1 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,400 Hallelujah. Man, I want some ice cream now. Of course, 2 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:14,160 it's cold outside, so maybe some hot fudge on that, Right, Robert? That's right. 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,360 Well, I just. I want to start this morning by 4 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,360 thanking the team that is assembled to 5 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,560 mount this gathering for us today. And, you know, it's a. It's an 6 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,910 eclectic atmosphere for you. I'll tell you, it's a very eclectic atmosphere 7 00:00:32,780 --> 00:00:36,300 because I'm about to preach to a room of empty chairs. But you know what? 8 00:00:36,620 --> 00:00:40,540 I believe in a God that is so big and 9 00:00:40,540 --> 00:00:44,540 omnipresent that I believe that the words that he 10 00:00:44,540 --> 00:00:48,140 has prepared for today will transcend all walls and 11 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:52,020 permeate people's hearts and change people's hearts for eternity. That's the kind of God 12 00:00:52,020 --> 00:00:55,940 he is. Not because I'm. Trust me, I'm just a vessel, but because of how 13 00:00:55,940 --> 00:00:59,900 glorious and wonderful he is. So would you just lean in with me 14 00:00:59,900 --> 00:01:03,580 just for the next few moments as we. 15 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,240 Into what I believe the Lord has for us today. 16 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:11,840 Before I get into that, something I wanted to put on your radar, and I've 17 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,200 put on the radar. If you've been getting the church email, I've been telling you 18 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,800 about this, but we're gonna do a conference here. And it's not this, it's not 19 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,520 the rabbi. That happens on Thursday nights with 20 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,400 Pastor Barbee. I encourage you to do that. But let's see 21 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,320 here. We have Thursday night slides up 22 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:33,800 there. Okay, so they're gonna fix that for me. Oh, they're telling me I'm good. 23 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,660 Let's try that. Now, the Abide conference is 24 00:01:37,660 --> 00:01:41,580 happening in March, and I just want you. The registration is open and I just 25 00:01:41,580 --> 00:01:45,460 want you to pray about if you have capacity to join us on 26 00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:49,380 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That weekend we're gonna have a special time 27 00:01:49,380 --> 00:01:52,900 with some special speakers, and we're just gonna lean into this principle 28 00:01:53,140 --> 00:01:56,540 of abide a little deeper, and we want you to be a part of it 29 00:01:56,540 --> 00:02:00,100 now. We wanna prepare for you. And so we do want you to register now. 30 00:02:00,100 --> 00:02:03,340 The conference is gonna look a little different than it has in the past. We're 31 00:02:03,340 --> 00:02:06,660 gonna be doing a session on Friday night, and then Saturday, we' 32 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,640 all day from the morning, afternoon. Rich, rich things. I was so excited 33 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:14,640 for some of the speakers that said, yes, I've got a word from the Lord. 34 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:18,040 And so we're still working on some of the details, but we've got that. The 35 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,520 Saturday night session, and then we'll have our services on Sunday. And I believe 36 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,880 that that Sunday is also open table. So it's an opportunity for us to 37 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,720 connect, and so come be a part of that time together. Pastor 38 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,720 Barbee and I were talking earlier this week just about 39 00:02:33,450 --> 00:02:37,450 abiding in him, just being present in him. And so, man, 40 00:02:37,450 --> 00:02:41,090 what an opportunity for us to lean into that. So we are 41 00:02:41,090 --> 00:02:44,250 gonna continue our series, Abide. 42 00:02:44,730 --> 00:02:48,690 And so you don't have to stand, but I do want you 43 00:02:48,690 --> 00:02:51,410 to read with me. Read the Word of God, and they'll put that up on 44 00:02:51,410 --> 00:02:54,970 the screen. So let's read what the Word of God says. We're actually gonna go 45 00:02:55,050 --> 00:02:58,970 and look at Matthew 13 and John 1 this morning as we 46 00:02:58,970 --> 00:03:02,450 step into what the Lord has for us. Here we go. In the 47 00:03:02,450 --> 00:03:06,070 beginning was the Word, and the was with God. 48 00:03:06,310 --> 00:03:10,270 And the Word was God. He was with God in the 49 00:03:10,270 --> 00:03:14,190 beginning. Through him, all 50 00:03:14,190 --> 00:03:18,190 things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has 51 00:03:18,190 --> 00:03:21,910 been made. In him was life, and that life was the 52 00:03:21,910 --> 00:03:25,670 light of all mankind. The light shines in the 53 00:03:25,670 --> 00:03:29,470 darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And then from 54 00:03:29,470 --> 00:03:33,430 Matthew 13, a farmer went out to sow his seed. 55 00:03:33,670 --> 00:03:37,610 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the pat, and 56 00:03:37,610 --> 00:03:41,450 the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky 57 00:03:41,450 --> 00:03:45,410 places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly 58 00:03:45,410 --> 00:03:49,250 because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the 59 00:03:49,250 --> 00:03:53,250 plants were scorched and they withered because 60 00:03:53,330 --> 00:03:56,810 they had no root. Other seed fell among the 61 00:03:56,810 --> 00:04:00,770 thorns which grew up and choked the plants. Still other 62 00:04:00,770 --> 00:04:04,450 seed fell on good soil where it Produced a crop 63 00:04:04,530 --> 00:04:08,210 160 or 30 times what was sown. 64 00:04:08,790 --> 00:04:12,790 Whoever has ears, let them hear. And, Father, that is my 65 00:04:12,790 --> 00:04:16,230 prayer today. Whoever has ears, let them hear. 66 00:04:16,550 --> 00:04:20,230 Not just words that are distraction or 67 00:04:20,870 --> 00:04:24,710 from false prophets and false words, but the word of the Lord. Let it be 68 00:04:24,710 --> 00:04:28,630 heard today and let it change our lives and our hearts for 69 00:04:28,630 --> 00:04:32,310 eternity. God, we trust that you will do that today for us. In 70 00:04:32,310 --> 00:04:36,190 Jesus name, Amen. Amen. I would normally say you may be 71 00:04:36,190 --> 00:04:39,750 seated, but you may continue sipping your hot chocolate this morning. Okay, 72 00:04:40,370 --> 00:04:44,250 so we're continuing the Abide series here. And just 73 00:04:44,250 --> 00:04:47,410 to review. So today we're actually gonna end this 74 00:04:48,130 --> 00:04:51,650 introduction, if you will, that I've been setting us up for. Because 75 00:04:51,890 --> 00:04:55,810 as we discussed last week, when Jesus talks about abide, and 76 00:04:55,810 --> 00:04:59,810 what we did is we used a different word, remain, in 77 00:04:59,810 --> 00:05:03,770 that when Jesus says remain, that's not the starting point. The starting point with 78 00:05:03,770 --> 00:05:07,570 Jesus is not remain. And so there's been a setup here. And so 79 00:05:07,570 --> 00:05:11,450 on week one, we talked about, you belong to a kingdom and you have 80 00:05:11,450 --> 00:05:14,710 a K. And guys we do. We belong to an 81 00:05:14,710 --> 00:05:18,390 amazing, incredible kingdom who has a king. And 82 00:05:18,390 --> 00:05:22,110 here's the thing about this kingdom, with the king, we don't have a choice 83 00:05:22,350 --> 00:05:26,230 that he's the king. This isn't a democracy. I don't go and vote 84 00:05:26,230 --> 00:05:29,990 a ballot. And guess what? I may have an opinion about him being 85 00:05:29,990 --> 00:05:33,590 my king, but here's the truth of the matter. He's the king 86 00:05:33,590 --> 00:05:37,590 regardless, and I belong to his kingdom. But here's the great, glorious 87 00:05:37,590 --> 00:05:41,440 thing about this wonderful king. My king knows my 88 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,200 name and he knows about my life. He knows about my 89 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,200 spouse and my kids. He knows about every circumstance. I have 90 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,200 a king who loves me and you do too. And we belong to that kingdom. 91 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,040 Guys. We have a king and he rules and reigns over our lives. 