Luke 17

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We are in Luke chapter 17. We're going to be in verse 1 today. It says, one day Jesus said to his disciples, Now, I want to remind you who has been around him throughout this time. Jesus has been ministering to the lowlifes, as the Pharisees would want you to believe, right? And so there's crowds around Jesus. There's also Pharisees around Jesus. They've been trying to trip him up. And Jesus has had moments where he's talking to his disciples and then talking to the Pharisee, and then sometimes talking to the crowds. So one day Jesus said to his disciples, There will always be temptations to sin. There's going to be some versions, some translations you might read, there will always be offenses. But what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting? That word tempting right there is the word scandalon, like in the Greek. And it was used as like a bait stick that was used to draw prey into a cage, to ensnare, to trap prey, right? And so this is the word being used there. He says, What sorrows awaits? Now listen, there will always be temptations to sin. There will all be opportunities, always be opportunities to be offended. Those are going to come. Listen, if you do a dive on, there will always be, it means it is inevitable that sin will come your way. Like, listen, until you die and go to heaven, you're going to deal with stuff. You won't always get it right. The grace of God, where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. But just because this grace abounds doesn't mean we keep on sinning. But there's a recognition. Now, here's a big deal. But what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting, who's baiting you in to go off the path of what God has for you. What sorrow awaits for that person? Check this out. It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck that then to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. Man, that is gangster. Anybody read that? And you're like, Jesus is not playing. I was talking to my son. You guys know this, he crawls up in my lap on Sunday mornings. I get up really early. He does the same. And he crawled next to me. What are you preaching about this week? And I'll share it with him. And we're talking about millstones. As a millstone, this huge stone. And he was just remembering, just recently, seeing the star, the movie The Star again, where there's this donkey, and he's pulling this huge stone that weighs several hundred pounds around, like milling the wheat, milling the grain. I said, Bear, I said, Jesus is saying that somebody that causes others to sin, that ensnares them, it would be better for them that that stone be wrapped around their neck and them be put in the sea than what God's going to do. I like warm, fuzzy Jesus. But you know, I read that, and you know what it makes me do? It makes me want to make sure that I study the word thoroughly, that what I share with you is not a snare to you, but it's freedom and life to you. And not everybody operates like that. Can I just tell you really quickly? There are people that have large platforms, but they have no fruit. And there's a lot of people that use avenues that could be great tools like TikTok or Instagram, and they've got a lot of followers, but they're not preaching the Bible. They're preaching things that tickle the ears, and they're an ensnarment to us. If we will not, listen, I'm I'm done trying to give you all the easy ways to read the word. You can listen to it online. You can have Snoop Dogg read it to you now. There's an app for that. There's all these things. I'm telling you, just get in the word. When you're a follower of Jesus, I don't care if you enjoy reading, I don't enjoy reading. Listen, in high school, just just just the insight in the life of Joey. I took French class and I was not good at it. I'm not bueno, which is not even French, right? Like I was not good at it. And we had to do a book report every year, and this, and every year I did this, I did the same teacher all three years. I did the same book every year. Because I hate reading. Third year she called on. Joey, I think you've done this before. Well, you busted me. But freshman year and sophomore year, my grade is locked in, baby. So I I don't feel like anymore I'm gonna try to find ways to finesse you or to talk you or to try to tease the senses into getting in the word. Now listen, if you are searching out your faith, then then this this is not a moment where I'm talking directly to you. Get in the word, find out what it says, ask questions of it. We should always be asking questions of the word. But if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, I should not have to entice you to get into his love letter for you. It's written to you, but it but it's written for you, but it wasn't written to you, right? We say that a lot. And so I get frustrated because there's people that will steer people wrong on these different platforms. And I don't think they know what they're doing because they if they would come across a verse like this, you would pump the brakes. You with me on that? It would be better to be thrown into the sea with the millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. I have so long read that and be like, man, if