Replay | I Shall Believe (Summer Jams) with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

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If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

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Thank you and enjoy the message.

Hub City Worship, as they bring you a new song, Cheryl Crowes, I Shall Believe.

Come to me now.

Oh and lay your hands over me.

Even if it's a lie, say you will be alright and I shall believe.

I'm broken and true and I know you're onto me.

That I only come home when I'm so alone and I do believe.

That not everything is gonna be the way you think it ought to be.

Seems like every time I try to make it right it all comes down on me.

Say honestly you won't give up on me.

And I shall believe.

And I shall believe.

Open the door.

Oh and show me your face tonight.

I know it's true, no one heals me like you.

And you hold the key.

Whenever again.

Oh would I turn away from you.

Well I'm so heavy tonight but your love is alright and I do believe.

That not everything is gonna be the way you think it ought to be.

Seems like every time I try to make it right it all comes down on me.

Please say honestly you won't give up on me.

And I shall believe.

I shall believe.

Thanks everyone.

That not everything is gonna be the way you think it ought to be.

Seems like every time I try to make it right it all comes down on me.

Please say honestly you won't give up on me.

And I shall believe.

Oh and I shall believe.

Oh and I shall believe.

I shall believe.

I shall believe.

I shall believe.

Yeah.

You get me home.

You get me home.

I shall believe.

I shall believe.

I shall believe.

I shall believe.

Please say honestly you won't give up on me.

Oh can you hear me Lord?

Oh don't give up on me no no.

In these troubled times.

Oh and I shall believe.

Oh and I shall believe.

Oh and I shall believe.

I shall believe.

I shall believe.

Thank you. We love you.

Thank you.

Hey give it up everybody. Good morning.

And we got a lot of talent up here don't we?

Lauren Parker the Hub City Worship Team as they bring you Cheryl Crow's I Shall Believe.

So welcome to HCV. If you join us from home thank you for welcoming us into your kitchen,

your living room or your car wherever you may be listening.

And every summer many of you know we discuss songs written within our secular culture

in search of the spiritual meaning that challenges us to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

Last week we kicked it off with The Maker. This morning you heard Cheryl Crow's I Shall Believe.

Now this year like I shared last week it's quite often songs that you may have never heard before.

But the best part of that is we all get to learn them together.

I Shall Believe was released in August 1993 on Cheryl Crow's debut album Tuesday Night Music Club.

The album also featured hits Strong Enough and the familiar Jam All I Want to Do.

Tuesday Night Music Club reached number three on the US Billboard 200 albums.

Cheryl Crow actually won three Grammy Awards in 1994 for the album.

Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

So that song if you have heard it before has been played in numerous movies and TV shows.

Now it's interesting when you have never heard a song before and I've never heard this song before two and a half weeks ago.

Over the last week I've been really listening to it and diving into it, reading about it, reading the lyrics,

reading Cheryl Crow's comments on it and if I'm reading it correctly it tells the story of a woman

who left her husband for an affair, who returns home broken, desperate and distraught,

seeking to be consoled from the man she abandoned.

Now for many of us this is not a situation we've ever experienced or dare I say is it?

See throughout the Bible we find God describing his feelings towards his people

and quite often these feelings are shocking.

For example Jesus describes us as chicks that God longs to gather in his wings.

We read that we are like babies at the breast of a nursing mother desiring more of God.

Positive comforting images and yet there is one illustration that God uses to describe his love

and feelings for his people over and over and over again throughout the Bible

and it is this image of which this Cheryl Crow song connects with.

It is the image of a prostitute and her broken hearted husband.

You can read throughout Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah the images repeated time and time again

God heartbroken over a people that have spit in his face and have abandoned him to chase after other loves.

See in the ministry of Jesus we see this thing not only repeated but actually lived out.

Jesus came to rescue not the alogorical prostitutes but actual prostitutes

as the outcasts into despise and the filthy of the society flocked to him.

Looking at this song through the lens of the kingdom of God I noticed three things about this woman.

First her desperation, her shame and her hope.

We see her desperation in the tones of the song itself that her life can never be healed.

Come to me now and lay your hands over me even if it is a lie she writes.

Say it will be alright. Throughout the song you can hear her despair.

