Introduction

all right good morning everyone welcome to port church i hope you find yourself well and happy this morning try to find a comfortable spot and let’s to the best of our ability just give our full attention for the next one hour. Amen. Life is hectic there’s a lot going on but you know what this is a special moment a special time let’s receive from God. because that’s what church is about receiving from him amen so we’re going to receive from his word this morning we’re going to receive from song we’re going to receive from prayer we’re going to receive from the lord’s table so please i hope you have your emblems ready just put yourself in a position to receive. We do this every sunday we say okay take a moment of silence close your eyes try to steal your heart forget about last week don’t think too much about the week to come so let’s go ahead and do that now let’s take a moment of silence to prepare ourselves to receive.

Stand your feet with me if you can where you are it’s always a reminder of what the church service does and you’ll notice this this is the theme of every sunday service it drives us back to Christ. It drives us back to the gospel it reveals and i hope i hope to the best of our ability we reveal christ to people. I want us to see jesus this morning amen i don’t want you to just see me and hear me i want you to see christ i want you to hear christ and what he has for you this morning amen so that’s the encouraging point so everything we do drives us back there i’m going to read on psalm 111 it says this praise the lord i will give thanks to the lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation great are the works of the lord studied by all who delight in them full of honor and majesty is his work and his righteousness endures forever he is gained renowned by his wonderful deeds the lord is gracious and merciful he provides food for those who fear him he is ever mindful of his covenant he has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the in the heritage of the nations the the works of his hands are faithful and just all his precepts are trustworthy they are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness first corinthians chapter 8 says this for us there is one god the father from whom all things and for whom we exist and one lord jesus christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever amen just as a reminder you can follow the liturgy on the screen behind us so let’s begin this morning with our first worship song

amen what a wonderful song to begin with this morning reminding us that because of jesus because of calvary we are redeemed amen that’s a that’s the blessed good news that’s the good news of the gospel that christ god in christ did something for humanity that we could not do for ourselves amen it says this in first john chapter 1 verses 8 to 10 if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us let’s say this together but if we confess our sins god who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness friends what a promise we have when we miss the mark when sin is right there when sin is staring us in the face and that stares us in the face when you and i look in the mirror when it looks us in the eye we realize we have a place to run to we have a place to go we have an advocate we we have a god who loves us in spite of ourselves amen he still loves us even when we mess up that’s christianity religion i say this often but it’s it’s worth repeating religion says this fix yourself then hopefully god will accept you so so do this do your penance make sure you’re nice to people and if you were mean to people maybe the nice part of you will will outweigh the mean part of you that’s religion friends listen that’s religion christ came to redeem the world christ came as the lamb of god to take away the sins of the world how did he do that on the cross so when we confess our sin what are we saying we’re saying god i need you so here’s the power of confession the power of confession is this it’s a recognition that you and i still need our savior amen we still need what he did for us was what paid for our sin so when you and i miss the mark and that’s what sin is we run back to the one who paid for it amen let’s say this together most merciful god we confess that we have sinned against you in thought word and deed by what we have done and what we have left undone we have not loved you with our whole heart we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves we are truly sorry and we humbly repent for the sake of your son jesus christ have mercy on us forgive us renew us and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways by your grace and for your glory amen come on let’s go ahead and bow our heads and bow our hearts and take a moment of silent confession

amen let’s say this together thank you god our father for your grace and mercy we thank you for the forgiveness of sins through jesus christ our lord and savior help us to live in your grace let us walk in your peace strengthen us by your word empower us by your spirit lord have mercy on us christ have mercy on us lord have mercy on us amen friends rejoice in that this morning rejoice in what christ has done for us rejoice in the gospel rejoice in the good news rejoice in your forgiveness rejoice in the fact that you are loved by god so how do we know we’re loved by god i’ll promise you this you’ll know you’re loved by god when you can let love flow out of you you’ll know you you’ll know this you’ll know you’re forgiven by god when you when forgiveness towards others flows out of you amen because god only asks us to give and do what he’s poured into us and what he’s done for us amen that’s christianity christianity is like isn’t try to fix yourself no christianity is this god has done something deep in us now we live that out amen that’s the power of christianity so how do you know you’re forgiven oh you find it just a little bit easier to forgive how do you know you’re loved oh you can begin to love the unlovely in your life come on that’s the proof of it and you know what the more we do that the more of that love from god we receive and understand the more of the forgiveness we understand the more we can exercise that forgiveness amen all right let’s continue together with our next worship song

