Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the House of the Lord this morning. A couple of announcements. We're still collecting for Operation Christmas Child. September is school supply items. See Cheryl if you have any questions about that, but go ahead and start collecting that stuff and bringing it in. We're getting close to the time, so let's keep that in mind. And then ladies, the ladies' Bible study starting soon on Saturday mornings. There's a sign-up sheet on the back table, so if you're planning to attend, please sign up for that as well. And then take a look at the bulletin board. We've got our new Sunday school teachers posted back there. September 24th is our monthly family meal so sign up on the back table for what to bring with a dish to share and then plan on joining in at Brookdale at 2 p.m. that day afterwards and then Mark your calendars coming up quick too. It's October 8th as our annual hayride at Fox Lake Farms. It's always fun and enjoy the elk and the deer and tractor rides and the the bonfire and just the singing and fellowship and just have a good time together. So keep that on your calendars. All right, why don't we go to the Lord in a word of prayer and we will begin our service. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for the work that you are doing in our lives. We thank you for your love. We thank you for the sacrifice that you made for us and just the the work that you do to make us more like you on a daily basis. We pray that you would find us faithful, that you would give us opportunities to share your word with others and to be the lights in the community that you have intended us to be. Lord, that we would fulfill our purpose and bring you glory and honor. And I would thank you for this time this morning and bring you our praise and our worship. Lord, we find it sweet. May it be genuinely from our hearts. We pray that you do, Cindy. We thank you for the increased blood count. We thank you, Lord, for the healing that you are doing in her. And we pray that you would continue to just bring her back to full health and that you would bring her back to us soon. We thank you and praise you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, our scripture memory verse, our reflection verse for this morning. is Psalm 1611, it's in your bulletin. It says, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence there's fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures evermore. Sometimes it's hard to read things like that and then look at our world and I think how is that true? How can we have joy in the struggle and in the suffering? How can there be fullness of joy, and yet we know that this is not the end, right? I mean, the Lord has all of this in control, and that's what we're kind of going through in Philippians, is not the world, but the church, and just the struggles that we have within the church. how God has called us and set us apart to have joy, to rejoice in the struggle, to rejoice in the suffering. And Paul has kind of taken us on his journey on how that was true in his life and how he knew he was called to suffer on behalf of Christ. And as we start the service, we're just going to go through the last section of chapter four. We're at the end of Philippians. Last week, Paul was exhorting a couple of the members of the church that were struggling with some disunity and encouraging them to take their challenges to the Lord, not to bicker and argue amongst themselves, but to lay their challenges at God's feet and to find joy and find unity with each other as they struggle together and serve together in the Lord. And so we're in verse 10 of chapter 4. It says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. If you remember in the beginning of the book, Epaphroditus had brought a gift from the Philippian church to Paul in prison. And that's what he's referring back to here. They had also taken care of him. when he was in prison before, and now they're doing so again, and there had been a gap in between, and he's saying, I'm glad the Lord has given you an opportunity to come back and minister to me again. He says, not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty, and hunger, abundance and need, for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." One of the most widely used verses in the Bible and yet one of the most widely taken out of context, I think. We hear people quote this all the time. You know, they want to go do something, and so, therefore, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that's not what Paul is talking about here. He's talking about contentment. He's talking about whether we have much, whether we are in need. Whatever it is that God calls us to go do, He's going to give us the strength to go do. And so, I've learned all of these things because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And even more importantly, I can endure all things that Christ gives me to do. So that's where we're at here. And then he says, yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, although he's grateful for the gift. He says, it's not the gift that I'm seeking, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. You know, we've learned we don't do good things to try to get God's favor, right? And yet there is a sense in which we do good things to store up treasures in heaven. And we store up these good works that we do here on earth so that we can lay them at our Savior's feet. We don't do them in our