92 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,040 But the problem is in all of his goodness. We tend to 93 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,000 turn away and turn our back to his goodness, to his kingship in 94 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,760 our life, because of the peripheral world around us. Guys, we live in 95 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,740 this world, but we're a part of a kingdom. It begs this 96 00:06:12,740 --> 00:06:16,500 question and this thought, it says it was 97 00:06:16,500 --> 00:06:20,420 about learning how to live as God's people inside a culture that did 98 00:06:20,420 --> 00:06:23,980 not share their faith. This was what the exiles faced 99 00:06:24,300 --> 00:06:28,140 over when we read in Jeremiah and Babylon. And is this not just the 100 00:06:28,140 --> 00:06:32,100 description of our world? Every day I contend with this. I wanna 101 00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:36,020 live as one of God's people. And I do it in the context of a 102 00:06:36,020 --> 00:06:39,930 world and a culture that doesn't want anything to do with him. But. But 103 00:06:39,930 --> 00:06:43,250 God gives me the power to lean into him and the strength 104 00:06:44,290 --> 00:06:48,210 to be a part of this world, in this world. That's where I live, it's 105 00:06:48,210 --> 00:06:51,970 where I'm planted. But I belong to his kingdom. I belong to his 106 00:06:51,970 --> 00:06:55,250 kingdom. And he certainly is a king. And so the week one, 107 00:06:55,890 --> 00:06:59,570 as we looked at that, we looked at a creating margin, 108 00:06:59,650 --> 00:07:03,650 creating space. I believe that we are so terribly 109 00:07:03,650 --> 00:07:07,370 distracted. We are so convinced that we've gotta go, go, go, 110 00:07:07,370 --> 00:07:10,610 go. And then there might be a thought process. Well, if I 111 00:07:11,630 --> 00:07:14,910 in the order it's supposed to be, then maybe I've got it all together. 112 00:07:15,390 --> 00:07:18,990 But we don't leave room for God to work when we're in control of anything. 113 00:07:19,390 --> 00:07:23,110 And so the idea or the purpose, I believe the intent here is that we 114 00:07:23,110 --> 00:07:26,590 would empty our jars out and bring in empty vessels 115 00:07:26,830 --> 00:07:30,750 every day so that the Lord can fill them up. And so 116 00:07:30,990 --> 00:07:34,910 we've been evaluating our capacity. And I appreciate the conversations that I've had 117 00:07:34,910 --> 00:07:37,710 with some of you where you said, you know, the Lord has actually told me 118 00:07:37,710 --> 00:07:40,830 to lay this Down. And for some of you, the Lord said, pick this up. 119 00:07:40,830 --> 00:07:44,650 And it's been beautiful. Because when God's grace, he gives you 120 00:07:44,650 --> 00:07:48,570 everything you need to do what you're doing in 121 00:07:48,570 --> 00:07:52,410 your walk. And so then we have this question, because we live in the 122 00:07:52,410 --> 00:07:56,170 world, it says, will we be formed by the world we live in, or will 123 00:07:56,170 --> 00:08:00,010 we remain rooted in the kingdom to which we belong? 124 00:08:00,250 --> 00:08:03,170 You know, I don't know about you, but I used to have a propensity that 125 00:08:03,170 --> 00:08:06,170 when I didn't like what was going on, I just ran. I'm gone. 126 00:08:06,970 --> 00:08:10,090 I don't have to put up with this frustration. I don't have to put up 127 00:08:10,090 --> 00:08:13,730 with this hurt. I don't have to put up with this pain. And I learned 128 00:08:13,730 --> 00:08:17,390 the hard way that. That God actually has purpose in the pain 129 00:08:17,390 --> 00:08:20,710 sometimes. He has purpose in the hurt sometimes. And 130 00:08:21,350 --> 00:08:25,310 he wants us to stay so that he can mature us. You know, 131 00:08:25,310 --> 00:08:29,150 we are not believers just living our life off of milk. I'll tell you right 132 00:08:29,150 --> 00:08:33,150 now, Eliana's at home and she is drinking milk. Like, she can drink some 133 00:08:33,150 --> 00:08:36,750 milk. She can down some milk people, okay? I can't give her a piece of 134 00:08:36,750 --> 00:08:40,070 steak right now. As much as I want to. Try to. Try to sneak a 135 00:08:40,070 --> 00:08:43,110 cookie in her mouth. Her mama would slap that out of my hand so fast. 136 00:08:43,510 --> 00:08:46,150 As much as I want to, I can't give it because she's not ready for 137 00:08:46,150 --> 00:08:49,970 that. She's not mature enough. But, man, sometimes I look at the church 138 00:08:50,210 --> 00:08:53,970 and I see people who should be eating steak in the Lord should be eating 139 00:08:53,970 --> 00:08:57,570 some hamburgers in the Lord, and you're sucking down that bottle of milk like none 140 00:08:57,570 --> 00:09:01,570 other. It's time to mature. It's time to look at our lives and say, 141 00:09:01,570 --> 00:09:05,570 am I going to remain rooted in the moment of hard things? Because 142 00:09:05,570 --> 00:09:09,530 he will sustain us, and he grows us in those places. He grows 143 00:09:09,530 --> 00:09:13,370 us in those hard trials, in those hard places where he says, I want you 144 00:09:13,370 --> 00:09:15,920 to remain. But you know what else is true? It's not. Not just about the 145 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,920 hard things. Here's what else is true in my life when I stay 146 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,560 rooted. The Lord provides people, trusted 147 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:27,360 voices, like a Barbie, like an Allen, like a Will, like a Justin, 148 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,239 like people, like a Jonathan in my life, that they're not going anywhere. 149 00:09:31,239 --> 00:09:34,680 They're right there with me. What is it like to uproot in a hard 150 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:38,680 circumstance and leave the family? You've known all the trusted voices, to 151 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:41,800 go into an environment with people you don't know at all and let them speak 152 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,610 into your life? Boy, that's a recipe for disaster, in my opinion. 153 00:09:47,370 --> 00:09:51,210 Stay rooted. We want to stay rooted. 154 00:09:51,450 --> 00:09:54,730 That's the key. That's the call. And so 155 00:09:55,290 --> 00:09:59,050 last week, and as I suggested just a moment ago, last week we realized 156 00:09:59,210 --> 00:10:02,810 remain is not the place that Jesus starts with. The first thing that he says 157 00:10:02,810 --> 00:10:06,570 to the disciples when he sees them people, he says. He says, follow me. 158 00:10:06,970 --> 00:10:10,770 Follow me. So we learned we cannot remain before we make the 159 00:10:10,770 --> 00:10:14,400 choice to follow. And so Jesus arrives on the 160 00:10:15,270 --> 00:10:19,110 with the people, and he commissions them. He invites them to this life 161 00:10:19,110 --> 00:10:22,990 of following Him. Now, last week, we also learned that 162 00:10:22,990 --> 00:10:26,550 Jesus, physical Jesus is not here anymore. 163 00:10:26,950 --> 00:10:30,470 And we talked about the delineation between Father, God, 164 00:10:30,950 --> 00:10:34,710 the Holy Spirit and Jesus. And so this ball here represents 165 00:10:34,710 --> 00:10:38,590 Jesus. I can feel it. I can touch it. It's his 166 00:10:38,590 --> 00:10:42,190 physical. He lived for 33 years on the earth, three years of ministry on the 167 00:10:42,190 --> 00:10:45,900 earth, and he died. But he didn't stay there. The Bible 168 00:10:45,900 --> 00:10:49,460 tells us that he rose again. He's resurrected now. And where is he sitting? At 169 00:10:49,460 --> 00:10:53,300 the right hand of Father God. But there's also another part of this 170 00:10:53,300 --> 00:10:56,780 Godhead, and it is the Holy Spirit. And the water here represents 171 00:10:57,020 --> 00:11:00,980 the Holy Spirit. And so we have God the Father, the one with the 172 00:11:00,980 --> 00:11:04,980 authority. God the Son, who lived an impeccable life, did what 173 00:11:04,980 --> 00:11:08,460 his father told him to do and died on our behalf. And then he left. 174 00:11:08,460 --> 00:11:10,820 But he said, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I'm not gonna leave you as 175 00:11:10,820 --> 00:11:14,220 orphans. I'm gonna give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. 176 00:11:15,180 --> 00:11:19,180 Guys, might I remind you that you need the 177 00:11:19,180 --> 00:11:23,180 Holy Spirit? Because loving Jesus looks like obeying 178 00:11:23,180 --> 00:11:27,060 his commands. Loving Jesus looks like obeying his commands. 179 00:11:27,060 --> 00:11:30,380 And I'm gonna tell you right now, my propensity is not to obey anyone or 180 00:11:30,380 --> 00:11:34,180 anything. I need the Holy Spirit. And if 181 00:11:34,180 --> 00:11:37,940 I'm connected to the Holy Spirit, if I lean into the power of the 182 00:11:37,940 --> 00:11:41,780 Holy Spirit, I start to walk on my journey. And the Word says 183 00:11:41,780 --> 00:11:45,290 this verse, it says, the steps of the righteous are 184 00:11:45,290 --> 00:11:49,290 ordered. He has good things ahead for me. As long as I will keep in 185 00:11:49,290 --> 00:11:52,610 step with the Holy Spirit. I'll come upon maybe 186 00:11:54,130 --> 00:11:57,970 that moment of a slip, or that moment of lust or pride 187 00:11:57,970 --> 00:12:01,930 or cheating or stealing, whatever it is, whatever it is, the vice that 188 00:12:01,930 --> 00:12:05,490 you've had to contend with in this dark, evil world. The Holy Spirit. 189 00:12:05,730 --> 00:12:09,610 You bump up against that thing and you have victory. You have victory over 190 00:12:09,610 --> 00:12:13,050 it. Not just in that moment, but you're connected to the one who has victory 191 00:12:13,050 --> 00:12:16,640 over everything. Everything and everyone. 