Acts 2:42-47 - They Devoted Themselves to the Apostles’ Teaching and Community

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(upbeat music)

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- Well, good morning, Springhouse.

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It's a good morning.

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There's a lot of mothers here.

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Happy Mother's Day for the third,

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fourth, eighth time this morning.

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But wait, we can't celebrate moms enough.

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Is that true?

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That's very true.

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I am so grateful for the gift of moms.

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Welcome this morning.

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If you're joining us on live stream,

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thanks for joining us as well.

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A couple of announcements before we get rolling here.

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And rolling, I'm going to get going

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because I've got a lot to share this morning.

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So, first of all, this is actually for the men.

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Father's Day is not today,

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and we're not celebrating you today, dads.

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But June 15th is Father's Day weekend,

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and we're going white water rafting.

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And if you'd like to be a part of that,

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I need you to register in the app.

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We are only going to take the certain allotted amount

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that we have registered for this year.

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So be sure to register.

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This is for fathers and sons,

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but you only have to be a son to go, age 14 and up, okay?

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And then next week, Father Ray Cash is gonna be with us.

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Father Ray Cash will be with us.

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He is a faithful friend of Pastor Ronnie's

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for a very long time.

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And I heard Father Ray teach for the first time

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actually at Pastor Ronnie's retirement service.

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And one of the things that I appreciated about Father Ray

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when he brought the word that morning

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is that service that we had to honor Pastor Ronnie,

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during his retirement service,

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was really to honor Pastor Ronnie.

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But when Father Ray came, he really gave a message

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and he pointed it to the Lord.

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He pointed it to Jesus.

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And I was real excited to hear the words that he shared.

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And so I've been wanting him to come ever since then.

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That was over three years ago.

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And so next Sunday, he's gonna come and be with us.

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And I believe that he has a word from the Lord for us, okay?

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So be prepared for that and come and be a part of that.

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And then lastly, some of you know John O'Dea,

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but John O'Dea went home to be with the Lord this week.

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John is my uncle, it's Mary, Mary Weathers' father.

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And we're gonna have a celebration of life service here

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on Wednesday night at five o'clock.

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So if you have capacity in your schedule

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to come and be a part of that,

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we invite you to come and be a part of that.

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Pray for the Mary Weathers and the O'Dea family

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as people are traveling in and we prepare for that, okay?

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Sound good?

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All right, we're gonna continue in our series, his church,

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and we're gonna read the scripture

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and then I'm gonna kinda set you guys up

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for what we're gonna be doing for actually

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between now and June.

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So would you stand with me?

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And let's read from the book of Acts chapter two.

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"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching

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"and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

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"Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders

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"and signs performed by the apostles.

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"All the believers were together

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"and had everything in common.

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"They sold property and possessions

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"to give to anyone who had need.

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"Every day they continued to meet together

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"in the temple courts.

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"They broke bread in their homes

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"and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

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"praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

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"And the Lord added to their number daily

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"those who are being saved."

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Father, I thank you for the transformative power

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of your word.

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I pray, Lord, that it would work in us today.

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I pray, Lord, that my meaningless stuff

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would fall to the ground and be forgotten,

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but everything you have for us would change us for eternity.

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We love you today.

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In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

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You may be seated.

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So I mentioned that Father Ray Cash is coming next week.

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We have been in this series, His Church,

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for a few weeks now,

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and we have looked at the history of the church.

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We've been looking, Pastor Justin talked about the church,

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the church, and the church, and we talked about that.

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We talked about the purpose of the church.

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Last week, Pastor Ronnie brought the mission of the church.

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Who is the mission of the church?

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You are, you're the mission of the church.

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And so we've been laying a foundation,

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but if you're anything like me,

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and I've been kind of dubbed the object lesson pastor

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here at Springhouse,

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if you're anything like me, I need a model.

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I need to see it kind of working out.

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I need to see it fleshed out.

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And guess what?

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He doesn't leave us high and dry.

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He gives us a model on how the church should operate

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and should look like, and it's here in Acts chapter two.

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And so over the next several weeks,

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between now and the end of June,

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we're actually gonna break this scripture down

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piece by piece, and we're gonna go through

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what it looked like in the early church,

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and we're gonna see what God would have for us today

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in his word through what is modeled

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in the early church in Acts chapter two.

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Now, I asked Father Ray to come and speak

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before I laid out this part of the sermon schedule.

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And so here's what's gonna happen.

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Originally, the process was going to be,

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I was gonna talk today about the apostles' teaching,

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and then next week, we're gonna talk about community,

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and the next week, talk about prayer.

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But Father Ray already has a word

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that I believe is an on-time word

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for our church for next week.

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So today, I'm gonna talk about the apostles' teaching

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and community, we're gonna hear from Father Ray

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the next week, and then the next week,

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we're gonna pick up with prayer and move forward.

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You got it?

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Okay, so that's what's going on,

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and so I'm gonna get on my horse and ride today,

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and I'm excited about what I believe the Lord has for us.

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My earliest church experience,

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my earliest church experience is actually

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when I was three years old.

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I lived in Hawaii.

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My brother, Joey, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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We lived on a base there,

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and my earliest church experience really

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was living on that base,

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because there was this bus ministry,

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this church bus ministry that came around

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and picked up people for church.

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Now, I was only three years old,

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and I saw this bright yellow bus,

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and I wanted to get on this bus and go to church.

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And of course, being three years old,

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my mom's kinda like, "I don't know about this.

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"I'm not gonna send my three-year-old

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"on the church bus to go to church."

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And so I was kinda, I believe I was kinda distraught

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and upset about that.

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Well, the next week comes along,

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and the bus comes, and the guy's got candy corn,

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and he begins to hand me candy corn,

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and I was in probably a pull-up,

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and my mom says a long, like a long t-shirt.

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I got on the bus, and I went to church.

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I went to church.

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I remember going to church.

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I remember sitting there in the back,

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and I remember being, at this point,

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of course, my mind has been developed,

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I was the only Caucasian in this place,

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and it was a happening church.

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I'm telling you, they were dancing and singing

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and praising the Lord, and I was just sitting in the back,

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just so happy, eating my candy corn, one at a time,

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just throwing back candy corn.

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And so I got back on the bus, got home,

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and guess who was waiting for me when I got off the bus?

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My mama, okay?

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You think my mama was happy that I got on the bus?

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I don't think so.

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How many of you all would've been kinda scared

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if your three-year-old disappeared

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for a couple hours on Sunday morning?

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At least I was going to the house of the Lord, okay?

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At least that's where I was.

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And I kinda believe it was prophetic in some way,

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because my wife and I run a school,

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and so there's the school bus.

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I feel like I've been devoted to the church

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since that age, and I like candy.

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So I mean, you can't go around.

