Beach House - Week 5

Amen, Amen, and amen. Somebody give the Lord a handclap.

Thank you, Amber.

I wanna I want to say Pastor Clay too, because

I don't naturally like to go to things like conferences.

It's just not something I do. But he drugged me

to that one. It was a blessing to me. So

thank you for you know, making me go, Pastor Clay.

I woke up, I thought, I don't want to go

to this, but Pastor Clay is gonna be mad if

I don't, he might fire me, so I better go.

Amen.

Matthew. Chapter Matthew. Chapter six is where we're gonna start today.

Matthew Chapter six. Uh, in this store, in this sermon series,

Beach House, We've talked about emotional fatigue, We've talked about

physical fatigue, and now I want to touch on the

one that probably is h is the most experienced, but

we think it's something else. Come on, somebody, have you

ever have you ever had a situation where you had

symptoms and you thought it was one thing, but then

you found out it was something else. If you ever

raise your antithest's ever happened to you. You thought it

was this, but it ended up being that. I remember

I remember one time we were on vacation and I

woke up. I had just I had just laid down

and went to sleep, and I woke up. We were

at Panama City Beach and I woke up and I

had the most.

Incredible pain in my chest right here, and I thought,

this is it. Uh. It was the second time it

had happened.

The first time was in our other building, and I

thought I was having a heart attack. But I wanted

to be sure. Come on, somebody, I'm one of those

guys that wants to be sure. I don't want to

go to the emergency room and pay that copay if

I don't have if there's nothing wrong me. So to

find out if I was having a heart attack the

first time, I jogged up and down the stairs because

I figured, if I'm having a heart attack, this will

just kill me and then I'll know for sure.

Amen.

So I wanted to know for sure whether I was

having a heart attack. But I woke up and I thought,

this is it.

I mean, I'm dying. I'm dying.

And I got on my knees at the end of

the bed and I told Ange, I said, maybe I

can't breathe. I don't know what's happening to me, and

Angie determined it.

Was a panic attack.

I think it was gas because I burned and I

felt okay after that. But I thought and the symptoms

everything said, Hey, my arm was hurting, come on, somebody,

my chest was hurting. I couldn't breathe. I thought it

was a heart attack, but it was something else. And

I think a lot of times we go through life

and we think we're physically tired, we think we're emotionally tired,

we think we're relationally tired.

But really it's spiritual fatigue.

It's something in the spirit part of who we are.

And because we're not really in touch.

With the spiritual part of who we are enough, we

don't recognize it as being that we recognize it as

I just don't want to get out of the bed

because I'm tired, or so I'm so so I must

be depressed.

But the reality is we just haven't.

Done the work on the spiritual side of who we

are to make ourselves healthy and invigorated, because the spirit

man affects every part.

Of our being.

In Matthew chapter six, starting in verse thirty one, it says, therefore,

do not worry. I could preach four sermons series on

those words.

I want just to show of hands, do not lie.

How many of you in here over the last month

have worried about something?

Raise your hand. Look around.

You're in good comedy. There's some great there's some great

worriers in here. I mean, there's people that really good

people that worry. Says, Listen, do not worry saying what

shall we eat or what shall we drink? Or what

shall we wear? For after all these things, the gentile

seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need all

these things. He already knows you need those things. God

already knows your basic needs.

And our promises.

That he shall supply all of our needs. That's scriptural promise, right.

But yet we worry about the things. God says, I

got that, I got that under control. Now you're worrying

about whether it's gonna be a hot dog or whether

it's gonna be a steak that's went over. Some people say,

I'm gonna let you just rested on that. For your

heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. And

here it is, But seek first the Kingdom of God

and his right sighteousness, and all these things shall be.

Added to you, he says.

Listen, when you seek the kingdom, all these things shall

be added to you. Now, now we've switched gears. Now

he's assuming you just did it. That's what we miss

a lot of times in scripture. Once they say something,

they're assuming that you begin to put that in practice.

So now he's got to tell you what the other

side looks like. So now he's assuming, Hey, I've made

that switch in my mind. And he says, therefore, do

not worry about tomorrow. All those other things are worries

for today. What do I wear, what do I eat?

All those things concern me right now. And now he's saying,

because now we've become a seeker of the kingdom, and

now our eyes are ahead because we know God has

got today taken care of.

God's got today covered.

We are visionaries pioneering purpose for tomorrow.

