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Sunday | Be The Church | Shaun Williamson | Week 4 · Life Community Church

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: So we're in the series entitled Be the Church.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: We're in full week four of Be the Church, uh, and we've been exploring this idea of what it looks like to be the church, right?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: We're all familiar with this word church, the New Testament word ecclesia, this the assembly, the congregation, the gathering of people coming together.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's what we're doing here.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: We are the body of Christ.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: We gather on Sundays, we gather throughout the week, but wherever, like a handful of people, at least two or more people gather together.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: This is the ecclesia.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: This is the church, right?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but probably the most important word in this whole phrase is this word be.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Is this word be.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: Being is the identity that gathered people of God walk in.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: Being, being is the identity that gathered people of God walk in.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: The word be sounds like a command.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds like we need to do something, but but biblically, oftentimes, this this word means identity or existence.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: So what is our identity as the church?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: What is our why do we exist as the church?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: Oftentimes, right, we want to jump real quick to the to-do list, not the be list.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: God, tell me what I need to do.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: Show me what I need to do differently.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yet we'll see in scripture, oftentimes God gets to that to the very end.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: And before he ever gets to the list of to-dos, he starts with how to be.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so the goal in this series is to explore what it means to be the church.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: In the Old Testament, God repeatedly established who his people were before telling them what they should do.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: Let me say that again.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: In the Old Testament, God repeatedly established who his people were before telling them what they should do.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: So if you turn with me to the book of Exodus, chapter 19, it's the second book in your Bible.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I want to encourage you to open up your Bible, open up your phone, get on the LCC app, hit the notes, whatever it looks like.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: We've got stuff for you.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: But man, I want you to be able to see the words yourself in Scripture as we uh read them.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so Exodus 19, 1 through 4.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: Let me pray.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: God, I thank you so much for this morning.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: I thank you for the opportunity you've given us to be here.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: God, I it is a privilege and honor always to be up here and to share the word of God.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so, God, I pray that our hearts, as Casey's already prayed, would be open to hear everything it is that you have for us today.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: God, I believe with all of my heart that we are only here today, and your scripture proves it and shows it, is because you draw men and women unto you.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's your last name we pray.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly two months, verse one, exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: After breaking camp at Rahadan, they came to the wilderness to Sinai and set up camp there at the base of Mount Sinai.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, Give these instructions to the family of Jacob.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Announce it to his descendants, to the descendants of Israel.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: Exodus is the story of God rescuing a people and teaching them how to live as his holy people.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: He delivers Israel from slavery in Egypt, leads them through the wilderness, and brings them to Mount Sinai.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where we pick up the story in Exodus 19.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: Before giving the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, before giving the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, the next, literally the next chapter, God speaks about their identity.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: They are treasured possession.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: They are a kingdom of priests, they are a holy nation.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: So in Exodus 19, 5 through 6, as we continue to read, God says three things about the Israel's identity, a new identity that I think are crucial to this series that we're in, be the church.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: Crucial for us to pay attention, to listen, to understand when God rescued his people, he takes them out of this very difficult situation.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: He brings them to this wilderness, to this mountain, where he begins to have conversation with him.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: And the first thing he wants to communicate to them, first and foremost, he wants them to hear his voice so they know him as Lord.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: Second of all, he's going to communicate to Moses and tell Moses, hey, this is who my people are.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Tell them this is who they are.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then the next chapter, which we're not even going to get to today, he tells them how they ought to live.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: So first, first, in regards to God speaking to the Israelites about their identity, first, Israel is God's special treasure.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Special treasure.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: Verse five, you will be my own special treasure from among all the people on the earth, for all the earth belongs to me.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: You will be my own special treasure from among all the people, all the people on the earth, for all the earth belongs to me.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: When God declares that Israel will be his own special treasure, the Hebrew term refers to a king's personal treasure, his personal treasure, such as his own gold, his own silver, his own livestock, his own precious oils, his own spices, his own armory, all of these things.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: He owns everything, yet there's this special treasure that he has just for himself.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: A king's special treasure was possessions he valued personally within much larger area, within the much larger area that he ruled.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Think of a king who rules an entire kingdom.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Literally, all of the land is his, all of the resources are his, all of the wealth is his.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: He has all of this at his dispense, at his disposal.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: He can do whatever he wants with everything.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yet also he has this personal treasure that is especially valuable to him and just for him.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: God says that the whole earth belongs to him, yet Israel will be his treasured possession.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: Israel was to understand this.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: Israel was to understand itself as God's costly, valued, valued, private, personally gained property.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's a lot of peace, reserved for his special purpose.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: This is what God wants Israel to understand.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: That you are my costly, that you are my valued, that you are my private, personal, gained property reserved for his special, for my, for God's special purpose.