October 16, 2024 • 27 mins
Most people would agree that we cannot go through this life alone. We were created to need each other to survive and thrive. However, this applies not just to our physical lives, but our spiritual ones as well. Listen in as Pastor Guy tells us more about life together.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so we know that this is hard, that God's
word can speak hard, and we can struggle against it,
and certainly this is true.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning and welcome to peace to you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. In recent weeks we've talked
about it's all his He saves and His will is
what's best for us. This week, Pastor Guy wants to
share with us our life together. And now here's Pastor Guy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So I'm singing a song for you that's from a hymn.
I think it's a different tune than the one that
is in our hymn book, but it goes like this,
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Do you guys know this one? You could sing it
with me.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
No merit of my own I claim, but Holy lean
on Jesus' name, on Christ, the solid rock I stand.
All the other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
That's a good one, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
That stuck with me even as from a young age.
And to be honest with you, as your new senior
pastor going through this Discipleship is Life Series introducing to
you the katechisis that I hope will be the foundation,
the solid ground of your life and faith. The song
beautifully shares what my hope is for you that over
these last few weeks, these truths that we've been laying
(01:53):
down the way that I speak about them, would be
there to kind of become that solid ground for you.
Because life gets rough, and so I want to do
a little quiz time. Let's go through this. As we begin,
I kind of laid out three truths that are central
ABC's of the Christian faith. Three things that you can
trust upon and that God for sure will deliver in
(02:16):
every every.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Single way possible.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
And the first one is does anyone know it? It's
all whose? Yeah, so it's all his. So say that
to your neighbor number one, it's all his. Just say okay, good,
good good. You don't have to know these things. But
I'm just keep pushing them because it's important that all
things in the world, no matter what it may be,
are his, have come from Him. There is nothing that
(02:39):
belongs to us, and that's the way it's supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
We are simply stewards of His gifts. Amen. The second
one is this, he saves.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
He is gracious and merciful, slow in anger, and abounding
and steadfast love. This is who our God is and
always has been and always will be.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
This is who he is.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And he he works this in our lives as he's
done today. And Pastor Tim stood up here and forgiving
your sins, and he does it then through one another,
when you confess to one another, I am sorry, I
have sinned against you.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And in the stead and by the command.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Of Jesus you get to speak and have the privileged
place to say, I forgive you on behalf of the Lord.
To hear those words and to see those words are
just such a gift. And so this is who you are.
So look at your neighbor and say he has saved you.
Very nice. Get used to look in your neighbor. We're
(03:34):
gonna look at your neighbors so much. Maybe pick a
different neighbor if you get sick of that neighbor, just
maybe the neighbor in front behind. Maybe you want to
move a couple rows, all right. And so then the
third one, the third truth, we got. It's all his
He saves. And then does anyone know the last one?
His will is what's best for us. Thank you, that's so,
(03:56):
that's a little discouraging. That was last week's sermon. So
in whatever here we are continue to learn His will
is what's best for us, and not just us as Christians,
but every single person that lives in this world, for
his will is the law, and his law is nothing
other than God's will for all of creation. It's who
(04:16):
we're supposed to be created to be and who we
have a hard time being because, as we did learn
last week, you have bad instincts. Did you know this, Well,
let's tell our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
It's fun. You have bad instincts.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Go yeah, when given the opportunity, at least half the time,
you'll probably do it wrong and you'll think it's right,
but you'll do it anyway, even though you aren't supposed
to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know you do it. Ah, who will rescue me
from this body of death?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And we know the answer his name is because he
is a God who saves. And so for us in life,
we need this guidance, We need to be led and
we need to look to him for his will truly
is what's best. He's not just a mean father up
there making you do stuff that you don't want to do.
He actually cares and loves for you. And this then,
these truths all kind of centered in his son, Jesus Christ.
(05:04):
The very word of God are the solid foundation of
our life. Everything makes sense and flows from them. And
so it's important that you hear it, and you'll hear
it from me again and again, from pastor Tim, again
and again, from all the lay teachers, again and again,
that this is.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Who we are.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
We are a people who belong to God, and we
live in his world according to his grace, by his grace,
and according to his will.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
This is who we are.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
And it's important to know this because not all the
days are going to go smooth. One of my favorite
chapters in all of Scripture is John chapter six. When
I say, John chapter six, who knows what I'm talking about?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Just right out right away?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
All right, just a few so this will be fun
for you. Jesus has had an incredibly successful ministry. He
is out there healing people and teaching, and they're starting
to follow him. He's even fed five thousand people, which
is probably more because they think they don't counted the
men in that counting, and so he's fed thousands of people,
and now thousands of people are following him around everywhere
(06:08):
he goes. In fact, he tries to get away and
have a rest, and they find him. And so in
this time he's had incredibly successful ministry under all measurements
of human success.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
This is it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And so he begins to teach them, this crowd who's gathered,
and he tells them, I am the bread of life.
