Luke 23:26-49 Steward It

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

26 has already been flogged. Pilate kept saying to everybody, like, hey, let's release Jesus. There's nothing he's guilty of, but we'll flog him, we'll beat him. And if you remember, if you were here for Easter service, you're going to remember a little bit about what that entailed, but maybe you weren't. So what the flogging would entail is this that they had a the Romans had something called a flagrum, and it was like a this whip that would have had anywhere between two and up to nine leather braids on it. It would have brass bearings or ball bearings on the end, pieces of bone, pieces of sharp metal. And they would take the victim and they would strip the victim naked. So Jesus would have been stripped naked, tightly bound to a whipping post, and on either side of him, there would have been a trained Roman soldier that would begin whipping. And as he's pulling the whip away, the other Roman soldier is then hitting. So there's not any moment where there's a breath to take without pain being inflicted. And it was brutal in its nature. It was brutal to the point where most people would die even at that point, but they had tried to perfect it to get to the point where they could cause the most pain before somebody would be crucified, right? And so this is the moment that we're at. Jesus, if you can understand, if you can capture this, if we can have a moment where we're just real about this, at this moment, his flesh is torn to where now you can see his muscle. His flesh is torn that now in parts of his body you can see his bone. They would have not just been allocating the whips to the back, it would have been ripping around to his torso, to his groin, and to his legs. It would have been absolutely excruciating, and they were masters of this pain. Now, the Jews said that there could be nobody could be flogged more than 39 times, but the Romans were cruel and they had no limit. There was no number that they had set to not go over. And so this is for me why I'm passionate when I pray for somebody's healing, and I believe healing is for today because Scripture says, by the stripes on his back, we are healed. Why in the world would he have his flesh torn apart and I pray for somebody? And I'm like, well, God, if it's your will, then heal. I'm not gonna pray that because I see by the stripes on Jesus' back that the plan of healing is now. Now there's times when I pray for healing and I don't see the curve, but I'm not gonna make up a theology of why it doesn't happen. I'm gonna stand on the word and believe that every time I pray, it's going to happen. I've seen cancer leave bodies and I've seen cancer stay, but I'm not going to stop praying for cancer to leave because I don't believe that was God's plan in the first place. We're in a fallen world. I've seen, I've seen deaf ears opened. I've seen blind eyes see. I remember being at a church camp praying for a young man that was legally blind during a worship service, and then God gives him a sight back. He had to take off his glasses so now that he could read because things were blurry with his glasses on. We're doing like we have a dollar bill and we're doing a sight test with him to see can you did you really get healed? Right? By the stripes on his back, we're healed. Can we as a church stand on that and not be timid when we pray for somebody's healing? It doesn't matter to me. What the if I begin to give, like the thought of I can pray for a headache, but I can't pray for a disease. What that means is I'm giving greater reference to the disease than I am the price that Jesus paid. And I and what it happens when you revere something, you'll begin to make an idol out of it. So there's certain diseases we get nervous about, and there's other things we don't get nervous about. I'll pray, I'll pray over migraines, right? But I'm not gonna pray over like scoliosis. Or I'll pray over, uh, I'll pray over like like I don't need to go down this path. This is what I wasn't gonna preach about today. I want us to be a people that stand strong on the word and recognize a deep price was paid to the point where we get to this passage and it says, as they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, that would have been in North Africa, happened to be coming in from the countryside. So, Jews, we know Jews are showing up from all over the place because it's Passover. Simon's coming in for Passover. He he was one of the Jews that had been spread abroad. He's coming in. He happened to be coming in from the countryside, and the soldiers seized him and they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. Why did they do that? Because Jesus had been brutally beaten, did not have the strength. And this moment, what you see him carrying is not the full cross, the full cross section. He he is carrying just the cross member, right? So you have the part that stands up straight, and then this section, the cross member, would have been about 75 to 100 pounds, history tells us. So Jesus does not physically have the capacity to carry that. So they grab Simon. Now imagine you're