▶
Show Full Transcript
Hallelujah, what a Savior. Rejoice and be thankful as you sing and worship Him. Would you just lift your hands and out of your own heart, by your voice, would you just worship and praise Him? Lord, we worship you this morning. The great I Am, the Lord God omnipotent who reigns, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who neither faints nor does He grow weary, the One in whom we rejoice, the Savior and the Redeemer of our souls, who has delivered us from the powers of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of your dear Son, in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness, the remission of sins, we rejoice in you, O Lord, Creator of heaven and earth. We give you thanks, for you alone are worthy of it all. All heaven rejoices in who you are, and so we join with heaven, rejoicing in who you are. None like you, none that can be compared unto you. Oh, we rejoice and we praise and give you glory, for you alone. You alone are worthy of it all. You alone are worthy of it all. You alone are worthy of it all.
All, let me say it again. You alone are worthy of it all. Would you just rejoice in Him this morning? The Lord Almighty God. The Lord Almighty God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, you know, I sing those songs and I just, I stop singing because I begin to think about who God really is. Begin to consider the fact that we are worshiping the Creator of all things. The Creator of all of the stars that you can see and all the stars you cannot see. He created everything. And He upholds, the Scripture says, He upholds all things by the word of His power. He, He is worthy of it all. He alone is worthy of all praise, worship, and adoration, and giving our lives to Him.
Amen. Would you just give Him praise one more time? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, we want to release our young church in little bodies to go and worship the Lord, who are together. And as you're seated, would you turn to someone, shake hands with them, tell them you love them, and don't lie to them. And guys, you better make sure you tell your wife that. Thank you, team, for leading us in such a great way as we were able to join with all heaven in worship and praise to Him. Well, in case you don't know who I am, which most do, I'm James Hudson. Been here for almost 40 years. And part of the elders here. And it's good to see you. It's good to have some of my family with us today. It's always good to have my wife, but I've had some of my children and grandchildren here and to share together. Wow. Wow.
I just love to consider who God is and to give Him glory and to give Him praise. We are in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter number 11, and we're sharing out of verses 1 through 15. Now, I'm not techie like some people, so I don't have sly. This is what you'll see. So you'll have to go to the Scripture, take notes on your own, and whatever you do. So that's just the way it is. As one fellow said, I'm trying to get into the 20th century. One of these days, I'll get there. So that's a joke, by the way. Anyway, 2 Corinthians, chapter number 11. And I want to read all 15 verses that we have for our text.
Paul writing to the church at Corinth, and he says, Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly. Put up with me. Paul did not like to brag on himself, but because of that, those issues, that he was dealing with, he's going to have to talk about himself a little bit. Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly. And indeed, you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent, the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For he who comes preaches, for if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. For I consider that I am not at all inferior, to the most eminent apostles. Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. Did I commit sin, in humbling myself, that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you, free of charge? I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when I was present with you and in need, I was obliged, a burden to no one, for what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I do not love you. God knows. But what I do, I will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no grace, great thing, if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works. Paul, in this section here, and even back in chapter number 10, he is dealing with false apostles who come along and have been preaching another gospel.
He continually has to deal with this. In fact, he was dealing with this if you read in Galatians chapter number 1. He says to the churches of Galatia, he said, I'm amazed, basically I'm paraphrasing, I'm amazed that you are so quickly removed from the gospel, from that which I preach. How is this possible that you would be removed? And so, he's dealing with false apostles false apostles preaching and teaching false doctrine and he even tells us how to identify these false apostles. He said, they compare themselves among themselves. They compare themselves. Actually, what they were doing is they were trying to outdo one another. I've got the best one. Hey, I've got something that you've never heard before and so, who is the best one? The best preacher. Sad to say, preachers try to outdo themselves. But the only reason why that we would compare ourselves with one another and trying to outdo one another is that we want to be exalted. We want to be exalted. We want people to know our name. Can I tell you that whenever I was traveling, I always wondered, God, I see these people, these guys that they got their big names and they're preaching in these big churches and I'm just, I feel like I'm little old, nothing out here, laboring, you know, and I wanted my name to be known and all of this and, you know, the Lord really, He dealt with me about that and not to compare myself to stay within my measure because that was another way that you see false apostles is that they go beyond their measure. They go beyond what they are supposed to be doing, beyond what God has given to them. And so I remember there was a time that I was praying, you know, and there was a prophet in the house at the time and he'd get all kinds of words and, you know, and I remember that I'm praying and I'm saying, Lord, I don't get things, I don't get things like that. You know, can't you, can't you help me out here so that, you know, so that I can be as accurate and get all of these things about people and all of that and the Lord just let me know that's His measure. I have this other measure for you because God has your own measure. God has your own place. God has your own purpose.
