Sunday Worship: Sept. 6, 2026--Are you listening to what God is trying to tell you?

The Bible comes as something handed down, like a worn Bible from a father with underlines and notes all through it. Scripture becomes more than a book sitting on a shelf when people share it, memorize it, live it, and pass it along to children, friends, and family. The Word gives people a taste for God’s story, sometimes in English, sometimes in Portuguese, sometimes through a verse that stays lodged in the heart for years.

The Bible is not just one thing but many things. The Old Testament gives creation, patriarchs, Israel’s history, Samson, David, and all those stories that catch a young imagination. The Psalms give poetry, love songs, frustration, anger, emptiness, mercy, and grace. The Psalms put words to places in the heart that people can barely name, whether in turbulent teenage years, crazy young adult years, or the so called highlight years.

Scripture also exposes the human habit of turning faith into prescriptions. The do’s and don’ts can become one last attempt to save oneself by getting it right, while pointing at everyone else who supposedly has it wrong. The law reveals fault and sin, but grace refuses to leave people trapped there. The Gospels bring Christ, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth, and Jesus tells parables that tell the truth without simply putting a finger at somebody.

Paul gives that grace a clear voice in Romans 8. Christ removes condemnation for those in him, and God’s love cannot finally be separated from his children. Romans asks, “If God is for us, who is against us?” and then presses the even deeper question, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” Grace becomes the place from which a new way of living can begin.

Matthew 18 carries that grace into hard relationships. Jesus does not pretend resentments, cruel words, and hurtful actions will disappear if people stay quiet. Conflict left alone binds things up tighter, gets more destructive, and can even get handed down from generation to generation. Listening, even when it takes more than one try and more than one person, begins to loosen what silence has tied in knots.

A missing study Bible becomes a funny but pointed reminder. The large print replacement raises the question of whether open eyes and better listening might matter more than getting even. Grace calls people to carry the weight of difficult relationships with honesty, humility, and a readiness to hear what God may be saying.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Scripture is meant to be handed down [23:59] The Bible becomes personal when it carries the marks of someone else’s faithfulness. Notes in the margins, verses memorized at home, and stories shared around a family give the Word a lived history. Tradition is not merely keeping old things around, but handing along a way of hearing God. [23:59]
• 2. The Psalms name the heart’s confusion [29:16] The Psalms do not clean up human experience before bringing it to God. Anger, loneliness, longing, gratitude, and fear all find language there. Honest prayer begins when people stop pretending their inner life is simpler than it is. [29:16]
• 3. Grace breaks the grip of condemnation [34:12] Romans 8 does not deny sin, weakness, or failure. Christ meets those realities with the declaration that there is now no condemnation for those in him. Grace is not permission to stay stuck, but freedom to become different without trying to earn God’s welcome. [34:12]
• 4. Listening loosens what resentment binds [36:23] Matthew 18 treats broken relationship seriously because silence rarely heals what has been wounded. Honest conversation can be hard, awkward, and slow, but ignored resentment grows heavier over time. Listening makes room for truth without turning confrontation into punishment. [36:23]
• 5. Open eyes change difficult relationships [40:27] The large print Bible becomes a little holy humor, asking whether clearer sight is needed. Hurt can make people see only what was taken, missed, or done wrong. Grace gives eyes to notice the deeper work God may be doing in the middle of frustration.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [20:47] - Church as a Privilege
• [21:26] - A Father’s Worn Bible
• [23:33] - Passing Scripture Through Families
• [26:08] - Thy Word Is a Lamp
• [27:22] - The Bible Is Many Things
• [28:52] - Old Testament Stories and Psalms
• [31:05] - When Scripture Becomes Prescription
• [32:37] - Jesus, Grace, and Truth
• [34:12] - Romans 8 and No Condemnation
• [35:08] - Matthew 18 and Broken Relationships
• [36:23] - Listening That Loosens Knots
• [37:39] - The Missing Study Bible
• [40:27] - Open Eyes and Better Listening

Bible Reading

Romans 8:1, 31–39
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
[34:12] [34:26] [34:42] [34:51]

Matthew 18:15–17
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
[35:08] [35:17] [35:21] [36:23]

Psalm 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
[26:24]

Observation questions

1. In Romans 8, what questions does Paul ask about opposition, accusations, condemnation, and separation from Christ’s love? What answers does he give?
2. What kinds of experiences and emotions are found in the Psalms—both painful and joyful? [30:29]
3. In Matthew 18:15–17, what steps does Jesus give when one person has sinned against another? What role does listening play in those steps? [36:33]
4. What is the difference between reading Scripture as a way to save oneself by “getting it right” and receiving the grace of Christ? [31:45]

Interpretation questions

1. Romans 8 says there is “no condemnation” for those in Christ, while Scripture also reveals sin and calls people to change. How can someone take sin seriously without living as though God’s love must be earned? [34:26]
2. Paul says nothing in all creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ. How might that promise speak to someone carrying shame from the past or fear about the future? [34:51]
3. Jesus tells a person to go first to the one who has caused hurt, rather than allowing resentment to grow quietly. What might make this approach difficult, and what does it protect in a relationship? [36:09]
4. Matthew 18 includes bringing one or two others into a conflict when private conversation has not brought healing. How can other people help bring truth and care without turning the situation into gossip or taking sides? [36:46]

Application questions

1. Who first helped give you a taste for Scripture—a parent, grandparent, friend, Sunday school teacher, or another person? What is one specific way you could pass along God’s Word to someone else this week? [23:59]
2. Psalm 119 calls God’s Word a lamp for our feet, not necessarily a floodlight for the whole road. Is there a decision, burden, or uncertain relationship where you need light for the next step rather than every answer at once? [26:24]
3. The Psalms give words to anger, emptiness, longing, and gratitude. Which of those feelings is most present in your life these days? What might it look like to bring that feeling honestly to God instead of hiding it? [30:29]
4. Where are you tempted to turn faith into a list of rules for yourself or for other people? How does that temptation show up in your words, judgments, or expectations? [32:00]
5. Is there a relationship in which silence has allowed hurt, resentment, or misunderstanding to grow? What would a gracious first conversation look like, and what would careful listening require of you? [36:59]
6. When someone has hurt you, do you tend more toward avoidance, quick confrontation, gathering supporters, or trying to get even? How might Jesus’ pattern in Matthew 18 guide a healthier next step? [35:17]
7. Hurt can narrow a person’s vision until all they can see is what was lost or done wrong. What might God be inviting you to see more clearly in one difficult relationship right now? [40:27]