coming in, you're excited, it's Passover, you see crowds gathered, you're like, I wonder what's going on. And before you know it, you see a guy who's been completely wrecked. And they're like, hey, you, you carry this because he can't do it. And you can't say no. Now you've got a hundred-pound weight on your back walking next to this man. The soldiers seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. I'll say really quickly in this context is we we don't know who these women are. Um, in that day and time, it was it was a cultural norm that there would be professional grievers and they would follow around groups that were like where death was happening or something wrong had been done. There'd be professional grievers, but scripture doesn't give us that insight. Many theologians believe these were Jesus followers that had been impacted and affected by the ministry of Jesus, and they're seeing him, and now they're following him, and they know what's coming for him, and they're grief stricken. So now we go into a large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me, but weep for your children, for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child, and the breasts that have never nursed. People will beg the mountains fall on us and plead with the hills, bury us. For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? Everybody is thinking, What are you talking about? Because this doesn't seem like an encouragement. These are grief-stricken people, and Jesus turns. Imagine again, the the the sheer pain he's in, the volume of pain. Many doctors that would report would say at this point the blood loss is at the point where he's about to have he's about to enter shock, right? Like so he turns, he hears them crying, he turns in the path, and he shares this with them. Don't weep for me, weep for yourself and for your children. Right? What's he talking about? We already talked about this several times throughout the journey through Luke, is that in 70 AD, Jerusalem was going to be overthrown and it was going to be brutal. Right? Rome was going to crush Jerusalem. And Jesus is telling them, hey, this is what's coming. And he's saying, what he says, for all these things, verse 31, for if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? He's saying, He's the green tree. If Rome is going to do a righteous one like this, what is the judgment that's coming for the unrighteous? And ultimately what's happening is there's a call to repentance upon everybody that's following. This is a this is a moment that says, and listen, there's judgment coming. There's a call to repentance. Now, how about this? Sometimes we get freaked out when we read things like bad things are coming. Nobody finds that exciting. But can I tell you something that's secure about it? Is if he knows that bad things are coming, he knows what we need when the bad things happen. Right? So it doesn't, it shouldn't stress you out when you find out, hey, hard days are coming for the church, persecution's coming for every believer. These things, while they feel worrisome, they should have a security in your heart that God told you beforehand and he didn't leave you to be caught off guard. But when the when the persecution comes, you press closer into him. Yeah? And so he stops. And imagine the compassion of Jesus. I'm gonna try to read through the rest of this passage without interrupting myself, but I'm excited. And verse 32 says, Two others, both criminals, this is verse 32. Both criminals were let out to be executed with him when they came to a place called the skull. They nailed him to the cross, and the criminals were also crucified, one on his right and one on his left side. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. Now I I I'm gonna interrupt myself. I made I made it a couple of verses. The Greek word uh that gets used here, Jesus said, it is better translated, Jesus kept saying or was saying. It implies when you do a study on the word, it implies that he praised this prayer multiple times during his crucifixion. You read it once, but you think about here here is what he's praying. Over and over, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Forgiveness in that culture was like saying, You owe a debt, and I am stamping on the paper the debt is cleared. And he's praying, Father, clear the debt. Father, clear the debt, father, clear the debt as he's being crucified. You with me on that? And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. I'm going to interrupt myself again. They're throwing dice, and this and this is in Psalm 22, a thousand years before, anywhere between a thousand and a thousand forty years before, David writes this psalm in Psalms 22. It starts off by reading this My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs. Dogs, Gentiles, people that were not Jewish were known as dogs, right? And my enemies surround me like a pack of dogs, an evil gang closes in on me. Further down in verse 16 and 18, this is what it says. This is Psalm 22, once again, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones, meaning my bones are exposed. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They check this out, they divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing. Probably coincidence. A thousand and forty years later, they are now mocking Jesus. They're mocking the Messiah, and they're casting dice to see who gets his clothes. Oh, that should recognize in our mind, by the way, that he is on the cross naked in front of everybody to his shame. They're casting dice for his clothes, and the scripture is being fulfilled. I remember talking to a guy one time, he had a great question. He's like, Could it be possible that there was somebody that knew the prophecies that the Messiah would fulfill, and they just tried to start living out all the fulfillment of these prophecies? I'm like, yeah, I don't know how that person would have got these soldiers that were killing him to do what he wanted them to do. Hey guys, while you're crucifying me, does anybody have a monopoly set? Does anybody have dice on your person? Right? If you guys want to, there's my clothes. Maybe, maybe what you should do is start cat start seeing who can win them. That doesn't make any sense at all. But what we know to be true is that a thousand years before there had been a prophecy, and in that moment, as he's on the cross and they're throwing dice for his clothes, prophecy is being fulfilled, which once again gives the believers a security and a certainty, which is why Luke is writing to Theophilus in the first place. Listen, I can't get that word certainty off my mind as I read this. I want to give you a certainty. Okay, I'm not gonna interrupt myself anymore. Verse 35, the crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. He saved others. They said, Let him save himself. If he really is God's Messiah, the chosen one. The soldiers mocked him too by offering a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. A sign was fastened above him with these words, This is the king of the Jews. And one of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, So you're the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself and us too while you're at it. But the other criminal protested, Don't you fear God, even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn't done anything wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Verse 43, and Jesus replied, I assure you today you will be with me in paradise. Now I didn't ask Adam to include this part, but during the week I wanted to make sure that I included this part. So this is verse 44, and this is in your word. This is in chapter 23, verse 44. By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. The light from the sun was gone, and suddenly the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn down the middle. And then Jesus shouted, Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands. And with those words he breathed his last. And when the Roman officer, overseeing the execution, saw what had happened, he worshipped God and said, Surely this man was innocent. And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what happened, they went home in deep sorrow. But Jesus' friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching. I can't stop thinking about the word uh certain. He wants us to be, as Luke is writing this, he wants us to have certainty in our faith. Certainty hits me, and the other word that hits me is stewardship. Stewardship, a lot of times we we kind of render it down to talking about money, right? How are you stewarding your money? How are you being responsible for what you have? And when we talk about stewardship in that regard, I think we diminish what is possible that we can steward in our life. Because I look through this passage and I see Jesus stewarding moment after moment after moment after moment. He's in pain and he's stewarding it. He turns to the women, talks to them in pain. He's on the cross, and one man's belligerent, and the other man next to him on the cross is saying, Hey, remember me when you enter your kingdom. Jesus didn't have to say anything, but he stewards the moment. And he says, Today you're going to be with me in paradise. Right? Father, I is dying breath into your hands, I commit my spirit. I was in the hands of men that brought me to this point, but now from here on out, I am committing myself into your hands, Father. And he's taking opportunities to steward. And I just want to say this really quickly. If you have breath in your lungs, you have something to steward in your life. There's not anybody in this room that doesn't have something to steward. And we talk to fathers real quick. If you've got children, you've got something to steward. Some of us, listen, I want to say this really quickly, and I just want to say it out of love. Some people are better about stewarding their 401k than the relationship with their child. And you're not hearing Pastor Joey say, well, well, well, well, be foolish with your finances. What you're hearing him say is be intentional with your relationships. We gotta, we gotta, we gotta steward our relationships. We have to steward things in life. We have to steward moments. Simon had to steward a beam put on his shoulders. The