Come To The Table

Yeah, come on. Hey, good morning, everybody. Good morning. Welcome to the Altar Fellowship. Let's all stand up together. We're just gonna continue in this time of worship and adoration and sing to the beautiful, glorious King Jesus. God, we thank you that you show up where you're invited. You show up where you're welcome. So we just welcome you here. The word says you stand at the door and knock. So we say, we open it to you. Come and do what you wanna do. We love you. We thank you for your love. We thank you that your kingdom is advancing. There's no end to who you are. Amen. I love you. Kingdom come in my world, in my life Give me the food I need to live through the day Forgive me as I forgive the people that wronged me Lead me far Lead me far from temptation Deliver me from the evil one I look out the window, the birds are composing Not a note is out of tune or out of place I walk to the meadow and stare at the flowers Better dressed than any girl on her wedding day So why do I worry?

So why should I worry? Why do I freak out? God knows what I need And you know what I need Your love is Your love is Strong Your love is Your love is Strong Your love is Your love is strong Come on, let's sing the kingdom of the heavens The kingdom of the heavens is now advancing Invade my heart, invade this broken town The kingdom of the heavens The kingdom of the heavens is buried treasure Would you sell yourself to buy the one you found? And two things you told me You are strong and you love me Yes, you love me Your love is Your love is Your love is Strong Your love is Your love is Your love is Strong Your love is

Your love is Your love Come on, let's just declare that our sons and daughters, your love Your love is Your love is Your love is Strong Your love is Your love is Your love is Strong Your love is Your love is ♪ And I'm inspired ♪ ♪ And our God in heaven, hallowed be ♪ ♪ Thy name above all names ♪ ♪ Your kingdom come, your will be done ♪ ♪ On earth as it is in heaven ♪ ♪ With us today, our daily bread ♪ ♪ Forgive us weary sinners ♪ ♪ Keep us far away from our vices and ♪ ♪ Deliver us from these prisons ♪ ♪ Cause your love, your love, your love is, your love is ♪ ♪ Your love is strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪

♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Our God in heaven, hallowed be thy name above all names ♪ ♪ Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven ♪ ♪ Give us today our daily bread, forgive us weary sinners ♪ ♪ Keep us far away from our vices and deliver us from this prison ♪ ♪ Cause your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong, strong ♪ ♪ Your love is, your love is, your love is, strong, strong ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, Jesus, able to carry us ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, able to carry us, able to carry us ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, Jesus, able to carry us ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, Lord, able to carry us ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, Lord, able to carry us, able to carry us ♪ ♪ Your love is good, your love is wise, your love is wise ♪ ♪ Your banner over us is love, you're the banner over us is love ♪ ♪ The banner over us is love, love, love, love ♪ ♪ It's your love, love, love ♪ ♪ It's your love, love, love, love ♪ ♪ There's no fear in perfect love ♪ ♪ There's no fear in perfect love ♪ ♪ There's no fear in perfect love ♪ ♪ Cause it's love, love, love, love ♪ ♪ No fear, no fear, no fear, no fear, no fear, no fear ♪ ♪ Never, never, never, never outrun your love, Lord ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, thank you for your love ♪ ♪ Thank you for your love, thank you for your love ♪ Yeah, thank you for your love, Jesus.

Come on, just take 30 more seconds to just lean into the love of God this morning. Come on, maybe your heart's hardened or maybe you feel like the Father has pulled himself away, so just lean in to the love of God. ♪ But your love, your love, your love, your love ♪ ♪ In the world, in the world, in the world ♪ ♪ Thank you that there's no fear in your love ♪ We just hide ourselves in your love this morning. I hide myself in your love this morning. Thank you for your love, Jesus. ♪ In the world, in the world, in the world, in the world ♪ ♪ I will be in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, in you ♪ ♪ In the world, in the world, in the world, in the world ♪ ♪ Thank you that there's no fear in your love this morning ♪ ♪ I will be in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, in you ♪ ♪ Thank you that there's no fear in your love this morning ♪ ♪ I will be in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, in you ♪ ♪ In the world, in the world, in the world, in the world, in the world ♪ Thank you for your love this morning. ♪ And all is stripped away, I simply come ♪ ♪ Longing just to bring something that's worth ♪ ♪ That will bless your heart ♪ Let's sing that again when the music fades. ♪ And when the music fades, and all is stripped away ♪ ♪ I simply come ♪ ♪ Longing just to bring something that's worth ♪ ♪ That will bless your heart ♪ And I'll bring. ♪ I'll bring you more than a song, or a song in itself ♪

♪ Or a song in itself, it's not worth it ♪ ♪ Every one of these days ♪ ♪ You search much deeper within ♪ ♪ Through the way things appear ♪ ♪ You're looking into my heart ♪ ♪ And I'm coming back to the heart of worship ♪ ♪ When it's all about You, it's all about You ♪ ♪ Jesus, I'm sorry Lord, this thing I made ♪ ♪ It's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ King of endless worth, no one could express ♪ ♪ How much You deserve ♪ ♪ Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is Yours ♪ ♪ Every single breath, and I'll bring, I'll bring ♪ ♪ I'll bring You more than a song, for a song in itself ♪ ♪ It's not what You have required ♪ ♪ You search much deeper within ♪ ♪ Through the way things appear ♪ ♪ You're looking into my heart ♪ ♪ I'm coming back to the heart of worship ♪ ♪ When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it ♪ ♪ When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm coming back to the heart of worship ♪ ♪ When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it ♪ ♪ When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ All about You, all about You, all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Oh it's all about You, oh it's all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Yes it's all about You, all about You, all about You ♪

♪ Oh it's all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Yes, it's all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Yes, it's all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Oh it's all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Yes, it's all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Oh, it's all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You ♪ ♪ Oh it's all about You, all about You, all about You, all about You, all about you, all about You ♪ ♪ Yes it's all about You, it's all about You, yes it's all about You, it's all about You ♪ ♪ All about You, it's all about You, all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You, it's all about You... Oh, it's never been about me, it's all about You. I'm running after Your heart. I'm after Your heart. I'm after Your heart. I'm running after Your heart. I'm after Your heart. I'm after Your heart. I'm running after Your heart. I'm running after Your heart. I'm after Your heart. I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated. And I'm in love. I could not remember what I was doing before I met You. I've been captivated by love that saved me. There He goes. There He goes again. Racing through my brain. And I just can't contain this feeling that remains. There He goes. There He goes again. Racing through my brain. There He goes. There He goes again. Racing through my brain. There He goes. There He goes again. Racing through my brain. There He goes. There He goes again. ♪ Racing through my brain, captivate our minds ♪ ♪ Oh, our imaginations, Lord, they are yours ♪ ♪ Our imaginations, they are yours ♪ ♪ Take us deeper, take us further ♪ ♪ Cause I just can't contain this feeling that remains ♪

