Venture deeper into the heart of transformative faith, where personal encounters with the divine are not just ancient history but today's reality. The relentless spirits of biblical figures refused to relent in the face of adversity.
We encourage you to start and stay accountable to your brothers and sisters in Christ as you relentlessly seek God. Jesus has a blueprint for community—a sanctuary where believers are not solitary soldiers but part of a thriving battalion. The strength derived from collective worship and fellowship is immeasurable, and we delve into the ways in which engagement with the church and God's word can fortify our resilience.
Venture deeper into the heart of transformative faith, where personal encounters with the divine are not just ancient history but today's reality. The relentless spirits of biblical figures refused to relent in the face of adversity.
We encourage you to start and stay accountable to your brothers and sisters in Christ as you relentlessly seek God. Jesus has a blueprint for community—a sanctuary where believers are not solitary soldiers but part of a thriving battalion. The strength derived from collective worship and fellowship is immeasurable, and we delve into the ways in which engagement with the church and God's word can fortify our resilience.
Hey, what up? It's Mark Carter on, the Pastor of Fierce Church. Welcome to our podcast. I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1:We're talking about a power-up with relentlessness. So in 1990, mike Tyson, who was undefeated kid dynamite, he was 37 and 0, and he goes up against Buster Douglas. Buster Douglas is not the guy who's supposed to win. Mike Tyson is undefeated, he's the champ man and he's intense Like he is relentless. And yet Buster Douglas knocks him out and it was complete upset. Nobody expected that and as commentators thought about that and reflected on it, it seemed like the consensus was man, this guy was out of shape and you can look, you can go on YouTube and find the videos. He just doesn't look like he normally would look. He looks a little bit just like he's not tight. You know what I'm saying. Buster Douglas is ripped and Mike Tyson it was almost like he was just overconfident and the relentlessness that got him there. I guess that tuckered out at some point because he just did not have the mental preparation. He was not the guy that he normally was. So relentlessness can get us pretty far until we stop being relentless. So let's talk about relentlessness.
Speaker 1:Here's a text. We actually get the name of this church from this text. So it's a special day. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. Yikes, what's going on here? This could be a scary verse. It's even more scary now when people are worried about everything's violence. Even just microaggressions. That kind of thing can be taken as violence. But there's real violence. But there's also a figurative violence. There's a push that is forceful enough to get something done.
Speaker 1:So John the Baptist is now in prison and his disciples come to Jesus and they're saying hey, john sent us to ask you. He was pretty sure you're the guy, but aren't you the guy? Is there another guy? And Jesus is like hey, john, everything's happening on time, everything's according to schedule, like I'm raising the dead, I'm healing the sick. You go ahead and tell John everything's just fine. And you can't help but wonder is John freaking out because he's in prison now? Is he like? I didn't think it was going to get this real. Like maybe I got something wrong, maybe I predicted something wrong. I'm not the guy who's supposed to get beheaded, am I? And Jesus is like no, you're good man, like sorry, you're in prison. He does get beheaded. And Jesus reassures them everything is right.
Speaker 1:John the Baptist was right. He was an awesome man of God. He was the one that was going to foretell the coming of the Messiah. And he begins to brag about John to everybody. He's like, hey, there's never been anybody on earth like this guy. He has been so sold out. He has been so for the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:He has been aggressively pushing for the kingdom of God ever since he showed up. He's like, hey, here's the deal. We've got to all seek God and talk about his kingdom coming to earth. And then he said something strange. He said but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John, and that's because the least in the kingdom of God has trusted Christ and now has the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that John really didn't have it like that at that time. But he talks about this, this expansion of the kingdom, and then there's a pushback Okay, so John is kind of pushing spiritually, he's breaking forth into the world with a message of God and then Herod pushes back and pulls him into prison and he says, yeah, that's normal man.
