3rd Anniversary - In The Way

Man, the Spirit of the Lord is in this place.

And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And I just want to encourage you.

Whatever you need this morning, he's got it.

Whatever you need, he's already paid for.

Man, he loves us.

He's so excited about the love of God.

And man, how it just is overwhelming to think how he saved us, how he rescued us.

And man, when I think of this church and what's going on in Frankfurt, I get so encouraged.

Because this doesn't just happen.

You know, God ordains things, but it doesn't just happen.

It takes a lot, it takes a lot of work.

And to see what's happened here, to see the lives that have been changed here, man, it is so encouraging.

Not every city has a church like this, but you do.

Not every city has a move of God that's happening like what's happening here, but you do.

And the temptation is to take it for granted.

Don't ever take it for granted.

Don't ever take it for granted.

I mean, can we just honor Pastor Forrest and Emily and their sacrifice?

I know it takes a team in a village, but let's just thank God for pastors who stand in the thank you for your family.

Thank you for your commitment.

You could have been living the salt life down there in South Carolina, but you forsook your comfort.

You said, I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna plant this thing.

God has a vision and I'm gonna surrender the call.

Just extend your hand towards them today.

Let's pray for them.

Because it's been three years, but God's got 300 on his mind.

He doesn't think in terms of years, he thinks of legacy.

And so there's something being birthed in this house.

There's an inheritance that people need and it's flowing through them.

So, Father, we thank you for Pastor Forrest and Emily.

We thank you for their wonderful daughters, God.

And we thank you for what you've called them to in this season to put their hand to the plow to lock in.

You've asked us all to do that.

You have a specific thing for them to do in this season.

And so I pray that there would be consistent support.

Not just that they would feel surrounded by people, but they would feel supported and encouraged in this call that you've placed on their life.

Father, we thank you for the lives that have already been changed.

And Lord, we thank you for the lives that will continue to be changed only because the person of Jesus Christ.

And thank you that as we point people to Jesus, you have your way on this earth.

So thank you for your presence that's here.

There's some people that are hurting, there's some people that are anxious.

But God, you have everything we need.

So we thank you for it today in Jesus' name.

Amen, amen, amen.

I'm kind of a multiplier now.

You guys can be seated.

I consider myself like your your crazy cousin from Concord, North Carolina.

Um, but man, over$150,000 this church has given to outreach organizations.

Like that's not normal.

That's not a normal thing.

So thanks for being a church that doesn't just pray for people or send good wishes, but like serves and gives towards the community.

That's really what makes the difference when we put our faith in action.

And so there's been a lot of that that's happened, but I'm originally from Owensboro, Kentucky.

So I don't know what you know about Owensboro.

Uh, most people don't know anything.

Um I'm from a town called Macyo, which you've probably never heard of.

400 people, no stoplight.

And um, my family moved from there to the Charlotte area about eight eight years ago uh to be a part of a church like this one and to serve and to volunteer there.

And uh we never knew we'd be on staff or anything like that.

We just said, God, if this is what you have, you know, in that moment we were like, this is what we're doing.

And so we had four kids, five and under, and we moved there to a town that we we really didn't know anybody.

And um we've seen God uh bless our lives and our children as we've been planted in a church.

And I just want to encourage you that there's no environment like the local church, is what I found.

There's great organizations, there's great parachurch ministries, and I'm not saying anything to criticize any of that.

All those are good things.

But what God does in the context of a local church, the ecclesia, the called out and assembled together, the united people, I mean, it's it's magnificent.

I've seen all my kids baptized at our church, I've seen a lot of incredible things.

Actually, I'll show you a picture of my family uh right now.

This is my family.

So uh you can see the ginger kind of runs in the family.

So pray for us.

We get a little testy sometimes.

But also, something you may not know about gingers is they're extremely good looking.

I mean, you know it now.

You might not have, but now you do.

Uh so my wife there in the middle.

Yes, I married up.

Uh, that's my my daughter, she's 14, and uh I'm just don't know how I have a high schooler.