♪ No, I just can't contain this feeling that remains ♪ ♪ Oh, I just can't contain this feeling that remains ♪ ♪ No, I just can't contain this feeling, oh this feeling let it out ♪ ♪ I just can't contain this feeling that remains ♪ ♪ No, I just can't contain this feeling, let it out, let it out ♪ ♪ Oh, I just can't contain this feeling that remains ♪ ♪ No, I just can't contain, let it out, come on let it out ♪ ♪ Oh, I just can't contain this feeling that remains ♪ ♪ Oh, I just can't contain this feeling, this feeling I love, I just can't contain ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Oh, there he goes, there he goes again, racing through my brain ♪ ♪ Hey, there he goes, there he goes again, racing through my brain ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Yes, I'm coming back to the heart of worship, when it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it, when it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus ♪ ♪♪ Thank you Lord. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, holy and anointed one, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, holy and anointed one, Jesus ♪ Jesus, Your name is like honey on my lips. Your Spirit's love to my soul. Your Word is life to my feet. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. I do. Oh, Jesus, Jesus. Risen and exalted One, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, Jesus. He's risen.

Risen and exalted One, Jesus. Your name is like honey on my lips. Your Spirit's like water to my soul. Your Word is the life unto my feet. Jesus, I love You. I love You. Your name is like honey on my lips. Your Spirit's like water to my soul. Your Word is the life unto my feet. Jesus, I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. More than anything. More than anything. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. More than anything. More than anything. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. More than anything. More than anything. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. Jesus, I love You. I love You. I love You. More than anything. More than anything. More than. More than anything. More than anything. Oh more than anything. More than anything. More than anything. More than anything. More than anything, more than anything More than reputation, more than self-image

Oh, more, more, more More than friendships, more than family More than food, more than dream More than anything Draw us to love you more, draw us to love you more More than health, more than wealth More than certainty, we love you, we love you more Ooh Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you Jesus, I love you, I love you Come on, that's it, lift your voices Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you More than anything More than anything Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you More than anything More than anything More than anything More than anything Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you More than anything More than anything Triumph or trial, whatever comes my way I will follow the land where it goes When my cup is empty, it overflows I will follow the land where it goes I will follow the land where it goes Let's sing, so may the land So may the land receive

The reward of His suffering Every voice we sing The reward of His suffering The reward of His suffering I did the same thing in practice, I was so in it that I just missed my verse. Come on friends, let's sing this together in life. In life or in death, within or through, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. In joy or in sorrow, this one thing I know, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. Yes, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering. Every voice we sing the reward of His suffering. Today and tomorrow, or the rest of my days, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. In beauty or ashes, I have this hope, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. Today and tomorrow, or the rest of my days, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. In beauty or ashes, I have this hope, I will follow the Lamb where He goes. I will follow the Lamb where He goes. May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering. Every voice we sing the reward of His suffering. Hallelujah, oh what a Savior, there is no end to Him. Hallelujah, oh what a Savior, there is no end to Him. Hallelujah, oh what a privilege, it is to follow the Lamb. Hallelujah, oh what a Savior, there is no end to Him. Hallelujah, oh what a privilege, it is to follow the Lamb. Hallelujah, oh what a Savior, there is no end to Him. Hallelujah, oh what a privilege. May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering. Every voice we sing The reward of His suffering So may the Lamb, may the Lamb receive The reward of His suffering

Every voice we sing The reward of His suffering Hallelujah, oh what a Savior There is no end to Him Hallelujah, oh what a privilege It is to follow Him Hallelujah, oh what a Savior There is no end to Him Hallelujah, oh what a privilege It is to follow Him So may the Lamb, so may the Lamb We sing the reward His suffering In every voice We sing the reward His suffering Hallelujah, oh what a Savior There is no end to Him Hallelujah, oh what a Savior There is no end to Him Hallelujah, oh what a Savior I love You, Lord And I lift my voice To worship You, O my soul Rejoice, take joy In what You hear May it be a sweet, sweet sound In Your ear May it be a sweet, sweet sound May it be a sweet, sweet sound

May it be a sweet, sweet sound In your ear That last chorus, I remember, I don't know, 20 years ago When I had just started in, what I would eventually come to call all ministry. I just started playing music and I knew I was going to step up in front of a crowd in a city called Wilmer, Minnesota. One person has heard of Wilmer, Minnesota too. Yeah. And, uh, and, and I remember, you know, I was, I was getting ready to step in front of this crowd of several hundred young people. I was going to preach the gospel. And I remember being in the back, like trying to think, you know, how do I prepare my heart for this? And I just began to sing that chorus. I love you, Lord. And I lift my voice to worship you. And, uh, I remember the way that God met us there. It was just so sweet, man. And the same God that moved 20 years ago is the God that is here in this room right now. The God that, that parted the red sea for Moses and the Israelites is the God that is in this room right now. The same spirit that the scriptures tell us that raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also quicken your mortal body that we are not discovering a God that has been hidden buried under, you know, years of obscurity. We're not, uh, we're not inventing a God or developing a God that fits our needs or our desires or our impulses as modern Western people, we are connecting to the one true God, the one that was and is, and is to come the God that stands forever. He has proven himself faithful from age to age, to age. And even today, he will show himself faithful again to you. And so, Lord, I lift up right now, every person in this room, every heart, every household in this room. And I, we commit ourselves again to you, Lord, you know, the struggles, the unanswered questions, the frustrations, the worries, the fears that are represented in this room right now, Lord, in every one of them, you are going to show yourself faithful. And I pray Lord that you'd give us the grace to rest, even in the midst of the, the tension between the now and the not yet help us to rest God. When there are still unanswered questions before us, help us answer, help us rest God when there's still unanswered prayers that we have brought before you. God, I thank you that you are faithful, that you've always been faithful, that you have never let your people down and you won't start with us. Father, we give you our hearts again today. We give