Speaker 1:There's a relentlessness, there's a push, there's a. If you're going to get anything done, sometimes you got to have a mental attitude Well, it's going to take some work, it's going to take some push. And, as we go into this new year, I just want to invite you to consider is it possible that what this year needs from you more than anything is some relentlessness? There's a. There's a. There's an opportunity here to give up, to shrink back, to pull back, or there's an opportunity to press in and step up and push harder. Well, I want to demonstrate to you that's a super biblical focus, and it wasn't just that Herod pushed back. So you really behind here. It is the spiritual enemy who was pushing back on John the Baptist because he's getting too loud about Jesus.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is you've got going on this year. Whatever it is you need more of, or want more of, or need, feel like you need to pursue more of. Whatever that is, I just want to challenge you to be relentless, be focused. That's your power up, baby. That's the thing to Super Mario, like that'll get you there, relentless. It's an attitude change, it's an attitude adjustment.
Speaker 1:So what does he say? And the violent take before. So so, for the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of God has suffered violence. John has been pushing, satan has been pushing back and Jesus says and yeah, by the way, if you're going to get anything done, you've got to take it by force.
Speaker 1:That word take, harpazo, means to claim, means to snatch it away from somebody. Okay, so if a bully on the playground comes up and takes the candy from the littler kid, he just harpazoed it, he just took it, snatch it. So, unlike, you know, maybe like a burglary at night, it's right out in the open. It's a taking. And then if you or I come around and we lift that guy up, grab the can and give it back to the kid, that was also harpazo, that was it. That was it a grabbing, a taking, a snatching. So see, it's not necessarily bad, it can be good too. It all depends on your intent, what you're trying to do, but either way, it's relentless. And Jesus applauds it. He's like yeah, that's what I like.
Speaker 1:I love that about John and I love it in my people and anybody who you guys, you know this if you've ever done any kind of sport. Like you know, if you're in a race, do you race casually? Oh right, like you go intensely If you want to win, you're gonna go after it. I used to wrestle when I was in high school and one of the things I learned real quick. If you just kind of walk out there to the, you know, out on the mat, you're like, well, I hope this goes good, you're going down in under two minutes, man, you're gonna be pinned. But if you come out and you kind of look like an angry dog, you know you're a little bit foaming at the mouth, like you're about to crush this guy's spine. Well, you know, that helps. I'll just say that. Okay, it helps intimidate them, but it also just helps you mentally.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna grab this and I'm gonna harpato it. I'm gonna take it right in front of everybody. I'm taking it. I'll tell you, man, there's times when my wife and I we're playing Dr Mario. This is what we do to pass the time, sometimes Back in the old day, the good old games, dr Mario. So we're sitting there playing Dr Mario, you know. But there's all kinds of hullabaloo going around us. We got kids in the house and dogs, you know, losing their minds. And sometimes you know you're just kind of playing, but you're not really paying attention. Some of you gamers know about this You're playing, but you're not really paying attention and I'm like what are you doing? Pay attention, man. She's beating you, harpazo this thing. By the way, she beats me like 70% of the time, just so everybody knows, if we're gonna grab it, if we're gonna take it, we've got to take it and we've gotta have an attitude about it.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about some proverbs that are in the spirit of taking it. Okay, proverbs 28,. One the wicked run away when no one's chasing them. But the godly are bold as lions. Sometimes we don't think about godliness or boldness as godly we think about. Well, you know, it's always gentle and it's always safe and it's always now, bold is lying. Baby, you ever notice that lions ain't scared of nothing? Like they're just. They're like I'm about to teach you now, I don't even care, like I don't care what you think about it, I don't even have to be mad because I'm just gonna overpower you and eat you. That's how God says.
Speaker 1:The people of God have to have that attitude of like I'm not being intimidated here. Don't think you're gonna scare me off. Don't think I'm gonna shrink back right now. Don't think you're gonna talk me out of what I've been called to take. I'm gonna take it. If God wants me to have it, then he's also giving me the anointing and the power to take it.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 21, five, the plans that diligently to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Now that's interesting. So there's diligence, as we're seeking to, in a good way, take something. But there's also hey, man, don't be so hasty about it Meaning you don't have to get it done just like that. See, a lot of harpazo, a lot of the taking that we're called to do of life, man, I feel like most of it is slow, most of it is an internal attitude that we're just walking it out and we're being. See, part of relentlessness is patience. It is willing to say I want this so bad and I'm so determined that I'm going to take this, that I'm willing to just keep pushing slow, no matter what gets in my way. And sometimes you know, that's man. I'm so tired of this conflict that you're in with somebody, or you're so tired of the way there's always another family thing to go to, or there's always the work schedule got changed. I'm so tired of this and you're trying to get ahead and you're wondering when is the season gonna be over? And the answer is a long time from now. You got to harpzzle that thing, man. You got to slowly take it by force. It's not gonna just happen right now. It's not hasty, it's slow and intentional.