She's gonna be in high school next year, and I just don't know how that happened.

My 12-year-old son, 11-year-old daughter, and then my eight-year-old fireball.

Woo! She is a fireball.

Um, but we moved from Owensboro.

And uh who's been to the barbecue festival?

Anybody?

Okay, nobody.

This crowd is this crowd is way more intelligent than the nine o'clock because a lot of them had been to the bar, don't go, okay?

There's nothing there.

Of course you've been, you're like a barbecue aficionado, so you get a pass.

Uh, but like I said, I'm from Kentucky, so I've never been to the Derby.

Because if you're from Kentucky, you've never gone to the horse race, or at least I haven't.

I feel like that's a commonality.

Um, but my family's supposed to be here.

We're gonna be in the book of Matthew today.

And uh, if you guys don't mind to give me a clock counting up, I'd uh Pastor Forrest said I had about three and a half hours.

So I was planning on two and a half, but he said three.

So we're gonna do three.

Okay, cool.

Um, and so we're gonna be in Matthew, uh, the book of Matthew, uh, chapter eight.

And this is a verse, and um, here's what I would say today about today's passage is um there are these times and moments where Jesus uh encounters people, and what he says sounds a little odd.

And that's one of these passages today that we're gonna be in.

Sounds a little odd, but we're gonna dig in today and try to find the heart of this message, and uh we're gonna dig in, it's gonna be a fun time, and we're gonna have a good time, it's gonna be a challenging time.

Because here's what I know it's that God has incredible plans for the city of Frankfurt, and and when he does a work in you, he wants it to not stop there.

He does something in you, and then he wants to do something through you.

And oftentimes we get it twisted because we want to work for Jesus, like when we're doing things, like I want to work for Jesus instead of bring him in.

He doesn't want to do it without you or apart from you, he wants to be in the things you're doing, and he wants to do things in you and through you, with you.

And so in this passage, it's called uh it's in Matthew 8 and it's 18.

We're gonna pick up right here.

This is what it says.

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.

Everybody say, We're going to the other side.

You might have had to cross a lake to get here this morning.

There's a lot of water.

Uh then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.

But Jesus replied, Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.

Another of his disciples said, Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.

But Jesus told him, Follow me now.

Everyone say, Now let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.

Jesus is on a shore, a crowd gathers because Jesus drew crowds.

Sometimes people left, but a lot of times people came.

He's getting ready to cross the sea.

And he's saying, He's get the boat, we're going to the other side.

And what he wants is these people to come with him.

And then there's they even say, I'll follow you.

But then Jesus confronts something in them, and what he confronts is not just what they say, but it's at the source of what they're saying.

And that's the beauty of when Jesus speaks to us through his word or through through uh spiritual authority.

Like oftentimes he speaks to the source.

He's always getting at the source.

He's not just worried about the symptoms of things, and that's what happens here.

Let's pray, Father.

We thank you for your word.

It's living eternal.

We thank you for how you've used it to shape our lives.

God, we thank you that whenever we have uh different things that we believe or we're wondering about or confused about, you use your word to wash and renew our mind.

And so, God, I thank you that you would do that today.

I thank you for the three years of ministry that have happened here.

Lord, so many builders and people who've come along and said, I'll give, I'll serve, I'll join, I'll be in community even when it's not comfortable.

I'll help foot the bill for this thing.

Like I want to see your mission accomplished on this earth.

Thank you for all those people.

Thank you for the people that are joining this next year in the fourth year of ministry.

And God, I thank you that uh you would continue to strengthen uh Pastor Forrest's hand, just like the book of Nehemiah.

It's one hand has something he's building with, one hand has something that he's defending the faith with, and I thank you that you strengthen both of his hands in the protection that's on his family in Jesus' name.

And the church said, Amen.

In 1865, there was a man named Charles Blunden, and he was a tightrope walker.

And I don't know if you've known much about tightrope walkers.

Um, I personally don't, but this guy came over from Europe to the States.

