Check Up Part 3 | God's Clothing Haul with Jess Schlotterbeck

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. I will make sure I keep my mic by my

mouth during the first gathering. I was used

to holding it down here and driving Donnie crazy,

so I won't do that now. If you're joining us

from home, thank you for welcoming us into your

space. Hey, just a quick shout out before I pass

the baton this morning. Night to Shine happened

this past Friday. And for those of you who don't

know, this auditorium became one big giant party.

a dance floor for people that are forgotten and

quite often just not encouraged, right? So you

can see an image on the screen. And literally,

I was here Friday night standing back at the

welcome hub and literally just began to cry because

God just shared with me that this is a picture

of heaven. Everyone dancing and having fun and

celebrating. That quite often we forget what

heaven's going to be like. Well, Friday was a

picture of heaven. So thank you for everybody

that participated. But can we all give a big

special shout out to Tracy Wetzel for all of

her hard work. So when you see her today, give

her a high five, a hug, a tap on the shoulder.

Just thank you, thank you, thank you. Because

I tell you what, that event wouldn't have happened.

Without a hitch, without her. And the fact that

it's happening year after year after year, changing

lives, is just a testament to her faithfulness

and what she brings to our community of faith.

So just give her a big high five before you go.

And now, I'm going to hand this morning over

to my beautiful wife, Jessica, as she shares

and challenges you as we continue our series,

Check Up. Yes. Oh, I got my mic turned on. Thank

you, Chris. That's awesome. Good morning, Hub

City Vineyard. Welcome. I heard you guys know

how to party. You got to get a little louder.

Come on. Yeah. We got to shake off those winter

blues, right? So like every day, we've had to

put on layers. after layers, after layers of

clothes. Like, I not only have to put on, you

know, my coat, but my wool socks, my boots, my

gloves, my hat, my scarf. Like, I put this chapstick

stuff on my face. Not really chapstick, but it's

like this ointment so I don't get chafed because,

like, that wind is crazy out there, people. But

we're getting some relief in the weather, but

not quite shirt weather. So I have to go with

my... clothing haul over here. So let me just

put on my HTV jacket. So just to let you know

how to put on a layer. So yeah. All right. So

maybe I'm extreme with all my layers, but I like

to be comfortable. And I'm pretty guessing probably

like 95 % of you guys like to be comfortable.

There's always that 5 % that I run into like

the Marines or the really tough people. They're

like, this weather's awesome. I get to go dog

sledding. I'm like, really? So there's always

that 5%. So To you, God bless you, and thank

you for your gift of extremism. That's amazing.

So not only does cold weather bring uncomfortability

in our physical bodies, but it's also in our

emotional bodies. Have you guys thought about

it? The kids were off school for a week, right?

And so if you're a parent, you have your kids

off school. My daughter was happy. She's a teacher,

so she was off school. Then we had to get her

back in. But your kids are off school, so you

have to get a babysitter. You have to take off

work, right? are stressed out because you overspent

at Christmas, and you were going to make up for

it in January, and now you have less work, right?

Your heat bill has cranked up. I heard a lot

of people, pipes broke. So there's another bill,

right? I have my dogs at home. I've got two big

poodles. What it's like to not walk two big poodles?

And I got new carpet for Christmas, and so now

they're paying on the carpet. So there's all

these emotional things that we're going to, right?

It's icy. I need to go and help somebody shovel.

So you go out, and you're trying to help your

family shovel, and then you slip. on the ice

and you fall and you hit your bottom right and

then you worry about your mom hitting her bottom

right so there's all these things that all of

a sudden we start to worry and there's all these

emotional stresses that can happen just because

of weather so fear can creep in before you know

it you're overeating you're opening up the cabinets

like okay i can't control the weather but i can

control what goes in my mouth right you're over

functioning you're going around the house trying

to clean up after your kids they're just going

to make a mess anyway or you're under functioning

i'm just going to go to sleep i'm depressed It's

so cold, I don't even want to get out of bed,

right? These are all emotional things that happen

to us, regardless of if the weather's cold, if

the weather's warm. we're always going to be

triggered with different things. So today, we're

going to talk about our emotional health journey,

okay? So what we do as people is we have thoughts,

right? So we see a meaning, and what we do is

we make meaning based on our thoughts. Like,

my thought was, okay, I'm not going to work today.