Speaker 1:Sluggerds do not plow in season. 20, verse 4. Do not plow in season, so at harvest time they look but find nothing. The opposite of that is, those who are diligent, those who are taking it, are looking ahead. They're planning ahead.
Speaker 1:So it's not just what I'm dealing with right now I'm thinking about. Let's think about all the land that, with God's help, if it's His will, I'm going to take, and I'm gonna take it slow. I'm gonna have a good plan to take it, and God can overrule my plans, and he often does, but it's good to have a plan. I'm planning on thinking about this coming year and I'm thinking about here's the ways Jesus and I, god willing, are going to take this land and listen. If he's calling you to take it, he's calling you to take it. Don't get talked out of it now. All right, you believed it once, believe again. Let's believe right now that I'm going to take it, because if you don't have faith, baby, you're just gonna get plowed over. The bigger bull is gonna come and take it from you. So there's gotta be like I'm just going to believe again, I'm gonna keep doing this and I'm gonna keep preaching this. Whether you say amen or not, I hear some more. I'm gonna preach to you guys. You guys are like the most amen-y right now. Okay, we'll see if you guys can get back in the game. We'll find out. Matthew 13, 44.
Speaker 1:This is a little parable. I love this, one of my favorite parables, man, it is so short and yet this is what Jesus says the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God that he's talking about kind of both. They're kind of interchangeable in the New Testament. It's like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the fields. In his excitement, he sold everything. So, as some of you know, back in those times there's no banks, and so people might literally bury their savings, their treasure, in the yard somewhere in the field. They know where it is, but then they die. And then a few decades go by, somebody else gets the land and one day, holy cow, they literally discovered treasure in the ground. They're like, oh my gosh, this is the most important thing. I was just walking past this place. I'm gonna go buy this field so I can have that treasure.
Speaker 1:This guy stirred up. He doesn't be like. You know, I've got seven other things that are more important than this thing to do today. You know he says I don't have anything else. I canceled it because I'm gonna buy this thing right now. He stirred up to be relentless and take it. So he sells everything to come to Christ.
Speaker 1:And you know, when you're really encountering Jesus Christ, maybe it's like that, like you're encountering him relationally You're seeing that he doesn't just forgive people, he forgives you, and he doesn't just have a general will, he has a specific will for you. He wants to lead personally you Guys, it's intoxicating and I remember when I first came to know Christ, it was like somebody put, found the on switch on me and I'm like, I feel like I have this big piece of cake that I'm the only one who can see it, and it's so delicious, but nobody else even wants it. That's what it's a little bit like when we come to Christ, and what I would encourage you is, if that's if you're experiencing something like that, keep going, keep taking it, bite after bite after bite. More Jesus, more Jesus, more Jesus. It's a little bit drastic when we encounter Christ and he is worth it. He's a king that deserves that kind of thing and we all.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing there's gonna be things in your way, in my way, this year. There's gonna be things that resist you taking ground, and mostly it's a mind game. It wants to talk you out of it. But you've seen this if you've done any kind of fitness or anything, you know that man that takes a little. It takes a little work to keep at that thing because you're really you're going to do violence in a good way to yourself so that yourself benefits long term. You gotta stay in that mental game. If you have been or you know an entrepreneur, you know they've gotta keep taking risks and keep taking risks and keep taking risks in order to see the success that they're after. If you're gonna like move forward in your education, you're gonna have to keep going and keep going.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you need to find money, you need to have conversations you didn't wanna have. If you wanna keep that up, you and I need to push through the pain. We need to keep practicing when other people are playing, we need to get up when other people would keep laying down. We're not dissing anybody else, I'm just. I'm talking about what we need to take it, and I find sometimes we need to decide. I'm gonna push past my past and I'm gonna leave that where it was, because that is forgiven and, by the way, there's nothing I can do about it. All I can do from right now is forget what is behind and press forward toward what is ahead. And Jesus is enough. And so I'm gonna grab his hand and we're doing this together and I'm not gonna have 17 more conversations about it. I'm gonna get on with the will of God and move forward. All right, y'all, y'all coming back. Okay, keep it up. Keep it up. This is good. So we're gonna get back on the horse and we're going to power up.
