SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, we just want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, for that grace that brought us into the fold.
SPEAKER_02: Because of the blood of Jesus and the power of Jesus, we claim our identity as sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_02: And we live into that and we ask right now, through the power of the Spirit, that you would destroy any lies that are hindering people from experiencing the full and final love of Jesus Christ in this room right now.
SPEAKER_02: For those who are just considering the claims of Christ who are far from God, would you be the Good Shepherd?
SPEAKER_02: Would you go out and put their brokenness on your shoulder and carry them home?
SPEAKER_02: Would you drop scales from their eyes?
SPEAKER_02: Would you infuse them with divine courage to repent and believe, to turn and to see life everlasting in your eyes?
SPEAKER_02: And those of us who are just struggling to make it through the next hour and want to avoid all the responsibility and pain that are waiting for us outside those doors, would you speak to us?
SPEAKER_02: Would you encourage us?
SPEAKER_02: And would you embolden us?
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: We can be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_02: I'll say, bless the Lord if you'll say, Oh my soul, bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Bless his holy name.
SPEAKER_02: Hot dog.
SPEAKER_02: So glad to see you guys this morning.
SPEAKER_02: First service, there's this uh beautiful silver-haired lady named Mimi who drove all the way from Arkansas to hear Neil preach again.
SPEAKER_02: So I gave her some gas money.
SPEAKER_02: Um but I know sometimes there's unexpected things and unplanned things, and sometimes that goes good and sometimes that goes bad.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to honor you guys and honor your church.
SPEAKER_02: Uh thank you guys for being such a good friend and partner.
SPEAKER_02: Neil Marcy, thanks as always.
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
SPEAKER_02: I'm tired, so I'm even more emotional than I normally am, which is a lot.
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I'm gonna try and keep that under under wraps.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Travis, thanks so much for the work for the men's weekend.
SPEAKER_02: You guys got a great bunch of men.
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I think my heart is uh for a church to be able to create places for men and women um to be fully known and loved and not have to hide in shame or secrecy or isolation.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so that healthy relationships, healthy marriages, and families can flourish.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, because when that happens, the church flourishes.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm really, really proud of the work that uh you guys are doing here and the battles that you're fighting.
SPEAKER_02: Um uh do not grow weary uh in doing good.
SPEAKER_02: So uh I just want to honor you for that.
SPEAKER_02: And also just want to say, hey, thanks for being here this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know about you, but um, when it's time to go to church, all my family turns unchristian.
SPEAKER_02: Um it's uh you can call it a spiritual attack, or you can just call it our depravity, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's it's tough to get here sometimes.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and there's a thousand other things that you could be doing, and there's a thousand excuses that you can make, even some of them spiritual, right?
SPEAKER_02: But you're here.
SPEAKER_02: And it I honor that presence.
SPEAKER_02: And uh I've prayed over every chair in this room, especially those in the balcony, because you're usually the biggest sinners.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02: You're already mad at me.
SPEAKER_02: Just don't do that.
SPEAKER_02: Don't do it.
SPEAKER_02: Give me another chance, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02: I just I think that there's so much happening spiritually around us that we're unaware of.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not gonna be because of what I say or how I say it.
SPEAKER_02: I think it's gonna be because of the person of Jesus Christ soaking and marinating in his word and his goodness and truly trusting him that he is still has the power over life and death and loves to restore all things and make all things new.
SPEAKER_02: That's my great hope.
SPEAKER_02: And that you'll experience that this morning in small and seemingly insignificant ways, as well as big and profound.
SPEAKER_02: I'll pray for the miraculous and healing and hope.
SPEAKER_02: I'll also just pray that our lives lived as a sign and wonder to the people around us.
SPEAKER_02: So I think this morning what I want to talk to you a little bit about is how do we swim upstream in a downstream culture?
SPEAKER_02: How is it possible for us who are marked by faith, joy, hope, and love, to swim upstream in a downstream culture?
SPEAKER_02: A lot of times I think the Christian journey, we had expected one thing and we got another thing.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, how many of you who you would say your lives right now are not really what you had planned?
