God Is Truth - Pastor Otis Amey | Midtown Church Elk Grove

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            Pastor Otis Amey is a former record-setting S.F. 49er wide receiver and punt returner. He was Born and raised in Union City, CA, Otis now lives in Sacramento and serves as the Associate Pastor for Midtown Church overseeing Men's, Young Professionals, and Serve Ministries. He is also a keynote speaker and workshop developer, empowering people everywhere he goes. In addition, Otis serves as the Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where he coordinates on-campus events, sports camps, and mentors coaches and student-athletes. As a Life Skills Coach for Sac State's Football team, Otis is dedicated to transforming lives from the inside out, starting with himself, his home, and his community. As a married father of three, Otis strives to be the role model and mentor he never had.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

We are in a sermon series called God Is, and we could be in this sermon series forever. I mean, just singing the song Waymaker. I'm sure as you sung that song, it hits you in a different way. You thought about how God was a Waymaker, how he came through for you. Maybe it was this morning, maybe it was yesterday. All throughout your existence, God has been a way maker. And so I felt led to talk about this topic, which could be pretty uh broad as well. God is truth.

unknown 0:44

Right?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Our sermon series called God Is, the the title of the message this morning is God is Truth. So let's dive in. What is truth? What is truth? If I'll start by saying this. If we or if you define what truth is, then you'll never be wrong. If you define what truth is, then you'll never be wrong. Because if your truth conflicts with my truth, then someone's truth ain't truth. If your truth conflicts with my truth, then someone's truth is not true. Uh uh, for instance, I wholeheartedly believe that I'm the best dominoes player in all of Greater Sacramento. But what's wrong with my truth is that there's probably some brothers in here that think that they're the greatest Domino's player. Even though I have the championship belts to prove it. Anyway, it's a whole nother story. The truth is that my truth is truer because I have won a few tournaments, but there's also Cowboys fans that genuinely stay with me. That genuinely genuinely believe that every single year is going to be what? Their year. We them boys. See, their truth is solely dependent on what? On their feelings. Right? Just because you feel a certain way does not mean that makes your truth true. There's a saying that I go by, our feelings have ceilings. You can feel so uh a certain way for so long, but eventually you're gonna keep hitting your head on the real on the truth, on the reality. There's only so much room you have before you start hitting your head on the roof. Uh, there's a couple other teams I want to mention. Uh I I won't even talk about how delusional you have to be to be a Raiders fan every year. But the 49ers fans are not off the hook either. They, we, whatever you want to say, have been saying quest for six for 30 years. And it has not happened. Here's the thing: the the the the truth does not care about your feelings. The truth does not care about your feelings. And I'm someone that's very, like, I can be very vulnerable, but I'm very direct. Uh I'm all about what does the truth say? What does the truth in scripture say? As a kid, I'm gonna watch Ninja Turtles. Uh, this movie I probably shouldn't have watched when I was young called Bloodsport with Jean-Claude Van Damme and the Kumite, right? Still, an epic movie. Uh I would watch Bruce Lee movies. And for those that know, Bruce Lee Roy, The Last Dragon. And you know what happened as soon as those movies were over? I thought I was a martial artist expert, right? So being the youngest of four boys, instantly, I'm like, I'm thinking I got everything that Bruce Lee Roy catches bullets with my teeth now, all those things, right? But as much as I thought that was a reality based on watching 90 minutes of an amazing movie, what was the truth? It didn't matter how I felt when I went to and tried to beat up my 6'3, 300-pound football playing brother. What do you think happened? He laughed at me and then put his hand on my head and just made me sit down. Or my other brother, 15 months older than me, would beat me up. It didn't matter what I felt in that moment. One of the uh biggest blessings in my marriage is that both me and my wife, we agree that this, the word of God, is the source from which we receive ultimate truth. Amen. Christian counseling should be a lot easier because you say, okay, this is what you think, this is what you think, what does the word say? What does the word say? So if we're not in agreement on something, we turn to the text to see what the creator of heaven and earth has to say about it. There's a lot of tough teachings in the Bible when it says to pray for your enemy. Bless those who persecute you. I'm like, no, Lord, I don't want to, I don't want to do that. But we trust that the Bible reads us as we read it. For instance, you can read, what's today? The what? The June, June 21st. You can read Proverbs 21 