Comfort from the King (transcript)

com. Good to see so many of you squeezed into this cozy, intimate space this morning. If you are brand new to Tribe, welcome. You’re gonna make a new best friend by just relation of proximity this morning. And so I’m glad that all of you are here.

Thank you so much for joining us on this unusual weather day here in Jackson. It’s kind of a nice it’s kind of a nice reprieve. Let’s all it’s predictable there’ll be no one at the eleven eighty seven. Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe you just all showed up here. I see what you’re doing. I see what you’re doing. The cold weather, come to the 9AM service. Go to String Lake by eleven.

And with all the cold weather, you’ll have like a beachfront spot all to yourself. You may need your down jacket, but I like I like what you’re doing. So this morning is interesting for me, I think for Lissa. For those of you who call tribe home, it feels a little bit different. I’m not exactly sure what the root cause of things feeling a little bit different in here this morning is.

My name is Brian. I’m the lead pastor here at Tribe. Part of my job is to stand up in the crow’s nest, if you will, of the ship. I’m looking out ahead, but I’m also looking down at the deck below and keeping an eye on things. And the way that I keep an eye on things is by trying the very best that I can to be spiritually sensitive to the atmosphere of what’s happening in the service, to be spiritually sensitive to what’s happening in the hearts and lives of our tribe fam, to be spiritually sensitive of what’s happening in our community, and the world in which we live.

Same time, hold intention my own thoughts, emotions, opinions, and, internal and external forces that are influencing me. I don’t know if you’re, like, following what I’m saying, but there’s there’s a lot that I try to there’s a lot of gauges on my panel here this morning that that I’m constantly looking at and trying to get an accurate read on what is it, holy spirit, that you are doing? What is it, Holy Spirit, that you would be saying for us this morning? Many times, as I do that, days, sometimes even weeks in advance, I know the direction. So from all of those gauges and things I’m mixing my metaphors between gauges and sailing a ship, but welcome to tribe.

From those gauges that I read, I plot a course ahead from what I feel like I hear the Lord saying, leading and guiding and directing. Right? Sometimes that’s weeks ahead, months ahead. Most of the time it is days ahead so that I can, like, chart and a course that to the best of my ability. Today is, a little bit today is one of those days where we have to, like, do some site navigation.

Like, I mean, these are my notes. That’s as far as I got. And then some stuff scribbled in pencil. But the conversation that we’re gonna have today is called Comfort from the King. So if you’re taking notes this morning, you can write at the top of your notes, Comfort from the King.

And I see a lot of new faces here in the TMC this morning. I see a lot of faces that I haven’t seen in a while, and I’m so glad to see your face. You’ve gotten more handsome than the last time I’ve seen you. Well, I mean, Brian Brian goes without saying. One of the distinctives about us at TRIBE is we take our faith but not ourselves seriously.

Can the word of God be taken seriously and we not take ourselves seriously? I think maybe we’ve, like, led the church has been led into many a ditch by confusing the person up here. The more serious that they are, the more righteous they would appear. And there is this, unspoken conveyance that the more holy they are, the more serious they take themselves. And all you need to do is spend two minutes with me outside, and even sitting here in this chair, Or on our job site.

Or on our job site. To know that I’m just me. And I take that core value cue from the Beastie Boys. The Beastie Boys did not take themselves seriously, dressed in costumes, made the weirdest music videos back when people were making music videos, but they took their music very seriously. Can we not be the same?

Jesus himself, he didn’t care what people thought of him. They tried to put all kinds of labels and names on him, and he’s like, meh. This doesn’t stick. I’m gonna be who I’m gonna be. He took his mission very seriously.

So here at Tribe, there’s a lot of new things that you are already experiencing. The venue being one of them. More like a living room than it is we don’t have pews. We don’t pass buckets for offering. Although, we will do communion this morning.

We take our faith very seriously, but not ourselves. And one other distinctive that if you haven’t been introduced to it yet, you will see it as the service goes on this morning, that we have a conversational format instead of just a monologue from me. I want this to be a dialogue that we together engage in. So what that means is if you have a question, comment, or a connection, we’re talking about something that reminds you of maybe another passage that you’ve been reading or something comes bubbling up and you’d like to make a contribution to our conversation, we would love to hear from you. Ella, part of our team has a mic and we could hear your voice without the mic.