And if we will stay, if we stay in our lane and stay in our measure, we won't make a mess of things. I mean, I can imagine where I would be and what I'd be doing if I was trying to be like that guy. You know? And so I just began to be content in what God had given to me. And that's what He wants you to be. Well, I'm not, I don't know things like the preacher knows them. You know, I don't know, I don't get, I don't understand that. But to be, now I'm not talking about being complacent. I'm talking about being content. Contentment is knowing and being satisfied and in what God has given to you and being faithful in it. Because that's all that we're going to be judged by is have you been faithful in the measure that God has given to you? You think about that. Have you been faithful? God's not going to judge you and compare you with someone else. You know, we hear the parable that Jesus gave about the master who gave to one of his servants three talents, another to two, and another to one. And he came after a long period of time and said, you need to give an accounting. And he was looking at faithfulness. He wasn't expecting them to do, more than what they could do with.
Because God knew, or that master knew what each one could do. And he gave them that which they could be faithful in. And so God is looking for faithfulness. And so they would go beyond their measure. His concern for Corinth is that they were being moved outside of the gospel by the presence, the presentation, and the appeal that others were giving. They were saying, Paul is not a good speaker, but we know how to preach. We are good preachers. We can turn a phrase. And I've heard preachers that they can turn a phrase and they can get you all excited with emotion and just make you, as we used to say, swing from the rafters and just really get excited. And it's, it's kind of like cotton candy. It tastes good, but once you take a bite of it, it is nothing. And then you probably may have a sugar high or low or whatever, and you don't have anything. You want to go get, you want to go get a piece of chicken or, you know, some veggies or something, you know, to give you substance. Makes you feel good. And so they were being drawn away because of, of these preachers who could, these false apostles who could speak good. We'll deal with that here in just, just a few moments. But he talks and he starts off in our, in our text here, especially in verse number two. He says, for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband. I have promised you to one. Now, we, you may hear that jealousy is bad. In one sense, it is. But you know, I have found out having been married for 50 years that when my wife gets jealous of me, it's because I am giving some of, some other woman or female attention that ought to be for her and her only. So sir, let me meddle. Well, if your wife is jealous, what are you doing to make her jealous? Are you giving attention to someone else that you're not supposed to be giving attention to? Now, my wife is really good and she has helped me and she continues to help me because I like to tell funny stories and I like to have a good time. But she tells me from time to time when I get caught up in that, you're flirting. Oh, I'm not flirting. I'm just trying to have a, no, no, no, no. Are you doing it to get a response, sir? I know I'm meddling in your marriage, but are you doing it to get a response? Do you spend time? Do you give, do you draw attention to yourself? Flirting. And so, you know, your wife gets, is jealous and it's good that she is jealous. I'll just throw this in here at the end. At this point, I may mention it later on, but you know, I, I tell my wife every once in a while, you know, I like everything about you. I love every, and like everything about you. Even those things that irritate me because those things that irritate me show me where I need to be changed and transformed. My wife thought, hey, God, I like what one guy said.
He said, he said, God gave you your wife, sir, to help you. To help you in holiness. Well, she just tried. No, she's not trying to control you. She's just trying to help you. Well, I'll go back to preaching instead of meddling.