own strength, we do them in God's strength. We don't do them for our glory, we do them for His glory. So that one day we can stand before Him and throw our crowns at His feet and say, glory, praise to the Creator. And so Paul says, by doing this for me, you're storing up treasure in heaven. You're creating fruit for the gospel that builds up your account. We're talking about reconciliation over the weekend in the men's retreat. It ties right in here, you know, just how we owe God a debt. And Christ came and paid that debt for us. He reconciled us back to the Father. And now our ministry is to share that reconciliation with others and be about the ministry of reconciliation. And we can't pay for our debt. Christ did that for us. And yet all of the fruit that we bear will go towards bringing Him glory and honor. I've received payment in full and even more. I'm well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts that you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. And then he reminds them that all the saints in Caesar's household and all of those that are helping with his needs, greet them. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. So you've been a blessing to me. I hope to be a blessing to you. Now let's go and bless one another. Mom, help me. you Let's stand together and we'll sing, How Great is Our God. Spend your holiday Let all the earth rejoice! Let all the earth rejoice! Let Yourself be high! Darkness rise to hide! yeah yeah yeah I can see it in your eyes ♪ Father, stay with us all the night and the day ♪ ♪ The night and the day ♪ ♪ Our faith, our joy, sympathy, our praise ♪ ♪ And our song, and all we'll sing of thee ♪ In the glory, in the glory My heart will sing how great You are, God. How great You are, God. Sing with me how great You are, God. The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord. He is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in Him. There's a time of desperation How we go always down and in There is only one salvation In this broken generation But honor is not in the policy There is only one salvation We believe, we believe We believe in God the Father We believe in Jesus Christ We believe in the Holy Spirit we believe Will our faith be more than ever? Greater than the songs we sing? Can our weakness and temptations be defeated? father we believe in Jesus Christ we believe in the Holy Spirit and he's given us new life we believe in the Holy Spirit we believe that he conquered death we believe in the resurrection and his coming back again We believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit. And He's given us new life. We believe in the crucifixion. We believe that He conquered death. We believe in the resurrection. And He's coming back. He's coming back again. It's coming back again We believe We believe You are Lord of the heavens and Lord of my right, Lord of the land and the sea. You are Lord of creation, Lord of all time, and Lord of all life. Oh You are King of the heavens and King of our skies, King of the land and the sea. We're King of creation, King of all time, King of all kings you will see. We bow down and we touch the sky. Father, thank you so much for this church and for the offerings we're about to receive. I pray that you help us determine your will and that these will be used for your honor and glory in Jesus' name. Now try not to drop it. so so Let's stand together and sing as we remind ourselves that our God is real. of turning in the darkness, and watch as your glory unfolds. There is no measure unto the power you hold. Justice and truth are the virtues that made you to ask for our words. The mind contains strength through all that you are. Our God, our God is a great name. Here goes our your memorial Promise of wonders to come You are the author, now you lead it all a a a a Hold on to grace, unto your name we raise higher Hold on to grace, unto your name forever All of the praise unto your name we raise with higher All of the praise unto your name forevermore Our God has done great things. Our God is greater than all. Our God, our God has done great things. Our God is greater than all. Oh Oh Onward, brave, unto your name we will go. Higher, onward, brave, unto your name we'll go. You give life, you are love. You be kind in the darkness. You give hope, you restore every heart that is broken. And we are you. It's Your breath and our loss, so we pour out our praise! We pour out our praise! It's Your breath and our loss, so we pour out our praise to You only! You will fly, you are loved. You bring light to the darkness, you will hold. So we We are lost, so we pour out our praise to You only. All the earth will shout your praise! Our hearts will climb, these walls will sing! They are You, Lord! All the earth will shout your praise! Our hearts will climb, these walls will sing! In our lungs, so we pour out our praise We pour out our praise, it's your breath In our lungs, so we pour out our praise You hold it, it's your breath In our lungs, so we pour out our praise We pour out our praise, it's your breath great are you great are you Good morning. Bible reading is from Psalm 16. Make sure there wasn't one in front of that. Psalm 16. Read now the N-A-S-P. Psalm 16. Let's pray. Lord, we've sung your praises. And now let's worship You as we hear Your Word. Tune our hearts to You, Lord, let Your Word work in us, dividing the thoughts and intents of our heart, shaping us, guiding us for Your glory. We just thank You, we praise You, in Jesus' name, Amen. Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord, I have no good besides you. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrow of those who have bartered for another God will be multiplied. I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. The Lord is my portion of my inheritance and my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me. Because He is my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not abandon me, abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasant pleasures forever. Good morning, everybody. Once again, it's good to be here with you all to worship today. We're glad to have our guests with us today, Lynn and Marlene. Is it Zara and their brood? We're glad to have you with us and join with us today. Marlene, you've been here before Marlene and Lynn, you've been here for a while, but Marlene is Marianne's first cousin. We're glad to have her. All right, I want everybody to take a deep breath, suck it in, let it out. That was the Lord's. It's our breath in our lungs, that is the Lord's. You know, we come here today, and as we think about the songs that we've just sung, and as I was listening to the words, and as I'm praying, as we're singing, and these are the prayer of my heart coming out, I'm thinking, these are confessional. You know, these are things that we're confessing we believe. We believe in God the Father, we believe in the Holy Spirit, we believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in one God, three persons in one, you know, and that's the nature of the Christian church. We believe that God is one. And so we rejoice in him today and we come because of what he's done and because of Jesus Christ who's come and given us hope. hope and help in our life. And so as I think about the psalm that Bill just read, Psalm 16, and it's our memory verse for the day actually. Psalm 16, It's been used by Jesus himself when he says, you will not abandon my soul. Jesus cried out on the cross that you will not abandon me. Where are you, Lord? But the Lord has not abandoned me. He's with him. But then we see at the end of this psalm, we see David crying out. This is King David. He's the king of Israel. Okay. He's, he's the one who's like the go-to guy. You might say, you know, you want something done, David, King David, he's God's man. And so we see that. And this is the cry of his heart. This is his confession before God. You make known to me the path of life. The way of life is in you, God. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. And so for David, the king, who had everything he wanted and everything he needed, what was he to do? His greatest delight was not in the things of this earth, but in the presence of his God. He found delight and joy being in the presence of God. And he says, it doesn't just make me happy, it's fullness of joy. There's a fullness of joy. And it says, at your right hand are pleasures evermore. We like pleasures. But thing is, to David, his greatest pleasure was being in the presence of God, which brought him the greatest joy and the greatest delight that could ever, ever, ever be. And so as we look into the Scriptures today, as we consider them, as we look into the Gospel of Luke, we're going to be landing in the Gospel of Luke chapter 6, specifically beginning in verse 20. we're gonna be looking at Jesus' words to his disciples. These are words to his disciples, his followers, the ones who had heard about him, who were living their lives, and they heard about Jesus and they came to him to hear what he had to say and to be healed of their infirmities. You know, I mean, Jesus had this knack about him to get people's attention. And so as we look into the text today, as we remember that King David, his greatest delight was in his God, the fullness of his joy was in God himself. So too, we too should find our greatest joy. In our confession, we say it, but do we believe it in our hearts? Is it something that is our delight? So, as we look into this text today, where we land in Luke chapter 6, we've been going through the Gospel of Luke. This is where we've ended up today. And so, as we go through that, may the Spirit of God open our hearts, our minds to be receptive to the truths that are before us today. So why don't we pray, ask the Lord to be with us and thank him for his goodness to us and his grace. Our Father in heaven, we're grateful for your love, we're grateful for your love and your grace and your mercy that you've poured out unto us. We can't imagine how much you love us, but we can see how much you love us because you sent your son Jesus to this earth to proclaim good news, to those who are hurting, the broken. You bring life. You bring hope. And Lord, we thank you for that. We thank you for the songs that we could sing and express our heart and our deep felt thanks to you because of who you are. So today, as we look into your word for instruction, as we look for your word for illumination, as we look into your word for encouragement, Lord, may we glean from these truths, apply them to our lives, and live for you and thank you and be appreciative of everything you are for us. And we thank you for it in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Luke chapter 6 verse 20, and actually I'm going to back up just a bit. to verse 17 kind of lead into that. We've been, last week we were discussing how Jesus had chosen his 12 apostles. We know there's 12 because several other