Unmistakable - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. It's good to have you here.

I got a friend with me. This is James Kozer.

Say hello, everybody. All right. Well, today,

it's long overdue getting James here. He is the

executive director at Carlisle Christian Academy.

And if you don't know where that school is, just

take a look around you. You're sitting in it.

Okay. Carlisle Christian Academy is right here.

We coexist in this facility, and it's been an

amazing journey, honestly, for a little better

than a year now. They've been so gracious with

us as a church, and we work together for the

kingdom of God, and we share this facility. And

I've been, again, long overdue getting James

here so that he could share with you a little

bit about the school. And James kind of does

it all. He's a teacher, preacher, leads a school.

Athlete, I don't know. It goes on and on and

on. He does quite a bit. He's got a wife and

children. Maybe he can mention that, his children

and his wife. And they're wonderful. I've met

his family. So it's so good to have him here.

And, again, he's going to tell you a little bit

about CCA, and then I'll come back and share

a message. So would you give him a warm welcome

from LifeHouse? Thank you, Kev. Appreciate that.

welcome. It is an absolute pleasure to be here

among you this morning to talk about Carlisle

Christian Academy. I am James Kozer. I'm the

executive director here. I'm wrapping up my 11th

year. at Carlisle Christian Academy. As executive

director, basically what that means is I get

to wear a lot of hats, okay? So when you're in

a small school setting, pretty much all your

staff wears a lot of hats, so we can be doing

anything from meeting with staff to jumping in

a classroom to fill in for a missing teacher

to, hey, when the toilet gets clogged and there's

nobody around, sometimes you got to do what you

got to do. Like I said, wrapping up my 11th year,

you know, Carlisle Christian Academy is super

special to me because actually my oldest son,

Elijah, started in Carlisle Christian Academy

when he was in kindergarten, which was prior

to me working here. And he is now a senior, will

be graduating in just three weeks along with

River Reynolds, who's here. Since that time then,

I became executive director and have been able

to have my other two children, Iriana and Alvin.

Iriana is here this morning. They're in ninth

and eighth grade. And it's such a blessing to

be able to have my children in a school, not

just that I work at, but a school that has been

focused on proclaiming the gospel and making

disciples since 1981. If we want to go to the

second slide. I just want to first just be here

to say thank you for this great partnership.

You guys have an awesome pastor in Pastor Kip.

And I could tell just from some of the initial

meetings with him that, you know, we are like

-minded ministries that just want to build God's

kingdom. We really dovetail together when it

comes to making disciples. And so being able

to have a space that we get to share and partner

with, obviously that helps both organizations

with cost. You guys have been incredibly gracious

with... putting in a new sound system, allowing

us to have use of that for our chapels, our worship

team. Your sound people helped last year with

our graduation to live stream it, things like

that. And so this is an incredible partnership

that... You know, I think it's just one of those

things that's mutually edifying, right? It's

both organizations striving for the same thing

and working together for the unique call of God

to make disciples. Christian school is a unique

vehicle for disciple making. I mean, when you

run the numbers, right? So if we had a student

with perfect attendance, 180 days of school equates

to about 1 ,170 hours. per year, right? When

you do the math there, 1 ,170 hours per year,

plus on top of that, a lot of extracurricular

activities, some sports teams, after school activities,

those types of things. And so it becomes a really

unique opportunity to really expose students

to the knowledge of God. If we go to the third

slide here, you know, we are a duly accredited

organization. We serve kids in kindergarten through

12th grade. We're super excited because starting

next year in August, we're bringing our elementary

campus here, and we're going to be one unified

campus. We've been in here for about three years

with our secondary students, grades 6 through

12, and so we're excited that we are finally

at the point where we can pull this all together,

unify our student base, and we're excited because

we got a lot of plans to get the older kids serving

with the younger kids. types of things. We serve

students from all over, but one of the unique

distinctives about us as a Christian school is

we're actually a mission -focused school. What

that means is that we actually do not require

parents to sign agreement to our statement of

faith, and that's actually pretty unique for

a Christian school. They do sign agreement understanding

we will teach according to our statement of faith.

But at the end of the day, if you're maybe just

looking for a place where they're going to get

some different. individualized instruction, a

safe place where your kids are going to be safe

from bullying, or for whatever reason, it's an

opportunity for us to bring in families who maybe

have no church background, no church exposure,

and get those kids in, give them a great education,

but have that education be centered around the

knowledge of God and the truth of Jesus Christ.

