Well, good evening, Springhouse. Can we show our

appreciation for, uh, the cafe tonight for

preparing a meal for us? And we're glad that you're here to kick

off Abide 2026, our Springhouse Conference. I'm

so, so delighted to see you guys here. You know, one of the things about

these, um, uh, missions and outreach opportunities

that I love is not only do we support— these are not

These are not just random outreaches that we selected. We

actually trust the men and women behind the mission, but more than that, we trust

the Jesus inside the men and women behind the

outreaches and missions. Now, Sherri and I, we're gonna sow into

every one of the outreaches that are here, gonna be speaking through the conference.

Hal, could you real quick, and I didn't ask you this, I want to instruct

people, how can people give if they wanna sow into this? How can they give?

Can they go on the app and do that?

Denote at the bottom? Okay, on the check, or is there a

way on there in the app to denote that? Okay, all right, we'll make

sure to have that cleaned up for sure tomorrow, but if you feel

led to give specifically to these different missions and outreaches

as they're sharing, we want to make sure that you have an opportunity

to do that, okay? Praise the Lord! Are you ready for tonight?

Man, the Holy Spirit is He's been doing some things.

And one of the things last night that we had the privilege to do is

we gathered all of our leaders and we were at a table, and the question

was, "What was one of the things that you appreciate about SpringHouse?"

And one of the things that Rhonda actually had mentioned

that she appreciates about SpringHouse is the variety of speakers. Not

variety, just variety of speakers, but that we have multiple gifted and

anointed speakers here at this house that are able to

handle the Word of Truth in the right way. And guys,

You guys, we are in for a treat tonight, because Pastor Jonathan doesn't only

carry an anointing for leading worship, but he carries an anointing

in teaching the Word. It's not his favorite thing to do, and

it's what makes it more powerful though, because he's going to bring what he

believes he's convicted to bring. Would you guys welcome my— one of my

closest friends, Jonathan Grisham.

One day we'll get one of those tables that lifts

up out of the stage and goes back in when you've

talked for too long.

Good evening. Welcome to night one of

Springhouse Abide Conference. I'll be your host for the evening.

I am grateful for the opportunity to teach. I'm super

thankful that I don't have to follow any of the other

sessions that we have planned. Um, so we'll see.

I think the greatest place to start is reading the word together and

praying together. So if you would please stand with me as we read,

get ready for it. Here we go. I am the

true vine and my Father is the gardener. He

cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.

While every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already

clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Remain in me, and I also remain in you.

No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must

remain in the vine. Neither can you bear

fruit unless you remain in me. I am the

vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me

and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart

from me you can do nothing. If you do not

remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away

and withers. Such branches are picked up,

thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain

in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever

you wish, and it will be done for you. This is

to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,

showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the

Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love. Keep going, come on. If you keep

my commands, you will remain in my love, just

as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in

his love. I have told you this so that my joy may

be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I

have loved you. Greater love has no one than

this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

If you are my friends, if you do what I command,

I no longer call you servants, because a

servant does not know his master's business. Instead,

I have called you friends, for everything I learned

from my Father I have made known to you. You

did not choose me, but I chose you and

appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit,

fruit that will last. Come on! And so that whatever you

ask in my name, the Father will give you.

This is my command: Love each other. If the

world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me

first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you

as its own. As it is, you do not belong

to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you. Almost there.

Remember what I told you: A servant is not greater

than his master. If they persecuted me, they

will persecute you also. If they obeyed my

teaching, they will obey yours also. They will

treat you this way because of my name, for they do

not know the one who sent me. If I had not come

and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin,

but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.

'If I had not done among them the works no one else

did, they would not be guilty of sin. As

it is, they have seen and yet they have hated

both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill

what is written in their law: They hated me without

reason.' Can you do one more? 'When the Advocate

comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—'

The Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He

will testify about Me, and you also must

testify, for you have been with Me from the

beginning. Father, we thank You for Your Word.

Holy Spirit, I pray that You would help us to

calm and quiet the worries we have brought into this place.

Holy Spirit, I pray that you would help me teach with clarity.

Help us all to receive with humility.

Help the greatest, the deepest treasure of our heart be

to glorify you, Jesus. In your name we pray,

amen. Church, you may be seated.

Okay, first thing I want to say, congratulations to all

of you you have completed your Bible reading for

the day. You don't have to worry about it. You've been

given a launch pad to continue on with us through the

conference and through the rest of the year. And if you've already

completed your Bible reading for the day, I guess I'm sorry I

made you read more scripture.

So I'd like to ask you some questions. I want you to be honest, and

I want you to be honest quietly to yourselves if you can. Handle it.

Have you ever wondered why we stand together and

read scripture? At any point

when we were standing and read— reading that, did you think, man,

he's got us reading a lot of verses tonight?

At any point when we were reading that, did you think,

I'd rather be sitting down while we read all these verses tonight?

At any point while we were reading that, did you zone out?

You have no idea what was in the middle there. And, um, if your

answer, uh, was no to all those questions, that's amazing. So let

me expand the parameters a little bit. Have you ever had those

thoughts ever during a service here, or

even while reading scripture at home by yourself? Have you gone from point A

to point B of a passage and just gone, what in the world

did I just read? And I wanted to

expand those parameters as far as possible because I think if we're going to

feel some conviction about something, let's do it together

in unity. Amen. I will

be the first to answer yes to all those questions.

