WISDOM | MIKE BROOK

Gosh, you can grab a seat. Wow. I I was

just sitting over here listening and

singing and uh gosh, there's nothing

more beautiful, I think, than a full

room of brothers and sisters in Christ

singing out loud together and hearing as

I was sitting there listening and just

going, "Oh my gosh, this is so

beautiful." I I just imagine like what

Jesus must feel and think uh as he hears

these voices all around the world at his

churches that are worshiping through

music. So, that's I don't know. I just

felt like saying that today. But happy

Mother's Day to all the moms. I know

many of us like we've come up and

already said that. I I I do want to take

a second though and say to all the moms

that are stay-at-home moms, I I

appreciate you. Those that are tutoring

their kids and and making lunch and

doing all the things to keep the

household moving, thank you so much for

what you're doing. For those of you that

are working full-time, your working

moms, oh my gosh, to juggle all of that

work and home and raising kids. Thank

you for what you do, the sacrifices you

made. For single moms, you have one of

the toughest jobs, and I know it could

often feel like you're not seen, but I

want you to know you are. The work

you're doing is powerful and amazing,

and I want to thank you for juggling all

the things in your life to try to make

it for your kids. Thank you for that.

And then also for those that are foster

parents, foster moms, uh adopted moms,

for those that are uh stepmoms, thank

you for for filling in the gaps for the

Lord in these these children's lives. Uh

it is so appreciated and and so needed.

And so grandmas, I also want to take a

moment and say thank you for spoiling

our kids rotten and delivering way too

much candy. So, um, today we are in a

collection of conversations called No

Rivals. And we're going through the book

of Colossians together. And last week,

Pastor Luke kicked it off. And he said

that that in this conversation, he

talked about that orthodoxy, right

belief must must precede orthopraxy or

right practice. And that we don't change

our behavior to belong to the kingdom of

God. We belong when we put our faith in

Jesus. But that true Christ's likeness

is found at the intersection of

conviction and compassion. Saying that

conviction without compassion is cruel

and compassion without conviction

actually is compromised. And if you

missed the kickoff of No Rivals last

week with Pastor Luke, I would encourage

you to check it out online. It was

fantastic message and and I think God

has something for you and you don't want

to miss any weeks as we're going through

this book looking at the supremacy of

Jesus. And today we're continuing

looking at this with the passage in in

Colossians 1 verse 9-14. And we're

Colossians 1:9–14

talking about spiritual wisdom to run

with endurance, patience, and gratitude.

And as I was thinking about wisdom,

it reminded me of this friend that I

have that I met actually in Southern

California. I'm from Southern

California. One of my favorite places I

ever lived was this city in Southern

California called San Clemeni. It's a

beach town which is beautiful. I loved

it. Not just because we lived in a shack

and I could walk down and go surf. That

was fantastic. But I I loved it because

we were kind of in this it felt like a

small town. It was 65,000 70,000. You

might go that's a lot of people. It is,

but there was only two ways in and out

of the city. There was the five freeway

and there was also PCH, Pacific Coast

Highway. That was the only ways. And the

reason is because you had the ocean on

one side, Camp Pendleton on the other

and a wilderness zone behind you. And so

you only had a little bit of area to go,

but I loved as I pastored at a church

out there, the fact that from Camp

Pendleton, military families would often

come in and visit our church. And so I

got to know people from all over the

place. And as we were looking at wisdom,

it reminded me of my friend Miranda and

her family. I love Miranda. her husband

is a Marine or was a Marine and and they

are fantastic. They had two young

daughters when we first met and she had

just moved here. Now Miranda is from

Louisiana and you might hear that and go

great Louisiana. But she grew up five

minutes from where they shot Swamp

People. So like when I say Louisiana I'm

like she's Louisiana.

And uh she showed up the first weekend

and I was showing her around the church

and we were talking and she said, "Uh,

hey, I have a a question. I'm new to

this area and and I just don't know who

to ask. Um, where do y'all burn your

trash?"