I tempt a kid to sin, but that's not the implication because there's no children in the cloud in the crowd. What Jesus is saying is there's people in the crowd, there are these sinners that the Pharisees keep dogging him about, hanging out with, that they are young in their faith, they're curious in their faith, they're just finding out who Jesus is, they're just discovering the gospel, they're just discovering there's a God who loves them, they're just discovering that God is real and he's not legalistic. They're just finding out these things. And the whole time Jesus is saying the truth about who he is and about who the Father is, the Pharisees keep throwing out these things to try to trip Jesus up. And in the meantime, he's probably, they're probably tripping up some of these young in the faith, the little ones in the faith. And so listen, this would have been offensive to the Pharisees because shots are fired. They know Jesus is talking about them. Hey, don't you ensnare any of these little ones, or you're gonna have a millstone hungry? It'll be better for you if that happened. And they would have been, oh, I'm offended. Well, good, because that's what you're doing to all these other people. You're causing offense. You're causing them to sin, you're leading them into it, you're trapping them into it. What God does not have best for them, right? Sin is an illegitimate attempt to meet a legitimate need. You're trying to do with sin what only God can do for you, right? You fall into addiction. There's something you're trying to get healed or cover or or or medicate in your heart when only God can do that. You with me on that, church? Yes, sin is an illegitimate attempt to meet a legitimate need. And so listen, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Listen, can I be real with you? There's been times I had a hard day, and instead of going to the feet of Jesus, I went to the front of the pantry. Oh, I'm the only one that eats like that. Okay, okay, good. Well, I'm exposed now. Boom, got me. But there's times where I've run to food rather than running to the feet of Jesus. There's times when I would rather binge watch something than to get into the word. Listen, anybody else other than me? And so it's it's not that those things are bad. Food's not bad for me, but but I have to understand like it's not a substitute for Jesus. I can't make an idol out of my wife because she can't do what Jesus can do. And so if I'm running to her before I run to God, I'm putting on her shoulders what's not hers to carry. And then I'll get offended at her because she can't do what only God can do. And now I'm mad at her for what I did. I feel a little fired up today. You okay? We'll go there together. Don't worry, all the toes. We're coming for all the toes today. So watch yourself, verse 3. So watch yourselves. If another believer sins, rebuke that person. Then therefore his repentance, forgive. Let's so look, so watch yourselves. No, let's stay right there just for a minute. Uh if another believer sins, rebuke that person. Well, Joey, I thought we're not supposed to judge. We're not condemning people to hell by saying, hey, listen, the other week you said these words to me, and man, it hurt my heart. The other week this happened and you did this. I don't know that you did that you know that you did this, but I gotta share with you. I don't I don't want to live in this offense. I need to bring to you as a brother in Christ. Like when you read rebuke, anybody read rebuke and you think of somebody that's that's standing up higher than the other person and wagging a finger? Does rebuke evoke that imagery, right? I rebuke you in the name of Jesus, right? And you're wagging your finger and pointing, and you have your gospel voice on. Rebuke you in the name of Jesus, right? That's the mindset. No, it's like I'm just hey, I'm telling you, as somebody that loves you and wants God's best for you, what you did hurt my heart. And and so listen, I just want to, or it could be a sin that's going on in their life. Man, listen, I see you operating in anger. I don't know if you recognize that, but you're operating in anger and you're hurting those that love you and that love God. And they have the opportunity to say, man, let me let me what? Repent. Let me turn the other way. Not I'm sorry I got called out. Family, the church, if we're ever to grow, at some point we have to have what's called accountability. And I know that accountability sounds scary when there's been spiritual abuses in the church. Come on, let's get real. Listen, there's some places where a pastor will call everybody else out, but he won't look at any of the sin going on in his life. Right? Come on, he'll be pointing at all the sins and yelling at all the sins that he doesn't commit. And so we have to have an accountability in our lives. I look at this, I'm like, okay, so Jesus is getting real. He's talking to his disciples. So watch yourselves. If another per if another believer sins, rebuke that person, then if there's repentance, forgive. This is relational. This is relational. I'm not holding the higher moral authority. I am loving you. You are loving me. And there might be times where we disagree, right? It's like, man, you know what, man, I am so sorry that hit