But for all of our families that are watching the live stream, if they’re traveling or they’re out of town, they get to participate in the service today by hearing your contribution. So if you have something that you would like to contribute, even if for those of you listening to the contributions, if somebody’s gonna say something weird, I just step in and be like, nope. Why not? So so some people get nervous by like, oh no, like only this person is qualified to speak. Like, come on.

Come on. Come on. So I want to hear from you. So you’ll have an opportunity to have the to make a contribution. Just raise your hand.

We’ll give you the mic. And then you can share your contribution. And for those of you that are like, that makes me feel nervous. Don’t worry. It’s me.

I am in control of this environment, and I will not allow for anything to get off the rails. Now we may take some rabbit trails, but then I’ll just guide us right back on the path. Right? So this is a safe environment for you to hear other people’s contributions. And this is a safe environment for you to be like, I think maybe I have something to offer.

Like, just try it. Okay? So with with that in mind, we’re gonna dive into this morning’s conversation. And I feel as though that in The United States and around the world, there is a growing uneasiness as events continue to develop around the world. And where is all of this headed?

If you noticed in the news yesterday and this morning, The United States launched a b two bomber mission, into the country of Iran, eliminating their nuclear capability. And it’s the first time that The United States has, not in a defensive, but in a offensive move conducted operations in Iran, and it is a really big deal. Now depending on where you get your news from, it is slanted left, right, or wonky ways. Let’s just say that left and right slanted news are both wonky. Right?

And so and so one of the things that is coming out of, not from the news, but from direct sources, is that hundreds of thousands of people living in the country of Iran, while they are nervous about bombs being dropped from overhead, are have a growing excitement and anticipation about the liberation of their country from a forty year, forty plus year oppressive religious regime. And so the days ahead for Iran, if America can keep its hands out of regime change and and imposing our Western values on the creation of a new country. We can do this right, which historically we haven’t done a great job of that. But there is great potential and excitement growing in the hearts of many Iranians. And did you know this?

The fastest growing church in the world is not in Lakewood, Texas. It’s not in Houston, Texas. It’s not in Mobile, Alabama. It’s not in the underground church in China. It’s the church in Iran.

The church in Iran is the fastest growing community of Jesus followers in the world. And guess who is leading that church planting movement? Always a safe answer. Jesus. And and and whom has he chosen to partner with as his delegated local church authority in Iran?

Women. Women. Yeah. Yeah. Sarah.

Sarah, stand up for just a second. Alright. So this is Sarah. She is a woman. She’s a young woman.

I have a definition. She’s a young woman, and she is, she embodies what leadership in the underground church in Iran looks like. By contrast stay standing. By contrast, Clay, would you stand up, please? Tall, strapping, got a shock of of of gray hair, the wisdom emanating from him.

Oh, blonde. Here here in The United States and for many places around the world, this is what we would think of that embodies spiritual authority, wisdom, a man, a father. Bible says, God does not look at the outward appearance, but he looks at the heart. And there are millions of hearts in the country of Iran right now that look just like this. And so you can both sit down.

You just might not be able to be a pastor in Iran. But maybe. Jonathan, were you gonna say something? This is still a part of the preamble. And he has a blonde long hair.

Ah, Jean Boy. The a nameless, faceless generation that don’t have a pedigree or or, almost said pedicure. That don’t have a pedigree are stepping in to as the as the cry goes out around the world, who will go for me? A nameless, faceless generation stands up and says, here I am, Lord. Send me.

And so while bombs are being dropped overhead the country of Iran, The left and the right, neither side is reporting about the the the real kinetic things that are happening are not coming from munitions exploding, but from hearts coming alive all across the country of Iran. And so today, we’re going to talk about this idea of comfort from the king. And we’re going to read a passage from Luke chapter 21 that perhaps you have read the as you have read it or maybe even heard it preached from. It has been used to Who knows how other denominations, seasons, preachers have used this passage. You may read this passage upon an initial reading and be like, ah, this makes me a little bit nervous.

The intention from the Lord, the intention from the Lord is for your hearts to be comforted by reading these words. And so we’re going to be reading Luke chapter 21 verse turns to read, but this morning, I thought I would go ahead and read all of it. Alright? So, follow a law in your bible’s. Has that page loaded yet for you, Luke chapter 21?

