Consecration Sunday

Alright, good morning and Happy New Year. I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. We had a great time overall, but who knows, there could be highs and lows when you spend time with family, extended family. Maybe not you guys, but us. That's been our story, but we had probably one of the best Christmases we've had ever. And my wife's birthday is on Christmas Day, so kind of a double whammy there. She turned 44 this year, and we had a great celebration. And the night before, I pulled our four boys together, 15, 14, 12, and 11 years old, and I kind of laid out, here's what Christmas Day will look like. Don't wake us up before seven. We're going to start with mom's birthday, and so on and so forth. So at 6.15, four teenage and pre-teenage boys run into our room, throw the lights on, jump into the bed. It's Christmas, you know. And I experienced irrational anger. Irrational anger. Thank you, Jimmy. I'm not an early morning lights, loud person. My wife is. She thought it was the best thing ever. She loved it. I got dragged into the living room. We're at 6.20, you know, 6.16. We're like, they're starting to open presents, and I'm like, I need Jesus. So I slipped away back to the bedroom. I literally got on my knees next to the bed and prayed the Lord's Prayer. I was like, God, you have 60 seconds to turn me into a patient, fun dad. Got to throw the plans out the window, come out, we had a great Christmas. So praise God for that. But, you know, seriously, I know that in a room this size, we've got a range of where we're coming in to 2026. Maybe you've had a great, you know, year, month, week leading up to today, and that's awesome. And you have expectation and hope for the next, for this new year. Maybe you've had just a devastating time, year, month, over the holidays, and you're at a very low place. And we recognize that that's probably a significant, you know, percentage of where people are at. So we just say, you're welcome here. God sees you. And please don't carry those burdens alone. But most of us are probably somewhere in the middle, right? A mixture of highs and lows. But one of the things I love about a new year is just this, there's a sense of renewal. There's a sense of opportunity. There's kind of a reset that is available to us. You know, maybe your circumstances won't change dramatically, but God is realigning us and inviting us back to a place of security in Him in order to tackle the situation, whatever it might be, as we move forward into the year. And for us as a church, the theme for the next five years is this theme, Families of Promise. You'll hear this ad nauseum over the coming weeks and months and years. And Jimmy will spell out kind of the Word of the Lord for this year on the heels of the Families of Promise Word over five years. He'll do that over the next couple weeks. And to be clear, Families of Promise,

this includes everybody. This is single, married, young, old, talking about being a member of the body of Christ, part of God's household. And that is God's Word for us. And I just want to break down briefly, and not at any length because Jimmy's going to do this in the coming weeks, but I've got a graphic I'm going to throw up on the screen. If you are weary coming into 2026, then belonging to a Family of Promise means your starting place is rest and not striving. If you're lonely, to belong means from moving from feeling like an orphan to experiencing real connection with brothers and sisters in Christ. If you're coming into this year disillusioned, then to belong in a Family of Promise means hope and not disappointment gets the final word in your life. And for the aimless, if you are just kind of wandering into 2026, to belong means discovering your life has purpose within a far bigger story than just yourself. And I just want to kind of leave that up there for a moment. Look at those four words on the right. Rest, belonging, hope, and purpose. And I just want to say that is your portion, not just as a follower of Jesus, but as a member of this body, if this is your home fellowship. And we're going to talk about this morning how to pivot into that reality. Rest, belonging, hope, and purpose. And Jimmy already said it, but the theme is consecration. That is this idea of being set apart for God, kind of leaving the old man behind. and stepping into our identities, our identity as followers of Jesus. And today can be a pivot point. Maybe you've made a wreck of your life or somebody has made a wreck of it for you. Again, depending upon the circumstances you're bringing, there's some knowing laughter up here in the front row. That is a lot of our stories, right? And today can be a pivot point. God's mercies, His faithfulness is new every morning. And so I just wanna inspire hope this morning, even as we talk about consecration. So we're gonna look at Joshua chapters three through five. If you're a Bible tangible in your hand,

