SPEAKER_00: Oh, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Where's Steve?
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: He said he was gonna give me a wave out, so that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: So have you ever been in a situation where like you get into it and you're like, oh no, I'm in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way I can get out of this.
SPEAKER_00: So uh when I was growing up, uh there was this place we would go, a swimming hole.
SPEAKER_00: It was called Mermaid's Pool.
SPEAKER_00: And uh this was in Zimbabwe, Africa, and so we would go to Mermaid's Pool, people would go all over the place.
SPEAKER_00: Mermaid's pool was just this giant rock with this water flowing down, and it went into this large pool.
SPEAKER_00: I did a search and I found a picture.
SPEAKER_00: Here's Mermaid's Pool right up there.
SPEAKER_00: So uh you can see people going down, some are going in tubes, some are sitting and sliding down.
SPEAKER_00: When you went down, now you see the person is kind of blurred on the wire.
SPEAKER_00: We call that a foofy slide.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a zip line.
SPEAKER_00: You would also go and zip across and fall.
SPEAKER_00: It was a great place.
SPEAKER_00: But you come down the slide and towards the bottom there, you can't really see it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can.
SPEAKER_00: There was this hump.
SPEAKER_00: We called it Humphreys.
SPEAKER_00: You like that?
SPEAKER_00: Humphreys?
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, uh Humphreys, you hit Humphreys and you went boom, right into the water.
SPEAKER_00: It was quite a slide.
SPEAKER_00: So my family and I were visiting there one time.
SPEAKER_00: I was about five years old or so, wasn't a very strong or good swimmer.
SPEAKER_00: But I decided I wanted to explore a little bit, so I I crawled on the rock across, and I was crawling, and I went, I knew I'd have to go across where the water is, so I was scooting along, thinking I could kind of ease my way across and get to the other side to see what was happening on the other side of the pool.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what happened, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I uh I didn't make it across and I started to slip down.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going down, and I I can like today I can still remember flashes of it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going down and it's like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you're in one of those things are happening, everything seems to go slow motion, and you just have this like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going down to the water and I'm thinking, oh no, the water's deep, this is gonna be dangerous, this is not good.
SPEAKER_00: I hit Humphreys, boom, flew up, gone into the water, and I was like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: And then I remember all I remember was blonde hair, brown limbs, yellow bikini.
SPEAKER_00: And she came like an angel of light into the water, and she grabbed me and I'll uh suntan lotion.
SPEAKER_00: In those days, we put stuff on your body to burn it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you remember that?
SPEAKER_00: Sun tan lotion, and she uh brought me to the side.
SPEAKER_00: It was a it was a it was a terrible feeling.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh here I am, there's nothing I can do.
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go into a place that I don't want to be.
SPEAKER_00: Ever had something like that happen to you?
SPEAKER_00: Ever had that experience occur in your life?
SPEAKER_00: You're just like, oh no, I can't stop.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna hit what I don't want to hit, I'm gonna go where I don't want to go.
SPEAKER_00: So one Christmas time, my family and I we decided on Christmas Day a few years ago, Shannon and my kids were still at home.
SPEAKER_00: We were in the van, we were driving to see her Grandma Joe in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
SPEAKER_00: And Grandma Joe lived in a community called Sportsman Lake, and so we were going in the van, and as we were approaching, there was this hill, you would go down the hill, and at the bottom of the hill was an intersection, stop signs, and across the way was the gate to get into the community.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's winter time, December, Christmas day.
SPEAKER_00: We're driving in the van, and you know, the weather had been kind of funky, been cold, but go over the hill, and all of a sudden it was oh no, it was a sheet of ice.
SPEAKER_00: And we just started going down, and the brakes were not working, and I'm like, what am I gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: And I remember looking at this, of course, you know, just keeping the wheels straight because I didn't want to get off the road and get into terrible trouble.
SPEAKER_00: And inevitably, as I'm at the top of the hill, I'm going down and I see a car coming along.
SPEAKER_00: And for some reason, this person, I almost said this fool, but this person uh sees us and decides they're gonna try to get across before we get there.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00: And so we went down, I couldn't stop.
SPEAKER_00: We went through the intersection, I T-boned them in the front of our van.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, thankfully, we're going slow enough that nobody was hurt.
