FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
The New Testament Genesis Pt. I // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // November 24, 2024
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What's up? What's up, free Church? Come on, you can do better than that. What's up, free Church? Man, I join our team and welcome you. You look great, you sound great. I love it when y'all like out-sing the band. Come on, somebody Like out-sing the band and it is so exciting. Hey, we're moving into a really busy season, so buckle up, get ready.
Speaker 1:Family Christmas is coming. It is when we celebrate all of the sights and sounds of Christmas. It is on December 15th. We want you to be there. Bring your friends, bring your family, get everybody. Just wake them all up early and get them to church. It's going to be an incredible day. In fact, in the next six minutes, you're going to receive a digital invite so that you can share that with your friends and be ready for an incredible celebration. Then we have Christmas Eve and then on Sunday, the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's we call it Sabbath Sunday. We give our entire team the weekend off. We give you the weekend off, but we have worship online only, and we celebrate closing out the year with communion and kind of a charge for coming back, and then we begin 21 days of prayer and come on somebody. If you don't feel the excitement in the air. Then, um, then maybe you're not paying attention. But well, listen, I'm ready to preach God's word. You ready to receive it today? Yeah, throw those up here, just in case you're not going to throw them. They're like fix my collar. Okay, thank you. Is that got it? Yeah, just for you, baby, just for you, All right? Hey, let's try that again for the sake of the recording. Hey, I'm ready to preach God's word. You ready to receive it today?
Speaker 1:The year was 1984, and I was a freshman in high school way back in the day. The 80s. I'm an 80s kid, the best decade to be a. Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on some Bon Jovi. We called him Brother Bon Jovi so we could listen to him. I don't think my dad let me have like secular tapes. You don't even know what that is Secular cassettes, cds. But I said, man, this Brother Bon Jovi is good. And my dad was like, well, he doesn't look saved. I said, well, he says he's living on a prayer. Dad Woo, I just felt the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:So the year was 1984, and I was a freshman in high school, and maybe you've heard me tell the story before, but in my eighth grade year, seventh grade year of junior high I tried out for basketball and I got cut and the coach literally said you're too small. It's just you're too small, that's all. What can I say? You're too short. I was like what? Like, that's nothing I control. I mean I can choose, I can run.
Speaker 1:But then my freshman year I came back, made the team and part of the high school team and you know it was a fun year. I didn't get to play very much. I started one game and, uh, I think I averaged I tell you what I averaged the most points in warmups. And then, um, and then between my, between my freshman year and my sophomore year, I really was like you know what, I'm going to change it up, I'm ready for something new. And I spent the entire summer shooting jump shots like Steph Curry, like throwing it up from all over the place. And I'll never forget when we came back the next year we got in there into the gym and we were just running some pickup games. And I'll never forget the first time we came down the floor and our point guard threw me the ball on the wing and I just let it rip and I just held my hand up like this because I knew it was going in and as soon as it went in, everybody stopped and like uh-oh, uh-oh, chuck's got a new jump shot and I was like it's a new day, it is a new day up in here and that's the year that I learned. This is the year that I learned a new and better way can bring an increase in opportunity and experience. But you gotta get ready for the new day. So turn to your neighbor and just say what on earth, what is going on up in here? And then just bump the one you've been ignoring all service and say this say no, no, not what on earth? Heaven on earth. Today is a setup. Today is a setup. Today is a setup.
Speaker 1:If you paid attention to the range of songs and what we've been singing and what we've been leading and worshiping and what we've been confessing over our lives. It is a new day kind of a day and, uh, if the lord is willing to let me share this, I pray that it reaches you how it's been impacting my heart this week. Are you ready? Let's dive in week two of our what on Earth series. Ready? Let's read the scripture in the book of John, chapter two. Check this out.
Speaker 1:On the third day. Man, if you just read scripture sometimes and pay attention to the routine and the structure and the cadence of scripture, you know some good things have happened on the third day. Amen, in fact. In fact, I just want to declare over you right now that this may be a third day for you, that some of you it may seem like some things have been crucified and set aside and laid in a grave, but it's a third day, it's a new day. There's a new thing coming.
