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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP220625S
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00:13 >> Good morning, church. It is a good day to praise the 00:18 Lord. We're grateful that you're here 00:22 today. Whether you're joining us 00:23 online or in person, thank you for joining us at 00:26 Pioneer Memorial Church. 00:28 Today's the day that we come to reframe our lives and our week in light of our Savior. 00:35 We hope today that you gain a greater picture of who He is and are inspired with awe 00:40 and wonder. It's now time for our call to worship. 00:44 So, I will read the leader portion and please read the congregation 00:48 portion when prompted by the words on the screen. 01:21 Please join me in standing as we have our invocation. 01:31 Dear Lord, thank You for this moment that we are here together. 01:35 Thank You that we as a congregation can come and worship You in praise. 01:39 Lord, today we are asking that You be here through everything, because today is all about You, 01:44 Lord. So, change our hearts, change our lives 01:47 as we remember You, our Savior, and we praise You for that. Amen. 01:52 ♪♪ 05:57 ♪♪ ♪♪ 06:10 >> ♪ When peace like a river attendeth my way ♪ 06:23 ♪ When sorrows like sea billows roll ♪ ♪ Whatever my lot, 06:43 Thou hast taught me to say ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ 07:03 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 07:12 ♪ Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come ♪ ♪ Let this blest assurance 07:31 control ♪ ♪ That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate 07:50 and has shed His own blood for my soul ♪ ♪♪ 08:06 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ It is well 08:19 with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ 08:39 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 08:48 ♪ My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought ♪ ♪ My sin, not in part, 09:06 but the whole ♪ ♪ Is nailed to the cross, and I'll bear it no more ♪ 09:23 ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O, my soul 09:41 ♪ It is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, 09:59 it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight ♪ 10:24 ♪ The clouds be rolled back as a scroll ♪ ♪♪ 10:37 ♪♪ ♪ The trump shall sound ♪ The Lord descend 10:50 ♪ Even so, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪♪ 11:06 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ It is well 11:32 with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ 12:01 ♪♪ 12:08 [ Applause ] 12:18 [ "Christ Our Hope in Life and Death" begins ] 12:41 >> Please stand with us again. Let's lift 12:44 another song of praise. Christ is our hope. 12:47 He's our hope in life and in death. 12:49 Sing this from the bottom of your hearts. 17:34 Amen, amen. We serve an awesome God, a 17:38 redeeming Christ. And as we sing this next song, 17:42 we're just gonna sing a couple of stanzas of this well-known 17:45 hymn. Just allow it to melt your 17:46 heart, prepare your heart for the Lord's Supper that we'll 17:49 take soon. Use it as a personal testimony. 17:56 [ "There Is a Fountain" begins ] 20:34 Be seated. 20:52 >> That is such a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, 20:54 beautiful song. It moves me every time. 20:57 And I'm asking the pianist to keep playing because I want 21:00 to sing that first stanza again. It's the only one 21:02 I had memorized. But I'll sing that to myself 21:05 again and again. "There is a fountain 21:09 filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins." 21:13 Let's sing it together right now, okay? 21:14 Just keep it going. Give us our opening chord, 21:18 and we'll sing. 22:20 Oh, God, we just sang the words "Lose all their guilty stains." 22:27 We sang that line. "And there may I, though vile as he, 22:31 the thief on the cross. Wash all my sins away." We pray it. 22:40 We believe it, or we want to believe it, that no one go home 22:47 uncleansed today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 22:55 Prostitute story number one... 22:59 Once upon a time, there was a son of Jacob named Judah. 23:05 Judah himself had three sons. 23:10 When his eldest son became of marrying age, he picked out a beautiful young 23:14 maiden from the region in which they were living in Canaan. Her name was Tamar. 