And when I was studying for this message, I spent a whole lot of time

in 2 Chronicles and Ezra, Nehemiah, and I, I saw something

familiar to our services and relevant to those

questions. And it caused a new question to stir in me

that I'm kind of hoping stirs in all of you tonight as well.

And before we read it, the context leading up to this is that

God's people had been in exile for over 70 years at this

point. And that time of feeling separated from

God's presence and their homeland created desperation

in them, a desperation to return to a

place of abiding with their Father. And it says when they

came back home, they worked to rebuild themselves as worshipers, worked

to rebuild the temple, which functioned as their

center of worship in hopes that God might come

and abide with them again. And during this process, they

gathered together as an assembly, and they asked Ezra, who

was a scribe and a priest, if he would read the book of the Law

of Moses. And it says that he did this from

early morning until midday for several

days. Talk about a lot of verses.

And here I am struggling to figure out how I'm going to,

uh, find time to do Psalm 119 every time it comes up in our Bible

reading plan. As I read,

uh, read Nehemiah 8:5-6, try to play this out in your mind

like a movie, and I'll put it up here.

Ezra opened the book All

the people could see him because he was standing above them.

Sounds familiar. And as he opened it, the people all

stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great

God, and all the people lifted their hands and responded,

Amen, amen. Then they bowed down and

worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

So that moment in Nehemiah comes after centuries of

Israel drifting from God, engaging in idol

worship and compromise and cultural conformity from being

in exile, as detailed through 2 Chronicles. And but

I imagine it's hard for me not to imagine that at this

moment when they come to the word of God, that

surely they knew it was going to challenge and

uproot their lives as they knew it before.

Yet out of their desperation to abide with God again,

opening the scriptures became a holy moment.

It became something worth standing at attention for

and leaning into and remaining

in for a while

and worth responding in

worship. It was worth bringing their lives into

full submission to the Word of God. Now that I know

that this story exists in Scripture, my question is not,

what can we do in our church services to replicate what they're doing?

My question is not, can we incorporate more and

longer Scripture readings to stretch that muscle a bit?

My question has become,

God, can you help me be

more desperate for your word

and for your presence, more desperate for your

love, and to remain there so

that I will be more capable of responding in worship

in a way that brings you glory?

Romans 12 00:13:18

1-2 says, therefore I urge you,

Romans 12 00:13:21

brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies

Romans 12 00:13:25

as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is

Romans 12 00:13:29

your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this

Romans 12 00:13:32

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then

Romans 12 00:13:36

you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good,

Romans 12 00:13:40

pleasing, and perfect will. So Pastor Wayne Berry's

Romans 12 00:13:44

definition of worship is obedient service

Romans 12 00:13:47

manifesting through self-sacrifice. I like that definition.

Romans 12 00:13:52

It holds up for me over time. And so when I say worship

Romans 12 00:13:55

during this teaching, you can think of something like that. Worship is

Romans 12 00:13:59

obedient service manifesting through self-sacrifice. And in

Romans 12 00:14:02

Romans 12, I believe Paul is showing us that it's a

Romans 12 00:14:06

response of worship. Our response of worship is a response in

Romans 12 00:14:10

obedience to the revelation of God's mercy

Romans 12 00:14:14

in our lives. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view

Romans 12 00:14:17

of God's mercy Worship. It's a

Romans 12 00:14:21

response. And also likewise in Nehemiah, our

Romans 12 00:14:25

worship is a response, an obedient response to the

Romans 12 00:14:28

revelation of who God has called and

Romans 12 00:14:32

created us to be according to his word.

Romans 12 00:14:36

What they're saying in there is, so be it unto me according

Romans 12 00:14:40

to your word. He has

Romans 12 00:14:43

created us to be transformed vessels with

Romans 12 00:14:47

renewed minds and regenerated hearts on a mission

Romans 12 00:14:50

to bring Him glory.

Romans 12 00:14:54

And what I find fascinating about this story in Nehemiah is we

Romans 12 00:14:58

don't see a people who know the whole book and

Romans 12 00:15:02

already have it together and all right. We see a

Romans 12 00:15:06

people working through the book and being

Romans 12 00:15:09

diligent to apply what they're learning

Romans 12 00:15:13

Becoming the worshipers God has called us to be

Romans 12 00:15:17

is a process that requires patience, but

Romans 12 00:15:21

it's also a process that demands diligence

Romans 12 00:15:25

and intentionality.

Romans 12 00:15:28

Our primary objective as worshipers is to bring

Romans 12 00:15:32

glory to God. Our primary objective as

Romans 12 00:15:35

worshipers is to bring glory to God. So anytime

Romans 12 00:15:39

we see, or I see, language in scripture that looks like bringing glory

Romans 12 00:15:43

to God, my antennas go up. I want to know about it.

John 15 00:15:47

8 says this:

John 15 00:15:50

Abide. This is to my Father's glory,

John 15 00:15:54

that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my

John 15 00:15:57

disciples. So according to that, the way we bring

John 15 00:16:00

glory to God as worshipers is through bearing fruit. And

John 15 00:16:04

the way we bear fruit is through abiding, which means remaining. You'll

John 15 00:16:08

probably hear this a bunch this weekend— remaining, dwelling

John 15 00:16:12

in Jesus, in his word, and in his love.