She has her freedom that she gained but it leaves her misery, tears and emptiness.

She is like the prodigal son in Jesus' parable who comes to the end of himself longing to eat simply with the pigs.

Can this man whom she left fix what she has destroyed?

She doubts it but even if he cannot she will seek him anyway.

Better to die at his feet than die alone.

You also see her shame. I am broken in two and I know you are the one on to me that I only come home when I am so all alone.

Even in her repentance she recognizes the mixed motives, the selfishness.

Her husband is no fool. She knows he knows when she is honest with herself.

All she can complete is an empty life that seeks to be filled.

The song sings open the door and show me your face tonight. I know it is true no one heals me like you and you hold the key.

I leave it all in your hands she says. I am seeking mercy not justice and only you can provide it.

Finally you see her hope. The title of the song is I Shall Believe.

Please say honestly you won't give up on me and I shall believe.

She no longer hopes in herself but in someone else.

The husband who will take her back.

Say the word and I will be healed she says. I trust not in my own goodness.

I have none at all instead I trust in your goodness.

The whole song is actually a love song.

All the more beautiful because it comes from someone who finally realizes how faithful and true is the love that she rejected.

And see friends only when we realize how desperate our need is will we finally recognize the riches of God's grace for us.

In Jesus' own words he who has been forgiven much loves much.

And see whether or not Sheryl Crow intended it this song is a picture of the gospel.

It is a picture of God's kingdom. You and I are the adulterous wife and God is the husband.

We have brought shame to him, disgrace and misery.

What does it cost him to take us back?

The song ends before it tells us but we all know in real life scorn, nails, thorns, tears and death are the result of our rejection.

Which leads us to our first thought this morning as we discuss Sheryl Crow's I Shall Believe.

Kingdom benefits do not equal part time followers.

See I felt this song described a person that is living in limbo.

And what does it mean to live in limbo?

Well it's described as in a forgotten or ignored state, place or situation, an uncertain or undecided state or condition, a condition between two extremes.

How many times as followers of Jesus do we find ourselves living in the limbo?

You know having a relationship with Jesus while at the same time dabbling in the world.

I quite often always hear well Chris it makes me happy.

It makes me feel so good.

You know in the song we heard this morning the wife what she experienced in the rush of infidelity.

We read this in James 4.

You adulterers and he's not addressing the woman in the song.

This letter is addressing the church.

Don't you realize that friendships with the world makes you an enemy with God.

I say it again if you want to be a friend of the world you make yourself an enemy of God.

Do you think the scriptures have no meaning?

They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.

See when we begin a relationship with Jesus we're filled with the Holy Spirit and we are joined with Jesus.

And friends the spirit who lives inside of us cares about us loves us wants the best for us.

The scriptures tell us he is jealous for our love and attention.

See he doesn't want to be placed on the side and saved just for Sundays.

That's when the spirit comes to life.

He wants all of us every single day because Jesus paid it all for us on the cross.

See the difference between the Holy Spirit and the devil is the devil does not care if we just have a little bit of him.

If we just have a little devil on the side he doesn't care because he knows that a little can grow quickly into so much more.

And here's the reality friends there are people here this morning even watching online and you're sitting on the fence.

And there's one thing that we have to realize when we sit on the fence especially a fence like this.

It doesn't take but a few dare I say seconds before it's going to start to hurt.

But yet people do it because while they're on the fence they have the view of both worlds.

Right they can see God's kingdom they can see the world and all its benefits.

But they end up having nothing.

Just this uncomfortable pain and anxiety that follows a person trying to live with both worlds in his or her hands.

You know I shared last week a relationship with Jesus can be described as boring.

It can be boring when you're trying to live in a relationship with him and having some world on the side.

You want me to define sitting on the fence for you?

Having enough of the world that we're not fully living for God.

Or for those of you on the other side having enough of God that we're not fully enjoying or indulging the world.

And see here's the reality you can't live for both it either has to be one or the other.

And they're not my words they're Jesus's words.

Revelation 3 I know all the things you do that you're neither hot nor cold.

I wish that you were one or the other but since you are lukewarm water neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth.

And see trying to experience the best of both worlds and end up with nothing.

Joshua chapter 24 verse 14 and see it's not just Jesus this goes all the way back to the Old Testament.