23:21 The moment you hear the name Tamar, you remember that this is 23:26 a story that will never appear in children's 23:29 bedtime storybooks. Tamar married Judah's boy. 23:39 But the boy is so wicked that Genesis declares he was destroyed. 23:47 Now, the prevailing custom, called the levirate, there in the Near East, was that 23:52 if the older brother dies and leaves a widow without children, the next boy up 23:59 marries the widow. Judah so instructs son number two. 24:04 The son obeys, but because of his very kinky sexual behavior, he's destroyed. 24:14 Now that leaves one boy. And father Judah is not interested in losing boy number 24:20 three with this bad-luck Canaanite girl. So, he says mañana. 24:27 There will come a time you'll get it. Tamar waits and waits. 24:33 Finally, she tricks Judah, after his own wife has died, by pretending to be 24:37 a shrine prostitute veiled by the side of the road in disguise. 24:43 And lonely Judah gets her pregnant in that one-night stand. 24:50 Sounds like the old afternoon soap operas, doesn't it? A few months later, when Judah 24:56 learns that Tamar is pregnant, and she is not married to the third boy -- 25:00 that means she'd been sleeping around -- he orders her execution. 25:04 She shows up and brings the credentials that belong only to Judah. 25:11 And he cries out, "She is more righteous than me." 25:21 And so, the story ends with the father-in-law having sex with his 25:25 daughter-in-law, who gives birth to twins, which should have been his grandchildren 25:30 but turn out to be his sons. But the story's not over because in utero, 25:37 the twins are struggling, just like their progenitors, Jacob and Esau. 25:42 Before birth, they're struggling. And, finally, one of the twins 25:46 manages to protrude into fresh air his little hand. 25:52 And just to show you I'm not making this up, I'm going to read it 25:57 to you here... 26:10 But apparently the second one says, "Not on my life." There's more struggle. 26:16 And guess who comes out first? The second one without the scarlet wrist. 26:22 Hmm. Prostitute story number two... Once upon a time, 26:29 there is another prostitute who, just like Tamar, grows up in the land of 26:34 Canaan, who, just like Tamar is a purebred pagan, but unlike Tamar 26:41 is not a fake prostitute. She's the real deal. But, also, like Tamar, 26:48 she becomes a monotheist. She believes in the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 26:55 And wouldn't you know it? Both of the stories are woven with a scarlet thread. 27:02 Hmm. You're talking about Rahab, are you? 27:05 Yeah. Rahab, the madam whore of the brothel in Jericho? 27:09 That's the one. 27:14 You can hardly blame Joshua's two spies for choosing to spend their night in that brothel -- 27:19 that tawdry, noisy house. Easier, much easier to fade into the riffraff there. 27:29 But the pagan woman surmises that they are who she suspects they are. 27:36 And so she confronts them, secures their confession, hurries under 27:43 the roof of the brothel, hides them under flax stocks that are drying, used for linen, 27:50 but not before extricating from them a promise. "Oh, and I have a confession 27:55 to make," she says. "I, too, believe," because if this God, who has 28:02 been doing the mighty works that brought this liberated horde of slaves out of Egypt 28:06 and barefoot and sandals, marched them through the desert, through supernatural signs 28:13 and wonders, if this is the God, then in a few days she knows Jericho is toast. 28:23 She confesses to them her nascent belief, her budding belief. 28:30 She secures their assurance when she promises she will not disclose who they are. 28:39 And then shh! Over the wall, but not before they hand to her -- 28:46 it must have been some red textile there on the roof. And it is a brothel. 28:50 So, red would be the color. They hand to her a red sign. "If this sign is there, 28:59 when we take this city and exterminate it, you and your family 29:03 around this sign will be saved." So, Joshua 2:21... 29:10 "I accept the proposal. 