Now, for some people like our worship

pastor, Justin Melton, that might be a

normal question to ask.

for from me in California where the

state burns once a once a year. That's

not something I'm used to hearing. And

so I looked at her and I went, "Excuse

me?" And she said, "Well, where do y'all

burn your trash?" And I said, "Miranda,

are you burning trash?" And she's like,

"Well, in my neighborhood, we didn't

have trash picked up. We went to a

specific area once a week and we burned

our trash." trash and I was like, "You

cannot burn trash here. That is not okay

anywhere, I don't think, but it's

definitely not okay in California." And

she looked me dead in the eyes and she

said something that I thought was really

interesting and it became a phrase that

I heard her use over and over and over

again. And she looked at me and she

went, "Well, when you know better, you

do better."

That's uh for the most part very true.

If you've touched a hot stove, hopefully

you only do that mistake once. Some of

us, you know, the mistake we made is we

we've drank the milk without checking

the expiration date straight from the

carton. And you only I I only made that

mistake one time. One time. For some of

us, you've dated someone. You're like,

"Hey, only one time will I make the

mistake of dating someone that is a

fixer upper." And after that, I've

learned I can't just fix everyone. Some

of you have made that mistake five or

six times. And I'm going to say that one

should be enough. At face value, this

idea that when you know better, you do

better sounds really rationally true.

But the problem is, at least for me, and

probably for many of us in this room,

it's it's not always true. There's so

many times I know something happens. I

have two teenage daughters. I know when

they're acting up. I know when they

think my parents don't understand

anything. I know that feeling because I

was a teenager and I know when they

react I should take a beat, but I just

don't. I react instead of responding

appropriately. I I know for some of us

in this room, you've been in positions

where you're like, I know I know I

shouldn't have that last drink, and you

do it anyways. Some of us in in here,

you go, I know it's late at night and I

shouldn't be on that website, but I am

anyways. For some of us, you're like, "I

know I shouldn't be scrolling social

media. I shouldn't be talking to this

person. And yet here I am. I know

better, but I just am not doing better."

And there as we we look at this passage

today, what we see is that often when we

know better and don't do better, the

phrase shouldn't should shift or does

shift for us from when I know better, I

do better. To when I know better, I

don't do better. And now I'm ashamed.

And in this passage, we find that Jesus

doesn't ask us or want us to live a life

of shame. And there's a big difference

between conviction, guilt, and shame.

Conviction and guilt. When we feel

convicted and we feel guilt, it says, "I

did something wrong." And it leads us to

the Lord. It leads us to apologize. It

leads us to healing. But when we feel

shame, shame says

the wholeness of who I am is terrible

and disgusting. And if anyone knew who I

was exactly, they would be disgusted.

And it leads us often times to

isolation. And that's not the life that

Paul wants for us or that Jesus wants

for us. And so you can open up your

Bible to Colossians 1:9-14. I'm going to

Colossians 1:9–14

read this and then we're going to break

it apart. In verse nine, so we have not

stopped. That's Paul talking, praying

for you since we first heard about you.

We ask God to give you complete

knowledge of his will and to give you

spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then

the way you live will always honor and

please the Lord and your lives will

produce every kind of good fruit. All

the while, you will grow as you learn to

know God better and better. We also pray

that you will be strengthened with all

his glorious power so you will have all

the endurance and patience you need. May

you be filled with joy always thanking

the father. He has enabled you to share

in the inheritance that belongs to his

people who live in the light. For he has

rescued us from the kingdom of darkness

and transferred us into the kingdom of

his dear son who purchased our freedom

and forgave our sins. Let's pray.

Father, as we look at your word today,

would you open our minds and our hearts

to receive what you have for us? Father,

for those of us that maybe walked into

this room

disconnected from you, would you help us

to sense and to feel and to see your

presence? God, would this be a moment

that we stop and pause in our busy week

to be with you, to hear from you, and to

enjoy being with our church family.

Thank you for who you are, for your love

and grace. Thank you for your word in

Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so let's break

down this passage starting with verse 9.

It says, "So we have not stopped praying

for you since we first heard about you.

We ask God to give you complete

knowledge of his will and to give you

spiritual wisdom and understanding." Now

the Greek word for wisdom here is the

word Sophia, which sounds like a name,

but that's the Greek word for it. And in

the first century, Sophia, that kind of

wisdom is the wisdom that has the

understanding of the nature of things,

which is not all all wisdom, but it's

the understanding of how things tend to

work. And he puts something on top of

it, a qualifier. He says, I don't want

you to just know how things work, but to

have this spiritual wisdom, this

spiritual knowledge of how things work.