192 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,240 We win in the end. I want to be Connected to that God. What about 193 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:25,240 you? So, hey, you need the Holy Spirit. And if you were here, sitting here 194 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,520 this morning, I would say, look at your neighbor and say, you need the Holy 195 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,360 Spirit. It's that important. You need the Holy Spirit in your life. 196 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,840 So what's the job of the Holy Spirit? Well, the primary job of the Holy 197 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,680 Spirit is to point people to Jesus, to point you 198 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:42,640 and others to Jesus Christ. That's his primary. His 199 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:46,540 primary role. Everything in my life should be about pointing to Him. 200 00:12:46,540 --> 00:12:50,460 He's the one that's going to be enthroned. And so we've started 201 00:12:50,460 --> 00:12:54,060 this introduction. We've looked at capacity. We've looked about 202 00:12:54,540 --> 00:12:58,460 being rooted because we have a propensity to uproot and run away. We looked at 203 00:12:58,460 --> 00:13:02,220 the fact that I can't do anything on my own. My flesh I can't do. 204 00:13:02,220 --> 00:13:05,620 I need power. And he's given us the gift of the Holy Spirit. So where 205 00:13:05,620 --> 00:13:09,420 does that leave us today? Capacity. Enough time to actually stop 206 00:13:10,060 --> 00:13:13,590 and consider. Stay rooted, stay planted. 207 00:13:13,670 --> 00:13:17,550 God has something there. I have power in the Holy Spirit and where 208 00:13:17,550 --> 00:13:21,070 that draws us today. And I believe it's probably one of the most important places 209 00:13:21,070 --> 00:13:25,070 for us to be at this moment is the word of God. It's 210 00:13:25,070 --> 00:13:28,870 the word of God. All of this is a setup to hear the 211 00:13:28,870 --> 00:13:32,630 Word, the truth of the Scripture. And so we looked at Matthew, 212 00:13:32,790 --> 00:13:36,670 chapter 13, and Jesus is telling a very familiar story. 213 00:13:36,670 --> 00:13:40,590 I'm sure that you've heard it. He talks about a farmer going out and sowing 214 00:13:40,590 --> 00:13:43,930 seed. And he says that some of the seed falls on the path, some of 215 00:13:43,930 --> 00:13:47,890 it falls on the rocky ground, some on the thorns, and some will fall on 216 00:13:47,890 --> 00:13:51,810 the good soil. And can I just tell you, and I 217 00:13:51,810 --> 00:13:55,250 know Barbie has alluded to this on Thursday, if you've been here or watched the 218 00:13:55,250 --> 00:13:59,250 messages. I love this teacher. I love the teacher, 219 00:13:59,250 --> 00:14:03,130 Jesus. Don't you. Don't you just love him? Because he doesn't leave anything 220 00:14:03,130 --> 00:14:06,610 just hanging out there. He wants you to understand. 221 00:14:07,410 --> 00:14:11,370 He's not trying to trick us. He truly wants us to understand. I love 222 00:14:11,370 --> 00:14:15,270 how he tells the story and then a little bit later he explains it. He 223 00:14:15,270 --> 00:14:19,150 just. He's so good to us. He doesn't just leave things for us to 224 00:14:19,870 --> 00:14:23,230 figure out. But what I want us to. But before we unpackage that, what I 225 00:14:23,230 --> 00:14:27,070 want us to understand is that it's not about the 226 00:14:27,070 --> 00:14:30,829 seed. It's about the soil. This 227 00:14:30,829 --> 00:14:34,270 parable, this story. It's not about the seed. You hear the word seed. The seed, 228 00:14:34,270 --> 00:14:38,070 the seed, the seed. The farmer has the seed. And so 229 00:14:38,070 --> 00:14:41,950 often, I don't know about you, but, you know, sometimes my wife and I, 230 00:14:42,110 --> 00:14:45,750 we might get in a disagreement and we'll be talking, and sometimes I can make 231 00:14:46,220 --> 00:14:49,780 about the issue that it's not really about, and she'll say to me, that's not 232 00:14:49,780 --> 00:14:53,060 at all what we're talking about here, you know, and she'll get me back on 233 00:14:53,060 --> 00:14:56,900 the path here. Guys, we can sometimes read scripture and focus on the wrong 234 00:14:56,900 --> 00:15:00,740 part. It's not that the seed isn't important. The seed represents the word of 235 00:15:00,740 --> 00:15:03,980 God, but the point of the story is the soil. 236 00:15:04,540 --> 00:15:08,460 The point of this story, the point of this parable is the soil. And 237 00:15:08,460 --> 00:15:12,340 Jesus is trying to talk to the people about the heart, because 238 00:15:12,340 --> 00:15:15,390 the soil represents the condition of the heart. 239 00:15:16,180 --> 00:15:20,100 The condition of your heart determines your capacity 240 00:15:20,180 --> 00:15:24,180 to receive the Word of God. The condition of your 241 00:15:24,180 --> 00:15:28,140 heart, it determines the capacity to 242 00:15:28,140 --> 00:15:31,940 receive the Word of God. And so there's a parallel here with 243 00:15:31,940 --> 00:15:35,900 Israel where we talked about their exile in 244 00:15:35,900 --> 00:15:39,420 Jeremiah. We talked about that. And I'm gonna try to run side by side through 245 00:15:39,420 --> 00:15:43,020 this whole parable because I just. See, I just have to stop and say this 246 00:15:43,020 --> 00:15:46,700 because I love this. I love this Word. The Word, the 247 00:15:46,700 --> 00:15:50,620 entire word of God can speak to your life. And 248 00:15:50,620 --> 00:15:54,580 if you pay attention, you can connect things in the New Testament to the Old 249 00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:58,340 Testament, Old Testament to the New Testament. It's all about Jesus. And we're going to 250 00:15:58,340 --> 00:16:01,260 talk about in one John or in John here in just a minute. If we 251 00:16:01,260 --> 00:16:04,980 have a tangible. If we want a tangible representation of Jesus, this is it. 252 00:16:05,460 --> 00:16:09,140 This is it. He's the Word. And we can touch this, and we can feel. 253 00:16:09,380 --> 00:16:13,010 We can feel this. So Babylon has become 254 00:16:13,090 --> 00:16:16,690 the environment, the environment in which Israel has been 255 00:16:16,770 --> 00:16:20,530 exiled, and the soil becomes the heart. 256 00:16:20,610 --> 00:16:24,370 So here's what I want us to really lean on and understand on this first 257 00:16:24,370 --> 00:16:28,090 point. The truth of God's Word. The 258 00:16:28,090 --> 00:16:31,170 Word, it becomes the dividing line 259 00:16:31,730 --> 00:16:35,570 between those who have been fooled by the world 260 00:16:35,810 --> 00:16:39,620 and its antics and the kingdom, those 261 00:16:39,620 --> 00:16:43,060 who flourish in the kingdom and the kingdom of God and its truth. I'm going 262 00:16:43,060 --> 00:16:47,020 to say that again the way I have it written here. The truth of 263 00:16:47,020 --> 00:16:50,860 God's Word becomes the dividing line between who has been 264 00:16:50,860 --> 00:16:54,860 fooled by the world and who flourishes in the kingdom 265 00:16:55,340 --> 00:16:59,260 of God. We've journeyed the last three 266 00:16:59,260 --> 00:17:03,060 weeks to get right here because here's the point. What's the point of 267 00:17:03,060 --> 00:17:06,880 talking about capacity, being rooted and having the power of the Holy Spirit? And it's 268 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,880 so that we're not being deceived. We don't 269 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,880 wanna be deceived. We want to be living as agents of 270 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,600 truth, living on a foundation of truth. But here's the 271 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,120 thing, we have access to the truth. But just because I have access 272 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,280 to something doesn't mean that it's meaningful in my life. So I've 273 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:30,040 gotta create the space, I've gotta stay rooted. You're gonna see all these tied together 274 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:33,080 here. So today I wanna walk through this parable and show you how it lines 275 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,360 up with the journey that we've been on. So the first thing that we look 276 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:39,300 at is the soil is the path. He says that the. Which is the word 277 00:17:39,300 --> 00:17:42,580 falls onto the path in Jesus. 278 00:17:42,580 --> 00:17:45,940 Explanation of that. And I have it on the slide here. It says this. 279 00:17:47,140 --> 00:17:51,100 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does 280 00:17:51,100 --> 00:17:54,580 not understand it, the evil one comes and 281 00:17:54,580 --> 00:17:58,580 snatches away what has been sown. Do you know. 282 00:17:58,660 --> 00:18:02,420 Excuse me. Do you know that when I've preached before, there have been 283 00:18:02,420 --> 00:18:05,980 people that have fallen asleep. Now, I know I'm not the most 284 00:18:05,980 --> 00:18:09,740 entertaining speaker or whatnot, but there have been people 285 00:18:09,740 --> 00:18:13,540 who literally fall asleep. And can I tell you, most of the world is 286 00:18:13,540 --> 00:18:17,420 sleeping. I'm reminded of Pastor Murray talking about a very poignant 287 00:18:17,420 --> 00:18:21,300 moment in her walking journey where Pastor Ronnie just said the words 288 00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:24,780 sleep on, sleep on. And boy, 289 00:18:25,100 --> 00:18:28,780 I don't want to be somebody who's donning the footsteps of a church 290 00:18:28,860 --> 00:18:32,830 under the truth of God's word. And it is meaningless to me because I don't 291 00:18:32,830 --> 00:18:36,670 have the capacity to actually understand and know what the word of God 292 00:18:36,670 --> 00:18:40,190 says. And so all I've done is I've come into the church to check it 293 00:18:40,190 --> 00:18:43,550 off my little T shirt box to say, yeah, I did that thing went there 294 00:18:43,710 --> 00:18:47,670 was with the crowd. But guys, when we hear the word of God, 295 00:18:47,670 --> 00:18:51,230 it should excite us because we're talking about the very 296 00:18:51,230 --> 00:18:55,070 Jesus that we say we love. The very God we say 297 00:18:55,390 --> 00:18:59,300 we love the very word, the word of God. This is 298 00:18:59,300 --> 00:19:02,860 Babylon before the exile. That the soil is the. 299 00:19:03,260 --> 00:19:06,860 It's the path. It's hard, it's compacted. 