Battle Ready Relationships

Thank you for listening to the river.

Bend Church podcast Reverb in church exists.

Delete all people to know love and live New Life in Jesus

Christ. We hope that you enjoy this

message. I'm Micah one of the pastor's

here if I didn't get a chance to meet you and you didn't get a

bag and it's your first time, get one on the way out, I'll be

out there, some of our other staff and be out there.

That's just our way of saying we're so happy.

You're here. Here, we don't take it for

granted that you're here. Look, if you're new to this

church thing, we don't take it for granted.

We know it's not easy on a Sunday, to come to a place where

people claim they worship with God that exists, right?

There's a lot of us in this room that believe that.

And so, we just want you to feel comfortable, we want you to feel

like you can enjoy and God can work in your life and we are so

happy, you're here. So we've been in see you in a

series titled, what if? And we're in week 3 this week, I

would venture to say, we've all asked this.

What if question, right? Four times of our life, we ask

questions. Like what if I'm not enough?

What if what if the light at the end of the tunnel is just too

far? And it's gets farther and

farther away as I live my life. What if all my chances are up,

these are questions that we often ask.

So here's the idea, the big idea.

What if we went to God with these questions?

Like if we have these questions, if they're going to be there

whether we like it or not, what if we brought them to God and

said God, what do you say about these questions?

These questions that we have, what do you say, all-knowing God

of the universe? Verse.

What do you say? What if we put the ball in his

court and said you take care of my?

What? If questions?

I'll trust you. So that's what we're going to do

today over the last few weeks we've been doing that by looking

in the body. The book of the Bible called

Exodus following the life of a guy who's a prophet named Moses

and Moses, his life is absolutely insane.

We've seen Moses go from a baby in a basket floating down a

river because his mother feared for his life where he finds

himself in the Egyptian, royal family, pharaohs family, he

grows Up in the royal family. And then he murders an Egyptian

and we see him chased out of Egypt by pharaoh.

And that's where the famous story of the burning bush

happens in God, meets him there. Talk about some ups and downs,

right? Like if anybody had, what if

questions it was, this guy Moses.

So that's what we've been doing. Today.

We find ourselves in chapter 17 and exit is up to this point.

God has done some amazing things.

God has literally brought them out of Egypt, the people of

Israel. Out of slavery.

He even brought them through the Red Sea.

So, we heard that story last week, that God literally, and we

believe that God literally parted the sea and allowed these

people to walk through just mind-blowing stuff.

He gave them food from Heaven. If you've ever heard the word

Mana, maybe you've heard that in like, modern vernacular, but

that just literally means that in this time in Exodus, that God

sent Birds down from heaven, just dropped them down, and they

went and ate and then food came up from the ground.

It's unbelievable, the stuff. That's happened.

So put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

God has finally brought you to a place of Peace.

God is finally got you to a place where you're like, okay,

maybe along the way. I got mad at this guy Moses, you

know, who was in the desert for 40 years and came back and said,

hey I'm going to free you and you're like, who are you?

You know, but maybe you're finally like, okay, I have some

peace. I have some peace, my family's.

Okay, I have water to drink, we are safe.

Well, let's look at Exodus 17 8 through 16.

I want to That here. While the people of Israel were

still at resident the Warriors of amalek attack them, Moses

commanded, Joshua choose some men to go out and fight the army

of amalek for us tomorrow. I will stand at the top of the

hill holding the staff of God in my hand.

So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of

amalek. Meanwhile, Moses Aaron and Hur

climb to the top of the nearby Hill.

As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the

Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his

hand, the amalekites gain the advantage.

Moses, his arm soon became so tired.

He could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone

for him to sit on then they stood on each side of Moses

holding up his hands. So His Hands Held steady, catch

this until sunset all night. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed

the army of amalek in battle. After the victory of the Lord

instructed, Moses, write this down on a scroll, as a permanent

reminder and read it aloud to Joshua.

I will erase the memory of amalek from under heaven.

Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh Niecy, which

means the Lord is my banner. He said they have raised their

fists against the Lord's, Throne.

So now the Lord will be at war with amalek generation after

generation. So, man, if you're the

Israelites here, what are you thinking?