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, the only things that were damaged was the side of their car and the front of our van.
SPEAKER_00: Ever have something like that happen to you?
SPEAKER_00: Ever have a situation where you're in, where you're like, I'm going where I don't want to go, all of a sudden you realize, oh no, I won't be able to stop myself.
SPEAKER_00: I won't be able to stop going to a place that I never intended to go, never thought would happen, but here I am.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this can happen in life too.
SPEAKER_00: You may have heard me say this before that the devil's strategy to work against you, he he works with his strategies.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is to do deception, number two, discouragement, number three, domination, domination, and number four, distraction.
SPEAKER_00: Distraction.
SPEAKER_00: What is distraction?
SPEAKER_00: Distraction is when you live life where you're not paying attention to what's really going on, and you end up going to a place that you don't want to go because you're living mindlessly, right?
SPEAKER_00: If the devil can get you to living to a place where you're mindless and you're giving up control, thinking you're you're just going with the flow, and he can lead you to places that you do not want to go.
SPEAKER_00: I heard one preacher put it this way: he said, if the devil cannot make you bad, he'll make you busy.
SPEAKER_00: And being busy is living in a in a in a mindless state.
SPEAKER_00: Being busy is living in a in a place where you're distracted, you're not paying attention to the direction of your life, you're not paying attention to what you're doing and thinking about the consequences of your repeated action.
SPEAKER_00: You're just going.
SPEAKER_00: Mindless activity, burning up your time, your precious commodities of time and energy and talents and money for what?
SPEAKER_00: For nothing significant and nothing meaningful and no eternal blessing, but just going to a place where you do not want to go.
SPEAKER_00: So social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has kind of been the talk uh of recent years regarding a social study he did, a study he did of, he tried to say, why has Generation Z's mental health declined since 2012?
SPEAKER_00: And he's written a number of books about this.
SPEAKER_00: And and he points out, you know, happens to be that 2012 is the exact date, the exact moment that smartphones and social media became universal.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote an article as kind of a com getting into a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote an article where he shared that he posted an interesting question to ChatGPT.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the question: he said to ChatGPT, if you were the devil, how would you destroy the next generation without them even knowing it?
SPEAKER_00: The responses were chilling.
SPEAKER_00: This is what ChatGPT said.
SPEAKER_00: It said, I wouldn't come with violence, I'd come with convenience.
SPEAKER_00: I'd keep them busy, always distracted.
SPEAKER_00: They'd never know it was me.
SPEAKER_00: They would call it freedom.
SPEAKER_00: In ChatGPT's answer, the devil replied with a seven-step plan, with the first step being this: erode attention and presence.
SPEAKER_00: Addicting youth to constant stimulation, endless scrolling, and micro bursts of dopamine so they can no longer focus deeply.
SPEAKER_00: It wrote, if young people can't focus deeply, they can't learn, create, or love well.
SPEAKER_00: They'll feel busy, connected, even informed, while in reality their capacity for sustained thought and presence erodes.
SPEAKER_00: They won't know what they've lost.
SPEAKER_00: High wrote, this is exactly what he's watched unfold.
SPEAKER_00: A whole generation losing the basic human capacity that forms wisdom and creativity and purpose and love.
SPEAKER_00: And the devil's master stroke, according to Chat GPT, is the destruction that comes not through terror, but through slow erosion.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it writes.
SPEAKER_00: It said, not by violence, but by distraction, disconnection, and the erosion of meaning, they wouldn't even notice because it would feel like freedom and entertainment.
SPEAKER_00: And I think what what maybe we can observe about our younger generations is actually becoming more universal to all generations.
SPEAKER_00: If the devil cannot make you bad, he will make you busy.
SPEAKER_00: He will make you mindless, distracted, carrying along, carried along without any thinking that you're in control, but in reality, you're being taken to where you do not want to go.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think this is why it's important that we do this series on holy habits, because learning to live by the rhythms of grace of God counteracts the work of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Where the devil wants you to be distracted, holy habits are God's gift to focus you on the things that produce life.
SPEAKER_00: Where the devil wants you to be mindless, holy habits are God's gift to help you become mindful of the things that eternally matter.
SPEAKER_00: Where the devil wants you to live with this illusion that you're loved and that you're in a relationship and that you have meaning, holy habits are God's gift to us.
