Read the Word in 2026

- Amen, good morning, Springhouse.

It's a joy to see you this morning.

Before we get going, I had a conversation

on the phone last night with Ximena Lindsey.

Many of you know Ximena.

Her dad, Antonio, is in the hospital in Skyline

for suffering from, I believe, a fall, is that correct?

And so what I'd like to do is we're gonna pray for them.

And so if you'll stand, we're gonna stretch our hands

that way, I think Skyline's that way, but the Lord knows.

But we're gonna go this way with it, okay?

Father, thank you so much for who you are

and your sovereignty.

I thank you, Lord, for your peace, Lord,

that passes understanding.

And I thank you for your healing touch.

And I ask, Lord, right now that you would cover

that hospital room, the Lindsay family, God,

I thank you, Lord, for already the miraculous signs

and wonders, Lord, that you have performed

in this entire ordeal.

I thank you, Lord, that the Lindsey family is cognizant

of your move and your presence.

And I pray, Lord, that you would just meet them

right where they are.

I pray for Antonio, speed your recovery,

be with the doctors and the nurses, Lord,

and just cover them in this time.

Let this be a testimony of your faithfulness.

In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

You may be seated this morning.

Well, it's always a good day to be in the house

of the Lord and with God's people.

And this is our last Sunday of 2025.

And man, it has been a rich year, has it not?

It's been good.

Traditionally, if you've been here for any length of time,

this Sunday, we do an entire message on reading the Word.

And that's intentional because reading the Word

is foundational to a believer's life.

One of my favorite things that Pastor Ronnie said

when he would do this message is,

you're never finished reading the Word.

You are never finished reading the Word.

Today, though, we are going to have a portion

of today's service specifically bathed in that,

although you're gonna have Scripture all throughout this.

But the Holy Spirit, I believe,

had something different for us today.

And it was evident in our first gathering

that it's exactly what I believe

that the Lord wanted for today.

So with that, if you'll stand with me,

we're gonna read from Scripture.

We're gonna read Ephesians chapter four.

Our clicker is not working this morning,

so we're gonna follow along with us as we read.

And you all are gonna read like you've got four shots

of espresso in you, okay?

Here we go.

As a prisoner for the Lord then,

I urge you to live a life worthy

of the calling you have received.

Be completely humble and gentle.

Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit,

just as you were called to one hope

when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all,

who is over all and through all and in all.

So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets,

the evangelists, the pastors and teachers

to equip His people for works of service

so that the body of Christ may be built up

until we reach unity in the faith

and in the knowledge of the Son of God

and become mature, attaining to the whole measure

of the fullness of Christ.

Father, I thank you for your word.

I thank you that it is a light to our path, God.

I thank you that it guides us, it transforms us.

I thank you, Lord, that it is alive.

I pray, Lord, that you would do your work through it today

in Jesus' name, and everybody said amen.

You may be seated.

I have a question I wanna begin with today,

and the question is who are you following?

Who are you following?

Walk as Christians in our tradition

of going and attending a church,

it is important in the kingdom to understand

who you are following, understand and know

who it is that you're following.

And today, typically on the last day of the year,

I will say here are our elders, this is our eldership.

Here they are, they're gonna come up here.

We're gonna pray over them, and then we move along.

And that's a very important moment

because it's super, super important

that you are praying for your leaders.

It's important that we are praying

and covering our leaders in prayer.

But this morning, especially because of the direction,

I feel like the Lord's taking us in 2026,

I felt compelled this morning to expand a little bit

on that section with regard to who it is

that's in spiritual leadership over this house this morning.

And so we're gonna camp here for just a moment.

And what I want us to do is I don't want you

to mentally check out because I want it

to be talking about leadership,

but if we read the scripture,

this is really for all believers.

Do you know that as a believer in Christ Jesus,

you have an assignment?

Every one of you have an assignment.

And so this really is for all of us.

It's not just for a few of us.

So the question this morning is who are you following?

And I wanna start here.

Go ahead and hit that slide.

Title and position do not make you a kingdom leader.

Calling does.

Title and position do not make you

a kingdom leader, calling does.

Calling, the word tells us in Romans chapter 11

Romans 11 · chapter mention

that the gift and call of God is irrevocable,

meaning every one of us has a call and a sign.

If you're breathing here and you love the Lord Jesus Christ,

you've given your heart to him,

you have a job to do here on the planet.

And your job is not to come in here

and just have a consumer mentality

and let somebody else walk out your faith for you.

Every one of us has an assignment,

a unique position, a unique place.

And the title and position that you're giving

do not make you a kingdom leader, calling does.

If you are in any type of ministry,

which most of us are, it may not be in the church,

but most of you are in ministry

because at your assigned place, wherever that is,

you should be exuding the love and joy of Christ Jesus.

And so in the ministry calling,

especially when it comes to the positions within the church,

every kingdom leader faces a point in time

or multiple points in times where they're like,

"I don't want anything to do with this anymore.

"I wanna lay this down."

