Mission Vineyard Church is live!

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let

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true

my

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heart

bless

good morning Mission

Vineyard I'm glad to see that we're

fellowshipping and we're just getting to

the spirit of Brotherhood I would

encourage you to find your seats we're

going to get started with worship this

morning uh if you haven't had a chance

to meeting my name isberto Rios uh I'm

helping with worship and I'm just so

grateful to be in the house of the Lord

today you guys don't know how much I

need to be here throughout the week we

face all these distractions we work we

take care of our families right but

often it's hard to take a moment and

just be alone with the Lord and that's a

chance that we get here today so I would

just encourage you would you stand up

with me would you raise your hands and

we have a liturgy here we say Come Holy

Spirit Come Holy Spirit we believe that

the holy spirit is always dwelling in us

that's the gift that God gave us when we

accepted him as Lord and savior of our

lives but we just make this place we

declare Come Holy Spirit we're saying in

our hearts Lord we are open we are ready

we want to receive all that you have for

us today Father the break through any

heartache break through any difficult

places any places in our heart that are

hardened Lord we ask you to

fill so we're just start today and

worship and say Come Holy

[Music]

over the spirit could move over us

rest

on

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rest

us

rest

[Music]

rest down when

heart when you feel the room you're here

and I know you are moving you're here

when I know you will feel me Cal down

Spirit when you move you make my

heart when you feel the room you're here

and I know you are moving I'm here and I

know you will F

[Music]

me come fill us Lord come fill us

Lord as the spirit was moving as the

spirit was moving over the the waters

come move over

us come rest on

us come rest on us as Spirit was moving

over the come move over

us rest on

us rest on us fireing winding Wind come

do it again open up the gates Heaven on

come rest on

us come rest on us and fire and wind

come do it again up the gates

Heaven

rest

[Music]

rest

down

heart the room you're here and I know

you are moving I'm here and I know you

will feel me

come when make

heart when you the you're here and I

know you are moving I'm here and I know

you will

me come this place

Lord we need you

God

Holy Spirit

come rest on us you're all we

want you're all we

want

Holy

Spirit Come rest on us you're all we

want we declare Lord You're all we want

more Holy

Spirit Come rest on us you're all we

want you're all we

want and

holy us you're all we

want you're all we

want

holy come

rest us you're all we

want you're all we want

[Music]

and you're here and I know you are

moving I'm here and I know you feel me c

[Music]

down you're here and I know

are I'm here I

[Music]

how many of you believe that he's our

heavenly

father I had this beautiful picture this

week it was a little bit of a hard week

and I just I was praying to the Lord and

he gave me this Vision my my daughter

often times she wake up at 2 in the

morning and ask for the most random

things

and the beautiful thing is that she can

ask me anything and I don't get mad I

don't get upset right I may a little

frustrated but she's my daughter I love

her I care for her I give her right I

bless her and that's our heavenly father

today he wants to bless you it doesn't

matter what you come with him doesn't

matter you feels annoyance if you've

asked him a million times goodness

gracious sometimes I think we give up on

ourselves but Jesus wants us to know he

loves you

so we're going to pray that one more

time Holy Spirit Come rest on us that's

his gift to

you so

holy

spir come rest on us you're all we want

Lord you are all

we

holy rest on us

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hly

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you're

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cross you

bore so I could live in the freom you

died

for and now my life life is

yours and I will sing of your goodness

forever more we sing that one more

time it was my cross

you so I could live in the freedom you

died

for and now my life is yours

and I will

sing of your goodness forever

more Worthy is your

name

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name Worthy is your

name Jesus

[Music]

you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name Worthy is your

name

Jesus you deserve the

praise is your

now my shame is gone I stand

am in your love

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undable your grace goes on and on and I

will

sing of your goodness forever more

Worthy is your

name

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name and Worthy is your

name

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name Worthy is your name

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name Worthy is your

name

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your name

[Music]

be exed now the heavens as your glory

FS you alone deserve Our Praise you're

the name above all names and be exalted

now in the heavens as your glory fills

this place you alone deserve Our Praise

you're the name above all Nam be exted

now in the heavens as your glory fills

this you alone deserve our

praise the name above all name be exed

now in the heavens as your glory

FS you alone deserve Our Praise you're

the name above

[Music]