you that way. That was not my intent. Here was the day I was having, but man, it hit you like that, and that was not my heart. I am sorry. Right? Or sometimes you weren't sorry. You was like, no, I meant what I said. Maybe there was a better way I could say it. Let's go to the next verse. Verse 4 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks for forgiveness, you what? Must forgive. You must forgive. Even that person, so the rabbis that would teach in that day, they taught that three was the limit. You forgave three times per person, and that was the quote. Oh, you reached your quota. I ain't forgiving you no more. And three times was like super generous for the you know put-together believer, right? For the put put-together uh follower of Yahweh. Three times you wrong me three times, I'm gonna forgive you. Cause I'm good like that. You go to a fourth time, you are cut off from my life forever. And I will hold this offense till the day I die. Right? Jesus says, even if that person wrongs you seven times a day, so they were literal, the rabbis were literal about three. Jesus was using a hyperbole on seven. Because what he's saying, and that using that number of completeness is forgiveness is the lifestyle of the believer. It's not a favor we give to people. Come on, like you forgive somebody, say, I'm gonna do you this favor just this once. I'm gonna forgive you right quick. Because you were all kinds of wrong. But I'm very gracious. I'm gonna do you this favor right. Has anybody ever helped you in life? And you think, man, I'm just blessed they're giving me their help. And then later on, it goes, man, you owe me one now. Yikes! Like, forgiveness doesn't operate like that. The lifestyle of the believer. Now listen, the lifestyle of the believer is to forgive. Our default is to forgive. Forgiveness is not an emotional decision, it's a choice of the will. The apostles, this is I sometimes they say stuff and you're like, that was so real. I so appreciate that Luke recorded this. The apostles said to the Lord, show us how to increase our faith. He tells the disciples, you're gonna have to forgive seven times. They offend you seven times, they they they wrong you seven times. Listen, and they turn around and ask for forgiveness. You must forgive them. Your lifestyle is forgiveness. And the disciples hear that and like, oh, please increase our faith. How do we increase our faith? Why do they associate faith with forgiveness? You ever connect the dots on that? They're associating faith with forgiveness. Lord, help me to have more grace. That's what I would have thought. They're like, no, increase our faith. Why? Because to forgive somebody and live a lifestyle of forgiveness, you have to trust that God is good and that when you hand people over to Him, that He is just, that He is right, and that He's gonna do the thing. Unforgiveness is often the point where we say, no, I want to be the judge, the jury, the executioner, because I don't trust God to do what's right in this situation. Unforgiveness is you deeming God not worthy to be judged, and you elevate yourself as more righteous to be the judge of their life. But the problem is when you do that, you then can't be forgiven of any of the wrongs that you've done. So you can be judged if you want to be judged, but then that means you're also going to be judged. And so I have to have faith when I forgive somebody, not because I'm saying, hey, I forgive you, what you did was okay, but no, God, I value relationship with you more than being right in this circumstance. So I'm taking them off my hook, I'm putting them on your hook, regardless of what their response is to me. Because for me to forgive somebody, it does not matter what their response is. It only matters what I do with the offense. To say to somebody, hey, I'm gonna choose to forgive you. I don't need to hear them ask me for forgiveness before I choose to forgive them. Some of y'all are waiting for a request that will never come and you're living in bitterness as lifestyle rather than forgiveness as lifestyle. And you wonder why you feel exhausted and you wonder why you feel tired. It's because you're carrying the weight of God on your shoulders and calling it justice. Y'all still good today? We're gonna have soup in a couple weeks. It'll be great. Don't worry. It's gonna be glorious. Faith, show us how to increase our faith. Check this out. The Lord answered, man, I love, I love this answer. The Lord answered, if you had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, whoo, that's a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, teeny, tiny little seed. You could say to this mulberry tree, may you be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. I I think it's always interesting. I'll read something like mulberry tree, I'm like, that's a weird, right? Anyone else other than me, like, everything you could pull up, like, you know, you only got pine trees? Like, I don't know, like, what could we pull up? But mulberry trees is interesting that he uses because a mulberry tree, they would have known this, like their roots can grow on average six feet down and up to 25 feet out from the trunk of the tree. You're gonna uproot a mulberry tree, you got war like just tons of work, crazy amounts of