SPEAKER_00: To bring you into what is actually real and solid, where you love God and you love people, and where you discover peace through the gospel, where you discover real community, learning to live scripture together, where you discover what is really your purpose in life that comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: So this month we've been talking about the holy habits of fasting and feasting.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to everybody that took on the challenge this past week.
SPEAKER_00: I heard from a lot of you about taking time on Saturday to fast.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you made variations and accommodations, but you fasted dinner on Saturday in order to engage in a guided prayer experience where we asked for God's help as we look to what's next.
SPEAKER_00: Uh exciting things are happening with us as a church.
SPEAKER_00: There's been, we prayed for vision, and I think the elders after a meeting on Wednesday, we're beginning to get some clarity as to what we're called to do as the next phase of expanding our footprint in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're we're gonna look for God's wisdom in order to make sure we follow the right steps, and we're gonna need a lot of faith.
SPEAKER_00: A faith because we're facing challenges that may seem scary or sacrifices that may seem unnerving, and we'll need a gift from God to not be overcome by fear, but to live by faith and to see him do extraordinary things.
SPEAKER_00: Fasting is when you take the time to deny yourself of something that's routine, like eating a meal, and you replace that time, that energy, that focus, you replace that with turning your time to focus on God.
SPEAKER_00: Feasting is a time that you enjoy food.
SPEAKER_00: Feasting is fun.
SPEAKER_00: It's celebration, it's gathering with people in your life to eat what's delicious in order to acknowledge the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_00: And God has given us both these things: times to fast and a time to feast.
SPEAKER_00: A time to fast and be serious and be penitent and focused, and a time to feast so you can give thanks.
SPEAKER_00: If fasting is focusing on God's grace and the need for God's grace, then feasting is giving thanks for God's goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know if you've heard this before, but I I've heard it said.
SPEAKER_00: Someone once told me this, said, you know, the British and the Americans are two peoples separated by the same language.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we use the same language, but we have words many times that are different and have different meanings, which was interesting for me because I grew up speaking British-ish.
SPEAKER_00: And then I came to the United States and I would say things, and people would be like, whoa, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Or I know some of you, I've said something, and I I can tell.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, what did he just say?
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: So, like, Americans go on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we talk about.
SPEAKER_00: What is we go on vacation?
SPEAKER_00: What does vacation mean?
SPEAKER_00: Vacation comes from the word vacate.
SPEAKER_00: Vacate means to leave, to go away, to leave the building, to leave the premises, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, Americans, uh, we go on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: That means we leave home and we travel, we go to the beach, we go to the mountains, we go to Yellowstone Park, we see the attractions.
SPEAKER_00: We're all about movement and adventure and enjoying new experiences.
SPEAKER_00: And that's awesome, that's good.
SPEAKER_00: We we vacation is an important part of our living.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we see the world and experience the world.
SPEAKER_00: But the British don't take vacations.
SPEAKER_00: What they take are holidays.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going on holiday.
SPEAKER_00: I can do that British thing, can't I?
SPEAKER_00: Holiday.
SPEAKER_00: So, holiday, what is holiday?
SPEAKER_00: Holiday is one of those words, one word that's made up of two, right?
SPEAKER_00: Holy day.
SPEAKER_00: And the origins of that holiday word goes back to matters of faith.
SPEAKER_00: You set aside days, holy days.
SPEAKER_00: Holy means set aside, separated for specific use.
SPEAKER_00: Holy day, you set a day, a time, in order to focus on something specific, typically something that was worshipful, something that was a matter of faith, something that was taking you out of the norm and making you engage in things that fill your life.
SPEAKER_00: Holiday.
SPEAKER_00: Stepping out of routine to do something that is heart-filling.
SPEAKER_00: To focus on things that are important, to to celebrate things that that are significant.
SPEAKER_00: Holy days are times to fast and to feast.
SPEAKER_00: Now I love going on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm an adventurersome type.
SPEAKER_00: I I it's good to get away, experience new things, but let's be honest, many times vacations sometimes feel like just an extension of our already crazy schedule in new ways.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you feel like, you know, I need to go home to go back to work to get rest because of my vacation?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because you got the itinerary, you gotta see this, you gotta do this, and it's run, run, run, go, go, go, and and it, and it's great, but it but it's not, right?