I’m going to begin reading. That was music to my ears. Luke chapter 21, verse one. While Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 small coins.

I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this poor widow has given more than all of the rest of them, for they’ve given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. They’ve given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. Then verse five, we pick up the real, the real meat and the heart of what we’re going to talk about today. Some of his disciples began talking about the majestic stonework of the temple and the memorial decorations on the walls. But Jesus said, the time is coming when all of these things will be completely demolished.

Not one stone will be left on top of another. Teacher, they asked, when will all of this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to take place? Verse eight, Jesus replied, don’t let anyone mislead you for many will come in my name claiming that I am the Messiah in saying the time has come. Quick footnote on verse eight.

Don’t let anyone mislead you for a time for many will come in my name claiming it says here in quotes, I am the Messiah. When you look at that particular passage from, not only Luke, but also Mark and Matthew. You will you can see that Jesus is saying one of two things, and they are are are very similar. Philosophies, many products, many world views, many teachers that don’t even, claim to be religious, will say, oh, I have found the way to salvation. Here, this product, or this belief system, or this worldview.

So when you allow the aperture of your mind to open up just a little bit, we are not taking the text beyond what it is intended. God forbid. But it is it’s easier to connect because when we read that passage from a superficial elementary perspective, and if you’re starting at an elementary level, yay, great, we all had to start in elementary school. And some of us got to spend a little more time in elementary school than others. Fourth grade was so nice.

My mom made me do it twice. But when we just we’re just we read that and we’re looking around the world. Who’s claiming to be the Messiah? Who’s claiming to be the Messiah? And we see, like, you know, guys making YouTube videos out of the back room of their double wide trailer, like, okay.

We’re like but when our aperture opens a little bit more to hear the voices of of podcast hosts that have the single most by far popular podcast and reaches the most amount of people in the history of the world. And he’s saying things like, Oh, yeah. You got to do DMT trips because it opens your mind. It relieves PTSD syndrome. And you get this knowledge and enlightenment as a way of salvation.

That is a false messiah. That is a false messiah. Okay. Okay. And then we’re gonna keep reading.

My Bible has a footnote that brings you to Ephesians five six, which just says, let no one deceive you with empty words, which backs up exactly. Empty words. Great. Thank you. Verse nine.

When you hear of wars and insurrections, what’s the next line? Don’t panic. Yes. These things must first take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great and miraculous signs from heaven. But before all of this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons. You will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.

Thank you. So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you. For I will give you the right words in such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you. Even those closest to you, your parents, your brothers, relatives, and friends, denominations, will betray you. They will even kill some of you.

And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. Raise your hand if you’re feeling really comforted by these words right now. This may seem a little bit of an oxymoron, but we’re gonna we’re gonna make some connections and tie some weave together some threads to make a beautiful tapestry. We first have to look at the backside of the tapestry, and then we flip it over at the end and be like, oh, oh. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers.

I’m feeling so comforted. But not a hair left on your head will perish. By standing firm, You will win your souls. And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. Imagine, listening to Jesus’s words as a disciple in that moment.

Then Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out. And those out in the country’s side should not return to the city. For those will be the days of great vengeance, and the prophetic words of the scriptures will be fulfilled. What prophetic words of the scriptures?

Zechariah chapter 14, make that as a side note. Go back and read it later. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. King. They will be killed by the sword and sent away as captives to all the nations of the world.

And Jerusalem will be trampled down by Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end. There will be strange signs in the sun and moon and stars. And here on Earth, the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. Receive the comfort from the king. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the Earth, for the powers in heaven will be shaken.

And then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all of these things begin to happen, stand and look up for your salvation is near. I said 28, but we gotta keep going. Then he gave this illustration. Notice the fig tree or any other tree.

When the leaves come out, you know that without being told that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all of these things taking place, you can know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you the truth. This generation will not pass from the scene until all of these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

Watch out. Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times and pray that you might be strong enough to escape the coming horrors and stand before the son of man.

The Lord bless the reading of his word this morning. We’ve all read that passage about the word of God being living and active sharper than any two edged sword. We’ve read that passage about the word of God being useful to teach and train and rebuke. If you are feeling a huge disconnect between comfort and what we just read, word comfort, we think of being on the couch with the blinds drawn, episode of The Office under a weighted blanket, maybe watching some maybe watching some football. Alright.