you can flip there or pull out a phone, but we'll have some scriptures, key scriptures up on the screen. But if you'd stand with me, I know you just sat down, but stand for a moment. We're gonna read Joshua chapter three, verse five together to kick us off. So this will come up on the screen and we can read this together. Then Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Amen. Give somebody a fist bump and have a seat. Now for context, Joshua is speaking to the nation of Israel they have been enslaved and have lived in Egypt for a very long time. A little Bible trivia, who knows how long they were in Egypt, just shout it out. 430 years, give or take a little bit, 430 years, it's a long time. That's if you count generations as 25 years, that's over 17 generations that have lived and died in Egypt. Now I am adopted. I didn't know my ethnic background until just a few years ago. I did ancestry DNA and lo and behold, I am 30% Jewish from Eastern Europe. I am 29% Scotch-Irish

and then a host of other European ethnicities. But I feel zero significant cultural connection to any of that ethnic background. I don't speak Yiddish. I don't speak Ukrainian, which is where kind of the Jewish lineage of my family is from. I don't speak Gaelic. I am very American. If you were to pick me up out of Waco and drop me in Ukraine, I would be very lost. I don't speak the language. I don't understand the customs, the food, the relational expectations, the worship patterns. All of that would take time if anybody's lived cross-culturally, you understand this intuitively, takes time to learn a new culture, a new way of life. For the Jews coming out of Egypt, they were Jewish ethnically, but they were very Egyptian culturally. And now they're standing at this precipice at the Jordan River, and Joshua is commanding them, "'Consecrate yourselves, "'for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders in your midst.'" Part of what he is saying is in order to enter the Promised Land, they have been delivered from Egypt after 430 years. They've wandered the wilderness now for 40 years,

God beginning to disciple them in the wilderness. Now they're at the banks of the Jordan River, and Joshua's essentially saying, leave behind your Egyptian identity and step into a new identity as the people of God. Now they were already judicially free, but they had taken the patterns of Egypt with them. You might have heard the expression that they had been taken out of Egypt, but now Egypt had to be taken out of them, right? And the same is true for us, right? In the same way that the Jews were taken from a kingdom, the kingdom of Egypt, and brought into a new kingdom, the kingdom of God, where they were supposed to partner with God as a kingdom of priests to be a conduit for the grace of God to extend to every nation and people on the planet. Similarly, we were taken, if you're a follower of Jesus, from the kingdom of darkness and transferred, Colossians 1.13, to the kingdom of God's beloved son. That's your identity. However, like the Jews, a lot of us, all of us in some way, we take with us, even though we are delivered from the kingdom of darkness, we take with us, we port over some of the kingdom of darkness in us, even though we have been transferred into the kingdom of light. Does that make sense? So what Joshua is saying here is consecrate yourself

in order to step into God's promises, and the same exhortation is true for us. In order to step into the fullness of God's promises, for us as a people, he would say, consecrate yourselves, identify the ways that your old culture, that culture of your family of origin or the American culture, TikTok culture, Amazon Prime culture, whatever has, Influence the way that we think about what it means to be human, our relationship with God, what relationships should look like, how we deal with money and possessions and rest and work and so on and so forth. Identify the ways that those are misaligned with God's way, repent of that, and then enter into God's promises. So that's what we're gonna talk about this morning, among other things. I wanna talk about four in particular, four ways that the Jews took the culture of Egypt with them and had to repent of that, leave it at the Jordan River so they could enter into the promised land and how that might apply to us. And by the way, this is just skimming the surface. If you need a place to start in your Bible study for 2026, I recommend maybe the book of Matthew, in particular chapters five through seven. That's just a great kind of reset and that's the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus basically lays out,

this is what the kingdom of God is like. This is the flavor, this is what it smells like, what it looks like, and what he is calling us into, not just to be saved, but to be formed into his image as followers of Jesus. But we're gonna look at four. We can throw that graphic up on the screen. These are ways that God was endeavoring to get Egypt out of the Jews. The Jews, as they were trying to enter the promised land, as they wandered the wilderness, they had remembered Egypt fondly. They had carried their slavery inwardly. They had resisted holiness instinctively and they understood identity functionally. And we're gonna break each of those down. You guys good so far? Okay, good. All right, first, they remembered Egypt fondly. In Egypt, even though they were slaves, they had access to Egypt's resources and part of that was the food. And so they would eat meat and onions, these other things. Who knows what they ate in, I don't know if you like onions. I like grilled onions, but it's the first thing that came to mind. Anyway, who knows what they ate in the wilderness? Manna, right? Now, manna was kind of this thin, wafer-like substance

