One Church, One Community: United in Worship and Grace - Bennington Community Worship Service - 3TC Podcast - 6/8/2025

The Bennington church community came together for a Bennington Community Worship Service with St. John's Lutheran Church (Pastor Jason Asselstine), Crossover Church (Pastor Casey Comstock), and Three Timbers Church (Pastor Jeff Ryan). Pastors Jason, Casey, and Jeff discuss the importance of community, worship, and forgiveness. We are imperfect humans, and the grace of God leads to a prayer for forgiveness. Hebrews 10:19-25 tells us that we can boldly go to the throne of God. Let's continue to support one another as a community.

Welcome to Three Timbers Church! We are so glad you found us online and encourage you to explore all there is to learn about our church located in beautiful Bennington, Nebraska. When you come to Three Timbers, you can come as you are to experience the love of Jesus through the people of God. ​

Whether young or old, single or married, new to church, or a lifelong attendee, there's a place for you here. We invite you to join us toward a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. Our goal is to share the passion, power, and presence of Jesus with others. We believe in supporting families through service, education, and loving one another as Jesus loves us, unconditionally.

Transcript

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Welcome to the three timbers podcast. We hope this will encourage and uplift you today. Good morning. You all may be seated. My name is Jason Esselstyn. I serve as the pastor up at St John's up on the hill, and it is a gift to be able to be here, to be able to worship together as a community, all in one place, the Church, the Church of God. Together, we're going to do a couple things now where we'll have a time for offering. And just want to clear up here. Offering is not like passing the tip jar around after thanks for I mean, the band is doing a great job in all of that sort of thing. It's not like throwing throwing our case out on the floor. It offering is a part of worship. It is a way that we take the part of who we are that we like to hold closest to ourselves, our money and our treasure, and say, Here, God, this belongs to you for our offering today, if you have a check and you want to make that out to your own congregation, that will go back to your congregation today. If you have cash that you would like to give, that will go for sponsoring this event for the next year as we come together. So that's what our offering will go, go for today. Also at this time, we are going to dismiss our kids for a message that is specific to them. So if the kids want to go, they can head back to that door, back there. And we can, we can do that. And we're going to go on with our worship, with our worship, with our confession here in a minute. But I want to take just a moment of privilege, uh, while I'm up here to encourage you today, if you do not have plans later today to to go and see come back here at four o'clock and see the Wizard of Oz. I know that there are tickets still available. I talked to the cast today about that, that go see it. You're right. I was going to go, Oh, two o'clock at six o'clock. Yes, two o'clock at six o'clock today here and again, it is a fabulous play. They do a great, great job. So go see them now, two o'clock and six o'clock. You can go online and get tickets For that ahead of time. All right, it's good morning. My name is Jeff, and I'm with three timbers church, and just to echo what Pastor Casey and Pastor Jason said, it really is something very unique to this community that we come together as one church in three expressions. All of us have so much in common. We love Jesus, we need Jesus. We came here to praise Jesus. One other thing that we have in common is that none of us are perfect. Every one of us comes up short. Every one of us makes mistakes. We say things we wish we didn't, and there are things that we should say that we don't. We sometimes act in a way that we can't believe we just did what we just did. But one of the things that we have to remember is that God is filled with grace and God is filled with love, and what we want to do is just take a moment to slow down and just kind of confess to God what he already knows is that we're not perfect. We want to confess our sin to God. We want to pray and ask for his forgiveness, and then we're going to read the good news of how God forgives each and every one of us for every big and little thing that we do. So let's close our eyes and let's go confess to the Lord what he already knows. Father, just because we come here or because we go to church doesn't make us perfect. Father, we are imperfect people in a fallen world who come seeking to praise you because you have saved us from our sin. You have saved us from ourselves and So Father, we confess to you, and even though sometimes we struggle to believe it, Lord, we know that you forgive us. So Father, I pray that whatever we may have been carrying around, whatever weight may have been on us about our sin, that we could never be forgiven, or that we aren't good enough, that Lord we know now because of the sacrifice of Jesus, that we are made perfect in your eyes through faith, we are forgiven. So Father, it is in. That we celebrate your grace and forgiveness. Amen, want to read to you these words to bring you comfort. It says in First John one nine, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all righteousness unrighteousness. He will cleanse you. He will purify you. Amen, and we're going to have Pastor Jason and Pastor Casey. Come on out you. We're going to be looking at a text today from the book of Hebrews, if you have your Bibles, or if you have a Bible app, I would encourage you to open up to Hebrews chapter 10, we're going to be looking at verses 19 through 25 Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25 here is the word of God, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened up for us through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance of faith that brings having our hearts sprinkled and cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching, amen. When we started to talk about