One of the things I try to make clear to people

is that we aren't just a school that does some

chapels and some Bible stuff. But we really integrate

Bible into all course content. Our entire curriculum

is just infused with God's truth. So even when

you're in a science class, we are talking about

God's design, God's creation, and what that means

for us, right? What that means for us as believers

and how we need to care for that world and care

for the people around us. You can go to the next

slide. We have so many stories of God's faithfulness,

and I could go on and on and on, but Kip said

some of you need to go to work tomorrow. So we're

going to limit the stories here. And I was praying

this morning, Lord, what story do you want me

to tell? Because I feel like I could tell so

many. And we have so many kids who are going

on to do great stuff. But I want to tell the

story of a kid named Paul, and I've changed his

name. But Paul was a student who came to us from

a public school setting. Paul was one of those

kids who was just a little different. He was

a little socially awkward, really struggled to

fit in with other kids. If you diagnosed him,

you'd say he's probably on the spectrum. And

Paul had a horrendous experience in school where

he felt like he was constantly picked on. He

felt like his teachers weren't helping him out,

these types of things. He came to us in 11th

grade. We had two years to work with Paul. I

remember Paul coming to me in the middle of his

senior year. He said, I got great news for you,

Mr. Kozer. I said, what's that, Paul? And he

said, the doctor said I can come off my anxiety

meds and my high blood pressure meds. And he

said, it's all because of CCA. And it was just

like, it hit me so hard. Thank you. It hit me

so hard because, I mean, isn't that what it's

about? You know, working with these kids and...

and getting them into a place where they can

find out who they are, right? Find out who God

has designed them to be. Find out what God has

called them to be. He would not be your typical

success story about a kid going off to a high

-end college, these types of things. But what

I tell people, success at Carlisle Christian

Academy looks like getting students to understand

that they are a unique child of God and that

God has a specific call on their lives, that

God wants to use them. for his kingdom, right?

And it looks different for every kid. We'll have

some kids going off to college. We'll have some

kids who are going right into the workforce,

so on and so forth. But our heart and our desire

is we want every kid after graduating at Carlisle

Christian Academy to understand that they are

a part of God's kingdom. And that's even greater

than becoming a doctor. It's even greater than

becoming a teacher or a plumber or whatever,

that they are called. by God to be a part of

his kingdom. We can go to the last slide here.

I will be in the back afterwards, and I would

love to talk to you more about who we are and

what we do. I'll have information specifically

about our school, as well as if you're a parent

and you are interested in any summer camp options,

we're going to be running an 11 -week summer

camp, day camp here in this building. If you're

interested in learning more about the summer

camp as well, I'll have that information in the

back. But just some simple ways that as we are

partnered together, if you want to support us

in our mission, we're always looking for prayer

partners. Prayer matters. Prayer makes a huge

difference. And I've seen it. We've got incredibly

faithful people praying for the ministry of Carlisle

Christian Academy. We're big on word of mouth.

If you get opportunity, just tell someone. If

you're with someone and they're talking about

the struggles their kids have at school, just

say, hey, maybe you want to check this out. We're

not for everybody, but for some, we make a huge

difference in their lives. If you're interested

in volunteering at all ever, you want to spend

some time with kids and impact their lives, touch

their lives, we would be happy for that. We have

a golf tournament coming up June 5th. If there's

any golfers, I show up and embarrass myself.

I'm actually really horrible at golf, but I do

my best. And that golf tournament helps. with

our fundraising and i'll just give this real

quick plug i want to turn this into a marketplace

but if you're interested in directing your pennsylvania

state tax dollars to a scholarship that can help

make cca affordable to a family there's actually

a way you can do that and get a direct money

to a scholarship organization that will help

fund someone a student's tuition and you will

get a 90 tax credit it's called the eitc tax

credit program I'd be happy to talk with you

about that. It's an easy way to give and support

Carlisle Christian Academy. I just wanted to

close with this verse. I was sitting here this

morning. Lord, is there a verse you'd want me

to share? And it's from Psalms 145, verse 4.

