Speaker 1: Thank y'all so much.
Speaker 1: Listen, I'm just so blessed and I ended the day by just putting a little message out there to so many people who had wished me happy birthday through the day that I'm so blessed me and I've got the best kids for me, the best kids for me.
Speaker 1: Your kids are great, but these are my kids and so they're the best for me.
Speaker 1: Last night we went to I should have had the picture ready to be posted, but we went to dinner last night and Ursh and I got there first and I'm looking at my phone waiting for these guys to be posted.
Speaker 1: But we went to dinner last night and, uh, ursh and I got there first and I'm I'm looking at my phone waiting for these guys to show up, cause I want to be seated.
Speaker 1: They finally see this.
Speaker 1: They're like your whole party's here, hon.
Speaker 1: I'm like I mean, yeah, I show them in the parking lot.
Speaker 1: I don't know why they're not in here yet.
Speaker 1: So we get into our seats and, uh, they all all four of the boys and our sweet daughter in love, anise, dressed like me.
Speaker 1: It's like baseball coach me, boat driver me, golfer me, sunday me Ellie and Anise had their glasses on the back of their collar If you've ever seen me hide my glasses there and and then Ethan was the last one to enter and he walked in as cowboy me, texas.
Speaker 1: Me with my cowboy boots and cowboy hat on.
Speaker 1: And so, listen, I'm so blessed, I'm surrounded by the best, and then all of you like to be close to you guys, to be in community with you, family with you, to celebrate the great things happening in your life, to be with you and the difficult things that happen in your life.
Speaker 1: Like I don't know who's got it better than me?
Speaker 1: Nobody.
Speaker 1: And who's got it better than us?
Speaker 1: Nobody.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much and it's an honor to just take that moment.
Speaker 1: Thanks, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't really like to take those kind of moments.
Speaker 1: So thank you for doing that.
Speaker 1: And, um, I was just about to say, like, what about this band during coffee break?
Speaker 1: Like that is music for my soul, josh ripping that guitar.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you what.
Speaker 1: Like, I turned 55.
Speaker 1: Some of you think I turned 35, but I turned 55 yesterday, and all of you that are 50, 55-ish and up, I want you to just trust me on this, that we cannot complain that it's too loud, even if it's loud, because, even though God has entrusted us to be a part of this house and to lead this house and really pave the way for the vision of this house to see these young people up here, let it get louder.
Speaker 1: If it's what keeps a young person in church, let it be louder If what keeps a young adult in this house.
Speaker 1: Let them jump higher.
Speaker 1: I don't ever want to lose my place of praising Jesus with my whole heart, my whole mind, my soul and my strength.
Speaker 1: So if you think I've scolded you, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying trust me on this, like we need to.
Speaker 1: Let's not grow old, let's keep growing up.
Speaker 1: And for you, young people and young adults even though, listen, we're going to do everything we can to match your energy, like y'all will do this in the front row and then do this again tonight at the witness and young adult as they have testimony service from pr, which, by the way, welcome back our young adults and students from puerto rico.
Speaker 1: Uh, we know you had a great time.
Speaker 1: So did we while you were gone.
Speaker 1: We actually, we had great church while you were gone and.
Speaker 1: But you're back and we're having greater church and tonight they're going to share testimonies and you're welcome to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: I think doors open at 5 30.
Speaker 1: Service starts at 5 30-ish, so 5 30,.
Speaker 1: So come on, be a part of that, if you want to hear, if you and this is what I would say church, thank you for supporting this group of students and young adults that went to Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: But with your generosity, many of you gave um here in the service, many of you gave just directly to their online profiles and you made it possible for them to go.
Speaker 1: I know they were incredible blessing.
Speaker 1: I've heard like rumors not rumors, but like little bits back and forth about how everybody was like oh, you're the group from Chicago, oh, you're the group from free church, oh we're, oh you must be the group from free church.
Speaker 1: And every single one of our students and young adults made an incredible impact.
Speaker 1: Not only were they changed for the better, but they made change for the better.
Speaker 1: So they'll be here tonight.
Speaker 1: But I was saying all that to say this young people like we, like you guys, can jump and run and go crazy and for like hours and then do it again tonight and then wake up tomorrow and do it again like we got to recover, like sunday night.