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: You are a distinct nation, a nation not like any other nation.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, after he rescues them, once they hear his voice, they call him Lord, he says, This is who you are.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Could you imagine a group of people been in slavery for years working hard, hard, hard, never gaining anything?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine what they look like.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine how exhausted they are.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine how much hope they do not have.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: They're distraught.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's like refugees coming out of refugee camp and then giving them the world and saying, hey, oh, by the way, you're my treasure.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, by the way, you're my most prized possession.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um what?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: This is what you are.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: You're mine.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: You are mine.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: I rescued you.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: I brought you to myself.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: I did the work.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: So Israel, first, Israel is to be a be God's special treasure.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Second, Israel is a kingdom of priests.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: Israel is a kingdom of priests.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Moses says, Hey, the Lord has told me that you are his kingdom of priests.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Verse 19, 6, and you will be my kingdom of priests.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty simple, pretty easy.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: The priest represented the Lord to the people.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: The priest represented the Lord to the nations.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron, a key player in this story, Moses' brother, eventually, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: In Israel, he's Israel's first high priest.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, Aaron's garments, this is so good.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: This isn't so important.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron's garments, his clothing were made of the same material as the curtain that was that hung in the most holy place in the tabernacle.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so the world, the word glory here is only used in Exodus when referring to the Lord, except when referring to Aaron's garments, Aaron's clothes.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: In this sense, Aaron displayed God's glory to the people.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron displayed God's glory to the nations by the clothing that he wore, by the clothing that he put on.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: The people could not enter the most holy place to witness God's glory, but they could see Aaron and then witness God's glory through him.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: The world could not see God, but the world could experience God and God's glory through the Israelites.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Second, and so important, yet so hard to comprehend when you're the nation of Israel that's been in slavery and rescued by the Lord, and you're thinking to yourself, What in the world?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Who am I?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: And God says, You are a kingdom of priests.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Not only are you my special treasure, but you are a kingdom of priests.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: Third, Israel's a holy nation.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: Is a holy nation.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: They are a holy nation.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: They're not working to be a holy nation before they do anything, before they achieve anything, before they change anything.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: They are a holy nation.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Verse 6, the end of it says this, and you will be my kingdom of priests.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: He says, My holy nation.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Holy nation literally means a society set apart.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: A society that is different and distinct.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: They were to be holy as God is holy, a person set apart for God, a person who are different from the rest of everyone around them, a different nation, a nation that would catch the eye of all other nations.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: In other words, the Israelites are to reflect God's distinctive character in their distinctive lives.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: So the character of God is displayed to who?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: To all of the nations, to all of the people.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: In every area of our life, in every area of their life, Israel's activities were governed by the fact that they belonged to God.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: So the way that they ate, the way that they wore their clothes, the way that they married, the way that they buried their dead, the way that they worshiped, everything pointed to, everything pointed to the glory of God, to the fact that they were a holy nation.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Israel's to be the showcase to the nations, giving to them that there's only one true God, and that the world might see this one true God by looking at the by looking at Israel, that the nations would be blessed because Israel was amongst them.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: These words, chapter 19, are God's beginning story, the start of, they're the prefests.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: They come before the Ten Commandments, which He gives in chapter 20.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: We do this all the time as Christians, don't we?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: We try to put the law before our identity.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: And when we put the law before our identity, all we get is legalism.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: And you and I both know it's legalism, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: That'll destroy the body of Christ.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: It'll destroy the glory of God.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: It'll destroy what God wants to do in people's lives.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: We are meant to understand that the Ten Commandments are missional.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: They were given to shape the life of Israel.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: They were not a list that got you into heaven.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: Before Israel was ever given the Ten Commandments, right?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: They were the Lord's.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Before they were ever given a list of how to live, and it wasn't even for them to a how to live.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: The only reason they were given the Ten Commandments is so that other nations would then look at them and say, Oh my goodness, why is it that you live the way you live?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: Because of God.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: Because his glory, the Ten Commandments, only purpose they're there is to point to the goodness of God, the glory of God, the way we ought to live.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: They were given to shape the life of Israel so that a nation that displayed, so a nation could actually display the goodness of God.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: This is the point of the Ten Commandments.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: As a nation lived those Ten Commandments out, it displayed the goodness of God.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: And everybody around was like, we sang about it this morning.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: The goodness of God is displayed through God's people when they what?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: Obey his voice.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: When they obey his voice, God was creating one area in the world where the goodness of his rule could be seen.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: His people were his prototype, his working model.