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name Worthy is your name

name

[Music]

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your

name Worthy is your

name

Jesus you deserve the

praise worthy is your name we're just

going to stay here for a while Worthy is

your name

hallelu

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hallu worship

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isy of our praise

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blessing and hon and Glory belongs to

[Music]

him blasting and glory and honor belongs

to our God

the

[Music]

J

[Music]

G

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your name is the highest your name is

the greatest

your stands

above all Thrones

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we're going to sing that again in

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Spanish

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fore

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

fore fore

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[Laughter]

and the angels

cry all creation

Christ

holy you are lifted

High

[Music]

holy holy

forever you

[Music]

forem sing the song forever and amen

the Angels

cry

holy all creation

cry

holy you are lifted

High

holy holy forever

[Music]

holy to the King of Kings

[Music]

holy you will always

be

[Music]

holy holy

[Music]

forever and the angels

[Music]

C all

creation Christ

holy you are lifted

High

[Music]

holy ofly

you will always

be

holy holy

[Music]

forever you

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will this is part of our service to give

thanks to the Lord and also take

communion

ask please be

seated today we come to the table of

Jesus the table is more than just a

ritual it's a place where we encounter

the living Christ remember his sacrifice

and Proclaim his death and Resurrection

till he comes again this table is a

Sacred Space where Heaven and Earth meet

place of Grace where all are invited to

experience the presence of Christ as We

Gather at the table remember that this

is not our table it's the Lord's table

Jesus invites all who follow him to come

not because we are worthy but because he

has made a way through his love and

sacrifice this is a table of Grace open

to all who trust in

him in the go goel according to Luke 2:

14 to

20 when the hour came Jesus and his

Apostles reclined at the table and he

said to them I have eagerly desired to

eat this Passover with you before I

suffer for I tell you I will not eat it

again until it finds fulfillment in the

kingdom of God after taking the cup he

gave thanks and said take this and

divide it among you for I tell you I

will not drink again from the fruit of

the vine until the kingdom of God comes

and he took bread gave thanks and broke

it and he gave it to them saying this is

my body given for you do this in

remembrance of

me in the same way after supper he took

out the cup saying this is the cup of

the New Covenant in my blood which is

poured out for

you it's the word of the Lord thanks be

to

God this is more than just a remembrance

it's a moment where we meet Jesus who's

truly present with us in a special way

as we take the bread in the cup we're

just looking back at what Christ has

done we're experiencing his love and

presence right now this is a time to

open your heart to him to receive his

grace and to be reminded of his

thankfulness in a moment we'll invite

you to come forward to receive the

elements please come down the interior

of the aisles and after receiving exit

through the outer aisles to return to

your seats if you're giving communion

please come forward at this

time you may take a GL gluten-free

cracker which you may dip into the cup

of juice as you dip the bread into the

juice remember that the body of Christ

was broken for you and the blood of

Christ shed for you take a moment to

reflect pray and receive his grace as

you

partake we also have the prepackaged

commun Els if you

prefer by sharing this meal we proclaim

the mystery of our faith Christ has died

Christ is risen and Christ will come

again this table is a foraste of the

great banquet that we will share with

Christ in his kingdom until that day we

eat and drink in Hope knowing that the

same power that raised Jesus from the

dead is at work in

us please pray with

me God we thank you for an opportunity

to rejoice in

you to join with the Sinners who have

been redeemed in all of

history as we partake of your body

and drink of your

blood let us be reminded of what it cost

for us to be

here and how sacred we must take

that Lord in your holy and precious name

I pray amen

[Music]

you

name is the highest

your is

the

stand your name is the

[Music]