Psalms 145:4

And it says, one generation shall praise your

works to another. and shall declare your mighty

acts. I think if I had to sum Carlisle Christian

Academy up into one verse, it'd probably be this,

that I have a team of teachers who want to just

declare the faithfulness of God, declare the

mighty acts of God, declare the works of God

to another generation so that they'll raise up

and they'll be the next generation to tell their

children. Again, thank you for the partnership.

Thank you for not just being sharers of the building,

right, co -tenants. We're so much more than that.

We are co -laborers in Christ who are working

towards building his kingdom. And so let me just

pray for you guys real quick, and then I'll step

off here. Lloyd, thank you so much. For Lifehouse

Church, the ministry here, Pastor Kip, Pastor

Alyssa, all those on the ministry team, and those

who faithfully come and are a part of this church.

Lord, bless them. Continue to grow this church.

Grow them as disciples of Jesus Christ who go

forth and really have a true, meaningful impact

for God's kingdom. And Lord, just continue to...

to reach into the hearts and minds of the people

here, that they would be used for you as a light

right here in Carlisle. And we pray this all

in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Would you give him

a hand? Thank you for being here again. James

is going to be at the Connection Station. If

you want to get more information, please stop

by and talk with him. You can find more out about

the school and all the great work that they do

here at CCA. Super excited for that relationship

just to continue and build all along the way.

And I have found the secret to being a better

golfer. The couple times a year I go out, I just

find people who are worse than I am, and I go

with them. And I feel great. But, yeah, I'm with

you. I'm a hacker. It's terrible. Well, listen,

a few weeks back, I attended my grandsons, one

of my grandsons. Two of them play ball. They

both play baseball. And I went to a Little League

game, and we arrived at the field, and it was

in the evening, and we began to get to the respective

sides of the field that we were going to sit

and watch Bennett play. And I remember sitting

down. We get our chairs, right? You take all

your stuff. You got your chair. You got your

drink. hat, you got your sunglasses, you take

everything that you're going to need, snacks,

the whole nine yards because, you know, you're

going to be there for days. And you get parked.

And I remember sitting down at this field and

looking across the field and realizing that the

sun was directly across from us. So we were going

to be staring out into the field at the sunshine,

and the sun was beginning to go down. And the

further it went, you know, we began to pour our

hats down further and got our sunglasses. Everybody

had their sunglasses on. And I was trying, all

of us, We're over there trying to make out where

Bennett was, you know, when he went out into

the field. Because all these little boys, they're

all dressed the same. They got the same uniform

on. They're all about the same age. They're all

about the same height. And they're going out

into the field and scattering out across the

field. And they teach these kids to bat and to

catch and play different positions. They move

them around sometimes. So we're looking for Bennett.

And I can't see his back because he's facing

us. Or I'd have known his number or his name

on the back of his. And because the sun was so

bright, we're screaming. and we're looking and

we're like, I think that's Bennett out in right

field. You know, one's like, nah, I think he's

on second base. Nah, I think he's on right field.

And we just watched for a little bit of time

and we began to realize that in fact was Bennett

out in right field. How did we know that? We

couldn't make out his facial features because

of the sunshine in our eyes. We couldn't see

his name or number on the back of his shirt.

But what we saw was how he carried himself. I

saw how he stood. I saw how he moved around and

walked. And it was his, as we looked, it was

his movements. It was what he was doing that

began to unmistakably understand that this is

in fact Bennett out in right field. Couldn't

see his face. Couldn't see his jersey number.

Couldn't see his name. But we saw Bennett because

of how he was standing, what he was doing with

his hands. We're like, oh, unmistakably that.

is Bennett. And it is the same way if you follow

Jesus Christ. If someone, anyone is watching,

there should be a defining quality that people

see in you that gives you a way as a Jesus follower

every time. If you got your Bibles, I want you

to go to John chapter 13. We're going to start

John 13 · chapter mention

off at verse 31. We've been working through the

book of John now for some period of time. And

Jesus names a characteristic in the book of John

that is a dead giveaway if you are a follower

of Jesus Christ. A defining feature of you that

will let others know who you belong to. And I

can tell you this. It's not a jacket. It's not

a uniform. It's not a tattoo. It's not a flashing

neon sign that's above your head pointing down

to you saying that this is a Jesus follower.

There's a quality that if someone's watching,

they'll know. So as you turn to John 13, 31,

I'm going to pray. If you would, bow your heads.

