MAR 1 2015 | Proverbs 6

Sea Change Church · "Proverbs 6" · Dr. James Smith III · March 1, 2015
Proverbs 6
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Made a quick change. Right on. Thanks, Kai. Great. Well, hey, before I invite Pastor Jim up to speak, I love when you speak, Pastor Jim. It's so fun, man. Thank you. Isn't church supposed to be fun, right? The vision I keep getting is like these lambs playing in a field, just having fun. Like, I want to have fun at church. I want to come and enjoy myself, you know what I'm saying?

So, but I just want to know that this week was a really powerful week for my wife and I, and the elders sent us away. We do a week of spiritual retreat per year. Went up to a church called Bethel up in Redding, which is a really powerful church, but they have some people that go to that church to do a thing called the Father's Heart and restoring the foundations.

And basically what it does is it tries to identify the enemy's attacks against your personal life, what it's built upon, the framework of it, the lies that it's built upon. And it's pretty heavy. It's about six hours a day. There's a few days where it's nine hours. And, but it's so freeing and to see that. And one of the things that I realize I've been fighting against is realizing that I so often live in that orphan spirit, that spirit of, of not realizing that, that we're actually sons and daughters of a king, that God is a father and to live from our hearts and that the father heart of God burns for us.

And so getting to a point, we're beginning to let go of those things and identifying the things that you agree with. I just want to say before we start, just think about it. Don't speak it out, but in your own mind, is there a lie that, that you agree with oftentimes? And I want to say we oftentimes know lies because they actually, you won't hear the lie, but you'll feel the hopelessness.

You'll feel the depression. You'll feel the pain. You'll feel the, you know, the anxiety. And oftentimes that is tied to a lie. I want to say, just see if right now, if you can just identify just one of the lies. I know one of the lies that Satan has always used to me is, you know, you're, you're too big of a personality. Um, you know, people don't like you because you're too big of a personality.

And I realized one of the things that they said is the, the truth of that is this. God's given me a large portion. He's given me a large portion. And to live in fullness of that portion is not, is not living in over, in an over sense of self, if that makes sense. That was just one of probably maybe 50 foundational truths. The reason I tell you this is because as we start year two today, really excited.

This was a perfect timing, but I believe that we are going to continue to move into increased freedom. I've had people in this congregation tell me they've been healed from depression since they've been here. People that have said that they had wanted to take their life. They said they no longer want to take their life and they have joy in their heart.

We've seen marriages healed in this year. We've seen parents that have been disenfranchised from their children for decades, coming back and finding restoration in that. Some people are getting more and more freedom from anxiety. And I want to tell you what, I want us to move into that. And this year, I want to say, stick around. There's freedom. There's more freedom on the way.

I want to see freedom in this church and freedom for this community, the bondages of this community. I want to tell you, I really believe that Lord showed me that La Jolla is the head of San Diego. And I want to say that, and let me tell you what I mean by that. I felt like the Lord said to me, every area of culture in its highest form is represented in La Jolla.

Now, you have Rancho Santa Fe. It's a really wealthy community, and you have different businesses in there. But you don't have a medical center there that has its highest, one of the highest forms of reaching the medical field. Whether it be sports, some of the sports leaders that live here in this city, the owners of professional football teams, Chargers, live in this.

Every stream of culture is found in this city. I believe the cross is on the hill for a reason. And I believe as La Jolla goes, the rest of San Diego goes. I really believe that in my heart. That's not demeaning any other city, because I love all, I'm from San Diego, I love it. But I believe there's something unique and special here, and that this little church on the corner has a voice in that choir that brings revival.

I want to see revival and breakthrough in this city. And I want to see it, first of all, start with you. I want to say, God loves you. And why does he want to see revival in the world? Because he loves you. He wants to see revival in your hearts. I want to say, I'm going to speak for this next year about the Father, heart of God. We're going to be getting back into prayer.

I'll be finishing on Praying for Your Elephant. The book will be landing that over the next three weeks or so. And then I'm going to be speaking back to John, and then we'll see where we go from there. But it's going to be about freedom, and it's going to be about how much God loves you. And so I want to bless what he's doing, and I'm going to invite Jim up to speak.