Speaker 1: I always know if I was running in place and jumping on the front road because I'm a little sore than usual.
Speaker 1: So, but man, listen, I want to be in the church.
Speaker 1: That's alive.
Speaker 1: And we always say this is the place.
Speaker 1: There is no place like this place, near this place.
Speaker 1: So this must be the place, and today it definitely feels that way.
Speaker 1: So if you're a guest, welcome.
Speaker 1: I know you could have been a lot of places this morning, but thanks for being with us and we'd love to meet you afterwards in the next steps area.
Speaker 1: We have a gift as our way of saying thanks for being our guest and we'd love to high-five your fist bumpy on the patio on your way out.
Speaker 1: And if you're watching online, let's welcome our online campus watching in this region and around the world.
Speaker 1: And well, listen, I'm ready to preach God's word.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to receive it?
Speaker 1: The year was 1988.
Speaker 1: I had just graduated high school.
Speaker 1: Man, how many 1980s people do we have in the house, like young people?
Speaker 1: Like, come on, you were a teenager in 1980?
Speaker 1: The best, the best era.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, y'all think you got it.
Speaker 1: We had it.
Speaker 1: I mean, we had long hair.
Speaker 1: It's a little ringy up here.
Speaker 1: We had long hair.
Speaker 1: We had Bon Jovi I called him Brother Bon Jovi so I could listen to him in my house and he had a song Living on a Prayer.
Speaker 1: I just made sure that was the song Whenever my parents walked in.
Speaker 1: I went straight to Living on a Prayer.
Speaker 1: I just made sure that was the song Whenever my parents walked in I went straight to Living on a Prayer.
Speaker 1: The year was 1988.
Speaker 1: I got a job.
Speaker 1: I had a job already.
Speaker 1: My first job was as a shoe salesman.
Speaker 1: That was interesting, selling shoes in the mall, not even name brand shoes.
Speaker 1: It was a store that was called Kenny Shoes, if you know.
Speaker 1: You know the company that owned Kenny Shoes also owned Foot Lockers, so that was kind of cool.
Speaker 1: So I did have a little bit of street cred but worked at Kenny Shoes.
Speaker 1: And then I got a job in a retail place, a little local place that was a large department store called Rogers in Grand Rapids, michigan, and I'll never forget.
Speaker 1: I went in there and I thought I knew everything because I was 18.
Speaker 1: I know everything and got the job and they put me in this department and my manager the first day he walked me around and he showed me every brand of clothing.
Speaker 1: We had Gerbo jeans, z Cavaricci, and I'll just stop there.
Speaker 1: Y'all wish Just Google it and buy it, because you will be like it'll be right.
Speaker 1: And Kooky Sweaters come on somebody, wow.
Speaker 1: So he went through every article of Chloe Like he went through every brand that we had, like went through it all Suits, ties, belts, sweaters, pants, jeans, like everything.
Speaker 1: And this is the first day I was like okay, it's great.
Speaker 1: And I left and I was like all right, well, that's all right.
Speaker 1: I didn't sell anything, but I learned a lot.
Speaker 1: And then the next day I went back and he's like let's do it again.
Speaker 1: And we went back and we went through all the lines I'll never forget.
Speaker 1: I asked him.
Speaker 1: I was like his name was John.
Speaker 1: I was like John, mr John, because I didn't want to get fired.
Speaker 1: I was like Mr John, why are you taking so much time?
Speaker 1: Like I'm ready to sell, I'm ready to be.
Speaker 1: I've sold.
Speaker 1: Listen, I sold shoes.
Speaker 1: If I can sell shoes, I can sell any of this.
Speaker 1: This is easy.
Speaker 1: He said.
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about you selling.
Speaker 1: He said, but I need you to think, like I think about the fashion and the clothing and the brands that are in this room Because if you'll think like I think, you'll understand why people need to wear what we're selling.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh okay, if I think like you think.
Speaker 1: And then it really dawned on me he wasn't really just showing me the brands so I would know the brands.
Speaker 1: He was showing me his philosophy and his thought process behind why we had those brands in our department so that I could have a greater voice when customers came in and had a greater understanding.
Speaker 1: It's the year I learned when you start to think like the people that lead you, it actually expands the reach and the resource of the person that leads you.
Speaker 1: Why don't you just turn to your neighbor and say I want to think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: And then to the other one, just lean back and go, hmm.