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It's prophetic across the board.

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That's my earliest church experience,

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and I believe that for a majority of my life,

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I have been devoted to the church.

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The scripture that we read today,

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the Bible tells us that the early Christians,

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the disciples and the first group

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that would identify themselves as Christians,

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they were devoted, they devoted themselves, devoted.

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You know, we live in a culture that is anti-committal.

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We live in a culture, in a society, in a day and time,

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where yes doesn't necessarily mean yes, yes means maybe.

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Yes means, eh, I'm gonna tell you yes,

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I'm gonna let you plan for my yes,

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but whether I show up

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and whether I do what I said I'm gonna do,

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that's up for grabs.

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I may do it, I may not do it.

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We just live in a saturated society

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where our word isn't really our word,

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and that's a problem.

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That's a big problem.

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Aren't you glad that Jesus didn't roll like that,

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that you can only sorta believe what Jesus said,

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that he was fickle with his words?

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No, no, Jesus was very plain with what he said,

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and everything Jesus says comes to pass.

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But we live in this culture that says

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don't worry about actually doing

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what you say you're going to do.

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We often will devote ourselves

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to things that bring temporary pleasure but long-term pain.

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We will devote ourselves to temporary pleasure

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but things that bring long-term pain.

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Being devoted simply means to be loving, loyal,

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and faithful to something or someone.

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And of all the people groups on the planet

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that I can think of that carry and just rock devotion,

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and I know that there are some exceptions to this,

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but by and large the population on the planet

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who knows how to rock devotion is really moms.

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Moms know how to rock devotions.

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Moms are incredibly devoted individuals,

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incredibly, incredible devoted people

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when it comes to their children.

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Moms take care of their kids,

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and we have a lot of rock star moms here.

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This is my mom and my siblings,

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and my mom is an incredible mom.

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My mom is incredibly devoted.

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In fact, in this particular season of our life,

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my mom gets to serve over at the school

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with my brother and me,

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and I can just watch her as she's serving.

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You know what the fuel is

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that keeps her coming back to the school and serving?

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It's not the work that she does of her hands.

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It's not all of the things.

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She serves because, and she loves being there in the fuel,

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it's because we're there, and she wants to be with us.

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Moms are incredibly devoted.

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They are there when their kids need them.

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They're there in the midnight hour.

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They're there when a kid, their child breaks their arm.

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They're there when they need, when they fail,

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when they succeed, moms champion their kids.

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There's something special inside a mom

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where they package and embody devotion.

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Being devoted and having a devoted lifestyle

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conveys a sense of priority.

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It says you are a priority, or this thing is a priority.

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Let me ask you a question.

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What is your devotion to the Lord this morning?

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What type of priority have you placed in on your walk

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and in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

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Is your relationship, is your devotion to the Lord

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a sometimes when I get around to it type of walk,

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type of faith, type of lifestyle?

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Or is it day in, day out, 24/7, he's a part of my life,

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he is my life, he is my everything?

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Listen, there are people who will talk to you

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in their free time, and then there are people

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who will clear their schedule to talk to you.

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Those are two different things.

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There are people who will talk to you in their free time,

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and then there are people who will free their time

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to talk to you.

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Those are two different things,

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and one of those populations speaks to devotion.

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If you are devoted to someone, then you will move things.

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You know, I've got a friend right now in my life

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that I just literally, in preparing this message,

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it just kinda dawned on me,

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he's kinda moving mountains all the time

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to come and be with me when I need somebody,

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and I'm just like, man, Lord, help me to recognize

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and appreciate that so much, so much more.

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I have people in my life who are devoted to me.

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You have people in your life who are devoted to you,

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who are devoted to you.

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My mom is devoted to us kids, that's,

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I get my siblings there, and you know,

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we kids are devoted to our parents sometimes, aren't we?

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Right, just sometimes, you know,

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one of the things that, my mom loves the cicadas.

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I'm being sarcastic.

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My mom actually hates the cicada.

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In fact, the first time that they came,

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I remember I went to their house at the time,

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and the cicadas were here.

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My mom didn't wanna go outside.

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She just was not about to go outside

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with all of the flying cicadas and everything,

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but you know, when she had to go to her car,

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my brother and I repaid her loving, caring devotion

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by when she going to the car, we would grab the trees,

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and we would shake them as hard as we can,

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and the cicadas would fly all over her,

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and she would scream and be so excited.

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Mom, we should try that again today.

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Coming over to the house, we'll come over,

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we'll shake the trees and let the cicadas fly.

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Somebody actually grabbed the cicada this week,

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put honey on it and ate it and said this,

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I'm John the Baptist, and I said, no, that is not a locust.

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It's a cicada, you know, don't eat cicadas, guys.

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They're not good for you.

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But moms are extremely devoted,

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and I would even go as far to say

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that mothers are devoted despite how you treat them.

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And what a model of our Christ, Jesus, our Savior,

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how devoted He is to us despite our devotion to Him.

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He is extremely devoted to us to the point of death,

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to the point of death.

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Moms are extremely devoted people.

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I remember when I was seven or eight years old,

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I was at the swimming pool, and all of my friends

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were dumping into the deep end of the pool,

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and I wanted to also jump into the deep end of the pool,

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and so I get out there to the edge,

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and I was like one, two, three, four, five, six,

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and I would go back and forth to the edge of the pool,

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and I would get ready to jump,

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and I so wanted to start to jump in,

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and one of those times after about 30 minutes

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probably of trying, going back and forth,

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chickening out, I went one, two,

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and my mom shoved me into the pool.

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My mom was devoted to teaching me,

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letting me experience things,

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and so I would experience it,

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and guess what happened when I got out of the pool?

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I got out, and I was able to jump in.

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I was able to jump in.

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Moms have a way of knowing what you need, right?

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They are devoted, and so these apostles,

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these disciples, these followers of Christ,

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it says they devoted themselves, they devoted themselves,

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they were loyal to, they were faithful to themselves

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to the apostles' teaching, to the apostles' teaching.

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Have you ever had a good teacher in your life?

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Who's had a good teacher in your life?

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Yeah, teachers really make impacts on our lives.

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You know, I had teachers, my favorite teachers

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when I was in school, my favorite teachers

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were the ones who didn't make us do any homework,

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who didn't make us do any work,

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who let us just talk in class

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and do whatever we wanted to do,

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but you know, as I lived my life and I go forward,

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I realized that none of those people

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actually cared about me.

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They allowed me to lean into my temporary pleasure,

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but they caused for me a longevity of ignorance and pain,

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but the teacher that I respect, Miss Smith,

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Miss Coble, who's back there in the back,

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Bruce and Jill Coble are here today with us,

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Miss Coble was my teacher, there are teachers in my life

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who were not going to let me get away with anything,

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isn't that right, Miss Coble?

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Wasn't gonna let me get away with a thing.

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No matter how much I sweet-talked them,

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no matter how much presence I gave,

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it doesn't matter how cute I was,

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you're not getting away with this,

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you're gonna be held accountable for the expectation.

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I remember my senior English teacher,

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she would come around, there's a story she tells

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at the beginning of the year,

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I don't have time to share it,

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but she has this basket of lifesavers

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and she would pass them around

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whenever we were having a hard day,

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but I tell you that midterm paper came around,

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I was having a rough season, a rough patch,

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and she came around with that lifesaver and she said,

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"Get as many of those as you need

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"'cause you're gonna turn in this paper

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"and it's gonna be on time."

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She held me to the fire, but you know all these days,

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all these years later, I look back and I realize,

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that teacher cared about me, that teacher loved me,

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that teacher was devoted to me, she was devoted to me.

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Sometimes we would rather be entertained than grow.

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Sometimes we would rather come in to the church

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and listen to a teacher who will entertain us

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with their big time personality than to be challenged

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to grow and become more like Jesus Christ.

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And I wanna tell you today that if you are here

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and all you do on Sunday morning here at Springhouse

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is that you're entertained, I wanna tell you

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as the lead pastor, I want you to go find another church.

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I want you to go find another church

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if all your being is entertained because,

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guys, I care about your soul and I care about your heart

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and here's not the place to be entertained.

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Here's the place to exalt Jesus Christ

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and become more like him and to become more like him.

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And so the apostles, whenever they committed themselves,

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they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching,

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the conveying of the word, the instruction of the word,

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they conferred an authority to the apostles

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and they submitted themselves to the apostles' word.

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They showed up and they engaged.

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They showed up and engaged and in addition to that,

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they understood that they were never finished learning.

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Guys, you are never finished learning.

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You're never finished learning.

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Ronnie, Pastor Ronnie, one time I was scheduled to speak,

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this was many, many, many years ago,

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I was scheduled to speak out here

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and I just started reading a book

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and I finished the book prior to speaking

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and it was a great, great read.

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It was a Christian book and man,

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it was talking all types of things

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to get me hyped up about the things of the Lord

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and I wanted the church to be set on fire for this book

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and so I gave this entire message and I was excited

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and I was enthusiastic and everyone was responding

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kind of about how you guys are responding to me right now,

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just crickets, you know,

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and I was kind of discouraged and distraught

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and so that week, Pastor Ronnie,

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you know I learned with object lessons,

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so Pastor Ronnie pulled me in the backpack here

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and he grabbed a sheet of paper and a lighter

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and he grabbed a log and he took the lighter

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and he lit the piece of paper and it went up in flames

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and then he took the lighter and he held it to the log

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and he talked to me as he was holding the fire to the log

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and he said, "How quickly did that paper disappear

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"when I lit it on fire?"

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And I said, "Well, of course, it was immediate.

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"It went real fast."

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And he said, "And how quick do you think this log

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"is gonna dissipate whenever I hold this fire?"

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I said, "Well, it's gonna take a while."

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And I said, "It's gonna probably burn for a long, long time."

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And he said, "There are going to be many fads.

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"There are gonna be many books.

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"There are gonna be many billboards.

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"There are gonna be a lot of flash and bang out there

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"that you can grab a hold to,

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"but when you are leading people,

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"never negate the power of a nudge.

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"Never negate the power of a nudge."

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And it was transformative in my life

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and you guys are benefactors of that object lesson

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because I realize that it is more important

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with a group this size at all different points

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in their journey that we nudge along toward Christ,

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that we nudge along becoming more and more like him,

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then we try to get somebody to jump over

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all of the things that they need to grow from

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because when you get over here,

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you don't know how to handle yourself

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and you end up retreating back

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to all of the things that you missed.

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So there is power in nudging along.

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I'm still learning.

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Guys, I'm learning from you.

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I have sat in your youth pastor's youth group

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for the last four months and I have listened to him speak.

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James Jansen is a phenomenal, phenomenal preacher.

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He's a phenomenal teacher

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and over the last two times I was there,

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the Holy Spirit was so good in his teaching

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that I was weeping, I was crying in the message

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because the Lord was speaking to me.

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He was teaching me from what this man is saying.

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There have been encounters that I've had in the hallway,

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in the corridors with you where you will say something

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and the Lord is teaching me, he's sharpening me.

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Guys, nobody is exempt from learning.

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You are never done learning.

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Iron is sharpening iron.

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When we come into this place,

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when we're in our relationships with one another,

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we should be growing to become more and more

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and more like Jesus, like Jesus.

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I cannot stand when people have said,

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people have, in the last three months,

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somebody said this to me, I've read the Bible.

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I've read the Bible.

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I know it back in front.

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I just, I don't know why God's not working in my life.

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I've read the Bible, I've done the stuff.

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Can you recommend a book?

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(congregation laughing)

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You are never finished reading the Bible.

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You are never finished reading the Bible.

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Guys, the word tells us in Hebrews,

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the word of God is active and alive.

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It's alive and active.

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It's sharper than any double-edged sword.

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That means that I can read a passage a thousand times

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and the Holy Spirit speak to me a thousand different ways.

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It is alive and active.

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This book is the book of life.

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It is the foundation of our lives.

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We stand on this truth.

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This is how we know the very God that we proclaim

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in the streets and in our lives and how we live.

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It is because of the knowledge of his word.

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Guys, can I just add to that for just a second?

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I think I said this earlier,

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but the sufficiency of the blood of Christ

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needs nothing added to it.

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The sufficiency of the blood of Christ

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that covers you and gives you the remission of your sins,

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it needs nothing added to it.

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We have the word of God.

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We've been given the word of God, what a gift.

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And the people of God in Acts

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were connected around the word of God.

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The people of God were connected around the word of God.

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When we gather here and whenever we are in our life

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walking this journey out with each other,

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we should be connected by the word and the truth of God.

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The center of our relationship should be founded on him.

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We should be spurring one another on in the Lord.

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You know, there's these big things happening right now

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in church world where churches are marketing

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to bring people into the church.

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I read a story, I heard a story this past week

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how a preacher had a bull ride

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in the middle of the sanctuary.

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It was a big day.

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They invited everybody to come and he got on the bull

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and he rode the bull until he fell off

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and then probably knocked some sense into his head

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when he fell off and then he came up

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and he preached the message.

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And it was all to get a draw

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for people to come into the church.

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Now I'm gonna tell you, I don't mind doing special events.

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I think special things are fun and I think they're okay.

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But let me tell you what the Bible tells us

Speaker: 00:23:06

in John chapter 12.

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If Christ be lifted up, he will draw all men to himself.

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We are not here to grow a big great church

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with a bunch of bodies.

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We are here to exalt Jesus Christ.

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We are here to exalt the savior of the world

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and he will do the work of drawing all people to himself.

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There was another church that I read about

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and the church was in massive decline.

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It was dying.

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It was just a rapid decline.

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And so the pastor put up all around town

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that he said a flyer that says the church is dying

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and we're gonna have a funeral for the church.

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We want you to come next Sunday.

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There's gonna be a church funeral

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because the church is dying.

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And so they put all the flyers out.

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Do you know that Sunday the church was packed.

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The church was packed out.

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They didn't have any seats left

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because everybody was there for the funeral

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of the church that was dying.

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And so they had a casket there in the church

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and they had flowers on it and all of this stuff.

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They did the whole thing.

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And he opened the casket and he said,

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"I want everybody to come down to the casket

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and I want you to pay your respects to this dying church

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that we are here to celebrate

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and to recognize the death of the church."

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And so everybody started to get up

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and as they came to the coffin and looked inside the coffin,

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they were embarrassed and they were uneasy

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as they walked away.

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Because inside the coffin,

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mounted up on a slant, was a mirror

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and a sign that read, "The church is dead because of this."

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The church is dead because of this.

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Guys, the church is not a program.

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It's not the building.

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We are the church.

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We are the church.

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The life of the church is in our interaction

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and who we put at the center of our interaction.

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And the center of our interaction should be Jesus Christ.

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At the center of what we are doing

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and what we're about should be Jesus Christ.

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And if he's not the center, then certainly the church,

Speaker: 00:25:10

well, you might have a good rally or a good time together,

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but you're certainly not growing in the Lord.

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We want to be about exalting Jesus Christ.

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Here's the thing, the early church, the disciples,

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the followers, the Christians at the time,

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there was a hunger.

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And I believe that hunger is the currency of the kingdom.

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Hunger is the currency of the kingdom.

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What are you hungry for?

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Who are you hungry for?

Speaker: 00:25:40

What is your spiritual diet?

Speaker: 00:25:43

What are you feasting off of?

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Are you only eating 30 minutes a week on Sunday morning

Speaker: 00:25:49

and allowing that to sustain your spiritual journey

Speaker: 00:25:52

until you come back here the next week?

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That's not enough.

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That's not enough.

Speaker: 00:25:57

The disciples, the Christians,

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they were hungry for his presence.

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They were hungry for his word.

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They were hungry for deep relationship and connection.

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And I believe that at times, friends,

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that we can curb our hunger with counterfeit food

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that leaves us spiritually malnourished.

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We begin to feed ourselves things that are not of the Lord,

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that are of the world.

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We begin to put the church in the context

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and we view it through the world's lens.

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And we begin to pick up junk food.

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We're on a Lay's potato chip diet.

Speaker: 00:26:33

I need somebody to get me some broccoli

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and some Brussels sprouts spiritually.

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I need somebody to be dishing to me some things

Speaker: 00:26:39

that will help me grow and help me develop in the Lord,

Speaker: 00:26:43

that will help me grow to be more like him.

Speaker: 00:26:45

But boys, those Lay's potato chips taste so good.

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Lay's potato chips taste good for a moment,

Speaker: 00:26:52

but you're gonna feel it later.

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You're gonna feel it later.

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We want to be a church that is mature.

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We wanna be a church that graduates

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from drinking milk to eating meat.

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To really diving into the deep truths of our God.

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So they weren't attached, the disciples,

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the Christians in the early church,

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they were not attached to personalities

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or platforms or performances.

Speaker: 00:27:26

They were hungry for the word.

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They were hungry for the word

Speaker: 00:27:29

and they showed up for church.

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They showed up and they engaged.

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Can I tell you guys, showing up for church is not a chore,

Speaker: 00:27:36

it's a privilege.

Speaker: 00:27:37

Showing up on Sunday morning, it should not be a chore,

Speaker: 00:27:41

it should be a privilege.

Speaker: 00:27:42

Now some of you made your mama

Speaker: 00:27:44

feel like it was a chore this morning.

Speaker: 00:27:46

(congregation murmurs)

Speaker: 00:27:49

But can I tell you something?

Speaker: 00:27:52

For the moms who are believers here,

Speaker: 00:27:54

some of you are here for the very first time

Speaker: 00:27:56

or very first time in a long time.

Speaker: 00:27:58

Can I tell you that there is no greater gift

Speaker: 00:28:00

that you could give your mama

Speaker: 00:28:01

than to show up to church next week?

Speaker: 00:28:03

Show up to church the next week?

Speaker: 00:28:06

Because there are a lot of mamas who have been praying

Speaker: 00:28:08

for their kids, asking the Lord to reveal himself

Speaker: 00:28:12

in a very, very powerful, real, extraordinary way

Speaker: 00:28:17

so that your life can be transformed.

Speaker: 00:28:19

And so if Mother's Day is a reason to get you to come,

Speaker: 00:28:26

then to your mama, so be it.

Speaker: 00:28:27

She's trusting the Holy Spirit to minister to you.

Speaker: 00:28:30

Showing up for church is not a chore, it's a privilege.

Speaker: 00:28:34

Hebrews 10, 24 says this,

Speaker: 00:28:36

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on

Speaker: 00:28:39

"toward love and good deeds,

Speaker: 00:28:40

"not giving up meeting together

Speaker: 00:28:42

"as some are in the habit of doing,

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"but encouraging one another.

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"And all the more as you see the day approaching."

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And guys, I believe that the day is approaching.

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It is coming sooner and sooner, every hour.

Speaker: 00:28:53

After we leave here and we go to lunch,

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we are that much closer to Jesus Christ splitting the sky.

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Glory, hallelujah, I cannot wait for him to split this sky.

Speaker: 00:29:02

Guys, I want to be yoked with people who are like-minded.

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I wanna be yoked with believers who want to spur me on

Speaker: 00:29:10

and are spurred on in growing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:29:14

My family and I, when we plan a vacation,

Speaker: 00:29:16

we don't miss Sundays.

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Now, that's not a pat on our back like,

Speaker: 00:29:19

"Oh, go O'Deas, you don't miss Sundays."

Speaker: 00:29:21

You know, attendance record, no.

Speaker: 00:29:23

I cannot stand missing being in the presence

Speaker: 00:29:25

of God with you all.

Speaker: 00:29:26

I cannot stand it.

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I just, it is more desirous for me to be here

Speaker: 00:29:33

on a Sunday morning with you

Speaker: 00:29:34

than to be on a beach in Florida.

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To be at Disney, to be at a theme park.

Speaker: 00:29:38

I want to be here and if for some reason we're not here,

Speaker: 00:29:42

I guarantee you that we are in a church somewhere

Speaker: 00:29:45

yoking with other believers and worshiping the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:48

I don't wanna miss out.