Joshua 24:14

So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly.

Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt served the Lord alone.

Now notice Jesus did not say believe in God.

What did he say I'm sorry Joshua?

Joshua did not say believe in God he said serve him.

Serve.

There's a big difference between belief and serving.

Right we heard the struggling woman in the song I shall believe.

Well it's fine you believe what are you doing?

See God is not talking about believing in his existence.

He's not talking about trusting him for salvation.

He's talking about fully living for God.

And so many followers of Jesus within our culture in the United States say well I believe in God.

I go to church I say the right things on Sunday.

I put my $20 in the offering boxes at past.

And see this talk is not about you doing more or doing something correctly.

Like this talk is about turning that fence into an electric fence.

Get on one or the other.

Go all in.

Don't be afraid.

I mean if you want to go all in with the world go for it.

Indulge.

You're going to be empty.

But you go all in in God.

You're never going to regret it.

Joshua continues in verse 15.

If you refuse to serve the Lord then choose today whom you'll serve.

Notice he even tells the people of Israel choose.

Would you prefer the gods of your ancestors that your ancestors serve beyond your friendliness

or will be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live.

But as for me and my family we will serve the Lord.

And see I believe when a person makes a decision to serve and follow God and go all in

the family is going to follow.

Is that what you're saying this morning?

Will you serve?

Will you go all in?

Look at 1 Kings 18-21 for the message. This is amazing.

Listen to Elijah challenging the people.

How long are you going to sit on the fence?

If God is the real God follow Him.

If it's Bale, oh excuse me, if it's Netflix or Amazon Prime,

oh if it's marijuana or social media or politics or religion, go follow them.

Isn't that what he's saying?

Make up your minds.

Now notice here nobody said a word nobody made a move.

That's the scripture that's not me.

They were sitting on the fence.

Choose.

You know this is all about going all in one side or the other.

Yet there's so many people that believe that dabbling in sin will not hurt their relationship with Jesus.

Oh it's okay I can dabble my big toe it won't hurt.

Okay I got an example for you.

Fresh off the shelves of Pepsi Nitro.

Has anyone ever had a Pepsi Nitro?

Me either.

Will you try it for me?

Oh I made a mess.

Just give it a try.

Is it pretty good?

Can I have a taste?

Okay.

Here you go.

That's a dabble isn't it?

Like someone offered you a drink you're like man that's a good Pepsi Nitro.

Oh let me have a back a spin in it.

It's just a dabble it's just a little spit.

It won't taste bad.

It's just a little spit.

It's just a little of my time.

It's just a little of my energy.

It's a little of my focus.

No one needs to know.

See the Holy Spirit is jealous for daily connection with us.

Will you go all in?

Which leads us to our next thought.

You see Jesus is worth more than anything we're going to lose.

See the deal with the fence, living on the fence,

and so many people straddle it and ride it because it's the fear of loss.

Oh I'm going to lose something.

Jesus is worth the sacrifice.

He's worth more than anything you're going to lose.

He is worth the early mornings of devotional time.

He is worth the Sunday services and serving for others.

He's worth our finances.

He's worth the relationships we're in.

He's worth the jobs.

Listen at the end of the year, isn't it me, it's June.

We're halfway through 2022 and in six months,

for so many people it gets to the end of December.

They look back on the year and they think,

man if only I would have.

If only I made that decision.

If only I could have.

Listen, I promise you,

you're never going to regret anything you give up for God.

Never.

You're only going to regret at the end of 2022

when we were selfish, self-consumed,

and missed all the opportunities that God gave us

and we were too close-minded to see them.

That's regret.

Matthew 10, 38, if you refuse to take up your cross and follow me,

you're not worthy of being mine.

I mean Jesus is challenging us.

My sacrifice, what I paid on the cross,

is worth so much more than anything you're ever going to give up.

I'm a big baseball fan.

I enjoy watching baseball.

I probably watch it four or five days a week.

I watch it on the TV because I'm a San Francisco Giants fan,

West Coast team, don't get to see them much around here.

But every now and again when they travel east,

I get to see them play locally.

Typically I try to go once a year.

I've actually enjoyed seeing them play at Nationals Park several times

on different occasions.

