SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 12, starting at verse 1 and verse 2, and it says, And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.
SPEAKER_01: This is truly the way to worship Him.
SPEAKER_01: Don't copy the behaviors and the customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
SPEAKER_01: Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for your mercy and your grace.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for your presence here.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for a continuation of what you want to do in this body of believers today, and it's in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We have allowed the enemy to dull our senses to where if we don't feel it, we don't praise.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know I'm pretty transparent and blunt, and I always put myself on the chopping block first.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, I didn't get up waiting to praise this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I felt like before I left the house, I had an attitude.
SPEAKER_01: And ain't nobody said a word to me.
SPEAKER_01: When I got up here this morning during practice, in my mind it was probably one of the worst practices, and I had an attitude throughout the entire practice.
SPEAKER_01: Now I didn't take it out of nobody.
SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't really hitting deep either.
SPEAKER_01: When I was up here worshiping with the guitar in my hand and singing the praises, I didn't really feel like being up here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But if I let the way I feel dictate how my faith is ran, sometimes when you don't feel like it, you gotta lift your hands and shout your way into victory.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes when you don't feel like spreading the word and you don't feel like sharing the gospel, you gotta get yourself out of the way and share the gospel anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't know if you understand this.
SPEAKER_01: I hope so, being here as long as some of y'all have, but it ain't about you, it ain't about me, it ain't about how I feel in the moment, whether I feel like gifted my hands, whether I don't, whether I feel like praising, whether I feel like I'm gonna sing a certain song.
SPEAKER_01: It don't matter how I feel because I know that my God is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: So let me encourage you today.
SPEAKER_01: And other than sound too encouraging, but hold on, I'm going somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: If you came in this morning, you didn't feel like getting saved, you didn't feel like coming to Jesus, you didn't feel like giving him everything.
SPEAKER_01: If you applied that to everything else in your life, you'd be a bum.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we're gonna work through the I don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we gotta rip our hands in the I don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we gotta deal with people when I don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we gotta shout and praise him and dance a little bit on the neck of the devil when I don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not gonna let my feelings dictate what the word tells me is available to me.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know how you came in here feeling today, but guess what?
SPEAKER_01: It ain't about you, it ain't about me, it ain't about our feelings, but it's about the facts of what God says.
SPEAKER_01: And today He says that if you're willing to give it all to Him, you can be set free.
SPEAKER_01: But if you want to give everything to Him, you gotta go back to our key text.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta let Him transform your mind first.
SPEAKER_01: How does the enemy attack you?
SPEAKER_01: You don't wake up and you're divorced, you don't just wake up one day and you're addicted to porn.
SPEAKER_01: You don't just wake up one day and you got a bad attitude and you hate everybody, although it's possible.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: But if we get stuck in our feelings, we forget the facts of the word of God that He has come to set the captives free, and we gotta first be free in our minds so that we can actually function correctly.
SPEAKER_01: Amen, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: We got to start by not copying the behaviors of the world.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to do nothing in this church that the church down the road is doing.
SPEAKER_01: I want to do what God dictates goes on here.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care how they're doing, how they're worshiping, what songs they're singing, what word they're preaching.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: If God gives a word, he's gonna give a word and it's gonna hit this place.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care who says it's gonna hurt some toes.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know by now you better have some still toes on because the Lord hit me first before it got to you.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get back to my notes.
SPEAKER_01: So we're in a series right now.
SPEAKER_01: This is week number two.
SPEAKER_01: Into the deep.
SPEAKER_01: So week number two, we have two words surrender and renewal.
SPEAKER_01: If you want a breakthrough in your life, you first must know how to surrender to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: If you want God to do something in your life, if you want God to fix a marriage, if you want God to fix an attitude, if you want God to fix a money situation, a work problem, whatever the case may be, fill in the blank with what you got going on, whether it's public or whether it's private.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't surrender to him first, then that means you have created a God in yourself and you're asking him to surrender to what you want.
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to go deeper.
SPEAKER_01: Last week, if you missed it, go back and watch it on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: But we talk about the cost of what it means.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people like, oh yes, I want more of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, I want miracles, I want signs and wonders, I want great things to happen in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I want the Lord to touch my finances, but I ain't gonna tithe.
SPEAKER_01: I want the Lord to bless my finances, but I'm gonna do it with a closed fist, and I ain't gonna be generous to nobody.
SPEAKER_01: I'll work my tail off for that money.
SPEAKER_01: Who works hard for the money?
SPEAKER_01: You missed the point.
SPEAKER_01: Who works hard for their money?
SPEAKER_01: We have become slaves to our paychecks.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all didn't catch that.
SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
SPEAKER_01: By the end of this series, you're gonna have a bigger net, you're gonna catch a lot.
SPEAKER_01: When we say we belong to Christ, we should fully and completely belong to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That means every thought, every action, every attitude, every want, every desire, every ambition should first be put on the altar as a holy sacrifice to him and say, Now you give me the portion back that you want me to have.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot drift into the depth with God.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you gotta clog your way to there, you decide to go there.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody accidentally, by just haphazardly living their life, gets closer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said this very plainly.
SPEAKER_01: You must first pick up your cross and follow me, denying yourself, denying yourself, was all the self-deniers in the house today, to deny yourself, to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But we're gonna go a step further today.
SPEAKER_01: I think about this.
SPEAKER_01: This is not the topic of discussion where it's about what you give up.