Speaker 1:So on the third day, on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Now we all know she's got a name, but John wants you to know something about this right now that the mother of Jesus he's like. I know there's a name to this, but you need to know the leverage and the authority and the power that's in the room. The mother of Jesus was there. Now, both Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding. Isn't it crazy? The mother of Jesus was there, but Jesus had to be invited. She was there because I think she probably had some responsibility to the entire arrangement of what was happening, but Jesus and his disciples were invited. That's another whole message I'd love to preach someday.
Speaker 1:And when they ran out of wine, say uh-oh. When they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine. And Jesus said to her woman what does your concern have to do with me? And this is why John said the mother of Jesus was there, because Jesus is like my time is not yet coming. Watch this. His mother said to the servants whatever he says, to do do it. Whatever he says to you, do it, because that's the way mom's going to flow in this house. Whatever she says, you better go ahead and do it. Now. I'm going to come back and preach this part of the story, most likely next week, but I need to have that set as the context because there's something new that's happening and over the course of the last few months in free church, we've been experiencing this new thing and I want to identify it for you and kind of hit the the in capsule or in in review or in structure exactly what we're experiencing, so you can identify it and name it and tap into it and let that new thing, that new way, bring a better and more increased opportunity in your life.
Speaker 1:So before we get to the book of John, though we've got to know how we get to the book of John, and you know in the Old Testament. So in the Old Testament we close out the scripture and if you ever, maybe next year as you read the Bible through, you might consider doing the chronological order of the Bible, because you know, like, the way the books are laid out are wonderful for letter and reference sake, but it's not chronologically laid out. So when you read chronologically, you get to read, like in the Old Testament, some of the law and the structure and the prophets, and it kind of intertwines. When you get to the New Testament, as you're reading the disciples and what they're doing, as you read the gospels, you see some of like. When you get into the book of Acts, you see some of the epistles that Paul and Peter have been writing get mixed into those stories, and so as you read through the chronological order, you know the book of Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and then it aligns itself with some of the prophecies of Joel. And just for reference sake I don't have time to preach about it all day today, but there was literally 400 years of silence between Malachi and the prophecies of Joel until the book of Matthew in the New Testament, when the Lord was silent because his people were so far from him. And let me just tell you, god will always reach for you, but if you're not listening, god's finally just going to sit back and wait for you get to a spot where you're going to decide, hey, I better change some things up and do something new. And sometimes people don't change until the cost of staying the same becomes greater than the cost of the change. And so there's 400 years of silence. And then, finally, the Lord speaks, and the Lord speaks to Zachariah and Elizabeth and he speaks to Mary, and that rushes in this new order of something that is about to happen. And so we find that finally we get. That brings us to the gospels, to Matthew, mark, luke and John.
Speaker 1:So if we look through the early Gospels, how do we get to John? Well, it starts with Matthew and Matthew. You know Matthew had a theme. As you read through the letter that Matthew left for us, we call it the book of Matthew. Matthew had a theme, and the theme was this Jesus is king. Jesus is king and Matthew was like as a tax collector. Come on somebody.
Speaker 1:Matthew knew how to identify in detail, to the very minute. And so in detailing Jesus is king, he's like I'll prove it and I'll prove it in my first few lines of the letter. I'm leaving you and I'm gonna let you know that Jesus is king and I'll prove it by the genealogy. So he writes back in perfect form of like 23andMe and DNAcom. Like he proves it because between Abraham and David there were 14 generations and he lists them all. Then between David and the Babylonian exile there was another 14 generations and then from the Babylonian exile until Jesus is 14 generations. And he's like how you, like me now, jesus is king. And he identifies through scripture. In fact, matthew 21 and five is one of the key phrases when Jesus comes in riding on a colt, here comes your king, which is matching the prophecy of Zechariah 9.9, that the king will come in riding on a donkey. And so the whole book of Matthew is identifying Jesus as a king.