Fill in the fill in the blank. Mommy rubbing your tummy. It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay. When we hear the word comfort, we think of alleviation of difficulty, hardship, scary things.

Like, like pat us pat us on the head. Like, mommy sing us a song. Make us feel better. And and we use the word comfort in our English vernacular to conjure up ideas of of, like, making you feel safe and everything’s gonna be okay. It’s not wrong.

Mothers comfort a crying baby. The word comfort in God’s lexicon, ent and the history, the entomology of the word comfort, it actually means to fortify, to make strong, to build up. He strengthens us from the inside, enabling us to And I just really need your comfort right now. And empower you, and to stand strong in the midst of whatever it is that you’re going through. Now sometimes, sometimes God’s like, Yeah, let’s just we’ll just take care of that.

Take that off the off the table, out of this scene, out of the picture. Sometimes he does that. He certainly does that because he’s a good father. But a good father knows when and how to provide comfort. John, what were you gonna say?

You said he strengthens us and he does. But he also strengthens us. That fact that we just know he’s there and we are his. So his strength is really the strength. But he does strengthen us directly and indirectly with that knowledge, surety, love.

There you go. Yes. Here we go. So this is this is the this is not today’s bottom line, but this is a really key point that that marks the difference between maturity could could I have the mic real quick? I feel, I need to get mobile for just a moment.

If I do something different, you tend to pay closer attention to me. Right? So so listen. This is what marks the difference between an immature Christian and a mature Christian. Do you wanna know, like, how are you doing in maturity?

Like, where do you stack up? Where do you stand in your maturity in walking with the Lord? And if you’re like, I’m not even I’m like like, you know, wiggling around in diapers and still, like, exploring all this stuff. That’s okay. How can you know if you are moving in maturity?

I would suggest to you here’s one Rubicon. Aligned to crossed, moving from immaturity into maturity, that you’re growing as a Christian. When you ask for, and it’s okay to ask for, comfort from the Lord, you realize that there will be a strengthening that comes to you to stand in to stand up in the midst of whatever it is that you’re going through instead of just having daddy fix it. That’s a line. In immaturity, it’s okay to pray and have God just fix it.

But when you move towards, Lord, give me the strength to stand up in this. I need your comfort and know that that his supernatural enabling power by the person of the Holy Spirit gives you endurance to stand in that situation, that’s how you know you’ve crossed. You’re taking steps towards maturity. Does that make sense? So I’m going to treat you today as mature Christians, and we’re gonna talk about receiving comfort from the Lord in terms of supernatural encouragement to stand?

And how do we get what does his encouragement, what does his comfort look like from the passage that we’re going to read? I will tell you. Dramatic pause. Receiving comfort Many people, scary. It can be uncomforting.

It can be frightening. Like, I I don’t want this. And granted, listen, guys, I’m a skee bum. I literally lived so many years of my life avoiding hardship. Skibuns will go to incredible lengths to just chase fun.

These things in this passage are not fun. And so many people avoid them. Maturity is receiving comfort from the Lord by leaning into passages like this, melts away. Are happening in the world around us. And we’re going to practice growing and comfortability with some very challenging words that Jesus says in Luke chapter 21.

To call your attention to a few highlights, have us discuss them, and then we’re going to, celebrate. We’re going to receive communion together. And I’m actively thinking on how we’re going to do that in this room today. It’ll be a little tricky. Are there any big themes that stand out to you or passages or or or or, any huge details that you see that you find interesting.

Normally, I say you don’t need to draw any, like, deep spiritual conclusions, but we’ll just, remove that parameter from, from getting into this part of the conversation. And if you see something and you want to make a spiritual, connection point, go for it. But what details or observations do you have as you read this passage? And I love how everybody’s looking down in their Bibles or writing in their notebooks. I love that.

What do you see? Raise your hand, Ella Hasstoke. So what you said about Iran and about the fastest growing church and women leading that charge. I feel like in the Western church, men have been incredibly lazy and really backed off what they were called to do. Backed off what they were called to do.

And I’m just curious of how you would address that. What you’re seeing today is a historical problem. Look at the at Jesus on the cross. The gospels record only four witnesses, characters that we know and are familiar with, at the foot of the cross. There’s like a crowd and there’s Pharisees, you know, but but but the gospel accounts draw our attention to four witnesses at the cross.