today. And you can read it every single month this year, and something will hit you different every single month because the Bible reads you as you read it, depending on where you're at in your life, what you're going through. So it leads us to whatever truth we need for any situation or circumstances that we must be facing. Here's an escapable truth. Here's the first escapable truth. Romans 12 and 1. It makes it plain that we uh it makes it plain that when we stop and consider what we really deserve, but take into account the gift that God offers us instead, our only response should be to fully surrender. Romans 12 and 1. It says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of what? In view of God's mercy. What is that saying? I said this during the prayer in our our huddle. Uh, we're all born under a curse, headed where? Yeah, you don't really hear that word from the pulpit. We're all born under a curse, headed to hell. So what is it saying in view of God's mercy, that he sent his only son to die on the cross uh uh in exchange for your sins, bore the full wrath of God's, bore all of God's wrath for your sins in your place. When you consider that he did that for you when there was no other way that you could earn your way, you could get to heaven, your our only and natural response should be to say, God, here I am. What do you want me to do? Let me learn more about you so you can teach me more about me, so I can be humble and obedient to the call that you've placed on my life. See, only full surrender can be called true worship. Most people think what we just did, singing Waymaker and the other songs, they think that that's what worship is. That is a part of it, but really worship is your lifestyle. Worship is your lifestyle, it's not just the three songs that we sing, it's the entirety of who you are. It's having a heart postured in a way that submits entirely to God's authority. So you can't sing, it's your breath in our lungs, and then 30 seconds later, when it's time for offering, you sing, it's my money, it's not yours. You can't remix the song based on how you feel about it. You have to say, God, everything is yours. That's what makes it easier when I'm in the spirit, when I'm abiding and spending time with Christ, and it's time to, you know, give money for camp, whatever it is, I'm like, oh, this is all yours. My ability tomorrow to go to work, make it there safely, be clothed in my right mind, have the gift of communication. Uh, even the job that I have is only because he allowed me to have it. He graced and blessed me to have it. So everything is his. Our job is a job of stewardship. Even your beautiful children. I had one guy said he had like eight children or something crazy, right? His job is to steward those children. They're the Lord's. Train them up like arrows in a quiver. It's all God's. So what he says should inform how we do everything. A little bit of background. What is in the name? So uh put this name up. I remember when my brother was a principal, he he uh he sent me this immediately. He said, Hey bro, uh call me when you get a second. So I called him and he said, What do you think this kid's name is? And what do you think this kid's name is? No, the name is Trishon. Um his kid's name, true story, was Trishon. But God bless his parents. No, uh, we're praying for his parents because they spelled his name trash can. Um names are important. In scripture, one of the ways God reveals himself to us is through his names. In ancient culture, a name revealed important info about a person or a thing. You don't just name your son, you don't put a la or whatever in front of it, LaDaniel, whoever, whatever people be doing nowadays. So God would uh him God himself would, he sometimes he changed some people's names to reflect their new reality. I'll give you a couple examples. Abram. That was his name, it meant exalted father. Then God changed his name to what? To Abraham, which means father of a multitude, because this was the reality that he was gonna live in, Father Abraham. Jacob, his name meant surplanter or deceitful. He changed his name to what? To Israel, meaning one who prevails, right? Wrestling against God. Simon means to hear or listening. His name was changed to Cephas or Peter, which means what? Rock. On this rock I will build my church. But name changes work the other way around as well. The enemy would love to change your name in hopes that it changes your purpose and destiny. He would love to have you embrace a label based on a season of your life. Oh, you're depressed. That's not my name. That's just something that I went through and came out of. Nebuchadnezzar attempted to do this. Everyone's heard the names what? What's the three Hebrew boys' names? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those were the names that the oppressors gave them. What were their real names? Hananiah, Meshael, and Azariah. Here's why this is important. Those three names, their given names, their God-honoring names, they did just that. So Hananiah's name means Yahweh is gracious. Meshael means who is like God? That's a rhetorical question. Who is like God? And Azariah means Yahweh has helped. Of course, the enemy wants to change your name and hope that you embrace it. So don't allow the enemy to convince you to accept the name change that's based on a season of your life or someone else's label for you. For example, I'm not a football player. That just was a season of my life. It's not who I am. You might have been depressed in February, but now you're not anymore. You might have been battling anxiety in April, but now you're filled with joy in June. Don't let the challenges of one season become your identity in the next. Don't let the enemy put those labels on you, and don't you dare put them on yourself. See, sometimes, like Black Panther, you have to remind yourself who you are or whose you are. See, we ask our kids regularly to kind of recalibrate or center them, and we say, What? Who are you? And they stand up straight and they say with the chest, I'm a child of God. And we say, Amen. Now go to bed, right? So what is in the name? Purpose, power, identity. This is why Moses asked God, um, uh, they have some questions about who you are. Who do I tell them? And he says, Tell them I am that I am. What? Tell them I am, said me. Like, well, I am what? I am whatever you need. What do you need right now? I am. Just the other day, I was so frustrated, and I needed him to be Jehovah Shalom. And I said, Lord, I receive that you are Jehovah Shalom as I fix my eyes on you, preparing for this meeting that I really don't want to go to with this person. I don't want to be around right now. Give me peace. And he was exactly who I needed him to be. Amen. He is Emmanuel, Adonai, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Shalom, Elohim, El Shaddai. He is Jesus, he is the creator God, he's the relational God, he is the God who rules, the God who heals, the God who saves, He is the Most High God, the Lord our shepherd, the Lord our warrior, the Lord our banner, the Lord Almighty. He is who he is. And so the big question is whose truth do I trust? Because the truth of this culture always changes. I remember playing football at Sacks State, and I was at Foot Locker in one of them stores, and I bought a pair of Air Force Ones, and as I left, the dude said, nah, you gotta get two purs. And so I went back because that was the culture at the time, you had to get two pairs. Because I had listened to that song so many times, I got finessed into buying two pairs. And I had a tall T and some Jabo jeans on. But that was the culture that I was influenced by at that time. Culture always changes, but the word of God never changes. It says heaven and earth will pass away, but the word will remain. So here's point number one. It's we must go through the sun, S-O-N. We must go through the sun. John chapter 14, where we'll primarily be, verses 1 through 6, it says, and this is Jesus speaking as he comforts his disciples. He says, Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, but also in me. He said, You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, what I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him in response, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. See, Jesus is getting Jesus' setup game was top tier. He says, You know the way to the place where I am going, knowing what they're gonna say next. We don't know. I am the way, the truth and the life. It's as if Thomas was communicating back to Jesus, uh, like, bro, we we you didn't give us a map. But obviously, Thomas mistakenly thought Jesus was talking about a path, a road. But it's never a plan or a path that gets us to where we really need to go. It's a person. It's Jesus Christ. He is the universal point of access to God. So if we want to go to heaven and want to know the Father, we must go through the Son. See, most people initially have a plan that does not involve Jesus. I can say that. You've heard my story, my testimony. At the age of seven, I wanted to play in the NFL for the 49ers, 20 minutes away. And I wanted to have a highlight in the ESPN Top 10 countdown. And uh, but here's the problem: God was not anywhere involved in those plans. It was all about me. It was all about me. And so when I uh imagine this, I have an apartment filled with everything I wanted that my parents couldn't afford, but I was empty. So I had all these things in the physical, but I was empty on the inside. Because my plans had nothing to do with what was going on internally, nothing to do with being a child of God. Nice car, a little taste of fame, some money, connections, etc. But God wasn't a part of my plan. God wants us, something I was thinking about, right? Because I have a chance to be around these different business owners, and you can think of anybody. Alon Musk, whoever you want to name, any Fortune 500 company owner, none of them wants to spend time with you. But it blows my mind that the creator of heaven and earth literally said, I want to spend time with you whenever you make time for me. Like how he's limitless. He wants, see, see, every everything else that they want from you, God just says, I want you to just just just be. Just be. This is why the enemy wants to, if he can't destroy you, he wants to distract you. He wants you to take time away. Binge watch TV all day, play video games all day, so you don't spend time in his presence. So he you have limited time on him revealing to you who he is and subsequently who you are, so you can walk in that. Because he is truth. So he