C our creation

christly you are

[Music]

lifted to the king of

you

will

[Music]

be holy

[Music]

foreverly forever

[Music]

at this time I'd like to ask you to say

the Lord's Prayer with me uh if you

don't know what the words are on the

screen in English screen in English and

in Spanish please just pray along

according to your heart's

language Our Father who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come

thy will be done on Earth as it is in

heaven give us this day our daily bread

and forgive us our trespasses as we

forgive those who trespass against us

and lead us in tempation but Deliver Us

from Evil for thine is the kingdom and

the power and the glory forever and ever

amen hey please take a minute uh get

some coffee refresh your cups be in

communion we'll come back in just a few

minutes e

start

miss you I know we don't get to talk but

you're still missing okay

okay we start making our way back to our

seats helloo hello hello hello hello

hello hello hello good

morning good morning my name is arita

and John here we're gonna um do

announcements real quick but uh Stephen

is currently passing out our our final

week of Mana bags so all of them are

going we our goal is to not have any

Mana bags left so yes that's great right

so if you have taken one you haven't

given away you're like I don't want

another one then I have to give I have

to give more away and I don't I don't

just take another one well you had a

great idea to me John is that um maybe

there's somebody in your life who would

want to participate in this work so you

might still have your Mana bag but then

you can invite invite a friend or

neighbor to also uh have one in their

car so maybe you don't need another Mana

bag but you can pass it along to

somebody else I'm going to say it more

than maybe maybe's nice I'm going to say

if you still have a Mana bag you're like

I haven't given it away yet in the name

of Jesus you have people in your life

that you're supposed to give that away

to and say I'm not good at this can you

do this for me please my church really

wants to give these away in my city

something like that I mean the nature of

these things goes when I don't have a

man bag I I see people and then when I

have a Mana bag I do not see people or

the person I see is sleeping and I'm by

myself and I can't just throw a Mana bag

at them that would not be nice so the

goal of this whole thing is to share

God's extravagant love extravagant love

February February yes so uh this is how

this is how we felt the Lord lead us in

um making a big hairy audacious goal to

pass out more bed bags in this month

than we typically do in a year but that

being said in our welcome bags if you're

new to the church if youve visiting for

the first time we have these lovely

welcome bags you're too close to me

you're making it sound um inside there

we have Mana bags so we will continue to

be passing out Mana bags this is we're

making a big push in February

specifically because of God's sending

God's extant love but we're doing this

um throughout the year especially if you

visit M Vineyard we give one of these

away for you to give away um and then

we're just going to make Steven just

carry big box boxes of Mana he's strong

it's okay he's doing a great job um and

if you there's still some left when

you're leaving you can grab one on the

way out if um but anyway if you are also

new visiting or if you've moved and we

don't have your new contact information

you're welcome to fill out the connect

card that is in the welcome bag or on

the back table as well as on the back

side of that we have a prayer request

card every Tuesday a team of people get

together and pray for the needs of the

community and they love having specific

things to pray for and if they don't

they just listen to the Lord and pray

accordingly um at this time I'm going to

ask um Michael on this side and Todd on

this side to get ready to pass the

offering baskets um we don't talk a ton

about giving at Mission Vineyard because

money is weird but the money belongs to

God anyway and so we pass baskets giving

baskets to participate in God's work and

reminding ourselves that what we have is

his anyway and and so we're giving back

to him a portion of what we he's given

us and you could do that online you

could do that in person you can give a

penny you can give more than a penny but

everything we do we look at through uh

his eyes and ask discern how he wants us

to use that for his work in us and

through us and through the city and

Beyond so I'm going to pray for the

giving and then the rest of our

service Heavenly Father we thank you so

much for sunshine

today and we thank you Lord that um we

get to gather here together to worship

you to be reminded that you are

king and we worship you alone Lord I

pray God that you would use every scent

given Lord um to the work of your

ministry both here in San Antonio and

around the world and I pray God that you

would speak through John and I this

morning as we uh start a new sermon

series today in Jesus name amen amen hi

hello would you stay up here and preach

with me sure awesome this was this was

planned don't worry guys he didn't just

ask someone randomly next week I'll ask

another we'll spin the

wheel no we're in a new series this

Sunday called

transformed uh if we ask the question

what does it mean to be transformed I

think some of us wouldn't even know what

that means so when we're looking at

transformation we want to introduce the

series today by talking about what

transformation can look like in our

