Forrest: In my family, I'm the youngest sibling.
Forrest: I'm the baby of the family.
Forrest: Any uh youngest in the house today?
Forrest: Any youngest?
Forrest: Oh yeah.
Forrest: Oh man.
Forrest: Youngest.
Forrest: We get a bad rap that we deserve most of the time.
Forrest: From favoritism.
Forrest: And also, too, as the youngest, it's kind of like your God-given assignment to be as annoying as possible as the youngest in your family to your older siblings.
Forrest: Now, for me, I have an older brother, and don't you worry, I would spend time figuring out millions of ways to pester my other older brother and annoy him.
Forrest: And uh one of the ways that eventually it would devolve to is sitting across from my older brother, and he would put his hand on his chin, and then I would put my hand on my chin.
Forrest: And then, you know, he would put his hand down and then I would put my hand down, looking right at him.
Forrest: Y'all know where this is going.
Forrest: And he'd say, hey, stop copying me.
Forrest: And I'd say, stop copying me.
Forrest: Stop doing that.
Forrest: You stop doing that.
Forrest: Y'all know what I'm talking about?
Forrest: How annoying is that?
Forrest: Being a copycat.
Forrest: Man, so annoying.
Forrest: You know what's funny is we grow older, though, the the concept of a copycat, it sort of changes as you get older.
Forrest: And it's been said before that impersonation is the highest form of flattery.
Forrest: When somebody is trying to emulate you, or you're being influenced by someone, that it's the highest form of flattery that actually, when somebody's trying to copy you, people in the world think that that's of a lot of value.
Forrest: There's all these people out there right now on social media called influencers.
Forrest: Ever heard of them?
Forrest: Their whole game is to do things and try to get other people to copycat it and to influence them to buy product, to do uh whatever the newest trend is.
Forrest: And here's the thing, we're all guilty of it.
Forrest: You know why I know that?
Forrest: I know that because if you look at pictures of yourself from high school, you think, what in the world was I wearing?
Forrest: Right?
Forrest: What was I wearing?
Forrest: And what were you wearing?
Forrest: You're wearing the trends, the styles, probably of a celebrity, your favorite artist, or whatever it was at the time, celebrity TV show person, doing an impression of them, so to speak, and it being the highest form of flattery that you're actually copying them.
Forrest: But it begs the question for us now, and really in our spiritual lives, who are we copying?
Forrest: Who's an influencer for you in your spiritual life?
Forrest: Your walk with God.
Forrest: Is it somebody online that you've never met before, but you like their content?
Forrest: Is it a family member or somebody who's special to you?
Forrest: Who is it that you are emulating?
Forrest: Two weeks ago we jumped into this series talking about rhythms.
Forrest: Rhythms of renewal in the new year.
Forrest: We started off by talking about taking an honest look at ourselves and evaluating where we were.
Forrest: What happened in 2022 and what were the things that we wanted to leave behind in 2022?
Forrest: And that led us to last week as we talked about what is it that we want to eliminate?
Forrest: Was it that we want to eliminate from our life that's holding us back?
Forrest: Holding us back spiritually, holding us back in our relationships, keeping us tethered to someone that we don't want to be, because ultimately know that we are people who are made for meaning.
Forrest: And it begs the question for us: who am I meant to be and what am I meant to do?
Forrest: And the energies that we spend in our day-to-day.
Forrest: That really should be introspective and we should really be thinking about and have a self-awareness about us about what we are experiencing in our relationship with God and then what other people are experiencing through you?
Forrest: What is it like to be around you?
Forrest: What is it like to be your friend?
Forrest: What is it like to be your annoying sibling?
Forrest: What's it like for you as a child or co-worker, taking an honest assessment?
Forrest: Because here's the thing, we all have rhythms in our daily life.
Forrest: And it kind of goes like this rest, work, worship, rest, work, worship, rest, work, worship, rest, work, worship over and over and over and over again.
Forrest: But in the midst of that, rhythm that we're in of the daily work and grind, who is influencing you?
Forrest: I think it's interesting at social media that we have followers, right?
Forrest: People who are following us around, looking at what we're doing, seeing our photos.
Forrest: But I'm pretty sure that most of your social media followers aren't actually with you day to day on your hip, actually not just seeing the highlight reel of all the things that are posted, the best moments, but following you around for the mundane and the everyday things, really who you are.
Forrest: The Bible calls them untrained, ordinary, common men who were fishermen and tax collectors and everyday occupations, and he called to them and he told them to follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Forrest: Matthew 4.19.