women had to steward a word given to them and use discernment. Those men on the cross next to Jesus, they had to steward that moment. One wasted it and one seized the opportunity. And so I'm asking you right today, what are you stewarding in your life? And if you look at yourself and you're like, I don't see anything that I'm stewarding, let me ask you this. What do you value in your life? Because whatever you value, you will steward. How do I know that? Because Jesus is stewarding all these moments for you and for me. Why is he going to the cross? He's going to the cross to have a relationship with you and me that you could be forgiven of your sins and that he could pay the price for them. Could you imagine being Simon and you're carrying that beam and you don't know that in just a few moments the weight of the sin of the world forever is about to hang from that beam. And Jesus is going to that beam and he's going to that cross so there can be relationship and he's stewarding his life so that he can have relationship with those he values. What you don't value, you don't steward. Let me put it to you like this. Some of us don't steward our own lives because we don't value it the way that God does. We don't steward our days because we don't really think that there's anything that special or unique about us. We forget that we were in God's mind. We are part of His design and His plan and His order. But when you realize that you have value in your life, there begins to be a stewardship because you know that my breath has purpose. So let me say it to you like this: your Monday has purpose, not just your Sunday morning. When you go to work or you go to school or whatever you're doing tomorrow, there is purpose in it because you have breath, and I encourage you to steward it. How are you stewarding your time? You're given time. How is that going for you? Can I just be real with you? I don't always do great with it myself. I've had seasons that I look back and I said, Man, I wasted that season in life. I let pain cause me to retreat from purpose. And I wasted that season in my life. I let grief cause me from stepping into potential. I wasted that season of my life. But praise God, we have a Savior that redeems us in every season. We've not done something so dumb for so long that his cross can't redeem us. So you're not sitting in this place this morning here and a pastor saying, Hey, you really sucked at how you live life. What I'm telling you is if your choices were rough, if your choices were wrong, if you haven't stewarded it well, praise God, he still went to the cross. And while we were yet sinners, he went to the beam and died for us. Knowing that there would be moments and knowing there would be seasons that you didn't steward well, he went to that to redeem it for us. So I don't have to live with a sadness about what I didn't steward well. I get to stand on the fact that he paid the price for me, and now I can steward everything ahead of me well. Stewardship isn't about perfection, it's about consistency. Stewardship is never about perfection, it's always about consistency. How consistent can you be? Because listen, none of us are perfect. Shocker. Right? Pastor Joey is far from perfect. And his family's like, Happy Father's Day and amen. Far from perfect. Can I share with you? I can't even count the number of times I've had to go back to my kids and say, Hey, would you forgive me? I got that situation wrong. So either I'm gonna let pride remove opportunities in my life to share with my kids what asking for forgiveness looks like, or I'm gonna try to humble myself and steward the opportunity saying, I failed. I need to steward the failure. And ultimately I know that in his hands it only will become testimony. So now part of their testimony and my testimony is saying, Hey, I got this wrong. I might have been right to correct you and wrong in how I did it. Or I was angry and how I said that. Will you forgive me? I don't get to make the excuses, and I've tried to. This is why I was angry, and so now I'm valid and doing wrong. That's not stewarding the moment. You guys rolling with me today? We're in a good spot. Um we steward what we value. The first thing I need to say is that you need to know that Jesus values you. And if he values you, then you need to value you. And you need to steward that. I remember um pastoring in Charlottesville and uh we had we had this guitar has been around for a while and we uh had saved up money and bought this guitar. We went into a store and we played all the guitars. And we and and I went with my worship leader and we're like, we knew what we were gonna get and we didn't get it because we played this one. And I'm like, man, that sounds good, right? And I was like, you know what, let's let's go get something to eat. Because I want I wanted a name, right? I wanted a certain thing that other people were playing, and it's like, man, but this is the one. And can I tell you something? It was not inexpensive. At that same time, so we buy that guitar, it's getting used in worship, and at that time we're having to set everything up every Sunday and tear everything