Speaker 1:I like the way Daniel did this See, there's a non-splashy version of this Like Daniel's just told hey, man, you need to stop praying or we're gonna throw you in the lines then and Daniel's like well, whatever, I'm gonna pray. So here I go, shadrach, meshach and Abednego. They're like, hey, you better bow down to this statue of Nebuchadnezzar, we're gonna throw you in the fiery furnace. And they're like well, I don't know what to tell ya, cause I'm not worshiping that thing. My God is able to deliver me, but even if he doesn't, I'm still not doing what you want, cause I'm taking and keeping the kingdom that has been entrusted to me.
Speaker 1:And sometimes, baby, you gotta push back, and sometimes you gotta be like the woman with the issue of blood. She's pushing through to get to Jesus. She's like, you know, she could have just been like well, there goes Jesus. I missed it this time. Maybe we'll come back through town, you know, another time, not her. She's like I've had enough. I'm gonna get to this guy. I'm pushing through and I'm grabbing his robe until I get my healing. I'm going to take it. So who wants a power up today? Anybody, I know I do. Lord, I want some power, some power today.
Speaker 1:Okay so, john 10, this is a great passage to understand the relationship Jesus wants to have with all of us. It's also a great, if you have any kind of pastoral gifts, to study this passage, because it teaches you genuinely how to be a pastor the way Jesus would want one to be. Jesus is talking about himself as the alternative to the spiritual leaders of his time. He says unlike these guys, guys, I'm a real shepherd. Jesus says I'm gonna treat you way more gentle, I wanna personally know you and walk with you and lead you and feed you. And he says in John 10, four, after he'd gathered his own flock he walks ahead of them and they follow him because they know his voice Gather them, walks ahead of them, they follow him because they know his voice.
Speaker 1:So we've been talking about being relentless, about the things, maybe, that we wanna grab. Now we're gonna talk about being relentless about the kingdom of God coming within us. Because that's what happened. John 1st, john the Baptist, first like he was kind of crazy and he's out there in the desert and he's eating, you know, wild honey and locusts and people think he's a nut job. But he's doing something on the inside of his spirit to be consecrated unto God. And we don't have to thank God, you don't need to do that, but there are things that Jesus challenged us to do. So the highly powered relentlessly gather together to seek the Lord. That's your bottom line today. The highly powered relentlessly Now, y'all know what a day for this to be the bottom line, y'all know about that the highly powered relentlessly gather together to seek the Lord Number one by attending the weekend experience. By attending the weekend experience, people like, oh my gosh, this is commercial for the weekend. Well, I'm glad you asked If it is. It's a really old commercial that started in John 10.4.
Speaker 1:After he gathered his own flock, jesus gathered his flock. He gathered them, he pulled them all together and says you all are coming with me Because he's a God that deserves to be worshiped by them. Slash us all. He gathered them and so from day one of the church they were in fact before day one of the church they were gathered together as his flock together. You say, carter, what about? Doesn't Jesus like leave the 99 to find the one? He so does. And then where does he bring them Back? To the flock. That's where he brings them.
Speaker 1:Jesus never calls anybody kind of into isolation. Hey, just come to me and forget about everybody else. No, and it's not that we haven't had her, it's not that things didn't go wrong. Those are very real and sometimes those need healed and you know we talk about those things, but the point is Jesus this is his vision.