you our attention again today. We thank you for your presence and we bring to you our hope, our life and our future. We place it again in your hands and we say, God have your will with us, have your way with us in Jesus. Wonderful name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, welcome to the altar fellowship. We're so glad you're here. If you can make your way to your seat while you're doing so, would you just welcome back old pastor Zach, old rugged, manly pastor Zach. We're glad to have you, buddy. We missed you and thank our musicians. You guys amazing job this morning. Thank you so much. Uh, yeah, we are. We're glad that you're here. You can grab a seat if you're able. Thank you, Lord. Hey, it is, uh, it's so good to be back with you guys again this morning. I am, uh, I, man, I, I, last night I kept waking up and checking my phone to see, is it like, is it time to get up yet? Is it time to get up yet? I've been excited all night to, uh, uh, to get here, to, to get with you guys and, uh, to unwrap this gift that the Lord has for us today. I want to tell you a story. We're about to receive the offering. Hold your applause. I just, uh, I, we're about to receive the offering, but I want to tell you a story of something, uh, the Lord did to teach me, I think a really important lesson years ago. I was, uh, for many years I was a traveling itinerant evangelist. And, uh, that's how I primarily, how I supported my family. Like I know that, uh, this may come as a shock to you, but there's not tons of money to be made in playing in a Christian hardcore band. And so I would, uh, I would primarily take care of my family by traveling to speak at churches and conferences. And, and there was one, one day, uh, years ago now, probably 10 or 15 years ago, I was invited to speak at two different churches, both of them in Southern California on exactly the same night at exactly the same time. And one of these churches was a pretty well established church. It was a church that had been planted by a man and his wife. And then he had handed that church off to his son. And, uh, you know, very well established church, a really well run church. They sent a professional email and said, Hey, you know, we'd love to have, uh, Maddie come out and minister at this event that we're doing. Here's the date and time and, uh, we can offer him an honor. We'll cover his travel expenses, his flight, his rental cars, hotel, and we'll give him an honorarium of a thousand dollars.

That's fantastic. Um, now the other church was a church that was, uh, it was a little bit newer had been around for, for years and years, but it was started by some guys that were friends of mine. Young guys. They, uh, they, they were kind of, they were a lot like me. They were, you know, kids from the music scene, the underground music scene, they started this church. It was pretty cool and trendy. The church had grown and, uh, seen some success. Lots of people knew about this church, but it was, uh, it was very young. It was exciting. And, uh, and, and so I sort of had the choice and, and I hadn't committed to either one, but I said, all right, Lord, which one would you like me to go to? And, uh, after a couple of days, I felt like God sort of had me leaning toward the new young, hip, trendy, underground, you know, church. So I, uh, I, I declined the, the, the other invitation and I decided to go to this, this younger church and I went to the church, you know, we, we took our family's money and I, I flew out there and I got a hotel and a rental car and I drove out to the church and, uh, we had an amazing service and I preached and God moved and lives were touched and it was just an awesome time. And, uh, and then at the, at the end of my message, the pastor of the church, one of the pastors came up and he said, Hey, you know, we, uh, we've had a great time. Here's what's going on next week. We're going to be doing this, this other, uh, we're doing an outreach event in, in a couple of weeks. Make sure that you don't forget about that. If you'd like to give some money to Maddie, there's a box in the back of the room. You can do that on your way out. Uh, anyway, next week we'll see you back here for whatever.

And then he dismissed everybody. And, uh, and he was sort of like, he sort of slipped the offering option in there for the, the people that were really paying attention during his announcements at the end of the night. And, uh, and so, uh, after everybody had left, I was sort of hanging around like, I need a, I need that offering. If my kids are going to eat, like, you know, so I don't know if, if I need to like go home, you're going to send a check or what I'm supposed to do. So I'm just kind of chilling, like about that offering. And the, and the pastor goes, uh, Oh yeah, yeah. Let me get that. And so he goes back to the box and he opens it up and he pulls out $27 in crumpled bills and he sticks it in my hand and he's like, thanks so much for coming. See you soon. And I, I went out and sat in this rental car that costs 10 times as much as that offering and uh, my tickets cost, you know, 10 times as much as that. And, uh, and so I, I sat there and I was like, I just lost a few thousand dollars for my family to get out here. And uh, and I'm sitting in the car and I'm sort of wrestling with God, like, Lord, why did you, I felt like this was the event you wanted me to come to. Why would you put me in this situation like where things are going to be tight for us this month. And I felt like God said, Maddie, I need you to see what a fatherless church looks like. And, and I still, I could take you to the parking spot I was sitting in when he said that to me. And I realized one of the things that, uh, that fathers, that is just to say, uh, leaders that have gone ahead of us. One of the things that fathers help establish in our life is a sense of honor or what I might say to my kids, gratitude, like that we understand that, that not only feeling gratitude is important, but expressing gratitude is important.

And that's not just in, you know, the offerings that we give. That's in the way that we speak to the waiter or the waitress, when you go to a restaurant, it's in the way that we talk to our, you know, for my kids, it's in the way that they talk to their siblings. It's like, if your brother, you know, holds a door for you say, thank you. If somebody does something to help you, you express, I'll tell you, there's nothing in the world that bothers me more than when I hold the door for somebody and they just walk through. Like I want to like reach through and grab them by the hair and pull them back through. Like if you're not going to be grateful, you don't, you don't get to do it. Like this is honor is just gratitude in action, right? And so this is the thing that I recognized about that experience in my life is, is God said, Maddie, this is what a fatherless church looks like. And this is why I have brought fathers into your life to make sure that you never turn into this. And here's, here's what I mean. One of the things that I find young ministers often struggle with is taking offerings and it's because we don't want to be seen as greedy. And uh, and here's the thing, you could give a billion dollars in the offering today and it wouldn't, I wouldn't get any extra money because of that. Like this is not, I'm not saying I know. more money. I am saying you need to be a people of honor. And because, because this is the church my kids are growing up in and I will not have my kids grow up in a church without honor. We will be a people who honor God with our gratitude. Lord, you provide for us. I will be a people that honor God with our gratitude, not just for the way he provides for us financially, but for the way he provides for us spiritually. God, you made it. So there's a building I can go to that's full of Christians on a Sunday morning and they'll pray over me and my family and they'll invite your presence here and they'll lead me in worship and they'll open the scriptures so that I can come to a deeper knowledge of you. Absolutely, God, I'm grateful to give to that place because that's something I desperately need in my life. And so I need you to