300 00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:11,100 The seed can't get in. And it's not penetrating anywhere 301 00:19:11,180 --> 00:19:15,020 because there's not capacity for it to do so. They were 302 00:19:15,020 --> 00:19:18,780 listening to false prophets. This is the place, the 303 00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:22,700 hard path. The seed falling on the path is. I'm gonna listen 304 00:19:22,700 --> 00:19:25,930 to anything that caters to whatever I want to do. 305 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:30,720 That's where I'm going to go. And the seed doesn't take where it just lands, 306 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:34,680 it's just there it's like. It's almost. It's almost as if 307 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,520 it shouldn't have even been sown in the first place. Because the 308 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,920 path is so hard. The path is so hard. 309 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,880 The truth was being presented. Jeremiah, Isaiah. The 310 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:50,880 truth was being presented. They didn't have ears to hear it. 311 00:19:52,010 --> 00:19:56,010 The truth was there. And we are in a evil, dark, 312 00:19:56,090 --> 00:19:59,810 dying world. And the truth is being presented. And there are 313 00:19:59,810 --> 00:20:03,050 groves of people out there. Sleep on. 314 00:20:04,490 --> 00:20:08,490 Sleep on. Why is it important for you and me to grab ahold 315 00:20:08,490 --> 00:20:12,250 of this word that we're talking about? Because not only 316 00:20:12,330 --> 00:20:16,170 do we have the responsibility for our own lives, he's using us as 317 00:20:16,170 --> 00:20:19,970 agents of his grace world. Because there's a world 318 00:20:19,970 --> 00:20:23,890 that needs salvation. There's a world, guys, I hate to 319 00:20:23,890 --> 00:20:27,250 tell you, it's not about you and it's not about me. As much as I 320 00:20:27,250 --> 00:20:31,210 try to make my world about me, it's not about me. I'm so 321 00:20:31,210 --> 00:20:35,050 small. I'm not insignificant. I'm not insignificant because 322 00:20:35,370 --> 00:20:39,090 he knows my name. But in relation to everything, 323 00:20:39,090 --> 00:20:43,090 I'm so small. I'm so small. And so are you. But we have a 324 00:20:43,090 --> 00:20:46,250 God who takes small things and makes extraordinary use of. 325 00:20:47,220 --> 00:20:50,260 Will you allow him to do that in your life? But the path is there. 326 00:20:50,660 --> 00:20:54,660 And it's hard. And here's the mindset, and I just want to 327 00:20:54,660 --> 00:20:58,620 be plain. You cannot expect the benefits of a kingdom that you are 328 00:20:58,620 --> 00:21:02,580 not ready to commit to. You know, my wife and I, we 329 00:21:02,740 --> 00:21:06,540 run a school. And about maybe 10 years ago, we 330 00:21:06,540 --> 00:21:09,740 took a left turn in the direction of the school. But prior to that, I 331 00:21:09,740 --> 00:21:13,660 would be in meetings with people and, you know, hey, I believe we 332 00:21:13,660 --> 00:21:16,900 have a pretty good school. Okay? I really do. We're not perfect, but we got 333 00:21:16,900 --> 00:21:20,280 a good school. We got a good program. What would happen is I would get 334 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,280 in rooms with parents and kids that had made some choices that were out of 335 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:28,160 the bounds of the expectations that we had. And I would have to say, 336 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:32,040 this is probably not the place for you. And you know what? Those people would 337 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,920 get so angry with me instead of the decision and the choice 338 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,800 that was made to render that consequence. Isn't that crazy? What we 339 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,640 do, we look at what's not really the problem here. 340 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,480 And here's the deal. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. What the people 341 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,440 wanted was the benefit of our school without committing to 342 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,400 the expectations we have for the students. You can't walk 343 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,400 into a situation and expect the benefits without the commitment. And the same is true 344 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,400 in the kingdom. The same is true in the kingdom. We can't be people 345 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,720 who are expecting to have the benefit of this 346 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,280 incredible star breathing God and not commit to his kingdom. 347 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,410 That's not how it works. It's simply not how it works. The 348 00:22:14,410 --> 00:22:17,730 hearts of Israel had become like spiritual 349 00:22:18,050 --> 00:22:22,050 pavement. And that's why we started with margin. 350 00:22:22,770 --> 00:22:26,570 I just remember when I was talking about the Israelites going through the gate and 351 00:22:26,570 --> 00:22:30,570 Jeremiah's there and the Lord's saying, talk to them about the Sabbath, guys. And this 352 00:22:30,570 --> 00:22:34,330 is a reminder. This is not a January 1, 2026 353 00:22:34,330 --> 00:22:38,290 thing. This is a constant reminder to center us 354 00:22:38,290 --> 00:22:42,260 that we have to slow down and stop. The world is not slowing down 355 00:22:42,490 --> 00:22:45,690 down, it is speeding up. It's going faster. 356 00:22:46,250 --> 00:22:50,010 We have to be a people within that context that know how to slow down 357 00:22:50,010 --> 00:22:53,930 enough to know that we're hearing the voice of God, that we're not 358 00:22:53,930 --> 00:22:57,690 hearing the ancillary, the extra voices, the false prophets, but we are 359 00:22:57,690 --> 00:23:01,530 actually hearing the word of God. And that's why we started with margin. 360 00:23:01,690 --> 00:23:05,690 Because there are pathways that are hard out there that God wants to turn 361 00:23:05,690 --> 00:23:09,520 into good soil. You cannot hear from God when 362 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,200 everything else is louder. We live in a world that's vying for your 363 00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:17,200 attention. Who has your attention today? Who has your attention 364 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:21,160 this morning? Is it the God of the universe? Or is it all of the 365 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,160 other things around, all the bells and whistles, the cell phones, the computer? There's so 366 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,400 many. There's a list of things I could get. All good, fine things, 367 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,560 but paling in comparison to this God we say we serve. 368 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:35,520 When we slow down enough, our heart is in a position 369 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:41,000 and that's who we want to be, people who can receive the word of God. 370 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,880 That's the hard path. The second soil that's talked about here are the rocks. 371 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,520 And Jesus explains about this soil. He says this. The seed falling on 372 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,480 the rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at 373 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,400 once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, 374 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,200 they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution come 375 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,190 because of the Word, they quickly fall away. Oh, my goodness. Do you see 376 00:24:05,190 --> 00:24:09,110 the parallel here? Do you see the parallel of where we've been? This is a 377 00:24:09,110 --> 00:24:12,910 soil that receives the Word quickly. It receives the Word very 378 00:24:12,910 --> 00:24:16,870 quickly, emotionally and with passion. These would be 379 00:24:16,870 --> 00:24:20,510 people who just springboard into church. These are for me as a pastor, these are 380 00:24:20,510 --> 00:24:24,150 the people who show up for a moment and then they 381 00:24:24,150 --> 00:24:28,100 disappear. And then they show up again excited, and 382 00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:32,060 then they disappear. And usually when they're here excited, they wanna go conquer 383 00:24:32,060 --> 00:24:35,300 the world. They feel like they're supposed to have a platform within three seconds of 384 00:24:35,300 --> 00:24:39,180 coming back to the Lord, and then they disappear. They're passionate, 385 00:24:39,420 --> 00:24:42,460 they're emotional. They've heard the word. 386 00:24:45,980 --> 00:24:49,740 These people also, I think, are. I think I would describe this 387 00:24:49,740 --> 00:24:53,700 also as people who are joyless Christians. Have you ever met a 388 00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:57,510 joyless Christian, an unkind Christian? These are people who 389 00:24:57,510 --> 00:25:01,270 have ascribed to the Lord, but the way they live outside there 390 00:25:01,270 --> 00:25:03,950 doesn't match anything that they're praising God for and hear. 391 00:25:05,150 --> 00:25:08,590 That's the difference. This is like the seed is there. They know the truth. 