Planted, Not Potted

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Good morning, Springhouse. Oh, you can do better than that. Good morning.

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It's good to see you. And it is good to be in. The house of

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the Lord this morning. Are you grateful for heat today?

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Amen. Amen. It looks like winter has peeked its

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nose out. We'll see what happens. But we do live in Tennessee.

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Tennessee is about as fickle as people are in the kingdom of God.

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Okay, so let's welcome this

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morning you awake? We are

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continuing our series Abide. And you guys came

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back this week. Thank you for coming back this week. I've got

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some more offensive things to say today, and so I pray that you

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will continue to lean in and to be here in

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the presence of the Lord. If you weren't here last week, we started our new

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series, and I encourage. You to go back and catch that.

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Because we are going to be this. Year nudging along moment by moment,

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taking. Each step together, not forgetting where we were. We're going

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to join our steps together. Because that's what happens when you're headed. Toward a

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destination, right? You remember the steps you've taken and. You look forward to the

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steps that you will take. And so we're going to do that together. And I

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pray that you are ready. To go this morning in the word

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of God. So today we are

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still going to. Be. In

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the area of like, a prologue or an introduction.

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And so this year's series, Abide, we're. Looking at John

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15, and we're not. Today gonna go and unpackage all of

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John 15 specifically. That's coming. Don't worry. That's coming.

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But what the Lord has given me. And where

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I believe he's taking us as a body is before we can actually

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get into the of abide and what

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is being conveyed in John 15, there

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is some work that we need. To do, some exposure and some

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illuminating and some laying a foundation that we need to do.

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Not necessarily laying foundation of the word as much as

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it is, as laying. Foundation in understanding the context

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of the. World we live in and how we're approaching the word that

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we're receiving. So I want to start today by asking you the same question I

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asked last week, and most likely I'm going to ask it again next week.

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Why are you here today?

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Crickets. Why are you here today?

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That's not a critique to say that you shouldn't be here today,

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but the. Question is, did you wake up this morning because the

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calendar said Sunday and you rolled out of bed? And this is just what we

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do on Sunday mornings. And so we're here. And what you really are thinking about.

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Right now is the fried chicken or the hamburger you're gonna have for L. By

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the way, is it the second Sunday today? Open tables is today. Hope

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you signed up for that fellowship time. Don't be thinking about lunch, though, right now,

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though. I planted that seed. But why are you here today?

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Let me ask it a different way. Do you believe the God of the universe

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can meet you today? Do you believe that the God of the

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universe cares about what you brought into this place today? Do you believe

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about the hearts in this room, lost or otherwise? Do you believe

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that the God of the universe, the God who breathes stars, knows your name,

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knows the number, and cares about your life? This God

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can change and transform your life today if you don't allow today just

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to be ancillary or a throwaway. If you lean in and you look

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for him, he'll meet you where you are. He will meet you where you are.

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And so my question is really something of an

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urgency because I believe that we're living in a time and a place where

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God wants to do something among his people, but he's wanting his face

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to be seen. He's wanting to shake the

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heavens and do some things within his people because of the lost and dying world

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out there. And let me tell you something. I believe his coming is imminent. I

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believe he's coming back for his bride. I believe he's gonna split the sky soon.

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But there are people, probably even some in the midst of my. Under the

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sound of my voice, who still do not know this God that I'm talking

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about. And so I believe that the God of the universe wants to shake

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some things up and to say, hey, guys, listen up. Wake up.

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You, although you're in this world, you are not of the world. You belong to

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my kingdom. And he says, I am a king. I am a king and I

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am sovereign. You don't elect me. You don't put me into the place of my

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position. I am king and I am sovereign, and I want to rule and reign

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over your life? Are you going to let me. Are you going to let me

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rule and reign over your decisions, even when

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it hurts? Are you going to allow me to be sovereign

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in situations in your life where you want to

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abandon ship, where you want to jump ship, Are you going to allow me,

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says God, are you going to allow me to meet you where you are and

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actually mature you in your faith, Mature you in your

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faith in the season of pain, in the season of hurt, in the season

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of devastation, in the season of opportunity. Are you going to

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allow me to be God and sovereign in your life? I believe that God Almighty

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would have that question for us this morning. Are you glad you came today?

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So why are you here?

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We're standing in the doorway of what. Jesus means when he says, remain

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in me. And so we're going to read from. John chapter 15 today, the first

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five verses. If you'll stand with me and man, I

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just. If we could just bolster this

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word and really just with gusto. Here we go.

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I am the true vine, and my father is the

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gardener. He cuts every branch in me that bears

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no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit,

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fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

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You are already clean because of the word I have

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spoken to you. Remain in me as I also

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remain in you. No branch can bear

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fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine.

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Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in

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me. I am the vine, you are the

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branches. If you remain in me and I in you,

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you will bear much fruit apart from me. You

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can do nothing. Father, I am so grateful for your

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word today. I'm grateful for its transformative power.

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I'm also grateful for the gift and the reality of

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the person of the Holy Spirit that resides in this place. And I'm

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asking God that your Holy. Spirit would convict our hearts

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and that as we leave and depart this place, this concrete place today,

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that there would be spiritual things, Lord, going on on the inside of us

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that would transform us and that we would look more like the image of Christ

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today more than we have before. We love you today. Let everything

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that's frivolous and of me fall to the ground, but let your words

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stick and stand and change us. In Jesus name. And everybody said.

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Amen. You belong to a kingdom

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and you have a king. And what this means is that my

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life is not primarily about my comfort.