That's what he says to them, and they can't look
at him, like, okay, well where is the bread? Hook
us up Jesus and he goes, no, you don't understand
it unless you partake of me, eat my body, and
(06:42):
drink my blood. There is no life. And they say, well,
this is what what are you talking about? And Jesus
just continues to kind of press in it, continues to
press in into so far that they say, they say,
this is a hard teaching. Who can follow this? And
Jesus continues to press in. He he continues to speak
the truth that there is no life and no one
(07:04):
comes to the Father except through me. There is no
life apart from me, and he presses in so far
that they all leave, They all leave. He tells them
the truth of who he is and what he's come
to do, and the people who are coming for the
bread and they leave. And so we know that this
(07:24):
is hard, that God's word can speak hard, and we
can struggle against it.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
And certainly this is true.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
This is true of the rich young man in scripture
who comes to Jesus and says, what must I do
to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, go sell all
your stuff, give it to the poor, and come follow me.
And the guy's like, sure, right, he just does it,
you remember that story. No, he bows his head and
walks away with slumped shoulders because he just can't.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
The hardest part of the Christian walk and the Christian faith,
and you know it and I know it, we know
this is true, is that we have to get over
something in order to follow him. We have to get
over take your finger like this and go like this.
We have to get over who. We have to confess
that he is God and we are not, that it's
all his, that the only hope we have is that
(08:17):
he says saved us and redeemed us, and that we don't.
We're living this life. We're going to be walking through
it in the struggle, and we.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Got to do it. His way, because his way is what's.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Best for us, and all of that, all of that
requires for you to repent and to push yourself aside as.
Jesus says, anyone who would come after me, let him
deny himself, take up his cross and follow. I love
the confession, though, because Jesus, in that moment, with those
crowds have all left, He turns and the twelve are
(08:48):
standing there, and he says, are you guys going to
go too? And what does Peter say? Where else are
we going to go? Jesus, you have the words of
eternal life. We have come to know and believe that
you are the son of God. What a beautiful confession.
There's no him in there at all. It's not like
(09:09):
he's saying I figured it out or I got this
figured out.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
He's just saying, Lord, there's really nowhere else to turn.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
We don't understand any better what it is you're talking
about with your body and blood, but we know you are.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The Christ, and we go with you.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Eleven of them say that anyway, And that same passage
it ends with the twelfth.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
The Judas begins.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
That's when he begins to plan his betrayal, and so
we know it's hard. Even those who were closest to
Jesus had a hard time repenting and setting themselves aside
and confessing that it's all his.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And that there is no hope apart from him.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And so this is the life that you will be
called to live. And that's what Colossians comes in this
passage we read today because it describes what this is
going to be like for you and has been like
for you.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
As a Christian. I love this description that Paul talks.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
He says that if you've been called by Christ, then
you're supposed to set your mind upon the things that
are above, not below, on Christ, who has risen and
ascended by the Father. And then it says these kind
of distinction, that you should put to death these things
and put on Christ, which means these things.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
And so let's focus in on this for a minute.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Put to death then things. And you'll notice all of
these are about us. All of these things are about
our own pleasures, our own pursuits, our own mind and will.
And so these are the things we're supposed to put
to death in the freedom that Christ is won us.
He says, put to death there for what is earthly
in you, sexual immorality and purity, passion, evil, desire, and covenanus,
(10:42):
which is idolatry. On an account of these, the wrath
of God is coming. If these you two once walked
when you were living with them, but now you must
put them all the way. Put away anger, wrath, malice, slander,
and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to
one another, seeing that you put off the old self
(11:03):
with practices and put on the new self, which is
being renewed in the knowledge, after the image of its creator.
And for us, then there is no Greek, there is
no jew there is no good, there is no bad.
There is only the redeemed in Christ. And we are
to put those things away. They are of old. How
you doing any lies come out of your mouth? You've
(11:26):
been the white ones that are for the sake of
the other person. Of scene talk, selfishness? How about anger?
Anyone lost it on your spouse lately? Okay, one, we
got one.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Sorry, two.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
You're not supposed to disappoint the other person. That's just
a pro tip pro tip of marriage. Yeah, you can
only control yourself. Pro tip that's for everybody.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, this is hard, but yet this is our life.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Repenting, constantly turning away from ourself, turning away from it,
drives us to the things that are higher, the things
that is the one who has redeemed us, the solid.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Rock on which we stand.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
This is going to be our life, up and down
and all around, one big fat, hot mess, redeemed and
covered by the blood of Christ, who is now then
covered you and says, put on rather the things that
are his. And he says, put on then, as God's
chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate, hearts, kindness, humility, meekness,
and patience.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And then he.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Says this, which I'm going to have you say to
one another, because this is your job as a church.
So go ahead and turn to a neighbor, a different neighbor,
one you're not married, to make eye contact for an
uncomfortably long period of time, and then repeat after me,
you ready, have you found the person?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Have you found them? Okay?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Repeat after me verse thirteen. Bearing with one another?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I had you do that with the stranger because it's
easier than your spouse. I didn't want to start anything
off here today, you know, but you could try that
with them too, For we are the body of Christ,
the church. We are a family of faith, and you
can see that the things we're supposed to put on
are things that.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Are about other people.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
For that's what the Lord has called us to, is
a denial of self and an a turning of our
heart and lives and minds to Him and to others.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
He says this.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
When asked what's the greatest commandment, Jesus says, love the
Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,
and love who your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
This is where our life has.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Lived, with kindness and compassion and patience, bearing with one another.
