WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:05.919 Well, uh good morning again, and uh welcome to church. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:07.519 Welcome to church at the grove. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:14.000 And if you are uh here with us this morning, we just want to say thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.280 And I want to say a special welcome too for the very first time uh in Church at the Grove history. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.920 We are also streaming live from social circles. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:22.800 So good morning. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.960 If you're watching from online this morning, welcome to Church at the Grove. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.440 We're so glad that you're with us this morning as well. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.640 And here at Church at the Grove, we want people to get connected. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:40.880 Um, so it's not just about um filling a seat or watching something online, but it's actually about being connected in the life and in the body of Church at the Grove. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:47.920 And one of the easiest ways, especially if you're a guest or a visitor with us, that we would love to connect with you is by filling out our encounter card. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:50.479 And uh you can do this through our Church at the Grove app. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:57.039 If you're here in person, you can scan the little QR code in front of you or send uh fill out a physical form at the connection desk on your way out. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.679 If you're online, you can click the link that's right there right now. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:16.719 But we would love to be able to connect with you, not to show up at your house unannounced, but just to have a record of your visit, to send you a gift this week in the mail, and just to say thank you for being part of our services, but also give you some resources to help you take some next steps, excuse me, next steps in your faith journey. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:19.519 And so we'd love to partner with you in that. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:29.680 But if you're just joining us this morning, we're in the uh end of a series called Breakthrough, and we've been talking about how we can experience breakthrough in our lives. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:35.920 And I think that that's something that we all, excuse me, all would really want to have in our lives. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:38.879 We would all want to see breakthrough happen in our lives. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:55.840 Ultimately, we see more stagnation in our lives, and we see lives that are full of just kind of stalled out faith, where we're just kind of going through the motions, we're running on the hamster wheel, but we don't feel like we're ever making any forward progress, but we want to see breakthrough in our lives. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:15.840 And so this whole series has really revolved around this idea that breakthrough happens when we're living in intentional biblical community, that that's ultimately what our lives should be about, that we should strive to have men and women of faith that surround us, that are helping us achieve the ways that God wants us to live in life. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:23.280 And so the first week of this series, we look at an Old Testament story of Moses, and it's this incredible story of him going into battle. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.759 It's the first battle that the Israelites take on. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:30.960 And Moses, as long as his hands are lifted high, the Israelites are winning the battle. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:40.400 And his arms eventually get tired, and so there's a man named Aaron and a man named Her, and they come alongside Moses and they lift his hands up for him. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:48.879 When he gets tired, when he gets weak, they're there to support him, to lift his arms up, to support him in the midst of his struggle and in his burden. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:03:03.840 And we said that that's ultimately what the community of faith around us should do, that they should support us, that they should be with us, they should lift our hands up when we're struggling, they should pray for us and with us, and they should be there to support us and guide us on our faith journey. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:12.719 Last week we talked about the story of Gideon, which is an incredible Old Testament passage that talks about how God took this huge army and he whittled it down to just a few. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:19.280 And we said that God uses small groups of weak people to accomplish breakthrough in our lives. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:32.960 That ultimately, when God begins to whittle things down in our lives and he brings us into smaller gatherings, he exposes our weaknesses, but it's also an opportunity for us to depend upon him all the more. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:42.960 And so this morning, as we kind of close out this series, I want us to really evaluate the importance of uh seeing who we are listening to in life. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:49.280 Because who we are listening to in life ultimately determines the future for our lives. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:04:01.360 Um, I can remember when I was in high school, um, I came to know Jesus the summer before my junior year in high school, and uh then I went to school that year, and uh I got partnered up um with a lot of the same friends. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:11.280 We had to switch classes, and so we had a lot of the same friends that were in each of the classes, and so I was partnered up with uh some of the more kind of popular kids in school. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.400 And so, you know, like every school kind of has the different classes. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:19.839 So there's like those super athletic people, the jock types, which I certainly did not fit in that category. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.680 There's the creative artsy types that were sit all together in the lunchroom, they're always together. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:44.240 Um, you know, there's the brainiacs, the super smart kids that are all in the top ten of their class and they're all together, and then there's kind of more of the popular crowd, and I didn't really fit in any of those categories, but this year, for whatever reason, I started to have friendships with more of the kind of popular kids in the class. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:05:01.439 And so we began to hang out during class, which eventually took us outside of classes into study groups and different things like that, and then eventually there were friendships and stuff that were developing that we were hanging out every night and on the weekends, and we were doing all kinds of things that we probably shouldn't have been doing. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:12.639 And uh these friendships began to develop, and it felt really great because for the first time I was in the popular class, which, you know, I know looking at me, you're thinking, wait, you weren't always in the popular class, right? 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:14.000 Like that's not what you're thinking. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:22.879 I get that, I totally understand, but I'm just I know it's shocking, but I'm not the most witty, I'm not the most fashionable, I'm not the most outgoing, and so I wasn't in this type of class of people. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:29.439 So it really meant a lot because these people before this year, like they didn't even know who I was, they didn't know my name, right? 