He says.

Now, therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because when you get there,

it's got its own things. So fish ship for the

day is it's on trouble. He says, here's the key

to spiritual vitality.

Seek the Kingdom.

Now, I want to tell you seeking the Kingdom. You

reach these moments in these sermons when you say when

you know you're about to say something, And I know

because I have sat where you are. I sat where

you were on Father's Day and Pastor Clay got to

the first thing and he said it, and I just

grabbed it and said, that's what I need to learn today.

I went back and listened to it a few more

things and realized that he actually said some positive things. Amen,

I'm about to say something that. Don't let your brain

latch onto this, and this is all you get. Seeking

the Kingdom of God is not going to church. Seeking

the Kingdom of God is not showing up on Sunday.

This is basic, entry level, fundamental Kingdom living. Now, I

want to put that in perspective because a lot of

you have these conversations that you have with people that

you love dearly in your life.

You say, why don't you come to church with me?

And they say, I don't have to go to church

to go to heaven. That means they're in remedial spirituality.

They're not even base level Christian living. That's sound. And

I may say some tough things today, get over it.

If I hurt your feelings today. Just know that Jesus heals.

Pastor Gary just told us he did. He'll hear your body,

He'll heal your feelings.

Amen. That is baseline.

So we think that we have done God a service

by showing up to worship experience, but that's.

Not seeking the Kingdom of God.

As a matter of fact, the word seek means to

press through and beyond, to press through and beyond that.

I'm going to press into the Kingdom and beyond all

the surface levels into everything that God has for me.

So coming and sitting is entry level Christendom.

There are there are people sitting in churches all over

the world today that when the trumpet blows, they will

miss Heaven. None of them are here, I'm sure. But the

reality is the modern church has convinced you that everything

in our spiritual lives is about attendance because this is

where we count you, and this is where you give,

and this is and we've convinced you that church is

it and it's not.

It's the beginning of your spiritual journey and your faith.

He says, seek first the Kingdom, go deeper in your

walk with God.

And churches we have struggled with this concept we call discipleship.

Since the New Testament Church has been a.

Think and we think we have it figured out, and

then we realize that we have just over or undercorrected

in one direction or another.

And we've always looked for a program to disciple.

We've always looked for a program to help you grow

in your faith with the Lord. But the realize, but

the reality is growing in the Lord doesn't happen sitting

in a classroom. It doesn't even really happen in a

small group. It happens when we take those things that

we hear from God and we put those things into action.

I remember a few years ago I had this. I

was in our sanctuary in the old building and I

was praying. I was just sitting on the stage and.

It was dark and.

I looked up, and when I looked up, it was

just I don't know how to explain it any other way.

I don't like to be weird, but it was a vision.

I just saw a vision.

And I was standing at the pulpit and there was

this huge pile of corn, and I had a shovel

and I was shoveling the corn and I was throwing

it off the front of the stage and people wearing

shirt it represented people, but they were cows. Come on, somebody,

and people were coming and they were eating the corn

as fast as I could shovel the corn off the stage.

People were eating and they were eating, and they were eating,

and they were I could watch them getting bigger and

bigger and bigger, and their buttons were popping, and then

they were just going and disappearing, popping and disappearing all

over the place.

And I said, Lord, this is weird.

What I wanted to think is well, I wanted to

call Angy and say the Lord wants me to get cows.

I mean, that's what I wanted to tell, But I didn't.

And I said, Lord, what is that? He said, this

is my people, He said, they come every week and

they eat and they eat and they eat, but they

never expend the spiritual calories that they're bringing in. They

must go do something with the calories they're taking in,

because we've made discipleship about learning and not about doing.

And the key to spiritual health, the key to spiritual vitality,

is seeking the Kingdom of God Mark chapter twelve, verse

twenty nine.

Let's go a little deeper.

Everybody there say amen, I don't mean Mark, everybody's still

with me. Say amen, I knew y'all weren't there yet.

This good is everybody hanging in there Mark Chapter twelve,

verse twenty nine. Jesus answered him, the first of all

the commandments is hero Israel, the Lord, our God. The

Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your

God with all your heart, with all your soul, with

all your mind, with all your strength. This is the

first commandment, and the second like it is this you

shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other

commandment greater than these. So the scribe said to him, Well, said, teacher,

you've spoken the truth. For there is one God, and

there is no other but He. And to love him

with all heart, with all understanding, with all the soul,

and with all the strength, And to love one's neighbor

as oneself is more than all the whole burnt offerings

and sacrifices. Now, when Jesus saw that, he answered wisely.