I needed to work today, and now I can't pay my

bills. And so when I know I cannot... can't pay

my bills then i have a feeling that rises up

is shame right shame and guilt like why did i

spend so much at christmas i should have been

able to pay my bills i should have known cold

weather was coming and then insecurity comes

in right so then we have these feelings that

come up and then we act out on those feelings

because then you're feeling stressed you're feeling

anxious right we all carry anxiety with us but

then we act to act out on it i walk into the

living room i'm feeling stressed thinking about

the bills i cannot pay i step on a lego that

my six -year -old hasn't picked up hurt my foot

and then i yell at him because i feel big and

i want to control something right i want to control

something because i feel so out of control so

it's a cycle And then you feel bad, you feel

guilty because you yelled, and then you don't

want to yell because your dad used to yell at

you, and now you know how it feels like to be

your son. And so it continues all over again,

and we get in our heads, and we get off our focus

of God, and we think we can't do anything right,

right? But good news. I've got good news. Sorry

about all the bad news. You came to church today.

You made it. If you're watching online, I'm so

happy you're here. There's no guilt. There's

no shame. You made it online, right? And we're

going to take a deep breath. And we're going

to welcome the Holy Spirit, and we're going to

learn a little bit more about what Paul says

about our emotional health. Are you ready? Okay,

come Holy Spirit. God, we thank you for your

peace and your presence here today, Lord. We

thank you for each and every person that's here,

Lord. And I ask that as you would use these words

that you've given me, Lord, to transform lives.

To release people from guilt and shame and fear.

God, that we would understand, Lord, that you

love us. No matter what our mind says. Lord,

we just give this sermon to you, Lord, and we

ask that you would have your way. In Jesus' name

we pray. Amen. Amen. So for the past few weeks,

we've been in our February series. Chris has

been talking about checkup. And we've been in

the book of Colossians. And so Chris, the first

week, talked about Colossians 1, where Paul says,

it's all about Jesus, right? If you add Jesus

to your life, if you put Jesus at the center

of the wheel, right, everything falls into line,

right? But as soon as you take Jesus out of the

center, You put your marriage in the center,

everything falls out of place, right? So the

important part of week one was like put Jesus

at the center of your life. And then last week

he talked about overflowing with the Spirit.

When we overflow with the kingdom of God, when

we put good things in our life, good things come

out, right? And we can overflow with God's Spirit

because he lives inside of us. And now we're

a new creation, and we're flowing with the things

of God. And this week, Paul talks about... In

chapter 3, he talks about emotional health. So

there's a little bit he talks about emotional

health, but I'm going to tie it into emotional

health. So if anybody doesn't know about emotional

health, emotional health is resilience. Like

the ability to adapt or change or recover from

difficulties. Like if you lost a job, managing

stress, grief after a loved one, right? Self

-awareness, being aware of how you come across

in a group of people. If you're aggressive, if

you're mean, if you're cruel, right? How do I...

How do I control my feelings and not project

them onto others? Healthy relationships, that's

part of our emotional health. Effective coping,

how do I cope when I am sad? Do I just go, do

I go to Jesus? Do I go to the cross or do I go

to the refrigerator, right? Or do I go and do

I go by the liquor store and grab another six

pack and just numb my pain, right? How we effectively

cope. So these are all parts of our emotional

health. And Craig Rochelle said, if your emotions

have felt all over the place, know you're not

broken, you're human. God intentionally designed

you to feel. He cares deeply about your emotional

and mental health. While your emotions are real

and valid, they're not always reliable. You can

either fuel your faith or feed your fear depending

on what you focus on. So God made us emotional

people. He gave us the ability to love, the ability

to be passionate, right? Because God is passionate.

God loves. God gets angry, right? But he says,

get angry and sin not. So God is an emotional

God, and so we are emotional people, and so we

need to learn how God wants to come in and use

our emotions to heal us and to set us free and

to affect others. So the first point that Paul

talks about is shift your mind to new life. Colossians

3, 1 through 2 says, Since you have been raised

to new life with Christ, set your sights on the

realities of heaven. Where Christ sits at the

place of honor at God's right hand. Think about

the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

And one of my best examples of that is I love

the movie series The Matrix. You know, and when

they get plugged into The Matrix. So at home

I'm always like, man, I forgot I started living

in The Matrix again, right? Because in The Matrix,

the world around them isn't real. right the world

around and the things we do every day they matter

right but they're not the real world when we're

focused on we know our father we know father

god we know where we're going little things that

trip us up and interrupt our day don't matter

quite as much right it doesn't quite matter if

somebody cuts you off in traffic right it doesn't

quite matter if you know You're a few extra pounds

today. It doesn't matter in the light of eternity,

right? It doesn't matter. So if we fix our focus

on Jesus, if we know where we're going back to,

we can say, God, I am looking forward to spending

eternity with you, and I can focus on the kingdom

of God here on earth as it is in heaven. I don't

have to focus on those little things that the

enemy wants to distract, rob, kill, instill,

and destroy, right? So focus on the things of

heaven. You don't have to believe every anxious.

thought or follow every emotion. Instead, fix

your focus on truth. God's truth reminds you

that you're not a prisoner to what you think.