SPEAKER_02: A little bit unexpected, unplanned, right?
SPEAKER_02: You were hoping for something different, maybe?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's sweeter, maybe it's a little bit more sour, right?
SPEAKER_02: Um, a while back, uh, when we were trying to get through COVID, uh, at the church I was working at, and I don't know how it worked out here, but we were really loving and compassionate towards one another during COVID, regardless of your political views, uh, regardless of how you felt about Mass.
SPEAKER_02: We just loved one another and we respected everyone's decision.
SPEAKER_02: So finally we're trying to get back together.
SPEAKER_02: Um my gosh, if I have another Zoom meeting, uh, I'm gonna punch myself in the face as I remember those times.
SPEAKER_02: Um so we finally get outside and realize, hey, we need to get outside.
SPEAKER_02: And so uh we get someone with a trailer because we need we need some kind of like elevated surface so that we can sing and um I could teach from.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm like, does anybody know anybody with a trailer?
SPEAKER_02: And like, yeah, Tommy Stanfield.
SPEAKER_02: So I called him Tommy Trailer, and he's just a good old boy.
SPEAKER_02: It's middle Tennessee, right?
SPEAKER_02: He's got Georgia boots, he's like six foot four, dip can in the back, rolls up in a diesel dually.
SPEAKER_02: He's got more tools in his back of his trucks than I have pens in my book bag.
SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of pens.
SPEAKER_02: And so it I I this is just a front, just so we're clear.
SPEAKER_02: Uh this all this is is hey, I'm a really tender, sensitive kid, so I grow a lot of facial hair out, so you make false assumptions about me that fuel my false identity and insecurities, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So he rolls up in his big duel in his trailer, and so we come out and we're like kind of trying to help him.
SPEAKER_02: It's this big text gooseneck trailer, which I assume you guys know what it is, but that's the first time I've ever seen anything like that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, wow, somebody needs to name their kid a quattro name, big text gooseneck, right?
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
SPEAKER_02: So we get it out, we get it done, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so I do what I'm supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02: I give him a good firm handshake, and I'm like, much obliged.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much, appreciate the trailer.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, You're welcome.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, all cool.
SPEAKER_02: So that night we're out there preaching.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, uh, I don't, I when I signed up the ministry, I did not sign up to preach from the back of a trailer.
SPEAKER_02: I felt like a circus peanut, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Like some skeezy traveling evangelist making a circuit at some low-rate Christian festival, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so you're out there with your microphone.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, whatever, here we go.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that night was a lot of things were going on, uh, health-wise, racial reconciliation-wise, like it was just tense.
SPEAKER_02: Things were happening in our city, in our churches, and our homes.
SPEAKER_02: So we talked about how the gospel sheds light on that.
SPEAKER_02: My wife had done a pretty powerful and prophetic prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And so I hopped down off that thing and I'm walking back, and here comes Tommy Trailer.
SPEAKER_02: And he he's walking pretty determined.
SPEAKER_02: And it's that kind of walk where you figure he's about to walk straight into a swing based off of what I said.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm kind of offering him this side of the face because this is the pretty one.
SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of like glints and I'm like, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
SPEAKER_02: Help me, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, I need to talk to you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_02: It's brave face, it's brave face.
SPEAKER_02: And uh he says, I owe you an apology.
SPEAKER_02: I said, You do?
SPEAKER_02: You do, yes, you do.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what's that apology for, buddy?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Man, I had no idea you were the pastor until you got up on that trailer.
SPEAKER_02: I'm really thankful for what you said.
SPEAKER_02: That was really powerful.
SPEAKER_02: My wife and I, we haven't been in church for about two years.
SPEAKER_02: I think we'll be back.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Unexpected, unplanned, but utterly delightful.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that the journey of discipleship?
SPEAKER_02: It takes us on all these twists and turns.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that Jesus himself, right?
SPEAKER_02: He shows up.
SPEAKER_02: He's not what people expected.
SPEAKER_02: He's not what people were planning for.