Speaker 1: So here we go.
Speaker 1: We've been in this summer series called Summer Shorts and we're going to just tag this next series right on top of Summer Shorts.
Speaker 1: And let me just remind you, in Summer Shorts we talked about the character of Jesus and we used the principle behind the prophet Ezekiel when he told us a glimpse of what Jesus would look like not so much physically, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was a character alignment of who Jesus would be when he got to this earth.
Speaker 1: And we know that John talked about Jesus as the lion, that Jesus was powerfully anointed.
Speaker 1: And if we want to be like Jesus, then we also have to pursue the anointing that Jesus had, which, by the way, it's not pharisaical or it's not blasphemy to say I want to have the same anointing, because the scripture says the very same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, so we can have that same anointing.
Speaker 1: In fact, jesus himself said greater things will you do than I've done here because I'm going away, but I will send a helper to you the Holy Spirit that will empower.
Speaker 1: He will empower you to do greater things.
Speaker 1: So John tells us about the face of the lion, that Jesus is powerfully anointed and then he tells.
Speaker 1: Then we go to Luke and Luke tells us that Jesus was not only 100% God but he was also 100% man, that he was powerfully anointed but he was also practically relational, that he was good with people, and we've talked about.
Speaker 1: We have to work in our minds Not to be so was good with people and we've talked about.
Speaker 1: We have to work in our minds like not to be so fed up with people but to be able to feed people by being good with people, encouraging people.
Speaker 1: Thank you, somebody.
Speaker 1: Somebody in the house like, listen, I'm going on vacation after this service and after freeway, but I'm here to preach right now.
Speaker 1: I could have left early and I almost did.
Speaker 1: And then Matthew, the accountant, talks to us about the face of the eagle, that Jesus did all things well, that he wasn't just powerfully anointed and we need the anointing.
Speaker 1: And he wasn't just powerfully anointed and we need the anointing.
Speaker 1: And he wasn't just practically personal Although we need to be good with people, relational, but he was also practically excellent.
Speaker 1: He did all things well and that our pursuit of perfection is not the right pursuit, but our pursuit of excellence is what honors God and creates comfort, that we have to pay attention to the details.
Speaker 1: And then Mark last week we talked about Mark and the face of the ox that Mark tells us that, yes, jesus was powerfully anointed and personally, relational and practically excellent, but he also persistently served, that he did not come to be served, he came to serve.
Speaker 1: And man, I told Urshana last week as we were going home and then I told our team on Tuesday, a staff meeting.
Speaker 1: I don't even think I preached the best part of my message.
Speaker 1: It was in my notes.
Speaker 1: And the way the Holy Spirit leads sometimes is I work our way through and around and sometimes the notes stay and sometimes it comes out of my message.
Speaker 1: It was in my notes and the way the Holy Spirit leads sometimes is I work a way through and around and sometimes the notes stay and sometimes it comes out of the Spirit and in the notes.
Speaker 1: I want to just show you this quickly before I go on vacation and forget it.
Speaker 1: And it's such a powerful thing In the New Testament the main translation of the New Testament is Greek and the word joy.
Speaker 1: Remember we learned that joy is the fuel of serving and that to persistently serve means I can't just serve out of my own strength and power.
Speaker 1: I have to have a greater power that helps me serve.
Speaker 1: And we talk about joy and that Greek word joy is kara, kara C-H-A-R-A.
Speaker 1: And as I studied, that looked familiar to me because if you've read scripture and ever studied Greek, which maybe a few of you have, the word grace is charis.
Speaker 1: We would say charis C-H-A-R-I-S, the same root.
Speaker 1: So I've said that to tell you that?
Speaker 1: What is amazing to me about when the Bible says in Nehemiah 8 10, that the joy of the Lord is our strength and I preached about it joy, joy actually is a grace given to us that we don't have to earn and we don't ever have to work for.
Speaker 1: It's just what the Holy Spirit, what God gives us.
Speaker 1: It's his strength he gives us.
Speaker 1: It's a grace.
Speaker 1: Just like you have a grace to overcome sin, you have a grace not to receive the punishment that you deserve.
Speaker 1: You have a grace to overcome sin.
Speaker 1: You have a grace not to receive the punishment that you deserve.
