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Most, if not all, of us will have dear friends who are unfaithful in their marriages. In this message, Pastor Bill Monday speaks to the entire church as they seek, together, to help some of our brothers and sisters in their greatest time of need.
The episodes are the weekly sermons from 922 Ministries campus in Appleton, WI. St. Peter is in the north part of Appleton. The CORE is our downtown Appleton campus.
Happy Holy Home
Week 4 - St Peter
Pastor Bill Monday
Welcome back to our final week in Happy Holy Homes. It's my privilege today, to share God's word with you and in such a positive light of how God designs for us to be blessed building our homes. Again, whether we're a family of one or family of hundreds, will use God's word from Matthew chapter 7, verses 25 through 27, Jesus encouragement building on Solid Ground as we do this as we can. Secure the message before us. Let's begin with prayer.
Sanctify Us by the truth. O Lord. Your word is truth. Have you ever had this happen to you in life? Maybe an epiphany moment, the light kind of turns on and it's so obvious but you never saw it before. It was something that was hidden in plain sight in a kind of change your life for the better. At least it was kind of a fun fact to discover I think of Mario and Luigi of course, from the classic video game, Super Mario. Brothers, I just learned this the other day and I can't believe it because I was playing that back in the 80s and children among us, you do it. Really reached back in the 80s isn't ancient isn't here. It is, Mario, do you remember Mario that Italian plumber? When he would boss things, question marks or bricks. I always thought he used his head for that, but if you look closely actually used his fists, you know, that. Well mind-blowing right? Well, that's going to change your life. Is that an interesting fact? All right, that doesn't mean anything, maybe this will help you out. If you're a teenager and I'm ashamed to admit this, I think I learned it like five years ago. Go, if you're driving around and you see your gas gauge start to go toward empty and you're wondering as you pull into the gas station, which side is your gas tank on?
You know, yeah, there's this gas pump icon right by your, your fuel gauge and it'll tell you, if you look at the arrow, it's on the right side of the website, mine, but that's actually pretty practical. You didn't know that. You're welcome, you got something out of it today.
How about this? If your an office fan and you know, the TV show The Office, righ? Ever know Michael Scott kind of the head of the Scranton Branch for Dunder Mifflin as he's being interviewed in his office over his right shoulder. It looks like there's this diploma that's hanging. Suggesting that he has the credentials to see what he's going to say, if you look close at that, it's not a college degree. It's not some credentials, offered by his own company. It's a certificate of authenticity for Seiko watch that he wears. Which when you look closer to, I guess I'm a big officer, Seacoast felt Seiko. So it's a counterfeit apparently, but he doesn't do it. And that's just like, Michael Scott. It's a running joke. Throughout the whole TV show. Things that are hidden in plain sight. It's neat to have that experience. Oh, I get it, I see it. How did I not see that before? I suppose it doesn't matter if you know how Mario busts bricks or if you figure out eventually, You'll figure out which side your gas tank It doesn't matter if you watch The Office or God, none of that matters. That was all trivial kind of info. But I really stood to share with you.
What is life-changing and I kid you not, and it's hidden right in plain sight of how we build our family lives on Solid Ground. And it's this very worship service, others, five aspects of every worship service. Or most of our services that we can remember that we can take home with is very practical advice. To be blessed. And so if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down hidden in plain sight, worship the worship. Out there, the blueprints, we find you friends from the worship for a Happy Holy Home.
Now right now maybe you're wondering like what is this is our worship. Maybe you figured it out already, maybe you haven't but against my privilege to kind of point out five aspects every time we meet which are designed to really bless you. Not just in this place. Firstt is doers of the word. So, let's get right to it. Let's take a look at the first thought which worship presents, which can bless us in our homes. Worship is for every hour of the week. We always think about what we do inside these four walls. I mean that's worship and it is unique, it's where God's people, gather publicly, proclaim his praises even more, where God's service is there for us. A Divine service, where he gives us life. But what's even just as exciting when we know the truth, when we leave this Sanctuary, we enter in a sanctuary as big as the world. Work, and we get to worship God every hour in a different way, but it is worship nonetheless. Where do we find this in the scriptures? Well, I think of Jesus words, Jesus words in Matthew 4:10, he's doing battle with the devil and he's conquering at every Temptation and he sums up about this way. He says, in Matthew 4 “Worship, the Lord, your God and serve him only truly”, that's not just for one hour but that's our life. This is much in this next passage in Romans 12 verse 1, Paul says, on account, of God's mercy. So as you consider God's love is love for you all that. He's done for you at the cross. He says, therefore freely really offer your bodies. As living sacrifices, this is your spiritual act of worship. So offering your bodies and everything every hour, that's how you worship God. But still, how does that build Happy Holy Homes? And what's the connection between worship and just living life to the fullest?