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we forget that that that that you know vacation becomes an extension of being mindless and of being distracted, and and so it's important if you're gonna own a vacation, you know, new place, new people, you know, new pace of operations equals new perspective.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: But I do think that we need to have more holy days.
SPEAKER_00: I I do think that we need to think of our vacations to to schedule holy days, days to to break free from routine, to break free from the push of the enemy to distract, to set us free from the slavery of distraction in order to recalibrate our focus on life in order to get into rhythms of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in our calendar, we have holidays, right?
SPEAKER_00: We have holidays.
SPEAKER_00: The two biggest holidays for the church, for us, what are they?
SPEAKER_00: Easter, Christmas, and I think we can learn from these holidays.
SPEAKER_00: They they're they're big things that we do in the year, but we can learn from them, I think, and say, okay, what are the things that we can take from our holidays and that we can incorporate perhaps in our day-to-day, in our week to week, in our month to month.
SPEAKER_00: Now we've talked about Lent and Easter, right?
SPEAKER_00: We talked about fasting in Lent and feasting in Easter right at the beginning of this this month.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about Christmas, Christmas has a is a is a has a similar setup.
SPEAKER_00: What does Christmas season begin with?
SPEAKER_00: It begins with Advent.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are familiar with Advent.
SPEAKER_00: Advent is a season where it begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_00: So this year, Advent will be November the 29th, if you're interested.
SPEAKER_00: The word Advent means coming.
SPEAKER_00: The focus of the Advent season is to is to focus on expectant waiting, hope, and reflection.
SPEAKER_00: It's focusing on the fact that we're all waiting, that the coming of Jesus was the result of waiting on his promises by the people of God as recorded for us in scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: It's a focus on saying, let's let's remember that the walk of faith involves waiting on God who fulfills his promises, and Jesus coming to the world into the world is the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise to us.
SPEAKER_00: But also, it's also a season that involves the fact that we, as a people of faith, as Christians, we are still waiting because Jesus said, I'm gonna come back.
SPEAKER_00: He rose from the dead and he said, I'm going, I'm going to the Father, and one day I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna to the whole world, it's all gonna come to an end, and I'm gonna take my people to me, and I'm gonna, you're gonna live in heaven with me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna return.
SPEAKER_00: And so Advent is a season not only to remember God's faithfulness in the past, but it's also to think about that God is gonna be faithful to the promises in the future.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the season of Advent has always been associated with fasting, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I did some research and found out it has its origins in the fifth century.
SPEAKER_00: And the origins were all about preparing for the coming of the Lord, and it was a season of kind of repenting that involved fasting three times a week.
SPEAKER_00: Earlier in November, you you fasted three times a week Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
SPEAKER_00: The idea was like in the light of the gift of the Savior, important to prepare by repenting of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the season of fasting was always ended with a season of feasting, which we call Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas is a time to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think I have to get into feasting on Christmas because I think we all know what that's all about.
SPEAKER_00: Celebrate the birth of Jesus, give gifts to one another, visit with family, eat well, do extra church services to celebrate the coming of the Savior, generous and our giving that's above and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is that season that we have where we celebrate God's goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Advent and Christmas, holy days, fasting and feasting, intended to connect you with God and to connect you with people.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're driven by distraction, if you're like, oh my, what Jesus, what Didi has just been talking about, that's me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm sliding down the rock at the mermaid's pool of life, and I'm going into the pool, and and I'm gonna I feel like I'm gonna drown if I get to the bottom.
SPEAKER_00: If you're feeling like, oh no, that's me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm mindlessly skidding on the ice towards a collision, and I feel like I can't get out.
SPEAKER_00: Look, here's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot get out on your own by your own strength.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say this, but you can get out by the power of God, and God has a gift for you.
SPEAKER_00: By the Spirit, if you are a follower of Jesus, you can get out of that mindlessness, of that, of being carried along.
SPEAKER_00: You can get out.
SPEAKER_00: But you have to understand that getting out, activating the power of the Holy Spirit is done in holy habits.