And I have to tell you, over the last four years,

there have been multiple moments

where I've gotten to that point.

But what keeps me going is I'm called.

And so the choice is obey or disobey the Lord.

And don't you know, whenever you lean into obedience,

He meets you every single time.

He meets you every single time.

Calling is important because it's where we draw

our strength from, we are equipped

from the God of the universe.

Hit the next slide.

And so as we are called, the scripture tells us

that we just read, live a life worthy

of the calling that you've received.

Now, this is not about perfection.

That's why Jesus had to come.

It's not just about what you don't do,

but it's also about what you do.

Our calling and our effectiveness in our calling,

whether or not we're called to the things

that we're called to, is measured in fruit.

And in the kingdom, that fruit is specified as love,

joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness, self-control,

and I would add, humility.

And as we're exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit,

there is evidence that we are leaning into the Spirit.

If we are attempting to do jobs and walk in areas

where He has not covered us, He has not called us to,

then the Spirit of God is not going to be present.

And the only way to have the fruit of the Spirit

is to be leaning into the Spirit of God.

You can be a great speaker, draw a large crowd,

have an infectious personality, and not be a kingdom leader.

The most dangerous thing,

and guys, I want you to carry this away,

the most dangerous thing a kingdom leader can attempt to do

is to draw people to themselves rather than to Christ.

And the litmus test in that is when you decide to show up

to the various things that you show up for in ministry,

when you show up to that group thing, that group following,

you need to ask yourself,

am I here because of the infectious personality

of that leader, or am I here

because they are pointing me to God?

Otherwise, you just have a club.

God did not call us to be impressive.

He called us to be faithful.

Go ahead and hit that next slide.

We are called to make every effort,

would you say every effort, every effort

to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Every leader in this place

should be pointing you to Jesus Christ.

I believe that our leaders do not gossip.

They do not complain.

They do not tear down other people.

We have carried the mantra of,

this is a place where gossip goes to die.

Unity is the evidence of spiritual maturity.

That doesn't mean agreement, it means alignment, alignment.

And if you want to measure the spiritual maturity

of someone, watch what they do in the middle of a conflict.

If you want to measure the spiritual maturity

of any believer, watch what they do

in the middle of conflict.

The world champions and celebrates division and separation.

The weapons we use to handle our issues

should not look like the world's.

We would rather look for leaders

who would make us feel good about revenge

and allow us to wallow in our bitterness

than to take supernatural paths toward Jesus.

Have you ever seen the movie "The Forge"?

There is a character, the main character in there,

his name's Joshua, and he's leading this group of guys

in discipleship in his core circle.

I'm gonna, spoiler alert here.

At the end of the movie, it's discovered

that one of the core people that he's walking with

actually killed Josh, his name's Bobby,

killed Joshua's son in a drunken accident.

Yet Joshua walks in reconciliation and forgiveness.

That type of reconciliation and forgiveness

only comes from being spiritually mature

and leaning on a supernatural God.

And all of us have access to do that.

Kingdom leaders will constantly be looking

for a pathway forward toward reconciliation, unity, and peace.

Go ahead and hit that next one.

And so as he is called and appointed leaders,

the job is to equip people

so that the body of Christ may be built up

because all of you have a job.

And so your leaders, your spiritual leaders

should be looking at your life and building you up,

affirming you in the calling God has placed on your life,

equipping you to move and build the body of Christ up.

This is for everyone.

And the leader's success is measured

in the fruit of those they equip.

So this is our eldership team here at Springhouse.

And I believe that every one of these guys have been called.

They're gonna put that picture up as soon, there it is.

And one day we're gonna take a picture

with all the backgrounds matching,

but that has not happened yet.

But this is our eldership.

And our eldership is responsible

for the spiritual wellbeing of our church.

And so this group meets regularly, prays together,

prays for you and looks for opportunities

to serve the body throughout each year.

We have an admin board who governs the finances.

We have a pastoral team who runs the day-to-day operations,

sets the vision and tone for our services.

And then we have the eldership overseas.

And today I want you to hear from a few of your elders,

our elders at this church about the heart that we carry

with regard to unity, serving the body,

oversight of different ministries

and the importance of being in the Word.

And so I've got some elders that are gonna come.

Hopefully you've recognized their faces.

It's gonna be Pastor Justin,

followed by Elder Jeremy Jones, then Eric Harding,

and then Ronnie Meek.

Would you welcome Justin Beshears?

(congregation applauding)

- Thank you, brother.

You might not recognize me.

They put my freshman yearbook photo up here.

Good Lord.

I worked too dang hard to get to senior year

for them to put that skinny picture up there of me.

You guys might wanna be skinny for 2026, but I don't.

I'm going the opposite way.

Good Lord.

I've already got texts.

The moment they put that up, my wife looked over

and then I got two text messages.

Pastor Kevin said, "One of the qualifications is humility."

And God said, "Well, we're gonna deal with this

right out the gate."