Speaker 1:Right here, he gathers his people and they walk together. He walks ahead of them and they follow him because they know his voice. They know his voice and his voice is the word of God that is taught. They know his voice because they're around the worship that happens here. They know his voice because not only are they hearing God's words spoken to them, but they're speaking God's word to one another and it's bringing sharpening and strengthening and reflection. And we're gonna see how, in a couple minutes, how the sheep grow from this. But the point is they get very used to the culture of the kingdom and they are what. They're relentless about it. They're relentless. So let me just I'm just gonna tell you the truth and you can decide if you want me to keep telling you the truth or not. If you don't want me to keep telling you the truth, you're just gonna have to like buy some like noise proof headphones or something like that, cause I'm just gonna keep saying it. My friends, everybody needs regular teaching with people with the flock, and you need, like, you need yes, you can just hear like podcasts and stuff out there, but you actually need people who know your soul, who are walking with you, who are looking out to spot the dangers in your own life. You need people that are gonna take you deeper than you know how to go. I'm not trying to like, I'm not trying to, I don't want to sound arrogant or anything, but I'm gonna take you broader and deeper than you can go. In God's word I'm gonna show you the stuff.
Speaker 1:When I worked at Brit's Furniture interior design firm, my dad started this business when I came of age. I was working there and I learned about sales and I watched them. I watched the sales people. They would look at a piece of furniture and then they would point out all the different. Oh here, look at this wood grail, look at how this was built and see how this is shaped just like that. And the value of that piece begins to grow in your mind. You're like, oh my gosh, I didn't know it was that complex to make that thing and you begin to want that because it was always there. But they're pointing it out. I had a guide to what that piece really was. You need guides to show you. I know you're encountering God, but I wanna show you some of the subtleties. I wanna show you some of the deeper things that you need in order to grab hold of Him, to take Him more fully. And, by the way, jesus wants to be worshiped together. He's the kind of King that deserves for us to come in here and to all say you know what it's about. It's about Jesus and we should be worshiping Him together. He likes His family together, so we should go ahead and do it.
Speaker 1:The gospel is a beautiful story, baby. Here's the story. God comes on a rescue mission, but not really even just to rescue the people, to rescue the whole thing. He's rescuing the entire creation. See, it starts here. It starts with us trusting Christ. But God's ultimate vision is not just you and I in heaven. It is heaven coming back to earth and sin being cast out of the entire creation. He wants to be back here. He's coming back here. He's gonna like this whole, this tribute to think about. This whole planet one day is going to be sin-free and covered with heaven. Is that blow your mind or what? But that's what Jesus is trying to do. That's the ultimate vision. That's where he's taking this thing, and he wants us to represent the culture of the kingdom and the culture of the kingdom is All on fire for God. That's what that would be normal. Okay, oh, it's all on fire for God, that's normal.
Speaker 1:If you go visit an embassy in another country, if you go go to the US Embassy, you're gonna walk in and you're like, oh, this feels now like America again, like they talk American, like even the sirens are the right noise, like it's all American. I'm back because you, that's what it's trying to be. It's trying to be a little slice of America. The kingdom here in the church is a little slice of heaven and that's what we want to be to the rest of the world, but we also want to be it. So there's a place for us to run at least once a week to be like, oh, the kingdom, this is where I'm going get a little more strength before I go out there and fight again. I Want to go to the heavenly embassy over there at fierce church.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing, man, relentlessness. This is the whole thing about relentlessness. Relentlessness does it when you don't want to. That's what it is. Okay. So if you want to, that wasn't really relentless. Okay, I was. I didn't relentlessly go to the movie because I wanted to go to the movie, it's when your flesh is like no, don't, and you say, should it? I'm a harp as well, this thing, okay. So relentlessly attending the weekend experience and then relentlessly studying the Bible for themselves, okay, so you be scary.