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I'm devoted to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:51

I am devoted to church, I'm devoted.

Speaker: 00:29:53

I want to be in the presence of the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:55

And I want to be worshiping the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:58

So, what is the litmus test for a sound teacher?

Speaker: 00:30:05

I think this is important because if it's modeled

Speaker: 00:30:09

that we engage and we show up to hear people teach the word,

Speaker: 00:30:14

we need to know that what we're getting is right and true.

Speaker: 00:30:17

So here's the litmus test.

Speaker: 00:30:18

Number one, does it line up with God's word?

Speaker: 00:30:22

Does it line up with God?

Speaker: 00:30:23

Anything that comes from this platform,

Speaker: 00:30:25

it should be lining up with the word of God.

Speaker: 00:30:28

That is the place, that's the foundation.

Speaker: 00:30:30

Now guess what?

Speaker: 00:30:31

You don't know if it lines up with the word of God

Speaker: 00:30:34

if you're not in the word of God, right?

Speaker: 00:30:37

So you need an active relationship with the word.

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I don't wanna come up and give you mess

Speaker: 00:30:43

and you not know it's mess, okay?

Speaker: 00:30:45

It's gotta line up with God's word.

Speaker: 00:30:47

Number two, are you challenged more

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than you are entertained?

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I mentioned this earlier.

Speaker: 00:30:53

Are you challenged more than you're entertained?

Speaker: 00:30:56

I'm so grateful that we have, not me,

Speaker: 00:30:59

but we have some people on staff that can come up

Speaker: 00:31:01

and really get us really laughing and growing

Speaker: 00:31:03

and laughing and going and all that stuff.

Speaker: 00:31:05

And they bring truth though.

Speaker: 00:31:06

They bring it down to a point of truth.

Speaker: 00:31:10

It's okay to have some levity.

Speaker: 00:31:11

It's okay for us to interact in that way.

Speaker: 00:31:14

But if you are leaving here more entertained

Speaker: 00:31:16

than you are challenged, then there is a problem.

Speaker: 00:31:19

Then there is a problem.

Speaker: 00:31:20

We should be growing in our walk.

Speaker: 00:31:23

We should be growing in the Lord.

Speaker: 00:31:25

When you hear teaching, the last thing is,

Speaker: 00:31:26

do you leave thinking about issues or thinking about Jesus?

Speaker: 00:31:30

Do you leave thinking more about issues or Jesus?

Speaker: 00:31:36

And as long as I'm in this position,

Speaker: 00:31:37

I will not render this platform to somebody

Speaker: 00:31:39

who wants to come out and talk all about issues.

Speaker: 00:31:42

Why?

Speaker: 00:31:43

Because Jesus Christ has the answer

Speaker: 00:31:45

to every single issue you can bring to the stage.

Speaker: 00:31:47

And if we will focus on him, he will fix all of it.

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He will save you from all of it.

Speaker: 00:31:53

And so, does it line up with his word?

Speaker: 00:31:58

Are you challenged or entertained?

Speaker: 00:32:00

Which is it?

Speaker: 00:32:01

And do you leave thinking about issues or Jesus?

Speaker: 00:32:04

My prayer is that when you leave Springhouse each Sunday,

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you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good

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and that you think about the Lord Jesus Christ.

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So the scripture continues.

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It says they devoted themselves to fellowship

Speaker: 00:32:16

and the breaking of bread.

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Fellowship is actually becoming a antiquated word,

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like the fellowship hall, fellowship,

Speaker: 00:32:24

I'm gonna fellowship, let's go fellowship together.

Speaker: 00:32:26

But the meaning is still intact.

Speaker: 00:32:28

I want you to understand that the fellowship

Speaker: 00:32:31

of the believers back in the early church, guys,

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this was not normal.

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I want you to understand it was not a normal thing.

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Like we sometimes read it and we're like,

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okay, I can get behind it.

Speaker: 00:32:41

They were getting together, they were going to church,

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basically listening to the apostles.

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They were getting together and hanging out together.

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They were breaking bread and they were praying, right?

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All of these things.

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I want you to understand culturally, this was not normal.

Speaker: 00:32:53

Why would they write about it if it was normalized?

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That's like me going up to James this morning,

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say, hey, James, I woke up this morning, came to church.

Speaker: 00:33:01

He'd be like, good story, great, appreciate it, yeah.

Speaker: 00:33:06

Why would they write something that was normalized?

Speaker: 00:33:10

They're writing to let us know the extraordinary things

Speaker: 00:33:13

that they were doing.

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Being a Christian in the early church,

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there was no willy-nilly-ness about it

Speaker: 00:33:20

because the minute they walked outside the doors,

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they were persecuted.

Speaker: 00:33:24

The minute they walked out of the church door,

Speaker: 00:33:26

they were persecuted and here's the thing,

Speaker: 00:33:28

the things that they were learning inside the context

Speaker: 00:33:31

of the church, inside the context from the apostles

Speaker: 00:33:33

was how to react to the persecution

Speaker: 00:33:36

that was about to happen and you know what it was?

Speaker: 00:33:38

It wasn't get out your sword, it was turn the other cheek.

Speaker: 00:33:42

It wasn't pull out your sword, it was love them anyway.

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It wasn't pull out your sword, it was forgive them.

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And it was an honor, it was a badge of honor

Speaker: 00:33:51

to be persecuted for the Lord Jesus Christ.

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I wonder how many of us have just willy-nilly

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gone about our faith because there's not any persecution

Speaker: 00:34:02

in our life so it doesn't really matter.

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He gave his life.

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He gave his life for you to encounter a dying world

Speaker: 00:34:16

and to convey and model to them

Speaker: 00:34:19

a Christ-like mentality and action

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so that the Holy Spirit would have an agent

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and a platform to work in their life

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so that they could be grafted in for eternity as well.

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They devoted themselves to fellowship

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in the breaking of bread despite the persecution

Speaker: 00:34:36

that was happening.

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Being a Christian, being a Christian,

Speaker: 00:34:40

to be Christ-like was not something

Speaker: 00:34:43

that you proudly proclaimed just so that you could get

Speaker: 00:34:46

a pat on the back.

Speaker: 00:34:48

It was to say I am other than the world.

Speaker: 00:34:51

And it continues to be in a lot of areas

Speaker: 00:34:54

counter-cultural today.

Speaker: 00:34:55

This is Alice Cooper.

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You guys know this guy?

Speaker: 00:34:59

He says this, "Drinking beer is easy,

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"trashing your hotel room is easy,

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"but being a Christian, that's a tough call.

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"That's a real rebellion."

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I'm here to tell you this morning

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that if you are a believer and you're actually living

Speaker: 00:35:13

a lifestyle of Christianity in this world,

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you are a rebel.

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You are a rebel against the world,

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against the world's vices,

Speaker: 00:35:21

against the world's direction.

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You are a rebel.

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And the world doesn't like it.

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The world doesn't like it,

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nor does the world know how to handle it

Speaker: 00:35:32

because they want you to fight back

Speaker: 00:35:35

with the way they fight you.

Speaker: 00:35:38

And if you are a believer and you are living

Speaker: 00:35:40

like the Lord tells you to live

Speaker: 00:35:41

and you're following instructions here,

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come at me.

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Come at me the way that you'll come at me.

Speaker: 00:35:50

And it is an honor for me to be persecuted

Speaker: 00:35:52

for loving you like Christ loved you.

Speaker: 00:35:56

So what'd you learn in church today?

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I learned I was a rebel.

Speaker: 00:36:00

What we're really talking about is community.

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When they get together and they fellowship

Speaker: 00:36:06

and they break bread,

Speaker: 00:36:07

you're talking about community.

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Who is your community?

Speaker: 00:36:10

Who are you in relationship with?

Speaker: 00:36:12

Who are you walking with?

Speaker: 00:36:14

You should never have to convince,

Speaker: 00:36:16

listen, we should never have to convince

Speaker: 00:36:18

the people of God that they need to gather together.

Speaker: 00:36:22

God created us for relationship.

Speaker: 00:36:26

God created you to be in relationship with people.

Speaker: 00:36:31

I remember my friend Ryan Davis,

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I remember going to his house as a young adult

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for the very first time and I was new to,

Speaker: 00:36:39

fairly new to the church and I went over there

Speaker: 00:36:40

and I was just an insecure teen

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and I walked into his house and I didn't have any friends.

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And I remember walking in the house,

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there were about 25 guys there.

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And when I walked in, all of these guys went,

Speaker: 00:36:51

"Kevin, it's good to see you."

Speaker: 00:36:54

They all came up and gave me hugs and things like that.

Speaker: 00:36:56

I remember that moment

Speaker: 00:36:59

because I had never felt that way before.

Speaker: 00:37:03

And if you are walking in community with believers

Speaker: 00:37:07

who see Christ, then you will always be seen

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and you will be loved.

Speaker: 00:37:12

You will be heard, you will have dignity conferred to you,

Speaker: 00:37:15

not because they're so perfect, but because He's perfect

Speaker: 00:37:18

and they complete and perfect through them.

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And so, we're not gonna like this next statement here,

Speaker: 00:37:28

but God uses people to accomplish His plans.

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I'm talking about the person you don't like.

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I'm talking about that boss that gets on your nerves.

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I'm talking about that person that just you can't stand.

Speaker: 00:37:45

I'm talking about the one who gossips about you.

Speaker: 00:37:47

I'm talking about God uses people.

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Wait a minute, He doesn't just use Christians.

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Well, He sure used Pharaoh, didn't He?

Speaker: 00:37:54

He will use people.

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You know, anybody in here like a planner?

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Who's like a good planner?

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Like you plan everything out and everything.

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I have grown to be a planner in my life.

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And in that, you know, you start to go and,

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is there anybody who can't stand planners

Speaker: 00:38:11

like they get on your nerves 'cause they expose in you

Speaker: 00:38:14

that you're not a good planner?

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Anybody?

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Can I tell you that God has probably put that planner

Speaker: 00:38:20

in your life to grow you, to become better at that

Speaker: 00:38:24

so that your yes can be yes and your no can be no?

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Listen, see, we have a tendency to shun the people

Speaker: 00:38:31

who are put in our life that bring adversity

Speaker: 00:38:33

instead of recognizing God may be bringing this adversity,

Speaker: 00:38:36

allowing it to happen in our lives

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to illuminate something that makes us better,

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that causes us to rise up and become more like Christ.

Speaker: 00:38:45

And especially if that somebody is somebody

Speaker: 00:38:48

who actually loves you, surely God's put them in your life.

Speaker: 00:38:52

What a different perspective.

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We try to kick, get out of my life.

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Stop illuminating my faults.

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Right?

Speaker: 00:39:00

God uses people to accomplish his plans

Speaker: 00:39:05

and guys in the middle of that, people are people.

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And we know how to people really well.

Speaker: 00:39:13

We are people, people, people.

Speaker: 00:39:16

We tend to take this concept of fellowship and community

Speaker: 00:39:23

and we view it through a worldly lens.

Speaker: 00:39:27

In other words, God has created for us a kingdom

Speaker: 00:39:31

where we can actually have God-given,

Speaker: 00:39:34

God-centered relationships,

Speaker: 00:39:36

meaningful relationships with one another.

Speaker: 00:39:38

And what we do is we take our worldly lens

Speaker: 00:39:41

and we put it on and we say,

Speaker: 00:39:42

I'm gonna navigate this through the world's perspective.

Speaker: 00:39:45

But can I tell you that the culture

Speaker: 00:39:46

has so perverted relationship.

Speaker: 00:39:50

The world has so got its claws in how community is done

Speaker: 00:39:54

that if we're looking at it through a worldly lens,

Speaker: 00:39:57

then we're not going to grow together

Speaker: 00:39:59

the way that God intends us to grow.

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In fact, in fact, I would argue if we model community

Speaker: 00:40:05

the way God intends us to model community,

Speaker: 00:40:08

then the world will find that to be infectious

Speaker: 00:40:10

and they will be drawn in.

Speaker: 00:40:12

They will be drawn in.

Speaker: 00:40:14

We belong to a kingdom

Speaker: 00:40:16

and this kingdom is other than this world.

Speaker: 00:40:20

We have a king and he loves you.

Speaker: 00:40:22

He loves you and he's given us everything we need

Speaker: 00:40:25

in terms of how to live our lives.

Speaker: 00:40:28

And so you might have somebody in your life,

Speaker: 00:40:30

if you have somebody in your life,

Speaker: 00:40:31

you might have somebody in your life who is insecure.

Speaker: 00:40:32

I can't stand their insecurity.

Speaker: 00:40:35

I can't stand the way that they act.

Speaker: 00:40:37

I can't stand how needy they are.

Speaker: 00:40:38

Or maybe you have somebody in your life that's prideful.

Speaker: 00:40:42

They don't ever ask for help.

Speaker: 00:40:43

It just seems like every time I'm there,

Speaker: 00:40:46

they just, they don't need help.

Speaker: 00:40:48

They can do it all this stuff.

Speaker: 00:40:49

Or maybe you have somebody that's self-centered

Speaker: 00:40:50

and every action, everything that they choose to do

Speaker: 00:40:53

on their day to day is really,

Speaker: 00:40:55

they think of themselves first.

Speaker: 00:40:56

Any of those things relate to anybody here?

Speaker: 00:40:59

Here's what the God of the Bible would tell us to do

Speaker: 00:41:04

in those situations.

Speaker: 00:41:05

For the insecure person, he would say,

Speaker: 00:41:08

love them above their insecurity.

Speaker: 00:41:11

Love them above anything that they need.

Speaker: 00:41:13

Show them that you're not going anywhere

Speaker: 00:41:16

so that the Holy Spirit can get in

Speaker: 00:41:18

and shore up that insecurity

Speaker: 00:41:19

because you are modeling the love of Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:41:22

For the prideful person who doesn't need any help,

Speaker: 00:41:25

guess what, you show up joyfully and help

Speaker: 00:41:28

no matter what they say.

Speaker: 00:41:29

You continue to offer your help.

Speaker: 00:41:31

You continue to show up.

Speaker: 00:41:32

You continue to help.

Speaker: 00:41:33

And whenever they don't thank you,

Speaker: 00:41:34

whenever they look at you and say, I don't need it,

Speaker: 00:41:36

when they get upset because you've offered your,

Speaker: 00:41:39

you've offered your help or whatever,

Speaker: 00:41:40

you continue to show up because the Bible says

Speaker: 00:41:44

pride comes before the fall.

Speaker: 00:41:46

And what's gonna happen is eventually they're gonna fall

Speaker: 00:41:48

and guess who's gonna be there to catch them?

Speaker: 00:41:50

You are.

Speaker: 00:41:51

And whenever you catch them,

Speaker: 00:41:52

you're not gonna be there to say, oh, I told you so,

Speaker: 00:41:54

you should have let me help all along.

Speaker: 00:41:56

No, you catch them and you don't even mention the fact

Speaker: 00:41:59

that they were doing that themselves

Speaker: 00:42:00

and you say, I love you so much,

Speaker: 00:42:02

let me help you get up from this mess.

Speaker: 00:42:03

But what if they continue to be prideful?

Speaker: 00:42:06

Guess what, there's gonna be another fall for you to catch.

Speaker: 00:42:09

What about that self-centered person who just,

Speaker: 00:42:12

man, they just always,

Speaker: 00:42:14

everything that they do in their life,

Speaker: 00:42:15

it's like them first, it's them first, them first,

Speaker: 00:42:17

then everybody else, them first,

Speaker: 00:42:18

and it just seems like they're just so self-centered

Speaker: 00:42:20

or whatnot.

Speaker: 00:42:21

Love them above that.

Speaker: 00:42:24

Let them know, most self-centered people

Speaker: 00:42:29

who organize their entire life based on them,

Speaker: 00:42:31

somebody's walked out on their life.

Speaker: 00:42:33

Somebody has shaken the foundation,

Speaker: 00:42:36

but you can continue to show up and be a constant.

Speaker: 00:42:38

You can show up and love them through that

Speaker: 00:42:40

and eventually the Lord begins to break that down.

Speaker: 00:42:44

The world would say to insecure people,

Speaker: 00:42:47

get out of here, you're too needy.

Speaker: 00:42:48

The world would say to prideful people,

Speaker: 00:42:50

go ahead and do it yourself, I'll watch you fall.

Speaker: 00:42:52

The world would say to the self-centered person,

Speaker: 00:42:54

let's see how that works out for you,

Speaker: 00:42:55

I don't want anything to do with you,

Speaker: 00:42:56

I don't want him to be your friend

Speaker: 00:42:58

because you don't think about me.

Speaker: 00:43:01

So how in the world as Christians, as believers,

Speaker: 00:43:04

where do we derive the power to do these things?

Speaker: 00:43:07

Because it's hard, do you know in relationships,

Speaker: 00:43:09

you get about 80% in a relationship of what you want or need?

Speaker: 00:43:14

And what happens is, is you look at somebody else

Speaker: 00:43:19

and you see the 20% you're missing.

Speaker: 00:43:22

And we will so quickly divorce ourselves from the 80%

Speaker: 00:43:26

to go after the 20%.

Speaker: 00:43:28

And after we walk with the 20% for a while,

Speaker: 00:43:30

we realize we're missing the 80%.

Speaker: 00:43:33

And the 80% is gone.

Speaker: 00:43:36

What gives us the power to stay

Speaker: 00:43:41

when we're operating and looking at this deficiency of 20%?

Speaker: 00:43:44

Let me tell you something, every one of us has deficiencies.

Speaker: 00:43:47

Every one of us is broken, every one of us is human.

Speaker: 00:43:50

What gives us the power in the 20%?

Speaker: 00:43:54

It's the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:43:56

You will receive power

Speaker: 00:43:58

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

Speaker: 00:44:00

We're gonna be dissecting this verse later in the year,

Speaker: 00:44:02

but we need the power of the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:44:05

to do this life-giving thing in community.

Speaker: 00:44:08

We need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:44:10

I can't do it without the Holy Spirit's help.

Speaker: 00:44:12

And you can't do it either.

Speaker: 00:44:15

And so I want to be surrounded with like-minded people.

Speaker: 00:44:22

Who are you rolling with?

Speaker: 00:44:23

Who are you walking with?

Speaker: 00:44:27

Are they other-minded?

Speaker: 00:44:29

Is it foreign for you to be here in the mindset

Speaker: 00:44:34

that you carry on Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning?

Speaker: 00:44:37

Or are you surrounded with like-minded people

Speaker: 00:44:42

who spur you on to be like Christ Jesus?

Speaker: 00:44:47

Worship team, you can come out

Speaker: 00:44:48

'cause these people are getting antsy.

Speaker: 00:44:49

(congregation laughs)

Speaker: 00:44:53

Feelings are fickle, people.

Speaker: 00:44:55

Your feelings change, truth never changes.

Speaker: 00:44:59

Truth never changes.

Speaker: 00:45:02

And when you're around like-minded people,

Speaker: 00:45:05

you don't have to worry about what they say about you

Speaker: 00:45:09

because you've been given the mind of Christ.

Speaker: 00:45:11

When you're with people who are like-minded

Speaker: 00:45:15

and they're focused on Christ,

Speaker: 00:45:16

so many of us will alter the whole course of our day,

Speaker: 00:45:19

the whole course of our action

Speaker: 00:45:20

because we're so afraid of what they might think about us.

Speaker: 00:45:23

But Jesus Christ has some truth to say about you.

Speaker: 00:45:28

And it's in his word.

Speaker: 00:45:30

And if you're around like-minded people,

Speaker: 00:45:31

then when they say something to you, they look at you

Speaker: 00:45:33

and they call out the things that they see in you

Speaker: 00:45:36

that are Christ-like.