He wanted to make a name for himself, and so the way that he felt like he would do that, he wanted to go big.

Okay.

He's like, I am gonna do this thing right.

He posts flowers all over town.

He goes to Niagara Falls, and he says, I'm going to cross Niagara Falls on a tierope.

So this crowd begins to swell.

They begin to amass, and he he takes a tie rope, places it from one end to the other, and then he crosses the tightrope, and then he crosses back, and the crowd is like, Wow, this is crazy.

Probably didn't expect it.

And then he goes on to up the stakes and he says, Who thinks I can do it again?

But even more difficult, in a more difficult way.

Now, this time the people might not have really believed he could do it, but they're like, Yeah, yeah, I believe.

I think you can do it, I think you can do it.

So then he proceeds to put on a tight uh a blindfold, and he crosses this tightrope and crosses back.

Can you imagine being in the crowd watching these incredible things this man is doing?

I mean, some people probably hoped he would fall, some people wanted him to get back, whatever.

And then he comes back and he says, Who thinks I could do it again, even harder?

And they say, We believe, we believe.

I mean, he's got them at this point.

They're excited about this.

And so he puts on stilts and he walks across this tightrope on stilts, and then he comes back, and then he does something else.

He gets a little cooking device and he walks halfway across.

He sits down on the rope in the middle, fries an egg, cooks it, eats it, and then it comes back.

Like it's a crazy story, but it's true.

You can look it up on the internet.

Everything is true on the internet.

And then there's this guy who's in the crowd.

He's the Duke of, I think the Duke of Newcastle.

And he is absolutely losing his mind.

He's like, this is crazy.

He's like, You think I can do it again?

He's like, I believe, I believe, and the crowd is chanting, we believe you can do it.

And then a guy comes out and says, Well, do it with a wheelbarrow.

And so he brings a wheelbarrow out.

And and Charles Blundon is like, Who thinks I can do it with the wheelbarrow?

And the crowd's like, We believe, we believe.

And then he says, Well then get in.

Like, uh-uh.

The Duke's right there.

He's like, You said you think I could do it.

He's like, I believe.

He's like, get in.

He's like, uh-uh.

In that moment, there was something blocking these people from getting in to the wheelbarrow.

You think, no, there wasn't.

They're just not crazy.

No, there was something about what they said they believed and the behavior they were exhibiting that showed there was something in the way.

And the difficult thing is sometimes the things that are in the way for us are not objects, they're they're mindsets that we hold on to.

They're things that you couldn't even point to with your finger, but there's things that get in the way.

And there's things that get in the way that even though sometimes we say, we believe you, Jesus, we believe you are the chosen one, and we will follow you.

There's some times in our life that we face these things that get in the way from us really fully following him, from really fully surrendering to him.

And Jesus is asking us this would you just be with me?

He wants us to follow him, but he wants us to be with him too.

And I want to talk about that today.

The title of my message today is In the Way.

Will you look at your neighbor and say, In the way.

Give the other neighbor a little push and say, You're in the way.

Not so aggressive over there.

Just I think I think one thing we have to understand about this passage is that when Jesus is moving from one shore to the other shore, it's just not for fun.

They might have had fun, fun's not bad.

I love fun.

Fun's a value to me.

But he was on a mission, and when Jesus moves, he moves according to mission.

In Scripture, when he's navigating this different terrain, he has something very specific in mind.

In the shore that they were at, most people think that it was uh the town of Capernaum, and there's the Sea of Galilee, and they're going to the other side, and the place that they're going is the country of the Gatarenes, most likely.

And this is not just a different place geographically.

This is a very different place.

This is a different people group.

This is a different religious climate.

Capernaum was largely Jewish.

The country of the Gadarenes was largely Gentile and pagan.

The relationship between these two people was pretty hostile.

The Jews thought that Messiah was God only for them, not the Gentiles.

And what Jesus was doing in that moment was, he was, I believe, he was foreshadowing the inclusivity of the gospel to help them to know that the thing that they're seeing physically is actually something that will happen in the spiritual later.