And what he's saying is this isn't just

a wisdom that comes from some Greek

philosopher. This isn't a wisdom that

you would find in a self-help scroll,

which I don't know if they had those

back then, but maybe. Uh, it is a gift.

This wisdom comes only from the Holy

Spirit. It allows you to see your

circumstances from God's perspective.

This isn't a wisdom you find in Google.

This isn't something you could find

through chat GPT. This is a wisdom that

only comes from the Holy Spirit. And

that's what Paul says about wisdom. That

we need spiritual wisdom. Wisdom is more

than just simply knowledge and facts. We

can get knowledge and facts all over the

place. But to be wise is totally

different. Spiritual wisdom is the

bridge between knowing the word and

applying the word. Spiritual wisdom, I

want you to get this. The difference is

is between knowing the word and actually

applying the word. That's where wisdom

comes in. The truth is we can be walking

encyclopedias for the Bible. You can

know a lot of scripture and it can never

really transform your heart or who you

are. It's not about just knowing the

word. It's about applying the word. The

Greek word for spirit here when Paul

says spiritual wisdom is this world word

pneumatic. The root of this word mean is

numa. And numa in the new testament is

the Greek word that they use oftentimes

for the holy spirit. the numa and numa

translates not just the holy spirit but

breath or wind and it's amazing to me as

I I was reading through this reminded of

how many times we get the advice from

someone hey before you respond take a

deep breath and it sounds like and it is

great advice but we don't realize

oftenimes how great of spiritual wisdom

that is because when we take a deep

breath we breathe in the numa the spirit

and we have the wisdom to respond we god

you are as close to me. You as the very

air in my lungs, you are right there

with me. Help me to respond in a way

that is wise and smart. And so the next

time you're spiraling, you're

frustrated, I want to ask you, take a

deep breath. Take a deep breath and ask,

Lord, what do you want me to do in this

situation? See, when I'm living in the

spirit, when I'm living in the spirit,

I'm amazed. I'm amazed at the fruit my

life produces. But when I'm living by

the flesh, everything is about me. And

that's what Paul gets to in verse 10. He

says, "Then so you have spiritual

wisdom, then you will live or then the

way you live will always honor and

please the Lord and your lives will

produce every kind of good fruit. All

the while you will grow as you learn to

know God better and better." This this

right here is one of the toughest points

for us to get. That the point of our

life, the point of your life is not to

get to retirement. The point of your

life is not to get married and have the

2.5 kids and the home on the lake. The

point of your life isn't to have go on

extravagant vacations. the point of our

life and too often I'm worried about

building my life and we worry about

building our life when the point of our

life isn't that is to know Jesus to

become like Jesus and to expand his

kingdom that is the point of life and

here's I'm not saying don't care about

your future or what's going on what I am

saying is that our identity your

identity my identity can get so wrapped

up in things finances vacations homes

the stuff that we forget that the point

of our lives isn't isn't about that, but

it's about Jesus becoming like him and

expanding his kingdom. And it's amazing

how many people in the in here probably

have gone through this. And we've seen

our plans. We've had great plans

and they get messed up. Plans for our

life. Some of us in this room, maybe

your plan was, I wanted to get into this

university and I didn't get accepted.

For some of us in the room, the plans we

had was till death do us part and now

we're filed for divorce and we don't

know how we got here. For some of us, we

thought the startup we had was going to

be fullon a business. We were going to

be firing on all cylinders by now. And

yet, we're still in this startup phase.

And when my life doesn't go according to

plan and my life is about me, I begin to

ask the questions like, why me? Why me?

But when I recognize and remember my

life is about knowing Jesus, becoming

like him and expanding his kingdom, I

realize that my life is so much more

than what is going on personally. You

see, what I have found to be true, the

good life has nothing to do with what's

in your bank account. The good life has

nothing to do with the vacations, the

homes. The good life is actually the

fruitful life.

The good life isn't about comfort. It's

about fruit. I will take a day where

I've spent a day with someone only for

them to come to know that the God of the

universe sees them, knows them, loves

them deeply, and to see them come of

come to faith. I will take that over a

day of video games and naps and Epcot

and food any day of the week because the

good life isn't the comfortable life.