Gosh, like, God, finally brought me out of captivity and I'm

finally have some peace. I finally have some peace and

quiet and then out of nowhere, these amalek people come and

attack us. Like what the heck?

Right? And that's probably not that far

off to Israel. Lights.

We're really confused because it seemingly came out of nowhere.

What's really interesting about this section in the Bible is

that it's the first time in Exodus, we see the Israelites

fight after leaving Egypt. And a lot of times in scripture

when you're reading your Bible and you see a first it's really

good to lean in. It's a moment where we want to

we always want to lean in the scripture, but in these moments

it's good to go, okay? God probably has something

really specific here to teach me.

And what does he say now in this passage about how we Is our own

battles. First of all, this battle

seemingly came out of nowhere, right?

So right out of the gate, there's two things we know that

a true from this passage this Battles are coming and we will

win or lose based on who we surround ourselves with.

So we know this battles are coming right?

Battles are coming and we will win or lose based on who we

surround ourselves with two, things battles are coming we

will win or lose based on who we surround ourselves with let me

say something real quick. The overarching theme of the

story is not. I'm going to surprise you.

Here is not How to do help the Christian Community, the

overarching theme of the story is not how to love your

neighbor. The overarching theme of the

story is how to let God fight your battles.

That's the overarching theme of the story and you may ask well

from this statement here it seems like you're going to

preach a sermon on Christian relationships not dating

relationships but communal relationships that you're right.

I'm really glad. You asked me that question.

Because Moses couldn't hold the staff without people around him.

How do you get a sermon on relationship from this passage?

He could not hold the staff, which was their Victory.

He couldn't hold it without people around him.

This is what I love God. Strategically, guys.

In strategically set the world up in such a way that his glory

will be made known. That's the most important thing

for him. Most important thing for his

glory to be made known because it's the best thing anyone could

ever ask for but he set it up in such a way.

Let's look at how Jesus puts it. He set it up in such a way that

his glory will be made known through Believers.

Loving one, another absolutely crazy.

Jesus says this, your love for one another will prove to the

world that you are my disciples. Wow I think we can gather from

that that statement their relationships matter.

Here's my heart today Church. Going to make it through this

without crying because I didn't in the 9:30.

I love our church and I love our people and over the last few

months I've been. So my mind has been so blown.

By the way, you have loved one another.

By the way you have loved our staff by the way, you have loved

our community, absolutely mind-blowing.

So when I speak to you, I'm speaking to a group of people in

9:30 and now and 11 who love each other really well.

And that's not the patch on the back because if that was the

case we could walk out and say awesome.

We're done, right, relationships, done.

We got it, figured out. Here's the reality.

Leti, there's always more depth to be had and it's not just

about having these loving relationships.

But it's about having relationships that stand the

test of time. It's about having relationships

that not just deepen our own personal love, but deep in one

another's. Love and not just do that but

proclaim the glory of God in our city and Beyond.

Amen. 11:00. Let's go battle ready

relationships. That's what we call these kind

of relationships battle-ready relationships.

How do we face our battles with one another relationships that

stand the test of time. Let's jump back into the story

here. So Moses sees the amalekites

coming to fight him. He commands this youngish man,

Joshua to fight who Scholars? Think was probably around 40,

but we know Moses was extremely old.

So let's call him young today. He has this great plan, right?

He says you go and fight Joshua, you go and fight.

I'm going to Stand at the top of this hill.

Anybody got friends like that. Anybody got friends that are

like hey I think it's a great idea to go climb to the top of

this waterfall and just Swan Dive off.

Right. I think that's a great idea and

you climb to the top and your feet hurt because you didn't

wear the right sandals and they have all the rights Andals and

you get to the top and they're taking a video of you and you're

like, whoa! You're going first.

This was your idea. No, no I just got you up here

and if any body in this room knows me, well, they know that

I'm I tend to be that person to get you amped up.

Do you? Go and get you on top of the

mountain, and then be, like, go for it, you got it because in

some circles, we call that empowerment.

But anyways, here's the reality Moses did that?

Because he knew their power was in his staff.