SPEAKER_02: They're planning for like this incredible military leader who would deliver them and who would rise to power and possibly set up his kingdom, right, on earth where everyone can see it and follow it and do it.
SPEAKER_02: And then here comes this poor, homeless rabbi who's hanging out with uneducated workers and dockhands.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the sinless, sovereign son of God who's powerful and authoritative, yet for some reason he's gentle, tender, lowly of heart.
SPEAKER_02: Came not to be served, but to serve.
SPEAKER_02: That's unexpected, unplanned, utterly delightful.
SPEAKER_02: Or in the words of Philip Yancey, the Jesus I never knew but secretly wished was true.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the Jesus that comes to us in Scripture this morning.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to Matthew chapter 7?
SPEAKER_02: We'll read a couple verses and then see how the Holy Spirit wants to speak to us.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_02: As you're turning there, I'll pray for us.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, would you go before us in this text and make a way?
SPEAKER_02: And together we say, Speak, Lord, and your servants are listening.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew 7, 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_02: Enter through the narrow gate.
SPEAKER_02: For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_02: And many enter through it.
SPEAKER_02: Small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life.
SPEAKER_02: And only a few find it.
SPEAKER_02: Just want us to sit and saturate on those two verses.
SPEAKER_02: In context, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus has laid down his kingdom manifesto called the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_02: In 2,474 words, he's kind of outlined what it looks like when we take this journey of dangerous and delightful discipleship by following and living the life Jesus is calling us to live, this upside down, inside out reversal of the kingdom values, that everything that this world holds up in a downstream culture of power and oppression, he's reversing and holding up what is holy, pure, and true.
SPEAKER_02: And the things that we often dismiss or overlook.
SPEAKER_02: But the Lord is going to take the small and the unwise and the shameful things that we detest to elevate who he is and who he can use at any point in time.
SPEAKER_02: After he's unpacking his Sermon on the Mount, then he's going to start to be one of the brilliant teachers, rabbinical fashion that he is.
SPEAKER_02: He's comparing and contrasting, helping us see the different hues of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And he's in the middle of this section that's so much fun, right?
SPEAKER_02: You got two gates, you got two roads, you got two trees, two types of fruit, two types of builders, two types of animals, and he's all using them to paint a picture of what it looks like in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And in this small, profound, densely two-packed verses, we see a picture, right?
SPEAKER_02: There is this narrow road.
SPEAKER_02: This narrow way, and only a few find it, and it leads to eternal joy and justice.
SPEAKER_02: But there is this wide road that leads to death and destruction, and many people are on it.
SPEAKER_02: There is a downstream culture headed to death and destruction.
SPEAKER_02: And there is an upstream culture that we are called to participate in in the narrow road.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Again, it's just comparing and contrasting.
SPEAKER_02: One is wide, one is narrow.
SPEAKER_02: One goes with the flow, one goes against the grain.
SPEAKER_02: One drifts downstream, one swims upstream.
SPEAKER_02: I really like that upstream picture, right?
SPEAKER_02: Uh that's like Bob Seeger running against the wind.
SPEAKER_02: I love it when we get to talk about people who are cutting a path against what normal people think is right.
SPEAKER_02: I love religious renegades.
SPEAKER_02: I love people who are saying, no, I'm not settling for pea-packaged, small-minded, comfortable, cultural Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a religious renegade, I'm a radical reformer.
SPEAKER_02: I will do whatever it takes.
SPEAKER_02: I will surrender it all so that I can see Christ in me, the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care what the cost, I don't care what the sacrifice, because the cost of not following him is even greater.
SPEAKER_02: And so I don't want any passion, spiritual gift going unfulfilled.
SPEAKER_02: I know the Lord has plans for me.
SPEAKER_02: I know he's given me Ephesians 2.10 gifting, that he calls me a masterpiece, that he's created works with me in Christ Jesus in advance to do that.
SPEAKER_02: I can only discover with a body of believers around me called the church.
SPEAKER_02: I'm locked, I'm loaded, I'm in.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not gonna be pretty, and it's not gonna be perfect.
SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be a lot of work that I have to do internally, and I become self-aware of things that I really don't like, and I'm gonna want to turn around and run back, but I am in.
SPEAKER_02: I'm so in, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's what we want to be.
SPEAKER_02: On our best days, on our worst days, it's leave me alone.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to talk about it anymore.
SPEAKER_02: I really don't want to work on that character fall.
SPEAKER_02: I really don't like the Lord pressing in right there.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, I just want to kick my feet up and I want to drift lazily and dangerously downstream.
SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes it feels like the cost is too high.
SPEAKER_02: This is why I love the picture of salmon, right?
SPEAKER_02: I think my next tattoo is gonna be a salmon.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna get it like right here.
SPEAKER_02: So if anybody wants to donate to that, feel free.
SPEAKER_02: Just kidding.
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
SPEAKER_02: This is my time I spent as a trailer evangelist coming out to me.
SPEAKER_02: I love salmon.
SPEAKER_02: Look at those guys, right?
SPEAKER_02: They're bear dodging, waterfall leaping, crossover artists from salt water to fresh water.
SPEAKER_02: They're darting upstream, they're winking at gullible little guppies that are swimming downstream, right?
SPEAKER_02: They're just incredible.
SPEAKER_02: Like they have a mission, they have a destination, they have a determination, and they don't care what the obstacles are, they're going home.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what I found out.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you guys are biology.
SPEAKER_02: I'm relearning everything I've forgotten in high school recently.
SPEAKER_02: But apparently, they're hanging out in saltwater, and something one day goes off in their brains that says, Hey, this isn't your home.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't what you were created for.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden they begin the journey upstream.
SPEAKER_02: They cross over from saltwater to freshwater, and they start going up, and they're going back to the very place in which they were born.
SPEAKER_02: So that they can multiply, so that the legacy can live on.
SPEAKER_02: They are drawn by an undeniable and unexplainable force that says, Hey, where you wound up, that's not what you were created for.
SPEAKER_02: That's Ephesians, right?
SPEAKER_02: God's put eternity in the hearts of men and women.
SPEAKER_02: And some of your days you will have a holy depression which says, I was not created for this world.
SPEAKER_02: There is certain brokenness and injustice that is wrong, and my heavenly father wants it to change, and Jesus is gonna come back and he's gonna make all things new.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna wipe every tear from our eye.
SPEAKER_02: The old order of things is passing away.
SPEAKER_02: Behold, I am making all things new.
SPEAKER_02: We have to patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: That's what I want you to hear this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Just a gospel encouragement and reminder.
SPEAKER_02: Patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because it leads to eternity and life and joy and justice, all of which you can experience here and now.
SPEAKER_02: This is what C.S.
SPEAKER_02: Lewis was talking about, right?
SPEAKER_02: In his poetic, metaphorical way.
SPEAKER_02: It's the scent of a flower we have not yet found.
SPEAKER_02: It's the tune of a song we have not yet heard.
SPEAKER_02: It's news from a country we have not yet visited.
SPEAKER_02: This is how he's painting it, right?
SPEAKER_02: This is what our souls long for, to be connected to our Creator and find that which it is that we are created for.
SPEAKER_02: Now, as much of us may recognize and understand that, what it's like to be drawn up steam to eternal joy and justice and to patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: We also need to contrast that with the wide road that leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_02: You and I both know what it's like to be downstream, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: You know what that demonic draw downstream feels like, don't you?
SPEAKER_02: You know what it feels like to be carried away by your own angry appetites and ambition.
SPEAKER_02: You know what the pull to be cruel to others feels like.
SPEAKER_02: You ever just go, why am I so angry right now, and why do I want to make you miserable?
SPEAKER_02: Why am I the meanest to the people who love me the most?
SPEAKER_02: You know what it feels like to be pulled downstream.
SPEAKER_02: You know what it feels like.
SPEAKER_02: Or you know what the truth is and you wanted to set it free, but you'd rather crawl back into the safety and security of your prison so that you don't have any responsibility to do the very things that God is calling you to do.