392 00:25:09,310 --> 00:25:13,310 They've heard it. But, boy, their life does 393 00:25:13,310 --> 00:25:16,910 not line up in any way. There's confusion there. They get 394 00:25:16,910 --> 00:25:20,670 excited because they can get behind a good guitar solo or a good 395 00:25:20,670 --> 00:25:23,780 piano or maybe an entertaining speaker at that, 396 00:25:26,170 --> 00:25:29,250 and they can shout an amen. But when they get out there, there's some other 397 00:25:29,250 --> 00:25:33,130 things coming out of their mouth. This is 398 00:25:33,530 --> 00:25:37,370 the rocky. The rocky. The rocky 399 00:25:37,930 --> 00:25:41,930 path that the Lord is talking about here. And so remember that 400 00:25:41,930 --> 00:25:45,810 part where we talked about repentance? Remember at the end of that message where 401 00:25:45,810 --> 00:25:49,690 I talked about repentance being changing the way you think and doing something about 402 00:25:49,690 --> 00:25:53,450 it? Israel had a pattern when trouble came. The 403 00:25:53,450 --> 00:25:57,230 pattern was, here's trouble. And so repent. We are so sorry. 404 00:25:57,230 --> 00:26:01,110 God, Lord, save us. And then they would turn away, turn, turn 405 00:26:01,350 --> 00:26:03,990 back to the Lord. And they would turn away from their sin. And when everything 406 00:26:04,550 --> 00:26:08,390 became okay again, when peace came, they take off again. 407 00:26:09,430 --> 00:26:12,750 And you see this in the Old Testament over and over and over again. And 408 00:26:12,750 --> 00:26:15,870 let me tell you, it's easy for you and I to criticize Israel for doing 409 00:26:15,870 --> 00:26:19,270 that, but you and I have done the exact same thing. We have done the 410 00:26:19,270 --> 00:26:22,950 exact same thing. Remember, remember the Lord 411 00:26:23,110 --> 00:26:26,790 in the midst of trial. Remember the Lord. Remember what he's done 412 00:26:26,870 --> 00:26:30,830 in that time of peace. There's a reason there's peace there. There's a reason why 413 00:26:30,830 --> 00:26:34,350 the foundation is when Barvey was talking about, we have not had to 414 00:26:34,350 --> 00:26:38,270 worry. There's a reason there's no worry. It's because there's a 415 00:26:38,270 --> 00:26:42,070 great, glorious God involved. But the minute you turn away and try to do 416 00:26:42,070 --> 00:26:45,990 things on your own, he's not involved. He's a jealous God. He wants 417 00:26:45,990 --> 00:26:49,590 to be on the throne. He wants to be in. He wants to be 418 00:26:50,470 --> 00:26:53,850 not just a part of your life, he wants to be the one driving, driving 419 00:26:53,850 --> 00:26:57,410 the train of your life. So that's why we talked about staying planted. 420 00:26:57,650 --> 00:27:01,490 Here's the thing. Shallow soil looks faithful until the heat comes. 421 00:27:03,490 --> 00:27:07,410 Shallow, it looks faithful until the heat Comes boy, you press you, you know, that's 422 00:27:07,410 --> 00:27:10,770 why I opened the series and I said, man, if I offend you, would you 423 00:27:10,770 --> 00:27:14,730 come back to Springhouse? Because there's some people I'm talking to that are on 424 00:27:14,730 --> 00:27:18,570 shallow soil. The minute they don't like something that they. The 425 00:27:18,570 --> 00:27:21,410 minute they don't like something they hear, they go somewhere else. And here, guess what? 426 00:27:21,410 --> 00:27:25,330 In Tennessee, see, there's a church on every corner. Find whatever brand you 427 00:27:25,330 --> 00:27:29,050 want. You can get anybody to say whatever you want. You can tailor, make 428 00:27:29,050 --> 00:27:32,090 your faith all you want and God not be anything part of it. 429 00:27:33,370 --> 00:27:37,290 Shallow soil. Jesus is warning about Jesus, you know, he's 430 00:27:37,290 --> 00:27:40,930 teaching, he's warning about this. This is problematic. And this was 431 00:27:40,930 --> 00:27:44,850 Israel's problem. Roots are not built in moments, they're built in 432 00:27:44,850 --> 00:27:48,850 seasons. It takes time to be rooted in. So many of us would jet 433 00:27:48,850 --> 00:27:52,600 and jump the ship the minute we begin to feel something that doesn't suggest coming 434 00:27:52,670 --> 00:27:56,150 comfort. I'm going to say something and you're not going to like it. Are you 435 00:27:56,150 --> 00:27:59,630 ready? Here we go. Jesus didn't come to give you a better life. 436 00:28:00,190 --> 00:28:04,110 He came to change your life. He did. Well, what about that 437 00:28:04,110 --> 00:28:08,110 passage where he says, I came to give you abundant life? Here's the thing. 438 00:28:08,270 --> 00:28:11,950 Our definition of abundant life and his. Two different things. 439 00:28:12,510 --> 00:28:16,430 Two very different things. This is not a 440 00:28:16,430 --> 00:28:20,310 better your life so that you can have so much more in this world, 441 00:28:20,310 --> 00:28:23,990 so that you can feel good in this world. He's actually trying to get you 442 00:28:23,990 --> 00:28:27,770 to look other, other than this world. And in that process, in 443 00:28:27,770 --> 00:28:31,210 that process, he's come to change your life. Are you letting him change your life? 444 00:28:32,170 --> 00:28:35,530 Are you letting him change your life? Soil number three. It's the thorns. 445 00:28:35,770 --> 00:28:39,770 Okay, this is interesting. The seed falling among the thorns 446 00:28:39,770 --> 00:28:43,690 refers to someone who hears the word. But the worries of this 447 00:28:43,690 --> 00:28:46,570 life and the deceitfulness of wealth 448 00:28:47,450 --> 00:28:50,730 choked the word, making it unfruit fruitful. 449 00:28:51,290 --> 00:28:55,250 Now, don't just hone in on the wealth, money part. Wealth could 450 00:28:55,250 --> 00:28:59,170 be anything that you've invested, entrenched yourself into that you trust more 451 00:28:59,170 --> 00:29:03,170 than you trust God. And so what are those 452 00:29:03,170 --> 00:29:07,170 things that we place so much faith in, so much time 453 00:29:07,170 --> 00:29:10,890 and so. And we're not. It's that principle that I said last week of 454 00:29:10,890 --> 00:29:14,530 God, I want to follow you, but I want to bring the empire and the 455 00:29:14,530 --> 00:29:18,100 castle that I've built with me. And he says, no, I want you to lay 456 00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:20,740 that down. You remember the parable of the young rich ruler? 457 00:29:22,020 --> 00:29:25,580 He had obeyed all the rules. He did everything. He checked the list. I Mean, 458 00:29:25,580 --> 00:29:28,580 good, he was righteous. What else is required? 459 00:29:29,620 --> 00:29:32,260 Go sell everything you own and follow me. 460 00:29:33,540 --> 00:29:37,460 How does that strike you this morning? How does this strike 461 00:29:37,460 --> 00:29:41,300 you today? When the Lord says, I want you to surrender it all. 462 00:29:42,650 --> 00:29:45,890 I really, truly want you to surrender. But, God, you don't understand. I don't know 463 00:29:45,890 --> 00:29:49,770 how we're going to make ends meet if I surrender this. He says, I do. 464 00:29:50,730 --> 00:29:54,610 He says, I'm the guy that owns the cattle on the hill. But 465 00:29:54,610 --> 00:29:57,050 here's what we also don't take time to really consider. 466 00:29:58,650 --> 00:30:02,570 Maybe. Maybe in the midst of you letting go, 467 00:30:02,890 --> 00:30:06,850 he's actually trying to refine you from cluttering up your homes and your 468 00:30:06,850 --> 00:30:10,470 barns and your houses with a bunch of stuff you don't need. See, it's not 469 00:30:10,470 --> 00:30:13,710 just about him meeting us in this castle we built here 470 00:30:14,510 --> 00:30:18,230 in the world. It's about us becoming like him. Matthew 471 00:30:18,230 --> 00:30:21,910 6 says, Seek first the kingdom of God and all this will be added to 472 00:30:21,910 --> 00:30:25,630 you. It says, do not store up treasures here on earth that where 473 00:30:25,630 --> 00:30:29,430 moth and vermin destroy, but store up your treasure in 474 00:30:29,430 --> 00:30:33,350 heaven. The things that. Listen, when you are looking at somebody in this 475 00:30:33,350 --> 00:30:36,870 world right now, can think of somebody. I can think of a few somebodies. I 476 00:30:36,870 --> 00:30:40,800 look and go, God, they are no more following you than the man on the 477 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,560 moon. And they are seen so blessed. So. And he said, this is what he 478 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,360 said. It's so convicting. They are so blessed. God, he said, can you define 479 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,320 blessing for me? I said, oh, Lord, forgive me, forgive 480 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:56,200 me in the world's eyes. Yeah, they're big bank 481 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,720 accounts. Big bank accounts. They don't have what I have. 482 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:05,010 I've got the God of the universe and I don't want to trade them out 483 00:31:05,010 --> 00:31:09,010 for anything. So go on and buy your big cars and buy your big 484 00:31:09,010 --> 00:31:12,570 things and do all of that stuff, but you're headed toward 485 00:31:12,570 --> 00:31:16,490 destruction. It's not going to bring you peace and joy. And that's what this soil 486 00:31:16,490 --> 00:31:19,650 is, these thorny soils, it actually gets down. 487 00:31:21,090 --> 00:31:24,610 You actually know the word of God. And actually there's things that sprout up, 488 00:31:25,170 --> 00:31:29,170 but there's some thorns in it. There's some places in it that aren't 489 00:31:29,170 --> 00:31:32,960 supposed to be there. There. God tells his people, 490 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,960 the exiles, he says, I want you to do this. Build houses, plant gardens, 491 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,800 but do not listen to the false prophets that are among you. 492 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,080 The danger wasn't persecution. Listen, this is important, 493 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,360 guys, listen, as you're sitting on your couch, sipping your latte, I'm going to tell 494 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:51,760 you, the danger is comfort. And I'm guilty. 