Forrest: There wasn't only men who were following Jesus, there were also women who were following Jesus, and his group of followers grew and grew and grew and grew.
Forrest: Jesus gives this invitation not to just them now, but to us also.
Forrest: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Forrest: And if you break this down just very simply, Jesus says to follow me.
Forrest: That our chief aim and our life goal should that we should be walking in Jesus' footsteps, looking more like Jesus tomorrow than we did today.
Forrest: And he says, follow me.
Forrest: And he's inviting you into a life that you can be in real, genuine relationship with the God of the universe.
Forrest: And then he says, I will make you.
Forrest: When you get around Jesus, it transforms you.
Forrest: And you don't do it on your own.
Forrest: You don't do it by your own hard work.
Forrest: Jesus says, What?
Forrest: I will make you.
Forrest: When you start following Jesus, then all of a sudden you have Jesus' spirit in your life, the Holy Spirit that's guiding and helping you and transforming you to do what?
Forrest: To fulfill his call, his purpose, his mission for your life and for the world.
Forrest: Being fishers of men.
Forrest: Seeing more people come into right relationship with God.
Forrest: That wasn't only men who were following Jesus.
Forrest: There also were women who were following Jesus.
Forrest: And one of those women was a lady named Mary Magdalene.
Forrest: Mary Magdalene is talked about 12 times in all four Gospels.
Forrest: And there's a lot of mystery around the person of Mary Magdalene.
Forrest: If you go and take a look on the internet, there's a lot written about Mary Magdalene, probably even more than some of the other disciples, that there's all kinds of thoughts and theories about who she was.
Forrest: So the 12 times that she's talked about in the New Testament, one is we learn about who she was and her following Jesus, but then we also see her at the crucifixion, at the resurrection, at the burial of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus, and she's the first person who Jesus speaks to after he's resurrected on Easter Sunday.
Forrest: Now there's a lot of theories and misinformation out there around Mary Magdalene.
Forrest: You hear a lot of times that she was a prostitute.
Forrest: Now we're going to see her in just a second with the spiritual condition that she was in, but there's been some guesses and some theories made that she was the one who was the sinful woman who washed Jesus' feet, but the Bible doesn't say that.
Forrest: Some people have made that connection and said, oh, well, that maybe that was Mary Magdalene.
Forrest: Also, a few years ago, this author named Dan Brown put out a book saying that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' husband.
Forrest: Again, no, based on no fact, all fiction, there's a lot of there's a lot of mystery around this person of Mary Magdalene.
Forrest: But what I want us to see today is who she really was, what the scripture says about her.
Forrest: Jesus is with his disciples and his followers.
Forrest: They're going from town to town and he's preaching.
Forrest: And in Luke chapter 8, verse 1, so soon after Jesus began a tour of nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the good news about the kingdom of God, he took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.
Forrest: Among them were Mary Magdalene, from who he had cast out seven demons, Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's business manager, Susanna, and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.
Forrest: That is the entire bio, the entire background that we get about Mary Magdalene.
Forrest: We learn that she is following Jesus.
Forrest: We learn that she has come from a desperate past, being oppressed by demonic spirits in a place of desperation.
Forrest: Jesus invades her life and delivers her.
Forrest: And then she begins to follow and walk behind Jesus and she begins to be transformed.
Forrest: We see that she begins to support Jesus' ministry.
Forrest: She's invested.
Forrest: She's seeing God move powerfully, not just through her life, but other people as well, as she's being a follower of him.
Forrest: And she's had a radical transformation.
Forrest: Radical transformation.
Forrest: To go from someone who's oppressed in darkness to them walking with the Savior of the world, ultimately to get to be at the crucifixion, at the barrel, and the resurrection of Jesus.
Forrest: Unbelievable transformation, just a crazy change in her life.
Forrest: And how did it happen?
Forrest: How do we change?
Forrest: How can we change?
Forrest: You've heard it before.
Forrest: People don't change.
Forrest: Do we change?
Forrest: Can we change?
Forrest: This morning, this message, it's kind of like an anti-self-help message today.
Forrest: The fact that Jesus, God, does want us to change, but the only way that we can change, it's by faith in God to see him do the mighty work within you.
Forrest: What does it look like?
Forrest: It looks like avoiding temptation in your life.
Forrest: And ultimately, it looks like you reflecting God's glory.
Forrest: Here's the thing: Jesus came, he died on the cross, not for his own glory, but for the glory of God.
Forrest: For each one of us, as we follow Jesus, our life, our chief aim should be that we glorify God, that we lift him up, that he is praised through our daily walk.