Speaker 1: You have a grace to have the Holy Spirit living in your life.
Speaker 1: You are graced with joy to feel you as you serve, serve the Lord with gladness.
Speaker 1: So that grace is not circumstantial, it's not based on I have joy when everything's good.
Speaker 1: I have joy when I get good news.
Speaker 1: I have joy when I have good people around me.
Speaker 1: I have joy all the time because it comes from the Lord.
Speaker 1: It is a grace in my life.
Speaker 1: Well, I thought it was better than that, but so we've learned about this idea and this is what I love.
Speaker 1: Summer is a growing season.
Speaker 1: We plant in the springtime and in the summer it's a growing season for a great harvest.
Speaker 1: In the fall, man just drive by Urs made so much fun of me.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago I was down in Kankakee and I was down there for a minute and drove past the cornfields and the corn was like this.
Speaker 1: It was so tiny, this was like early part of the summer so tiny.
Speaker 1: I was like someday that's going to be a big corn stalk, but today it's not.
Speaker 1: And the next time I went, a week later and I told her, sean, I was like you can't believe how tall the corn is already.
Speaker 1: It's so tall.
Speaker 1: And she was like is it tall?
Speaker 1: I'm like baby, it's like more than doubled in a week.
Speaker 1: That's impressive to me.
Speaker 1: And she's like, okay, I was like you don't feel the energy I have about this story right now.
Speaker 1: She's like, okay, corn grows.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I'm not getting through to you.
Speaker 1: That's what she has to put up with.
Speaker 1: The reality is in the spring we plant and then there's growth in the summer.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you you don't come into church in the summer, thinking like the series was summer shorts.
Speaker 1: But we didn't come in here just to like get by and check a box.
Speaker 1: We're growing for our harvest in the fall in our life, as we live our best year ever, and you might not see it now, but how many know?
Speaker 1: Every time all the kids go back to school and you get to campus and you're like, wow, this kid grew all summer.
Speaker 1: That's what's happening in our spirits this summer.
Speaker 1: So we're in a growing season.
Speaker 1: We just spent four Sundays looking what does Jesus look like?
Speaker 1: Now we're going to spend about four weeks talking and being more like Jesus.
Speaker 1: So we see what he looks like, the characteristics that we should live with and live by.
Speaker 1: But now how do we really apply it?
Speaker 1: How do we put it into practice?
Speaker 1: And when we put it into practice, what happens?
Speaker 1: So today I'm going to begin this series like Jesus and we're going to talk about how to think like Jesus, things that make you go, hmm.
Speaker 1: So think like Jesus, and I came across this passage of scripture in my daily Bible reading.
Speaker 1: Remember, we talked about being consistent in January, and consistent doesn't mean you have to be perfect, but you just keep going and if you drop, you just wake up the next day and be like all right, I'm going to be consistent.
Speaker 1: So in my reading we're in Isaiah now, if you're reading chronologically and as we think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Oh, let me give you the four that we're going to do.
Speaker 1: I think I have them on the notes.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna think like Jesus, we're gonna lead like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Pastor Robbie will be here next week to preach.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a powerful weekend.
Speaker 1: We're gonna learn to love like Jesus and then we're gonna learn to speak like Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a powerful series as we race our way to fall in the season of harvest.
Speaker 1: But this is the passage of scripture, isaiah 40 and 13.
Speaker 1: Who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been able to give the Lord advice?
Speaker 1: This is Isaiah, the prophet, writing who's known the mind of the Lord?
Speaker 1: Who's known it?
Speaker 1: Who's been able to give the Lord advice?
Speaker 1: Who?
Speaker 1: Who on earth could know the next couple of days?
Speaker 1: The passage advice who?
Speaker 1: Who on earth could know the next couple of days?
Speaker 1: The pastor of scripture is for my ways I think it was this morning actually.
Speaker 1: My ways are higher than your ways.
Speaker 1: The Lord says my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
Speaker 1: So who can know the mind of the Lord?
Speaker 1: But look what Paul writes because of the power of the Holy Spirit and our ability to have that Holy Spirit living in us so that we can be like Jesus and even think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Paul says look at this, it's 1 Corinthians, 2, 16.
Speaker 1: Paul writes who has known the mind of the Lord and so instructs him.
Speaker 1: He's quoting Isaiah.