'Let it be, as you say.' So she sent them away, 29:16 and they departed." And she tied the red sign, a scarlet cord of cloth, 29:22 no doubt, in the window. I find it such a such a glorious story, this saving of 29:33 a pagan prostitute. I mean, please! And I know our natural response 29:40 is, "Well, let me just remind you that I am not a prostitute. I am not even a pagan." 29:48 But wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Haven't we been caught as 29:52 red-handed as she? The Apostle Paul was not a prostitute. 29:59 The Apostle Paul was not a pagan. But what's the confession 30:02 he makes? Inescapable -- 1 Timothy 1:15... 30:16 You don't have to be a prostitute. You can just be you 30:21 and be the worst. 30:26 Paul, red-blooded sinner just as red-blooded as Rahab. Gets saved by faith in Christ. 30:34 How did Rahab get saved? Glad you asked. Hall-of-fame chapter 30:38 Hebrews 11:31... "By faith" -- there it is. "By faith, Rahab the 30:41 prostitute." She just can't shake that moniker. 30:44 She's stuck. It's alright. God wants us, every time we see 30:48 that moniker, to be reminded, "If I can save a prostitute, I can save you. 30:54 I can save you." 31:02 And, by the way, it is clear not only is she saved by faith, she stays saved by faith. 31:10 How do you know that, Dwight? Because she keeps showing up in the Scriptures. 31:13 That's why. Go beyond Hebrews. We come to the Book of James 31:15 2:25. "In the same way, was not Rahab the prostitute..." 31:21 There it is again... 31:31 "By faith," Hebrews 11 tells us, she was considered righteous. James 2 tells us. 31:39 She was saved by righteousness, by faith. You've heard of that, 31:44 haven't you? Righteousness by faith -- the same way you get saved, 31:48 the same way I get saved. And not just Rahab, by the way, but Tamar, as well. 31:55 Two prostitutes with a scarlet thread running through them, which is why both stories 32:01 are the spiritual stuff of the ancient community. The stories are told 32:06 and retold and retold. And, in fact, when we get to the New Testament and Matthew 32:11 says he's going to write this bestseller, Gospel biography of Jesus, 32:16 he makes sure to tell their stories. It's the most boring chapter 32:23 in all the New Testament. We skip it every time -- to our loss, by the way. 32:28 It's Matthew chapter one -- the "begets." He begat. He begat. He begat. 32:32 He begat. He begat. Yeah. I want to go back to that now. 32:36 Our eyes have been focused. Let's go and read that. Matthew, chapter one. 32:40 "This is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David." If you're a true-blue Jew -- 32:47 and Matthew's writing to Jews -- if you're a true-blue Jew, you got to be related somehow 32:52 to David, and you got to be somehow related to Abraham. So, Abraham 32:56 was the father of Isaac. Here comes the boring genealogy. "Turn the page, honey. 33:00 Let's keep reading further." "No." "Isaac was the father of Jacob. 33:04 Jacob is the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah is the father of Perez 33:09 and Zerah." Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. 33:12 These are the twins? This Zerah, whose name means "scarlet" -- 33:16 this is the one that had the thread? Yeah. 33:18 Perez and Zerah. How did they get in this? "Whose mother was Tamar." 33:26 Matthew sticks into Ruth 4, the very end of Ruth 4. It's just this dry, old 33:32 genealogy. He intentionally inserts the names of mothers 33:39 so that we get it, that there's room for us around the salvation table. 33:47 Hmm. Wow. You're talking about the same -- 33:52 this is the same Judah, by the way, who impregnated his daughter-in-law, 33:55 his illegitimate twins? He and their mother are all in Jesus' family tree? 33:59 In fact, yes. You got it. And through these stories, 34:06 Matthew is saying, "Fellow reader and fellow sinner, take hope. 34:12 Take hope. You can be there, too." Oh. 34:18 Ahh. It's interesting that Matthew's inclusions or insertions, 34:24 each one of them is stained with sexual irregularity in either their lifestyle or 34:30 their story. There are five of them. And by that, Matthew makes sure 34:35 we all know we are all covered. Keep reading. Let's go. So, Judah is the father 34:42 of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. And Perez was the father of 34:45 Hezron. And Hezron is the father of Ram. 34:48 And Ram is the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab is the father of Nahshon, and 34:52 Nahshon is the father of Salmon. That's not "sa-min." Salmon. 