down. Most of the people in this room know what that life is like. It is not fun, but when you're getting help, you don't refuse help. If somebody says, Hey, can I help you with this? You're like, Absolutely. And I remember somebody that didn't know the value of the guitar came up, just snatched it up real quick, and just started walking around with it like that. Bang the floor a little bit, I'm like, and my eyes just bug down. I'm like, hey, can I help you with that? Can I can I help you real quick? And because they didn't know what the value was, so they didn't treat it with care. The value remained the same regardless of what they cared for it or what I care for. The value was always intrinsic to it. But listen, when you get it in the right hands, there's somebody that can do better do better with it. Right? And so you might not always get valued the right way, but when you put your life in the right hands, you'll begin to change how you live your life because you begin to see it as how he sees it. And you'll know the worth of the thing. And so you're gonna begin to steward your life different. Can I tell you this? Stewardship does not have a shelf life. You go you ever I I had the joy the other week of buying something, got home, uh, and it was lettuce. And this and and I did not do due diligence and check the date. I just assumed the store does that stuff. And I opened the bag and the waft of ooh hit me. I was like, that thing is past its date. I don't even have to look. And I looked and I was like, oh, I just saved the whole family, you're welcome. Could have served you that, but I saved your life. Stewardship doesn't have a shelf life. And it doesn't matter if you haven't stewarded things well for a long time. Today's the day to start stewarding. Man, it's amazing how shame you can feel so ashamed of all the bad choices that you're like, well, what good does today make? What difference does it make it if I've had years of mess up? What would it matter for me to change now? Is it really gonna make a difference? Can I tell you something? Jesus lived his whole life perfect, and at the very end, he carried the sin of the world. The man on the other side of the cross lived his whole life imperfect. And in the last moments, he made a declaration that then made him perfect. There's never a late moment until you don't have breath anymore. So while you have breath in your lungs, begin declaring, hey Jesus, when you enter your kingdom, let me come be a part of it with you. I've got breath in my lungs, and so it's not too late to start stewarding what I have. I've got today. I'm not gonna waste today, I'm gonna steward today. I'm not gonna let the failure of yesterday keep me from steward today or stewarding tomorrow. Are you with me on that? All right. Stewardship often gets reduced to finances, but we see Jesus stewarding moments from addressing the daughters of Jerusalem to the prayers of forgiveness to receiving the thief on the cross that declares his faith. Uncertainty though. When you're uncertain about something, you'll get inconsistent. And uncertainty to give the awfulness of consistency. When you're uncertain that you have value, you'll live inconsistent. Let me say it like this. Um if you only have moments of encounter with this word, you'll quickly forget what's in it. And then your life will be inconsistent to what it calls you to. The more I get into the scripture, the more I realize that it calls me to different than my normal, natural desires. Right? Right? Like, can we just be real? You ever had anybody really done you bad? It was so funny a few weeks ago. Somebody was recounting a story of when they had made me really mad. And like, oh, you were so mad. You were so upset. And I'm and in my mind, I'm like, you know, sometimes I still get upset about that. And they didn't even know. I just smiled and let them tell the story. I'm like, I legitimately forgave you again last week. That happened 20 years ago. Can you can you imagine I'm still forgiving somebody 20 years later? Because if it comes up in my heart and I don't have a pure feeling there, then I need to let God continue to heal. And it's not about I'm gonna forgive once I feel like it, it's I'm gonna forgive because he's forgiven me, and I'm choosing to forgive because it gives me life. It allows me to receive his forgiveness. You can be judge or you can be a forgiver, but you can't be both. Right? So, so so so I can be the judge and say what people have done to me is truly wrong, or I can be a forgiver and say, God, what you did for me was truly right. And what what am I gonna focus on? Because when I'm uncertain in who I am and who I belong to, then I get inconsistent with how I live my life. That's how sometimes, listen, I'm just gonna put this in the context of church. There is value in gathering together, but when there's inconsistency in it, things will always be not as fruitful as they could be. Why? Because you are a critical part in this picture of God's family. You are one of the colors He wants to use in Hope City to paint this canvas, to reach our community, to reach our city, and to reach the laws. But when