I got to see them in a playoff game with my son Isaac.

It was super exciting because there was all these National fans

and then like two Giants fans, that's what it felt like, and we won.

So it was great.

My son actually had to look at me and say,

Dad, please be quiet, we may not get out of here alive.

I said, don't worry, they're Nationals fans, they don't care,

they won't fight, we're good.

Another time I had an opportunity,

we had a bunch of tickets given to us, I took my whole family.

A whole family went.

Well back then it was seven of us, now it's eight, but that's okay.

So our whole family went, we were about 20 rows back from home play,

it was beautiful.

We got together and watched the game, and again the Giants won.

Man, I should go more often.

It was about 12 years ago, okay, it was a long time ago,

we had tickets given to us at National Stadium in the Diamond Club section.

Now let me just explain the Diamond Club to you, okay?

The Diamond Club is right behind home play.

Okay, right behind home play.

And we got to our seats and we sat down and immediately a server came up to us

and said, what can I get you, sir, what can I get you, ma'am?

And we were like, oh, we're fine, she goes, no, you don't understand.

It's free.

It's free?

It's free.

Get anything you want.

And we're like, oh, kids, what would you like?

And not only did you get anything you wanted when you ordered it,

but you were in these seats, you were kicking back, you know,

it was like Leiterberg Cinemas, but at the ball game,

and the views were incredible.

Just amazing.

Then to top it all off, with every ticket that our server had to tell us this,

we had no idea, with every ticket, you had $60 in national store cash.

I was like, what?

I started adding that up.

I'm like, that's $240.

Kids, go have fun.

It's Christmas.

I mean, 12 years ago, 13 years ago, we didn't have much extra money.

I was like, no, no, we're keeping that stuff.

We're going to wrap it up.

Now, I share this with you because as I was preparing my talk this week,

we're planning on knowing my 11-year-old, he wants to go see the Giants.

They're playing in Pittsburgh next week for his birthday.

That's what he wanted to do for his birthday.

So we're going to go to Pittsburgh and see the Giants play the Pirates.

And I just began thinking about all these times I went and saw the Giants play.

I began to realize, do you know the only difference between the Diamond Club

and the bench seats in the top row of the stadium is the price someone is willing to pay for it?

And listen up.

Jesus paid it all.

And if I'm going to be in God's kingdom, guess what?

I want to be sitting in the Diamond section.

I don't want to be in the top row, right?

I don't want to be in the top row in the bench seats that are all uncomfortable

and you can't even see the game.

Jesus desires that we live in abundance.

Abundance is going all in.

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

Don't you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?

You live in you and was given to you by God.

You do not belong to yourself.

For God bought you with a high price.

Within our culture, there's a lack of appetite for God.

I mean, people will scroll through hours and hours of Instagram and Facebook

and spend hours making the perfect TikTok if they cannot spend five minutes reading the Bible.

Stop living on the fence.

Give God everything.

The reason people are bored reading or listening to the Bible is because our minds

have been entertained by our society.

I mean, don't you realize the TV is boring when you don't turn it on?

True or false?

I mean, that's just an ugly gray screen.

I mean, the last time I checked, you're not going to see much on Instagram when you don't log in.

It's boring.

Don't log in.

Now, some of you are like, oh, here we go.

Oh, I got to read the Bible all day.

I got to listen to the Bible.

Look, man, I'm not saying that.

It's not a checklist.

It's putting Jesus first so that He can have more of us.

Right in my marriage, Jess doesn't want me to walk around every day, 24 hours a day, holding her hand.

Look, that's just not healthy for her or me.

But she does want my heart.

And when my heart is there, everything is great.

But when it's not, it's a mess.

God is saying, stop living in the limbo.

Go all in with me today, which leads us to our next thought.

Look, sin ends with surrender.

Now, listen, I didn't say all sin.

Some of your sins need deliverance.

Some of your sins require repentance, and there's other sins that need downright, outright counseling.

However, there's a majority of sins that can be simply...

Now, listen, there's a majority of sins that can simply be replaced with God.

That's all.

What some people call radical change...

You know what God says?

That's just replacement.

That's not radical change.

God doesn't need for you or me to be radical.

He just wants to replace our habits that cause us to sin with Him.