(congregation laughing)

I am Pastor Justin here.

I'm an associate pastor here at Springhouse.

But before I was on staff as a pastor, I was an elder.

And long after my time on staff is done,

whether someday I retire or most likely

after a breakfast meeting, and I'm no longer on staff here,

I will still remain an elder here

because one of the qualifications of eldership

is able to teach.

And although that my primary function here

from this platform is teaching and studying

and leading group studies in here or Thursday nights

or Sunday mornings from this platform and equipping you,

I function in a lot of ways as an overseer

and elder of this house.

And I take that role very seriously.

And so this morning I'm gonna talk about unity.

I wanna open up with a scripture that's been

kind of the primary scripture over this body of believers

and elders when it comes to unity.

And this is in Psalm 133.

And it says, "How good and pleasant is it

when brothers dwell together in unity?

It is like the precious oil on the head,

running down the beard on the beard of Aaron,

running down on the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Herman,

which falls on the mountains of Zion,

for there the Lord has commanded the blessing life

forevermore."

Unity is very important to the body.

So let me start off by telling you guys

what unity is not.

Unity is not agreement.

I don't consider myself to be very argumentative,

but judging by the laughter,

you guys do consider me to be,

I wouldn't say argumentative, but let's just use argumentative

for lack of a better term here.

Unity does not mean agreement.

There have been many occasions over the years

before I was on the elder board

and since I've been on the elder board,

that we do not see eye to eye

or we do not agree on a decision or a direction.

We debate often, we discuss,

and sometimes we end up coming to an agreement

and other times we still disagree.

So how can you walk in unity if you're not in agreement?

So unity is not agreement.

Now let me tell you what unity is.

Unity means a shared heart posture.

The last thing that Pastor Kevin

or the pastoral staff need is a bunch of yes men.

He doesn't need us to hooray, hoorah,

and champion every decision that he has, okay?

Instead, what he does need is an eldership

with a shared heart posture based on mutual submission,

trust in one another,

and a willingness to follow the Holy Spirit together.

So your eldership, while sometimes disagreeing,

walk in lockstep under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Unity is a shared heart posture.

So now how do we walk in unity?

How do we achieve that here at Springhouse?

Well, unity has to be decided beforehand.

We go into it, whether it's a meeting

or an email thread or something,

if there's a decision to be made,

or if there's something that we're discussing

or we're praying over,

we go into it with the mindset

that we're gonna walk in unity no matter what.

And so because we've decided beforehand

we're gonna walk in unity,

then no matter what it takes for however long it takes,

we will not leave a conclusion until we're united in it.

We're not striving for unity, we're walking in it.

And because your leadership here,

the spiritual oversight at Springhouse is walking in it,

that gives you guys a model to walk in it.

Because what the world says is

that because you don't agree with one another

and you don't see eye to eye,

then you should be diametrically opposed to one another.

If your theology doesn't match their theology,

then matter of fact,

you two should just sit on opposite sides of the church.

No, we have to find the commonality and walk together.

We don't necessarily have to be

in complete agreement on everything.

And I know the scripture says,

how can two walk together unless they be agreed?

But agreement is not necessarily, I think, the same as you.

It means that we're going to be united

in the cause of Christ,

and we're going to surrender and yield

to the Holy Spirit and His leading.

So here at Springhouse, we are not striving for unity,

we're walking in it.

Unity is not something that we're trying to achieve,

it's something that we're actively modeling for the body.

Amen?

Now welcome Elder Jeremy Jones.

Good morning, Springhouse.

My name is Jeremy Jones, and I've,

see, I started here at Springhouse in 2008,

and then I became an elder in 2019

with Pastor Justin, Elder Justin and I came in together.

We were the last and only five-star class.

That was Justin and I voted, and we both agreed to that.

So, we're going to be together.

We agreed to that, so.

(audience laughing)

We're going to talk about humility today.

(audience laughing)

And also unity, remember, we may not agree,

but we all get to a place we align.

The other thing I thought was interesting with this picture,

you go back to the picture.

The other thing I thought was interesting

with this picture too,

is that it really is a very diverse group of people,

and a lot of people have a,

kind of think along different wavelengths,

ultimately getting centered

what the Holy Spirit's telling us to do.

But you have Elder Eric Harding,

and then Hal Laughlin wear the same clothes,

and then also want to be right beside each other.

So, well done, guys.

That's because Barbie and Val shop at the same place.

All right, here we go.

Our calling and our desire and responsibility

to serve the body.

1 Peter 4, verse eight through 11.

"Above all, love each other deeply,

because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each one of you should use whatever gift you have received

to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace

in his various forms.

If anyone speaks, they should do so

as one who speaks the very words of God.

If anyone serves, they should do so

with the strength God provides,

so that in all times God may be praised through Jesus Christ,

to him be the glory and the power forever and ever.

Amen."

If anyone serves, they should do so

with the strength God provides.

I currently serve in children's ministry,

and that was something I was called to do,

because I don't like kids.