Your mind can be renewed and your emotions don't

get the final word. Jesus does. And so what Paul's

saying here is mindset matters. Where you put

your focus matters. And mindset is an established

set of beliefs. and assumptions that shape how

an individual interprets and responds to and

acts upon the world around them. It's kind of

like your mental lens or your glasses, okay?

And so if we have a... So many of you guys might

know the book... mindset. I've talked about it

before. You have a growth mindset and a fixed

mindset. I grew up with a very fixed mindset

because things came easily for me as a kid. So

when something didn't come easily, like in high

school when they signed me up for typing class

and I wasn't going to get an A, or in middle

school when I played the clarinet and I wasn't

first chair because I didn't practice, guess

what? I quit because I didn't want to not get

an A. I did not want to be first here. I wanted

to be successful. I thought my identity was perfect.

Like, I wanted to be perfect. I wanted to do

the best I could be. And if something felt hard

or it felt difficult, I remember in fifth grade

I was a good runner, and I had a stomachache

before a run, just kind of the same thing I had

this morning before I got up here. And I said,

Mom, I've got a stomachache. She's like, okay,

you don't have to run. And I was like, okay,

I won't. You know, so I always took the easy

way out. There was something that was pushing

me or challenging me. But what growth, that's

a fixed mindset. mindset, right? But what a growth

mindset says, I can learn. I can get better.

Every time I fail, if I come in second place,

guess what? There's always another race. There's

always something else I can do. I can change

this habit. I can change this behavior because

if I do this behavior long enough, this is the

behavior I used to do, but if I do this one long

enough, things are going to happen, results are

going to happen, and there's going to be an explosion

over here, right? If I don't start running a

race, I start by walking. right? You walk. I

walk a mile. Then I start to run. Then I run

and walk. Then I run two miles. Then I run three

miles. I don't start by running a marathon, right?

And that's the same thing it is with our Christian

walk, right? We don't start by running a marathon.

We start by walking. We were babies when we come

into this relationship with Jesus, and we have

to grow. And growth takes time, and it takes

patience, and it takes energy, and it takes commitment.

So don't take on shame when you mess up, okay?

All right. Just like you guys have been watching

the Olympics, right? And so there's so many things

these Olympians have practiced time and time

again, but they couldn't control. Like I was

watching the speed skaters yesterday, and the

track, I guess, apparently the ice was melted,

right? And one of them, like, they're in first

place, and their skate gets tripped up. And I

think that's what it's like with our minds. When

we get tripped up, if there's a little gap in

the road or something happens, there's going

to be those gaps. It doesn't mean the person

didn't practice hard enough. It doesn't mean

they're not a good skater. It doesn't mean that

they couldn't have won if the track was in good

conditions. It just means there was a hole in

the track. Very simple explanations, but we take

it on as our identity. Oh, I'm not a good skater

anymore. I'm never going to skate. I fell in

the Olympics. That's not what God says. Okay,

so let's look more into this. Every day we're

flooded with a wide range of emotions. We need

not to ignore them, but acknowledge them as a

way to understand ourselves better. However,

we do not allow our emotions to control us or

how we interact with others. Emotions such as

anger and fear can hurt us and those we love.

So we need to get rid or strip off of these things.

So that's what Paul says in the next part of

Colossians. Strip off. Old, unhealthy, emotional

patterns. Colossians 3 .5 says, So put to death

the sinful, earthly things lurking within you,

having nothing to do with sexual immorality,

impurity, lust, evil desires. Don't be greedy,

for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping

things of this world. So the first step in our

relationship with God is, you guys know that,

just strip off the old stuff, right? It's so

easy. It's not easy. It's not a one -time thing.

When Paul says this, it's a constant stripping

off. Like this mannequin here has this black

t -shirt, and I have to literally, like I would

be like God in this relationship, and I have

to help strip off. the old clothes right to make

room for the new clothes and sometimes we think

oh i've already stripped that off but because

of our emotional health sometimes we like to

put it back on because it's comfortable so paul's

saying strip off all this stuff you don't need

it anyway so if you're struggling with all those

things i listed lust impurity evil desires greedy

sexual immorality that is going to hold you back

completely that's going to wreck your emotional

health so those are the that's the first step

right okay so we're going to throw that away

then Colossians 3, 7 through 9 says, you used

to do these things when your life was still part

of this world, but now is the time to get rid

of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander,

dirty language. Don't lie to each other, for

you have stripped off the old sin from nature

and all its wicked deeds. So, anger. We all struggle

with anger. Filthy talk. We don't do that. We

don't lie to each other. Why do we lie to each

other? So those are the questions you need to

ask. When I get angry, because you're going to

get angry, why was I angry, right? When I cuss

and swear at my loved one, why am I doing that?

