Love Big, Live Truth, Healthy Family

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[Music]

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We are going to talk today, so we're sandwiched in this little series here.

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We've got, I say little series, this all year we've been talking about

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HIs Word, His Life, and we're going to begin talking about His Church. And

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this week and next week is kind of a couple of one-offs before we actually

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launch the third part of our series. Though

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today we're going to talk about Springhouse as a church,

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and so it kind of ties into to where we're going. So would you stand with me?

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We're going to read from Ephesians chapter 4.

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So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets,

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the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers,

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to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built

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up until we all reach unity in the faith

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and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,

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attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Father, I thank you

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for your Word. I thank you that it brings life. I thank

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you, Lord, that it's transformative. And I ask, Lord, that you would

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that you would speak to us today clearly. In Jesus' name,

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Amen. Amen. Amen. I sometimes when I'm driving down the

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street, I will see and drive by a church, and the churches

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have church signs, and they'll put something up on the church sign. And a

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lot of times the person putting the thing on the

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church side thinks it's funny, but it's not really funny, you know. You

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know what I'm talking about. And then sometimes there's something

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that's up there that I scratched my head and said, "Do they really,

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did they double, triple check this before they put that up there?" You know.

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So I just thought it'd be good today to start with just some of the funniest

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church signs. By the way, I want to say I am so thankful we don't have a church

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sign. I am so grateful that we don't. Okay, here

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we go. This one says, "Be salt and light, not

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salty and lit."

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I wish Noah had swatted those two mosquitoes.

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"Adultery is a sin. You can't have Kate needeth too."

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Whoa! "Prophecy class canceled due to unforeseen circumstances."

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"Being Christian means not hating. We know it makes football season hard."

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Blah, blah, blah. Just go to church. That probably is one of my favorites.

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"Whoever stole our AC units, keep one." It is not hot. It's hot where you're going.

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"Murray is not the only place to find your father."

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"God has no favorites sign guy does. Go Preds."

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Don't let worries kill you. Let the church help.

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The church. The church. The church is a very interesting anomaly

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that is a head scratcher in terms of man because we didn't come up with the idea.

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We didn't come up with the idea. The church was God's idea, not ours.

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The church was God's idea, not ours. I've told this story before, but you know there

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was a situation, there's a time period rather about I guess seven, eight years

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ago where I was just some people had come to me with some stuff here at the church and they were like,

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"This needs to be fixed and this needs to be fixed." And half of the things that came to me with

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had no merit or no validity. Have you ever been on a train somebody just says something to you and

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then you run with it but there's no validity to it? We need to make sure that if we're going to put

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action to something that we need to make sure it's actually true, right? So I was told some of these

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things and I started to come to church. I'll tell you guys for three months I came to the church

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every day. I think I was sitting over here at the time and I would look at the church and I'd

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be like, "How do we fix that God? How do we fix this God? How do we fix that person God? How do we

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fix that situation God? How do we fix it?" And I just I confessed to you for about three months

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I came to church and I did not worship. I did not worship because I was so focused on how we were

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going to fix the things that people were bringing to me which half of them didn't even have merit.

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And so I was on the way to the Dominican Republic because I was leading mission trips at that time

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and the students had gotten off of the plane and I got there on the tarmac and I'm looking at 36

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kids and all of a sudden it dawned on me I don't have a plan for the mission trip. I'm thinking

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what's going on? I got all these kids sitting here and it freaked me out and I saw one of our

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teachers stand up and start giving instructions and I had forgotten that I had put her in charge

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of the trip during this three-month time and so she had all of the information that was needed

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and she ended up leading trips so I was like, "God, why in the world am I here? This is kind

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of like a waste of time. Why am I here?" And God said, "No, no. I needed to get you away from the

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distraction so I could speak to your heart." And one of the things that he said to me was, "Kevin,

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the church was my idea not yours. And if you're looking to fix anything I want you to go in and I

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want you to love more and serve more. I want you to love deeper and I want you to serve more and oh,

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that we would be a people. That whenever we see things that distract us in the church that our

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first go-to would be to love deeper and to serve more. That we would love deeper and serve more."