(congregation applauding)

I like my kids.

I love my kids.

But the Lord called me to do that with Arwen,

and we've been doing it for years.

I don't even know how many years we've been doing it.

We took a break for a period when June was born,

and then we're back now.

And it is something that is something I look forward to.

It's something that I feel like

just have a great responsibility for.

I currently teach the small group

with fourth and fifth grade boys.

And then after that, we pass them over here to youth

and try our best to be able to equip them

with the things they're currently going through right now.

They're so coachable, they're teachable, they're moldable.

And it's the area that the Lord called me

to be able to serve in, but he's also equipped me for that.

Before, before the Holy Spirit called me to do that,

I was definitely not equipped for that,

but the Lord changed my heart specifically for that season.

So I'm there in that season

until the Lord calls for something else.

But that's the position of your eldership.

In addition to that,

we'll read from Philippians 2, verse one through eight.

"Therefore, if any of you,

encouragement from being united with Christ,

if any comfort from his love,

if any common sharing in the Spirit,

if any tenderness, compassion,

then make my joy complete by being like-minded,

having the same love, being one in the Spirit,

and of one mind.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,

rather in humility, value others above yourself,

not looking in your own interest,

but each of you to the interest of the others.

In relationship with one another,

have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,

who being in the very nature of God,

did not consider equality with God

something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness,

and being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself by being obedient to death,

even to the cross.

The takeaway is this, your elders are imperfect people,

just like you are imperfect people.

But we've been called to be able to serve in this capacity,

and it's something that every single year we take serious,

because eldership is a lifelong appointment,

but it's not something we do as a lifelong serving,

actively serving.

So every year, Kevin and the pastors ask us

to be able to pray and ask if we wanna be serving

and doing something,

and we pray and ask if we wanna be serving

in the eldership capacity again.

We need your prayers.

Just like we pray for you guys,

we need your prayers as well.

Because just as Pastor Justin just talked about,

it's a challenge to walk in unity at times,

but we do it through the Holy Spirit,

and we do it by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

It's a challenge at times to be able to go and serve

in different capacities,

by the Holy Spirit's calling.

So we thank you for the opportunity

to be able to be an elder.

And there's gonna be a moment here,

we did this in first service,

but there'll be a moment at the end of service

where Pastor Kevin asked people to come up and pray,

step outside your comfort zone.

That's not me telling you that.

That's what I feel like the Holy Spirit's telling us to do.

So if you don't know how to pray for people,

you haven't done that before,

just come up here and I guarantee you,

the Holy Spirit will tell you something for that.

Thank you guys.

Pastor, I mean, elder, elder.

Eric Corning.

Good morning, Springhouse.

Guess how we do shop at the same place, apparently.

So good morning.

So I'm honored to represent the elders

and have a chance to talk about the heart posture

with regards to shepherding

and being watchmen for this house.

These roles are not Springhouse born.

They are scripturally charged and defined.

They represent responsibilities

that include spiritual leadership,

protection, accountability.

While they overlap,

they portray two different facets of care.

The shepherd focuses on nurturing and guidance,

while the watchman focuses on vigilance and warning.

So what does the word say about shepherding?

In 1 Peter 5, verses two and three, it says,

"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care,

"watching over them, not because you must,

"but because you are willing as God wants you to be,

"not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve,

"not lording it over those entrusted to you,

"but being examples to the flock."

As Jeremy mentioned,

every year we are provided the opportunity to seek the Lord

and renew the commitment for that year to be active

or to make the decision to be inactive for the next year.

And this is important.

That's the willing part of that definition.

This is important because it allows us the opportunity

to hear from the Lord and really confirm

that we are still able to perform

in this important capacity.

These roles do not have end dates,

do not have term limits to them.

So this provides us an opportunity for each of us

to really assess life and the season we are in.

1 Timothy 3, verses one through four

provide a description of what an elder should exemplify.

And it reads, "Here is a trustworthy saying,

"whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

"Now the overseer is to be above reproach,

"faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled,

"respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

"not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle,

"not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

"He must manage his own family well

"and see that his children obey him.

"And he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect."

So shepherding does not mean controlling.

It is not about a title.

So what does it mean?

This is not an exhaustive list of statements,

but a few things that we hold dear,

that we are here to protect the vision

that God has provided to Springhouse.

We are here to guard the safety of our children

and our youth.

We are here to ensure the ministries are healthy

and spirit-led, and we are here to serve

the entire pastoral staff and their families,

ensuring that they have space for rest,

they are not overworked, and they have clarity there

then to hear from the Holy Spirit.

Beyond these duties, shepherding is absolutely

about personal connections and relationships.

That's the nurturing part of the care.

We strive to be hospitable, gentle,

and ensuring that the congregation feels seen and known,

to not lead by command, but rather being examples

in the walks of our lives.

And we are called to keep watch over all.

And that requires, that's where the relationship piece

comes in, to really ensure that the reaching out

to those that are hurt or in need.