SPEAKER_01: That's between you and God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about who do you want to become.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about the things you need to give up and walk away from.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about who do you want to be.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you get your eyes set and the goal of who you want to be is clear, now you got something to go towards.
SPEAKER_01: Everything else will shut itself off of you.
SPEAKER_01: Who you want to be matters, not what you want to give up.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I was listening to a podcast yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: We went to Arkansas to meet my mom to get my teenager.
SPEAKER_01: Coming back, we got, you know how you search something one time and now it's like everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: So I got on a podcast talking about deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean like, oh, the Lord delivered me from my sinful nature.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about these people got demons.
SPEAKER_01: If God is real and his angels exist, demons are real, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: May the Lord open our eyes to spiritual matters.
SPEAKER_01: And they were talking about like this guy that ended up they call it deliverance ministry.
SPEAKER_01: That's not his title, that's a title put on it where it's kind of like his church.
SPEAKER_01: That's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, we didn't, we didn't start this church with knowledge of any of this.
SPEAKER_01: We were just preaching the word and having service and honoring God and how we did things.
SPEAKER_01: And he said that we just were wanting to for people to be healed, and from healing came deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what I'm saying to you?
SPEAKER_01: We got a bunch of crippled, malnourished Christians who don't want to be healed from anything, but they want the deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: Yay, yay, ride with me.
SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about what you give up, but it is about who we become.
SPEAKER_01: You can bring your sacrifice to the altar, but if you don't surrender at all, if you don't surrender your mind, if you don't just surrender your desires, you'll walk away exactly the same as you walked up.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord isn't looking for a religious performance.
SPEAKER_01: He is after the hearts of his children.
SPEAKER_01: He's after transformation, willingful and meaningful and deep transformation that goes beyond the scratching the surface, but he wants true, authentic people that say, I don't have it figured out, but I want to be changed.
SPEAKER_01: So point number one surrender begins at the altar.
SPEAKER_01: Go back to our key text, Romans chapter 12, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Paul doesn't say give your words to God, he doesn't say give your Sunday mornings to God, he doesn't say give a tenth of your check to God.
SPEAKER_01: He says give your bodies, your whole self, everything that you are, not out of guilt, not out of fear, but because of all God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: This is a saying that I love.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's let's back it up a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Let's bring it closer to home.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a spouse and you doing anything for them is a burden to you, that is an unhealthy relationship.
SPEAKER_01: But it's my response of how much I love her, how much I care for her, how much I enjoy her.
SPEAKER_01: The relationship between us matters.
SPEAKER_01: We really, really drive this home and love this when it's between spouses, but we forget this between God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about whether God answers my prayer or he makes it look like what I thought it would look like, but it is my response from a grateful heart that I serve him.
SPEAKER_01: That even when I don't feel like doing some things, I'm still gonna honor him in the times that I don't feel like doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Because me feeling like I should or shouldn't or I want to or I don't does not dictate who I am.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the problem with the modern church is that we let our feelings dictate whether his presence comes down and transforms us or not.
SPEAKER_01: We want the feel-good sermon, but we don't want the transformation of the heart, mind, and soul.
SPEAKER_01: Leviticus 1, 3.
SPEAKER_01: If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the herd, it must be a male with no defects.
SPEAKER_01: Bring it to the entrance of the tabernacle, so you may be accepted by the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's break this down a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Under the old covenant, God demanded the best.
SPEAKER_01: Are we in agreement?
SPEAKER_01: Read anything of what he required, and we go into Malachi later that I'm studying right now, and it's right before the New Testament, the last book.
SPEAKER_01: And Malachi is sent there as a prophet of God because the priest and the church people have become lazy, they have not brought their best, they have uh uh complacent attitudes towards God.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying, if you don't turn and start giving me your best, hello, church, if we don't start giving God the best, we may have a great church of people that show up and get entertained, but there be no purpose for this church.
SPEAKER_01: I want a purpose and a presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: Under the old covenant, God demanded the best, not the leftovers, not the second string, no blemish, no issue, only what was without defect and without compromise.
SPEAKER_01: And that hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_01: We like to think about God being this, oh well, the God of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: If the Bible is true and he's the same yesterday, today, and forever, just because the look and the process of sacrifice has transformed because of the sacrifice, Jesus came and died for us, and he was that one and done sacrifice that covers sin until eternity, until God comes back to bring us home, it does not mean less of a perfect sacrifice that we should be bringing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We should always bring God our best because of our relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_01: You don't bring your spouse half-hearted love or servitude.
SPEAKER_01: He's not looking for half-hearted faith, but God is looking for total surrender.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the difference under the new covenant, instead of placing an animal on the altar, Christ took our place.
SPEAKER_01: Now we as believers must follow his example.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Not only the way that he lived, but our flesh according to the way that he died.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of us love when we talk about life, and yes, a heart that was made of stone turns it back into flesh, and we, when the blood of the king flows through my veins, we forget about the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: We must follow his example not just by the way he lived, but also by the way that he died.
SPEAKER_01: We are the offering.
SPEAKER_01: Your life is the sacrifice, your worship isn't just what you sing, it's how you daily live.
SPEAKER_01: Point number two, the mind must be renewed.
SPEAKER_01: Go to the second verse of Romans chapter 12.
SPEAKER_01: But let God transform you into a new person by changing the very way that you think.
SPEAKER_01: You want me to show you your future?