Well, maybe we take a moment and kind of Define what Versa really is the Heart of Worship, it'll all become clear. And again, that's what we do in this hour, which is kind of a microcosm What our entire lives can be. So worship by definition is to ascribe the utmost highest value, or Worth to something else. And that's what we do here. Isn't it? When we come here, it's all about Jesus. When we come here, we're saying Jesus is everything to us. He is live apart from him. There is nothing. That's a good thing because Jesus is life in Jesus desires to share that life with us, true life forgiveness, Grace certainty, a foundation. So that you can weather every storm in life and have joy and you know that it will never end. So we understand this and this is why the selfless loving God says, worship me and me alone. It's not because he needs us, too. It's because when we put our thoughts of him, he's finally able to bless us. Worship is like a boomerang, then, as we look at Jesus, as you are all in all Jesus, teaches us why that's such a good thing to know. It is because in him is all we really need in him. We find, for example, infinite value in ourselves. We're worth the blood of God's son, that's good for us to remember on days where we don't feel worth much of anything or when our children feel like they're not worth anything at all. To know that in Christ, you are of infinite value even if you don't see it. And I know that you belong somewhere and how often don't we feel alone whether we have big families or not? It's no, You Belong With God, when you worship God, he gives you lasting belonging and in a family of Believers. Now, those two ideas are worse than belonging. Isn't that what we all crave especially in our homes. So, taking this worship, grants us worth and belonging. Now the interesting thing because of our fall into sin. Yeah, we're still worshippers of something just not by Nature, not not of God. In this is where you see so many homes shadow. Like how many homes maybe have husbands and wives, fathers and mothers unintentionally. May be pursuing though, other gods like money. And how many people live for money and why did they do that? It's because they feel like money. Well, there's so much value there and if I have enough money, then I'll have value. I'll truly have a good life, fulfillment. And boy, if I have money, then I'll have a lot of belonging to other people who don't love me. But again you look at every celebrity pretty much that hits the headlines. How many of them are truly happy as they worship money? Or maybe we get really practical in our family lives. Why is their divorce infidelity? Why are there extramarital affairs? Why is there a cohabitation living together before marriage? We often worship each other.
Ultimately, we are trying to find happiness in other centers and somehow believing that they're going to provide a foundation upon which we can build our lives. But when we have expectations of others, when we try to find fulfillment and other people who cannot provide that maybe in a short time frame, but not eternally. We try to find our value in others. We'll just have our hearts broken and so will they? So, let me ask you this, and this is where we see how practical worship is, not just in this hour. But in everyday life, are you experiencing?
Your meow, are you experiencing infinite value in your home? Do you feel that from your loved ones? Do you give that to your love? Do you feel permanently belonging in your home? Are you experiencing that if you're not and who of us is at any given time? There are Idols their tension in the home is a display is evidence that there are some other Idols that were pursuing. We're, we're worshiping other people we’re worshiping money. We're worshiping something. Other than God, if we're worshiping God and then if we're experiencing some kind of turmoil in the hole we have an opportunity to share with others, no matter what they've done, we truly loved them to the end. We can't muster that strength. That love on her own that has to come from God. So if you feel like you're not being loved from others in your home, there's a disconnect between them and the Or between your understanding of the Lord. What real worship looks like. And now the rest of the points of where we're headed, it's going to explain what that means all the more, but just walk away from this first aspect worship in these four walls here in this hour. Truly is a template for how we can live our lives and built Happy homes.
The second aspect gets into a little bit more deeply here. Notice this after we greet each other and we praise God through our opening hymns and we worship him a pattern of everyday life. God shows us why it's so good to do that starting with things like baptism in Grace and sin and Grace sending confession and Absolution and then the hearing of the word again, I'll flush this out. We notice from worship baptism. Baptismal Grace is to forge every relationship. Jibber struggling with your relationships. Yes, we all. Do you ever notice, like, maybe there's misunderstanding or somebody disappoints. You somebody let you down. Maybe your children. Don't do their chores, the way that you're hoping, maybe your husband, your wife isn't showing you the love that you need. How do you relationships work? What are they based on? Are they based on grace or works? I would just think of that as I share with you a story from the scriptures, it's based on Luke 7:47, and we can put that passage right there for you. Jesus sums up this account. This encounter between two people this way, he says the one forgiven much, loves much.
So here's the setting. Jesus was invited to a home. It was this home of the Pharisee Simon and you'd think the way Phariseeis live that they had Happy Holy Homes, but you could tell that there was something wrong. Something shattered. So Jesus comes to this dinner party and Simon the Pharisee, who built his relationships with God, and others on works. He didn't have much time for Jesus even though he was his cast. He didn't wash his feet, which is something that you would do. He didn't see that he was well provided for. He was just there. It was actually kind of testing Jesus. Are you really from God or what?