Speaker 1: But watch this.
Speaker 1: But we have the mind of Christ.
Speaker 1: He's like who could know it, not mere man, but we have the mind of Christ because the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Speaker 1: So let me get into this for a second, because we can think like Jesus, because we have been powerfully transformed to be like him and to walk in this season with his authority and his favor, not just with God but with man.
Speaker 1: That's what God wants for your life.
Speaker 1: Colossians 2 says we should set our mind on things above and Romans 12 says that we should be transformed by the renewing of your mind Now to think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let me just show you this Transform.
Speaker 1: That word in the Greek is metamorphosis.
Speaker 1: It's metamorphosis.
Speaker 1: It's where we get the word metamorphosis, and Arshana and I were talking about this week I think it's the only animal that goes through this but there is a caterpillar Caterpillar that goes through that word metamorphosis Metamorphosis and it becomes Goes, that word metamorphosis and it goes from a caterpillar to a.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 1: You guys paid attention to science.
Speaker 1: That word in scripture metamorphosis transformed.
Speaker 1: This is what Paul's trying to tell you what can happen to your mind through the power of the Holy Spirit and why we can think like Jesus in the midst of anything around us and we don't have to succumb to the culture or pressure or political things of this world that we can get in God's word and literally have the mind of Christ, this word transformed.
Speaker 1: Look, watch this.
Speaker 1: The caterpillar.
Speaker 1: I studied it for a little bit this week.
Speaker 1: The caterpillar we know man, we read the book to our kids.
Speaker 1: The Hungry Caterpillar.
Speaker 1: The hungry caterpillar is internally focused and lives to eat and to grow for itself.
Speaker 1: The caterpillar does not store up food for anybody.
Speaker 1: The caterpillar does not share food for anybody.
Speaker 1: The caterpillar is only focused on what is in front of me and what can I eat.
Speaker 1: Does that not sound like our world Consumer mentality?
Speaker 1: I got this, but it's not enough, so I need this.
Speaker 1: And that's not enough, so I need this.
Speaker 1: Listen, there's no problem with having things as long as things don't have you.
Speaker 1: So have it all, but don't let it have you.
Speaker 1: And how you know it doesn't have you is can you give it away?
Speaker 1: Give it away, give it away.
Speaker 1: Give it away now.
Speaker 1: Can you do it?
Speaker 1: I better be careful preaching this.
Speaker 1: So the caterpillar is internally focused, only consuming for itself.
Speaker 1: And then it goes through a metamorphosis and it becomes not just a better version of the caterpillar, a completely new creature.
Speaker 1: For those who are in Christ, jesus are new creatures and the caterpillar goes into that cocoon.
Speaker 1: And finally, pastor Matthew dies to himself in order that he can become a butterfly.
Speaker 1: Completely new, nothing like his old self, different mind, different eyes.
Speaker 1: And now watch this the caterpillar is no longer the butterfly, does not worry about eating and consuming.
Speaker 1: The butterfly is known for multiplication and distribution.
Speaker 1: There will be caterpillars next year because the butterfly is worried about the harvest.
Speaker 1: And that is the transformation that happens to us when we confess our belief in Jesus, ask for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and we can become a completely new creature and we can go from being self, internally focused only about me, to becoming multipliers.
Speaker 1: Means, if you have the mind of Christ, you can't think like you used to think.
Speaker 1: That's why I said earlier we can't think, oh, this is loud.
Speaker 1: It used to be loud, but listen, I'm a new creature in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: My ears are better anyways, and listen, it's going to distribute the gospel.
Speaker 1: Let it be so we can live.
Speaker 1: We actually this is what I preached about last week we can live serving others because we live with a focus and a mentality.
Speaker 1: Everything I do is for Jesus and for others.
Speaker 1: Love the Lord, god, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Speaker 1: And the second commandment is equally as important Love others as you love yourself.
Speaker 1: Man, I don't even have.
Speaker 1: Thank you, I don't even have time.
Speaker 1: I got to go on vacation.
Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 1: So when I think, like Jesus number one, I will know my true identity.
Speaker 1: Jesus never doubted his identity.
Speaker 1: In fact, let me show you this.
Speaker 1: I'm going to show you some Just at least 18 times Jesus said I am and look at this.
Speaker 1: John 8 or John 6, 35, jesus said I am the bread of life.