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It's not about my timeline and it's not about my

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advancement. It's about his reign. It's about

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his rule and his reign in my life.

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When Jesus speaks In John chapter 15, he does not

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come at it as a consultant hoping that you will take his advice.

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He's not a God who's coming to give you just some slight suggestions and hope.

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Maybe you might think this would be. A good suggestion for you to pull on.

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No, he's not coming. He speaks like a king explaining how. Life works under

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his rule. And we have the choice whether or. Not to obey

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or to disobey and. He is constantly calling us

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back to center. I don't know about you, but I find myself from time to

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time drifting off to the left or drifting off to the right. And

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the Lord brings me back to center. And when he brings me back to center,

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what I'm looking at is when I come back to center, I see a throne.

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And the question that's before me is, Kevin, do you want to sit in this

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throne or do you want the. King of the universe to sit in the throne?

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And guys, I'm telling you, there is nobody else to be

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better to be on the throne of your life than the God who breathe stars.

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This great glorious God who knows you. Better

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than you know yourself. He's always calling us back to

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center. He calls us to a place where. It'S all about him. And

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last week we talked about Babylon. We went back to the Old

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Testament. Do you know that God can use. All of scripture to minister

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to us? Do you know that? Do you know that the Word is alive and

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active today? It's like a double edged sword. It pierces in

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our lives if we allow it to. If we allow it. By the way, we

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have a Bible reading plan. I believe that the most important thing you can do

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as a believer is to get to know the Lord through the word of. Through

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the Word of God. And so if you don't have a. Bible reading plan, I

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encourage you on our app you can download the Bible reading plan. And if you

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have been following us, guess what? You're going to find some parallels to. What I'm

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going to be talking about today. Go figure how that works. Okay, so listen,

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the Holy Spirit wants to minister to you every day. Get in the

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word of God. Build a hunger and

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relationship with the Word of God. Get in the word. So last week we talked

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about the exile of Israel, the exile of Israel in

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Babylon. And we talked about Jeremiah arriving on the scene. And

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the Israelites were just, man, they just were. They were worshiping

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false gods. They were engrossed in sin. And so God exiled

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them. And I say God exiled. And God was with them in the exile.

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And what he says to them. The word from Jeremiah says, I want you to

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build houses, I want you to plant gardens, I want you to get married and

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I want you to increase there. And what this

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tells me is that God does not automatically

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uproot us from situations that we do not like or

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find favorable. He doesn't just automatically come in when you

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start to experience areas of discomfort, hurt,

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pain, all of those things. He doesn't just come in and say, oh, this is

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not me. Let me just rip you out of this. No. He will sometimes allow

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us to sit in that situation because he's wanting to. Be sovereign

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in that moment. He's wanting to be recognized. In other words, do you

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really believe this God you say you believe in? It

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gets tested when the rubber hits the road, it gets

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tested when things really take off, it gets tested. In

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other words, God is saying to the Israelites, I want you to live like people

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who still believe I'm sovereign. God doesn't say, just

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endure Babylon. He says, I want you to plant in

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it. And so what it was about, it was about learning how to live

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as God's people inside a culture that did not share their faith.

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Are you living in a culture that. Does not share your faith? Absolutely,

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you are. And so can we learn how to live as God's people inside this

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culture? And that's what this entire year is about, is about

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us learning how to live in this culture that wants nothing

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to do with God, but entices us with the vices and its symptoms and

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all these things that it wants to dangle in front of us, to woo us

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away, to dilute the power of. The word of the

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living God. But we belong to a kingdom and have a king. And he's

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not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere.

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He is as powerful today as he was back then.

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And so God exposed them to how. Full their lives have become

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of everything else except for him. And when everything is

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full, Listen to me. When everything in your life is full,

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nothing has room to grow.

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Have you ever lived with someone who's always right,

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That wasn't a loud laugh because you're probably sitting next to them?

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I've been in situations and guys, if I'm honest with myself, I've been one of

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those people. I've been one of those people where a situation. Guys,

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we rarely believe that we are the issue.

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A situation comes up a circuit. We are never the. We never go first

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place to. Is there something I'm not seeing right? Is there something that I need

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to shift and change? It's always them. It's always on them.

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It's always something else. But it's rarely us, right? It's rarely

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us being the issue or the situation.

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So God often starts by addressing our. Pace in

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life so that we can slow down and realize, hey,

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Kevin, you don't look like Jesus yet.

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And there's some layers. There's some things you need to chip off

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of your life so that you can become more like me in

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that relationship, in that friendship, in that job situation, in that

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circumstance. There's some things I'm trying, some layers I'm trying to pull off of

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you. Because every time something pops up, Kevin, it's not about

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them or what they've done wrong or what they said, or. It'S sometimes it's you,

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sometimes it's you. And if I can get you,

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Kevin, to a place to realize that you need to look more like Jesus,

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just maybe, maybe, just maybe when you approach that situation,

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you'll bring a certain level of grace to it that transforms their life as

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well.

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And so they. And we are faced with the same question. And the question

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was this. Will we be formed by the world we

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live in? Or will we remain rooted in the. Kingdom to which we

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belong? Which are we going to do?

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Are you being formed by the world we live in?

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When you turn on the TV and you turn on Fox or CNN and

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you listen to political debates, is your whole life rocked

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upside down by an instable, an unstable

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political system? A world that's going to be destroyed? Is that the world

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that's forming your thoughts and forming your direction and forming where you

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go? Or are you going to be formed as you are being,

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remaining and being rooted into a kingdom, Kingdom that has

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a king that is faithful and strong and sure. Which one are you going to

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do? Which one are you going to be rooted in?

