Where is the Space?

series: Rachab

title: Where is the Space?

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: September 3, 2017

scriptures: Genesis 26:12-25, Psalm 31:15

Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” 

So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” 

From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Sometimes, we find ourselves lost in a sea of things that the world throws at us, and we get so distracted with all of the things that WE THINK THAT WE HAVE TO DO... that we never do the THINGS THAT WE ACTUALLY SHOULD DO. 

and time gets sucked away, leaving us feeling like there is no space for us to actually create the things that we believe we are supposed to make out of this life. 

But just like Isaac, I believe that the Lord has made room for you, here and now. He has made room for your dreams, he has made room for your gifts... 

But sometimes we can't see the things that are right in front of us... So lets ask ourselves a question... 

What is it for me? What is it for you?

What is it that is keeping you from your calling? What is keeping you living life as if you don’t actually have any.… What is keeping you living like you are already dead? 

What is taking up the space in your mind?

In your heart?

In your life? 

What is filling the space? 

What needs to be laid on the altar to create space in your life for what Jesus wants to do? 

What has you bound and maybe you don’t even know it?

Perhaps the best way to answer that, is to answer this question: 

What is taking your time? 

Psalm 31:15 says "my times are in your hand;" 

We need to be like David, and place our times into the hands of Jesus. Time is a most valuable asset, and we will waste it if we remain distracted and never create space for the spirit to move in our lives. 

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Capacity

series: Rachab 

title: capacity

date: August 27, 2017

scriptures: Psalm 18:36, 2 Samuel 22:34, Genesis 37-50, Genesis 37:3, 1 Peter 5:10, Ecclesiastes 2:14

You gave a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

-Psalm 18:36

Have you ever had something that you had to do, and you were TOTALLY overwhelmed at the thought of doing it? You had no clue how on earth it would even be possible?

But then, as the years go by, the same things that were once daunting, now seem easy? 

Has it actually gotten easier? Or have you just gotten better?

Psalm 18 starts by saying:

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer…

Because the truth is, that when it feels like the whole world falls apart… or in David’s case (the writer of Psalm 18), LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD IS AGAINST YOU… God has this way of delivering us from whatever it is we are going through… and often times, the things that we think are going to destroy us, end up being the very things that propel us into something EVEN GREATER. 

and then when we get there, we realize, “wow… I wouldn't know what to do with myself, IF I JUST STARTED HERE… but because I struggled through this, and that, and this and that… and I failed and succeeded and then failed again…  Now I actually have a good idea about the best way to respond to this! 

David had to learn to take refuge in the Lord before he could know how to lead a nation. 

but the thing that I love about this short section of Psalm 18 (and 2 Samuel 22) - is that it says that God gave David a WIDE PLACE for his steps under him. This just jumped out at me this week. 

What that word in the Hebrew is, is the word rachab - and this is what it means… “to GROW WIDE” or “to ENLARGE.” 

So it is not a foundation that right off of the bat was wide.

It expanded over time… and when you read the Bible, you clearly see that as David was facing giant after giant in his life, the level ground that God was preparing for him to walk on as he faced the things he faced was expanding wider and wider, THE MORE THAT HE WENT THROUGH. So by the time that he was running and hiding FROM the King, and had armies after Him, his trust in God had been SO EXPANDED, that the bible says “his feet were firm.” “He did not slip” 

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#11 The Church (Part 3)

series: Love Incorruptible

title: The Church (part 3)

date: July 9, 2017

teacher: Jacob Bender

scriptures: Ephesians 5:22-33, Hosea 13:9, Genesis 2:24, Deuteronomy 6:5, John 17, Genesis 3

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Man is incomplete.

Woman is incomplete.

But when they come together, in the way that God designed for them to be together, suddenly you have the fullest and most complete reflection of God available to man. 

Paul calls it is mystery... A mystery that He says...

refers to the church. 