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, Israel is to be a holy nation.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: They're not working for holiness.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: They are holy.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: God wants the Israelites to understand that they are his treasure.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: Before he does anything with them, his treasure, his priest, his holy nation.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: There's no way that they can go into the promised land, inherit this, and live the way God wants them to in this land, a blessing from the Lord, if they do not understand how they ought to be.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: If they walked into that nation, into that land, into that promised land, just attempting to do, they would have blown the whole thing up, burnt it on fire.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's on the opposite side of your Bible, about seven books in from Revelation.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so I want you to go there because I want you to see these words.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'll take a minute.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: I got plenty of time this morning, and I'm more than halfway done.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so get there, 1 Peter 2 9, because it's really important, right, that you know where these places are in your Bible so that you can continue to refer to them.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: Writing to the New Testament Christians, Peter, the New Testament church, we're in the New Testament, we're in the Old Testament, now we're in the New Testament.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: Peter tells them this in 1 Peter 2.9.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: He tells a group of believers, Christians, those that have been rescued by God, have now accepted him as their Lord and Savior.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: Understand his salvation.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: He says this to them you are a chosen people.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's very own possession.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I get fired up when I read that.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: You are a chosen people, he says.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: You're a royal priest, a holy nation, God's own possession.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: Exodus 19, 5 through 6 and 1 Peter 2, 2, 9 connect around this idea.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: That God forms a people who belong to him.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: Reflect his character and then make him known.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: That God forms a people who belong to him, reflect his character and then make him known.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: Peter deliberately uses Israel's identity language from Mount Sinai to describe believers in Jesus' time and Jesus' uh in the New Testament.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Peter's message to his readers includes us.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: We too, you and I, are a special treasure of God.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: You and I are kingdom, are a kingdom of priests.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: You and I are a holy nation.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: You I got one, amen.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: You when you try to just live this life, pleasing God by getting the law 100% right and not focusing on your identity, you're exhausted, you're worn out.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's as if you went back to Egypt and put yourself in bondage and slavery.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: What if?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: What if in our homes we believed?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: In our workplaces we believed, in our communities we believed that we were a special treasure of God.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: If we were a kingdom of priests, if we were his holy nation.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: Listen.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: This is I wish I could just have a one-on-one conversation with you.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: This is like one of the most uneffective ways to communicate.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Me standing up here and you all just staring at me.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, you are his most prized possession.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: You are not here because you made a decision.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: You are here, right?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, listen.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: Exodus 4 4 says this.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: I read it already once.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: You have seen what I did.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: He's telling Israel to the Egyptians.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know how I carried you on eagle's wings.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: I brought you to myself.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: I did the work because of this.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: You are my treasure possession.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: You are my kingdom of priests.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: You are my holy nation.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's the reason I've gone and gotten you.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: And now, what I need you to do is not to live the way of the world, but the way that I've set up my kingdom, that you are a part of, so that all nations will know that I am the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: You are the reflection of his glory.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: For his glory, you are a society set apart, the goodness of God displayed on this earth.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: You, you are a society.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: You, I don't care if you believe this, I don't care if you think this way, it does not matter what you think.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: This is the truth.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: You, you are set apart for the goodness of God to be displayed on this earth.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: You are the reflection of his glory.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: For his glory, you are the most prized possession.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: Out of everything in his kingdom, out of everything, as far as you can see, you are his treasure.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: If you are in Christ, if you are a Christian, if God, if you are here, if God is moving you here, if he's drawing you here, if he's leading you here, you are his special treasure.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: You are a kingdom of priests, you are his holy nation.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: When we be the church, when we walk in our God-given identity, Peter says this as he continues on.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: He says this in verse 9.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: Go there with me.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: Just a few verses past.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: He says, as a result, you can show others the goodness of God.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: As a result, you can show others the goodness of God.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: For he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: Jumping to verse 12, 1 Peter 2, 12.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: Be careful to live properly among the unbelievers.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: Unbelieving neighborhood.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: Be careful to live properly.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: Not because there's a chance you could go to hell.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: But there's a chance that someone in your neighborhood that does not yet know the glory of God will not see it.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: You understand?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like the law, the Ten Commandments, when we obey them, don't put us in heaven.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: The only thing that puts us in heaven is the work that God's done through his son Jesus Christ.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's it.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: Here's what's at stake when we don't live according to what God has called us to be.