So Jesus moves from one side to the other side because Jesus is always about moving to include people and draw people to himself, and he ends up goes and proves it on the cross and and makes a way for everyone, but he's moving this direction.

But it wouldn't have been a comfortable journey.

And I really believe the first person that comes up and he says, teacher, had identified Jesus not the right way.

It's not that being a teacher is bad.

I I think that teaching is probably one of the hardest jobs.

You got any teachers in the house?

Bless your soul.

Like thank you.

Thank you for teaching our kids.

When he calls him teacher, though, it says something about the way he identifies Jesus.

And how we identify Jesus says a whole lot more about us than it does Jesus.

This man is saying, I've come to learn from you.

I've got some things that I need to pick up from you.

And we all have some things we need to pick up and learn from Jesus, but you can come to learn from Jesus without calling him Lord.

You can come to Jesus and say he's a good man without saying he's the God man.

Our identity is shaped by our perspective and belief of who Jesus is.

There are a lot of world religions that would say he's a prophet, but he's not God.

You know, one of the, that's one of the conflicts that the Muslim faith has a lot of times.

I picked up a guy on the road.

It was raining, and I picked him up, he got in my car, and uh I said, hey, where are you coming from?

He's like, prison.

And I was like, okay, this is a little different than I thought it would go.

Woo! And I said, Awesome.

Well, hey, so glad I could give you a ride.

Where are we going?

He's like, the train station.

I gotta go meet up with some people.

And I'm like, cool.

And so we're headed towards the train station, and it was pouring outside.

And I said, Hey, do you know uh Jesus?

And he said, Yeah, yeah.

Hello, Jesus.

I'm like, oh, what do you think about him?

He's like, ah, yeah, he's a prophet.

Like, good guy.

I'm like, oh, okay.

I was like, if he is he your savior, is he your Lord?

He's like, nah.

I'm like, what?

He's a prophet?

But he's not Lord?

He said, Well, I'm Muslim.

I'm Muslim.

Like, we don't believe Jesus is God.

We believe that that would be a total, totally heretical.

And this man was deceived.

This man was deceived.

He was believing a false, a false concept around who Christ was.

And so the way that he identified Jesus showed where he was, and it identified him.

And so then he goes on to say, I will follow you wherever you go.

Teacher, I've come to learn from you.

I will follow you wherever you go.

And Jesus speaks to the very thing that this man needed to hear.

He always does this.

And so then he says, Foxes have dens to live in, birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.

That sounds a little bit like a nursery rhyme.

I'm going to be real with you.

Potentially a kid's book.

Foxes have dens to live in.

What is going on, Jesus?

He was standing on the shore of Capernaum, the village of Naham, the village of comfort.

And that's the first thing I want to ask us today as multiply church.

Is our comfort in the way?

Is our comfort blocking us from stepping into this next season?

We've seen God do great things.

We've moved from portable to permanent.

We've seen people baptized.

We've given in such a way where$150,000 in the lifetime of the church has been given to outreach partners.

We are debt-free.

I hope that's okay to say.

We are debt free.

We are debt free.

That's not awful, but man, it's great to not have it.

We've seen God do some things.

Will the comfort that we seek in the next season cause us to forfeit our calling for what Jesus is wanting to do, the people He wants us to reach?

Will we pursue comfort in the next season?

Will it get in the way from the things that Christ has called us to?

Don't let comfort get in the way of your calling.

Foxes have dens to live in.

You know, in a den, it's really, really comfortable.

In a den ain't nobody bothering the fox.

Nobody's saying, what does the fox say to the fox?

Nobody's asking the fox nothing.

When a bird's in its nest, it's really high up.

It's out of the way.

Nobody's bothering.

Like it's pretty safe up there in the nest.

It's got a little down comforter.

Probably made it.

But the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

If you want to follow me, scribe, it's not going to be comfortable.

I never promised that Christianity would be comfortable.