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In this sermon, we explored the DEPTH that is "the mystery" that Paul is referring to, and we went through some VERY BIG IDEAS that are revealed in the original language of the text that Paul quotes.

Of all of those big ideas, this one (explained below) is probably the biggest, and has by far gotten the most questions and responses from people, so we have provided this additional walk through of the concept for you to follow along as you watch the sermon. 

It is the concept explained in this sermon about the Hebrew words for man and woman... 

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This is Genesis 2:24, which Paul quotes in Ephesians 5 when he is talking about marriage and how it relates to the church. Not the words "man" and "woman"

This is how it looks in Hebrew (right to left in Hebrew, but written in English left to right--- so "aleph" is the letter farthest to the right)

See the similarities... note the differences. They both have two identical letters, and one that is unique to their word. 

By removing the two DISTINCT letters and putting them in a word by themselves, it spells "yah" - a Hebrew word for God. (and one half of YHWH "Yahweh")

Naturally, this makes sense. Because when a man and a woman come together, the way that God intended it to be, it is the closest reflection available to mankind of what God is like (a lot more about that in the sermon) - perhaps this doesn't surprise you... but when you combine the unique parts of the word "man" and "woman" you spell "God" but what may surprise you, is what you are left with, with you take God out. 

if you now read the letters that are remaining... the letters that are the same in each word, you get fire. and because there are two words, you get fire, fire. Which in Hebrew, there were no explanation points so to emphasize something you would double it when you really wanted to show how important something is. Its almost like someone shouting "fire" or the concept of "the worst kind of fire" 

In other words…

this.

is.

as.

bad.

as.

it.

gets!

Something that was designed to be the absolutely great gift… the absolute best… can become THE ABSOLUTE WORST, MOST DESTRUCTIVE THING IN YOUR LIFE. 

or...

it could just be a coincidence :) 

(it's not)

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#10 Melodies

series: Love Incorruptible

title: #10 Melodies

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: July 2, 2017

scriptures: Ephesians 5:15-21, Proverbs 4:7, 1 Corinthians 12:8, Luke 12, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:22, Genesis 3:16, Philippians 2:12-13

Melodies produce hope. They are connectors. You hear them, and they draw you into a hope that you didn't even know existed. 

but it is hard to sing when the days are slipping away from you… It is hard to sing when you don’t have anything to sing about. 

and this is the last thing I will say about this message... then you just need to watch it.

It was a long, challenging, exciting week... and this concept carried me. 

#9 Imitators of God

series: Love Incorruptible

title: #9 Imitators of God

date: June 25, 2017

teacher: Jacob Bender

scriptures: Ephesians 5:1-14, Genesis 6:5, Genesis 1-3, Genesis 4:6-7, 

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One thing Drew always says, and he says it about the most simple things, (it's hilarious) is he says: “This changes everything.” He said it on Thursday, I told him at Kids Club “we have a slip and slide today” and he said: “This changes everything.” 

That is exactly the way that we should look at the gospel. This truly is the one thing, that changes everything. 

and the thing that it should produce in you, probably more than anything else: is Thanksgiving. It is the word “eucharisteō” (you-har-estay-o) - bundled into this Greek word are the Greek words charis and chara which means “grace” and “joy” - when you understand how every finite detail of your life all the way down to your salvation is grace, it produces unspeakable joy, which equates to thankfulness. 

 and when that Thanksgiving is genuine,  the behavior side of things begins to happen automatically. 

Not because you aren’t trying to do the right thing… part of growing up in Christ means learning how to live your life with INTENTION… but the difference between the old and the new self is: the old self WANTS to give way to the flesh… the new self WANTS to resist it. 

#3 Seeing Our Neighbor

series: Neighbor(ing)

title: Seeing Our Neighbor

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: March 5, 2017

scriptures: John 8:3-11, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:4-5, Genesis 3:17, Genesis 3:22-33, Psalm 106:23, Ezekiel 22:30, Revelation 22:1-4