Transformed for Freedom | Pastor Ashley Garza

First Timothy 3 it says these things I write to you, though I

hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so

that you may know how you ought to conduct yourselves in the

House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the

pillar and ground of truth. This Scripture shows us how

important church is. It says church is the pillar and

ground of truth. We have to believe that church

is important. I grew up with a phrase.

My mom always instilled it to me.

And they still say it at in MZ Kids.

They say we don't have to go to church.

We and I love that. But Pastor Lauren last week said

something even different than that same concept, but a little

bit more. And he said we do have to go to

church. Yeah, we get to go to church.

We have to go to church if there's an if, We have to go to

church if we want everything that God has created, created

for us. Can I get an Amen?

Because if you have the confidence to believe that the

church, the body of Christ, is the pillar and ground for which

holds up the truth, which is the word of God, we have to get

ourselves here. We have to be a part of the body

of Christ. How easy is it to sometimes live

life alone? How easy is sometimes to not

have anyone challenge us? How easy is it sometimes to not

have anyone stretch us? How easy is it sometimes for

people to not speak truth to us and we can just go about our

way, being a single person, living life the way that we want

to live it? But that was not the purpose in

which God has created us. He's created us to do church

together. What I love is that Pastor

Lauren, he usually knows, he definitely knows that he's going

to El Salvador. And when he knows he's going to

El Salvador, he'd let us know very early, ahead of time that

we're going to be filling in for him.

So one thing I love is that I have quite a while to really be

intent to listen to what it is that God has to speak to me for

me to share with you all on that specific Pacific Sunday morning.

So I've had the word of God that I knew that he wanted me to

share with you for probably over a month now that I've just been

praying about it and seeking God about it.

And then last week, Pastor Lauren talks about the church

and how the birth of the church happened at Pentecost.

And what do you know who spoke his first sermon on the day of

Pentecost? Peter.

And I was like, I love that. I love how good God is busy

because He's constantly aligning things and arranging things and

confirming things word after word, time after time.

So when we are going to dive into the story of Peter today,

we know the outcome, right? We know that Peter was the one

who preached his first sermon at the birth of the church because

the birth of the church happened at Pentecost.

And what happened at Pentecost when there was the birth of the

church? How many of you know a seed was

planted? I love God's word.

I love that it's a ever living word.

There's no expiration date on this.

When I dive into God's Word, I realize that no matter what

happens nowadays, the Bible is still applicable to every single

thing that's going on here and the earth.

So I believe if a seed of the church was planted all those

many years ago at Pentecost, how many of you know that we are the

branches of that very seed that was planted?

Come on, can I get a Amen? How awesome is that, that all

those many, many, many years ago a seed of the very first church

was planted. And now we have the confidence

to see ourselves as those branches that have sprung forth

from that very seed that was planted.

And the word that was spoken at Pentecost was hear the Word,

respond to the Word to save yourself from this generation.

How many of you know it's one thing to hear the Word, but it's

another thing to actually respond to God's Word over your

life? We can come to this building and

have a confidence to say I go to church every single Sunday, but

it's just as easy to leave this place and not have responded to

the Word of God in your life. We have to hear the Word.

We have to respond to the Word in order to save our self from

this generation. How many of you know that our

generation is the biggest influence over our lives?

And also at the same time, it's the biggest hindrance over our

relationship with God. And I'm not just talking about

this generation, although when I look at social media, I'm like,

but then I'm reminded that every generation, worldly generation

in times past has been the same thing.

And it's the biggest opposing force to everything that God has

for us, Yet somehow we're allured into it.

A lot of people don't want to admit that because it's flashy,

it's nice. There's there's great things

that from the outside appear to be awesome, but it draws us in

and becomes the greatest hindrance for everything that

God has planned for his church. But we have to believe that the

Church is the pillar in ground of truth, and truth brings

freedom, which leads me to John 8.

It says. Then Jesus said to those Jews

who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples

indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make

you free. When I talk about our generation

being the greatest hindrance for everything that God has for this

world, we have to understand that our generation has a truth

that they want you to buy into. This is a truth that says do

whatever you want, whenever you want it, however you want it to

be. If it makes you feel good, then

that is your truth. And not only does their truth

make you feel good, but you can give that same truth to other

people. And that's going to make other

people feel good because this truth is not a truth that

offends. And as Christians, it's not that

we're going out to try to offend.