hear this. We are not a fatherless church. We are not a church without honor. We are not a church without gratitude. We will be a people that turn and say, God, you have given richly to us. And so it's our joy to give richly to you. Amen. Come on. So let's prepare our hearts to give this morning joyfully to the Lord. As you know, that there, there are a few ways you can give. There's an envelope in the seat in front of you. You can use to give by cash check or card. You can take your phone out and scan that QR code. Or if you have the mobile app, you can give through the mobile app. But as you are preparing that, would you, uh, would you stand with me? We're going to pray over this. Father, we thank you that you've given us so many ways to worship you. Thank you, God, that we can worship you in our, in our work. Thank you that we can worship you and singing and dancing and painting and building. We thank you Lord, that we can worship you in our giving. God, your word says that, uh, that, that you love a cheerful giver. And so Lord, I pray that you would find cheerful givers in this room today. Not people who are giving out of obligation or pressure, but people that are giving out of gratitude, who see the extravagance of your great love and who turn and give extravagantly to you, Lord, you are faithful. You are good. And we stand in awe of you this morning. We love you, Lord. And we thank you for the privilege that it is to give into the work that you are doing here at the altar fellowship. God continue to bless this house, continue to bless these people and continue to use us. As a, as a beacon of light into a dark and cold generation. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, good morning. You can be seated. It is, uh, it's good to see you best looking church in the tri cities. I'm convinced. Uh, I, uh, am, I'm excited to be here. I just got to meet, uh, my new friend, Peter. So, uh, Peter, I don't want to put you on the spot, but it's happening, buddy. So Peter's a, he's a pastor from Nairobi, Kenya, who has come out to, uh, to, has come out to further his studies at Milligan university and, uh, and as a brother in Christ from the other side of the planet. So, um, please make sure Peter's new to town. He's new to the state of Tennessee. He's new to the nation of the United States. So please reach out to Peter, make sure that, uh, that we make him feel real welcome Peter. We're so glad that you're here. Welcome brother. Look forward to getting to know you. Um, we are, uh, in the middle, I'm convinced of something, uh, incredibly special and we have, I think as, uh, for, I can only speak for myself. I'll say it like this. I have having spent so many years in the charismatic movement. I have heard over and over and over again about the

coming revival. You know, the third great awakening is going to come and there's going to be this great revival. There's about to be a revival. The earth is about to experience a generation of fiery believers. Y'all have heard it, right? Here's, here's my, here's my issue with it for many years. It was that every preacher, every book they published, every, you know, message conference message they preached, it would boil down to this. God is about to do something, but it never really arrives. It's about to happen. There's about to be a revival. There's about to be an awakening. There's about to be a shift. You know, you get to the end of the year and everybody has some prophetic message about this next year is going to be a year of whatever, you know, we got to the end of 2019 and nobody said this next year is going to be a year of shutting down the entire world. Um, it was like people are prophesying revivals in stadiums and arenas, but Uh, I, I need you to hear my heart here today. You're gonna, you're gonna hear some language like that. And, and this isn't sort of fanciful, uh, flattering, you know, prophetic, uh, uh, optimism. You know what I mean? It's like, sometimes we just frame our optimism. Like it's a prophetic word. This isn't that I want you to know that for, for months, maybe for the better part of, of the last year, as I've been sort of just watching the unfolding of our time, I, I feel like the Lord has given me the ability to discern some of where we are headed as a culture and some of where we as the altar fellowship are headed as a community in an effort to impact the culture that God has allowed us to be a part of. If you remember these last few weeks, I spent a couple of weeks talking about rest and doing my best to frame rest, not as what happens when the work ceases, but, but working to frame rest as one of the works to which God has called us. And, and when we see it like that, we understand that we don't rest because all the things God gave us to do are done. We rest because in doing so we obey, we honor, and we, we illustrate, or we demonstrate the nature of God himself. Now, just this last week, I spent the whole morning time went real quick and I spent the whole morning sort of sharing some of my story and reintroducing myself. And, and it was based on this, this idea that I'd had during my, this year, for those of you that weren't around then, if you just came in, in the last few weeks, I took a seven week sabbatical this year. And, uh, and one of the things that maybe I didn't expect is, is how difficult it was for me to shift from simply not working into actually resting.

And, uh, and, and what that looked like for me is that, you know, for the first five of those seven weeks, I was, you know, not doing the work of the senior pastor of this church, but I was still carrying the weight of this church. I was still worried about what was happening here and who's doing what and saying what, and how are the bills going to get paid? And if, are we going to make it happen? Am I going to have to lay off my staff when I get back? Like I was, you know, really concerned. And, uh, and God gave me this gift that I might call the gift of rest over the last couple of weeks of, of that time away where he, he, it was like, he sat down with me like a loving father and said, Maddie, it's my church. It's not yours. And all the good that has happened there, none of it can be credited to your control. So obey me when I call you to rest, just like you obey me when I call you to work and I will handle the results. And so, uh, for those last two weeks, it was a profound experience of, of the kind of rest that only trust or surrender can actually produce. And, uh, and, and so I, I felt like it was appropriate to reintroduce myself as a, as it was said by an ancient Greek philosopher, that a man cannot step into the same river twice because it is not the same river and he is not the same man. So I think it's true for me in my own journey that I can't pastor the same church twice because it is not the same church and I am not the same pastor. And so this last week I spent some time just introducing my, myself. I shared about my story of losing my dad when I was young, the churches that I grew up in that shaped me the most, uh, playing sports for a long time, soccer or playing music for a long time in, uh, in the band I was a part of for today. Uh, and then stepping away from the band and being instructed by the Lord to gather the family and ending up here in Johnson city. And, uh, and it has been a wild adventure. And that is maybe one of my first convictions after first coming to Christ in 2006, it was like, I realized almost immediately that God's plan is better than mine. And I don't just mean it's morally superior. I mean, God's plan is more fun than mine. It really is. It's, it's more unpredictable. It's a greater adventure. It is more satisfying to my soul to be walking out God's plan and purpose for my life than it is to be living with my highest good, being my own sort of self-indulgent, uh, satisfaction. And, uh, and so I'm just going to sort of pick up where I, I left off, you know, for seven years, as I said last week for seven years, I was the pastor of a, a new church plant in Johnson city, Tennessee. And now I'm honored to serve as the senior pastor of what? has become a pretty large church in, in Johnson city, Tennessee.

