Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv. Now join us for a message from our special guest speaker.

Prayer Breaks Pride And Sends Power

Acts 1 Power To Be Witnesses

SPEAKER_00 0:20

How many of you guys have been enjoying our good ground, good news? You gotta be careful there, Cicely. GGGN. Good ground, good news series. Everybody been enjoying our good ground, good news series. Man, I don't know about you, but it if if you didn't recognize, it's not a it's not a four-weeker, it's a it's a nine-week series that leads us all the way into Easter. And if you're not careful, you honestly probably took the first half as like maybe our our generosity series or oh gosh, we got a tithe again series or whatever it may be. But but this is what if if you only saw it as that, can I tell you you missed it? You missed it because it was about good ground, it was about a heart posture, it was getting us ready. The Bible says that where your treasure is, there your heart will be, right? So what are we essentially exposing? We're exposing the areas of our heart where maybe he's not Lord. And that's tough. That's tough. But in order for seed to grow the right way, we want to make sure it goes in good soil. In order for us to just be uh uh I want to say the the church that it needs to be, right? Not not just like projecting to be the church, not like pretending to be the church, but be the genuine bought in, sowed, growing roots church. We want to make sure that it's good ground first. So that good news, if good news is what you're after first, you're actually striving. Because when he sows into good ground, it produces good news. Does that make sense? So so it's really important that you fix those heart postures. That's what we were doing for four weeks. We're saying, anything in my life, come on, all my freedom people, you know this lordship, right? We've been talking about it. Where in my life am I still not trusting him? It was a heart posture, and so as we got that heart posture together, now we're on our good news. And hey, Pastor Matt from Fayetteville kicked it off. Come on, did you enjoy Pastor Matt? Pastor Matt is what I call lightning in a bottle. I mean, it is it's energy that is hard to contain, uh, and he is incredible. And I think he he did uh he he set us up for our good news portion of this brilliantly because he returned us to prayer. Right? I I I love what Corey Russell says. He says that a prayerless man is a prideful man. We have to ask ourselves in what areas do I not consult with the Lord reveals the amount of pride or humility in me. So if we're gonna even approach, once again, good ground, good news, it's first the posture of where do I think I run my life in pride? I got this, Lord, or where am I humble enough to realize unless he touches it, unless he blesses it, unless he anoints it, it's all for nothing. This is this is that exchange of of good ground, good news. And we are sent to pray. We have to pray, we have to abide, and we have to have power. We have to have power. How many guys know in today's age, more than ever, the church has to be a church that moves in power, that is sent in power. And listen, I'm a I'm a Pentecostal kid through and through, right? Outside of swinging from the chandeliers, let's get it, right? Let's get it. Right? But I'm not just talking about power that happens in a building for an event, for a spectacle, for a feel-good, for an emotional high, for a dopamine hit, not exchanging Instagram for the presence of the Lord. But I'm talking about power that sends. True power will always have results. True power will always go. True power will not stay contained. True power will never just be in the four walls of the church. It'll go out, it'll be sent. And so if we're looking at that this morning, I kind of wanted to jump straight into uh probably the scripture that most of our minds automatically go to when we're thinking about power. And that's Acts, book of Acts. We're gonna turn over to chapter one, verse six and eight. Six through eight, excuse me. And so read along with me. It says, So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Hold up, time out, pause. Acts sounds a lot like what we're going through right now, doesn't it? Hey, hold up, God, they're they're sending bombs. You you can you can uh send send them now, Maranatha? Some of y'all ain't prayed Maranatha until this week. Right? Come on, let's make it plain. I think sometimes when we read stories like this, we detach ourselves from the context. This this I'm a disciple here. I'm saying, hey, so Lord, when are you gonna restore this thing? When are you gonna fix this thing? When are you gonna rapture us? We don't want to, we don't want to do this. Like, where you where are you coming? This is him at the retirement kingdom, when are you gonna restore the kingdom of Israel? But he said to them, it's not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. Come on. The father has already fixed it, but you will receive what's the word there? Come on, what's the word there? When who? The Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witness. Really, really, really quickly. Let's highlight that word witness, because this is the second side of power. Remember, again, it's not selfish power, it's power to do what? To be a witness in there. The the Greek word is basically where we get our word martyr from. It's the plural there, right? Of martyr, right? Meaning that I will testify even unto death. The Greek would actually say, I it's it's just like being in the court, it's just like in our judicial system, putting our hand on the Bible and saying, I swear to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's him asking the disciples, will you tell others what you've seen? That have been changed by a man, and that he moves in signs, wonders, and miracles. This is it. This is the witness. And then where are we going? I'll say that for another notch in the series, but we're gonna go to Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, and then here's the great part. There's no extension to this thing. Even to what? The ends of the earth. Even to the ends of the earth. Where's this thing supposed to go?