times in the scriptures we see that Jesus calls them the 12 and that there are these 12 special people called apostles who were taken out from those who were followers of him, disciples, and these particular 12 were chosen with a task to go out into the world, to go out and share the good news, to share the kingdom of God. But he also told them it's not going to be easy. Being a Christian is not easy. There's no promise in the scriptures that says that life being a Christian is going to be easy. And so the apostles in their situation were going to undergo a very difficult life. But the question is, was it worth it? Was it worth the sacrifice to go and follow Jesus? And that's a good question for us today. Is it good for us to follow Jesus? Is it the best thing that we could ever have? And I'm gonna say yes, like David. The fullness of joy in our God, in Jesus Christ our Lord. And so as we look at this text, verse 17, we see that Jesus is a very, very popular guy. You know, we can look around and see, you look on the news media, you see all who are the popular people. But in Jesus' day, there were some things that He was saying, and there were some things that He was doing that was drawing people to Him. Verse 17, And He came down with them, that is, His apostles, and stood in a level place, and a great crowd of His disciples, those who were following Him, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. They were possessed by demons. And all the crowd sought to touch him. for power had come out from him, and he healed them all." I'll tell you what, you had the miracle worker, you had the man who had the words to speak, and people were listening, and they were coming from all over, from different regions, from down south, down around Jerusalem and Judea. And if you were to look at your map of the Middle East, you would see there was these two cities, Tyre and Sidon, who are seacoast cities, not in the region of Jerusalem. These are Gentiles. So word is getting out about Jesus. There's a lot of information going out there. We live in the information world today, and we get all kinds of information. But in His day, when word got out, people went to seek and say, hey, what's going on there? I need to know more. I need to hear more. But not only that, I need to go and be healed of my infirmities. And they would even go to the point of touching him. And I think that the reason why it's mentioned here is because of the woman who had an issue of blood earlier on in the text, where she had gone up to him and touched the fringe of his garment and was healed immediately. Word got out. Here's the miracle worker. He's got all the answers. And that's what the text is saying. It's just kind of leading us in to be receptive of what Jesus has to say. But sometimes Jesus says some pretty hard things. But they're good things. But they're always good, whatever he says. And whatever he says is not only good, it's true. And whatever is not only true, it is factual. It's not misinformation, it's not malinformation. It is the truth. And so we need, it behooves us to pay attention to what Jesus has to say. They were flocking to him. They were flooding him to touch him, to be healed, to hear what he has to say. So we too need to hear what he has to say. And so he leads them. So Luke in his gospel leads us to this next session, section was called the Beatitudes. Very similar to the Gospel of Mark, I mean the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 5 where we have the Beatitudes. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. where Jesus went and spoke to his disciples, and he goes through eight different blessings. Blessed are the poor in spirit, and then he continues on through that whole series of blessings. And the emphasis that Matthew has when he uses the Sermon on the Mount and these particular blessings we have, he's emphasizing our spiritual bankruptcy. That we, doesn't matter on the surface level, in the physical, but spiritually speaking, we are bankrupt. And the only answer to our bankruptcy is Jesus Christ. He's the answer to our bankruptcy. That's the gospel of Matthew. He's writing that to affirm to the Christians of his day, to those of his day, that this is how you get into the kingdom. You realize that you are spiritually bankrupt. I can't do anything of myself. I need Jesus. He comes, you receive him, and you're saved. That's the emphasis that Matthew has specifically on the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. In this particular text, we find that Luke is using similar words of Jesus, but not all of them. He's using four of those blessings, but not necessarily in a spiritual way. He's connecting them in how we work out our life as Christians to disciples. Luke is taking the emphasis on the physical cost of what it means to follow him to enter into the kingdom. Matthew emphasizing the spiritual, Luke emphasizing the physical. What's the cost to be a disciple? So Jesus Luke records Jesus' words and he gives us just a quick little overview. He gives us four blessings, four of them very similar to the ones in the Gospel of Matthew, but these four blessings are countered or compared to four woes. See, Matthew doesn't include the woes in there, but Luke does. And he's wanting us to see a comparison of one to the other. And they've got this one, and you've got this one, and then you've got this one, and then you've got this one, and they go back and forth. And what he's trying to affirm