The good life is the fruitful life. And

some of us in this room, maybe you're

thinking, "Yeah, but money makes things

a little bit easier." And I will

acknowledge, yes, it does. But I will

also say, I came from Orange County,

California. It was and in South Orange

County. It's one of the wealthiest areas

in Orange County. And you have no idea

how many times I sat down with someone

that had the spouse, that had the house

on the water at the beach, that drove

the car, that went on the vacations, and

you sit down with them and talk to them

and find out that they're miserable

because the good life has nothing to do

with the comfortable life. The good life

is the fruitful life. And the fruitful

life only comes from the spirit that is

living and moving inside of each one of

us.

It comes from the numa, the breath, the

holy spirit, the god that resides right

inside when we give our lives to Jesus.

And then Paul shares more of his prayer

with us. He says, "We also pray that you

will be strengthened with all his God's

glorious power. So you will have all the

endurance and patience you need." He

says, "I want you to be strengthened

with God's power, not so you get what

you want. I want you to be strengthened

with God's power so you have endurance

and the patience you need to run this

race of life well. We often many of us

we want God's power. I want God's power

but so often I want God's power without

God's will. I want God's power for my

will but I don't always want God's power

for his will. And he says his will,

God's will, is for us to run this race

with endurance and with patience.

Now, I don't know about you, but

patience and endurance isn't something

that just comes natural. I don't know

how many times I've woke up in the

middle of the like in the morning and I

go, "Today is the day I'm going to be

patient with my kids only to have

something go wrong at breakfast. One of

them's grumpy, something breaks, and all

of a sudden, I find I'm tense and not as

patient as I set out to be." Patience

and endurance isn't something that just

randomly happens. It's a muscle. It

takes discipline. It takes exercise.

Patience is when someone comes after you

and yet you still take a step back and

go, "Hey, I am I am going to release

what is happening and I'm going to give

in." See, the patience that is talked

about here is actually a patience in

longsuffering when people are hurting or

oppressing you. That is what it's

talking about when it says patience.

It's not a patience to get what we want.

It's a patience in dealing with people

that are hurting us. And you see,

patience is when someone comes after us

and we have the wisdom and discipline to

say, "I'm going to show mercy instead of

meet them with what they're saying, with

their same hurt, with their same with

their same anger."

This happens, patience, endurance

happens only only through the power of

the spirit. I'm going to reiterate that

over and only through the power of the

spirit and God's power.

And I think some of us in this room, we

look at our lives and go, I don't have

the patience, endurance. And maybe maybe

it's because we need to exercise our

lives in the spirit a little more. Maybe

we need to work out the muscle that

allows us to live in the spirit a little

more. You see, God gives us his power

for endurance, patience, joy, and

wisdom. But the only way to get that, we

have to train it. We have to work at it.

And it's not working to get into heaven.

It's working to do exactly what we were

made to, which is to become more like

Jesus. Now, I I I did something about 14

years ago, and that's a long time ago.

Some of you in this room are like, I

wasn't even alive at that time. I know.

I get it. About 14 years ago, I ran a

marathon. Marathon is 26.2

miles and which is a lot of miles. I was

not a cross-country runner in high

school. I was not someone that ever did

distance running at all. And I'm going

to share something. This is a little

confession. I made the decision to run a

marathon while I was sitting in bed

eating ice cream watching Biggest Loser.

It

It was the finale. It was in January.

were watching the finale and they all

the contestants ran a marathon and I

went you know what I think I want to try

to do that I don't have a lot of time

you know I got limited time energy I've

never tried it looks impossible I'm

going to do it and I'm impulsive so the

very first thing I wake up in the

morning I go straight to the internet I

find the rock and roll marathon in San

Diego in six months and I go I'm in and

pay it and my wife's like you actually

paid for that already you haven't

trained at all and I went I got it and

so that day I laced up my shoes. I went,

I'm going to run as far as I can. I'm

going to show her as far as I can

without stopping. I made it one mile,

was dry heaving, and had cramps on both

sides. And I was like, I only have 25.2

more of these and I'd hit a finish line.