Speaker 1:One of things about I'm thankful that I had a lot of kids as a dad, because one thing you learned it when when you've got a lot of kids, you got older ones and younger ones, and over the years, if you're gonna talk to all of them at the same time, you want to like, challenge the older ones while still keeping it simple for the younger ones so that they understand hey, you know, it's all good and everything's fine, but these other ones are gonna have these larger level challenge. That's how it is as a pastor sometimes, because everybody comes in from different places. Okay, so there's higher challenges, kind of a higher challenge message, maybe a little bit, but there's also got to be this backdrop. Let me just talk about the simple stuff. The simple stuff is Jesus just wants you to trust him, he wants you to walk with him and he wants you to try to do what he tells you to do for the most blessing on future heaven, earth, to ultimately be here while you create it right now. That's what he wants. That's the simple version now. Within that there's the higher challenge, which is what we're at right now, one of the higher challenges. You don't have to be an expert, but he wants everybody to have first-hand encounters with him through his word. He wants us to be taught, but then he wants us to be like the Bereans.
Speaker 1:He, the the Luke is, is contrasting the Cesslin icons and the brains and he's saying and it's so, if you just think about this, it's a super, not PC. Luke is saying you know these Cesslin icons, they're all right. These Bereans are awesome. Like, they are more pleasing to God. They're more eager about the scriptures. They're going for it firsthand, they want to know. Now, these Bereans were more noble-minded than the theft, than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. It's not that they were cynical about it. They're like are you sure? They're like wow, I'm just so excited to get in God's word. I just want to get. I want to get my hands in it myself. I just want to get, I want to absorb it. I think it's awesome that you explain that to them now? God, I want you to explain it to me. I've got my own personal relationship with God and in my own personal words from God, so they're eager.
Speaker 1:Now, what do you get a year about? I mean, some of us. You're like you think about dessert and you're eager. You know you're like what's coming, man, it's coming, I can't wait for that thing. Or Maybe you know you're in the infatuation stage of a romance and all you can't even think straight because you're so eager to be with them You're excited about. You know there's a game coming up and you just can't. We've been waiting all year. You want it, that game, and you can't wait to get there. You're eager.
Speaker 1:Well, jesus says I want you to be like that about my word. I Want to be so excited about my word that when you're not excited about it, you don't feel bad about it, you don't condemn yourself. That's not, that's not what I want us to do. But you say something like oh Lord, I'm sorry that I'm not on fire for your word. I feel like I'm eager about everything, but I should be eager about your word. Forgive me and give me fire about your word Fires from God you got to get it from God. You can't, you can't turn it up. You gotta ask God. God, would you give me the fire? I don't have it. Would you give it to me?
Speaker 1:And it comes through direct exposure if we're Relentless. And here's, here's what begins to happen. Dude, as you, the more you're in the scriptures personally, you begin to see the Bible play out more and more in your Real everyday life. You begin to see, oh yeah, that situation is just like, just like that situation in the Bible. Oh, that thing where it seemed like confusing, I see what God does with these kind of situations in the Bible. The world starts to become more and more Jesus 3d, the more that you're in the scriptures.
Speaker 1:So some of you, probably recently, you watch the polar Express this past season or in previous years. Okay, now, I think personally that this is more of a scary movie than a Christmas movie, just for me. Okay, you got these scary looking children and then you've got these super freaky elves. Right, you got these I don't know what, these dancing men with hot chocolate. That's freaking me out. Okay, and the CGI came along just at the right time, where even the kids like that's a little creepy, but nevertheless it's a Christmas movie, so spoilers.
Speaker 1:The main kid Doesn't know if he believes in Santa Claus anymore. But then he is this incredible experience where he's like around the North Pole and he's seeing all these elves and he's seeing all these presents and all these people are the shared experience and he begins to believe and he can tell, because at first he can't hear the Christmas bells. That's the sign if you believe or not. And then he begins to believe and he can hear it. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. As we're exposed to God's word, our faith stirs up and instead of hearing it, it's more that we see it. Oh my gosh, this was always here, but now I'm seeing it more clearly. And so you say, well, I'm not seeing it right now. Oh, baby, that's all good, you're in the right place.