Well, not in the staff, but was in, what the staff resembles,

what the staff recognize we've seen over the story.

When when God calls Moses to lay down his staff, we see that it

signifies his surrender to God and His saying, your people will

be led by you and you alone. And so the, the Going to the top

of the mountain, makes more sense.

When we realize that in verse 10, we see them go and do that.

And so, here's the first observation I want to make today

battle-ready relationships, are intentional, notice something

here, wasn't, until they got to the top of the mountain, in the

battle had started. That they saw Moses needed help.

So think about that for a moment, what if they had not

been there? What if they not been there God

is faithful and God would have fulfilled his promise and his

people. But what would have happened?

That leads me to think this Christian Community and you can

write this down. If you're taking notes,

Christian Community is not for emergencies, it's for

sustainability Community with one.

Another is not just for times that are tough Community for one

another with one. Another deep relationships is

for a deep sustainable, love that walks with us, week after

week and day after day and year after year.

So Anything comes, we're battle-ready, right?

We're battle-tested. Here's the thing, I know from

from preparing there's probably two types of people in this

room. There's those who find

relationships too easy. There's those who finds

roulette, find relationships, too hard.

And I want to tell you, both are dangerous.

Let me speak first to my extroverts, in the room, who

find it too easy because I'm one of them.

If you know me, you know, that I had 16 grams of my wedding and

if you're not familiar with weddings, that's too many.

That means that I probably have lots of relationships, but that

doesn't mean they're all deep. So, for me, it's dangerous

because I'm really good at making friends, but that doesn't

mean I'm gonna remember your name next week.

Like, let's be honest. That doesn't mean that doesn't

mean that I don't love you, but have I chosen to really step

into you your life? It's dangerous.

You may have three thousand friends on Facebook, but who's

going to stop and change your tire for you, right?

You're going to call one of those 3000, friends.

You nigga, you gonna call the random dude from Sopia that

follows you on Facebook and he's going to come and help you

nothing wrong with that. But you know what I mean?

It doesn't always mean you have deep relationships, there's more

depth to be had, let me talk to my introverts in the room as

singled out or extroverts, because they deserve it.

But introvert, to listen to me. You were made and everyone in

this room, you were made for Community.

You were made this God that we serve, this God, that we serve

is so good that he set us up in such a way in And in his core of

who he is one of the one of the facets of who he is is

community. We believe in something called

the Trinity, right? The the father Son and the Holy

Spirit Before Time began, I'm not going to go into Super

detail there, don't worry but Before Time began the godhead

was in perfect communion and so when he created us he said I

want them to be like we are I want them to know.

I want them to know me and also know me through the way, they

love one another. That's the way he set this whole

thing up, battle-ready relationships are found in that

found in our understanding of who Jesus is Introvert.

I want to say this really quick. You can do it.

Those of you in this room, that's a mica, you don't

understand. I don't want a thousand more

problems, right? Have 99 problems.

And a friend is not one, and that's fine.

The older I get, the more I understand and I'm with you, a

lot of times church ministry. If you're not careful can do

that to. You can cause you to get callous

towards people. But that's not the heart of God.

I'm not saying all introverts do that, by the way, but I'm

saying, you may be there and I want you to know this, I'm not

asking you to get 1,000 friends. I'm Asking you who's the core

people in your life, that know you, that know you from the

inside out that are ready to step into your situation with

you ready to love you, who are those people?

So, here's the word for everybody this morning, here's

the word unique community. And I don't know if you like

that, and I don't care because it's not up to us.

This is a calling from God, which God has made us in.

Such a way to say you need Community.

When you were born, you needed other People with you to walk,

you long to keep you alive and unique Community.

Now in your old age now you feel like man, I got this.

I'm grown. I'm an adult man.

I got it figured out. No, you don't, and that's

awesome. That's awesome.

Because that's where we turn to God.

Let's look at chap, that's look at verses 11 through 13 and go

further. As long as Moses held up the

staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage,

but whenever he dropped his hands, the amalekites gain the

advantage, Moses, his arms soon became so tired, he could no

longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone

for him to sit on then they stood on each side of Moses

holding up his hand so His Hands Held steady until sunset as a

result, Joshua overwhelmed. The army of amalek in battle.