Lord Jesus, thank you, God, for what you're doing. We bless you today. We bless, God, your fathering of us. And, God, we speak against the orphan spirit. And we just, we rebuke that, Lord God. We rebuke the lies of the enemy, Lord God. Jesus, we say that we are favored. We are loved. You've created us how we should be, Lord God. You want to have community with us.

You're not ashamed of us. And I would say that, just a special word for some of you, that God's not ashamed of you. He is not ashamed of you. He delights in you. He takes delight in you like a father takes delight in a newborn child. God, bring that, open up that spirit, open up that vein of consolation to us this year. God, we dedicate, now just with me, let's dedicate this next year.

Just dedicate it in your heart. Dedicate this year in your home, in this church, in our children's ministries. God, all through, we dedicate this year to you with our elder, with our worship, with our sound teams, with everything. We dedicate it as an offering of joy to the Lord. Let joy and freedom reign. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Let's welcome Pastor Jim up to speak. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Was this one you ever read? No. Thank you. It's wonderful always to be able to share in worship here. And I want to offer, before we go any further, a word of thanks. And this will especially apply to some of you who remembered as Linda and I headed north this last weekend for my brother's memorial.

And I'm not going to dwell on that at great length. But I just want to say thank you. Have you had, like we have had, moments in which you say, that's a sign of grace? It's almost as if it was, you know, there was a name tag there that says, hi, I'm a sign of grace. Right? Or it's luminous. Or it's incisive. Or something happens. And you say, in the words of the old gospel song, must have been the hand of the Lord.

Must have been the hand of the Lord. And we sensed aspects of that as we were up in the Sacramento, the Davis area, for my big brother's memorial. There were people that came against all odds, as the saying goes. We didn't think they'd come, but they came. There were re-approachments and some reconciliations that took place that savored of nothing less than grace being poured into that situation.

Had the joy of a young lady, a grandniece of mine, we're that old, grandniece of mine, who came up and said, Uncle Jim, I want you to know I've been thinking about that passage in Mark chapter 14 that you told me about. The woman who said, she has done what she could. And now that I'm a new mom and I'm doing student teaching and all these things, I want you to know that's been a strength to me.

God's word. That's a whole new chapter in her life that began during premarital counseling. Her discovering the goodness and the grace of God. And I just sat there and I get kind of dippy-faced and dewy-eyed. And I said, Karen, God bless you and Jerry and that sweet papoose of yours. Must have been the hand of the Lord. So thank you. Those of you who offered a prayer, lit a candle, faced north, whatever you did, right?

You know, that's fine. We even got back on the beautiful I-5. The hills are green and rolling. The snow was just above us on the Tahon Pass at 5,000 feet. And we were renamed by very few drivers, you know, coming down the I-5. That's always a sign of grace when they're not looking over and renaming you, you know, that kind of thing. So we'll, you know, we'll take it.

We're grateful. And I trust that all of us, as Pastor Adams led us in this, into anticipation based on a gratitude for what God's already been doing. This anticipation, signs of grace, must have been the hand of the Lord. We're coming to the Lord's table here. And for years in ministry, I've really been convinced that a major purpose of a message, a sermon, a study on a morning like this is to prepare us to rightly receive the elements of the Lord's table, representing the body and blood of Christ.

And so because La Jolla Fellowship is committed to varieties of teaching, different parts of God's word, themes, series, and so forth, I'm part of the continuing series from the book of Proverbs. We're in Proverbs chapter 6. If you're led, turn with me there. Otherwise, just grab the notes. And we're going to economize this morning to leave room so the Lord's Supper is not a tack-on.

It's not an annex. It's not an, oh, yeah. It draws us. The word draws us to the Lord's table this morning. And the theme out of Proverbs 6, wise living and the raw materials of repentance. The raw materials of repentance. The book of Proverbs, as we have said before, and it's there in your outline, the book of Proverbs really is dedicated to the cultivating, the discovering, the practicing of wisdom.