Does it make me feel in control? Does it make

me feel better? We need to start asking ourselves

the right questions, right? When I'm lying to

my spouse because I bought something that I shouldn't

have and I know I wasn't supposed to, right?

Am I lying because I'm ashamed and I want to

hide it? Like when I was a kid and I got caught

by my mom, right? Because we all grew up in some

kind of family system. And so there's a thing

called family systems theory, and it views the

whole family as a cohesive emotional unit. We're

interconnected people rather than just one individual.

So this was developed by Dr. Murray Bowen, and

this is a framework. What they were doing is

they were treating people for... They were treating

people for addictions, right? And they would

have lots of success with these people when they

would take them away to the clinic. They would

deal with them in rehab and all those kind of

things. They'd be great. And then as soon as

you put them back into their family system, they

would relapse. They would become the person they

were in their family again. So what their theory

is, we all act a certain way within our family.

So you know how you can be good? 90 % of the

time. Think about the movie Four Christmases,

right? They're good. They have it together. They're

in control. But as soon as you put them back

into their family system, they are triggered

to the person they were as a kid, right? They

were triggered to like, oh, I used to get bullied

by my sister. I used to do this, right? And you

start to act in that same system. So what God

wants to do is he wants to heal our emotional

health so that we know when those triggers come,

when I get angry, when I lie, when I do things

I used to do. I'm triggered by this family system,

and God can heal that, right? And so we need

to minister to the whole family. That's why we

need to minister to the husband, the wife, the

kids, the grandparents, you know, everybody.

Everybody can change together, so that's why

it's so powerful when we all change together.

So point three, after we strip off, we need to

choose to put on our new identity. Colossians

3, 12 and 13 says, since God chose you to be

the holy people, he loves you. You must clothe

yourself with tenderheartedness, mercy, kindness,

humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance

for one another's faults and forgive anyone who

offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you,

so you must... So I've got my haul here. You

guys know what a haul is? No, it's okay. I didn't

know what it was either until Christmas. And

my daughter's like, she opens up our presents.

She's like, I'm going up to record my haul. I

was like, what is that? So on social media or

TikTok and all those places that exist in that.

So influencers, what they do is they go to a

store and they buy all these clothes and show

you how to use the haul together, right? So they'll

bring out racks and racks of clothes. So my daughter

didn't get racks and racks of clothes for Christmas.

And even the other day we went shopping. She's

like, oh, I posted my haul again. I was like,

we just went to Dick's Overtime. It's not a business.

big deal. But she thinks she's an influencer,

so let her go. Anyway, so I've got my haul. And

so when we come into this new relationship with

Jesus, we get a new haul, right? And I say haul

funny according to first service people. So what

we're going to do is we're going to take these

clothes. And when we get a lot of clothes, sometimes

it's overwhelming because we don't know what

to wear. Like this morning, I didn't know what

to wear, so I put on a new coat. From here? Anyway,

because I needed something new, right? Anyway,

so the first thing God tells, he tells us, Paul

tells us in the scripture is to clothe ourself

with mercy. And some of us don't even understand

what mercy is because we've never experienced

mercy, right? Because if you've come from someplace

that you've never been shown compassion or forgiveness,

you've never been shown that in your family.

You've just been told to suck it up. What you

say doesn't matter or you're stupid, right? But

if we... Allow God to clothe us in mercy. If

we receive mercy for ourselves, that's who we

have to receive it for first, people. If we don't

have mercy for ourselves, if we don't understand

God's amazing grace for all the things we've

done, all the choices we've made that have been

so far from him, how can we extend that to other

people? And so God says, I want to clothe you

in mercy, but some of us don't even know what

mercy feels like. Right? And so what you do is

you partner with Jesus and you sit at his presence

and you go, God, what's mercy like? And Jesus

said, I died on the cross for you. That's mercy.

You go to the word of God and he shows you the

character of Christ. And you say, I want that

for my life. I want to be like Jesus. I want

to embrace mercy. I don't want to be somebody

who goes around judging other people. I don't

want to be somebody that condemns other people

or says what's right or what's wrong or what

to do. I want to be a person that's clothed in

mercy for myself and for others, right? The next

thing in my hall here is I've got humility. Some

of us have a lot of issues with pride, right?

