Forgotten God - Who's Guiding You?

A good guide makes all the difference. When Jason went deer hunting with a guide, he expected a doe — and ended up with a 140-class buck. The right guide put him in a better place than he ever would've found on his own.

In this final episode of our current series, we're asking the question that shapes everything else: Who — or what — is guiding your life? Your emotions? Your desires? The world's opinion? Or the Holy Spirit?

Drawing from Galatians 5, Jason walks through one of the most honest and uncomfortable assessment tools in all of Scripture. Paul lays it out plainly — the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit — and it doesn't take long to see which list is doing the guiding in your life. The good news? The Spirit doesn't ask you to will yourself into a better version of you. He simply invites you to spend time with Him.

If life feels like a fight right now, this episode is for you. And if it doesn't feel like a fight at all — this episode might be especially for you.

Visit us at Generations Cowboy Church for more info about our church or find ways you can support what God is doing at GCC!

Transcript

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Listen, so many great things happen here at this church. I say it every week because I mean it. Uh, because so many people are faithful to give, that we don't just show up, but we're willing to trust God with our finances so that we can use those finances to build his kingdom. That's one of the core values of who we say we are from the very beginning is to be a church that is kingdom-minded, that we will focus on what God has focused on and build that up. And so we do that because of you. So many of you give through the website, you give out there at the offering box on the way out. But um, I'm gonna invite our core team to come forward because to me, really, this is the big announcement. But part of it, the reality is it's possible because so many of you guys are generous with what you give and what you do, that you start to set up some of these moments. And so part of the reason I've got the core team coming is because I want you guys to understand like this thing is bigger than just me. It's bigger than just my wife, that there are other people that have played vital roles in getting the church to this space that it is right now. And I'm gonna try not to cry. Three years ago, this month, we moved to Hallsville with just a dream from God in our heart. Last August, we had our first interest meeting, and there's a couple of you here that that are August of 23, that there was about 12 people in that meeting, and there's still a few of you that are the part of that meeting. Some of you guys remember meeting over at the community center when we had service there or the little Indians preschool, and every stage we begin to see God move and bring together the pieces that he said he was going to do. Why? Because we want to be a church that's leading generations to experience Jesus. Why do we do that? Because we're legacy builders. I'm trying to build something that's going to outlive me. That's my heart. I know one day I'm not going to be here anymore. I'm trying to build something so that one day your grandkids and your great grandkids will have a space where they can come experience Jesus. And so one of the things we started doing a little over a year ago is we started praying together as a church. Three things that we were praying for. And that third thing on that list, if you guys remember, uh, if you don't, cool, you're about to get invited and you can join with us as we were praying that God would provide us land and a building to create a space that we could call home for this church, that we could create a space that would outlive us and make a legacy impact on this community long after we're gone. And so God has started to answer half of that prayer. And so, what does that tell me? That means God's not done yet because He's only halfway answered that prayer. And this past spring, we were approached about an opportunity to buy a piece of property, 40 acres and a house on it at the corner of Freak and Kimper. We started praying about it. I invited the core team to join with us. We took a week of fasting and praying specifically about this, that God, if this is your opportunity and your will, you open the door. If it's not, you close it. I'm telling a story because you need to understand the story. And I remember there was a moment where Kendra and I were at a conference, and as clear as day I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me. You make an offer, I'll take care of it. You make an offer, I'll provide. We talked about it, everybody talked about it, we prayed, we were all feeling like this is it. We made an offer. And so over the last couple months, we've been working out that offer, so to speak. And if you're like, well, man, that's scary. It is. It's we made an offer of $725,000 for 40 acres in a house. I want you guys to understand transparent as transparent can be. But the reality is, as we've been praying, as we've been making these offer, how do you know God is in it? One, he told me, one he confirmed with everybody else. And then if you want to boot in the process of praying, I want you guys to hear this to build your faith. As we were praying, before God had ever said, even yes, we're gonna sign that offer and give it away, we had two different people write checks. Didn't even know about this. One of those checks was for ten thousand dollars. So I just feel like God spoke, told me to give. Somebody else brought another check. That check had an extra zero, and they wrote a check for a hundred thousand dollars. Listen, where God opens the door, God provides. And so here we sit in this moment, beginning to realize because of generosity, because