Forrest: We think about the change that happens as us when you get around Jesus, when you genuinely have experienced Jesus, when He has genuinely come into your life, you cannot stay the same.
Forrest: Change has to happen.
Forrest: But how does it happen?
Forrest: How can you actually change?
Forrest: How can you see something different?
Forrest: Well, the fact is that when you see change in your life and to change, it needs to not be for your glory.
Forrest: How oftentimes have we tried to change something about ourselves or something in our life or a bad habit that we have?
Forrest: And we're trying to do it, we're trying to prove it to somebody.
Forrest: Prove it to yourself, prove it to your spouse, prove it to your friends, prove it to the people who said that you can never do, fill in the blank.
Forrest: And you know what that is?
Forrest: That's glorifying yourself.
Forrest: Trying to prove it.
Forrest: Instead of seeing change come from a genuine desire to reflect the glory of God through Jesus' power in your life.
Forrest: Not for other people, but for him alone.
Forrest: Not even for yourself, but for him alone.
Forrest: I'm gonna throw some big$10 church words at you today.
Forrest: The first one is justification.
Forrest: When you come into right relationship with Jesus, when you're saved by the finished work on the cross, Jesus sacrificed in your place on the cross, you are then justified.
Forrest: What happens is that God puts his seal, his stamp on your life, on your heart, and he's the one who justifies you.
Forrest: You can't do it for yourself, you cannot forgive yourself, you cannot rid yourself of sin.
Forrest: You can't build a bridge big enough, tall enough, strong enough for you to get to God.
Forrest: You need Jesus to give you his power and his life through the finished work of the cross.
Forrest: And in doing so, you are then justified.
Forrest: You are then made right before God.
Forrest: So that when you stand before God in heaven one day, when God looks at you, he sees Jesus and he says, Come on in.
Forrest: Welcome.
Forrest: You're justified.
Forrest: There's a justification.
Forrest: And when we're saved by God's grace, we want to see a freedom from sin in our life.
Forrest: Not just for self-help, so that we can enjoy God and walk with Him.
Forrest: So we can have more God.
Forrest: We can have more Jesus in our life.
Forrest: You know, here's how sin works.
Forrest: Sin first, it's caused by sinful thoughts and desires that we have in our hearts is what the scripture says.
Forrest: And after it's a thought or it's a desire, then it goes to an action, which is something that God doesn't want us to do.
Forrest: Something in the word, something that's going to hurt us or hurt somebody, somebody around us.
Forrest: But the way that we begin to have a desire that is not of God, that is not truly going to be something that God wants us to do and wants us to be in right relationship with Him, ultimately when we sin is because we believe some kind of lie.
Forrest: There's some kind of lie that's in your mind, in your heart, in your spirit that you're believing.
Forrest: Well, it's no big deal if I do this.
Forrest: Nobody really cares.
Forrest: Not gonna get caught.
Forrest: You know, God just wants me to be happy.
Forrest: I just want to feel good.
Forrest: Oh, it's not that bad.
Forrest: A lie that takes root in our heart and our mind and our desires, and ultimately is birth to sin.
Forrest: And so for us, instead of us birthing sin, what we want to do is put sin to death.
Forrest: My second uh big$10 church word is mortification.
Forrest: It's putting sin to death.
Forrest: Mortician, you know, mortification to put sin to death.
Forrest: And how do you do that?
Forrest: You do it by mining your motives.
Forrest: What are the thoughts?
Forrest: What's in my heart?
Forrest: What are the desires?
Forrest: What am I acting on?
Forrest: What are the things that are in my life right now that I'm tempted to do that I know is not gonna glorify God, but maybe it's gonna glorify me, maybe I'm gonna feel good about it.
Forrest: Okay, let me take a minute and think about my motives.
Forrest: Let me dig down deep in there and think, why am I doing this thing?
Forrest: Why am I believing this lie?
Forrest: Why am I wanting to do this action?
Forrest: What's the motive?
Forrest: And if the motive is selfishness, if the motive is for your own glory, you need to check your motives and put to death the sin that may be taking root in your heart.
Forrest: You know what ultimately stops us from changing?
Forrest: It's pride.
Forrest: I want it my way, God.
Forrest: And I'm speaking this right now as a very seasoned, longtime Christian who has been in this place time and time again for me, where I know I there's things in my life that I need to put to death, and I'm saying, okay, God, does this really need to change?
Forrest: And for me to ultimately enjoy God and walk with him in wholeness, yes, it needs to change.
Forrest: To flee from temptation.
Forrest: You're justified in Christ.
