Text to Talk Part 1 | Check the Context with Rudy

Hey guys, this is Tracy. If at any time you'd

like to connect with HCV, go to hcv .church forward

slash connect. If you feel called to give, go

to hcv .church forward slash give. And if at

any time you feel called to make a change in

your life, text change me to 970 -00. Enjoy the

message. How you guys doing today? Listen, when

the cat's away, the mice will play. You guys

ready to play? So let me just start by saying

that Chris and Jess are in Syracuse this weekend

with Mr. Rick and his wife, Ms. Lynn. They just

led a Holy Spirit weekend on Friday and Saturday

for the church in Syracuse. Chris is wrapping

up the weekend today, leading four gatherings.

I don't know what their parking situation looks

like, but he's leading four gatherings, bringing

the message to the church that started his vineyard

journey 25 years ago, which is cool because this

year we're celebrating our 20 -year anniversary.

Speaking of anniversaries, on Thursday, I will

celebrate 15 years of marriage to my beautiful

wife. Carrie and I have been together 18 years,

married for 15. If you see her this week, pray

for her. She's tired. In fact, let's just go

ahead and pray and bring the Holy Spirit into

our presence. Come Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit,

it's actually your presence that we need to enter

into right now. Holy Spirit, we come to you this

morning. We thank you for this building. We thank

you for everyone that we are able to reach in

the community each and every day, each and every

week. We thank you for Chris and Jess, that you

laid this on their heart over 20 years ago to

start a church in Hagerstown, the hub city. I

pray, God, that you just be with them this weekend

as Chris wraps up the message and you give them

safe travels back. And just thank you for the

word they were able to bring in Syracuse, but

the word that they've been able to bring to us

for two decades. God, I also pray for the staff

at Grow is at Ocean City for a weekend conference

learning all about how to take care of our kids.

Just give them all the tools that they need to

take care of our kids here at the preschool,

God, and bring them back safely today. And ultimately,

God, I just want to pray today for this message.

Take the words that you have given me and open

the minds and the hearts of everyone here. Soften

their hearts so that they can hear the word that

you have for us today. In Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. How many of you prefer to text rather

than make a phone call? How many of you would

just rather make a phone, have a phone conversation?

Okay. I could ask ages, but there's probably

a line of demarcation in there somewhere. I prefer

to text. Right? Because most of the time you

don't need a whole phone conversation to deliver

or receive the information that you need. So

it's just quicker to text. Right? In fact, sometimes

I hate to call so much that I'll actually use

talk to text all the time. Right? I think I actually

use speak to text, talk to text more often than

I actually type it out. Oddly, I have the same

amount of typos either way. But I often chat

with Mike Gamby through text. We'll text each

other. We'll chat with each other about things

around the church. Mike is the president of the

board. He leads our men's group. Mike also likes

to use talk to text. And often I read it and

I'm like, Gamby, what are you even trying to

say? It's like. Then he'll send a text and be

like, sorry, I forgot to proofread that. Sometimes

it's like playing Mad Gab, trying to figure out

what the text means. But it's funny because Mike

and I, we get in this rhythm. Well, he'll talk

to text. He'll send it to me. If I'm driving,

I just let my car play and read the text to talk,

right? And then I respond by talking the text

back. And then he gets it and he listens to the

text to talk. And it's like, we get in this rhythm

and we just continue talking to text and texting

to talk. And like, hmm, maybe we actually could

just say these words ourselves. Like, right to

each other. You know, the phone actually has

an original purpose, which was to talk. Then

there's Sherry. Sherry works in the office, right?

Sherry takes messages from me and Chris and the

other staff members throughout the week. She

has plenty of other jobs, but she's mostly responsible

for answering the phones during the week. So

if the phone rings and you don't get a hold of

someone, we blame Sherry. But Sherry, she doesn't

worry about typing or talk to text. My Siri is

coming up on my phone now because I keep saying

talk to text. Sherry doesn't worry about the

typing or the talk to text. She literally just

speaks an audio clip and sends me an audio clip,

which I found out from my 13 -year -old son last

night. That's actually called a voice note. So

if you're my age or older, you just learned something

new about technology. A voice note. Hey, I like

it. It's fast and it's efficient. So, each year,

the pastoral team gets together in November to

praise Storm and map out the serieses for the

upcoming year. Now, Rhett, he says he got the

word from Carl, but Rhett showed up and brought

this series text to talk. He brought that idea

to the table and I instantly loved it. I figured

I could speak to all the middle school and high

schoolers with text -to -talk, right? In fact,

I probably should just text them the message.