But as Christians, when we bring the Word of God, if we believe

that God's worth word brings freedom, if we believe that

God's word is a life changing word, that change is going to be

uncomfortable for us. Because as human beings, a lot

of times we don't like change. When we experience change, it

makes us uncomfortable. It puts us in a position mission

to no longer feel like we're in control.

So it's not that we want a word that offends people, but it's a

word that we want to cut into our hearts so our hearts can now

see the way God sees things. Our mindsets are no longer going

to be the mindsets that we may have had passed down from

generation to generation, but we put on the mind of Christ.

So we have to be opposing to this truth that the world wants

us to believe, and we need to believe in a truth that pierces

the heart because we have to remember that truth is defined

by the Word of God. And if you abide in my word,

which means if you live out My word daily, you are my

disciples. In John 15, it says, if you love

me, you will keep my commandments.

A lot of times when we have this Christianity that says, what do

I have to do? We get it in our mind with this

Scripture specifically, if you love me, you will keep my

commandments. You kind of have this, OK, God

just kind of telling me exactly what I have to do because he's a

controlling God and and he wants me to do all these certain

things to bring glory to his name.

And now I have to find myself living a certain way.

But if we can think about God's Word as something that brings

forth freedom, if we can have the confidence that says God has

created me every single fiber of my being with a plan and a

purpose that no one else can fulfill, we would fulfill his

commandments because we know that his commandments will bring

us to a place that we are able to become everything that He's

called us to be. So we can't think of his

commandments as something that just straps us down and doesn't

allow us to have our creative freedom over our life.

But we think of his commandments as this instruction manual for

our life as you put something together, right?

Well, I don't, I try, but I don't.

But when you, you have an instruction manual, I'm the one

who goes down to like step 12 and then I'm like, I messed it

all up, right? But if you think about something

when you're building something and you have this instruction

manual, it, it helps you to get the final product to exactly

what it's supposed to be. So if we can see God's word as

something that is a a tool kit, which was mentioned in one of

our most recent podcasts on Coffin the Mountain, if you can

see it as a tool kit to really help you become everything that

God has called you to be. You don't want to live in that

freedom that the world offers because it's not freedom.

God's word is truth. And when you hear a word of

truth, when you hear God's life changing word, it provides that

opportunity for freedom. So to live in a transformed and

free life, we have to know the truth and that truth will set

you. Amen.

John 8 again. It says they answered him.

I love this scripture. They were so confident when

Jesus was talking to them. It says they answered him.

We're Abraham's descendant. We've never been in bondage to

anyone. How could you even say you will

be made free? And Jesus answered that most

absurdly. I say to you, whoever commits

sin is a slave to sin. I love this scripture because

how many times do we go around? I wouldn't, I'm not like that.

I wouldn't do that. That's not my personality.

I know my entire family has this iniquity, but it didn't even

touch me, right? How many times?

So here Jesus, he's talking to Abraham's descendants and he's

talking about freedom and they're like, oh, that's not us.

We're not in bondage. Obviously.

We're Abraham's descendants. How could you even say that

we're in bondage? And Jesus is like, I'm telling

you right now, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.

How many times do we mark off our checklist?

Boom, I went to church, boom, I read my Bible.

Boom, I prayed even over my meal today and we're like, I'm not,

I'm not in bondage. I'm not a slave to sin because

I'm Abraham's descendant. And Jesus is like, whoa, whoa,

whoa, let's back up a little bit.

Let's back up a little bit, right?

How many times do we not see it? How many times can we be making

a choice or doing something in our life that really is holding

us back from everything that God has called us to?

But we're like, oh, we're a Christian.

That's not me. I'm a mature Christian.

That's totally not me, right? We can get that in our mind.

But how many of you know, sometimes it's just a choice to

be uncomfortable. If you are not walking in the

fullness of God, what are you walking in?

So we have to be totally open to receive the correction of the

Lord over our lives, over our choices, over our relationships,

over our finances, over every single choice that we have to

make. We have to place ourselves in a

place of humility. We have to place ourselves in a

place of vulnerability to say, Lord, I want you to search my

heart. Is there anything that I'm in

bondage to? Is there anything that I'm a

slave to that's anchoring me down into the ground and holding

me back from really becoming everything that you have called

us to be? Because a lot of times there's

just that one little thing, that one thing that takes a hold of

us. We allow it to just sneak into

our lives or into our minds or into our hearts, and we allow

that thing to become our identity.

