This Is Us WK-1 V2
This Is Us • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good morning Living Faith Church - I am so excited to begin this new season of messages with you. We enjoyed such favor as we talked about the Kingdom of God these last many weeks. We are going to continue on this course, pursuing Kingdom work - but this new series, This Is Us is a series designed to inspire, to equip and empower each of us in the in the mission of Living Faith Church.
The Church Defined
The Church Defined
Since our inception on July the fourth of 1944 until this very day - we have remained true to the Biblical model of a local church. But can we be honest - the definition what a church is and what a successful church does varies greatly depending on who you talk to.
May people say:
“I’m going to church…” and what they mean is that for 90 minutes they are going to fellowship with like-minded people, sing some songs and hear a sermon.
Others would define church as “a building”.
“A local church is a community of believers who meet regularly for worship, teaching, fellowship, and the ordinances.”
Wayne Grudem Present Day — Systematic Theology
“The church is the Body of Christ, the community of those who share in His life.”
Augustine of Hippo AD 421 — Enchiridion
The church exists to reveal Gods manifold wisdom and destroy the works of the devil. The church is not the audience of God’s work, the church is the agent of God’s work.
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
The Gospel In Every Home
The Gospel In Every Home
At Living Faith we state that vision simply this way: We exist to get: “The Gospel In Every Home”. This means we exist so that the Kingdom of God with its manifested power would be revealed seven days a week, in every home, in every workplace, in the shopping centers and coffee shops and schools. So, how does Living Faith Church see all of this happen? In a practical and spiritual way:
We Create Irresistible Environments Where People Meet With God
We Create Irresistible Environments Where People Meet With God
PART I — EDEN: The First Irresistible Environment
PART I — EDEN: The First Irresistible Environment
The most irresistible environment ever created was not: Chick-fil-A at lunch rush. It wasn’t Disneyland on opening day. It wasn’t a Black Friday doorbuster or a beach sunset in Maui.
It was a garden. A garden spoken of in Genesis chapter 2.
8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Verse 15 tells us that Adam was commissioned by God to “cultivate and keep” the garden.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
Among all that Adam cultivated were two special trees. One was called the tree of Eternal Life, the other the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The later a tree that Adam was strictly forbidden not to eat from “lest you die…” Genesis 2:17
But Adams tenure in the garden was cut short when he, along with his wife Eve was tempted to eat from the fruit that was on the tree called the “knowledge of good and evil”. Notice something powerful: Adam was called to tend the garden in which that tree grew — but he was never called to consume its fruit. Often God calls us to cultivate things we are not meant to claim for ourselves.
· He allows us to tend the fruit, but not take the glory.
· He allows us to steward influence, but not possess divinity.
Here is something else unique about this irresistible garden. Genesis 3:8 says:
Genesis 3:8
the Lord walked in the garden in the cool of the day. And that is the defining feature of Eden, the Presence of God among man.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But, when Adam and Even ceased being satisfied with God and reached to own the glory they were meant to be stewards of - exile followed. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
The fall was not about fruit. It was about dissatisfaction with intimacy. That is still the root issue today. When we are not satisfied with God:
We substitute Him with success.
We replace Presence with possessions.
We chase expansion without communion.
So many Christians today are constantly seeking for that irresistible environment where we can feel satisfied. Seeking that bigger home with a bigger garage. That faster car, a better vacation, or more prominent career! Yet, in the midst of all of these pleasures our marriages, our kids and even our own soul are still suffering.
· The problem isn’t your house.
· The problem isn’t your spouse.
· The problem isn’t your salary.
· So, what’s the problem?
Genesis tells us:
8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Eden was a broader region — a land characterized by delight and abundance — while the Garden was a cultivated, intentional space within that region. As the ESV Study Bible notes, God formed the man from the ground, and then placed him in the garden (Gen. 2:5–7, 15). Eden was the culture bed where Adam was formed; the Garden was the specific sphere of assignment.
Genesis 2:10 tells us a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. The Garden flourished because it was irrigated by Eden. Cultivation worked because delight was upstream.
· The source was intimacy.
· The river was presence.
· The fruit was the result.
But when pride replaced presence — when he reached to be “like God” instead of walking with God — everything shifted. Genesis 3:23 says
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
He was repositioned back to the source of delight and presence so that once again both Adam and Eve could learn to dwell with their maker.
PART II — THE TABERNACLE: Eden Echoed in Architecture
PART II — THE TABERNACLE: Eden Echoed in Architecture
Years later we would be give another chance to regain Eden. Not a new model, just a new method called the Tabernacle. The tabernacle of Moses was the place of worship for a wandering church in the desert called The Nation of Israel. After Israel was driven out of Egypt by Pharoah - God instructed Moses on how to build this traveling tabernacle.
Specifically, it would have three compartments - The outer courts, the Holy Place and the heartbeat of it all, what nourished the nation of Israel was what flowed from the annual convention where the High Priest would encounter God in the Holy of Holies.
This New Tabernacle echoed Eden.
