WEBVTT 00:00:01.580 --> 00:00:03.839 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.740 Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.199 and from the Holy Spirit. Amen. I've got to say, 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:14.140 I've never had a chance to do this, to share 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:17.899 what I know to be my last message in a church. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.140 On my first call, I was an associate pastor. 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.519 I didn't preach that often. And then leaving 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:24.239 Florida, it was in the middle of the pandemic, 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:26.859 so we'd already pre -recorded most of our online 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:32.609 services. So this is unique. And over the past 00:00:32.609 --> 00:00:35.289 week, I have spent a lot of time thinking about 00:00:35.289 --> 00:00:37.750 what to say, thinking about the pastors that 00:00:37.750 --> 00:00:40.770 have been influences in my life and how they 00:00:40.770 --> 00:00:43.170 have impacted me. And I think back, I've shared 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:46.329 before that I didn't really start regularly attending 00:00:46.329 --> 00:00:48.549 church until I was basically early in high school. 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:51.689 And I started going to a fairly large traditional 00:00:51.689 --> 00:00:53.969 style church with an organ and liturgy in the 00:00:53.969 --> 00:00:56.890 whole nine yards. They had a pretty sizable pastoral 00:00:56.890 --> 00:00:59.340 staff. And it's interesting because each of their 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:01.840 pastors were kind of unique and had a unique 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.599 impact and legacy on me. There was Pastor Arp, 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:06.840 who was the head pastor, the lead pastor, the 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:09.859 senior pastor, and he embodied everything about 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:12.879 being a senior pastor. He had that gravitas of 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:14.319 leadership, you know, where you kind of talk 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:17.099 to him when you quaked a little bit. There was 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:20.180 Pastor Rosso, who was the pastor emeritus. He 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:22.680 was eclectic. I don't know that he ever brushed 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.599 his hair. He was really cool, very like a genius 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.689 guy, right? A Pastor Roberts who was the family 00:01:28.689 --> 00:01:31.569 man. He had a bunch of little kids. He was the 00:01:31.569 --> 00:01:34.129 academic. He would teach a Bible study and you'd 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:36.129 leave thinking, I need a Bible study on the Bible 00:01:36.129 --> 00:01:38.329 study. Like that was the deepest stuff I've ever 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:40.750 heard. There was Pastor Schusky who was the young 00:01:40.750 --> 00:01:43.349 guy who he was obsessed with stand -up comedy. 00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:46.810 His sermons would always involve some like elaborate 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:50.230 dramatic story that really stuck with you. Then 00:01:50.230 --> 00:01:52.230 there were vicars. They were pastoral interns 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:55.170 as well. One that I remember in particular. His 00:01:55.170 --> 00:01:58.790 name was Vicker Tige Culberson. He actually taught 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:01.670 my confirmation classes. He stands out because, 00:02:01.709 --> 00:02:04.189 as I said, traditional church, typically, not 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:06.609 typically, always, they all wore clerical colors. 00:02:06.730 --> 00:02:08.590 So, you know, the black shirt, white tab, right? 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:10.650 I mean, no matter what time of day you saw them, 00:02:10.650 --> 00:02:14.189 that's what they're wearing. except my family 00:02:14.189 --> 00:02:17.430 one Sunday went to Chili's right by the church, 00:02:17.490 --> 00:02:19.110 and we're sitting there, and who walks by our 00:02:19.110 --> 00:02:22.150 table but Vicar Tige Culberson, and he's wearing 00:02:22.150 --> 00:02:25.849 the loudest, most garish tie -dye t -shirt you've 00:02:25.849 --> 00:02:27.370 ever, he looked like a roadie for the Grateful 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:30.530 Dead, and I was like, oh, I like that, okay, 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:34.710 okay. And then lastly was Vicar Scott Abel, who 00:02:34.710 --> 00:02:36.960 became Pastor Scott Abel, was actually... called 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.039 to that church for a period of time to do a church 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:41.780 plant. And he really helped to form. He actually 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:44.620 ended up presiding over my wedding as well. So 00:02:44.620 --> 00:02:48.639 I look back at all these pastors and vicars and 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:51.659 pastoral figures, and I realize how each of them 00:02:51.659 --> 00:02:55.699 impacted me and built me. And it wasn't any one 00:02:55.699 --> 00:02:57.620 of them. It wasn't their personality or anything. 