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: Your coworkers don't see the glory of God.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: Your friends do not see the glory of God.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: The other nations, the other people, people in your community do not see the glory of God.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, listen, this is the point of understanding.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yet the enemy, he's like, hey, I just need you to do me a favor, Mark.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: Don't pay attention to chapter 19.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Focus on chapter 20.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: Just focus on trying to achieve.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: Focus on trying to get there.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Focus on trying to be the best.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: Focus on trying to never get it wrong.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: This is what we learn in our society, is it not?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: Not the King Society, but the World society, be number one.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: And oftentimes when we see people at their height finding number one, they're at their most miserable place.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Why?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because there is only one number one, and his name is God.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: And this is what our nation, the nation of Israel, points people to the kingdom of heaven.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: This identity given in Exodus 19.5-6 and 1 Peter 2.9 is not just for the benefit of us, but for the benefit of unbelievers around us.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: The church has gathered chosen people, right?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_03: Of priests that the whole world might know God.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: Why did God rescue Israel?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: He rescued them that through his rescue, that through his rescue, the nations might know that he is the Lord.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: He rescued them so that they might, his people might continue to make him known.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Why has God rescued you?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: He has rescued you, right, so that you might know your identity, so that the lost might know who how they're lost, so that we might go after the lost, so that those that are in other nations that are not yet in this nation would surrender and come and be a part of this nation.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: This is why he's rescued you.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: This is why he rescued his people out of Egypt.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: This only happens when we walk in our new identity, when we understand that we are his special treasure, his kingdom of priests, his holy nation.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: God has given our community.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, God has given our community a display of his reign.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Life Community Church.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's not called Sean Williamson.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's not called Caleb Alizer.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's not called Jody Miller.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's called Life Community Church.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: We are all called.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: This is our all of us.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: This is all of our identity.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing more exciting, nothing more significant will happen in our community this week than the gathering of God's people.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: If we believe we are a special treasure, if we believe we are his kingdom of priests, if we believe we're his holy nation, imagine with me when you come back next Sunday and you walk into this room and you believe.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: You walk in the understanding that you are his special treasure, that you walk in, the understanding that you are his kingdom of priests.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: When you walk in and you understand that you are his holy nation, that he's made you holy.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: God has given us an identity, and out of that identity, we fulfill our purpose.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: And the identity isn't the law, the identity comes before the law.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: We are his treasured possession, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, called to show the world.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: Let us be.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Let us be.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Let us be.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: Let us be the church.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: My story, and probably your story, is very similar to the Egyptian story, to the Israelite story in Egypt.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: There was once a time in my life that I was enslaved to another nation.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: My family was enslaved to another nation.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that enslavement so much.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: We lived in a small little town in Lawrence, Michigan.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: 700 people grew up there, moved into that house when it was two years old.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: And my dad had suffered from migraine headaches.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: And my dad is a pretty like he's a man's man.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he is straight up a man's man.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I've never seen this dude even pain, don't even he don't even know what that word means.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: But when my dad would have a migraine and I would get home from school, and he was never home when I got home.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: But when I saw his truck in the driveway, I knew that my dad was in scruciating pain.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: No lights, no noise.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: He spent most of his time in the bathroom vomiting.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: And for years he went to doctor to doctor to doctor to doctor to doctor to doctor.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: And they had him do the most wildest things.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: And no one could figure it out.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: So my dad did what my dad thought he had to do.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: He couldn't live anymore.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: There was no point to live.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: So one evening while the whole family was out of the house, my dad went to the basement of our home, old Michigan basement, dirt floors, no windows.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: Boulders, literally poured in concrete to keep a house on it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Foundation.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: As he walked down to the bottom of that basement, had one match, lit that match, placed it on the steps, waited till the flames arised.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: And he said, God, I don't know what else to do.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: And he began to walk up those steps.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: As he got to the top of the steps, he looked at himself, he looked at his cowboy boots, because that's what he wore.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: He wiped them off.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then came and picked me up at Boy Scouts.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Very confused.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what happened, he said, to what she did.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: But our house is on fire.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: The fire department is there.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Everything is going to be okay.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: That night I would go to my friend's house.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: I had a twin sister and a little sister.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: That night I would go to my friend's house and I'd stay for a few days.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: My twin sister went to her friend's house and stayed for a few days.