and it miraculously provided everything that they needed nutritionally. However, they were eating the same thing day after day after day for years on end. So we could be sympathetic towards them that in Exodus 16, three, they're sitting around and they're complaining and they're thinking back to what they ate in Egypt. They're like, man, we could go for some meat and some onions and some other things right now. Anything but this manna. What they conveniently overlooked was what came with that provision, namely slavery. A lot of us, similarly, we look back on our former life with fondness and we forget the shackles that came with that fondness. We forget the things, the comforts that we sought out. And I'll implicate my wife for just a moment. She's not here, she's in the nine o'clock. I'm just kidding. I have her permission to share this, but I'll talk about myself in a second. But I did ask my wife's permission, but only because it's been a pattern over the years where when she gets stressed, when she feels overlooked, when she feels unlovely, when she feels unpursued, her place of comfort and security that she goes back to in her mind was the series of relationships she had before really beginning to walk with Jesus

with multiple guys. And she remembers back to feeling wanted, to feeling pretty, to feeling pursued. And she'll confess that because she knows that with that came shackles, came slavery, but that's the temptation is to go back to Egypt, to remember this former life fondly. And so I would ask, as you pivot into 2026 or as you continue to grow in your relationship with God, in the middle of the stress, in the middle of desiring comfort and security, are there elements from your old life, pre-Jesus, that you think about fondly, that you find yourself gravitating back towards in order just to feel good for a moment? And I would ask that you bring those to the light and allow God to highlight them and not trade God's provision, which might be in the form of manna, which may not be what you would choose, but is substantial for what you need to grow and to participate in His kingdom, but comes without the shackles of slavery, and to not trade that for this old pattern, these old loves, these old sources of comfort and security. So what parts of our lives do we desire when things? Difficult what part of our old life? I should say do we desire when things are difficult? Okay, secondly Israel carried their slavery inwardly, right? Remember they had been slaves for hundreds of years This was their identity. This is how they knew how to interact

With the world and it got so bad that in Exodus 14 12, they just said straight up It would be better for us to go back to slavery With the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness they were under immense pressure in the wilderness They didn't know what the next day held. They felt very vulnerable and exposed in the wilderness And I know for me, you know Steph and I we started a business last year. We do real estate I'm on staff at the church. We have four boys. We have a handful of things going on We have a handful of stressors in our lives and I have these old Patterns that that emerge in times of stress in times of insecurity in times of boredom Not so much these days, but in the past and for me one of those well-worn paths is sensuality and I've shared before in different contexts on Sundays and elsewhere a an addiction to pornography that I dealt with for many years as a young follower of Jesus and And I remember an encounter with God That I had it at one point in that journey and I was praying fervently God set me free from this addiction set me free From this pattern and I feel like the Lord Confronted me one day and I feel like he said Mick you're praying the wrong prayer Theologically, you've been praying God set me free. The right prayer is God would you make me aware of the freedom that I already possess because Freedom has nothing to do with you and I God said you were already free You've you've been free since you gave your life to Jesus That's the same for you the moment that you gave your life to Jesus. You were set free again Judicially, just like the Israelites had been set free from Slavery in Egypt because freedom has everything to do with God's intervention and not our efforts So the the prayer is not God set me free. You're already free Right those generational patterns of alcoholism and bitterness and fear and Control you're already free from those if you're in Christ You might be walking in it today But before God you're free The prayer is not God set me free