When we follow Jesus for what we get, we don't follow him rightly.

He is a comforter, though.

He is a comforter.

And this is what the Lord has been showing me and teaching me in this season is whenever I pursue comfort and pursue comfortable things, I am essentially trying to take his place in my life.

Because he said he would give us a great comforter.

It's not that he wants our life to always be chaotic and difficult and painful.

That's not the type of God we serve.

He wants to be the one that gives us the comfort that we really need.

And if you're in this place today and you would say, I'm in that season, I got the diagnosis.

I don't have a relationship with my son right now.

Jesus wants to come to you in that situation and comfort you in the context of community.

And I believe you can find that community here.

Don't let your comfort get in the way.

The next thing, uh, you see one of his disciples come up, and this is what it says.

Seems like a reasonable request.

But Jesus told him, Follow me now.

Everyone say now.

Let the spiritually dead bury the dead.

Can we get get somebody to to check Jesus' uh blood sugar level at this point.

Seems a little odd.

Doesn't seem characteristic of Jesus.

I mean, I know he confronted things, but this just seems aggressive.

This just seems aggressive.

What you have to understand about this text is there's some cultural ideas that we really need to know before moving forward.

And so when you read the word of God, it's important to understand what is contextually going on here.

This would be a culturally Jewish, they're Jews in this moment.

And what a couple things that would have been happening there, a couple things we need to understand that point to the same truth is one could be is that the father was already buried.

He was just buried the first time.

And so back then it was very customary for them to bury their father, wait about a year, let the bones decay, let all the flesh rot off the bones, I know that sounds gross, and then redig up these bones, take the bones and put them under the house, which would represent that the presence of the Father is always with the house, or put them in an ossuary, like an above ground tomb where they could save some space.

Aren't you so thankful that trends die out?

Like that trend what if that trend just popped back up like Kendrick Lamar's jeans right there on the Super Bowl.

What are those?

Maybe I'll have my kids put the I'll put this in my will.

Kids after about a year and then the next the next take on this would be that you know he wasn't even sick.

The dad wasn't even sick.

He hadn't even died yet.

Maybe it would be five years, ten years twenty years.

But but the son knew that it was his responsibility to settle the estate when the father passed away.

And so he'd be like Jesus like I will I will follow you but first is what he says let me return home and bury my father.

I have some things at home I need to settle.

There are many times in my life where my first is in competition with Jesus's now is first in the way is first in the way.

That's the second thing I want to talk about is first in the way.

Jesus has things that he asks us to do first.

Many of those things you already know they're very obvious they're in scripture.

He's a Bible teacher so he's teaching you a lot of firsts and sometimes you'll hear something like the first 10% of your money God asks you to give it to the local church and you're like well before I do that I have a first in mind.

I would like to build a really robust retirement account.

And Jesus is like now this is what I want you to do.

And even more than that he wants you to live a generous life.

And generosity can only be measured by what we keep, not give.

And so Jesus has these things he wants us to do now but oftentimes we have these firsts I was at the gym the other day working out at Planet Fitness because I'm not a real worker outer because that's where non-worker outers go.

Sorry if you go to Planet Fitness but there's judgment on you from everyone is what I've found.

This is a judgment free zone except for all the people that don't go here I guess even the equipment's purple I feel weird about it.

So I'm walking out of Planet Fitness and I'm going to Walmart and I have to get some stuff to make me look real good.

And so I'm going to I'm going to Walmart and I'm walking down the sidewalk and I'm I'm gonna have my wife pick me up later and I see this man and his back is facing me and he's pointed this direction and on his left shoulder I see a little bit of debris and in my mind I thought oh like he probably slept outside last night and I just keep walking because I'm thinking I don't have any cash I don't have a granola bar to give him I don't got nothing and and I keep walking and I feel like the Lord is like hey I want you to go talk to him about me and I'm like first I just need to get something from Walmart so then I look back and we make eye contact awkwardly and then I keep walking and the Lord's like no now I want you to do this.