Speaker 1:This is what we talk about here. All you got to do is remember this Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. And the primary way to draw near to God is through God's word. Somebody say hallelujah, you say Carter, but I'm afraid that it's a little bit too complicated for me, because I get into that stuff and I just, you know, don't know what I'm talking about or what it's saying. I totally get that, and there are parts of scripture that are like that.
Speaker 1:Here's a couple things you can do one After a lot of sermons I come right down here and so you can come. It was so thrilled me if you came and said I was reading my Bible this week and I came to this Pastor, what do you think about that? Yeah, that'd be an awesome conversation and then you might get a little bit of clarity. But another way that you could do it is to attend the Grove. So this is coming up in a few months the groves where I literally just teach you how to study the scriptures. Pastor Andy, couple others we teach. Here's how you do it. Here's how you connect with God through prayer. Here's all the skills you need to actually do it. If you go to the website here's that church grove you can even watch the little videos of what it is like. You can just see it online, so you have a little bit more of a picture. That's here at the church. We call it the Grove and it's kind of the training ground.
Speaker 1:If you wanted to get really relentless, you would begin to text friends or ask for friends to text you about hey, are you going to church today? Hey, you're gonna hear God's word preached today somewhere. Hey, are you gonna get in the scriptures this week at some place? And again, it's not condemning, it's just, it's relentless it's. Are you taking it or you're not? What are you taking? Take this Number three Relentlessly prioritizing different than you fellowship.
Speaker 1:How do we, how do we grab hold of, how do we take more of the kingdom this year? Well, it's by getting into the scriptures firsthand, it's by attending church regularly, and it's also by relentlessly prioritizing different than you, fellowship and man. Are we in a generation that needs to hear this? And I don't just mean Gen Z, I mean everybody. Everybody's grown, grown isolatory, maybe a little bit more After he gathered his own flock, his own flock. See, they're a family, they're together, this flock, even though they're all different, even though they all have different strengths and different colors of wool and all kinds of stuff. They're all different, but they're all still the same and they're all gathered together.
Speaker 1:So I did a little study what's beneficial about sheep being together? Well, here's a few things. One is they're more aware of predators. See, if you're just a little sheep, ma out there alone, you might not see that wolf creep it up on you, but if you're 40 sheep, somebody's gonna see it and then you're gonna make the right noises and the shepherd's gonna come along and club that thing or stab it in the throat. So you detect danger early. See, when we're all together, when you prioritize people that are different than you, they're gonna see things about you, about life, about one another that you just don't see. And if they love you, they're gonna point it out and you're gonna point it out to them, and then you're all gonna be more protected and the devil's gonna get fewer on you, because someone was paying attention for you. Here's what else sheep do. There's more mature sheep, leadery sheep, that know where the good watering holes are. They know where the good pasture are. It's more intuitive. I've even read. Sheep have good memories. Who would've known? It's more intuitive to them because they've been there. And so as we gather together and reflect, there's always somebody here that you know more than and somebody here that knows more than you. And as we find one another I mean guys, you gotta know this. Anybody who's been in the church for a while you know this.
Speaker 1:My wife and I did not get very far into Christianity, we began to see the radical benefits of being in community, because people can do stuff that you can't do. They can make phone calls to get stuff that you can't get, and that only happens. It doesn't happen now, get this out. It doesn't happen by attending. It happens by fellowship with people different than you. Okay, that means they don't always do everything the way you would do it. It's gonna be a challenge in that sense, but you're with them and you're slowly unfolding life on life.
Speaker 1:I know we're probably going a little late, but how many want me to finish this point? Yeah, yeah, we need it. Here's one more that I like Thermal regulation. It can get cold where the sheep are, maybe, and so because they're all together, they all warm one another up, which makes it they all require less energy to stay warm, and I've just found about fellowship that we regulate one another.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's what happens that fierce men. This happens twice a month, Saturday mornings first and third Saturday, one hour. The men come in and every time, most of them say man, the devil tried to talk me out of it today, but I'm so glad that I came, and when they came, usually it wasn't just that they were interacting with God's word, it was that they were interacting with other men. And then their hearts were opened up and they were inspired and they were encouraged by their bros and they were thermally regulated. You could say, okay, now I'm thinking more clearly, now I'm gonna go out into my weekend and conquer this hill. Well, that's what it means to be the sheep and flock together. So I've got some good news, ladies On the 27th we're starting the very first fierce women.
