WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.240 Thank you. The song says more about Jesus. It 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:09.640 talks about sitting on His throne. I've been 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:13.419 thinking a lot about that. That there is a throne 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:17.420 in the universe. There really is. And the good 00:00:17.420 --> 00:00:21.140 news is that throne is occupied. And the one 00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:24.859 who occupies it has been occupying it for thousands 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:28.620 of years. I often wonder when we're studying 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:33.490 Revelation why the Lord established a throne 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:38.009 like that. Because He is God and He can do whatever 00:00:38.009 --> 00:00:42.030 He wants and He doesn't have to have a place 00:00:42.030 --> 00:00:45.590 that He's sitting down. But the more I think 00:00:45.590 --> 00:00:49.229 about it, the more I come to the conclusion that 00:00:49.229 --> 00:00:52.469 the throne is the focal point that we can look 00:00:52.469 --> 00:00:55.810 to for authority. It's the focal point that we 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:58.570 can aim our prayers and our attention to because 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:03.149 God is is a spirit and it gives us a place to 00:01:03.149 --> 00:01:11.989 go in prayer to seek God's direction. I have 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:15.409 thought about the political decisions and things 00:01:15.409 --> 00:01:19.430 like that and people have made comments that 00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:24.609 certain things are acceptable to the Constitution 00:01:24.609 --> 00:01:29.840 and other things are not. and yet we can go over 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:33.180 the head of the political party or the politics 00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:37.000 that are in office now and we can go to the top. 00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:40.159 If you know Jesus, you can go to the top and 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:43.739 speak to the Lord himself. And that's a good 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:46.019 thing, in my opinion. That's a wonderful thing. 00:01:46.299 --> 00:01:51.799 There is a lot of comfort and peace in my heart 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:59.650 because that's the case. And also... It is kind 00:01:59.650 --> 00:02:02.849 of encouraging when we know the one that sits 00:02:02.849 --> 00:02:06.530 on the throne is absolutely sovereign over everything. 00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:09.689 There's nothing that's too hard or too far -fetched 00:02:09.689 --> 00:02:16.169 or whatever for him. I have a friend, you probably 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:21.289 don't know her, but she works at Belts. She has 00:02:21.289 --> 00:02:25.069 a boyfriend, his name is Eric. And I've been 00:02:25.069 --> 00:02:28.009 talking to her. Over the years I've been going 00:02:28.009 --> 00:02:30.990 to them. We would talk and pray and stuff like 00:02:30.990 --> 00:02:34.569 that. I gave her a MacArthur Study Bible, which 00:02:34.569 --> 00:02:36.669 may be a good thing to give to Kenny. That may 00:02:36.669 --> 00:02:38.770 be one thing we can give to him as one of the 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:43.909 MacArthur Study Bibles. But I gave her one. I 00:02:43.909 --> 00:02:46.879 think it was New King James Version. And she 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:49.240 says she loves it, she reads it, and she says 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:51.460 it really opens up the scripture to her and stuff 00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:54.759 like that. And I'm not sharing this to boast 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:58.340 about it, I'm just, it's an illustration of what 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:02.139 God can do. And so anyway, I said, well, what 00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:06.780 about Eric? And so she said, no, he's not interested 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:10.680 in it. And finally, just maybe a month ago, I 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:12.460 said, I asked her, I said, you know, he ought 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:15.860 to, why don't I give him, she said, well, his 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:19.460 objection is he's read the Bible. And I said, 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:21.879 well, how much has he read? And she said, well, 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:23.520 I don't know. And I said, he probably hasn't 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.300 read a whole lot. And that was the same thing 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:28.599 that Chris Hewitt said. When I tried to get him 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:31.599 to read his Bible, he says, I was in Catholic 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:34.120 school and we read the Bible and that's enough. 00:03:34.379 --> 00:03:38.009 Well, he's in hell now. And he's regretting that. 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:40.289 I'm sorry about that. It bothers me because he 00:03:40.289 --> 00:03:46.110 was a good friend. But I did get a Bible for 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:50.289 Eric. I got one from... Did I pay you for the 00:03:50.289 --> 00:03:57.210 second one? Anyway, so I wanted to give it to 00:03:57.210 --> 00:04:02.710 him. So I was trying to think of what to write 00:04:02.710 --> 00:04:08.490 in the fly leaf. that is not stupid or whatever 00:04:08.490 --> 00:04:12.469 that has some meat to it but yet is not drawn 00:04:12.469 --> 00:04:16.110 out, something that you can sit down. And so 00:04:16.110 --> 00:04:23.470 I wrote down very briefly that this book is the 00:04:23.470 --> 00:04:26.170 most powerful document in existence and it will 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:30.269 change your life. And then I wrote from Psalm 00:04:30.269 --> 00:04:36.060 111, I think it's 109, Part of the text says 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:39.180 that your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:43.160 unto my path, and you know that. And you know 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:48.319 that the idea of that. When I was a boy in Wake 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:55.519 Forest, my neighbor had a garden and he raised, 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:59.519 I shouldn't say raised, he trapped rabbits and 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:01.639 kept them in cages and then he would eat them. 00:05:02.329 --> 00:05:04.569 kill them and butcher them and eat them like 00:05:04.569 --> 00:05:08.730 you do chicken stuff. But I can remember that 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:11.949 one of the things he possessed was a pottery. 