If one has a complaint, then we are to forgive
one another. Those words are so powerful and incredible, and
we get to share them. And above all put on
these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let Christ rule your hearts. This is the life
(14:00):
we've been called to. So let's just take a minute.
I've been having you turn to people, and you should
expect this. I'm going to have you turn to people.
If you get tired of turning to the people that
are around you, go sit somewhere else next week. Because
one of the greatest gifts God has given us is
one another, the Church, the body. You don't have to
(14:21):
walk through this hot mess of a life and world alone.
You do so with other people who have the same
gift you have been given Christ. And this is your family,
for better or worse, richard and poorer, sickness and health.
And we are called to bear with one another. We
are called to support one another. And we are called
then as a body, to turn our eyes beyond this
(14:41):
room and beyond this congregation to the world out there.
Jesus rises from the dead in Matthew, and they come
to find him. They can't find his body, and he
appears to his disciples. And what's the first thing he
says to them, those who have been given this privileged
place and every gift that can be imagined. The first
thing he says to them is, go make disciples where everywhere,
(15:08):
all nations, baptizing them and the name of the Father's
Son in the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded, for surely I am with you
always to the very ends of the age. And he
starts by saying, all authority in heaven and earth has
been given to me.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
That is our Lord.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
He is here in this place He is the solid
rock of our faith in salvation. We look to him
for every gift, for every amount of forgiveness, for every
bit of guidance we need in this world, and we
follow him, and we follow him out into that world.
This year, as a congregation, we've been talking about this
all morning. It's exciting. We're going to do some stuff.
(15:47):
We're going to do some inward focused things. We're going
to try to figure out what difference do we want
to make in this community. Where do we want to serve.
There's lots of options that the Lord gives us. We're
going to spend the time finding that target on the
hill that we can all work towards.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
That's going to take a while.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
We're going to get organized so that we're ready when
to take that step. When we get a place, We're
going to get our all of our business in order.
But all of that's inward focused. And what I learned
about this church visiting with over two hundred of you
and thirty some cottage meetings, is that you're a people
who want to make a difference for the Lord. And
so this year we're introducing an initiative, a mission initiative.
(16:26):
Initiative called Peace a year on mission, and at the
heart of that is we're going to go and we're
going to build as many houses for people in Guatemala
as we can. Why Guatemala because it's a place that
exists and it's a ministry that is provided there that
we can go to that for eleven six hundred dollars,
we can provide a home to a homeless family.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
And all it takes is people and money. That's it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And we're going to do this because not only is
it going to impact those families down there, but it'll
pack every person who goes on it, and it'll spill
over into this community because we can fundraise for a
house for people in Guatemala in the community because it's
not for who, it's not for us, but others. And
we're going to go about this work. And people have
(17:12):
asked me, well, why don't we do something here? Why
do we have to go to Guatemala. Let's do stuff here.
What do you want to do? We have homeless people here,
we could help them. We've got people who don't know
the Lord. We can help them. And we're going to
do this as a congregation both focus on what He
has for us and we're going to turn our eyes
outward and how can we make a difference, meet people
where they are and make a difference with the gospel.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
And I encourage you to be involved.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
In fact, at the meeting here today, I asked, I
want one My goal and prayer has been one hundred
percent participation. Not everyone's going to be able to go
to Guatemala, obviously, but I want every person to be
asking what can I be doing that other people know
the same thing that I know, know the same hope
that I know, have the same security and comfort and
(17:58):
guidance that I have, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And that's going to be my prayer. It'll be my
prayer all year, and i'd ask you join me in it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Good morning, pastor guy, good morning, Thank you for that message.
You know, we went to a Trump rally here last
week and you know, it just it just kind of
baffled me how people on opposite sides can get so angry.
I was so angry. I mean, they're ready to fight.
And actually the police had to come in and kind
of stand in between these folks, you know, because we
(18:40):
had the rioters. I'm sorry, the picketers that were against Trump,
and then we had the people that for Trump, and
they were just going, really going at it. And I thought,
to what endpoint? What are we doing this for? Why
are we hating each other like this? And some of
the language, Wow, it was unbelievable. But word does that
come from?
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I mean we know where it comes from. Is that sinful?
That sinful, selfish side of us? And we went our
way and we're going to fight and other things are
less important. And yet to the point of the sermon
this week is that one of the main things the
Lord calls us to in life is to repent, to
turn away from ourselves, to love our neighbors, to even
(19:18):
love our enemies. So that would certainly include people we
disagree with politically.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And you know, as a.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Christian, that's a good thought that you had. Is okay,
I'm waiting this line. It's really long. People are going
at each other?
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Is this?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I mean, what just to have the thought what am
I doing here? Is a good thought to have?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah? And I guess it was me. It was just
the event itself and just being part of these people
that believe like I do. There was a lot of
folks I mean, there was signs all over you know
about Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the life,
and then you know, Jesus, Jesus is my savior. You
(20:00):
know whoever is my president? You know Trump, I think
is that Trump is my president. But it went on.
I mean, there was a lot of that there. So
people were trying to equate what's going on and trying
to maybe justify why they're there to say, Okay, I'm
here for you know, Jesus' aside, Well, yes.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Here we are a couple of weeks before the elections.
Obviously it's top of mind for everybody. This weekend at Peace,
we're going to be having a in our Bible study
in between services. I decided to take the courageous, bold
step of hosting a Lord Have Mercy election primer, and
(20:37):
it's been interesting. I haven't even taught the class yet,
we haven't even sat down and visit. I've had people
from both sides of the political as outcome and start
to complain to me already that they think they know
what I'm going to do. Oh yeah, which is hilarious
and for me, it's just like, holy cow, this is
this is definitely we definitely need to talk about this
(20:59):
because there's just a couple things that are true, like,
for example, when you head into the election, when you
head into the booth to vote, you should probably be praying,
Lord have mercy because neither one of these candidates are
who Jesus would be if he was running for president
or even close. They are so light years ahead, far.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Away from that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So it's kind of an impossible task to be honest,
because it's not like we're choosing a Christian pastor to
go in and be a Christian leader of the Christian
nation like we they were so far past that. And
then when you leave you should say, so you say,
Lord have mercy when you come in, and when you leave,
you should pray, as He has taught us that I
(21:42):
will be done. And so you know, that's where we'll
spend our time in the class on Sunday. The election
primer is not to tell you how to vote. The
election primer is to help you understand who we are
in God's world, that this all belongs to Him, that
His grace for us is for us and for all people,
and we should be gracious with one another, and that
(22:03):
we should if we're gonna if we're gonna vote. The
decisions that we should make and our society are based
on what His will is and what's best. So, under
the best of your ability, with two imperfect candidates, which
person do you think will most implement God's will in
our society? And that that'll be the class. Like if
(22:24):
you just listen to that and are a really good learner,
then you wouldn't need to come to class. But in general,
this is, this is those three truths providing a solid foundation.
And man, we need to we need to have a
little more charity and compassion and love with with one
another and with people who disagree with.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Us exactly And how those people ever became enemies, I'm
not really certain. I'm not really sure. But like you said,
you know, Jesus taught us to love our enemies, just
like you said when we started. He taught us learn
And that's really difficult to do, especially when you think
that you're so right.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, you know, I remember in the church when I
was younger, I got sideways with another staff person and
I was grumbling. And you're doing what you do, and
you're making your case and trying to get people on
your side, and and uh and they were doing the
same thing, and it was it was spoiling for a fight,
and it was so gross really when you look back
on it. And the senior pastor came in and said, hey,
(23:22):
looked right at both of us and said, you are
on the same team.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And he goes, there's only one enemy, and you guys
aren't each other's enemy. And you should ask yourself why
it is that you've gotten to this place, because I
think the enemy is winning. Yeah, And he was talking
about Satan, of course, and the temptation it is to
turn towards ourselves and want to be right. And it
was kind of a life changing moment for me. And
(23:47):
now now that I am a senior pastor, I find
myself using.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Whoa, whoa, there's no enemies here, you know. We're all
on the same team. We belong to the same Lord.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yes, absolutely, you know. And I've thought about that quite
a bit too. And when it comes to what's going on,
obviously it's up to the Lord, you know. And there's
things that we want and there's things that we desire,
but it really is his. And like I talked to
my family the other night, we were just chatting about
all this, and I said, first of all, let's give
things that we live in a country where we can
do this. Let's give thanks. And we have this wonderful,
(24:20):
beautiful country that we're able to vote and vote for
our candidate and not have a gun to our head,
you know, to decide who we're going to vote for.
And we are so blessed in that in that way.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, yeah, And so I mean, this election is top
of mind, it's kind of at the center of everyone's life.
We won't be able to get away for it from
another few weeks, and with the way voting that last time,
it probably won't be till the end of November that
we'll even know who the president is. Right, But in general,
for us, these three truths that were proclaimed, that's kind
of what it means to be a disciple of Christ
(24:54):
and the foundation in which we get to live life
and the reality of His truths. It's every bit as
prominent in that this election cycle as it is every
other part of life.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
And like you said, we are all in this together. Amen,
pastor Ga, thank you again for that message, and God
it's blessings on your week and you as well. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Thank you for joining us. A peace to you from
Peast Church in our bat To, Colorado. If you have
no church home, we would be delighted for you to
join us on any Sunday. Our address is five six
seventy five Field Street in our Battle, Colorado. Our services
are at eight and ten thirty am. Bible classes for
(25:54):
all ages are at nine to fifteen am. You can
easily access our sermons online at www dot p, s
Lucret dot m, or at Pasarbada at YouTube dot com.
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(26:15):
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(26:39):
Now from the entire broadcast team at Peace Lupmchurch and Arbada,
I am Reuben Holiday and may the Peace of Our
Lord you with you today and always
And so we know that this is hard, that God's
word can speak hard, and we can struggle against it,
and certainly this is true.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning and welcome to peace to you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. In recent weeks we've talked
about it's all his He saves and His will is
what's best for us. This week, Pastor Guy wants to
share with us our life together. And now here's Pastor Guy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So I'm singing a song for you that's from a hymn.
I think it's a different tune than the one that
is in our hymn book, but it goes like this,
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Do you guys know this one? You could sing it
with me.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
No merit of my own I claim, but Holy lean
on Jesus' name, on Christ, the solid rock I stand.
All the other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
That's a good one, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
That stuck with me even as from a young age.
And to be honest with you, as your new senior
pastor going through this Discipleship is Life Series introducing to
you the katechisis that I hope will be the foundation,
the solid ground of your life and faith. The song
beautifully shares what my hope is for you that over
these last few weeks, these truths that we've been laying
(01:53):
down the way that I speak about them, would be
there to kind of become that solid ground for you.
Because life gets rough, and so I want to do
a little quiz time. Let's go through this. As we begin,
I kind of laid out three truths that are central
ABC's of the Christian faith. Three things that you can
trust upon and that God for sure will deliver in
(02:16):
every every.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Single way possible.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
And the first one is does anyone know it? It's
all whose? Yeah, so it's all his. So say that
to your neighbor number one, it's all his. Just say okay, good,
good good. You don't have to know these things. But
I'm just keep pushing them because it's important that all
things in the world, no matter what it may be,
are his, have come from Him. There is nothing that
(02:39):
belongs to us, and that's the way it's supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
We are simply stewards of His gifts. Amen. The second
one is this, he saves.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
He is gracious and merciful, slow in anger, and abounding
and steadfast love. This is who our God is and
always has been and always will be.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
This is who he is.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And he he works this in our lives as he's
done today. And Pastor Tim stood up here and forgiving
your sins, and he does it then through one another,
when you confess to one another, I am sorry, I
have sinned against you.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And in the stead and by the command.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Of Jesus you get to speak and have the privileged
place to say, I forgive you on behalf of the Lord.
To hear those words and to see those words are
just such a gift. And so this is who you are.
So look at your neighbor and say he has saved you.
Very nice. Get used to look in your neighbor. We're
(03:34):
gonna look at your neighbors so much. Maybe pick a
different neighbor if you get sick of that neighbor, just
maybe the neighbor in front behind. Maybe you want to
move a couple rows, all right. And so then the
third one, the third truth, we got. It's all his
He saves. And then does anyone know the last one?
His will is what's best for us. Thank you, that's so,
(03:56):
that's a little discouraging. That was last week's sermon. So
in whatever here we are continue to learn His will
is what's best for us, and not just us as Christians,
but every single person that lives in this world, for
his will is the law, and his law is nothing
other than God's will for all of creation. It's who
(04:16):
we're supposed to be created to be and who we
have a hard time being because, as we did learn
last week, you have bad instincts. Did you know this, Well,
let's tell our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
It's fun. You have bad instincts.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Go yeah, when given the opportunity, at least half the time,
you'll probably do it wrong and you'll think it's right,
but you'll do it anyway, even though you aren't supposed
to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know you do it. Ah, who will rescue me
from this body of death?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And we know the answer his name is because he
is a God who saves. And so for us in life,
we need this guidance, We need to be led and
we need to look to him for his will truly
is what's best. He's not just a mean father up
there making you do stuff that you don't want to do.
He actually cares and loves for you. And this then,
these truths all kind of centered in his son, Jesus Christ.
(05:04):
The very word of God are the solid foundation of
our life. Everything makes sense and flows from them. And
so it's important that you hear it, and you'll hear
it from me again and again, from pastor Tim, again
and again, from all the lay teachers, again and again,
that this is.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Who we are.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
We are a people who belong to God, and we
live in his world according to his grace, by his grace,
and according to his will.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
This is who we are.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
And it's important to know this because not all the
days are going to go smooth. One of my favorite
chapters in all of Scripture is John chapter six. When
I say, John chapter six, who knows what I'm talking about?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Just right out right away?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
All right, just a few so this will be fun
for you. Jesus has had an incredibly successful ministry. He
is out there healing people and teaching, and they're starting
to follow him. He's even fed five thousand people, which
is probably more because they think they don't counted the
men in that counting, and so he's fed thousands of people,
and now thousands of people are following him around everywhere
(06:08):
he goes. In fact, he tries to get away and
have a rest, and they find him. And so in
this time he's had incredibly successful ministry under all measurements
of human success.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
This is it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And so he begins to teach them, this crowd who's gathered,
and he tells them, I am the bread of life.