But Paul said this. He said, I am jealous with a godly jealous for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin. You're married to Jesus. So first of all, he's saying, guard your devotion. Guard your devotion to God. Guard your devotion to Jesus. Are you chasing? Is your desire, is the greatest desire you have for someone or something greater than Jesus? Chris is here. And if you ever hear Chris talk, he's always saying it's about Jesus. That's all he says. It's about Jesus. Devoted to Jesus. And if you go anywhere else other than Jesus, you're getting off the path. But God is there. He is jealous over his people because we are to be devoted to him. He is worthy of everything that we have to worship and to magnify him. And our purpose is to glorify him. I like what the saints of old have said when they said, what is the purpose of man? The purpose of man is to glorify God. Enjoy him forever. So false apostles will draw you unto themselves because he goes on. Paul goes on to say in verse three, but I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now, how did the serpent deceive Eve? He didn't just come right out and say, God's terrible and you just need to turn away from him and listen to me. No, that's not what he said. What he said was, did God say that you can eat of every tree, eat the fruit of every tree in the garden? And Eve said, well, yeah, yeah, he did, except this one. And that is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so what did the serpent say? He said, well, first of all, she looked at it and saw that it was good. And what we can be deceived by and drawn away from our devotion to Christ looks good. It is pleasing to the eye. What I said a while ago, that there are those who can turn a phrase and they can make things sound good and they can paint this beautiful picture of life and say, this, it looks beautiful. And we look at it and we would be as Eve did, look at it and see it is pleasing to the eye. Looks like it's going to be good. And then he said, you know, this is paraphrasing essence. God's trying to keep something from me. God's trying to keep something good from you because doesn't it look good? But God is trying to keep something good from you. We're going to meddle some more. Marriage. Someone has said, and I believe it, that affairs do not start off physically. They start off emotionally. Whether it's male or female, you begin to get an emotional response from someone and you begin to then share your personal life with each other. Sharing things that ought to be between husband and wife. And it looks good. Ah, they understand me. They know what I'm going through. They can understand that my wife doesn't really understand me. Have you really tried to communicate with her? Have you tried to communicate with him? Or have you just, well, this is just normal. This is everyday life and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
And so we begin to draw our emotional energy and emotional satisfaction from them instead of being devoted to that one. You know, they say, you see, well, I say, they say, you see the cows. I'm going to use some cows. And they're at the fence, you know, and how they're sticking their head through the fence trying to get to the grass on the other side. And it's said that the grass on the other side of the fence looks better. But can I tell you, it's just grass.
I mean, you got the picture, Chris. It's just grass. I remember I was talking with a man and he was wanting to divorce his wife. And I kept trying to tell him, you know, that's not what you really want to do. This is what you ought to do.
Come to find out, probably, he just needs to get saved for one thing. he finally, he divorced his wife. And so I asked him sometime later, I said, well, did you get what you're looking for? He said, no, it's costing me more now than what it did before. I promised you the grass on the other side of the fence is just grass. And you're going to find out because of what's in you, sir, and ma'am, what's in you needs to be changed and transformed and be satisfied with what God has given to you. Sir, do you look at your wife as a treasure? As, as, as that which God, can you, do you realize the reason why your marriage is because God put you together, what God joined together? That's your treasure. Ma'am, that's your treasure.
I know, I know I'm meddling in marriage this morning, but that's okay because God sees this as sacred just as we are married to him. That we're not looking for our satisfaction somewhere else other than Jesus. Why Jesus told the woman at the well, I have water, you'll drink of it, you'll never thirst again. If you're dissatisfied with your spiritual life, can I ask you what you've been drinking? Where have you been going to get satisfaction? Have you ceased to be devoted to Jesus, the one to whom you are married to?
We're going to take communion here in just a little while and we'll talk about covenant. God has put us in covenant relationship that we are devoted one to another. Let us not be deceived in looking for someplace else to find the satisfaction of life because what we need to do is to guard the truth. Not only guard our devotion, but we need to guard the truth. And the only place that you're going to find the truth is in the scriptures. And if it seems dull and dry, why don't we ask God to give me some revelation of the word? Don't just read and say, well, you know, I've got to read the word. And so I'm going to, we're supposed to read two chapters in the Old Testament and one chapter in the New Testament and I checked that box and no. Have you come to look at the scripture to see that God is revealing himself to you?