amen all right right where you’re standing come on let’s pray for a moment lift your hands if you will why do we do that why do i ask that because that’s a sign of surrender amen our lives are under him our lives are surrendered him he is both savior and lord amen so this simple act of lifting our hands reminds us he’s lord amen thank you jesus thank you for for doing for us what only you could do and thank you for giving us the holy spirit i thank you holy spirit that you’re here right now you’re present you’re present in people’s homes your present inside of our hearts and inside of our lives and i thank you holy spirit for doing this morning what only you can do only you can reveal jesus to our hearts and minds only you can heal the sick only you can open the eyes of the blind only you can redirect our hearts and redirect our lives only you can give us the passion for christ that we long for only you can do that and i thank you holy spirit for doing what only you can do thank you jesus thank you jesus come on just under your breath say lord thank you for being you have your way in my life come on if you’re bold enough to pray that this morning say this say god have your way in my life all i want is what you have for us in jesus name we pray and everyone said amen can you imagine could you imagine just imagine with me for a moment if you actually if you and i could actually walk in everything christ has for us because as i as i read the bible as i as we open scripture we see all these amazing promises all these things that god has has in store for us your life has a purpose your future is full of god amen come on walk in that be bold enough to walk in that all right let’s pray and then i’m going to read some scripture this morning and then you can sit down and and we can begin amen here we go let’s pray together lord let your word be my delight in your commands i will rejoice let your glory be my aim your holy will my choice let your promises be my hope your providence my guard your arm my strong support and yourself my great reward amen i’m going to read out of john chapter 8 john chapter 8 then they all went home but jesus went to the mount of olives at dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach the teachers of the law and the pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery they made her stand before the group and said to jesus teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery the law the in the law moses commanded us to stone such a woman now what do you say they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him but jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger and when they kept on questioning he straightened up and said to them let any of you who was without sin be the first to throw a stone at her again he stooped down and wrote on the ground at this those who heard began to go away one at a time the older ones first until only jesus was left with a woman still standing there jesus straightened up and asked her woman where are they has no one condemned you no one sir she said then neither do i condemn you jesus declared go now and leave your life of sin this is the word of the lord to us and everybody said amen go ahead and take your seat and find a nice comfortable place and we’re gonna you know my my hope i should start by saying this my hope was that i could sort of tie up and wrap up our little mini series here about love for love for people this morning and i was gonna parallel two stories but as i began to dig into this i realized something the entire bible the entire thing is really expressed almost in this one story in multiple different versions what is the bible about god’s love for people do you know what this book really is friends from beginning to end a story about how god continually redeems humanity the people he loves and we’re going to look at this so we’re going to take a few weeks i i don’t know how many weeks but we’re just going to begin to go on a journey together and we’re going to look at the different types of people that god loves now you say there’s certain people god loves well god loves all people but maybe a better way of saying it is this how god engages different types of people with his love and we’re going to look at that and we see so many amazing things we think of the woman who had five husbands that jesus encountered at the well we think we think of of nicodemus who comes to jesus at night we think of this this situation where this woman was caught in the act of adultery and brought before jesus right into the right into the the courtyard where they were teaching all these different people experiencing something amazing jesus and what do they encounter when they meet jesus do they encounter condemnation do they encounter a beat on the head no every time here’s the key if you’re a note taker write this down every time jesus encounters someone who’s who’s not yet a believer what does he do he meets them on their level paul says this paul says you know what i’ve become all things to all men that i may win some friends what can you and i learn about loving people from the life of christ that’s our goal this morning that’s what we’re going to dig into that’s what we’re going to look at and we’re going to use this this one story this one example from god’s word and we’re going to see at least two types of people this morning that jesus loves and how he encounters each of them amen all right if you have your bibles turn to me with with me to john chapter 8 and we’re going to give you a bit of a recap just to sort of set the stage for where we are today so today we’re going to continue our sea our series on loving uh love god love life love people but today we’re really going to focus on loving people and i’ve i’ve found and i hope you found this as well our series thus far has been really spiritual we’ve talked about the the depths of some spiritual truths that are anchors for our souls yet they’ve been so practical we’ve seen these practical things happen in these these practical responses to christ so we began our series discussing love for god and coming to the conclusion that the only way we can love god is to first be loved by him friends do you know you’re loved by god just as you are and then we looked at loving our lives and we said to love our lives just as we as they are and realizing that god is in our life even if friends even if there’s elements of your life that you don’t love that you don’t want in your life that you don’t like that are in your life the reality is friends god is still there amen and we said this the more you and i begin to love our life love the life we have our loves are like magnets our loves draw attention our love what we love captivates others and i use the example of yo yo ma but you’re gonna have to go back a couple weeks and listen to that one what we love grabs other people’s attention so when we say this love god listen as you and i love god that captivates people people say why would that person love god how’s that person why why does that person choose this over that why does that person respond choose to respond this way rather than that way because of love for god so when you and i love god something happens it draws attention amen and it doesn’t just