John 15 00:16:17

And I think of fruit as something external. It's something you can

John 15 00:16:20

taste and see. Certainly the world around us can

John 15 00:16:24

taste and see. And if we aren't remaining in

John 15 00:16:27

Jesus, if we aren't remaining in his word, and we aren't remaining in his

John 15 00:16:31

love, then the fruit being produced through us won't look

John 15 00:16:35

like Jesus. It won't sound like Jesus, and it

John 15 00:16:39

won't feel like Jesus. And ultimately, it will not

John 15 00:16:42

bring him glory. And I see this as

John 15 00:16:46

a problem that exists today in the modern church

John 15 00:16:51

in two ways. On both sides here, we have a lot of people,

John 15 00:16:54

I feel like, who are in Jesus attempting to

John 15 00:16:58

reflect his love to the world. Without the use of biblical

John 15 00:17:02

principles found in his word. And on

John 15 00:17:05

the other side of that, we have a whole lot of people who are

John 15 00:17:09

in Jesus attempting to share the treasure of his

John 15 00:17:13

word with the world without love.

John 15 00:17:17

So instead of piercing hearts, it looks like getting

John 15 00:17:20

beat over the head. Has anyone been on social

John 15 00:17:24

media lately? Good.

John 15 00:17:28

When our abiding is unbalanced, our worship,

John 15 00:17:32

our fruitful output is unbalanced and doesn't

John 15 00:17:35

look or function like it should. I heard this story

John 15 00:17:39

recently of Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher,

John 15 00:17:43

and he was walking down the street one day and there was a drunk man

John 15 00:17:47

across the street who yelled out to him, "Hey, Mr. Spurgeon!"

John 15 00:17:50

And he said, 'Who are you?' And

John 15 00:17:54

the guy said, 'I'm one of your converts.' And he

John 15 00:17:58

says, 'Well, you must be one of mine because you're certainly not one of the

John 15 00:18:01

Lord's.'

John 15 00:18:06

I didn't say it, Spurgeon did. What? What? What?

John 15 00:18:11

Although this man claimed to be in Jesus, the fruit of his

John 15 00:18:15

life seemed off. His speech slurred,

John 15 00:18:18

his walk stumbled. John 15,

John 15 00:18:22

Jesus says, hearing the word has made us clean.

John 15 00:18:26

He calls us friends because all that he has heard from his Father he has

John 15 00:18:30

made known to us. That tells me that turning and

John 15 00:18:34

tuning our ear to the words of our Father

John 15 00:18:38

is critical for our worship.

John 15 00:18:42

I'm going to put 2 Chronicles 36 up here.

John 15 00:18:47

In 2 Chronicles, it says God's people had been turning away from

John 15 00:18:51

him and his voice for so long

John 15 00:18:55

that it caused this deep suffering in them

John 15 00:18:59

and their dwelling place with God at the

John 15 00:19:02

temple. And the temple to me represents their center of

John 15 00:19:06

worship. And chapter 36 says that out of

John 15 00:19:09

compassion that God had— and compassion is not the same

John 15 00:19:14

is love. Compassion is being stirred from the deepest place of your

John 15 00:19:17

being because you're seeing suffering. So he's seeing suffering in

John 15 00:19:21

his people and in his dwelling place that they can't see. And

John 15 00:19:25

out of that compassion, he sent messengers

John 15 00:19:28

carrying his word over and over to try and restore their

John 15 00:19:32

abiding and repair their center of worship. But his messengers

John 15 00:19:36

were mocked.

John 15 00:19:39

And his word was despised. So the Lord allowed them to be taken

John 15 00:19:43

over by the Babylonians, and their temple, their center of

John 15 00:19:47

worship, was left in ruins. So their

John 15 00:19:50

refusal to remain in God's presence,

John 15 00:19:54

their resistance to his word, and their insistence

John 15 00:19:58

that they knew better than his word

John 15 00:20:01

cost them their entire center of worship.

John 15 00:20:08

Sorry, guys. I don't know.