The prayer is God make me aware of the freedom that I already possess in Christ now empower me to walk out in that freedom It's a big difference There's an identity shift that has to happen or Israel carried their slavery Into the wilderness and God had to root that out of them and let them know you're no longer slaves You are sons and daughters now walk in the identity that I purchased for you Through my blood the blood of the lamb at Passover, but for believers the blood of Jesus at the cross So the question is in what areas of your life Do you still think or act like a slave rather than someone who's already free? And and please hear me This is a process a lot of the time the process of walking out in that freedom now for some people It might be overnight, but for most that I've walked with It is a process but it starts with a mindset shift of coming into alignment with the identity of God with the identity that is most true about us All right, so they remembered Egypt fondly they carried their slavery inwardly third. They resisted holiness instinctively Israel was being called out of Egypt to become a nation that was Discipled by God in order again to be this this this kingdom of priests that displayed to the world who God Is and what he's like and so they were called to align with him not just in their beliefs that he exists But in their way of living again regarding money and possessions work and rest justice power speech Truthfulness their sexual practice their hospitality towards outsiders and so on and so forth God was calling them into alignment again if you need a primer just go to Matthew chapters 5 through 7 and let that be a an aspirational vision of a life that God is calling us to as his as his people but again the nation of Israel they resisted God's holiness they in Exodus 16 God had commanded them to practice a Sabbath But they continued to work on the Sabbath because they were fearful that they wouldn't have enough and so they were rebuked for that In the same way, you know, that's probably defined my past year more than just a about any of these other struggles, and I have plenty of them, don't get me wrong,

but this has been kind of right in the center of the bullseye for me, this tension between work and rest. And who knows that Sabbath is actually not ultimately about rest? That's the word that comes immediately to mind. But what word, starts with a T, is actually underneath the call to rest? We know it, trust. Here's several people saying it. Sabbath is really about trust. The invitation to rest is really about trusting that I'm a son and God's my dad, and I'm gonna have everything that I need. Now, I still need to work hard, but it's from a place of security and from a place of sonship, not striving for security, not striving for provision. And that wrestle has been really acute for me over the past year, in ways that are new, I think with starting a business and some other things, but in some deeper ways as well. And God has been just putting his finger on that and just has been unrelenting in convicting me of that sin, ultimately, of distrust, of mistrusting his character. And part of that is pride. I was, I don't know if Brandon Hare is in this service, but I was having coffee with Brandon Hare, for those of you who know him, a few months ago, and was just kind of processing some of these challenges.

And I was like, I don't know what's going on, I don't know what God's doing. And he's like, hey, have you read James 4 recently? It says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Maybe he's dealing with pride in you. I was like, maybe this coffee is over. I don't know. We all need friends, don't we? But he was totally right, and God's been dealing with that in me over and over, for a long time, but especially over the last 12 months. And so, that's just one example, and I've already talked about the bent towards sensuality and other things. But in what ways have you been resisting God's ways? And as you look ahead to 2026, this is a demarcation line, right? This consecration week, and standing at the Jordan River, looking to enter into God's promises. So, what ways have you been resisting his ways? And where is that conviction of the Holy Spirit just inviting you? And the difference, it's conviction when there's hope. It's condemnation when there's no hope. Condemnation comes from the enemy. He's the accuser of the brethren. But conviction is an invitation into your identity as a follower of Jesus. All right, and then, lastly on this list,

Israel, they understood their identity functionally. Right, again, they had lived and existed as slaves for hundreds of years, and their identity was connected to this mode of existing, of producing something. And this plays out in a number of different ways throughout the Torah, and then on into the rest of Israel's history. But God, again, was rewiring their brains to say, you're no longer slaves. You are sons and daughters. You don't have to earn favor. You don't have to earn forgiveness. You don't have to earn provision in the most fundamental way. But you receive it as a son or a daughter. And, you know, for me, this makes intuitive sense, because I grew up in a very successful family. I was surrounded by success in business, success in military, success in law. And God called Steph and I into kind of this circuitous journey of faith. And for me, this has been another place of wrestling and tension and insecurity at times. As at 43 years old, I look around at my peers who have experienced success in a variety of different ways, and I just find myself comparing myself and finding my worth and my identity in what I feel like I have produced or have not produced. Maybe you relate with that.