Uh, and so it was a little it was a

little daunting. And then I I I ended up

training running six days a week every

week until the race came. And every day

that I ran, I increased it a little

more, a little more. furthest I ran

before the race was 21 miles. And I

figured with, you know, the last five

have to be the easiest, right? Um,

so I'm like, 21's good enough. And so

the night before I'm with my wife, we're

at a restaurant that serves pasta inside

hollowed out French rolls. So talk about

carbo loading. When you're having pasta

sandwiches, it's carbo loading. And I'm

sitting with my wife and we're talking

about the next day and I get a phone

call from my brother who doesn't always

call. And so I pick up the phone. I'm

like, "What's going on?" And my brother

is very kind in this moment. And he

goes, "Hey, I was thinking about you.

Are you excited for tomorrow?" And I

thought that was so kind. And I said,

"Joe, no. No, I'm not. I'm actually

really nervous. Like I told way too many

people what I was doing tomorrow. and if

I have to face them and I didn't finish,

I don't know how I'm gonna do like I got

to swallow a lot of pride to do that and

I I don't know if I can do that. And my

brother said something that was so

profound to me and and it was

interesting when he shared this. It

stuck with me. It's words that became a

motto and a mantra for my life.

Something that has be shaped who I am

today. He said to me, Mike, you have

trained for this. You are ready for

this. You need to relax. Enjoy the

challenge and keep moving forward.

You've trained for this. You're ready

for this. Enjoy the challenge and move

forward. You see, I sometimes get

focused so much on the finish line of

that I forget the present and what I'm

going and enjoying the challenge of

right now. You see, some of us are so

focused on the finish line of life of

looking I got heaven. you know, I know

Jesus. Then there's heaven that we miss

the opportunities right now in the

middle of the race to obey Jesus. Those

moments right in front of us. The next

day came, race day, and I I'm like

nervous and I get at the starting line

and I begin to run and I know it's going

to be actually a decent day. I feel

pretty good. And I felt fantastic until

mile 18. And that's when things took a

turn. I started to feel this deep pain

in my hips. And I remember thinking, I

just got to like squat and stretch my

hips and I'll feel so much better. I

could get up and finish this race. And I

I set to myself at mile marker 19, I am

stopping. I'm stretching and then I'm

finishing well. And I get about 200

yards from mile marker 19. And I look

and someone stops, squats, and

stretches. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh,

that's got to feel so good. I can't wait

to get there." And then they fall over.

I I start to approach and they're crying

and they're waving for someone to come

get them and they said, "I can't get go.

I can't get up." And all I could think

was, "I I guess I just keep going. Like,

just don't stop. Don't stop. Keep

moving." And I saw this happen literally

six different times while I ran this

race. six different times I would see

someone in the distance stop, stretch,

not be able to get up, and they'd drop

out of the race. And I remember the

whole time I went, I don't know why this

is happening, how this happens, how you

can't get up. And I didn't know until I

crossed the finish line. I crossed the

finish line, they give you that aluminum

foil blanket, which is I don't know why

they give you that. Um, and you put that

they gave me my medal. I took a picture.

I went and found my wife. I'm talking to

her and she and I go, "I'm ready to go

home. I'm ready to go back to the hotel

and sit in the tub." And she goes,

"Let's go." And I went to move and my

legs had completely seized. Like all the

lactic acid from running locked in and

it was excruciating to move. And that's

when I realized like I don't know how

I'm going to get to the car. So, I did

the only thing I knew I could. I put my

arm over my wife who was would give

birth in two weeks from then to my

youngest and allowed her to carry and

drag me to the car. Only a mom, right?

Only a mom could go, "Hey, I'm about to

give birth, but I'll drag you to the

car, husband."

And

and here's here's the thing. I I think

everyone in this room, we go, "Look,

when it comes to the race that I'm

running in life, I want to stand before

the Lord someday and hear, "Well done,

my good and faithful servant." I want

that for you. I want that for me. But

the only way we're going to do that,

we're going to hear that. It comes from

becoming more like Jesus. You see, you

can run the race and stop and stretch

and pause and not get going again, or

you could keep moving. You can keep

pressing forward. See, there's a lot of

Christians that are content with knowing

Jesus and not becoming more and not

putting the effort to become like more,

more like Jesus. There's a lot of us in

here that go, I know Jesus and that gets

me to the finish line. Not a lot of us

ready to put in the work. You see,

Morgan Spurlock did a documentary years

ago. It was called Superersize Me. And

this is a long time ago. And he ate

McDonald's breakfast, lunch, and dinner

for 30 days. Did a whole health check

before. ate all of this for 30 days,

came out, needed doctors, was sick, had

all kinds of problems, and and he went

to show that you can't just live on fast

food. While fast food is is great and

quick, you can't just live on that.