is, this is what it takes to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the question, is it good? Yes, does it bring joy? Yes, joy everlasting. And the result of that is the incentive for the whole thing to go through what we're gonna see is the reward at the end. It's not this life that gives us the reward that satisfies. It is the reward we get in the end. And what do we get in the end? The same thing David had, the presence of God. There's nothing greater than being in the presence of God. Someday we will all go into the presence of God. Some for blessing, some for woe. That's a hard message for us though. What is it for me? Do I get blessings or do I get woes? I don't know. God knows. Do you know? Here's what it takes. Here's what it takes, here's the cost of entering into the kingdom of heaven. Luke chapter 16 verse 20. And he, Jesus, lifted up his eyes on his disciples. That's the ones who are following him. Those are the ones who are claiming to be Christians in their lives. Yep, you're the guy for me, Jesus. You can heal, your words have life. Jesus lifted his eyes on his disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed is you, are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. What does he mean? Well, Matthew, I mentioned that it had to do with our spiritual bankruptcy. And in this particular aspect, Luke is talking about, specifically about what do we do with the things that we have in life? You know, I mean, I'm gonna say that probably none of us in this room, we could say that we're poor. We're somewhere in between poor and rich, okay? From our own perspective, we're somewhere in the middle. But Jesus says, blessed are you who are poor. And so he's emphasizing the extremes, the extreme poor and the extreme rich. Here's the extreme, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Number two, the second blessing, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh, you shall laugh. Then the fourth blessing, blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the son of man. Rejoice! Be glad! And leap for joy! For behold, I can't leap anymore. I hurt myself if I leap. So in my heart, I leap in my heart, okay? So that's what, you know, I think that's what he's talking about, you know? Sometimes it's, you know, I was talking with somebody the other day, I was like, I don't know, the last time I ran, I can't run anymore because if I do, I'll end up in the hospital, you know? So leaping in our heart, leaping for joy doesn't necessarily mean jumping up and down, because if I do right now, I might fall down and we'll have to call an ambulance. But in my heart, and hopefully in your heart, We can leap for joy because we understand what it takes to mean to be poor. I mean, I'm not intentionally trying to give away everything I have, and that's not the point of the passage. The point of the passage is saying about this poorness and about this hunger and this weeping now and all of these things that happen in our life that are hard and harsh and difficult to go through in our brokenness. You were blessed, he says. when you're reviled by other people. And then he adds in, on account of the Son of Man. When you name the name of Christ, when you name the name of Jesus, who is the Son of Man, and that's his personal claim to deity, he's saying, I am the Son of Man, basically saying, I am God. When he said that, we can rejoice. Verse 23, rejoice in that day, and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven, for so their fathers did to the prophets." Rewards in heaven is great. That sounds really good, doesn't it? I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to that reward. I'm looking forward to the reward, and the reward is Jesus himself. When I go to heaven, my greatest reward will be to go and see Jesus, my Lord and Savior who gave his life for me, who paid the price. I need to understand that. that our richness is not in the tangible things that we have on this earth. Yes, it's good to have a bank account. Yes, it's good to have nice things. Yes, it's good to have good health. Yes, it's good to have a family around that we can love and enjoy and rejoice in, in this world that we have today. These are God's grace and goodness to us right now. but our greatest joy is not in those things. It's not in things, it's in a person, and it's in that person Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. Jesus doesn't measure success by how much we have, how much you know, how well you're received by others, not by financial comfort, happiness, influence over others, He doesn't measure success that way. How does Jesus measure success? What do we do with Him? What do we do with Jesus? He's the greatest joy. He's the greatest Allah, great are you Allah. We just sang a song and those words came out of our mouth. The breath we use saying those words but are those words that we just echoed that bounce around the room or were they words that came out from within us from the depth of our soul to praise him and thank him for who he is in our confession of who he is. We're in the in-between right now where all kinds of bad stuff happens. Every day, we're in the here and now. But the thing is, if we keep our eyes fixed on the here and now, rather than the now and then, which is what we're supposed to be doing as Christians, we live now and we experience the now, but then we will be freed from all of the trials and tribulations we have. In doing so, understanding that we are poor and