So wasn't enough, right? It wasn't enough that they were

there. They were they were intentional

that got them there. They're intentionality got them

there. Listen to me students in the

front row. Love you guys.

They're intentionality. Got them there.

But that wasn't enough, they had to once they were there, make a

decision to love their brother. They had to make a decision to

do something about what God saw and allowed them to see through

their intentionality. You ever been there?

You ever see a friend in any, maybe you're having coffee

together and somewhere in the midst of the relationship.

I've been Somewhere In The Mists of the conversation, you start

talking and you're like all of a sudden you hear that your

friends you kind of zoned out and maybe you hear your friends,

just saying some wild stuff and you're just like, you're having

this inner dialogue and you're like, what, what?

And you're, maybe also in a quiet coffee, shops, or like,

quiet down, like you were saying, some wild stuff.

Like you are airing Your mess out in that moment, your maybe

like, okay, maybe tomorrow. I'm not going to answer their

phone to call. Like after this lunch is done,

this is we are no longer friends with this person but if you're a

good friend, what do you do? You step into it?

And you say, I'm going to sit here, I'm going to finish this

meal, I'm going to continue on, I'm gonna call them in the

morning. I'm gonna have a conversation

with them about what's going on in their life.

That's where it moves from intentional to what I call

committed. Battle ready?

Relationships are this? Our second observation is.

This are committed. If we're talking about

commitment here, we need to talk about.

What's at stake. If if I'm calling you to have

committed relationships with one another, there has to be

something that's keeping you and that's dangerous for you.

If you need to commit to it, right?

There's nothing to commit to if there's not something that

happens if you don't commit to it, right?

That's really basic. So for Moses and Aaron and Hur

here, they knew that if they didn't help one another, if they

did it get arm and arm together. We're not going to say that they

would have lost the battle but they probably would have lost a

lot of men. They probably would have lost a

lot of women and children. They probably would have lost a

lot of their Nation. If they did it make this

decision there, they their life's were literally at stake.

So, what's at stake for our life?

Had this quote here, it's really interesting.

According to the National Institute on Aging, the health

risks of prolonged isolation are equivalent to smoking 15

cigarettes a day. Social isolation and loneliness

have been estimated to shorten. A person's life span by as many

as 15 years. Our lives are quite literally a

steak and I don't mean to get super heavy for no reason, but I

get heavy because that's reality.

A life's are at stake. And here's what I love.

Like I know there are lives are at stake and it seems insane to

say that because of relationships and the importance

of them. But here's an idea that I

thought of this week that just encourage me so much are very

loneliness proves proves to us from our inner inward being of

who we are our soul. It proves to us that we are made

for Community. Listen, if you never got lonely,

if you and I never got lonely, and we could live our whole

lives on our own, We would most likely not be made for

community, and that's not how God made us.

But look the very reality that we get lonely, the very reality

is that that we need people in our life proves that we are made

for this. Listen, I'm not just saying

because I'm a pastor that you need Community.

I'm saying it because it's who we are from our from our

innermost be. We are longing to be with others

longing to be with others. It's who we are.

I see two things if we're talking about this commitment

here. There's two Two things happening

in this passage first Moses had to what he had to allow them to

help him. He had to be there and he had to

say, I need your help. We don't know if he really said

that if they saw it, but either way, he had to allow them to

help him. That's the first thing that has

to happen. Did you know that?

There's a difference between vulnerability and transparency?

There's a difference there. I'm transparent, right?

I'm a person who, if you meet me out front, I'll tell you

everything you want to know, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let

you in. Like I may say.

Yep. That's me.

That's me. I'll go to the counselor and say

yep. Uh-huh.

But that doesn't mean I'm letting him say but let's try to

fix it, right? Let's do something about it.

That's what vulnerability is Moses.

Here we can assume was not just transparent.

He was allowing his brothers to open him up and say, I'm a

totally inadequate. We see that through Moses, his

life, his life was built upon this inadequacy.

Like, how can that make any sense?

Why are you preaching that? How is that?

Good news, because God is, All we need, he's everything we

need. The more we realize we're in

adequate, the more. We realize we need God.