SPEAKER_02: And just a reminder from God's word this morning, for those of you who are drifting downstream, I need you to hear this, and this is love and kindness.
SPEAKER_02: It is not condemnation, that's death and destruction.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you in this very room, as I'm talking, I don't have to describe it anymore.
SPEAKER_02: But you know what downstream living is and where you're caught in the riptide of that right now.
SPEAKER_02: And you're drowning.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray the same prayer for you that I pray for my kids.
SPEAKER_02: That it'll make you sick spiritually and literally.
SPEAKER_02: And that you'll see it for what it is.
SPEAKER_02: Death.
SPEAKER_02: Dressed up in a Halloween costume, masquerading as life, offering you tiny little treats to trick you into self-destructing.
SPEAKER_02: But there's hope.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit can rescue us, give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_02: We can patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: Where can we go from your presence, O Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Psalm 139.
SPEAKER_02: If I go up into the heights of the heavens, you're there.
SPEAKER_02: If I go down into hell, into Sheol, even when there is darkness, is light with you, and even when I am as far from you as I possibly can be, even there.
SPEAKER_02: Your right hand will guide me, and it will hold me fast.
SPEAKER_02: You want to know where this emotion's coming from.
SPEAKER_02: One, because it's coming from my biography, and two, it's coming from me parenting.
SPEAKER_02: I need it to be true this morning.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to experience it, and I want you to have hope and faith and trust that we've got a Father in heaven who's working all things together for our good and his glory.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know how it's all gonna work out.
SPEAKER_02: I just know how the story ends.
SPEAKER_02: Patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: It's not gonna be easy.
SPEAKER_02: Whoever told you it's gonna be easy is a lie.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, we tell you parenting is awesome just so we can get you up here on the dedication, and now we're like, gotcha! You're screwed, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Here comes 10 years of physical exhaustion, and it's gonna turn into psychological exhaustion all the while.
SPEAKER_02: It's financial exhaustion, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Isn't it great?
SPEAKER_02: It is.
SPEAKER_02: Because hopefully you get to pass on a new legacy.
SPEAKER_02: And you get to give generation, commend to them the works of the Lord, and you try to give them a place to start.
SPEAKER_02: We always tell our kids this hey, you're probably gonna need a counselor, it's just not gonna be for our issues.
SPEAKER_02: All right, we're gonna give you different ones, but here's 10 bucks.
SPEAKER_02: Put that towards that's either that or college, what you pick.
SPEAKER_02: I'm messing with you.
SPEAKER_02: Patiently pursue the narrow road.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe this is my own work, and maybe it's with um what some of my teenagers are walking through.
SPEAKER_02: But hey, there's some students in here this morning, and you're dangerously drifting downstream.
SPEAKER_02: And you know exactly what it is that you're doing, and you know the truth about who Jesus is and who you are, and you're just flirting with little death and destruction, and you're thinking it's not gonna have any long-term consequences.
SPEAKER_02: With all the love as a dad and a pastor I can muster up, I'm asking you this morning to patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: You know who you are.
SPEAKER_02: You know who Jesus is, you know you're a part of this family.
SPEAKER_02: I'd ask you to surrender your rebellious ways and submit yourself to the love of the Savior of Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Who sees you and accepts you and approves of you?
SPEAKER_02: And you don't need any of those other things to medicate or numb the pain or loneliness that you're feeling.
SPEAKER_02: He has plans for you.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, there's a hope and a future coming.
SPEAKER_02: But it's not going to excuse you from walking through the darkness and difficulty that you're in right now.
SPEAKER_02: Is that fair?
SPEAKER_02: Okay, maybe that was just for me, but this wants you to hear that.
SPEAKER_02: I think Christian authors have tried to tell us this throughout the centuries.
SPEAKER_02: We've seen it in a lot of stories, right?
SPEAKER_02: For those of you guys who are readers, there's uh John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, where he's taken this journey and it's an incredible metaphor for discipleship.
SPEAKER_02: And he gives us a bunch of characters, all of whom I've played, right?
SPEAKER_02: The first one is pliant.
SPEAKER_02: The first difficulty or obstacle.