34:56 And Salmon is the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. 35:02 Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Boaz's mother was Rahab? 35:07 You talking about that madam whore of Jericho? She married 35:15 into the Messiah's line? You got to be kidding me! I mean, it's one thing 35:19 to be saved by God, but it's a whole 'nother thing to become a blood relative 35:22 with God, for Pete's sake. 35:29 I tell you what. I don't know that the good news 35:30 gets any more stunning than what's on the screen right now. This is Rahab, the prostitute, 35:36 whose blood flows in Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior. Keep reading. 35:47 "And Salmon, the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, and Boaz, the father of 35:52 Obed, whose mother was Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse, and Jesse, 35:56 the father of King David, and David was the father of Solomon, whose mother 36:00 had been Uriah's wife." Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Hold it, hold it, hold it. 36:05 Not only women, but immoral men are in this family tree? 36:15 Now, in the misogynistic society of the day, okay, we'll put the women in. 36:25 No. Equal opportunity. Savior of crooks and saints. 36:33 My, my, my, my, my. David. Talking about a very male, 36:39 very immoral meltdown, David and Bathsheba. In fact, Matthew won't even 36:43 call her name Bathsheba. He's just says, "You know, the wife." 36:46 He's wanting us to know that was really wrong. She was someone else's wife. 36:53 My, my, my. David, who melts down, heartbroken confession, 36:59 repentance and reformation. How do we know? Because he prayed the prayer... 37:08 And God heard that prayer and honored that prayer because David said, 37:11 "I'll be different, by Your grace." 37:19 Wow. David. To the place, 37:24 by the way, may I remind you, the Messiah is going to be known publicly as the Son of... 37:31 David. Talking about intentionally embedding Jesus' own family tree 37:36 with immoral sinners and saints like you and me. Have mercy, 37:39 which is precisely the prayer they began to pray 2,000 years ago. 37:42 "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." It's a prayer I pray when I bury 37:46 my face in the carpet of that little prayer room, where I have prayer every day. 37:51 "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, too." It's a beautiful, 37:56 it's a powerful prayer. We need to be praying it because He did have mercy on David, 38:02 and He still does have mercy. In fact, when the angel Gabriel shows up after the genealogy 38:08 of Jesus in Matthew 1, I want you to pick up now, how after the scarlet thread 38:17 and the scarlet cord, the angel Gabriel identifies who the Savior is. 38:25 Now, there's one more irregular woman to add to the genealogy, and it's young Mary, 38:31 a very irregular birth, to say the least. And you know what the people 38:37 were saying. Gabriel shows up, and he's talking to Mary now. 38:44 He's talking about Mary, I should say. "She" -- Mary -- 38:47 "will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Yehoshua." 38:52 That was it. It wasn't Jesus. It's not Jesus. Yehoshua, 38:57 the name of Joshua. You know what Joshua's name means? 39:00 Yahweh, the Lord, is salvation. "She's going to have a baby, and I want you 39:04 to give that baby the name Yahweh is salvation. The Almighty is salvation 39:10 because He, Jesus, will save His people from their sins." That's the Gospel 39:17 according to Gabriel. And please note how Gabriel's Gospel goes. 39:20 It does not go, "And He will save His people in their sins." 39:26 Some of us think that's the way we'll get saved. Just, you know, 39:29 some of this stuff you can't get rid of, you can't shake it. 39:31 It's just part of you. You just do it, anyway. No! Wrong! 39:37 He will come, Yehoshua, and He will not save you in your sins. He will save you from your sins. 39:43 And there's a huge difference, as you and I well know. How will He do it? 39:51 By dying on His family tree, because, you see, the family tree is not the genealogy. 40:00 Matthew begins with the family tree. He ends with a family tree. 40:03 It's the "begats" over here. It's the blood over here, because the family tree 40:08 is Calvary. That's the tree that matters to you and me. 40:12 That's all that matters to you and me. "Wash all my sins away. 40:18 Wash all my sins away. There is a fountain filled with blood. 