wants you to be distracted by the lies. Or as John 15 says, Jesus is the true vine, which means there's what? There's fake vines, there's false vines, vines that don't really have any power. Here's another inescapable truth: God must have us fully in order to transform us totally. He must have all of you. In Romans 12, verse 2, he says, Do not conform, you guys have heard this before, do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's one of my foundational life scriptures. I'm reminded of that. The only way for me to have any success is to operate with a renewed mind. Romans 8 talks about uh uh how we can operate and be led by the spirit or by the flesh. And you're gonna be led by the flesh if you are not renewing your mind in scripture, in the word of God. See, once we offer ourselves fully to God, our relationship with the world and the culture is now altered. But notice how it's not us that does the transformational work or the renewing of our minds. We don't do it. Let's go a little deeper. It's not us who does the transforming or the conforming, it's someone else. When the world has us and has our attention, we'll be conformed to its ways. But when God has us totally and he has our attention and our hearts, we'll be transformed by his ways. Let me paint this picture. I was thinking about the last time I was in the hospital, um, when I thought my thumb was was broke. So you're in the chair, and uh God walks into the operating room, and as he prepares to operate, he gets the scalpel, whatever, all his instruments and utensils, you see a crack in the door. Like I can see right now, outside, I can see a high boy, I can see some gifts and things outside, and it looks like, man, it might be fun out there. So something inside of me is saying, Man, that's where you want to be. But you forget God's in the room with you. God is in the room with you. The one that can transform and heal you and set you free is in the room. But this is what happens. Sometimes we forget that basic truth and we want what the world sounds good over there. It looks good. My friends are over there. Uh, there's the party over there, there's nice music over there, but God is in the room with you. And so what we need to do is not be comfortable with just being in the room. We need to stay in the chair so he can operate on us, operate on our hearts. See, God won't transform what doesn't want to be in his presence. And let me be even more specific: just don't be in the room, stay on the table, just don't go to church, get what you need by pressing into his presence. Be prepared to take some notes, be prepared to pray for someone else. Come to the altar, whatever it is that you need. This reminds me of the story with the woman with the issue of blood. And it's so powerful because in that story, you can see that uh based on the context of that time, she should have been stoned to death just by being ceremonially unclean, but in public. But she said, I've heard of this man named Jesus who is a healer, and he is in my city right now. I don't care what anybody says or thinks, I need to get into his presence. And what's so powerful about that story is that it says there were so many people around Jesus that they were crushing him, but none of them got healed. It was this woman that said, I'm not fine enough, I'm not settling with just being here at church. I'm going to press into the presence and get close enough to actually touch the hem of his garment. And she did it with so much faith, the moment that she touched him, Jesus said, Hold on, I felt virtue flow from me. And he healed her. It's not enough just to be in the room. To get away from the distractions, we need to press in. And so, for some of us, what does that look? I said a lot, but what does that look like practically? I can just say, for me, it's cutting off my phone. It's it's it's not spending time in the word to prepare a message, it's just spending time in the word because that's where my life source comes from. I just want to be with God. My best ideas came from being in the presence of God. It's avoiding the distractions of the world to just be to behold Jesus. See, Jesus doesn't claim to teach a way or present a way, but to be the way. Because he is the truth. Here's point number two. We must rely on the Holy Spirit. We must rely on the Holy Spirit. I say this often, the Holy Spirit is the most unfair advantage we have as followers of Christ. It is the most unfair advantage. Uh uh. I know you might be asking yourself right now how that statement is true, but let me give you scripture. Romans 8 and 11 says what? It says, the same spirit, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is in you. What time out? Have you ever just waited hold on. The reason why I'm saved, that spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and he showed himself to more than 500 people with nail scarred hands, and then he ascended to uh to to heaven in the position of power where he's now at, constantly interceding for us, is in me. There is no way that I should live out. Average and ordinary life. If I have God's spirit indwelling my body, there's no way that I should allow the things of the world and culture to continually distract me because God isn't. I was talking to my wife about this. What's the first thing God reveals to us in Genesis 1? What does he say? What does it say? In the beginning, God was He created. And He created us in His image. So He created us to be creative, to be creators. So there's something because He places Spirit in me that He wants me to create because I'm made in His image and He is the ultimate creator. So what am I supposed to be creating? I do too much consuming. I need to do more creating. John 14, verse 15 through 17 says, if you love me, it's one of those easier said than done ones. If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever. Who is that advocate? The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. Amen. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. See, when we are led by the Holy Spirit, it's a powerful indicator that we are in right relationship with God and the truth. But how do you ensure uh we're in right relationship with God? That's the answer in verse 15. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep or obey my commands. Something that has always something that I've always known, but just like really realized this year is that people just be talking. People just be like, just yapping. And me as someone who's naturally introverted and very observant and listening, I mean, I it just dawned on me. People just be saying anything. Um dudes will say anything to get the girl, people will say anything to get the job, lying, saying anything to get the job. Kids will say anything, they will lie to your face as your parent. You will know that they're lying. But when they perceive that they may get in trouble, they'll just say anything. People will lie without hesitation and purposefully be manipulative. But Jesus, here's the point: Jesus does not play those games. We can talk all day about how much we love you, Lord. I love you. It's your breath in my lungs. But Jesus says, if you love me, let me look at the fruit that your life is bearing. If you love me, praise God that you came here and sung some songs on Father's Day. Praise God that you took your father to fix and somewhere at the church. But if you love me, you will obey me. It is that simple. It is that simple. You want to be a true Christian, obey God even when it's not the popular thing to do. See, love can sometimes feel all emotional, but it's first and foremost a decision. Right? So God is truth and God is love, but he wants our obedience, uh, he wants our obedience to him to be to be motivated by our love for him, not out of legalism or religion. See, this won't be on the screen, but it's it is in your Bible. In uh John 16 and 13, it says that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. So you want to operate in the truth, spend some time with the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit. You shouldn't even start reading or engaging scripture without asking, Holy Spirit, please help me illuminate scripture, illuminate your word to me. Father God, give me courage based on what you show me to live it out and walk it out. See, scripture says that the Holy Spirit guides us and directs us, so it's wise to rely on the truth that the Spirit leads us to. It will never point us in the wrong direction. Have you ever met someone for the very first time? Like they could look nice, it could be some good interactions at a function at a party, but then something inside you just says, Nah. Nah. Nah. This is this this this is uh uh my daughter naturally has this, her eight-year-old. My wife says she took her to the hospital the other day, and the physician comes into the room, and my daughter's ice grilling her. Eight-year-old. And then the uh friendly physician comes up to her and tries to introduce herself. Hey, how you doing, little girl? My daughter says, I don't know who you are. And that's not the the the right way, but uh there's times, even I remember about six years ago, I was at this function at a house party, and I remember seeing someone that was supposed to be, you know, important, and I'm just kind of watching and observing like I usually do, and the interactions were good, but at least five times I kept feeling this nudge, like a kidney shot, saying, Nah, keep your eyes on them. And what would you guess? The Holy Spirit was true. About four or five years later, I was like, Thank you, Holy Spirit. That person is exactly who you were warning me uh they were. So this is why, even when you think about like taking a job or a relationship, you can't get caught up on, oh, look at her, look at him. You need to spend some time to see what is the Holy Spirit saying? Because folks then jumped into I you're gonna go there. All right. Let's just keep going. We won't always be right following what we think is the prompting of the Holy Spirit because we're flawed human beings. Sometimes what we think is God is actually us talking to ourselves. But the more we abide and draw closer to God, this is a promise, he'll draw closer to us so his voice becomes more clear and distinct. It's like if you hear James Earl Jones, you're like, oh, that's James Earl Jones, right there, right? You you want God's voice to be like that, like, oh, that's God. That is God's voice. I know it. See, I typically want to do good things, but everything that's good is not God. And I want what God wants for my life. I want