But as we praise -stormed, and Chris and Jess

and Stephen all added in their input, I secretly

prayed that Chris would assign one of the weeks

to me. And here we are. Today. I'm going to start

the series by laying the foundation. The next

two weeks, Chris will go deeper into how to read

the word, read the world, read the word, two

completely opposite things, and grow closer to

God while reading and studying. And in the last

two weeks, this is like a teaching series. Because

in the last two weeks, we'll pick a Bible, a

book of the Bible, or a section, and we'll preach

right from that exactly what we teach you the

first three weeks. Okay? Everyone with me? Some

of you are starting to look like by 7 a .m. class.

So, what we aim to do is read the Bible. And

allow the text to talk to us. Or rather, allow

the Holy Spirit to talk to us through the text.

So, today I want to lay the groundwork of what

we need to know about the Bible when we read

the Bible. So, let's start with point one. The

Bible is a source of truth. It is the source

of truth. For us as Christians, John 17, 17 tells

us, make them holy. This is Jesus talking to

God. Make them holy by your truth. Teach them

your word, Father, which is truth. This is Jesus

telling the disciples that Scripture is truth.

And Scripture is truth. It's a word that we can

count on. We can count on the Word of God. Why?

Because the Word of God has been inspired by

the Holy Spirit. Now, some of you may not understand

everything in the Bible. I know I don't always.

But it still speaks truth and life. You may not

believe everything, and the Bible is true. But

if you keep reading it and studying it, the Holy

Spirit will start to speak to you through the

words. Now, I know it can be confusing at times,

but so is the Internet, and you all keep going

back to the Internet every day. The other thing

is everything we know, almost everything we know

about Jesus comes right from the words of the

Bible. Now, there are historical documents that

back up what we know in the Bible. There are

parallel documents from those times that tell

us about a man who wandered into wilderness 2

,000 years ago. But the things we know about

how Jesus lived his life are found in the Bible.

Matthew 6, 33. Tells us this, but seek first

the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and

all these things will be added to you. Truth

is found in the kingdom of God. And how do you

learn about the kingdom of God? By reading your

Bible. Which leads us to our next point. The

Bible was meant to be read in context. Let's

go back to Matthew 3 .33. In the ESV version,

the English Standard Version, this is how we

read it. But seek first the kingdom of God and

His righteousness, and all these things will

be added to you. But what are the things that

Jesus is talking about? Anyone know? Now, let's

look at the New Living Translation of the same

verse, Matthew 6 .33. Which rewords it a little

bit and it says it like this. Seek the kingdom

of God above all else and live righteously and

he will give you everything you need. Oh, so

these things he's talking about is not everything.

It's not everything we want. It's everything

we need. I like how you guys are interacting

with me today. So we need to understand the context.

of what we are reading. Do you know how many

verses in the Bible are taken out of context?

Some of you have them tattooed on your body.

Tell me it isn't so. Jeremiah 29 11, for I know

the plans I have for you, saith the Lord. Anyone

have that one tattooed? What do we do? We view

this as a promise of personal success and hope

and happiness, right? But if we go back to Jeremiah

and read in the context, did you know this was

actually meant for the Jews living under Babylonian

exile? Of course, some of you would, I'm not

going to make it political, some of you might

say, oh, well, we are, kind of. Those Jewish

people, Israel, they were promised hope. They

were promised that restoration would come in

70 years. We don't like to remember that part,

do we? How many of you would like to wait 70

years? I'm 51 years old. I don't think I would

see that promise. Philippians 4 .13. Who has

this one? I can do all things through Christ

who strengthens me. No, you can't. Do you think

you could play forward for the WNBA? Do you think

you could pitch and win the World Series this

year? Can I jump out of an airplane with no parachute?