Not after Walmart now.

I'm like ooh I don't even know what to say you feel like the Lord wants you to talk to somebody about something you're just like I don't know what I found is in those moments if you just go and start talking it's just like he'll help you.

He'll help you if you invite him in and so I'm like okay well now I gotta do the walk of shame back of the you know disobedience I was in for those 20 steps and so I turn around and and I just walk back and I'm like hey hey how's it going?

Um I said hey did you sleep outside last night he's like yeah I was like how long has this been going on?

He's like man it's been a while this gentleman looks like he's probably in his 50s and I said I could smell alcohol and like you battling addiction he's like yeah I was like alcohol he's like yeah and then he starts to begin to you could tell he was wanting to give me an explanation like he owed me an explanation and I just said hey man like we've all got our stuff like we've all been in tight spots we've all been in hard spots like and I just want you to know this this doesn't have to be the end this isn't where you this isn't where your story ends man and I said hey do you know Jesus and he said his his face changed immediately at the name of Jesus and he started tearing up he said I do I know him I said I feel like the Lord wanted me to come back and just tell you and remind you that he loves you and he started crying more he's like I know that he loves me and I was like can I pray for you what's your name he said Bill his name's Bill be praying for Bill and so I pray for Bill and we have a moment and I get his phone number which is great a lot of times you can't get somebody's phone number in that situation because they don't have a phone and so I said I want to reach out to you would you be okay with us maybe connecting with you and getting you connected to like an organization so that you can wash your clothes and you can get some food and he's like yeah and and in that moment of walking down that sidewalk I had something I wanted to do first but Jesus had a now for me.

And whenever we consistently spend time in his presence what I found is those specific nows will grow.

Maybe you never felt like the Lord has prompted you to say something to somebody but man when you spend time in the secret place when you spend time in the morning with the Lord five ten minutes just abiding in him and focusing on how much he loves you because man he loves you those opportunities will grow in your life and I wish I could tell you that we you know got connected to Bill and then we got him into a place and then now he's he's got a shelter honestly don't know he won't pick up our calls he won't return our calls and so there's something in his mind that's stopping him from taking that step please be praying for Bill.

This was last week um this yeah this was this past week but if I was to judge the fruitfulness of that situation based on the outcome man it would just make me stop doing that kind of stuff.

If I was to judge me sharing my faith now with people on their response and how they receive Jesus and if they repent right there and say, okay and now I need a church in a small group I would probably stop doing that.

Because a lot of times I do talk to people and maybe they do make a declaration of faith but there's sometimes that we don't but here's what I found the measure of success for that is obedience to Jesus is now before the first that we want to do.

And oftentimes it just takes slowing down in moments to hear what the Lord would say to us in those moments is your first in the way what this sounded like to me growing up was I'll get serious about the things of God after I live a little life.

First I want to have a good time the rich young ruler in the Bible experienced the same thing.

He went to Jesus and he said I want to follow you he said sell all your possessions and give it to the poor I don't know anybody that Jesus has asked to do that today but that's what he asked that man to do in that moment.

And in that moment he couldn't do it I need I've got this thing I want to do first before I follow you now Jesus at that same Sea of Galilee earlier Jesus would have bumped into three fishermen that were holding nets.

This was their livelihood and he said to them follow me now they had a career that they were building they weren't recreationally you know catching bass that's not what this was and in that moment the decision that they made was before they first built this empire before they first worried about getting the rest of today's catch in they just let go of their nets I wonder if I would have that kind of faith if Jesus asked me to walk away from it all because I have all these firsts that oftentimes just try to creep in and get in the way is first in the way and the last thing that I really want to ask you the last question or point is is what seems right in the way what seems right there are so many things today that may seem right that are not right and how do you know how do you know the way how do you know what's right I was asking chat GPT the other day he's a new friend of mine I don't really trust him I kind of think he's gonna brainwash me so I'm really resistant.