of us being um financially conservative in the way we spend money, between some of the gifts that people have come, we've already been able to put away uh almost $225,000 to be able to make a move on this property. For a church plant three years in, I don't know if you understand that. That's a God thing, not a Jason thing. That's you guys being generous to give every week. And so over the coming months, you're gonna hear about opportunities and ways we're gonna do our best to try to raise the rest of that money and get as much as we can paid down on that piece of property so then we can be ready whenever God wants to provide the other half, and that's the building we've been praying for. Amen. And so there's gonna be opportunities for you to give. We'll share some of those. There's a legacy fund already set up because why? We're here to build a legacy. I'm here to build something that will last long beyond my time here. And it's got nothing to do with me, it's got everything to do with Jesus. And I couldn't do it without these guys joining in and being a part of that. I couldn't do it without people being willing to dream and pray and serve. And we're gonna invite you into this story too. You get to be a part of building that legacy. You have that same opportunity to make your investment into something that will outlive you in your lifetime here. And I believe as we do this, God's gonna provide, he always does, and he's gonna continue to make a way, and we're gonna trust God works this out as we continue to move forward. And so that's our big news. We're supposed to close the end of August. So nothing's officially finalized yet. You know how closings go, and it's a little bit bigger on something like this. But the end of August, we are set up to close on that piece of property, and we'll have more information and more uh things as we move forward. Um, but we're excited to share this news with you because we believe it's the beginning of an answer to prayer, and it's an opportunity for you to begin to partner with us and you begin to pray, God, what would you have me do? Because God wants to use all of us here. This isn't my church, this isn't our church, this is our church. And that's our heart in prayer that we would just begin to say, God, how do you want to use me to be a part of what you're trying to do? And then trust God with that. Can we do that? Can we just pray here in this moment and just may just make this as a commitment to God here today? Father, we thank you for this moment. Thank you that you're beginning to answer prayers, that you're beginning to open doors, that you are beginning to provide in ways that are supernatural. And God, I don't need to figure out all the answers. I just need to trust you. And we just need to follow you. And we just need to listen to your voice and give where you call us to give and serve where you call us to serve, and realize that you're going to line up everything that's needed to raise the rest of that money to be able to get that property. That you're gonna begin to open doors for a building on that piece of property that's going to build a legacy that's going to last decades from now. That's going to be a life-giving space in this community where people can come and experience you, Jesus, experience your power, your grace, your hope, your life, and be transformed into the people you've created them to be. Generations that we don't even see now are going to be blessed because of what's happening in this moment. And so we give this all to you, God. Give us the grace, give us the favor, give us the courage and strength to follow you and build what you're calling us to build. And we ask it all in your name, Jesus. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. Thank you guys so much. Yeah. Yeah, I don't even know where to go. Yeah. Like this fits perfectly with our message. And so I'll say this. I'm gonna travel off my notes just a bit here on the front side, but it's okay. We'll be all right. I trust the Holy Spirit. So we're in this series called Unforgotten or Forgotten God. We have a tendency to forget about the Holy Spirit. And one of the key things about who the Holy Spirit is is he sets out to guide us and the decisions that we make. That's what we're gonna look at today. You want to know how we get to this moment where we can make an ask like that and talk about being able to purchase a piece of property in a house? The Holy Spirit has guided us to this moment. If you don't know the story, let me give you a real quick synopsis. January 1st, 2023, I'm laying in my bed. I can't go to sleep. I get up that night because I felt like the Holy Spirit was stirring something inside of me because Kendra and I had talked and prayed about planting a church for a while. January 1, 2023, overnight, I'm laying awake on the couch praying, and I felt like he said, It's time. It's time. And I said, Okay, you're guiding me. If this is what you want, you open the doors because I make a mess. I go into work the next day with my pastor. He says, Hey, let's go to lunch today. We sit down at the lunch table. The very first words out of his mouth when we sit down at the lunch table, he looks right at me. He says, Jason, what's the Lord laying on you and Kendra's heart for this year? Okay, I'm gonna, the door's open. I'm gonna keep following the guy and I just share my heart with him. And he said, Man, I am so excited for you guys. We're gonna support you, we're gonna bless you. They kept us around for about six months so that we could continue to help them and make an off-road and bring other people on. They were one of the first churches that invested into this church plant financially, where some churches get mad and territorial because you're going to do something and not helping me. They jumped all in and said, How can I help? We land