That's what he says to them, and they can't look
at him, like, okay, well where is the bread? Hook
us up Jesus and he goes, no, you don't understand
it unless you partake of me, eat my body, and
(06:42):
drink my blood. There is no life. And they say, well,
this is what what are you talking about? And Jesus
just continues to kind of press in it, continues to
press in into so far that they say, they say,
this is a hard teaching. Who can follow this? And
Jesus continues to press in. He he continues to speak
the truth that there is no life and no one
(07:04):
comes to the Father except through me. There is no
life apart from me, and he presses in so far
that they all leave, They all leave. He tells them
the truth of who he is and what he's come
to do, and the people who are coming for the
bread and they leave. And so we know that this
(07:24):
is hard, that God's word can speak hard, and we
can struggle against it.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
And certainly this is true.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
This is true of the rich young man in scripture
who comes to Jesus and says, what must I do
to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, go sell all
your stuff, give it to the poor, and come follow me.
And the guy's like, sure, right, he just does it,
you remember that story. No, he bows his head and
walks away with slumped shoulders because he just can't.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
The hardest part of the Christian walk and the Christian faith,
and you know it and I know it, we know
this is true, is that we have to get over
something in order to follow him. We have to get
over take your finger like this and go like this.
We have to get over who. We have to confess
that he is God and we are not, that it's
all his, that the only hope we have is that
(08:17):
he says saved us and redeemed us, and that we don't.
We're living this life. We're going to be walking through
it in the struggle, and we.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Got to do it. His way, because his way is what's.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Best for us, and all of that, all of that
requires for you to repent and to push yourself aside as.
Jesus says, anyone who would come after me, let him
deny himself, take up his cross and follow. I love
the confession, though, because Jesus, in that moment, with those
crowds have all left, He turns and the twelve are
(08:48):
standing there, and he says, are you guys going to
go too? And what does Peter say? Where else are
we going to go? Jesus, you have the words of
eternal life. We have come to know and believe that
you are the son of God. What a beautiful confession.
There's no him in there at all. It's not like
(09:09):
he's saying I figured it out or I got this
figured out.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
He's just saying, Lord, there's really nowhere else to turn.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
We don't understand any better what it is you're talking
about with your body and blood, but we know you are.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The Christ, and we go with you.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Eleven of them say that anyway, And that same passage
it ends with the twelfth.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
The Judas begins.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
That's when he begins to plan his betrayal, and so
we know it's hard. Even those who were closest to
Jesus had a hard time repenting and setting themselves aside
and confessing that it's all his.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And that there is no hope apart from him.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And so this is the life that you will be
called to live. And that's what Colossians comes in this
passage we read today because it describes what this is
going to be like for you and has been like
for you.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
As a Christian. I love this description that Paul talks.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
He says that if you've been called by Christ, then
you're supposed to set your mind upon the things that
are above, not below, on Christ, who has risen and
ascended by the Father. And then it says these kind
of distinction, that you should put to death these things
and put on Christ, which means these things.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
And so let's focus in on this for a minute.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Put to death then things. And you'll notice all of
these are about us. All of these things are about
our own pleasures, our own pursuits, our own mind and will.
And so these are the things we're supposed to put
to death in the freedom that Christ is won us.
He says, put to death there for what is earthly
in you, sexual immorality and purity, passion, evil, desire, and covenanus,
(10:42):
which is idolatry. On an account of these, the wrath
of God is coming. If these you two once walked
when you were living with them, but now you must
put them all the way. Put away anger, wrath, malice, slander,
and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to
one another, seeing that you put off the old self
(11:03):
with practices and put on the new self, which is
being renewed in the knowledge, after the image of its creator.
And for us, then there is no Greek, there is
no jew there is no good, there is no bad.
There is only the redeemed in Christ. And we are
to put those things away. They are of old. How
you doing any lies come out of your mouth? You've
(11:26):
been the white ones that are for the sake of
the other person. Of scene talk, selfishness? How about anger?
Anyone lost it on your spouse lately? Okay, one, we
got one.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Sorry, two.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
You're not supposed to disappoint the other person. That's just
a pro tip pro tip of marriage. Yeah, you can
only control yourself. Pro tip that's for everybody.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, this is hard, but yet this is our life.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Repenting, constantly turning away from ourself, turning away from it,
drives us to the things that are higher, the things
that is the one who has redeemed us, the solid.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Rock on which we stand.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
This is going to be our life, up and down
and all around, one big fat, hot mess, redeemed and
covered by the blood of Christ, who is now then
covered you and says, put on rather the things that
are his. And he says, put on then, as God's
chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate, hearts, kindness, humility, meekness,
and patience.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And then he.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Says this, which I'm going to have you say to
one another, because this is your job as a church.
So go ahead and turn to a neighbor, a different neighbor,
one you're not married, to make eye contact for an
uncomfortably long period of time, and then repeat after me,
you ready, have you found the person?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Have you found them? Okay?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Repeat after me verse thirteen. Bearing with one another?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I had you do that with the stranger because it's
easier than your spouse. I didn't want to start anything
off here today, you know, but you could try that
with them too, For we are the body of Christ,
the church. We are a family of faith, and you
can see that the things we're supposed to put on
are things that.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Are about other people.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
For that's what the Lord has called us to, is
a denial of self and an a turning of our
heart and lives and minds to Him and to others.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
He says this.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
When asked what's the greatest commandment, Jesus says, love the
Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,
and love who your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
This is where our life has.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Lived, with kindness and compassion and patience, bearing with one another.