Father, thank you for this time. God, I pray

right now that you would anoint our ears. God,

that you would anoint our hearts, our minds,

that we would hear. God, that we would understand,

that we would receive your word in Holy Spirit.

Make alive the truth of God within us, that we

might walk in the ways of God. And we pray this

in Jesus' name. Everybody say it together. Amen.

Are you with John? John chapter 13, say amen.

John 13 · chapter mention

All right, good, good. Well, let me, just before

we go into that scripture, real quickly, I want

you to picture this. Jesus has trained his mentees,

the 12 disciples that he's been walking with

and talking with for three and a half years.

They are now trained. They go and they spend

a last supper together, the Passover meal, before

Jesus would go to the cross and die and resurrect

from the grave. And as soon as they leave the

Passover meal together, Jesus begins to speak.

to his disciples. He begins to give them some

instruction. So John 13, 31 says this. So when

he had gone out, Jesus said, now the son of man

is glorified and God is glorified in him. If

God is glorified in him, God will also glorify

him in himself and glorify him immediately. Jesus

starts off talking to them, and he's talking

prophetically in nature. He's talking about himself.

He's saying that once the plan of God unfolds,

once I go to the cross, once I rise from the

grave, I'm going to be glorified. My body's going

to be glorified. I'm going to go back to my glorified

state. And like so many things in life, right?

The disciples who are walking with him and are

listening to Jesus probably didn't fully understand

what he meant by this. They probably didn't fully

get their head around what Jesus was talking

about when he said, I'm going to be glorified.

How many know many times we do not understand

sometimes what God is speaking to us on the front

end of whatever we're going through? Amen? Sometimes

you get a word from God. Sometimes you read a

scripture. Sometimes something stands out to

you, and you're on the front end of something,

but it just, you know, you know what relates.

You know what's for you. You know the Holy Spirit's

problem, but you just don't fully know what it's

for. You know it's God's party. How many know

spiritually as well as in life, hindsight is

20 -20? When you get on the other side of something,

you're like, oh, yeah, that's what that was about,

right? Oh, now I see what God was doing. Oh,

right? We do that. And what I'm saying is, sometimes

you need to hear the Word of God, grab a hold

of what He's telling you on the front end, and

don't let go of it. Whether it's a scripture,

whether it's a word, grab a hold of whatever

God is speaking prophetically in your life, because

you're going to need it, because you're going

to go through the fire sometimes. And how many

of you know when you're in the fire, you can't

see? When you're in the fire, everything's fresh,

everything's hot, everything's right in front

of you, everything's distracting you, everything's

against you. Hang on to the word of God. Now,

I know this is a little sidetrack I got on, but

I felt like this morning somebody needs to hear

what I'm talking about. It is the word of God

that gives us hope. It is the word of God that

holds us up when everything's pulling us down.

It is the word of God that will build you up

and keep you from crumbling. And Jesus' disciples

will not fully understand what he's talking about

with his glorification with him and one day with

us until they get on the other side of the crucifixion

and the resurrection. Let's go back to verse

33. If that word was for you this morning, grab

ahold of that and write it down, all right? John

13, 33, Jesus continues, and he says this. Little

children, I shall be with you a little while

longer. You will seek me, and as I said to you,

as I said, and as I said to the Jews, where I'm

going, you cannot come. So now I say to you.

a new commandment I give to you, that you love

one another as I have loved you, that you also

love one another. By this, all will know that

you are my disciples if you have love one for

another. Jesus says that there is something,

there is something that people observe, there's

something that people see that will make you

unmistakably his. There's an identifying mark

that truly makes you a follower of Jesus Christ,

and everybody knows it. There's an attribute

that is so pronounced in your life that when

people see it, who are on the outside looking

on the inside, they're going to be like, yep,

I know who they belong to. I know who they're

a part of. These are Jesus people I'm looking

at, right? What is that unmistakable attribute?

Jesus says it clear, right? By this, all will

know that you are my disciples. My followers,

if you have love, right, if you have love for

one another, if we love our brothers and sisters

in Christ, we are unmistakably his. If we love

the way that Jesus says we should love, if we

love the way Jesus did love. If you love me and

I love you, I almost broke into the Barney song

when I started thinking about this. How many

remember Barney? Yeah. It's over and over in

my head again and again and again, right? But

it is. It's the way you love me and I love you.

People will know us by that. When those who are

on the outside of the church, staring on the

inside of the church, what does it look like?