Your expectations of them, he was building a relationship on works. But at the same dinner party, this sinful woman, she came into the house and he remembers. She started anointing Jesus' feet with tears with perfume. And she was wiping his feet with her hair and Simon was put off by that. And so were some of the others and Jesus started speaking truth. He says, Simon look when I came here. You really didn't do anything for me. You know why that is We could change this passage around those who don't think much of God's grace, they don't give Grace. Those who don't think they need to be forgiven and loved They Don't Really forgiving love know. It's all about works for them. But here's a woman at my feet, who hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I've been here. Who gets how relationships should work? She's been loved much, forgiven much. So she loves much So that's my question for us, if we're filling in the blanks here. So we recognize worship does impress, that the deepest relationships are built by Grace or deepest relationships are built by grace, Are you building your relationships by works or by Grace? I can ask you this way. Is there tension in your house between you and someone else? I guarantee if there's tension, there's this assumption unintentional that works need to be to restore these things. Think of it this way. Are your children happy? Can they come to you with anything or really afraid? And he said expectations that sometimes they can't meet when they can't because they're Sinners, doesn't mean that we don't have things that we have hopes and dreams and goals for them to help them. M. Foundation upon which you build your relationships. Can you try to curve outward behavior that you see in your children or even your spouse by rewarding? What is good? By threatening, condemning, giving the silent treatment doing whatever else, guilting, being disappointed by whatever goes wrong. That's our natural default. That's how we encounter others in our relationships. That's all works.
And so when we come here how blessed are we to see? How wait God doesn't treat us that way. He doesn't treat us as their sins deserve and he doesn't really even reward us for good behavior. If you will he's already given us Christ and everything. It's all by grace. In that changes, our relationship with God. We don't have to be afraid of you, but we live our lives by grace, and we Forge our relationships and Grace Again, that's what every family needs. Ask yourself today are your relationships built by works which is our natural default, or have we learned in our, we do ours. It is truly about Grace. Can you give Grace? Can you seek Grace from your loved ones? If you do, if you can, that's where homes are the happiest. How does that work? Well, let's watch this out more. The next aspect of worship will deal with the building blocks of forging relationships with Grace. Let's take the third aspect of worship. What do we find here? And understand how blessed we are to live out worship. God's word is to fill everyday conversations and experiences. And isn't this really? What we do is the center of our worship. We go right to the pulpit, we hear the word of God. And then as God speaks to us in his word, we have our cold workers, apply that word to Everyday experiences. We have a conversation from God.
And we see how it applies to our entire lives and this is in keeping with the best that we have. As far as modern-day counseling, we know you will hear from every professional counselor, what it takes to make a relationship work. And it's encouraging positive communication. And think of that as far as what that means and how practical it is, how Paul picks up on this and Colossians 3:16. Paul says this because he knows how important communication is in the home to build a Happy Holy Home. He says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly not just for one hour, but as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom with gratitude in your hearts. So let me ask you this question. How is the communication in your home? How is it going between you and your children? If you have children, you and your spouse, if you're married? Would you say it's positive? Would you say it's overly encouraging? Well, good. Then it's a reflection of how God talks to us. But if you ever have a problem in communication, I guarantee it's not echoing how God speaks to us what we see every Sunday. Do you have any silent treatment going on in your room? Think of this? Is that how God speaks to us? Doesn't because he speaks. Do you have any harsh words without love? That's not how God speaks to us, but that's our natural default, or are you dodging the issue. Turning a blind eye to something all about love, but not really speaking. The truth that's needed. We all do that.
We learn from God how to do differently and so learn this from worship, worship teaches how to speak in experience, conversation, Grace and Truth. Isn't that? What communication needs truth. Loving truth. Truth when it's spoken, which is backed up by saying. I'm saying this because I want you to flourish in a healthy life. I'm not here to judge you. I'm on your team. I'm on your side. I need this from you. That's how we parent our children. That's how we love one another, in marriage. In fact, you can see how practical worship is for every relationship. For your friends, always speaking Truth and Love and humbly accepting truth and love others. Giving grades, where we fall short. So let me just ask this question, is your communication in the whole worthy of coming from a Pulpit? That's kind of striking. I know there have been many conversations I've had with my wife. That would have been shameful to hear from the pulpit. Many conversations with my kids where I've been exasperated as a father shameful to have heard from the pulpit. But that is the ideal. And if you're like me and you realize, oh man, I can learn so much more about communication from God and His word. You know what, I love about God and His word, he says to you and me, you're my child.
Look at Jesus. Most forgiving see the words speak to you. Today's a new day of Grace, Just confess that to your family to your friends, ask for forgiveness and when they stumble when they fall, point to Jesus and forget before they even confess. Truly we learn from worship how to build happy illegals. Here's a fourth aspect and then we'll sum it up at the end how we're in this together. But the floor aspect. When we have the Lord's Supper, from Sunday to Sunday, notice the truth that we can learn from and that there's so many blessings that come from Holy Communion. Lord supper offers the ideal model for a new Humanity. The model for marriage.