Me, I had a lot of issues with pride. It's how

we protect ourselves, right? If I can be the

best, if I can be in control, then nobody's going

to hurt me. If I can control what's going around

me, but if we're full of humility, Jesus came

to earth as a baby because God loved you so much.

He humbled himself, and he took on the form of

a servant. And he didn't puff himself up in front

of people. He got down with the people. He lived

with the people. He didn't make himself a superstar.

He didn't come as a king of kings and a lord

of lords. He came as a baby. He came as a friend.

He was exactly what people needed him to be.

He ate with people. He ate with sinners. He was

a person full of humility. What's it like to

experience humility? God, I'm going to take...

Time to figure out, I'm going to do something

that's hard. I'm going to learn how to type,

and you're going to show me humility, right?

I'm really not good. My son really wants to play

tennis, and I don't like tennis, but you know

what? Because I know he's going to beat me, but

I'm going to play tennis with my son once a week

because it's time with him, and I'm going to

be showed humility, right? So we have to do things

to practice the characters that we want to embrace,

right? And so when we start to get close, we've

got humility. We've got to go back to the rack.

Okay, we've got kindness. We've got kindness.

The quality of being friendly, generous, and

considerate. Some of us don't know what it's

like to be kind. We've been taught different

things by this world. This world doesn't tell

you to be kind. They say, oh, if somebody steps

on you, step on them, right? If somebody does

that, but Jesus says. If somebody slaps you,

turn the other cheek. Who cares? Who cares? That's

just your pride anyway. Be kind. Be tenderhearted.

Go tonight to shine. Be kind to somebody. Somebody's

having a bad day, they yell at you, say, God

bless you. If you can't be kind, ask God, why

can't I be kind? What does it mean that needs

to change, right? Practice kindness. Go to the

nursing home. Figure out something that you need.

If kindness is a struggle for you, how can I

be kind? God's going to show you, right? Get

in the scripture. See how Jesus was kind. He

embraced the children, right? Serving the children's

ministry. Shameless plug. Anyway, kindness. Kindness,

right? And sometimes we get so confused because

there's so much new things to put on. It's so

great because we just took off all the old stuff.

We're still clothing ourselves in newness. This

one is a great one. Gentleness. I'm one of those

tough people, so it's hard for me to be gentle.

But how good does it feel when somebody's gentle

to you when you've had a rough day, right? I

remember one time, I'm going to have a lot of

airport stories today. I was at the airport crying

because something was going on, and the lady

at the lady thing was like, Just take the water.

Just take the water bottle because she's closed.

But she was just so gentle with me and just came

over and gave me a hug. Sometimes we just need

somebody to sit with us while we tell them our

story. Because guess what? Your feelings matter.

You do get hurt. And it's okay. Like, that's

okay to acknowledge how you feel. And so just

having somebody that's gentle around, that's

compassionate, that's kind, that can listen to

you, that's so amazing. And if you can be that

for somebody else, wow. I want to be closer than

that. That's cool. I want to be gentle. My husband,

I always tell him to be gentle. He's like a big,

strong hugger. I'm like, gentle, gentle. Some

of us passionate people, it's hard to be gentle,

but you know, it happens over time. This one's

a good one. Patience, right? Patience is the

capacity to accept or tolerate delay or trouble

or suffering. Without getting angry or upset.

How many of us? So I, confession, I'm going to

give a lot of confessions today, but like I hate,

I used to hate wasting time, right? Every single

second of my life counts for something and I'm

doing something every single second. But God

showed me in that hurriedness, in that busyness,

I wasn't patient. I wasn't patient with myself.

I wasn't patient with my children. I wasn't patient

with my husband, right? And guess what? Phoenix

sees a mom who not only tells him, hey, honey,

you need to pick up your Legos. I've told you

40 times you need to pick up your Legos. We've

got to go. He needs a mom that says, I'm going

to set my schedule 10 minutes early. And I'm

going to say, Phoenix, let's get down together.

Let's pick up these Legos together. Let's do

it together, buddy. We can do it together if

we work together, right? That's what we need.

We need to be clothed in patience for people,

right? People can cut us off, or I remember Phoenix

was like, that guy pulled out in front of you.

He didn't see you. I was like, but you know what?

I saw him, right? That's okay, right? There's

been times I've been in a hurry, and I've cut

people off, right? But if we have patience, if

we have patience with ourselves, because it's

a process. We can't say, hey, I messed up today.