This is a different church than the one that started in my living room seven years ago. Um, this church has different needs. And so there is a different set of responsibilities that are placed on me. And if you remember last week, I talked about, you know, Ephesians, the book of Ephesians tells us that God has given some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers. Why for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. And here's what is implicit in that text. It is that all the saints are to do the work of the ministry. All of them, no matter what title you have, like one of my favorite little quotes, I can't remember if it's in first Timothy or second to me, this is one of Paul's letters to Timothy Paul, who's an apostle tells Timothy who's a pastor do the work of an evangelist, which is so profound to me because neither one of them are, uh, uh, occupy the office of an evangelist. That's important for us because it means forget about your title and understand that no matter who you are or how long you've been walking with God, Joseph, you are called to, to do the work of the ministry. Like we are each one of us called to, uh, to do the work of, of the ministry, to take on the continuation of the earthly ministry of Jesus as our own personal responsibility. And the job of an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher is to equip you, to train you, to inspire you, to sharpen you so that you can more effectively do that. So God has put me in your life. If you call me your pastor, God has put me in your life, not so that you can watch me do the work of the ministry, but so that I can help you do the work of the ministry. God is building his church in his way here at the altar fellowship,

whether I like it or you like it or not. There will be some shifts I think moving forward in the way that we are doing things. I've already been talking with the staff about things that we hope to change and and, uh, ways that we want to, um, get, get closer and maybe more efficient in our ability to, uh, to, to hit the target of God's specific purpose for this community. So there will be some shifts moving forward in our programs and services. But the thing that Yahweh has laid on my heart most heavily over these last couple of months is that in the years ahead, the ministry he will breathe on most powerfully here will not be what happens on this stage. It will be what happens around your tables and in your homes. The ministry that God will breathe on most significantly here will not be what happens on this stage. It will be what happens around your tables and in your homes. Acts, uh, Acts 2 42 tells us that on the day of Pentecost, uh, that after I should say the day of Pentecost, when the early believers, 120 of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they went out into the street. Peter stood up and preached the gospel and three things came to pass and probably one preached the gospel and 3000 were brought to, uh, uh, to, to saving faith in Jesus. It says that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. Now we, we rightly esteem the, uh, the apostles teaching, you know, we, we understand the apostles doctrine is important. It's critical. We, we, thankfully we have the writings and the teachings of the apostles recorded in the scriptures. And, and so we're able to,

to grab a hold of those and to build our faith on the, the, the testimony of the witness in the ministry of the apostles. But they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread. Now here's the, uh, the issue that I think, um, we struggle with. We love the apostles doctrine and we love prayer, but when it comes to fellowship and the breaking of bread, we treat that like it's optional. Sir. We understand. Nobody would argue that sticking to the apostles doctrine written in the scriptures is vitally important to our success as believers. We give great honor to Christian fellowship and to prayer, but we act like the breaking of bread is optional. Understand the continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. I, the way that I have read that over the last few months has begun to shift. I used to read it like this. They continued steadfastly and the apostles doctrine and they continued steadfastly in fellowship and they continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread and they continued steadfastly in prayer. Here's the way that I've been reading it. They continued steadfastly in the apostles. Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread in and in prayers. I think the, that what Luke is saying here is that the early church found fellowship in coming together to eat meals and spend time praying for each other and that that's what the apostles doctrine produced in them. And so understand guys, God has called us to come together over meals with one another. And I don't want to just glaze over the breaking of bread and fellowship like these are, you know, easy things for us to understand or to apply. This is what I came to teach about this morning.

God has called us to come together over meals with one another. And as a generation arises, who is more suspicious of systems and institutions than any generation ever before. I'll give you a second to realize how right I am. As a generation arises, who is more suspicious of systems and institutions than ever before. I think we can expect with confidence that the coming revival will not happen in stadiums or arenas. It will happen in living rooms and around dinner tables. And the revivalists God uses in the most profound way in the years ahead will not be known by titles like pastor or evangelist, will be known by titles like mom, dad, brother, or friend. We are, it feels like a community sort of suspended between two realities. You know, we, so many of us have, have maybe, maybe we grew up in a context where, you know, a person was esteemed by the title in front of their name. And, and so the pastor, the evangelist, the prophet, the apostle, the, you know, doctor, whatever, whatever sort of title they have in front of their name sort of gave us the, the, the freedom or the confidence to defer to them. We would say, well, they must know what they're talking about. And then we've seen pastoral scandal after pastoral scandal for many years. And it's, it's eroded our ability to trust somebody that has the word pastor in front of their name. And then I promised I wasn't going to talk about stuff like this. And then you got Dr. Fauci that is like, has done a lot to hurt people's trust in someone that has the word doctor in front of their name. And, uh, and so we, we sort of struggle as a generation entirely to just, to give somebody deference based on the title they have, because titles come cheap. We've learned and character is hard to find. And so even when we find a person of character, we as a generation collectively are very slow to trust them. And even if they prove themselves to be trustworthy, we're maybe quick to cast them aside because we expect that any system or institution, any person that holds an office is only there to oppress and to control and to manipulate. And so what are we going to do about this? Do we war against that impulse in our generation? Or do we say maybe God has allowed our generation to adopt that mindset because his intention is to move this, uh, to move this people, to move in this time, not through the systems and

structures of religious institutions, but to move through the relationships of people that will lower themselves to sit at a table and eat a meal and laugh and cry and live and walk together. My dream as the senior leader of this church is to one day be able to say with confidence that at the altar fellowship, every member is a minister and every home is an altar. Like I said last week, every one of you is called to what we would call dinner table ministry. And this, I was talking to pastor David about this. I said, I don't think I could have a more perfect time to teach on this. I intended to do this last week, but we didn't get there and it's okay. But this week happens to be the week that we are opening up applications for our small group leaders. And so can I tell you my dream, this would be my dream would be if every single person in the room applied to lead a small group. If every one of you said, I want to be used by God as a minister of the gospel. I know that it's a call on my life. I know that it is something I'm called to, and I may be brand new to this church and I may feel totally unequivocal. but for leadership, and I may not know my Bible from a hole in the ground, but I know God's got a call on my life, and we're going to, I'm gonna give it a shot, right? I'm gonna apply, and here's the thing. I would love to be able to turn down 90% of you. Not that I don't love you. Not that we don't love you, but because if everybody here led a small group, there would be no one in anyone's small group. You know what I mean? And here's the deal, guys. Every year, it's like we get the same 10 people that apply to be tribe leaders, and then we get maybe 10 or 15 more that jump in, and they're like, I'll give it a shot,