You know, that's the purpose of the scripture is for God telling us about himself. He's not giving us just some moral rules to live by. He's wanting, as it's been said so many times, he's wanting, he comes to have a relationship with us, but he comes to reveal himself to us. I'm not in a hurry to read through the Bible. I'm in a hurry, if you please, if I'm in a hurry, to know how God has revealed himself through whatever the Bible stories that I may read in the Old Testament. They're not just there just to kind of make us feel good and help us to live our life better and to have our best life now and just to encourage us to, you know, kind of try to make it because, honey, I'm telling you, everybody that's trying to have a good life, you could talk to the millionaires and they still got problems. They'll have a headache just like you do. They'll stub their toe when their wife changes the furniture around and they're trying to walk through the house in the dark. I mean, they, everybody has the same problems. There's no difference whether you got a lot of money or where you don't have any money.
If I just had, if I just had, well, you do have the creator of the universe who gives to us everything that pertains unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue. So we are devoted to Christ and now then we begin to search the Scripture because in the Scripture is the revelation of truth. A Scripture that people misquote a lot is found in John chapter number 8 where Jesus said, if you abide in my words then are you my disciples and then this is the next verse is where they misquote. He said, and then you'll know the truth and the truth shall make you free. People misquote that they just quote partial of that and say, well, the truth will make you free. Well, my question is where are you getting truth? Is it your truth? Well, if it's your truth probably a lie because it's what we want out of our own heart because the Scripture says that the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked and who can know it because our heart left by itself is it chases after it chases after what we want and what we think is best and what we think and that which is pleasing to the eyes as we talked about what Eve saw with the fruit it's pleasing to the eye so I'm going to partake of it and I'm going to imbibe that instead of going to see what the truth is.
Thy word is true the psalmist said. Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. How shall a young man cleanse his ways by taking heed according to the truth? It's a revelation of God and God showing to us who He is and how great He is and that we can fall in love with Him because He has all the words of life.
The disciples everyone was leaving Jesus and Jesus looked at His twelve and said you boys are going to leave too and Peter speaks up and he says where are we going to go? You have the words of life we don't have any place else to go where we go to for truth and for guidance in life is the scripture. Now does God speak to us about things?
Yeah, I remember when God spoke to me and told me it's time to get married. I mean I actually heard a word from the Lord on the inside of me and said it's time to get married. Well, I'm getting married because God said so but there are reasons for being married and if you didn't attend the marriage seminar you sure missed a lot of good stuff for companionship. But our you know and so you know okay it's time to get married who am I going to marry? And you know God was so faithful He brought the one to me that I thought I was going to marry somebody else and lo and behold God just interrupted my life and said this is the one because I saw her and whoa there is this beautiful lady I often say the way that Eve is called woman is because God brought Eve to Adam when He saw her He said whoa man but we guard our devotion we guard the truth we guard the truth because God has come to us to give us life and that more abundantly and people get all messed up with that they think about what is the abundant life well we got to have more money got to have more cars got to do this and you know and we focus on ourselves instead of on Him what did what did what did Jesus say in John chapter 17 when He began to pray and He said and this is eternal life eternal life is not how long but it's the kind of it's the life of God this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God not just know about you not just know some things but to experience that life when He said and you'll know the truth and the truth shall make you free you know it's not just having some kind of head knowledge but it's an experience part of your life an experiential part of your life and He said this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent because that's how we are going to overcome Jesus said in this world you're going to have tribulation but He said be of good cheer I have overcome the world and that's what we're you know let me just say this just throw this shameless plug in here that's what we want with Discipleship 101 and Christianity 201 we want you to to grow in the Lord we want you to know God we want you to be established in the truth and so we've got 101 coming up we've got 301 you know we're really come up with some great titles for our Discipleship track and Christianity 101 201 301 401 now we're going to have 501 and you know we just we're really innovative in our titles but it's to help you to grow that you may know Him that you may know Jesus Christ that you will guard the truth that you will be faithful and the scripture says that Paul writing to Timothy he said to study to show you know yourself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth he said give yourself to the word but preacher you just don't know I've got this job I have to work a long hours and it's hard and it's difficult and I come home and I'm tired and I've got to deal with my wife I've got to deal with my kids and I've got to deal with the grass that I've got to cut you just don't know preacher you know I think one of the best things that ever happened to me was when I no longer was preaching for a living