I mean, I can. It's funny because Philippians

4, if you read it through, I guarantee you'll

know at least four verses from that that you've

taken out of context. Reading in context of Philippians

4 shows Paul speaking and having the strength

to endure hardship and main contentment in all

circumstances, even prison. Sorry for pointing

some of you guys out. Now, what if we read other

books like this? Like, anyone, I've read Tale

of Two Cities. Anyone else ever read a Tale of

Two Cities? It's not an easy read. I read it,

okay? What if we did that same thing with other

books? I wish you to know that you have been

the last dream of my soul. Let me get a tattoo.

A Tale of Two Cities, chapter 13, paragraph 25.

Sam, where you at? It's a cool quote. Oh, man,

how romantic would it be to say that to your

wife? I wish you to know. Baby doll. I'm going

to use that Thursday. Who's dreaming? Who's he

dreaming about or she? Anyone know? I'm not going

to tell you. You're just going to have to go

to the library like I did. Listen, I only checked

this book out of the library for the message

because I'm not reading again. Maybe, just maybe,

we need to read a little bit more of the book

to get a better idea. Don't just read a verse

or two. Read the whole passage. In fact, I encourage

you each and every week you sit in here and Chris

will say some profound verse that he pulled out

of the Bible, right? If you circled that or starred

that in your notes ever, I implore you to go

home and take out that passage and read a couple

scriptures in front of it and a little bit of

the passage after it. Because there's meaning

in... One line. But there's so much deeper meaning.

Hence Jonah. Right? Jonah. I didn't know anything

more than the whale because he didn't want to

do what God told him. Here's another verse we

take out of context. Gentlemen. 1 Timothy 2 .12

I do not permit a woman to teach. or assume authority

over a man. She must be quiet. That's a line

I'm not using on Thursday. Now, understand, in

a cultural context, women were often, not always,

often less educated, and their participation

could disrupt the flow of the teaching. So oftentimes

we need to understand the context also of the

times that the book was written in. See, Jesus

spoke about seeds and farming and agricultural

allegories. But I'm not a farmer. So I need to

understand something about farming to get a better

picture of what he's talking about. Oh, and Jesus

didn't own an international harvester. So even

farming looked different in those times. So you

need to understand the context of the times.

And also know this. The Bible was not written

to us. It was written for us. The Bible was written,

breathed in by the Holy Spirit, for us to learn,

to rebuke, to do all those things. but it was

written to the people that were living in that

time and that area. When you know this, it changes

how you read the Scriptures. We have to understand

that that word that I just read you about woman,

shut up in church, you're going to get in trouble

for that. If we read the whole letter of Timothy,

We'll see that that letter was written by Peter

to Timothy about the church in Ephesus. Did you

know that there's more than one book of Ephesians?

So Peter's writing this letter to Timothy, and

if we know the context of what's happening, it

might make chapter 2, verse 12 shed a little

bit of a different light. In 1 Timothy 4 .1,

we read about doctrines of demons, which some

scholars identify with the watcher's tradition.

Didn't know about this. I didn't know it was

called watcher's tradition. In the watcher's

tradition, demons, like fallen angels, would

teach forbidden, magical, or heavenly secrets

to earthly women. Further in 1 Timothy in verse

4, or 4 verse 7, but stay away from worthless

stories that are typical of old woman or old

womanish myths. Now, in the first century Greek,

they used the word graodes. Say it, graodes.

Now you're bilingual. Some of you are trilingual.

Gaiotes was a phrase often used to describe superstitions.

It was specifically linked to magical practices

that were associated with the goddess Hecate.

I think I pronounced that right. And you know

what they referred to Hecate as? The old woman.

