WEBVTT 00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:14.240 Thank you. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:16.960 And thank you, team, for leading us this morning. 00:00:17.200 --> 00:00:18.000 Worship. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:23.679 Always so blessed to be uh have a church that leads with worship. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.200 How many of you are worshipers in the house? 00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:35.759 Man, if it was, it's for worship that uh the scripture says that God inhabits the praises of his people. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:44.000 And I feel like every time that uh we enter into a place of praise, uh God actually inhabits our praise. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:52.399 And there's something different about this place than any other place that you go to that may like provide a place of music. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.719 Uh, worship is that much different. 00:00:54.879 --> 00:00:57.759 You sometimes it's just like you get that sense. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:00:59.679 How many of you are shouters out there? 00:00:59.839 --> 00:01:01.119 You just shout, yeah. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:05.359 I I need to see, I need to see more dancers. 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:18.879 I like I know there was a season of time in the church where dancing was like everyone danced, it was kind of kind of wild and kind of, you know, but I I just love to dance. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:26.239 Like, I love the dancers, and I love the people who like just move their I love movement in worship. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:32.480 I think it's important to just move in worship and just express how much like your love to God. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:39.599 I think there's a point of celebration, like when we look at the scripture, there's points where people were like clanging cymbals. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:55.599 It was loud, but there's a place of awe where the presence of God came and people fell on their faces, and then there was time where there was great celebration with flags and sounds of triumph and victory and and sounds of thanksgiving. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:05.840 It's like God is bigger than our standing and just singing in harmony a song, like tradit, like just stoic. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.159 Like, this is not a dirge, this is not a place of death. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:18.719 Like this, the Bible says you come into his presence with thanksgiving, giving uh into his presence with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:27.280 And when you come to the Lord's house, you're coming with anticipation and you're coming with expectation because God is here. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:29.039 God is here. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:37.199 One of the markers of the early church in Acts was that people would come in and they would say, Surely God is in that place. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.759 Like where people come in and they walk out, surely God was there. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.039 Surely God is in this house. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:50.800 And that's what I think is such a powerful point is that God is here. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.439 He's Emmanuel, he's God who is with us. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:01.599 He hasn't left us, he hasn't forsaken us, he hasn't left us to be alone. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:05.120 We're here with him and we have a relationship. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.359 This is the Father's house. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:16.080 And when we come into the Father's house, we come into his place with his rules, his expectation. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:20.319 And he says, like, just kick your shoes off and make yourself at home here. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:21.759 I'm with you. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.599 So God has a plan. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.479 God has a plan for each and every one of us. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:31.359 And and uh I'm just so grateful that I can be called his son. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:37.439 And uh we can all be called his son if we make him our father today. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:53.599 I believe that the the church, the church in the kingdom advancement, the church being built is really being built at the speed of healthy fathers and healthy sons. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:10.639 That means as soon as you come to an understanding and a revelation of who you are in Christ, the more you can move and advance, and the more you can build the church, the more you can advance the kingdom. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:30.560 But the less you have confidence in who you are, and the less you identify with whose you are, the less you have the ability to actually operate as a child of God and operate as an ambassador of the kingdom. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:41.280 You walk with question marks, you walk with timidity, you walk with a sense of reservation instead of confidence and authority and power. 00:04:41.760 --> 00:05:04.640 And one of the markers of the first church was that you would be given the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would pour, he would pour out power in your life to advance his kingdom, not just in Kelowna in Jerusalem, not just into the Okanagan, not just into BC or Canada, but across the world. 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:12.880 There was a power to advance the gospel, the good news of the gospel for all people. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:27.680 And so today, when I think about faith, and particularly the way that people view the church and the way they view faith, we focus the church on the central message of our faith. 00:05:27.760 --> 00:05:51.680 And when the world looks at our faith and they say, they consider the church, they consider with a sense of if I go to that place, and these are people I've talked to, if I go to that church, I'm going to have to submit and come under discipline, and it's all going to become no's in my life. 00:05:52.400 --> 00:05:59.440 A big no will come into my life, and I'll have to submit to the no in my life. 00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:04.240 And how many of you made a decision when you followed Christ and made him your Lord? 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:07.760 There were a lot of no's that came into your life. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:13.840 It's like I don't get to choose, Jesus becomes Lord of my relationships. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.600 He becomes, I don't get to choose who I hang out with. 00:06:18.400 --> 00:06:19.520 He decides. 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:23.120 I don't get to choose where I spend my money. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:24.000 He decides. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:29.040 He becomes Lord of my finances, he becomes Lord of all of my life. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:36.720 So there's this place of no, and we we really make it our discipline, and we frame it that way. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:46.240 And we say, you know, we need to stay obedient, we need to stay in line, we need to keep the commandments, obey the things that God has told us to obey. 00:06:46.320 --> 00:06:51.280 And so we uh one of the guys I was talking to, he called it monk mode. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:59.280 You go into monk mode, act of discipline, act of commitment, and discipline matters. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.320 And I'm not saying that discipline doesn't matter. 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:11.760 We need to be able to have someone who can in our life, we need to be under discipline and have someone in authority in our life who has the power to say no to you. 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:14.880 Each and every one of us needs to have that. 00:07:15.520 --> 00:07:20.720 And we need to willingly and acceptingly celebrate that in our life. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:27.200 That I have someone in my life who's watching over me and has the authority in my life to say no to me. 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:37.120 If you don't have that in your life, you are under the shield, you're under, you're out of covering and you're exposed. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:41.840 Because God actually operates in places of authority. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:57.520 And here's what I've been watching in the church, and maybe it's in your own life, that the most spiritually dangerous place you can land is not necessarily in disobedience, but in joyless compliance. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.280 Where you're doing now, think about this in terms of a relationship. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:34.320 You can be in uh a marriage that is uh waking up together, working together, cleaning together, uh making money together, paying bills together, eating together, raising kids together, going on trips together, and out of it, all of the things that you're doing, as you should be doing in a relationship, you're doing it with a joyless compliance to one another. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:38.399 Just doing it for the sake of doing it. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.919 You're in it, but you're not engaged. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:51.440 And and I look at it from the point in scripture in Revelations where he says there's a church, it's neither hot nor cold, like it's you're lukewarm. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:09:01.440 And it's that lukewarmness, I'd rather you to be hot or cold, but this lukewarm element is distasteful. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.879 And so you live your life checking boxes. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:22.399 And this is tough for me because I love to check boxes, I love to look at my day and have a list of all the things I need to do in my day, and I love that little dopamine hit that's like, check, check how many checkers have we got out there. 00:09:22.560 --> 00:09:25.440 They're like, Yes, check, I did it. 00:09:25.680 --> 00:09:31.440 And you check boxes, and many of us live with this internal list. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:46.879 The reality is that you can never check every box, never miss a Sunday, never miss a quiet time, keep the list clean, and you still have completely a wrong relationship with God. 00:09:47.040 --> 00:09:51.759 And our relationship is not about the performance of the list. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:55.680 What we do, it's not about what we do. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:59.040 We sang about it this morning, but it's who we know. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:19.440 It's not about how we behave, but to whose you belong and who you behold, and who beholds you, and that loving attention and those eyes that are like connected and intimate and and and formed with each other. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:31.440 Not about checking boxes, and there's a difference between a big no in your life versus having a big yes in your life. 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:35.759 When you live with a big no, this is very directive. 00:10:35.920 --> 00:10:37.279 It keeps you out of trouble. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:44.960 No, I won't swear, no, I won't curse, no, I won't drink, no, I won't chew, no, I won't go with people who do. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:46.800 You know, have you ever heard of it? 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.560 I'm no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:10:50.639 --> 00:11:04.560 And you live your life by the no's that are in your life instead of living with a big yes in your life and a perspective that says, I'm going to live with a yes because it changes who you are. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:11.600 It's a difference between discipline, no, I won't do that, no, I won't do that, no, I won't do that, and desire. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:13.440 Oh, I want to be like that. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:14.879 I want to be like him. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.840 I want to I want when people see me, I want them to see him in me. 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:23.519 And a desire that flows out of you. 00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:25.840 It's like, why don't you lie? 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:28.480 No lying. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:32.399 How many of you think that's a good life skill? 00:11:33.920 --> 00:11:35.120 Do not lie. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.200 Well, number one, I why don't you lie? 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.440 Because it's one of the Ten Commandments. 00:11:40.560 --> 00:11:41.440 Big no. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:44.720 Big no to lying, don't lie. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:58.160 Instead of having the big yes, and the big yes is when you say no to lying, you're the danger with lying ultimately is that you learn how to deceive others. 00:11:58.800 --> 00:12:07.440 And by deceiving others, you eventually learn how to be so good at deceiving others that you actually start to deceive yourself. 00:12:07.920 --> 00:12:15.759 And when you deceive yourself, you're no longer living in the truth, and where the truth is, there is freedom. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:23.920 Truth is there's freedom, and my big yes is I want to live in freedom. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:31.360 It's where in freedom, it's where freedom is, where Christ set us free to live under freedom. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.360 So why don't I lie? 00:12:33.920 --> 00:12:41.279 My no is like do not lie, do not lie, do not lie, do not lie, do not lie, checking, checking, checking, checking. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:47.279 Instead of, yes, God has given me the opportunity to live in freedom. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:53.759 And right now I want to choose freedom. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:13:01.040 So I will not lie because it will remove, it will displace the freedom in my life. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.639 The yes becomes bigger than your no. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:10.560 I've I've walked with people who are just trying to check lists every day. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:28.800 And it's exhausting because they're doing it strict by discipline, strict, strict out of uh out of uh commitment to them, to their own views, instead of a desire to actually that drives them into a relationship. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:36.240 One of the ways I see this is in Romans chapter 8, verse, uh places I see this in verse 15 and 16. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:47.440 It says this one of my favorite portions of scripture, a few of them today, says, You did not receive a spirit of slavery. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:52.879 This is that big no, leading you to fear again. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:07.759 But you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are God's children. 00:14:08.800 --> 00:14:38.320 There's like this identification that I walk around every day, and it gets greater and greater in me that I am not someone who's good or bad, but I'm someone who's a child of the king, a child of the father, and I have a dad, and I have a place, and I have a home, and I have an inheritance, and I have someone who loves me and cares for me and protects me and provides for me. 00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:40.399 I have a provider. 00:14:41.040 --> 00:14:45.840 That's the love of the father towards me, his child. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:50.560 Why would I ever live in a spirit of slavery? 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:56.080 There are two choices, there's always a choice. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.519 Two postures, two spirits. 00:14:59.920 --> 00:15:04.240 You can be super spiritual and choose the spirit of slavery. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:08.480 You can be super spiritual and choose the spirit of adoption. 00:15:08.800 --> 00:15:17.759 And I've seen that, I've lived, I've grown up in the church, and I've seen people walk under a spirit of slavery where they're checking boxes. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:21.120 Don't wear a hat in church, don't do this, don't do that. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:29.680 Like I grew up in in points of time with people that had law that they were living by the law. 00:15:30.560 --> 00:15:36.080 It was legal, it was not joyful, it was joyless compliance. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:41.040 And then I saw people who love the Father. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.240 Oh, how good the Father's love towards me. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:45.519 How deep is it? 00:15:45.680 --> 00:15:47.120 How awesome is it? 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.040 It's like a wave after wave. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.800 I just want to get into his presence and actually love him. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:16:00.879 And they dance before him and they surrender to him, and their life is in joyful compliance. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:11.120 Lord, the more, the closer I connect with you, the more I'm loved, the more I desire, the more I belong, the more I want to be like you. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:16.000 And it's celebratory, and that is how you build the church. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:25.759 The church will build only to the pace of raising healthy kids in the church and having a healthy view of the Father. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:29.920 The spirit of adoption is so beautiful. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:37.920 It's Abba, it's Aramic and Aramaic, and it's a word a child uses when there's no fear. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:45.680 The spirit of slavery is, don't you know that you've been rescued from that spirit of slavery? 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:48.560 No longer to be subject to fear. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:57.600 But I'm bringing you the spirit of Abba Father, adoption, where it leads you to freedom. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:03.680 God didn't save you just to make you a better student. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.960 He saved you to make you a son. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:11.839 It's a whole message today. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:18.079 Father's Day, 2026, and it just so happens to be the message. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:28.720 I really wanted to communicate today that God desires you and God loves you, and you have a father. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:41.759 When Jesus called, He uh called out to the the God, he said he didn't call him king or judge or or or man upstairs. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:46.400 He like someone who is third party adjacent to us. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:52.000 He said, I want you to know him, I want you to call him father. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:56.720 That's his first and foremost title. 00:17:57.120 --> 00:17:58.640 He's our father. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:27.680 I know that that word for some can bring so many emotions, so many uh sensors go off in your spirit when you hear that word, because perhaps you've got a his history of an experience of those who have had been a bad example of an earthly father or have have uh fatherly wounds, but God is our heavenly father. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:35.839 And that heavenly father, the scriptures as he becomes father to the fatherless, he can become your father. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:44.640 Today I'd like to share with you a point of where it says uh where teachers, the difference between teachers and fathers. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:59.360 First Corinthians 4 15, Paul is saying this for though you have 10,000 instructors, you have 10,000 teachers in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:11.920 Do you know that we live in a culture with coaches and instructors and mentors and program developers and life coaches and you know all these people? 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:18.400 We have coaches and teachers, but we have very, very few fathers. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:28.559 A teacher's job is just to transfer information, to evaluate your performance, to grade you. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:46.160 And it's hard to say this today because we just went through 200 graduates through our schools, and we saw them walk the aisle and toss their tassel, my son being one of them, and I'm like, way to go! We celebrated, and it was a big deal. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:51.120 And uh, we love our teachers and we need more Christian teachers. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:59.920 So if you're going to school, like hold your faith and walk out a teacher and serve as a teacher to our students. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:04.319 There's nothing wrong with teachers, it's one of the five spiritual gifts. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:05.920 We realize that. 00:20:09.120 --> 00:20:15.519 A father doesn't tell you what to do, a father makes you want to become who he is. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.680 He inspires you and walks with you. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:23.600 I want to be like my dad. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:30.400 I want to walk like him, I want to talk like him, I want to look like him. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:32.640 And that is sonship. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.600 It's a completely different form of motivation. 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:40.640 John 5.19 tells of Jesus' relationship to his father. 00:20:41.120 --> 00:20:45.680 He said this the son can do nothing by himself. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:48.160 There's a dependency. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.360 He can only do what he sees the father doing. 00:20:51.600 --> 00:20:54.559 Because whatever the father does, the son does also. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:01.039 And Jesus didn't say I do my father's commandments because I have to. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:05.360 I said I watch him, I imitate him, I listen to him. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.000 I want to do it because he's doing it. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:09.519 I imitate him. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:21.039 John 14, 31 says this, I do as the father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the father. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:23.440 What's the motivation? 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:24.640 Love. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:27.200 You want to serve love? 00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:28.640 You want to know love? 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.240 You want the world to know the love, know love? 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:39.680 You got to know how to love the father and experience the father's love for you. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.160 And from that overflow, it spills out into the world we know. 00:21:45.120 --> 00:21:49.519 Obedience is still there, but the root of it is love. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:56.640 It's not fear, it's not grit, it's not discipline, it's desire, it's devotion to him. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:15.360 And this is really when we look at the world in the church, oftentimes there's a formation or view, a perspective of God that's Not quite in truth and not quite aligned. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:25.440 And we reduce ourselves mostly because we see it in so much of our life that we bring it into the church that God is looking to you to perform. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:40.160 And it's about performance because we're graded, we're evaluated, we're we're look, we're like kind of on a scale of where we're at, we're promoted or demoted in our life. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.600 And I'd like you just to picture yourself today dying. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:50.079 Drop that hammer. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:23:07.440 But say the world got hit immediately with asteroid, whatever it is, boom, and you came alive again, and you're in heaven. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.480 You're standing before the heaven's gates. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:15.200 Are you thinking, okay, get this right, Brody? 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:16.319 What are you gonna do? 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:17.920 How are you gonna approach this? 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:19.920 Think about it, shake it off. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:26.240 I'm gonna just how am I going to convince this judge that I am a good person? 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:35.440 How am I gonna keep this record of my rights and and just consider all the good things I've done? 00:23:35.600 --> 00:23:42.240 How am I gonna sway this judge so that my my because I want to get through? 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:50.079 Or do you go to heaven and you land and you're like, I'm in heaven. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:58.640 I'm with the one who loves me, I'm with the one who wants me here, I'm with the one who's already welcomed me. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.000 You don't even check if the door is locked, you're just walking in. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:06.000 That's the perspective of it. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:12.880 Doesn't matter what you've done, it's a matter who you know, and it's the matter of your relationship with him. 00:24:13.120 --> 00:24:24.000 And there's so much of the world, so much of our own sense of like I have to entitle myself so that when I get to heaven, I'm somehow gonna impress him. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:32.400 Instead of going, man, Lord, I've been impressed by you and what you did for me. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:44.640 And now the judge is there, but you don't care because everything he sees about you is seen through the eyes of Christ who sacrificed for me and made a way for me. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:48.880 That no man can approach the father unless he goes through the son. 00:24:49.120 --> 00:24:50.160 And I know the son. 00:24:51.120 --> 00:24:52.960 I know this Jesus. 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:57.600 And he took care of my sin and he made a way for me where there was no way. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:07.440 And I trust him, and he's my Lord, and I love the Father, and the Father's love is in me, and there's no way I would be separated from him. 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:10.319 Death cannot separate me from him. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:13.680 I was with him before, and I'm with him now. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:18.160 There is no separation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.759 To be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.640 It's like I'm with him anywhere. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:26.559 Is that good? 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:33.920 That is God, and it's not about a performance, it's not about an evaluation. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:36.640 You go to heaven and God's doing a 360. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.160 Well, what did your wife have to say here on this? 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:48.079 What did your like all your co-workers and your kids and your circle of influence? 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:49.920 How are they gonna evaluate you? 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.039 And you're having to go through this tiered evaluation. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.039 It doesn't work like that. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:01.680 It's like when you go to heaven, it's not about what did you do, it's who did you love. 00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:10.640 And when you say, I loved him, and he loves me, and now I'm oh man, welcome. 00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:15.759 Love welcomes you in, not your performance. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:22.480 What he did for you welcomes you in, and that is the Father's love for us. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:33.120 God did not send Jesus to give us a better grading system, He sent Jesus so that we would become sons and daughters. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:35.680 And Jesus exemplified that. 00:26:41.600 --> 00:26:43.039 I'm gonna walk with you. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:47.039 And if you know me, you're gonna get a glimpse of what the Father is like. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:51.920 Okay, give you my spirit. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:04.640 So absent from I'll be absent, but my spirit's gonna be with you, and it knows the deep things of the Father, and it searches the deep things of the Father, and it causes those things to come alive in you. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:07.920 Allow God to make a way for you. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:21.519 One of my fathers, uh, the memories I have of my father is that in a lot of ways, my journey really as I watched him, there were so many things in my journey, journey. 00:27:21.600 --> 00:27:23.920 When I saw him, I was like, I could never do that. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.319 He's this intelligent and articulate and a real statesman. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:31.120 And I was like, I can't even write a book report. 00:27:31.360 --> 00:27:40.880 Like I I couldn't write, I couldn't speak, I couldn't like it was just it was a terrifying thought to be in front of people. 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:43.600 A terrifying thought. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:55.279 And that I knew, but what I learned from my dad was that it's not about a show or a performance or a marketing team or anything like that. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:07.839 It wasn't about any if God is your father, he cares for you, and he will put you in rooms because he's your father, and he will keep you out of rooms because he's your father. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:22.240 He will put you in the media because he's your father and he cares for you, and he will keep you out of the media because he's your father and he cares for you, and he will bring the right people into your life and he will lead the people away from you who aren't there for you. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:29.360 As long as you submit to the father, and it's not about my striving, it's about my acceptance. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:39.920 Lord, you accept me, you take care of me, you lead me, you guide me, you direct me, and he will make a way for us. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:46.559 God didn't save you to make you a better student, he saved you to make you a son and a daughter. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:52.799 So God also, he builds his church with doubters. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:56.000 And we live in an age of doubters. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:06.000 Uh before you think that's uh you think it's a problem, uh, because as soon as you hear doubt, you think, oh bad Brody. 00:29:07.600 --> 00:29:08.559 You doubt. 00:29:09.120 --> 00:29:15.920 But to be a person of faith, you need to ultimately forever concretely believe. 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.960 And that's a huge high mark. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:23.360 Because we can't even believe unless we have God's help to believe. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.640 Before you think it's a problem, I want to bring to your mind Thomas. 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:34.640 Because there may be some people who are doubting today, but God builds his church on this spirit. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:42.240 One of the 12 disciples, Thomas, when the others told him that they had seen Jesus arisen, he he said something very honest. 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:55.200 He said in John 20, 25, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. 00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:58.640 And he was raw about that. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:00.079 And I appreciate that. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:02.319 How many of you appreciate Thomas? 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:04.240 He was real about it. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.960 Sometimes it's good just to know where you stand. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:08.720 I need help. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:15.680 And he wasn't trying to pretend, he wasn't trying to perform or convince another person about his faith. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:21.519 And it like I am, I find myself sometimes like Thomas. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:24.160 I've been looking for a car with my daughter. 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:30.880 You go on marketplace, you look up a vehicle, and you talk to the person, and immediately I'm like, this person's a scammer. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:35.360 I doubt immediately it's in good condition. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:36.400 Is it really? 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:39.200 Has this made kilometers? 00:30:39.360 --> 00:30:39.680 Really? 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:46.079 Only highway, only driven by an old lady once, like back and forth through the grocery store. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:47.039 I doubt it. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:50.319 And I realize like I deal with doubt. 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:52.319 I'm a skeptic. 00:30:53.120 --> 00:30:55.440 I deal with that skepticism. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:31:01.600 And this is a here's a place, and this is what we see Jesus not do. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:08.480 He didn't wait for Thomas to just believe, clean up his faith, believe stronger. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:16.880 He didn't sideline him, he didn't embarrass him, he didn't cancel him for not believing or uh fast enough. 00:31:17.120 --> 00:31:22.079 Instead, eight days later, Jesus came directly to who? 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:25.920 Thomas, specifically to him. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:31.440 And he said this, Thomas, put your fingers in my hands. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:34.880 See, reach your hand into my side. 00:31:35.120 --> 00:31:44.079 And Jesus allowed him in the point of his doubt to actually encounter him based on what he needed. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:49.920 You see, what I realize is that God is not looking for ways to keep you apart from him. 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:58.799 He's actually open to that conversation with you and welcoming your skepticism and welcoming your doubt. 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:04.079 And it's okay to be in this room today and be a doubter. 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:09.680 Have your doubts, be a skeptic and have your questions. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:24.799 And God will build just as he built his church on Thomas, he will build your his church on you, and he will work with you where you're at, and he will help you where you're at. 00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:28.799 And this is exactly what a good father does. 00:32:29.120 --> 00:32:38.319 A good father doesn't cancel you, a good father welcomes you, inquires of you, uh, uh has conversation with you. 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:49.360 A good father is there to instruct you, a teacher may grade you and fail you, but a father won't do that. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:52.880 A father will say, I know what you need. 00:32:53.120 --> 00:32:59.920 A father will say, I'm coming to you, and a father will say, I'm going to help you with your unbelief. 00:33:01.120 --> 00:33:07.680 Jesus went back for Thomas the way a father goes back for a son who needs more. 00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:12.240 And there may be some in this room today who are just needing more. 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:22.160 And you're like, I know what, I know God has got me on a mission here, and I'm supposed to be building the church, I'm supposed to be advancing the kingdom, but I've got doubts. 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:27.680 And the reality is that God understands and he's willing to work with you. 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:44.079 The people who build, build, um, they don't know how the impossible will be, but will come to fruition, but they step into it and they accept it and they keep moving towards it. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:47.680 Um, there are things that have never been done that were accomplished. 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:53.200 Even this, like this last week, SpaceX, uh, how it was all over the news. 00:33:53.360 --> 00:33:57.680 And there were people who said, you'll never get a ship off the ground. 00:33:58.079 --> 00:33:59.600 You're not NASA. 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:07.920 I think he was like, Oh, I think Elon Musk was like, he went to Russia and just bought a few old rockets, started fiddling around with them. 00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.079 You're not a rocket scientist, no. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:12.319 But I got a book and I'll learn. 00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:23.199 Hire the right people, we'll do the right thing, and then oh, you'll never get a rocket into space, into the into the atmosphere, and then that happened. 00:34:23.359 --> 00:34:30.799 Well, you'll never get a rocket to go into the atmosphere and then land on a mat in the ocean, and that happened. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:32.799 Well, you'll never get into orbit. 00:34:33.039 --> 00:34:34.319 Oh, that happened. 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:37.359 You'll never get to orbit to be able to get the space station. 00:34:37.439 --> 00:34:42.239 Well, that happened just a few years ago when they rescued those guys who were stuck at the space station. 00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:46.879 Oh, you'll never get build a big ship and actually be able to deploy things into space. 00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:49.519 Well, they did like 168 launches last year. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:35:12.480 Like you just, I was listening and I'm like, how many people have to doubt before someone says, Lord, with you, the man can say things are impossible, but even in our in our in our lowest place, even in our basis place, we've proven that things can happen, that impossible things can become possible. 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:16.559 What man says is impossible, possible things can occur. 00:35:16.879 --> 00:35:23.759 But with God, with man, what man says is impossible, God says you are achievable and are possible. 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:27.839 And we can't ever let our mind limit it. 00:35:27.919 --> 00:35:37.839 The Bible says what what eye has not seen, an ear is not heard, or mind is even conceived, God has plans for you that are bigger than your own plans. 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:44.639 So my last point today is that sons dream. 00:35:45.839 --> 00:35:47.279 Sons dream. 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:53.759 Students will comply with the rules, but sons think bigger. 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:55.599 Think more. 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:07.119 What's the A? 00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:09.119 100%? 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:11.839 That's okay, I'll hit that 100%. 