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Guys, do you know that God is the only one who can truly fix anybody? He's actually the one who has

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the answers to problems and situations and his bride, he cares about his bride. He actually cares

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about us. He cares about the church. He ordained the church and the church is vitally important.

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Being a part of a church is very, very important. Man's ideas fail. God's ideas always stand.

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They always stand. So here at Springhouse, this is not, it's never been and it's not going to be,

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this is not a build it and they will come mentality. This is a lift Jesus up and get out

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of his way mentality. We want to exalt the name of Jesus in this place. My hope every day when we

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come and pray here, often I'll pray this in our prayer time, is that we want you to taste and see

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that the Lord's good. I don't want you to taste and see that I'm good 'cause I'm not. I'm far

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from good. I'm pretty rotten by the way, you know, but we want you to taste and see that he is good

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and we want to exalt Jesus Christ in this place. Jesus is good at drawing people to himself. We

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don't actually have to do that. This is what he says in John 12. And I, when I'm lifted up from

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the earth will draw all people to my self. Jesus can do the work. We just show up, man showing up.

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And for some reason we can't and don't do that. And when we show up, we come in with all this

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baggage of arsenal, ready to pull out and aim at people. Man, that is not how the bride of Christ

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should operate. And it's certainly how we don't want to operate here at Springhouse. Jesus does

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the work of drawing people when he is lifted up. Now it's essential to understand that the church

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elevates Christ. The church elevates Christ. Christ loves the church and that is our goal.

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It is our hope. It is our aim. It is our desire. Springhouse specifically that we would elevate

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the name of Jesus. That we would elevate Jesus to his rightful place. That we would not be elevated

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ourselves. Guys, the only celebrity here at Springhouse is Jesus Christ. The only celebrity here at

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Springhouse is Jesus Christ. I will hear people kind of off the wall say, you know, man, I just

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love when Pastor Barbie speaks. She just brings such a great word and I just can't wait to the

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next time she's up here. Pastor Justin, man, he's just a fool. No, I mean, he's just awesome. He'll

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just have the most wonderful story. I can't wait. And man, oh, Kevin's up today. Dang it. Okay. So,

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but you know, a mixture of things. Guys, here's the thing. When you come into this place,

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the voice that you should be listening to is the Holy Spirit. Now he will use agents to be his

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voice, but the voice you want to leave here with is nothing more, nothing less than the Holy Spirit.

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The only celebrity here at Springhouse is Jesus Christ. We want to elevate him. You shouldn't be

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leaving here thinking about my personality or my great story or Justin's personality or Barbie's

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thing. You should be thinking about Jesus Christ. He should be the center of who we're talking about.

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If there's a conviction, if there's something setting in, the Holy Spirit gets in there,

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we should be thinking about him when we leave here. Guys, there's plenty of distractions out

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there. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, all the way through Saturday. This hour

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is about him. This hour is about him. And so occasionally, I haven't gotten this question

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as much as I thought I was going to get it. I'm sure Pastor Ronnie got this multiple times in his

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33 years here at the church, but I've gotten a time or two. And the question is, what is your vision?

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What is your vision for Springhouse? What do you want to see? And really what we surmise is that

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when people actually ask that question, they're looking for like some catchy slogan or phrase

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that they can attach themselves to and run with. Guys, the Lord has given a vision for his church

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and we don't need to reinvent it. We don't need to rebrand it. We don't need to make it up. He

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has given a vision for his church. Now I'll tell you, there is direction that the Lord will give

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pastors. And I'll tell you, Springhouse, Smyrna Assembly throughout history has been kind of known

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for drawing in people who have come out of other church situations with church hurt. Some of you

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sitting here were a part of church hurt at your last experience. And guys, there's nothing like

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church hurt. There's nothing quite like church hurt. And I'll tell you, when I listen to some

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of the stories about church hurt from other churches, one of the things that I find,

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it's not in every situation, but sometimes the common denominator is I find that a pastor

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probably has gotten some direction from the Lord, has truly heard from the Lord,

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but the minute he gets direction, he turns his back on God and tries to do it himself.