And one working definition of wisdom is knowing what best to do with what you've got. What do I do with what I've got? That's not just smarts. That's not just an IQ passage. But wisdom shows us what best to do with what we've got. This situation. This limitation. This gift. This handicap. This treasure. This penalty. What do we do with what we've got?

And so in Proverbs chapter 6, we come into yet another lesson from the book of wisdom. And the focus of Proverbs 6 is to say, knowing what best to do with what we've got, when what we've got is issues. Okay? What we've got is issues. You can spell that sin. You can spell that brokenness. You can spell that, you know, strange spirits and old stuff.

You can spell those issues interpersonal or economic. Family of origin. Trying to measure up. Things you knew to do but didn't do. Things you knew you shouldn't do but did. Issues. What does it mean to practice wisdom when what you've got is issues? All right? Everybody know what that means? All right. So with that in mind, we're in Proverbs chapter 6.

And for simplicity, looking at the text, I want to mention that there are a couple of categories we're dealing with. The writer of Proverbs, Solomon, as we believe, in chapter 6, verses 1 through 15, deals with three life counterfeits. All right? Now, there's an old movie called Imitation of Life. Some of you may even have seen that. It's a classic.

Three life counterfeits. It's real, but it's not the real thing. It's actually there, but it's not authentically what it's meant to be. Not authentically the potential that it has. And so in chapter 6, what we find is in verses 1 through 5, and the scripture hasn't been read for us this morning. So what I'm going to do is simply say that at any point feel a freedom to read the text.

I'm going to cite references. You go to the text as the Lord leads you. Or I hope that Sunday morning isn't the end of the Sunday message. But that, in fact, we'll have opportunity to return to the text, to massage in some of the things that God would want to do. To loosen our tightened up selves. To be therapeutic in God's word, it's good still on Monday, Tuesday.

It doesn't expire, right? So let's do that. Simply stated, three counterfeits of life when we've got issues. One of them we've called the servile attitude. Briefly, verses 1 through 5 talks about somebody who has really come up economically in support for someone and now feels trapped. They feel like they're just stuck in that position. And they want to shake loose from that position.

And there's a whole attitude that says, Ni modo. I can't do anything with this. Anybody know what ni modo means? In Spanish, what does ni modo mean? Oh, well, what are you going to do? Nothing to, you know, we're powerless. I think I'll go home and sit in the mud. Whatever I'm going to do. Ni modo, right? So with that, that's the attitude here. And let me say very simply, one of the counterfeits of life is not when we're a servant.

It's when we are servile. Let me clarify that. The old English word servile meant that you're basically trapped. You've got nowhere to go. You can't do anything. You're going through the motions of supports or the motions of, you know, being attentive because you have to. And you're in that spot. You're trapped by your role. You're trapped by expectations, by those aspects of others.

All right? Servile. And that's the one who's trapped. The second one, and this is one of my favorites because I used to love snails when I was a kid. I don't know if anybody else in this room, you know, this is La Jolla. Maybe all you like is escargot, right? But I like the real thing. You know, I like these little guys, you know. And some of the kids in this church know that I do snail races when things get slow, right?

So in any case, right? I always liked snails. But in, you know, in Proverbs, in this second section, verses 6 through 11, it warns you not just about being servile, being, you know, limp and lame. It warns you about being a sluggard. But we're really slowed down like this, and you're really hard, matching energy left, and all the rest. My wife calls it the Eeyore attitude.

I don't know what's going to go on here, but I really don't have much to offer. You know, and there you are, right? The sluggard. Just kind of like, whoa. That's not trapped. It's tapped. Anybody ever feel tapped here? Right? A couple of you got it. Beep! Okay, so a couple of you have that. There is that sense in which you say, man, I'm spent. You know, I'm all out.

That's it. You know, if I'm moving too slow for you, if you don't like this, you won't like the other option, which is motionless. All right? And in the book of Proverbs, wisdom says to the one who is feeling that very real issue of being a sluggard, saying, I don't have confidence to do much of anything. I really can't be proactive even in pursuing God's grace, God's will, God's best for me.