That's it.

And if all of us pause...

Listen, if all of us hit the pause button, those are your relationship with Jesus.

If you hit the pause button and you think back to your life before God, before Jesus came into it,

I believe that many of us can acknowledge, hey, we gave a lot to the devil.

We gave a lot of our time, our energy, our focus, and our money.

Right?

We gave him so much, it left us broke, empty, tired, and distraught.

Yet, when we begin a relationship with Jesus, it's like, oh, hold on.

God, you want it all?

I got to surrender everything to you?

Doesn't that make me a Jesus freak or something?

It's like you go all in with the devil, you give him everything.

Spending thousands of dollars on your drugs, what do you mean tithes?

What?

You mean tithes?

Like what you mean?

You spent 20 grand of your life on your marijuana, but you're not going to give God 20?

What?

I mean, just look at the United States.

There's so much of our country that miss out on all that God has for them

because Sundays has become Family Day.

Yet, there's so many families for Family Day,

they're watching Netflix on separate devices in separate rooms.

Family Day?

That's selfish individual day.

That's Sunday's Family Day, Chris.

We can only come once a month.

I'm sorry you're binge watching whatever you're binge watching.

Or if Sunday's not Family Day, it's Sports Day.

Oh, well, Chris, you know, my son's going to be the next Pele.

I've got to get him scoring goals.

Newsflash, no he's not.

My two-year-old's running faster than him.

Watch Phoenix, he's fast.

So our culture has essentially separated the family unit to get everybody to different fields.

Sunday, forget about church.

We don't need God.

We've got to get our professional athletes to their games.

And I'm not saying, listen, I'm not saying you have to be doing something at HCV seven days a week.

It's not about this church.

It's about Jesus.

That's what it's about.

It's about God.

And listen, we grow closer to Jesus by gathering together, encouraging one another,

praying for one another, and surrendering what culture tells us is right is wrong.

You know, is there someone willing to say no?

Because I believe if people begin to stand up and say no, we're going to put Jesus first,

then suddenly you're going to see a revival well up within yourself, and you're going to impact other people.

I mean, there's no wonder divorce rates in the church are nearly as high as in our culture,

because we're not willing to surrender.

I mean, Paul says it this way in Galatians 5, so I say let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.

Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.

Simply replace the sinful nature with the Spirit.

Sounds easy, right?

It's not.

You have to be willing to surrender it.

That means you've got to get up 30 minutes earlier to have your morning time with God.

That means you have to be willing to be inconvenienced in your busy schedules to serve someone in need.

I mean, heck, when this goes all the way back to the Old Testament,

when God set his people free from bondage and slavery in Egypt,

notice what he told Moses to say to Pharaoh.

Exodus 8.1.

Throwing back a little New King James for you old-schoolers.

And the Lord spoke to Moses.

Go to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord,

Let my people go that they may serve me.

Everyone say serve.

Notice he doesn't say let my people go so they will live a beautiful life in a promised land

and won't have any more problems.

19 times Moses goes to Pharaoh and says,

Let my people go so that they may serve me.

God saved us so we can have a relationship with us.

The people of Israel thought they were getting out of Egypt for a better life.

In reality, the first three days they went without food or water.

They're ready to kill Moses, go back to Egypt.

It wasn't a better life, it was a better God.

Listen, God's goal is not to give us a better life.

Does everyone hear that?

His goal is for us to become more like his son.

And I want to challenge you, instead of binge watching your favorite series,

watch an episode, and then find time to read through or listen to the Gospels.

I'm not telling you to go be a monk, I'm telling you to prioritize your relationship with Jesus.

Replace your bad habits to God.

Give them to God.

Replace them with God.

Which leads us to our next thought.

See, what is living in revival this morning?

Is it me or my sin?

But how can that be?

Did the law, which is good, cause my death?

Of course not.

Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death.

So we can see how terrible sin really is.

It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes.

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good.

The trouble is with me.

I'm all too human a slave to sin.

I don't really understand myself.

For what I want to do what is right, I don't do it.

Instead I do what I hate.

And see, for some of us here this morning, at one point in your relationship with God you were alive.

You experienced forgiveness, you experienced grace, you experienced abundance,

but now something has changed.