SPEAKER_00: The the Holy Spirit power to set you free is activated in holy habits, in things like fasting and feasting, and aligning, aligning your life where you say, I'm gonna take holy days, I'm gonna take holy moments where where I I look to to slow down, to reflect, to take a holy day, to to connect with God in giving thanks and focusing on things that are most uh important, eternal.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a practical suggestion for you.
SPEAKER_00: How about considering taking Advent and Christmas in July?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: Take some time to plan, to take the themes of Advent and Christmas and and to take some time to make a holy moment once a week in the month of July.
SPEAKER_00: Focus on the truth first and foremost that Jesus came as God promised.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came as God promised.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's the first part of it.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you can remember the the joy of Christmas, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where where many years before Jesus was born, the prophet of God said it would happen, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh Isaiah 9 6.
SPEAKER_00: For to us a child is born, Isaiah said.
SPEAKER_00: To us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Take some time to To to remember that Jesus came as God promised.
SPEAKER_00: But also, remember that Avent is a time to remember that Jesus, Jesus is going to come back as God promised.
SPEAKER_00: God has promised that Jesus will return.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you read the New Testament, if you read about the early church, you cannot but notice that they constantly talked about the return of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They operated as if he was going to return anytime now.
SPEAKER_00: Especially when they faced persecution and trial.
SPEAKER_00: They were like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: This is beyond us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, come, come quickly.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to believe that you're coming back to get us soon.
SPEAKER_00: Rescue us.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Revelation is the Apostle John's letter to the church in difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: The last chapter, 22, there are quotes from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus saying to John, for John to write down and communicate to the church.
SPEAKER_00: Time and time again, Jesus is saying, Hey, I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 22, 7.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I'm coming back soon.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in the scroll.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, chapter 22, look, I'm coming soon.
SPEAKER_00: My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Alpha and the Omega, meaning I'm the one that began history, and I will be the one that will close history.
SPEAKER_00: The first and the last, the beginning and the end.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: He who testifies to these things, this is Jesus talking.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am coming soon.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Apostle John closes the letter with these words, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen means may it be.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says something that, you know, is is a is a kind of a call in the church at that time.
SPEAKER_00: Come, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So how many have you ever heard of Christmas in July?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Yes?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: You're shy?
SPEAKER_00: Put your hand up if you can.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a shameful.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER_00: I like a bold up hand.
SPEAKER_00: So I looked it up.
SPEAKER_00: Apparently it was a thing.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know it was really, really a thing.
SPEAKER_00: I think we used to, I used to think.
SPEAKER_00: Apparently it originated in some like girls' camp in 1933 where they decided to have Christmas at the camp in July as something fun to remember the themes of Christmas, did all the decorations and all that.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas in July has been taken on in a few places in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Usually July 24th and July 25th.
SPEAKER_00: Some communities, some places do it to encourage sales.
SPEAKER_00: You know, July is a time when sales are going down.
SPEAKER_00: You want to encourage people to buy stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas in July.
SPEAKER_00: According to some of my research, and I didn't know about this because I lived in the Southern Hemisphere for a long time and we didn't do Christmas in July.
SPEAKER_00: But apparently, Christmas in July in the Southern Hemisphere is a thing because the folks there want to kind of cash into that cold and snow and all the warm feelings that you get for Christmas so they celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't remember that, but this is what it says in the internet.
SPEAKER_00: It must be true if it's on the internet, right?
SPEAKER_00: So here's my Christmas in the July twist for you.
SPEAKER_00: Can you set a time one day a week, focused on the themes of Advent and Christmas?
SPEAKER_00: Take once a week to fast from the busyness of your day and to and to feast reflecting on God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Can you take some time to reflect on God's faithfulness in the past?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: To ponder on the promises that God has fulfilled for you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can read the scriptures about Christmas in the Gospels, about the coming of Jesus and the birth of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can read the scriptures about the story of Jesus going to the cross and being resurrected from the dead as you celebrate the fulfillment of the promises and recognize the teachings of Romans.
SPEAKER_00: We just did a whole series on Romans, but the Romans, what's the message?
SPEAKER_00: The good news.
SPEAKER_00: You can be right with God through faith in Jesus for what he's done on the cross and through the empty tomb.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you can just kind of remember, hey, uh, let's just take a time to think about all the good things I have in my life, that God is definitely treating me better than I deserve, all the things that I have and I can give thanks for because he is a faithful God.