SPEAKER_02: Nope, I'm out, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02: Only follows when it's comfortable or convenient.
SPEAKER_02: Then there's hypocrisy and formalist, right?
SPEAKER_02: Uh muck, no action, humble head, no heart.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know about you, but I've had all I can take with Christians who hide behind God talk but are not willing to do any of their own work.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Self-awareness is the new leadership of understanding who am I?
SPEAKER_02: And boy, a lot of times I love to ratchet up my intellect when secretly my character is scared of being exposed.
SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, you have uh talkative, which uh I don't like this because it's been me more times than not.
SPEAKER_02: All talk, no action.
SPEAKER_02: And talkative only likes to follow God.
SPEAKER_02: When it comes with a pair of silver slippers or Jordan 1s, if you want to contextualize it.
SPEAKER_02: And when the sun is shining and everyone's applauding, I'm so embarrassed of how long that was my journey.
SPEAKER_02: If I'm good while the sun is shining and people are applauding, but when the storm clouds gather and no one notices, who am I then?
SPEAKER_02: Hannah Hernard's done this, right?
SPEAKER_02: Heinz feet for Heinz places.
SPEAKER_02: She talks about the journey of much afraid, going to the heights of joy, and she's given two companions on her journey, suffering and sorrow.
SPEAKER_02: Joy and sorrow coexist, just so we're clear.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, that's the model of our Savior Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before him endured the suffering and shame of the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Became obedient even to death.
SPEAKER_02: Because of the joy that he was thinking of, he could go on this journey.
SPEAKER_02: He could swim upstream in a downstream culture.
SPEAKER_02: He could go against people's expectations.
SPEAKER_02: He could be exactly who God created him to be.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because his pure attachment with the Father gave him an incredible resiliency even in the face of betrayal and obstruction.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know where you're at this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what betrayals you're experiencing.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what fears you're at.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the diagnosis is look like.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know where the bills are coming from.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know where there's unresolved conflict in your relationships or your family.
SPEAKER_02: What I do know this is patiently pursue the narrow way, and you have everything you need to live a life of godliness.
SPEAKER_02: And God's power will be made perfect in your weakness.
SPEAKER_02: He is with you.
SPEAKER_02: He will never leave you or abandon you or forsake you.
SPEAKER_02: And your capacity is greater spiritually than you could ever possibly imagine.
SPEAKER_02: And the usually the only way it becomes increased is by you depleting it.
SPEAKER_02: Here's another reason why I love salmon.
SPEAKER_02: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_02: It's great.
SPEAKER_02: Lean, healthy, fat.
SPEAKER_02: Incredible.
SPEAKER_02: Really good on the pellet grill.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I found out.
SPEAKER_02: When that something goes off in their head where boom, it's time to go up seam, they cross over, they start doing it right.
SPEAKER_02: They're bear dodging, waterfall, leaping, fast fish, fish, darting, winking at those gullible little guppies.
SPEAKER_02: Man, that's incredible.
SPEAKER_02: What I found out is they begin to actually physically transform during that journey.
SPEAKER_02: Didn't know that.
SPEAKER_02: Their jaws elongate, their colors change, their muscle fibers go from slow twitch to fast twitch, so they can do that jumping and that darting, and that there's a journey ahead of them that for most of them, by the time they reach it, they'll die shortly thereafter.
SPEAKER_02: But there's this compulsive physical transformation, and the best one is this.
SPEAKER_02: In their brains, it secretes a chemical that allows the eyes to see infrared light.
SPEAKER_02: This is Ed Young, by the way, uh, in the Atlantic Journal.
SPEAKER_02: And I had to reread that sentence a couple of times.
SPEAKER_02: What he basically says is they can see in the dark.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because it's as if they know this is what I will need to make the journey.
SPEAKER_02: I thought that was incredibly insightful.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm thinking, oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02: When does that happen?
SPEAKER_02: When does that transformation happen?
SPEAKER_02: Before they start the journey?
SPEAKER_02: After they're done?
SPEAKER_02: The second they begin swimming upstream.