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Because the world's got a whole lot of lies to offer us

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and it only takes us buying into one little lie to get off kilter.

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Jesus says, I am the way, the. Truth and the life.

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He's got the answer. It's in His Word. Please

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get a relationship with, with the world. So he tells

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them to stay. They're living in captivity. Captivity is like prison.

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And God will allow us, he will. Sanction hard places in our lives

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while. We are screaming, God, get me out of here.

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And God is saying, no, stay right where you are and trust that I am

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still the God that you say you believe in. And then along the way, as

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we're. In that hard place, he will show up with some incredible

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promises. See, this is the wonderful thing about this great glorious God,

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Barbie. He cares about us, Mary Sue. He cares about you.

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He cares about you, April. He see in the midst. I'm talking about when

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you're, when everything inside is

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screaming because you don't understand why

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you're having to walk through the situation you're in right now

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when everything is breaking down. This same great glorious

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God cares about you and sees you and knows your name. And he

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gives promises just like he did to the Israelites. Like this. He says, for I

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know the plans. I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to

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harm you and give you a hope and a future. Let me ask you this

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question. Do you believe that God Almighty has plans for your life? Yes or no?

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Do you believe he has the ability to prosper you? Does he have the

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ability to not harm you and to give you a hope in the future? Here's

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the problem. We take this scripture here and we apply it under the

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banner of 2026. And what that tells me is I to define

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what prosper means. I try to define what not to harm you

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means. I try to define what hope and future looks like for my life. And

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he's saying, no, it's not your definition. It's my definition. Says the

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Lord. He's got plans and he knows what those

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plans are. He doesn't need you to tell him. What his plans are supposed to

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be. And so we live in this world.

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We live in this disgusting. Guys, I'm telling you, it's a disgusting

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world out there. It's a horrible, sin

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saturated world that wants nothing to do with the living God.

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That's the world you live in? That's the world I live in. It is

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horrible. And guys, as much as it might try to promise you life, I promise

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you all it's offering you is death. All it's offering you

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is death. But we belong to this kingdom and here we are. You had no

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choice to be born in the timeframe that you were born. Here you are. Here

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we are. God knew. God knew exactly the time and

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place where he was putting you.

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So your circumstances may change, but God's promises

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do not. His character, his love, his grace,

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his sovereignty are never compromised because our situation and

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our circumstances. We sing a song here sometimes that says

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his goodness is running after me. Has anybody seen that, sang that song? I

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love that song, Fred. His goodness is running after me. I wondered one

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time when I was singing that song. Song. If his goodness is

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running after me. It must mean that I am running from his goodness.

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So what does it look like if I stop running from his goodness, maybe his

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goodness would catch up with me and I would recognize that if I would just

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stay rooted and planted, I'll. Know this sovereign God better than I've

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ever known Him.

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We spend our lives running away from this God.

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Stop and be planted, be rooted, stop running, be

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still and know that he. Is

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God in the midst of the. Exile was a guy by

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the name of Daniel. Everybody know the story of Daniel in the lion's den?

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I've got a story. I don't have time. About a lion in Africa.

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It'd make you laugh. Because I fell down. Because

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he sneezed.

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Lions are scary animals, okay? They're scary animals.

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Daniel's in the middle of this exile, and there are

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some people who are. Jealous of Daniel's

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supernatural ability to do what he does. Have you ever had

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anybody jealous of you and your ability to do

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things? Let me flip the coin. Have you ever been jealous of somebody else's

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ability to do things? So in their

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jealousy, they go to. The king and they say, hey, listen, King Darius,

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they know Daniel prays to the true living God. And they say,

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hey, listen, you need to issue a decree that says no one is to

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worship or bow down or pray to any other God. They're

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supposed to only do that to you. And the king signs this decree.

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So here's Daniel. What is Daniel supposed to do? Daniel has been

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faithfully, three times a day, going before the Lord, praying, offering. Incense to the

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Lord, praying to the. Lord every single day, faithful. And so this

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proclamation comes out, and let's look at what Daniel's response is.

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Now, when Daniel learned that the decree had been published,

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this is what he did. He went home

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to his upstairs room where the windows

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opened toward Jerusalem. And three

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times that day, he got down on his knees and he

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prayed, giving thanks to his God,

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just as he had done before.

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If that's not a slap in the. King'S face, I don't know what

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is. If that's not a slap into the. Law'S face, I don't know

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what it is. But here's the point. Daniel

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decided that what God Almighty said. Was

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superior to what the king said. And I'm

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telling you, we are given a bunch of things right in here

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that are all superior to anything that this world is telling you

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to do. Now here's where the rubber hits the

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road. There was a consequence for that action. Action.

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There was a consequence for that action. See, here's the thing. Please

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understand this. We are at war.

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I'm going to be talking about this war a little bit next week, but. We

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are at war. There is a spiritual war out there.

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A war for souls, a spiritual war that's happening, and you're

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involved with it. But what the world does is numb. You and blind you to

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around you. So you get so distracted that you have no idea what's going on.

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And so, because we don't know what's going on. What happens is we get. In

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situations, we do what Daniel did. But here's the thing. Understand, when

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he violated that rule, it was actually a cause for him to say, I'm

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willing to die for this king. Are

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you willing to die for this king?

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Aren't you glad you came this morning?

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Are you willing to die for this God you say you believe in.

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Man? I'm willing to travail at night for the window of heaven to open and

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pour out its blessing. I'm willing to go before the Lord to ask for that

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house mortgage and that new car and all of this new. Are you willing to

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lay your life down for this king?