And the more we finally see God, and we stop acting like we have

it all. Together are an adequacy proves

that God is good and know, that seems crazy, but there's the

other side of the story, not only do we need to be

vulnerable. But Aaron and Hur, they had to

be ready to help. They first saw the need then.

They went searching for a way to help him and they found a rock,

but they didn't stop there. And I want to get honest for a

second with some faithful well-meaning Christians in the

room. I'm gonna get honest for a

second. How often, how often do we do

this? How often do we?

We put a chair out, a rock and we say.

All right buddy, sit down. Sister.

Sit down. And then we do this.

See ya. We walk off.

We oftentimes our chair. Iraq is, is the word of God?

Oftentimes, it's, it's a prayer and listen.

The word of God is the words of Life.

The Bible has the words of life in it prayer.

Is a work that's powerful more powerful than you and I will

probably ever understand and if we would take it and use it

more, oh, the things we would see in our life.

But what I'm saying, is, what if we gave them that?

What if we said, okay, take a seat, right?

Take a seat, take a word, take a prayer and then let me get a

brother with me. And let's sit right here and

let's hold your arms up and just say look to Jesus.

What if we as Christians, stop just giving blanket fixes and we

said, I'm gonna walk with you. I'm gonna walk with you, I'm

gonna help you. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

So we need to be vulnerable. You have to be able to sit in

the seat, and then you need people next to you, who, when

you need to sit in the seat can sit next to you, and hold your

arms up and say, I'm hurting to listen, Erin and her.

Imagine the pain, they must have felt right.

Imagine the pain, it says until sunset until sunset.

They sat there, they probably thought, Division, I know what's

happening. I know God.

I know what you said. I know you would probably win

this battle, but it hurts like my arms are dying.

We see the victory happening, but it's really hard.

We need one another. I want to ask you this.

Are you ready to do? Whatever it takes to see someone

win. Think about that for a second.

Are you ready to do? Whatever it takes to see someone

else win. Leads me to another observation

today, battle-ready relationships are purposeful.

I'm not if you knew this but who you surround yourself with

matters? Whether you like it or not

relationships, serve a purpose, whether you like it or not, I've

said that probably a thousand times a day Relationship.

Serve a purpose. Listen relationships, either.

And that I just believe this to be true either push us towards

Jesus. Christian relationships, pushed

us towards Jesus, they keep us forever.

And I'm being generous, he's a lot of people in this, In This

Crowd, made see me after, and say, they don't just keep you

where you're at, they pull you back.

So, I'm being generous today, at least at the, at minimum, they

keep you where, Or they push you towards Jesus.

God intended. God has an intended purpose for

his people. He desires on a relationships.

Would push us to become more like Jesus.

Look, we are way more malleable. Way more shapeable when were

multiple, if those are words than we could ever imagine.

So the people we choose to do life with not just minister to

but do life with and let's speak into our life, they can change

the way we think. Ink.

And when you, we know this, to be fact, when you change the way

you think you ultimately change the way you act people can

change you, man, and that's good.

And that's scary. That's two things.

They're battle-ready relationships.

They look like this. This purposeful idea, they look

like a group of people, a church who has one win that already

relationships in a church model. Look like a group of people

bounding themselves together. Not worried about a building,

but worried about being arm and arm and looking to Jesus and st.

You Irwin is mine, went often I do this when I'm going on a way

to maybe have coffee with someone.

I'm about to have a hard conversation.

I tell myself a lot of times in marriage, I say this, I say

Micah be prepared to take an l and those who don't know the

modern sayings and today, that just means loss be prepared to

take a loss. I tell myself that all the time.

Why? Because this relationships, this

relationship the their win is my win.

And I care more at that point about God getting the glory in

their life and about seeing them look more like Jesus than I do

winning a church, a church following.

Jesus looks more like a bunch of people who are set.

I'm ready to be wrong. You just say, I'm ready to be

wrong. I'm ready to lose every

argument. If it means that you come to

know Jesus, if it means that you get closer to Jesus, and I'm not

saying we just need to E flippantly walking around having

no truth. I'm talking about when we're in

our pride and we have this desire to prove to someone who

we are. We have this desire to prove

that that person's wrong and God says, no reconcile.