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Anybody who tries to complete God's plan without God is a fool, is a fool.

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When Joshua went over into the promised land, God had promised him all of the cities. He was going

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to go in and dominate all the cities. And so he says to Joshua, go to Jericho and I'm going to

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deliver that city into your hand. Can you imagine Joshua? He had every ability. He had an army of

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warriors with him. He literally, he could have just said, okay, God, you're going to give us the

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city. Thank you so much. Now let's go start beating down these walls. But God didn't say,

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go beat down the walls. God said, I'm going to give you this city and here's how I want you to

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do it. I want you to shut your mouth and circle the walls, shut your mouth and go around the walls.

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Guys, may we be a people who not only get direction from the Lord, but also trust him

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in his execution of it. In his execution of it. Guys, we need to be a people who are ready to

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lean in to everything God has to lean into from start to finish. Guys, we actually have the easy

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part because he shoulders the burden. He shoulders the weight. He shoulders the execution. We don't

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have to make things happen. We can just show up. What a grace gift he has given us. What a grace

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gift. So God has given us a vision for his church and it is in Ephesians four, we read it, to equip

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people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. To equip people for works

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of service so the body of Christ may be built up. And so sometimes I'll be asked this question

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outside of what is your vision. Kevin, are you content with the size church that you pastor?

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Are you content with the sizes? Do you want to see the church grow and explode? There will be

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multiple services, yada yada. And usually when I really try to answer directly with this, are you

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content with the size of church you pastor? No, I am content with God's will. I am content with God's

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will. Whatever God wants to happen here, as long as he's in the middle of it, that's what I want.

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If he wants us to explode and grow, he's going to supply the resources, the people, the buildings,

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whatever it is. Let's go as long as God's there. If he wants us to shrink in size,

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as long as he's in the middle of it, I'll be there. I'm for it. I want to be where he is.

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Don't you want to be where the Lord is? Don't you want to be where the Holy Spirit is moving?

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There is a movement that happened and I think it's kind of, the pressing of it's kind of died

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down a little bit. There's this home church movement, like, you know, get out of large

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church, large organizational church, get into small groups, small home. And I'm all for small

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groups meeting at homes and churches and that type of thing. But, you know, here's the reality.

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And I think it was Pastor Ronnie who said this to somebody and I caught it and I loved it.

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If you're out in the middle of an ocean and there's a hurricane coming, do you want to be

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in a small boat with six people or do you want to be on a cruise boat?

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Guys, I want to be with people who are following the Lord. I want to be with people who got their

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eyes fixed on him. We need community. We need to be around fellow believers. We need to be around

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people who are like-minded and are exalting the name of Jesus. There have been so many of you who

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have blessed my life, who have spoken into my life, who have encouraged me because of different

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things that you bring to the table. And I hope that I've been able to do the same for you because

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we're in this together. We're the same sheep. We're all sheep with a shepherd and he knows our name

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and we know his name and we are looking at him and we are exalting him. We need each other. We

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need to want and desire to meet and be together. We should not forsake the assembly of the saints.

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We need to be meeting weekly together and being here. Last week I talked about when you miss out,

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when you don't show up. You miss out when you don't show up. So what happens, what brings us

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to a mentality of like, I just want to get out of this place, this not necessarily Springhouse,

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but just the church and all the people. It's sometimes because when we walk in we forget

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that people are people. People are people and people are broken. People are people and people

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are hurt. People are people and people have situations and circumstances like you do.

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And so I don't know what it is sometimes we can sort of walk in with like this self-righteous

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posture of like, you know, you don't get the same grace that I expect you to confer to me

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when I'm going through my stuff. But man, we ought to have a reservoir of grace for each other because

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we all need it. We all need it. We all need mercy. Be that's mercy. Grace begets grace.

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The rendering of those things to one another in love. We all have a level of brokenness. One

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struggles with addiction, another with pride, another with selfishness, another with gossip,

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and the list goes on and on. But we must have a reservoir of grace for each other.