He said to him, you are not far from the

Kingdom of God. He said, listen, when you understand when

you are receiving, and then you were going.

And loving. Love is an.

Expression in action, They say that again, love is an

expression in action. You can't just say you love. You

have to show that you love. I tell my wife

a thousand times a day, I love you, baby, Donna.

She says all the time. You say that all the time,

and I mean it all the time. Amen.

But if that's all I did, she probably wouldn't believe it.

But the fact that if she wants just a little chocolate,

I get out of the recliner at nine o'clock at

night and go buy a chocolate bar, come on, somebody,

Or if she complains about this or that and I

go and do this or that, it's an expression of

the way I feel and my choice to serve her

and be devoted to her.

We think that love is this feeling, and.

Because I have a positive posture towards God that I

love him.

But the reality is, if we're not serving him, we're

really not loving him. I know y'all don't like that, But.

Year, once a year, I got to shear once a year,

if I'm just, if I'm not doing anything other than

singing him a song, Now, hold on that somebody else

wrote and somebody else is playing the music to, and

that somebody else set the condition. So nobody sees me

while I'm singing or hears me when I'm singing.

If that's all I'm doing, that's not a very.

Deep measure of love. Come on, somebody, not a very

deep measure of love. A deep measure of love is

when I sacrifice, when I move beyond myself to a

place that's uncomfortable, and then I begin to have an

expression of love.

Ladies, I want you to hear me. I want you,

I want you to hear this.

I want to because this, this is in the natural

and the supernatural. Right when you look at your husband

and say do you want to go shopping with me?

And he says no, but I'll go, the response to

that is, but I want you to want to go.

He's never going to want to go. If he wants

to go, it's less of an expression of love than

as if he doesn't want to go and he goes anyway,

that's sacrifice. We got twenty four hour a day's sports television.

Now we can find something to watch on TV, even

if it's cards or cornhole, there's something.

Those are two of them.

I can't believe those either one of those two things

ever made television Sports but they're both on there, both

of them.

The fact that he doesn't want to go, but he.

Goes is proof that he loves you and that he

wants to know what you're buying.

But here's the thing.

In our relationship with Jesus, there are things we don't

want to do, but we have to do because it's

an expression of our love to him. His expression of

his love to us was that he died for us.

He gave his life, he gave.

Everything for us. Now I'm gonna get personal, but we

won't get in a group or on.

A team to show our love for him, which both

benefit us. Groups help us walk in freedom, and teams

help us seek the Kingdom of God by loving.

And serving our neighbors.

In John chapter fifteen, verse eleven, it says, these things

I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you.

I want you to take all this in as I

read it. Okay, don't miss anything, don't wait for me

to get to the to take it all in. He says,

these things I've spoken to you that my joy may

remain in you. Joy, the joy of the Lord is

your strength. Without the joy of the Lord, you're not strong.

These things I've spoken to you that my joy may

remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment that you love an expression of action,

that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this than to lay

down one's life for his friends. He's not bragging, he said,

here's my commandment. This is the expectation. This is the

reasonable expectation of the kingdom. Boy, what for the July weekend?

I'm preaching this amen to lay down one's life for

one's friends, to do something I don't want.

To do because there's other people. Let's keep reading. You

were my friends. If you do whatever I command you.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant

doesn't know what his master is doing.

But I've called you friends.

For all things that I heard from my father, I

have made known to you.

You did not choose me. Let me, let me just stop.

We think we discovered Jesus, that we found.

Him, but the reality is he found us before we

ever were we are, because he already loved us. Scripture

teaches that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the.

World, that before the world was formed.

Jesus already knew he was going to die for you.

Now I don't know because and I'm glad I'm not Jesus.

I'm glad I'm not the father because I would handle

things different.

Amen. If I was Jesus and.

My father started talking about creating this world, and immediately,

because I have all knowledge, I knew the brutal death

I was going to have to die, I would probably, Hey, hey, Dad,

what if instead of that, what if we just make

some more angels? What if what if me and you

we just go on a trip somewhere, Dad?

What if what if we do it a different way?

How about this? Hey? What if you create them?