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:00.719 It was them together. And I realized the significance 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:04.379 of the pastoral office. and how it's not about 00:03:04.379 --> 00:03:06.919 the person who stands here, but instead how God 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:08.819 is speaking through that person. So then I got 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:11.520 to thinking, okay, what's my legacy? You know, 00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:14.500 what is the one little sentence quip that somebody 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:17.240 will say about me as they're reflecting back? 00:03:18.139 --> 00:03:20.419 And as I was looking in our readings today, I 00:03:20.419 --> 00:03:22.879 realized there was an epiphany, if you will, 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:26.240 and I realized kind of at least what I have been 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:28.639 going for, and I'll share that in just a minute. 00:03:28.659 --> 00:03:32.400 But first, let's go to God and pray. Lord God, 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:37.050 have me, Father. Lord, thank you for today, for 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:41.430 bringing us together here now. Lord, I thank 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:43.930 you for this church, for the people here in this 00:03:43.930 --> 00:03:46.430 room that were able to worship together for what 00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:49.789 they have meant to me and my life. Lord, I thank 00:03:49.789 --> 00:03:53.590 you for the chance to share this message. It 00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:56.330 is your message. I pray that every single week 00:03:56.330 --> 00:04:00.879 move me out of the way. It's not about me. Lord, 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:04.379 but it is about you. And I submit myself to you 00:04:04.379 --> 00:04:06.580 and your Holy Spirit, and I pray that we would 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:09.020 all be bold enough and courageous enough to do 00:04:09.020 --> 00:04:10.960 that as well. We would submit ourselves to your 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:14.099 Holy Spirit that would speak now. In your name 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:19.600 we pray, amen. To illustrate this epiphany, I'm 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:24.579 gonna share a story. I recall being at a seminary. 00:04:24.750 --> 00:04:27.389 and St. Louis, Missouri. It was January, just 00:04:27.389 --> 00:04:29.709 coming back from Christmas break. It was that 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:33.889 lovely gray slush that the Midwest gets in the 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:36.370 middle of January, right? And I was all bundled 00:04:36.370 --> 00:04:39.670 up. I don't mind the cold. The issue is St. Louis 00:04:39.670 --> 00:04:41.990 Seminary, Concordia Seminary is pretty old. The 00:04:41.990 --> 00:04:44.430 buildings are pretty old. And frequently when 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:46.730 it was cold outside, boy, they would get that 00:04:46.730 --> 00:04:49.689 furnace cranked up. and those radiators would 00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:52.550 just be screaming. You'd go in that room. I remember 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:54.550 this particular day, I walked in, I was all bundled 00:04:54.550 --> 00:04:57.410 up and like instantly started sweating, you know, 00:04:57.410 --> 00:04:58.730 and you get like a headache, you're like, this 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:01.509 is not good. So I actually, for class that day, 00:05:01.589 --> 00:05:03.810 sat over by the window and I opened the window. 00:05:03.870 --> 00:05:05.850 Everybody thought I was crazy. I opened the window 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:08.129 and kind of laying some cool air in it. And that 00:05:08.129 --> 00:05:09.470 was the only way to kind of make it through the 00:05:09.470 --> 00:05:12.290 class. It was a systematics class, which means 00:05:12.290 --> 00:05:14.589 it was really like the heady deep theology stuff. 