draw attention to us because that’s not the goal the goal is for us to draw for our love for god to draw attention to god amen what we love captivates people so we’re drawing people to god’s love today we’re going to look at this we’re going to look at loving people and friends i say this humbly but i say this assuredly as well in christ we have what our world is looking for we have it and we’re all looking and are drawn to places and people where that love us and accept us see no human being ever so let me say it this way every human being wants to be loved come on that’s that’s a human that’s a human condition we long to be loved so if you reject me that’s okay i’ll find a place where i’m loved so here’s a little key little rabbit trail side note be careful who you reject and for the reasons you reject them because whoever we reject i promise you i promise you they will go find a community where they’re loved and accepted and you know when they do do you know what they’re going to say they’re going to say that person over there rejected me that community rejected me those people rejected me oh but look you’ve loved me and accepted me see something powerful with jesus and and i don’t want to get ahead of myself but he’s full of truth and grace grace and truth watch we’re going to learn so much from whom the world rejects and how jesus treats them amen so remember this we’re drawn to these places everybody are love for people is the essence of the whole bible it’s the redemption story i said that at the beginning and today we’re going to look at john chapter 8 and we’re going to see who jesus is and how he loves people and friends i’m convinced we’re going to learn some amazing practical things yet we’re going to learn some deeply spiritual things this morning so when you and i endeavor to love people remember this every person is unique they’re unique not not everyone is the same you say all people are like this and all people everyone is nuanced everyone has differing experiences everyone responds to those experiences differently so you can say well if that was me i’d do this well good on you that’s you but that’s not him her them amen so you and i have to come to this place where we understand people are unique and how they go through experiences are unique how they come out of those experiences are unique but christ meets them every time right where they are and how they are amen that’s grace so people are unique so let’s look at what the great teacher says about how to love people so let’s begin by looking at a very uh simple verse but an awesome amazing verse and if you go turn left in your bibles go to john chapter one john chapter one going to look at one verse because i think this verse of scripture really lays the foundation of what we’re going to talk about for the coming weeks john chapter 1 verse 14. i’m sure roma has it up behind me it says this the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us now we know that is jesus so jesus is the living word of god who became flesh made his dwelling among us we have seen his glory the glory of the one and only son so what else does that tell us about the living word he’s the son of god he’s the one and only son who came from the father look at this now full of grace and truth if you’re here right now this morning i’d say come on say grace and truth because this reminds us something this shows us something of who jesus is so from this one verse we understand this jesus is the living word of god so that means this book is alive today the bible is not just a history book the bible is not just a bunch of stories about a good guy named jesus who did a bunch of awesome things no no the bible is alive the bible is still living amen it’s still active it’s still sharp it still does a work inside of us the preaching of the gospel is still essential amen so that’s what we realized what else he’s the son of god jesus came from the father he is the son of god so jesus is the son of god believing this fact that jesus is the son of god we see who he is and how he deals with people so how what else does that verse say who came from the father full of grace and truth now this is where we’re going to dig in full of grace and truth what is grace what is the grace that they’re talking about here now you you probably have a definition of grace something like this the unearned undeserved favor of god that’s true that’s good that’s good but what about grace like this grace in action is this jesus fully knowing our situation your situation fully knowing it and inviting us to come to him just as we are that’s grace friends listen christ fully knowing our condition fully knowing your motive for everything you do fully completely knowing you knowing you and knowing me better than i know myself yet he invites me come randy come come on randy come closer to me friends that is grace but listen it says he was full of grace and truth what is truth truth is this the grace of jesus christ in action what is truth the grace of jesus christ in action helping us to understand and see our need for his grace truth from god’s word helps us see our true condition truth without grace can be devastating so what is truth truth is grace in action so if grace opens the door to someone truth is what sets them free amen grace says come as you are come here come on you can’t be good enough and you can’t be bad enough come close to jesus that’s what grace does but then truth comes in to set that person free to enjoy jesus because you know it’s possible to come to jesus but not enjoy jesus come on now you can say well you know i i guess i’m saved i guess i received that but i don’t really like it i wish i could be out there doing my own thing no the truth helps us enjoy jesus because what the truth sets us free come on so grace and truth are essential in loving people if you and i miss this point we can we can treat people with grace we say grace grace jesus loves you jesus loves you jesus loves you yeah but okay why does jesus love me some people if they hear that to say oh jesus could never love me he doesn’t know how horrible i am so oh i i no i don’t believe he loves me and then other people say of course jesus loves me look how awesome i am see both are wrong both need truth the truth for this one is nothing you can ever do is too bad for god’s grace and love to not to not greet you and meet you and welcome you this one has to understand we are full of sin our motivation is is evil our motivations are selfish there’s the bible says that we were we were formed in sin we were born in sin amen so both people need truth but if you say to people just truth you’re awful you’re an awful sinner you know most people say this one might say yeah you’re right i am if you say that to this one you have a big fight on your hands i’m not a you’re an awful sinner i’m not an awful sinner you’re an awful sinner so both of them need grace amen grace without truth becomes weak truth without grace can be harsh come on so i’m just going to give him the truth you’re going to hurt people i’m just going to give him grace you’re not going to help people see how both are essential you can’t help someone but it’s just grace it’s truth that sets us free grace opens the door truth sets us free amen