And we also act with a sense of urgency,

and you provide real support alongside prayer.

Our Lord and shepherd, thankfully, is not afraid

to walk through the mud with us, as a shepherd should, right?

And neither should the elders be.

When written down, and I go through this,

it seems like a lot for this group to cover,

but as Justin said, that's where walking in unity

and support of each other with the Holy Spirit

assures that the elders' duties and responsibilities

are fulfilled.

The watchman role, as I mentioned in the beginning,

does demand vigilance and warning.

While the shepherd guides the flock with a staff,

the trumpet is used by the watchman

to provide sound of alarms for invading armies and sin.

And these things are still happening today.

The spiritual wars and the armies are very real today.

If you read in Acts, sorry, in chapter 20,

verses 28 through 31, it reads, "Keep watch over yourselves,

and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit

has made you overseers.

Be shepherds of the church of God,

which he bought with his own blood.

I know that after I leave,

savage wolves will come in among you

and will not spare the flock.

Even from your own number,

men will arise and distort the truth

in order to draw disciples after them.

So be on guard."

This is not what happened.

This is what's happening.

So this is not just the word of God,

it's absolutely the living word of God.

This is still happening today.

The enemy is getting more and more sophisticated

as he comes after our church family,

and as he comes after our families at home.

We as elders and parents cannot be naive,

nor can we allow to be caught sleeping at the wheel.

In Susud's "The Art of War," he says,

"If you know the enemy and yourself,

you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself, but not the enemy,

for every victory, you will also suffer a defeat.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,

you will succumb to every battle."

And so this emphasizes that knowledge

is the foundation for success

in really any competitive situation,

whether that's business,

whether that's leadership or warfare,

and our knowledge comes from the word of God.

So what does scripture then say of our enemy?

All the way back in Genesis,

we are told what that enemy looks like.

Genesis chapter three, verse one, God tells us,

"Now the serpent was the most cunning

of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, 'Did God really say

you cannot eat from the tree in the garden?'"

So that is absolutely cunning, and it's also manipulative.

And that's the type of enemy

that we are up against every single day.

So as we close, the elders,

we ask you to please realize that that certain serpent

did not appear until God established the family.

He went right around Adam because he hates the family,

as it is the engine of generational faith.

As elders, we are sounding the trumpet today.

Do not let the enemy drive a wedge

between you and those that you love.

It is our duty to stay on guard,

expose the enemy's footholds,

and shine a light into those dark corners.

The God of angel armies is absolutely on our side.

When we know our God and we realize

and we call out our enemy, we will prevail.

Now please, batting forth for the elders,

I give you Ron Amick.

(congregation applauding)

Yeah, the fourth hitter is the heavy guy.

The third hitter is the best hitter in the lineup.

Just saying.

If you're having trouble picking me out

and those pictures up there, so am I.

I did used to have hair though, yeah.

In the summer of 1975,

I had an encounter that absolutely changed my life.

It wasn't when I gave my life to the Lord,

I did that in 1956.

I was a six-year-old and kneeling at the altar.

But I had been up and down and over and out and around

and just not consistent.

I don't know if anybody can relate to that.

And for the past six years prior to that,

I'd really been running as hard as I could

away from the Lord.

But in the spring of '75, I gave my life back to the Lord.

And I really felt that that summer that he told me

to go down to Chattanooga and visit my friend,

David Busby, who I'd gone to high school with.

And after high school, we'd gone our separate ways.

And they'd been very separate ways.

I had really gone away from the Lord.

And he was a youth pastor at a big old Baptist church.

Down in Chattanooga.

And I felt like, well, I need to go down there and see David.

It just felt that in my heart.

And so I went and spent, I don't remember,

two or three days, maybe four, but a few days.

We had some really sweet fellowship,

a really good time in fellowship.

But actually the Lord has sent me there

for a divine appointment.

I went with David to his youth group.

And he brought a teaching that night

about reading the Word, the benefits of reading the Word

and the importance of reading the Word.

And it just, it went right through me and permeated me.

I'd never heard of a teaching quite like that before.

And I've taught it several times since.

But at the end of it, he did an extremely Baptist thing.

He asked us to sign a commitment card.

I don't know if you've ever done that or not,

but the commitment card that he wanted us to sign

was a commitment to read the Word every day.

And we put on there how long,

either a period of time each day

that we were committing to read the Word

or a number of chapters

that we were supposed to read each day.

And I was just kind of swirling.

And it really felt like the Holy Spirit said to me,

"You're supposed to put down a number of chapters,

put down 15 a day."

Yeah, and that's exactly how I felt when he told me that.

But I did it.

He said, "Well, did you keep that commitment?"

Duh, I'm a baby boomer.

It wasn't like it is now.

It wasn't you make a commitment

and then you decide if you wanna keep it

when you get there.

I mean, if you made a commitment, you did the commitment.

And there are a handful of baby boomers in the room

and they can identify what I'm saying.

Or did you do it the whole year?