And you're on spiritual life support.

And I want you to look at your heart this morning.

What's in revival?

Your spirit or your flesh?

Because when our flesh is in revival, guess what?

I'm promising you right now, you're going to lose money, you're going to lose relationships,

they're going to become strange, you're going to lose your joy, you're going to lose...

And there's going to be consequences.

But when your spirit's in revival, we desire to make a difference in the lives of others.

We desire for others to experience more in this life.

We want to serve.

But see, unfortunately what happens for so many people is life gets in the way of spiritual revival.

Life!

Because if you look back at your life, quite often it's not necessarily a bad thing

that can cause us to lose our passion for God.

It could be your marriage, it could be the kids that you had, it could be a promotion you received,

and suddenly you spiritually die and God takes a back seat.

And listen, I don't want you to look back on this life with regrets.

Heck, I don't even want you to look back on this year with regrets.

Good things in this life destroy God's best for your life.

And you have to guard against the temptation to simply ride the fence.

Four simple action steps for us to apply to our lives of how we daily take up our cross.

Because I believe as we take up our cross, we're dying to ourselves and we're dying to those things

that keep us from living and going all in with God.

And first, just daily walk in obedience.

If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy of being in mine.

You're not worthy of being in that relationship.

To take up your cross simply means to walk in obedience to God.

And as a follower of Jesus, you don't look at the Bible and decide for yourself,

well, I believe that and follow that, but not this part.

It doesn't work that way.

The Bible calls that type of person foolish and double-minded, living in both worlds.

Those that are all in with Jesus trust that God knows best.

And they desire to align every part of their lives with what God desires for us.

Anybody in the trains?

Yeah, me either.

But the crazy thing is, Phoenix, my two-year-old, he's now in the Thomas the train.

I just don't get it.

I mean, I've watched Thomas.

I've read all the books about Thomas.

I'm just not getting the stories.

But one thing I do know about trains that I've learned, because Phoenix really wanted a Thomas the train, so he got one.

Oh, Monday, I think.

So the one thing I learned about trains, in order for Thomas to stay on the track,

that's how he moves forward.

When he gets off the track, what happens?

He crashes.

It's pretty funny to watch.

He also crashes when he gets thrown into the tub and he's run on batteries.

But that was an intentional one.

My point, you need to stay in step with what God desires by reading the book.

1 John 5, 2, we know we love God's children if we love God and obey His commandments.

Loving God, verse 3, means keeping His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.

Isn't that interesting?

It's not a burden.

Because it brings us abundant life, which leads us to our next step.

Just accept your circumstances.

Matthew 10, 38, if you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy of being mine.

Look, we're all going to face difficult circumstances.

I mean, it's amazing that our community made national news by a shooting.

And it just breaks your heart.

And there's so many people, when they're faced with difficult circumstances,

they typically have three responses.

They fight, they flight, or they have faith.

Either we argue with God and tell Him how wrong He is and blame Him for the circumstances you're in.

We completely run away from Him and ignore Him, or you have the faith to trust that He's at work.

To take up your cross means that you believe that God sees us, knows us, and is working for our best.

We take up our cross when we recognize that we're living in a broken world,

and we reject the lie that God is punishing us for our mistakes, because it's a lie.

We know that God cares more about us than He does our comfort.

Philippians 4, 13, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

Which leads us to step three, just daily pray for conviction.

And this is a hard one for people to do, but it's a part of taking up your cross and following Him.

God lovingly challenges us by His Spirit.

And we need to give Him permission to.

I mean, you heard what Paul said, I want to do what's right, but I never do it. I always do what's wrong.

We've got to give permission to the Spirit to reveal to us the areas in our life where we need growth and change.

Amen?

And He'll speak to us.

But there's so many people that will avoid them and pretend they're not there and fence.

That's just riding the fence.

Psalm 139, 23, search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my stress.

My anxious thoughts.

Which leads us to our final step, just daily die yourself.

Taking up your cross and following Him means that you're willing to die to self.

You see, quite often we live a life that revolves around us.

You know, there's a lot of Jesus followers that suddenly become mini gods.

And we become first in our lives.

And God says, hey, you're not the center of everything. I am.

And see, when we do the first three steps of taking up a cross, guess what?