John 15 00:20:12

I believe God still speaks today. He

John 15 00:20:16

still speaks through His word, and He certainly still speaks

John 15 00:20:20

through people who carry deep reservoirs of His

John 15 00:20:23

word. Sometimes it looks like encouragement. Sometimes

John 15 00:20:27

it looks like correction. And I want to get better

John 15 00:20:31

at turning and tuning my ear to His voice

John 15 00:20:35

because He may be trying to repair my center of

John 15 00:20:38

worship and fix a suffering in me that

John 15 00:20:42

I'm unable to see. There was

John 15 00:20:46

a time very recently I was going through something very difficult

John 15 00:20:49

mentally and spiritually, and all I'll say about it is I

John 15 00:20:53

was going through what I call an intense moment of

John 15 00:20:56

fellowship with people that I love and respect very much. And I got that

John 15 00:21:01

from Mario and Mel Gallione, so you'll know this. A

John 15 00:21:04

decade ago, they taught at a marriage conference here, and they said they never

John 15 00:21:08

got any fights. They've never been in any arguments, but they've

John 15 00:21:12

been in a lot of intense moments of fellowship. And I

John 15 00:21:15

thought, I love that lie, and I'm going to take

John 15 00:21:19

that. That's amazing. So

John 15 00:21:23

during this, these intense moments of fellowship, I would come

John 15 00:21:26

home every night and over dinner I would share with my

John 15 00:21:30

wife Brittney about my day, what I was going through, what I was struggling

John 15 00:21:34

with, uh, the right and wrong of things, all that stuff. And she was very

John 15 00:21:37

patient. She was very understanding. Day after day

John 15 00:21:41

after day, she was listening to me until eventually

John 15 00:21:46

she could see I was starting to shift a little bit. And she said to

John 15 00:21:50

me, you know, I think all of this worry and all

John 15 00:21:54

of this heaviness that you're carrying is

John 15 00:21:57

affecting your peace, and it's

John 15 00:22:01

starting to make you critical, and I'm

John 15 00:22:05

worried that your worship is going to be affected

John 15 00:22:08

from that. And I remember not

John 15 00:22:12

caring for that at all when she said that, and

John 15 00:22:15

intensely, intensely I said,

John 15 00:22:19

what do you mean I don't have peace? I've tried everything I know to be

John 15 00:22:23

peaceful. I am peaceful.

John 15 00:22:27

I said it like that. I, yeah. On an

John 15 00:22:30

unrelated note, a couple nights later, coming

John 15 00:22:34

to my wife, this is totally unrelated, and I'm frustrated.

John 15 00:22:37

I'm telling her I gotta buy a new pair of shoes because in the last

John 15 00:22:41

6 months I've gone through 3 pairs of shoes and

John 15 00:22:45

every pair of shoes, the sole had become detached on one of the

John 15 00:22:49

pairs of shoes. And I'm just, I'm peacefully

John 15 00:22:53

telling her, I want to burn the shoe industry

John 15 00:22:56

to the ground because they've got it out for me. I just

John 15 00:23:00

know it. And I see this smirk on her face and

John 15 00:23:04

I know she's thinking about something. I'm like, and I, you know, what are you

John 15 00:23:07

thinking about? And she says to me something that I imagine

John 15 00:23:11

every man in here can only dream that his wife would say to him.

John 15 00:23:14

She said, You walk funny.

John 15 00:23:21

Okay. I was not prepared for that kind of

John 15 00:23:24

negativity, I'll tell you that. But it caught me so

John 15 00:23:28

off guard, I couldn't even be mad at it. I had to just be

John 15 00:23:31

like, what do you mean I walk funny? And she said,

John 15 00:23:36

on all 3 of the pairs of shoes, it's your right

John 15 00:23:40

shoe that the sole is becoming detached on.

John 15 00:23:43

You walk heavy on your right foot,

John 15 00:23:47

and I couldn't see it. Then she told me the

John 15 00:23:51

reason she can see it is because over a decade ago we were in a

John 15 00:23:55

really bad car accident together where she sustained a pretty

John 15 00:23:58

bad foot injury that required physical therapy. So she

John 15 00:24:02

walked funny at one time, and one of the ways in which they

John 15 00:24:06

helped her was as she was walking there, they would push on her

John 15 00:24:09

back and they would add pressure in the direction that needed to be

John 15 00:24:13

corrected. And absolutely

John 15 00:24:16

nothing about what she's saying is registering to me

John 15 00:24:20

spiritually at this point. I'm still going through all the

John 15 00:24:24

same stuff. So the next day, you know, just

John 15 00:24:28

lost in my thoughts, I'm like, well, I need to go on a funny little

John 15 00:24:30

walk with God, I guess, and, and just

John 15 00:24:34

get alone and get in prayer.

John 15 00:24:38

And I get out there and I start praying, and her words, "You walk funny,"

John 15 00:24:42

just start piercing my heart

John 15 00:24:46

and softening it up. And I went, you know,

John 15 00:24:50

I feel like I might have been fighting for the right things but in the

John 15 00:24:54

wrong way. And I

John 15 00:24:57

couldn't see it,

John 15 00:25:01

but God sent me a person abiding in Jesus,

John 15 00:25:05

abiding in the word, abiding in his love, to be able

John 15 00:25:09

to pierce my heart and help me get my heart back on track

John 15 00:25:12

into that abiding place with Christ and repair

John 15 00:25:16

my center of worship. And after that, after I

John 15 00:25:20

was kind of doing all right, I made the mistake of looking up. I

John 15 00:25:23

thought, you know, I wonder what shoes and feet represent in the armor of

John 15 00:25:27

God. And I went to Ephesians 6:15 and it says,

John 15 00:25:31

and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the

John 15 00:25:35

gospel of peace.

John 15 00:25:39

I am peaceful, he says.

John 15 00:25:43

So spiritually, after that, I started to take

John 15 00:25:47

steps to correct my walk. Okay,

John 15 00:25:50

physically, I still walk funny. I just do it with

John 15 00:25:54

a better pair of shoes. And I was really nervous about sharing this

John 15 00:25:58

story because I'm like, people are going to be like, yeah, he does kind of,

John 15 00:26:00

you know, or whatever. Don't do that.

John 15 00:26:03

Emotionally, I still wonder if there may have been a better way she could

John 15 00:26:07

have said that to me. But the deal

John 15 00:26:11

is, guys, let me take that

John 15 00:26:15

off. The deal is pruning doesn't feel good.