40:26 And sinners plunge beneath that flood. 40:30 Wash all their sins away." 40:32 You and me. Wow. Two prostitutes that we now know 40:37 lost all their guilty stains and by faith were embedded in the Messiah's family tree of 40:42 Calvary. And so can you be. How, Dwight? How? 40:45 Just hang the scarlet in your window, the window of your soul. That's how. 40:49 You'll not be destroyed. If that scarlet is hanging 40:52 in the window of your soul, you will live forever and ever. 40:55 Amen. But you have to have the scarlet 40:58 in the window. It's the Savior's color. 41:05 Red is blood. Sins is scarlet. They should be made as white as 41:10 snow, the Bible says. It's the Savior's color. I want to end with this 41:16 beautiful, beautiful promise. "Through the goodness and mercy of Christ, 41:23 the sinner is to be restored to the divine favor. With outstretched arms..." 41:29 That's the cruciform of Calvary. "With outstretched arms, He is ready to receive 41:34 and welcome not only the sinner" -- keep reading -- "but the prodigal." 41:39 Do you know what "prodigal" means? Prodigal means you have been a 41:43 part of the family. You ran away. You have gone to a far-off 41:46 country. But there is somebody standing at the door of your spiritual 41:50 home with His arms and His nail-scarred hands outstretched. You are to come home now. 41:56 Come home now, prodigal. Come home. Jesus is calling, 42:07 softly and tenderly. Come home. That's what "prodigal" means. 42:13 "His dying love, manifested on Calvary, is the sinner's assurance 42:16 of acceptance, peace, and love, that the sin-darkened soul may see the light shining 42:22 from the cross of Calvary." Oh, my. Let every sin-darkened soul 42:27 who has gathered today around this Lord's table know that in the redemption 42:33 of these two prostitutes by the family tree of Calvary, a promise is just as sure, 42:39 that promise for you and for me. You've come to the right place. This is the place to be 42:46 for your sins to be washed, all your sins washed away from a fountain that's been opened up, 42:52 drawn from Immanuel's veins. Scarlet cord, scarlet cross, scarlet truth. 43:03 Scarlet hope. That's it. Let's pray. 43:08 Oh, Jesus. Scarlet lover of our souls, that You would graft us 43:16 into Your family tree through Calvary's family tree. Unbelievable. 43:22 But we receive it by faith, like Rahab did. Like Paul did -- by faith. 43:29 Caught red-handed, we receive the assurance that You will not save us 43:35 in our sins. You will save us from our sins. And so, we gather with hope 43:42 about this table. Oh, God, don't let us forget this moment, one of 43:46 the most beautiful moments that we have lived of late. Stay right here, Father, 43:53 as we gather at Your nail-scarred feet, Lord Jesus. 43:58 Amen. 44:04 >> We're now coming to the communion table 44:07 of our worship service. We've been talking about 44:09 the scarlet thread that runs through the course of the Bible 44:12 and that runs through our stories of salvation. 44:17 It's that scarlet thread that grafts us into the family of God through Calvary. 44:22 And so, today, as we come to the communion table, it's a time where we celebrate 44:27 the life of Jesus and what He has done for us. We remember, and we remember 44:33 the act of Calvary and what it means for us. But it's also a time 44:37 of connection, where we connect to each other and to God as the family of God. 44:44 In just a few minutes, Terry Robertson will read an account of the evening 44:48 when that first Last Supper turned to the Lord's Supper. And then, after that, 44:53 his wife, Yolande, will have a prayer of dedication over the emblems. 45:03 >> Our reading today comes from the Gospel of 45:06 Matthew 26:26-29. "While they were eating, 45:17 Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, 45:21 He broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, 45:24 'Take and eat. This is my body.' 45:30 Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, 45:35 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, 45:42 which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink 45:50 from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in 45:56 my Father's kingdom.'" I invite you to bow your heads as we pray. 46:06 >> "Our Holy Father, our beloved Jesus, 46:10 we praise You today as our Creator, 46:14 the source of life and all that is good and beautiful. 