here in this space, knowing nobody except my brother and sister-in-law. We start meeting in a community center. We bounce to Little Indians Preschool and start to fill that up. We're bounced to the intermediate school or the primary school, wherever they tell us to go when we need a space. And little by little by little, we see God building something. How do we get to this space? The Holy Spirit's guiding. And I'm just trying to listen and follow. That's the promise from God's Spirit for every one of us, not just some pastor or super Christian. For every one of us in the room, the Spirit promises, I will guide you. That's what Paul reminded us. Whatever situation you face, something is guiding you. For some of us, fear and anxiety guide the decisions that we make. And we don't do things because we're afraid. Or we try to take a step, like buying land, and suddenly we get a little anxious because we think about all of the things it's going to take and the amount of money that it's going to take. And what if this does work? What if it doesn't work and it's going to change things? And ah, or we let the spirit guide us and we take steps of faith, whether we're comfortable or not, and just trust and follow. And he invites every one of us in this room to let him guide us through every situation we face. Instead of allowing emotions or fear or worry or anxiety, the spirit invites us to allow love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control to guide every decision that we make. That's the promise that Paul gave us. Galatians 5.16. If you're clicking along, flipping along, we're going to look at who's your guide. In Galatians 5.16, he says this. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Who? Let the Spirit guide us. That's his promise. This is the new living translation. If you're following along, then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. This is the challenge, this is the tension in our life, is really who's guiding your life? You or God. What's guiding your life? Your emotions or your faith? Lies like we talked last week. The spirit transforms the way we think. For some of us, the lies that we believe from Satan are guiding our life. And we need the spirit to transform our thoughts with true thoughts that God thinks for us so that He can guide our life instead of lies. And so, how do we know who's guiding our life? How do we tell? I love it because Paul gets very descriptive here. And so we're going to look at what Paul begins to say about how we can tell if the spirit is guiding our life. Galatians 5:17, he says this, then the sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly. Anybody got kids that fight at home? Constantly. Right? These two forces are constantly fighting each other. So you are not free to carry out your good intentions. How do I know if I'm following the Spirit's life in my life? How do I know if he's guiding me? Here's one really easy way. Are you in a fight? If life feels like a fight, there's a good chance you're following God's lead. Because Paul just said there's going to be a war. There's going to be a constant battle between our sinful nature and what the Spirit wants to do. Anyone else feel like that fight is real in my life? There are things I want to do that I know Jesus wants me to do, and yet I find myself on the other side doing the things I know I'm not supposed to do. And there's this tension in my life of trying to figure out this. If you live in that tension, good news, you're following the Holy Spirit's guidance. Let me tell you how you cannot be following the Holy Spirit. If you never feel conviction for doing something opposite of what scripture says, you're not following him. If you're not in a fight in your life, you're not following him. The fight you lose is the fight you never engage in. Because whether you like it or not, the enemy is fighting with you. And he is fighting against you. And you will lose that fight every time if you pretend like that fight doesn't exist. The other way I can always tell if I'm following God or if I'm following Jason is if God's voice sounds a lot like my voice, then I'm not following him. For some of us, God always says the things we want him to say, and he always affirms the thing in our life that we want him to affirm. If God never challenges you in your life, then you're not following his spirit as a guide. You're following your ways, and you're trying to package it up in this nice religious package to make you feel better about what you're doing. Because somewhere, if we're following God, it should create some confrontation in our life, in our minds, in our hearts, because we recognize there may be some things I'm pursuing that God doesn't want me to pursue. And so I'm just warning you this next part, one of the things I promise in this church from the very beginning, a core value of who we are, is uncomfortably real. We're about to get uncomfortably real in the next part of this scripture. Because Paul begins to break down what it looks like to follow my sinful nature versus what it looks like to follow the Spirit and what he wants to do. And so I promise by the end of this, I'm gonna step on every single person's toes in this room, including my own, as I was writing this sermon. Amen. Okay, are you gonna get mad at me? If you are, then it's a chance to practice forgiveness. You're welcome. Like, here we go. Galatians, oh, hold on. I'm gonna jump back. I'm jumping ahead. Sorry, one second. Galatians 5:18. I gotta go here because this is one of the things we do. I'm gonna catch this verse. He says, but when you are directed by the Spirit, you're not under the obligation of the law of Moses. See, here's what happens for some people. Hear me out. This scripture's in here on purpose. I don't want to skip over it. Some people have taken this scripture and