lives uh Instagram would tell us that

transformation looks like if you just

this one thing it'll be trans

transformed well I was going to say that

transformation often can be used in

different settings like I hear the term

tossed around a lot um especially online

like you know exercise transformation or

Diet transformation the word is used a

lot and then there's the movie

Transformers that is I forgot about that

one because I didn't watch those things

I did Growing Up

transformation uh we're rooting

ourselves in a scripture from Paul's

writings to the Corinthians 2

2 Corinthians 5:17

Corinthians 5:17 will be our rooted

scripture for us in this congregation

for this series if you would read it

with me it should be up on screen for

you this means that anyone who belongs

to Christ has become a new person the

old life is gone a new life has begun

do do me a favor do something weird for

me point to yourself and let's say it

again this means that anyone who belongs

to Christ has become a new person the

old life is gone the new life has begun

now what's the super frustrating part

about this verse and about

transformation in Jesus that we give our

lives to Jesus we say yes to Jesus and

we're like great no more

problems and it doesn't that's not

exactly what happens instead what we

face is a new kind of empowerment a new

kind of awareness that actually can

sometimes feel more tension than peace

it's a different kind of tension that

when we feel when we're not transformed

when we don't have the power of the Holy

Spirit when we do have the Holy Spirit

when we are becoming a new creation the

tension we feel is that the new life is

trying to make space it's invading

and it's creating tension with the old

life that's been lived for a long time

now I know some of you you started to

follow Jesus when you were infants you

you know Gaga gooo and your parents like

he saved um some of you after you were

90 you said yes to Jesus you gave your

life to Jesus that's a lot of life to

give up to the

Lord but God is still working in us he

doesn't give up so what does it look

like what we're going to be looking at

today what does it look like for

transformation happen in our lives even

when the old life is still being battled

with real transformation isn't about

self-improvement that's what I want you

to hear today real transformation isn't

about self-improvement it's not become

about becoming better it's about

surrendering to Christ in order for him

to make us a new creation we're both our

lead and I were going to be telling a

couple stories today that our faith and

our transformation is not microwave

Faith it's not microwave transformation

meaning hit the button all better if you

know us very well what you'll find out

about us in being friends with us is

that we're often very very frustrated

with the ways that we're not

trans we live slow crockpot

faith and I don't mean that I'm I'm a

COC I am a COC crack

anyway we're going away from that

because didn't work but um if you're my

friend you know that I I am frustrated

with how much I um struggle with an

addiction to death you know if you're

close to me how much God has helped me

battle over other addictions you know

that I battle shame you know that God is

working with me to battle depression and

how he's worked through there U but

there's another verse before I let arita

talk at all and I do um going to give

her some time don't worry uh Revelation

318 is not up on the screen for it's not

even on your page or is it up on the

screen maybe we have it oh Elena you're

so good here's what I want you to do

this is the message version this is

Eugene Peterson writing Revelation 318

here's what I want you to do buy your

gold from me gold that's been refined

through the refiner

fire if you can picture what we're doing

today I want I want you to picture your

spiritual life your spiritual formation

not as a microwave moment but of a ref

fire moment I want to invite you into a

kind of transformation that's not

Instagram Faith but is crockpot long

distance long time in the fire with

other people Allowing God to continually

transform you type of faith can we do

that okay Lord Jesus come by your

spirit speak through your scriptures

today about what you're doing in Jesus

name amen anything else you want to say

as we enter in boy I was as I Was

preparing I was uh there's a lot of

material on the subject this was we're

not like this isn't just genre Alita

creating things you could find all sorts

of things um about this subject um and

in doing some research this week There's

an author named Dr Robert mle Holland

who's written a book um invitation to a

journey he's written other books but

this is a book I was looking at and what

I loved about this book is that he

referred to um the the frustration about

our instant gratification culture and

then he used a vending machine as the

analogy and I was like interesting okay

all right I got it and I looked in the

front and it was copyrighted

1993 which is 30 years ago which seems

unreal

um but what made me what touched me

about that is that this isn't

new the the frustration of not wanting

to the crockpot Faith needing to do the

slow cooking the slow working out of our

salvation of our formation of our

transformation um whether you're

thinking of a vending machine or even

going back further to blacksmithing

where they're forming metal Through Fire

um you can watch a video online and it's

fast because they've edited it but if

you watch just someone like doing it

it's very slow and methodical and