so today we look at john chapter 8 an example of truth and grace in action lord may we learn something from this today may we model this in our lives and may we walk with that same grace and truth amen again go with me to john chapter 8 i got to go back there

john chapter 8 verse 1. let’s begin but when jesus went to the mount of olives but jesus went to the mount of olives verse two at dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people were gathered around him and he sat down to teach them it’s interesting the bible says he sat down to teach them see teachers in jesus day always sat down with the people to say i am with you i’m not superior to you we’re on this journey together yet think about how much humility jesus exhibited by doing this well we know he was the living word of god we know he was the son of god yet he still in humility sits down with everyone not to say i’m superior but to say come on let me meet you where you are let me meet you at your level if you if you view yourself as a teacher who’s sitting amongst the people come on i’m going to sit with you amongst the people so what have wha why have we started to stand up at pulpits and preach probably for a lot of practical reasons and probably some not good reasons as well but let me tell you what my motivation is that i hope you and i understand in portraits randy’s not superior but his word is superior god’s word is superior so when you come to church i don’t want you to see me standing above you i want you to see you and i standing underneath the word or sitting under the word amen that’s our motivation

so he’s not superior he meets us where we are but he was all those things so what does this tell us about jesus he always meets us where we are come on burn that into your heart let that be burned into your brain he will always meet you where you are he’s going to meet your family and friends right where they are god doesn’t ask us to come to something he comes to us jesus is the first great missionary amen come on he doesn’t say come on get go become better so you can come to heaven no he says heaven’s going to come down and meet you because you’re in the unable to come up there come on that’s jesus that’s the christ we serve amen come on let’s keep reading verse three

uh verse three the teachers of the law and the pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery now look at this come on now don’t miss this after that whole teaching about sitting they made her stand before the group now come on picture this all these people sitting down hearing jesus teach what does jesus do he sits with them what do they do they bring this woman caught in adultery no they don’t make her sin because her sitting would have made her equal to them no no they make her and her sin stand out

be careful of people who perceive themselves as morally superior to everyone else be careful how do you know those people because they will always want somebody else is sin and the sinner to stand out they’re the first ones to cast judgment they’re the first ones to point fingers they’re the first ones to say you know what so-and-so did do you know how so-and-so sinned do you know how so-and-so messed up as they sit in the comfort of their own little world of what they perceive to be their safe world so the moral the morally superior will always find whom they deem as morally inferior detestable you’re not with us we’ve brought you here to expose you we brought you here to shame you we brought you here to humiliate you put yourself in the shoes of this woman put yourself there come on think about she just pulled out of this situation and plopped right there with her whole story just thrown out to the whole community wow wow now i’m telling you the morally superior you know what they were saying truth she was caught in the act of adultery we have proof right in the act and the law of moses says stoner come on jesus what do you say so what do they have on their side truth truth that’s truth jesus didn’t argue if she was caught in the act of adultery he doesn’t even argue that jesus doesn’t argue the fact that the law said that she should be stoned so think about the morally superior be careful will always try to have truth on their side jesus my friends is full of grace and truth so what does grace do he knows he’s the truth man he’s the living word he knows what the bible says