What what was the the constitution of the four? What were their genders? I mean, there’s only two genders, but like one man, three women are recorded at the cross. So historically, what you’re seeing is is America has spent so many years rubbing the belly of of its congregants so that they will continue to come back week after week. That men have been wired for danger, adventure, adversity, hardship.

Not that women can’t, thrive in those environments as well, but men are uniquely worried about. How many women, when they sit on a plane this is a real question that you can raise your hand. How many women, when you sit on a plane, look around the plane and think, well, how am I gonna save this entire plane if something bad were to happen? Alright. So a few of you women.

How many of you men do that? Oh, well this is the problem with men in America that the church has exacerbated. Men, your hand better be raised. Something goes wrong on the flight, you men. Oh, I am not even kidding about this.

You men will be held responsible before God for not doing something. If a woman steps up and saves the day, she will receive a great reward in heaven. And she will she will she will receive all that is due to her because she was brave and courageous. But you should have men. Men, you’re wired to put yourself in harm’s way.

Hold on. Hold on. Here’s some observations. But I want to draw your attention to an erroneous teaching that has come, that has infiltrated the church, that many people use this passage, this passage in Luke, to defend. And one of the verses that is pulled from would be verse 28 that says this.

So when all of these things begin to happen, stand and look up for your salvation is near. And the teaching that comes out of that, that you may have read about, sat under, agreed with, and I subscribed to for many years in my Christianity as I was following Jesus. I was taught stuff unfolds. And, I grew up I was like like right the target demographic for that series, the Timothy LaHaye series called Left Behind. Listen and I devoured we listened to them on audiobooks with, like, the narration and the voices and the sound effects, and we were like, We were all terrified of, European Antichrist rising named Nikolai Carpathia.

Nikolai Carpathia. Oh, he was a sinister anti European Antichrist figure. And we’re like, ah. Nikolai Carpathia. The world will be thrown into like chaos and upheaval as like, there’s nothing but your like blouse and trousers left there as you’re raptured out and then things get really bad.

And t jurors would point to versus like verse 28. So when all of these things begin to happen, stand up and look for your salvation is near. That is called a pre tribulation rapture position. And I would to be fair, you can find three different positions somewhat substantiate an argument. One of them being bold, solid, and what I would believe to be the truth.

And I’ll share that with you. The other two would, you got to really stretch and pull. The first position would be what’s called a pre tribulation rapture. The church will be taken up out of There’s another position called a mid tribulation rapture. Well, where the church will have to endure a little bit.

But before it gets really bad, the church will be raptured and removed. The third position is a post tribulation rapture. And you can you can consider what the position of the church, has taught you that you’re coming from. Maybe you’re brand new to this and you’re like, woah, what? People, like, it’s in the bible, Just dive in and read it for yourself.

I will tell you this. The pre tribulation rapture theology is a new teaching new gods. And signs and wonders and power. The truth will be marked by what we talked about last week. What was that one?

That’s right. We will be worshiping in the midst of persecution and tribulation. And then for the generation that’s alive, in the generation of the Lord’s return, way that I like to think of it is, you know, those soldier reunion videos where where the mom turns around and the son or the daughter’s coming down from deployment. And what does the mom do? Does she just sit there and be like, well, her idea She runs towards him.

When we see Jesus returning on the clouds, the Bible says that we will be caught up to him. What I picture in my mind’s eye is like one of those soldier returning home videos. I will be so excited to see him after all that I’ve lost and endured that I’ll just literally jump out of my earth suit to go see him, and then return back to earth with him. Look at this passage. We looked at verse 28.

But what for anybody that has, don’t beat yourself up, that you’ve like, oh, I’ve always held on to this position. Don’t be defensive. Have an open mind. Consider the text. Not saying that your pastor or your teacher, that that you’re coming from, that I’m attacking them.

I’m not attacking them. They probably got a lot of things right. They probably got even more right than I have gotten right. There’s one thing they’ve And it’s a pretty significant one. Look at just the verse preceding.

Verse 27. Then everyone will see the son of man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So they use verse 28 to say that we will be taken out, like look up. Like look up, will be taken out, but literally just look at the text. What is the thing that immediately precedes it?