The sluggard there. There is that. The one who is tapped. Thirdly, there's the scoundrel. Okay? And sometimes, using the same letter, alliteration works. Sometimes it doesn't. I think it really works in this particular one. You've got the servile one who's just limp and trapped in their situation. The sluggard who's lost internal confidence. And you've got the scoundrel.

They're the traitor. You ever been betrayed? I had somebody email me the other day and says, you know, in this case, I'm Dr. Smith. I'm teaching over at Bethel Seminary here. He says, Dr. Smith, could I have your notes from this and that kind of lecture that you gave? Because I think it would really be helpful in my particular teaching situation.

Right? And I had two immediate impulses. One was, you betcha. You know, silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give to you. Right? So here come the notes. And the other one was, man, I remember a moment when X number of years ago, somebody lifted a paper of mine, published it as their own. And I got just messed over. There's a Latin word, raptus regoliter.

I'll explain that afterward if you want. But in any case, you know, I got had. This guy took my work, published it as his own, and went for the prize. Right? Right? Because it was good. So, I thought of that. Do you know what I'm talking about? Man, you got, somebody was a traitor to you. They sold you out. They cut you off at the kneecaps. They lied about you.

And tried to make it stick, and it got worse and worse, even if they were confronted. The traitor. And the writer of Proverbs says, when we look at imitations of life, counterfeits of life, often we are tempted to be one of these three. The servile. I'm just going through the motions, kind of supporting this one or that one. Or the sluggard. I don't have any confidence to change anything, even to reach out for God's promises.

Just kind of give me a comfortable spot, and I'll do my thing. Or the scoundrel, the traitor, who says, look, I'll sell you because I've got to get somewhere. I'll sell you because I've got to get something. Man, that is one of the scourges of middle school age and early high school at times, is the temptation just to fit in, to sell out somebody so you can move ahead of them.

Some of us know what that's about, and that don't quit at the end of grade school. That goes into adulthood. It goes into business and other areas, that temptation like that. Now, let me say simply, many of us, don't we delight when we find something fresh that jumps out at us in the word of God? And I want to say for the first time in my life, and you'll see if this is a word for you, if it fits.

But for the first time in my life, when I looked at these three, very specific three things that are counterfeits of life, mentioned in Proverbs 6, verses 1 through 15, I went over to Matthew. I looked at what Jesus faced. And I thought, they are so similar, the three temptations of Jesus. Can we go there for a moment? The three temptations. Under the heading, if you will, of, I'm trapped.

I'm servile. The temptation where Satan comes to Jesus and says, Well, you're the Messiah, so make these stones into bread. You know, you're nothing more than a slave to your role. You're nothing more than going through the motions to fill this out. You're the Messiah. Measure up. You're the Messiah. Produce. You're the human face of God. Make it happen.

Go. And that's a fitting description of what servile means. Trapped in your role. Trapped in that situation. Instead of there being God's grace, which is dynamic in that role and in that situation, you say, man, I'm just going from X, Y, and Z. Give me the graph paper, and I'll live my life. Right? Right? And Jesus said, no. We don't live by bread alone.

We live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Every word. Right? We don't live by bread alone. Temptation number two. Temptation number two. Under the area of the sluggard. The one who just says, I give up. I give up. I'm just going to throw all hope away. Satan comes to Jesus, and he says, why don't you go up to the pinnacle of the temple?

Why don't you take a leap? Just, you know, just give up. And as you're going down toward a suicide, God will pick you up, maybe, as if. Hey, go ahead. Jump. Life's getting really hard now, isn't it, Messiah? Go in public. The pressure's on. Jesus says, uh-uh. No way. No. Worship continues. Jesus is then tempted again. Word comes to him, and Satan says, let's make a deal.

You haven't fallen for the first two. Let's make a deal. I'll give you all this kingdom, all this land. Now, does he properly own it? No. He's a thief. He steals, kills, destroys. That's Satan. Right? But he says, you know what, Jesus? Let's make a deal. I'll ease up. I'll pull back. Will he? Who knows? But I'll ease up. I'll pull back. If you'll just kind of bow down and acknowledge that I have true authority.