495 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:56,040 The danger is comfort, guys. We can't 496 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,920 allow the comforts of this world to supersede 497 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:03,180 what our call is and what he's asked us to do. That prayer that we 498 00:32:03,180 --> 00:32:07,140 prayed at the beginning of service, give us eyes and ears 499 00:32:07,140 --> 00:32:10,300 and a heart posture to notice the needs around us. 500 00:32:11,420 --> 00:32:15,300 Most needs in my life that I see come at inconvenient 501 00:32:15,300 --> 00:32:19,300 moments. They cause if I'm going to respond, that means I have to 502 00:32:19,300 --> 00:32:22,980 give up something that I want to do. And you know what? The 503 00:32:22,980 --> 00:32:26,580 incredible thing is not only, okay, look at me, I've done a good deed. 504 00:32:26,580 --> 00:32:30,430 I've gone and done this almost all the time. God 505 00:32:30,430 --> 00:32:33,670 has something for me in that as well. He's trying to teach me something. 506 00:32:34,390 --> 00:32:38,350 Making that call, showing up for somebody, doing that thing. Now, how do I 507 00:32:38,350 --> 00:32:41,430 know? How do I recognize that there's a need 508 00:32:42,310 --> 00:32:46,230 and how do I have the tenacity to actually respond 509 00:32:46,230 --> 00:32:50,070 to it? This is where we talked about the Holy Spirit. You 510 00:32:50,070 --> 00:32:53,910 need the Holy Spirit. Can I tell you this happened to a. 511 00:32:53,910 --> 00:32:57,220 I heard this story, and it happened to a pastor. And I'll tell you the 512 00:32:57,220 --> 00:32:59,700 truth. It happened to me, and I couldn't believe it. I said, no, I'm just 513 00:32:59,700 --> 00:33:02,300 thinking of this because of the story. And the Holy Spirit said, do you know 514 00:33:02,300 --> 00:33:06,300 my voice? And it's silly. I went to the freezer to get ice cream, 515 00:33:06,540 --> 00:33:09,020 and I put it in my. I got the ice cream, I pulled it. And 516 00:33:09,020 --> 00:33:11,260 the Holy Spirit said, I don't want you to eat that. And I don't remember 517 00:33:11,260 --> 00:33:14,300 where that. I don't remember what pastor. There's a pastor that happened to. There's a 518 00:33:14,300 --> 00:33:17,940 story that somebody shared here. And I thought about that story at that moment, and 519 00:33:17,940 --> 00:33:20,740 the Holy Spirit said, I want you to eat that ice cream. And I had 520 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:24,430 to literally delineate. Lord, is this you or the story? And I 521 00:33:24,430 --> 00:33:27,950 said, you know, I do not want a chance this not being youg voice. I 522 00:33:27,950 --> 00:33:31,950 put it away. And sure enough, when I went, listen, I'm not gonna go into 523 00:33:31,950 --> 00:33:35,630 why. How I knew it was the Holy Spirit. It was clearly 524 00:33:35,870 --> 00:33:39,790 the Holy Spirit. Guys, do you know his voice? He 525 00:33:39,790 --> 00:33:43,390 cares about every little detail. And so 526 00:33:44,350 --> 00:33:48,310 we look at this, the Holy Spirit. Here's the thing. The Holy 527 00:33:48,310 --> 00:33:51,880 Spirit gives you the power to focus on the kingdom to which you belong. Belong. 528 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,680 Instead of the kingdom of the world. He gives you the power to focus on 529 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,680 the kingdom to which you belong. 530 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,920 Some of you need to stop stealing Netflix subscriptions. 531 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,880 Some of you need to stop allowing yourself to be convinced that 532 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,720 you're owed something from the world just because you're not being caught and 533 00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:15,160 justifying these decisions, justifying the decisions 534 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,400 just because you might not get caught or it seems right, guys, I can 535 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,720 justify myself out of a bag. It doesn't make it right. The Holy Spirit speaking 536 00:34:22,720 --> 00:34:26,480 to you. You, I would say at this point, it's 537 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:30,360 silent in this room. It really is silent in this room because it's the 538 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,320 conviction of the Holy Spirit. I want to look like Jesus. I don't 539 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,040 want to look like the world. And I pray that that's who you would want 540 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,880 to be too. That's the delineation between these thorns. 541 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,880 Soil number four talks about the good soil. There's a 542 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,680 good soil. This is what he says. But the seed falling on good soil 543 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:53,680 refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. 544 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,120 This is the one who produces a crop yielding 160 and 30 545 00:34:58,120 --> 00:34:59,840 times what is sown. 546 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:05,760 We want to be about a life that produces, that 547 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,760 produces and that produces, not produces in the world things that 548 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,360 are going to die, but it produces things that stick around for 549 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,280 eternity. I want to be about eternal purposes. That's 550 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:21,000 what I want my life really to be about. Now. Now do I succumb to 551 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,480 worldly things, man? All the time I have to wrestle with that. I need the 552 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,360 Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit to help me. I want to be good soil. 553 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:32,120 I want to be good soil. So we look at the. Okay, they're exile. 554 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,000 They're in exile. Have you ever read the story of Daniel? Have 555 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,000 you ever read the story of Esther? God's people who had 556 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,960 a heart posture of good soil in the midst of exile? 557 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,990 They thrived. And can I tell you, you can thrive in the middle of 558 00:35:47,990 --> 00:35:51,350 living in this wicked world. You can thrive in the Lord 559 00:35:51,590 --> 00:35:55,590 Jesus Christ. You can thrive on this planet, on this globe right now. 560 00:35:55,590 --> 00:35:59,590 You can thrive. He will give you favor. He will do some things that are 561 00:35:59,590 --> 00:36:03,190 extraordinary, that will blow your mind and give you testimony, 562 00:36:03,510 --> 00:36:07,510 testimonies that say things like. And my teacher said to me, 563 00:36:07,830 --> 00:36:11,710 every Friday you get some ice cream. She 564 00:36:11,710 --> 00:36:13,800 didn't talk to her teacher about that. I'm sure 565 00:36:16,030 --> 00:36:19,910 you can't make this stuff up. The Holy Spirit is active and 566 00:36:19,910 --> 00:36:22,670 alive and real. And he's real. 567 00:36:24,190 --> 00:36:28,110 So the good story. I want you to understand the good soil. 568 00:36:28,590 --> 00:36:32,470 Nothing changed about the seed. Do you 569 00:36:32,470 --> 00:36:36,350 understand? Nothing changed. Whatever the soil was, whether it 570 00:36:36,350 --> 00:36:40,350 was hard, thorny, rocky or good soil, the seed was the same. The word 571 00:36:40,350 --> 00:36:44,080 is the same. Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth 572 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,000 and the life. The he never changed he says, I am the same. Yesterday, 573 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,000 today, and forevermore. He doesn't change. The Word doesn't change. Now 574 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,480 we want it to change. We like to form it around our lives. 