One more verse. 1 Timothy 5 .13. Paul mentions

young widows who are busybodies. Using the Greek

term periurgos. Sorry, man, I look these words

up for you guys all the time, and I can't ever

pronounce them. Periurgos. The word periurgo

is seen also in Acts 19 .19, and it refers to

magic, sorcery, or superstitious arts. So, in

the context of the whole letter of Timothy, I

believe it's more probable that Peter was speaking

to a specific church about a specific group of

women. This letter wasn't written to us. It was

written to the church in Ephesus. I read this

passage as you, Ephesian women, shouldn't speak.

I don't read it as no woman should ever speak.

It's like if it was the modern day, it would

be like Chris not allowing a former Wiccan practicing

woman to take the stage or lead a group until

we were sure that that person had given up their

old ways. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. You guys know

this verse. All scripture is inspired by God

and useful to teach us what is true. And to make

us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects

us when we are wrong and teaching us to do what

is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his

people to do every good work. How much scripture

is breathed by the Holy Spirit? All scripture.

Which means you have to read all of it. Now,

I don't mean you have to start today and start

reading the Bible in a year. Side note, I just

finished my fifth read -through of the Bible.

For five years I've been reading the Bible. Some

of it I understood about as much as I understood

this. You've got to read the whole passage. You've

got to put it in context, which leads us to our

next point. Point three, Scripture interprets

Scripture. What you find in one passage is almost

always backed up or further explained somewhere

else in the Bible. So, gentlemen, don't want

to hang on to woman, shut up. Let's go all the

way back to the Old Testament in Judges 4. In

verse 4 and 5, this is what it says. Now Deborah,

what kind of a name is Deborah? Male or female?

Okay. Now Deborah, a prophet. was leading Israel

at the time. She held court under the palm of

Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill

country of Ephraim. And the Israelites went up

to her to have their disputes decided. If women

aren't allowed to speak or have influence over

men, why did God anoint Deborah to be a judge?

Why did God anoint her to be an advisor to a

military general? Why was she anointed as a prophetess?

Then we have Miriam in Exodus, who was one of

the first up to pick up an instrument and lead

worship. Esther, who was Esther? A queen. In

fact, a queen who risked her life. To save her

people, the Jews. Mary Magdalene. She was the

first person to see the risen Lord. And some

say she was the first apostle sent one. Because

Jesus sent her to tell the rest of the men. Phoebe

was a deacon. Anyone else grow up in a Baptist

church? A woman deacon? Is this in the Bible?

Are you making this up? Priscilla was a teacher.

Lydia was the first European converted and baptized

and was an early leader of the church. Are women

allowed to have influence over me? At least Carrie.

And sometimes Jessica. Listen, if you need deeper

understanding for a passage or something just

doesn't seem right, check elsewhere in the Bible

because you're going to get back up. In fact,

find a good concordance Bible or a good study

Bible. You know those little things where there's

like a number and then it says, this is also

found in Genesis or this is also found in Isaiah.

It's found there because it's Scripture interpreting

Scripture. Don't just read what you want to read.

Luke 24, Then he said to them, These are my words

that I spoke to you while I was still with you.

Everything written about me, who is me? Jesus.

Everything written about me in the law of Moses

and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the

scriptures. Everything in the Bible points to

Jesus, which leads us to our last point. I hope

some of you have steel toe shoes on. The Bible

teaches one agenda, and it is not your agenda.

I did it, God. Listen, I prayed to God. Let's

just take this one out, God. I hesitated, and

he was like, nope. They need to hear it. Secretly,

he said, Rudy, you need to hear it. God, let

me just soften it a little bit. Why did he not

let me soften it? Because I am guilty of this.

I often read the Bible to back up my own agenda,

and I believe some of you do too. What is the

agenda of the Bible? Mark 1. Now, after John,

the Baptist, was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee,

proclaiming the gospel of God, saying, The time

is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the good news. What is the

good news? Jesus. What is the good news? Jesus.

If we keep saying it, more of you will understand.

Everything points to Jesus. Thank you. The Old

Testament, the stories, the prophecies, they

point forward to Jesus. The Gospels, Matthew,

Mark, Luke, John, they speak about the life of

Jesus. The whole rest of the New Testament either

points back to the life of Jesus or to the second

coming of Jesus. The agenda of the Bible is the

kingdom of God. Now, remember the last words

Jonah said? What are the last words? Anyone listen

to Chris's message? What are the last words Jonah

said? God, I'm angry. How could you? Jonah had

his own agenda. And in the end, he was left bitter

and frustrated. With no shade. God was stowing

shade. Took it away. That wasn't in our notes.