Numerically, verse 27 precedes verse 28. And chronologically, it says, then everyone will see the Son of Man coming. Jesus comes back. It is undisputed that Jesus comes back at the end of the tribulation. Nobody would ever say that Jesus comes back before the tribulation.

Pre tribulation rapture, you have to do all these weird gymnastics that he kind of comes back in a secret way or he doesn’t come all the way back. He like comes like down and pulls everybody. And then like, so there’s like three comings of Jesus, his first coming, which we’ve been through, a second weird coming just to like get the church, and then a third real no. The Bible does not teach three comings of Jesus. Okay, just go to verse 34.

Watch out. Don’t let your heart be dulled. And when we see that carousing and drunkenness, we tend to think of not us. That’s somebody else. We tend to think of not us.

That that’s somebody else. Our hearts are prone to carousing, which means slinking around, looking for something to get into that’s interesting. It could be physical carousing. All you need to do is watch the steady stream of people going from the ros to the cowboy to the wart That’s what we tend to think of. None of you good people in here ever do that.

I think the rose happens a little bit later. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That happens a little bit later. How would you know?

Serotonin. Oh, my just right under the bus. Oh, wow. Right under the bus. Well, I have healing prayer ministry.

Emotional damage. And now you’re a carouser. Now you’re a carouser. When we read that, we tend to think of carousing as like bar hopping as something. Oh, I don’t do that.

Drunkenness. Oh, no. I don’t I don’t do that. Carousing. You’re you’re you’re searching.

You’re looking. What’s gonna be appealing to me? What’s interesting? Where are the people gathered? What is what’s something that will, that will, stimulate my satisfy your soul.

You can emotionally corral as you’re looking for something to to get into, to occupy you, to entertain you. It is more than just bar hopping. Alchol. But what is the result? The result is our senses are dull and we have an altered mental state.

Our mental state is altered when we check out and anesthetize. I’m gonna binge watch this show. I’m going to just go climbing for the day. I’m just gonna get on the river and check out. But we’re we seek and chase after amusement.

What does that word mean? Look at the word amuse. Let’s break it down. I like work. My job is dealing with words.

Muse, and when you put the a in front of it, it means to negate it. It’s a negative. To muse means to think, to ponder, to consider, to search out a matter. Amuse means to just not think. Amusement.

Everybody’s having fun at an amusement park. And then little do you know, you slowly get turned from a boy into a donkey and then off you go to work in the mines. Pinocchio, historical reference, literary reference. Jesus says, verse 34, watch out. These things dull our hearts.

When I see the news today, and there are so many people that are, in the church that are supporting Israel, and then I see growing voices supposedly within the church, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, many other voices growing in volume that does not support Israel. Do I not support Israel? Who even is Israel? You you you dull your heart by saying, I don’t know. And then you just check out.

Jesus warns us. Watch out. Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness and by the worries of this life. It’s too much. I just check out.

Don’t let that day cut you unaware like a trap. The Greek word for trap is scandalon. What word does that sound like in English? Scandal. That’s where we get the English word scandal from.

Scandalon. Very scandalous. Issues us. Hand it to a millennial. They’ll Hand it to Phil.

Scandalous. The the topic and subject of Israel is very scandalous right now. Here’s the bottom line. Would you put up that that that bottom line? Comfort from the king enables us to stand in confidence.

I had a little homework assignment for you for Luke chapter 21. We just read it. I don’t know if you picked it up. I specifically emphasized that one word every time we came across it. And it’s the word stand.

Here’s your homework. Go read Luke chapter 21 and do a word count for how many times you see that word stand. We don’t need to stand if we are going to be up and out of this. The word would be chill, relax, don’t worry. Skibum doctrine is not the gospel.

Endurance is the message of the gospel. Being refined is the message of the gospel. Standing strong to the end. And Jesus says in Luke 21, he says, this generation is not going to pass away until all these things happen. And here is what he is saying.

The generation that sees all of these things will be the generation that sees his return. Wynn was Did you know two things. Did you know that prophetic fulfillment can have layers of fulfillment? There can be a partial fulfillment right here that, excuse me, a partial fulfillment historically for us in seventy AD. But Jesus did not come back yet.