SPEAKER_02: Men and women, patiently pursue the narrow way.
SPEAKER_02: And the Holy Spirit will begin transforming you from one degree of glory to the next, and to begin to release within your soul divine possibilities and capabilities that you never thought you would ever have access to.
SPEAKER_02: But because of the dangers, toils, snares, trials, temptations, joys, and celebrations headed your way.
SPEAKER_02: He is transforming you.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that he always loves to do is give you eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_02: His voice and his presence all along the way.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So we like to preach the word of God clearly here and give your soul some space to respond.
SPEAKER_02: And so, just as an attitude of mental worship and hard engagement, I'm going to put a couple questions up on the screen, and I'm going to ask you to practice listening or centering prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Just that invite the Holy Spirit in on conversation.
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you just ponder the path that you're on?
SPEAKER_02: Ask the Holy Spirit for eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_02: Who am I?
SPEAKER_02: Where am I, and what are you calling me to?
SPEAKER_02: Be honest, don't dodge it, please.
SPEAKER_02: Have the courage to be gut level honest about where you're at and what kind of emotions that stirs in you.
SPEAKER_02: But you got caught in a riptide in an undertow, and it's okay.
SPEAKER_02: It's okay.
SPEAKER_02: And he's going to remind you who you are and where you're headed.
SPEAKER_02: So let's listen together.
SPEAKER_02: Unto you, O Lord, do we lift up our souls?
SPEAKER_02: Oh my God, we trust in you.
SPEAKER_02: Let us not be ashamed.
SPEAKER_02: Let not our enemies triumph over us.
SPEAKER_02: Indeed, none who trust in you will ever be put to shame.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, thanks guys so much.
SPEAKER_02: Enjoyed spending time with you.
SPEAKER_02: We've got a couple video announcements, and then I'll speak a prayer of benediction over us.
SPEAKER_02: If you'll direct your attention to the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Closeness to God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: These are the words I heard when I asked the men of the stand why they show up every Monday night, having done their self-work and homework, and are very committed.
SPEAKER_01: Over two and a half years ago, a small group of us began meeting.
SPEAKER_01: Many of us had put it in a ditch from unwanted sin, unwanted behaviors, bad choices.
SPEAKER_01: That has now grown over two and a half years to a group of men that I've seen restoration happen.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen marriages healed, maybe saved.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen restoration and between father and children.
SPEAKER_01: And I've seen true change in my own life.
SPEAKER_01: What happens on Monday night, what we call the stand, is now too good not to share.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're going to share that opportunity with you.
SPEAKER_01: On October 24th, we're going to share food, fellowship, and you'll get to meet and hear from the same men that gave me those words.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk to you about what it feels like and what it looks like to be surrounded with men who love you, who are unmasked, who are unjudged, and unjudgmental.
SPEAKER_01: We'll show you what it feels like to be surrounded by men who will love you more when we share our weaknesses instead of love us less.
SPEAKER_01: Who will rally around us in the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The men of the stand are on a journey to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need a commitment, just curiosity.
SPEAKER_01: You can find information on the church website or the church app.
SPEAKER_01: Hope to see you there.
SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
SPEAKER_02: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_02: Put your hands out in a posture of receiving.
SPEAKER_02: I'll speak a prayer, a blessing over us.
SPEAKER_02: Just want to encourage you, any men or any women, if you need to get plugged in, you're struggling patiently, pursuing the narrow way, or you're drifting downstream.
SPEAKER_02: This is a church that wants to come alongside of you and resource you.
SPEAKER_02: Do not walk out these doors in isolation.
SPEAKER_02: You belong to this family, and your longing to belong belongs.
SPEAKER_02: So may God be gracious to you and bless you and cause his face to shine mildly upon you.
SPEAKER_02: May you, you, you, and you patiently pursue the narrow way this week.
SPEAKER_02: May you practice the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: May you be kind to yourself and to others.
SPEAKER_02: And may you discover the radical transformation that the Holy Spirit is bringing into your life and into your home as you swim upstream in a downstream culture.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Go and grace and peace to love and serve the Lord.