00:05:15.069 --> 00:05:18.660 And the professor was teaching on the different 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:21.439 natures of Christ, of Jesus, right? We believe 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:25.519 that Jesus is fully God and fully man. And because 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.420 of those kind of opposing views, fully God and 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:30.980 fully man coexisting, there have been a number 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:33.680 of heresies that have popped up as a pendulum 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:35.740 swings one way or the other. He was talking about 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:39.790 the Eutychian heresy. which is the idea that 00:05:39.790 --> 00:05:41.910 Jesus is fully God and fully man and those things 00:05:41.910 --> 00:05:44.970 become so combined that they essentially make 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:48.089 a third new nature, right? It's almost like if 00:05:48.089 --> 00:05:50.370 you took Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper and mixed 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:53.029 them together, right? You're gonna make a new 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:55.069 thing. You can't be like, you know, I taste notes 00:05:55.069 --> 00:05:57.889 of Dr. Pepper. Now it's just gross, right? It's 00:05:57.889 --> 00:06:00.750 no longer Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew. It's something 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:03.540 combined. And that's the Eutychian heresy. And 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:06.019 then he talked about the Nestorian heresy, which 00:06:06.019 --> 00:06:09.019 is the idea that he is fully God and fully man 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:11.079 and the two don't intermingle at all, they just 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.439 kind of coexist. Imagine that you took the woods 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.459 from two different trees and you just kind of 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:17.079 glued them together, like you had redwood and 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:19.459 you had pine and you glued them together and 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.279 those two things are both there, but they're 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:24.480 totally separate, right? And he's teaching this 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:27.160 stuff. I'm doing my best to stay awake and pay 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.649 attention and all this. As one with ADHD tends 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:34.990 to do, I started looking out the window. And 00:06:34.990 --> 00:06:37.290 as I'm looking out there, and he's teaching on 00:06:37.290 --> 00:06:38.810 the Uticans and the Nestorians and all of this, 00:06:39.170 --> 00:06:43.110 I see this young mother walking by in the snow, 00:06:43.149 --> 00:06:46.610 in the slush, really. And she probably was one 00:06:46.610 --> 00:06:47.990 of the wives of one of my classmates. I didn't 00:06:47.990 --> 00:06:49.769 know her though. She had three kids with her. 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:51.829 One, she was pushing the stroller, kind of struggling 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:55.189 along through this slush. She had another kid 00:06:55.189 --> 00:06:57.310 that was just... just bawling, just crying, walking 00:06:57.310 --> 00:06:59.470 along, holding onto her jacket, kind of tugging. 00:06:59.490 --> 00:07:01.569 And then the third one was like 15 feet ahead 00:07:01.569 --> 00:07:04.209 and like bounding along, trying to make snowballs. 00:07:04.389 --> 00:07:07.209 And you could just tell she was at her wit's 00:07:07.209 --> 00:07:09.589 end. Mothers, you've never been there, right? 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:12.089 That's no completely foreign to you in terms 00:07:12.089 --> 00:07:15.449 of concept. But as I'm watching her and I'm hearing 00:07:15.449 --> 00:07:19.449 this class, I'm thinking, this doesn't help her. 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:22.500 Like, this is good to know. This topic is, okay, 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:25.060 sure, this is interesting, but it's not gonna 00:07:25.060 --> 00:07:27.879 help her deal with her day. It doesn't matter 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.899 to her. We're so caught up in the weeds and these 00:07:30.899 --> 00:07:35.420 details. And so from that point on, I told myself 00:07:35.420 --> 00:07:37.639 that no matter what I taught on, no matter what 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:40.980 I preached, I would make it as simple as possible. 00:07:41.860 --> 00:07:43.579 It needs to be approachable. It needs to be relatable. 