Jesus says, when you see all of these things, wars, rumors of wars, Well, how would the temple be, how would the temple be left with no stone on top of another if there is no temple right now? Well, we gotta have a third temple to be built. Keep your eye on that. Stand strong. Comfort from the King enables us to stand in confidence.

And as Christians, when everything else is shaken and and we’re just left with a raw bare foundation, the foundation that we always return to is that Jesus gave His life for us on the cross. We have broken His moral law that’s called sin and our sin separates us from a right relationship with Him. He took upon Himself the penalty that all of us were due, because the Bible says that that the wages, the penalty, the consequences of sin is death, eternal separation from Him. But the free gift from God is eternal life through Jesus. It happened two thousand years ago, but he left us with a memorial, a reminder, a promise ring, if you will.

And it’s called communion, where we get to commune and fellowship with him. And with the few remaining moments that we have left, we’re gonna do communion. Yeah. We’ll pass it around. So I’ll give you some specific instructions on that in a moment.

But let’s prepare our hearts as we go to meet with the Lord at the table of communion. The Bible records that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, He met with His disciples in the upper room. And He said, Oh, how I’ve longed to celebrate this Passover meal with you. And the disciples were like, our people have been doing this for two thousand years, fifteen hundred years. Like, why this?

One? Because Jesus once again was about to flip the script and fulfill the Feast of Passover. Because the Bible records that during the meal, He took bread, blessed it, and then broke it. Same thing He does with anyone who will place His life in His hands. He He will bless you, but he’s gonna break you in the most wonderful glorious way possible.

Break your reliance on your flesh. Break your dependence on yourself. Break off those strongholds of of labels that your mom tried to put on you as you were growing up, to break off the shame from your past failures. He will bless you but there is breaking involved. The Bible says that Jesus took bread, blessed it, and then broke it.

He gave it to His disciples and said, Take and eat because this bread represents my body which is given for you. The Bible records then Jesus took another cup. And if you have been to tribe for more than one communion you know what this cup is. This is the cup of the marriage proposal. And He said, Take and drink because this cup represents my life’s blood which is poured out for you.

The Bible is really clear. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. You get to pick. You want to shed your blood, which will cost you everything resulting in your obliteration, or Jesus’s substitutionary blood. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son and His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins.

He then said, I’ll not drink again of this fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you on the day that we celebrate the wedding supper of the lamb, which happens shortly after his return. Behold the cup of redemption, the cup of salvation, the cup of eternal life, the cup of the Lord. Father God, Yahweh, one true God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I ask that here and now that you would perform a miracle. All the way in the VIP section, you can stand up and watch. I’m praying, asking God to perform a miracle.

That you would transform these simple common elements, Welch’s grape juice and lots of crackers, into your blood and your body. So that through these simple common elements, they would be transformed into a sacrament, which is simply a means of grace where we can touch you by faith. Lord, I ask that as we celebrate communion this morning that you would meet us and that your words and your spirit would comfort us, enabling us to stand strong in these days and in the days ahead. We thank you. We We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

Last couple of instructions about communion is this, our communion is not our community. This is not our meal. This is not tribe’s meal. This is not the church’s meal. This is Jesus’s meal.

And he has some stipulation. It’s not my place to invite anyone and everyone to this meal. It’s not my meal. It’s his meal. So he has some stipulations.

This meal is open to those who have received Jesus’s forgiveness and had his blood applied to their sins. An easy way of saying that is this meal is open only for Christians. There’s one other stipulation that Jesus says, this meal is not open to anyone who is harboring offense against someone else or against the Lord. If you have unconfessed, unforgiven sin, Paul says that this meal is not for you. It’s not a part of Jesus’s guest list.

Here’s the good news. You can take care of both of those things right in the stillness of your heart, confessing your sin. And if you have not invited Jesus into your heart, you can ask Him. Invite Him into your heart. Confess your sin, ask Him to forgive you.

Commit your life to following him in the best way that you know how. And guess what? Your name appears on the guest list for his meal. So there is no judgment in this room. Anybody that abstains from communion for your own reasons, that’s completely up to you and there’s no judgment.

But our communion is open to anyone who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved. And here’s how we’re gonna do communion. Gretchen, will you be my example? Just come stand here. The rest of you will be seated.