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Because we are called daily to pick. Up our cross and follow him.

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We are called daily to pick up. Our cross and follow him.

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Faithfulness is often proven not by where you go,

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but where you stay. By where

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you stay. Faithfulness is often proved

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not by where you go, where you stay. But here's the thing. You see this

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plant I've got right here? This is a green plant. It's a real

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plant. It's a green plant. We picked this up yesterday. Now, I don't know about

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you. How. Raise your hand. Have you ever gone to the store to pick out

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a flower or a plant or anything like that? Raise your hand. Anybody? Okay, some

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of you in this room. Now, when I go and buy a plant,

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I'm not looking to pay my money for something that's wilty.

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Something that's dying, right? I want something that's thriving and

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alive. Anybody with me? I want something that's thriving and alive. In fact, I tell

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I will go. We will have a whole agenda for a meeting. And I'll go

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up to Pastor Barbie and say, hey, Barbie, we got some plants out here in

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the foyer that are dying. It's the first thing I say. I'm like, we have

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got to get those revived, right? We don't want dead things come to

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Springhouse. We want you to live. We want

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you to live right? And so Barbie will work real hard. I just so

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appreciate. Who appreciates our executive Pastor Barbie, man.

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She's like, let me finish this last. Shenanigan you gave me. And then I'll go

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and help get. The plants replaced so that we can listen. I want something that's

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living, living. And so this is living. But here's the thing.

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There's something that's happening that we do not see in order to

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see this living thing. There's something that's happening

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underneath the Surface. That does not look as pretty

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as this looks. In order for this to look the way

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it looks. Are you with me? So if we were to pull this.

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Up and out, we would see that. The bottom

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of this does not look. As pretty as the top of this.

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Right?

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The bottom of this looks so messy. And dirty and

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nasty. But might I suggest that this is.

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Where the life happens. This is

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where the life happens. And there are roots coming out of this

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tree that if I don't. If I don't replant this into some. Soil,

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what's going to happen? It's not going to keep looking like this, I can tell

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you that much. It does not matter. Listen to

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me. It does not matter how much you filter your life on Instagram. If

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you don't have real life happening at the surface. Everything else is

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fake. Everything else is fake.

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God does his best work in the. Midst of

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messy, dirty, dark situations.

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He does his best work underneath the surface.

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He does his best work in the places where there are no.

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There's no applause. It doesn't feel good. It

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doesn't look good. You know how bad right now? I want to go wash my

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hands. This is

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messy, but it yields something so

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beautiful. And what I'm trying to convey to you today

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is that so many of us find ourselves

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uprooting.

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We will replant that and let it live.

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We find ourselves uprooting ourselves

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just like this. I'd use this again. I didn't intend to do this.

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What happens if I continue to do this? I believe that this truly will be.

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This can be salvaged. But imagine for a moment, Imagine for a moment

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if every Sunday I got up here and did the same thing. What's going to

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happen? This is going to die. This is

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going to die. And so many of us,

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so many of us, the moment something gets hard or something rocks our

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world, we want to uproot. Uproot and go somewhere else.

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Want to uproot and go somewhere else. Remember last week I talked about, we

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are not. God does not want our lives to be filled to capacity. And

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he also doesn't want the version of your life that you think you're. All put

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together, that you're saying, hey, I fit everything in. No, what he wants is an

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empty. Vessel to use every single day. But here's the

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thing. We wake up in the morning and I put these on red balls, because

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these are red ball things. Some of us will

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uproot because an. Opportunity has presented

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itself. Some of us will uproot

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from everything we've Known because we're frustrated.

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Some of us will uproot from a lifetime of

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people and things because we. Were offended by something.

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Some of us will uproot because. Because of being impatient.

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I thought I would be advanced. I thought I would get a promotion by now.

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I thought I'd be making this by now. I thought I'd see my life like,

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we're impatient. Some of us will uproot because

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of fatigue. Anybody tired today? Raise your hand if you're tired.

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Some of us will uproot our lives because we're tired. We've

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got fatigue. Raise your hand

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if you've dealt with pain. Some of us will uproot

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a relationship in three seconds flat the minute we experience any pain. Why

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do I have you raise your hand on these? Because there's somebody in this

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room that walked into this place and said, I am the only one.

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And when you raise your hand, when I ask these questions, it

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obliterates the. Lie that I am the only one dealing with

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this. And it allows a pathway for the. Holy Spirit of God to work.

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So if you were dealing with any of these at some point in your. Life,

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would you raise your hand? Everybody look around the room. Now, I did these

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on red balls because nobody goes into

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a work situation. I don't interview for a work situation hoping

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that I land upon frustration. Nobody says, I want to

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be in relationship with you. I'm hoping that you'll cause me pain and

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hurt. These things come out of the blue.

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They come out of the blue. But if we've got our life all filled

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up and there's no margin to deal with these things when they come in, then

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all we do is in our own strength try to handle them. And what we

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find ourselves doing is uprooting when we were supposed to stay.

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Some of God's best lessons are found in these places.

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The exile of Israel was allowed by God. God's going to

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allow pain and frustration and suffering and all these things

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to come your way. He wants to utilize them. Why? Because he doesn't like

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you? Because he enjoys seeing you walk through that? No, because he

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wants you to lean on Him. He wants you to understand

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that when you stay rooted and planted, hurricane force

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winds can come at your life. But if you are rooted and planted. In

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him, nothing can destroy you. Nothing can can destroy

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you. And so we come to him

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in this way with these obstacles

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that come because we're human and they happen. I went

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home yesterday after we had a seminar here. In the morning, I went home and

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ate a sandwich. And on The TV was the movie the Notebook. Somebody seen the

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Notebook? There's a scene in the Notebook where Noah and Allie

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are there at the car, and he says to her, I'm. Not

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afraid to hurt your feelings. I'm

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not afraid to hurt your feelings. This is going to be hard.