we are spiritually bankrupt. Jesus is pointing us. Here's the way. Here's the way to heaven. Here's the way you get in. And I know there's a cost. And the cost took me my life. But if you want to follow me, follow me and it's going to cost you too. We need to be like the disciples of Jesus. We need to be like those who come and hear. and come to be healed. And I don't necessarily mean healed from your afflictions that we have, the aches and pains of our arthritis or cancer or all of the things that we have. We may not be healed. Death is gonna happen. But there is an end. And what happens? We go to be with him. We will go before him. And we will go before him and we will either hear blessings Welcome, my son and daughter. We hear wars, we hear woes, which means, you know what, I poured my life into my life here, everything I have, I tried hard, I worked hard, I poured my life into my career, to my family, to everything I have, I just poured myself into it, like the rich man. and the rich young ruler, remember him? He came up to Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, go obey all of the laws. He says, I've done all those things. Okay, go and sell everything you have. And he walked away sad because he held on to everything he had. I can't give up a thing. Jesus said, you have no place for me in the kingdom unless you become all. I must be your all. I give you gifts, I give you goodness, I give you grace, yes, but make me your greatest love, your greatest joy, your greatest desire and you will not be disappointed and you will get through the life that you're experiencing right now. If you're focused on the here and now rather than on the now and then, primarily you will be sorely disappointed. we will be sorely disappointed. I didn't try hard enough. I didn't work long enough. I have happiness, but it's just not satisfying. I gotta make something of myself to prove myself to others, to my family, to my friends, my dad, my mom. I gotta prove myself. I gotta prove myself to myself. I'm never gonna be satisfied. ever. What's fully satisfying? Jesus. He's the one who satisfies. When you find your satisfaction fully in Jesus, well then the things that you have will be put into the right perspective. You just need to find a balance. No, there's no balance. It's either Jesus or none. And that's what he's saying here. There's either blessings or woe. You're either poor or you're rich. The far extremes. There's no in between. So how do you treat Jesus? How do you treat Jesus? What have you done with these things? What do you do with the things that you have? Matthew chapter 25, verse 40. Let me just share with you what Jesus said in Matthew 25, verse 40. I'll lead into it actually. I'll start at 31. Just keep it in its context. When the Son of Man, Jesus' favorite term of himself, comes in his glory and the angels with him, when he will sit at his glorious throne, before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another. As a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, he will place the sheep on one side and the goats on the other side. Then the king will say to those on the right, come you who are blessed to my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you and thirsty, satisfy your thirst and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you and naked and clothe you? And when did we see the sick or the prison visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. How do you love Jesus? You love his people. And you help people. And you help others if you have the ability to do that. No matter where you're at, no matter what station, no matter where you're at in between the extremes. Then he said to those on the left, verse 41, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal life prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me. Naked, and you did not clothe me. Sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they will say, Lord, when do we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in person, and did not minister to you? Then they will answer them, saying, truly, I say to you, you did not. He will answer them, saying, truly, I say to you, As you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to me, that these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Blessings and woes. And Jesus is reminding his disciples the cost of what it means to be a disciple. We need to be keeping our eyes out on other people and caring for other people. This is written for Christians, you know, to the disciples. This is written to people who are called Christians. And so if you're not a Christian, then this is not for you. First thing you need to do is trust Jesus and come to Him bankrupt and receive Him as your Lord and Savior. But this is written to the Christian. So I'm gonna ask the question, when's the last time you helped someone outside of your immediate circle, family, friends? When was the last time you helped somebody? And when I say that, when it was the last time, that means that there's more than one time. Because we could do something very philanthropic to somebody and say, look at what I've done. One time, or two times, or three times, and we could say, look at what I've done, and I could get the glory. But when we do something, when was the last time you did something to somebody outside of your own network of people? Jesus said, There's a lot of people in need. What are you doing to help? How are you showing the world? How are you demonstrating