what would be an appropriate text, this text came to mind because it talks about us. It talks about us, let us, let us. And so we wanted to spend a few minutes talking about what it means to be us, what it means to be the church, what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And so guys, what were some of the things that struck you through this text? To kick us off, I think thinking about this first couple of verses, talking about how we can boldly go into the Lord's presence. If you think about back in the Levitical priesthood, and we had the high priest was the only person could go into the most high place. And he would go into that place fear and trembling. But now it says, Hey, no, you can go into boldly now with confidence. And so I have somebody really stood out to me like, hey, we have a new high priest, and we go to him in confidence and boldly. When I read this, I you know, anytime a passage starts with therefore means that there's probably something before that that we should pay attention to, and the therefore is that we are able to stand before God, because God forgives us all our sins. And so for me this, this is like where we are in a new place, a new state, a new being, some place that we've never been before. Forgive this. But it's like Dorothy finding herself in Oz well done, huh? Well done. Well done. Yeah. And so finding herself in us, not knowing where she's at, but she's in a new place, and she has to find her bearing and that forgiveness of sin places us in a brand new place, a state before God that we have never been before. And so then we have to figure out how to live in the middle of that new place, that new state of forgiveness, and learn how to live together. And then they go through all of this. Let us do this. Let us live in hope, and all of the different parts. But then at the end, I love this word in my Bible. It says, provoke. Let us provoke one another to good works and to love. And you talked about spur, spur on, you know the word provoke. For me, it was interesting. I spent a lot of time with that over the last few days, because when I think of the word provoke, it doesn't have a positive connotation. You know, I'm the oldest of three kids in my family, and I will tell you, I provoked my brothers and sisters quite a bit and so but I like the idea of spur spur one another. On and, you know, and Jen and I in conversation this morning, she used the word. It's almost like a dare that dares us to go out then living this new life and provoking, or I dare you to live a better life filled with love and good works. And so that's where I was when I read it. We have to do that, right? We have to motivate and encourage and spur one another. Because, guess what? We don't naturally do that, right? My natural thought, my first instance, is not to do that initially, like I need people to encourage me to do those things. Yeah, we live in a world that is so connected, but yet we are so disconnected from actually doing what Scripture teaches us to encourage one another. We're so afraid that we're going to offend one another, but if we lovingly say, hey, I want to encourage you. I want to provoke you to understand that you are good enough to come into the presence of God. What I love about this first part is hierarchy goes away. We we love to be able to kind of hierarchy all types of things. But it says, Let us and that US means it doesn't matter who you are, whether you've been walking with the Lord for your whole life, or whether you've been walking for just a day, all of us can come into the presence of the Lord, and so it is our job as the church, as one church in three expressions. How are we encouraging? How are we provoking other people to say, You are worthy to come into the presence of God, not because of you, but because of Jesus and what he did. And that's a powerful thing. It frees you from trying to feel like I have to be good enough. We don't have to be good enough because Christ was perfect for us. That's that beautiful part about it, that guilty conscience, like we've been sprinkled clean. I'm glad you took us through that, just the confession and the forgiveness that Jesus gives us because, like we just saying we are made for more. But I think a lot of times, the guilt and shame that we've experienced from our past behaviors or things we've done has hindered us from doing what God's called us to do. But if we truly believe and trust that we are forgiven, and that he is the one who made us, created us with gifts and talents, that we can go do those things once we realize how much we have been forgiven, how much we have been saved to the duty He's called us to do, then all of a sudden, our mess becomes our message that we can help other people that have maybe are experiencing the same thing we've experienced. We can help other people out of their mess, that's what Jesus did for us. He comforts us so that we can comfort others. He encourages us so we can encourage or provoke others. You know, we go through this text and it talks about, you know, let us come into His presence. And then it says, Let us hold unswervingly. And I love that word. We should use that word more in conversation, let us hold on unswervingly to the hope we profess. And what does that mean to you guys, when you read those words, to hold on to hope unswervingly? I think for me, ultimately, it's like regardless of what's going around me, like the trials, the challenges, the ups and downs of life, like, what is your life built on? And what are you saying? What's that foundation you're built on? And regardless of what's happening around you, the truth is still the truth. He is still good, he's still faithful, his faithful love still endures forever, right? Like that's still true regardless of my circumstances, my situation that I'm currently in. So that's what I trusted, and that's my hope, and not anything else in this world. I like the notion of being unflappable. You know, no matter what happens in your life, if this is the thing that defines you the most, the fact that that God is the one directing our lives, guiding us, and no matter what the world throws at us, we are to be unswerving or unflappable, or all of the UN words and that