Bow down and worship me. Jesus says, I'm not going to be a traitor. I'm not going to be a traitor. You shall worship the Lord your God. Him only shall you serve. In those three, in Proverbs chapter 6, verses 1 through 15, I see an echo in Jesus' own life where he has to say no. He has to say no to being a servant of a role, a servant of people's expectations as Messiah.

Stones to bread, I don't need that. It's the word of God. Jesus says no to trying to do something to make a big splash or even ending his own life by jumping from the pinnacle. No to any worship of idolatrous beings, idolatrous images. I'm not going to bow down. Jesus is set free from this. And may I say very simply in this morning, some of us are living under real stress.

Some of us are pulled in directions of being servile and just saying it's all going through the motions. Not servants, but servile, beaten down in attitude, traps. Some of us are going through situations in which we say, you know what? I'm just going to kind of, you know, move slow and not take any chances, even spiritual chances. Why pray for the parking spot or for the rain down at SeaWorld or for these other things if they're not going to happen?

So I'm just going to take it very slow in my spiritual life, right? We're tempted. The Lord says, I've come that you might have life and have it in its fullness, in its abundance. But we're tempted. Some of us are tempted to be traitors, to betray key relationships, to betray business partners, to betray the facts, jockeying for credit, whatever it might be.

I just want to pause for a moment and pray against those things. May we? Let's do that. For ourselves, if we spot it in ourselves, but also for others that are dear to us, some of whom are within the reach of our care. Let's pray. All right? Lord, teach us to pray just quietly in this moment. We pray against these counterfeits of life that Proverbs identifies and the attitudes that go with them.

And we pray against those by the power of your word and spirits. Lord, thank you always for hearing our prayer and filling us with true life. To your glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Now, we come now to seven life cancers. And we're not going to take the same time on each point with these as we have a moment ago with the counterfeits.

All right? All of us have been both through the lecture and the lab on sin. All right? So I understand that. But there is, in the text here that we find, in Proverbs 6, verses 16 through 19, six things the Lord hates. Seven things. Seven deadly ones. That are an abomination to the Lord. And I've put up here, they are life cancers. Now, we've got a couple of doctors.

You know, Dr. David here. You know, and I'm not sure if Dr. Clem's in the back in the bleachers in his usual place or not. But in any case, we're blessed with MDs here. As my kids told me for years, you're a doctor but not the kind that can help anybody. So, you know, so I said, thanks so much. Gift of encouragement. So anyway, so, but I'll just go this.

Some of us in this room, I'm not going to name names. You know who you are. And many of you, we've prayed for you. You know what cancer is about. It is a parasite. It is a pathology. It wounds. It consumes. And I'll just leave it there. We thank God for how he's pushed back numbers of cases of cancer in this place. And his restoring grace. We give him the glory right now.

That is one of the best analogies for sin that I can think of is cancer. The things that the Lord hates. Now, in this passage, there are seven things. Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says that's when you hate your brother. Or declare them worthless. That's as if you've killed them. Right?

There's a heart that devises wicked schemes. There's feet that are quick to rush into evil. There's a false witness pouring out lies. There's one stirring brotherly dissension. Right? There are seven that are named here. Now, classically, classically in the life of the church, there is a discussion of what are called the seven deadly sins. In Catholic theology especially, also Eastern Orthodox, there are the seven deadly sins.

You know, if you want to get into, I don't get into sin. You know, don't wake up on that one. But, you know, if you want to look more intently at this tradition, at the analyses of this, you know, one of the better books out there is a book by a guy named Solomon Schimmel, if you're keeping notes. Solomon Schimmel is called the deadly sins. Jewish, Christian, and classical perspectives on this psychology, on how sin works in life.

1997, Solomon Schimmel. So, there are seven deadly sins. There are other classifications of sins. 1 John chapter 2 that you find in the notes says the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Galatians 5, when it talks about the fruit of the Spirit, talks about the things that are not the fruit of the Spirit. So, watch out for these.