You know, I mean, we've started two churches. We've shut two churches down. We've had some success in business, and we've had some challenges. We're raising kids, and hopefully they turn out to follow Jesus, you know? Tongue-in-cheek, they are fantastic kids. But there is that insecurity, you know, just, Lord, am I enough? Am I producing enough? Am I doing enough? And God, again, has just put his finger on that over and over and over, and said, that's not the source of your identity. The source of your identity is acceptance by grace through faith. And then from that place, we serve, and we trust God, we yield the results back to God. And so, and that can go both ways. That could be from a place of insecurity or a place of pride. Maybe you've experienced tremendous success, and you find your identity in that. But our identity is ultimately not. in what we produce. Functionally, our identity is anchored to who we belong to. And so as we come into 2026, I would ask, where do you measure your worth by what you produce rather than by who you belong to? And there's an invitation there to repent of an identity anchored to productivity and to step into an identity anchored in belonging. So despite all these flaws, you know, the nation of Israel and we are still the family of promise by God's grace. And God is delivering Israel and us from fear and slavery and sin and misplaced

identity into, again, rest and belonging and hope and purpose. And it's this consecration that's a vehicle for that. It's a conduit, it's a pathway from these old identities to a new identity. These old identities and into God's purpose and identity. And so we're going to look just briefly to round out our time at three ways that Israel consecrates themselves and then what that means for us and how we're going to respond this week. So three ways we've got up on the screen. And this, maybe just another plug, Jimmy just said it before the message, but we will have the sanctuary open all week. And what I'm about to go through really is the format of what, if you come and participate, we'll have a 10-page handout that'll really lead you in depth on how to remember and reflect and how to cut away the old man and how to renew a faith journey with Jesus. And so we're just going to skim the wavetops here. So definitely dive in this week if you want a deeper run at this. Okay? But three R's for consecration. Remember, remove, and renew. Let's say that together. Remember, remove, and renew. Okay? So remember, in Joshua chapter 4, the whole chapter really is about these memorial stones that God has Israel set up. They pull them out of the Jordan River and they set them up on the far bank. And they're 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. And it's a physical memorial. And at the very end of the chapter, towards the end, verse 24, Joshua 4, 24, God says, essentially, the reason you're doing this is so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. Remember, most of us have spiritual amnesia. We forget the faithfulness of God. We forget the breakthroughs. We tend to just see what's right in front of us. And so there are these patterns throughout the Bible of ways of remembering. And for Israel, this was just one of them, these 12 stones were a memorial. Because what happens right in the middle of this is, to get into the promised land, God stops up the waters of the Jordan, which had overflowed its banks, and they walk through on dry land. It's a pretty significant miracle. And still, they had to set up a memorial because God knew they would forget that they had walked through and seen this miraculous act. So how could we do that? Catherine Downey was in the first service, but she was part of a spiritual formation group we were doing a few years ago. And she literally started collecting rocks when she saw these little breakthroughs of God on a daily basis. And she would kind of label them as to what it represented. And she had this growing collection over the course of the three to four months that we were meeting together, and it was bolstering her faith of like, oh my gosh, I didn't, I wasn't walking in awareness of how often God is intervening in my life until I started to

make a memory of it through this physical symbol. Right? Now maybe that's something you do, but probably more practically for most of us, journaling is a way to do that. Just very simply, you may not have ever kept a journal. It might kind of seem like, I don't know what it seems like to you, for whatever, but it's a very powerful practice. Even if you just jot down a few thoughts at the end of the day, recognizing where God was at work in your life, and collecting these testimonies over a lifetime. And you know, one of the ways that we've done that, I do keep a journal, but my wife and I, we started years ago because again, this kind of faith and finances journey has been a part of our testimony. And so years ago, we started keeping a, we call it our blessings journal. And it's just page after page after page, sorry to do this one-handed, but of like line items of ways that, the ways that God has provided for us miraculously. They're dated, and we write out the story of what it was. And you know, I don't know, there's several hundred in here. And if you were to sit me down and just ask, hey, what are the ways that God's provided for you financially? I'd probably off the cuff think of four or five ways. I would not, I, Sometimes we open this, I'm like, I don't even remember that, that's amazing. And so when we come up against a financial hurdle, we'll just pull this out, we'll start skimming through and think, how on earth? Guys, we have seen God's miraculous provisions so many times, but you know what the emotion I feel is when we're up against another financial hurdle? It is still anxiety and fear. Still, and God's patient with our process and he understands this is why we need memorial stones to be able to remember and reflect on these things because we are so weak, we are so fragile. So you might start a journal if you've never kept one before, or take some time just to reflect back as a family, as roommates, where have we seen God at work