SPEAKER_01: Let me stay around you for a while and listen to how you talk and think.
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you whether you got a good thing coming or a bad thing coming.
SPEAKER_01: If you got negativity flowing out of your mouth, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: There's always gonna be bad things happening to you all the time.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been around those people that they are the tragedy one upper?
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter how bad of a day you have.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, let me tell you what happened to me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're sick, you broke your ankle.
SPEAKER_01: Well, last week, ah, my whole leg came out of the socket.
SPEAKER_01: Always got something worse.
SPEAKER_01: Us as believers should be going the other way.
SPEAKER_01: We should, well, okay, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I I know you don't come, but I'm inviting you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: and Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m., we meet right here in the sanctuary and we have prayer meeting.
SPEAKER_01: The early ones that are retired or they work nights, you can come in the daytime.
SPEAKER_01: The ones that work during the day and you're off, please come to the nighttime.
SPEAKER_01: We had one time, maybe 10, 15 of us, we sit right in this area right here.
SPEAKER_01: We come and we share our burdens, we share uh our prayer requests.
SPEAKER_01: We go through the church app and we get the prayer requests from there and we pray and we separate.
SPEAKER_01: We got worship music blasted, and we're it's not too loud, people, so you'll be okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we pray.
SPEAKER_01: I walk out there, my wife walks out there.
SPEAKER_01: So if y'all, if y'all feel the spirit when you get at that fence, that's my wife's anointing.
SPEAKER_01: She's been putting out there smearing around.
SPEAKER_01: So letting you know if it hits you right there, that's my baby.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we talk, and one night we sit the we do it from seven to eight, about an hour.
SPEAKER_01: We sit the entire time and even after.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that was the night I stayed till after 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_01: Where's Abby?
SPEAKER_01: Was that the night?
SPEAKER_01: That was the night.
SPEAKER_01: We had so many things going on good in the church.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine how good things can happen with the body of believers.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine if instead always having something that people need to pray for, you can add to the list of things they can rejoice with you.
SPEAKER_01: We sit the entire hour and we talked, every person had something that God had done in their life.
SPEAKER_01: You talk about excited about some Jesus activity up in this place.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So the way you think, how you think, and even down deeper, how you process is the direction that your life is gonna go.
SPEAKER_01: How you process things, how you think about things is the direction your life is gonna go.
SPEAKER_01: So if you go always guys, somebody says, hey, how's it going?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let God transform the way you think.
SPEAKER_01: There shouldn't be negativity coming out of you all the time.
SPEAKER_01: If there is, maybe something's wrong deeper than you think.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all didn't shout on that one, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Now I didn't add this to the to the list for y'all, but I I want to go back to Romans chapter 8 if you have your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 8, we're gonna start at verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: And I I was I was standing up in my living room last night.
SPEAKER_01: I'd already had my messages and everything sent out and uploaded and all that stuff, and and I was just in the living room, I was by myself, I was just getting it.
SPEAKER_01: Cora was with Tristan out, they were washing something with the water hose, and I don't know where Jesse was.
SPEAKER_01: I was just in there by myself, like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is hey, me and God got our own thing.
SPEAKER_01: You get your own.
SPEAKER_01: Those who are listen to listen, when the Bible says words, pay attention.
SPEAKER_01: When it's when it frames it up a specific way, pay attention to how it's worded, it matters.
SPEAKER_01: Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that again?
SPEAKER_01: Think the way they think, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about the things that please the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't get confused by this because Adam and Eve did.
SPEAKER_01: The devil told them, Oh, you will surely you won't die.
SPEAKER_01: Surely.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm more of a comedy show guy.
SPEAKER_01: It makes me think of like some dummy, like, come on, come on, will God do that?
SPEAKER_01: He's a good guy, he wouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Convincing them, and all of a sudden their mind went to, oh, there's something beyond what I know.
SPEAKER_01: It was the way they were thinking.
SPEAKER_01: So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death, a spiritual death.
SPEAKER_01: This is the gate to where your soul will end up.
SPEAKER_01: Are you understanding what I'm saying today?
SPEAKER_01: What you allow to intrude on your thoughts, the enemy can't can't can't can't make you do something.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: But he can bump his gums in your ear, he can just run his little mouth and say all these little things and get you so twisted up to where you don't know which way is up or which way is down, what is sinful nature or what is not.
SPEAKER_01: So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.
SPEAKER_01: But letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
SPEAKER_01: For the sinful nature is always hostile towards God, it never did obey God's law and it never will.
SPEAKER_01: That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: If you're under the control of your sinful nature, you can never please God.
SPEAKER_01: Let it marinate for a second.
SPEAKER_01: If you are allowing sinful nature to control you to make it where your thoughts go to sin instead of things above or but led by the spirit, it even says controlled by the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: This is yelling out control, surrender.
SPEAKER_01: Stop being in control of yourself because you are born into flesh.
SPEAKER_01: So if you are thinking of sin or sin is intrusive in your mind, your mind has not yet been put on the altar of full surrender before God.
SPEAKER_01: That does not mean that you're not gonna mess up, but there comes out of you a response of repentance when your mind belongs to the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Now, notice the order, surrender leads to transformation.
SPEAKER_01: I don't start living for God.
SPEAKER_01: This is why we have empty churches of actual spiritually mature people, and or they're full of a bunch of weak people that can't defend the faith.
SPEAKER_01: Because we want God to do things first, and then we say, we'll surrender.