Forrest: And when you're justified in Christ, you have his spirit, you have him walking with you, helping you to do what?
Forrest: Put sin to death.
Forrest: And when you do that, you enter into a process of sanctification.
Forrest: Another big church word.
Forrest: Sanctification, it's becoming more like Jesus.
Forrest: It's to be sanctified, to be changed.
Forrest: How do you do that?
Forrest: Well, you do it by making a decision that you're going to form transforming practices.
Forrest: What are you gonna be influenced by?
Forrest: What are you gonna do?
Forrest: Who are you gonna follow?
Forrest: What's it gonna be like?
Forrest: For each of us to form transforming practices means that we're saying yes to Holy Spirit.
Forrest: Again, like I said, there's rhythms of renewal in this new year.
Forrest: And you think about what are the things that you need to leave behind and stay back in 2022, and what is it that you need to do new here in 2023?
Forrest: As you walk with God, what are some of these things in your life that can restore you?
Forrest: Make you more like Jesus.
Forrest: You know, they can be very, very simple.
Forrest: Rebecca Lyons and Rhythms and Renewal, she gives some suggestions to us like getting to know God in yourself.
Forrest: Genuinely, truly.
Forrest: Spending time with him.
Forrest: The beginning of your day.
Forrest: Early in the morning, late at night, after the kids go to bed.
Forrest: Spending time with God.
Forrest: Opening his word.
Forrest: Things that are genuinely going to restore you.
Forrest: How about eating smart?
Forrest: Having a lifestyle that reflects God's design for you and his hope for you that you would walk in wholeness.
Forrest: Maybe it's that you need to take a walk.
Forrest: Center yourself.
Forrest: Take a walk outside.
Forrest: Maybe you need to seek adventure.
Forrest: Maybe, guys, you need to go hunting.
Forrest: With a friend.
Forrest: That could be something that's very restorative.
Forrest: Get out in nature.
Forrest: Do it with somebody that is a believer that you can walk with, spend some time with.
Forrest: You know, because if we aren't actually doing something together, you know, like fishing or something getting killed, spending all that time together is too much like a date.
Forrest: It's like we gotta have something to show for this time that we've spent together.
Forrest: Here's this picture of the fish.
Forrest: Or the trophy on the wall.
Forrest: What's gonna genuinely restore you in 2023?
Forrest: What's gonna be a rhythm for you in your life?
Forrest: Maybe it's to break a sweat.
Forrest: Get in the gym, taking care of yourself.
Forrest: Maybe it's being vulnerable with somebody else.
Forrest: Maybe it's taking a retreat for your marriage.
Forrest: Maybe just spiritually.
Forrest: I love this one.
Forrest: Give yourself permission to play.
Forrest: Kids, like we expect kids to play and to have fun.
Forrest: But there's an enjoyment that we also can have when we're walking in wholeness with God.
Forrest: Play around a basketball.
Forrest: Do something fun with other believers.
Forrest: What's gonna restore?
Forrest: What's gonna help you as you're saying yes to the Spirit?
Forrest: Romans 12, 2.
Forrest: Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be what?
Forrest: Transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Forrest: Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Forrest: We want to emulate Jesus.
Forrest: We just want to say yes to walking in the spirit.
Forrest: What does it mean to walk in the spirit?
Forrest: What does it mean to genuinely walk with God?
Forrest: It means that in your daily life, in your daily walk with Him, you're beginning to involve God in the rhythms of your day.
Forrest: You turn the radio off, you turn the phone off for a minute on your drive, and you'd rather be in silence for a minute so you can talk with God.
Forrest: For me, I've been on a journey of walking with God and seeking after his spirit and listening to his voice in my life, even in the most minute details.
Forrest: And this is gonna sound crazy to you guys, but when I get up in the morning, I stand in front of my closet and say, Lord, what would you like for me to wear today?
Forrest: What can I put on today that's gonna prepare me for your purposes?
Forrest: And listening for the God for God to guide me and to help me to know what his plan and purpose is for my day.
Forrest: The minute things.
Forrest: God, do you want me to drive this way to the appointment, or do you want me to drive this way to the appointment and then listen to walk in the spirit?
Forrest: To have a rhythm where you're closest and you can enjoy God.
Forrest: And I wish that it was like that for me every second of every day so that I could enjoy God that way.
Forrest: But you know what?
Forrest: Sin gets in the way for me.
Forrest: Become fearful, keeping me from having the transformed mind that God wants for me to have.
Forrest: What practice is in the scripture that you need to emulate that you're not right now?
Forrest: What is that Jesus that Jesus did that you need to do?