James, the book of James, it talks about the wisdom from above. It also talks about the stuff from below. So, there's many ways of seeing this. I don't want this to be a situation where people are saying, you know, gee, I didn't know the meaning of sin until I saw Pastor Jim. Right? I don't want it to go that way, all right, this morning. But I want to say to you, let's take an example.

Twice in this list, there is something about the power of language, the power of words. Do you see it? There is a lying tongue, and there is a false pouring out of lies. Now, it comes right after the issue of haughty eyes. I don't know if they're Bette Davis eyes, or the eagles, you know, the lying eyes. And I don't know if the lies are the little white lies, you know, that Frank Sinatra used to sing about.

I don't know. I'm following your example, Pastor Adam. Love music, okay? So, anyway, I don't know. But I'll tell you this. If, in fact, wisdom is knowing what best to do with what you've got, if you've got issues, then there's confession and repentance and renewal as we come to this table. Now, this is Academy Awards time, right? So I brought an Academy Award.

I don't know whose baby shoe this is. It came down to us from friends of the family. But this is going to be the Academy Award for putting your foot in your mouth. And the winner is, no, I'm not going to do that. And, no, you can't nominate someone else. Thank you so much, right? I nominate them. No, no, no. Bad dog. Bad dog. Okay. But I want to say very simply, since two out of these seven deal with the power of language, which can bless or can curse.

Which can be healing. Or can be cancerous. There are times in which we have put our feet in our mouth. There are times in which we have lied. Or we've done, as my dad would say when he used to do masonry, we're half a bubble off. Anybody know what I'm talking about there? When you're building a masonry wall, you know, I used to build, you know, lay brick and stuff.

And when that level was a half a bubble off, it meant good enough to pass if you're not looking too closely. But by the time you get to these courses of brick, that whole wall, you know, looks like the leaning tower. You know, it's like this. So be on the level. I want to say this little shoe, this is the award for foot in your mouth. That's one of the areas of sin.

We may need, as we come to the table, to confess moments where we've mouthed off. In addition to false desires. In addition to deceitful agendas. In addition to stirring brotherly and sisterly dissension. In addition to doing evil. You know where this shoe belongs? It doesn't belong stuck in our mouth, dear brothers and sisters. It belongs right here on the table.

We lay our sin before Jesus. Yes. I lay my sin before Jesus. And I find a freedom in that that means not only is the penalty of sin broken, I'm forgiven. But the power of sin is broken. And I'm set free. And if, in fact, I mess up on one of these seven categories or others, I'm not just back to square one. I'm not just back to sluggard. Or back to servile.

Or back, you know, to scoundrel. I'm not back to square one, but I am back to basics. And the basics are, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just. To forgive our sin. And to cleanse us from most of our unrighteousness, right? Oh, there's talk back. What kind of attitude is this? Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, filled with the Holy Ghost I am.

All my sins are washed away. I've been redeemed. And as we look at this word in Proverbs 6, if it's the three life counterfeits that God needs to forgive us for, we need to be set free from, let's pray it up, let's do it. Where we are on the way to the table in the days ahead, let's do it. If it's these seven life cancers that are there, then let's be confessing those to the Lord.

And let's be set free. Because there is, as he goes in verses 20 through 23, if we may have that, a life resolve based on the faithfulness of the word. We bring this to the table. It is the excellence of God's word. And the beginning of that is, in the words of Solomon, give heed to the wisdom of your father and your mother. Give heed to that. You know, the best of what they imparted to you, the proverb writer says, you listen to that.

And you'll grow in your wisdom. Now here's a no-fault question. This is Bible quiz for, you know, March 1. Who was Solomon's daddy? David. That's why we go to the words of King David here. What Solomon had ringing in his ears that called him back to who he should be was passages like Psalm chapter 19. The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure, altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They're sweeter than honey, than honey from the mouth. And by these ordinances, your servant is warned. And in keeping them, there is great rewards. Who can discern their errors? Where do these mess-ups come from? Sometimes that's too deep for us. Sometimes good counsel can help reveal it. We can change the patterns.