Speaker 1:And that brings us to the book of Mark, and in the book of Mark, mark's like yeah, jesus is king, but you need to know Jesus is a miracle worker. And so in 16 chapters, mark spends 16 chapters telling at least 20 miracles of Jesus, at least 20 miracles of Jesus. Mark records more miracles than any of the other gospels, because he wants you to know Jesus is the miracle worker. And then Luke comes along and Luke is the physician, the doctor, and so, with preciseness, luke is like, listen, jesus is king and yeah, yeah, he is the miracle worker. But I want you to know that Jesus is the savior of the world. In fact, luke is the only gospel that tells the story of the prodigal son, the story of the woman who had the lost coin. He's the only one that tells the story of the good Samaritan. Because Luke wants you to know it's a heart thing with Jesus that Jesus has turned towards humanity and he wants to help, seek and save the lost. So he's like Jesus is the savior of the world.
Speaker 1:And then we get to John and John goes ahead and just blows everything up, because John is like, yeah, jesus is king, yeah, jesus is a miracle worker, yeah, jesus is the savior of the world. But I got to tell you something, because John wants you to know that Jesus is the word. And it's interesting that we get to the book of John and John begins his gospel with a familiar phrase and it's this in the beginning. I just told you, when we read that little passage of the third day, that if you read the scripture, there's types and shadows and there's moments and there's patterns and there's structure and there's cadence to what the word is telling us and showing us and revealing to us. And John starts his letter to us by saying in the beginning Doesn't that sound familiar? Familiar Because back in the book of Genesis, the first it begins in, you've read it. We all know that because, like in January, when we get, we're going to read the Bible through, we read Genesis 1-1. We've done it for 14 years, 15 years. We've been reading Genesis 1-1 every year on January 1st and then we don't get to John, so we don't know. John wrote in the beginning Real. It's a story of my life through my teenage years. But here's the thing John's in the beginning actually preceded Moses' in the beginning. What do you mean, pat? What do you mean John said in the beginning was the word. Before there was anything, there was the word. Jesus is the word John went in, the beginning was the word and the beginning was the word, and the word was God and the word was with God. And then, later, he says and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth. So John is setting this up and while in Genesis there's seven days of creation and creative order, john begins with 11 chapters to identify a new creative order that we need to pay attention to. And maybe you've never seen this, you've never experienced this, but I want to take time to show it to you and I'm going to do it in reverse order. So there's one through seven in those 11 chapters. I'm going to start with seven and count down like it would be the top 10 if there were 10, but there's only seven, so it's the top seven. Count it down in reverse order. You ready? All right, so here we go. We'll see how far we get. Got to go to my right page of my notes. So here we go. Ready Number seven. Number seven is this this is the new order that John is establishing for us, because we know Jesus is king, we know Jesus is the miracle worker, we know Jesus is the savior of the world and we know that Jesus is the word. But John is like because of that, because the word precedes everything, I'm going to show you a new order, and this new order is going to release in us something that is going to eventually turn the world upside down in the book of Acts. So here we go, you ready? Here's the first thing Jesus raises the dead to life.
Speaker 1:In the book of John, chapter 11, is the story of Lazarus. Lazarus is Jesus' friend. He's friends with the family and Lazarus. They send message to Jesus to let him know that Lazarus is sick, very sick. And Jesus, the Bible says he loved Lazarus a lot. He was close to him, they were good friends, and so you would think, when they got to him and said, hey, your friend is sick, jesus would just go ahead and head straight away and get to Lazarus and heal him right in the moment, or do something. We've seen all the miracles that he is. Mark told us he's the miracle worker, but Jesus slows the pace and continues to do what he's supposed to be doing and then says well, actually not only he's sick, and then he eventually dies before Jesus gets there, but he says Jesus says this he's like listen, he's not dead. And this is for the glory of my father, because something new is about to happen and Jesus is about to raise Lazarus to life. In fact, if we think about Lazarus, it is such a type and shadow of our own condition.