That must have been God. Listen, you might want

to write this down. St. Augustine. You probably

haven't heard a message that hasn't quoted St.

Augustine. Here's one of my favorite quotes.

If you believe what you like in the gospel and

reject what you don't like, it's not the gospel

you believe. but yourself. You want me to put

that on Facebook later? Right, so you have Jonah,

then you have Ananias. When Saul, the persecutor

of the early Christians, was blinded by the light,

God sent Ananias. Did Ananias want to go? No.

Just like you and me, he was hesitant, right?

Acts 9, 13, and 14. Lord, Ananias answered, I

have heard many reports about this man. Saul,

and all the harm he has done to your holy people

in Jerusalem, overseeing murders of Christians.

Would you want to hang out with this dude as

a Christian? And he has come here with all authority

from the chief priest to arrest all who call

on your name. But God insists that he has chosen

Paul as a vessel to bear God's name. Ananias

trusts the process. He relents. He heals Saul's

eyes. He restores Saul's sight. And then what

does he do? He baptizes him. And if Ananias didn't

minister to Saul, we probably wouldn't have over

half of the New Testament. The last month series

was a challenge for me. I had to be vulnerable

myself because I have a whole list of people

that are living inside my personal It might even

be some of you. And I had to allow God to get

real with me. So here's my question. When walking

out God's calling in your life, do you get angry

and resentful like Jonah? Or do you relent, recognize

God's will, and make kingdom moves like Ananias?

Men, you want to be spiritual leaders in your

homes? You better start following the Holy Spirit

and allow him to lead you. Wives, often you listen

to the message and you think, man, my husband

really needs this message. Listen, I do the same

thing with my wife. Maybe, just maybe it's the

Holy Spirit checking my heart because it's something

that I need to work on myself. One last question

before I get into the action steps. How many

tables did Jesus flip? Two. How often did Jesus

flip a table? Once at the beginning of his ministry,

once at the end of his ministry, and how many

times in between? None. Most of us think we have

righteous anger. And we walk around flipping

tables every time we see somebody doing something

wrong. Flipping tables, pointing fingers, slicing

them down. How many times did Jesus flip a table?

Twice. Jesus chose wisely when to let anger show.

And all the other times, he was full of grace,

love, correction, and truth. Now, did he speak

truth? Yes. Did he do it with anger? He did it

with love. As I have loved you, so love one another.

What does it mean to see another person in need

and turn your back on them? If Jesus died for

them, at least you can love them. So, if any

of you have ever... paid attention to Chris and

I and how we present a message. Sometimes you'll

see us mess with each other on stage. So let's

lighten it up for a second. I don't know if you

remember, but last week Chris showed a whole

bunch of pictures of people that we need to love.

And he showed this beautiful picture of a bunch

of people. Don't put it up yet, Grace. Of a bunch

of people wearing this beautiful black and gold.

And he made eye contact with me all three services

because he knows who I like. Right? So I thought

all week, how do I get him back? What can I do

to get him back? Grace, will you put that picture

up? I'm going to take the high road. I'm not

going to steep to his level. These men just battled

hard for three hours against each other, hitting

each other hard, probably harder than they hit

any other NFL player because of the rivalry.

But at the end of the game, what did they do?

They formed a circle. This was on Instagram.

This was on the Steelers' page because how powerful

is that picture? The agenda is Jesus. The agenda

is the kingdom of God. God is love, love like

Jesus. Man, how beautiful is that? Make sure

you let Chris know that I won't stoop to his

level. Listen, the gospel isn't something you

just hear and believe. If it doesn't change your

life, it hasn't hit you yet. So, quickly, we're

going to go through these action steps. How do

we read the Bible then, Rudy, for a deeper understanding?