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:45.980 It needs to be able to hit people where they 00:07:45.980 --> 00:07:49.959 are, right? And as I was looking at our readings, 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:52.759 that's what really came out, that this is what 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:56.839 I have been striving for my entire career. See, 00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:58.839 in our Romans reading, which we heard just a 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:02.360 moment ago. Paul, the apostle Paul, who is the 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:05.040 guy who wrote the letters that serves as the 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.860 foundation for all of these minute little theological 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:10.000 differences, right? Like as a seminarian, I had 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.060 to sit there and look at Paul writings and dissect 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:16.300 and parse and figure out what he was trying to 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:19.399 say because it's so complex. And yet, in our 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:24.180 reading today, We see Paul, who has a background 00:08:24.180 --> 00:08:27.699 as this really religious, educated person, this 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:30.779 Israelite who is so proud of his knowledge, we 00:08:30.779 --> 00:08:35.580 see him say, all of the commandments boil down 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:41.100 to love your neighbor as yourself. The Ten Commandments, 00:08:42.059 --> 00:08:45.799 the 613 Mitzvot commandments that he probably 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:49.039 held to, all these different rules that the scribes 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:53.909 had built up. He says it all boils down to love. 00:08:54.230 --> 00:09:00.009 Jesus said the same thing. That's such a simple 00:09:00.009 --> 00:09:04.750 message. In our gospel reading, Matthew 18, that 00:09:04.750 --> 00:09:06.929 actually isn't the entire assigned reading. I 00:09:06.929 --> 00:09:09.730 cut it down for brevity, because the opening, 00:09:09.889 --> 00:09:11.870 I wanna share though, the beginning of Matthew 00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:16.049 18, we see Jesus, right? They had just had this 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:18.789 big discussion about taxes and who gets what 00:09:18.789 --> 00:09:21.289 tax and how do they get and all that stuff. And 00:09:21.289 --> 00:09:24.210 it says that the disciples asked Jesus, who is 00:09:24.210 --> 00:09:27.309 the greatest in heaven? Right? They're getting 00:09:27.309 --> 00:09:29.190 into the week. They're going, okay, who's the 00:09:29.190 --> 00:09:32.830 greatest? Who's the most important here? And 00:09:32.830 --> 00:09:34.950 they're probably expecting, maybe they're expecting 00:09:34.950 --> 00:09:37.570 an answer like the St. Hedron. These are the 00:09:37.570 --> 00:09:39.529 respected religious leaders. These are the guys 00:09:39.529 --> 00:09:41.929 that are in charge that society says they're 00:09:41.929 --> 00:09:44.049 important. Maybe because they're the disciples, 00:09:44.129 --> 00:09:47.309 they're hoping that Jesus says one of them, right? 00:09:47.309 --> 00:09:49.789 Because that's how the disciples are, right? 00:09:49.889 --> 00:09:53.210 Maybe that's what they're hoping for. Instead, 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:57.250 what Jesus does is he reaches into the crowd 00:09:57.250 --> 00:10:03.070 and pulls out a child. And he said, these. These 00:10:03.070 --> 00:10:06.980 are the greatest in heaven. Now you could interpret 00:10:06.980 --> 00:10:09.700 that as he's talking about the next generation, 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:12.320 the continuation of the church. And there's probably 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:14.480 something to that, you know, recognizing that 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:18.200 by pouring into the young ones that the church 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:21.019 has sustained the belief. But then he goes on 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:23.460 to say, if you don't have faith like a child, 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:25.080 you will not be able to enter heaven. And like 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:27.080 that's a bold statement. We heard that during 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:30.059 the baptism. That's something that would have 00:10:30.059 --> 00:10:32.059 caught their attention. What does he mean by 00:10:32.059 --> 00:10:37.200 that? Well, I think it means... Just simple faith, 00:10:38.139 --> 00:10:42.620 right? The simple faith of a child. I want to 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:44.500 make something clear though. When I say simple 00:10:44.500 --> 00:10:50.059 faith, I don't mean stupid faith, right? Because 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:52.039 if you've ever been like around a five -year 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.899 -old or so, you know that the worst question 00:10:54.899 --> 00:10:59.200 that they can ask is three letters, why? Yeah, 00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:01.639 some of you know what I'm talking about. Mom, 00:11:02.019 --> 00:11:09.210 why is there wind? Ah, because the, and then 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:12.090 that, I don't know, ask your dad, right? Like 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:18.580 that's, mom, why do magnets work, right? If anybody 00:11:18.580 --> 00:11:21.240 can tell me how magnets work, that would be... 