575 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,600 But the Word of God is the Word of God. It doesn't change. The seed 576 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:03,560 did not change. Nothing changed about the seed. What changed was 577 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,430 the soil. The soil changed. Changed. It's the 578 00:37:07,430 --> 00:37:11,110 soil. And the thing in us that must change, guys, is our 579 00:37:11,110 --> 00:37:14,950 heart. The soil represents the heart. And I 580 00:37:14,950 --> 00:37:18,590 don't know how that happens until, in this 581 00:37:18,990 --> 00:37:21,310 world we live in, until you make room, 582 00:37:23,150 --> 00:37:26,990 until you stay a little while, until you 583 00:37:27,390 --> 00:37:28,830 receive the helper. 584 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,560 And then you get to know the Word. 585 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:41,240 Until you get to know the Word. 586 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:47,200 The Word of God flourishes when the heart is in a 587 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,120 posture to receive. The Word of God flourishes 588 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,920 when the heart is in a posture to receive. 589 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,710 That's good soil. When I was. When I was 590 00:37:58,790 --> 00:38:02,710 in sixth grade, I'm gonna tell my parents here. Don't judge them, okay? But 591 00:38:02,710 --> 00:38:06,350 when I was in sixth grade, my brother was in fourth grade. My parents worked 592 00:38:06,350 --> 00:38:09,390 third shift. They had to work to make ends meet and all that. And they 593 00:38:09,390 --> 00:38:13,190 both worked third shift. And they left us at home from 12 to 594 00:38:13,190 --> 00:38:15,590 6. And we would sleep through the night. They would come wake us up in 595 00:38:15,590 --> 00:38:19,150 the morning. We'd go to school. School's across the road from us. I had a 596 00:38:19,150 --> 00:38:22,990 King James Bible. I had a King James Bible. And every 597 00:38:22,990 --> 00:38:26,630 night before they left, before I would pray that I would go to sleep before 598 00:38:26,630 --> 00:38:29,910 they left because I didn't want to be awake. And I took that King James. 599 00:38:30,290 --> 00:38:32,970 Have you ever had a stuffed animal you slept with? I slept with my King 600 00:38:32,970 --> 00:38:36,970 James Bible. And I'm telling you that Bible. I don't know exactly where that Bible 601 00:38:36,970 --> 00:38:39,450 is right now. I can tell you the COVID is all bent out of shape. 602 00:38:39,450 --> 00:38:43,250 There's pages altered. Because I literally slept with the Word of God 603 00:38:44,930 --> 00:38:48,890 because he brought me comfort. And the truth 604 00:38:48,890 --> 00:38:52,730 of God's Word will bring you comfort, 605 00:38:52,730 --> 00:38:56,530 guys. I love the Word of God. 606 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,480 Here's the thing. We don't read the Bible for 607 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,360 knowledge. You read the Bible to have an encounter with the 608 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:09,080 Holy God. To have an encounter with the holy 609 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:12,360 God, Jesus. In John, 610 00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:16,400 he says, I am the Word. He was the Word. He was there at the 611 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:20,360 beginning. If we had the closest thing, I believe, that we have to 612 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:24,090 a tangible Jesus word, all of 613 00:39:24,090 --> 00:39:27,570 this points to him. All of this points to him. 614 00:39:28,210 --> 00:39:31,850 In John 1, it says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was 615 00:39:31,850 --> 00:39:35,290 the light of men. The light shines in the darkness. And the 616 00:39:35,290 --> 00:39:39,250 darkness has not overcome it. Guys, go ahead and turn off the lights for me 617 00:39:40,530 --> 00:39:43,330 now. I don't know. Okay, I guess you can still see if you are watching 618 00:39:43,330 --> 00:39:46,850 on camera back here, but it's dark in here and if you were here, you'd 619 00:39:46,850 --> 00:39:50,720 feel this darkness. Okay, it's dark. This 620 00:39:50,720 --> 00:39:54,560 world is darkness. And guess what? This world 621 00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:58,680 also has a king. And the Bible calls him the Father 622 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,680 of lies. The Father of lies. And when we succumb 623 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,760 to the world and we bow down to the world and we do the things 624 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:09,280 in the world, we are bowing down to the Father of lies. Some of us, 625 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,960 so much so that we have believed what the Father of lies says about us. 626 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,230 But God says, I am light. Turn on that light. God 627 00:40:18,230 --> 00:40:21,710 says I am light. And anywhere there is darkness, there is an 628 00:40:21,710 --> 00:40:25,150 opportunity to find the light. If you are walking in the middle of 629 00:40:25,150 --> 00:40:28,470 temptation, find the pathway out. He always gives one. 630 00:40:29,430 --> 00:40:33,430 Find where he's illuminating the path and step into it. But here's the thing. 631 00:40:33,430 --> 00:40:36,910 I don't know what it is about us, but we tend to dance around the 632 00:40:36,910 --> 00:40:40,870 light or we tend to go, here I am 633 00:40:41,430 --> 00:40:45,360 and then out again. Why in the world would we have one foot? You 634 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,920 know what the Bible tells us about somebody that has their foot in the world 635 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:51,600 and their foot in the kingdom? That's a double minded man. And you know what 636 00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:55,520 a double minded man is? Unstable in all of his ways. Unstable 637 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:59,360 in all of his ways. We are invited to be 638 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,320 in the light. And being in the light requires us, 639 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,120 listen, requires us to understand and know truth. 640 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:11,160 Because the world is telling us what a truth is, what a light is, but 641 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,750 it's actually real. It says that the enemy, the 642 00:41:14,750 --> 00:41:18,550 devourer, the Satan, he masquerades. 643 00:41:19,270 --> 00:41:23,070 He pretends that he knows that he's the truth and he's not the 644 00:41:23,070 --> 00:41:26,910 truth. How am I going to know the truth of God's Word without 645 00:41:26,910 --> 00:41:30,710 the Holy Spirit? I've got to slow down. I've got to stay rooted. I need 646 00:41:30,710 --> 00:41:34,590 the Holy Spirit so that I can know that this 647 00:41:34,590 --> 00:41:38,230 Word is true. I can allow it to be written on the flesh tablets of 648 00:41:38,230 --> 00:41:42,180 my heart. I can live by. I can trust in the Lord with 649 00:41:42,180 --> 00:41:45,940 all my heart and not lean on my own understanding. He can make all of 650 00:41:45,940 --> 00:41:49,900 my paths straight. Because I can trust in every word that's 651 00:41:49,900 --> 00:41:53,300 written here. I don't have to try to decipher it. It's simple. 652 00:41:54,100 --> 00:41:56,820 It's God's word and it's truth. And here's the thing I wanted to say this 653 00:41:56,820 --> 00:42:00,260 this morning. If you think 654 00:42:00,740 --> 00:42:04,740 that reading God's word is boring, it's because your 655 00:42:04,740 --> 00:42:06,820 relationship with Jesus is so shallow. 656 00:42:08,570 --> 00:42:11,770 When we go into reading the Word of God, 657 00:42:12,810 --> 00:42:16,450 it's not like reading a book. I read books. There's lots of books. This is 658 00:42:16,450 --> 00:42:20,210 not a book. This is alive and active. It's a 659 00:42:20,210 --> 00:42:23,890 person. So when I read the book, it's as if I'm 660 00:42:23,890 --> 00:42:27,610 interacting with Jesus. I'm interacting with the 661 00:42:27,610 --> 00:42:31,450 Lord. I'm getting to know his heart. And here's what's wonderful. 662 00:42:31,770 --> 00:42:35,700 He's telling me, telling me about mine. He's telling me about 663 00:42:35,700 --> 00:42:39,700 my life. He's wooing me into the light and he says, kevin, I've 664 00:42:39,700 --> 00:42:43,620 got great glorious things for you. And guess what? You think your life 665 00:42:43,620 --> 00:42:47,140 is something here in this short little lived life on this planet. 666 00:42:47,300 --> 00:42:51,260 I've got an eternity for you. There's gonna come a time where I'm gonna, 667 00:42:51,260 --> 00:42:54,140 you know, that pain and that sorrow and that suffering. There's gonna come a time 668 00:42:54,140 --> 00:42:57,880 when I'm gonna wipe every tear from every eye. Can't you? Can't you? 669 00:42:58,270 --> 00:43:01,910 But can you believe it? Our great glorious God. And you know what else it 670 00:43:01,910 --> 00:43:05,070 says in here? He says that he loves me. Do you know there's so many 671 00:43:05,070 --> 00:43:08,390 times. There's been so long in my life, there's been so many times when I 672 00:43:08,390 --> 00:43:11,910 did not feel loved. I didn't believe that anybody knew my name. 673 00:43:11,910 --> 00:43:15,630 Truly, he knows my name. He loves me like none other. 