and I had to go to work and labor now it was work preaching I understand that but I had to find some other work in which to provide a living but that did not absolve me from my responsibility of being in the word in fact there was one time I even said this I can't believe I said this but I did you know I may have even said it to my wife I said you know I don't know if I could stay saved if I don't preach why because if I was going to preach I had to stay in the word and I had to pray and so I figured that by preaching that's going to help me stay saved but I found out you can stay saved and not preach I've learned that for 40 years but I have to give myself I can't just hope it happens in fact I can't just listen to other preachers because not only must I guard my devotion not only must I guard the truth but I must guard my discernment I must discern truth and how am I going to discern that how am I going to find that out it's by getting into the word you know the scripture does say in Romans chapter number 12 verse number 1 he says don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind how do we renew our minds through the scripture that you may prove to that is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God the purposes of God that you can hey I don't want you to take what I say just because I'm a preacher I don't want you to take my word just because I'm saying it Glenn doesn't want you just to take the word simply because he says it none of the elders want you to take a word just because we say we want you to also test and prove the word that is spoken that you guard your discernment because there are words that are being spoken that sound good it's those things that will deceive us and draw us away from Jesus I remember years ago there was this radio station out of Mexico I don't know if any of you are old enough to remember XERF out of Ciudad Acuna Coahuila, Mexico and they would get on there all kinds of preachers and I remember this one guy Reverend Knight and his thing was you can't lose with the stuff I use and he wanted your money because if you'll sow this in here you'll have a bunch I remember I got sucked into this one time I was at this preacher's meeting a really believer's meeting and this guy got up and he was a big fundraiser and he said you give and this will happen and my wife and I we gave and it didn't happen like I thought it was going to happen and he just got the money and I didn't have any and let me say this when we receive an offering around here when we talk about tithes and offerings I say this quite often it's not because we're wanting anything but we want fruit to abound to your account in fact we said and John made mention of it at the end of the service in the first service well you know we've often said that Glenn has made this public declaration that if you're having trouble with tithing and you think that we want it well it's not that we want it why don't you go find you a God fearing gospel preaching church and you tithe there for a year don't bring it here you tithe there for a year and you tell us what happened after the year and prove God because it's not what we want it's what we want for ourselves it's what we want for you that you would be blessed when Paul was preaching Christ it wasn't because he wanted anything he had a revelation of Jesus Christ and he knew that Jesus was the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and he is the one who rules all things and by his word all things were made and created and he alone is worthy to receive praise and honor in fact that's what they're doing in heaven and you read in in Revelation chapter number 4 as they're around the throne they say holy holy holy is the Lord for you alone are worthy for you have created all things and for your pleasure for your purpose they are and were created and we want to give him the glory and the praise and the honor that is due to him and I want to give him I want to get to know this fellow I mean don't you like to get together with somebody who knows something more than you well I tell you God knows more than all of us and I want to get together with him I want to know his word that's why he has given to us his word why the scripture Paul the psalmist said your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against me against you your word is a light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet and I want to get to know they guide and they guard and they keep the word of the Lord if you don't get anything else from what I say this morning it's to I urge you I implore you I beg you get in the word and you will be established all the days of your life you won't be moved by every wind of doctrine you won't be stirred up by everything that's going on people say well you know I'm not worried about what's happening in the world because I read the end of the book and that tells me that we win I want you to know we've already won I don't have to read the end of the book the end of the book it's already been read it's already been done and I want you to know that now Jesus Christ reigns and he rules and I'm not looking for something to get me out of here I'm looking for something to keep me that I can declare and manifest his glory in the earth I want Jesus to be there to be exalted I'm not looking for an escape I'm looking for a place to declare the glory of God and the majesty of him how can you tell Paul went on to say for what I do I will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from those now notice this next phrase here that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are they again were comparing themselves they wanted to be like Paul but you do know there was a bunch of guys that decided they'd do what Paul did and cast this devil out and so they said we adjure you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches come out of her and the evil spirit said Paul I know and Jesus I know but who in the world are you and it says the one in whom the spirits were in jumped on them and started beating them up and they fled from that place naked I want to be known if there's any way that people