John 15 00:26:20

It involves getting cut. It involves getting

John 15 00:26:24

cut back and getting rid of what needs to be gotten

John 15 00:26:28

rid of. And John 15 guarantees

John 15 00:26:31

that fruit-bearing branches will be cut back so

John 15 00:26:35

that they can continue on in fruitfulness.

John 15 00:26:39

As I was reading through 2 Chronicles, I saw a

John 15 00:26:42

pattern over and over again of some kings that would

John 15 00:26:46

turn from God, and this was most of the kings. They would turn from God

John 15 00:26:49

and they would totally miss it. Then there were some kings who

John 15 00:26:53

would be following the Lord for a long time, but like when it mattered most,

John 15 00:26:57

like at the end of their life, they would turn away and they would totally

John 15 00:27:00

miss. And then there was a small amount of kings who stayed

John 15 00:27:03

connected to God and they got it right, or they

John 15 00:27:07

stayed faithful. And if I'm honest, I can see myself in all

John 15 00:27:11

three of those patterns. But I do think it's easy

John 15 00:27:14

to read scripture sometimes. And, you know, I'm all these thousands

John 15 00:27:18

of years ahead and I see something, somebody doing something stupid,

John 15 00:27:22

and I'm like, look at that dummy. And I forget all

John 15 00:27:26

the time, I'm the dummy in scripture. I am

John 15 00:27:29

not the hero. Jesus is.

John 15 00:27:34

And the common thread in all those stories in Chronicles, 2

John 15 00:27:38

Chronicles, is that the kings that missed it stopped depending on

John 15 00:27:42

God, and the kings that got it right always

John 15 00:27:45

remained careful to depend on God.

John 15 00:27:49

Abiding in worship requires total dependence

John 15 00:27:53

on God. We are unable to bear fruit that brings

John 15 00:27:57

him glory without total dependence on Jesus.

John 15 00:28:02

There was a string of services we had here, I want to say

John 15 00:28:06

2 years ago. The series was all Holy Spirit

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theme, and we did the Fruit of the Spirit, the Gifts of the

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Spirit, and it was just really incredible. And I felt like it seemed like

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every single week there were just these incredible altar

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call moments and move of God in our church, like in

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worship and at the end of service. It was incredible week

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after week after week. And there was one week in particular, so

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many people came up that we didn't have enough people prepared to

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pray. And there were so many people that it was hard to see

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who needed prayer. But I'm up here in this position and I kind of have

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this view. And I see a guy come down that I have never seen before,

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and I've never seen since, just look so

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desperate to hear from the Lord, so desperate. And

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I'm sitting here going, okay, how can I keep facilitating this

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moment but get this man prayed for? And I'm looking around for leaders,

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but everybody's kind of already praying with somebody. And

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I see a guy who's kind of new to our church, but he's raising up

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into leadership. But his eyes are closed like this, and he's in worship.

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And it takes me a minute to get his attention, but I finally do. And

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I point to him to go pray for that guy. And he does. And he

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comes up to me after the service and he says,

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I want you to know that the Holy Spirit spoke straight

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through you today because I saw that man come into the

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altar space and God told me to go pray for him.

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And I said no. And I closed my eyes.

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And I went back into worship.

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I want to be better at opening my eyes and

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responding when an opportunity for true worship

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comes walking into our lives.

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That's crazy stuff. It's so exciting when somebody

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tells you something like that and you got to be a part of it.

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Yeah, I mean, it's just like, what? I mean, I was riding

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that wave for a couple weeks after that, riding that

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wave, and I thought, man, that's an awesome testimony. I can use that

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in a sermon someday. I feel like there's a lot of content that,

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you know, you could just think through that and sit on that for a while.

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Not even 2 weeks later, I find myself over here

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at Kroger. I'm walking in to just get a few things,

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and the Lord illuminates to me a man who's walking with his

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daughter and says, I want you to buy his groceries.

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And I wish I could say that I was still riding that

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wave and had the faith that I had that day.

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But instead, I closed my eyes and I

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thought, God, is that, is that really your voice? What if, what if I don't

John 15 00:30:52

have enough money to pay for what he's wanting to get? What

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if he gets too many things and I, I played that little game with the

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Lord until the opportunity to be obedient walked out the

John 15 00:31:02

door. And I thought

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to myself, I guess that'll make a pretty good sermon

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story too.

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I'm learning to be comfortable with the fact that I'm going to be

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teaching from my failures for quite a while.

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I do not enjoy the feeling of missing God.

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Even though 2 Chronicles 36 shows that God's people

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were ultimately sent into exile because they turned away—

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there are consequences to our disobedience, they were sent into

John 15 00:31:41

exile— verse 21 says something so

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incredible that when I read it, it

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absolutely filled me with hope and wrecked my

John 15 00:31:52

heart in the best way. And I pray it does the same for you.

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It says, during this time of exile, the land enjoyed its

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Sabbath rest. All the time of its desolation, it

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rested until the 70 years were completed in

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fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

John 15 00:32:13

So during their exile, during this time of consequence,

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God was causing the land to rest.

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In other words, God was already preparing a place

John 15 00:32:25

for His people to be fruitful again

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if and when they returned and remained in Him.

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He already began healing and redeeming and

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reconciling the land before they ever accepted it,

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repented, or enter back into it.

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God is patient. God is kind,

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more merciful than we can possibly imagine.