But I was asking chat chat buddy what is it that people think about Christians like why wouldn't people want to be a Christian because you know I talk to some people that aren't Christians but honestly they don't really tell me a whole lot most of the time they're kind of reserved and this is what he told me I mean he started preaching a sermon to me about it and so I I brought a couple notes evangelism and bold witness sharing the gospel and inviting others to follow Jesus can seem everybody say seem it can seem pushy invasive or fanatical especially in a society that values their dens that they live in and their nests and their especially in a society that value personal privacy or autonomy oh man I was walking out of Walmart one day and there's a lady and she's in a wheelchair and I said hey can I push you yeah so I start pushing her to her car and I said hey um how's your day going pretty good and I said do you know do you know Jesus and she said I don't believe in Jesus I said hey I want you to know he believes in you and she looks back at me goes no he doesn't I was like oh this escalated quickly hey hey I'm I'm sorry if I offended you ma'am I'm sorry if I offended you ma'am I I I'm sorry and she said can you shut my door please I said yes ma'am and I walked off I was like why is this guy sharing us all these stories of people but that don't have great outcomes there's plenty that do but but if I shared all the stories of all the times that people just said I needed that invite I mean I got a list of those too but what I want you to know is don't measure it by the outcome.

Measure it by your faithfulness.

Here's another one forgiveness and grace forgiving people for egregious offenses and showing grace to undeserving individuals can confuse or offend those who see justice as retribution.

The world would say it does not seem right it does not seem right to forgive people whenever they've really done wrong to you or betrayed you.

But Jesus would say forgiveness is essential it doesn't mean that what was done to you isn't bad or wrong.

It doesn't mean that you forgive the person or get back in relationship with somebody like that.

I mean we learned a lot about that through the catching feeling series and if you haven't listened to it go back.

But what it means is this is what God requires this is what he asks of us because he understands this is what's best for us.

Rejection of worldly values Christian might avoid certain activities or lifestyles such as partying sexual promiscuity or materialism which could seem judgmental or prudish.

Man young people let me talk to you middle schoolers and high schoolers when you decide to stand for Christ and live a sexually pure life before marriage there will be people who look at you cross-eyed like you're crazy because that is not what the world teaches but when you take a stand for Christ I want you to know this you are saving yourself from so much trauma that you may have to walk through and relive and work out maybe in counseling later it may not seem right to stay pure before marriage but what I want you to know is even though it may not seem right it is right.

There was a man named John Jones who went out to Utah with his brother and he was going spelunking anybody know what spelunking is who knows what spelunking is okay well I'm gonna tell you what it is then not a lot of people know.

Spelunking is whenever you find a hole in the ground and it kind of looks like a cave but it's a little more like a hole and you go get in it and then you scurry through it where it and it's so tight that you have to turn your head sideways sometimes.

It literally sounds like my worst nightmare like I can't imagine anyone going to do that.

But this is what he did for fun lived a life of adventure.

And so him and his brother uh they they came to Spelunk it was around Thanksgiving time and so they get in this place called the Nutty Putty cave and they studied the maps they had looked at where to go and what they did is they get down in this place and there's this one place called the birth canal that's really tricky and it's really tight.

And this guy was 200 pounds.

He wasn't a small guy and he gets to this one place and he had studied the map and he's like oh this must be the birth canal.

It seems like this is the birth canal so it seems right to me.

And what he ended up finding was a different place.

The place that he ended up finding was uncharted territory.

And oftentimes whenever we follow the path of what seems right we can end up in uncharted territory.

For this man he ended up going into this place positioning himself upside down and they could not rescue him after a day he ended up passing away and that cave ended up becoming his grave there's a passage in Proverbs 1412 that says there is a way that seems right to a man but it ends in death and that's what John Jones experienced that day.

And unfortunately I've seen some of my friends walk that path of what seems right and right now they're in a spiritual death because the the faith they kind of found when they were young it didn't sustain them through some different times and they listened to some false teaching that derailed them and I'll be honest with you it's not easy to know which way to go in this life I mean everything feels gray a lot of the time it's like when you know when raising kids it's like I think this is what I should do with them.