know me I want them to know because of Jesus I want them to know Jesus not me they want to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast for such are false apostles and deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light now when it says that he transforms himself into an angel of light that doesn't mean that he takes on some kind of other form and he looks like something light is revelation he's transforming he transforms himself into show trying to show to you that he knows more I know more than you let me tell you and we're always you know I said a moment ago preachers trying to outdo themselves they have come up with some kind of new revelation I got to have some kind of new revelation hey listen I love that song there was an old gospel song it says the story old yet ever new it's an old tell me the old old story of Jesus and his love tell me about it about Jesus if I can know Jesus that I may know him Paul said that I may know him the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his sufferings being made being transformed into his enemy that I may know him that I may know him what's your desire this morning you want to know Jesus you want to know God you want to drink from the wells of living water you want that which satisfies for eternity that which will keep you all the days of your life and we're going to and we'll cause you to be an overcomer over every issue of life get in the scripture say God reveal yourself to me in the scripture let me pray for you this morning Lord I pray for your people I pray for your people may our hearts desire be to know you and the reality thank you that you draw us to yourself that we may know you power of your resurrection fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death I thank you for it in Jesus name we're going to partake of communion this morning the ushers will be passing the communion as you take the elements hold them we'll partake of them together but we are talking about being betrothed to Jesus and I pray for you that you would have a desire more than ever before to know him that you would walk and live in that devotion to Christ that you would guard the truth and guard your discernment take a moment just to meditate on what the Lord has spoken to you by his word today as they continue to pass the elements just meditate on who he is times of quietness and solitude does not bother me because I love to sit quietly in the presence of God and meditate on what he has just spoken to me thank you open that little clear plastic thing on top and take out the bread and then we'll take all of it all of us will take it together the scripture does say that the night that Jesus was betrayed that he took the bread he broke it he said this is my body which is broken for you you see Jesus gave himself completely to you and he says give yourself completely to me he has called you to himself to be married to him and he gave his life for you and he said this is my body which is broken for you and he said take and eat it and so as we partake of the bread this morning do so in saying I receive your life that you laid down for me and I lay my life down for you because I've been promised to you Lord thank you for breaking for the breaking of your body and you giving your life and your body and by your stripes we were healed I pray for you for those even this morning who may be in the meeting that need healing I pray for your healing power to flow through them as they partake of the bread in glorifying you in commitment to you in Jesus name let's take of the bread and he also took the cup he said this is my blood the blood of the new covenant that we're promised he promised himself to us and we promised ourselves to him that we have him a heart only for him that we may know you the only true God Jesus Christ whom you have sent so Lord I thank you this morning again that you have poured out your life gave your life not only your body broken but your very life poured out for us and so as we partake of this this morning we do so remembering you and saying my life is not mine it belongs to you and so I've given my life to you thank you for giving your life to me let's partake of the cup together guard your devotion guard the truth guard your discernment God bless you that was the word of the Lord thank you thank you Lord as we're going to continue in our worship with our tithes and offerings James already preached it I don't need to preach it again but we do have three ways that you can give number one in the seat back in front of you you'll find an envelope you can put your tithe in there just if you would check the box that says tithe on there and you can put it in one of the offering buckets located at each of the double doors on your way out today we also have a text to give option just put in that number right there if you've never done it before shoot a text to it it'll give you it'll shoot you a note letting you know where to go what information it needs in order to get you set up there and then lastly if you'd rather give at a later time you can go to dlc.tv and give any time there as you have with us today my name is James John Gagner if I haven't had the opportunity to meet you my wife Cheyenne and I have attended here for oh geez better part of 12 years now we've been predominantly at the Owasso campus all this time but in the last several months we've had the opportunity to come and be a part of the Claremore gathering a bit more and I gotta tell you guys it really is a treat it really is a treat so we'd love to meet you so come and say hi Black Books located on your right hand just gotta make sure I got it right here on your right if you don't mind filling that out and passing it across the rows as we're going here we would really appreciate it that just helps us make sure we have everyone in our system and if you have like an email change or anything like that that has happened since you initially filled out that form if you would change it and just mark on there that you got a new email that would be wonderful it just helps us to make sure that we're able to contact you in the proper