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:24.480 I'm 37 years old with a master's degree. I genuinely 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.519 don't know how magnets work. It's a mystery to 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.860 me. I think that it's God at work. But they ask 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:31.139 these questions. Why? Because kids are curious, 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:34.399 right? So the faith isn't just based on being 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:38.600 blindly accepting. There's still some curiosity. 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:42.159 There's still room for questions and even doubts. 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:44.820 No, the simple faith of a child is saying, you 00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:47.860 know, I don't really understand it. but I trust 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:50.960 that it's true. I don't really understand why 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:52.620 the sky is blue, but I trust that it's true. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.460 I don't really understand why wind is the way 00:11:55.460 --> 00:11:58.500 that it is, but I trust that it's true. We see 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:02.679 this when Jesus appears to Thomas, right? Thomas 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.879 who said, until I see the nail marks, I won't 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:08.740 believe. And so he has evidence, he has scientific 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:11.340 proof of the crucifixion, of the resurrection. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.200 And Jesus says, blessed are you because you believe 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:16.919 and have seen, but even more blessed are those 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:19.759 who have not seen and yet still believe. It's 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:26.019 a very simple faith. It is trust. I also want 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:32.629 to make it clear, simple doesn't mean easy. Because 00:12:32.629 --> 00:12:36.070 to have that level of faith, to trust in something 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:41.169 that you don't believe is not easy. To say, God, 00:12:41.169 --> 00:12:43.210 I know that you are calling me to do this thing 00:12:43.210 --> 00:12:45.990 and now I'm going to go and do it is not easy. 00:12:46.129 --> 00:12:48.250 God, I see that you are putting me into this 00:12:48.250 --> 00:12:51.070 situation to have this conversation, to share 00:12:51.070 --> 00:12:53.690 my faith with this person. I see that you are 00:12:53.690 --> 00:12:57.990 putting me in this spot. To have that faith is 00:12:57.990 --> 00:13:05.139 not easy. And yet, It can be so simple. See, 00:13:05.139 --> 00:13:08.139 so often we get into the minutia to try and find 00:13:08.139 --> 00:13:10.860 a loophole, to try and find an excuse, to try 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:13.019 and find a reason that, well, I don't need to 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:15.580 do that. Somebody else will take care of it. 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:18.139 Is that really what God said? Oh, that's the 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:21.159 line of Satan in Genesis chapter 3, right? Is 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:23.419 that really what God said when you start to parse 00:13:23.419 --> 00:13:25.879 these things out? But instead, we find that we 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:33.279 have simplicity. So what is it to have simple 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:38.299 faith in this simple God? It's trusting that 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:43.159 God is with us. It's trusting that God cares 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:48.320 for us. It's recognizing that our God Himself 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:52.580 knows what it means to be simple. See, in our 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:55.720 actual reading, it talked about how the 99 sheep 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:58.649 and the 1. Right? If a shepherd has a hundred 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:02.029 sheep and one leaves, it says that he leaves 00:14:02.029 --> 00:14:04.509 the what? The mountains to go and pursue that 00:14:04.509 --> 00:14:07.190 one sheep. That seems okay, leaves the mountains. 00:14:08.210 --> 00:14:13.690 This is Matthew 18. Matthew 17 is the transfiguration. 00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:18.029 Matthew 17 is when Jesus goes up a mountain and 00:14:18.029 --> 00:14:21.070 reveals himself in all glory and is in this moment 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:24.509 where he is free of the bonds of this world. 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:28.559 The mountaintop represents God's paradise. The 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:31.080 mountaintop represents being in the divine space. 