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This is going to be tough, but I want to be together and I'm not

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going anywhere. What, Allie, do you want to. Which she

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responds, but somebody is going to get hurt no matter which

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way I go, and it's not fair. And, guys, if there's ever a parallel

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of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God is saying, listen, I know this

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is going to be messy sometimes, I know this is going to be hard sometimes,

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but I'm not going anywhere because, April, I want you.

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Jamie, I want you. Wade, I want you, says the

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Holy Spirit. And then he says, what do you want to do? And so many

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times we will make our decisions based on what he said or

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she said or how he feels or she feels, instead of walking in obedience and

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giving our lives to this holy God. He's not

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going anywhere. If someone leaves this relationship,

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it's you. Oh,

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thank you. That is so kind of you. Thank you. You are such a kind

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give. Isn't Ken a kind person?

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I now feel clean. Praise the Lord.

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Hallelujah. I just hope I don't get be afraid to get

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messy again.

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Sometimes uprooting happens because things are hard. And sometimes

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uprooting happens because something shiny is dangling out in front of

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us. I want to tell you this this morning. God

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is not nearly as. He is not nearly as concerned

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about your advancement and your promotion as you are.

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He is not nearly as concerned about your bank account as you are.

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He's not nearly as concerned about you. Climbing the ladder of success

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as you are. God is not trying to better the world's

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economic system with you and your talent.

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He's trying to build a kingdom. And in the same way, he'd like to

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use you to do it, he'd like to use you to do it. There's a

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story about the rich young ruler in the Old Testament. You know that story?

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He comes and he's got everything, and he's come to Jesus and he's like,

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listen, I've obeyed all the rules. I've done all this. And Jesus says, yes, you

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have. He says, so what do I need to have eternal life? And

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Jesus says to him, go and sell all your possessions. Give everything away, and then

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follow me. And the Word tells us that he turns away and

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he's Sad. You know what that tells me it

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means that it means this. When we are

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asking God to move in our lives, it doesn't always come in the

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form of advancement, promotion and increase

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in the least in the way that we think it does.

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Sometimes we must decrease. The Word tells us in John says

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I must decrease. So why? He can, he can

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increase. I don't believe that scripture ever treats movement

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casually. If you look throughout scripture when, when. There'S a

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movement of God, it's not a casual thing. It's not, oh yeah, by the way,

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let's just, let's just do this. There's significance if God

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moves you. If God has you uproot, there's significance

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in that move that impacts the kingdom.

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But if you uproot and move too early when you're not supposed to,

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outside of God's grace and outside of God's will, if you do that too early

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and you do that without them, then you are headed toward destruction. And you're probably

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going to take some. People down with you. You're probably going to take some people

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down with you. And so

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because of this very important. Truth and where we are with abiding.

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And because in a room this size, I believe that there are people who.

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Are tempted to uproot emotionally,

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relationally, vocationally and spiritually.

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I want to shift from preaching at. You this morning

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and I want to put my shepherd hat on. And I'm going to invite you,

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if you have an ink pen, these. I don't ever do this, but this would

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be a good idea to write some of these things down. Because here's the deal.

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If you're not walking through a season. Right now where you come across a

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temptation to uproot, you will. You inevitably

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will because everybody succumbs to. Some type of frustration, opportunity,

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pain, hurt, all those things. So I'm gonna give us seven questions that we need

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to ask. And these are the questions. I forgot

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this point. That which is messy may be what's maturing you. Okay,

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so what does God ask us to consider before

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we move? And this is what I invite you to write down. This

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is a. Let's filter this decision, okay? With

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some biblical wisdom, some God given wisdom here. Okay, so

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what does God ask us to consider? Everybody say the word before,

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not after. It doesn't help us

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after right now. It might

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illuminate the mistake we made, but it doesn't help us after before we

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move. Number one, am I moving from emotion or from

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discernment? Am I moving out of emotion or

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discernment? One of the clearest patterns I see. In Scripture is this.

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God does not give major direction in. Moments of emotional

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escalation. God does not give

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major direction when. You are emotionally heightened.

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There was a situation a while back. Where a person who had worked

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for me for a while came to the table to ask if they could meet

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with me. And I walked in there and I sat down. I thought we were

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going to meet. With something about something else. And they said to me, hey, Mr.

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O', Day, I need to give you my resignation. This person had been with us

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for a very, very, very long time, more than a decade. And I

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looked at this person, I was like, okay. Wow. They're like, yeah, I feel like

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the. Lord's telling me to transition out and X, Y, and Z. And

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I was like, okay. And, you know, anyone that says to me, the Lord has

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said, you know, it gives me pause before I respond. Because if the Lord said,

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who am I? Right. Okay. The Lord said, but I didn't have a piece about

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it. And so I'm driving, I get in my car and I drive in and.

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And I felt like the Lord said, this is not from me. And

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so, upon further investigation, after talking to this.

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Talking to this young man, he had been carrying anger

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towards someone. He'd been carrying anger towards someone.

Speaker: 00:36:24

And whenever the anger was addressed, when the anger was addressed

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with the person that they were carrying the anger with, we

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found out something that is all too common amongst people.