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:44.480 And now all of a sudden they're taking notice, we're hanging out, and we're actual friends, and new opportunities were presented to me where I had, you know, different parties and drugs and alcohol were presented to me, and I had tons and tons of opportunities that were handed to me on a silver platter. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.879 And I began to kind of move in this direction. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:58.480 Even though I was a follower of Jesus, even though I loved Jesus deeply, I was beginning to drift away from Jesus and follow the ways and the influence that this crowd had over me. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:09.120 And it wasn't until probably closer to the end of my junior year that this girl, who was a friend of mine, she pulled me to the side and she said, Nathan, um, uh, I gotta have a conversation with you. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.319 Um, you can't continue to live the way that you're living. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:20.879 Um, you have kind of one foot in the way of following Jesus, and you've got one foot in the way of following the world, and you can't have it both ways. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.480 You gotta decide which way are you going to go. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:27.120 And in the moment, I hated that conversation. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:35.040 I hated hearing her say these things to me, but in my looking back, I know that what she was saying was true, was right. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.639 And I'm so thankful for the conversation that took place that day. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:46.639 It was a wake-up call for me because I knew that I couldn't continue to live the way that I was because I was going down the wrong path. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:56.240 The people that I was surrounding myself with, the people that had influence over my life, were leading me in a direction that I ultimately didn't want to go. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:57.680 And we've all known this, right? 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:08.160 We all have had these types of relationships in our lives where we've had people that have influenced us, that we have maybe, maybe it's been for the good, maybe it's been for the bad, but we've all had people that have influenced us. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:13.920 Jim Rohr, he said that we are the average of our five closest friends. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:15.519 So think about that for a second. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.959 Think about the five people that you hang out with the most. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.920 Maybe it's coworkers, maybe it's your husband, your wife, maybe it's a friendship of some kind. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:29.279 You are the average of those five relationships, those five people combined. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:30.160 That's who you are. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.680 That's who you're going to become, is what his hypothesis is. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:38.000 There's actually been research that has been done that actually goes even further than this. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:58.319 In the New England Journal of Science and Medicine recently, there was a research that was done that said, not only are you the uh average of the five people that you spend the most time with, but there's also been health studies that have shown that you also are influenced, not just by your friends, but the friends of your friends. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:07:59.199 Listen to this. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:13.360 It said that the longest and largest running health studies show that if a friend of yours becomes obese, you yourself are 45% more likely to gain weight over the next two to four years. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:18.480 So if you want to be thin, don't be friends with overweight people, is what I hear you from that. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.360 So I'm don't be friends with me, I guess, is what we're saying. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:22.399 So here we go. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.360 So 45% more likely to gain weight over the next two to four years. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:27.040 But this is the shocking thing they found. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:39.840 They also found that if a friend of your friend becomes obese, the likelihood of gaining weight increases by about 20%, even if you don't know the friend of the friend. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.360 The same thing proved to be true when it came to smoking. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:49.039 If a friend of yours smokes, you are 61% more likely to become a smoker yourself. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:54.399 If a friend of yours friend smokes, you are 29% more likely to smoke. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.159 So it's a negative influence, but there's also positive things that come from this. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.919 Perhaps the most telling thing about the study was the idea of happiness. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:06.080 The two researchers found that happy friends make you happier. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:07.360 No surprise there. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:19.360 But if your friend of a friend of a friend, so three generations away from you, if they are happy with their life, then you are a six percent greater likelihood of being happy yourself. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:33.600 That's a six percent doesn't sound like a lot, but there's other studies that suggest that if I gave you a$10,000 raise, that would only trigger your happiness percentage by 2%, which many of y'all would maybe disagree with that, right? 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:36.879 You'd be a lot happier if you had$10,000 more a year. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:44.879 But what the study is ultimately showing and proving to be true is that the people that we surround ourselves with influence us. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:49.919 They lead us in the direction that we're going to go in our lives. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:10:00.080 Who we hang out with, who we associate with, who we're listening to ultimately determines the direction that we're going to go and the direction that we're going to move in life. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:01.200 We could say it this way. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:06.639 This is our big idea for the morning that whoever has your ear guides your heart. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:19.039 Whoever has your ear, whoever you're listening to, is the one that is ultimately going to be the one responsible for guiding your heart in the direction that you are going to go in life. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:26.639 This is why it's so important for us to evaluate our friendships and the influences that we have in our lives. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:32.399 This matters if you're in middle school and high school, where middle schoolers, man, we'll just listen to anybody, right? 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:36.960 And we'll just kind of go in anybody that talks to us, anybody that accepts us, that's who we're going to listen to. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:41.360 But it also matters in your 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.679 Anytime someone has our ear, they have the ability to guide our heart. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:11:00.720 And so this morning, what I want us to do is I want us to be challenged to evaluate our friendships, to evaluate the influences that are speaking into our lives, that we would see who has my ear and ultimately who is guiding my heart. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.559 Now we're going to look at this Old Testament story that's a real obscure passage. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:12.720 If you um have read through the Bible, you probably have forgotten about this story because it's not a huge story in the grand scheme of things throughout Scripture. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:14.879 It's found in the book of 2 Chronicles. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:19.519 If you have a Bible, you can go ahead and turn there and feel free to use your table of contents to find the book. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:29.200 But 2 Chronicles is a account of the kings and the priest of Israel, and it kind of gives the history behind their stories. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:30.879 Fascinating book. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:37.440 But this in uh 2 Chronicles chapter 24, there's a story of a man named Joash. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.200 And his story is bonkers. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:44.559 Like it is it is crazy when you begin to set the scene for Joash and his family. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:46.799 It's a dysfunctional family indeed. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:52.080 There's uh Queen Jezebel, which Jezebel is not just one of the most evil queens that ever lived. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.360 She's one of the most evil individuals in all of Scripture. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:02.399 And she has a daughter named Atheliah, and she has a son named Ahaziah. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.759 And so there's the family genealogy right there. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.159 And Ahaziah is the king at the time. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:13.600 He dies, and his mom proceeds to kill the entire royal family. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:21.039 She kills all the gene the all the descendants of Ahaziah so that she can become the ruler of Judah. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:32.240 So it's this wicked, evil practice where she kills off babies and children so that they won't be able to take the throne, and that she can take the throne that she believes to be hers. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:41.759 Well, there's this other family member, her sister actually, who has this smart idea of hiding this newborn baby infant named Joash. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:47.840 And she takes Joash and she hides him in the temple and she hides him there for seven years. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.159 And the grandmother doesn't even acknowledge him, she forgets about him, she doesn't even know he's there. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:55.840 And at the end of seven years, they finally bring him out of hiding. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:05.840 They present him to the captain's guards, and they give him the kingship, and they end up killing his grandmother, the queen, who has taken over the nation at this time. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:10.240 So it's like a blockbuster movie just waiting to happen and waiting to be made. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:12.799 But this is the scene that Joash comes into. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:20.399 Joash at the age of seven is going to become the king, the ruler of the nation of Judah. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:22.320 Now listen, that's scary. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.320 I've got a six-year-old. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:33.120 And uh and I love him to death, but man, like I can't trust him to do a whole lot, much less read uh or lead a nation, right? 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:33.919 We can't probably do that. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:37.679 Maybe there's a lot of growing that happens between your sixth year and your seventh year. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:40.399 I don't know, but this is how he starts his life. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:46.000 He, at seven years old, is going to become the ruler and the king of Judah. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:51.440 And obviously, as he has no parents, he's an orphan, there's a guy named Jehoiada. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:14:05.519 And Jehoiada is a priest, and he's going to kind of become a father figure for Joash and lead him in a way that is upstanding, in a way of integrity, a way that is going to lead him closer to the Lord. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:11.200 Listen to how it starts in 2 Chronicles chapter 24, starting in verse 1, it says this. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.000 He reigned in Jerusalem forty years. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:22.000 His mother was Zebiah from Beersheba. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:28.480 Joash did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:34.879 Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash, and he had sons and daughters. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:49.919 So Joash, as this young man, seven years old, taking over this authority, this huge place of power, Jehoiada comes alongside of him and begins to train him and guide him and lead him in the direction that he needs to go. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:58.080 And it even says right there in verse 2 that he did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight as long as Jehoiada was alive. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:14:59.759 And that's exactly what happens. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:05.360 Joash gets this idea in his head that he's going to restore the temple of God. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:19.440 It had been polluted by these foreign and pagan idols and gods, and Joash is going to not just restore the temple by rebuilding it and bringing in, you know, all the different artifacts that needed to be in there, but it's also a religious reform. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:35.919 So it's not just a building project that Joash is coming into, but it's also a religious kind of revival because they're ridding themselves of the idols and the pagan worship, and they're beginning to put God in his rightful place as the leader and as the king and as the Lord and Savior of the nation of Judah. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.320 And so this is a re miraculous thing. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:42.080 This young boy is chosen and used in such a miraculous way. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:57.919 His leaders and the people that have come before him were wicked and evil, and he doesn't have a good example, but yet Joash, because of Jehoiada's influence, is able to repair or restore the temple and lead the nation into religious revival and reform. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:02.559 Only because he was listening to the voice of Jehoiada. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:09.039 Jehoiada was speaking into his life, and as a result, he was making wise decisions that honored the Lord. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:15.120 It says in verse 13, it says, The men in charge of the renovations worked hard and made steady progress. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:19.840 They restored the temple of God according to its original design and strengthened it. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:25.360 When all the repairs were finished, they brought the remaining money to the king and Jehoiada. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:36.639 It was used to make various articles for the temple of the Lord, articles for worship, services, and for burnt offerings, including ladles and other articles made of gold and silver. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:44.639 And the burnt offerings were sacrificed continually in the temple of the Lord during the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:54.559 So again, it's a building project that he takes over, but it's also religious reform that happens as the people turn their hearts back to the one true God. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:00.480 Now listen, at Church at the Grove, uh we've gone through really just one major building project. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:07.279 We built our Walnut Grove campus, and uh, I'll just be honest with you, as great as it is to have a building, it's not fun, right? 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:18.559 When you have to kind of come up with this vision and you've got to get in front of people and you've got to talk about money and you gotta get everybody on the same page and you gotta get people to give generously and stuff, like that's not an easy ask, right? 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:23.440 A lot of times people go, you know what, like you know, we're we're leaving, we don't won't care about this, we're not doing that. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.680 And it's just a hard process to do a building project by itself. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:33.200 But Joash is not just doing a building project, but he's also leading religious reform and revival. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:42.400 And so there's this a supernatural kind of thing that's happening, but it's all coming at the hands and of the influence of Jehoiada speaking into his life. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:55.039 And this is what I want us to understand that whoever has our ear guides our heart, but then also that if we're listening to the right voices, that unlimited potential is possible in our life. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:00.799 That unlimited potential is possible in our life if we're listening to the right voices. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.359 Um I listen to tons and tons of podcasts. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:08.319 I don't know if there's any podcast people out there, but I'll probably listen to a dozen different podcasts a week. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:13.440 And one of the ones that I'll make a regular practice of listening to is one called How They Built This. 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:15.119 Have anybody ever read heard this? 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:15.599 No one? 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:16.000 No one? 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:16.400 All right. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.039 Uh NPR does it, and it's really great. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:23.279 They they interview all of these business leaders that started companies and organizations. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:32.640 Some of them are smaller, some of them are larger, some of them are airline companies that you would have heard of, or computer companies you would have heard of, and some of them are smaller that maybe might not be household names. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:37.359 And he interviews them really talking about the conception of the idea to where they are today. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:44.880 And it's so interesting because every single one of the stories you listen to, there's always incredible obstacles that they have to overcome. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:19:03.279 Where the health code uh health food department, they come in and they say, hey, we're shutting your restaurant down because you didn't jump through these hoops, or because, you know, something else happened and so that your business is shut down, or the investor that said that they were going to give so much money doesn't come through and they don't get the money that they thought was going to happen and come through with. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:09.680 Or that there's some copyright infringement that happens, and so they have to throw away an idea and come up with a new idea. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.720 Like there's all of these incredible obstacles that they have to come up with. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:27.279 And almost in every single one of those stories, you'll hear the guy ask, and he'll they'll be telling the story, the inner of the people being interviewed, and they'll say, Man, I was about to give up, but then someone said, You've come too far. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:28.880 Someone said, Don't give up. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.039 Someone said, There's another way. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.000 There's got to be another way that we can go. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:42.640 And if it wasn't for him, if it wasn't for her, if it wasn't for my business partner, if it wasn't for my mom, if it wasn't for my dad, then I wouldn't be where I am today. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:48.799 This is the power of the right voices speaking into our lives. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:54.240 But now here at church, what we're talking about is not that we would just listen to good advice. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:55.519 I want us to hear this. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:57.759 This is not just listening to good advice. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:06.079 I think that for so long we've settled for listening to good advice at the expense of listening to godly advice. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:10.240 And those are two different things in our world and our culture today. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.640 There's a lot of good advice that's out there. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:29.279 I mean, you can watch television programs, you can listen to interviews, you can listen to podcasts, you can read book after book after book, and you can hear tons of different good advices that advice that is given to the people out there to help you improve your life. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:35.119 But really, what we're after, if you're a follower of Jesus, is we're after godly advice. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.640 We want to know what God says, and we want to do what God says. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.799 And that's exactly what Joash has here. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:46.720 Joash has not just someone that's giving him good advice, but someone that's giving him godly advice. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:57.759 And I would ask you in your life right now, the people that are speaking into your life, the people that you're listening to, the people that have your ear, are they people that give you good advice? 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.559 Or are they people that give you godly advice? 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:05.440 Are they people that just kind of know what's going on in the world and they just are kind of wise? 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:14.559 Or are they people that are godly, that give you godly wisdom that comes from Scripture, that gives you direction and purpose and meaning in your life? 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:20.559 I think oftentimes we settle for what's good at the expense of going after what is godly. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:27.359 And Jehoiada was a godly influence that gave godly advice to Joash. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:33.519 And without his influence, the things that he was able to accomplish would have never happened. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:40.400 But here's what's so fascinating about the story of Joash is that the story doesn't stop there. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:46.880 In 2 Chronicles 24, at verse 17, we see that Jehoiada has now died. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:55.759 It says, But after Jehoiada's death, the leaders of Judah came and bowed before King Joash and persuaded him to listen to their advice. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:05.119 They decided to abandon the temple of the Lord, the God of Their ancestors and they worshiped Asherapoles and idols instead. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:08.240 So there's this drastic change that takes place. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:15.119 He's walking after the Lord, he's following the Lord, he's rebuilding the temple, there's religious reform, there's revival that's happening. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:18.079 All of these things are going very, very well for Joash. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:20.960 He's doing what's pleasing in the Lord's sight. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:22.960 But then Jehoiada dies. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:26.720 There's an absence of godly voices speaking into his life. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:38.960 And when there's an absence of godly voices speaking into our lives, it opens up the door and an opportunity for others to speak into our lives that might not have our best interest at heart. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:49.519 And so here he is, the king, his main leader, the main guy that was speaking into his life is now gone, and a new group of advisors come into the picture. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:59.440 And here they are giving him advice that goes contrary to God's word, contrary to everything that he's known growing up, contrary to everything that Jehoiada had taught him to be about. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:06.960 His life goal, his life mission, the purpose and the mission that he had chased after to rebuild the temple was suddenly deserted. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:12.880 Now I could be wrong and I could be reading too much into the text here, but I don't think that I am. 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:20.880 I don't think that Joash just suddenly overnight said, Well, you know, these people sound like they're smart, so we're just gonna go in this direction. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:25.839 Even though for the past, you know, 15, 20, 30 years, however long it is, I've been walking in this direction. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:26.400 But you know what? 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:30.640 Bob says that we need to go this direction, so I'm gonna go this direction, he just walks that direction. 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:32.720 I don't think that's what happened. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:36.720 I think it was probably a slow, gradual shift. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:47.440 Where the people began to get him to slowly change, slowly compromise, slowly begin to believe the lies over the truth. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:59.680 And eventually, over years or months, he begins to shift his view and following the ways that went against God rather than following the ways of God. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:02.559 And this is how the enemy ultimately works. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:08.799 When we listen to the wrong voice voices, ultimate uh uh unlimited destruction is inevitable. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:13.279 Just like we listen to the right voices, there's unlimited potential that it's possible. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:17.839 When we listen to the wrong voices, unlimited destruction is inevitable. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.960 This is how the enemy comes into our lives. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:25.920 These advisors come in and they say, Listen, Joash, you've accomplished a lot of great things. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:40.960 And they begin to probably tell him all these great things about himself, and they have words of flattery, and they stroke his ego, and they talk about how great he is and how handsome he is, and then he brings them into the inner circle, and then they begin to slowly shift his way of thinking. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.319 They begin to slowly get them to believe something that's different than Jehoiada led him to do. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:58.640 And this is what is happening all over our world today, where it's not an overnight drastic difference, but it's a slow fade to get us to listen to the wrong voices in our lives. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:00.559 And we've got to wake up to this. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:02.079 We've got to recognize this. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:09.920 This is why I'm saying that we've got to evaluate the relationships and the voices that are speaking into our lives, because this is so important. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.640 Because whoever has our ear guides our heart. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:22.799 So if we're listening to the wrong voices, if we're listening to the wrong uh people speaking into us, then we're going to go in the direction that we don't want to go in life. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:25.200 And that's not what God has for us. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:30.240 And this is exactly how the enemy ultimately works, and the enemy I'm talking about is Satan. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:31.519 This is how Satan works. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.839 He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.640 He wants to bring destruction into our lives. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:38.400 This is how he operates. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:41.680 From the very beginning with Eve in the garden. 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:50.319 He doesn't come to Eve and say, hey, take a bite of this fruit, and sin's gonna enter the world, and tragedy and terrible things are going to unravel as a result. 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:51.279 He doesn't say that. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:55.759 He doesn't get her to shift her mindset as a result of this one bite of the apple. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:56.799 But what does he do? 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:58.960 It's a slow shift. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.000 He says, Hey, you're missing out on something. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:09.440 If God knows, if you take a bite of this fruit, then man, you're gonna wake up and you're gonna become like him, and he doesn't want that. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:11.200 You're missing out on something. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:20.319 And she begins to listen to the voice of the enemy, and as she listens to the voice of the enemy, he guides her heart to follow. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.400 And this is how the enemy still works in our lives today. 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:40.799 He uses ungodly influences that we listen to, ungodly voices that we listen to that guide our hearts in directions that we never intended and never wanted to go down in our lives. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:41.680 Think about it. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.839 Think about it in your life right now. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:59.440 Some of the worst decisions that you have made, some of the hardest relational conflict that you've experienced, have probably been because you listened to the wrong voices, and ultimately you reaped the consequences of that. 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:00.559 We've been there, right? 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:01.200 I've been there. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:06.160 We've all been there, we've all listened to the wrong voices, and destruction has come into our lives. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.960 And that's what happens in the story of Joash. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.839 Whoever has our ear guides our heart. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:14.480 Listen to how wicked it gets for Joash. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:15.759 Verse 19. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:21.119 It says, Yet the Lord sent uh prophets to bring them back to him. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:24.480 The prophets warned them, but still the people would not listen. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:32.880 And so God, in his mercy, even though they're listening to the wrong voices, God is sending prophets to speak and bring the people back, but they're still not listening. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:38.960 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zachariah, who was the son of Jehoiada the priest. 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:49.359 So this is a direct descendant of Jehoiada, the man that was the father of his, like the surrogate father, the one that gave his life to see the Joash succeed. 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:52.960 This is now his son that's coming into the picture as one of the priests. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:56.240 He stood before the people and said, This is what God says. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:00.480 Why do you disobey the Lord's commands and keep yourself from prospering? 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:04.240 You have abandoned the Lord, and now he has abandoned you. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.200 Then the leaders plotted to kill Zechariah. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:13.920 And King Joash ordered that they stone him to death in the courtyard of the Lord's temple. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:21.759 That was how King Joash repaid Jehoiada for his loyalty by killing his son. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:30.559 Zachariah's last words as he died were, May the Lord see what they are doing and avenge my death. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.599 So this is how drastic of a change that happened for Joash. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:59.039 Walking with the Lord, seeing the temple repaired, seeing religious reform happen, then the wrong advisors come in, speak wrong voices into his mind, and ultimately he begins to not just walk away from the Lord and worshiping pagan idols and gods, but he even has the priests and the prophets of God killed. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:06.480 Even the ones that were the descendants of Jehoiada, the man that gave Joash everything. 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:12.640 The man that was responsible of helping protect him at a young age from his grandmother. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:25.839 Even his son, Zachariah, Joash was willing to kill because the wrong voices he was listening to, and they guided his heart into a place and into a path of destruction. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.839 And now this is a dramatic example that we find in Scripture. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:36.319 And maybe your life doesn't look quite this dramatic, but there are subtle ways that this happens in our life. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:45.599 When somebody comes alongside of us and they give us uh advice and they give us words that that really go contrary to God's word. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:50.079 This is a subtle way of listening to the wrong voices. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:30:09.759 And there's a lot of well-intentioned, good people out there that will be willing to give you advice and they mean well and they have good hearts, but unless it lines up with the word of God, then we're subtly drifting and we're listening to the wrong voices in our life. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:17.519 This is why it's so important, so important for us to make sure that we have the right voices speaking into us. 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:21.119 Because there's a lot of people that will be willing to fill our mind with things. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:28.160 There's a lot of people that will be willing to tell us what we need to do, the decisions that we need to make, the relationships that we need to have. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:32.559 But God is telling us, man, you need to listen to the right people. 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:39.680 Surround yourself with the right people that can give you godly advice that can lead you into unlimited potential. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:46.640 It comes into our minds, it comes into our ways, into subtle ways, like you picking up bad habits and destructive habits. 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:50.799 Where you just slowly begin to think, well, this isn't going to hurt anybody. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:56.559 And then, you know, it kind of becomes more and more, and the ball becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and rolls down the hill. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:58.079 It's like a snowball effect. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:30:59.680 This happens all the time, right? 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.000 Just take lying, for example. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:16.000 Where it's so easy for us to go, well, you know, it's just one little kind of white lie to protect ourselves, to make it look like we didn't really do something as bad as it really was, or that makes us look better than we really are. 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:19.759 Just a white lie, no one's gonna get hurt from this. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:27.359 And we do it once, and then it comes again, and then it comes again until it's just easy. 00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:29.440 It's just easy for us to do that. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:35.599 That's slowly listening to the wrong voices that ultimately leads to destruction in our life. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:50.240 When you are going down the wrong path and you are having uh people in your life that aren't having difficult conversations with you, much like the girl I was talking about at the very beginning of this message, that we don't have people that surround us and go, hey Nathan, wake up. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:52.160 You're going in the wrong direction. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.799 You need to change what you're doing, you need to change the influences that are speaking into your life. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:31:58.000 Wake up to that. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:05.200 If we don't have those people in our lives, then we subtly, ever so slightly, drift off the path that God has for us in life. 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:10.640 When we come to a place where we get off mission to what God has called us to do. 00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:11.759 Now, this is a big one. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:22.400 I think a lot of times this is such an easy drift for us to make, where we fall into the trap of thinking that our life is all about comfort, it's all about pleasure, it's all about what we can get from this life. 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:24.880 And God says, no, it's about the mission that I've given you. 00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:35.839 It's about the purpose of your life and what I'm calling you to, the purpose of the church, the global mission that we want to be missionaries that are sent out to spread the love and the message of Jesus to the world around us. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:47.039 And we can so easily drift from that if we don't have the right voices speaking into us, because our culture and our world will tell us something that's drastically different from what God's word tells us. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:57.279 This is why it's so important for us to have godly advice, to have godly counsel, for us to have men and women that are speaking godly truth into our lives. 00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:04.160 When we talk about biblical community, we are not talking about people just getting together and hanging out. 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:06.000 It's good that you have friends. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:08.640 It's good that you have people that you can confide in. 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:11.599 It's good that you have friends in your life that you can have fun with. 