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As worshipers, we should be concerned with how scripture teaches us to bear

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fruit and concerned with how scripture teaches us to

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access fruitfulness again. 2

Chronicles 7 00:33:08

14. If my people who are

Chronicles 7 00:33:12

called by my name will humble themselves and pray and

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seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from

Chronicles 7 00:33:19

heaven. I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Matthew 3 00:33:24

8 is an echo of that. Bear fruit in

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keeping with repentance. Repentance keeps us

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fruitful because it keeps us in

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Christ. I

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repented of that moment several years ago, and

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I try to remain more intentional about

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implementing disciplines of humility,

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seeking God, remembering to stay dependent on him.

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The thing is, like, if we don't get intentional about

Matthew 3 00:33:57

that, I mean, we'll— it's so easy to miss

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it. It'll just, it'll just slip right by.

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And about 2 weeks ago, I'm preparing for this message, preparing

Matthew 3 00:34:08

that I'm going to share these stories, preparing to talk about fruitfulness

Matthew 3 00:34:12

again. And my wife comes to me one night and she says that she's got

Matthew 3 00:34:15

someone on her heart that she would like to give to.

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And I say, that's great, how much? And she says, I don't want to tell

Matthew 3 00:34:23

you because we

Matthew 3 00:34:27

don't have the amount we need to do it. In our giving account,

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but I want God to tell you how much, because then

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I'll know that it's right and there'll be confirmation. Talking

Matthew 3 00:34:38

about dependency, talk about no pressure.

Matthew 3 00:34:43

So I pray, God gives me an amount, I go to Brittney, trembling,

Matthew 3 00:34:47

go to Brittney, tell her the amount. She says, that's exactly

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the number he gave me. So we found a

Matthew 3 00:34:54

way to get the money. And I'm just going, God,

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thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for the

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opportunity to bear fruit again.

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And in all those situations, all the highs and

Matthew 3 00:35:10

lows, all the rights and wrongs, I want to get better

Matthew 3 00:35:14

at being brought down to the same place

Matthew 3 00:35:18

of dependency on him. The

Matthew 3 00:35:22

story in Ezra and

Matthew 3 00:35:25

Nehemiah of God's people returning to him and abiding in

Matthew 3 00:35:28

him is nearly a perfect redemption story

Matthew 3 00:35:33

until it's not. They rebuild the temple.

Matthew 3 00:35:37

They submit to the counsel of his word. They have praise

Matthew 3 00:35:40

services. They, they're intentional about confession. They're intentional

Matthew 3 00:35:44

about repentance. They consecrate themselves. They're reading the

Matthew 3 00:35:48

law and applying it in real time, and they try really,

Matthew 3 00:35:52

really hard to be set apart as the people of God.

Matthew 3 00:35:55

Yet as soon as Nehemiah leaves, the people begin

Matthew 3 00:35:59

to fall apart. They stop taking care of the

Matthew 3 00:36:02

Levites. They stop taking care of the temple. They start to backslide.

Matthew 3 00:36:07

They did not bear fruit that lasted.

Matthew 3 00:36:11

And even though they got it right in so many of the details, the

Matthew 3 00:36:15

story shows how easy it is for God's people to lose

Matthew 3 00:36:19

focus on what matters most—true

Matthew 3 00:36:22

relationship with Him.

Matthew 3 00:36:30

When my wife and I first started dating, I remember her telling me

Matthew 3 00:36:34

one of her dreams was to be on a boat

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at night playing a piano. When I heard that,

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I thought, I need to remember that. I need to tune my ear to that.

Matthew 3 00:36:46

And remember that detail. So I stored that. Fast forward a

Matthew 3 00:36:49

little while later, she said she always wanted her engagement

Matthew 3 00:36:53

ring, like the primary stones in it, to be pearls instead of

Matthew 3 00:36:57

diamonds. And I thought, I need to remember that. That's

Matthew 3 00:37:00

an important detail. Fast forward

Matthew 3 00:37:04

and I'm ready to propose to Brittney. I've saved the money. I've

Matthew 3 00:37:08

bought this custom ring, and I'm thinking, how am I going to do it?

Matthew 3 00:37:12

And I think, and that memory comes to me on a boat

Matthew 3 00:37:16

at night with a piano. And I'm like, okay,

Matthew 3 00:37:20

I just have to get Brittney and this ring on a boat with a piano

Matthew 3 00:37:24

at night, and this will be the most perfect

Matthew 3 00:37:27

proposal story of all time. I found out really

Matthew 3 00:37:31

quickly that's very difficult to do. There are no

Matthew 3 00:37:35

nighttime piano boat rental places. In the

Matthew 3 00:37:38

greater Nashville, Smyrna, Murfreesboro area. I don't—

Matthew 3 00:37:42

there used to not be. I don't know. So I, I,

Matthew 3 00:37:46

I began thinking like, how can I make this easier on myself? Shift this

Matthew 3 00:37:49

up a little bit, but still let her know that I've paid attention to the

Matthew 3 00:37:52

details. And that's when I thought, you know, like getting a

Matthew 3 00:37:56

piano is hard. Getting a keyboard's

Matthew 3 00:37:59

a little easier. I can get that somewhere. And we were youth

Matthew 3 00:38:03

worship leaders at the time. And, you know, I was thinking like,

Matthew 3 00:38:07

the keyboard's really good. If I buy her a keyboard, it serves two

Matthew 3 00:38:10

functions. One, it's kind of an investment in our future together.

