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All right, sweet. I have a few announcements for you. Uh, a few exciting things happening around here over the course of summer and so we just want to keep you posted.

Um the first one being is we are we are aiming to start kids church June 29th 8th June 28th. And so, uh, again, we are, um, if you're, if you're a parent in the room or have children that you bring with you, we really want to grow them into the presence of Jesus and really knowing the heart and the voice uh, of the Lord and certainly to know his word and the scriptures. And so, we are um, uh, we want to know what to expect starting June 28th.

And so if you have kids and you want to sign them up for kids church, you can use this link um or this QR code to go ahead and do that. That'll just help us to make sure we prepare for, you know, the kind of the age ranges that we have and make sure we're uh ready to go to to serve everybody really well. Um, and then the second portion of that is if you want to sign up to volunteer with kids and to help uh grow our kids and grow the next generation into knowing and loving Jesus, um, it's going to be it's going to be a more vigorous process to, you know, to actually be back there to serve.

But if you would like to go if you would like to serve and and go go through that process just to make sure that all the kids are safe and all of that. So, want to make sure we we we follow all the protocol in place to to protect our kids. But if you want to do that uh and sign up to volunteer with kids, that'll be the QR code for you.

Um and I just I want to remind everyone how important it is uh to serve within within church and to serve within the body of Christ because we're building together something that the Lord will will inhabit, does and will uh inhabit. And so we all we all just want to make sure we're all part of what what God's doing uh in the house. Uh the next thing is our conference.

And so we're we're a little under two months away now from conference. Um oh that's not an that's not an updated graphic. Well, that's okay.

Um so in addition to that, we have we have John Wild's coming and and Callie will be back uh with us in August. And so again, we just want to keep it on your radar. This is, you know, kind of the the uh our big gathering every year where we we people really fly in from all over the world to come and and just love Jesus here uh in in our region.

And so we would anyways just want you to to uh not forget that it's happening um this summer in August. And we hope to see you there. And then the last thing um the last thing I want to uh bring to you is so June 28th, the same Sunday we're starting kids church.

Um we were uh many of you know Jesus Image and Michael and Jessica Coianos are like some of our dearest friends in the ministry and they're usually uh they come through here about at least twice a year usually sometimes sometimes more. And so June 28th, Michael will be here um at service and you know he'll teach and and I think um yeah and and it'll it'll just be a sweet time together in the presence of Jesus. And so I want you to to keep that posted.

We they're they're currently on sbatical, so they're taking time off just to seek and and uh love Jesus together as a family and um and get some rest. And so they're they really just made an exception to come out here to serve us and be with us. And so we um we're not going to be putting it on social media or anything like that.

We're just going to kind of keep it in house. So you're welcome to invite your family and friends, but I just want you to know that pretty much outside of here, you probably won't get an update on that, but it's happening um June 28th. Uh and that is it for me.

So, why don't we all stand up? I want to read from uh the book of Micah today as we as we step into uh to love Jesus and in worship. And so in the book of Micah in in chapter 4 verse one it says it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and it shall be lifted up above the hills and peoples shall flow to it.

And many nations shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. The scriptures teach that it's interesting because it says it says the the mountain of the Lord, the house of the Lord will be established as the highest mountain and it shall be lifted above all hills and then it says and the people shall flow to it. You know, we I mean, usually the way science kind of works is is rivers and everything flows down from mountains.

But here it says that if you establish Jesus as the pinnacle, as the center of who we are, of our church, of our of our lives, the scriptures teach that the nations are drawn to Jesus. He is the desires of the nation. He is the desire of the nations.

And then it says that one day people from all over the world will say come let us go to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways and that we may that we may walk in his paths. In other words, our assignment in this room becomes that Jesus is is the highest name. He is the reason, the purpose that we're here.

And every lesser thing that fights for our attention and fights for our affection in this room, it has to be brought low that Jesus remains all in all. And as he remains all in all, the the nations are drawn. They hunger and thirst for the for the one man, Jesus Christ.

our city, the our region, the northwest, that people whether they know it or not, they hunger for the one man, Jesus Christ. And unlike in the natural where flow, where the flow goes from top to bottom, when Jesus is at the center, when he is at the top, when he is the highest mountain, everything else flows to him. Everything is drawn to him.

And Jesus is drawn to rest among a people whose heart and affection and attention are all geared and set on him and him alone. And the scriptures say where two or three gather in my name there I will be among them. What he's not saying is is he doesn't just come at the mere mention of his name.

He comes when there's a people who've gathered to lay every other thing aside to pour oil at his feet. And so Lord, tonight we ask that you would teach us and help us, to fall deeper in love with you, to know you, to run this race, Lord, with courage and boldness, to never lose heart, to never lose sight of who you are and what you've called us to. And we ask establish for yourself a home in this room and draw our city to yourself.

Draw our region to yourself. Draw our nation to yourself. Lord, we know that you are the desire of the nations.

Come and make yourself a home with us in our midst. Lord, come and make yourself a home. So, we give you all of the glory, all of the honor.

Lord, we look to you tonight and in your most holy name we pray. Amen. Heat.

The grand earth Moved by the sound of seas that are shaken and stood can be calmed and broken from my regard. You have me in your arms. A grand earth shaped before moved by the sound of his voice.

And seas that are shaken and stirred can be calmed and broken for my regard. And through it all, through it all, my eyes are on you. Through it all, through it all.

Through it all. through it. All my eyes on you and it is well with me.

Far be from me to not believe even when my eyes can't see in this mountain in front of me. We'll be into the midst of the sea. And through it all, through it all, my eyes are on.

Through it all, through it all is through it all. Through it all, my eyes on. It is well.

It is well. So let go my soul and trust in him. The waves and waves know his name.

So let go my soul and trust in him. The waves and wind so is well with my soul. It is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul.

Heat. My soul is well. It is well with my soul.

Oh, heat, heat. Holy dwell with mer. Heat.

Heat up here. Heat. Oh, is this well with my soul?

It is worth with my soul. And it is well with my soul. Everything to the name Jesus.

Everything bows to the name Jesus. Everything bows to the name Jesus. >> It does.

It does. >> Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Everything bows to the name of Jesus.

Everything bows to the name of Jesus. >> Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Everything bows to the name of Jesus.

Everything bows to the name of Jesus. It does. It does.

Yes, it does. >> Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Everything bows to the name of Jesus.

Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Yes, it does. Everything bows to the name of Jesus.

Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Oh, we declare his name today.

Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Everything bows to the name of Jesus. Everything bows to the name of Jesus.

Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above the world.

All those powers and positiones. Your name stands above the world. Say your name.

Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above the world.

All those amazes. Your name stands above the Lord. Your name is the highest.

Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above the world. Above all you dominance of power and possessions your name above the wall.

Sing everything everything. The name of Jesus. Everything bows in the name of Jesus.

Susie cuz everything bows in the name of Jesus. in this world with my soul. Everything in the name of Jesus.

Everything bows in the name of Jesus. Everything bows in the name of Jesus. Above all thrones and domains, all powers and positions, your name stands above them all.

and delicious. you still with my soul. It is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul and it is well. It is well with my soul. Holy, holy.

Holy, holy, holy, holy. Jesus. Come up and see and look upon him as every that beholds the Lord.

The living creatures fall down. The elders casting their forever night. They won't stop singing.

Come up and see and look upon him alone. As every eye beholds the Lord Almighty, the living creatures fall down. The elders casting their crowns forever, night and day.

They won't stop singing. Oh holy, oh holy, oh holy Lord God Almighty, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. They sing holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty.

Oh holy, oh holy, oh holy Lord God Almighty. There's no one more holy. There's no one more holy.

Scars on your hands and your side. The son of God raised to life. Now we behold the glory of our savior and to the lamb who was slain.

Belong dominion and praise. Jesus the only one who is found worthy. Stars on your hands and your sight.

The son of God raised to life. Now we behold the glory of our savior and to the lamb who was saved dominion and praise. Jesus the only one who is found worthy.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, holy Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. Open the scroll. Break the seal of the world.

Open the break the seal worthy. Open the wall. Break the seal.

Open. Break the world. Heat.

Yeah. Heat. Yeah.

Heat. Yeah. Heat.

Yeah. Heat. Yeah.

Heat. Yeah. Heat.

Yeah. Heat. Yeah.

Heat. Only you are. Only you Jesus.

Holy you are. Holy Jesus. Holy, holy Jesus.

Only you are worthy. Holy Jesus. Holy you are.

Holy Jesus. Only you are. Only Jesus.

There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy.

There's only one worthy. Just you. There's only one worthy.

Yes, there's only one worthy over the nations. There's only one worthy over every heart, every mind. There's only one worthy.

Yes. There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy.

There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy and it's Jesus. There's only one worthy.

There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy.

There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy. There's only one worthy.

Yeah. Heat. Yeah.

Heat. Yeah. Heat.

Jesus, only you are worthy. Only you Jesus. Only you are.

Holy you Jesus. We recognize you so. Yes, Jesus.

We recognize that there's nobody else. Can we just begin to lift up the song to him? He desires to hear the sound of his people, the song of his people.

Praise will forever be on our lips, Lord Jesus. Cuz you're worthy. You're so worthy, Lord Jesus.

We join in with the angels as we sing. Glory to you, Jesus. Join in with the angels as we sing.

So, so worthy, worthy, worthy. We give you a costly worship tonight, Lord Jesus. We give you everything that matters to us tonight.

Oh, we lift up a song to you tonight, Lord. We lift up a song to you tonight, Lord. You're so worthy of praise.

You're so worthy of praise tonight, Lord. And up above the heavens, down below. Though it sec the eternity.

Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise.

Jesus, we behold you now. We lift our hands. We lay our crowns.

Highest praise we bring to you. Let it rise. Let it rise.

Let it rise. Oh, let it rise. Let it rise.

Let it rise. How holy. How holy is the Lord God Almighty.

So worthy, so worthy to be praised. How holy, how holy is the Lord God Almighty, so worthy, so worthy to be praised. Every nation, tribe, and tongue bows before the throne of one.

Praise the father, spirit, son. Let it rise. Let it rise.

Let it rise. Every nation, tribe, and tongue bows before the throne of God. Praise the father, spirit, son.

Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise.

Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise.

How is the Lord God? So, so we join the angels to sing how God might So be there is no one like Jesus. There is no one like Jesus.

The first, the last, the out of the one who was and is to come. The lion of Judah, the lamb who was slain, the risen king, the living world. Sing again the first one to go.

Heat. Oh god. How, how is the Lord God Almighty, so worthy, so worthy to be praised.

And how holy, how is the Lord God Almighty, so worthy, so worthy to be praised. So worthy to be praised. It's worth from a throne to a cross.

Who would pay such a price for the sin of the world? He's your king crucified. See the nails in his hands.

See the wounds in his side. See the crown meant to mock. That instead prophesy that it was not the end.

Wipe the tears from your eyes. Don't forget what he said. On the third he will rise.

Oh, we celebrate the king tonight. We celebrate the resurrection of our living king. tonight.

From the throne to the cross, who would pay such a price for the sin of the world? See the See the nails in his hands. See the wolves in his side.

You see the crown made a mark that instead prophesy that it was not the end. Wipe the tears from your eyes. Don't forget what he said on the third.

He will rise. He's alive. He's alive.

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

He's alive. How is the Lord God? So worthy.

Glory to be praised. How is the Lord God mighty? Oh, so worthy to be praising the voice.

Heat. Yeah. Heat.

Yeah. Heat. How is the Lord God mighty?

So worthy to be praised, how holy, how holy is the Lord God Almighty, so worthy, so worthy. worthy to be praised. >> Celebrate the king.

Oh. Heat. We join in with the angels as they say he's so worthy of us tonight.

Heat. We're singing. We're singing.

We're singing. We're joining with the angels and all the living creatures. He's alive.

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

He's alive. He's alive. Heat.

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

He's alive. God. We join in with the angels as we sing.

Let it be tonight as it is in heaven. Lord, let it be tonight as it is in heaven. Jesus, Find pleasure in what you hear.

Oh, heat, heat. Glory. Holy Jesus.

S for Heat up here. Heat. You Heat.

Do you feel Heat. Lord, for the soul. Close your eyes.

If you're able, can we can we get on our knees before the Lord just for the next few minutes? See you You are highest >> Jesus. Jesus, son of God, worthy.

Sales. You are glorious son of God. Glory.

Worthy. >> Let's sing that again. Worthy is the lamb.

Glory is the single freedom. I am lifted up. >> I am lifted up the son of God.

The darling of heaven crucified. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy.

>> Worthy is the lamb. >> Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb.

>> Oh Lord, there is none like you. There is none but Jesus. There is no one else for me.

For us, Lord, there is none but Jesus. And today, God, the the best how we the the best we know how, we we pour our oil at your feet. And we thank you, God, for the many ways that you come.

I know, Lord, we say this a lot, but it just it never stops being true. is that you never have to come. You don't owe us anything.

In fact, God, for what you've already accomplished on the cross and through your broken body and your spilled out blood, we can never say thank you enough. And yet, every single time, Lord, you don't have to come. But you always do.

And so today in meekness and humility as children in love with our with our Jesus, with our father, God, we pour our oil. We we lay ourselves down and we just want to know you just to be with you, God. To to let go of the cares of the world and and life and the things that so easily ens snared just pour our love on you.

So thank you for the finished work of the cross. Thank you for your testimony, for your kindness, your mercies, your compassion. Thank you Lord that you are present and evident that you never change for all of eternity.

Though humanity has changed though our hearts Lord shift and move and change you never do. And so what it is such a gift Lord to be loved by you and to be called children of God. And so tonight, Lord, we bless your name.

We kneel, we bow before you as one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to the one and only, the true name of Jesus Christ, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. The one who is alpha and omega beginning and the end. Emmanuel, you are God with us, the one worthy to be praised.

So Jesus, we love you dearly. We yield tonight over to you. Have your way in the rest of the service, Lord.

For we are your people. You are our God. and we will follow wherever it is you go.

We love you, Jesus. And in your most holy name we pray. Amen.

>> Amen. >> Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord.

You may find your seats. Can we thank our sweet worship team? Um, we're so glad you're here.

Please find your seats if you need a seat. There's several scattered throughout the room. Um, God is so kind to us.

Um, I know there are many places you could be on a Sunday night, especially with with Seattle summers. Um, and the fact that you're here, uh, I think it's one of the reasons why it's so easy to to enter in, um, in the presence of Jesus. And, um, he's he comes so so tenderly and sweetly and and beautifully.

And I Uh so you know when there's just when there's a hunger in a room of the people people gathered together after his heart it's just like uh it's just one of the sweetest things. And so we're just just happy you're here or happy you're here. I'm happy you're here.

Is there anyone who's here for the very first time? Like you've never been to a Sunday night. Awesome.

Welcome. Welcome. We're so glad you're here.

Um my name is Raul. if if we haven't already met. Um, and we just love Jesus here and and do our best to love him more and and prepare ourselves and and the bride for uh the day of his coming.

Whether it's later today or centuries from now, we want to leave on our mark on on the planet with a hunger for for his presence and his kingdom. And so you'll find a bunch of a bunch of burning hearts. I I told our Bible study crew on Tuesday, you you will burn for all of eternity.

You You don't No one gets an exception. You just choose. You burn in fire of hell or with the first love fire for Jesus Christ.

And so we we're just choosing to burn with first fire love today so that when we get there it's uh we're yeah we're ready to go. You know we're awesome. Well uh for for those of you who you know who call the finding home and you've been you've been here for the last several months or so.

We've been making our way through Exodus 12 and we went through communion and then we took two weeks for water baptism and last week we had uh I think 12 precious souls give their lives to the Lord in this way through the through the waters of baptism and it was just so holy and special. And I think we already have like few signed up already again for for the next one. So we're going to start thinking ahead.

Um, and so I was praying I was praying this week and especially today I was just I was wanting to be sensitive to the Lord for where where he wants to take us next. And and um and I've been in the book of First Peter for uh over maybe the last several months just really dissecting it and and uh taking a lot of time to study it. And so I when I was praying especially earlier today I really felt drawn in the direction of first Peter.

And so that's where we're going to be for the next several months. I think maybe the next three or four months uh with some exceptions with conference and things like that. And um anyways and so I'm excited.

I'm excited because um well we'll get there. We'll get there eventually. Um before we do, I just I want to receive tonight's offering and um and then we'll jump into I will jump into first Peter.

So I want to read in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. The scriptures teach we want you to know this is Paul talking. He says, "We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Maced uh Macedonia.

For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. And this not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

Accordingly, we urge we urge Titus that as he has started, so he should complete among among you the this act of grace. But as you as you excel in everything in faith and speech and knowledge, in all earnestness and in our love for you, see that you also excel in this act of grace. I've shared this before and I just I just want to reiterate is that as a church as a church what we're going to have to overcome is a tainted perspective on on generosity and giving unto the Lord to look at to look at tithes and offering and generosity in Jesus and to call it um you know whatever word you want to call it, selfish uh um unnecessary uh whatever it is you want to call it.

Paul says that we as believers, we must excel in the grace of giving as much as we must excel in faith, in speech, in teaching, in knowledge, and in all earnestness. There's a grace that comes upon a church. And I and I say this I I am I'm the first, you know, teaching on this from a from a stage behind a pulpit.

I'm the first one that's responsible to live this out. And I, you know, and I do I I'm I'm very very particular with that part of my life. Um but the grace isn't that isn't that we can just keep the a church running.

That's not that's not where grace begins its work. The power of generosity and excelling in the grace of giving and honoring the Lord in this way is that as we continue to build a a home for Jesus and and kind of like read at I read at the beginning when Jesus becomes the pinnacle, the center, the top, everything else flows over to him. Everything and everyone is drawn over to him.

And so in this room, what we get to do, it's a privilege of mine and yours that we get to build a home for the presence of Jesus. A place where he rests among a people so that one day nations are drawn to what God is doing in this room. Not because we've perfected preaching or or worship songs or any of that, but because we have we have stripped ourselves of us and fully yielded ourselves over to the kingdom and the glory of Jesus Christ.

Amen. Does that make sense? If the scriptures are teaching us that it's important to excel in the grace of uh in the grace of faith and the grace of speech and the grace of knowledge meaning a revelation of Jesus then it is all and it is also in the same verse in the same line it says that we must also excel in this act of gra uh this act of grace called giving.

And so one day I you know I believe this with all of my heart. I I feel like I I had visions of this before before the finding started as a church. I had visions of those who call this home.

You'll you've heard me say this before. And I still when I pray for our church and I pray for the finding. I I will I'll sometimes in my spirit I'll see people in their living room and saying like, "Hey, they just received a diagnosis or or something terrible has happened in their family.

they got bad news and they're sitting in their living rooms and they're saying, "We got to get out to Seattle and worship and receive communion with those people." Because the more that we yield over to the Lord Jesus Christ, the more that he dwells with us, the more out the outflow of who he is, the nature of who he is, is that when you walk into his presence, everything less than everything else, it fades away. It it it gets resolved in his presence. It's who Jesus is.

It's what it's what the testimony of Jesus has accomplished. And so, uh, it is our privilege. It is our privilege.

I don't say this I say I don't say this, uh, lightly. It is our privilege, mine, first and foremost, that I get to, we get to give to the assignment that God has put over our church and say yes and amen with our lives, our serving, our finances, and certainly with our lives laid down to Jesus. Amen.

Amen. All right. Well, we have every regular way of giving up on the screens.

You're you're welcome to do that now. If you need an envelope, please just raise your hand. Our ushers are more than happy to get you one of those envelopes.

Um we're going to give you a few minutes to do that. We're going to play um a short video actually from our missions trip just to kind of give you a little bit of little look into what went on there. And um and then we'll be back in about 3 minutes.

He said, "Okay, Jesus is going to heal me." Then we prayed one one more time with a translator and for the first time in 30 years, he stood up without his canes, without any help. He completely stood up and he said, "Jesus healed me. Jesus healed me." Stopped by this old grandma's home and when we arrived, she was very sad and very broken and she didn't have her hearing.

So we prayed for her healing to be restored and then she was tugging at her waist to cut off a band that she got from the witch doctor. The second we cut it off, her joy just was radiating and she was just so happy. The very next day they came back to church and we prayed for her one more time and her vision was restored.

Not only did God give us words of knowledge, but he has healed his people. One of the most beautiful things that I got to see on this Christmas trip was when we were near the railroads. See, the railroad environment is really harsh.

A lot of families live in these little tin shacks that they make out of garbage. And most likely they don't own any of the land they live on. But one of my deeply rooted uh hearted loving things that I got to witness was beautiful children here.

Show them the joy of the Lord that there is more to just hardship in life and suffering. That there is joy that comes with this life and through love through the love of Christ that joy can be expressed. One of my favorite moments from the trip is when we met a little girl who's about 1 and 1/2 years old.

She lived in one of the slum areas that we were doing kids club and ministry in. and she was so sweet. She was playing with all of us.

She was walking us around, showing us the different things she wanted to play with. Um, she would always run up to you to be held and hugged and you could just tell that she needed all the nurture and care in the world. And she had such a joyous heart.

Um, such a heart of grace and happiness. She was always laughing. >> And we just got to go and play with them, sing with them, hang out with them, just let them feel a little bit seed and cared for.

And that sometimes just looked like letting a little kid sleep in your arms for an hour and giving them a safe place to feel seen and cared for. very common theme um that we've been taught is to stop for the one. And um it's not necessarily about big results, but it's for stopping the person in front of you and loving that person.

Um so we stop for the one who is the one, we stop for God, and we we spend time with him and we learn from him, but we also stop for the person that's in front of us. and just lots of combined moments of seeing God work in these precious people's lives. Awesome.

All right, let's let us pray. Let us pray. Jesus, we thank you for your presence with us tonight.

And God, we want to thank you for every dollar that was sown here today. We ask would you breathe upon it and may every penny go to destroying the kingdom of hell here in our city, in our region, in our nation, and bring forth your glorious and most powerful name. and that through us, Lord, as your people, as your bride, as your church, may our city recognize the love and the kindness and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we ask, God, use us. use us as a vessel that is led by the wind of heaven, by your breath, and that anything and everything you want to accomplish within our city, we ask, God, use us. Use us.

Here we are. Use us. We thank you that you take care of us.

You provide for us, Lord. You lead us and guide us. We thank you that there's no one like you and none beside you.

You see every need in this room, whether it's financial or any other. And I thank you, God, that you are so good to us. You are a good father.

You take care of all of our needs. Yes, you do. There is nothing that we should fear.

So, we yield ourselves over to you. We thank you for all that you're doing here tonight. I ask God that as we as we look into the scriptures, would you give us deep conviction and cut our hearts deep for we long to see you and know you.

In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Awesome. All right, let's open our Bibles to First Peter chapter 1. I honestly I don't think we're going to get past the first probably five verses I think today.

Yeah, if you can help me a little bit, please. Thank you. So it says Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontius, Galatia, Capodsia, Asia and Bithnneia according to the fornowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.

My grace, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. So I want us to understand first uh the context in which the rest of the letter is written. uh Peter who you know we all know Jesus called him his name was Simon.

He recognized he had the revelation of who Jesus is as the rock and Jesus says you are now named Simon or your name is now Simon and upon this rock meaning upon this revelation of that he had of Jesus I will build my church. And so fast forward to Acts chapter 2, Peter is really the one that God anoints to begin to lead the church. And uh and build it out.

And you know, we watch through about the first 10 chapters of the book of Acts where uh where God is building his church. And then slowly at some point Peter's assignment began to shift and change where he began to uh begin to address and help lead churches in regions and and in many ways he began to evangelize and plant churches and and so this letter first Peter was written was written maybe about 30 years after Jesus was resurrected. So some decades after the resurrection of the Christ.

And at this point, Peter was encouraging churches and uh really building them up and certainly certainly uh establishing the revelation of who Jesus the Christ is. And so when Peter starts writing this, he's he's writing a letter that uh that is intended to be kind of passed around through through uh Asia Minor at that time, which is I believe it's modern day Turkey now. And so the letter was to be passed on from church to church.

they would be encouraged and strengthened in um by what Peter had to say. And so Peter's writing a letter to churches of people who were they were not Jews. They were Gentiles who had believed in the Lord Jesus.

And so he starts writing a letter really to encourage them and remind them of the finished work of the cross. And I know, you know, if if you're anything like me, sometimes you kind of read through portions of scripture and you're like, I understand the words. I do not understand like what they're saying.

And so I hope my hope is that over the course of the next several months we'll be able to really dissect all of this and um and hopefully I can help make it more sense cuz the scriptures teach it says that the glory of God is to conceal a matter and it is the glory of kings to search it out. And later in the book, the scriptures actually teach us. Peter says that you and I are a we're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation unto God, chosen by God himself.

So if we're a royal priesthood, then it's it is the privilege, the gift of our lives to be able to seek out the glories of God. And so Peter says to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion and Pontius, Galatia, Capodsia, Asia, and Bithnneia according to the fornowledge of God the father and the sanctification of the spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. He almost starts giving us a little bit of context for the reader.

He starts giving the reader a little bit of context to say like hey these are this is what I want to accomplish through my letter. So he says according to the fornowledge of God the father. In other words I am here writing to you.

I am telling you everything I'm about to say is according to what God the father has known for all of eternity given that he knows end from beginning. I am here to declare to you or to remind you, to write to you, to encou encourage you, implore you according to what God has known and does know for all of eternity. So, I just want you to know that I'm not giving you something new.

I am giving you something that is in accordance with the truth of who the father is. >> That's that's kind of what Peter's saying. He's establishing.

He's like, "So everything I'm about to write to you is according to the fornowledge of God the Father, and it is according to the sanctifi sanctification of the spirit." The sanctification of the spirit means the cleansing, the the washing of of soul, of mind, of heart through and through. In fact, in let me go there real quick. Um, if you're new here, I think our church can attest to this.

Uh, I might not make a lot of sense here at the beginning, but I will at the end. I think usually I do. So, we'll kind of we'll tie it all in at the end here.

But watch this. In Exodus 19, it says in verse 9, "And the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever." So, just giving you context, this is Israel has already crossed the Red Sea. They're in the desert.

God is speaking to Moses. He's about to give him the Ten Commandments. And God says when and uh excuse me the scriptures say when Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

The Lord said to Moses go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them that word consecrate same as sanctification. It is to separate to purify to cleanse. Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day.

For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Si in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around saying take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

This is certainly a type and shadow of Jesus where it shows that the glory of God came down. They were to purify themselves. They were to sanctify themselves uh to see the coming of God.

But if anyone was to touch the coming of God after those three days, if they were to touch the mountain, then they were they were to be killed. they would die because they they weren't able to approach the presence of God. The type and shadow that's pointing to Jesus is Jesus who came and for three in three days he died.

He sanctified us, purified us. And on the third day when God came, when Jesus was resurrected, when God walked out of that tomb, all of a sudden in the book of Exodus, when they purified themselves after 3 days, they were not able to touch the presence of God. In three days that Jesus cleansed and purified humanity, they were able to touch the holes in his hands and his feet and his side.

>> It's drawing this parallel where the presence of God, you and I were not able to approach it until Jesus had come and paid the ultimate price. Three days on the mountain, you would still die touching the presence of God. Three days Jesus in the pit of hell unresurrected.

You and I are forever and eternally redeemed when you and I give ourselves over to the Lord Jesus Christ. Touching his wounds, his hands, his side, his feet, Jesus is more than enough. So he says according to the fornowledge of God the father in the sanctification of the spirit.

So that cleansing, that purifying according to what Jesus has purified, I am writing to you. So I'm kind of paraphrasing here to to help to help understand what it's saying. According to this, the knowledge of God the Father and the Sanctifi sanctification of the spirit.

I am writing so that you would grow in obedience to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood. In other words, sprinkled with the revelation of the Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

So I I hope I hope this you hear what I'm saying here. He's basically saying everything I'm about to tell you is in line and it is according to the plan and the purpose of God the Father from the beginning up until now. And this plan of God is in line with the sanctification of the spirit that the Holy Spirit, the finished work of the cross has sanctified you, purified you, and it is now called you to belong to the father.

You are God's, and he is yours. Sorry, you belong to God, and he belongs to you. Yes.

>> And then he says, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Peter continues on. So in verse three, when he says, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ." What he's saying here, what he's what he's directing the reader to understand is that everything I'm about to tell you, everything I'm writing moving forward has to come through the lens and the perspective, the understanding of who God is as the blessed God and father.

In other words, if you do not understand the goodness of God the Father, you will not understand the rest of what I want to tell you. In fact, I would go as far to say, if you and I do not understand the Father, the love of the Father, the kindness and goodness of the father, you and I miss a a a fundamental element of the gospel. It's easy to or I should say sometimes it's easy to relate to Jesus because of suffering and agony and pain and and you find some measure of hope there.

But because a lot of times in life we fail to there's a failure of the of a of the proper expression of a father. It's hard to see God who he is as a as as a good heavenly father. And when you and I do not understand who God is as a good father, what it means to be a good father, who God is as our heavenly father, the rest of the scriptures stop making sense.

I've shared it here before. It's like we've all read Psalm 23 before. And he David says, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me." That verse only makes sense if I know who God is as a good father.

>> But if I know him, if of some like abusive or he doesn't really consider me, he considers the liies, but he doesn't consider me and he's just watching until I mess up or I stumble or I fail or I fall or I sin or I make a mistake. If that's who I know God the Father to be, then all of a sudden when I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, he makes it worse because now it's like I'm doomed to fail and I get hit upside the head for it. >> You know what I mean?

And all of a sudden you can read scriptures of like though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and we can declare it but it it does not resonate with the heart because the father seems to be some sort of figure out there who's who's out on a mission to to make our lives harder and when we mess up he'll punish us for it. >> Is that do you hear what I'm saying? powerful.

>> So, kind of the direction I want to go today, if you if you uh if you haven't discerned it yet, is is I want us I want us to remember uh who God is as a good father and the love of the father. It says, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again for a living hope." There's a type of mercy where someone violates me and then they come in repentance and they ask for mercy for the mistakes that they made.

And certainly the Bible teaches us to be merciful which means that we grant mercy. But there's a measure or there's a different I don't know if I don't want to I don't know if I want to say different kind of mercy but there's a version of mercy where I am moved to act upon a situation because my heart breaks for the person in suffering. I'm sure you've experienced it in some measure before where it's like someone is hurting and they're aching or they're be being mistreated and you're kind of like, man, I'm ready to step in and do something about it.

And and no one's forcing you to do that. You're not like you don't, you know, you're not being manipulated into it. Your heart just breaks for a hurting person, a hurting situation.

And when the scriptures teach that God sent Jesus because of his great mercy for us, what it's not saying is that God looked upon humanity, these these poor, sad little people who are godless, without hope, who are helpless. And he figured, you know what? If they come to me, maybe I'll do something about it.

It was much deeper. Certainly, I I hope I hope we all know and understand that it was much deeper is that the love of the father and his mercy that was demonstrated to you and I through the Lord Jesus Christ was not was not a pitiful kind of mercy where he felt bad for us and he responded according to our pity and our sad state. God's response of mercy and compassion towards you and I was a direct response that he created you in his image and likeness.

And the farther you and I fell away from him, the farther we walked away from him, the more his heart broke for our situation and our circumstance. And within our situation and circumstance, he didn't even ask that you and I partake of our breakthrough. All he says, all excuse me, all that God does is when I say all, I don't mean it in a belittling way.

I mean that there was nothing that you could do for your own salvation. There was nothing that he required of you for your own salvation. And so God's heart breaks for people who are hurting and aching, who are stuck in sin.

And he says, "I'm going to bankrupt heaven. I'm going to remove heaven's most prized possession, my son. I'm going to send him to earth so that the people, these people that I love, that my heart with compassion breaks for will be restored and redeemed back to their to their inheritance, back to where is home for them.

You might be I don't know. I just We can sometimes look at this and think and think like, "Yeah, obviously." Or like, "Duh, this is this is the basics of the gospel." Yes, it is the basics of the gospel. And it's really unfortunate when we can't even live by the basics of the gospel.

Because if I know God is good and how much he loves me, why is it that I struggle to trust him with finances? Why is it that I struggle to trust him with with my call and my purpose and I feel like I have to make everything happen? It doesn't like it doesn't even logically make sense when we know the scriptures say do not worry.

Do not worry. If God takes care of the liies and the sparrows, how much more will he take care of you? And the thought usually becomes, well, let me get this thing done that's of high priority and concern.

And then when I have a moment, I'll I'll look in the Lord's direction. And on this side, it feels it feels like it makes sense, logical sense, to take care of the things that might keep us from Jesus. Meaning like they keep us busy.

him. But the truth of the matter is that if I disregard this direction, if I disregard him to take care of the things that are worrisome and the things that need to get done at the cost of knowing him, I've already proved that I do not understand the fullness of relationship that God intended with me. And it's not a condemning thing.

Please, please don't hear it in a condemning way. It doesn't mean you're some horrific, horrible person. I just I want to stir up stir up your soul a little bit to be like to understand what it means to be loved by the father.

I've learned this through experience is that when you do not understand how loved you are, you will find yourself. you will live this. And I think I've been in just ministry long enough and I think our our our the medium age of our congregation will kind of speak into this is I've lived in this place before where because you don't know how loved you are, you feel like your entire life is given over to prove why you're lovable, why you're worth being loved.

It's why for so many of you, you'll walk away with Jesus. When you walk away with Jesus, you get tired and weary because you're like, "Man, I have to walk away and I have to prove to God the Father why. Here's all the reasons why I'm worth forgiving and loving and having mercy on and compassion." And all of a sudden, your time with him is consumed by how broken you are.

And all of a sudden you're like, man, anytime I walk away with him, I'm just I just become more aware of how you know, excuse my French, stupid I am. You know, like you realize you and you you confront your own stupidity. For many of you, most likely in this room, again, just kind of uh this is I'm not speaking prophetically.

I just just through experience in ministry like many of you probably had some sort of brokenness within families where where you were maybe didn't experience love the way that God intended it within family and so your whole life you had to perform for it's like if you did a good enough job then you received your reward of love for that moment you graduated high school boom everyone's there to celebrate your graduation for a few hours you get this thing you call love because you accomplished something and now you go back into like I have to prove myself. >> Do you hear what I'm saying? >> Again, it's uh back to my initial statement is if you and I do not understand the love of the father, what happens is everything else in the scripture begins you begin to look at it through the tainted perspective of some guy up there named God.

His arms are crossed like his brow is raised at you anytime you mess up. And nobody nobody wants a relationship with a god like that. And sometimes we consciously think that.

Other times it's subconscious. We kind we kind of lead into it. But what I want to remind you today is that God did not love you based on anything that you have done in your life ever.

>> Ever. It says that he sent his son according to his great mercy. He has caused us to be born again through a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Which tells me and you this is that there is no sin. There is no mistake. There is no past.

There is no darkness deep enough, broken enough, dark enough that would convince God to love you any less. Like there's chances there's a chance that there's people in this room where you've you made one massive mistake in your life and you it haunts you and you're living in this place where you're like, "Man, I'm I've given my life to Jesus, but if if I I just wish I didn't do that one thing. If I just didn't do that one thing, it would everything would have been great and perfect." And you're holding yourself accountable for something that Jesus left on the dead tree.

because you trail back to what you know love to be from a father and that is that well I made this mistake that is now forever going to haunt me because he knows me and instead of knowing being being a an intimate communion friendship with God being known by God is intended to be the the ultimate place of intimacy the ultim ultimate place of purpose and knowing why you're existing to begin with. Now being known by God is a place of with the tainted perspective. It becomes a place of all the reasons collected reasons as to why I'm not worth being loved by him, accepted by him or the people around me or so on and so forth.

Do you hear what I'm saying? Okay. Um, so blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy, his deep love for you and I, one where he could not live without you and I.

He has caused us, you and I, to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In other words, you and I were born and we did not have hope to live within outside of Jesus. Outside of Jesus, the only hope that you and I have, which is the hope that the world has, is if I live a good enough life, maybe I'll make enough money, maybe I'll have enough influence, enough social media followers, enough whatever, whatever thing people can think of of.

not realizing that every one of those hopes has absolutely no life in it. And what a shame it would be to live to live for something that does not have purpose and meaning in eternity. So he says according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurre resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

in 1 John 1 John chapter 4 in verse 19 it says or let's start with verse 18 it says there's no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment.

And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. And we love because he first loved us. In other words, you and I love God because he first loved us.

But when he first loved you and I, he knew every every detail about our lives. All the mistakes, all the sin, all the brokenness, all the times you turned away from him, all the times you hated him, all the times you did stupid things that you shouldn't have done, all the moments that you chose foolishness over wisdom, God knew every single one of those moments. And in his great love for you and I, he he still loved us first.

>> Which tells me again, I just I want to remind you, it tells me again that there is nothing in your life. There's no there's no sin, no brokenness, no darkness deep enough that would be able to separate you from God's love for you. But it also means that there's no deed, no miracle, no sign or wonder, no revelation great enough that you can have that would cause God to love you anymore today.

Which means that right now, today, whether you came in here full of sin and brokenness or darkness or whether you repented 5 seconds ago and your slate is completely clean, God loves you 100% and he loves you. A man named Graham Cook says it this way. He has a video online on YouTube and he just says and it's just like for probably like 3 minutes he just says God loves you because he loves you because he loves you because he loves you because he loves you because he loves you because he loves you for like 3 minutes straight.

Meaning that there is nothing you could do to convince God to love you anymore. And there is nothing you and I c could do to convince God to love us any less. which tells us the encouraging or the sweet thing there is that our Christian life has nothing to do with trying to convince God to love us.

It my life, my Christian life and your Christian life has nothing to do with us trying to prove ourselves to the father. Our entire Christian life is given over to this one purpose that in his mercy and in his love towards us, I get to now look like Jesus. Like if someone walked into the room and they had to convince me, if they were sick, let's say with cancer, and they had to convince me that they're worth healing, you'd be like, "Bro, there's something wrong with you." Like, how is it that your heart doesn't break for people who are hurting?

And hopefully for all of us in this room, if someone comes sick, if if if a child walks in and they're aching or they're blind or whatever it is and your heart doesn't break with compassion and mercy, it was I would imagine for all of us it would. But if someone in the room was like, "No, they deserve it or they" and you're like, "Man, you've missed the entire point of the finished work of the cross." And yet we see the father this way all of the time. We see the father all the time as one who, you know, we we believe in theory we believe that he wants the best for us, but in practice we question if we want the best for us because of how hard it might be to go to get there.

And so Peter is saying, Peter is saying it was according to the father's great mercy that he has caused you and I to be born again for a living hope. Which means that you and I get to live our lives, the rest of our lives. When we understand the revelation of the father, we get to live our lives in a manner in which everything that I do, everything that you do exists for eternity.

A living hope means that my the hope the hope the hope that I have is eternal. It has eternal life in it. Jesus.

And so now instead of my life becoming about a hope where it's can I reach certain financial status or influence or whatever all this other stuff is, those things aren't in themselves bad. They're just not living. But Jesus is our living hope.

Which means that now when I yield myself over to him and I give myself over to know him and the truth and study the scriptures, all of a sudden my life begins to produce eternal fruit. Things that will one day speak of the testimony of Jesus Christ hundreds of years from now. One day when you and I are not here anymore, I I I don't know.

I feel like maybe I feel like I'm not I'm not making sense or like I'm not I'm not communicating well. >> I will I'll you You know, have you ever seen those? I'm sure you've seen videos or the shows where they'll like sometimes take a dog out of like an abusive home and all of a sudden like these new people who've walked in, they want to feed it, they want to pet it, they want to, you know, hug it and take and nurture it.

And all of a sudden, the dog is ready to buy anything and and everyone. It's like whether you have good intention or not. It happens with God all the time.

He's he's blamed for things that he didn't do. And things in life, circumstances in life that happen, all of a sudden they become God's fault. And then when we give our lives to Jesus and he comes to approach us and and teach us and and nurture us and care for us, it's like every everything within us, it feels like we can't receive his love because of what we've known in our past through our parents, through people in our lives who hurt us, who whatever.

And Peter is saying, listen, you cannot understand the fullness of the gospel. You do not even you cannot understand Jesus and the finished work of the cross if you first do not understand who the father is as a loving father because the cross is an expression of the love of the father. This is the pinnacle of the gospel.

I don't I'm not saying you I mean you guys know this especially for those of you who come. We preach Jesus the cross and his testimony, his body and blood like all the time. And so I by I I don't by any means make want to make light of it.

I just want to highlight a point is that the testimony of Jesus, the victory of the cross, his body and his blood, all of it is is an expression of something above it which is the love of the father for you and I. And unfortunately, there's some of you in the room where you've blamed God for things that have happened in your life to now. And the scriptures teach in James that every good and perfect gift comes from the father of lights.

>> In fact, in that portion of scripture, if you read it in context, what James is saying is don't you dare blame God for something that is a result of the human soul. because every good and perfect gift comes from the father of lights. That's what he's saying in the context of that verse.

And there's this thing in Western Christianity where it's like if things didn't go the way that I wanted, all of a sudden, for some reason, it's God's fault. And again, it happens when I don't understand the love of of a good father. If you and I do not understand the love of the father, we don't understand what the forgiveness of sin is.

And why? Because even if I'm forgiven of all of my sin, but I'm not loved by the father, what what good is forgiveness of sins? Forgiveness of sin does not get me into heaven.

The love of the Lord Jesus Christ brings me into communion with him. Heaven is communion with Jesus. That's what heaven is.

It's not a destination you go when you die. >> It is a person you become one with when you put off this temple. >> And so if I'm forgiven of my sin and I have no one to come together with, if I do not have Jesus, if I do not have the love of Jesus, forgiveness of sin, it becomes pointless.

It's why it's so foolish to live a version of Christianity where you live the way that you want to live Monday through Saturday and then come and repent on Sunday. It's like you've missed the entire point of why you exist to begin with. But when the purpose of my Christianity is to look like Jesus, all of a sudden I recognize that Jesus came because of how loved I am by the Father.

And if I'm loved by the father, then that means everything else in my life no longer gets to determine and a and define who I am as a child of God. Means my mistakes can't define who I am as a child of God. Means what another person says about me cannot define who I am as a child of God.

It means that even if you had parents who didn't love you or who never said I love you or who maybe even hated you, they don't get to define who you are as a child of God. Because if they get to define who God is as a father, then all of a sudden the the fundamental truth of what the gospel is and who the gospel is begins to fall apart because it is built upon the mercy, the kindness, the love, the justice, and the truth of who God is. You take away his nature and all of the other stuff falls away.

It's built upon who he is in nature. And so you and I, part of our responsibility, part of being Christians is our lives are devoted to knowing, to discovering, to seeking out the glories of God, to know who he is. that when I read the gospel, when I read these books, when I read these chapters, these verses, I'm understanding what he's trying to say to me from the perspective of the one who loves me most.

And all of a sudden, when it says, "Forgive those who persecute you," it's no longer this task of trying to forgive my parents. My parents are amazing. I seriously I if anything, they have a lot to forgive me for.

Um, but I know it's not like that everywhere. And all of a sudden when it says forgive those who persecute you, it's no longer about like can I forgive them or not or how do I manage to do that? All of a sudden forgiveness is the flow of who I am because I recognize that if this is why I'm a Christian, why I'm a believer to represent who God is and to look just like Jesus, then that no longer becomes optional to me.

And now my life is being built upon the foundation, the rock who is Jesus. >> Super good. >> To not understand the love of the father is to begin to build a house on a foundation that's already cracked.

It's basically gravel. You could believe in the forgiveness of sin. You could believe in healing.

You can you can believe in hell. You can believe in most of the gospel. But if you do not understand the love of the father, all of that stuff, it begins to I'll tie my shoes untied.

I'll tie later. Like all the other stuff, it loses its purpose if it's not rooted in the love of the father. Do you does do you hear what I'm saying?

>> Forgiveness is only important because once you're forgiven, you're redeemed back to the father. Healing is only important because once you're you're healed, you get you come back in line in communion with the father. Hell and heaven are only important because when I put away this temple, I'm restored back into communion with the father.

You remove all of that, you you will burn, like I said, you will burn in hell or you'll burn just the same in heaven if Jesus isn't there. the entirety of the gospel, the entirety of the good news of Jesus Christ, the one we love, we worship and adore, the one of our all of our praise, all of our songs go to our prayers, our time here together, all of it goes onto the Lord Jesus Christ who is the expression, he is the ultimate expression of the love of the father for you and And if we deny the love of the father, if we do not understand the love of the father, all of a sudden you start picking and choosing the pieces and parts of the gospel that are comfortable and convenient for you. John 3:16, perhaps the most famous verse in all of the Bible.

For God so loved the world, so for God the Father so loved you that he gave he bankrupt heaven of his one and only son. so that you don't have to do anything except believe in him and never have to perish, but rather have eternal life. That's that's me paraphrasing it.

He's saying this is the good news of the gospel that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus that you can live eternal life with him. The gospel isn't just Jesus on the cross. It is it is a profoundly deep and intricate and beautiful portion of the gospel.

Certainly, please don't hear me don't hear me wrong. Like I I I don't have words to express my value for the gospel and Jesus and the cross, but I have to understand who the father is and why Jesus came to begin with. And so what I I I guess what I'm challenging here tonight, if it makes sense, I'll finish up here.

What I'm challenging here tonight is that we have to drop that thing, that thing that sees God as anything less than who he actually is. Especially if it comes to sin. If there was sin in your life or even sin in your life now that you are letting determine whether you're of value, whether you're you're worth loving, whether you're lovable or not, that thing has to die.

It will taint your perspective of the gospel. It will taint your perspective of what Jesus has accomplished. You will filter everything you know about the Bible through what your mom or dad may or may not have demonstrated to you growing up.

And I like please I don't mean to be insensitive. Like I I understand that and I've heard some very traumatic and hard just stuff and upbringings and and and I I understand the the difficulties of life that can come our way in that. But what I'm unwilling to do is give you a reason to live there for the rest of your life because either Jesus is enough or he's not.

But you can't claim that he's enough and still live in a place where he's not. I promise you this is for some of you, some of your freedom from stuff is found in recognizing and understanding the love of the father, knowing how loved you are by God. For some of you, you have to let go of the things that you've you've been blaming God for that he that he didn't do.

And if you're if you're struggling to understand the love of the father regardless of what your upbringing was like and is then I want to encourage May that become your prayer until you do. The victories of the gospel, they're built upon the fundamental truth of who God is, a loving father. And so what I want to do tonight uh just as as we come to an end here, team if you want to come up gently.

Um, what I want to do is if is if you if you feel like this is an area of your life that you that you struggle with is understanding the love of the father, especially if you've been through just trauma or hard things in your life. I I want to pray with you, myself and the team to to pray with you. Our our team will um our team will lead.

