Hear This: God Is in Control

We get the privilege of celebrating that death couldn't hold him. He is significantly more powerful than sin, he is more powerful than death. We get to remember that one day, one day, Jesus is completely aware of evil, and one day he will make all things right. We will be in fellowship with him. And so when we take this cup, and when we take this bread, it is the cup of remembering that he was broken, but it is also the cup of rejoicing that one day we will drink it again with him in eternity. [01:14:27] (34 seconds)  #ResurrectionRejoice

God does not always work in the way that you are comfortable with, church. God's going to do some things that you probably wouldn't predict. He's going to work in ways that you probably wouldn't understand. He's going to use people that we don't believe he would ever use. But he has a purpose, he has a goal, he knows where he's going, and we need to trust him for that. Isn't that a great message for today? That God does not always work in the ways that we're comfortable with. Would it be growing in faith if we were always comfortable if we could say, God, this is exactly how I want you to work because this is best for me. So we think. But God says, No, this is the best for me. God wants his glory to reign. He's not all that much caring about your glory. [01:04:11] (52 seconds)  #TrustGodsPlan

Our job, church, bring a little relief, a little comfort, be like a glass of wine to them, a refreshing respite as we come and we worship the Lord today. Right? That's what we get to do. The rest of the week, what do we get do? We get bombarded with all kinds of things, but we get to, on Sunday mornings, come and be a refreshing glass of wine to the saints who just need a little breather in their life. Amen to that. Hooray. Third, we are called to serve where we are planted. Don't go beyond your purpose. Right? Don't go beyond your purpose. Serve where you are planted. Serve where you're planted, church. If you've been planted here at Colton, serve. Serve, grow, share, engage. [01:12:33] (50 seconds)  #ServeWhereYouAre

God is absolutely aware of evil. He isn't surprised. So he raised up judges. He raised up judges. It is not our job to become a judge on our own. We are called to obey. What did the olive tree say? Shall I rule over you instead of do what I was asked to do? No. Our job our job, church, is to serve where we are gifted. Our job is to do what God has gifted us to do. Olive oil is used in worship. Your job as a believer in Jesus Christ is to help people come and worship Jesus. Your job is to help people grow and see him as worthy of worship. Olive trees. What did he do to the fig tree? Oh, the fig tree didn't want to not produce figs. What did the fig tree want to do? It wanted to produce something sweet. [01:10:43] (54 seconds)  #GiftedToWorship

Spring, summer, winter, fall, he continues. He continues his evil reign, he continues to be king, and we're thinking, God, where's your justice? Have you ever wanted God's justice? Yeah, we've wanted it. We've wanted it on evil rulers, right? But we never want it on ourselves. We never want, oh god, I messed up. And we never want god to zap us real quick, like zap them because we tend to judge them. Three years seems like a long time. But we yet we need to see this through God's eyes. God's eyes. Three years. God stirs up animosity between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. It took three years to sow animosity between the two tribes, between Abimelech and the people that he ruled. [01:03:15] (55 seconds)  #GodsTiming

Because we want to trust God that God is aware of evil, and there's no greater picture than the communion table. The innocent one who's had no sin in his life. He didn't complain, didn't grumble, he didn't fight over it. In fact, as they led him to the cross, he wasn't cursing the people who were taking him to the cross. He was praying for them. What a picture of a response of our savior. He comes and he teaches, and he trains, and he equips, but ultimately, he comes to die for our sins, to die in our place, to pay the price that we are incapable of doing. Jesus came to give us life and to give it abundantly. We get the privilege of remembering him with a cup and with a cracker. Then they put him to death, they killed him, they stretched his arms out, they whipped him and they beat him, and they put him in a tomb because he died. [01:13:26] (62 seconds)  #CommunionRemembrance

As king, his first job as king, his first job is to remove the potential threats to his kingdom. And who would be the threats to the kingdom? All of his brothers. 70 brothers. And he takes, probably on that stone, and he kills. He does it, and his community, the community of Shechem, gather all Gideon's sons, and they slaughter them on one stone. He went to his father's home in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his 70 brothers. Abimelech just didn't do it by himself. The community did it as well, because the community wanted Abimelech as king. You gotta get rid of the threat. That's the first thing he does. [00:53:24] (44 seconds)  #PowerAndBetrayal

my father is king. And boy, Gideon started to live like that. My father is king. And so his father was Gideon. He wanted to rule over the people. He wanted to have complete rule over the people. But he's the son of a slave woman. The son of a concubine. He was not the firstborn son. He would not be the natural leader of it. So what does he do? He goes and he starts a plan. He goes to his mom's side of the family. Commentators tend to think that his mom was a Canaanite. His mom was not Jewish, they think. She was a concubine. She was a slave family, and so he goes to her. [00:49:13] (42 seconds)  #IllegitimateAmbition