SPEAKER_01: And so when things don't go our way, we don't stick around.
SPEAKER_01: Woo, y'all ain't catching it, but that's all right.
SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is doing what the Lord's gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: If we want God to do things for us, so then we can live for God.
SPEAKER_01: Now He is a slot machine or lottery ticket.
SPEAKER_01: You can't walk in kingdom purpose if you still think worldly patterns.
SPEAKER_01: As long as your mind is shaped by culture, you will live conformed instead of transformed.
SPEAKER_00: I wrote this, you asked me the other day if the Lord spoke to me because I have my little journal thing.
SPEAKER_01: Answer is yes, it's probably gonna be a message, but what I just thought of right here goes it goes hand in hand with this complacency in our walk with Christ is what leads us to conform back to the world when we become stale and stagnant, and there's no movement, there's no life, things that have no place growing there end up growing.
SPEAKER_01: Are you hearing me?
SPEAKER_01: Being stale in our walk with Christ allows opportunity for things to grow that should never have been there if there was life.
SPEAKER_01: As long as we allow our minds to be shaped by culture, you know what happens?
SPEAKER_01: The culture shapes our minds out there, and then we bring it into the church house.
SPEAKER_01: We shouldn't look and act like them.
SPEAKER_01: We should.
SPEAKER_01: If we're going to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you hear that, you're like, Well, I'm not a pastor, I'm not a preacher, I'm never gonna, I'm not, I don't even study the word that well.
SPEAKER_01: They will know you by the love we have for each other.
SPEAKER_01: We will be a testimony, they they will use you to define who God is.
SPEAKER_01: This is why it is so important to remain holy and sanctified and a continuation.
SPEAKER_01: We call this sanctification, constantly waking up and picking up our cross every day to say, Lord, I'm gonna be molding to you, I don't want you to mold to me.
SPEAKER_01: Because when we want God to mold to us, we put ourselves in the throne of our hearts and make ourselves the king of our little kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And when you give your life to God, I gave this example before a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give it again.
SPEAKER_01: I think I even said it last week.
SPEAKER_01: If you were to do a legal document to sign over the house of your house, and you were to give it, say, say I gave it uh to Brother Jim right here, and I said, This is your house.
SPEAKER_01: We both signed legally.
SPEAKER_01: I have just signed it over to him, and I said, Everything is yours.
SPEAKER_01: Do what you please.
SPEAKER_01: His first question is probably, Why are you still here?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, do whatever you want, rearrange it how you want.
SPEAKER_01: You can have all the furniture, everything that's in it.
SPEAKER_01: Clean out whatever you want, but this back room back in the back, that's still mine.
SPEAKER_01: Now ask yourself, is the house mine or is it his?
SPEAKER_01: If I have not given over full control, even though I said I want to sign a legal document, control fully of the house is not his.
SPEAKER_01: It's still trying to belong to me.
SPEAKER_01: We do the same thing with God.
SPEAKER_01: We want to say, Lord, come in and make this house beautiful, come in and make it great, get rid of all my junk, get rid of all my burdens, get rid of all my anxiety, my depression, take it away.
SPEAKER_01: But that back room belongs to me.
SPEAKER_01: So does it belong to him?
SPEAKER_01: Does it belong?
SPEAKER_01: Does your life fully and completely, wall to wall, belong to him, or are you keeping something back for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: Look at Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22 through 24.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, let the spirit renew your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Here we are, a different book in the Bible, and he's touching on it again.
SPEAKER_01: Let it renew your thoughts and oh Lord Jesus, help us in the church house, your attitudes.
SPEAKER_01: Let it renew your thoughts and attitudes.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not saying, put on half of the old and put on half of the new.
SPEAKER_01: It says, throw off the old and then put on completely the new.
SPEAKER_01: Put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and truly holy.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want God to come back and Jesus to split the clouds and not be able to find the church because we haven't been a holy church because we're not his bride.
SPEAKER_01: I want him to have Connect Church on the tongue when he splits the sky.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, where's Connect?
SPEAKER_01: They've been doing it.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he talks in my head.
SPEAKER_01: And then and then the Lord sitting on his throne, son, they've been getting it.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Me and God have a lot of fun up here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_01: But God desires for us to be a holy sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: We forget about that word holy.
SPEAKER_01: We forget about those words righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Now understand this.
SPEAKER_01: What we have just discussed, read, and talked about is not something that you can try, but you cannot accomplish it on your own.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: Having your mind renewed and your thoughts being transformed is something that is paramount for us to be holy.
SPEAKER_01: It's important, the most important for us to be righteous, but it is not something that we can obtain on our own.
SPEAKER_01: Too many Christians try to live new lives with old habits.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: Does your complete body belong to God?
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't know unless you tell me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know your business, but I want you to understand this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: This is the process of becoming righteous and holy before God.
SPEAKER_01: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna mean I'm gonna bash you over the head.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I've told some of my leaders this.
SPEAKER_01: If somebody doesn't understand or they disagree in the house, we don't push them away, we bring them closer to disciple them.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus had every right to push away anybody because they were all a bunch of idiots compared to him.
SPEAKER_01: Facts.
SPEAKER_01: Even the ones he'd been teaching for three years, up until the time where he's going to be taken.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, what is wrong with you?
SPEAKER_01: You can be frustrated, but stay faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Holy Spirit is not trying to modify our behavior.
