Living Word Live! Hold Fast

Back to the beginning, Jesus said, I will build my church. He meant it then, and he means it now. He'll be faithful. He'll be faithful to this place long after all of us have forgotten the words of this sermon in a couple of hours. I'm kidding. You better remember it longer than that. Here's the point. This church is not yours. It's not mine. [01:04:27] (24 seconds)  #IWillBuildMyChurch

Christ's goal for the church is to present her as radiant. I like that word. It stood out to me. Not functional, not above average, not surviving. Somehow, that word creeps into a lot of church language, but we're doing okay. We're surviving. That's not what Jesus said. It's not what Paul says Jesus feels like for the church. He says radiant, without stain or wrinkle, glorious. [00:53:19] (39 seconds)  #RadiantNotSurviving

Paul was not the one who began the good work. God was. Paul was just privileged to be a part of it for a season. And that's that's our story here. That's I didn't begin this work in this church. Guess what? God did. Long before we ever opened the doors or thought about what the name would be. And God will carry it on long after we're all gone. [01:00:13] (31 seconds)  #GodStartedThisWork

Jesus does not say a church. He does not say, your church. He doesn't even say our church. He says my church. So twice in this short passage, the ownership of the church is unmistakable. He says, Peter, you're the rock, but the buildings belong to me. We're in a church. What's the building? We. We are the building. We are the church. [00:46:52] (34 seconds)  #WeAreTheChurch

Today, we're gonna anchor ourselves in a truth that is that frees us. It's it's it's liberating, but it's also humbling. And that is this. This church, it was never ours to begin with. It belongs to Jesus. Amen. It has always belonged to Jesus. And the most faithful thing that you and I can do as a congregation, as leaders, as as a faith family is to hold it with with open hands. [00:44:00] (38 seconds)  #HoldWithOpenHands

The greatest gift that you can give the Lord and the gift that you can give Sharon and I, Sharon and me, is is not to leave with your tears, though we will remember that, and we'll treasure them. Stop, Janie. It's your trust. Trust that god knew what he was doing when he started Living Word Church here and to trust that he knows what he is doing now. [00:58:49] (27 seconds)  #GiftOfTrust

I want you to think about what it looks like when you hold on to something with a clenched fist versus an open hand. Now a clenched fist has some some benefits, some pros. It can protect what it holds, but guess what it can't do? It can't receive anything new. It can't be filled. It can only keep. And an open hand has some some drawbacks. [01:03:00] (27 seconds)  #OpenHandVsClenchedFist

He climbs the stairs. He trims the the wick. I don't I don't I don't know what he trims it with. I'm just going through pantomiming like I know. He he watches the horizon. He does all of that stuff. The ships find their way because of that lighthouse that he keeps, but the keeper doesn't own the lighthouse. He doesn't own the the sea. [01:01:37] (24 seconds)  #KeeperTendsLight