Matthew 3 00:38:14

Two, it's really going to sweeten the pot of this

Matthew 3 00:38:18

proposal that I'm about to do. She could— there's a chance she says

Matthew 3 00:38:21

no to the ring. She says no to a ring and a keyboard.

Matthew 3 00:38:26

Can't help her. You know what I mean? So now

Matthew 3 00:38:29

I'm just like, okay, I get the keyboard and I'm like, Now I just got

Matthew 3 00:38:33

to get Brittney, the ring, and the keyboard on a

Matthew 3 00:38:36

boat at night, and it'll be

Matthew 3 00:38:40

nearly the most perfect proposal story of all time. So I

Matthew 3 00:38:44

start looking for boats, and what I find out, I used all my money on

Matthew 3 00:38:47

the other stuff, so my budget's pretty skim. I don't have the money to rent

Matthew 3 00:38:51

out the General Jackson. So I'm like, what, what kind of boat exists

Matthew 3 00:38:54

that has enough floor space where I can put a

Matthew 3 00:38:58

keyboard on it, plug it in, and kind of walk around and propose? And

Matthew 3 00:39:02

My budget only could afford a pontoon,

Matthew 3 00:39:06

and I was like, you know what? That floats. That counts. That's a boat.

Matthew 3 00:39:10

It's getting redneck really quick. Okay, I'm from

Matthew 3 00:39:14

Woodbine, but that is a boat. This is nearly the

Matthew 3 00:39:17

most perfect proposal story of all

Matthew 3 00:39:21

time. So I rent the

Matthew 3 00:39:24

pontoon, and the only— and I couldn't rent it at night. That was a

Matthew 3 00:39:28

whole nother thing. I'm like, oh, whatever. You know, the details are getting crazy at

Matthew 3 00:39:31

this point. It counts. I go to rent the pontoon and

Matthew 3 00:39:35

I just pick the— they don't have the date I want and they give me

Matthew 3 00:39:38

like, I want the— I get the next available date. When I sign on the

Matthew 3 00:39:42

dotted line, I walk away. I find out that's the same day as the

Matthew 3 00:39:46

Smyrna Air Show. Do you know how

Matthew 3 00:39:49

crazy it gets out there on the water? So I'm going, okay,

Matthew 3 00:39:53

I'm going to have Brittney and a ring and a piano, a keyboard

Matthew 3 00:39:57

actually. On this floating floor, not under

Matthew 3 00:40:01

a peaceful night sky, but kind of like

Matthew 3 00:40:04

probably like with Lynyrd Skynyrd blaring in the background or

Matthew 3 00:40:08

something from all these other boats. I'm just going, this is

Matthew 3 00:40:11

crazy, but it's going to work. It's going to be

Matthew 3 00:40:15

fine. She'll understand the details enough to know that I

Matthew 3 00:40:18

cared. So I invite her on this date. I

Matthew 3 00:40:22

say, hey, I'm going to take you on a date. It's a surprise. I can't

Matthew 3 00:40:25

tell you where it is. She says, what should I wear? This is a big

Matthew 3 00:40:28

deal. Okay? And I know there's going to be pictures. I know there's going to

Matthew 3 00:40:32

be videos. So I say, wear a nice dress. That's all I say.

Matthew 3 00:40:38

Everybody already knows. This is crazy. I mean, that's— I

Matthew 3 00:40:42

didn't know. Okay, so I pick her up. I pick her up and she goes,

Matthew 3 00:40:46

I need you to tell me right now. We're going to go to the lake.

Matthew 3 00:40:49

I need you to tell me right now where we're going, because I feel like

Matthew 3 00:40:52

I don't know if I'm overdressed or underdressed. And I'm like, I can tell her

Matthew 3 00:40:56

we're going to the lake. Without ruining it. So I tell her we're going to

Matthew 3 00:40:59

the lake to meet some friends on a boat. Turns out a nice

Matthew 3 00:41:03

dress is not optimal for that scenario.

Matthew 3 00:41:07

There may have been an intense moment of fellowship

Matthew 3 00:41:11

that happened on the way to the lake, but

Matthew 3 00:41:15

it kind of— it was a nice juxtaposition against the moment that was about to

Matthew 3 00:41:18

happen.

Matthew 3 00:41:23

So we get to the lake, we get on the floating boat thing,

Matthew 3 00:41:27

and, you know, way off on this side, there's all the other boats that are

Matthew 3 00:41:31

there to see the Smyrna Air Show. But out on the right over here,

Matthew 3 00:41:35

it's totally empty, like this big cove or

Matthew 3 00:41:39

something, just totally peaceful. So we drive over there, and the keyboard

Matthew 3 00:41:43

is covered up. She has no idea what it is. It looks like it's a

Matthew 3 00:41:45

part of the boat. We drive over there, We get settled,

Matthew 3 00:41:49

and with a shaky voice, I start to remind

Matthew 3 00:41:53

her of what she told me when we first started dating. All

Matthew 3 00:41:57

the details about the ring and how I

Matthew 3 00:42:00

remembered that and filed that away, and about the details of wanting to be

Matthew 3 00:42:04

on a boat with a piano and blah, blah, blah, blah.