work. If you had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you could do this impossible task. Now, like, is there anybody that has a gardening service that just goes around with faith and just be pulling up plants for people by faith? No, right? That's not like supernatural gardeners. It's not a thing that would be awesome, and that TikTok would blow up, but could you imagine? And but he he's not being literal, but what he's saying is even with the smallest faith, supernatural is possible. How God, how can I increase my faith? And he comes back with listen, even with small faith, can I tell you something? It's not the thing, the size of your faith, it's what it's attached to that matters. You just I need you to hear that. It's not the size of your faith, it's just what it's attached to that matters. Man, little seed, little itty, itty, itty, bitty seed. You know, there's another there's another passage that kind of mirrors this one where Jesus says, you know, say to that mountain, be removed, and it will lift up and be sent into the sea. Like, is that legit, God? Could I move it? Man, the the the ability, the supernatural ability that is available when faith is engaged, and when faith, even a little bit, is put in the right place. Because it's not on me to do the supernatural, it's my what's on me, it's my responsibility to take my faith, however much it may be, and put it in what's trustworthy. I uh I kept thinking about this because I feel like there is a war on faith right now. Set up. Help us increase our faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says, For we walk by faith and not by sight. So I read that and I think to myself, well, then faith and sight are at odds. Right? A walk by faith and not by sight. If I'm walking by faith and not by sight, he's telling me to do that for a reason. Why? Because my eyes are telling me one thing, but faith is telling me something different. Right? And we're in a season right now. Listen, I am curious how many people have fallen away and walked away from the faith because their eyes were focused on a screen and not focused on a savior. They their eyes, their eyes took took took dominance over their faith. And so I'm gonna feed my eyes, I'm gonna feed my eyes, I'm gonna feed my eyes. Every so often, oh, I walk by faith, not by sight. Okay, I'm gonna feed my eyes, I'm gonna feed everything that's going wrong in the world, everything that's heinous and evil and jacked up is now caught on video. You watch it with your eyes, and like, well, all hell's breaking loose. And your faith begins getting weaker and weaker and more apathetic, and then you look around and like, man, I don't know why I feel so distanced from God. It's because you're not living by faith or walking by faith, you're walking by sight. And so all the enemy has to do is feed you images to get you further from the Father. When he says, no, walk by faith, not by sight. He needs, he was desiring a bride, a church that walks by faith and not by sight. Because if I walk by sight, I'm like, nah, this world's too messed up. Too many things are going wrong. This country is too far gone. Our community, like, what is happening? Can't even grieve at death without pointing a finger. We're in a world right now where it's like, man, we're just gonna feed all these visuals to break it, and it's it's an attack from the enemy, and we indulge it. We just like, man, we can't we can't get enough. There, even when there are studies that say, listen, the kind of dopamine hits that your brain gets from this kind of stuff. Just little micro hits, micro hits, micro hits. And you're like, man, I have such a hard time getting into the word. It's because you're trying to pleasure yourself rather than to get closer with the father. Everything I'm saying to you, I I I I'm walking through. I'm walking through in real time. There's moments, there's days where I'm like you see a tragedy, like I just can't I can't I can't watch it, I can't look at anything else. Not because I don't care, but because I was never created to have the information of the world right in front of me in the palm of my hand. And you know what happens is you'll do that and you'll get into you'll get so introspective, you'll get so isolated that you will become absolutely paralyzed from doing anything for God. Instead of being a bringer of hope, you'll be one that just marinates in hopelessness. And then you think the way out is just to scroll a little bit more. There's these phones, I don't know if they're still around, they're called a jitterbug. It's like a flip phone and the numbers. You heard my wife say, Oh yeah, because she wanted a jitterbug. My wife's Facebook picture is from like before we had two of our kids. She hadn't been on there forever. And you know what I find out about her life? It seems to be the better for it. How will we stay connected? I don't know, bro. Generations of people survived without it. Generations of people survived. If you can't, listen, I'm gonna say this. If you can't handle it, put it down. If it's an addiction, if you gotta reach for it in the morning before you go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, get a cup of coffee, it's an addiction. You show me what you reach for first, I'll tell you where your