00:05:13.110 --> 00:05:15.850 It almost looked like a jar with a handle on 00:05:15.850 --> 00:05:19.670 it, except it had a big hole in the side. And 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:23.470 in that hole, you could put a candle and light 00:05:23.470 --> 00:05:26.410 it. And then you could use that handle and you 00:05:26.410 --> 00:05:29.160 could hold it. and you could hold it out in front 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:31.399 of you at night and it would give you just enough 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.279 flickering light to see where you're going, your 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:38.839 step. And I thought about that as writing that 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:42.120 text now that God says His word is a lamp unto 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:46.459 my feet, which is a way of saying that when you 00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:49.079 read the scriptures and when you study the scriptures... 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.480 It gives you direction as to where you can go 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:53.839 and what is good, what is proper. That's a good 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:56.980 thing to have. I'm now starting to do the Bible 00:05:56.980 --> 00:06:00.439 reading in Proverbs, and Proverbs is filled with 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:04.019 wisdom to tell us how to live and what we should 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:07.939 do and what we shouldn't do. And then secondly, 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:11.959 not only is it a lamp unto my feet, but it is 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:16.160 a light or a lumen for my path, which way to 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:19.019 go. what to look for down the road and things 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:25.160 of this nature. This book is a very valuable 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:28.060 thing to have if you will read it and study it 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:33.060 and digest it because it really, Proverbs promises 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:37.639 blessing to those who come humbly before the 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:41.379 Word and let God's Word educate and direct your 00:06:41.379 --> 00:06:48.720 steps. It's really very powerful. I'm thankful 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:51.120 to the Lord that he's given it to us. I wish 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.279 that I could know it better. There's a lot in 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:57.560 there that's just very deep in some places, and 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:00.600 yet it's shallow enough for a little child to 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:03.699 understand, to get the gospel from it. I enjoyed 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:05.360 Dennis, by the way, this morning. I thought he 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.480 was quite good and I appreciated his heart and 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.420 his message. We went out for dinner at Olive 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:14.139 Garden and we had a lot of fun talking about 00:07:14.139 --> 00:07:17.029 Europe. and the places to go and some of the 00:07:17.029 --> 00:07:24.529 things to see. I don't know if there were warnings, 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:29.670 but they wanted to go through the Notre Dame, 00:07:30.970 --> 00:07:33.829 but they would have to put the name on the list. 00:07:34.730 --> 00:07:36.689 There was at least a week and a half or two weeks 00:07:36.689 --> 00:07:39.029 before they could get to the top of the list 00:07:39.029 --> 00:07:42.259 to go through and see the cathedral. And then 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:44.420 he said, I'm not interested in the building anyway. 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:49.079 But I was thinking about Pete and Dory, they're 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:52.220 going to be going to Europe. And I remember hearing 00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:54.379 Rick Steves talk about the fact that you need 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:56.720 to make reservations if you're going to be going 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.459 to a place. If you want to go to the museum, 00:07:58.579 --> 00:08:00.439 art museum or something, make reservations. You 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:03.139 don't want to stand in a long line to get there. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.040 But God is good to us. He's given us everything 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.660 we need to make reservations for heaven with 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:14.339 him. and we can come to him in prayer and know 00:08:14.339 --> 00:08:18.420 those things. The scriptures, we are getting 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:21.120 ready to partake of the communion, the Bible 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.199 says not to do it in an unworthy manner. And 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:27.180 I think what he's saying there is that the scripture, 00:08:27.300 --> 00:08:33.200 when you partake of the cup and the bread, the 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.940 piece of bread, it is a symbol of partaking of 00:08:36.940 --> 00:08:40.370 Christ. We're not really eating his body, we're 00:08:40.370 --> 00:08:43.389 not really drinking his blood, but we are participating 00:08:43.389 --> 00:08:47.690 with him. And that's a good description of salvation, 00:08:48.009 --> 00:08:51.169 that when we come to the Lord, we really surrender 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:53.389 to him. That's what he demands, that's what he 00:08:53.389 --> 00:08:56.429 says. If you want to be my disciple, you have 00:08:56.429 --> 00:09:00.429 to deny yourself, deny yourself, and take up 00:09:00.429 --> 00:09:03.870 your cross, which is the emblem of execution. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:07.019 means that you come to deny yourself and die 00:09:07.019 --> 00:09:11.360 to yourself and follow me. That following is 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:14.879 not as easy as it sounds because there's a lot 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:18.200 of places that I may want to go that he will 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:21.700 not lead me there. He's the one that has to make 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:25.399 the choice. It's a struggle. for the rest of 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:28.279 our life, but it's a good struggle and it teaches 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:32.379 us dependence on him and prayer on him and Reliance 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:34.779 on his word that we can know which way to go 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:38.259 have a light to the path and direction so we're 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:41.700 here tonight to partake of those elements and 00:09:41.700 --> 00:09:47.500 to Recognize in that that Christ died for us 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:50.340 and that we are participating With him in this 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:52.740 and this is why we gather together in the scriptures 00:09:54.769 --> 00:09:57.570 Mealtime was a time of real fellowship, real 00:09:57.570 --> 00:10:01.269 communion. I can remember, Warner used to tell 00:10:01.269 --> 00:10:04.049 me all kinds of stories about when they would, 00:10:04.629 --> 00:10:07.990 the family would gather around and one of the 00:10:07.990 --> 00:10:10.029 things I often remember, Debbie knows what I'm 00:10:10.029 --> 00:10:13.029 going to say, that when they finished praying, 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:15.070 the Warner would turn to Debbie and say, now 00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:16.970 Debbie, you be quiet and let the rest of them 00:10:16.970 --> 00:10:21.210 talk. But it is a good time of fellowship. It 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:24.539 is a good time of communion. And it is a time 00:10:24.539 --> 00:10:27.419 that we can relax and enjoy the food and enjoy 00:10:27.419 --> 00:10:29.940 the fellowship with each other. And that's what 00:10:29.940 --> 00:10:32.240 this is. This is a time in which God's family, 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:36.539 God's people gather together. We're not trying 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:41.820 to present a certain kind of decorum or proper 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:45.259 activity or whatever clothing or whatever it 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:49.970 is. We're here as God's people. together in fellowship 00:10:49.970 --> 00:10:52.750 the word that we use is communion. We commune 00:10:52.750 --> 00:10:55.190 with each other and with him and it's a good 00:10:55.190 --> 00:10:58.029 time. And so we're here to do that and he is 00:10:58.029 --> 00:11:01.809 the host and we have been invited and we come 00:11:01.809 --> 00:11:05.330 in obedience to him. I'm going to open in prayer, 00:11:05.490 --> 00:11:07.769 but I'm not going to close the prayer. I'm going 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:10.570 to pray and everybody that wants to pray or to 00:11:10.570 --> 00:11:16.250 be involved in that can and then after it and 00:11:16.250 --> 00:11:19.080 sometimes it's It doesn't take long, but after 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:22.860 we had a chance to pray, Larry, do you mind closing 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:29.940 that time in prayer? Let's pray. Lord, we have 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:32.460 all these illustrations in scripture that you've 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:39.399 given to us, like the vine and the branches, 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:44.210 which is a very clear way of illustrating of 00:11:44.210 --> 00:11:49.769 our need of dependence on you and the desire 00:11:49.769 --> 00:11:52.769 that we have to be pleasing to you. And then 00:11:52.769 --> 00:11:56.950 we have this illustration of communion, the bread 00:11:56.950 --> 00:12:02.269 and the drink, the wine that illustrates in a 00:12:02.269 --> 00:12:06.169 very graphic way our partaking of you. Lord, 00:12:06.250 --> 00:12:10.629 we are really thankful to you that you went to 00:12:10.629 --> 00:12:14.490 the cross Not only did you go to the cross for 00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:18.429 us, but you willingly went. Not only did you 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:22.669 willingly go, but you planned to go and it was 00:12:22.669 --> 00:12:25.850 your provision from the beginning for your people. 00:12:25.870 --> 00:12:27.529 Those that you have called. We were looking this 00:12:27.529 --> 00:12:30.730 morning at Sunday School of the fact that you 00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:33.649 have called and we are considered yours even 00:12:33.649 --> 00:12:38.990 to the point before salvation. That is a powerful, 00:12:38.990 --> 00:12:43.779 powerful illustration. that you love us and you've 00:12:43.779 --> 00:12:48.419 gone way out of maybe sacrilegiously way out 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:52.379 of your way to get our attention and to bring 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:56.740 us to yourself and to provide for our forgiveness 00:12:56.740 --> 00:13:00.460 and provide in your mercy the things that we 00:13:00.460 --> 00:13:04.200 need and I just thank you for that and now tonight 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:07.860 as we are gathered around these elements They 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:11.740 speak of you and remind us of you and we are 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:15.320 very thankful for that and we are very thankful 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.600 to you and so we come to thank you Lord Jesus 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:22.159 for your sacrifice on our behalf. Thank you for 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:24.779 your goodness to us. Thank you for the fellowship 00:13:24.779 --> 00:13:28.019 and the family together. Ask your blessing upon 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:31.519 it and thank you for this day that we had a chance 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.700 to your people to meet together.