unknown 7:17

Everywhere.

Audacious Faith And The Starting Line

When Good News Stops Feeling Good

Childlike Joy And Remembering Miracles

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Let me solve. Let me get to the end before the beginning. It's going everywhere. But my prayer in this room, even as we gather today, is at least let it be in Huntsville as it is in heaven. Because every single one of us has been placed in this room, in this city, for such a time as this. And I believe, I just I felt it so strongly even praying that today, prophetically, prophetically, that you'll get your fight back for the things that matter. That you'll get your fight back for your family. You'll get your fight back for your faith. You'll get your fight back for this city. Uniquely this city. There's some of you you are called to Huntsville, and then you've been aimless since. Today, I pray that by his spirit he reminds you why you're here. Can we pray over that word today? Let's pray. Dear Jesus, we love you. We honor you. God, we thank you that. Even as I was studying and reading Paul's words, man, it's it's not my persuasive words or words of wisdom. God, it is simply the power of the cross. You boldly proclaim, you crucified, risen on the third day, and came to redeem mankind. God, that's the power of the cross. And so today, God, we say thank you. God, I pray that today that you would hide me behind your cross. I pray that somehow today I would articulate your heart for these your people. God, I pray that you would make my pen and my tongue like the pen of a ready writer, that I could write your heart for this generation, for this city, and for this moment, God. God, I give you access in this room. Holy Spirit, you have your way. Have your way. And God, I thank you that you do what only you can do. God, you pierce the division of soul and spirit, joint and marrow. And God, you do this. God, you discern the thoughts and the intents of our heart. Holy Spirit, we give you access to discern us today. We love you. We honor you. In Jesus' name we pray. Everybody said Amen. Amen. Amen. Um so I am unapologetically a 90s kid. Okay, so I'm showing my age a little bit. That's cool. Proud millennial, right? We talk about this, Sicily. I'm officially in the youth world. I guess I'm unk status. Is that what we say? Okay, unk status. Okay, that's basically means you're like the the uncool uncle at the barbecue giving people unsolicited advice. So like they act like it's like, oh, you got graduated to unk status? No, it means they don't listen to you anymore. Uh I I had the honor and privilege of doing youth ministry or roundabout youth ministry for almost 15 years, and so to be graduated to ungstatus almost feels like a uh downgrade, just being really honest. But I appreciate you guys. Um I am a 90s kid, and I I could not be born in a greater era. I just think that we had the greatest childhood. I think that we knew the difference between we're the first generation with actually got cell phones in their hands as teenagers, right? Moving on in. Uh but our childhood was so much more simple. Uh I didn't have to get on Instagram to see where's everybody hanging? Where's everybody at? All I had to do was see the house that had the most huffies parked outside. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Just ride on up. Oh, I know that the pink huffy. Yeah, I'm going to Tiffany's there. I'm going there. All right. Right? I made up a name. I'm sorry, Candace. There wasn't even a Tiffany. Candace is like, can I pause for like she was like, when we get home, you're explaining who Tiffany is. I'm like, there's no Tiffany. There's a name. There's a name. Girl, calm down. Calm down. Johnny, I'm getting in trouble over here, man. Crazy. But that that was that was simpler times. It was, it was, it was the days where where Christian, you'd go out, and I didn't know how to play soccer, but I played it for eight hours. I didn't even eat lunch. What was lunch? To run home and get a balone and cheese sandwich. It wasn't worth it. These were the 90s. Is baloney even around anymore? Just side note. Does anybody still eat baloney? No. That can't be real. Please stop, okay? We would run back, not even eat food. We just would play. We would get lost. We would, we would do uh tree forts, we would, we would, we would get messy, we would play G.I. Joe's. It was incredible. But there was like always one simple rule to all of this. And that's when street lights came on. Your butt better get home. Because if not, I was gonna be embarrassed in the echo of whatever community we're in by not just my first full name, but by an entire stanza, Timothy, Joel, Reyes, right? How many had that mom? They're calling you full name back to the house. These were simpler times. One of the things I loved about simpler times is uh I don't know if your neighborhood was this way, but we wanted to race everybody. Everybody wanted it was like a status symbol in the neighborhood, racing people, right? I uh it's funny because I got a little bit of nostalgia back uh Sydney with watching Nolan, who thinks he's Sonic, who's embodying Sonic right now. And I'm like, yo, he's got some, he's got some millennial in him. I don't know, right? He he thinks he's faster than anybody else, and I just love it. There was just an audaciousness. Like you, I've been probably about this size since seventh grade. I'm gonna throw this out there. This doesn't move as fast as it probably I would like it to go. But in my mind, I was the fastest. And then here's here's the kicker. Here's the here's the absolute kicker, the best thing. If I took my shoes off, I was shaving about 0.2 seconds off that 40. If I took my shoes off, you were cooked, right? Cooked for my unk word of the day. And what would you do? Oh, ratio, ratio, ratio, ratio, ratio, yeah, yeah. And then you'd have to get one friend that you think is actually a little bit more biased on your side, right? Because you knew you were a little bit slower. And so you're like, line up. And what what would we say? On your mark, get set, go. And that that portion or uh or hesitation was like defining what was the line you were taking off from and the line you were headed to. Come on, let it preach a little bit already. The line you were taking off from and the line you were headed to. And so on your mark, meant, okay, I gotta be behind the line. And then you're like, look at your buddy. Your foot's back, your foot, your because if his foot's ahead, I can't beat him. I know this. I can't beat him, anyways. But foot, foot, okay, foot's back on your mark. Get set. Means I'm trying to lock this caboose down because it's going forward, maybe. I don't know. If it works today, and then go. And you're off. And guess what? There were some kids in the neighborhood that would lose every single day. And yet somehow they'd come back. I'm gonna race you. I'm gonna race you. Reese, I'm gonna race you. I'm faster than you. Knowing good and well, you got smoked by four tree lengths yesterday. I'm gonna race you. And you know what? I've come to encourage you. Where's the faith in your life that is actually a little audacious? Like a child that says, you know what? If God said it, I believe it. Where's the power that would move in our lives? That we would literally line up, like, God, where am I starting at? God, where am I starting? Where are we going? Where are we going? Okay, okay, okay, okay. Obstacles, footback, obstacles, footback. Here we go. And I just I feel this so strongly, so prophetically, that I'm I'm called to stir your spirit to go this morning. And and and like, and you're like, go, where am I going? Am I going on a road trip? Am I going to the Bahamas? Like, obviously, the Middle East is not safe. I'm not going there. Like, where am I going, Lord? Y'all have returned to us. Thank you, right? Well, what am I doing? Where am I going? Where is he sending me? And this is the kicker. Wherever he says. Wherever he says. Whatever it looks like. And today we're going to begin to unpack that. Once again, I just want to remind you, I feel like the Holy Spirit has sent me to call you an unk word. Get your swagger back. Get that audacious faith about you. That just says, I will smoke you, devil. God has something on my life. I've been called for such a time. Like, do we believe it anymore? Get it back. So, my question, I think, in that, especially as it's pertaining to good news, is when did good news stop becoming good news to you? I think this is the first thing we have to answer today before we move anywhere else. Um, I I I I love the church. I'm a byproduct of the church. Even as I was sitting there, uh, Pastor, this is kind of a side note, has nothing to do with the message, but I was sitting there and I'm looking at Pastor Curtis and I'm looking at Pastor Dad and I'm looking at Pastor Rusty, and I will tell you this. Um Brian, it sounds crazy. I'm looking at you, right? I'm looking at this house, and I'm going, I am a byproduct of just being planted. I just felt that verse kind of talk to me this morning. Those that are planted in the house of the Lord will grow and will flourish. And I want to charge obviously young people, but I want to charge all of us. I I think probably the biggest deterrent of your growth in life is because you hop and shop when something doesn't hit you right. I actually would say that unity starts at the first point of disagreement. It's easy to agree when you and me got the same opinions, Brian. It's easy. But when disagreement happens, how do we move and still follow what he's doing? I would say, if you're saying I don't see growth in my life, I don't see the Lord doing this, I don't see, I would say, how planted are you? How submitted are you? How can someone speak into your life? And and I'm saying this, I'm I'm being honest, I don't think that I'm the most talented, I don't think I'm the most gifted. If anything, me and Candace were even talking on the way, uh, even last night, and she's like, What's going on? I just felt like I was on the way. I was driving to church tonight last night just to pray in the room, just to get away, just to study a little bit more, and I just begin to cry. I just begin to be overwhelmed with the presence of the Lord in my car. And all I could see keep saying was, You kept me. You kept me. You kept me, you kept me, you kept this all that kept bringing up. I think so many of us want this incredible testimony. So many of us want to go like ah, I was, you know, like hear me, I'm not mocking any testimony. Your testimony is your testimony, and God can still deliver anything. But I think because some of us don't feel like we've been delivered from much, we don't have a testimony at all. And I would dare say you have the best testimony there ever was. Because I don't know about you, Brian, but I've got four kids over there, and my prayer is that he keeps them. That he would find them? Sure, yes, he's a rescuer, he'll do it in his own time, in his own way. He's good, they have to write their own story. But my prayer is that God would keep you in his perfect peace, in his perfect presence, that every time you went to run, the Holy Spirit would snatch your neck so quick. Man, I just I think about us, Adam. I think about so many times we were running around being hooligans in the church. But you know what was real? We both encountered a living God at a young age. And every single time we tried to act a fool, the Holy Spirit would snatch our neck. Can I tell you that's power? That's the kind of power I want in their lives. That's the kind of power I want in your kids' lives. That's the kind of power we believe in here. You say, what kind of church did I show up to? A church that believes in keeping power, sustaining power, restorative power, reconciliation power, unity power. Come on, like whatever you need, it's there. It's there. It's who he is. Uh when I think about good news being good news, I kind of think about my younger kids. Um every parent kind of gets this. There's an age at which when you get home, the kids run out to greet you, right? Like no matter where you're at, you've somehow hung the moon. Rohan, take take advantage of it. I'm telling you he's gonna go one day. Emory's like once in a blue moon, and it's still hey-to-hood. Right? That's that's what I get. Like, love you too, son. It's sincere. It's just teenager. But there's an age when you open that door, no matter what they're doing, because they're excited to share their day with you. They're excited to share good news, they're excited to share what they did in class that day, they're excited to share the coloring sheets that they did, they're excited on Sunday to tell you the lesson that Jesus showed them. They're excited, everything is good news to them. And I think for many of us, when we started our journey in faith, everything was good news. Everything, man, he redeemed me, he saved me, he loved me, he placed me. And if we're not careful, we don't rehearse the stories enough. We don't remind ourselves of who he is and what he is. He's done and we lose how good he really is to us. Yeah, I was I was so encouraged, you know. Uh this weekend, booth the 310, everything that was going on. We got to take a tour of what God's been doing at Kingdom Heights, um, and and and just kind of take some of them on uh a tour. And I got to sit with our senior pastor, Pastor Scott, and you know, he just began to walk through every single room, Pastor, like you've done so many times, and he began to say, Man, these these are the stairs that we were sitting on when we were watching, when we were watching the council meet and determine would this be home or not be home. For those of you guys that don't know that story, it's an incredible story. You gotta ask Pastor Scott to tell it. Reese, I know you were there, but but basically we were shooting content to say that we were coming into a building, but if council said we didn't get the building, we had to vacate the building. We were not in a good place, right? It's this place of faith. And Scott's saying, Man, I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember the cheers, I remember the feeling, I remember the four of us running around like we just won the Super Bowl. I ru and as he's telling it, guess what's happening? My faith is building. My faith that walks up those stairs begrudgingly, like, oh my god, this is a fourth time I went up these stairs today. But to someone else, those are stairs of promise.

unknown 23:25

So true.

Plant Water Work And Let God Grow

Buried Seed And Visible Fruit

SPEAKER_00 23:26

We've sat in familiar things and we don't recognize what God is doing, and the familiar, if you're not careful, the blessing, if not properly aligned, will become a burden. Church, are you living in a season that you prayed for and now you're actually asking God to help fix? I think about my life so many times, and like I'm like, God send it, God send it. He's like, here it comes, and guess what? It's exciting for the first year. It is. And then it becomes a burden because maybe I didn't properly steward it. I didn't tell the miracle of what he was doing. I didn't, I didn't rehearse how far he's brought us, right? I didn't I didn't think through all that he's done, and now the very blessing becomes a burden in my life. So, how do we how do we properly align this? That's what I want to get to, obviously, right? A lot of tension. Where's the hope? Right? Let's read 1 Corinthians 3, 5 through 9 together. I'm gonna give you a little bit of backstory before we read it. Um, I love this story. If you actually start in 1 Corinthians, you get introduced to this Apollos guy, right? And you're like, what, what, what's who's Apollos? Where is he at? Why does he just show up? I'm like, he's not in the original 12 disciples. I don't like him. You know what I mean? Like just me reading the narrative, right? But we actually find out that Apollos was a brilliant communicator, a great builder of the church, and he was just doing it his way. And and what happened was the church, because the church never does this, started to divide. Well, we're with Apollos' camp or we're with Paul's camp. They tried to pit the church against itself. Stay off Instagram for five minutes, you won't see it, right? This church, that church. Which one's and Paul is about to settle that and say what his church is, but he's also about to give us brilliant perspective on how do I stay locked in to sowing, to giving, to growing. How do I keep the pressure off of me and in its proper perspective? And this is what he says he says, what then is Apollos? Like, why are you guys making such a big deal about this guy? What then is Paul? But servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave growth. Another translation there says, gave the harvest, gave the fulfillment, gave the promise. I planted, Apollos water. Who did it? God did it. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one in the same, and each will receive his wages according to his own labor. For we are God's fellows' workers. You are God's field, you are God's building. How do I keep the pressure? Because for most of us, I I I love this church. This is a mature house. And I would say that most of us started out in the right vein. We had a call of the Lord, we had a burden, we had we had something that we felt so strongly about. We launched off into, and the first bit of it was exciting and fun, and and then all of a sudden we weren't careful, and then we started complaining. Well, well, who's who's getting credit for this? And and what's and what's happening? And and and am I in the right seat? And well, if he gets attention, then I don't get attention, or whatever your ism can be in this moment. And and and Paul's saying, let me set you straight. There's no division, it's the same gospel, it's the same Jesus, and actually, it's the same reward, and it's his reward. Can I can I free you up? When it comes to going, when it comes to receiving power, when it comes to being sent, here's the most freeing scripture I ever got in my life. I can fail, it's not on me, it's on him. I can share my faith and someone not believing, it's not on me. It's on the Lord. My job is to what? Plant, water, and work. And work, labor, that's another word for work. Those are my three responsibilities. Plant, water, work, plant, water, work. But we are so outcome oriented that it's hard to renew that mind. I don't know about you, but when I don't see results, I want to bail. Right? When I start a diet, I'm like, I expect to look in the mirror, be like, yo, six pack, what's up? How are you? It's been a good week. What I've done to my body is gonna take a good year. Right? I gotta show, I gotta water, I gotta get in the gym, right? I gotta shut my mouth. There are things to do if you want to see the Lord work. But when it comes to our faith, why? Why do we not share? Why do we not go? The actual only caveat for yours and my life is obedience. To simple obedience. So here's here's here's my I guess my my next tension, my next thought. Can I be buried and burying in the same season? Can I be buried and bearing in the same season? I think because we're so result-oriented, when the current thing we're believing the Lord for isn't on display yet, we discount all the other fruit that is growing. And I think this is probably one of the biggest things that takes out the church, the believer, from looking up and saying, I know this isn't there yet, but let me tell you about everything else he's done. We get so grid-locked in finances, family, where we want to be, where we want to go, that all we are doing, we're like looking at the ground. Like, like, imagine. I just think about this as I was prepping. Like, imagine like putting seed in the ground, like, and then just like, I'm gonna stay here until she comes up.

unknown 30:09

Hey, hey, come, come, come.

Choosing Obedience Over Common Traps

The Only Way Is The Spirit

SPEAKER_00 30:11

What's God doing in your life? It's right there. It's coming. Yeah, blessed and highly favored right there. But there are people in my life that need what's living in my branches up here. I remember, gosh, I don't even know how to start this story. I remember when we finally felt the call to go to Maryland, um probably the scariest go moment of my life. I knew that this house I had planted myself in, this house had been faithful. But God was actually asking our go. He was sending with power. And as we wrestled and as we asked the Lord, as we sat through it, I'll never forget sitting in mom and dad's living room, uh, that the three-page Instagram, who anybody who I don't Instagram ever, um, but I I found the courage to put thoughts to what this place has meant to me. And I remember, like, there's the ugly cry where like your face hurts, your tear duct hurts, and then there's like like the sobbing one where like your shoulder blades hurt. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Like, I gotta go on record to say, like, my shoulder blades hurt. I like woke up in the morning like that was a rough sleep, you know what I mean? But I had I was I was in a chair writing, knowing that he was with me in power, but yet it was the scariest thing that we would ever have to do. I remember getting up there, getting acclimated, and being excited to start. I remember being excited for what God could do. But then I also remember thinking if I can just be really honest, it's like, do I have it? Am I good enough? It's easy for mom and dad to say, You got it, son. Good job. Knowing good and well, you just struck out again. All my T-ball parents, amen. Alright, go get him next time, right? We try to be encouraging. Kid runs to the wrong base. I felt like, Lord, I'm about to run to the wrong base. And I remember sitting actually in the parking lot for the first time. It was the first Sunday to get in, like, honestly, not even announced as campus pastor, like the first Sunday we're walking in and we're like, you are campus pastor, here you go. And I remember I called Candace crying in the car. What if this is too big for me? What what if? What if we fall flat on our face? What if we swung for too much? What if this is not the Lord? Anybody ever had those questions? The only thing that shook me from it. Obviously a praying wife. So who you marry matters. Side note, youth young people. But then I sat there and I just began to rehearse. You know, I remember there was a season like this when we were growing, and I didn't know that if we could go from one service to two services, would anybody show up? I remember when we did youth ministry on a Thursday night, and I thought everybody would leave, and somehow God, you you showed up. I I remember when um when I didn't have almost a dollar to my account, but I took a speaking engagement because I felt like you said that, and God, the exact amount that I was needing you gave be from because a person you put it on their heart, and all I had to do was be obedient. God, I remember and I remember and I remember and I remember and I remember, and I just began to recount. Hear me. The stories of obedience. Not to put on a coat and say, I did this, I became no, no, no, no. There was a leading, there was a prompting, he did it, I followed. That's the safest place. That's the place we can't miss him. Can I be buried and buried? There are many of us in this room that the seed that was stown in your life you have not seen. But you are missing out on saying, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. And I need this room today to get their heads up because there's a city right here, Huntsville, Alabama, that needs what God has done on in your life and through your life. I need us to look up and recognize I'm not here yet in this, but my God, he's done it. He's done it in so many spaces. Can I look up beyond the one thing that I'm waiting for? To see everything else that he's been faithful to. I want to move in power. I want to move in power. That here has to be our prayer today. The results are on him, the obedience is on us. I pray that this room walks out of here today and just says, I want to get back to just simple obedience. What's the last thing he said to you? I don't know about you, but I often find when the thing he says to me is too hard, I ask for something new. Nobody else. Yeah, I've been trying this one for like two months. I don't think I want to do that with God. Can you give me something new? Something pastor used to preach all the time. He'll never bring you past your last point of disobedience. He'll never bring you past it. Can I tell you this? The times I have buried it and thought I was gonna deal or not deal with it, it came up in another season in the thicker part of the carpet. You know, y'all know what I'm talking about, cleaning. There's that little place when you're a kid, you stuff things like, oh, the room's clean, mom! I'm I am actually reaping some of that now, right? The room is cleaned! You don't see it, but guess what? When you see a lump, what is that? Oh, you've been stuffing two weeks of laundry behind there. Can I tell you that's life? If you will not deal with that disobedience, it's only going to keep coming, and it gets harder and it gets dirtier, and it gets more to work through, and it has more baggage, and it has more things that you now have to ask for forgiveness for, and it has more trauma attached. Hello? Pledge for freedom? Right? When we don't obey. On his terms, it's way better. Simple obedience. So then what keeps me? I don't I don't know about you, but I just started to think about like in my life, what keeps me from obedience then? What like what are the things? And so I just put a couple things up on the screen. We can go to that slide. Where do I need to choose obedience? What are big things? I think 80% of this room can say if we get this one in control, we'd be fine. Obedience over feelings. Man, how many times you don't want to get out of bed? You don't want to do the thing that you know God spoke to you because I don't feel like it. I don't feel like I'm in the best place. I feel like I've missed him. I feel like I've disqualified myself. I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel. I always try to say this, but like feelings are great indicators, they're bad decision makers. We don't we don't make decisions on feelings. They indicate there's something that the Holy Spirit needs to deal with, there's something I have to deal with, and then we present them to Him. We go to counseling, we do something to work through it and make the decision that's based on fact, not feeling. I don't see seed, I don't see the fruition, I don't see the promise, it's coming because he said so. My my feelings, if I stay with my eyes here, I will feel like it's never going to change. But if I know who he is and I continue to sow, water, plant. Sow, water, work. Guess what? You'll turn around and you'll have a tree that sprouted up overnight. You're like, when'd that get there? Isn't that crazy? All while doing what you were called to do. You'll be fulfilled, and his promises will come through in our life. Amen? Uh, what other things do we kind of do? Obedience over busyness. Come on. One of my favorite quotes is busyness always wrestles with the awareness of God. Uh, we we we often preach Jesus, but don't live the way of Jesus. Jesus always created margin. He always had time for people. Uh if we look through his ministry in in three and a half years, uh, most of it like they said they couldn't account for the miracles that he did, right? But then like we have to think like the distance between towns they walked, the places that they stayed, like 75% of his life was just with these other 12 guys in those three and a half years where he was slowing down, building relationship, telling stories, sharing faith. If I can't look up, it's hard to be obedient. Jesus models this all the time. Hey, I know it's crazy, but I'm not gonna go away. I gotta pray. Right? I love I love the story. John the Baptist, his best friend, gets beheaded suddenly. Like, I need you to put this in context. Your best friend just lost their life. He could have probably easily responded. I know me, I'd be like, put a plan together. We gotta make a statement, we