sort of stuff, when it comes together, and there's there is more about the fact that this is almost a command to us to be together, that you can't do this on our own. As the passage wraps up, it's like we can't not meet together, as some people do, because the community of the church, the message of Christ, needs all of us. Maybe on one day it may not need you may not need something, but somebody, somebody sitting next to you may need the fact that you are here in this place and hear your message of love and recognize that, that you are there to hold them up when they can't even pray or be present or struggling with something, your unflappableness, your unswervingness, will support, encourage one another and hold them up as well. I would say too, like the answer to your prayer is probably sitting right next to you. And I, when I read this word, and I appreciate what both of you said, I think of the guards at Buckingham Palace. You know, they stand out there, and they are unflappable, no matter how many people try to get them. And to break out of their role, to break out of character and to respond, or whatever it is, they are just unflappable because they understand what they were put there for. They understand what their mission is. They understand who they represent, and when we understand our mission, when we understand who we represent, which is Christ. We can become unflappable. We can become and hold unswervingly to that hope that we profess, because we live in a world that needs hope. Amen, we need hope. And here's the good news, we've got it. We just gotta hold on to it. We gotta hold on to that hope. So if you are in the middle of a storm right now in your life or in your heart, hold on to hope. Hold on to that person next to you, because they're holding on to hope as well. And we hold on together. Let us notice how it says that again, let us hold on unswervingly to the hope we profess we're going to get through that storm. And then it kind of, as you had alluded to, Jason, it kind of comes down to that, that last part that says, and let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more, as you see the day approaching. How does that resonate with you guys when you hear that, yeah, for me, I was thinking through with living in Pentecost Sunday of just one of the marks of the early church was just that meeting together, not just on a Sunday, but it was daily. It was in houses together. It was a mark of them coming together, sharing everything and doing life together. And so that's huge. I think a lot of times for us, for us, for me is like when I'm going through something or experience something, I want to isolate myself. I want to stay distance, saying, No, we need to be together. We're true. There are better together. So don't neglect coming together. Don't neglect meeting together, such a huge part of our the Christian walk. I think I've used this analogy before, but I have a book that my wife gave me. It's called bless the space between us. And it understands that if you ask, where is where is God here in the room? Well, God is between us. It's the thing that draws us together and and so being on our own, you know, where is God? Okay, sure, God is within us, but when we gather together, God is here between us, that space. And so this is we it. I think it's almost impossible to be a Christian on your own, because we have to hold up one another. And anytime I do a wedding, I like to allude to the fact that the three chord strand is not easily broken when they have two people and God, drawing them together, it makes us unflappable real quick too. There will be a tally of who said unflappable and unswervingly the most. We will have a winner. Yeah, extra donuts. So that's the win. You know what? When I read this, I think of habits, right? We all have habits. Some of us get up and have the same routine every day. Get up, have your coffee, have your breakfast, brush your teeth, drive the same way to work. You know, many of us sit in the exact same places at church, right? We get into habits. And they say it takes 21 days to develop a habit. And so we need to make sure that we have good habits when it comes to worship. And we are so tempted to always find one reason why we oh, I can't come this week because, well, then one week turns into two weeks turns into three weeks, and the next thing you know, you haven't been to church in a year, and so we need to come together, because there is power and presence. I cannot begin to tell you, and I know these guys will say the same thing. We have had the privilege to walk with people in very difficult moments, and we have been there, and people will say, well, thank you so much for what you did. And we've said we didn't say anything. They said, but you were in the room. Our presence here matters to the people next to you, but it also matters to the people that are here. They need to know that the church is about coming together as the Body of Christ. They need to hear, how was your weekend? Oh, we had a great church service on Sunday, and so let us continue to meet together and not get in the bad habit as some are. And we go back to some of the words we said earlier. How are we encouraging one another? How are we encouraging one another? Hey, are we calling folks who don't come to church? Hey, we missed you. Is everything okay? And you'd be surprised if people say, Well, we had illness in our house or we just lost a job. And so it's important that we understand who the US is, and the US is that we come together, we hold on to hope, we continue to meet together. Said that a follower of Jesus without a church home is an orphan. If you think about it, you talk about brothers and sisters in Christ like you're part of the family. The family needs to come together and be a part of what the family is doing as we see it says, as we see the day approaching. That day is when Jesus comes back. And I think our prayer is that the church, when he comes back, finds us worshiping, praying, celebrating, serving and giving him the glory. Amen. Thank you for joining us. For more information about three timbers, church ministries and services. Visit three timbers.org. We would love for you to join us in person. You.