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: We would meet at night at my neighbor's house to talk about what we were going to do as a family because we did not have a home.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: So we lived with other families for a short season.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: Eventually, someone pulled in an RV, the back of our house, and we lived there, and all of our clothes were in my dad's garage with all of his tools.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: He's a mechanic.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: I would go to my neighbor's house in the morning and I'd take a shower before I went to school with my bag, walked across the street.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'll never forget when my dad sent me down, my whole family down, and explained to us how the house caught fire.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: We needed to be rescued.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: He sat there with confusion on his face and said, I have to tell you what happened.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason we had to be honest is because a few days before the fire chief came to my dad and said, Kevin, you're an honorable man.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: You do everything for everyone.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: Tomorrow we're gonna come pick you up in a police car and arrest you because of arson.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Here's what I know.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: You poured kerosene on those stairs.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: You went to the bottom of the stairs and you lit a match.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then you walked to the top.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how you got out of there.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: But unfortunately, the next season of life is not gonna be great, and you need to let your family know.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so that night he did.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: He told us, guys, I've been in so much pain.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: I just don't want to be here anymore.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: He needed to be rescued.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: Our family needed to be rescued.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, my dad needed a lawyer.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because we weren't dealing with the fact that we were homeless.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: We weren't dealing with the fact that, like, my dad tried to commit suicide.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: We were dealing with the fact that my dad was going to jail.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's arson, felony charge.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: I was dealing with the fact that I lived in a community of 700 people and it was in the paper.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone knows.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone knows.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure how the connection was made, but there was a connection made by my dad uh by my dad, I'm assuming, to an old friend.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: His name was Ken Walters.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: I've talked to him about him a lot in his family.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: You see, my dad worked at a chemical plant, so he was laid off for a year.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: No income.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: We have no house.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: My dad's about to go to jail.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: We have no income.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll never forget the day, right?
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: That I'm standing outside and I watch the officer come up, put handcuffs on my dad, and put him in the back of the car.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: I had no clue what was going to happen at that point.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then Ken Walters, the lawyer, showed up, and his family showed up.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: I was 12 or 11 years old.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know all the details, but I do know that for some reason our neighborhood came together.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_03: They signed a petition, said Kevin is sick, he is not trying to do anything stupid.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: My dad got off with community service.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: Had to serve the police department, fix the cars because he's a mechanic, to which he was already doing.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: But for a year, Ken Walter said to my dad, Hey, listen, you know, my daughters want horses.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: I've got 100 acres.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: I just put a barn on my property.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know how to do everything inside of it.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: So here's what you're gonna do: you're gonna come to my house every single day, and you're gonna work for me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: I will get everything erased for you, and secondly, you will come to church with me.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: We needed to see the goodness of God.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: So every day.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I went to Ken Walter's house.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_03: Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, all summer long, because it's when it started.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: And for a year, this family brought us in.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: And they did not ask me if I wanted to give my life to Jesus.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_03: They didn't even tell me how I ought to live.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: They showed me the goodness of God.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: And over and over again, this is what I said.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_03: I want to be like the Walters when I grow up.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_03: I want to be like the Walters when I grow up.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't long after we started attending church with them.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: A few weeks in, my pastor started to talk about salvation and what it means to be rescued by God, what it means to surrender your life to God, and then what it means to walk in obedience.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: And it dawned on me for the first time.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: Holy smokes, God has rescued us.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: We have seen the goodness of God through the waters.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's not the waters I want to be like, it's what they stand for, it's what they've surrendered to, it's what they obey, it's what they walk out every single day.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: This is what I want.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so when the pastor that day said, hey, if you're in here and you for the first time have realized that God is the King and that He has sent His Son Jesus Christ to rescue you, I'm gonna count to three, and we're not gonna do this today.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just sharing you my story.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna count to three, and when I get done, I want you to meet me right here at this altar.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: And by the time he said one, I was already there in a much larger church than this one.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Why was it so easy for me to come to the altar and not worry about what anybody else thought?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Because then I realized it for the first time.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: I've been rescued.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: I've been rescued.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_03: God pulled my family out of Egypt, brought us to the wilderness.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: The wilderness.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: I was living in multiple homes, had no clue what I was gonna wear, had no clue what I was gonna eat, didn't know who was gonna feed me for a year.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_03: Started living in a different house.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: When you set a house on fire, you know what the insurance company does?