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:12.640 That's great. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:36.720 But what we're talking about here this morning and in community groups, we're talking about a community that is giving us godly counsel, godly advice, that's loving for us, praying for us, that's giving us their life, as we're giving us them our life, and we're shepherding and being with one another for the glory of God and for the purpose of unlimited potential and breakthrough in our lives. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:48.079 That's what unlimited, that's what God in um small groups and what he ultimately wants to do in our lives, that whoever has our ear guides our heart. 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:59.519 Now I love um Church at the Grove, and I love so many stories that we could have shared, um, but one of the stories that uh just recently kind of came to our attention was um from Taylor. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:07.599 And if you're here at our social circle campus, uh Taylor is uh in charge of our uh children's ministry here, and uh she does a fantastic job. 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:21.199 She just started a few months ago, and her story is a story about how she got connected to a group of godly ladies, and as a result, it changed her life and gave her a purpose and mission that she was missing out on. 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:24.960 And so I want us just to take a moment and listen to Taylor's story this morning. 00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:26.880 I'm Taylor Parsons. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:32.400 Um, my family and I moved up here to Georgia two years ago from Florida. 00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:33.760 So we landed here. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:41.440 We had first moved to Covington, and um, we knew we needed to find a church, and it was quite the experience. 00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:47.440 We went to quite a few, never felt like we belonged, or it was the one for us. 00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:59.280 Um Sunday we came to Church's Grove here in Social Circle, and right away we could tell that there was something different about this place. 00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:01.519 It was so friendly and welcoming. 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:04.960 Uh the kids' grove area is kind of really what drew us in. 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:14.159 We have two small girls, five and two, and we just were welcomed with open arms, and the atmosphere was great. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:15.760 So we stayed. 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.280 I think we got to come all three times before COVID happened, and it was shut down. 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:49.360 All throughout COVID, though, we attended online as much as we could, and um during that time, Chelsea was in charge of Kids Growth, and she reached out to us so many times, wrote letters to our girls, and that just really stuck with me because she didn't know us and she definitely didn't have to do that, but it made us feel like we were welcomed and that they um really had cared about us. 00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:57.280 Once the church opened back up, we knew we wanted to get plugged in and we knew we needed a community. 00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:08.880 Um, moving from state to a new state, not knowing anybody, it was really hard being isolated for a few months, not having any friends, not having anything to do anywhere to go. 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:24.079 So I came one night to a Thrive meeting, which I thought was gonna be like the first kickoff Thrive meeting, and it was like kind of the behind-the-scenes thrive meeting of um volunteering to serve, and so when I walked in, I was like, I'm definitely not supposed to be here. 00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:29.679 But it all turned out that I was supposed to be here, and God knew exactly what he was doing, put me here at the right time. 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:42.800 I met a lot of ladies, and um, I was kind of just telling them our story about how we moved here, and they had invited me to a small group on Wednesday mornings that was just moms, and I kind of brushed it off. 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:49.119 I was like, I don't know, like I'm not someone who goes out of my comfort zone and makes friends. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:59.440 Like my husband does all the talking for us, and he makes all of our friends, and so I knew I definitely did not want to go to somebody's house that I didn't know and have to talk for myself. 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:14.239 So, um, long story short, God did a lot of uh convicting on my heart, and I went one Wednesday morning to Caitlin Boyd's house, and it was a life-changing experience, and I'm so glad that I went. 00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:19.599 Um, just Wednesday after Wednesday, the study that we did, it just changed my life. 00:37:19.760 --> 00:37:37.039 The Wednesday morning Bible study, it was a group of moms, they had kids all similar ages, dropping them off at school somewhere with us, and um, I just really felt like we're all in the same stage, and that was something that was so important to me. 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:41.199 It was like finding moms who knew what you're going through. 00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:54.880 There was one Wednesday I'll never forget, and I'm sitting there just in tears crying, which was oftentimes a lot of Wednesdays, but this one particular Wednesday, I was just like, I don't feel like I know my purpose. 00:37:55.119 --> 00:38:00.960 And um, so many of the moms around us were like, we've been there, we know what you're going through. 00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:10.880 Once again, not only did God put me in this community of women, but like-minded women who have also walked the same path or similar path that I have gone through. 00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:29.679 And so I just felt like I could really connect with them because they knew kind of what I was struggling with in a sense, and so it really helped being around them and just hearing their wisdom and how they've traveled these roads and what they've done, and just having people pray for you. 00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:36.960 Honestly, that's the biggest thing, is these are the people I know I can go to and be like, hey, can you pray for this? 00:38:37.039 --> 00:38:38.639 And I know it'll be prayed for. 00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:45.599 I don't think we would have made it through COVID without finding community groups. 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:49.119 I've said it so many times, like isolation was hard. 00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:57.280 Typically, I'm one to just be by myself, but when you're forced to be by yourself, you realize how much you really need to be around other people. 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:07.360 And um I'm so thankful for the groups that we've been plugged into and the people that we've met and the relationships that we've built because that's really what it's all about. 00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:11.119 It's just building those relationships and doing life with those people. 00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:16.079 Yeah, I love that. 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:27.039 I love Taylor's story, and that's just one story out of many that we could tell of the difference that people have made, small groups of people that have made in individuals' lives. 00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:29.360 And that's what it's really about. 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:39.199 Um, we want people to connect and we want people to value community, community groups, to have intentional biblical community in their lives and live in that. 00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:45.440 That we would have people in our lives that give us godly counsel, godly wisdom, and that we would walk in that. 00:39:45.679 --> 00:39:53.599 And so our challenge this morning and really this whole entire series has been get in a community group. 