so they made her stand and they stand before this group we’re superior to this woman we make her and her sins stand out many times morally superior people have yet to be met by true grace and true truth moral moral superior morally superior people love to sit in judgment against whom they deem morally inferior come on friends is that where you want to find yourself do you want to be on the side of the morally superior only listen i want to be on the side of truth so that that means i have to make a moral stand but i also want to be on the side of grace which understands how the truth functions amen verses 4. let’s keep reading and they said to jesus teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery verse 5 in the law of moses moses commanded us to stone such a woman what do you say verse 6 and they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him so where does that leave jesus if he says stoner he’s right they stone her but you and i something inside of us says i don’t think jesus wants to stone her but if he says don’t stoner now jesus is in another problem because now he’s going against the law of moses you see the trap that they’re trying to set for him come on jesus you have to choose one of two ways come on either stoner tell us what to do jesus what would you do jesus stoner or not choose pick one i love it i love it because jesus is full of wisdom so what does he do he turns the tables and he’s he’s not only remember this friends he’s not only meeting the woman who was caught in adultery he came here meeting these pharisees and came to their them on their level so as much as he’s teaching her showing her love and truth and grace he’s teaching the pharisees something the same thing truth and grace jesus isn’t there just for the woman we can read this and think oh it’s just all about her no she’s one element the other group is just as important to him the morally superior or just as important to him the difference is they need a different medicine they need they require a different a different approach and yet jesus and these few verses are able to accomplish all of that so this whole performance by the pharisees was a trap a trap to set up jesus and really also to elevate themselves in their religious way of living so look at verse seven i love this come on now when they kept on questioning them he straightened up now some translations say he stood up i think he stood up so i think jesus was sitting down listening to this watching the scene probably seeing seeing people gather rocks as close as they would and just say i’m ready for this this woman deserves this and and i can you imagine the scene as jesus begins to stand up oh i’m sure some of them thinking oh she’s about to get it jesus is looking for rocks he’s looking for rocks no he was looking at hearts and maybe he was looking at some rocky hearts but he wasn’t ready to throw rocks at her he wanted to soften rocky hearts amen so what is this what does this tell us he straightens up he stood up what would he do how would he respond and you know why he stood up to meet her on her level him simply standing up friends is so profound for her now she’s no longer standing alone she’s no longer a spectacle to everybody he’s actually saying i stand with her friends do you and i have the courage to stand with the outcast to stand with the the morally inferior do we have the courage to sit with the people who deem themselves morally superior see jesus wasn’t against them he wasn’t against her jesus was for people and i think sometimes in church and in christianity we can become so bent on what we stand against we forget what we stand for christ stands for people he loved those pharisees who he was sitting with teaching the word just as much as he loved that woman caught in adultery and his physical action tells us so he sat with them he stood with her i’m sure her heart was beating out of her chest i’m sure she was so full of shame and embarrassment that that her face was about to explode yet what does jesus do meets her where she is friends love for people is about meeting people where they are not about demanding they come up to our level no because you know what if you treat people like that you know what they’ll never get to your level because you don’t really want them you just want them you just want them to go a little do a little song and dance no but you when you really want people to experience christ you have the grace to meet them where they are and to love them as they are knowing and hoping and praying this that they encounter jesus that’s your hope for your family that’s your hope for your friends that’s the hope you have for people in your life who don’t yet know christ that they would encounter the love of jesus not just your lover my love but the love of god amen

so he stood up jesus jesus meets her on her level let’s keep reading verse oh where are they

eight so after he stood up of over seven when they kept on questioning them he straightened up and said to them let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her what a profound wisdom come on would you and i be smart enough to come up with that one he didn’t condem he didn’t deny that she was caught in sin nor did he deny what the law commanded he put the law the truth of the law back on them so what do you do with morally superior people you use the word on them you’ll notice this about them though many times they don’t like that they don’t no no no i judge you you don’t judge me because i’m morally superior look i’m way up here no you don’t judge me i judge you what does jesus do he says no i’m not here to judge you let the word judge you come on let your own conscience judge you this is what jesus does and it’s so profound look verse 7. i got to read that again and when they kept on questioning them he straightened up and said to them he straightened up and said to them let any of you who was without sin be the first to throw a stone at her again he stooped down and wrote on the ground so i think he sat back down i think he sat back down signifying i’m with you hey guys i understand i know what the law says so i’m going to sit back down here