Speaker 1: In John 18, 12, he said I am the bread of life.
Speaker 1: In John 1812, he said I am the light of the world.
Speaker 1: In John 1011, I am the good shepherd.
Speaker 1: John 1128, I am the resurrection and the life.
Speaker 1: John 146, I am the way, the truth and the life.
Speaker 1: John 151,.
Speaker 1: I am the true vine.
Speaker 1: John 10, 61, 62,.
Speaker 1: I am the son of God.
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't doubt who he was.
Speaker 1: He didn't mishandle his identity and he never doubted his identity because he knew who he was.
Speaker 1: And he knew who he was because he spent time with his heavenly father, father, in prayer.
Speaker 1: The Bible says Jesus often got away to pray, often got alone to pray.
Speaker 1: When you allow others to speak, influence and direct your identity and you fall for their mold, you will settle for a fake or phony life.
Speaker 1: You will live in stress because you're always having to pretend that you're somebody else other than who God made you to be.
Speaker 1: It's comical, but the butterfly would not be the same if he just tried to crawl on the ground the rest of his life.
Speaker 1: You were born an original, so do not die a copy.
Speaker 1: You need to get in your language the I am's.
Speaker 1: If you would change this one thing and think like Jesus, it would change your life.
Speaker 1: What you say about you matters, and if you get the wrong thing, I need an English teacher to tell me what the word is After I am.
Speaker 1: Is it a verb?
Speaker 1: Is it an adverb?
Speaker 1: Is it an adjective?
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 1: If I am depressed, what is the word?
Speaker 1: Depressed?
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you, that's all I needed.
Speaker 1: I just want to get it right.
Speaker 1: I should know I was better in math.
Speaker 1: So if you get the wrong adverb, you're going to lead yourself down the wrong path.
Speaker 1: So instead of saying I am, start with this I am a child of God.
Speaker 1: Wake up every day.
Speaker 1: I am a child of God.
Speaker 1: I up every day.
Speaker 1: I am a child of God.
Speaker 1: I am the head and not the tail.
Speaker 1: This is just the word of God.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you what the word of God says about you.
Speaker 1: I am an overcomer.
Speaker 1: I am confident that he is able.
Speaker 1: I am what his word says I am.
Speaker 1: I can do what his word says I can do and I'll never be the same.
Speaker 1: Never, ever, ever, ever will I be the same?
Speaker 1: And if you start your day like that, you won't doubt your identity.
Speaker 1: When everybody in the world wants to tell you something different, you just go back to the word of God and you think like Jesus and make the declaration of I am and listen, it's okay, because it's God's word about you.
Speaker 1: And I read this week God's word never comes back void, never.
Speaker 1: So if God's word says it, you believe it and that settles it.
Speaker 1: All.
Speaker 1: Right, we got time for one more.
Speaker 1: Let's do one more.
Speaker 1: You'll have to get your notes off of the YouVersion and get all the notes.
Speaker 1: But here we go when I think, like Jesus, I know God's purpose for my life, so I know my true identity and then I know God's purpose for my life.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you do not know God's purpose for your life, today we have freeway and it's full already.
Speaker 1: It's got 15 to 18, maybe 20 people registered already to be a part of freeway, which is the path to membership, discipleship and ministry, serving on team.
Speaker 1: And if you have not taken gone through the freeway yet, today's pretty full, we could probably accommodate you.
Speaker 1: You might only get a half a bagel, but pretty full, we could probably accommodate you.
Speaker 1: You might only get a half a bagel, but we have another one coming August 17.
Speaker 1: So that in freeway we tell you the heart and vision of the church, we give you the five habits of a follower of Jesus for discipleship, and then we share with you, through the process of a personality profile and a spiritual gift assessment, just exactly how God created you and it will help you identify what that purpose that God has created you for.
Speaker 1: So freeway is very important.
Speaker 1: It's not just the path to membership, but it's really how we help you discover God's purpose for your life and then get you to living the most fulfilled life as you serve on team and help carry the vision, because the vision's big but it's not heavy if we all carry it.
Speaker 1: So join us for Freeway.
Speaker 1: You can just send Renee a DM forward slash Freeway register for today or we'll get the other one logged in, for I think it's in there.
Speaker 1: August 17th it should be in there.