SPEAKER_00: One time a week, holy time, it could be a day, it could be an hour, it could be a moment, it could be minutes, but make a commitment in the month of July once a week to work against the devil who's trying to distract you, who's trying to make you mindless, work once a week to engage in the holy habit of a holy day to set you free from being a slave to distraction.
SPEAKER_00: And while Advent is a time to be serious, include a seriousness in the reflection of God's faithfulness in the past, but I'm gonna ask also to recognize that there's a time for joy and celebration.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to kind of mix things up here a little bit, rejoice in God's promises for the future.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm saying it this way because I don't know about you, but whenever people talk to me about the second coming and about the end times and about all that goes along with it and what's going to happen, they're usually not coming to me in a joyful manner.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: They're usually coming to me because they're nervous.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, things are going bad, things are terrible.
SPEAKER_00: We better get serious about thinking about the coming back of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: But they're not coming to me in a positive way, or they're they want to talk to me about the second coming, and it's usually posing questions about trying to figure out the times and when and how and all that, and they want to get into theological conversations that end up to be theological controversies because they're trying to figure out exactly when Jesus is coming.
SPEAKER_00: And I come like, hey, look, the Bible's clear, no one knows the time of the day, but yeah, but the signs, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to me and wants to talk about the second coming in a joyful manner.
SPEAKER_00: No one wants to come to me and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it awesome?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is returning.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to take this time to celebrate the promises of God that He has been faithful in the past, which means he'll be faithful in the future.
SPEAKER_00: And even though we're struggling, and even though we're waiting, and even though we're in this time of wondering if he's gonna return, do it as an opportunity to give thanks.
SPEAKER_00: Celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: Because when Jesus returns, everything that's wrong will be made right.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a heartsick of the injustice of the world, give thanks to God because he's gonna take care of business and make all the wrongs right in his time.
SPEAKER_00: If you're heartsick about death and suffering and and and hurt, give thanks to God because when he returns, death will be defeated.
SPEAKER_00: No more sickness, no more tears.
SPEAKER_00: We can give thanks.
SPEAKER_00: Those loved ones who have died in the Lord, you will be renewed, you're reunited with them in fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_00: People are like, you know, when whenever I die, I'm gonna go and ask the Lord about this, this, and this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, when you get to heaven, you're not gonna ask him nothing about that.
SPEAKER_00: Because you won't care.
SPEAKER_00: Because you'll be like, whoa! Who wants to remember then?
SPEAKER_00: Because I got here, and now I'm with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: No more tears, no more sickness, no more disease, no more death, new heaven, new earth.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's something else to rejoice in.
SPEAKER_00: And usually we come at it as a negative because we're like, oh, I'm gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: Today is one day closer to the end than yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't know the time of the day, which means it can happen anytime.
SPEAKER_00: But what you do know is today is one day closer than yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: We're getting closer.
SPEAKER_00: One day at a time, one moment at a time.
SPEAKER_00: The point is not to figure out when Jesus will return, the point is to recognize that he will and be ready for that return by being expectant.
SPEAKER_00: And being expectant involves joy.
SPEAKER_00: We should be happy about it, we should be looking forward to it, we should be echoing with what John says.
SPEAKER_00: Come, Lord Jesus, come, celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: So rejoice in God's promises for the future feast and celebrate the promise that Jesus was going to return.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas in July.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, one more thing.
SPEAKER_00: I have to say this at this time.
SPEAKER_00: One more encouragement about making holidays as part of your holy habits.
SPEAKER_00: So this week that's coming, we as a nation, we as Americans, are gonna be celebrating uh July 4th.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a special July 4th, why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's the celebration of independence, 250 years, the birth of our nation, 250th Independence Day celebration.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna celebrate 250 years as a nation that's been blessed in so many, many ways.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are a nation that is made up of sinful people, and we I think we can all agree that we have a floored history.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, America has our sins, but that doesn't mean that we cannot give thanks for God's goodness and grace to us, a sinful people.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This is a nation of abundant resources that you and I are the beneficiaries of.
SPEAKER_00: Look, our average citizen lives like the royalty of many nations.
SPEAKER_00: You realize that?