Speaker 1:The bible says in Romans 5 that we're actually that, that we're born into sin. In Psalm 51 and 5 it says that we're born into iniquity, that we could look around and you could say the world is, I mean, there's a little sickness in our world. I mean like I don't want to sound churchy or nothing, but like there are some things happening in our world that should make us sick, because humanity is far from God. And when we're far from God we're in that space of sin, which is not just what we do, but the space between us and God. And so humanity is a lot like Lazarus. We're sick, we're dead in our sin, but man, thank God, jesus shows up on the scene and he says this Lazarus, come forth.
Speaker 1:And Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave. He is raised to life. And as he raises him to life, the next thing he says in verse 44 is hey, free Lazarus from those grave clothes. And it's just like he does in our life. He doesn't just get us out of sin, but then he gets sin out of us. Can you imagine how stinky those grave clothes were like listen, I was gonna be honest. When you go to the best barbecue spot in the city, you better leave smelling like the best barbecue spot in the city. Or did you really go? When you have a little fire outside and have that little fire pit burning and everything, and then you go inside, you carry a little residue with you. And Jesus says when Lazarus comes, when he raises him to life, he's like not only am I bringing him back to life, but any of the stench of what he was dead to is no longer going to be a part of his life. And that's what Jesus wants you to know, that's what I want you to know In this new order.
Speaker 1:Jesus raises the dead to life. But it's not just that. He brings you to new life. He gets rid of all the old. Behold, those that are in Christ Jesus become new creatures. Hey, check this Last week we baptized 19 people, one of the most exciting baptism services we've had. And man, it was just. There was so much life change happening. But I got to say this it's not just like you went down and splashed a little water and that's like, woohoo, we splashed. No, the significance of what has happened is you're being buried in that water and when you come up, all the old is washed away and behold, all things become new, because Jesus raises the dead to life. So that's number seven. Number six Jesus opens blind eyes and it's important to know that we're born into darkness.
Speaker 1:In fact, in 2 Corinthians, paul tells us that the God of this world, little g. Sometimes you read it in translations, they'll say the prince of this world, talking about the enemy of our soul, not God's enemy, because God doesn't have an enemy. There's no equal. There's no one on God's level. There's no equal. There's no one on God's level. In fact, the enemy is under the feet of Jesus, which means he's under our feet, which means we can sing songs, like I went to the enemy's camp and I took back what he stole from me and the devil is under my feet, under my feet. Like sometimes you just gotta sing an old song once in a while to have a memory of what he's done for you.
Speaker 1:So so Jesus opens the blind eyes and so Paul says listen, the prince of this world has blinded the eyes of people so they cannot see the goodness of our God. That's why, when people question your, your, your faith and your activity and why you go to church on Sunday and why you tithe and why you're so excited about what God's doing in your life. That's why they're like what on earth? And you can be. No, no, not what on earth. Heaven on earth, as in Oak Park, as it is in heaven. Why? Because your eyes have been opened, and Paul actually tells us we should pray for the eyes of those around us to be open so they can see. Because Jesus opens blind eyes. All right, we're going to keep moving. A couple more. Can I do one more? So Jesus raises the dead to life. It's a new order. It's a new order. You think, oh, those dreams were dead, that marriage is dead, my lost son is not going to make it home. All of Jesus wants you to know. The new order is no, he raises those dead things to life. Oh, he opens the blind eyes. Come on, come on. So then, that was the seventh sign.
Speaker 1:The sixth sign, the fifth sign, is Jesus walks on water. Remember this Jesus shows up. His disciples are in the middle of a storm on the boat and Jesus shows up walking on the water. And in this sign, the sign is this that Jesus has the power over every element, both physical and spiritual. And that leads us to the rhetorical question is there anything too hard for my god? No, there's not, because he has power over every element. So so the thing is, jesus shows up into this storm walking on water, and I've always thought, man, the water somehow held Jesus up. And I'm going to tell you that is not the case. The water did not hold Jesus up, because Jesus holds the water up. So when the one who holds the water up decides to walk on it, it's going to have to obey. To let you know that it doesn't matter what storm you're in in this life. Jesus is going to walk into that storm with authority and control it. Why? Because he has power over every element.