to me that you're one of my own? That's a good question for us. And it's not a matter of doing this so that I can get right with God. No, you do it because you're right with God. Because you have this relationship with Him, because He is your Lord, because He's your brother, because He's your friend, because He's your God and your King, you want to do these things to please Him. See, we need to be pleasing Him, not people around us. And when we do that, other people receive the benefit. They receive the blessings, and we receive the joy. and the goodness of God in our life. The reward? The reward, not riches on earth, but the riches in heaven and inheritance in heaven, which is God himself. We will rejoice in him to be in his presence, just like David said in Psalm 16, verse 11. Trust in Jesus. Live your life for him. He's your all in all. Believe in Him. Hold Him dearly in your life. There's no greater way than serving your Lord and God. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we are grateful for this time that we can come before you now to look at your promises that you've made to us. And we could say promises are promises, Lord, but they are promises. They're blessings from beyond. What we can experience today, tomorrow, or forever, and we can see them and have great joy and delight And so Lord, your question to us is, what's it going to be? Is it going to be my family? Is it going to be my friends? Is it going to be my things? Is it going to be all the different things that I have, Lord? And we ask that question and say, what's it going to be? And the most important thing is, what do we do with you? And Lord, we also know that we can't do anything with you unless you open our hearts to receiving of that goodness. Lord, the grace that we receive, that we receive from God. Lord, it is through faith. We trust in you. We believe in you. It's just not believing things about you. It's believing you and turning our heart and our life over to you to control and that we trust you and depend on you and expressed in our loyalty to you. See how you lived your life for others and people flock to you because of your word and the things you could do. Lord, we know that people... are desperate for need and help and hope and we have the word of truth and hope. So Lord, use us as Christians, as disciples, as followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus as we follow you. May we express our heart's desire and joy in you because of what you've done for us and even more because of who you are. We thank you, Lord, for that. We pray that you would work in our hearts. The Spirit of God would land in our hearts and transform us and make us more into the image of Jesus. To draw those who are not to yourself, Lord, and I pray that you would do that work and we entrust it to you through the work of the Spirit of God in our lives. And we thank you for it. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Alright, we're going to close this portion of our service with a song, Christ be all, may Christ be all. It's a fitting song, may Christ be all. He needs to be our all. I just want to mention that after our short break, we are going to have our Sunday school. We're going to start our series again. We're going to start up our series again on Everything Happens Somewhere, short video and some discussion. from Right Now Media. Okay, so stand with me as we sing, May Christ Be All. empty and lowly, meek and humblest, and unknown, and to God a vessel holy, filled with His light and Christ alone. How pretty is God, His tender and blest! How frail I come before His throne! I am lost in love relentless, That Christ belongs and I His own. May Christ be all, and I be nothing, His glory shine as souls weep. May Christ be all, and I be nothing, This is my goal, not I, but Christ in me. This is my home, God, I have Christ in me. I am born, I am nothing. All I need cannot amend. Christ endured the Father's crushing He bowed His head as mercy left me to prevail He bowed His head as mercy left me to prevail May Christ be all and I be nothing Glory shines in vessels of grief. May Christ be all, and I be nothing. This is my hope, not I, but Christ in me. This is my hope, not I, but Christ in me. Bring me low, my heart lower still, let your grace my pride release. May these words be somehow until To every tribe and tongue we lift. Ring we low, on our chorus still, As your praise, my pride, we lift. May these words be thou loved unto every time, and tongue, and sea. May Christ be all, and the Holy be nothing. this is On golden shores of your salvations I will run to meet my King! Free from sin and all accusations! If He gives Himself, nothing I'll bring! Father, we do just praise you for what we've just sung. And thinking in terms of the passage this morning, the rewards for those who, by your grace, follow you. That's all we have. Father, help us just to think on what we've heard, what we've just sung. Because by the time we get out of this room, our minds are scattered. We're all over the place. It's just, it's hard for us to focus. But Father, we just pray that your spirit would just help us to remind ourselves of these things, and ponder the greatness of who you are, and just the wonder of what Jesus did and accomplished in his perfect life, in his perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. And the reward that awaits us. Nothing I'll bring, but Jesus will give his all. We'll praise you for that, Jesus. Amen.