And you just create a giant like maybe in the

Caribbean somewhere, and I go.

Sit on it. I just tell people what to do.

I think that sounds better.

But Jesus knew and was part of the creation plan.

Nothing was made that wasn't made by him. He created

you so he could die for you. WHOA, He created

you so he could die for you so that you

could sacrificially serve other people that he died for that

they might have a grace collision with him and experience

the same transformation that we've experienced. No longer do I

call you service, for a servant does not know what

his master's doing.

But I've called you.

Friends for all things that I heard from my father.

I have made known to you.

You didn't choose me. I chose and appointed you.

For that you should go and bear fruit, produce a

product that's tasty for consumption and contains the seed of growth.

Mm hmm. And that your fruit should remain.

That I don't get tired and quit, that I don't

have that, that I don't run out of bandwidth, that

I don't.

I just can't. I just can't take people right now.

I just can't.

RaSE y'all. Raise your hand. If you think I love y'all,

I mean really, I mean some y'all don't know me.

I don't know if.

There are times I don't want to come deal with y'all. Transparency, right,

I hate that core value. There are times I think

to myself, Man, you know what I'm just going to

I'm gonna text Pastor Clay and telling man, my throat

hurts so bad, I can't even talk. You're gonna have

to preach today, or I'm not feeling good. So I'm

gonna show up and preach and leave. That's all I'm

gonna do. I'm not gonna talk to anybody. I'm not

gonna Yes, I have days like that, but you know

what I do. I put my big boy pants on.

I put my big boy pants on. And the reality is,

it's not because I love you that I come and

do it. It's because I love Jesus and he asked

me to do it. And we need to get to

the same place. You did not choose me, but I

chose you and appointed you that you should go and

bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. That whatever

you ask in the Father in my name, he may

give you these things.

I command you that you love one another. He says.

Here's the thing. I'm not even asking you to do

it for nothing.

If you do it, whatever you ask in my Father's name,

he'll give it to you.

That once you reach.

The place where you are serving, to the point that

you are invigorated spiritually.

If you're tired, this is some of y'all will leave

and never come back.

My wife will be here because she has to be

in pastor Clay will as long as I can pay

you amen. The reality is if you're feeling tired, you

may need to do less but serve God more. If

you're tired and you don't know why you're tired, If

you're emotionally destitute, and you don't know why you're emotionally destitute,

it's probably a symptom of some spiritual issues, not emotional

or physical issues, because there are answers to those things.

It's probably a spiritual problem. And the answer to your

spiritual problem is to dig deeper and serve people harder.

In my most difficult times, I love people more in

the hardest times, I find things to serve the Lord.

And I'm not just talking about waking up in the

morning and saying thank you Lord for another day. I'm

talking about getting involved in the work of the kingdom.

Paster Clay, you guys, come and get ready.

I'm ready.

The local church is the body of Christ. Let me

say that again.

The local church is the body of Christ.

The local church is the answer to the problems our

communities face. The local church the spiritual answer to the

problems people are having, the emotional problems people are having,

the financial problems that people are having, the physical problems

that people are having, the local church is the answer

to those things because it is the mechanism that Jesus

chooses to work through. And we can go and chase

revival from here to there, or we can dig in

right where we are and see God work in amazing

ways in our lives. We just have to make the

determination which way we want to go. He'll never leave you,

and he'll never forsake you. But I'm telling you that

there are people that sit on the chairs next to

you that feel left and forsaken, not because God did it,

but because we didn't, because we didn't step up and

be everything God wanted us to be. We do groups

so people can connect together to have a support system

around them, to be able to make it through those

hard times, to have people that they can pray with,

celebrate with, and cry with.

We having gained so that we.

Can point people towards purpose, and we have teams so

that we can love our neighbor.

Teams are the mechanism.

Of an expression of love, every single one of them.

How many teams do we have? Fourteen? Right, fourteen different teams.

We have fourteen different teams that operate here at Cornerstone Tabernacle.

The reality is most people that call our church home

don't serve on any of those teams, and our church

operates like a well willed machine.

It does. I'm just gonna be honest with you.

For the last five, six, seven years, when I wake up,

I don't worry about whether coffee is going to be served.

I don't worry.

About whether whether things are gonna get ushed. I don't

worry about whether people are gonna agree. I don't worry

about whether there's gonna be music. I don't worry about

whether whether the kids are gonna be loved and taken

care of.