Yahweh, not my way. So we won't always be right following what we believe are promptings from the Holy Spirit, but we'll always be wrong if we never step out on faith and trust that the Holy Spirit is leading us. Amen. Whoever's, thank you. Now, I I I don't believe, I don't think I believe in love at first sight. I'm not sure. But I remember the first time I ever saw my wife about 28 years ago in high school as a 16-year-old, I believe. And I even used to call her my wife back then, not knowing it was it was prophetic. Um here's the point. Sometimes I will stare at my wife, and I'm amazed by her for sure, but that's not the point that I'm making. I'm amazed by God. That God saw fit when I had no idea, way back in 1997 or something. And he was like, bro, that's you. That's you. And I didn't know. And I'm just a little knucklehead boy, but he saw fit and knew that today. You guys will have this amazing family that he was putting you together, like Pastor Gross and Rocky, to do ministry together. That you would have to go through all those relationships and things that you went through because he had a plan for you. Why am I saying that? Sometimes we get so caught up on what's going on right now. Instead of saying, God, in the midst of this, this may be hard, this may be a battle, but your scripture says you caused everything to work for our good in the end. So let me trust you. Let me trust you. I had no idea back then that God was gonna allow me to be single, be, you know, dating, but single for nine years. Why? Because I needed to grow up. He needed to prepare me to be the man that I needed to be to lead her and honor her in a God-honoring way in our marriage, in our relationship. Here's the last point. We must be sanctified by the truth. In John 17, Jesus gives his final instructions to his disciples before everything goes down. Then he prays. This prayer is referred to as Jesus' high priestly prayer. It's the longest recorded prayer of Jesus. It's 632 words. He prays this prayer before he's betrayed, arrested, and crucified. He starts by praying for himself, then he prays for his disciples, then he prays for all believers, all followers. So in it, he reveals that his purpose in coming to the earth was to glorify the Father by giving eternal life to all those who place their faith in his son. Place their faith in him. So while Jesus is praying to his disciples, he says something that will probably make you double back and read it again. In John 17, verse 15 through 17, I read the first part. It says, If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever. The spirit of truth. I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong, wrong John 17, 17, verse 15. It says, Praise God, my prayer is not that you, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world. Hold on. I thought when I become a Christian, everything becomes easy. It says, No, this is Jesus talking. My prayer is not that you take them, he's talking to God. He has his head lifted up to heaven. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. Here's the last inescapable truth for today. God won't get you out of every situation, but he will be with you through every situation. A part of this is this is the theology of suffering that most Christians don't grasp. You start panicking and worrying when you're going through something, not realizing God is using this to mature you. That's what sanctification is. It's easy, or it's not easy, but uh salvation can happen in a moment. You repent, which is the internal determination to change. Father God, I'm sorry for trying to live life on my own terms and do it my way. Uh Jesus Christ, you are my Lord and Savior. Father God, I believe that you raised him from the dead. Come and take your rightful place in the throne of my heart. Salvation can happen in an instant, but uh allowing the Lord to be your savior can happen fast, but to be your Lord is different. Because even now, you can write this down. What is the thing or things where he's not Lord? For a lot of people it's money. He's not Lord. For me, sometimes he's not the Lord over my money. I can say that. For other things, for some of you, it's your mouth. He's not the Lord over your mouth. There was this funny Instagram video that showed of the stages of someone listening to music as they drive to church. 30 minutes away, they was listening to Jeezy. Then about 20 minutes, they started listening to the Clark sisters. And the the music got more holy as they got closer. For some of you, it may be the music you listen to. I don't know what it may be. We know that the enemy is real, he's real, and he wants to do what? He comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. When I thought about that, Pastor Tyrone was funny to me. I said, wait, so steal, kill, and destroy. If I'm already dead, why do you want to destroy me after I'm dead? Anyways. But the the devil's not playing games. But seriously, we we we often pray for God to remove us from the hard things when those are the very things that God wants to use to develop and mature us. John 16 to 33 says, In this world you will have trouble. This is Jesus again reminding us you can't escape it. As long as you're here dealing with this flesh, you will have trouble. But the next three words come with the