but here's the reality is for me, what success looks like for us is that every one of us would have the conviction that we're called to ministry, and that our ministry doesn't have to be on a stage or in a spotlight, but our ministry can be sitting around our table, eating a meal that we have prepared with people that we're just getting to know. That is sacred before the Lord. And I can hear, I understand that the, like every wife in the room is gritting her teeth right now thinking, oh, my house isn't gonna be clean. How are we gonna let people into our house? It's not big enough, it's not nice enough, it's not clean enough. You know what, every week you're gonna have to clean. Here's the issue with that. If you were to come to my house and it was immaculately clean, you should know we're lying to you. That's, we aren't, my three boys have an anointing from God to make a mess, and so if you wanna have the authentic Montgomery experience you're gonna have to move somebody's crusty sock out of the way, you know, and like there's gonna be some shirt that the dog dragged out of somebody's bedroom and it's just like, that's just a part of our life, it's a part of our existence.

But there's something I think beautiful about saying to people, hey, this is who we really are. This is how we live and I wanna invite you into it. Our home may not be perfect, but it is gonna be full of peace. Our home may not be spotless, but it is gonna be sacred before God when we come together and we eat a meal and we share our stories of how God has been good and faithful to us, amen. But I want you to see today that the breaking of bread, like what Acts 2 describes as something the early church committed themselves to, I want you to see that the breaking of bread is not just practical, it's not just like a helpful way to bring people together, it is also revelatory in nature. That is that it's actually something that has been kissed by God with a grace to bring illumination or revelation to the lives of those who engage in it. And so I wanna go today to Luke chapter 24 primarily. We'll go to Luke chapter 24. This is, if you haven't, if you've been in church for a few years, you should check out the book of Luke soon. It is awesome. I grew up sort of telling everybody, you know, if I led somebody to Christ, I would say just read the book of John, it's great.

But the book of Luke is so cool because it's so thorough and it's so intentional in the way that Luke has, Luke was not a disciple, but he pulled together the firsthand accounts of a whole bunch of different eyewitnesses and he put these accounts together into the book of Luke and it's brilliant the way that it is written. Like one of the things that is really cool is you see that Jesus actually, the last thing that he does, and he does it twice in the last chapter of Luke, which is this chapter in Luke 24, is he teaches about himself using the Old Testament scriptures. And then he ascends to heaven. It's like the last thing that he does after his death, burial, resurrection is that he teaches how all of the scriptures are fulfilled in him and then he ascends to heaven. And so Luke obviously has an agenda here and he's trying to say, Jesus wasn't just some guy that came out of nowhere and did some amazing things and claimed to be God and then flew away. Actually, all of history has been building to him. All of history has been building to this moment. It's been pointing to him. And I'll show you this here. So in Luke chapter 24, starting in verse 13,

we'll read through the story and we'll just pull some things out. It says, now behold, two of them, this is after, I wanna give you better context than I have. So this is after the death of Jesus, three days after the death of Jesus. He is alive again, but not all the disciples have gotten the news. The women have gone down to anoint the body and they found it empty. They heard from an angel that he's risen just like he said he would. And those women came back to the 12 and they told them, Jesus is alive, I think. The tomb is empty, but everybody's kind of like not sure what to believe. And Jesus hasn't quite appeared to. everyone yet. And so in Luke 24, starting in verse 13, it says, now behold, two of them, that is two of the disciples were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him. And he said to them, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad. Now I want to go back, go back to verse 16. I want us to ask a question together. Why would God allow their eyes to be restrained so that they did not know him? This is Jesus who they loved and followed. This is Jesus who they trusted. They learned from, they'd submitted to his authority. They were his disciples. They wanted to be close to Jesus. They knew him very well. So why is it that God would allow their eyes to be restrained? And, and here's a principle that I think is important for us to understand about God. God does care about what we know, but he actually cares more about how we know it. And, and

this, I think is, is you can see this in, um, uh, in this, this story of Adam and Eve that they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and their eyes are open and they become aware that they're naked. And here's the thing. They were naked. That was true. And so the information they acquired wasn't false information. It actually was true, but, but God's concern was not with what they knew. It was with how they knew it. Right? So God actually cares deeply about how we acquire knowledge. Now I want you to understand this is not just a doctrinal theory or principle. This is actually really practical for us. And, and it should call us back again and again to ask ourselves, okay, listen, I want you to study the Bible, but I don't want you to study the Bible so that you can dunk on some atheist in a Facebook comment section. Like it's not honoring to God if we study his word just so we can be right and make others look foolish. It's actually dishonoring to God. Like it would be better for us to not even bother than it would be for us to only seek God so that we can get something out of it so that we can make ourselves better than other people. So we can exalt and honor and glorify ourselves more. Right? And so what, what happens in this situation, I'm convinced is that God is actually very intentionally waiting to reveal himself or to reveal his accomplishment or to reveal his victory to these disciples in a very particular way. So I want you to pay attention because God doesn't just care about what we know. He cares about how we know it. So Jesus shows up and he starts asking questions. He's walking with these two disciples as they're going to this, uh, this village called Emmaus. He says, what kind of conversation is it that you have with one another as you walk and are sad? He's like, what has happened that has got you guys so upset? And the one of them whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? He's not being particularly hospitable or kind here. Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and have you not known the things which have happened there in these days? And, uh, it says, and he said to them, what things Jesus is just, he's playing coy here, you know? Oh, tell me about it. Like the person who is at the middle of all the things that happened there this week and wouldn't know. Right? So Jesus asked, well, what things tell me about it. So they said to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who is a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death