I want to give you three quick action steps to

reading and getting more from the Bible. The

first action step, just pick a section. Pick

a book and start reading. Start with the Gospel.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. That's literally

Jesus' life. Modern Bibles have headings over

sections. You're like, Rudy, I can't read a chapter

at a time. Read a section that has a heading,

Jesus Feeds the 5 ,000, right? But start reading.

Journal 1 -8, keep this book of law always on

your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that

you may be careful to do everything written in

it, everything written in it. Then you will be

prosperous and successful. Now, I have a favorite.

One of my favorite authors, his name's Mark Batterson.

He wrote a book that I've read a couple times.

I've read a couple other books, but he has a

book called Draw the Circle, and in it he says

this. The goal isn't getting through Scripture.

The goal is getting Scripture through you. To

read it and keep reading it. I've read A Tale

of Two Cities, and guess what? I did not remember

that Carlton and Lucy are the ones that I read

about. That's the ones who are, and I didn't

even remember that there was a name carton and

used Lucy in it. Why? Because I wasn't reading.

I've read it once. Listened to it. Once. Read

the Bible and keep reading. If you don't stay

in the Word, you will forget what it says. If

you don't stay in the Word, you will make up

your own meaning. Which brings us to my second

action step. Hmm. When I'm reading the Bible,

maybe I'm going to invite along a friend. And

that friend's name is the Holy Spirit. Do you

ever think about asking the Holy Spirit to read

with you and help you understand? Rudy, I can't

read the Bible. I don't understand. Pray. Ask

the Holy Spirit to guide you. Hebrews 4. For

the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is

sharper than the sharpest two -edged sword. cutting

between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.

It exposes our innermost feelings and desires.

Listen, Mark Batterson again. We cannot do something

for God if we aren't with God. Press into his

presence. Abide in his word. Read this again,

2 Timothy. Oh, another letter to Timothy. All

scripture is inspired by God and useful to teach

us what is true and make us realize what is wrong.

It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches

us what to do right. God uses us to prepare and

equip his people. To do what? Good. Listen, I

like to, when I'm reading, this is what I like

to do. I like to read the same passage a couple

times in a row. The first time I read, before

I read, I say, Holy Spirit, please highlight

parts of this Scripture that you need me to know.

Then I read. After that, I'll spend a few minutes

in prayer, just thanking God for His Word and

His Scripture and praising Him for His truth.

Then I read again, and this time I'm prayerfully

interacting with God about the text I'm reading.

And then I'll go back and read it at least one

more time. And in this last time, I will say,

God, show me what you wish for me to know in

this scripture. Is there something you would

have me start doing or stop doing or continue

to do? Which leads us to our last action step.

Sometimes you got to put down the Bible, put

that book down. and do something. The Bible is

a living, breathing text. Living means you're

doing something. James 1. But don't just listen

to God. Like God's telling us in our reading

not to just read. But don't just listen to God's

Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you

are only fooling yourself. People ask all the

time, Rudy, I think we need to have more theology

classes. You're not even doing the stuff. What

do you need to know from the Bible? You're not

doing the first thing it told you to do. For

if you listen to the word and don't obey, it's

like looking at your face in the mirror. You

see yourself walk away and forget what you look

like. I forget how handsome I am when I walk

away. But if you look carefully into the perfect

law that sets you free and you do what it says

and don't forget to do what you heard, then God

will bless you for doing it. Patterson, one last

time. What if we read the Bible until it told

us to do something? Then we put the book down

and did what we heard the Holy Spirit tell us.

We need to get more than passive consumption

of words in the Bible and shift into activated,

actionable faith. Quickly, a few years ago, I

was reading the Bible and praying. And I felt

convicted to speak the life into folks like my

mom who were living in a nursing home. At the

same time, there was this dude named Charlie

who was reading his Bible and praying. And the

Holy Spirit encouraged him to start a devotional

in the nursing home where he was the activities

director. He put his Bible down. and made a phone

call. Tracy answered the phone call and handed

the phone to me. So I talked to Charlie, and

I told him, listen, I'll chat with the staff,

and I'll tell them my vision, but at the very

least, I will commit to coming over and doing

a devotional once or twice a month. Chris prayed

about it. The staff prayed about it. God told

Chris to move. That January, we started going

to Hagerstown Health Care Center twice a month,

the first and third Wednesday. Completely, like,

changing their lives, but changing our lives.