you don't believe that, you'll be inconsistent with your attendance. And listen, I want to tell you, you are necessary to the family. You're not necessary because you represent a number, you're necessary because you represent a gift of God to the body. And if you don't capture that, that you're a priesthood in this house, there'll be an inconsistency in your walk. But stewardship, with stewardship, check this out, comes fruitfulness and multiplication. And with multiplication comes glory to God. And may we be a people that add, listen, this is not church growth. God said, go forth and be fruitful, multiply. May we join in to what he's called us to, because in that multiplication it brings him a great glory. And I believe a glory that we say that only God, you could have done this. As we are consistent to what you called us to do, not perfect in it, but as we steward what you've given us, as we steward the moments in our life, as we steward the gifts that you've given us, as we steward the finances that you've given us, God, as we steward these things, may you get the glory. Isn't that incredible? That the moment Jesus died, the Roman who was active in killing him minutes earlier now shifted. This was the Son of God. Can I just say this to May we not be any church or any people that disqualifies anyone from being redeemable? Sometimes you look at somebody like, man, how could you redeem that? The question should be, how could he not redeem that? How could he not redeem that person? The cross wasn't big enough for that person. It was big enough for eternity, for like all the sins of all creation, of all time, but not that person. The audacity of the thing. But when you're uncertain about your faith, you'll be inconsistent with moments that can be used to minister. When you're uncertain that you've been forgiven, you'll be inconsistent in choosing to forgive. Galatians 6 verse 9 says, Let us not become weary in doing good. Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. In the proper time. Like the proper time is not my time. I thought I should be fruitful 20 years ago. I was listening. 23, let's see, uh, what year are we in? Yeah, 2026. 24 years ago, I graduated Bible college. I thought, wait till I get on the scene. I was like, man, this is gonna go crazy. Paul preached, or excuse me, Peter preaching and 3,000 get saved? It's about to go down again. Right in my mind, in my mind, these grandiose thoughts. I thought I should have been fruitful 23 years ago. And there's moments where, listen, we we we we define what fruit should be. But can I tell you something? Seeing my children love Jesus is fruit. Seeing my kids worship. Oh, you want to talk about fruit? A lot of times we define what fruit should be. The promotion, bigger bank account, whatever it is, we define what fruit should be. Let's let God define what fruit is and us be consistent in the stewardship. And what does Galatians say? Let us not become weary in doing good. Listen, if there's ever been a time where you could get weary about doing good, it's right now. If you could ever get tired and weary about doing good, it's in a culture like our culture. I read something the other day, it was uh, man, it really shook me. It was um it was a checklist, or really a questionnaire rather, from South Asia. Uh and this is for people they could ask themselves these questions before they get baptized. This was for believers just saying, okay, am I authentic in my faith? Am I really understanding what I'm committing my life to? This was the questionnaire before baptism because there's persecution where this is going on. This is the questionnaire. Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father? Are you willing to lose your job? Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you forgive them and share the love of Christ with them? Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord? Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith? Are you willing to go to prison? Are you willing to die for Jesus? Is the questionnaire before you get baptized? Don't grow weary in well-doing. Man, when persecution comes or hard times come, I mean, I looked at that and I just thought, man, am I there? Are we there? Are we in this point right now? So I feel like I gotta talk people into like they've come to Jesus and like, let me talk you into being baptized. How important it is. These people are getting questioned like, are you ready to die for this? Are you ready to lose your life for this? Are you ready to lose the blessing of your father for this? Are you ready to never be able to return home for this? Are you ready to go to prison for this? Yeah, cool. Let's baptize you now. And I just feel like we're in a part in our body right now where God is stirring up and raising the standard. He's calling us to a stronger stewardship of what we have in our personal lives and in our corporate life. That we would be people that we would worship recklessly. Here's how I'll put it to you. This is the picture God gave me. I feel like there's some things about to break out in this church in a way that I can't even fully comprehend, other than