and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. I think there's, I don't know. There's something about that line that is, um, so human. I'll tell you, I'll tell you what comes to mind for me. Um, when, when I was eight years old, the, some of the pastors and the men from our church came over to our house and they prayed for my dad who was on hospice, not to die of cancer. And he did die of cancer. And we buried my dad. And I felt the sting of, I don't know if disappointment is, is maybe a strong enough word to describe, you know, the, the pain and the unimaginable suffering that came with that. And, and, and then to be able to say like, I'd hoped it would be different. I, I had a hope. I had a desire. I had a plan, a fantasy, an imagination, a dream of, of what, of what this might look like or how this might go. And there's something, I think, just so human about this idea that this disciple would say, the chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and they crucified him, but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. We had hoped that he was the Messiah. We'd hoped that he would be our savior, our rescuer. We were ready to follow him as our king, and man, now our hearts are broken. Our hopes, our expectations are dashed. And he continues and says, besides, this is the third day since this has happened. But I'll tell you this, guys. The disappointment of delay has, I think, caused more people to leave the narrow road than persecution ever has, and I don't think it's even close. The disappointment of delay has caused more people to leave the narrow road than persecution ever has. God, we've got to understand, does not

work on our time or according to our metrics. One of the big apologetic questions that get asked is what we call the problem of evil. That is basically this question, that if God is all powerful, that is, he can do anything, and he's all good, then why does he allow evil to exist? The existence of evil, some would argue, makes it so that we have to believe that either God is not good or that God is not powerful. He's not good enough to stop evil, or he's not powerful enough to stop evil. Otherwise, evil wouldn't exist. And here's, I think, the thing that we, if we were to adopt that line of thinking, that we would fail to understand, that what looks like evil when our world is only a couple hundred miles and maybe 80 to 90 years long is nothing, like the Bible tells us, that the suffering of this present age is not fit to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed to us in the age to come. Now, here's what I mean. John Lennox, who's maybe my favorite apologist, he's a great scholar. He's an Oxford mathematician and an apologist, a debater for the Christian faith. He recently explained when someone presented him with the problem of evil. He said, you know, let's say that God doesn't exist. Does that mean that evil or suffering disappear?

No, not at all. Injustice still happens. The world is still broken and twisted. Children still die young. War and famine still take lives. Here's what the truth of God gives us. It gives us hope that transcends earthly suffering. We believe in a God that is able to compensate sufferers in a way that is adequate for their suffering. We believe in a God, let me make that, that sounds very doctrinal and disconnected. Let me make it personal by saying this. We believe in a God that is able to so richly bless those of our brothers and sisters who've died as martyrs that they would consider it a joy to have done so. That they are in eternity rejoicing over the fact that God has been faithful to them though they were burned at the stake or beheaded or pulled apart with horses or dipped in boiling oil. Like, it's a non-issue for them because the glory which is revealed in the ages to come, it cannot even be compared to the suffering of this age. The suffering of this age, the loss of loved ones, the sicknesses, the injustices that we face in the brokenness of the world is not even fit to be compared to the wonderful glory that God has prepared for us. And so when we face disappointment, friends, my encouragement to you would be this.

Keep walking. Cling to Jesus and keep hoping. When it's difficult, when you've been disappointed, when you've been discouraged, when things didn't go the way you expected, we had hoped that it would be him who would redeem Israel and we just watched him die. We saw Joseph of Arimathea bury him in his tomb. There's no hope for us anymore. No, no, no, keep hoping. We keep hoping when things don't go our way because the story's not over. That is the hope that we have in a God who holds time itself in his hands. And so this disappointment of delay, I wanna talk about the disappointment of delay. How many of us give up because God. I didn't do on our schedule what we had hoped he would do or what we promised he would do, so we give up and we quit. Yesterday my family and I, we gave up. We went to Dollywood and we rode, me and Kai rode one ride and then the thunder came in and then the rain started and it was just pouring rain and we were like, all right, listen, we sat around for like an hour just waiting for the rain to pass and it was not gonna pass. So we gave up on Dollywood and we came home and went bowling at Tie Breakers last night.

In Jesus' name. But I want you to get this. In 1 Corinthians 15, six, I'll make this point to you. I'm rambling today. 1 Corinthians 15, six, the Bible tells us that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people after his resurrection. More than 500 people saw with their own eyes Jesus Christ resurrected. I heard a young preacher say this and man, I was jealous that I had never caught it. So I gotta give, I can't remember his name, but I gotta give credit to him. This wasn't my idea. But more than 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus after he had told everyone I'm gonna die and come back to life again and then he had actually died and come back to life again. More than 500 people saw him. But on the day of Pentecost, only 50 days later, how many were gathered together in faithful obedience to the instruction he gave them to gather there to pray? Only 120. That means that over the course of 50 days, 380 people. Had given up, they'd gotten bored, they'd gotten distracted, they'd gotten antsy. Maybe 380 of them, maybe they decided that this was all just some emotional thing they'd gotten caught up in and they quit. And so 380 people missed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

because they got bored or distracted or discouraged and only 120 remained for 50 days awaiting the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And so I'd encourage you, if you can relate to this disciple who says, I had a hope, I had an idea, I had an expectation of how things would go and it just has not gone the way I'd hoped. But they continue on and they say, they put him to death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us. When they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. And then he said to them, remember this is Jesus, meek and mild and sweet and kind. This is Luke 24, 15. I just wanna make sure it gets up on the screen so y'all don't think I'm lying about Jesus. Is that, I'm sorry, 24, what is it, 25? Yeah, verse 25, not 15, my mistake. Luke 24, verse 25, Jesus says to them.

You'll get there, we'll get there eventually. Jesus said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Oh, sweet Jesus, he's so, he's not. Listen, Jesus was a lot of things, but soft was not one of them. I'm grateful. He said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. I need to make sure that I say this clearly and that I leave no doubt about this. Jesus is the fulfillment, the satisfaction, and the culmination of all the Old Testament scriptures written by all the old covenant prophets. Jesus is the revelation to which not only all prophecy, but all history was pointing. He's the centerpiece of all creation. And we make this mistake sometimes when we say that Jesus was just another teacher like Abraham, like Moses, like Daniel or Isaiah, and then here comes Jesus, and then there's maybe others, Peter or Paul that came after him. No, no, no, Jesus is the point of it all. All creation before him and all creation after him have been pointing to Christ and to Christ alone,