It is not your Jesus t -shirt. It is not your

Jesus bumper sticker, and I'm all for all that.

It's not even because we meet in this building

a couple times a week or at our other location

a couple times a week. They should know that

we belong to him because of how we carry ourselves.

When they're squinting into the sun, right, and

looking from a distance, and they can't even

see your face, but they see how you carry yourself.

They see what you do. They see the rhythm in

your life. They see how you treat other believers.

If we do this right, they should squint and stare

and then declare that we follow Jesus. I worked

on that all week, all right? It rhymes, right?

They should squint, stare, and then declare that

they follow Jesus, truly. Church, this is not

optional in God's Word, right? Loving other Jesus

followers like Jesus loved me is not optional.

Jesus said, this is a new commandment that I

give you, that you love one another as I have

loved you, that you also love one another. A

commandment is a law. A commandment is an order.

It is not a suggestion. It wasn't Jesus making

a nice suggestion like, this would be super nice,

church, if we would just all get along and love

one another. That's not what he was saying. This

is a command. This was not a symbolic utopian

idea of some kind that would be super nice, right?

And it would look great if it looked like this.

That was not what he was saying. He said, this

is a commandment. This is what it's supposed

to look like. This is what we're supposed to

do. And he didn't leave anything to chance when

he said this. He told us what we were supposed

to do, right? I'm supposed to love you and you're

supposed to love me. Then he said, this is how

you're supposed to do it. He didn't even leave

that to chance. He said, you're going to love

others like I love you. That's what it's going

to look like. He told me what to do and how to

do it. Complete clarity in this command. No room

for shifting this way or shifting that way or

adding my own definition. And many times, right,

as individuals, we're completely down with the

first part of this scripture. Well, I love you,

but. But we won't even consider the first part,

the second part of it. I can love you. Now, I

don't mind loving you if I can love you my way.

We're all about that my way kind of generation,

right? I love you, I just have to do it my way,

right? I did determine what the extent of those

parameters of my love will be. I make sure that

my love for you fits my lifestyle, right? My

personality, maybe my schedule. That I love you

means I determine how close to you I get or I

don't get. I decide how much loving you is gonna

cost me. And how much I'm not really willing

to spend. I love you if I want to. That's not

what he's talking about. And when I hit my limit,

right? When I hit my limit of loving you, peace

out. I'm out of here. I don't mind loving you

like that. But that's not what Jesus was talking

about. That's not what he was saying. It's a

whole other thing to take the second part of

this. That means that my stuff, my style, my

ridiculous considerations or limitations, they're

garbage. They don't mean a thing. You can forget

my opinions. I know everybody's got an opinion

online these days, probably multiple opinions,

but my opinion doesn't matter. My judgments do

not matter, right? How I view a relationship

does not matter. This is, Jesus said, this is

how you're going to do it. This is what it's

supposed to look like. This is what he spoke

to us. This is required behavior of the church,

and it is not optional. It's mandated by our

King, by our Lord, by our Savior. And this is

the unmistakable identity of a Jesus follower,

that we love each other. Now, as I read this,

this should probably terrify us just a little

bit, right? If you're thinking like me, this

seems like almost an impossible mandate. This

seems like a very hard thing to fulfill. How

can I love you as much as Jesus loves you? Right?

How do I do that? This doesn't even seem like

a reasonable request by Jesus. I can't love others

like Jesus loves them. I can't even get close.

I'm not even sure I love myself like Jesus loves

me, let alone loving you like Jesus loves you.

And as I look at this, I feel like sometimes

when I'm looking at this, I'm like, ah, right?

If I try to do this, I might be a fake. I might

be a fraud of some kind. I came across this little

article this week. And just when you think you

heard it all, how many know you haven't heard

it all? Yeah, I came across this article. And

it's just a little strange article. It says,

models who look like Jesus are in high demand

in Utah. True story. All right. A growing number

of people in the state of Utah feel like a picture

isn't complete without Jesus. They're hiring

Jesus lookalikes for family portraits and wedding

announcements. Models are showing up to walk

with newly engaged couples through a field, play

with young children in the Bonneville salt flats,

and cram in with a family for the annual Christmas

card. Bob Sagers, this is one of the guys, was

walking around at an indie music festival in

Salt Lake City when a friendly stranger approached

and asked for his number. Has anyone ever told

you that you have a Jesus look to you? The man

asked. According to Sagers, a 25 -year -old who

works at a grocery store. It wasn't a pickup

line. The man's wife was an artist looking for

religious models. I didn't really get that a

lot, he said. This is what Sager said to him.