Speaker: 00:45:38

They call out the truth in you about who God's created you

Speaker: 00:45:42

to be.

Speaker: 00:45:43

It was really hard, it's still hard for me today

Speaker: 00:45:49

to be around people.

Speaker: 00:45:50

And I get it, don't hear something I'm not saying.

Speaker: 00:45:54

I mean, I get jabbing and being around the guys

Speaker: 00:45:57

and people jabbing.

Speaker: 00:45:58

I can't take put-downs, it's hard for me

Speaker: 00:46:02

because I come from a whole,

Speaker: 00:46:04

there's a whole part of my story

Speaker: 00:46:05

where all I felt was a big put-down and let-down

Speaker: 00:46:08

and judged and walked on and hurt.

Speaker: 00:46:13

And that's a part of my story.

Speaker: 00:46:17

How do you know when you're in a group

Speaker: 00:46:18

of three or four people

Speaker: 00:46:19

and they're just jabbing just for Jess

Speaker: 00:46:21

that you don't know that that's a part of their story

Speaker: 00:46:24

and they start to step on some wounds from the past?

Speaker: 00:46:28

This is why the word tells us,

Speaker: 00:46:31

let nothing unwholesome come out of your mouth, right?

Speaker: 00:46:34

That then strike, he gives us,

Speaker: 00:46:37

he instructs us because he cares about us.

Speaker: 00:46:40

He tells us what we should and shouldn't do,

Speaker: 00:46:43

not because he's out to control our lives,

Speaker: 00:46:45

because he knows what's best.

Speaker: 00:46:47

I want to live in that weird community,

Speaker: 00:46:52

that other-minded community.

Speaker: 00:46:54

I don't wanna look like the world.

Speaker: 00:46:55

I want the world to go,

Speaker: 00:46:56

what in the world are those people doing?

Speaker: 00:46:58

That is, that's weird.

Speaker: 00:47:00

That's a group of people

Speaker: 00:47:03

that really actually love each other

Speaker: 00:47:04

and they're actually more liberated than anything you have.

Speaker: 00:47:07

And that's the community and the fellowship

Speaker: 00:47:12

that we're striving after,

Speaker: 00:47:14

bathed in the word, foundation in the truth.

Speaker: 00:47:17

Over in the book of James, it says,

Speaker: 00:47:21

"A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways."

Speaker: 00:47:24

And guys, if you're linking arms with people

Speaker: 00:47:26

who are not like-minded,

Speaker: 00:47:28

I don't wanna be yoked to instability.

Speaker: 00:47:33

I wanna be yoked to stability, some stable things.

Speaker: 00:47:35

There's enough instability around me.

Speaker: 00:47:37

I don't need to be unstable myself, right?

Speaker: 00:47:41

And so they were together.

Speaker: 00:47:46

They broke bread together.

Speaker: 00:47:48

They went to the table together.

Speaker: 00:47:50

Why did they go to the table?

Speaker: 00:47:52

To remember Jesus.

Speaker: 00:47:54

You think they have problems?

Speaker: 00:47:56

Do you think these were perfect people

Speaker: 00:47:58

getting together all the time, just perfect?

Speaker: 00:48:00

No, but here's the thing.

Speaker: 00:48:01

If you're married, you live with your spouse,

Speaker: 00:48:05

maybe some of you live in houses,

Speaker: 00:48:07

where when you live with someone,

Speaker: 00:48:08

when you spend a lot of time with someone,

Speaker: 00:48:11

it gets hard to hide.

Speaker: 00:48:13

You see the flaws real fast.

Speaker: 00:48:16

This is what they were doing.

Speaker: 00:48:17

They spent so much time together with one another

Speaker: 00:48:21

that you couldn't fake your way out of it.

Speaker: 00:48:24

I've got people in my life that can walk right into my house,

Speaker: 00:48:27

literally just walk in.

Speaker: 00:48:28

They can go to the cupboard, they can go to the freezer,

Speaker: 00:48:30

whatever they wanna do,

Speaker: 00:48:31

and I wouldn't even bat an eye

Speaker: 00:48:32

because I'm in such tight community with them.

Speaker: 00:48:35

That's the type of fellowship.

Speaker: 00:48:37

That's the type of community, the intimate connections

Speaker: 00:48:40

that we're asked to have with one another,

Speaker: 00:48:42

that we would be in each other's lives so much

Speaker: 00:48:45

that you can't hide.

Speaker: 00:48:46

Why?

Speaker: 00:48:47

So that they can call you out on a 20?

Speaker: 00:48:48

No, so that they can take you to the Lord

Speaker: 00:48:50

to get the healing you need, the correction you need,

Speaker: 00:48:53

to teach you what you need to do, because guess what?

Speaker: 00:48:56

They've also got a 20% that they need stuff with.

Speaker: 00:49:00

And you're speaking to each other's lives.

Speaker: 00:49:02

And so, guys, they gather together,

Speaker: 00:49:06

not because they were devoted to just the apostles teaching

Speaker: 00:49:10

or the breaking of bread or fellowship.

Speaker: 00:49:12

The main reason that they gather together

Speaker: 00:49:13

is 'cause they were devoted to Jesus.

Speaker: 00:49:15

Are you devoted to Jesus?

Speaker: 00:49:19

And if you're devoted to Jesus, I encourage you to show up

Speaker: 00:49:25

because there's some real good stuff when you do.

Speaker: 00:49:30

You are seen, you are loved, you are heard,

Speaker: 00:49:35

and it's not because of the broken people sitting next to you

Speaker: 00:49:39

it's because of this Christ Jesus

Speaker: 00:49:40

who's perfect in all of his ways.

Speaker: 00:49:43

Would you stand with me this morning

Speaker: 00:49:44

with those who are gonna minister, come forward?

Speaker: 00:49:47

We're gonna be talking about prayer in two weeks,

Speaker: 00:49:49

but I can't tell you the importance and the power of prayer.

Speaker: 00:49:53

If you've got a prayer need this morning,

Speaker: 00:49:55

you better bet you those apostles are in that room

Speaker: 00:49:58

praying to this almighty God

Speaker: 00:50:00

who hears every single prayer that you pray,

Speaker: 00:50:04

who cares about your needs.

Speaker: 00:50:06

And so if you've got a prayer request this morning,

Speaker: 00:50:09

you need God to do something in your life,

Speaker: 00:50:11

it's your choice to walk out of here carrying that.

Speaker: 00:50:13

Guys, I walked in here with a weight this morning.

Speaker: 00:50:15

I'm liberated this morning.

Speaker: 00:50:16

Come and pray and be set free

Speaker: 00:50:19

from the things that you're holding onto.

Speaker: 00:50:21

God wants to meet with you.

Speaker: 00:50:22

Let's worship.

Speaker: 00:50:23

(soft music)