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There was a misunderstanding, and this young

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man was willing. To uproot

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everything they. Had known off of an assumption that

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caused anger in their life. Am I moving

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out of emotion or out of discernment? Am

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I making this move out of emotion or. Emotion is real,

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but emotion is not a reliable compass.

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I invite you to ask this question before you uproot. If

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nothing changes about my situation in. Six months, is it still

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God?

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Because our emotions will have us taking flight in three seconds flat.

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It is not the time to make earth chattering decisions and uproot

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when you are an emotional mess. Many times we call

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God is leading me. What we're actually saying is, I

Speaker: 00:37:38

need this discomfort to end. Colossians

Speaker: 00:37:42

3:15 says this. Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts. The operative rule.

Speaker: 00:37:45

The word there is rule. Let the peace rule your hearts.

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In situations where there's movement, you ought. To have peace, not

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emotional turmoil. You ought to have peace. You ought

Speaker: 00:37:57

to have peace. God leads with peace, not panic.

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Next question. Have I slowed down enough

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to actually hear from God? This is why

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our evaluation of capacity is super important.

Speaker: 00:38:14

We are a hot pocket generation. Anybody ever had a hot

Speaker: 00:38:17

pocket before? 2 minutes flat. That thing's piping hot.

Speaker: 00:38:21

Put it in your mouth right away, you'll burn yourself.

Speaker: 00:38:26

You cannot put the filter of a hot pocket generation on

Speaker: 00:38:30

a great glorious God who knows what he's doing.

Speaker: 00:38:34

He does not move like that. The fastest move in

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scripture that I see God do is he makes Saul a king.

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And we all know how that turned out. It wasn't that God made a mistake.

Speaker: 00:38:46

God anointed Saul. He appointed, he chose him because the people said, we want a

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king. But Saul himself was more concerned about his

Speaker: 00:38:53

promotion than he was obeying the. Word of the Lord.

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God does not move at the pace that we move that the world. He does

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not. He does not succumb to the world's timeline.

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And unfortunately, because we live in a world that's inconvenient sometimes to us.

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But God's not about making it convenient for us. He's

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about his will and his plan.

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Am I honoring a commitment I have already made?

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Am I honoring a commitment I've already made? One of the most

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overlooked spiritual disciplines. In modern

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Christianity is faithfulness.

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Scripture places enormous weight on honoring our. Commitments,

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even when they become inconvenient. Ecclesiastes says this. When you make a

Speaker: 00:39:46

vow to God. Do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure.

Speaker: 00:39:51

Fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one

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and not fulfill it over. In Matthew, chapter five, it says, let your

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yes be yes and your no be no.

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Margaret Meek used to be our children's pastor here

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before her passing and going to be with Jesus. And one of the things

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that I learned under her discipleship was

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running kids ministry. You should try it sometimes.

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I have a wife who's doing it right now with a wonderful group of ladies

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out there. And children's ministry is one of the hardest

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ministries to staff to find volunteers for.

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But Margaret, every single year, she would go to

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every volunteer, no matter how dire the situation

Speaker: 00:40:38

was with volunteers. And she would look them eyeball to eyeball and say, will

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you pray about committing to this ministry for another

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year? Because Margaret did not want people there. Because

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they felt bad for Margaret. She didn't want people there because

Speaker: 00:40:53

they felt a need or even the fact. That they loved kids. She wanted people

Speaker: 00:40:58

who were walking obedience to a call God placed on their life.

Speaker: 00:41:02

Because if you're working for the Lord under something he's asked you to do, he

Speaker: 00:41:06

will give you the grace you need to do it. He'll give you the

Speaker: 00:41:10

grace. And so here. And I beseech all of our leaders, all of our. If

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it's youth or kids or young adults or men's whoever, whatever ministries

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we. Have here, I'm always saying, guys, make.

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A commitment term for a year for. Some

Speaker: 00:41:25

predetermined amount of time where a. Person can go before the Lord and say, lord,

Speaker: 00:41:28

do you want me to. Commit from here to here? And then when they get

Speaker: 00:41:32

here, you can go before Lord, Lord, is my season up? Or do you want

Speaker: 00:41:35

me to commit from here to here? Do you want me to commit from here

Speaker: 00:41:38

to here? And guys, in the middle of that commitment, we commit

Speaker: 00:41:42

and serve with faithfulness and excellence. Even if it's hard.

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Even if it's hard, we continue to serve.

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And so let's address for a moment the issue here. I

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misheard God. I told you.

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Yes, but I misheard God. Has anybody ever done that or

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heard that? I've told them yes, but I misheard God.

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Let me tell you what to do in that situation. If you've told somebody yes,

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and you've. Given them your word and you misheard God,

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serve anyway. Because here's the thing.

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The first thing we want to do. When we feel like we misheard God is

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to do something. But might I suggest that it was your doing that got

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you in the place in the first place, in the situation in the first

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place? I believe that if you will acknowledge. To the

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Lord, lord, I made a mistake. I missed your voice. I wasn't supposed to

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serve for that time that I said that I was going to serve. I think

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the Lord will meet you right where you are and give you a grace covering

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for that season. Now, will it be hard? Probably. But

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you're learning something. You're learning something as you work through

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committing to your word and allowing the Lord to allow

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you the opportunity and the ability to be faithful. There

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will be blessing at the end of it. Next question. Is

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this. Is this just a season or am I just

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uncomfortable? Is this the season or am I just.

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Guys, nothing is forever. But not everything

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ends when it gets hard.