and it’s amazing and and it’s amazing when you see this let’s keep reading because i don’t want to get hit myself verse 8 again he stooped down and wrote on the ground verse 9 at this those who heard began to go away one at a time the older ones first obviously until only jesus was left with the woman still standing there so you see this picture you can just see that so vividly in your mind there’s the woman ashamed pointed out called out humiliated standing there all of a sudden after a certain amount of time we don’t know how long it’s only jesus sitting there and her and i guess she was probably thinking to herself he’s the last one who could stone me you know what’s interesting based on christ’s words he was the only one who could have stoned her because what did he say he says those of you who are without sin go ahead and cast a stone at her who was the only one present without sin christ so based on his own words listen before god based on his own words he could have picked up a stone and killed that woman and that would have been completely okay based on his words but he chooses not to why oh because grace meets us on our level jesus meets us to bring us somewhere he meets the woman at the well who had five husbands to bring her to something fuller and deeper and more meaningful he meets the woman on her level who’s caught in adultery to bring her freedom and deliverance amen this is the power of the gospel grace meets us on our level but the truth sets us free so let’s keep reading verse 10.

now verse 9 at this those who heard began to go away one at a time the older first uh until only jesus was left with the woman still standing there verse 10 jesus straightens up again i think he stands up again and asks her woman where are they has no one condemned you no one sir she says look what his words are now look how he sets her free he says neither do i condemn you jesus declared go now and leave your life of sin truth look grace meets her on her level but truth sets her free see jesus isn’t afraid to talk about truth he’s not afraid to talk about sin he’s not afraid to point out to people their need for a savior he is never afraid to do that so sometimes i think we we think oh if i mention sin the word sin it’s gonna scare people people don’t like to hear about sin friends jesus came to pay for sin if you and i can’t talk about sin in church where can we talk about it he said we don’t understand sin we have no clue why christ came to the earth to die he came to die for sinners part of our glorious story is about sinners being saved amen and this is what we see how grace meets her on her level and truth sets if he says listen go sin no more go sin no more be free grace meets her truth sets her free jesus meets the teachers of the law where they were and challenges them their moral superiority look at the two groups the morally superior at least they think they are versus what who they think is morally inferior yet both groups of people both the woman and the people jesus meets on their level i love this the morally superior he now meets and the woman when she was standing morally bankrupt she meets her on her level he says i don’t condemn you but leave your life of sin listen to this how we respond to truth reveals if we’ve received grace i’m going to say that again how we respond to truth reveals if we’ve received grace let me ask you a question do you have enough grace in your life to meet people where they are to bring them to where jesus is and by letting the truth ex by by helping them experience the truth of who christ is people need grace and truth let me say this about grace grace opens the door grace sets the stage grace is the initiator of every relationship in your life come on the basis of every relationship should start with grace what does that mean you accept the person as they are and i promise you friends when people experience true grace true grace it’s attractive man people want to be around gracious people people long to be around gracious people because you know what grace does it allows them to feel human and seen and respected that’s what grace does if you just walk around like you’re some big truth bearer it’s going to be harsh life

we we deal with truth with a scalpel grace with a bucket how’s that as a picture we give people buckets of grace because we love them meet them where they are grace opens the door revelation 3 20. go with me there if you have your bible revelation 3 20. i love this verse it says here i am i stand at the door and knock this is jesus if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come in and eat with that person and they with me isn’t that beautiful friends let me ask you a question do you know jesus have you experienced his grace i’m going to say this he’s meeting you right now he’s at the door of your heart he wants you not to just to know that you’re loved and accepted as you are but he has an amazing future for you he wants you to understand your need for a savior

this is how you and i are to live before people this is how we live towards people grace says i love you i accept you just as you are but truth says this i long for you to see jesus that’s what i long for people in my life listen i i i hope that my life is expressed through grace towards others i think at times i do a better job than others but i hope i hope and pray that that our church can express grace toward people towards all people but let me say this but i also hope just as fervently that our church never abandons the truth because truth is what sets us free amen grace builds relationships grace opens the door truth sets them free you can’t set them free i can’t set people free truth sets them free the truth of god’s word amen so this is how we’re to live truth says i long for you to see to see jesus and for the truth of god’s word to set you free have you met the grace and truth of jesus