I don't really get this a lot because I'm six

foot five, dirty blonde, shoulder length hair,

and a beard who says I kind of have an Irish

Scandinavian vibe. I'm a pretty tall Jesus, he

said. And so it was that Sagers began a side

hustle as a savior. Since being recruited about

four years ago, Sagers has posted as Jesus nearly

a dozen times. Others have done so charging $100

to $200 an hour to get pictures with children,

family, couples, and various locations in the

beehive state, right? I don't think that's what

Jesus had in mind. I don't know about you. I

don't think that's what, you know, and I don't

think Jesus called us to be posing, you know,

as Christians are certainly not posing as little

Jesus, right? Frotting it up, making it look

good. But I got to say, when I read the scripture

sometimes, you know, Lord, I don't want to be

a poser in this because you mandated this. You

called me. How in the world do I love others

like Jesus loves me? How do I do that? How do

I fill this mandate? I mean, seriously. And I

know, right, we can do what we normally do. We're

just going to give it our best shot, right? We're

going to get all inspired in the Sunday message,

and we're just going to give it the old college

try. We're going to give it our best shot, right?

Or maybe I put on a robe, right, and a sash and

go charge $100 an hour to get pics, right? Maybe

I need to get in character to do all this. How

do I do this? And the problem is, honestly, as

I look around this room, I don't see any Jesus

lookalikes. I really don't. Toby, you're the

closest. Right back there, all right? He's got

the beard. He's the closest I got. How do I do

this? Because it's not optional. It's mandated

by Jesus. I think Jesus gave us the answer in

Matthew 11, 25. It says this, at that time, Jesus

answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord

of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these

things from the wise and the prudent and have

revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for

so it seemed good in your sight. All things have

been delivered to me by my father, and no one

knows the son except the father, nor does anyone

know the father except the son, and the one to

whom the son wills to reveal him. Come to me,

all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest. The word of God says, take

my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am

gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find

rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and

my burden is light. Jesus said this. Every time

I get what looks like an impossible mandate from

scripture, from God himself, I need to remind

myself of this verse. The only way I can love

you like I'm supposed to love you so it looks

like Jesus is that I have to be first yoked to

Jesus. I've got to be connected with Jesus. Willpower,

self -empowerment, cheering myself on, sticking

up sticky notes of scriptures, and I highly recommend

you do this, but sticking up sticky notes of

scriptures on your mirror are not going to cut

it when it comes to this. It is so much more

than that. Self -help never gets me anywhere

in the kingdom of God. It really doesn't, except

frustrated and dwelling in the land of failure

many times, truly. If we try to do what Jesus

says to do on our own power, we will only wear

ourselves out and fail. We will get disillusioned.

We will get frustrated. And Jesus made it so

clear and so simple in these verses. You want

to do what seems impossible to do? Because loving

you like Jesus kind of seems impossible, right?

Doing that all the time. All you have to do is

get yoked to me. who I'm tied to, who I'm connected

with, who I'm abiding with and in. He said it,

right? Come to me, all you who labor and are

heavy laden, the difficult, the impossible thing,

and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly

at heart, and you will find rest for your souls,

for my yoke is easy. Say easy. And my burden,

It's light. He says it's light. Doing the impossible

and making it all look easy is not about all

your extra effort in something. It really isn't.

You're not going to get there that way. It's

not me upping my personal gain. Right? I just

got to get my game on. It's not about me looking

in and being the man or you, the woman in the

mirror, whoever you are. It's not about my education

or knowledge, and I'm all for education and knowledge

and expanding. I read all the time. But it really

is about getting yoked with the one who has all

the power. Sometimes it's about getting yoked

with the one who has all the power and just breathe

it, relax it. I'm going to get you to do this

right now. Ready? We're going to take a breath

in together. Ready? Do it again. You can't even

do that by yourself. It's him. Right? We never

do this beyond ourselves. We're not capable.