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I came from a church before being here that really elevated hell and elevated sin. Not to say that

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sin was good. They weren't saying sin was good, but all they talked about was hell. All they

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talked about was sin. But boy, we want to be a place that exalts Jesus Christ. We want to be a

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place that Jesus is in the forefront. I want to be a place that opens the doors to people who don't

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look like, sound like, smell like, act like us. And when they come in here, they don't get called

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out for whatever it is they are doing, which many of us are probably struggling with as well.

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But instead they taste and see that the Lord is good. And then the Lord gets in there and

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he begins to change things. See, the love of Christ is infectious. The love of Christ

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draws people in. He has a way of motivating us to want to change our behavioral situation because

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he has something so much better for us. He has something so much richer for us. Something that

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gives life instead of death. Church is a place where truth replaces lies. Truth, I need a place

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where I can go and know I'm hearing truth. I need a place where the lies that I buy into through the

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week can be refuted by scripture and by the word and the reminding of he is who he says he is.

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God is greater in us than he who is in the world. He is out to kill, steal, and destroy us. And so

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here at String House, we've been given a direction that we are to be a church that loves big, lives

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truth, and operates as a healthy family. I want us to be a place that loves in big ways. This is what

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John 13 says, "A new command I give you." Jesus is speaking here. He says, "Love one another as I have

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loved you, so you must love one another." Guys, this is coming from the God. This is coming from

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the mouth of the God who saved your life. This is coming from the mouth of the God who breathed

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stars. Why is that so important? There are so many verses I could give about how we're supposed to

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love one another, but I want to ask you a question. Are you loving people the way Christ loves you?

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Are you loving in a way that Jesus Christ loves you? I've got a friend, he spoke here a few weeks

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ago, his name's Tim, and one time I remember he got on an airplane and he flew over here. He flew

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over here, got off the airplane just to give me a hug and say, "I love you," and he flew back home.

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That's extraordinary love. That's extraordinary. Some people say that's odd, that's weird,

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that's strange. Do you know he doesn't care about other people's opinion? He doesn't care what

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anybody else thinks about the way that he loves me. You know why? Because Christ loves him so much,

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and he's taking his cue off of how Christ loves him. Guys, are we loving people the way that Christ

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loves us? Can you imagine Christ coming down and saying, "Oh, I don't know if I'm gonna love

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Barbie that much because of what Hal might think or Kurt might think. You know, I'm gonna just kind

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of distance myself from Dana or from John. I need people in my life who will love me the way Christ

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loved them. I need people in my life who will encourage me when I'm discouraged. I need people

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who are able to say, "I'm not going to measure my love based on what the world says or the way

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the world looks at it." The world is so perverted, love, but you can't pervert Christ because he is

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the truth, right? He is true. He is solid. He is firm. And guys, we ought to be loving people the

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way Christ loves us. Love is my name protected in your mouth. Love is my name protected in your

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mouth in all, at all occasions. And guys, I'm gonna tell you, there's gonna come a point when

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y'all are gonna bury me. Hopefully I'll be dead instead of alive. Bury me, I'll be dead.

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But I hope that somebody is able to come up to the pulpit and say,

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"The only accusation that I have for Kevin is that he loved so well.

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The only accusation that I can have against this man is that he didn't care what other

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people thought. He just went in right to the middle of the mess and sat with the person.

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Loved them through whatever it was. I want to be an extraordinary lover of people.

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And I pray that that would be your prayer as well. That we would be known for loving big. And so that

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when people come into this place, and it's gonna be weird, it's gonna be odd for them because they're

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not used to that type of love. But here's the thing that I found, and you've probably found it,

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when you find somebody who loves you, even in extraordinary weird ways, all of a sudden you

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start craving it more. You start saying, "This is actually really rich and really good, and I'm

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really benefiting from this love." Guys, every one of you benefited from Christ's love in your life.

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What does it look like for the person who comes in and says, "I haven't been at church in forever."