The truth is

some of us the only time we are in

scripture is on Sundays

and we go I don't know why I'm not

running this race with endurance and

patience but I'm living off McDonald's

for my soul.

If we're not training to live our faith

out every single day, not disciplining

our life to live it out every single

day, we're missing what God is calling

us to. And some of us in here, you're

going, "Okay, to be in scripture, I

don't have time. I have little kids.

They demand everything. I don't know how

I would find the time. I I've got work.

I've got too much going on." And here's

the thing. If you're here and you go

like, "But I do I I watch a show, even

if it's once a week. I do have time to

scroll social media." If you're here and

you're like, "I do have time to spend 10

minutes in a bathroom." You have time to

read scripture.

That's a hard fact. And if we're honest,

let's be honest with each other. It has

nothing to do with having time and it

has everything to do with what's

important to us. Let's just say what it

is that reading the scriptures becoming

more like that that peace knowing Jesus

is just not as important to us as it is

our comfort.

And the psalmist in Psalm 119 says this,

"Turn my eyes away from worthless

things." Says, "Turn it away and put it

into the things that are precious."

I'm gonna I I love TV. I love streaming

shows. One of my favorite shows of all

time is Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso has some

gems. I maybe shouldn't have told you

that. Um, but I love Ted Lasso. He says

things like, "I hope that either all of

us or none of us are judged by the

actions of our weakest moments, but

rather by the strength we show when and

if we're given a second chance."

Beautiful. Love it. He says things like,

"Be curious, not judgmental." Awesome.

Love it. But I'm going to tell you,

that's not spiritual food.

That's not the words we're meant to live

off of. This is McDonald's. It sounds

great. It's awesome, but we're not meant

to live off of that.

And here's the shift Paul makes. He

shifts his prayer. He goes, "Look,

through the spirit, through God's power,

you can have endurance

and patience. That's the life God wants

to run the race well." And he shifts and

says this. May you be filled with joy in

the middle of this as you're running the

hard race. Be filled with joy. Always

thanking the father. He has enabled you

to share in the inheritance that belongs

to his people who live in the light. For

he has rescued us from the kingdom of

darkness and transferred us into the

kingdom of his dear son who purchased

our freedom and forgave our sins. He

says, I want you to have a life of joy.

thanking the father and then he gives us

why look at what the lord has done look

at what he has given you

scripture if that is what you need to

run the race well if that's the

nutrition your soul desires gratitude is

the rhythm and pace that gets us there

gratitude you see foolish people foolish

people will look at only what we don't

have and our prayers center around what

we want but the wise person looks at the

inheritance like Paul says look at not

what I don't have but look at what the

Lord has given me look at the

inheritance he has gifted me I don't

deserve what he has given and so I want

to ask you a very specific question how

often in your prayer life or personal

life do you take time to reflect and be

thankful and not just for the roof over

my head and for the food how often do

you list out God thank you for these

people that you've put in my life God

thank you for the the moments that I get

to hear your voice so clearly. I know

it's not every day and every second of

every day, but I am so grateful that I

have heard you speak and know you speak

and know you will again. How often do we

thank God just for the connection that

he gives us or even for the spirit that

lives inside of us? How often do we

thank him just that we get what we don't

deserve? That the inheritance

we get, we don't deserve. And so I want

to go back to where we started.

Jesus, he gets done washing his

disciples feet and teaching them this

lesson. He says something that reminds

me of what Miranda said. He said, "Now

that you know these things, you'll be

blessed if you do them." Notice he

doesn't say, "Now that you know these

things, you'll be blessed if you know

them. You'll be blessed if you do them."

I had no idea Miranda was so close when

she said, "When you know better, you do

better." To what Jesus says. You see,

it's not just knowing better. It's it is

about doing better. Not to earn our way

to heaven, not our to earn our way to

belong.