And one of you will hold the elements and then you will, if you want to say this, offer them the bread first, and you can say His body given for you, and then you give them the cup and you can say His blood shed for you, and then they take communion. Then you pass it to Gretchen. Let’s go all Let’s go all the way through this room and then Ella will bring it over here on this side and into this room. It’ll take a moment. Go nice and slow so you don’t spill anything.

And while we’re waiting for community to come to us, let’s just receive the comfort of the Lord as he strengthens and encourages our heart. Okay? Precious blood of Jesus Christ. Waiting for you all that day. You return find me burning and ready for Just a call to obedience, presenting our tithe and above and beyond that, our offering to the Lord.

So bow your heads and pray with me as we pray over that today. Father God, we submit everything we have to you, God. Pray that you take the tithe and above and beyond that our offering that we present to you out of everything that we have, God, and multiply it to further your kingdom here in this valley, God, outermost bounds of the earth. God, we just want more of what you want, God. So your kingdom come and your will be done here in this place.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. We don’t pass buckets here at Tribe. We do things a little different. We’ve got a little lockbox at the back of the room or a black box downstairs right outside the door for cash or check.

You can give online at our website, tribejh.com, or you can give through your smartphone. We’ve got a new number for that if you guys have been doing the old system. So, we’ll have this up here at the end of service as well just for you to be able to type that in, add it in as a new contact, because then it just becomes as easy as texting a friend. Just type the word give and a dollar amount and it just goes right through. If you haven’t done it before, it’ll ask you to set up a little bit, but otherwise, it’s super easy and smooth.

Couple announcements, on your chairs when you came in, we had connect cards. If you are new here, that’s a great way to get plugged in. Make sure that you guys get, all the updates from us, our text blast that goes out all throughout the week with different announcements, things like that. If you’re not new here, on the backside, there are prayer requests and our staff will pray over that every week. So we’d love to be able to agree with you guys in prayer if you guys fill those out and collect them, or you can drop them in the back as you head out.

We have volunteer opportunities for our meals and our Sunday goodies this morning. Thank you Clay and Nancy this morning, for bringing all the wonderful goodies. It’s a great tangible way to serve, both this Sunday family, and then we’ve got a whole bunch of young adults who have hungry mouths that need food that come here on Tuesday nights. And so it’s just a great way to serve that community, with your time and with your culinary skills. If you don’t have culinary skills either, you could just go grab takeout.

It’s super great. Pizza is super easy. Lissa’s being modest. She cooks a lot for us. Last announcement.

Next week is fourth of July. If you guys were here last year, it’s next week. Yeah. This not this coming week, but the following week. Yes.

So It’s the July 4. It’s the July 4. You can’t exactly. You can’t miss it. You can figure it out.

You’re in July very, very soon. My brain works Sunday. We’re in the week. That is this week. So the next week.

But, for those of you who were here last year, we got to do an awesome parade altogether. We jumped in the town parade, and we got a ton of really awesome stuff for it. If you didn’t, the prize on the table is the sweetest piece of merch that has ever made it into the TMC. Back row can see. Oh my god.

It is absolutely legendary. And, as a community, we just get to hang out altogether on July 4, jump in on the parade, bring dogs, bring bikes, whatever. We’ll talk about it more next week with specific times and stuff like that to meet up on the day of. But it is such a blast. It’s so worth being there if if you wanna give just a little bit of time just to rally around the tribe bus and just have a great time with that.

Unless you can think of anything else. That’s all we got. Brian, you wanna come and pray for us? Love it. Join us in the parade.

Get a killer t shirt. And just before I pray for you, tribe, we love to celebrate things. Any excuse for us to celebrate is is we’ll we’ll take it. And we had a great reason to celebrate yesterday because, Jamie and Logan got married. So they they are.

Simple little wedding up at the wedding tree. First time I’ve been there since I got to do your wedding. How long ago? It did not rain on us. And so they had a they had a great wedding.

So when you see them, congratulate them. Would you please stand up and would that be alright if I prayed for you? Yes. You’re gonna have to give a lot of high fives to people queuing up on the stairs waiting to come to second service or who knows maybe you all came today. Lord Jesus, I command a blessing over each and every person here whether you’re traveling from afar or you live here nearby.

God, would you bless us? And we receive your comfort to help us stand strong with your truth, your love, and your light in the days that we are living. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, Alright, tell all your friends you went to a two hour church service today. Have a great week.

You got this.