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: See you later.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: We can't help you.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: Took us three years to rebuild that house.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: I pulled most of the walls out of that house.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: My dad and I together.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: We put most of the walls back up in that house, and we continue to live in that house until I was 37, 38.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't live in the house.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: My parents did, obviously.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: I lived with my wife in a house over here.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, listen, your story is similar to my story.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: God came and he rescued you.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_03: And then when he I heard him speak and I understood what did I do, I quickly responded and I said, God, I'm gonna trust you.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: And after I said, God, I'm gonna trust you, I'm giving my life to you.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_03: You are everything.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: I get it, I see it.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know what then he did after that?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: He handed me a Bible.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_03: He said, Okay, son, this is how you ought to live.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: Not to come see me, but so that everyone else will see me.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: I've rescued you.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: I've done the work through my son Jesus Christ.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, listen, when you understand this part of your story, the Ten Commandments are a joy.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Reading the Word of God and obeying it, obeying, period, whether it's the Ten Commandments or anything else, is a joy when you understand, when you believe that you are his most prized treasure, when you believe that you are the king of nations, a priest of nations, when you believe that you are a holy nation, when you believe these things, we don't have to wait for heaven.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have to wait to go there.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: Heaven comes here.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: And this is this is the point.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: This is Israel, this is his nation, that there would be one nation like no other nation, and that when people saw this nation, they would want to be a part of that nation.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: This is what happened to me.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: This is what happened to you.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: I was in bondage.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: God pulled me out of that.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: The Walters were living in this nation.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_03: I began to see that nation and I said, I want that nation.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: I realized then at that point he's the king of this nation.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_03: God is the king of this nation, and he gave his son Jesus Christ so that I didn't have to be perfect.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: All I had to do was realize, not trust.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: He was so hard to trust.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: People are like, Sean, why do you trust the Lord so much?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because he rescued me.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_03: He rescued me.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: Why does my son, why did my son trust me when I was when he was young and he knew things that harmed him, and I pulled him out of that?
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Because he trusted me.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so maybe today, you're one of two people here today.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: You need to be reminded of the fact that God has rescued you and that you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: And he does want you to continue in obedience.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: But you need to be reminded before you walk in obedience, you need to be rescued and you're there, but you need to be.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_03: You need to understand your identity so you can be the nation, be the church, be the gathering he wants you to be.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: But today, maybe you're like me.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: You're looking back at your life and you're saying, Holy smokes, I want to be a part of this nation.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: God has rescued me.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: And if that's you today, it's really easy.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_03: The Bible says, you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you are saved.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's real easy.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's recognizing what Jesus is, what God's already done through his son Jesus Christ, and saying, just like, and you can read it later on.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's verse 10 in Exodus.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: The people said, Lord, I trust you.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: And this is your next step.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_03: Lord, I trust you.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm submitting and surrendering my life to you.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm going to pray today for you as we close.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_03: And today, maybe you're the one in this room and you're just saying, God, listen, thank you for reminding me of who I am.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: Help me to walk in that.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe you're here today and you're saying, God, thank you for rescuing me.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: God, I want to verbally communicate to someone today that I'm going to start trusting you.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_03: And if that's you today, there's a good chance you came with someone that is a believer, as a Christian, that's already a part of this nation and walking into this nation.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_03: You just need to tell them.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: You need to tell them, can we pray together?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_03: God, I thank you so much for today.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: I thank you for the opportunity you've given us to be here today.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_03: God, I thank you for rescuing us.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: God, I thank you so much for giving us our identity.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm grateful that we don't have to work for it.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_03: God, I'm thank you, God, for making us uh walking with us, guiding us, leading us, and directing us.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: And God, I pray uh that you would help us to walk in our identity, our God-given identity.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: God, I pray that you would help us, God, for those of us in this room, God, for the first time ever in our lives, God, God, realize, God, that you have come to rescue us, that you've drawn us unto you.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: God, I pray that we would receive that today.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: And we would just say, Lord, I trust you.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: And that we would connect with another believer, another person from your nation, the kingdom, the king's nation, and that they would begin to disciple them, to lead them and guide them.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: We ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus.