WEBVTT 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:13.300 Hello and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:14.839 Thank you so much for listening. 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:16.199 We're startup church. 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:23.460 We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together. 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:32.299 And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more. 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:36.439 You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that. 00:00:36.899 --> 00:00:40.399 We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today. 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:49.100 You know, maybe, maybe this year for you has been one of great joy and great triumph. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:52.020 And if that's where you are, that's awesome. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:53.280 I love to hear that. 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:55.420 You got to share that with us. 00:00:55.939 --> 00:00:58.799 Show us what, what, what has been going great in your life. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:03.719 Maybe this year though, you've looked at it and it's been one that's been less than triumphant. 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:16.840 It's been one where there's been difficulty in many, in many areas, or there's been specific difficulty in one area, uh, fortunately and unfortunately, and we're going to, we're going to build up to this wherever you are at. 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:24.219 There's a, there's a relatively high likelihood that the hardest years of your life are ahead of you. 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:40.060 Maybe, maybe not the hardest year, maybe you had the hardest year of your life, but if you're going to live for any length of time, then there's going to be a buildup of difficult things and hard years that are, that are ahead of you. 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:43.959 And if you feel like that, that is super discouraging. 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:44.920 I want to leave. 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:46.620 There's no joy in that. 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:52.040 I hope by the end of it, you actually feel pretty encouraged at how God is going to shape you and mold you. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:02:06.000 And God is going to work on you throughout your entire life and how patient he is with all of us to continue to work with us and love us and give to us and provide us a way out when we're going through and in the midst of challenges. 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:06.319 Amen. 00:02:06.659 --> 00:02:06.900 Amen. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:19.939 We're going to, we've been looking at the Israelites and we're, uh, we're going to, we're approaching it from a number of different angles and where we looked at this occurrence of them being enslaved and then being set free. 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:22.900 And we're going to go back to that right now. 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:27.319 We're going to look at just another aspect of, of them being set free. 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:35.099 And the question that you may ask that I'm sure they asked is now what we've been set free, but what's, you know, now we're going to go to the promised land, I guess. 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:41.099 And the reality is it took them 40 years of wandering in the desert in order to get to the promised land. 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:47.080 We're going to look at why, man, God is just so cruel that he would take them, take them that much time to get there. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:50.379 And the response that I hope we leave with is that's not the case. 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:57.300 Actually, God is extremely loving and extremely patient and was working with them at every step of the way to build up inside of them. 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:00.159 What could be a, his holy nation. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.460 Amen. 00:03:00.699 --> 00:03:00.939 Amen. 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:07.080 And my prayer is that we leave with a greater appreciation for why they spent so much time in the wilderness. 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:16.060 And I pray that we will also lean in and allow our journeys in the wilderness to, to shape us and our character. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:16.419 Amen. 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:18.800 We're going to look in Exodus 13. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:20.240 We're turning a little bit. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.919 And so if you just want to follow along on the screen, that's, that's okay. 00:03:30.870 --> 00:03:38.270 It says, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. 00:03:38.449 --> 00:03:40.289 Don't you wish God would just lead us on the short path. 00:03:41.210 --> 00:03:42.509 Let me just get there. 00:03:42.650 --> 00:03:46.210 I don't, I don't know how long it's going to, let me, let me take the short way. 00:03:46.289 --> 00:03:47.389 It's a little bit more difficult. 00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:50.889 I'm going to get there and then I'll be in the promised land. 00:03:50.969 --> 00:03:53.370 And yet that's not often how God works, right? 00:03:55.979 --> 00:03:57.259 Because God knows what they need. 00:03:57.259 --> 00:04:01.699 It says, for God said, if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:07.979 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.360 The Israelites went up out of Egypt, ready for battle. 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:17.278 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:19.259 He said, God will surely come to your aid. 00:04:19.379 --> 00:04:22.180 Then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:28.019 After leaving Sukkoth, they camped at Etham at the, on the edge of the desert. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:38.000 By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel by day or night. 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:44.139 Neither the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, left its place in front of the people. 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:49.730 These Israelites felt like, we're ready for battle. 00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:50.069 What is it? 00:04:50.069 --> 00:04:51.769 It doesn't say they were unprepared for battle. 00:04:51.769 --> 00:04:53.170 It says they're ready for battle. 00:04:54.050 --> 00:04:58.970 And yet God says, no, you're not as ready as you think you are for this battle. 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:01.250 He's like, you guys might leave. 00:05:01.269 --> 00:05:03.350 It's going to be that difficult that you're going to leave. 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:12.949 And so I've got to take you the long way to help your character and to work out in your heart what I know that I need you, that I need to be created. 00:05:15.470 --> 00:05:18.649 You know, we'd love to just know the best path for your life. 00:05:18.649 --> 00:05:28.810 It'd be amazing if we could see, again, from 100 feet in the air, and you could look and you could say, what's going to happen when I turn, for some of us, 20? 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:33.069 What's going to happen when I turn 25, or 30, or 40, or 60? 00:05:33.389 --> 00:05:35.209 How many kids am I going to have? 00:05:35.730 --> 00:05:38.029 Are my grandkids going to like me? 00:05:38.069 --> 00:05:43.250 Am I going to be the cool side of the grandparent group, or am I going to be the stiffer side of the grandparent group? 00:05:43.370 --> 00:05:47.110 Like, how is my life going to turn out? 00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:49.350 Who am I going to meet? 00:05:49.870 --> 00:05:51.769 Who is worth my time? 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:53.329 Who is not worth my time? 00:05:55.170 --> 00:05:59.529 What hardships am I going to go through so I can prepare ahead of time to be ready for those hardships? 00:05:59.850 --> 00:06:02.310 And God doesn't give us that, though, does he? 00:06:03.750 --> 00:06:06.649 I think, man, and even more than that, we'd love to go 100 feet up. 00:06:07.970 --> 00:06:09.930 We'd love to be maybe more than 100 feet up. 00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:13.250 We'd love to be the one that's dictating and determining all of it, right? 00:06:14.490 --> 00:06:15.310 Seeing is one thing. 00:06:15.329 --> 00:06:16.689 We'd like to be the ones in control. 00:06:16.689 --> 00:06:19.550 And yet God says, I know the best path for your life. 00:06:19.930 --> 00:06:21.269 I know where you need to go. 00:06:21.370 --> 00:06:22.810 I know where I'm going to take you. 00:06:22.970 --> 00:06:27.569 I know inside your heart you feel like you are ready, but you're not ready yet. 00:06:27.629 --> 00:06:29.850 And that's what he's telling his people. 00:06:29.970 --> 00:06:34.050 He led them out of slavery, and now he's taking them on the long way. 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:37.930 But he doesn't leave them there. 00:06:37.990 --> 00:06:39.449 And this is the powerful part. 00:06:39.470 --> 00:06:41.050 It says he went ahead of them. 00:06:41.870 --> 00:06:47.730 And so the joy, I don't know where you're at right now, but the joy that you can feel in your walk with God is that God is going ahead of you. 00:06:48.069 --> 00:06:49.230 God is leading your way. 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:50.329 You feel like, I don't know which way to go. 00:06:50.410 --> 00:06:53.209 No, God's leading you, and he's showing you the right way to go. 00:06:54.649 --> 00:06:56.509 And he's not doing it some of the time. 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:58.689 He's not doing it only a little bit. 00:06:58.769 --> 00:07:03.649 It says very clearly that he comes by this cloud that leads the way. 00:07:03.709 --> 00:07:06.389 And then at night, he also leads the way. 00:07:06.569 --> 00:07:08.550 And he says he gives you this open opportunity. 00:07:08.670 --> 00:07:11.610 It says when you want to walk, when you want to follow, God's ready. 00:07:11.689 --> 00:07:14.810 That means that at night, you're like, let me push a little bit further. 00:07:14.930 --> 00:07:15.970 Let me walk with him. 00:07:16.230 --> 00:07:17.069 He's like, I'm ready for you. 00:07:17.069 --> 00:07:18.529 I'll walk with you for sure. 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:20.269 Like, man, I'm struggling. 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:22.050 I'm not doing well. 00:07:22.550 --> 00:07:24.290 And he's like, I'm waiting then. 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:25.069 I'm here for you. 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:29.069 God is so gracious with his people in Exodus. 00:07:29.230 --> 00:07:31.470 He's so gracious with you and me though, as well. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:41.920 There are battles that we're fighting that we feel prepared to fight. 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:46.019 Maybe you feel prepared to fight a battle from your past. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.579 And you feel like I have the tools and I'm ready to fight it. 00:07:48.620 --> 00:07:50.339 And maybe God's saying, no, you're not ready yet. 00:07:50.339 --> 00:07:51.300 I need to equip you. 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:58.459 Maybe there's battles that you're going through right now, maybe your current situation, where you look and you say, how did I get here? 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:02.980 And you're frustrated and you're challenged and you're confused. 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:07.439 And God is working something in your life. 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.259 Man, can't I just overlook this? 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:10.540 Can I just get past this? 00:08:10.579 --> 00:08:11.579 How come I can't beat this? 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:16.959 And God is saying, I'm with you and I'm fighting alongside you and I'm leading your way. 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:18.100 You just need to follow. 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:23.920 Maybe there's battles that you're fighting, that all of us are fighting in anticipation of our futures. 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:26.480 What's gonna happen next year? 00:08:26.579 --> 00:08:28.160 Where am I gonna be in five years? 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:31.519 This is not the plan that I had set for my life. 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:35.440 And at every point and every step of the way, God is with us. 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:37.178 He's walking with us. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:40.360 He is patient with us, but he's saying, just trust me. 00:08:40.558 --> 00:08:42.058 Just follow and just walk. 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:56.929 The Bible says in Hebrews 12, it says, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful later on, it will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 00:08:59.860 --> 00:09:01.340 It's a truth in parenting. 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:03.519 It's a truth in life though. 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:06.039 If God's our father, then we're the children. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.820 And so we're going to be disciplined in a way that feels uncomfortable. 00:09:10.419 --> 00:09:11.240 It doesn't feel good. 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:21.100 It feels, you know, there's a tension that's created and it's painful, but it says that it's gonna produce a harvest of righteousness and peace. 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:23.100 And that's what we're looking for, right? 00:09:23.139 --> 00:09:29.940 If you promised somebody on the road, I think the older that I get, I think the more that I realize, if you had to ask somebody, what do you want more than anything? 00:09:30.620 --> 00:09:33.860 I don't know if they have the words for it, but what they're asking for is peace. 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:35.960 The world wants peace. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.740 I'm not talking about no wars. 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:42.700 I mean, internal peace and comfortability that I know where I'm at and I'm comfortable with where I'm at. 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:49.919 And I'm working with God to get where I'm going, but this world needs peace more than anything. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:58.139 And the Bible promises it, and it promises a harvest, like a great harvest of peace after this discipline though. 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:12.120 This is, you know, many of us have become Christians and are followers and are loving God and pursuing God and walking with God. 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:14.980 And maybe you're at this roadblock. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:28.220 Maybe there's a, work with me here, maybe there's a Red Sea in front of you, where there's no way there's, if I stay where I'm at, I'm going to die because there's, you know, for the Israelites, they've got these Egyptians that are coming after them. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:34.360 And so God has to provide a way out, but we're still stuck by this Red Sea. 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:44.860 I think a truth is that potentially what's gotten you to the place that you are right now is not what's going to get you to the place that you need to go. 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:57.679 Where you are at right now, the way you've operated and walked with God or not walked with God, you've gotten to this place, but it's likely not what's going to take you to where you need to go. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:58.759 Where do you need to go? 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:03.279 God knows, I don't have the answer for it, but you and God work together and find that out. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:12.259 You know, the Israelites, they were enslaved for almost 400 years. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.240 And so they didn't have spiritual leadership. 00:11:15.460 --> 00:11:22.600 They didn't have much money or resources, but then were given some, you know, in some miraculous way by the Egyptians. 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:26.200 They had no laws of their own. 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.340 There was no formalized government. 00:11:28.539 --> 00:11:29.379 There was no military. 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:33.940 There wasn't a real, a deep understanding of God. 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:36.159 They didn't have their own culture. 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:38.179 It was just impressed upon them. 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:43.940 God had to work for 40 years to give them all of these things. 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:46.039 And could he have worked faster? 00:11:46.659 --> 00:11:52.019 Perhaps, if they were humble, perhaps it could have went faster, but he didn't leave them. 00:11:56.850 --> 00:12:00.289 Where is your relationship with God undeveloped this morning? 00:12:05.529 --> 00:12:12.889 What do you need to be formed inside of you as we wander towards heaven? 00:12:20.100 --> 00:12:28.320 You know, this scripture in 1 Peter, we bring it up, and it's exciting that God calls us this. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:45.220 He says in 1 Peter 2, you are a, he's talking to Peter's, a letter written by the apostle Peter to a group of exiled Christians who are being persecuted, but fighting, you know, fighting the spiritual battle. 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:57.639 And it says, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:03.080 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. 00:13:03.179 --> 00:13:07.179 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:14.700 You know, these things are, these titles rather, they're given to us. 00:13:15.460 --> 00:13:28.899 If you are living in the light, if you have, you know, died with Jesus, died in your old life and then been resurrected to live a new life, then you're a chosen person. 00:13:28.899 --> 00:13:30.700 You're part of a royal priesthood. 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:33.820 You are, we are a holy nation. 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:35.580 We are God's special possession. 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:40.620 We have received mercy and we are those who are living in the light. 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:46.899 And that is a cause for great joy and great energy and great excitement from all of us. 00:13:49.769 --> 00:13:52.350 But we don't always feel like we're the chosen people. 00:13:53.730 --> 00:13:55.529 We don't always feel royal. 00:13:56.450 --> 00:13:59.970 We don't always live holy set apart lives. 00:14:01.370 --> 00:14:02.990 We don't always act like God's people. 00:14:03.070 --> 00:14:06.330 We don't always open ourselves up to live in the light. 00:14:06.610 --> 00:14:06.710 Right? 00:14:08.669 --> 00:14:19.250 So it's this internal struggle and battle that we're working with, that God is, he's given us these titles and these roles, these responsibilities. 00:14:19.570 --> 00:14:30.389 And then he's also said, you have to continue to work alongside me as you become the title I've already given you. 00:14:31.590 --> 00:14:40.830 It's what separates Christianity from any other religion that I'm familiar with is that God gives the title and then he says, then work alongside me. 00:14:41.909 --> 00:14:49.409 Virtually, at least in my limited understanding, but a little bit of study of every other religion, it's do this, do this, do this, do this. 00:14:49.450 --> 00:14:50.789 And then maybe you'll be called worthy. 00:14:50.950 --> 00:14:53.350 God says, you're worthy. 00:14:53.629 --> 00:14:54.830 I've made you worthy. 00:14:55.049 --> 00:14:56.090 Now live like it. 00:15:02.549 --> 00:15:03.690 It's a scary place to be. 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:06.889 It's scary if you're like me that you wanna be able to measure everything. 00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:14.350 I played, playing sports growing up or lifting weights growing up or playing any kind of musical instrument growing up. 00:15:14.429 --> 00:15:19.710 Virtually anything you do and everything you do, there's a measurement to determine success. 00:15:20.509 --> 00:15:22.789 And there's numbers to determine success. 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:24.250 Did I do this or did I not? 00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:25.950 Did I get this job? 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:27.009 Did I get this raise? 00:15:27.389 --> 00:15:28.250 Or did I not? 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:32.309 And did, in terms of basketball, did I make the shot or did I not? 00:15:32.389 --> 00:15:33.549 Did we win or did we lose? 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:39.070 And there's a way to measure all of the time and God says, no, you're all winners. 00:15:39.830 --> 00:15:40.850 Now live like it. 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:46.809 And you're like, that is such an uncomfortable place to be because how do I know I'm gonna live like it? 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:48.509 How do I know I'm gonna live up to the title? 00:15:48.629 --> 00:15:59.289 When we read this, if you were to ask your classmates, if you were to ask your coworkers or if you were to ask those inside of your house, am I living like a chosen person? 00:16:00.610 --> 00:16:02.730 Can you see that I'm a royal priesthood? 00:16:02.809 --> 00:16:05.370 Am I living like I'm someone who is holy? 00:16:07.570 --> 00:16:09.990 Asking that, you're gonna get some different responses. 00:16:10.789 --> 00:16:12.789 Certainly some say, yeah, better than me. 00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:14.850 But some are gonna say, nah, not really. 00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:16.710 I was surprised when I heard that you were a Christian. 00:16:23.909 --> 00:16:32.169 In his second letter, Peter talks about this spiritual struggle and what it's building inside of us. 00:16:32.289 --> 00:16:36.289 It says in verse three, this is just verse five through nine. 00:16:36.330 --> 00:16:38.029 I'm gonna read a little before and a little bit after. 00:16:39.169 --> 00:16:47.710 So it says, divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 00:16:47.809 --> 00:16:52.809 And we've looked at this and sat with the idea of it being God's glory and his goodness. 00:16:52.970 --> 00:17:01.649 Like it lifts him up and it makes him as big as he is, but he's also good in that he's walking with us and alongside us. 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:13.828 It says, through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them, you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 00:17:16.118 --> 00:17:17.118 What is the divine nature? 00:17:17.318 --> 00:17:19.980 It's what we talked about just now, right? 00:17:20.180 --> 00:17:23.220 It's living this holy life as a priesthood. 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:25.700 He says, you're able to participate in it because of Jesus. 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:43.519 And it says, because you're able to participate it, for that reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love. 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:44.440 And pause there. 00:17:45.180 --> 00:17:46.359 It's not just me saying it. 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:47.759 I didn't just make it up. 00:17:47.819 --> 00:17:53.160 This is what the Bible is saying, is that God has given you the opportunity to live a new life. 00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:56.039 He's given you the greatest title that you could ever imagine. 00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:01.220 And he says, for that very reason, continue to grow closer to him. 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:05.420 In your gratitude and in your love, continue to walk with God. 00:18:07.690 --> 00:18:16.609 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:18:17.150 --> 00:18:22.730 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:28.789 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. 00:18:29.309 --> 00:18:39.609 For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.019 God gives us the opportunity to grow in these things. 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:50.960 How does he give us the opportunity to grow in these things? 00:18:51.059 --> 00:18:54.039 Well, it's going through this wilderness, isn't it? 00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:55.980 This wilderness then. 00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:05.599 And so at the beginning of the lesson, we said that your hardest years, your most difficult spiritual years are ahead of you. 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:11.480 And even writing it, I felt like I hope that's not true. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:28.240 And yet, if it's going to produce inside of us, inside of me, inside of you, the greater faith, greater goodness, greater self-control, greater godliness, greater steadfastness, greater love. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:36.339 And with these characteristics, then I'm able to better live a life as the holy and chosen priesthood. 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:39.519 If that is what it's going to do, then bring it on. 00:19:45.710 --> 00:19:51.990 It'd be amazing if we could just read these and say, okay, let me do it now. 00:19:52.230 --> 00:19:54.589 Let me, I went from having less faith. 00:19:54.849 --> 00:19:55.730 I'm going to grow in my faith. 00:19:55.809 --> 00:19:57.809 I went from being kind of a bad dude. 00:19:57.990 --> 00:19:59.289 I'm just going to be good from now on. 00:20:00.069 --> 00:20:01.190 God doesn't work that way, right? 00:20:01.269 --> 00:20:02.869 He gives us opportunities to be good. 00:20:02.950 --> 00:20:07.369 He gives us opportunities to show our faith, and then we have the opportunity then to actually do it. 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:24.049 The, so there's a couple of ways just in life, right? 00:20:24.069 --> 00:20:29.569 And people will tell you we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way, right? 00:20:29.670 --> 00:20:39.869 And the easy way is I trust what my father or somebody close to me is telling me, and I learn from their mistakes. 00:20:39.930 --> 00:20:43.089 So I learn how they did something a certain way. 00:20:43.410 --> 00:20:53.569 The hard way is thinking I know what's going on, then failing, and then being lifted up, being encouraged, and then learning the right way, right? 00:20:53.869 --> 00:20:54.910 Easy way, hard way. 00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:59.509 And you might say, well, God is only going to give me the hard way then. 00:20:59.750 --> 00:21:01.309 That's the only, and that's what we just talked about. 00:21:01.390 --> 00:21:03.549 Like God is, it's only the hard way with God. 00:21:05.009 --> 00:21:06.470 That's not true either though. 00:21:06.869 --> 00:21:12.950 And so we, you think God is able to work with us through the, in the hard way. 00:21:13.170 --> 00:21:14.750 He's able to, and he's patient. 00:21:14.750 --> 00:21:18.410 And like in Exodus, it says that he's with us the entire time. 00:21:18.509 --> 00:21:20.490 And he shows us that he's with us the entire time. 00:21:20.529 --> 00:21:22.549 He doesn't just say, I'm here, trust me. 00:21:22.849 --> 00:21:23.529 He shows us. 00:21:25.549 --> 00:21:26.349 So he's with us. 00:21:26.430 --> 00:21:31.130 If you wanna go through your life and you wanna do it the hard way, and that's the way you learn. 00:21:31.630 --> 00:21:34.970 But if on the final day, you make it to heaven, I think it's worth it, right? 00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:45.410 I don't think you're, I don't know that you'll look back from heaven and feel like, oh man, it wasn't worth it to go through the hard stuff. 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:47.549 It wasn't worth it to learn the hard way. 00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:54.079 But it's a great fortune to us that that's not the only way we can learn. 00:21:55.500 --> 00:21:58.740 There's an easier way that we can learn. 00:21:58.819 --> 00:22:02.900 And this is stuff that we're going to, I'm gonna try to add it as much as I can. 00:22:03.859 --> 00:22:05.720 On Sundays, I'm gonna do everything I can. 00:22:05.900 --> 00:22:09.279 That was at the beginning of this lesson. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:10.640 That was a little bit of it. 00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:24.579 But there's spiritual disciplines that for 2000 years, people have been practicing and acting out that have served as an easy way, a cheat code to grow closer to God then. 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:33.819 Still difficult, it still takes intentionality, but there's opportunities to grow close to God without having to go through all of the mess and the garbage. 00:22:35.700 --> 00:22:38.619 They're called spiritual disciplines is what some people call them. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:41.420 And there's many ways to practice. 00:22:41.420 --> 00:22:46.779 Some examples are fasting, journaling. 00:22:47.500 --> 00:22:53.480 There's a spiritual discipline that says that I'm not going, I'm just gonna read scripture and I'm gonna read it out loud. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:56.319 And I'm not going to, it's called Lectio Divina. 00:22:56.460 --> 00:23:00.220 And I'm not going to look at what does the commentary say about it? 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:03.039 I'm not gonna write about it. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:06.559 I'm going to read the scripture, pause, listen. 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:10.380 And then I'm gonna read the scripture again, pause, listen. 00:23:10.380 --> 00:23:12.359 And then I'm gonna read the scripture again, pause, listen. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:13.720 And you'd say, wow, that's a lot of work. 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:18.160 That's better work than going through some incredible hardship, right? 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:21.720 There's breathe prayers. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.299 There's ways you can, you learn that. 00:23:24.299 --> 00:23:25.740 I'm gonna breathe and say a prayer. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:27.400 And then when I breathe out, I say another prayer. 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:33.119 And there's retreats that you can go on to experience simplicity or silence. 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:37.880 These are aspects of growing closer to God. 00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:39.720 Is any one of them spiritual innately? 00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:40.900 Not really, right? 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:44.099 Just being quiet isn't gonna make you grow close to God. 00:23:44.180 --> 00:23:49.440 But if you are quiet and decide I'm going to listen to God, then yeah, you can grow closer to God. 00:23:51.339 --> 00:24:01.319 Just cutting off some of the fat or the excess in your life, specifically for a limited amount of time, or maybe an extended period of time, does that help you grow closer to God? 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:04.859 No, it helps you be able to write a book or talk about like, this is how my life is better. 00:24:05.380 --> 00:24:10.019 None of those things, none of these things that we even looked at is going to help you grow closer to God. 00:24:10.099 --> 00:24:14.440 But it's a means to walk with God closer and closer. 00:24:14.619 --> 00:24:14.720 Amen. 00:24:14.980 --> 00:24:15.180 Amen. 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:21.859 You know, we've mentioned it, and we've mentioned it offhand more than a few times in the past month. 00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:29.420 But we are, as a church going through this series, it's an app that also has a podcast attached to it. 00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:32.680 The app has lessons every single day. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:44.759 And many of them are going to show us basically, how to participate in some of these cheat codes, these easier ways to walk with God. 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:47.519 And so I would say it's called Thread. 00:24:47.619 --> 00:24:53.960 If you are not currently on there, or if you haven't utilized it to the greatest extent, just talk to me. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:57.500 I'd love to, you know, there's no point in saying, oh, I didn't do this. 00:24:57.519 --> 00:24:58.680 And so there's no point to do it now. 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:00.339 Well, we're going to do it for an extended period of time. 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:03.400 So if you've not done it yet, there's still a lot of time. 00:25:03.579 --> 00:25:05.660 And so please, please talk to me. 00:25:05.660 --> 00:25:09.500 I'll get you the code to be able to get in for free. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:13.619 There's, you know, we paid for some memberships. 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:16.200 And so we'd love for everyone to be able to use it. 00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:21.359 I'd love to be able to call these guys and say, hey, can you please give us more memberships? 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:38.039 Maybe as you think about where you've gone in your walk with God, maybe you've not, you've gotten to a place that you're here at church. 00:25:38.099 --> 00:25:39.180 And so that's exciting. 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:44.640 But to get to where God wants you to go, it's not going to be just by showing up to church. 00:25:45.660 --> 00:25:52.460 Got you here, but it's not going to, wherever God wants you to go, which I can't say, but God knows, it's not going to be by showing up to church. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.019 Maybe it's not going to be by even just reading the Bible. 00:25:56.180 --> 00:26:14.819 Maybe it's not going to be by just talking to people or listening to, it's not going to be just by that, but there's things that we can add to our lives to help us to get to whatever the next level is for us as we wander through this wilderness up until we become those who are called to go to heaven. 00:26:14.980 --> 00:26:15.099 Amen? 00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:15.500 Amen. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:25.099 So I want you to ask yourself this question and consider for a moment, how might the Holy Spirit be forming you? 00:26:34.190 --> 00:26:35.869 How might the Holy Spirit be forming you? 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:55.579 One other aspect that brings so much joy to so many of us is that we're not doing this alone. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.559 In the Exodus, it's a group of people. 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:05.859 And certainly there were some that were pretty faithful and there were some that were way less so. 00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:09.839 And the Bible talks about that as well in I think it's 1 Corinthians 10. 00:27:13.630 --> 00:27:19.349 And so there's going to be times in our lives when maybe you're doing really well and you can give that kind of faith. 00:27:19.450 --> 00:27:22.549 And so this lesson, you're like, this isn't relevant to me right now. 00:27:22.609 --> 00:27:26.009 Great, give your faith to somebody, help somebody, that's awesome. 00:27:26.690 --> 00:27:31.309 If this lesson is pertinent to you, then find somebody to talk to about it. 00:27:31.390 --> 00:27:40.690 You know, we as a church, one of our tenants that we're not going to run away from and we're not going to shy away from is we're, we want to be those who can get in the mud with people. 00:27:41.869 --> 00:27:44.849 I want to be somebody who can do that. 00:27:44.910 --> 00:27:48.369 I want to do everything I can to help other people be those who can get in the mud. 00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:54.529 Like, and when I say get in the mud, I mean, there's, you talk to anybody for 10 minutes and if they're going to share their lives, there's mud. 00:27:54.970 --> 00:27:57.910 You talk to me for 10 minutes, there's some mud, there's some grossness. 00:27:58.009 --> 00:28:07.210 And I, we want to grow, we want to be those who are so comfortable getting in the mud because we know what it produces if they follow God, amen. 00:28:07.970 --> 00:28:12.250 So if you've got mud in your life that you see, that you feel, don't let it stay there. 00:28:12.710 --> 00:28:15.990 Talk to somebody, talk to somebody here. 00:28:16.069 --> 00:28:24.069 We can open the Bible, we can look at what does discipleship look like in your life and how are you going to grow closer to God? 00:28:24.069 --> 00:28:34.069 And we can share and we can pray and we can ask questions that are going to help whatever this mud is to be a little bit more clean up until the time when we are called to heaven. 00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:53.319 I want to close with just with a vision for our church. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:59.039 And again, some of us, we're not in the mud. 00:28:59.779 --> 00:29:10.380 Some of us we're doing great, but there's many, especially as I've considered this, this last six months in particular, it just feels like there's a lot of stuff and it's good stuff because people are working through it. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:13.559 And it's good stuff because people are working through it in the church. 00:29:13.660 --> 00:29:20.839 But think about how powerful we can be as we continue to work through our mess and our junk and we're messed up people. 00:29:21.299 --> 00:29:24.299 We can truly help other people who are messed up, who need help. 00:29:24.380 --> 00:29:29.740 We can be those who are a shining light to the world. 00:29:29.859 --> 00:29:34.240 Like we want to be a safe haven for people to come in as jacked up as they are. 00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:38.839 And to be able to feel like, well, these people are kind of jacked up too, but we're doing it together. 00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:40.019 They're not leaving me jacked up. 00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:42.900 They're working alongside God and they share this thing. 00:29:43.140 --> 00:29:45.599 And this is the church that we're trying to build. 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:52.880 We're not going to ever be a, we're never going to be a, hear me, according to the world, we're never going to be a beautiful church. 00:29:54.380 --> 00:29:54.960 That's great. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:55.779 That's glorious. 00:29:56.279 --> 00:29:59.059 Why would we want to be a beautiful church according to the world? 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:06.000 Why would we want to have, excuse me, maybe that's good for some people, but that's not who we're going to be. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:07.640 Why would we want this light show of a church? 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:08.720 Why? 00:30:10.119 --> 00:30:14.119 If it's to bring people in the door and then create opportunities in small pockets, then amen. 00:30:14.259 --> 00:30:19.680 Then maybe one day I could see that, but it's never going to be the spot that we are going to use and the way that we're going to use it. 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:22.779 How are we going to be a beautiful church according to God? 00:30:23.859 --> 00:30:27.400 We're gonna be those who have conversations with people, who share people. 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:28.440 I don't have all the solutions. 00:30:28.539 --> 00:30:29.279 I have some of them. 00:30:29.940 --> 00:30:31.380 Come on, let me show you what I know. 00:30:31.380 --> 00:30:32.799 You think about the woman at the well. 00:30:33.059 --> 00:30:34.859 And what does she say? 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:37.359 She says, hey, come see this man who told me everything I ever did. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:39.259 They follow her. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:40.880 And then what do they say? 00:30:40.900 --> 00:30:44.960 They said, we believe not only because of your testimony, but we've seen it for ourselves. 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:47.720 That's the vision. 00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:50.920 That's what we want to build up inside of this church. 00:30:51.400 --> 00:30:53.799 And it's not one person, it's all of us. 00:30:53.859 --> 00:30:56.640 And it's not individually, it's collectively, amen. 00:30:57.180 --> 00:31:03.759 Let's be everything that it talks about in 1 Peter 2, this holy nation, this royal priesthood. 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:05.720 Let's be those who live in the light, amen. 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:06.900 Love you guys. 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:07.740 Have a great Sunday. 00:31:10.099 --> 00:31:10.819 You're dismissed. 00:31:20.910 --> 00:31:22.490 You should pick up all of our children. 00:31:22.690 --> 00:31:27.150 Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo Church of Christ podcast. 00:31:27.569 --> 00:31:30.890 If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected. 00:31:31.130 --> 00:31:38.549 Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on. 00:31:38.750 --> 00:31:41.170 In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.