We put God first in our lives.

The last step, daily dying to self, is our attempt to end our selfishness.

Because we're all selfish.

Will you give God complete control? Isaiah 26, 3, Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws.

Our hearts desires to glorify your name.

Listen from the message, who you are and what you've done is all we'll ever want.

Yes, God.

What does it look like for you to get off the fence this morning?

And I want to challenge you as I was working through this this week.

This isn't a sermon.

This isn't a message.

This isn't even a talk. You know, quite often I refer to my Sunday mornings as a talk.

This isn't a talk.

Friends, this is an invitation to experience the fullness of God in your life.

And this morning, Rick prayed for our gatherings and prayed for me and prayed for our worship team.

And he prayed that we would experience the fullness of God this morning.

He didn't know what I was going to share.

But that we would experience the fullness of God.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to invite the Holy Spirit to come.

I'm going to ask God to reveal or speak to us any errors of our life where we're on the fence.

Holy Spirit, come. Speak to us.

Reveal to us, God, any areas, God, where we're not going all in.

Where we're dabbling, where we're seeking the world, where we're not just pursuing you with everything.

Speak to us, God.

Whisper into our spirits.

Holy Spirit, come to life now within us.

Reveal your jealousy to us, God.

Now, if God revealed something to you, I'm not going to ask you to share it, but I am going to ask you to do this.

If God revealed something to you that you're holding back from Him, that you need to give to Him, you need to surrender to Him,

I'm going to ask you to stand. I want to pray for you.

Yep, just stand up.

Yes, yes, that's it.

Move, Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit.

Yes, Lord.

Yes, God.

Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

I just speak to each and every person that stood in obedience, God, and I pray, God, that their act of surrender brings life change.

That, God, they're acknowledging where they're dabbling, where they're not going all in, God, their acknowledgement that, God,

that you should replace it now in Jesus' name with your Spirit. Replace it in Jesus' name.

That they would mark this day as a day of spiritual revival within them. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, if we all could stand.

You know, I'm not going to leave a Sunday like this, a song like this, a talk like this, without offering the opportunity to come back to Jesus,

or to start a relationship with Him, because, I mean, that's what it's all about.

So no one looking around, you know how we do it here at HTV.

If there's anybody here, I'm going to simply ask you to lift your hand. We're all going to pray with you.

You won't be singled out. I won't make you come forward, and I won't push you over.

So Holy Spirit come. Is there anybody here that needs to start that relationship, begin that relationship, or return to Him?

Yes, Lord. Yes. Yes. Yes.

And you know we all pray this together. Jesus, I'm broken. I'm full of doubt, sin, shame, regret. Change me.

I believe you're God's Son. I believe you died for me. Make me new.

Fill me with your Spirit. Help me to be fully alive. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Now listen, text me this week, text changeme to 9700. I'll follow up with you. Hold on, we're not done.

You're like, oh, texting, we're done. We're not done.

If you prayed it online, if you prayed it here, if you didn't even raise your hand and you prayed it, text me please so I can pray for you, encourage you, and give you next steps.

Now listen, there was also a prayer before the gathering that God wanted to touch some people physically.

That God would move on your life. Specifically two areas. If you have something going on with the left eye, I don't know what that is.

It could be anything with the left eye. We want to pray for you this morning.

And also, anybody with braces or some kind of pain in your neck or, does that make sense?

Just some kind of, that's not allowing you to be fully mobile. We want to specifically pray for you physically there.

Okay, and how we do that, our prayer team's over here on the right. Okay, over here by our wonderful elevator.

So if you want to get prayer for those areas, if you have some type of brace on your knee or your neck or your arm or something, we want to pray for you physically or a left eye.

We want to pray that God would move in your life. Amen? Because we believe in healing. We believe God sets people free. We believe that God's kingdom is here now.

So if you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your home, your car, your living room, wherever you may be watching.

If you're here, now listen, if you're here, next week we continue summer jams with some Eric Clapton for those of you throwback rock and rollers.

Okay, a little Eric Clapton style, one of the best guitarists ever.

And then I need you, okay, to look at your neighbors so that I can get to the back of the door and high five you and beat even those people that are leaving right now.

Can't beat them, can I?