it's a deepness of his glory. And I feel like it looks like this it's like a thin sheet of ice, and under it is the plans and purposes that he has for us, a greater fulfillment of that. And it's like we're walking on the ice, and I can hear my spirit, I can hear it crack, but we're not breaking through yet. But may we be a church and we walk in on Sundays that we would come in stomp and say, God, may breakthrough happen in this house so we could see your glory revealed. That we would be a place where sick people, somebody say, Hey, you're sick, let me take you there. Because they're not afraid to pray hard. You know somebody that they're struggling with with possession, like there's demonic stuff going on. Let me take you to this place because they're gonna pray and you're gonna get freedom. Then we're not worried that we have to have just the right number of songs for just the right amount of time and just the right word. Listen, we are a church and we it means we're a people and we'll be imperfect in how we do things. There's a lot of stuff we're doing that's in beta. We're gonna figure it out. We're gonna try stuff, we're gonna figure it out. But what we're not ever gonna stop doing is saying, God, your kingdom come, your will be done. And in your kingdom, I'm gonna steward whatever it is you give me to steward. But we got people stewarding cleaning toilets right now. Oh, yo, it that blesses me like you have no idea. People back there right now rocking and stewarding little babies. Well, there's a woman that that prays over your children and leads our children's ministry just down the hallway, and she stepped into a classroom with inflatable swords this morning. Why? Yo, because she wants to she wants to help these kids learn about who Jesus is and for them to capture that he loves them and that he has a future and a plan and a purpose for them. And it's not in 15 years, it's right now. That we'll have kids in kids' church praying for healing for one another and prophesying over one another and lifting one another up and encouraging one another. Not once you get to a big church. So I'll say this though. I'm asking those in you that in this room right now, if you've got breath, you've got purpose, you've got something to steward, may this next generation see you stewarding your worship, see you stewarding your relationship. Listen, I don't want to hear any more. Oh, I just don't really like to read. I'm not much of a reader. It's hard for me to read. You go as slow as you need to go and get in the word and let it change you and transform you. Go as slow as you need to go, get in the word, read it, let it transform you, let it change you. Get into the gospels. I'm in, I've been going back through Proverbs right now, and just the wisdom in it. I'm just going slow through it. A proverb a day. Today is 21st. I'm gonna read Proverbs 21. Right? To the 22nd, tomorrow morning. I'm gonna sit there, I'm gonna read through Proverbs 22. And I'm just gonna say, okay, God, show me, teach me, what's going on? But I want to just say today, listen, if you're in a season of pain, steward it. If you're in a season of rejection, Jesus being rejected by the people he created, God forgive them. Steward it. If you're in a season of disappointment, steward it. If you're in a season where you're grieving, steward it. To be dealing with loss and yet bring a praise. You don't get to do that after you stop breathing. Because there's then no more sickness and there's no more pain. There's a praise you can bring before God on this side that you can't bring on the other side. Steward it. And if you need fresh reminders of what stewardship looks like, get in Luke 23 and you read Jesus walking through the cross. Praise God, He's stewarded. I'm gonna pray over you right now. First thing I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna invite you into is releasing and asking for forgiveness of everything's everything that you missed, stewarding well. We're gonna release that right now. It's not gonna be something that holds us back. Scripture says that He takes our sin and throws it as far as the East as from the West, and He remembers it no more. I'm gonna read to you Romans chapter 12, really quick, verse 1. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he's done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and custom of this world, but let God transform you. Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. This morning, I just want to encourage you right now to come before God and say, God, I ask you to forgive me of the things I did not steward well. I'm releasing that. I'm releasing that the shame of that, the disappointment of that. But I am receiving the responsibility right now to steward what you have for me today, to steward what you have for me tomorrow. God, I'm choosing to give my body to you as a living sacrifice. A life that you redeem, a life that you touched, a life that you changed, a life that you transform. I'm asking you to transform me, to change the way that I think. The one that you will fully give your life to. Where you can come boldly, scripture says, come boldly to my throne of grace and mercy. Do you have a relationship with God like that? And if not, I want to invite you into that relationship. That you would pray a prayer right now, giving your life to him fully, opening yourself up to be transformed and changed by him, letting him touch all the places in your life where you feel shame and rejection and failure, and letting him bring healing to you. To that, would you come to him today and allow him to show you how he values you? If you want to give your life fully to Jesus right now, I just want you to raise your hands because I want to pray over you. Just raise a hand up and say, That's me. Yep. I see your hand. You don't have to be shy about it at all. There's only one way, and this is the way. Is there anybody else this morning? You're like, yep, that's me. I want to step in fully give, fully surrender. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. I want to pray over everybody in this place. You're like, you know what? Man, I have not stewarded well. But I want to step into with a church family together a season where we make this commitment that we may not be perfect, but we will be consistent. And if that's you, and you're saying, man, I want to step into this new season together with family. If that's you, I just want you to raise your hand up right now. Because I want to pray for you. Yep. Yep. Yep. See those hands. See those hands. Thank you, God. Can you pray this prayer after me? Repeat it boldly. You don't have to be nervous about who's beside you or who's going to hear it. This will be the strongest thing you will ever pray in your life, the most powerful prayer you'll ever pray in your life. For those of you that are saying, Yeah, I'm giving my heart to Jesus. I'm giving my life to Jesus. Family, can we all pray this together along with those that are choosing to step into the kingdom? They're not just asking that Jesus will become a part of their life, but they are giving their life over to Jesus. Can we pray this together? Jesus, we declare that you are King, you are Lord, you are the Messiah. You have died. You've paid the price for all my sin. And I ask for your forgiveness. I ask you redeem me, restore me, be my God, be my king, be my savior. In Jesus' name. Amen. Here's what I need to do for those of you that prayed that prayer. I don't need you to be quiet about it. I need you to share with somebody that can walk with you in this journey and help you say, okay, let's figure out how to read word together. Let's figure out how we, next steps, what do they look like? Okay, I don't want you to keep it quiet because here's what's going to happen. You're going to hit Tuesday, and you're like, did that prayer really mean anything? So you can tell somebody today. Yeah. Family, this is what I would love for us to do as a commitment into this week is begin praying. Lord, help us see what you've called us to steward. Help me see how I can steward the hurt that I'm in. How I can worship you from it. How I can share with others about what's going on. Receive encouragement. Receive hope. I want you just to begin to pray. How can I steward what I'm in right now? And let's push in with an intentionality next week. I'm going to share with you there's a treat coming next week. My father is coming to preach and bring the word. And I'm excited about it. And I because he's like, What do you want me to preach? I'm like, what up what God puts on your heart for this house? He's like, so he's been praying hard about a word for our house. He's got a father's heart and he's going to bring a strong word. And so I encourage you to come with an intentionality to say, Lord, what do you want to say? What do you want to speak? What do you want to do? Amen. Cool. We're going to eat food in just a minute. I want to pray a blessing over you, and I'm going to hand it back over to Pastor Adam. If you need prayer for something, please don't leave without it. If there's something that you're like going through, don't go through it silent. Don't go through it alone. May we join together and bring encouragement to one another. Amen. If you can, stay and hang out. We'd love to spend time with you. Lord, I pray, blessing upon these, your sons and daughters. May your face shine upon them. Bless them and they're coming and they're going and they're lying down and they're rising up. Be their front and their rear guard. Give them the mind of Christ and wisdom of God. And I pray that everything their hands touch, let it prosper, Lord. And James 1 says, if we ask for wisdom, you give it abundantly without reproach. So I would pray, James 1, wisdom. And Lord, I thank you, God, for divine help in this, Lord, that as we go through this week, that you would help us seize the moments that we can steward. Seize moments that we can steward in breathing hope into somebody's life. Seize the moments that we can steward in bringing worship to you. See the moments as these men of God are in this place that they can steward and loving their children well. We thank you for all this. In Jesus' strong, mighty, Imaginal's name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Bless you.