I don't worry about those things because we've come to.

The place where our systems run and they're smooth, and

they're old and and everything looks good on the outside.

And maybe that's why you haven't gotten involved.

But the reality is, teams are not in place so

things are easy. Teams are in place so you can

get plugged in and you can serve, and you can

find spiritual vitality, and you can find rest for your soul,

and you can be restored, and you can be lifted up,

and you can mount up like the wings of eagles.

You can run and not grow weary teams are for you.

They're for you to expels rest that beautiful, incredible thing

that God has put in you that he hasn't put

in anybody.

Else, That perfect divine design he encoded on your DNA

for such a time and place. Is this.

I don't want you to serve. I want to give

you an opportunity to. I want to give you an

opportunity to go to that next level in your spiritual journey.

So I've got a couple of people that are gonna

hand out some cards. So if you guys would get ready,

if you're here and you want to take that next

stay up and and get plugged into one of our teams.

Now listen. Next week.

That there's I could just say, hey, next week, if

y'all don't serve, we ain't gonna have coffee next week.

If y'all don't serve, you've got to keep your own kids.

Next week.

If you don't serve, church's gonna be dirty. So well

it's gonna be stopped up.

But that's a lie.

All those things are gonna be happening next week, whether

you do them or not, because somebody else does. I

want to give you an opportunity to find rest for

your spirit. Rest for our spirit doesn't come hiding in

a closet telling God how miserable we are.

It comes when we serve the King's.

That passage of scripture that says those who wait on

the Lord shall renew their strength as both wait, take

a pause, but it's also.

Wait, as in serve. Here's your moment.

If you're here today and you'd say, Hey, you know what,

I haven't really jumped and gotten involved in teams.

I haven't gotten involved just teams. I'm not asking you

to go to a group.

I'm not asking you to do, just asking you to

use your talents that God has given you to serve

on a team and make sure that your soul is

invigorated and inspired. But if you want to take that

next step and say, hey, pastor, I want to serve

on a team. I wanna I want to get involved

and I wanna want to serve on a team. I

want to I want agreed, I wanna, I wanna ask,

I wanna, I wanna administrate, I wanna whatever it is.

Wherever your talented, We're gonna plug you into surf. If

that's you and you say, hey, I want to take

that next step. Just stand up and they're gonna bring

you a card to fill out.

Where are you? I know there's people? Amen? Amen? Amen, Amen, Amen,

Amen Amen Amen.

This is just like it's just like an altar call

when y'all coughing, y'all come to the altar and want

to be healed.

Amen.

That's just this says, Hey, I just feel I just

feel like everything's not where I need it to be.

I'm gonna give it just another just another couple ofments.

Just stand up and say, hey, that's me because we're

about to stand up in all worship. Don't hand out

a car when I say we're gonna worship. Don't hand

out a car to everybody. They're just standing up to worship.

Amen. We got somebody back there right here. Oh, everybody's

chasing the same people.

Now, somebody come back this way now, job Caleb, I mean,

anybody else.

This is our final call. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Listen, Jesus turned the world upside down with twelve people.

I'm pretty sure he is going to rock the boat

in Oakwood with the team we have here.

Amen. Let me pray for y'all.

Father, I thank you for people that have determined in

their hearts to serve today, to be involved on a team,

to love their neighbor through their actions and not just

through their words. And Lord, I pray that as they

begin the journey of serving, that they're invigorated in their soul,

that they find the rest they're looking for through their service.

Ask it in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, and amen. Everybody's

staying with me all over the building. You know, there

may be somebody here today that heard this and you're like,

why in the world would anybody do that? And it

may be because you've never asked Jesus to be your savior.

You've never had a collision of grace that turns your

life upside down. But it's them to be the lord

of your life. And you've never asked Jesus to forgive

you of your sins. You've never asked him to be

the lord of your life. This is your moment, right now,

this is your moment for him to wash into your

life and wash out all the junken, make you a

brand new creation.

And if you want that, Dennis, come on up here

for me.

Man a denist is standing up here, and probably some

others will come up and.

If you want to meet Jesus.

Today as the band Sings want you to come and

get with one of our our alter team members and

they're going to say a prayer with you and they're

going to resource you to be able to start.

Your spiritual journey.

Hid step I move anytime you want if you're looking

to find Jesus today, because he's looking for you.

Pastor claim h