it’s an important question maybe like the teachers of the law you think you’re morally superior maybe you think you’re okay maybe you think you don’t need a savior maybe you think sin is not a problem in your life that’s what they thought we’re doing everything good we’re we’re no better than the next we’re no worse than the next guy actually i’m better than him and her and him maybe maybe you’re the type of person you can find a whole whack of people in your life that you’re better than and maybe you are is that enough is your moral superiority enough is that the basis for receiving eternal life be morally superior than the next guy that’s not the basis the basis for eternal life is to receive the life of god how do you do that so maybe you think your moral superiority is enough or maybe you’re like the woman and you feel like your moral failures are too great for god to forgive god can never forgive me he you have no idea what i’ve done you have no idea the mistakes i’ve made listen listen there is no mistake no sin that any human can ever make that jesus christ hasn’t paid for he died for the sins of the world full stop every sin so don’t buy into the lie that you’re too bad for god’s grace and truth to reach no no just like that woman caught in the very act of adultery and humiliated before all the crowd jesus met her where she was jesus meets you today right where you are his grace is him knowing your deepest darkest secrets and beliefs yet he still loves you and he will let the truth of jesus shed light on you and then you’ll see your need for a savior you see how it works it’s like grace comes and just heals that woman a little bit grace comes and this makes those men feel a little bit better because jesus is sitting with them teaching them see grace has this amazing way of just doing something to us in a good way it almost is like prepares us to receive truth so when you receive truth you say you know what that’s right i’m a sinner i need a savior i i know that person who’s shown me grace loves me but they love me too much to leave me where i am so friends i don’t ever want to just show people grace i hope that i can at some point speak truth amen and the truth of god’s word is what sets us free the truth of god’s word is what gives us eternal life the truth of god’s word is what gives you and i this this born-again experience what does that really mean that you experience the love of god for yourself it becomes personal amen it becomes personal

will you let that happen today come on let’s take a moment let’s pray as we conclude this morning let’s bow our heads and bow our hearts

holy spirit we ask you to do your work right now shed light on our hearts shed light on our morally superior hearts shed light on the one who thinks their moral failures have have obliter obliterated their life and their hope in you help both groups to see their need for a savior right now friend father if there’s people out here right now watching online who say i’m not sure if i’ve received the the saving grace of jesus christ holy spirit do a work in them help them see their need but help them also understand deeply right now how much they’re loved by you grace and truth grace and truth in jesus name we pray truth sets you free the truth is we need a savior the truth is jesus is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world the pharisees could not be moral enough and the woman could not be too sinful to not receive forgiveness and grace they both needed truth and grace and we see in this simple story how jesus demonstrates models and lives truth and grace friends may our lives be marked by grace and truth may we look for opportunities to gracefully welcome all types of people into our world all sorts of people into our world be gracious enough and have a big enough life to welcome all kinds of people in oh and then watch what the truth of god does amen god bless you come on stand your feet with me

if you have your communion emblems you can get them prepared and and readied but before we do that let’s confess our faith together you’re ready we believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth we believe in jesus christ god’s only son our lord who was conceived by the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father and will come to judge the living and the dead we believe in the holy spirit the one holy christian church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting amen come on go ahead and take your seat where you are i read to us out of first corinthians chapter 11 this morning and it says this listen look watch the grace and truth come in come together right now our lord jesus christ on the night when he was betrayed that’s grace friends on the night he was betrayed he met them where they were took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it gave it to his disciples and said take eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me friends never forget who was present at that last supper peter was present who was about to deny christ three times judas was present who had already sold jesus for 30 pieces of silver grace meets them where they were come on let’s never forget grace meets people where they are after supper he took the cup of wine and when he had given thanks he gave to them saying drink of it all of you this is my blood the new covenant shed for you for the forgiveness of sins do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me truth he says i get it the truth is i have to go to the cross the truth is i have to give my life a ransom the truth is i have to go and die for the sin of the world peter judas and everyone else i’m about to go die for you and give my life for you that’s powerful amen for as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the lord’s death until he comes i love that it says when we receive at the lord’s table this morning we’re saying something what are we saying we’re reminding ourselves who our savior is and that we continually need him to be lord and savior we continually need his his his acceptance and his pull of grace on our life we continually need the truth that sets us free amen it’s never enough we always need grace we always need truth stand your feet with me if you can let’s say this together great is the mystery of our faith christ has died christ is risen and christ will come again and friends while we await his return from glory let’s pray the way the lord jesus taught us to pray our father in heaven holy is your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen the couple blessing that we bless is a participation in the blood of christ the bread that we break is a participation in the body of christ let’s let’s say this together because there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread that reminds us friends god has one church and it’s not port church it’s his church we are thrilled at poor church to be a part of his one church amen all right behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world everything is prepared and the risen lord is among us and welcomes us to come and eat and drink at his table friends this is christ’s table it’s not randy’s table it’s not even port church’s table it’s his table come if you were in church this morning i’d say this to you i’d say as you come forward and receive those emblems hold your hands like this and i would say why hold our hands like this is this holy is this special no it’s a reminder we come empty-handed friends what did that woman have to offer what did she have to offer she was caught in her sin she was humiliated in front of people what did she have to offer nothing so what did christ do gave her what she needed oh beautiful what did she need grace she needed grace and then he said go and sin no more truth and that truth set her free amen that’s what you and i need grace and truth our world is hungry for grace and truth it’s hungry for it all right if you have your emblems let’s partake together christ’s body broken for us christ’s bloodshed for us amen