SPEAKER_01: Understand this.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit does not want to modify our behavior.
SPEAKER_01: This book is not to modify our behavior.
SPEAKER_01: He is trying to renew our mind.
SPEAKER_01: He is trying to change us and re-birth us to be born again in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if y'all saw this or not, but while we're here, these are new invite cards for the church.
SPEAKER_01: It says, preaching truth, spirit-led, powerful worship.
SPEAKER_01: It gives a little way that they can find us.
SPEAKER_01: I don't open Google Maps.
SPEAKER_01: Take some of these.
SPEAKER_01: We got them everywhere now.
SPEAKER_01: On the back.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know this, so let's correct this non-theological discussion right now.
SPEAKER_01: There is no scripture in the Bible that says, pray this and you'll make it to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all's minds and theologies just went.
SPEAKER_01: But there is instructions of how to live your life.
SPEAKER_01: So we have right here, admit you need a savior, and we have a scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Believe in Christ Jesus, and we have a scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Turn from your sin and follow him, and we have a scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Confess Jesus as Lord and live for him, and we have a scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Be born again by the Spirit of God, and we have a scripture.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't gonna do some magical prayer that's gonna make you live better.
SPEAKER_01: It should be your lifestyle of where things change, and now I don't think that way anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I don't talk that way anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I don't act that way anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Because God has renewed my mind, He has transformed me.
SPEAKER_01: Living for God is not stylish, it is a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: And we first need to put, if we're going to be mature believers, we got to put ourselves first on the altar before we tell them how to do it.
SPEAKER_01: But we can't do it because we are not pure sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: Not half-hearted.
SPEAKER_01: So that we ourselves come into church think we're doing it right and we deceive ourselves because we act like we are the key ingredient.
SPEAKER_01: He is not trying to tweak your personality, he is trying to give you a brand new identity.
SPEAKER_01: The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, when you receive him, the Bible says that now it lives in you.
SPEAKER_01: But if you don't yield your thoughts to him, you will continue to live like you're still in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've been around a dead body, but you give it some time and everybody smells it.
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: What did Jesus call the church people of the day?
SPEAKER_01: You bunch of whitewashed tombs, you brood of vipers.
SPEAKER_01: You say you know God, but yet you are far from Him.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be a part of the church that doesn't know who God is.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be a part of the faithful, good and well done, you faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be called faithful.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if I'm your favorite, I want to be a part of his faithful.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you get mad at me and leave.
SPEAKER_01: We're just preaching scripture, have at it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just telling you, I don't care if you get upset with me because I quote scripture or if I'm preaching the word of God, if you get mad, you don't know it.
SPEAKER_01: Renewal is not a self-help book, it is not a productivity hack, it is a supernatural thing that happens when the spirit of the living God literally rewrites your desires and the way that you think.
SPEAKER_01: He rebuilds our thoughts and he reshapes our perspective.
SPEAKER_01: Your perspective on life, on church, on serving, on tithing, on scripture can either make or break you.
SPEAKER_01: If the way you perceive things is not aligned with the scriptures, you are doing the devil's work.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what church you go to.
SPEAKER_01: Come here all your life.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care, it doesn't mean for a second you're gonna make it to heaven if you don't know Jesus, if he is not your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why am I preaching this?
SPEAKER_01: This sermon today and the ones coming are not for new Christians.
SPEAKER_01: This is for y'all that have been sitting in the seats for years and you still look the same, you're still acting the same, you're still thinking the same.
SPEAKER_01: This is for what should be the mature church.
SPEAKER_01: If we don't examine ourselves, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: Woo! Deeper, point number three, deeper requires letting go.
SPEAKER_01: It requires letting go.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to let go.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot get to the deep unless you let go of the bank.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot go in deeper waters unless you let go of that bank.
SPEAKER_01: You can't get out of deeper waters unless you pull your anchor up.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 3, 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, let's go back to 12.
SPEAKER_01: I apologize, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to 12.
SPEAKER_01: This is what happens when I have my actual scripture with me.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! Philippians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna start at 12 and go.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, we're gonna go ahead and go to 16.
SPEAKER_01: Might as well do it.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta highlight it.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I already have reached perfection.
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me say this from a pastor's standpoint.
SPEAKER_01: Me preaching the word of God to you in truth and stepping on your toes a little bit and challenging you is not a remedy to you saying, Well, if you act like me, you're gonna be perfect because this boy ain't perfect.
SPEAKER_01: But I am gonna tell you, I'm hungry for God, I'm hungry for the spirit, and I've been eating on this word, and a fire is burning inside of me.
SPEAKER_01: And when you start eating on his word, the fire begins to burn inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: When you start daily eating on his word, get your phone off and start reading scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Don't have stuff distracting you and start reading what the word of God has for you.
SPEAKER_01: Let the fire burn.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: I have not already reached perfection.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that, but I press on to possess it.
SPEAKER_01: That perfection from Christ, which Jesus Christ first possessed me.
SPEAKER_01: We come into possession when we begin to possess him and he possesses us.
SPEAKER_01: As Jesus said, Father, I am in you and you am in me.
SPEAKER_01: Let them also produce this.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm sweating up in here.
SPEAKER_01: I should have brought a rag.
SPEAKER_01: Got that Pentecostal sweat going on.
SPEAKER_01: But I press on to possess that perfection for which Jesus Christ first possessed me.