674 00:43:15,710 --> 00:43:19,190 He has things to say about me. There's times when I'm stepping into darkness and 675 00:43:19,190 --> 00:43:23,070 I'm believing this Father of lies. And he says, open up the truth. 676 00:43:23,070 --> 00:43:26,570 I want to tell you something about what I see in you, my child. And 677 00:43:26,570 --> 00:43:30,570 he's saying the same thing today. Guys, listen to you today. He's 678 00:43:30,570 --> 00:43:34,530 saying these same things. Guys, listen. I love the Word of God. 679 00:43:35,810 --> 00:43:39,770 I believe that the Word of God, having a relationship 680 00:43:39,770 --> 00:43:43,330 with the Word of God is essential in the life of a believer. 681 00:43:43,650 --> 00:43:47,490 It's essential. I don't 682 00:43:47,490 --> 00:43:51,190 know another way to say it would be, okay, I want you not to 683 00:43:51,190 --> 00:43:54,710 eat anything or drink anything for six weeks and tell me how you feel. 684 00:43:55,430 --> 00:43:59,390 I mean, it's that important. It's the sustenance that we have 685 00:43:59,390 --> 00:44:03,270 as believers. Word. Understanding it. And you turn on the 686 00:44:03,270 --> 00:44:06,230 lights now. Understanding it and believing and 687 00:44:06,790 --> 00:44:10,390 ordering our lives, doing what it says. Guys, 688 00:44:11,590 --> 00:44:14,550 it's so important. It's so important. 689 00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:19,760 So here's the thing. We come in here week 690 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:21,040 after week after week 691 00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:26,320 and we present the Word of God. 692 00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:32,520 And you might wonder, well, why am I not connecting 693 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,320 with it? Or why do I not honestly 694 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,960 desire to have a relationship with this word? 695 00:44:41,930 --> 00:44:44,730 Have you made room to slow down? 696 00:44:46,570 --> 00:44:50,530 Have you camped for a moment? Some would say I've never heard the voice 697 00:44:50,530 --> 00:44:54,250 of the Lord. Well, have you slowed down enough to 698 00:44:54,250 --> 00:44:58,090 actually listen? Have you stayed long 699 00:44:58,090 --> 00:45:01,970 enough to hear his voice? Have you 700 00:45:01,970 --> 00:45:05,890 asked to receive the helper? Guys, there's moments when 701 00:45:05,890 --> 00:45:09,550 I need direction from the Lord. I have to say, lord, would you speak to 702 00:45:09,550 --> 00:45:12,790 me right now? Lord, would you direct my path? 703 00:45:13,590 --> 00:45:17,510 Guys? And I know that there's just. There can be 704 00:45:17,510 --> 00:45:20,670 a sermon about how God doesn't answer sometimes. And, I mean, there's a period in 705 00:45:20,670 --> 00:45:24,670 scripture where he's silent, you know, and things like that. In my life, I 706 00:45:24,670 --> 00:45:28,630 tend to believe. I choose to believe he's speaking all of the time. It's actually 707 00:45:28,630 --> 00:45:32,510 more about whether I'm paying attention. He speaks so often to 708 00:45:32,510 --> 00:45:35,780 me, and a lot of times he speaks through his Word. I can't tell you. 709 00:45:35,780 --> 00:45:39,620 We're on this Bible reading plan. I was, oh, there's Will. Where's Jonathan? 710 00:45:39,700 --> 00:45:43,340 I thought. Jonathan. I was having a conversation with Pastor Jonathan. And 711 00:45:43,340 --> 00:45:47,340 literally, literally, the scripture we read that morning, I read that morning, 712 00:45:47,340 --> 00:45:51,100 just literally comes up in the conversation. Have this ever happened to you? You're just 713 00:45:51,100 --> 00:45:55,020 reading the scripture, Will, and you're just going through, and it's like, I literally. I'm 714 00:45:55,020 --> 00:45:59,020 in this situation. I'm in a problem. I'm on a thing. And it's literally the 715 00:45:59,020 --> 00:46:02,980 word that you read that morning because you. What? Why? Why? 716 00:46:02,980 --> 00:46:06,940 Listen, we took the time, right? We 717 00:46:06,940 --> 00:46:10,580 took the time. You stayed planted. You're 718 00:46:10,580 --> 00:46:14,460 listening to the Holy Spirit. And now your responsibility is to do what the word 719 00:46:14,460 --> 00:46:18,420 of God says, and it will produce something wonderful. What 720 00:46:18,420 --> 00:46:21,900 is it? What is he going to produce? It's going to produce fruit. 721 00:46:23,020 --> 00:46:27,000 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. You. And when you 722 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,960 do, you will produce fruit. Listen, the charge is not for you to 723 00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:34,720 go out and make fruit happen. Fruit just happens 724 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:38,880 when we remain. Okay, we're going to be talking about that, 725 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:42,320 but we can't even get to this place of remaining guys, until we slow down 726 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:46,240 enough, stay rooted, know the Holy Spirit, and understand that we have access 727 00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:51,040 to this incredible, incredible word. So 728 00:46:52,250 --> 00:46:55,530 let me challenge you this morning just for a moment. I'm going to be quiet 729 00:46:55,530 --> 00:46:59,410 for a moment here. The people that are listening to this message 730 00:46:59,410 --> 00:47:01,530 with you, your kids, your spouse, 731 00:47:03,050 --> 00:47:06,930 what's your relationship to the Word? Go ahead and discuss that right now. What's your 732 00:47:06,930 --> 00:47:09,370 relationship to the Word? Of God. Do you read it daily? 733 00:47:11,050 --> 00:47:14,890 Sometimes. Talk about that for a minute 734 00:47:14,890 --> 00:47:15,210 here. 735 00:47:38,980 --> 00:47:42,965 I did not do that to shame anybody. I did 736 00:47:42,965 --> 00:47:46,620 not that. Because to me, it's like me handing you 737 00:47:46,620 --> 00:47:50,460 food if you're starving, handing you water 738 00:47:50,460 --> 00:47:53,740 when you're thirsty. This is important. 739 00:47:54,380 --> 00:47:58,060 And you have the ability to change the trajectory of your life 740 00:47:58,140 --> 00:48:01,940 by getting into the truth of God's word. Commit to it. 741 00:48:01,940 --> 00:48:05,580 Start now. Start today. You know, sometimes we use the excuse, oh, I went to 742 00:48:05,580 --> 00:48:09,430 church. I don't need to read. I read on Sundays, too. I 743 00:48:09,430 --> 00:48:12,550 know better than anybody else, but I read on Sundays. Here's my regimen. I get 744 00:48:12,550 --> 00:48:16,350 up in the morning before the kids get up. I go downstairs. I make 745 00:48:16,350 --> 00:48:19,390 my Guys, I make my coffee. I do have coffee with the Word. Anybody else? 746 00:48:19,390 --> 00:48:22,950 Okay. I have coffee with the Word. Okay, But I sit down there, and guys, 747 00:48:23,190 --> 00:48:26,830 I don't spend an hour or two. Sometimes there are moments like that, 748 00:48:26,830 --> 00:48:30,750 okay? I sit down 10, 15 minutes, I open the 749 00:48:30,750 --> 00:48:34,550 Word, and I got a highlighter. And before 750 00:48:34,710 --> 00:48:37,790 I even start reading, reading, the first thing I do, 751 00:48:38,190 --> 00:48:42,190 created margin. I planted myself. I say, holy Spirit, 752 00:48:44,670 --> 00:48:46,990 you love me. Would you speak to me today? 753 00:48:48,670 --> 00:48:52,350 And I'm spending time with my best friend in that moment. 754 00:48:53,310 --> 00:48:57,110 And I open the Word and I just start to highlight. And it's like these 755 00:48:57,110 --> 00:49:01,070 words jump off the page and they change my heart, my life, and my perspective. 756 00:49:01,790 --> 00:49:05,510 And then I set that aside, and I've got a commentary. A big, 757 00:49:05,510 --> 00:49:09,270 thick. Pastor Bruce gave it to me. Mark Arthur commentary. 758 00:49:09,350 --> 00:49:13,270 And it's what it is. It's actually the Word again. And it just 759 00:49:13,270 --> 00:49:17,270 goes into more context so I can better understand if there's a question, 760 00:49:17,350 --> 00:49:21,110 like, I'm maybe curious of the timing or the place this 761 00:49:21,110 --> 00:49:25,070 happened, and it dives in a little deeper. And then at the end, I 762 00:49:25,070 --> 00:49:28,950 say, lord, thank you. Would you use this truth this morning 763 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:34,000 to transform my life? Now, that's my. That's. That's what I do. 764 00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:37,400 Will could come. Barbie could come. Will could come. Every. All the pat. They could 765 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:41,120 come and share. This is what we do. Okay, I don't do that. Listen, I 766 00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:42,400 don't do that because I'm a pastor. 767 00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:47,920 I do that because I'm a believer in Jesus. And he's my. 768 00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,400 The Lord is my best friend, and I want to know him more. I need 769 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,010 him, and you do, too. Make a 770 00:49:56,010 --> 00:49:59,450 commitment to be in the Word. Make a commitment. It is so 771 00:49:59,690 --> 00:50:03,690 important. So in keeping with our journey, 772 00:50:03,690 --> 00:50:07,170 next week I'm going to invite Pastor Justin to come, and he's going to talk 773 00:50:07,170 --> 00:50:11,050 about what it looks like to be intimate with the Lord. Intimate 774 00:50:11,050 --> 00:50:14,810 places. Intimacy with this friend that we have. 775 00:50:15,690 --> 00:50:16,650 Let's worship.