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:34.279 And yet, it says that He will leave that mountaintop 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:37.059 to pursue the One. We have a God who is willing 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:40.559 to enter into our simple world and become simple 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:44.220 Himself. Rely upon a young, first -time, newlywed 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:47.620 mother to take care of Him, the God of all grace 00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:55.779 and mercy. Because He loves you. even his love 00:14:55.779 --> 00:14:59.259 for you is simple. It's not conditional. It's 00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:01.659 not okay. Here's the contract. If you uphold 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:04.220 all of these terms, then I will love you. If 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:07.139 you do this and abide by that, and you keep this 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:09.299 mindset, and you dress this way, and you talk 00:15:09.299 --> 00:15:11.039 this way, and you act this way, and you vote 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.399 this way, and you be this way, then I will love 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:18.940 you. No, his love for you is simple. He loves 00:15:18.940 --> 00:15:23.830 you because he loves you. No matter what you 00:15:23.830 --> 00:15:25.789 have done, no matter what you have been, no matter 00:15:25.789 --> 00:15:29.830 what is part of your story, God loves you. Let 00:15:29.830 --> 00:15:37.129 that be part of your story. See, we have a God 00:15:37.129 --> 00:15:42.470 who knows simple. Yes, there's opportunity and 00:15:42.470 --> 00:15:45.210 space for curiosity and to learn more and to 00:15:45.210 --> 00:15:47.470 experience more and encounter more. But at the 00:15:47.470 --> 00:15:50.509 end of the day, what saves us is our faith, not 00:15:50.509 --> 00:15:53.279 our knowledge. not how good we are in Bible study, 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.980 not how good of a prayer we are, or how good 00:15:55.980 --> 00:15:58.559 of a pastor we are, or how bad of a pastor we 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.419 are, or anything like that. What saves us is 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:08.840 our faith and our faith alone. I have been blessed 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:14.220 by that simplicity in my life to be able to recognize 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:19.230 the sacraments that God uses the simple. God 00:16:19.230 --> 00:16:22.850 uses simple bread and wine to do something amazing. 00:16:22.909 --> 00:16:27.110 God uses just ordinary, simple water to do something 00:16:27.110 --> 00:16:31.509 incredible. God uses simple people, simple conditions, 00:16:31.769 --> 00:16:34.929 simple stories. You don't need to be an ancestor 00:16:34.929 --> 00:16:39.029 of this or derived from that or whatever. God 00:16:39.029 --> 00:16:43.929 can use you. My friends, my brothers and sisters 00:16:43.929 --> 00:16:46.929 in Christ, you, this church, has been such a 00:16:46.929 --> 00:16:52.799 tremendous blessing. to me and my family. And 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.460 I know that you will be an incredible blessing 00:16:55.460 --> 00:17:00.799 to so many others in this community. You may 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.080 look at yourself and say, I don't know, we're 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.680 not the big fancy church, we're not Second Baptist, 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:07.880 we're not Joel Osteen's church, we're not all 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:12.079 these things. God blesses through you. You have 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.519 blessed me. And I know that God will continue 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.099 to work in you. There are incredible, exciting, 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:23.799 momentous things happening in this place. Listen 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:28.880 for God. Trust in His simple faith. It may not 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:32.319 always make sense. It may be frustrating at times, 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:38.539 but we simply believe. May you, the individual, 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:46.289 know that you are loved. so much. It's not conditional, 00:17:46.930 --> 00:17:51.250 it's not contractual, it is God's simple love 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:54.589 because He knows you and you are His beloved 00:17:54.589 --> 00:18:00.809 child. My prayer is that we can cling on to that 00:18:00.809 --> 00:18:04.009 simplicity, that we can let that faith drive 00:18:04.009 --> 00:18:07.549 us, that we can trust in our God as we take bold 00:18:07.549 --> 00:18:13.359 steps forward for the church. God loves you. 00:18:13.579 --> 00:18:16.640 He is with you no matter what. Amen.