Who can discern them? Lord, just forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant from willful sins. That they may not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent, and of great transgression. And there is one life resolve that comes out of this. It's at the bottom of our sheet. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord.

My rock and my redeemer. Amen? Amen? Now, that's the word I want to suggest this morning. Our one great resolve. May the words of my mouth, Lord, as I come to this table. May the meditations of my heart as I enter this week be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. Our strength. My rock. My redeemer. That's our Lord's. One last word, if I may. It's a quote from someone.

You may read some of his stuff. Tim Keller, Redeemer Church in New York. A dear, dear brother. And I'll share this. And Pastor Adam leads us to the table this morning. Tim Keller says, The gospel declares that you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe. Lord needs to do deep cleaning in our lives. He needs to floss, not just brush.

Right? But we are more accepted and loved than we ever dared hope. That's our Lord. That's the grace that flows from his atonement that meets us at the table. We are ready to meet him together in these elements. God bless you. Let's thank Jim for just bringing the word. Let's thank. Wow. I was going to preach on the same thing. I was. It would have been different.

But one of the things the Lord really spoke to us about this week as we went to this thing of just praying for deliverance in our lives from the different lies was the victim and the predator spirit. And realizing that Jesus, he was victimized, but he didn't live as a victim. Right? There are no victims in God's family. There are no victims in the kingdom.

Jesus doesn't see you as a victim. And the way that he sees you is truth. And we can tend to live, or oftentimes victims will become predators. And we live in a predatorial spirit because of fear. And that God wants to heal us of the victim and the predator. And oftentimes if we have a predator spirit, we won't feel that we can come to the table.

That we won't feel like we can take this stuff, this shoe of whatever this shoe represents for you and lay it down. Because I did this once or I did that once or back in high school or in my first marriage or whatever the thing is. And we feel, and the enemy tries to get that to be your identity. I want to say you are sons and daughters of the king.

And as we come to this table, I want to speak that over you. And if you've identified with saying I'm a victim, victim feels good. We wouldn't do things if it didn't have a payoff. Does that make sense? Victims allows us to feel bad about, you know, allows us to have justification for the way that we act. In fact, every negative thing has a bit of a payoff sometimes.

I want to say as we come to the table today, I want to say whether you have been convinced that because of something you did that was predatorial or something that lived in that spirit can keep you from the table that's untrue. That Jesus died. He even offered bread to Judas. You know, I thought that was such an amazing act. He was going to betray him, but Jesus offered fellowship to Judas.

Judas wasn't willing to take it. You know, Judas wasn't willing to take the fullness of that. Or if you've lived as a victim, I want to speak against that. That as you come to the table, you say, I, you know what, I might have been victimized, but I am not a victim and I choose not to live as a victim. I've seen entire churches built on a victim mentality before.

You can draw and you can grow your church on a victim mentality. You can grow your church on a parent to child mentality. What I want to live this up is free sons and daughters of the king. We're going to come forward and we're going to take from the table today. Jim, would you come prepare the elements as I lead us? It says that on the night that Jesus, and I'll just tell it in the narrative, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, picture it in your mind.

He had sent some disciples to find a room that he could go and he could have a meal with, the meal of communion. That's why we eat together. That's why we hang out two and a half hours after church while we hang out there because we're, we're, we're putting a bow on what God is doing in here. And in that Jesus went with all the disciples, the ones who he loved the closest.

He loved them all. But it says that there was others like John who were like his best friend and they were beloved and they all went there. And then there was a traitor there as well. And he didn't deny them community based on the fact that they would betray him and every one of them would scatter. He invited them in. And I want to say that Jesus invites you to this table and he welcomes you to the table.

Come as a welcomed son and daughter to the table today. That you can come in a spirit and receive that. And Jesus, it says that he came before and he took the bread. And we'll come up, we'll take this all together. So we'll call you forward in a moment. But it said that he took the bread and he held it up and it said that he broke it in front of them.

He broke it in front of them. And he said, this is my body that was broken for you. No, Jesus was willing to be crushed. And more than that, the Father God was willing to send his son that he might be crushed, that you might live. Jesus became a curse. Jesus became a victim so that we could live. So that you would not have to. I'll tell you what, being victimized is not always a choice, but being a victim is.