I'm just going to go back to putting on that

old clothes, right? Oh, I was mean. I yelled

at my kids. No, why? You've got to make room

in your life to be patient. Maybe you need to

practice slowing down. Maybe you need to practice

solitude, right? Maybe nobody was ever patient

with you. So I would love to put on this patient

shirt. So as you can tell, I'm putting on the

shirt on the mannequin. And that's what our relationship

is like with Christ. It's not us doing it by

ourselves. We're doing it together. We're doing

it in relationships. I'm doing it with my son.

I'm doing it with my family, right? I'm doing

it with Jesus because that's the only way we

change. It says point four is partner with the

transformation. Colossians 3, 10 through 11 says,

put on your new nature, be renewed as you learn

to know your creator. You will become like him.

In this new life, it doesn't matter if you're

a Jew, you're a Gentile, if you're circumcised,

if you're uncircumcised, if you're barbaric,

you're uncivilized, slave or free, Christ is

all that matters. He lives in all of us. There

is no way you are discounted from the kingdom

of God. That's what that scripture says. Nobody,

nobody is beyond the reach of Jesus. Jesus is

all -inclusive. All you have to do is say, yes,

I want you. It's like a big funnel. Jesus accepts

everybody. He wants everybody to come into a

relationship with him. And guess what it says?

Put on your new nature and you will be renewed.

As you learn to know your creator, you will become

like him. Right? It's a renewal. It's a process.

It's like a practice process. At the same time,

formation into the image of Jesus isn't something

we do as it is something that's done to us. God

himself, as we yield to his work of the transforming

grace, our job is basically to just make ourselves

available. So what I've done in my life to practice

these things is just say, I'm putting an hour

in my schedule to spend time with Jesus first

every day. Not work out first because I used

to get up, put my, I'm going to put on my worship

music and do my workout so I get everything done

at once. No, I'm going to sit because I have

a problem sitting. My one friend said, what would

it be like if you just got up and sat, Jessica?

I'm like, can you do that? Can you just sit?

And I couldn't so I had to like color while I

was sitting. So that helped me. But what would

it be like to just sit for an hour and just to

let the love of God pour over you? You know?

It's not about what we do. It's about who we

are, and we can't change unless we're in God's

presence. Mary chose the better. Mary chose the

better thing, people. And we need to be like

Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus and allow him

to change us. John 10, 27 says, My sheep listen

to my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Jesus is the shepherd. We are the sheep. right?

We think we can do it on our own, right? But

we need a shepherd. We need a shepherd. We need

to come to church. We can shepherd you. Jesus

shepherds you. You get shepherded in groups,

right? You get shepherded when you come to the

Holy Spirit worship night, right? He is the potter.

We are the clay, right? He's doing the work in

us, and we're allowing him to transform us. We

just need to ask the questions, right? Why am

I like this? How can I change? How much do you

love me, God? Because guess what? Fear and shame

come when we don't know we're loved. If we know

how much God loves us, we will never be afraid

to do anything again. Are we going to fail sometimes?

Yes. But when we fall, he's going to be right

there to pick us up, right? We have a responsibility

to cooperate with his transforming grace. He

won't force it on us. So St. Augustine said,

without God, we cannot. Without us, God will

not. Without God, we cannot. Without us, God

will not. God is a gentleman. He's not going

to force you to do anything you don't want to

do, right? He's not going to say, bang you over

the head, say, you need to do this spiritual

practice or you're going to get, no. We need

to participate. And God will use us. We need

to say, yes, God, I'm going to show up to teach

kids. Yes, God, I'm going to show up to give

a high five. Do I feel, like, did I have a lot

of anxiety this morning? Yes. Am I feeling a

little depressed? Yes. But I'm going to try this,

right? Some of you guys, you know, you underperform

when you're fearful, right? You want to curl

up in a ball and just knock it out of bed, right?

And just by you getting up and saying, I'm going

to do the next thing, I'm going to get up. I'm

going to take a glass of water. I'm going to

go to work. You know, just do the next thing

and God will partner with you in the process.

The fifth point I have today is invite counsel

and correction. Colossians 3 .13 says, Make allowance

for each other's faults and forgive anyone who

offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you,

so you must forgive others. So as people offend

us and they hurt us, because they will, Because

we're practicing, right? We need to say, okay,

I got hurt there. And we need to take that to

God and we need to release them to God, right?

And we need to lay them at the foot of the cross

because guess what? We can't change somebody.

Only God can, right? We can't do the work in

them, but we can pray for them, right? And when

we're praying for them and we're forgiving them,

we lay them at the foot of the cross and we say,

God, we give this situation to you. God, I give

this to you, right? And then he comes in and

he transforms them. Right? And when we forgive

and we extend that heart of mercy, we can forgive

ourselves and we can forgive others. And then

they're free. Right? They're free. If you have

unforgiveness in your heart, you're just chaining

yourself. Right? Let them go. Fix your thoughts

on the kingdom of God. Fix your thoughts on heaven.

