord, here we are, hands open and just longing to hear your word and to know what you're saying to us.

Lord, as we hear this word, Ali income free, grace available to all.

Or will you just speak to us if we're in hiding and give us faith to step out and be known.

Lord, if uh if we're one of those hiding in the bush just because we're afraid of community, give us grace, God.

Open our eyes, give us faith to take a step into community, one of these groups represented today, connecting with someone in our neighborhood, just announcing ourselves as one of yours.

God as a church, open us up to a new season, new grace.

I know that God's speaking very clearly to some of us, and he's saying, he's giving very specific invitations.

Just think of that scripture that says, If today you hear the Lord's voice, don't harden your hearts.

Today is the day of salvation.

Something that God spoke to you in some way.

You know that God's inviting you into something this morning, a way of waking up to his presence or reorienting your life towards his kingdom or to living in that.

Any of these words, I just encourage you as I close us in prayer, come forward.

Come and have someone pray for you.

Just come and let somebody bless what God's already doing in your life.

If you need some space in front just to be with God, you're welcome to come.

Be in God's presence.

If God is speaking, do not go without saying yes.

So if you'd like prayer, please come forward.

God, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Lord, that you're gracious, that you long to be gracious to us, that you wait on high to show us compassion.

We thank you for your grace, your compassion, and your love.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

If you'd like a place to be with God or someone to pray for you, please come forward.

Go in peace.