Speaker 1: I think I loaded it in.
Speaker 1: So check it out.
Speaker 1: Jesus knew why on earth he was here, and you should too, if you think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jesus answered this.
Speaker 1: Even I testify on my own behalf.
Speaker 1: My testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and I know where I'm going.
Speaker 1: Listen, we know where I came from and I know where I'm going.
Speaker 1: Listen, we know where we came from.
Speaker 1: It wasn't pretty.
Speaker 1: And when we're sitting here singing man, when I think about how good God is, where would I be without God in my life?
Speaker 1: I get so overwhelmed Because I mean, god's been so good to me and he's blessed me.
Speaker 1: And everything that I am today including the husband, I am the father, I am the leader, I am the people surrounding me is only a testimony to the grace of God in my life.
Speaker 1: And so we have to know where we came from, but we also have to know where we're going, and that speaks to the purpose of why we're here.
Speaker 1: And he says so I know where I came from, I know where I'm going, but you have no idea where I came from.
Speaker 1: Where I'm going, he's like listen, don't you judge me about the purpose that I'm here for, because you don't know.
Speaker 1: Like Jesus had a little swagger to him and we read it real nice and calm and Christian-like.
Speaker 1: But Jesus is like don't you talk to me about my purpose when what you think my purpose is wrong.
Speaker 1: In fact, when Simon said something about the purpose that Jesus came for, jesus turned around because it didn't align with what Jesus was here for and he called Simon, the rock on which he'd build the church, the devil.
Speaker 1: And he said get behind me, satan, because you don't know my purpose.
Speaker 1: So you need to exercise that to people that try to influence your purpose Get behind me, because I know where I came from, but I know where I'm going.
Speaker 1: At 12 years old, jesus told his parents after they couldn't find him for a few days.
Speaker 1: Told his parents after they couldn't find them for a few days.
Speaker 1: We were just talking about a story a couple weeks yesterday from a few years ago, when the twins were running around with their friends.
Speaker 1: They were little, they were like five years old, and they kind of disappeared and Ursh got so worried she called the police and that was after like 30 minutes of them being gone.
Speaker 1: Thank God we found them.
Speaker 1: They were okay.
Speaker 1: Scary moment I came home.
Speaker 1: There's like eight police cars around our house.
Speaker 1: By the way, thank you, oak Park, for being such great responders.
Speaker 1: Love our first responders.
Speaker 1: Oh, I said I love our first responders.
Speaker 1: This is the right room and there were officers everywhere and they found our boys.
Speaker 1: Thank to God, be the glory.
Speaker 1: But this was after a few days.
Speaker 1: They couldn't find Jesus and they went back to the temple where they remembered last seeing him and they were like, oh Jesus, we left three days ago.
Speaker 1: How come you weren't with us?
Speaker 1: And he says don't you know?
Speaker 1: I must be about my father's business, like at 12, he knew his purpose.
Speaker 1: I feel like Mary.
Speaker 1: It's not recorded in scripture.
Speaker 1: Mary said well, that may be, I don't know, this is just my mind.
Speaker 1: Mary's like well, that may be true, but you're gonna have to grow in some wisdom and stature first, because that's what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: Next, that he grew in wisdom and stature and spent the next, he was 12,.
Speaker 1: He didn't start his ministry until 30.
Speaker 1: So, if you're good with math, he spent those next years growing in wisdom and stature, but he never doubted his purpose.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to come back and preach this later.
Speaker 1: It's when you think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let me do one more Time for one more.
Speaker 1: When I think like Jesus, I'm always aware that God is with me.
Speaker 1: Somebody needs to hear this.
Speaker 1: That's why I felt compelled to do this.
Speaker 1: John 16, 32,.
Speaker 1: A time is coming, and in fact has come, when you will be scattered, each of you to your own house, and you will leave me all alone.
Speaker 1: Jesus is talking to his disciples and he's like I'm getting ready to go through the worst thing known to man, literally, and it's going to be difficult and I'm on my way.
Speaker 1: He says and, by the way, I'm going through this and all of you are right here now, but you're gonna leave me.
Speaker 1: And then he says this but yet I'm not alone, for my Father is with me.
Speaker 1: That's why we say when you make a decision to follow Jesus, it doesn't mean that your life will be perfect, but you will never be alone again.