over the past 12 months? And talk about it and celebrate it, maybe have a meal to commemorate it. There are other ways that we can remember. Modern memorial stones might look like communion. It's a way of remembering Jesus's sacrifice. We're gonna do that here in a moment. Sabbath, a daily practice of gratitude. We do a birthday blessing kind of on each of our kids' birthdays, and we got this from other Cybert Spanos. But just we recount the story of what God spoke over them when Steph, my wife, was pregnant with each of them and just blessed them. That's just one way of commemorating, again, the legacy of faith that we believe God gave us our children as a gift and meditating on it in that way. So a memorial stone, looking back and remembering that we might be able to declare what God's actions will be in the future based on his faithfulness. So we'll put a question up on the screen. You can jot this down or take a picture of it or whatever. Again, this will be more fully spelled out in the packet during Consecration Week. But you could talk about this over lunch today, over dinner. What did God do in 2025 that I need to remember so I don't take credit or lose heart later?

Remember. So what's the first R? Remember, and if you forgot what it was, that's ironic because it's literally remember. All right, secondly, remove. Everybody say remove. So after they put up the 12 memorial stones, after they crossed the Jordan River, any male that had not yet been circumcised was circumcised. It's a bummer day, right, if you weren't circumcised at birth. But it's just what it is. It's how God called them to identify with the covenant that he had invited them into. And even as I was preparing for this, I was like, God, why circumcision? That's just weird and awkward if I could just say it out loud, right? Like, why not like a specific haircut or a robe or something to identify the Israelites as God's people? Why this sign? And I've studied it before and I know some of the different teachings. It is irreversible, maybe the way a haircut isn't. But one of the things that stood out this time was for the Jews who kind of grew up within this history, if we just be adults here together this morning, the fact that it was circumcision was God marking the organ of reproduction, meaning God was saying, I'm not just marking you

for my purposes, but your children and your children's children, a multi-generational covenant of promise to the people of God. For us as New Testament believers, circumcision moves inward. I mean, it's a physical cutting away of something. But for us, it's a circumcision of the heart, Romans 2, 29. Circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit. When we come to Christ, the flesh, the old man, is cut away and we are now marked by our union with Jesus. That becomes, again, our identity. That is salvation. But then there's this ongoing process of sanctification where we continue to cut away the old man, to put off the old man and to put on the new man, to repent of old ways that don't align with Jesus and to step into the new ways that do align with Jesus. So you're following the kind of the metaphor here, the living metaphor. And this really matters. And just kind of roll with me for a second because we don't have time to break down all the theological connections here. But King David is a great example of this in a kind of a living metaphor sense again. Before King David came on the scene, people did not kill giants. Israelites did not kill giants. That wasn't a common thing.

Goliath comes out, he taunts the armies of Israel for weeks and no one steps up to confront him. Finally, David, this shepherd boy who had no business confronting Goliath, does so and he's able both to confront and defeat the giant. Probably familiar with the story. What you may not be familiar with is what happens after that. Second Samuel 21, verses 16. through 22. And Ishbi-Banab, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed 300 shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. But Abishai, the son of Zariah, came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. After this, there was war again with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibachai, the Hushethite, struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. And Elhanan, the son of Jareh-Oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. Do you see what's happening here, by the way? And there was again war at Gath, and there was a man of great stature. And he also was descended from the giants. And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shammai, David's brother, struck him down. These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. Before David, nobody was slaying giants. After David, now everybody's getting in on the game. Everybody's slaying giants.