exclamation uh uh exclamation at the end. He says, But take heart, I have overcome the world. So if you are in me, you also have overcome. So Jesus goes on to ask God to sanctify the disciples by the truth, which is scripture. How do we do this? How do we grow? Because this is why it's important to engage scripture as often as possible, because when we engage scripture, it's planting or watering seeds, and if you plant enough seeds, then the forest will grow. Romans 10 and 17 says that faith comes by what? By hearing, and hearing from the word of God, hearing from the word of God, and here's my closing thought. We become what we look at, or better yet, we become who we look at. This is why we need to behold Jesus, meaning that the behold means to deliberately fix your attention and your affection on something with intense focus, wonder, and awe. See, I know the disciples did this. Why? Because all uh, because of all the things the disciples could have asked Jesus to teach them, what did they ask? What did they ask for? Teach us to pray. You would think they saw the miracles. Teach me how to perform miracles, teach me how to heal, teach me how to walk on water. That's what I would have probably asked. Out of all the things, they say, Teach me how teach us how to pray. Why do you think they asked this? This is amazing. They asked this because they saw him. They his ministry started with prayer, it was marinated and bathed in prayer. Even on the cross, he's still praying. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They asked to teach how to teach us how to pray because they saw that that was his lifeline, the ministry. That was his connection, that's what gave him power. And so here's the question. Can you all stand? The altar's open. I'm gonna I'm gonna do a general prayer, and then afterwards, the altar will be open. Here's a question. I know it's Father's Day, and I was gonna pose this for Fathers, and I still will, but I want you all to consider this. Based on what your kids see you regularly do regularly do, what would they come and say, Daddy, teach me? Out of all the things they could have asked Jesus, that's what they saw regularly, that's where they saw the power flow from his connection to his father by prayer. What would my kids come and ask me? This is what I see you do all the time, Daddy. Teach me how to, whatever that is. Consider that. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for who you are. I thank you for the example. Sometimes we forget, we say, we have the old brace that what would Jesus do? We don't have to ask that question because we have your scripture. Even if you have the question, God, what would you do in XYZ circumstance? We don't have to ask that question because Jesus is God incarnate. We can read scripture to see what you did. And so what we learn, what we see, even in this, learning that God, you were truth, is that everything began in the midst of, and in the end was all about prayer. I pray. I honestly don't know what my own kids would say, but I pray. Even now, I can get on this path and this journey of where I model, not just talk, I can preach a sermon all day, but I want my life to exhibit what it really means and looks like to be a follower of Christ. To where if my kids came and said, Daddy, based on what I see you do all the time, teach us how to pray. How do you get connected with the Lord like that? How do you not move when the storm and the winds and the waves come? How do you continue to cry out, Ah, but Father? How do you continue to stay connected and rooted to the Lord? It's because of prayer, my son. It's because of prayer, my daughter. That's why I pray that you would just do what only you can. Talked about God is truth. God, you are so many things. Let us live a life of humble surrender, humble obedience. Let us behold you more and more, Jesus. Reverential awe. That's what the fear of the Lord is. A reverential awe because of who you are. We thank you and praise you. Transfigure us more and more into the likeness and image of your Son. You are the creator. In the beginning, you created. So prompt us, Holy Spirit. Tell us what you want us to create. And let us do it to honor and glorify you. You've given us power to get wealth, to establish your kingdom. You've blessed us to be a blessing. So bless every father that's in here today. Father figures that are in here today. Men that have answered the call, that have stepped up. Let them love their wives as Christ loved the church. Christ died for the church. He did die for the church. Let us be willing to do the same for our spouses, for our families, for those in our community that you've called us to. Let us live sacrificial lives. Let us learn how to uh uh navigate the difference between being a lion and being a lamb. Let us know when to speak up, let us know when to be quiet. Let us learn to move at the pace of grace and truly trust your leaders and your promptings. Father God, we thank you for who you are. Cover us as we go from here. Let this not be a word that is sown that the enemy can take and plant, but let it be sown on fertile soil, on deep roots, that it will bear fruit. And people will be blessed because of what they heard and what they applied. We thank you and praise you, Father God, in Jesus' name. Amen.