abused what it means, and they will say, Because of the work that Christ has done in your life, and you're no longer under the obligation of the law, you can live however you want to live because I'm under grace. Hear me out. That's not God's spirit, that's Satan. And that is not what this text means. It's not what it means at all. That would be what a wolf would tell you. That would not be what the good shepherd would tell you, because that is not what this text means. What this text means is that if you live by the spirit, law isn't needed. If we're about to see a description of what the flesh is versus what the spirit is. And you want me to tell you where you don't need a law? When you love people the way Jesus told you to love them, you don't need the law. Law only exists for people who want to break the law. There's nothing in scripture that's gonna say, man, you love that person way too much, and I'm mad at you about that. There's nothing in scripture that's gonna say, man, you're being way too kind with that person, and man, I'm gonna, you're way too self-controlled. Like that's not a good thing. This scripture is not a free pass to live the way you want to because of grace. The scripture is a reminder that when I follow what the Spirit's told me to do, I don't need the law because I'm following this and there's no law that's needed around it. Galatians 19, 519 says this. It says, When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, these results are very clear. What are these results? Very clear. Are you ready? Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. This is not an exhaustive list. It's just a good start. Let me tell you again, as I have before, anybody living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Why does verse 18 matter? Because it's not a free pass to live this way. Because Paul just said, if I live this way, I'm not getting the kingdom of God. And so if some of these words don't make sense to you, let's just break them down for a minute. And I'm telling you, like I said, it's about to get uncomfortable. Sexual immorality in the Greek, it's pornea. If you look at the word we use today in our language that have associated with it, it's pornography. You want a clear understanding of what Paul is talking about in this moment. That the simplest way I can break it down for you is this it is that any sexual desire we fulfill outside of the covenant marriage between a man and a woman is sexual immorality. Period. Yeah, but that's not popular in today's culture. Cool. I'm not here to preach what's popular in today's culture. I'm here to proclaim the truth of God. Why? Because there is a space or place that's going to either divide us out of God's kingdom or leave us in his kingdom. I'm fighting for life and death. I'm not fighting for making people comfortable. And so Paul is telling us any sexual desire that we try to fulfill outside of the covenant marriage of man and woman, sexual immorality. And this is the part when I was in student ministry, people used to say this all the time. Yeah, but what about? And one of the questions students would always ask me, and I know it because I get it from the parents now too, is like, where's the line at? How close can I get to the line and not cross over to sin? Right? Like, what can I get away with? Hear me out. If that's the question you're asking, you've already lost. Because the goal is never about how close to sin I can get without crossing the line. The goal is how close did I get to Jesus without ever getting close to sin. Paul did not say entertain sexual sin. Scripture actually tells us to flee from sexual immorality. It doesn't say see how close to the line I can get. It says get as far away from it as you can because it will trap you. So what are you saying, Pastor? Like, I'm saying, I have people all the time, well, like we live together, but we're not having sex. Like, I love you, but like I'm just telling you, there's not too many people I know that have the ability to not cross that line when you stick them in a house together. That God created the marriage covenant to be between a man and a woman for life. And anything outside of that opens up the door to something dangerous in our life. Impurity that he talks about. And that's bigger than that, but it's sexual sins, evil behavior, or ungodly motives. So he's talking about man, how do I know if I'm in this area? Do I do this to love God more or do I do this to get what I want? And if I'm doing this and it doesn't cause me to love God more, then maybe I don't need it in my life. Lustful pleasures basically break down to shameful behaviors that lack self-control. There's no shame and there's no public decency. This is the part where it's just about to get uncomfortable, okay? This is the culture we live in right now. Things sexually, there is no shame anymore. And there's not no such thing as public decency in today's world. In fact, if you would watch the news and watch articles that are being written right now, there are literally people out there arguing that we normalize sex with minors for adults because it's just the way we're made. This is happening in our culture right now. And I know again, people say, Pastor, you shouldn't get political. I'm not getting political. Politics crossed into my world, and I have to preach the truth. We live Pride Month right now. You can't say this. I'm going to. Pride month has gone to, you can literally follow a calendar if you want to go look to incorporate almost one-third of the calendar year in some way. That we celebrate something sexually that is outside of God's design for us in our culture that we live in. So we have to talk about these things. Because if we don't, the world is already filling our kids' hearts and minds with these things. In fact, I saw a stat the other day that said, by