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But man, when I walk in, it's like those guys, Dave and Justin and Doug, they just kind of got me,

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and they started talking to me, and they're like, "Man, what's your life about?" And they start

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conversing with me, and it's kind of weird because I've never had this much of a kind of a zealous

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approach to relationship. You know, I'm going to come back next week, it's probably not the same,

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and then it is. And then the next week it is, and then you get a text message and a follow-up,

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and it's like, "I actually believe that this person cares about me." Like, what is this about?

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Like, what do you even have? Like, what do you do during the week? You're just like checking up on

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me, and all these things. And all of a sudden, now seven years later, they're sitting here,

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and they're doing the same thing for somebody else. Because love is infectious. Christ's love

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is infectious. We want to be a church who authentically loves big. We want to be a church

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who lives truth. We live in a time where Christianity is being redefined without the use

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of biblical principles. And guys, it's because we don't know this word nearly enough. We've

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got to get into the word. We've got to know this. We've got to breathe this. We're talking about

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Christ this year. We're talking about His life, His word, His life, His church. Guys, His work.

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Do you guys know that truth is not an idea? Truth is a person. Truth is a person, the person of

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Jesus Christ. He says, "I am the way." He says, "I am the truth." What is it that Pastor Justin

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often says that Christianity is exclusively inclusive? It's like everyone's invited to

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the party, but guys, there's only one way in, and it's through Christ. And so in order for us to

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love big, we've got to measure that by the truth. Why is that? Because I want to love you so well

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that I'm willing to see a Mack truck coming toward your life. I'm willing to jump out and push you

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out of the way. But that hurt. You scratched my elbow. I fell down on the ground when the

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Mack truck was coming to kill me. I'm willing to hurt you with truth in order to save your life,

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because I love you. You understand what I'm saying? Like, like this isn't about just you got your truth,

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and I got my truth, and you got a little bit of truth, and you can have some truth over here. No,

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there's one way, and His name is Jesus, and He's a person. And He wants to have a relationship with

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you. He wants to walk with you, and He didn't come to give you a better life. That's a misnomer.

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To think that, oh, I get to, I'm saved, John, you got baptized today. Guess what? I pray that your

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life is blessed. I pray that it's better. But Jesus didn't come to give you a better life. He came to

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change your life, and He came to change it so you become more like Him. And if you don't look like

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Him, He's going to keep working at you to be like Him. Spring House, I want it to be a place where

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we live truth, where we live truth. My job as your pastor is not to tell you how to live your life.

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My job is to point you to the one who can change everything. I want to point you to Christ. And

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lastly, we want to be a healthy family. Healthy doesn't mean that stuff's not going to happen.

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If you've got a healthy, so many of you have healthy family units at home. Let me tell you,

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you argue with your spouse from time to time. Your kids get on your nerves from time to time, right?

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Guys, we're people, and we're broken. Stuff is going to happen. Healthy family doesn't just mean

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we go around smiling all the time. Fake, no healthy means that we're authentic enough that when

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something goes down, we're going to address it, and we're going to address it in the right way.

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We're not going to let it fester. This is a place where gossip goes to die. This is a place that we

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can count on to be a safe refuge, a place that you can come and you can hide under the shelter

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of the most high, that you can be conferred dignity, respect as an individual and a person

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and as a child of the most high. We want to be a healthy family. I remember my first,

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one of my first or second sermons that I brought here, I was the youth pastor at the time,

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and I remember getting done here, giving the blessing and walking off the stage. And I walked

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down the steps and I got to about right here. And this gentleman, this older gentleman comes up to

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me and he's got his hand extended. And I said, "Oh, okay, here." I'll shake his hand. I thought

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I was just meeting a new visitor for the time because I hadn't seen him before. And he said,

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"Hey, I just want to let you know that if you ever speak again at this church, I'm not coming back."