Matthew 3 00:42:08

And as I'm doing that, I just wanted her to know that I cared that

Matthew 3 00:42:11

much. I cared about the details. And I, I uncover the

Matthew 3 00:42:15

keyboard, which, by the way, don't put a keyboard on a boat.

Matthew 3 00:42:18

That's crazy. Love will make you do some stuff, man. I'll tell you.

Matthew 3 00:42:23

I uncover the keyboard. I pick up the ring. I

Matthew 3 00:42:27

open the box. And as I go to get down on my knee,

Matthew 3 00:42:33

and I'm not going to do it because I haven't tested it in these pants,

Matthew 3 00:42:36

okay? I haven't tested it. Um, I kind

Matthew 3 00:42:40

of fall over a little bit. Not totally, but it's

Matthew 3 00:42:43

super not graceful. And

Matthew 3 00:42:47

I remember, I realized in that moment all of the effort that I put into

Matthew 3 00:42:51

all of the details surrounding the moment, I forgot

Matthew 3 00:42:55

to focus my intention on the most important

Matthew 3 00:42:59

moment of the whole thing, when I would be

Matthew 3 00:43:02

face to face with the one person that I love most.

Matthew 3 00:43:09

And I had forgotten to practice the posture of

Matthew 3 00:43:13

getting down on my knee.

Matthew 3 00:43:18

There's a young man that was getting, uh, that was going to propose

Matthew 3 00:43:22

to his girlfriend 6 months ago that attends here, and I told him, I was

Matthew 3 00:43:25

like, practice getting down on a knee and put

Matthew 3 00:43:29

on the pants that you plan to do it in. Okay, this is very important.

Matthew 3 00:43:33

This is wisdom. But here's how, here's how God's grace

Matthew 3 00:43:37

works. Brittney said yes to me. Praise the

Matthew 3 00:43:40

Lord. Thank you, Jesus. And a few moments later, the

Matthew 3 00:43:44

first planes of the Smyrna Air Show fly over in formation.

Matthew 3 00:43:48

To this day, I have never told Brittney how I was able to make that

Matthew 3 00:43:51

detail happen.

Matthew 3 00:43:58

And the funny thing is, is although she loved all of the details,

Matthew 3 00:44:02

she never played the keyboard. On the boat.

Matthew 3 00:44:06

She assured me that she would have said yes regardless.

Matthew 3 00:44:12

2 Chronicles 7:17-18.

Matthew 3 00:44:16

God honors all the work that Solomon and the people had put

Matthew 3 00:44:20

into this beautifully ornate temple. He agrees

Matthew 3 00:44:23

to make that a place of abiding. However, this is what he

Matthew 3 00:44:27

tells Solomon privately. 'As for you,

Matthew 3 00:44:31

if you walk before me faithfully,' and that means walk in my

Matthew 3 00:44:35

presence, with my presence, 'as David your father did,

Matthew 3 00:44:39

and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I

Matthew 3 00:44:43

will establish your royal throne as I covenanted

Matthew 3 00:44:46

with David your father when I said, "You shall never

Matthew 3 00:44:50

fail to have a successor to rule over

Matthew 3 00:44:53

Israel."' That to me shows

Matthew 3 00:44:57

that God cares deeply about us doing all that

Matthew 3 00:45:01

he commands, but the priority of his heart is

Matthew 3 00:45:04

that all of it flows from a true relationship with

Matthew 3 00:45:08

him. And when we do that, true

Matthew 3 00:45:12

and lasting fruitfulness comes.

Matthew 3 00:45:17

The details do not give meaning to our relationship

Matthew 3 00:45:20

with God. Our relationship with God gives meaning to

Matthew 3 00:45:24

the details. Worship does not

Matthew 3 00:45:28

give power to our relationship with Jesus.

Matthew 3 00:45:31

Our relationship with Jesus gives power to our worship.

Matthew 3 00:45:37

So let's endeavor to stay in that abiding place. Worship team, you

Matthew 3 00:45:41

can go ahead and come out. If you guys are out there, back there,

Matthew 3 00:45:45

please stand with me tonight, church.

Matthew 3 00:45:50

Hmm. We have just a few more minutes. We have a little bit of time

Matthew 3 00:45:53

this evening, and, and if we can, I would love to spend it with you

Matthew 3 00:45:57

all in worship.

Matthew 3 00:46:01

There are still places in my life where God is

Matthew 3 00:46:05

correcting my funny little walk

Matthew 3 00:46:09

and calling me into deeper relationship.

Matthew 3 00:46:13

And maybe that's something the Lord is speaking to you about tonight or

Matthew 3 00:46:17

this weekend. And maybe your walk feels a little off

Matthew 3 00:46:20

balance. Maybe the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit is, is bringing

Matthew 3 00:46:24

gentle correction or just leading you to a place of rest.

Matthew 3 00:46:35

If that's you, the altar is open. I'm not going to ask

Matthew 3 00:46:39

anybody to come down for, uh, to pray with anybody,

Matthew 3 00:46:42

but I felt like it would be a good moment as we lead this together

Matthew 3 00:46:46

just to reorient ourselves at the feet

Matthew 3 00:46:50

of the Father

Matthew 3 00:46:54

to say, God, I am ready to hear what you have to

Matthew 3 00:46:58

say for me, and I'm ready

Matthew 3 00:47:02

to respond in worship.

Matthew 3 00:47:09

Let's wish.