the age 13, at the latest, your kid has been exposed to porn, but it's probably happened somewhere between eight or 13. So somewhere in there, if you're not having that conversation with your kids in some way, you better start having that conversation because somebody else is having it for your kids for you, and you don't even realize it. And we want to blame this all on the other side, the Pride Month, right? Listen, if you have a porn problem, you're the same person contributing to the same problem. We always say, man, it's just not hurting anybody but me. No, it's hurting everybody, including you. Let's keep going. I promised uncomfortable, right? Idolatry, anything that competes against Jesus being the greatest affection in our life. So what do you mean? Like, I'm not talking about wooden idols or metal idols that we worship. Our idols look like this little white golf ball that we trace around on a golf course that takes me away from my commitment to my faith in Jesus and being able to serve in the church. Or take your pick, hunting, fishing. I get every now and then, cool, go. But when fall rolls around and you disappear for three months, because I got to track deer on the weekends to make sure that I'm ready for that hunt, then maybe there's an idol in our life that is more important than our faith in Jesus. Sports that we take our kids to everywhere. Cool, play sports. It's not a sin, but when sports becomes the idol that is more important than your kids growing in their faith. And if you're wondering, then just hear me out. Do you invest in your kids' faith the same way you invest in their athletic abilities? And if the answer is no, then maybe we need to change what we're investing in because we have an idol in our life. Some of us, our idol is rest and comfort and complacency. I have people literally tell me, man, it's just it's been a busy week. I'm tired. I can't come to church today. If you're too tired to come to church, then maybe your life is too full of some other things that you need to cut out of your life so you can't have room to come to church. To invest in your faith. Idolatry, sorcery, witchcraft, spiritism, black magic, take your pick, horoscope, sweeies boards. Like if you follow Aaron Rodgers, that dude literally does hallucinogenic drugs because it says he gets to a spiritual place and makes him a better quarterback. This is the world we live in. Those are the things we should not dabble in as Christians. They have no place in our life. They open up doors to things in our life that we don't want to open up doors to. Hostility, quarreling, I think that one's pretty self-evident. If you love to create tension, if you love to poke the bear, if if you love a good argument, you might be in that camp. Outbursts of anger. We live in a world everywhere you go. Like if you haven't watched politics over the last week, I've watched grown men and women on the political spectrum right now yelling at each other as they're in our Congress and Senate this week. If you don't believe me, you can go find it. Like it's it's happening right now. Grown adults that are representing this country are yelling and screaming at each other when they should be running the affairs of this country. And we wonder why we can't get anything done. Selfish ambition, no consideration for God or others. We live in the most narcissistic society that has ever existed in human history. We've made it all about me. Do you ever stop to consider what God wants or what somebody else wants, or is it always what I want? Dissension, creating elite groups or false teachings in the church, division, sowing those ideas to divide people in the church. We're reading in Proverbs this week. One of the things God says He hates, literally, one of the seven things in Proverbs God hates is somebody who creates division. I didn't say it, God said it. Envy, a jealous dislike of another person. All you gotta do is get on social media and you start to not like somebody because of the things they post because you don't have it or you don't look the way they do. Drunkenness, pretty clear, man. If you can't identify when you're drunk, you probably got a problem. Wild parties. Paul said these things are clear that this is not God's will. This is not his purpose, this is not his plan. Those things are what the enemy does. And we live in a culture that's tried to justify them and say, this is okay in your life because God loves you. There's a word for that. It's called toxic empathy. It's a deception of the enemy. To keep Christians like you and I silent on issues where we should speak because we're afraid to, because somebody on the other side is going to call us a bigot or call us judgmental, or they're going to cancel us or take your pick. When God speaks on something, we have to stand on something. And I'm just willing to step into the uncomfortable space because I'm not judging a single person in this room, because without Jesus in my life, that list is who I am. But because Jesus is in my life, that list is what I'm trying to get away from in my life. And I don't say these things to judge you in any way, shape, or form. I say these things because I love you. Jesus loves you. And I want God's best for your life. And you can't experience his best if you're following that list. It's impossible. And so he goes on to say Galatians 5, 22 and 23. How do we find his best? But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. You do these things, you don't need the law. The spirit's desires at the center of my life. When the spirit's desires are there, when the spirit's desires are at the center of my life, this is what my life looks like. Love. Why do we love big? Because that's when the spirit's desire is at work in our life, I learn to love the way Jesus told me to love instead of loving like the world does. Why