there's a process in

place so speaking of slow stories of

spiritual formation let's dig into a

story with Jesus and how he worked with

somebody who needed transformation this

is uh the Book of John chapter 5 and

John 5 · chapter mention

Jesus

uh was walking around during a feast and

he went back to Jerusalem near the Sheep

gate in Jerusalem there was a pool and

there's all kind of meanings around

sheep gate you can use your favorite AI

to discover what that is in Jerusalem

there was a pool and in Hebrew called

Bethesda with five alos hundreds of sick

people pause for just a moment enter

into the

if I was a

uh with you in an art gallery and I just

showed you a picture of hundreds of

people in needing in need of healing

waiting take that picture for just a

moment hundreds

of blind

crippled paralyzed they were all in

these

outes and there was one man one man had

been invalid for 38

years again just pause for a moment 38

years struggling with his own

transformation

sickness when Jesus saw him stretched

out by the pool and knew how long he had

been there he said do you want to get

well so this is I want to introduce

Jesus as the person who's active in our

transformation and sometimes Jesus goes

bam and you're transformed but often the

first step in our transformation is US

welcoming him in or him welcoming

himself in depending on your

theology and taking the background

noise of all that's going on in our

lives the unhealed that we struggle with

the places that we're frustrated with

the stuckness and he goes can we look at

this together

it's only that when Jesus invites us to

look at that stuff with him that the

holy spirit's able to

transform so when he says do you want to

get well if you could enter into that

picture yourself with whatever stuck

place you feel and allow Jesus to go

okay can we look at this

together can we look at this

together the way of slow down Faith

often involves spending enough time with

Jesus in our M that he's able to show us

what's been there in the background

sometimes I go through an exercise mad

sad anxious glad and I just allow myself

to write down those things those places

what we call that is discovering the

iceberg it's a practice that our lead

has been teaching actually in the uh

emotionally healthy spiritual health you

want to say more about that like what it

means to pause with Jesus and discover

those feelings or places of stuckness

taking time with that sure think think

part of the the idea of the exercise is

to just become

aware of what we're feeling because we

can't change what we're not aware of say

it again power we can't change what

we're not aware of um oftentimes my I

want to be transformed by God without

any work on my own like I don't I just

want him to magically make it happen and

um and that sometimes does happen

initially and then I have to walk that

out the next step and the next step and

the next step um but if I maybe grew up

in a family where feelings weren't done

I probably had feelings but I just

buried them stuffed them put them in a

back closet somewhere with a padlock and

a alarm system on it um and so the

exercise is meant to help me help me

become aware that I even have feelings

and then I can bring them before the

Lord as you said and put them before him

into into the light and ask him to

address them with him because he can

handle my feelings maybe my mom could or

my dad like I'm using them as an example

we had feelings in our house but that

often times we were told to like oh Boys

Don't Cry or oh girls are always

whatever insert your narrative from your

childhood here that we forget that it's

got feelings are god-given emotions are

like Jesus expressed emotions there's

emotions all throughout the

Psalms um so anyway that's the idea of

the exercise is to become first aware

so continues Jesus with the sick man

after Jesus says do you want to get well

the sick man said sir when the water

stirred I don't have anybody to put me

in the pool so The Story Goes that these

pools would somehow get stirred by

whatever well was feeding them or

whatever was going on and that would be

sort of the magical sign to get in the

pool and the first one in would be able

to get

he and he says sir Jesus when the water

stirred when healing is available when

the magic times generally are when the

the surprise transformation moments

happen I don't have anybody to guide me

to them by the time I get there somebody

else is already in you ever feel like

somebody else's transformation is a lot

easier than your

own why is it so easy for them we

ask why aren't they taking this as

seriously as I am and that comparison

game sort of hunts and distracts from

what Jesus wants to say to us directly

and that's the condition of this man

somebody's already in by the time I get

there and Jesus said directly to

him he's asking him to participate in

his own transformation look at this get

up take your bed roll start

walking the activity the man is invited

in is to get up take your bed roll start

walking the man was heal the spot he

picked up his bed roll and walked off I

was I was reading this scripture it

reminded me of a time that I was in

counseling and I came to the counselor

and I said I'm depressed I really feel

like I'm depressed and he's going

through all this you know a good

counselor asked questions like what are

some of the points of of depression

these kind of things he said John I've

got to tell you the truth in all my

years of work and he's been doing this

kind of work for years and years he was