SPEAKER_01: So he's talking about he gave himself to Christ, and then Christ is now in possession, full possession of him.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to 13.
SPEAKER_01: No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.
SPEAKER_01: I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Jesus Christ is calling us.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go on to 15.
SPEAKER_01: Let all who are spiritually mature, let Miss Yaud and catch that.
SPEAKER_01: Let all who are spiritually mature agree with me on these things.
SPEAKER_01: If you disagree at some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you.
SPEAKER_01: If you're like me, it's gotta be real plain for me to catch it.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Thank God He likes and listens and He will dumb it down for us that need it dumb.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you disagree at some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you, verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: But we must hold on to the progress that we have already made.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get discouraged by what you did last week or how you felt or what you what went on in your head, whether you fell into depression or you got anxious or you sinned again, the same sin you've been doing for 20 years and you just can't break through.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let that be your focus, but focus on what God wants you to walk through, and that is freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! Well, I have a feeling there's gonna be some deliverance in these altars today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you right now, if you ain't feeling it, you ain't got it.
unknown: Woo!
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: If you're going deeper, you have got to let go of what was.
SPEAKER_01: I think of this analogy in this example.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone ever seen George of the Jungle?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: He cannot swing properly and get to the next branch in front of him unless he lets go of the last one.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all that landed, some of you got to go over it again.
SPEAKER_01: That's all right, we'll dumb it down.
SPEAKER_01: When you swing, okay, let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody in this room has probably been on monkey bars at some point in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, when you're swinging on them monkey bars, if you don't let go of the last one you just had, you are going to either strangle your arm hanging there, or you're gonna fall on your face.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta let go to be able to swing properly to the next one.
SPEAKER_01: There is a procedure and a proper way to do things.
SPEAKER_01: If you try to do it on your own accord, you will fall on your face.
SPEAKER_01: Let go of guilt.
SPEAKER_01: Here we go, church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna look down on my Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Let go of pride.
SPEAKER_00: And the house was quiet.
SPEAKER_01: Let go of your own timeline.
SPEAKER_01: Let go of the idea that you can fix your life and surrender once it's polished.
SPEAKER_01: The church people need to get ready for some unpolished processes coming into the house.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us are so attached to the past we're missing what God has ahead for us in our future.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us are so attached to the past that we miss the future God has for us.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know?
SPEAKER_01: Don't try this, please.
SPEAKER_01: But do you know if you're driving in your car and you're constantly looking in your rearview mirror, you'll miss the exit?
SPEAKER_01: Try it.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Don't, don't.
SPEAKER_01: If you're constantly focused on what was, you can't praise God today on yesterday's sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: You have to find out what God desires of you today and worship Him today.
SPEAKER_01: You can't worship on mommy and daddies, you can't worship on your kids or your grandkids.
SPEAKER_01: It must be a personal sacrifice and surrender so that you can fully be renewed.
SPEAKER_01: There is a call forward, there is a call higher, and there is a call deeper, but it's not for the half committed.
SPEAKER_01: It's for those who say, Lord, I give it all to you.
SPEAKER_01: Take me wherever you want, do whatever you want in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 4, sorry, chapter 5, verse 4 and 5.
SPEAKER_01: Man, listen, at the risk of sounding old school, this is not a legalistic thing, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show you this.
SPEAKER_01: Watch this.
SPEAKER_01: As I read this, every single time, not one notification has popped up.
SPEAKER_01: Well, from the spirit, but he'll get your attention.
SPEAKER_01: There's an importance, the Bible even tells us to go off in secret, go off in a private place, go off and get alone with God.
SPEAKER_01: We have become so plugged in, we we forget to get alone with God, we forget to hear from God.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you should have had divine revelation 10 years ago, but you wouldn't put your phone down.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you could have been free from bondage that still rests in your house right now, but you wouldn't put the phone down.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're a baby Christian, this doesn't apply to you.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get you later.
SPEAKER_01: But mature believers should have already figured that out.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you from a man who started doing this a month ago.
SPEAKER_01: You know why I'm saying it the way I'm saying it?
SPEAKER_01: Because God slapped me in the face with it first.
SPEAKER_01: Something that was so obvious.
SPEAKER_01: How many times do we miss the obvious because we're worried about opportunity?
SPEAKER_01: We're worried about how we feel and we forget that we don't have to have an app.
SPEAKER_01: And I listen, if you're new, I suggest this.
SPEAKER_01: There's an app that we put out on the church.
SPEAKER_01: Our church is on there.
SPEAKER_01: You can even check in, you can be little friends on there, and it'll read to you through scripture and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You can just put it on the Bible and let it read to you.
SPEAKER_01: But nothing has your attention more than when everything is off or distant from you and only God is near.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be old school legalistic, but it works.
SPEAKER_01: All I'm saying is, listen.
SPEAKER_01: I am on Malachi.
SPEAKER_01: Let me this is just side note.
SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are already here.
SPEAKER_01: I am on Malachi chapter, starting in Malachi chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Malachi chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know that it's what?
SPEAKER_01: Three chapters?
SPEAKER_00: There's new Bible sticking together.
SPEAKER_01: Is there four chapters?
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: There's four.
SPEAKER_01: Four chapters is uh six verses.
SPEAKER_01: And I have been studying Malachi for the past two weeks.
SPEAKER_01: For not not new Christians, not not those of you that are struggling and new to the game, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: You seasoned Christians, get off your lazy spiritual rear and start diving into the word.