Speaker 1: Jesus says I'll be with you all the way to the end.
Speaker 1: So you don't have to sit in a room and feel the weight of loneliness because you're really never alone and you can say Holy Spirit, everybody else has walked out of this room, but I know you're in this room and if you're in this room I'm not alone.
Speaker 1: And people are going to walk into your life and just as quickly as they walked into your life they could walk out of your life, but that won't make you alone, because God's always with you.
Speaker 1: If you think like Jesus, you know that you'll never, ever be alone.
Speaker 1: Why did Jesus know?
Speaker 1: It's because I said earlier, he slipped away to pray, often, often.
Speaker 1: It says Jesus often slipped away to be alone so he could pray.
Speaker 1: And I just wanna challenge you, if you wanna increase the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life on a daily basis and not just rely on just a Sunday experience, I wanna challenge you to get away multiple times during the day to pray.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you got to go into a closet, but like even at your desk, you're getting ready to make an important phone call or send an important email or go into an important meeting.
Speaker 1: Just spend one time, just get away for a second and pray.
Speaker 1: Parents, when you're driving your kids to school and you're telling them all the things they've got to do, pray over them before you drop them off and then, when you leave them, instead of turning the radio on or getting into that podcast, pray over their life as you drive away from that school.
Speaker 1: Get alone to pray, pray more.
Speaker 1: You don't have to just pray one time.
Speaker 1: It's not just like I pray one prayer a day, like, really.
Speaker 1: My thought is what if our minds were continually in prayer, even though we're active in the world that we live in all day long?
Speaker 1: But we're just having a conversation with the Holy Spirit all day long.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, I'm not alone.
Speaker 1: You're helping me, you're leading me, you're guiding me, you're telling me what to say.
Speaker 1: You're putting me in front of the right people.
Speaker 1: You're helping me move in the right direction.
Speaker 1: I know if I should turn right or left.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be sensitive to that.
Speaker 1: If I need to pay for the groceries and for the person in front of me, I know about that.
Speaker 1: Listen, I'm going to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit because I'm multiple times a day getting away with the Holy Spirit and it does not require you to go like into a closet or on your knees or under your desk.
Speaker 1: You can literally train your mind to be able to pray in those moments.
Speaker 1: I just sense the Holy Spirit in this room right now for somebody who's been feeling lonely in this season, and I'm going to tell you, your mind can be transformed this morning to know that you're never alone, no matter how difficult and how quiet and how it may seem like everybody else has walked away.
Speaker 1: There's one, the Bible says, who sticks closer than a friend, closer than a brother.
Speaker 1: What kind of manner of love is this?
Speaker 1: That he would lay his life down for you and then it would be to your advantage that he would leave this earth so that he could send a comforter to help you and to be with you.
Speaker 1: And if that's you in this room, maybe facing despair and loneliness, depression and hard times, I just want you to just even, just simply just turn your hands like this and just receive just the very gift and the grace of God to empower you, to show you you're not alone.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, we know you're in this room in a powerful way and I thank you for the metamorphosis of our mind that can take place.
Speaker 1: Listen, if you've been struggling this week with your thought life, maybe thinking things that are untrue, or thinking things that have been spoken over you, maybe you're thinking things that lead you on a path that's away from what God's plan is for your life, listen, the Bible is very clear that we all fall short of the glory of God.
Speaker 1: So this is not a judgment on anybody, but if you're struggling with your thought life, would you just put your right hand on top of your head and just as a, I just feel like there's about to be a release in our thoughts, to be able to think like Jesus, be able to think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, we pray over every mind.
Speaker 1: We take captive every thought, we test every thought that it would align to your word and if it does not align to your word, in the name of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we take that thought captive, we occupy that thought and we actually are gonna walk it straight to the front door and kick it out of our thought process, kick it out of our life.
Speaker 1: We have a mind that has been transformed, renewed to be the mind of Jesus.
Speaker 1: We don't have to think like we used to think.
Speaker 1: We can think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: We have the mind of Christ that will help us to think like we used to think.
Speaker 1: We can think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: We have the mind of Christ that will help us to think pure thoughts, reasonable thoughts, holy thoughts, true thoughts, kind thoughts.
Speaker 1: Lord, we just declare this over every mind.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, we pray and let the church say amen, come on, put your hands together.