I did it about 10 years, actually.

Before I go a little bit further into that

and tell you why I stopped.

I didn't stop reading daily.

I stopped doing the 15 chapters a day.

Let me tell you a little bit about David's teaching.

He brought up six or seven points from Psalm 119.

And I don't have time for six or seven points, of course,

but let me blitz through three of them

that might be significant to you.

Psalm 119, verse 45 says,

Psalms 119:45

"I walk about in freedom because I pursue your precepts."

Now we talk about freedom in this country,

but we're mostly talking about political freedom

or maybe we're talking about financial freedom

or the freedom to travel or something like that.

But come on, people.

I mean, we know that's not real freedom.

That's just stuff.

And there are people who have all that stuff

and maybe that's some of you,

but inside and in our lives, we're just so bound up.

Jesus said, "Whoever sins is a slave to sin."

And a lot of us don't walk about in freedom

because we don't pursue his precepts.

Five verses later, in verse 50, it says,

"My comfort in suffering is this.

Your promise preserves my life."

Now everybody in here has suffered at some point in time.

Some of you may be suffering right now.

And all of you know, if you got a lick of sense,

that you're gonna be suffering again at some point in time

and you're gonna need comfort.

And that comes from the Word.

That's where it comes from.

And when you have a steady stream of it,

it's not like, "Oh, I'm suffering now.

I need to go get some comfort."

No, it's already a part of the fabric of your life.

And then it's verse 165, 119, 165 says,

"Great peace have those who love your law."

Great peace.

A moment's peace can be purchased at a day spa,

but it's just a moment's peace.

If your peace resides in the bank somewhere,

you need to understand that that brings

just as much anxiety as it does peace.

Whatever's in the bank or not in the bank for that matter.

If your peace comes because you own

a bunch of guns or something,

you might consider the fact

that you might not actually have peace.

You might just have fear.

Great peace though.

Isaiah says, "You will keep in perfect peace

in whom's mind has stayed on you."

And the way for our minds to be stayed on him

is to be in the Word, to be in the Word daily.

I told you I did the 15 chapter a day thing

for about 10 years.

And what happened, one of the reasons why I quit,

took the Lord a couple of years to get me out of it,

quite frankly, because I was becoming

the 15 chapter a day guy.

And the Lord goes, "No, no, no, no.

We don't want to go there."

That was my path for a season.

And then he brought me into a different season.

But the important thing that night wasn't

that I wrote down 15 chapters.

The important thing that night was

that I committed to read the Word every day of my life.

And I can honestly say, well, we're past 50 years now.

Oh, and it's so rich and it's so good.

But here's a warning also.

You see the elders at the church here,

we look to the Word for guidance.

We look to the Word for answers.

But we do so with humility.

Because it is so easy to fall into the position

and to the place that the leaders,

the spiritual leaders of Christ's day were in,

they loved the Word, but they were so convinced

of their interpretation of the Word

and what they thought about the Word

that they couldn't recognize God

when he stood and looked them right in the face.

So it's important to keep your heart soft.

You are not designed, I am not designed to drive this F1.

The Holy Spirit is the only one who can drive it.

So you have to give him room to bring something new to you.

You might see something that you've thought this

for 50 years, but today the Holy Spirit says,

now look at it this way.

I'll close with this.

Jesus told a parable about the Word.

It's a parable of the sower.

Many of you I'm sure are familiar with it.

And some of the seed fell on the path

and the birds came and ate it up

before it had a chance to do anything.

And of course that's the person who hears the Word

and they don't hear the Word.

You know, the Word is going forth,

but it doesn't get in anything, doesn't penetrate.

And then some of the seed fell on rocky soil

and that's not soil with a bunch of rocks in it.

It's soil with a bedrock in it and a thin layer of soil.

And the seed immediately sprung up and they were so glad,

but then it died just as quickly.

And sometimes that's the person who hears something.

They'll hear a sermon or they'll hear a teaching

or they'll just hear something from God and they'll go,

yes, yes, this is going to change my life.

And it does for about three days or maybe a week.

And then it's gone.

And then there was seed that fell on thorny soil.

And that soil was capable of producing fruit,

but there was so much other stuff in it.

Jesus says it's the cares of this life

and the deceitfulness of riches.

And boy, have I lost a lot of seed in my life.

And you probably have to, that's that kind of person.

And then there's the seed that fell on good soil

and it produced a crop 30, 60, 100 fold.

And I've always thought that's the one I want to be.

That's the soil that I would like to be.

But the truth of the matter is I'm all four

and you're all four.

And so I can't just depend on,

well, hopefully when the right time comes,

it'll fall in the right kind of soil.

I need it every day, every day.

I need a lot of seed.

And some's going to bear good fruit.

Pastor Kevin.

- Thank you.

2026, next Sunday,

we're going to start a new series.

We've been in the greatest stories ever told in 2025.

We're going to be looking at John chapter 15,

John 15 · chapter mention

Abide in Christ, Remain in Christ.