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I was so encouraged. It was great. That man has not been back here. And I probably,

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probably would not be happy to know I'm the lead pastor now, but

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guys, what you say and the words you use matter. The word tells us from the abundance of our heart,

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the mouth speaks. And we usually use that in the context of trying to correct negative words,

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but the same is true on the opposite side. When I say you are a warrior, when I say you,

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there is nothing that can come against you, that he is greater in you. When I come and say you are,

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you are going to rise above, that you're so tall, all of these life-giving words are fuel for the

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Holy Spirit to do transformative work in people's lives. Our words are supposed to build up,

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not tear down. So it's easy in this context, in this large setting, not to build, you know,

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it'd be terrible for me to come and start like tearing people down or whatnot. I wouldn't do it

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here. But what do my texts look like? What does it look like in the corner back there,

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or out on the workplace, or when I'm, we're not just the body of Christ when we're in this building

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for the hour on Sunday. Let me give you a litmus test for your text groups that you have. Can I

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read them? Can I read them out loud right here? Can I bring them on stage and start reading them

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out loud? And if the answer to that is, I don't know, I don't think so, no, no, no, no, then you

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probably need to evaluate what's going on in those text groups, in those chat groups. Because

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any little crevice we give the enemy, he's going to take it. Why? Because the enemy's out to kill you

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and destroy people. I don't want to just love big, live true to be a healthy family by words,

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or on a shirt, or on banners. I actually want that to be how we live our lives.

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Are the singers coming back? They can come back now. I didn't know if I ran them off.

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The vision of the church is to equip people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may

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be built up so that we can achieve unity. So that we can achieve unity. Unity is a severely

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underrated place for us to live. We need unity. Why? Let me tell you why. It's right in scripture

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in the book of Psalm 133. I'm going to want to read it to you straight out of the word here.

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It says this, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. It is like precious

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oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the

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collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Herman were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord

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bestows his blessing, even life forevermore." When we live in a place of unity, then the Lord's blessing

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covers us. And guys, don't you want to be a part of something that the Lord is covering? Don't you

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want to be under the shadow of the Almighty's blessing? I want God's blessing, and I don't think

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that's wrong. I want my dad's blessing. Do you want God's blessing over our church and over your lives?

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Unity is the key. Does that mean we agree all the time? Kurt and I never agree, but we're in unity.

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I'm just kidding. We actually agree on a lot of things. It doesn't mean we're going to agree with

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everything, but I'm still going to walk with you. And when we don't agree, guess what? It does nothing

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to stop me from loving big, living truth, and operating with you in a healthy family posture.

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Let's be unified as a church. Let's aim for that. Let's let Jesus be the topic of our conversation

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when we meet here and gather together for an hour, hour and a half every week.

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Let's let Jesus be the center of our conversations. When we bring in our baggage from the week and all

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the dirt and the shame and all that crap that we bring in with us, guys, let's be looking for ways

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to look at each other and encourage one another to speak life over those situations, to say,

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"That's a lie. Chelsea, you're buying into that lie about your life. No, you are beautiful.

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You are amazing. You are wonderful. God has anointed you to be a worship leader. He's raised

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you up for such a season and a time as this. What is it to encourage one another and to speak

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words of life? Let this be a place that exalts Christ in that way." What do you say? Amen?

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Amen. Would you stand with me?

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The book of Hebrews tells us that because of Christ Jesus, we can come boldly before his

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throne in our time of need. And guys, some of you have needs. This is another wonderful benefit of

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being a part of a community of believers is that you can come and you can bring those things that

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have been bothering you, the work situations, the believing in faith for whatever provision you're

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needing or that person that you're praying for. You can come and you can stand with another

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believer and you can go to almighty God. Would you come if you're gonna pray with people? And

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here's the deal. They're not going to give you their opinions because their opinions are worth

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squat. What they're gonna do is they're gonna take your request and they're gonna agree with you

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and take it to the one who can answer the issue, who has the answers, who has the peace, who

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confers all of the things to us that we need. He's the one. And it is good to agree with somebody in

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prayer. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. So if you have a need today,

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if you have something going on in your life, if you need to connect with God, don't leave here

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the same way you came. Come today and agree with somebody down here and go to your Father because He

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loves you. Let's worship.