heart's at. Come on. This is why the world is confused by the church because we talk about good news, but we live like there's none. That's what we call a Christian atheist. I follow Jesus, but I don't believe he really does anything. I follow, I serve, I serve Jesus, but then I don't do anything that looks like Jesus. Christian atheist. I'll try to think of a joke in a minute to break the ice, but you'll be okay till then. I love the apostles. Show us how to increase our faith, and Jesus tells them about the mustard seed. Let's go to verse 7. When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, Come in and eat with me? No. He says, Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later. And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me, you should say, We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty. Let's stop right there. If you read that and that offends you, that's a good place to stop and keep reading. Just read it over and over. We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty. We don't like calling ourselves that, but can I tell you something? Isaiah didn't get in the presence of God and say, I am dead. He didn't get in the presence of God and see his worth. He got in the presence of God and said, I am dead because what's in me should not even be in his presence. I'm a man of unclean lips, and from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And what he's saying is, I have an unclean heart and I'm in front of a holy God, then I should be dead right now. But what does God do? He sends an angel with coal to touch his lips to bring purification to his heart. It's not about my worth. I am not worthy, but I want to tell you something. We are in a moment and time where sometimes we feel like if I serve God, then he'll owe me one. So what we do is we serve God trying to manipulate him and then call it ministry. And that's a problem because God owes me nothing when he's already given me everything. If I'm an heir to the king and he calls me an heir and he's adopted me as his own, he's given me everything, he's given me eternal life, he's forgiven me of my sins. I don't he doesn't owe me a thing. I serve because he is served worthy always. My life is about him, my ministry is about everything I do. I don't need to serve to get something from him because I've got everything from him already. But we get twisted and we think, man, I don't have as much as that person, I don't have as much as that person. Maybe if I do this for God, then I'll get a breakthrough at work. Maybe if I do that for God, maybe I'll get a little bit further in this relationship. God, I just want to serve you because I love you and you're worthy, and I'm not. But even in my unworthiness, you still loved me and you came after me, the one lost sheep that was just a dummy doing dumb things and foolish, and you still came and found me? Come on, family. I gotta say it because, but even though it seems obvious, he's not saying it if nobody's doing this. Jesus doesn't say things that are not relevant. So if he says it, it's relevant. Right? Let's go to verse 11 real quick. I got I gotta speed up. As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village, there ten men with leprosy stood at a distance. Why do they stand at a distance? Because they're unclean. You have leprosy, that's the rules. You stay away. So they're at a distance. Also, you notice there that he was on the border between Galilee and Samaria. This was not an often used trail because there was so much tension between the Jews and the Samaritans. It's a place of tension. As he entered the village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out. Think about this. They're a couple hundred yards away. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And he looked at them and said, Go show yourselves to the priests. As they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. As they what? As they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. Faith precedes transformation. Faith precedes transformation. It comes before it. Only have a little faith. Put your faith in the right thing. Faith precedes transformation. God want to trust you. Things don't look trustworthy, but I'm going to trust you right now. I'm going to walk by faith. I'm not by sight. And as we do that, then transformation comes. God, could you change my heart and then I'll do this? God, could you transform my mind? Then I'll do this. No, just with what faith you have, begin taking the steps towards Him. Is this landing for anybody today? Okay. Go show yourself to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. Next verse. One of them. One of them. Just one of them. When he saw that he was healed. I think we read that. And we read it quick and we don't think about like the hell on earth that this man was in. Can't hug your kid. Can't hug your wife. You've got parents, can't can't embrace them, can't be close to anybody. If you were to be a person that would go to the synagogue, you can't go to the synagogue. But we find out this is not one that would go to a synagogue in the first place. Shouting, Praise God, like his whole life had just changed. His death sentence was lifted. He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he'd done. This man was a