do I need his spirit to guide me? Because to be honest with you, I'm not good at loving certain people. If I can just be honest, I need his love to help me love the way he calls me to love. It's an unselfish care for others. Joy. There's a joy that fills our life when we are guided by the Holy Spirit. And that's a joy that comes from the inside, not from the circumstances around us lining up the way we want them to. We keep chasing something to bring us joy when the Spirit is trying to remind us if you just let me in your life and lead you, you'll find joy. Because it's not making it somewhere in life to gain joy, it's recognizing no matter where I go, I can have joy. Peace does not come from the right set of circumstances in our life. Anyone a control freak in here? Okay, a couple of you. Thanks for being honest. That's okay. Let me just tell you right now, for all of you control freaks, peace will never come when everything happens the way you want it to happen. Because peace is not in your circumstances, peace is in the person named Jesus who's leading and guiding you. You don't experience peace, quit trying to be in control and let him be in control. Patience. That's one of those words I hear people say all the time. Don't pray for patience, right? The new, the King James Version, I love what it calls patience. I think it's probably a more accurate description for us to get it. It calls it long suffering. I know everybody's like, I ain't signing up for that. You want to know how you gain patience? It's long suffering in the right direction with Jesus. And here's the funny thing: you're gonna suffer no matter what in this life. We try to avoid the thing that is actually God gives to us to create patience so that we can learn to suffer long with Him in the right direction instead of suffering the consequences for our sins going in the wrong direction. Long suffering literally means I saw one person write it this way: long suffering or patience is how you act while you wait on Jesus. How many of you guys are waiting on Jesus to do something? Long suffering. How many of you guys, there are some people in your life that annoy you? Long suffering. Listen to me. If if somebody's annoying you, uh news flash, it's not their problem, it's your problem. Stop letting them annoy you. Yeah, but you haven't heard my spouse eat chips around me. I know. I know I play the drums on everything, just stop tapping. Long suffering in the right direction. Isn't somebody else acting the way you need them to? So you can be patient. It's learning to be patient no matter what the situation is. Kids, if you're listening right now, do not go home and try that on your parents. It's probably not gonna turn out very well for you if you try that. When your parents say, Stop because you're annoying me, and you say, Long suffering, it's gonna get longer suffering for you. I'm gonna guess. I'm just gonna guess. You can try it at your own risk, and I'm not responsible for what happens if you do. Kindness, being considerate for others, goodness, doing what is right and beneficial for others and not just for me. Faithfulness, firm and unwavering devotion or commitment to God, gentleness, gentleness to those who don't deserve it. Here's the funny thing to me. I hear people say to me, like, you just need to be a little kinder or a little more gentle. But maybe those moments are also an opportunity for us to be kind or gentle to the person that we're asking for kindness and gentleness from. Because it's not what can I get from you, it's what can I give to you, whether or not you give it to me or not. And probably the biggest one that we don't like to talk about. But to be honest with you, I think it makes all the other fruit possible in our life is self-control. You want to know why you need self-control? Because if you don't have it, you'll never give in to peace. You'll live in anxiety and worry because you will let anxiety and worry control every thought you have. And if it's in control, God's spirit's not, and that is called self-control. You won't be kind or gentle with somebody that's not kind and gentle with you unless you learn self-control. The most scary person in any situation in my life is never the loudest, most obnoxious person in the room. The scariest person to me is the quietest person in the room that in the middle of all the things that should be creating anger and chaos in their lives, they stay calm and respond. That person is the most intimidating person in the room. Because they've learned to control themselves versus allowing the environment to control them. And so here we sit in this moment, Galatians 5, 24 and 25. Those who belong to Christ, again, if you still don't believe me in everything I'm building, I'm just giving you scripture. You can argue with God about it. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of the sinful nature to the cross and crucified them there. They are not things to pursue, Paul is saying, You have nailed them to the cross, you die to them, and you live to the Spirit. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. If you have not figured this out, desire guides our lives in every decision that we make. And desires shape, desires are shaped by what we spend time with. I'll say that one more time. Your desires are shaped by what you spend time with. You scroll endlessly on social media, it's gonna shape the desires of your life. Inevitable. You search for compromising things on the internet, you're gonna feed that to grow more. Why? Because desires determine the direction of your life. And so the invitation from God, from his spirit, is to surrender these desires to him, to lay them down, to spend time with Jesus. He says that if you want to do these things, he's not saying try harder, he's saying it's fruit of the spirit, it's a byproduct of being in my presence. Spend time with Jesus. Why are we doing a reading plan to get into scripture? Because we need to spend time with Jesus. And one of the best ways to do that is open up the Bible and read his words. Why is church so important? Because the world is coming at us from a hundred different directions, and we need this time and space to silence everything else and to focus on God in this moment and spend time with him so I can become who he's called me to be. Why do we need more groups? Because we need more than just Sundays. I need somebody on a Wednesday or a Thursday or a weekend to remind me what it's like to live for Jesus and follow him. I need to be challenged. And so the question is who or what is guiding your life? Who or what is guiding your life? If you haven't figured this out, the only thing that separates man from the rest of nature is that we have ability to control our desires, and everything else in nature is taught to act on your desires. You don't believe me? What happens every deer season? Come fall. This weird thing called the rut. That big boy's brain shuts off. He's thinking about one thing, and he's thinking about wherever he can get it. Why? Because he's controlled by that desire that is planted inside of him. We are the one species with an invitation from God to not just give in to every desire that we feel, but to operate in self-control from the Holy Spirit to live the way God is calling us to live. If you haven't figured this out, not every desire in your life needs to be acted on. Sometimes people don't understand that. I have the desire to throat punch stupid people. Nobody in this room, I'm just saying. Why do we need these moments? We need somebody to enter in the uncomfortable truth. Because where the world would tell us, give into this thing for life, God would tell us, crucify that thing and come find life over here. I want God's life. I want God's best for you. And I've seen that other list, and I've seen every life that has ever come to me that's broken, that's falling apart. It was somewhere on that other list. Some desire, some urge, some something that the world said, if you give into this, it will fulfill you. And they realized all it did was left a big gaping hole in their life, and their life fell apart pursuing those things. Why? Because that's death packaged is life. And God would say, Come find my life and experience life the way I want for you, so that you can have not just eternal life, but let that life begin to be experienced in this world that you live in. To have life in your marriage, to have life in your relationships, to have life as a parent with your kids, to have life in the things that you do. That's what God wants for you to have life. So with every head bowed, every eye closed, nobody looking around. I feel like the perfect way to have this conversation would be to say this. Do you want the eternal life that God has for you? Maybe you've never really made that surrender. You've been living your way, you've been living whatever way the world tells you should fill you up and satisfy you, and yet you recognize you're empty and broken. And even in that space, let me tell you, that's a gift and grace from God. Because he's waiting right here, right now. If you would just surrender your life to him and choose to follow him instead of every other thing, you can have that eternal life right now in this moment today. And so maybe you're here in this place and you have never surrendered your life to Jesus before. Maybe you made that decision a long time ago, but you know you're really not following him right now. You're following what you want. If you're here today and you want to make a commitment to surrender your life to Jesus and follow him for the first time, or maybe for a recommitment. If that's you, would you just slip your hand up so I could pray with you? I see your hand. Who else? I see your hand. Who else? I see your hand. See your hand. Can we just join in prayer together? Nothing magical, but if you mean these words, this is the grace of God. This is the path towards eternal life. And so let's just pray this prayer together all across this place if we can. But dear Jesus, I need you to come into my life to forgive me of my sins and make me brand new. I believe you died for me and rose again. Help me to love you, help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen. Is it really that simple? It really is. What do I do next? Well, one, prepare yourself. You're gonna mess up. When you do, run to Jesus, don't run away from him. When you mess up, run to somebody else that loves Jesus and tell them and let them encourage you and help you. What do you do next? Get baptized next week. That's always a great next step. Find a place to get plugged in and somebody to disciple you and help you grow. Find a place to serve and become part of what God is doing to reach other people. Those are all great next steps. As we get ready to sing this song here in a moment, I'm gonna invite some of my friends to come forward for prayer. And if you're here today, here's the challenge that I want to give to you as they're coming forward is this who's guiding your life? That's my question to you. Who's guiding your life? What's guiding your life? Let's stand all across this place. And as we sing this song, if something other than the Spirit of God is guiding your life, I want to invite you to take a moment, do a really brave thing, step out and take a step of faith, come down and let one of my friends pray with you, and surrender that thing to God and ask him to help you follow him instead of what the world is telling you to follow. As we sing this song, can we just take a moment and do this together here? If you need prayer, make your way down. Let somebody pray with you. Don't miss an opportunity to connect with somebody.