a Pastor said John the only way

depression is relieved in a person is

when depression is

you have to walk out of depression step

by step it's not relief it's not

awareness depression needs to be walked

out and so in this moment as I see that

Jesus is saying get up take your bed

roll start

walking thank God this man was healed on

the spot how amazing right I want to

invite you that God does that God does

heal on the spot and we're invited into

our own work of transformation

there's this this tension of like God

you're doing stuff but you're inviting

me to do stuff but we often feel like

we're responsible for our own

transformation and there's this tension

that goes on I think in in spiritual

life what do you think well I think of

like one of the another great story from

scripture it's not going to be up in the

screen but um for those who don't know

there was a guy named Saul who liked to

murder Christians um and then he had a

powerful encounter one of those zap type

moments um and then he became Paul and

then he walked out his faith in very

profound ways and um that's one of the

most well-known uh writers of the New

Testament um and very highly regarded

and followed um his teachings to this

day and so it can be very easy to only

wish for those like zap type moments

like those where God intervenes and I

would love for more of Heaven on Earth

experiences for sure um but often times

even if we have them we still need to

walk out the next step what does he

asking us to do next Paul could have

just been like I have my moment I won't

kill any Christians anymore I'm good and

then just and fall back into his old

history fall back with his own crowd or

just like live just he's not transformed

really he just had a moment yeah like he

maybe stopped killing Christians that or

maybe he stopped I don't know you don't

know but I'm just saying that we can

often just then just stop there and

Jesus is inviting us into other things

where our Spanish congregation is

rooting themselves in the series is in

Romans

122 where Paul this Saul being

transformed into Paul guy writes to the

church in Rome and he says don't be

conformed to this

world but be transformed by the renewal

of your mind that by testing you may

discern what the will of God is what is

good and acceptable and perfect perfect

I always see the word perfect and I

think fit for your

purpose so you Paul say don't be

conformed to this world there's an

expectation that our daily lives will

have a sort of movement and momentum for

example go to sleep with your

phone wake up with your phone take your

phone to the

bathroom take your phone on a bike ride

play music on your bike

ride keep your phone in front of you as

you're walking

everywhere and when you put your phone

down put Netflix on and YouTube there's

an expectation in this world

and Paul's asking us and articulating

what our our leader already saying if I

just kept on doing what I typically do

my transformation is not going to take

root the holy moment experience is going

to happen but the rootedness is not

going to follow and you could say all

those things because those are things

that we struggle with we're not like

saying up here staying like we don't do

those

things but the power comes in putting

those things aside and modeling

ourselves we're being transformed this

type of transformation is into the image

of Christ and so looking at places where

he what what did Jesus do how did he

work out I mean he was God and fully man

and so we see repeatedly in Scripture

that he separated himself from the crowd

and had times of silence and Solitude so

oftentimes these are called spiritual

disciplines but that word can be like no

discipline like a bad word mean like

you're being disciplin some people don't

like that phrase punishment it could be

taken way yeah so other authors have

been using the word like practices

spiritual practices or habits or

rhythms um because I like the more

fluidity of that versus just like

discipline seems like

situps I don't like

sit-ups personally but one discipline I

had to take on and this is maybe extreme

but um whenever we feel like we don't

have enough money I look for ways to

make more and they're often like Fast

trap situations or highrisk situations

in order to make more money but instead

thankfully I have brothers around me

that continuing to encourage me actually

you'd make up that amount of money that

you feel like you need by just spending

less slowing down in our lives slowing

down the pace of the expectation of this

world to show up in a certain way not

being transformed to the world

allowing Jesus to transform our mind

often means that we slow down the pace

it often means honestly followers of

Jesus there's a good chance you're going

to make less money than the rest of the

world and that's not

bad if it means that the time that

you're spending is with the Lord and not

anxiously pursuing more money can you

hear what I'm

saying sometimes it means that you will

not be able to acknowled as much success

as a world defined success to your peers

because you've decided to pursue another

way that allows for more time with Jesus

allowing Jesus to show you what needs to

be done and honestly you guys the world

is not asking for Christians to show up

to be more successful than they are with

money or sex or any other thing they're

asking for people of peace that can

handle the anxiety of the world and

still be present with

Jesus so these moments of Lord what are

you showing me here take sacrifice of