You do not have to live as a victim. We are not going to be a victim church. We are going to live in the power and the freedom of Jesus Christ. It says, then he came and he took the wine, the cup, and he held it up. And he said, this is my blood. And this represents that Jesus shed his blood, that your sins are forgiven. I want to say he forgave every sin going back and going forward.

The sins you haven't committed yet, it is done once and for all. He's already died for the sins you haven't even committed. Now, Paul says, do we continue on sinning because of that? No, of course not. But realize the power of Christ's blood. I want to say oftentimes the enemy tries to get me to think that my sins are more powerful than Christ's blood.

I want to say your sins do not compare to the blood of Christ. They do not compare to his love and his mercy for you. And so he took the cup and he said, drink this in remembrance of me. I'm going to ask Olin to come up and play some music if he's not there already. And there he is. He's good. And let me just pray over this communion. And then we'll have you guys go into the center aisles.

You'll come and take communion. If you can just hold on to it. And then we're going to take it together as a unified body of Christ. There's so much joy and blessing and unity. Lord Jesus, we bless this table now. And more than that, God, we take this symbol of what we need to bring and leave at the table. We take this symbol of this shoe, God. And we want to come.

And so if you have something to leave at the table, leave it here and then take the cup. Take the bread. God, we do that in unity. So we bless us and we bless those that come. We pray for freedom. It is for freedom that you have been set free. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's come forward and take. I believe in my heart that the seeds of revival have already started to sprout here in this place.

I've seen it. And it has been phenomenal. I want to dedicate this Eucharist, this time to what God has done and what he's going to do. I just really feel that there is a profound movement of God. And I don't know what it is other than the love of God that he loves us. And I see it in your faces and hear it in your voices. And I bless you. I'm so proud to be your pastor.

I'm really proud of you. I'm proud of my congregation. I'm proud of in the best sense. And it's an honor to shepherd and come alongside of you and to be with you. I want you to know I love you. So with that, Jesus took the bread. He broke it. Let's take it together. Jesus. Also, if you forgot to say, we have gluten-free. So if you held off because of that, you can come forward.

That's why it tastes like that too. Love my gluten. And Jesus took the cup, which is bigger than your sins. And, you know, just think about that thing you left here. If you didn't leave it yet, throw it up there. Just symbolically get rid of it. Drop it. And the blood of Christ to wash over your sins. Let's take it together. Yeah. Praise God. We'll ask that you stand for a traditional blessing.

I want to bless you. We're going to ask the prayer team to come forward. If you need some freedom and you want to get some prayer, I believe that there is an open window for some freedom, for some healing. We're going to have our prayer team up here. The worship team is going to hang out and play for a while and just kind of follow. Olin, you keep it going as long as you need to go.

Okay, buddy? And I just want to pray a deep blessing over you right now. Lord Jesus, God, I thank you for this congregation, God, and what they represent and who they are. We bless them, God, in so many ways. We cover them. We bless them with power, Lord Jesus. Power and covering, Lord Jesus. Bless them with longevity, God. Blessing, God, with longevity, Jesus.

God, we bless them with unity and peace and power and leadership and shepherding in their lives, Lord God. Lord Jesus, we bless them with safety and travel and covering. Bless them, God, in all their business pursuits, God, and in their family pursuits, Lord God. In their hearts, Lord Jesus. We pray against any kind of victim spirit, God, and we run into your arms, Jesus.

We pray for your power on their hearts, Lord Jesus. Power and covering. Touch them, God. God, we bless them in all ways now, in every way. And whatever blessing you would want to receive, just ask God. God, bless me. God, bless me. Many times people came up and said, Jesus, bless me. Just ask for his blessing. God, we ask for your blessing. Blessing on this church and in all things.

In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, we are going to fellowship. We are going to party now. If you want to come forward and get some prayer or go over and eat and fill your stomach and your heart with love, join us next door. We love you, and we'll see you sometime this week.