Speaker 1:All right, let's do one more. So then we get to the fourth one, and in the fourth one Jesus feeds the 5,000. So all these notes have scripture references, so you can go back this week and read it, and then by next week we'll all be on the same page together. But Jesus feeds the 5,000. And in feeding the 5,000, jesus breaks the curse of not enough. I got to just let that sit for a minute. Jesus breaks the curse of not enough. And I want you to know this church.
Speaker 1:This is where I felt like the Holy Spirit was going to settle in for a minute. Listen, he not only lifts the burden, but he destroys the yoke of the lie that we will never have enough or we will never be enough. Because you know it, you've heard it, you've heard that little murmuring back in the back of your head You're not enough, you don't have enough, you'll never be enough, there's not enough, you're not going to make it. Why would you even dream that? Why would you even think that? Why would you even plan that? Because you'll never make it. Jesus came to destroy that yoke, destroy that burden.
Speaker 1:Look, look, just step back for a minute and just look at everything God has ever done, and he's always done it through overflow. Oh, god didn't just hang just enough stars. There are so many stars you can't count them and you can't even see them all, because he's the God of more than enough. God didn't just put just enough sand by the sea, and even when you bring a lot of it home with you after a trip to the beach, there's still too much sand to count. Because he's the God of more than enough. And even when it's just two fishes and a few loaves of bread for 5,000 people, it seems like it's not enough. But my God can supply all of your needs according to his riches, and let there be baskets full left over, because he's never done anything. Just enough, it's always to overflow, it's always to abundance, it's always to the capacity that we can't even imagine, because that's the way he works. He came to destroy the lie and the curse of not enough. He's the God of more than enough.
Speaker 1:Ursh used to lead a youth choir. They used to sing this song my God is more than enough. He's my El Shaddai. He shall supply every need, and just that choir would start singing and that church would just go crazy. Because when you start realizing that the world wants to think and wants you to think that there's not enough and even as I was preparing for this this week, you just got to. Let me just for a second, give me five minutes, just for a second.
Speaker 1:I just started prophesying over this area. I started prophesying over this church and church. You're extremely generous and the church's needs have always been met. But I started prophesying because you know what we need to properly install all of our gear into this place. We need to properly finish out the children's area down in the lower level.
Speaker 1:And it was like the enemy was back there. He's like you're never going to get that done. You're never going to get that done. And I just started saying no, because my God is more than enough going to get that done. And I just started saying no because my God is more than enough. I declare that there's a blessing coming that's greater than we could ever imagine, that we could ever see or think, or even say and check this out.
Speaker 1:I started to think about this. This is why it's so important for us to participate in tithe and offering, because look that little boy that showed up to the hillside with just two fishes and a few loaves of bread, like there's no way anyone ever thinks that's going to feed 5,000. And you may think what you have to give is not enough and honestly, it never will be enough until you get Jesus involved in it, because when you're not enough, he's always more than enough. And that's why he says test me in this and see, test me in this and see if I won't open up a little crack in the window and feed a little pebbles your way. No, no, no, test me in this and see if I just won't. I won't give you just enough to get by. No, he says, test me in this and see if I won't open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that you cannot contain. Why? Because he's the God of more than enough. I can't.
Speaker 1:This is what I wrote down. I can't explain it, but right now, heaven is kissing earth in this moment, over this congregation, and I'm here to compel you, urge you to accept this new order in your life that there is no lack, that God is not running out of mercy, that he's not running out of grace, that he's not running out of his loving kindness. And just when you think, oh, it's going to be the end, no, no, he just keeps. Again and again and again and again, he rescues you out of your sin. Again and again and again he meets the need. Again and again and again he shows up with overflow. Again and again and again, he shows up with overflow, again and again and again. Oh, oh, oh, my God is able to supply your needs according to his riches.