Samaritan. So this is like bananas moment. The Jews waiting on the Messiah. Any of those in that ten that were Jews, they didn't come back. They went to the priest, but the Samaritans, like, no, no, no, no. I don't know about this priest, but I'm coming back to the man who just made this happen. Praise God. And he fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. You look in this passage, you see Jesus talking about faithfulness, forgiveness, and thankfulness. Maybe I got this out of order. Forgiveness, faithfulness, and thankfulness. So he's talking about thankfulness right here. Then Jesus asked, verse 17, Didn't I heal 10 men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And Jesus said to the man, stand up and go, your faith has healed you. Reading through Genesis right now, and uh I was looking, I was reading through Abraham's life, and you'd see moments where incredible things would happen between him and God. And he had set up an altar there. And you read a few verses later, and he set up an altar there to praise. And one of the purposes of an altar is to establish what God had done in that moment, but it's also to remind you when you walk back by, you can tell your kids and your kids' kids that's where it happened. Man, there's so much that we look at and we're like, God, I rush past thankfulness. I get into what I need next and forget about what you did last. Can I just push on you for a minute? We get so future focused that we stop giving thanks for what God has done because we're hoping that He's going to do something next. And there's a satisfaction and assaciation to my spirit when I look back over my life and say, God, thank you. This time a year ago, this place that we're in right now, like, it's like, God, is this gonna happen? I don't know. I mean, down to the last minute. I listen, I remember the day we were supposed to sign papers, and then all of a sudden we're like, oh my gosh, the flood insurance. I don't know how that all came about. I had him on the phone for hours, like calling. What was that guy's name? Bjorn. Got on the phone with Bjorn, God's servant. Flood insurance. God putting our path Richard in the back right now. Like I think about it like it's crazy that you're here today, but I'm I'm just thinking about things I'm thankful for. How God puts you in a place to help this family get to where it was supposed to be. I just I just stopped and I was like, God man, there's so much I need to thank you for. I haven't thanked you in forever. Like when my oldest daughter, when she was little, there was a moment where she almost drowned in the pool, but God spared her. My son asked me this week, Dad, what was the scariest thing that happened in your life, the scariest moment for you? I was like, man, I remember the time where I almost drowned. I was telling him the story of that happening. And there's just these things. I think about like when my wife was pregnant with our second daughter and her appendix had ruptured, and they had to rush her back to surgery, and the doctor's like, if we don't do surgery, they're both gonna die. But if we do surgery, there's a chance the baby might. God, thank you that you showed up. Come on, and you start digging for what you can be thankful for. I'm thankful. I can't help but be thankful for what he's doing in our life and what he's done in our life. And Jesus is looking around. I read this this week. He's like, didn't I heal 10 men? Where are the other nine? And sometimes I feel like I it's like God would say, Didn't I do this? Where are these people at? Clamoring for the next thing that you need rather than thanking him for the last thing that he's done. God, what can you do for me next? What can you do for me next? No, no, no. I'm gonna thank you for what you did last and trust that you got everything I need when I need it, and it's gonna come on that timeline and not on my timeline. And so I'm gonna thank you for what you have done. Come on. Thanking God for protecting Davy, right? Thanking God for protecting Angie. Like I'm I'm I just look around, I'm like, God, thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. God healing Aaron earlier this year, right? Like I'm looking around, God, thank you for what you're doing. We get stagnant in that, church. We get stagnant in that. I just want to, I oh man, could I just fan the flame right now and just say, man, start thinking about what Thanksgiving you could have in your heart. Yeah, give him a praise because he's worthy of your praise. Just thank you, God, that you woke us up this morning. Thank you that you were in our lives. Thank you for your grace when we don't deserve it. He's sharing this with his disciples, and he's getting closer to the cross. And I'm thinking about the intensity in this moment. And I'm looking at my life, I'm like, okay, God, let me let me let me narrow down some things right now because this world, all my focus, all my sight, my sight is overwhelming my heart. So now I need to take time where I recalibrate and let my heart take control over my sight. I need my faith to engage with a choice of my will. I'm gonna get back to this. Who do I need to forgive? Where am I putting my faith? And am I being thankful? If you isolate those three things this week, I'm telling