I think this is I don't know if you get kids you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Marriage it's like I think this is what it means to be a good husband or I'm like I know this isn't but I'm it I need to not do it but I'm trying like you know what I'm saying like there's all these gray spaces in our life here's what I found is when there's things in the way and what seems right in the way what we have to realize is that we have a way even the disciples were they did not know which way to go in certain areas of their life they did not even know a path to follow at times and they were walking with the Savior of the world and this is what it shows us in John if you guys will throw that verse I want to show you this passage in John.

And it's just we have no idea where you are going so how can we know the way and Jesus told him I am the way the truth and the life no one can come to the Father except through me whenever we experience moments in our life where we do not understand which way to go when we don't understand how to parent our kids we have to understand that first God's put some practical resources around us for sure in a church like this.

But we also have to understand that I don't think that we can be the parents that we're supposed to be without the Holy Spirit's guidance and direction.

I don't think I can be the husband that I need to be without this word and the in this in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And the temptation is to let these things stand in the way from blocking us of fully following him but Jesus would say there's these things that you've been battling with that you've been struggling with Andrew and what you have to understand is you can't do that in and of yourself you can't remove that that addictive behavior you can't remove the way you're chasing comfort apart from me I am the way whenever you get stressed out and you don't want to run to this book and you want to run to the book of Ben and Jerry's like and you're chasing your comfort instead of Christ I can help you with that.

If you'll stand up on your feet today the band's going to come here's the thing that I want us to all circle around today in our minds is what's the thing where's the space that you feel like that God is challenging you to get out of the way some of you might just say I got to get out of the way of myself man I can relate to that but if you close your eyes in this moment maybe there's something specific that God highlighted to you that you've been struggling with struggling with something the the way you get over something like that is not trying more it's surrendering more surrendering more surrendering to Jesus and so maybe you're in this space today and you would say there's something in my life that I want to move out of the way it's the uh the the pill that I was prescribed that I've held on to that I know I don't need but I don't want to give up and I feel like it's trying to destroy me and my future Jesus wants that too don't be condemned by the things that you're walking through success looks like surrender.

He would say I'm the way will you hand me those things today maybe it's an insecurity that you have I would join a community group here but what I've allowed to get in the way is my insecurity that I won't be received.

Maybe for you it's I know I need to get involved but I gotta get my life together first.

That's not this church and that's not the way God operates.

If we had to get our lives together before we came to Jesus we'd never be able to come to him if I had to get my life together before I was a pastor I'd never be holding a mic right now.

We have all got stuff and so if you're here today and you would say every head bowed every eye closed this is a moment between you and the Lord this is a moment where you're allowing him to speak to you if you would say man I do have something today I'm not gonna make you say it I'm not gonna make you write it out I'm not gonna make you come down front but as a commitment before the Lord if you would just raise your hand and say I'm releasing that to you today if you had something I see hands across the room you could just raise it up real quick every head bowed every eye closed I see those hands I honor your commitment you can put your hand down and then if you're in this room today and you would say I've never given my life to Jesus I still have doubts I want you to know that you can follow him with doubts even the disciples had doubts the disciples couldn't exegete some passage of scripture they were literally living it out and writing it you don't have to know a certain amount of Bible before you start following Jesus he wants to walk with you through it all.

If you felt a tug on your heart I know some of you did if you felt a tug on your heart today of I need to surrender my life to him I need to make that decision for the first time with every head bowed every eyes closed if you just would raise your hand I want to know who you are today I feel like there's somebody in the room let's all pray Father thank you that you're moving in this church the things we've seen you do are not normal because you're not normal you're extraordinary you're supernatural and father I thank you that you are you accept us just as we are and you love us enough to speak to things to ask us to to shift and God every every week when we come into a space like this we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind and we can become more like Jesus which is our goal.

You are our prize.

You are our goal.

And we thank you that you're going to walk with us through this through this world, even through trial, even through temptation.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.