• Eastward entrance (Gen. 3:24 / Ex. 27:13–16)
• Cherubim guarding access (Gen. 3:24 / Ex. 26:31)
• Gold and precious stones (Gen. 2:12 / Ex. 25)
• Lampstand shaped like a tree (Ex. 25:31–40)
• River imagery fulfilled later in Ezekiel 47
The Holy of Holies represented restored access to Eden
PART III — YOU: The Living Tabernacle
PART III — YOU: The Living Tabernacle
But once again, Israel did what Adam and Eve had done before them. They exchanged the Presence of God for the idols of the surrounding nations. They traded intimacy for imitation. The prophet Jeremiah captures the heart of it:
13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
Do you hear the echo of Genesis? They abandoned the fountain itself. They walked away from living water and tried to manufacture it for themselves.
And just as Adam and Eve were driven east of Eden, Israel too was driven east — into Babylonian exile. The Temple was destroyed. The land was stripped. And in Ezekiel’s vision, something even more devastating occurred:
18 Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.
The greatest danger of the church today is:
performance without presence.
Action without anointing.
There is nothing more dissatisfying than a church void of presence.
Church, we will not see the revival we are crying for as long as we are satisfied with anything less than Eden – the glory of God – His presence – His life source! But hear me out!
· God was not finished with Eden.
· He was not finished with Israel.
· And He is not finished with us.
Look at what Christ did through the resurrection – Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
Your body is the temple – the tabernacle -
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Here Paul brings the garden and tabernacle imagery side by side. And, once again we are being invited to cultivate the Garden of God – the most irresistible environment on planet earth – not made with the physical elements alone – but most importantly – crafted with Spirit.
Soul — Eden (Cultivated Space)
Soul — Eden (Cultivated Space)
11 “And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.
38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
Just like the Garden of Eden, we are nourished by the river of Life -
· Your thought life.
· Your desires.
· Your affections.
You cannot create irresistible environments externally if you are spiritually barren internally.
You cannot manufacture Eden. You cultivate it in devotion.
PART IV — FROM PRESENCE TO COMMISSION
PART IV — FROM PRESENCE TO COMMISSION
In Leviticus 16, we are given a detailed picture of how the High Priests prepared to meet God in the Holy of Holies.
While we now have bold access to God through Christ, the pattern still teaches us something powerful: intimacy requires intentionality. We do not prepare to earn access. We prepare to steward intimacy.
He Washed — Purity
He Washed — Purity
Leviticus 16:4 tells us that Aaron was to bathe his body in water before putting on the holy garments. For us, washing represents repentance. It is clearing the soil of the garden of our heart.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.
He Changed Garments — Identity
He Changed Garments — Identity
Leviticus 16:4 says the High Priest put on sacred linen garments. Garments represent identity. For us, this points to righteousness in Christ.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
10 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Practical step:
Practical step:
Before prayer, remind yourself who you are. Son. Daughter. Redeemed. Chosen. Intimacy deepens when identity is settled.
He Offered Sacrifice — Surrender
He Offered Sacrifice — Surrender
Leviticus 16 describes the offering of blood for atonement. For us, Jesus is the final sacrifice.
22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
We do not bring bulls or goats. We bring surrender.
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
He Carried Incense — Prayer and Worship
He Carried Incense — Prayer and Worship
Leviticus 16:13 says the High Priest put incense on the fire before the Lord so that the cloud of incense would cover the mercy seat. In Scripture, incense represents prayer.
2 May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Prayer is not preparation for the Presence. Prayer is participation in it.
He Entered with Reverence — Awe
He Entered with Reverence — Awe
The High Priest entered once a year. There was weight. There was awe. In Christ, access is now continual. But reverence must remain.
28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
7 A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?
Familiarity must not produce casualness.
Practical step:
Practical step:
· Remove distraction.
· Create sacred rhythms.
· Guard your time with God.
· Treat His Presence as central, not secondary.
The High Priest washed. We repent.
He changed garments. We put on Christ.
He offered sacrifice. We surrender daily.
He carried incense. We pray and worship.
He entered with reverence. We cultivate awe.
We Create Irresistible Environments Where People Meet With God. This begins in the spirit! But, If we do not walk with God in the Garden, we cannot expect to carry His Presence into our world.
Salvation Response
Salvation Response
Maybe you do not have a personal relationship with God; maybe you are still carrying the anxiety, guilt, and pressure that sin induces in your life. Maybe you are stressed out by trying to navigate life all on your own. Can I assure you; today all of that can end, and you can walk out of this room with hope in your heart? The Bible tells us:
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Many people have told me, I don’t want to become a Christian because I can’t keep up that goodie lifestyle. But this verse says nothing about your lifestyle. God is more interested with your heart. If He can get to your heart, He will deal with your actions later.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We know that sin leads to death – you’ve felt the sting, and pain of sin. The good news is this, Paul calls God’s gift of life a “free gift”. I want to pray with you right now to receive this gift. If you would say, I want God’s forgiveness, I want to accept this gift of life, I want Jesus to live in my heart, raise your hand so I know who I am praying for.
KEEP YOUR HANDS RAISED HIGH - I HAVE A PRAYER PARTNER COMING TO PRAY WITH YOU
“Heavenly Father, I trust You to save me through Your Son, Jesus. Forgive me for all of my sins. Make me brand new. Because You died for me, I want to live for You. Fill me with Your Spirit, so I could follow You. Jesus, You’re now my Lord and the Savior of my life. Take my life. It is Yours. In Jesus’ name, I pray.”
