WASHED

SERMON RECAP: JULY 3, 2022
PREACHING PASTOR: NATE LEVERING

How do you know you're clean?

Happy Tuesday, church. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend celebrating America's birthday! Some friends of ours who now live in Massachusetts are visiting and we camped out on our property with all the kids and a few other friends, and then partied with the kid parade in Phoenix Lake Estates. Summer of dreams, y'all!

We especially hope you were able to join us either on campus or on YouTube for the live streaming. If you happen to use Facebook for live streaming on Sundays, you may have noticed that it's a bit temperamental, so we've been trying to re-direct everyone to YouTube (click here for the latest sermon). If you were able to attend one of our on-campus services, you or someone in your family went home with a small, white golf towel featuring our new SBC logo design on it. Together with the Elders, staff and Levering family (wow, I feel like I'm drafting a wedding invitation), Pastor Nate Levering was commissioned as our new Lead Pastor here at Sierra Bible Church. This towel is representation of what it means for Nate to not only humbly serve this church and the community, but as a bright reminder that we are ambassadors of He who cleansed us.

Our youngest daughter, Finley, can usually be found digging for worms or searching for frogs or turtles, with dirt on her face more times than not. At the end of each day, she'll look up at me in the most sweet, nearly seven year old squinty face and ask if she needs a bath or shower, to which I laugh in my mind because it's obvious. She's filthy. But to her, she gets into her routine and often times doesn't realize how desperate she is for a shower. When my girls were a bit younger, we'd often read the book, God Made Me Washable by Becky A. Johns. 

The book is so sweet and each time we'd read it, I thought, I am so glad God made me washable. Amen? I could not imagine worshipping a God and falling at the feet of one who did not love me the way He does with such grace, humility and strength to overcome my sin. John 13: 8-10 says, "Jesus answered, 'Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean'". As Jesus poured Himself out for us, He also cleansed us. During the Last Supper, a time when Jesus sat for a meal with His disciples, He said to them, “'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'” Luke 22:19 - 20.

Let me ask you this, when did you realize that your soul needed to be clean? How did you come to that moment? What was it like to give your dirt to Jesus? And finally, how often do you have to be reminded that He's taken it and you no longer live in the slump of shame?

As a church, Pastor Nate, encouraged us to be a "doing" congregation.
1. To carry people to the cross, much like the how the friends of the paralytic man lowered him from the ceiling to receive what Jesus had to offer (Luke 5).
2. To engage the needs of the hurting, much like how one woman who dared to connect to others in their grief re-vamped the GriefShare Ministry here at Sierra Bible and now weekly displays such mercy and humility as she uses what God led her through in her own grief journey to reach others.
3. To create intentional environments for growth, exploring and taking chances. What have you got to lose when God is with you?
4. To be unapologetically real with yourself, with one another and with the Lord. Again, what have you got to lose? 

With your towel, wherever it might be hanging or laying, may you be reminded that your feet have been washed, your soul is now clean, and you have the gift of a new life. Let us be a church that celebrates that together!