If one has a complaint, then we are to forgive
one another. Those words are so powerful and incredible, and
we get to share them. And above all put on
these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let Christ rule your hearts. This is the life
(14:00):
we've been called to. So let's just take a minute.
I've been having you turn to people, and you should
expect this. I'm going to have you turn to people.
If you get tired of turning to the people that
are around you, go sit somewhere else next week. Because
one of the greatest gifts God has given us is
one another, the Church, the body. You don't have to
(14:21):
walk through this hot mess of a life and world alone.
You do so with other people who have the same
gift you have been given Christ. And this is your family,
for better or worse, richard and poorer, sickness and health.
And we are called to bear with one another. We
are called to support one another. And we are called
then as a body, to turn our eyes beyond this
(14:41):
room and beyond this congregation to the world out there.
Jesus rises from the dead in Matthew, and they come
to find him. They can't find his body, and he
appears to his disciples. And what's the first thing he
says to them, those who have been given this privileged
place and every gift that can be imagined. The first
thing he says to them is, go make disciples where everywhere,
(15:08):
all nations, baptizing them and the name of the Father's
Son in the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded, for surely I am with you
always to the very ends of the age. And he
starts by saying, all authority in heaven and earth has
been given to me.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
That is our Lord.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
He is here in this place He is the solid
rock of our faith in salvation. We look to him
for every gift, for every amount of forgiveness, for every
bit of guidance we need in this world, and we
follow him, and we follow him out into that world.
This year, as a congregation, we've been talking about this
all morning. It's exciting. We're going to do some stuff.
(15:47):
We're going to do some inward focused things. We're going
to try to figure out what difference do we want
to make in this community. Where do we want to serve.
There's lots of options that the Lord gives us. We're
going to spend the time finding that target on the
hill that we can all work towards.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
That's going to take a while.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
We're going to get organized so that we're ready when
to take that step. When we get a place, We're
going to get our all of our business in order.
But all of that's inward focused. And what I learned
about this church visiting with over two hundred of you
and thirty some cottage meetings, is that you're a people
who want to make a difference for the Lord. And
so this year we're introducing an initiative, a mission initiative.
(16:26):
Initiative called Peace a year on mission, and at the
heart of that is we're going to go and we're
going to build as many houses for people in Guatemala
as we can. Why Guatemala because it's a place that
exists and it's a ministry that is provided there that
we can go to that for eleven six hundred dollars,
we can provide a home to a homeless family.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
And all it takes is people and money. That's it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And we're going to do this because not only is
it going to impact those families down there, but it'll
pack every person who goes on it, and it'll spill
over into this community because we can fundraise for a
house for people in Guatemala in the community because it's
not for who, it's not for us, but others. And
we're going to go about this work. And people have
(17:12):
asked me, well, why don't we do something here? Why
do we have to go to Guatemala. Let's do stuff here.
What do you want to do? We have homeless people here,
we could help them. We've got people who don't know
the Lord. We can help them. And we're going to
do this as a congregation both focus on what He
has for us and we're going to turn our eyes
outward and how can we make a difference, meet people
where they are and make a difference with the gospel.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
And I encourage you to be involved.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
In fact, at the meeting here today, I asked, I
want one My goal and prayer has been one hundred
percent participation. Not everyone's going to be able to go
to Guatemala, obviously, but I want every person to be
asking what can I be doing that other people know
the same thing that I know, know the same hope
that I know, have the same security and comfort and
(17:58):
guidance that I have, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And that's going to be my prayer. It'll be my
prayer all year, and i'd ask you join me in it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Good morning, pastor guy, good morning, Thank you for that message.
You know, we went to a Trump rally here last
week and you know, it just it just kind of
baffled me how people on opposite sides can get so angry.
I was so angry. I mean, they're ready to fight.
And actually the police had to come in and kind
of stand in between these folks, you know, because we
(18:40):
had the rioters. I'm sorry, the picketers that were against Trump,
and then we had the people that for Trump, and
they were just going, really going at it. And I thought,
to what endpoint? What are we doing this for? Why
are we hating each other like this? And some of
the language, Wow, it was unbelievable. But word does that
come from?
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I mean we know where it comes from. Is that sinful?
That sinful, selfish side of us? And we went our
way and we're going to fight and other things are
less important. And yet to the point of the sermon
this week is that one of the main things the
Lord calls us to in life is to repent, to
turn away from ourselves, to love our neighbors, to even
(19:18):
love our enemies. So that would certainly include people we
disagree with politically.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And you know, as a.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Christian, that's a good thought that you had. Is okay,
I'm waiting this line. It's really long. People are going
at each other?
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Is this?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I mean, what just to have the thought what am
I doing here? Is a good thought to have?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah? And I guess it was me. It was just
the event itself and just being part of these people
that believe like I do. There was a lot of
folks I mean, there was signs all over you know
about Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the life,
and then you know, Jesus, Jesus is my savior. You
(20:00):
know whoever is my president? You know Trump, I think
is that Trump is my president. But it went on.
I mean, there was a lot of that there. So
people were trying to equate what's going on and trying
to maybe justify why they're there to say, Okay, I'm
here for you know, Jesus' aside, Well, yes.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Here we are a couple of weeks before the elections.