the expectations of the world in order

to be present to the transformation that

God what

else okay uh like I said our leader has

been teaching this course on otally

emotionally healthy spirituality and I

think that we're going to be teaching it

again after Easter yes so it's a

two-part course and uh it's emotionally

healthy spirituality it's written by a

guy named Pete scero and his wife Jerry

scero and uh they really emphasize the

Slowdown spirituality and developing

throughout the course teaching different

practices to help us slow down and

actually uh Pete in his retirement is

working on a book emotionally healthy

success and redefining what success

means as followers of

Jesus um but I think the main thing to

focus on is finding one way this week

where we can either put the second

Corinthians verse before like so I like

the imagery of bringing something out in

front in front and bring it into focus

and asking the Lord how he wants to uh

transform us because we're it's like

transformed is like a past tense verb

yeah but we're forever continuing to be

transformed it's a it's a lifelong

process we're not going to arrive at a

destination until we meet

Jesus and so peteo quote I want to have

for you it's up on the screen it's on

your

sheets and you know what I'll ask just

in the middle of this and then Steve if

you would come up and be ready to read

how the Lord might want to address Us in

ministry as well would you stand with me

please and as you stand would you hear

this quote from pet cero Jesus invites

us to a radical surrendered life to take

up our cross and follow him it is not

about self-effort or behavior

modification it's about an interior re

tion that flows out of being with him

and allowing him to change Us From the

Inside

Out in just a moment God's going to meet

us in prayer Ministry and then our last

song If I could have the worship team

come back up and prayer teams if you

would be ready to receive people there

was a whole team praying for you before

this service happened and they were

stopping and listening to the Lord about

what God might want to do in our

congregation and Steve leads that group

I'm going to ask him to those

words the first thing

was is partly out of the psalm that we

were reading today of Psalm 8 is to

consider God's

Majesty consider God's

majesty and God is your

provider do you have a

need blessing for a native French

speaker who's either here Among Us or in

your

family an

ankle that needs healing tennis

shoes sometimes we don't know what what

God has for these words but tennis

shoes and

gallbladder gallbladder so the prayer

teams are going to be over here in the

corner and if any of these words speak

to you please come or if you have any

other

needs or or Joys or or something that

you would like to share or need prayer

about come and and have someone agree

with you and hear from them come and

receive prayer and and while you're

coming this team is going to lead us in

one more song and then I'll come back

and bless us together

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say

we there are some of that came here this

morning and uh your life still belongs

to you what I mean by that is you've not

said that Jesus can have your life

you've

not really like if you could think about

it legally you've not given right to him

to transform you so you're kind of still

hoping for him to do something in your

life but also saying you can't have my

life and the only way that Jesus can

give you a new life again Jesus doesn't

help us our old life become better he

wants to give us new life the only way

that happens is if we give in our old

life so he can give us new life now

declaring Yes to Jesus can feel like

it's a private thing but actually Jesus

says unless you confess me before men I

can't I don't even know what it means to

acknowledge you because you won't

acknowledge me and so I want to

encourage some courage this morning to

raise your hand this is the day that I

think maybe you've been waiting for like

you were hoping that at some point God

would give you a new life and so that

transformation could begin to happen or

maybe it's been a long time would you

have the courage this morning to raise

your hand and say I'm ready to give

Jesus my old life so he can give me a

new life I believe that he died on the

cross for me to be forgiven of all of my

sins I believe that he died so I can be

forgiven and I want him to fill me with

his holy spirit so I could be forgiven

and set free if that's you would you

please raise your hand would you have

the courage to publicly say this is the

day that I want to give Jesus my life

because I want a new life

I want a new

life a simple prayer I want to pray with

you sorry thank you please would you

pray with me Lord Jesus I'm so sorry for

the things that I've

done please forgive me I now turn from

everything which I know is

wrong that's sorry let's thank you and

now let's say please please My Life by

The Power of your Holy Spirit to be with

me

forever can we say together Lord

Jesus you are my

Lord receive this blessing in the name

of the father and the Son and the Holy

Spirit that you would go out being

transformed by Jesus and by the power of

the Holy Spirit receiving new life I

bless you in Jesus name go in peace

continue to receive prayer the worship

team is going to continue to lead in

worship if you just need to sit and

worship don't forget to get your

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children and we say

and

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