00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:58.559 And if you can't get in one of our community groups here, then find it somewhere else. 00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:02.480 If you're watching online, we'd love to invite you into one of these physical gatherings. 00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:05.519 But if you don't even live here, we'd love for you to find it somewhere else. 00:40:05.599 --> 00:40:16.400 We want people to connect in biblical community, where people are opening up the scriptures together, they're praying for one another, and godly wisdom is being distributed. 00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:19.760 This is where breakthrough happens in our lives. 00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:22.880 Whoever has your ear guides your heart. 00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:33.920 And sadly, I think for many of us, the people that are speaking into our lives are not guiding us into the direction that God would ultimately have us to go. 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:39.119 And let's just be honest, our community groups are filled with imperfect people. 00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:46.800 And just because you hear something in a community group doesn't mean that it's the right advice or that it's godly advice even. 00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:50.880 But this is the thing that we wrestle with when it comes to our community group. 00:40:50.960 --> 00:41:01.119 There's two questions that we try to impress on our group leaders to go through each and every time they meet is what is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? 00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:04.719 What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? 00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:24.159 And if we'll wrestle with those questions, and we'll have people in our life that will help us walk through those questions, then I believe that we can listen to the right voices in our life, the voice of our Heavenly Father, and we can go into the path of unlimited potential and breakthrough into our lives. 00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:31.679 That we can walk into the way that is prospering, the way of Jesus, the way that is full of abundant life. 00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:34.320 This is what Jesus calls us into. 00:41:34.719 --> 00:41:46.480 But it starts with us opening ourselves up to listening to godly influence, godly voices that are speaking into us, because remember, whoever has our ear guides our heart. 00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:48.880 So who has your ear? 00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:51.119 Who's speaking into your life? 00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:58.800 If you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, then what does that mean for the future of your life? 00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:04.880 Many of our many people in today's world are frustrated in life. 00:42:05.360 --> 00:42:09.920 Many people are disappointed at where they have ended up in life. 00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:16.800 And I think that a lot of times it's because we've listened to the wrong voices and we've gone down the paths that we didn't intend to go. 00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:19.039 Let that not be said of us. 00:42:19.280 --> 00:42:31.119 Let us not be a people that just get content going through the motions, but let us strive to be people that hear the right voices and follow after those voices in our lives. 00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:34.159 And so this morning we're going to give you an opportunity to do that. 00:42:34.239 --> 00:42:42.079 But before we kind of close out our service this morning, I would say that the most important voice that we could listen to is the voice of Jesus. 00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:46.960 Obviously, that's the most important voice that we could ever listen to more than any human wisdom. 00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:49.760 We need God's voice to speak to us. 00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:54.079 And so for some of you, maybe you've never put your faith and your trust in Jesus. 00:42:54.320 --> 00:42:57.519 And today would be the day that you could start making that decision. 00:42:57.599 --> 00:43:00.960 And you could put your faith and your trust wholly and completely in him. 00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:13.119 If he's calling you this morning into salvation, if he's calling you to put your hope and your trust in him, then man, don't miss this opportunity, but give him your life this morning. 00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:15.920 Here at Church of the Grove, we say it's as simple as the ABCs. 00:43:16.079 --> 00:43:17.519 It's admit, believe, and confess. 00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:18.880 That we admit we're sinful. 00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:20.719 We believe that Jesus is who he says he is. 00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:23.599 He died on a cross for our sins and then rose again on the third day. 00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:26.239 And then we confess him as our Lord and Savior. 00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:30.719 And if that's the step that you need to take this morning, man, we would invite you into that. 00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:36.480 And we would love to give you tools to help you walk into a new relationship with Jesus. 00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:40.079 And so you can see us on your way out this morning for some resources. 00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:51.360 But you can also, if you're watching online, you can text start to follow all one word to 9700, and we'll be able to follow up with you this week and give you the resources that can help you grow in your relationships. 00:43:51.519 --> 00:44:06.079 But for the rest of us that have a relationship with Jesus, let it not stop there, but let us value intentional biblical community and let us strive after that so that we hear the right voices and that that will guide our heart into unlimited potential for our lives. 00:44:06.320 --> 00:44:07.199 Let me pray for us. 00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:11.360 Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for who you are and for what you have done. 00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:13.679 Lord, we thank you for your word and for your truth. 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:20.800 And that you're a God that is a God that surrounds us with intentional biblical community. 00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:29.119 And Lord, I pray that we would value those things in our lives, that we would strive to have those types of relationships in our lives today. 00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:35.679 That it wouldn't be something we put off, but it would be something that we make a priority for in our life because you want us to experience breakthrough. 00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:41.199 You want us to hear the godly advice, and you want us to have unlimited potential in our grips. 00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:43.599 And so, Lord, I pray that we would walk in that. 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:55.840 I pray that we would walk in the ways that you have called us to walk, that we would be willing to get in a small group, a community of other believers that are challenging each other, holding each other accountable, and they're walking together and following you. 00:44:56.079 --> 00:45:01.599 And so, Lord, give us the grace, give us the courage, give us the boldness to do that this morning. 00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:02.320 We love you. 00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:05.199 We thank you so much for just this gift that you have given us. 00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:07.519 And it's in your name we pray in the name of Jesus. 00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:08.480 Amen.