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There are seasons. But seasons are determined by using

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wisdom and discernment, not dictated by our emotions and how

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we feel. Nobody has

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a forever assignment, but everyone has a responsibility

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to finish what they've started.

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Next. Have I invited wise counsel or just

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those in agreement with me?

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I think one of the fastest ways to deceive ourselves is to only

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listen to the voices that affirm what we already want.

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We know how to gravitate to those. Who will say yes. Or say no or

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agree with us. And, you know, one of the things, if you're

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in a place where you want to get counsel and your opening line to the

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person you're talking to. Is this, can you believe that they

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ellipses. You're talking to the wrong person.

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You're talking to the wrong person. When the conversation becomes

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more about them and the situation than what the Lord's. Doing in your life, you're

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probably talking to the wrong. You need somebody who's going to slow. Slow you down,

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who's going to. Who knows you, who can offer you biblical

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counsel and who can point you into the direction and is not afraid to point

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you in a direction that you don't want to go.

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When I was 18 years old, I knew that the Lord had placed a call

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of ministry in my life. Didn't know what it was for. I thought, honestly, guys,

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I thought there. Was such a long time I thought I was going to be

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the next children's pastor in this church. There was so long, I thought I was

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going to be the next youth pastor. Like forever youth pastor of this church. Like,

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when the Lord's placed me somewhere, I'm just. I'm serving like it's my forever thing

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until the Lord does it. So being here in this

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particular position. Was not on the radar. But when I was 18, I was.

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Serving under Margaret and kids ministry, and I went to a conference with Pastor Wayne,

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and it was in Atlanta. And this. And this young pastor there comes up to

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me and he says, I've seen. You dancing down front. You're going to come to

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my church and be my youth pastor pastor. And I said, amen, let's go.

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I knew I had a call for ministry. I went to a conference and I.

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Found out I'm going to be a. Youth pastor at this church. And so I

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got in a car. And I drove to South Carolina. And somewhere

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in the library of videos, VHS videos that I have, there

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is a video of me preaching in this predominantly African American

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church where everybody is shouting Amen and I am not

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making one lick of Satan sense.

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I watched that video a decade later and I was

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mortified. The things coming out of my mouth. Were not even true, not even

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biblical. And the church was saying Amen. But I was going to be their youth

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pastor. I was going to be their youth pastor. They invited me to a dinner

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downstairs. It was good. I drove back, so happy. And I went right up to

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Pastor. Ronnie and I said, guess what? I'm moving to South

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Carolina to be a youth pastor. At this church. And you know what he did?

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Because he loved me so much, he laughed in my face.

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He literally laughed in my face and said, no, you're not.

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Now, I had a lot of options at that moment, offense being one of them,

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but I knew in that moment, Ronnie loves me. I

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was disappointed that he wasn't championing what I thought I was supposed to do.

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But the value and wisdom and the counsel that was before me made me pause

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and go, wait a second. Maybe this is not what I was supposed to do

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do. My life would have been in shambles had I

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gone to be the youth pastor of aren't you?

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You need somebody in your life who loves you enough to say, no,

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no. This doesn't sound like. Look like the Lord in your life.

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You don't need somebody to manipulate you and nobody can control you. I could

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have still gotten in my car and went to go do that and learned the

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lesson the hard way. Thank you, Lord, for the

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guardrails in my life.

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Where there's no counsel, the people fall. But in the multitude of

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counselors, there's safety. Go to

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counselors. Find somebody that you trust that knows you, that knows

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the Lord and will give you counsel. The next one is this.

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Am I being sent or am I running?

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Am I being sent or am I running? This question matters because

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movement can look. Spiritual on the surface while it's

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being fear driven on the inside. Running really

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is a reactive response. It's emotionally charged.

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It's motivated by escape.

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Remember Jonah? Jonah's response wasn't because he

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didn't hear what the Lord said. He heard loud and clear what the Lord wanted

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him to do. And he ran and he disobeyed.

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And we saw what happened. Smelly, stinky situation

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calling sends us fear, causes us to run. And

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lastly, this. Write this down. Will this produce greater

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fruit or just greater relief?

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Before you uproot and move, will this. Produce greater fruit or just greater

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relief? Jesus does not measure our lives by comfort.

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He measures our life by fruit. And relief feels good in

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the moment. It feels great in the moment. But

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fruit is what will last. When Jesus

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talks about, remain in me, abide in me, he's not talking about

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staying forever in whatever place you're in. He's saying, be faithful

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until God clearly moves you to the next thing.

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There are some gentlemen who really have meant

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a significant amount to my life, have spoken to my life. These guys

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here are really important to me.

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And it's not even necessarily the words that come out of their

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mouth. It's how I'VE watched them live their life. The

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first one is Ronnie Meek. Ronnie served faithfully

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for 33 years as this pastor. And let me tell you,

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now that I'm a pastor.

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Ronnie served for 33. Years as pastor

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of this church faithfully. Hal

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Laughlin sitting down here in front. He was the golf pro

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at Smyrna golf course for 31 years.

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It was an easy breeze the whole time, right, Hal? No problems, no issues. Just

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sit back.

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The man on the end there, some of you have seen him. That's my stepdad,

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David, and that's my mom with him. David's going

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to retire soon after 40 years working at Tridon here in

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Smyrna. That type

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of faithfulness, where is it in this generation? Not

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to mention that all three of these men have been married to the. Same

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spouse for three decades. Not to mention that all

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three of these men have served the Lord Jesus Christ for over three

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decades.