who is the climactic fulfillment and satisfaction of all things. But they still, think about this, they still, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. They still couldn't see him. They still didn't know who they were talking to. They still didn't recognize that Jesus, their master, their savior, their redeemer, and in fact, God himself was standing or walking right next to them. Why? Because doctrine is not the same thing as revelation. Consider. Doctrine is not the same thing as revelation. I've known a lot of people with good doctrine who don't know God. I've known a lot of people with good doctrine and bad hearts. And may that never be said of us. Doctrine is not the same thing as revelation. Understand an open book is not the same thing as an open heart. How often do we learn new information in church and then pat ourselves on the back for having done so? But we're not tracking in those moments, we're not tracking the right metric. The question we ought to be asking when we gather together, the question we ought to be asking when we receive from a message or from a time of worship or collective pursuit here, the question we ought to be asking is this, are we more in love with God today than I was yesterday? Do I burn for him more passionately because I'm a part of this community? Am I more surrendered to Jesus than I've ever been before? Because if I can say yes to those questions, the doctrine thing can take its right place. Doctrine ought to be fodder for the fire that God is igniting in my life. It ought to be the thing that spurs me on toward love and good deeds. My doctrine ought to produce in me a greater hunger for God and a greater passion for what he's passionate about. And if it just makes me feel like I'm better than everybody else, my doctrine is worthless. Even if it might be right. Understand that these guys had more information after studying the scriptures with Jesus, but they did not have revelation. And I would tell you guard against this. I want you to grow in your knowledge of the scriptures. But more than that, I want you to grow in your love for God. And so they said to one another, excuse me. And so, uh,

in verse 28, as Jesus is finishing expounding to them and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself in verse 28, it says, then they drew near to the village where they were going. And he indicated that he would have gone further, but they constrained him saying, abide with us for it is toward evening. And the day is far spent. That's just new King James four, like, Hey, stay with us. The sun's getting low, you know, just stay here. So he went in to stay with them. Verse 30, it says, now it came to pass as he sat at the table with them, that he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while we, uh, while, uh, he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us. So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. And they told about the things that had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. I think that phrase is the one that I've got underlined in my Bible. He was known to them in the breaking of bread. Their eyes were opened when he took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. Their eyes were open and they knew him. He was known to them according to their testimony in the breaking of bread. Understand friends. It was the breaking of bread. It was in the breaking of bread that Jesus was finally revealed to these disciples, not in their incidental journeying together, not in their conversations about religion or politics. It was not in their mutual studying or their teaching or their learning. It was an eating a meal together that their eyes were opened and they could finally see the beauty that was in front of them all along. It was an eating a meal together. And the point that I want to make to you this morning before I let you go is this, we cannot discount the sanctity of sitting down for a meal with the people of God. So many of us were raised in a culture of sort of charismatic conference ministry that was built on occasional hyper emotional experiences. And we learned because of that to connect with God through spectacle and noise and grandeur. But what is coming in this generation is the realization that like these two disciples, our eyes are opened to see Jesus most clearly in the regular simple things of life, like sitting down to eat together at the end. live a long day. And there are two things I think that need to happen. Number one, we need to commit ourselves to making times like that. If your life is so packed, full of chaos, and noise and intensity and responsibility, that you don't get the opportunity to sit down and to talk about your day with people you love. I would

encourage you to do that. Maybe one of the ways you can do that is by volunteering today to lead a small group at the altar fellowship and say, you know what, maybe my house isn't a house that I could host people in. But we're going to get together once a week for those 10 weeks. And we're going to all go out to coffee on a Saturday morning, or maybe we're going to get together at a restaurant every single Tuesday night. And we're going to, you know, do trivia. And then we're going to talk about the Lord, we'll have a Bible study like this is, it's this stuff is easy. We're going to go to the park, and we're going to play, you know, Frisbee, and we're going to let our dogs run around. And then we're going to talk about how good God has been to us like those simple things like the act of spending time together eating a meal together. It's a sacred thing. And it's actually in those kinds of moments that we see Jesus most clearly. So number one, I'm asking you to make the commitment to say I will rearrange my week, I will rearrange my schedule, I will rearrange my life to make sure that I've got time like that to spend with the people of God. And number two, I would ask you to begin to pay attention. When you end up in those moments. Maybe for you, it's, it's like, it's like for us, I'll tell you my own story. Every school day, Monday through Friday, we get our kids together for a family breakfast. And I have this dream that we'll sit down for our family breakfast. And we'll, you know, share our plans for the day. And oh, you got a test coming up? Are you ready for it? Yes, Father, I am. I've I studied hard last night, I've done all of my homework, my grades are great, I'm going to get 100%. And, you know, my other son will say, Hey, Father, my friends at school are curious about Christ. Can I bring them to church on Wednesday for youth group? And I'll say, absolutely, son. Here's what actually happens is that, uh, you know, I take too long making breakfast. So by the time I sit the food down, it's like, we got 10 minutes, eat it right now, you know, and and, and my kids are like half asleep still one of them's like, Oh, what I had homework I didn't even know. And my wife just faints on the kitchen floor and the dog is like, biting somebody's foot. And, and it's like, not at all what I

imagined it would be. And so here's what I'm gonna have to commit to today before you, I want to be more present in those moments. If it means I have to get up earlier and get the food on the table, I like I want to make sure that I'm that I'm open to to seeing Jesus in those moments, to letting fellowship times of fellowship and connection be times of revelation for me, so that I can see and know Christ more fully than ever before. So my hope is that, uh, like these two disciples in Luke chapter 24, that we would find Jesus more than ever in the years ahead, not in the spectacle, the chaos or the busyness of, you know, some conference atmosphere, but we'd find him in the regular, simple, mundane, quiet moments of life. So, Lord Jesus, we just thank you. Thank you that you are there to be found. Thank you that you care for us, that you walk with us, that you meet us when we're sad and when we're discouraged, when things didn't go our way. Thank you that even in our discouragement, that you continue to come and walk with us on the road. Lord, we thank you for your relentless love that doesn't quit on us in the days that our faith is, is not in our favor. But that you continue to invite us again and again, again, to sit down and break bread with you, to come to see you more clearly and to know you more intimately. Lord, we give you our hearts and our lives again today. And we ask you to meet us in the days ahead. Thank you for the lives that are going to be changed as, as we eat meals together, as we eat together, as we eat meals together. Thank you, Lord, for the, uh, for the purposes that will be discovered as we eat meals together. And as we, as a community, commit ourselves to this dinner table revival, we ask you, Jesus, to be at the center of it all, to reveal yourself as we come together in fellowship. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hey family, God bless you. Thank you so much for being here. We will see. you next week, same time, same place. Thanks.