Forrest: What does it need to do so you can find rest for your soul?
Forrest: Jesus says, Come to me.
Forrest: All of you who are heavy laden, put my yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your soul.
Forrest: So many of us are walking, and our rhythms are so heavy, and life is so heavy, and there's so many things that are just weighing us down because it's our yoke, it's our burden.
Forrest: But Jesus says, Come to me, those of you who need rest, those of you who need renewal, those of you who need something new in your life, and take off all the pressures and the burdens of yourself.
Forrest: Take off the glory of yourself and place my yoke, place my burden, place my calling upon you, and you will find rest for your soul.
Forrest: Jesus says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden.
Forrest: Are you burdened?
Forrest: When you think about this next year, you think about the rhythms that you have.
Forrest: Are you constantly stressed?
Forrest: You're constantly trying to figure out on your own what it is that God has for you and what life should look like.
Forrest: And Jesus is just saying, come to me, come to me, come to me, come to me, and you will find rest.
Forrest: You will find restorment, you will ref you will find rejuvenation, not just for your family, not just for your career, for your soul.
Forrest: That you can walk in enjoyment with God each and every day.
Forrest: Here's the thing.
Forrest: I'm not asking any of us in the room to become monks, but to sit around and pray all day.
Forrest: None of us got time for that, including me.
Forrest: But what aspect of Jesus do you need to emulate?
Forrest: Jesus got away.
Forrest: Scripture tells us that many times he went away in quiet, in solitude, to pray.
Forrest: And don't tell me Jesus didn't have kids.
Forrest: He's got all of us as his children.
Forrest: He got all kinds of children to take care of.
Forrest: All of us got busy schedules and things.
Forrest: He got away so that he could take some time in prayer with the Lord.
Forrest: What is it in Jesus' ministry?
Forrest: What is it what Jesus did that you need to emulate that needs to be transformed in you?
Forrest: And I'm speaking to myself as well as everyone else.
Forrest: What does it look like to walk with him?
Forrest: This morning, you may be in a place and you are heavy.
Forrest: And you need to come to Jesus.
Forrest: You need to take his yoke, you need to take his burden upon you, which is easy and light.
Forrest: Maybe you're in the room today and you've not been walking with Jesus.
Forrest: You're like Mary Magdalene in the beginning.
Forrest: You're you're you're tormented, you're in difficult times, and you just you just need a lifeline.
Forrest: You just need some change in your life.
Forrest: Can I tell you that you're not going to change apart from the power of God and you need Jesus?
Forrest: You need his power in your life.
Forrest: You need to give your life to him and begin to follow Jesus, walking after him.
Forrest: Can I pray over us already?
Forrest: I just feel like you should pray over us right now.
Forrest: Just want to pray over us right now.
Forrest: Father, all across the room, God, I just can feel the heaviness, Lord, that we've there's a burden on people's shoulders today, God, looking at the beginning of this whole next year.
Forrest: Lord, we can't control the difficult things that come, the trying times that come, the hard times that come, the loss, depression, anger, rejection, resentment.
Forrest: But God, we know that if we come to you, that Jesus, you're the one who can genuinely change us, you can genuinely move and you can change our hearts.
Forrest: And God, we can find rest in you.
Forrest: Father, I pray over every person here today, every home, every family, every child, every marriage.
Forrest: They got a heaviness and a difficult burden, God would be delivered and be replaced by the lightness and the goodness and the ease of your yoke.
Forrest: Jesus, not that life is easy, but you're with us as we walk through it.
Forrest: Father, I pray over each home right now.
Forrest: Every man, woman, and child in the place right now, God, Lord, that you would work powerfully.
Forrest: Father, I pray also over the room.
Forrest: Anybody in this place who's not followed you and not given their life and heart to you, that's not received your salvation, your justification, it comes through the cross.
Forrest: Today is your day for your salvation.
Forrest: Today is your day to say yes to Jesus.
Forrest: Today is your day to say no to the world and all the other things that don't fulfill, that won't genuinely save, won't genuinely hurt help you, but today to say yes to Jesus.
Forrest: And if you're in the room today and today's your day to say yes to Jesus, pray this with me.
Forrest: Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins.
Forrest: Forgive me.
Forrest: So that I might be in heaven with you one day.
Forrest: I believe in you.
Forrest: Wash me.
Forrest: Give me your strength so that I can be in heaven with you one day.
Forrest: I give my life to you as you gave your life for mine.
Forrest: We pray this in Jesus' name.
Forrest: Amen.
Forrest: Church, will you stand to your feet and worship and give over the burdens to the Lord right now?