And so we have put together a Bible reading plan for you

to follow along where we're going to be going on Sundays.

And we encourage you to be a part of that.

Now, if you go on our church app right now,

you're still going to see this year's

current Bible reading plan,

'cause we're still in this year.

But by Thursday,

that new one's going to be uploaded.

Make a commitment to be in the Word every day.

Amen?

Amen.

The church, the church was not man's idea.

The church was God's idea.

And so if you are an elder here,

if you will come and make your way forward,

all of us have a part to play.

You all do not attend Kevin O'Dea's church.

You do not attend the eldership's church.

Christ is in charge of this church.

Christ is.

And we all play a role.

And so I've asked the elders to come

and we're going to do something a little messy this morning.

And that's okay.

We can do messy just fine.

Okay, so we're going to do four things.

The first thing we're going to do

is I'm going to ask you all to come

and pray over the elders.

Find the elder you don't like

and come and pray for them this morning.

Lay hands on them and pray.

Pray for them this morning.

Wait, wait.

Cole knew exactly where he was going.

(congregation laughing)

So wait, wait, wait till I call you, okay?

Want you to pray over,

you can pray over a couple of elders.

You don't have to do all of them.

You can pray daily for all of them.

You should pray daily for all of us.

But today, pick one or two and come and pray.

We're going to take five or six minutes and do that.

After that is over,

I recognize, we recognize that several of you

are involved in ministry leadership here at Springhouse.

Whether you work with Children's Ministry, Youth Ministry,

Men's Ministry, Women's Ministry, F-Stop,

the Food Ministry, there's so many ministries here

that you are tied to.

If you are in any type of leadership,

the eldership, each of them have prayerfully considered

which ministries they'll oversee this year.

And so I'm going to ask you to come forward

in just a little bit,

and we're going to pray over the different ministries

and you as a ministry leader,

because we're supposed to pray for one another, okay?

After that's over, I'm going to ask the elders

to come to the stage with the pastoral staff,

and we're going to pray over the pastors,

over the pastoral staff here at the church, okay?

So those are the things that we're going to do

to close out today.

So if you guys would come this morning

and lay hands on our elders and spend some time in prayer

over these brothers who are leading.

Come on, you come.

(gentle music)

Okay, at this time I would ask if you are a ministry leader

in any capacity, if you consider yourself

a ministry leader here, whether you teach the children,

the youth, you're involved in worship,

you're involved in one of the men's or women's ministries,

any ministry leadership.

Our eldership has decided to oversee all of the various

ministries, they've prayed over that,

so they're going to find you if you guys will kind of

get together in like ministry groups,

the eldership will find you.

This is a little messy because some of you are in multiple

ministries and that's okay.

You'll get prayed for for one and somebody will come

and pray for you in another, that's okay.

But let's just work that area,

and if you're out in the congregation,

you're probably involved in one of these ministries.

Be in prayer during this time, don't check out.

Let's allow the Holy Spirit to move.

So let's take a few moments and pray.

Okay, at this time I would ask for our pastors

to come to the stage, okay, if you'll come to the stage,

and the elders, if you will come behind them to the stage.

So if I can have our pastoral team just kind of take

center ground here and step forward so the elders

can have room behind.

So elders, you're coming up behind the pastoral team.

Yeah, right here is good, yeah.

So if you guys would stand for just a moment

and extend your hands this way, I'm gonna ask Brother Howell

to pray over the pastoral staff, and then after that,

if Elder James and Wade would pray over me and Shari,

that would be wonderful.

Thank you for this time, this opportunity to come and pray

for those that you have chosen.

You've picked every one of these leaders and pastors

that are involved with the ministries of Springhouse.

I ask Father that you continue to anoint them

for this service they've been called into.

I ask Father that you put a hedge of protection around them

that protects them from the enemy in the onslaughts.

Father, I ask that you send them people to serve

alongside of them so that their burden is not so heavy

with what it is that they do.

I ask Father, you continue to bless them

and give them insight as they carry forward

with their ministries, and just to be able to show

that it's not a heavy burden, but it's a light burden,

and it's something that they love to do

and that they are called to do, and it not be burdensome.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Father, we thank you.

We thank you for Kevin and Shari.

We thank you for their heart for you, their love for you,

their love for this body.

We thank you, Lord, for the way that they pour their life out

as a beautiful example of being Jesus

and what that looks like to love on people, to love on us.

We're grateful that you've called them

to minister to this body.

We thank you for the call that you have

in each of their lives, the giftings that you've given them.

We pray that those giftings would be used to great purpose

in your kingdom, in our midst, in this community.

Father, we thank you for the leadership

that you bring through them, and we

ask you to lead them and guide them this year.

Direct them, Father.

May we come alongside them as you do.

May our hearts just join with theirs,

and may we lift their arms up.

May we encourage them by our response

to your calling on their life, and your leading

through them in our body.

Father, we ask for you to bring just this closeness.