We can't do it. Your willpower isn't going to

do it. It's not what I can do. It's who I'm yoked

with. Worship team, if you'd come. Yoked means

this. Yoke means tied to. Yoke means connected

to. Yoke means strapped together with. Yoke means

abiding. And if I had to give you a picture,

some of you maybe have seen that old picture

of maybe two oxen together, and they got that

wooden yoke that goes across their back and ties

them together. Or maybe something that might

be a little more relevant or modern is a team

of horses that are pulled together with straps

and bars, and they're tied together. And it is

the power, right, of them being yoked together

that they can do the impossible. They will tell

you if you take one horse and hook up weights

to it and get it to pull, it can pull X amount

of weight. If you hook up two horses, you think

it would be double the weight that it would pull,

but it actually triples or quadruples the weight

that two horses can pull. Well, in this case,

you're yoking up to somebody who has unlimited

power. Unlimited. As a matter of fact, my power,

if you take my power compared to Jesus' power,

I have no power. If I could give you a picture,

it'd be like Jesus putting on the yoke and then

I get on the yoke and my feet are just dangling.

I'm just hanging from it. That's what it looks

like, right? It's all him. It's the power of

being yoked. I experienced this idea of being

yoked in high school. I sat beside this girl

named Barb who was intellectually superior to

me in school. She really was. And Barb and I

were friends. And the reason we were friends

is because back then when you went to class,

they sat you alphabetically and her last name

was close to mine in last name. So we had multiple

classes together and Barb was always sitting

somewhere right around me. So we got to know

each other and we got to be friends. And Barb

was smart. She really was. And we had these two

particular classes that we were both in. And

actually in the one class, she was intellectually

superior to me. But in the other class, I was

intellectually superior to her. And we came up

with this great idea. We need to help each other

out just a little bit, right? And I don't recommend

this, but you know. Through that semester, Barb

really helped me out with a class that I thought

I was going to miserably fail. And I helped her

out with a class that she thought she was going

to miserably fail. And together, we got an awesome

grade in both classes. We really did. But the

point was this, right? The point was that if

you're connected with somebody that has superior

power, superior intellect, superior in every

kind of way, You can do the impossible, not because

of you, but because of them. And Jesus came and

he said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light

because when you connect, when you abide with

me, I have all the resources you need. I have

all the power you need. I have all the answers

that you need. I've got it all. All I have to

do is abide. All I've got to do is stay yoked.

And it gets easier and it gets lighter. I'm not

going to tell you everything's going to be easy

in life. I'm telling you, if you get yoked, think

about being yoked to somebody. Pretend you're

that animal, right? When you're yoked to somebody,

they're right next to you. They're right beside

you every step of the way. If you're yoked with

somebody, you hear every word. that is spoken

with the one that's beside you. If you're yoked

with somebody, you feel the pull of the other

person. You feel the power of the one that's

beside you. You will have reverence for the sheer

ability and knowledge of the one you're yoked

to. If you're yoked to somebody, you're in a

safe spot, right? If you're yoked, you do exactly

what he does. Exactly. It is in the yoke where

it becomes easy, squeezy, lemon breezy. With

Jesus. My nephew used to say that all the time.

It's in my head. It's in the yoke. It's in the

yoke. I'm going to ask you to stand. When Jesus

gives us commands, and he does, in Scripture

that are not optional for followers of Jesus

Christ. And you think it's an impossible thing

to do. It is on your own. In your own power,

in your own strength, in your own whatever you

got, motz, right? Whatever you got, beat your

chest all you want. It is not until you yoke

with the Master that you'll begin to walk step

in step. It's not until you yoke with the master

that the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit begins to

speak into your spirit. You start to step where

he steps. You start to hear what he speaks. You

start to know which direction he'll go. You start

to understand the safety that's in this right

beside the master. I never said it was going

to be easy. I just said his yoke is easy. He'll

carry you through the hard thing. When you're

in the fire and you can't see. When the flames

are all around you and the heat's on you and

the pressure's on, and it's easy when you're

not in the pressure, but when the pressure of

life comes and the situation, circumstances,

I don't know if you've ever gotten a place where

you're like, how in the world did I get here?

How in the world am I in the middle of whatever's

going on? It might not even be your mess. It

might be somebody, how did I get here? What am

I supposed to do with this? It's in that spot.

You need to understand, you're yoked to the master.

More than ever, you stand. quietly yoke to him.

You stand as close as you can, and you wait for

his instruction. You look where he says to go,

right? When he points that way, you go that direction.