That evolved into Sunday morning watch parties.

Then, an in -person speaker, Jeff France, speaks

there every single week. Takes Chris's notes

and speaks there every single week. It's beautiful.

Now, Check this out. Today, we are kicking off

the same thing at Julia Manor. Robert is headed

there after this message to bring the message

to the residents. This is the first Sunday that

we will be Hub City Vineyard at Julia Manor.

And then we're going to go there the second and

fourth Wednesday of the month. So if you want

to know where we are at 1030, we're not in the

office. We're at Julia Manor or Hagerstown Health

Care Center. Now listen, hopefully God's telling

you to move because we need people. We need people

sometimes to open communion elements. We need

people just to love and pray, not just for the

residents, but with the residents. We have another

group starting up. Kathy Miller has been praying

and reading her Bible, and God spoke. Kathy listened.

Kathy has a heart for retirees and other early

birders. Who may not want to drive after dark.

I'm speaking to a specific age group here. Without

calling you out. She's starting a morning afternoon

group this Thursday. Here in the conference room

up in the offices. The Earl Gray group. It's

a play on tea time. And folks that have earned

a badge of honor and wisdom that comes with gray

hair. So if you're interested, this is a daytime

thing so you don't have to drive after dark.

See Kathy. She's out in the cafe. So let's wrap

it up. Read your Bible. Invite the Holy Spirit

to read along with you. And then what? Do something.

If the only thing you hear from me today is do

something, we'll let Chris talk about read the

Bible the rest of the month. I said this a second

ago. I'm going to say it again. The gospel isn't

just something you hear and believe. If it doesn't

change your life, it hasn't hit you yet. Will

you stand with me? For some of you, you feel

like it's time to make a change. This is your

time. Some of you may feel the Holy Spirit tugging

at your heart. This is your time. If you feel

like it's time to ask Jesus into your heart,

this is the time. So church, if you'll go to

a place of prayer and connection with God, if

any of you have never said this prayer and asked

Jesus into your heart, we're going to say a sinner's

prayer, a salvation prayer. And as a church family,

we say this together every week. Are you ready?

Jesus. Without you, I am lost. I am broken. With

you, I am found. I am whole. I believe you are

the Son of God. I believe you died for my sins.

I believe you're alive and well. Jesus, I ask

you into my heart. Transform me. Make me new.

Give me your Holy Spirit. And allow me to take

action. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, if you said

that prayer for the first time, you've just dedicated

your life to Jesus, text the words CHANGEME to

97000. Somebody from the office, Chris or me,

or like Chris says, give me a hug, because I

love hugs. Now listen. The prayer team is going

to be up here. Hang tight for a second. I'm going

to that door. Hang tight for a second. There

are nine words of knowledge. So, if you have

Lyme disease or some other tick -borne pathogen,

specifically people suffering from unexplainable

joint stiffness, pain, weakness, fatigue, and

foggy mind. If you've ever been bitten by a tick,

you better get your butt up here. Multiple people

with anger issues. Sudden outbursts of anger.

Upper and inner part of the thigh has a muscle

injury. You have left ankle pain. You have neck

pain. Somebody here has right knee issues and

has also messed up their left hip. Left shoulder

pain in the joint. Right hip pain. Left ear.

Inside the ear. hurts. Listen, that's specific,

and if anything is even close, you better get

up here and let one of these people pray for

you, okay? If you've never done Start With Why,

I'm doing that. Meet me at the Welcome Hub. We're

going to go into the family room. We'll learn

all about how to get connected here at Hub City

Vineyard. Get out there and check out the motorcycles

that are parked out front because we're going

to bless the bikes after second service. Okay?

We'll see you guys next week for week two of

Talk to Text. Chris is going to take us deeper

into studying the Bible and how to get closer

to God. Thank you. Love you.