Will this matter in 10 years? Or does this relationship

matter? And there is time for... authentic conversations

where you're saying, hey, you hurt me here. Or

when you get angry and you yell at me and you

say those words to me, it makes me feel this

way. Can you please try to change? You know,

you can have those conversations because people

aren't perfect, right? But when you have those

conversations in love rather than hate, then

God's at work, right? God's at work. Because

it's an opportunity for growth, the growth mindset,

right? I messed up today so I can grow. Right?

So just part of my journey on this. So I get

to go away for this retreat. I'm super excited

because I haven't gone away by myself for a long

time. I get to the airport. I scan in at the,

you know, they take my picture. I'm smiling at

the camera for security. And they go, beep. I

was like, what's wrong? Okay. And the guy's like,

I don't know. There must be something wrong with

this flight. The lady ahead of you gets beeped

in. I'm like, okay, that's cool. So I'm waiting.

I'm waiting for the main lady. And I'm like,

oh, I need to get on this airplane. No, I had

traffic. No big deal. I'm patient now. I'm kind.

My dad was taking me. Good time with him. I get

there. I get checked in. And the lady's like,

well, you're at the wrong airport. So the extra

hour that is spent in traffic is a big deal now.

So I'm like, okay. So my old self would have

been like, I'm so stupid. I would have been crying

and phoning Tampa. I was like, okay, God. Obviously,

I just messed up here. I took ownership for my

responsibility. I got up to the counter. I said,

okay, do you think? He's like, there's plenty

of flights. There's a flight at 4, but you have

to get to Reagan. I was like, never mind. So

I'm like, okay, get an Uber, $65. I get to meet

this great Uber driver that has like 20 different

degrees. He's out of work now. He's going through

a hard time. We talk for like the whole time

over, which is really long. But I'm able to share

with him about Jesus. I'm able to share with

him about his family and how they get together

on Zoom. I've got some great ideas from him where

I'm able to pray for him. And then I get to the

airport, and he drops me off at the place, and

then I run like a bad word. and I'm literally

running through the airport because it's like

E40. Okay, and I get stopped in security because

I have protein shake in my bag, and we had empty

bags. I don't know if you guys, but we had baggies

in our house, and the kids took the last baggie

in the drawer, so there's still a box there.

So I went to pack my protein shake, and I was

like, oh. So I put it in this old bag, and then

a slick came out and went like this. So then

I put it in a bigger bag and then zipped it up

and put it in my bag. So she stops me for the

protein shake. I'm like, yes. So I'm just talking

to the security lady. Hey, it's great. Yeah,

I got stopped. My daughter, you know, just. started

with those stories. I was like, okay, then I

just run. And literally, I'm running down the

airport like, God, if you want me on this flight,

I'm going to get here. My lungs were burning.

I'm like, I'm at E40. I had to like literally

stop. I realized I'm not, I've been run walking

too much. So I finally get to the gate. The lady

in front of me at the gate, it was delayed like

10 minutes. Holy Spirit, right? And the lady

in front of me is in chronic pain. And so I'm

able to help her with her bag and get her on

the flight. She's like, why isn't she picking

up her bag? And I could tell the lady how to

wig on, and I don't know if she had went through

cancer treatment or whatever it was, but I was

able to help her onto the plane. And then I was

able to cough up a lung the whole time on the

plane, so everybody thought I had COVID. Literally,

my lungs were burning. I have to practice spreading.

I've learned from myself, right? I could have

been in shame. I could have been like whatever,

but God worked it out. And I was able to meet

these people and meet these people where they

were because I wasn't so fixed on myself and

getting it perfect and getting it right. And

so there's always going to be an integrity gap.

There's always the person you want to be. You

know, in Christ, you're like, this is who I want

to be and the person you are. And there's always

a spot where you're working towards the middle,

right? So there's always a place like, I want

to be a kind, compassionate person who's full

of God's love, grace, and mercy. But guess what?

This is where I am now. And sometimes I get really

angry for no reason. And why do I get angry?

It's because I want to be in control, right?

Or I got triggered, right? So learning to know

where you are now. Self -aware and knowing where

you want to be. And so that's my goals for the

years. Like, this is the person I want to become.

Like, at the end of my life, this is who I want

to be known for. I want to be known for a person

who loves God, who loves their neighbors, who

is full of peace. And when I come into the room,

peace comes into the room. Not because of me,

but because the Holy Spirit is living in me.