Turn the other cheek, you don't have to be right?

I'm right. I'm truth.

Let me ask you this, who is winning because of the

relationship with you. Who's winning who's winning.

If you can't think of anybody don't get discouraged, this

could be true for you. Someone could win because of

their relationship with you. What is winning looking more

like Jesus, who can look back and say this person or that

person was with me and loved me so well, and they are the reason

in the Holy Spirit walking with me.

They're the reason that I am who I am today.

They are the reason who can, who can say that of you.

So I want to, I want to do this, I want to acknowledge something.

We've talked about some pretty heavy stuff because it's a heavy

reality, but I want to know something.

It's impossible. It's impossible to have

battle-ready relationships. On our own.

It's impossible to have battle-ready relationships.

These kind of christ-centered relationships on our own without

Jesus. Look, you can, you can see here

all the work that has to go into this.

I just want to run through a couple of these things.

Let's go through the list. You have to love others, more

than yourself. You have to put others before

yourself. So you're not just love them

mentally, but you have to do you have to position yourself in a

way where they're over here and you're behind.

You say, you win. I want to see you look more like

Christ and this is one. I'm not going to get an amen on.

You have to give flawed people the ability to speak in your

life. That's tough.

You have to give people who are flawed just like you, the

ability to speak into your life. It's impossible.

It's impossible. So I set you up for failure.

If I haven't given you this last observation here, let's look at

it. Battle ready?

Relationships? Are Jesus focused.

So the staff that, that, that signified, the Lord's victory

for Moses and Aaron and Hur as as long as they held it, it gave

them victory victory was in their hands and all they had to

do was hold it up. All they have to do is say God,

you are my victory. You are the win here, you

deserve the glory. You got us out of Egypt.

We just want to see you glorified, all he had to do was,

lift it up for us for us? This is the easiest Sunday

school answer ever, for us. We have Jesus, those of us who

have Place our faith in Jesus. We have Victory living in US.

Amen. Victory living in us at any

given moment at any given time. I can attain that Victory and

say, yes, I have Victory. I have victory.

I have Victory in Jesus. A lot of us in this room who

have that new life, understand what it's like.

We love to talk about this thing new life.

What that means is that a lot of us in this room have said,

Jesus, you are my everything, and you're the best thing.

You're the only thing. The first and foremost, I want

you to get the glory. And then what happens, what

happens you do that one Sunday night or, and then you wake up

the next day and you go to work and you're loving the person

that you hated last week, makes no.

It makes no sense. You're loving the person that

you despise and you're like, oh wow, God changed me and it

doesn't have to make sense. This is a little side.

Note, we need to stop trying to make sense of God.

We need to start. It's not our job to make sense

of God. We're going to spend eternity

trying to figure it out and we will search.

The word. We will try to understand truth

and we will put truth on on the banner of Our Lives all the

time. But listen, we need to stop

trying to figure it out and we need to start just trusting God

and saying God I want to live in wonder.

And all of you, if you look all through the Psalms all through

the Old Testaments, the power was found in fear.

It says, in Proverbs that, the fear of God is the Fountain of

Life. What that means is that all of

God, the say, the, the god you were big and I'm small as a

Fountain of Life. Why?

Because we get outside of ourselves for a moment, for

just, for a moment. And finally, we are aligned with

Heaven. We're like, okay, this is what

the universe screams about. We cannot have healthy Christian

Community in relationships. Without that look, you cannot

love people without Jesus into story and that's good because

Jesus is Arms Wide Open. Come to me, come to me, I'll

give you New Life. I'll teach you how to love.

Like I love, I'll teach you how to do what I do.

I'll give you my burden. I'll give you my yoke.

I'll give you my plan for your life.

Just trust me. You don't have it figured out.

That's what these kind of Ships are stem from.

So as we close today, I love this idea and you know, I would

love to just come right out the gate with this but you know a

good speaker holds his greatest news at the end and keeps you

hanging on. But I want you to know that in

this story, as Moses stood on a mountain, with the staff and

that signified, God's Victory. Jesus stands on the mountain.