None of that is to live a full life that

Jesus promises. Jesus promises I have

come. He says, so that you would have

life and have it to the fullest. The

full life, the full life we are looking

for is the fruitful life. Is the life

that only happens through the spirit. is

the life that Jesus says is complete and

only happens through me. And spiritual

wisdom, the that prayer or that Paul

prays for is the thing that gives us the

endurance, the patience, the gratitude

and joy we need if we're going to run

this race well. So, here's the thing.

You might be here strictly because it's

Mother's Day and your wife said, "Get

up. We're going to church and going to

lunch afterwards."

You might be here because your mom said,

"Get up and go to church with us. I'll

give you a meal afterwards." You might

be in our additional seating going, "I

meant to get here and my kids drug their

feet and now I'm in additional seating."

We see you. I get you. That's that's on

them.

But regardless of why you're here,

God has something to say to you. Had

something to say to you. There is things

maybe you've been trying to do better

for a long time and you go, I just

can't.

Many of us in this room right now,

we are in spaces where we go, if I'm

honest with you, I don't know how to

keep going. I look at the world, I look

at everything that's happening, the

stress, I have these kids, I have this

life, I have this job, I just don't know

how to even keep going. I just want to

stop and stretch and rest. I just won't

I can't. And I'm going to tell you right

now, through the power of the spirit,

you can make it. You can keep running.

Some of us in here, you're going, I

desperately need wisdom. I have this

thing going on. My marriage is

struggling. My life is struggling. My I

just got laid off. I'm going through

some relational difficulties. And right

now, you're sitting here going, I don't

know how to do any of this. I don't

know. My everyone gives me advice, but I

just need wisdom. And I'm going to tell

you right now, that comes from the

spirit and from knowing Jesus.

For some of us in this room, maybe you

go, "My soul is just running dry." Like,

I just I go to church, but I just have

not connected with God in a long time.

And I'm going to tell you, wisdom says,

"Stop stretching and get going.

Keep training." In a moment, we're going

to worship through a song and the altar

is going to be open.

And I know sometimes the temptation when

we play this last song, we're going to

play this song. Remain and worship

through that song together. And the

temptation is going to be, okay, the

message is done. I can take off. But I

believe God has something for you still.

I believe as we worship through this

song and sing these lyrics, God is still

going to shape you and speak to you. And

I believe if you're in this room and you

need wisdom, you're in this room, you're

stuck knowing better but unable to do

better. You're in this room going just

as we talked about earlier, I just wish

I had a kid and it's just not working

for me. I want to challenge you during

this song to come up to the altar to

kneel before and let God do some work in

you and to allow us to come pray with

and for you. This is a moment that I

don't want you to miss. This is a moment

as we worship together to not get up and

leave but to actually listen for the

voice of the Lord. And so I want to

close with this something that I did in

key nights which is our young adult

ministry here just a few weeks ago. I'm

going to ask you to close your eyes.

And for some of us this might feel a

little weird. You might go, "This is

uncomfortable." And that's that's okay.

I'm going to embrace this anyways. I

want you to take a deep breath. Inhale.

I'm going to ask you to exhale.

Now, I want you to take another deep

breath. As you do that, I want you to

remind yourself right now that the L

that the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the

living God is as close to you right now

as the air you just inhaled. The Numa,

the spirit wants nothing more than to

help you run this race, to give you

gratitude, to give you endurance and

patience

so that you would have joy. So that you

could sit back, enjoy the challenge of

this life, knowing that the God of the

universe is with you.

Father,

we are so grateful for your son.

We're so thankful for the inheritance we

have through Jesus.

Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice you

made so that we could not just get it to

the finish line of life and get to

heaven, but so that we could experience

eternity today.

Father, for some of us in this room,

maybe we have never put our faith in you

and and today is the day we're going to

do that. Right now is the moment. And if

that's you, I want to challenge you to

pray. God, I'm I give my life over to

you. I accept what Jesus did.

Come lead my life.

Spirit, thank you for living inside of

us.

God, give us the strength and courage to

have the wisdom, the endurance, the

patience to run this race well. I pray

all of these things in Jesus's name.

Amen.