And so when I come into a relationship and there's

a struggle in my family, I can come in with peace

and I can see both sides of the issue, right?

And I'm not throwing my junk on everybody all

the time, right? That's who I want to be. That's

who I want to be. And there's always going to

be room for improvement, but that's what we need

to focus on as followers of Jesus, right? And

the only way we can do this is point six, practice

gratitude and praise. Practice gratitude and

praise. Colossians 3 .17 says, and whatever you

do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord

Jesus, giving thanks. Through him, to God the

Father. Always be thankful. There's always something

you can be thankful about, right? Just switching

your mindset. I mean, just that, the sermon we

did on gratitude, that whole series of just like,

what can I be thankful for today, God? What can

I be thankful for? If one thing, Jesus loves

you. That's one thing you can be thankful for.

Jesus loves you, right? We need to shift our

mindset, right? Okay, my clothes don't match.

Okay, I gained 10 pounds. Whatever, Jesus loves

me. It doesn't matter. In the light of eternity,

it doesn't matter what it says on the scales.

It doesn't matter what it says at the doctors.

It doesn't matter whatever. Jesus loves me, and

I'm going to spend eternity with him in heaven,

and God's given me these kids, and they're a

blessing, and I'm going to learn myself and my

character through them, right? Or my family won't

speak to me, but that's okay because I can pray

for that, right? Point seven is clothe yourself

in love and live in peace. Clothe yourself in

love and live in peace. Colossians 3, 14 and

15 says, above all, clothe yourself with love,

which binds us together in perfect harmony, and

let that peace that comes from Christ rule in

your hearts. For as members of one body, you

are called to live in peace and always be thankful.

And if I had to, I read this article and it said,

if you could sum up Christ -like character in

one word, there would be no competition. It'd

be love. We have to clothe ourselves in love.

Love is the litmus test if you're a Christian.

You know what the litmus test is? People, if

you were in science class in the 90s, right?

The litmus test, you put it into a thing of a

solution and you know if it was an acid or a

base, right? The litmus test in our life is love.

If we not have love, who are we? We're just a

sounding gong. We're just a crazy person. We're

just preaching our thing to the choir. We're

just telling people how bad they are. They don't

need to know that. They already know they're

broken. We need to love them. Am I becoming more

loving in my life? Not am I more biblically educated

and not am I practicing more spiritual distance.

Am I more involved in church? Is my bank account

higher? These are all good things. It's good

to be responsible with your finances. It's good

to take care of your stuff, right? It's good

to come to the services of the church. But the

most important thing, it says, Matthew 22, 37

through 40 says, Jesus replied, you must love

the Lord your God with all your heart, with all

your soul, and with all your mind. This is the

first and greatest. The second is equally important.

Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law

and all the demands of the prophets are based

on these two commandments. Love. Right. Can everybody

stand? I've touched on a lot of sensitive issues

today. Might have hit your heart in certain ways.

But we're just going to take a moment. We're

just going to take a moment and pray. Okay? So

what we're going to do is if there's one of those

things I've talked about and God highlighted

it to you, what you're going to do is I would

like to, we're just going to, you can close your

eyes, you can just get in God's presence, but

what we're going to do is we're just going to

turn our hands down and we're just going to lay

those at the foot of the cross. We're going to

lay those at God's feet. And I'm going to pray

for you right now and you're going to fill in

the blanks, right? Jesus, take This stuff. Take

my anger. Take my rage. Take my resentment. Take

my addictions. Whatever it is for you, God is

highlighting for you. Just imagine yourself laying

at the foot of the cross. And as you have time,

you just turn over your hands as you feel a piece

of laying that down. I'm just going to ask you

to turn over your hands when you're ready to

receive. And we're going to say, come Holy Spirit.

I want to receive peace, compassion, humility,

patience, kindness. Gentleness. And above all

else, love. God, show me how much you love me.

And if you've never received the love of God,

if you've never felt that love, if you've never

said, I want to strip off that old nature and

I want to be named new, today is your day. We've

been waiting for you. And if you choose to receive

Jesus, if you choose to say, he is the son of

God, I need Jesus in my life, you can repeat

after me. I'm broken, full of doubt, shame, regret,

fear. Change me. I believe you're God's son.

I believe you died just for me. Make me new.

Set me free. I give you control of my life. In

Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. So if you said

that prayer for the first time today, remember,

text us. We want to reach out to you this week.

People, we have Holy Spirit night tonight. Don't

miss it. It's been great. God is showing up.

We're getting transformed in his image. We have...

The movie, the family movie at 3 o 'clock. Come

back for that. I love you. Have a great week.

And walk in peace. Walk in love. Thanks.