all right go ahead and take your seat where you are

at this time we’ll receive the offering and i want you to to really think about it in light of that that that example i gave this morning of grace and truth think about it that woman who received grace and had truth that set her free she probably had no problem living her life for the rest of her days following christ why because she’s been touched by christ christ has done something for her so friends you know sometimes it’s harder to to live for christ than die for christ can you live for christ today will you say i can sacrifice financially i can do i can give i can serve that’s the things we do right so the more i’ve realized this the more people are touched by the grace and truth of christ the more generous we become with all aspects of our life not just our finances we become generous with our love generous with our forgiveness generous with our time generous with our thoughts and our wisdom generosity is a big reflector of what the grace and truth of christ have done in us amen generosity of spirit genera your world becomes bigger the more we encounter the grace and truth of christ amen and when you have a big world there’s a big world ready to receive what you have so as you give this morning give out of that generosity give out of that that that understanding of what you’ve received from him amen come on let’s pray father thank you for today and lord as we sacrificially give this morning we give for for at least a couple reasons we give because we love you and you’ve given us so much but we also give because we know our giving helps someone else so thank you father as we give this morning we are keeping poor church strong we’re keeping poor church a voice in this community a voice in this country to preach the gospel to preach the word of god and to see people’s lives touched and changed as a result of it so father we thank you in advance in jesus name for the generous givers of port church all right there’s multiple ways you can give one way you can give us via e-transfer so you can do that to info at portchurch.ca we also have a paypal app you can visit the church website which is portchurch.ca we have a paypal account so if you have that you can do it that way if you’re writing a check this morning you can make it payable to port church and also you can mail it to portraits the mailing address is on the website or you can drop it off at the church in the mail slot yourself so thank you for your giving thank you for on those are all the different ways we can uh we can do that all right have a couple of announcements and then we’re going to end our service this morning so this tuesday again we’re going to be on zoom so at 6 30 please join us at zoom we’re going to send out the link earlier in the day so if you can if you can join us for a few minutes and just reconnect give us some thoughts let’s have it let’s have a good discussion around the word this morning i hope you’re encouraged by the word i hope you’re challenged by the word that’s what we want to hear from you on tuesday we want to hear what’s encouraged you what challenged you what excited you what do you how has this changed your prayer life friends i think something that really touched me years ago when i really began to understand truth and grace towards people it changed the way i pray for people i now can pray with such confidence for people who’ve not yet experienced god’s love because i know that god has brought us into their lives for a reason for a specific reason that his love may be expressed in their heart amen so come on let’s talk about that on tuesday also our our 2020 tax receipts are going to be available mid-february so give us a couple weeks to get that done as soon as they’re available we’ll announce that some people would like to pick them up from the church that’s great if if not we can also mail them out as well so keep that if you’re doing your taxes know that you’re going to have that in a couple weeks if you have just joining us for the first time or haven’t for a while and like to get in touch with us you can email us at info at portchurch.ca if you don’t receive or haven’t received our text messages recently it’s maybe because your email your cell phone number has changed if you’d like to update your cell phone number info email us at info portchurch.ca we can update that as well and please follow us on facebook and twitter if you’re watching this link right now put this link onto your facebook page let people experience what we’re doing here let people know what we’re doing because i think god is doing something good in port church amen and i believe we’re called to reach people and meet people right where they are amen all right stand your feet with me if you can one of my favorite parts of the service because church is about coming and going amen so come on hold your hands like this that’s our tradition at poor church here we go may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious towards you may the lord turn his face towards you and give you peace i bless you and i send you in the name of god the father the son and the holy spirit and everybody said amen friends we miss seeing you face to face we’re not sure how long this is going to go on hopefully it’s not for many more weeks but please continue to join us online and and do your best to join a sunday morning to keep that routine it’s important to keep that routine if for whatever reason you can’t watch on sunday please faul pick it up sometime in the rest of your week god bless you see you on tuesday right here or no not here on zoom at tuesday at 6 30 or next sunday right here on this cast god bless you have a great rest of your week

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