00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:15.759 A student says, What is the father building? 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:21.519 And what do I need to do to contribute and add and help it grow? 00:36:22.399 --> 00:36:26.079 And it's bigger than my own mind can even conceive. 00:36:26.399 --> 00:36:29.199 That is why the church was built on dreams. 00:36:29.839 --> 00:36:34.879 I will pour out on the in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. 00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:40.480 You'll have dreams, you'll have visions, you'll have prophecy. 00:36:40.799 --> 00:36:45.279 It's that prophecy, it's that dream, it's that vision that will build the church. 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:48.639 It's not about even what the world says you're able to accomplish. 00:36:48.799 --> 00:36:51.599 A teacher can only teach you what they know. 00:36:51.839 --> 00:36:59.119 You've got a father who says, I've got dreams for you, bigger than you have dreams for yourself. 00:36:59.359 --> 00:37:03.599 The church, you were in my heart before I was even in your heart. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.399 I have plans for you that go beyond man's plans. 00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:18.639 Allow my Holy Spirit to teach you all things, to accomplish all things, counsel you in all things, support you in all things. 00:37:18.879 --> 00:37:23.919 Let there be an anointing upon your life to do things that are impossible. 00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:30.480 Two people can take on a city, one person can leap over a wall, break through a troop. 00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:36.480 Like one little boy can take down a giant because I'm with you. 00:37:37.439 --> 00:37:40.480 You don't even have to throw a rock at that city wall. 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.879 All you have to do is walk around it and shout. 00:37:44.399 --> 00:37:45.679 It'll come down. 00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:57.599 Gideon, all you have to do is light a match and crack a pot, and people will run away. 00:37:58.399 --> 00:38:00.319 The victory will be yours. 00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:03.839 Shout for God has given us the city. 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:06.879 Shout for He's given us the victory. 00:38:07.439 --> 00:38:08.959 That's the heart. 00:38:09.759 --> 00:38:10.879 That's the spirit. 00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:12.959 There's a dream in you. 00:38:13.439 --> 00:38:16.639 Can this valley of dead bones live? 00:38:16.879 --> 00:38:18.879 All it is is just bones. 00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:21.039 That's the prophecy. 00:38:21.279 --> 00:38:23.679 Speak to it, and it will come to life. 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:25.519 Call it to existence. 00:38:25.759 --> 00:38:29.359 Rise up, connect bone to bone, sinew to sinew. 00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:32.719 Rise up, an army will come out of dead things. 00:38:32.959 --> 00:38:38.079 God allows, God calls through prophecy, he brings dead things to life again. 00:38:39.199 --> 00:38:41.199 Dead things to life again. 00:38:41.679 --> 00:38:44.319 What men says they're dry and parched. 00:38:44.399 --> 00:38:45.919 It's like a desert down there. 00:38:46.079 --> 00:38:47.519 God says, No, I see. 00:38:47.679 --> 00:38:50.959 I prophesy there's an army there. 00:38:53.199 --> 00:38:55.359 Dreams, don't give up on your dreams. 00:38:55.439 --> 00:38:57.839 I've watched men do it. 00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:10.159 I've watched men start with a fire, with vision, with a deep sense of what God is calling them toward, who quietly negotiated themselves down to nothing. 00:39:12.399 --> 00:39:19.839 And oftentimes it's because you know they have kids and money gets tight and their time gets squeezed. 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:26.399 And my challenge to you, men, is like Pastor Brian said today, don't give up. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:29.119 Don't give up. 00:39:29.279 --> 00:39:31.119 I'm grateful for my wife. 00:39:31.439 --> 00:39:35.199 She she puts up with my dreams. 00:39:37.439 --> 00:39:39.279 And I don't think she even puts up with that. 00:39:39.359 --> 00:39:40.639 I think she like welcomes it. 00:39:40.799 --> 00:39:54.159 We're driving home over the Coca Holla last night and uh killed about a million bugs on my windshield, silently creeping over the Coca Holla. 00:39:54.480 --> 00:40:00.799 And uh, I'm just talking to her about things, and there was never an air of judgment, there was never a thought, and I was like dreaming. 00:40:00.879 --> 00:40:06.319 And you know, dreams are kind of scary to talk about, like you can only talk about them with the right people. 00:40:06.959 --> 00:40:16.079 And I'm with her, and then Judah's in the back seat, and every now and then Judah's ears are perking up, and you know where kids are, they're always listening. 00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:26.559 And no one was saying that things are crazy, no one was saying that your dream is off, no one was saying it's too big or too small. 00:40:26.719 --> 00:40:28.559 There was just an encouragement. 00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:38.719 And I think what we need today are people in our life who are like supporting us and encouraging us and contributing to that dream that's in your life. 00:40:38.879 --> 00:40:43.039 And I want you to know you're in a place today where we believe in your dreams. 00:40:43.599 --> 00:40:47.119 And we just say, you know, have a dream for your marriage. 00:40:47.359 --> 00:40:49.519 Have a dream for your relationship. 00:40:49.759 --> 00:40:52.639 I'll tell you this: your marriages are gonna get better and better. 00:40:52.879 --> 00:40:54.159 Right, Pastor Ed? 00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:56.000 That's what Pastor Ed told me. 00:40:56.079 --> 00:40:57.839 So I'm trusting Pastor Ed today. 00:40:57.919 --> 00:41:01.199 He's like, it's better today than it was years ago. 00:41:01.439 --> 00:41:13.679