So my question is, what giants are standing in your way that are not just a hurdle for you, but are inhibiting an entire generation behind you, right? Who was it who stepped up to a giant and made a way for you? Who looked at fear and said, I'm not going to bow to fear anymore? Who looked at bitterness and said, I'm not going to carry that into my grave, but I'm going to make a way of forgiveness for those who come behind me? Or who, like Daniel McGuinness, who stood up in front of a group of freshmen men at Baylor and he said, I used to be addicted to pornography, but God set me free. I'm living in the freedom that he purchased for me, and that's your destiny as well. And he was the first one that really planted a seed of hope that I might walk in that path one day too. He slayed a giant and he made a way, and now giant slaying is what everybody's doing. What are the giants that need to be slayed this year in 2026? Not just for you, but so that dozens, hundreds, thousands can come behind you and walk in that legacy of freedom. That's a cutting away. It's a violence. Paul said, I beat my flesh. I make it my slave so that after preaching to others, I myself might not be disqualified. You can do this. You can. Not because you're great. Not because I'm great. But because the spirit of Jesus Christ lives in you. If you feel overwhelmed, if you feel underwater, we get it, and there is hope, and you can walk in that freedom. So the question, what habit, mindset, or loyalty needs to be cut away this year? Another way of saying it, what giant needs to fall in 2026? All right, we have remember. We have remove.

And lastly, we have renew. Remember, remove, renew. This was essentially the first act in the new land, the promised land that Israel did. It was to celebrate the Passover, Joshua chapter 5, verses 10 through 12. And basically, Passover was a symbolic declaration of dependence on God's mercy. It was saying that we are here, we are saved by blood and not by strength. That God was the one who liberated them from captivity. God was the one who sustained them. God was the one bringing them into the promised land. For us, as we wrap our time up together, Jesus is our Passover lamb. You and I, we don't possess the wisdom, we don't possess the power, we don't possess the right connections enough to walk in the fullness of all that God has for us. Our sanctification is initiated and sustained and completed by God's work through the cross, the appropriation of Jesus' blood in our lives. So last question, as you look ahead to 2026, what are you tempted to control? And how might God be inviting you to trust him, to renew a dependence on his grace, to renew a dependence on his sustaining mercy? And if you take out, if you got a little cup as you came in, hey, how about the new cups, huh? I'm a longtime member here. It's like a double chalice, something. And we're gonna take communion together. You can remove the top flap and take out the little wafer. And communion is this symbolic act. This is what the Israelites did when they celebrated Passover. They ate the bread, they drank the wine, the cup, to remember the blood that was shed on their behalf, to remember the body that was broken. for them. None of us are sufficient in our own strength to live the life that God's calling us to live.

But Jesus became our sufficiency. And so by participating in communion, this is a declaration over and over again that we are one with him, that we get our identity by internalizing his words, by becoming followers of Jesus. And Paul would say it this way, and we're gonna take the elements together in just a moment. He says it this way in 1 Corinthians 11. He says, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And I'll tack on verse 27. He says, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. I include that just to say this is an opportunity for repentance, to do some examination, to allow the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts as we journey into, we cross over into 2026. We're just gonna take a moment in silence, about a minute or so, and just allow God

to bring to mind anything we need to repent of. Repentance, kind of a big Bible word, just means acknowledge that it was wrong and then turn, turn in our hearts back to God's way. So just take a moment, where do we need to confess our sin to God, ask for his forgiveness and turn in our hearts before we take communion together? Just take a moment. Let's pray. Take the bread. This is Christ's body, broken for you, take and eat. And this is Christ's blood for you, shed for you, take and drink. Father, we are grateful. We're grateful. If you don't feel like you have a testimony today, the fact that God holds all things together by the word of his power is your testimony. We exist, we move, we have our being because of your mercy toward us. May we honor you in 2026. May we consecrate our lives, leaving behind the old man, stepping into our identity as followers of Christ. Would you renew us? Would you form us into your image? Would you stand with me? You know, in Joshua 3, 5, which we read earlier, Joshua said, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders in your midst. A lot of us need a wonder. We need a river to be stopped up so that we can pass over on dry ground. If we could have our prayer teams come forward. If you're here this morning and you need a miracle, you're standing in front of what seems an impassable situation. And you need God to move on your behalf, maybe in a financial sense, a relational sense, maybe some internal struggle that's just persisted for months or years. Then we want to put a hand on your shoulder and just pray with you and agree that God would work a wonder in your midst to start off the new year. And you can come and get prayer for anything else. But please, move out of your seat.

Have somebody put a hand on your shoulder. Make a declaration that this year is going to be a year. of sanctification, of consecration, of being set apart one last song of worship.