gotta do this, we gotta who's gonna run kids this Sunday? Okay, they'll run kids. Where we got like, right, Jenny, we're gonna we're gonna go fix it. What's Jesus say? Hey, stay here. You got this, I gotta go get away and pray. Because he wouldn't allow pace and expectation and busyness to dictate his obedience. What are you first saying, Lord? What are you first saying? Obedience over busyness. Oh, this is a good one. Obedience over credit. This is not like your credit score, not obedience over, God, I can't get over my 260, okay? I'm sorry. I tried to give like an audacious credit score so no one gets hit in this room, okay? Like, if you're at 260, let's talk, okay? Like, I don't know. There's some there's some things. Actually, Cameron's here, okay? Good go talk to Cameron. Cameron's here. You might have to call your credit guy, right? Okay? Not over that kind of credit, over I did this. I deserve this. Entitlement. I've been here longer. I've done more. I've given more. I should be further. I'm older. I'm younger. I'm I find that if we can get over getting credit, God gets glory. He said that all men's eyes would be lifted up unto who? Him. Paul understands that. We can go back back to our scripture. We don't have to right now, but like he understands that it's all God's glory. It's all God's reward. You work for someone that's gonna get it all back, anyways. Like, like think of you work your whole life, and then he still renders that account zero. Thank you so much for your contribution to the kingdom. It's awesome. It's honestly, it should free us up because all we are are simply stewards in this life. Simply stewards. Amen? How about this? Obedience over opinions. I think we hit this one kind of this weekend on the financial side of things, but like, when do I start the business? When do I do this? When do I jump out of faith? When do I move? When when can I say no to something? When when we the minute we're about to make a decision, before we even make that decision, what are we stuck with? What is people gonna say? What are people gonna think? What are people gonna think about a young adult preacher that's 30, that's pushing and believing for something for God and all the other swirling opinions and all the other different things about probably what you have to wrestle with other opinions, Cicely? What are they gonna think? Are you gonna simply hold on to God said it? I believe it. I'm gonna be obedient because he called me to this. I'm not shaking off of this thing. Come on. I just think through other things. Maybe fear of failure. Maybe you can't be obedient because you feel disqualified. I've done too much. Pastor Tim, if you knew my story, can I tell you today? While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. I mean, this of your darkest moment, he was there. Here's a good one. Maybe I don't know enough. You say, like, I can't lead, I don't know enough about him. John 3 16, that's me, that's all I got. Hey, it's a great starting point. It's a great, I'm not giving you an excuse to never grow, but I'm saying jump in. Jump in. I like when I look through the lives. I I think as I read through the gospels and I read through Acts this week, I just looked at fishermen and tax collectors and people that just jumped in. And it kind of makes more sense when Jesus is like, oh, you have little faith. Because they just jumped in. Like we act like they went through all this training. No, they just jumped in. Hey, that man, I'll follow him for the rest of my life. I don't know anything, but I'm gonna follow him for the rest of my life. Can you can you do the same thing? Is it the thing that steals your obedience? What's the catalyst to all of this? Let's go back. Can we go back to our first scripture? Let's go all the way back. We gave the answer before we even started. Acts 1, 6 through 8. I'll start in 7. He said to them, It's not for you to know these times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power. When who? When the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Can I tell you the only way to do this is by His Spirit? The only way I know how to do this is by His Holy Spirit.

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