SPEAKER_00: We joke about oh, first world problems.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can't turn the channel fast enough.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm so upset.
SPEAKER_00: Really?
SPEAKER_00: We're blessed because we live under a system of government, not perfect, but I believe and I have observed best fulfills the calling that God has placed for government that is to protect the innocent, to punish with justice, a fairness, of justice, the evildoer, and to provide peace for the citizens to prosper.
SPEAKER_00: We're blessed because of God of God's providential care.
SPEAKER_00: You just take time to to to observe the history of our nation, and you'll see that time and time again, when America was facing a threat that could have resulted in the destruction of our way of life, God intervened and provided.
SPEAKER_00: We can celebrate this.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not for us to be arrogant about, as I've said this before, we need to recognize we're we're trust fund kids of freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Trust fund kids of freedom.
SPEAKER_00: And these freedoms and gifts that are blessings from God.
SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you then make it a holy day this week.
SPEAKER_00: Celebrate the Fourth of July as best you can, but also know this is an opportunity to recognize God, that as citizens celebrating the Fourth of July, we are taking the opportunity to recognize God's faithfulness in the past and to rejoice in God's promise for the future, and we're celebrating July 4th as Americans, and we can appreciate that, but also we know what?
SPEAKER_00: We know that we are, this is not our home.
SPEAKER_00: We're just passing through.
SPEAKER_00: We're temporary residents, right?
SPEAKER_00: That our American citizenship and even America itself is not gonna last forever.
SPEAKER_00: But our heavenly citizenship that's eternal.
SPEAKER_00: It's our heavenly citizenship that is our North Star and is the reason why we can we can truly be the best citizens possible by the grace of God and truly take a moment to appreciate God's faithfulness in the past and God's continual faithfulness to fulfill his promises in the future.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna close by by taking communion together, which I dropped on the floor.
SPEAKER_00: If you wouldn't mind uh opening up communion packets, take the bread and open up the cup so you can be ready to drink the juice, that would be great.
SPEAKER_00: In Paul's teaching to the Corinthians, he reminded the Corinthians that whenever they eat the bread and drink the cup, they proclaim the Lord's death.
SPEAKER_00: That means you you take a moment to just kind of be reminded of the events of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: What's that involved?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus went to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: To pay for the sins of the world, to pay for your sins.
SPEAKER_00: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son for you, so that you won't perish but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't send his son to condemn you, but to save you through him.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you take this bread and drink this of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death, and then there's a line until he comes.
SPEAKER_00: Until he returns.
SPEAKER_00: We eat with expectation that God has fulfilled his promises.
SPEAKER_00: We rejoice in that, but we also look to the fact that God will fulfill his promise in return.
SPEAKER_00: Until he comes back.
SPEAKER_00: And he comes back to make all the wrongs right, he comes back to destroy death once and for all.
SPEAKER_00: He comes back to take you to the place where Jesus said that I have been preparing with for you with my Father to enjoy life to its fullest.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's take the bread together and remember that Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: Let's drink of the cup and remember that He's coming back and that we need to rejoice in that.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your promises.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that uh we thank you that you are the fulfillment of the promises that God made to the people thousands of years ago, that you would come and you came.
SPEAKER_00: You came as a child, you lived amongst us, you did not consider equality being the God, something to be grasped, something to be forced upon the people, but instead gave yourself up as a servant to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And you died and you rose again, and we thank you for that and the fulfillment of the promises that that occurred there, that we could be made right because of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we also thank you for the promises that you give that you will return.
SPEAKER_00: And we look forward to that return.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know when, and help us not to be distracted and trying to figure out when, but instead help us to be faithful in living in such a way as if you would return.
SPEAKER_00: Your return is today, your return is any moment.
SPEAKER_00: To live in such a way that when you come back, you catch us being busy, not distracted, but being focused on serving you and walking with you, but being about the work of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we struggle mightily against the enemy's strategy of distraction.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to engage in the gifts of the holy habits you provide, to fast, to feast, to remember your faithfulness in the past and to hold on to the promises you have for us in the future.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So good to be with you today.
SPEAKER_00: We got uh two fine gentlemen up here available to pray with you if you'd like, to talk with you in the next steps.
SPEAKER_00: God bless.
SPEAKER_00: Have a great Sunday.