46:19 May You be blessed for bringing us together today in Your house to worship You and 46:25 acknowledge Your call, Your cleansing, Your salvation. We come before You with 46:33 confidence because of Your great and precious promises, because You have already 46:41 given us everything we need to live for You. The bread and the wine symbols 46:48 that we can see, we can touch, we can taste are powerful representations 46:55 of Your many promises to us. The bread reminds us that Your body was broken 47:02 to redeem us from the slavery of sin and that we can enjoy 47:08 abundant freedom in Your love. The wine reminds us of Your blood was shed 47:17 to cleanse us from all our sins, that one day we will see You in all Your purity. 47:27 And so, in the authoritative name of Jesus, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, 47:32 we ask that You bless the bread and the wine. Through them, 47:37 as we turn our hearts to You, we pray that our faith will be refreshed, our hope will 47:43 be renewed, our love will be inspired. May our worship be acceptable 47:50 in Your sight. In Jesus' name." Amen and amen. 47:55 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 48:10 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 48:41 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 49:09 ♪♪ 49:18 [ "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" begins ] 52:27 >> We celebrate a risen Savior, and we remember the acts that He did before He died. 52:33 As He stands before, He says, "Take. Eat. This is my body, 52:37 which was broken for you." 53:01 Once again, He says, "This is my blood, which was shed for you. 53:06 Do this in remembrance of me." 53:26 In the time of Jesus, there was a custom where at each of these meals, 53:34 they would take an offering for those who were in need, and those who are blessed 53:38 would give to bless others. And today, we also celebrate that custom here at 53:43 Pioneer Memorial Church. And so, we encourage all those who have been blessed 53:48 to give to bless others. When you give, that money goes to our emergency assistance 53:53 fund, which helps those in the community, that helps those in the church, 53:57 those surrounding this area that are in need. And so, as you give, 54:02 we encourage you to give as you have been blessed. At the end of the service, 54:06 there will be baskets at each exit, and there will be ushers there 54:09 to take any offering as you give. Finally, as Matthew says, 54:14 "They sang a hymn and then went out." Please join us as we sing 54:18 hymn number 407, 407, "Sent Forth by God's Blessings." Feel free to stand. 56:38 Thank you again for worshiping with us today 56:41 here at this church. We hope that you go 56:43 and are blessed by God. 56:46 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that 56:50 by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Thank you. 56:59 >> One of the hot debates on this planet today is this 57:02 collective conversation about Creation versus evolution. 57:05 While there are a thousand voices offering their 57:08 perspectives, the truth is that in God's word, there are some 57:11 pretty definitive statements. In fact, I examine those 57:14 statements and the evidence for Creation in a little book I 57:17 wrote, "Creation and Evolution: A Thoughtful Look at the 57:20 Evidence That a Master Designer Created Our Planet." 57:23 I'd love for you to join the conversation and check out the 57:26 evidence for yourself. In fact, if you'll call our 57:29 toll-free number, 877-HIS-WILL, the two words "His Will," I'll 57:33 make sure one of these books, at no charge to you, is in the 57:36 mail. The number again -- 57:37 877-HIS-WILL. Let the operator know 57:40 you want the book "Creation and Evolution." 57:42 And we'll get it in the mail to you as soon as possible. 57:46 Until we're together again right here on "New Perceptions" next 57:51 week, may the grace, the peace, and the hope of the Creator 57:55 abide with you. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:14 ♪♪ ♪♪ |
Revised 2022-07-05