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Remarkable admiration,

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leverage in the kingdom, in the spiritual

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being used by God. All come and derive from

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a posture of faithful. I know lots of guys who

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can come up to my life and say. A lot of wonderful quotes and a

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lot of things. But let me follow someone who stays in the

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trenches when it's hard, that I can count on, that's stable, that has

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a foundation and says, it's not me, it's this God that I

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serve. You see what they understand, these three men? A

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faithful believer will finish what they start. A

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faithful believer will finish what they start. Start. Let me tell you something. When

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you come to the end of a race, that thing

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that you're doing. How you finish should be better than how you

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started. We work

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harder, we press in. At the end of the race, when. Racers are running that

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relay, they don't ease up and back off. On that last leg, what do they

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do? They sprint. They give it all they got. So

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even if God's moving you out of a season, you

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give everything you've got. Because how you in that season is. How God's going to

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let you begin that next thing. And

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the God that I serve, at least how he does, Kevin, if I don't learn

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the lesson on that lap, you think you're going somewhere where the grass is

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greener on that other side. Guess what? That same lesson is waiting right there for

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you. Just different faces, different voices.

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But you get to run that lap. Again because God's not finished

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maturing you. Jesus says,

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remain in me. Remain in me.

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Brittany Grisham sent this picture to me last night.

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If you look in the middle, there's a tree there. And it's literally planted. It

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looks. It's like literally on that rock, and it's

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flourishing. It's green. I mean, it's literally flourishing. And it's planted on

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a hard surface. It's planted in what does seem

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should bring life. But if you look at a different perspective, you'll notice

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that the tree's roots are connected to a source around

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the way. You know what this tells me? You may be planted

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in a hard place. You may be standing in somewhere that's

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rough and hard and rigid and doesn't give life. But if your roots are

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connected to the source, you will thrive in the middle the. Of. Of that hard

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situation. In that hard place. You will thrive in the middle of that

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circumstance, and God will be your source and he will sustain you if

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you will just stay planted. Would you stand with me this morning?

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So I'm going to bridge these two. Messages last week, capacity

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and margin. That still is relevant

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today. What'd you do with last week's message? I found

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myself finding myself, Lord. I don't have the grace for this

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particular conversation, Lord. I don't know that I'm supposed to be doing this

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particular thing. God. Oh, I'm. Lord, I didn't. I was supposed to pick that up,

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and I didn't pick it up. Lord, would you forgive me? Would you help me?

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What are you doing with this, guys? And what are you doing with this today?

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Because there's at least one person in this room. You came in here

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knowing that you. Were about to jump ship. I don't necessarily mean from the church,

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from whatever it is, relationally vocational, whatever it is.

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And the Lord said, no, I drew. You in today just like I

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sent Jeremiah did. I talk about Jeremiah 17

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here? I'm going to say it again if I did Jeremiah 17. You read it.

Speaker: 00:54:10

If you're in the Bible plan, Israel. Is in

Speaker: 00:54:14

the thick of sin. And he sends Jeremiah to stand by the

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gates, and they're coming in on the Sabbath, and the Israelites are pumping

Speaker: 00:54:22

out the work. And Jeremiah is saying to the Israelites as they're coming through

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the gate, he's. Saying to them, keep the Sabbath holy.

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Stop. Stop. Keep the Sabbath holy. And as I was reading that this

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week, I went, lord, why were you not going after them

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for. For worshiping another God? Why were you not going? Why is

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this? Why is it the Sabbath? And, you know, he said to me, he said,

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it doesn't matter what I say if you don't have the capacity. To hear my

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voice. So why Is he addressing the

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Sabbath? Why are we starting with capacity? Guys, it doesn't matter. I'm

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just a talking head. If you don't have the margin to allow the Holy

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Spirit to speak to your heart and make change, real change in your life,

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so all of this is connected. So

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maybe God is saying, is that relationship frustrated? Stay.

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Is that job hard right now? Stay.

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Are you sick of hearing Kevin's voice? Stay.

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Is that opportunity looking so good that you're willing to walk out on

Speaker: 00:55:31

everything you've ever known?

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Stay. So this morning we're going to do something a little different.

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We're going to center our hearts. Have you ever been. Kailyn, have you ever been

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in a. Situation where you're singing a song and you have no idea what you

Speaker: 00:55:44

just said you're singing it? You know, I've done that. I've read books, too. I'll

Speaker: 00:55:47

be in the Bible. My brain's going a miles an hour. So. So here's what

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we're going to do. Pastor Will and Pastor Jonathan and Brittany. I would like you

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to lead us in this song. And I'm going to invite you not to sing.

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As beautiful as your voices are. Yes, Justin, your voice

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too. So beautiful. I'm going to ask you to turn it off today.

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And in the midst of the song. Being sang over us, I want you to

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quiet your heart and your spirit. And connect

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with this king of our. Life and allow

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him to literally speak. To you about where

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you are right now.

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Do you have margin in your life? Are you planted? Are you rooted?

Speaker: 00:56:30

Some of you today need to make a decision to root. It's not that you're

Speaker: 00:56:34

being uprooted. It's like you haven't landed. You. You need to say, you look like

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this right here. And you need to look like

Speaker: 00:56:41

this right here. Okay? So let's

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worship today by literally just

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getting vertical. You know, there's an old fashioned thing

Speaker: 00:56:53

about getting on your knees and making your chariot altar. That might be something you

Speaker: 00:56:57

want to do or you lay out in the floor here. You can do whatever

Speaker: 00:57:00

you. You can posture yourself, whatever. Whatever way helps you

Speaker: 00:57:04

connect with God. Do that. Let's worship.