Jesus stands on a mountain and he's holding a banner, like a,

like, a dad at a soccer game. He's holding a banner that just

says, I love you. I have your Victory!

I love you. And so, when we have this chair

out and we're letting people sit and we're holding their arms up.

We're like, hey, just look to death, look to God, look to him,

he loves you. He cares for you, he wants you.

He just wants you to see his face.

He just wants you to see that he's worthy of everything, he

wants you to see that he loves you, and you have no idea how

much had happened and you just looking to his love, man.

We try to figure things out. We try to understand it and we

try to worry about how to act out his love, but look, what if

we spent more time in his love, then we did trying to figure it

out and trying to act it out because look, I believe that

when you get in his presence that's when you become powerful.

That's when you go into the world and you're like, man, I

don't care. Like we sang earlier.

David said, I became courageous because of my love for God.

He became less powerful when he turned his face from God.

If you look at the life of David, our power is in the face

of God, because his face is good, and it's enough.

That's all we need. It's what we've been longing for

since birth. Our relationships guys

Riverbend, there's so much more depth to be had as a church.

Look, God is with us and there are great.

Things ahead and God has the best things ahead for eternity.

but it's gonna take us loving one, another really well as you

already have done, It's gonna take arm and arms.

It's gonna take. Hey, I want to go deeper.

I want to go deeper with you. I want to know you.

I want you to know me. I want to be known, it's going

to take join in a small group. It's going to take serving

inside outside of the church, you've got to get to know people

because in that is where we see the presence of God in the

world. Finally sees this, God, we love

through our love for one another.

Here's some questions. I want to ask as we close First,

is this where you going? There's a lot of people in this

room who are not there yet with Jesus.

You just don't have your faith in him.

You don't really understand him. And I want you to know that that

we call this an altar here and it really just just means it's a

place to signify what God is doing in your heart.

And like, there's so much room here to come and lay that down.

Lay your life down and stand up a new person, because Jesus is

just there with a banner saying. I just love you and then you

stand up with a purpose. We can't lead purposeful

relationships. If we don't have that inward

purpose that we don't seek the glory of God in our life. when I

ask you this, who's going with you, Who's going with you?

Who do you have in your life that are going with?

You better? That say I believe in the same

thing you believe my win is your win I believe in Jesus going

forth in our city who's going with you and let me finish this

way. Whose arm do you need to hold

up? when I want to say that maybe

you think of people, maybe you think of people in your small

group, Maybe you think. Okay, I know that that person I

need to love really well. Maybe you're that person that

needs to be loved really well, and you need to allow others to

love you. Who's armed, you need to hold

out. So here's we're going to do.

We're going to, we're going to worship.

And again this altar is open as it always is come come talk to

me. I'll be over here.

Come talk to someone you know in the room who loves Jesus and

just let God work. Let God do whatever he wants to

do in your life church. God has so much for us.

He has a depth of relationships and a depth of his presence that

we haven't even understood yet. Amen.

God is with us and wants to work in our life.

Let me pray for us. Jesus.

Love you, God. You are the center, all our

relationships fall on you. God, we're going to let one

another down. We're going to hurt one,

another, we're difficult, we're difficult people.

But you love us. And we've been saved by grace,

and we've been changed by grace, and your life.

So, Jesus Lord, would you reconcile hearts in this room

who were are not reconciled together?

would you bring people closer together not just for the sake

in that, we feel good about it but For Your Glory so that we

could actually be a perfect representation of Heaven for our

city for the people, we love the most God, would you unify people

this morning? Would you unify around a

mission? We thank you, God, finally.

Just that you're here. I thank you that we didn't have

to Usher you, and now we didn't have to burn incense and we

don't have to bang symbols together to get you awake.

God, you've been here. You've been waiting.

You filled your spirit and all these chairs before.

People came in this room, you are the best thing.

You're the best thing. Be the center of our world.

Be the center of our universe. Be the center of our hearts.

God work in our life this week. We just love you and pray.

All this in your holy and Powerful name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to the

river. Bend Church podcast.

Learn more about who we are as a church and how to connect you

can head over to our website Riverbend Church dot life.