We don't do this often, but I I do want to I do kind of I want to open up the altar and I want to invite you like if this is something if this is something you're working through, I just as the team worships, I just I just want to come and lay hands and and pray for for those of you who are aching in this area. And I promise you that the truth of the gospel is when we see Jesus and know the love of the father, our our freedom, a lot of our freedom, a lot of our breakthrough is found in that place. And so if that's you, I would I would just I'd like to invite you to come up to the front.

I want to pray for you. Um, this would be a really silly time to uh to hold back. More so, it would be a silly time to hold back if if it's a care for what the people around you might think.

For some of you here, I I just I I feel it in in my in my spirit, in my heart that some of you here when you were growing up, you would hear things like you won't amount to much. And maybe you didn't do well in school and so you were your value was determined on on how well you were doing in some of these areas. And I I just I I I hear the Lord saying is man cannot redefine value of God's eternal declaration over your life which is the blood of Jesus.

>> Clay cannot tell the potter what to do. Nor can man tell you your worth in Jesus. So precious Lord, we gather Lord.

We And we remember your goodness as a good father, Lord, that you never fail, you never change. You're always good to us, God. You're always good to us.

Team, why don't you come up and and lay hands, please? I feel like there's I think there's a few more of you out there and you know I don't want to pressure you into anything and in the most respectful ways like if especially if the finding isn't your home church like you know you have a pastor somewhere else and and you submit to that. But if this is your home church and this is something you're working through, I I I ask please as a church, let's let's deal with this stuff and leave it at the altar.

Yes Lord we ask come. We ask come Lord Jesus. He loves shadow you won't light up mountain you won't climb up coming after Snow wall you walk down you won't tear down.

Coming after me. Snow shadow you won't light up. Mountain you won't climb up.

Coming after me. Snow wall you won't kick down. Thie you won't tear down.

Coming after me. No shadow you won't light up. Mountain you won't climb up.

Coming after me. No wall you won't kick down. Lie you won't tear down.

Coming after me. No shadow you won't light up. mountain you won't climb up.

Coming after me. Snow wall you won't kick down but you won't tear down. Coming after me.

Snow shadow you won't light up. Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me.

So you won't kick down. I won't tear down. Coming after me.

Slow shadow you ride on. Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me.

Slow you won't kick down. Lie you won't tear down. Coming after me.

Snow shadow you won't light up. Mountain you won't climb coming after me. Snow wall you won't kick down by your tear down coming after me.

Snow shadow you'll light up mountain you'll climb up coming after me. Snow you won't kick down you won't tear down coming after me. Snow shadow you won't light up mountain you won't fall up coming after me.

No more you won't kick down. Now you won't tear down coming after me. Nobody loves Jesus.

Nobody loves my Jesus. But he loves us like Jesus. He made the world to him.

Nobody loves you like Jesus. And how he loved us first. He loved us first.

He loved us first. There's nothing we could do to our desire. There's nothing that we can do to lose the love of the father.

Heat. of the father. Feel the delight of the father.

Feel the delight of the father. For I spoke a word, you were singing over me. You have been so so good to me for I took a breath.

You breathe your life in me. And you have been so so kind to me. For I spoke a word.

You were singing over me. You have been so so good to me. For I took a breath.

You breathe your life in me. You have been so so kind to me. Know the overwhelming neverending reckless love of God.

Oh, it chases me down. Fights till love leaves the night. I could have earned it.

I don't deserve it. Still you give your life away. Oh, the overwhelming neverending reckless love of God.

When is your full still your love fought for me. You have been so so good to me. When I felt no worth, you paid it all for me.

You have been so so kind to me. Oh, now it's your fault. Still your love for me.

You have been so so good to me when I felt no worth. You paid it all for me. You have been so so kind to me.

Not the overwhelming evering endless love of God. Oh, it chases me down. Christ 99.

I couldn't hurt you. I don't deserve it. So you give yourself away.

All the overwhelming neverending reckless love of God. Oh, the overwhelming neverending endless love of God always chases me down. Why still now the night I could hurt you?

I don't deserve it. So you give yourself away. and all the overwhelming neverending breathless love of God.

Nothing stands in the way. Oh, nothing stands in the way of your love for me. Snow shadow you won't lie.

Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me. The snow wall you won't kick down.

Lie you won't tear down. Coming after me. Snow shadow you won't light up.

mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down.

Lie you won't tear down. Coming after me. Snow shadow you won't light up.

Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me. Snow wall you won't kick down.

Lie you won't tear down. Coming after me. Snow shadow you won't lie up.

Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me. Oh snow wall you won't kick down.

Lie you won't tear down. Coming after me. There's no shadow you won't lie.

Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down.

You won't tear down. Coming after me. There's no shadow you won't lie up.

Mountain you won't climb up. Coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down you won't set down coming out.

Oh no shadow you won't light up mountain you won't climb up coming after me. No, you won't get down. No, you won't sit down.

Coming after me. Never ending with the son of God. Oh, it chases me down.

I still love the peace of mind. I don't deserve it. So you give yourself away over If your love for me, your love for me is Oh, heat, heat.

Hey, you love is relentless. Oh, your love is relentless. It chases me down.

Oh, your love is relentless. Your love is relentless. Hey, your love is relentless.

Hey, your love is relentless. Hey, your love is relentless. S.

Hey, your love is relentless. Yes, your love is relentless. It knows no bounds.

knows no bounds. Your love is relentless. Feel the love of the father.

Lord, we I ask for all of us, God, that you would give us a greater understanding and revelation of your love. We do not want to build our houses upon sand. We do not want to build our lives upon upon upon a foundation that lacks these fundamental truths.

And so I ask for all of us, Lord, you would help us to see you through the lens of truth. And for all of us, God, who have been hurt by a a father or a parent, a a guardian, a a a pastor, a leader within church that was supposed to represent you well and didn't. I ask God for for all of that to be crushed under the weight of the goodness of who you are, the goodness of our God.

And I pray, Lord, that you would do heart work, that you would do work in our minds, transforming us by the renewing of our minds, that our perspectives would shift. And >> so I thank you, God, for revealing to us, opening up our eyes to how loved we are by you. >> That you love us without measure.

You love us just because you love us. There is nothing we could do to earn it or deserve it. There's nothing we could do to lose it.

There is no person, no air, nor angel, nor demon, nor principality, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all of creation that can separate us from your from your eternal love for us, God. And so today we lay our lives down, Lord, at your feet. We thank you that you are faithful and true and that there is nobody like you.

for those Lord of us who are up here. I I pray that you would permeate us Lord, our souls, our hearts, from the inside out that your love for us would never be questioned again. Help us, Holy Spirit, to see how loved we are by the Father.

Oh, we love you, Jesus. There's nobody like you. prayer team.

Um, I just I want to invite you guys to the front. Our team will continue up here to minister. And if you need prayer for anything, whether you're up here at the front or in the crowd, we would love to pray and stand with you.

If you're up here on your knees, you're welcome to linger to to love Jesus. Um otherwise, we bless you and we thank you for being uh loving Jesus with us here tonight. And we bless you and uh we will see you next time.