SPEAKER_01: If we say we want to see signs, miracles, and wonders with all the the Pentecostal bull that's attached to it, but yet we won't actually have any fruit of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We won't dive into our words and know who God actually is.
SPEAKER_01: We don't even know who we are.
SPEAKER_01: We want to attach ourselves to somebody else instead of to God.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: We got to start diving into the word.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to get real.
SPEAKER_01: Once we start getting real, get ready because that's where the demons come out.
SPEAKER_01: Those of you who are new, you might not want to come anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'm scared.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus came to set the captives free.
SPEAKER_01: How can those who are in charge and who are charged with spreading the word of the gospel to those who don't know or don't believe?
SPEAKER_01: How can we even answer any questions they have if we don't have it in us?
SPEAKER_01: Trick question.
SPEAKER_01: You can't.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to Luke.
SPEAKER_01: I'm done with that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know what has happened to me.
SPEAKER_01: Something's something's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 5, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: 4 and 5.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do 4 and 5.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 5, verse 4 and 5.
SPEAKER_01: When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, now go out where it is deeper.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, seasoned Christians of God.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody lift your hands up right now.
SPEAKER_01: Go out where it is deeper.
SPEAKER_01: We should be indulging ourselves daily in scripture and prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus even said, You can do this by prayer and fasting.
SPEAKER_01: There is always something more that we can learn.
SPEAKER_01: There's always somewhere deeper that we can go, but we have to be open to it.
SPEAKER_01: So look at what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: Now go out to where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen to Simon's response.
SPEAKER_01: And he's not wrong.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Master, Simon replied, We worked all, we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing.
SPEAKER_01: But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again.
SPEAKER_01: And this time, let's keep on going.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, people up in the media booth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just liking scripture today.
SPEAKER_01: And at this time, their nets were so full of fish, they began to tear.
SPEAKER_01: A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon the boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told them to go deeper, and they would actually find an abundance of what they've been looking for the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: They did it their way.
SPEAKER_01: They even spent time, effort, and I don't know if you know this, but fishing like this in their time of day, it was not a man for a weenie person, it was not a job for a weenie person.
SPEAKER_01: You had to have strength, you had to have vigor, they were men, not these little things around here now.
SPEAKER_01: They were men.
SPEAKER_01: Their companies depended on it.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't just out there with the rod and reel casting a line, they were doing it for sustenance, they were doing it to provide.
SPEAKER_01: There was a reason.
SPEAKER_01: And so people that already knew the system, they weren't new to these waters.
SPEAKER_01: You hear me?
SPEAKER_01: They weren't new to the waters, but when Jesus instructed them to go deeper and he instructed them to do it a different way than they already had been doing it, even though they spent their time, they spent their money, and they spent their effort, God called them to do it different.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus said to go, he said, Fine, we've been doing this all night.
SPEAKER_01: But if you say so, and what happened?
SPEAKER_01: When they surrendered to what he said to do, they could not contain what they caught.
SPEAKER_01: Are you with me today?
SPEAKER_01: When they surrendered and did what Jesus told them to do, to go out into the deep, out into the deeper waters, what they had been longing for the whole time was far beyond what they ever had imagined.
SPEAKER_01: Where they had this is what my oh man, I got the whoa, come on.
SPEAKER_01: What they had longed for, listen to me, church.
SPEAKER_01: When we start going deeper and we listen to what the Lord says to do, when he says to do something, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: The other churches that are around here that right now view us as competition are gonna become complementary and they're gonna come help us get in the crop and bring in the fish.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I believe.
SPEAKER_01: If we get unified in the body of Christ, no denomination or church building or side of town is gonna separate what God puts together.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that in Longview, Texas, and the surrounding areas, unity is gonna come back to the body when the body becomes mature again.
SPEAKER_01: But it's gonna take a church that first chooses.
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna do it like anybody else.
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna do it how they're doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, we're not even gonna watch their stuff to see how they're doing it to try to rob it from them.
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: When unity comes back to the body of Christ and we listen to where Jesus tells us to go, where he tells us to cast the nets, we're willing to go deeper, we're willing to do more, we're willing to sacrifice and surrender everything.
SPEAKER_01: When the harvest comes in, there will not be room enough.
SPEAKER_01: Are you hearing me, church?
SPEAKER_01: When the harvest comes in from what we have been toiling and sweating and blood and tears and prayers and gathering together and getting stronger and discipleship and correction.
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't even an amen.
SPEAKER_01: That was a well.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay, that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: It will come, it will come.
SPEAKER_01: What Peter says here isn't the heart of surrender.
SPEAKER_01: He said, and I underlined this in mine, but if you say so.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in this little right here, but if you say so, I don't know if he believed it would happen.
SPEAKER_01: The point of belief did not come into play, it was the point of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear me?
SPEAKER_01: He believed enough to be faithful in what Jesus told him to do, but I honestly believe that when he threw the nets down, he thought it was just gonna be another empty net.
SPEAKER_01: Until the nets begin to break.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're looking for a breakthrough today, but the nets are about to break.
SPEAKER_01: If you say so, we don't always understand the timing, we don't understand and always agree with God's method, but obedience that leads into depth does not wait for our convenience to go into deeper waters.
SPEAKER_01: It's a simple, okay, Lord, if you say so.
SPEAKER_01: As we close, I want everybody to ask yourself today.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is gonna be for everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Mature Christians, new Christians, whatever the case may be, it may be your first time here today.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for coming.