channels and lastly we have a welcome card if you're new with us today or maybe you've been coming for a while and you have a chance and you haven't filled one out yet in the seat back in front of you there's this card it says welcome on the back it just asks for your name your email and your phone number fill that out put it in the offering buckets on the back of the double doors on your way out today that would be wonderful it just gives us an opportunity to get in contact with you and let you know of a few ways that you can get connected hey DLC fam my name is Dakota and we are so glad you're with us here today let's check out a few of these announcements students summer summit is almost here camp is happening July 25th through the 29th and it's not too late to sign up if you haven't signed up yet or you'd like more information head over to dlcy.tv you won't want to miss it alright it's almost time to kick off our discipleship groups for this fall we have Christianity 101 Ministry 301 and Doctrine 401 we'll all begin August 5th for all info and to sign up visit dlc-signup.com or dlctv slash discipleship men don't forget our men's breakfast is this Saturday July 25th 8.30am in Owasso register at dlc-signup.com last Wednesday we kicked off our summer is for family seminars on finances this Wednesday is part 2 at 7pm on the Claremore campus whether you've been to the first one or not we would encourage anyone to come who wants to grow in financial stewardship if you need child care for kids 5 and under please register at dlc-signup.com our next Christ College course hermeneutics why is that funny to me her her her hermeneutics hermeneutics hermeneutics our next Christ College course hermeneutics begins July 27th for all info and to register visit christcollege.us alright y'all well that's all the announcements I have for you this week if you have a prayer need please let us know have a great week DLC alright if you don't know Dakota you need to meet him he's hilarious and incredibly bold did you see his shirt it says Jesus Christ the ultimate deadlifter you guys know the deadlift workout you know I don't know I thought it was funny but my goodness I wouldn't wear it but boldness to him right so hey again thank you so much for being here I have a couple more announcements for you real quick here first of all the family table is tonight it's every third Sunday right now guys it is a wonderful time to get connected with the body here would love love love for you to sign up there's different locations available you can find all this online on our website as well one thing to note is that Brian and Cassie Brown will not be hosting one tonight if you guys were planning on going there they will no longer be able to host they have an illness going through the house right now they're fine but they just didn't want to get anyone else sick so theirs will no longer be meeting but all the other ones that you see down in the center of the screen will be available so we hope to see you there also Compassion Venezuela thank you guys for those of you who have been able to give so far we've been giving lightly used clothing to Venezuela as many of you may know we are very well connected with the church in Venezuela through Jerry and others and they had some very very very bad things happening out there with earthquakes and causing lots of damage lots of property damage as well as personal items and other items that are available lastly I am a Christ College graduate love it Christ College is incredible this is technically the first class for Christ College like if you were wanting to come in and do the full program this would be the start of it you don't have to go through the whole program if you guys want to do a one off class you can and as Dakota was trying to say it is biblical hermeneutics and so really the word hermeneutics is very simple it just means that you're figuring out the truth why it was written who it was written to that sort of thing and helping you to as James very well put today understand the heart of God through the word so I just got one little challenge for you if you haven't heard about this we have these bookmarks you can find them on the sides of the tables and the double doors on each side it is the reading plan within DLC it's two chapters of the Old Testament one chapter of the New Testament maybe you've never gotten in the word before you know hesitant because you don't know where to start it can be a little overwhelming you know if you're looking at this big book right in front of you maybe you haven't had the opportunity to ever get into it just wondering how you might do it this is a great place to start you can find it literally it's Monday through Friday two chapters of the Old Testament one of the New you get behind just pick up right where you left off it's not you know it's a lot like dieting or something where you know you do your best and every now and then you fail and then you just get back up and do it again right so this is available to you we'd love love love to pray with you so you guys go ahead and come forward and I'll invite everyone else to stand at this time as well and I'll pray and we'll be dismissed Lord we thank you we thank you we thank you for all that you are in our lives we thank you for your word God we thank you that we have your word in a tangible way and when we need to hear from you we can go to your word Lord when we want to dive into your heart we can go to your word Lord when we need wisdom and strength we go to your word so Father I pray that this impartation that James has given us would be settled in every heart and sealed and God that you would give us a hunger that we can't go a day without the same way we can't go a day without eating or drinking Father that you would come and give us that same desire for the word of God and your truth that we would eat on it and we'd love you and we thank you for all that it is that you are and all that you do in Jesus name Amen again if you're if you need prayer please don't leave come on up we got plenty of people to pray with you otherwise you are dismissed have a great week
