WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.639 Hey, but why don't we open up our Bibles to the book of Galatians? 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.120 Galatians, we're gonna go to chapter number six. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.199 Galatians, chapter six. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:13.199 If you did not bring your Bible, we're gonna put the verses on the screen. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:16.399 We have been in this Summer Strong series. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:18.879 I loved in June that we went through Joshua. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.519 I love in July that we went through Acts. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.800 And now for the month of August, we are reading through. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:26.000 Did you guys catch that? 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:27.519 Is it an acronym or cross stick? 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:31.039 I'm not sure what it is, but uh Giants enjoy. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:32.159 What do we say? 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:34.960 Protein and cardio. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:36.079 We made that up. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:36.880 Tell everybody what that means. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:39.200 For sure. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:41.039 I hope my fingers are clean. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.280 Uh giants enjoy protein and cardio. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:50.719 The G is for Galatians, the E is for Ephesians. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:54.320 The P is for Philippians, and the C is for Colossians. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:59.039 These are the books of the Bible that we're reading through the month of August. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.719 I want to encourage you, grab your Bible throughout the week. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.200 Married couples, read it together. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:07.680 Single people, grab your Bible. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:12.640 Teenagers, young adults, grab your Bible because as you read it, it reads you. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:14.480 Your heart gets transformed. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:15.519 This is the word of God. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:17.359 It's alive and active. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.879 Galatians chapter 6, verse number 7. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.159 It says, Do not be deceived. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:26.560 God cannot be mocked. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:32.560 A man or a woman sow, a man reaps what he sows. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:38.799 Whoever sows to please their flesh from their flesh will reap destruction. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:45.599 Whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:51.040 If you like to take notes, the title of today's message is Tricked. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:52.879 Tricked. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:58.640 Um we are in a really unique day today. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:04.719 In this day and age, you know, everything is obviously on a screen. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.719 Most things are on a screen. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.199 You have most of your life on your phone. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.560 You can do what you want to do from your phone. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:14.879 Most of us are on social media. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:17.759 For some of us, that social media is still Facebook. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.039 Hey, shout out Facebook. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:25.039 But others, you know, there it's TikTok, it's Instagram. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:29.520 I guess maybe another platform is Twitch, you know, that's out there. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:34.400 There's a lot of different things that are happening where, you know, we're we're interacting online. 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:45.680 Uh, and now obviously now we have chat and we've got Claude, and we've got, I don't know, there's probably something else out there that I don't even know about right now is Gronk. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:46.960 What is it? 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:47.840 Is that right? 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:48.479 Gronk? 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:49.039 Gronk? 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:50.560 Grk. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:51.680 Gronk. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:52.719 Am I saying that right? 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.840 So there's, I mean, all these things that are out there. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:00.080 Um, one of the things that is unique, and a friend of mine just told me this the other day. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:14.479 Uh, he typed into chat, he said, Hey chat, tell me, uh, give me some insight and some studies on like the church and AI and um any studies that are out there, and chat uh spit back out to him. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:26.560 Oh, here's this Barna study here, and here's the here's a footnote here, uh, and was citing all these sources, and then uh my friend went to go check all the sources and they weren't true. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:37.199 Chat spit out to him stuff that looked factual, but it actually wasn't even real. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.240 A bunch of dead sights. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:49.120 So when you and I tend to interact with anything online, we think this is truth. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.240 This is real, this is factual. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:58.240 And little do and I don't mean to tell you like Santa Claus is not real, you know. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.560 Some of y'all right now are like, are you serious? 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:04.800 Like, I can't trust chat like that, and I'm telling you, no. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.800 But it's interesting to me. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:09.120 You have to check the source. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:15.280 What's interesting sometimes my TikTok will tell me a certain celebrity passed away, and I believe it. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:20.160 And then, because it seems real, it will show you their pictures, it will do, is it just me? 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:25.920 It'll do a montage of their life, and then I look it up, and it didn't really happen, they're still alive. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:27.279 So you gotta check the sources. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:31.680 Yeah, she's crying, uh sending flowers. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:34.879 Why does this matter? 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:42.639 Yeah, because we are giving even more authority to AI than we are to God's word. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:53.600 We are trusting what we type in and what's spit back out to us more than we are trusting what we are reading here in this sacred text. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:59.519 We are saying, yeah, I believe that for sure, and then we're coming to God's word skeptical. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:11.759 This is what has been preserved and is lasting, and this is what is real and alive, and I'm not anti-AI at all. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.639 What I would say is AI can't be your God. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:15.519 Yeah. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:29.680 And for many of us right now, we are taking what we put into chat, and we're saying that's the truth, rather than saying, how does this stack up against the truth? 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.279 That's God's word. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:36.319 Even more importantly, the truth, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.040 So in the book of Galatians, uh, Paul's having uh he's he's writing a letter, and this letter is uh is a really fascinating one. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:47.199 Um, when you read it, he he says some things that are that are quite interesting. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:48.879 Uh, chapter 3, verse number 1. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:49.519 You can look at this. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.920 I think I have it on the screen uh for us. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:55.759 It says, You foolish Galatians, who bewitched you? 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:58.000 Who tricked you? 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:01.040 Yeah, who put a spell over you? 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:10.319 Yeah, who is it, Galatians, that that came in and is trying to distort the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ? 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.800 Because you are only saved through the finished work of Jesus. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.120 You're not saved through the works of the law. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:20.800 You cannot be made right with God by your behavior. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.839 You are made right with God by what Jesus did. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:32.240 You're not made right with God because you're good, you're made right with God because Jesus is good and what he did was good enough for you. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:37.199 And there's some people coming in, and they're trying to distort that truth. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.920 They're trying to say what Jesus did was not enough. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:42.480 You're gonna add some other stuff to it. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:47.199 If you add some works to it, then you will be enough. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:54.480 Uh, the apostle Paul says some crazy things in here in chapter 5 of verse number 12. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.199 I did not ask them to put this on the screen, but it's in the Bible. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:03.040 It says, as for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:07.680 Amen. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:08.319 That's right. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.279 Yeah, I mean, this is in the Bible. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:14.959 He's fired up, he's angry. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.240 In one part, he says, I'm writing this in my own hand. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:20.399 Do you see the large letters that I'm writing? 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:24.240 Because someone's trying to come in and trick you. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:31.839 They're trying to get you to get off of the truth of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, and that is enough. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:39.279 And he's trying, and they're trying to make you think that you can add something to the finished work of the cross, and you can add zero to it. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:45.680 The only thing you can do is believe and have faith in Jesus, and by grace through faith in Christ, you can be saved. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.319 So he's preaching this with passion. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:51.759 But this performancing is hard for a lot of us to get through our heads. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.319 Yeah, because many of us grew up in homes where performance was rewarded. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:03.680 So you you love your ribbons and your trophies, and you feel like you earn your family's love by your performance. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:15.279 And so then somehow that can trickle into your relationship with God, and then you start to think that you have to win a trophy or a ribbon or do a winning performance in order for Him to love you. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:21.040 And so then your Christianity becomes works-paced instead of the finished work of the cross. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:30.720 And we're not saying to not be excellent, we're not saying to not be your best, but what we're saying is to rely on what Jesus did because his strength is sufficient. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:37.600 And when we try, when I try to be a wife in my own strength, it is trash because it's all my flesh. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:39.919 I would not say it's trash, honey. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:40.960 It's trash. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:42.320 It is, it is, it is trash. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.440 It's trash. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:56.960 But when I say, Holy Spirit, lead me as a wife, help me to know how to word something that I need to grab Earl's attention, but help me to word it in a way that would be spirit-led. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:04.080 When you're leading a company, there's a way that you can motivate and encourage and inspire your team to crush it. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:16.720 But you need the Holy Spirit, because if you say it in a way that feels very selfish, demeaning, talking down to them, challenging their worth, you're not going to wake up the gifts on the inside of your team. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:29.360 But when you say, Holy Spirit, lead me, guide me, anoint me to lead this team with language from heaven that can translate into the marketplace, that's going to wake up something on the inside so we can produce what you've called us to produce. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:37.519 But you don't want a bunch of, you want of, I know we need performance, but I'm saying we need spirit-led so that we don't end up being like a robot. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.399 You don't want to be a robot leader, you don't want to be a robot spouse, you don't want to be a robot parent. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:52.879 And even though you might have been raised by someone that you felt like your love was based on your works, we're here to hug you and shake you a little bit to say that Jesus does not just love you because of your works. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:02.159 So let him grab you by the hand to walk out what you've been called to do. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.519 Man, that is so, so good. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.759 Well, yeah, you can clap for that for sure. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:12.480 For those who have been followers of Jesus for a little while, I want to talk to you for just a second. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:19.360 Because when you have been living by grace for a long time, you and I can start to think, oh, I know better. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:19.679 Yeah. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.320 Since I know better, I should have done better. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:30.399 Since I didn't do better, I'm worse off, and I just need to kind of sulk or go back to square one. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.039 And that's a lie from the very pit of hell. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:42.240 The same grace that saves you in the beginning is the same grace that sustains you when you're 25, 35, 45, 55 years in. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:49.200 You do not at some point in time get so spiritually deep that you graduate from the grace of God. 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:59.120 As a matter of fact, the more you know Jesus, the deeper you go into his grace, and the more you begin to understand I didn't deserve any of this in the first place. 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:02.000 I didn't deserve it in the beginning, and I don't deserve it now. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.000 So, God, thank you so much. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:11.039 So it's out of that gratitude that I live my life of with joy and enthusiasm to worship you and serve you. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:20.559 I don't one of the reasons I believe that people have been following Jesus for a long time sometimes lose their fire, is because they move from grace to works. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:30.480 And there's not a light in your eye, there's not a joy when it comes to the things of God, because it become became a burden to you. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:38.960 Everything came became about what you do and how you do it and the performance, and you're doing this song and dance for God. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:47.919 And if you think you're doing a song and a dance for God, then you do not understand who God is and what Jesus Christ has done for you. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:55.519 So if you're brand new to faith or you've been in church for years and years and years, this is for all of us. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:05.200 We don't want you tricked, we want you living your life for God's glory, hearing his voice and following in his steps. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:10.720 Uh go with us here to Galatians chapter 5, uh, just one chapter back, verse number 13. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:11.759 Look at this. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:18.159 It says, You, my brothers and sisters, we're called to be free. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:27.919 You're called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:28.480 Okay? 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.360 We can't cross this out of our Bibles. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:36.480 Rather, serve one another humbly in love. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.559 Go down to verse number 17. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:39.679 Look at this one. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:50.080 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:53.039 They're in conflict with each other. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:55.759 So that you, watch this. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:57.600 This is wild. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:03.039 So that you are not to do whatever you want. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:10.799 You are not to do whatever you want. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:12.000 Turn to your neighbor and say that. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:12.799 Tell them, tell them. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:14.559 Say, you are not to do whatever you want. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.200 Tell them. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:16.159 Tell them. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:19.840 Now, as you're saying that to them, they're saying it to you. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:27.039 You are not to do whatever you want. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:32.000 I mean, this this is talk about countercultural. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:37.679 I mean, some of y'all are hearing this right now, you're going, I wish this wasn't in the Bible. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.039 Can I pretend that I forgot this? 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:45.600 Can I can I pretend like we did not read this verse? 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:49.200 Can we go ahead and just skip over this one? 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:51.120 Nope, we can't. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.799 You cannot do whatever you want. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:00.879 If you and I want to live a life that's pleasing to God, so again, we're not talking about performance to earn something from God. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:05.200 Now we're talking about living our lives for his glory because of all that he's done for us. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:07.679 It's a very different motivation. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:14.080 I'm trying to be the best husband I can to Onika, not to try to convince her to love me. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:20.799 I'm trying to be the best husband I can to her, not only because she loves me, but because Christ has loved me so completely. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.559 So now out of that love, now I'm trying to love her. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.639 It's a very different motivation. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:36.879 When my motivation is I'm trying to get something from her, now I can it can lead to resentment if she doesn't give me the very thing that I'm trying to fish for. 00:14:38.159 --> 00:15:01.519 But if it's coming from a place of love, rather serve one another humbly, out of love, what would it look like if our church, if our families, if our friendships actually match this verse, I think that's revival, like we've never known. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:06.240 I think people look at that and go, there's something different about that right there. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:11.200 And when it says conflict with each other, it means that because it's not easy. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:14.399 It's not easy to do what the spirit wants you to do. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:17.519 It's way easier to do what you want when you want. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:24.799 But you also then can reap a dumpster fire when you live a life of doing what you want when you want. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:34.000 And so the Bible is helping us to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us so that we don't just get used to sewing to our own selfish desires. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:39.600 Because then we end up, like our message titled, tricking ourselves, and then we end up unhappy anyways. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:44.240 And so that's why we have scripture to be our guide, to be our map, to teach us. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.840 And it sounds so it's not exciting to say deny yourself. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:52.240 Like that's not flashy, that's not sexy, deny yourself. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:58.399 But there's so much fruit in surrendering your life to the finished work of the cross. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:03.360 There's so much fruit in letting your flesh die and letting your spirit live. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:11.279 You're a better leader, you're a better student, you're a better son, you're a better daughter, you're a better mom, husband. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:16.879 When you say, I'm gonna deny myself and I'm gonna pick up my cross daily and follow him. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.639 But it is a tug of war. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:19.519 You guys know this. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:25.440 If you're trying to, you know, I don't know, get fit or have a fitness season, you're gonna want to press snooze. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:29.200 You're not your body's not gonna be like, not unless you're, you know, unique. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:33.679 But your body is not all of a sudden gonna say, I want to wake up every day at 5 30. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.360 That you don't like or five and go run. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.600 But you have to train yourself and you have to deny yourself, yeah. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:46.080 You have to go to bed a little bit earlier so that you have the energy to get that morning run in. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.120 It's the same thing. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:52.799 It's letting your flesh say, I'm not gonna win, and it's let waking up something on the inside of you. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:03.440 When you're saying this, whenever if you have a friend that says, I'm gonna run a marathon, and they say, I'm gonna train for a marathon, because I'm training for this marathon, I am not going, I'm I'm gonna stop drinking. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.240 Because I'm training for this marathon, I'm going to bed early. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.319 Because I'm training for this marathon, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing this. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:12.000 Um you're gonna see my diet changing. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:13.599 You're gonna see my behaviors changing. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:17.680 You're gonna even see my body begin to change because I'm changing, I'm training for a marathon. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.240 Whenever you have a friend that does that, we go, you go. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:39.920 When it comes to I am training my body for a spiritual marathon to be the man or woman of God that he has called me to be, it will require you to say no to some things and to say yes to some other things. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:52.799 And don't let your family shame you into now eating the stuff you don't need to be eating, going the places you don't want to be going because they feel uncomfortable with the step that you are taking. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:59.839 You be the man or the woman that God has called you to be, regardless of the noise that is around you. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.799 Yeah, it takes faith, yeah, it takes courage, yeah, it takes strength. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:09.039 But that's what you have in the finished work of Jesus Christ. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.839 Greater is he that's in you than he that is in the world. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:16.640 God hasn't given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:19.599 You have, we're not the ones that shrink back and are destroyed. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:21.920 We're the ones that have faith and are saved. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:24.480 That's our DNA in Christ Jesus. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:25.920 This is our identity. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:32.319 So if it makes sense to do that for a marathon, doesn't it make sense to do that for a marriage? 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:32.720 Yep. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:33.440 Yep. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:37.119 Doesn't it make sense to do that for your single life? 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.880 Doesn't it make sense for you to do that in your spiritual life? 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:44.160 And this is the steps that God is wanting us to take. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:48.240 Because if you go back to uh Galatians chapter 6, verse number 7, don't be deceived. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:49.519 God can't be mocked. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:52.319 You're gonna rebut yourself. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:56.319 This is a tough verse. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:03.599 But what God has done is He has put principles into the earth. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.680 Natural laws and principles. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:07.839 This is one that we get. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:12.319 I plant this, I'm expecting this type of harvest. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:22.880 Unfortunately, unfortunately, I have personally sown some seeds in my own life that I wish I never got the harvest of. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:28.000 I wish I had never put those seeds in the ground. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:33.680 There's some moments in my life I look back on and I go, man, dang. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:39.519 If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have put that in the ground. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.839 I would have held on to that. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:50.880 If I had the chance to not say that, do that, go there, I never would have put it in the ground. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.839 I like to try to blame the devil for a lot of stuff. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:55.200 The devil did it. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:55.839 Nope. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:57.119 That was me. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:02.079 Just throwing seeds out on the ground here. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:03.359 It was me. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.240 I like to, I want to blame culture. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:09.599 I want to blame the society, I want to blame the world. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:14.000 Now, if I'm gonna look back, that was on me. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:29.839 And many of us right now are reaping a harvest in our marriage, in our thought life, in our physical bodies, of some things we're like, I wish I I wish I knew, or I wish I believed God's word. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.559 I wish I followed his path. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:38.640 The good news is what you are currently living in, you don't have to live in forever. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:47.920 The good news is you can begin to sow some fresh seeds, some new seeds into the ground, and you can begin to reap a different harvest in your future. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:51.680 This is the opportunity that God is inviting us all into. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:53.440 But don't be deceived. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.000 God's not gonna be mocked, family. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:56.960 Right, right. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:03.920 We can't keep on acting like we can do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it without any repercussions. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:08.240 Um, we were talking uh earlier, Onique and I, about a kite. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:11.279 I don't know if people still fly kites uh at all. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:12.240 Uh not really. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:17.039 You know, on a windy day, if you got little kids, you're like, oh, I'm gonna get I need a kite, and then there's not one to be found. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.680 Uh or you get the kite and then it stops being windy. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.440 Yep, that's happened too. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:27.200 But when you have a kite, it works well because it's tied to something. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:34.319 The kite flies higher because there's a string and it's connected to something. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:42.400 Once the kite gets disconnected or cut from the string, the kite can no longer soar. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:47.920 We live in a day where we all want to fly really high, but we don't want to be tied to anything. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:58.240 I don't want to be tied to a relationship, I don't want to be tied to anybody telling me what to do, I don't want to be tied to a church, I don't want to be tied to any accountability, I want to be able to do what I want to do whenever I want to do it. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.759 And the problem with that is you're not. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.480 Going to be able to fly as high as you want to fly and be all that God has called you to be. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.559 In order for you to soar, you got to be tied to something. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:11.920 And we're saying that something is more than a something, it's a someone. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:14.559 And his name is Jesus. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:20.880 And it gives such strength when you're connected to something healthy, which is our Heavenly Father. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:23.440 But also it gives strength in life. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:36.799 I remember when we were getting ready and praying to start this church, we lived in Austin, Texas, and God started preparing our hearts, saying, You're about, you're called to ministry another level of ministry, a new layer, a new expression of ministry. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.640 I remember us dealing with that, just the two of us, talking about it, praying about it. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:41.519 What would it look like? 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:42.880 What city would we go to? 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:44.000 How would we do it? 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.160 And just asking each other these questions. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:53.200 But then there came a time where it needed to just leave us asking questions to each other, to us to go to somebody who we trusted. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.079 And there's something called wise counsel. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:57.519 Write that down. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:58.960 Wise counsel. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:13.200 And wise counsel is wisdom from someone who's trusted, from someone who has a track record, from someone who's spiritually grounded, from someone who's a safe leader, for someone who also gets wise counsel. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:18.240 And what you do, what we did in that situation is we said, we feel this call to start a church. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:24.400 And so we invited in wise counsel, we invited in leaders, and we asked them, are we crazy? 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:26.319 Should we do this? 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.799 We're thinking about doing this in a year. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:35.759 And so we invited them in to pray with us, to seek God with us, because we didn't just want to do that decision. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.319 It's such a major life change by ourselves. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:42.559 And so we sought wise counsel and they said, You are called to start a church. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:46.240 But we, after praying, think it would be good to wait a couple more years. 00:23:46.480 --> 00:24:01.279 Our best friend said that, our wise counsel said that, and we took that advice, and it was one of the best advices we'd ever received because if we would have jumped out of the plane prematurely, I don't know that we would have the strength in our marriage that we have today, the strength in our family. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:06.000 I don't I don't know the reach that our church would have had we tried to have done church in our own strength. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:12.319 Yeah, when we were getting ready to, when we wanted to get married, we were in love and we're like, let's get married right away. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:14.400 And so then we said, you know what? 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:16.480 Onika dealt with a lot of lust. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:31.519 Uh so there was a lot of like pressure, and I was like, girl, listen, you've been, I don't know what you've been sewing, but I need you to show to the spirit, not to the flesh. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.480 So I shared this work verse with her. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:37.200 It helped her a lot, and she's she's stronger now. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:37.440 Yeah. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:38.400 Go ahead, honey. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:40.960 Okay, okay, whatever, whatever. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:43.920 But we were ready to get married. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:47.599 And you're making me lose my train of thought. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:54.640 And so we decided to get wise counsel instead of just going, just the two of us, we want to get married. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:58.079 Let's just get married right now, which we wanted to because we were so excited, we're so in love. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.960 So we went to leaders in our life who we trusted, and we said, We're ready to get married. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:04.400 Can you pray with us? 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.720 Do you also think it's time for us to get married? 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:10.000 Which I know that's like groundbreaking, but it was so right. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:11.839 And so they said, you know what? 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:15.839 We think that you should pray on this and wait another year, actually. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.440 And again, it was the very best wisdom. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:22.799 And we've been married for 29 years, you guys. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:24.799 That's wild. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:26.240 30 years next year. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.240 I mean, that's 30 years is crazy. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:29.359 It's crazy to us. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:34.799 It is, but I'm so thankful that we have not done marriage for almost 30 years by ourselves. 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:39.920 Yeah, we we rely on the spirit, we deny our flesh. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:43.039 Yeah, I don't always say to Earl what I want to say to Earl. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.680 He doesn't always say to me what he wants to say to me. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:53.519 And I'm thankful because I would probably be, you know, busted up and super insecure if he said every thought he ever had to me. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:54.319 Does that make sense? 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.000 No, but I have only good thoughts. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:57.839 No, no, I'm sure. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:03.359 But I'm so thankful that we have learned, even in our marriage, to say no to our flesh. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:12.720 I'm so thankful that when we reach a crossroads and we can't come into agreement, we still to this day seek godly counsel on major, major decisions. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:20.880 So everything that we're saying, we're also living this out together with y'all because there's wisdom in godly counsel around you. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.880 There's wisdom in going to healthy, godly counselors. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.839 There's wisdom in being planted in a healthy church. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:28.240 That's right. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:35.839 There's wisdom in having people in your life who have gone before you who can offer things that they learned to help strengthen you. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:45.119 We can learn from each other's mistakes, and there's such health being connected to something instead of trying to live a rogue life and just being in a cave all alone. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:45.519 Yeah. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:53.680 Well, as Onika is saying this again to go back to this verse, verse number seven and eight of chapter six in Galatians. 00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:57.920 A man reaps what he sows, or a woman reaps what she sows. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:05.920 Um not only is this true, it's also true that you sometimes reap what other people sow. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:16.480 And this is a very hard thing to digest for us because some of us are looking at our lives like I've only actually been putting good stuff in the ground. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:20.480 But if I look at my life right now, it's not good all around me. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:24.079 So yes, there's an enemy, without a doubt. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:30.079 You know, this culture is broken, and this darkness and sin and demons and all the lies. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:32.000 Yes, that's that's a part of it. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.960 So you got that being sewn in and put in the ground. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:38.400 And sometimes you can have a friendship, a relationship. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:49.039 It could be a spouse, it could be a son, daughter, it could be a best friend, it could be somebody in your world that you're connected to, that they put some stuff in the ground. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:54.640 And since you're so close to them, their field now becomes your field. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:59.599 And you're in something that you didn't want to be in. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:02.559 Now it works on the positive too. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:03.519 Don't get me wrong. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:10.559 It works on the positive if they have been sewing some things and doing some things that are for the positive and they've been making themselves better. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:24.240 I I don't know, maybe you're about to marry somebody and you find out, you know, they've been, you know, putting a bunch of money away for years and years and years, and then you're gonna marry this person, and they already got, you know, seven million dollars just sitting in an account somewhere. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:27.279 You're like, man, thank you for sowing when I was not here. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:29.039 I am happy to reap this. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:30.160 God bless you. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:54.960 That that that's that's a wonderful thing, but sometimes it's on the negative that people were sowing bad relationships and foolishness for years and years and years, and now you're the beneficiary of their poor choices, and you've already said I do, and now you're in it. 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:00.160 Culture tells you bounce, leave. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.079 Don't stay in that, that's not your fault. 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:06.079 That's what culture will say to you. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:14.319 And I don't have the time now in every location with every situation to give you counsel on your specific situation at all. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:19.200 But what I would say is this truth, it's it's it's real. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:23.599 We do sow, uh, we do reap what we do so. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:29.440 But there's also a bunch of hope in the midst of all of this. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.839 Look at verse number uh six. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.759 I mean, verse number nine, rather. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:38.559 It says, let us not become weary in doing good. 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:48.960 For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:53.680 I I appreciate that this is in the Bible. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:58.480 Because sometimes doing good does cause weariness. 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:02.000 And I think we gotta be honest with that. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.279 There's some of us I've been doing good for years and years. 00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:06.720 I'm tired of doing good. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.759 I don't feel like I'm getting the results of all the good that I've been giving. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.759 I feel like every time I even do good, more bad comes my way. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:28.240 I keep doing good towards my spouse or doing good towards my career, doing good towards my education or parents, yeah, and bad keeps coming my way over and over and over and over and over again. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:45.680 Whether you're a teenager that's working all summer to get to make the football team or the basketball team and it doesn't pay off, or you're an adult that has worked hard and incredibly hard for that interview to get that job and it doesn't turn out. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:57.039 All of us can be in some different seasons where we have gone, we have grinded, trusting God for the good, and it has not come. 00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:01.359 The apostle Paul here says, I gotta encourage you. 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.480 This is also part of the process. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.599 You become weary and doing good. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:14.880 And if you're weary and doing good, I want you to know that God has a proper time. 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:16.480 Everybody say proper time. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:17.839