Obviously it's top of mind for everybody. This weekend at Peace,
we're going to be having a in our Bible study
in between services. I decided to take the courageous, bold
step of hosting a Lord Have Mercy election primer, and
(20:37):
it's been interesting. I haven't even taught the class yet,
we haven't even sat down and visit. I've had people
from both sides of the political as outcome and start
to complain to me already that they think they know
what I'm going to do. Oh yeah, which is hilarious
and for me, it's just like, holy cow, this is
this is definitely we definitely need to talk about this
(20:59):
because there's just a couple things that are true, like,
for example, when you head into the election, when you
head into the booth to vote, you should probably be praying,
Lord have mercy because neither one of these candidates are
who Jesus would be if he was running for president
or even close. They are so light years ahead, far.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Away from that.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So it's kind of an impossible task to be honest,
because it's not like we're choosing a Christian pastor to
go in and be a Christian leader of the Christian
nation like we they were so far past that. And
then when you leave you should say, so you say,
Lord have mercy when you come in, and when you leave,
you should pray, as He has taught us that I
(21:42):
will be done. And so you know, that's where we'll
spend our time in the class on Sunday. The election
primer is not to tell you how to vote. The
election primer is to help you understand who we are
in God's world, that this all belongs to Him, that
His grace for us is for us and for all people,
and we should be gracious with one another, and that
(22:03):
we should if we're gonna if we're gonna vote. The
decisions that we should make and our society are based
on what His will is and what's best. So, under
the best of your ability, with two imperfect candidates, which
person do you think will most implement God's will in
our society? And that that'll be the class. Like if
(22:24):
you just listen to that and are a really good learner,
then you wouldn't need to come to class. But in general,
this is, this is those three truths providing a solid foundation.
And man, we need to we need to have a
little more charity and compassion and love with with one
another and with people who disagree with.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Us exactly And how those people ever became enemies, I'm
not really certain. I'm not really sure. But like you said,
you know, Jesus taught us to love our enemies, just
like you said when we started. He taught us learn
And that's really difficult to do, especially when you think
that you're so right.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, you know, I remember in the church when I
was younger, I got sideways with another staff person and
I was grumbling. And you're doing what you do, and
you're making your case and trying to get people on
your side, and and uh and they were doing the
same thing, and it was it was spoiling for a fight,
and it was so gross really when you look back
on it. And the senior pastor came in and said, hey,
(23:22):
looked right at both of us and said, you are
on the same team.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And he goes, there's only one enemy, and you guys
aren't each other's enemy. And you should ask yourself why
it is that you've gotten to this place, because I
think the enemy is winning. Yeah, And he was talking
about Satan, of course, and the temptation it is to
turn towards ourselves and want to be right. And it
was kind of a life changing moment for me. And
(23:47):
now now that I am a senior pastor, I find
myself using.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Whoa, whoa, there's no enemies here, you know. We're all
on the same team. We belong to the same Lord.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yes, absolutely, you know. And I've thought about that quite
a bit too. And when it comes to what's going on,
obviously it's up to the Lord, you know. And there's
things that we want and there's things that we desire,
but it really is his. And like I talked to
my family the other night, we were just chatting about
all this, and I said, first of all, let's give
things that we live in a country where we can
do this. Let's give thanks. And we have this wonderful,
(24:20):
beautiful country that we're able to vote and vote for
our candidate and not have a gun to our head,
you know, to decide who we're going to vote for.
And we are so blessed in that in that way.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, yeah, And so I mean, this election is top
of mind, it's kind of at the center of everyone's life.
We won't be able to get away for it from
another few weeks, and with the way voting that last time,
it probably won't be till the end of November that
we'll even know who the president is. Right, But in general,
for us, these three truths that were proclaimed, that's kind
of what it means to be a disciple of Christ
(24:54):
and the foundation in which we get to live life
and the reality of His truths. It's every bit as
prominent in that this election cycle as it is every
other part of life.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
And like you said, we are all in this together. Amen,
pastor Ga, thank you again for that message, and God
it's blessings on your week and you as well. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Thank you for joining us. A peace to you from
Peast Church in our bat To, Colorado. If you have
no church home, we would be delighted for you to
join us on any Sunday. Our address is five six
seventy five Field Street in our Battle, Colorado. Our services
are at eight and ten thirty am. Bible classes for
(25:54):
all ages are at nine to fifteen am. You can
easily access our sermons online at www dot p, s
Lucret dot m, or at Pasarbada at YouTube dot com.
Peace to You in part is a listener supported broadcast.
If you would like to sponsor a broadcast in the future,
(26:15):
call us at three O three four two four four
four five four. If you would like a copy of
today's broadcast and no charge to you, contact us at
the same number three oh three four two four four
four five four. You can access our sermons at any
time by going to our YouTube channel, peaceharbatatube dot com.
(26:39):
Now from the entire broadcast team at Peace Lupmchurch and Arbada,
I am Reuben Holiday and may the Peace of Our
Lord you with you today and always
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