When you feel his pull, you move with his pull.

That's how the Spirit guides us and directs us.

We're people of the Spirit. When it's impossible,

what makes you unmistakably his is that we hear

his voice, We stay yoked and we love one another

like he loved. Amen? I'm going to ask you to

bow your heads. Now, here's what I know for sure.

As God began to bring this alive in my heart

and in my spirit, as I began to look at these

verses, there are some in the house. You're either

in the fire, you've been in the fire, you're

walking into the fire, or you're somewhere on

your way out of the fire. But you're tired, you're

weary. You've been fighting something on your

own, maybe something hidden in your life, and

you've been fighting, and you've been fighting,

and you've been fighting, and you're wore out.

Good. Because when you get wore out, you stand

still. When you get wore out, you start to look

up instead of looking in. If that's you in the

house, That's you in the house this morning.

You're never going to be able to love like you

need to love. You're never going to be able to

walk like you need to walk if you don't say yote

to the master. And our first inclination as humans,

I don't know why it is, but when we get in the

heat, we tend to run from God and say the exact

opposite that we need to do. So if you're here

in the house and your head's bowed and your eyes

are closed, I want anyone looking around, if

that's you, And you know this message is speaking

and pulling on you. I want you to raise your

hand up, put it right back down. I'm just going

to pray for you this morning. Just going to pray

for you. That's all. Thank you. Thank you for

all the honesty in the house. Thank you for the

honesty. Thank you. I want you to look back up,

church. I'm going to pray in a moment. Stay yoked.

Now more than ever. Man, I am reading about what's

taking place in the world around us. I'm reading

what's taking place in AI. I'm reading about

the shifts that are about to take place in the

next 18 to 24 months in the world around us.

You better stay yoked up to Jesus, right? The

Word of God tells us that in the last days, great

delusion is going to come. There's going to be

great delusion. There's going to be things that

will draw and pull on us, and we'll get deluded

in our thinking. Don't do it. If you stay near

the master, you're going to hear him speaking

in your ear the truth of God. You're going to

be able to wade through some of the garbage that

you're going to see, that the enemy is going

to put in front of you. And if you're here, draw

in. Submit to God. Here's the big deal, right?

You've got to submit to get yoked. I don't know

if you've ever been tied in the middle of something

or tied up to somebody, maybe handcuffed to somebody.

Don't raise your hand. But you've got to submit.

You can't fight. Let's pray. Father, I thank

you for each person in the house. I thank you

for those who are listening online this morning.

God, your word is quick and powerful, and it

is sharper than a two -edged sword. Lord, we

draw in today. God, we pull in close to you.

God, we submit our hearts, our lives. God, if

there's been an area where I've just been fighting

you, I've been fighting it on my own. I've been

looking to myself. I've been trying to self -improve.

I've been trying to do all these things. I'm

just letting go, God, and I'm tying to you. Lord,

I'm gonna do what you say to do. I'm gonna live

like you say to live. I'm gonna walk like you

say to walk. I'm gonna pray like you tell me

to pray. I'm gonna speak how you tell me to speak.

Lord, I'm just gonna, I'm not leaving your side

because I gotta abide in you. If I'm going to

make it through this thing, if I'm going to get

through and come out the other side, Lord, alive.

God, if I'm going to come out the other side

in you, God, I'm going to stay right next to

you. I'll make that commitment in my heart. God,

I confess, Lord, that I've been trying to do

this on my own. I repent today. I turn and go

a different direction today, which is right beside

you. I'm going to love like I'm supposed to love,

not because I got it in me, but because I'm in

you. And I thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen

and amen. The defining mark of a believer that

makes you unmistakably his is that you are yoked

to Christ. You walk like he walks. You talk like

he talks. And when the world is looking into

the sunlight, squinting, squinting. For some

reason, I go saying, man, something about that

person. I think they know Jesus. Amen? It's true.

I want you to sing one last song with Zach. He's

going to close us out in prayer. Give you an

opportunity in the house. If you don't know Jesus,

he's going to give you that opportunity. You

can know him today. Thank you for tuning in to

this message from Lifehouse Church. We pray that

you were impacted powerfully by this message.

If you have been personally affected by our ministry

and you would like to partner with us as we love

God, love people every day, visit our website

at www .lifehousecog .com.