Speaker 1:It's on Saturdays, at the very same time, so not everybody's gonna be able to go to that, but hopefully a lot of gals can go to it. It's gonna be one hour, it's exact same thing. It's from eight to nine and gals come in and you're gonna have some time centered around the scriptures and a lot of girl girl girl time. Okay, so if you don't like girl girl girl time, go anyway, because you'll learn to like it. Here's the thing. Because sheep are different, I need more help from the sheep. I wrote a little survey that will probably take you 28 seconds to do entirely, but I wanna put the image on the screen. You can snap a pic of this QR code or you can follow. Whenever that's coming. You can follow that little URL bitly slash fiercepowerup, or it's gonna come in your email probably. And do me a favor, take that survey, because it just helps me understand how differently some of the sheep think and helps us have a better year.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's close this thing out with talking about Patrick Swayze. See, when you're an 80s kid, patrick Swayze was kinda he's pretty cool man. So, yes, he was a ballet dancer, but also he was super manly. He was a man's man. All right, anybody know about Roadhouse. Okay, you can't be a young man and see that in manly. Wow.
Speaker 1:But Patrick Swayze, in January of 2008, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was told he only had a few months to live and yet six months later he started filming the Beast, which was his show that aired the next year. What's interesting to me was that he knew man, I'm on borrowed time now, you know you'd think like, why doesn't he take a joyous trip or spend all that time with family, like some of us might do that? We're like, hey, you know, I'm gonna get my motorcycle now. Then if I only got a few months, I'm gonna do this or do this or go to Honolulu.
Speaker 1:And yet Patrick Swayze was saying I've spent my whole life being relentless about this acting thing. I'm gonna be relentless on the way out, and so that's what he did. And so I wanna challenge us. Let's say that you heard, okay, you've only got a little few months to live. What do you wanna do? Do you want to do you wanna go somewhere or do some experience? That might be cool, but maybe a better question that we could ask is when you find out that news, what do you want to have been relentless about? Do you want it to be about seeking first the kingdom of God? Do you want it to be about the kingdom coming in me and the kingdom coming through others? If you do, it's going to take more than you and me. It's going to take the Holy Spirit of Jesus.
Speaker 1:So Jesus invites us. He doesn't condemn us for not being relentless, because there's areas you and I were not relentless, and, jesus, I don't condemn you. What I do, though, that John the Baptist didn't have. I give you the spirit to indwell you, and he loves to teach people how to be relentless, which means you're gonna face adversity and he's gonna hold your hand and he's gonna keep whispering. It's not gonna make you, but he's gonna keep whispering Go, keep going, keep going, don't give up, don't stop here. Jesus is not known for taking the path of least resistance, but he is known for his relentlessness and he will teach you and I how to do it. Let's hold his hand and close in prayer.
Speaker 1:God, come, stir something up in us. We pray, I pray that you'd bring the specific things to mind in everybody's heart where you would lovingly invite them to keep going. You would challenge them to not give up. You would challenge them to try again, to rise again, to recommit to the thing. And God, help us to do it in your strength and in your power. God, would you just give us a fresh lift in people's hearts, in their spirits, a fresh warmth in the midst of the cold. God, would you give them a fresh want to when they don't even have enough want to anymore, and would you teach us to come to you, to your flock, to your teaching, to your people, to your presence, to make it to where we're going. In Jesus' name, amen, hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1:If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation. Check out Fears Thought Church. We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person. Also, if you're looking for leadership development related content, don't forget to check out the Fears Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry. It's because of you that this is possible. You can click on the link in the description to give now or visit Fears Thought Church for more information. If you enjoy this podcast, why not subscribe? Share it with your friends. Click on the share button, take a screenshot and share it on social media or wherever you would share such things. Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it. Don't give up. Hang on to Jesus. He won't let go of you. Jesus loves you so much and we love you. I hope someday we get to meet in person. Thanks again for listening.