Lord, we thank you for the compassion

that you've spilled out through them,

the heart for the lost, a caring for the people in this place

and in this community.

We ask that it might be infectious among us,

and that we might carry that compassion with them

as we walk with them and as we do your will.

And we're just used for your purposes, Father.

And then we ask you to guard them.

We ask you to guard their family, their relationship

with one another, that it would be set apart and set

in a special way with some guard and a special time.

And Lord, that you would guard this house, Lord.

We thank you for your word and the provision

it brings to us to hear your voice, to know your call,

to recognize the voice of the evil one.

We pray that you would bless them with this guardianship,

this guard for their family, for their relationship with you

and one another, and for the relationship in this body.

Help us, Lord God, walk and have their back.

Thank you, Jesus.

Yes, Lord, we agree.

We say thank you for Kevin and Shari.

We are so grateful for them as shepherds in this house, God.

We just know that there's so many sacrifices, Lord,

that they lay down.

And it's all for you, God.

It's all for these people.

It's for this church, God.

And so as they continue to sacrifice and pour

of themselves into this place, God,

I pray that you would honor that, Lord.

You do.

And you give so much.

So we're so grateful.

We're so thankful for Kevin and Shari

and how they shepherd this house.

And Lord, we just pray blessings over them in 2026, God,

that it wouldn't have to wait until then.

But over these next couple of days, God,

that they would begin to notice that you're just

pouring out increase and supernatural wisdom

and insight, Lord, for what's to come, God.

Thank you for using them in such mighty ways.

Lord, I just pray that you be honored in everything

that they do in this house.

In Jesus' name, everybody said amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, God.

Thank you, man.

I love you guys.

It's a blessing to be on this journey with you.

If you guys will have a seat for just one more moment with us.

We have a ministry here called F-Stop.

And F-Stop is comprised of a team of people

who catalog and take photographs of our life that's

happening here.

David Warren is leader of that ministry.

And they have put together a year in review video for 2025.

And so I'm going to let him set this up.

And then we have this gift for you.

So David.

Thank you, Pastor Kevin.

Thank you, Pastor Kevin.

This project came out of our theme

that we had this year, the greatest stories ever told.

So we decided that we were going to tell a little bit

of the Springhouse's story.

And it became real evident early on that this isn't--

our story isn't about the stuff that we do.

We do a lot of stuff.

It's not about the stuff that we do.

But it's about the people and the hearts and our postures

of everyone here.

And it's an amazing family.

So I hope you're going to see that in this presentation

here in just a moment.

I have to thank a few people real fast.

Because without them, this wouldn't be on the screens

today.

I want to thank the F-Stop photographers who put in time

and covered events.

I want to thank the ministries that contributed for those

themselves.

I want to thank Brittany and Jonathan Grisham for the music.

I want to thank Pastor Kevin and the leadership

here that support a ministry like F-Stop.

And I have a special thanks to my brother, Jim Caldwell,

who put this video together.

And I hope it's a blessing to you.

So with that, I hope you will enjoy the greatest stories ever

told, the Springhouse Chapter 2025.

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC - "SPRINGHOUSE CHAPTER 2025"]

Little brick building, stained glass windows and pews.

I remember that old mauve carpet under my best pair of shoes.

You should have heard a Sunday.

The singing and dancing was something back then.

And somewhere in the front row, a deep southern voice

would say, amen.

Yeah, this place has changed a lot over the years.

But there are memories in these walls I will forever have here.

My tears are soaked in the carpet in the altar space.

I've been baptized in the waters of amazing grace.

I've gained decades worth of family.

It feels like some I've always known.

There's just something about Sundays in this house

that feels like home.

It's a little bit bigger now than it was 20 years ago.

But there's a few more empty seats

sitting in the front row.

Wish I could tell you all the stories,

take you back in time somehow.

There were prayers for you, but you

were not the only one.

There were prayers prayed in the altar.

We call miracles now.

Oh, my Jesus changed some lives here through the years.

And there's a legacy we will always have here.

I've been soaked in the carpet in the altar space.

I've been baptized in the waters of amazing grace.

I've gained decades worth of family.

It feels like some I've always known.

There's just something about Sundays in this house

that feels like home.

And I said my vows to my best friend

right on that very stage.

And I prayed over my children where

my daddy gave my hand away.

And I've said hard goodbyes to many I'll see again someday.

All in this place where my tears are soaked in the carpet

in the altar space.

I've been baptized in the sweetness of amazing grace.

I know church is not a building.

That's not what I'm trying to say.

There's just something about 50 years of God's grace.

And spending 20 years within that same place.

There's just something about this spring

house that feels like home.

[APPLAUSE]

Guys, stand with us this afternoon.

If you are on the pastoral team, would you join us on the stage?

We're going to close in a high praise song,

but I want to go ahead and bless you.

If you're the pastor's staff, come on up.

Raise your hand.

Let me give you a blessing.

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

continue to grace us and equip us to build one another up

for his kingdom's sake.

In Jesus' name, amen.