Let's kind of think through that first and foremost, we don't want to miss this picture. Every time we have the Lord's Supper. First things first, Jesus by promises, I'm coming to you in my real flesh and blood. Is your salvation every time you tasted eat, if you heard the sermon like that love really for me, how could it be? Does God really know what I've done? When you come forward and you take and you eat. It's as if it's just you and God and that one moment and there's all of Christ and Jesus says taste and see. You're mine. I Died For You All Is Forgiven. Leave this table with your head held high. You're my child. I mean men that is enough for the Lord's Supper we could just celebrate that but there's more as we come together, we're all United in that it's a reflection of the world to come. When Jesus takes us home, it's a half circle. Because on the other side, we think of the saints of God that are in perfect communion with Already.
There's so much more, I don't think when you're at this table it looks like a family table or you could even say a grand table that you would see when a family first begins for a marriage wedding reception and when we come forward there's a feast as simple as it is. It's the love of God in tangible form and what is offered there. It's the ideal man. Jesus? Who this is, how to be a man lays down his life for everyone else. The Lord of all is slave of the family. Right there, a new way to be human. Because that's not our deal. What else? I love it too. We as the church presiding over the sacrament, you see the holy Christian Church, the ideal woman.
For every woman, mother, wife, friend, you see an image of how to be, she has her banner and it's Jesus, beautiful name, and she goes out in the world and she does many amazing things and she proclaims All To His glory and honor, why? Because his husband lay down his life, it wasn't about him. So every man your ideal is Christ.,Lay down your life. It's not about you, it's about the other and every woman, it's the same and together as husband and wife, you bless the children. That's a new way to be human, isn't it? And the love that's there. It's a love that you can't find in the world. It's a god, they Divine love, it's love unconditional. Sacrificial to the very end, committed love, never mind feelings or romance, or friendship. And that's the kind of love the world needs in every home and relationship.
Of course. We don't always fulfill the image of the ideal man. Do we are homes or women or show? What? Real love looks like. That's why I love the Supper. Come to the table. Every time you fall, every time you fail, it's God picking you up again, saying, I've got this, your mine take and eat, take and drink. And that causes us then to pursue, to pursue the ideal. So, let me ask you, you want a Happy Holy Home, are you pursuing the ideal everyday? Are you waking up saying? I want to be Christ to my loved ones. I want to be the holy Christian Church to my loved ones. And when you fail again, are you relying on Grace? Because we're talking about the ideal perfection in who of us has the strength to fulfill that but it's okay. God's mercies are new. Every
That's one worship, isn't it? It's hidden in plain sight. If you want to know how to build a holy happy home those are the four elements, keep in your mind and rely on God's grace. This is why I love the last part of our worship Services, as we again, reflect on Jesus words, in Matthew 7. Jesus says, therefore everyone who hears these words, just doesn't come to worship, just listens, and then forgets when they leave, but puts them into practice.
Wise man who built his house on the rock, the rain came down the streams, Rose the winds blew and beat against that house yet. It did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. This last part of the worship service, really encourages me because as you leave here today, I'm guessing might have some mixed feelings. Like, wow. Okay, I see the ideal. I do see worship as a pattern and maybe I didn't see that before. This is a heavy thing though, it is hard to live out, although, it's all about Grace. This last aspect of help us hear the Lord, is we see that God, blesses us with help.
To build Happy Holy Homes. He and worship reminds us that we're not alone. And when does he does do this, he does this in Numbers Chapter 6 24 through 26, the very end words that we love.
Our worship Services conclude this way. The Lord bless you and keep you the Lord, make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you. The Lord, look with you look on you with his favor and give you his peace. He has his called servants public, Ministers of the Gospel stand here in my command of the word. Really, to make sure that, you know, God goes with you and called Servants of the word are here to serve you. No, no, we can't disciple your children for you. We can't build Happy Holy Homes for you. That's your joy. That's your privilege and only you can build your Happy Holy Home. But you're not alone. We have tools. We have opportunities and youth, programming, and bible studies, and small groups in worship.
You can do this, you don't have to be in your family, doesn't have to be like rest of the world where shatters it can last and that's God's plan for you. So come to us, let us help you. Let us equip you and power. You encourage you come regularly to worship. And again, following that pattern which will make your life, your family life so beautiful. And so let's remember worship. Remember that the pattern of worship is for you to build life and to build happy Holi homes. All in, God's precious name. God, give us these Happy Holy Homes made a never shatter and in those Happy Holy Homes. May we see Christ central, full of life, offering life in abundance.