you, if you do it on the daily, it will impact your day. Oh, by the way, spend time doing that while you read this. Jesus said to the man, stand up and go, your faith has healed you. I don't know who needs to hear it, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's not done healing. If your faith feels weak in this season, I can identify. Would you go ahead and stand up with me? I can I can I can identify with that. If your faith feels like you're weary. Abraham, who put up all those altars, struggled with his faith. When God said, I'm gonna make you father of many nations, and his wife wasn't having a child yet. Like, read that story. Wrong choice. Not a lot of faith there. Shows up to his city, his wife's beautiful. Even after what God's told him, that hey, I've got you, I'm gonna bless you. Shows up in a city and says, Hey, you tell everybody you're my sister. Not a lot of faith there. Look at Elijah. There's a moment where Elijah calls down fire from heaven to consume the altar when he's facing the prophets of Baal, and then promptly thereafter, he ends up in the desert, running for his life, just absolutely in the grips of depression. Like you look at the greats in the Bible, the fathers and mothers of the faith. Sarah laughing because she was too old. Zachariah questioning, how could this happen? I'm too old. There's so many moments where people, listen, if you struggle with your faith, you're in great company. Nobody's throwing shade at you or saying, but I am saying this. You can acknowledge it and do something about it, or you can just keep on resting in the hopelessness you've been resting in. I can't, I can't usher you out of that. Nobody can usher you out of that. But what we can do is identify that in our heart and in ourselves and say, what are we going to put in place in our life? What's my responsibility? Where can I take my seed and put that? So Lord, we come right now. Would you just hold your hands out in front of them? Because I'm just believing the grace, the peace, the love of God just to overwhelm you right now. Jesus, I thank you. I thank you for your love. I thank you for your unconditional love. I thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you that you paid the price for all of our sins, for all of my sins, for the ones that are gonna happen tomorrow. You've taken care of it. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your grace. And God, I pray right now that we in this room would experience a manifestation of your presence, that your peace would fall like a blanket right now, as your sons and daughters come before you and we cry out and we say, God, have mercy on us. Anxiety's been taken over, depression's been taken over, worry's been taken over. But Lord, we pray right now that as we can recalibrate right now, as we refocus your presence, God. Lord, may we sense and know your presence and your peace right now in Jesus' name. Some of you have been saying, God, are you even hearing my prayers? And I just hear the voice of the Lord saying, I'm hearing you, trust my timing. I'm hearing you, trust my timing. I'm hearing you, trust my timing. I'm hearing you, trust my heart. I speak life, Lord. I speak life right now over your sons and daughters. I speak health over your sons and daughters in the name of Jesus. I come against disease, infirmity, sickness in the name of Jesus. I rebuke every plan of attack that the enemy has had. And Lord, I thank you, God, that your word says, No weapon formed against us shall prosper. But we claim that in the name of Jesus for everybody that's been fighting the battle and they've been feeling the weapons of the enemy, Lord, I thank you that no weapon formed against them will prosper. God, I thank you right now that your word says, and we put on the whole armor of God, and then we've done all we can to stand. And so some of us have prayed every prayer, done everything we know, but right now that we would stand in your presence and that you would fight on our behalf. That even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil. For your rod and your staff, they're guiding and directing us, and that you will prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Lord, I pray over your sons and daughters right now a season where they would get to sit at the table and see you move on their behalf. But Lord, our commitment is to thank you for everything that you've already done, not trying to manipulate to get more. Because you've already given us everything. We want to thank you because you deserve all the thanks, you deserve all of our praise. Thank you, God. Thank you, God, thank you, God. Could you just with me right now? Would you just with your will, just engage your will and say, God, I choose to trust you. I choose. To put my faith in you, you are trustworthy. I choose with my will over my emotions to trust you and declare you are good. Lord, I pray your face shine upon these, your sons and daughters. Bless them when they're coming, they're going, they're lying down, they're rising up. Be their front and their rear guard. Give them the mind of Christ, the wisdom of God. Give them the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God. Give them the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God. In Jesus' name I pray.