SPEAKER_01: But my proclamation as the pastor here is self-examination.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what mature believers should do.
SPEAKER_01: We should look at ourselves first before we ever try to get the splinter out of somebody else's eye, examine the plank in our own.
SPEAKER_01: What is it in this church?
SPEAKER_01: What is it in your house?
SPEAKER_01: What is it in your personal walk?
SPEAKER_01: What is keeping you from going deeper with God?
SPEAKER_01: Probably most of us in here, it's more of a time issue than it is a want and desire.
SPEAKER_01: But I know this.
SPEAKER_01: From going deeper in Christ?
SPEAKER_01: What habits in our lives go unchallenged that should have been checked at the door years ago?
SPEAKER_01: What thought patterns have you allowed to go in your mind unrenewed?
SPEAKER_01: That God has not made a new mind in you because you've been holding on to the way you see things, the way you think about things, your perception.
SPEAKER_01: What areas of your life are still under your control instead of under his lordship?
SPEAKER_01: I'd guess to say that almost every person in here probably has something that you've been holding on to.
SPEAKER_01: You can't go deeper while standing on the shore of self-preservation.
SPEAKER_01: You can't go deeper in with God if you're standing on the shore because you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: You can there's a reason I don't go in the ocean.
SPEAKER_00: I can't see down there.
SPEAKER_01: I've watched a couple of nature channels, and that's good enough for me.
SPEAKER_01: So I go ankle deep on the shore, and that's it.
SPEAKER_01: I may go down here.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what happened to me as a kid.
SPEAKER_01: Now, chances are it was like one of those, what's some big things?
SPEAKER_01: It's flat stingray.
SPEAKER_01: Chances are that's probably what it was, but in my mind, as a child, that was the biggest shark I ever seen.
SPEAKER_01: My dad was way out in the deep.
SPEAKER_01: There was a place, I don't remember where it was at, but it was it was beyond the deep.
SPEAKER_01: And then you can go out there and you can stand up right there.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sandbar.
SPEAKER_01: It was one of those, it was so cool.
SPEAKER_01: But when I leave the shores, and I'm trying to go to a place that is safer, I first have to cross over that deep that I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: And one time I was running out there with my dad to get my dad, and as I was running, you know, I was doing the the bay watch.
SPEAKER_00: Where you got your legs from?
SPEAKER_01: Because you gotta run like that to get over the waves.
SPEAKER_01: Duh.
SPEAKER_01: And I stepped, and you know the swell, it goes down, and you can almost see like the where the sand is.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's about to crash and hit you.
SPEAKER_01: And I stepped and I glanced at the same time, and it was like in slow motion, and my foot was on the back of something that came out of the water like that, and it was slippery, it was dark gray, and I slipped on it.
SPEAKER_01: The spirit of Elijah hit me, and I ran faster than I ever ran.
SPEAKER_01: I have not, since that day, I have not been in the deep.
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch what I just said?
SPEAKER_01: Something scared me in the shallow end that I wasn't familiar with, and now it robs me of going deeper because of fear that established itself with something that should not have a place where it put me in fear.
SPEAKER_01: I have allowed something that was did not hurt me, but it scared me so much so as a child, October.
SPEAKER_01: I'm about to be 40 years old, and to this day, you ain't getting me out there.
SPEAKER_01: We end up living our same Christian walks this way.
SPEAKER_01: There's there's moments in our lives in our spiritual walk where where we start getting deeper, we start, we start going a little bit at a time, like, okay, this is okay.
SPEAKER_01: Everything so far is familiar, but as soon as I get out there and Something touches my leg.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be anything that can hurt me but my thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: It does not have to harm me to rob me of the death.
SPEAKER_01: Church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've been hurt.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've been scared.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is, but I do know this.
SPEAKER_01: God desires for his children to go into deeper waters with him.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_01: And a few Sundays, we're gonna have a baptism Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And then we're in September, like you did before, we're gonna have the lake baptism.
SPEAKER_01: Some people said, Can I do it in the church?
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't get in the lake.
SPEAKER_01: Because for you to be baptized, you have to be in the deep.
SPEAKER_01: For you to allow the things to wash over you and to cleanse you.
SPEAKER_01: The very simple thing of being a declaration of your faith in public before others, it has to be in the deep.
SPEAKER_01: What is holding you back from going into the deep?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I know.
SPEAKER_01: A congregation this size, guaranteed, there are a multitude of different levels and depths and studying and people that know a lot, people that don't know anything.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I know no matter how deep you are, there is always deeper.
SPEAKER_01: So nobody has the right to cast stones on the depth of someone else.
SPEAKER_01: Because you cannot wade out into the deep without first starting on the shore.
SPEAKER_01: You can't.
SPEAKER_01: It is impossible to get into the water without first going from the shore.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I want to invite you today.
SPEAKER_01: As everybody stands.
SPEAKER_00: This is Pastor Stephen, the lead pastor here at Connect Church in Longview.
SPEAKER_00: I truly hope today's message has encouraged you, empowered you, and challenged you to go deeper in your walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to find out more about us, I invite you to visit ConnectChurch.life.
SPEAKER_00: There you can find ways to give what we believe, our values, as well as different ways to reach out to us so that we can reach out to you.
SPEAKER_00: We love you.
SPEAKER_00: We're praying for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you have an amazing week.