And in the process of that thing becoming our identity, we've

lost our identity as a child of God.

And God has called us like these people.

They said, well, we're descendants of Abraham.

You're descendants of Abraham, yes, but you are not acting like

it. So how many times do we say

we're a child of God, but God's like, But you're not acting like

it because you're not following in the fullness that I have for

you. Our identity must be that we are

a child of God. I told you obviously that we do

a lot of different podcasts. If you don't follow us on social

media, I would highly suggest that you do.

There are some amazing things that are being shared on Mount

Zion and Coffin the Mountain on Instagram and YouTube.

I think they do Tic Tac. I don't know.

There's a lot of great stuff that's being shared.

One, one thing that I had shared past weeks back is that I as a

person was talking to person A and me and person A, we had a

mutual friend that was person B and person A starts talking

about our mutual friend and they're talking about this

person. I'm just like, are we talking

about the same person? Like it's just a very

interesting thing. I felt like we were, we were

talking about two different people and then it hit me.

I know this person through here. I know this person as a member

of the body of Christ. So to me, their identity, if you

will, was, you know, they're they're a member of the body of

Christ or a child of God. But when I talked to this person

a about this person, they knew nothing about this side of that

person. And I was like, this is a very

interesting thing to me. How many people in our lives do

not even know our identity as a child of God because we, we hit

all the check boxes. We come to church and maybe even

you post a scripture on your Instagram once in a once in a

while just to be like, well, I, I am right.

But when people really, really, really get to know you, are we

just one of the people who just say, well, I'm a descendant of

God? I'm, no, I'm not a slave to

anything. And Jesus Christ says, well,

let's go a little bit deeper than that because you may say

that you're a descendant of Abraham, but your actions speak

louder than words. And your words are important

because the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the

mouth speaks. So we really have to take a look

at our lives and say, what is happening in my life?

What does my life speak? What do my words speak?

And is there something in my life that I have allowed to

creep into my life to where I no longer am representing,

representing my identity as a child of God?

But what I loved about this scripture is it comes after

Jesus was speaking to the people and telling them who he is,

where he came from, where he's going.

And it says, and many believed so they were believers.

Jesus was speaking to believers. But what I love about this verse

is it took someone to point it out to them.

A lot of times we can walk around with this confidence of

we're a child of God, but we don't see things for as they

are. I've used this scenario multiple

times when I've been up here. How I say I'm not a person who

gets offended, but Pastor Lauren had to point out to me one time

you're offended. I'm like, I am not, I'm not

offended, right? And like he had to point out and

like when he said you're offended, my first, my first

defense walls came up and then I was like, I'm not offended.

But when I allowed His words to seep into my heart, I realized

that I was offended. Right.

So God uses people in our lives to cut deep.

He allows other people to reveal His word to us in ways that

sometimes we can't even see. But the church is so important

because those many members are able to come together and be

vessels used by God to speak into our lives.

So again, to live in freedom we have to live by God's Word,

which is true truth, and God uses His church to bring that to

us. Amen.

Luke 22 it says. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,

indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat,

but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail when

you have returned to me. Strengthen your brethren.

I love this verse. I just said this the other day

when we were at Bible study on Tuesday.

And I was like, I love how so many times.

That's why I say don't get in too big of a routine reading

your Bible because a lot of times you just read it just to

check off that list. And we don't allow his word to

really soak into our heart for that change.

But I love when there's so much packed into one scripture.

We're reading First Corinthians for our Bible study.

If you haven't joined a Bible study, shameless plug, there's a

lot of Bible studies that we have going on and they're

amazing. They help to really just open up

God's word to you. However, we were talking about

that in our Bible study on Tuesday.

But I love in the Scripture here too.

There's so much packed into this one scripture and even into one

word. This story is a story about

Peter, right? But Jesus calls him Simon in

this scripture. Peter, his original name was

Simon, but Jesus changed his name to Caifas, which is

Aramaic, Aramaic for rock. And it was later translated into

Greek as Petras, which is now Peter.

And Jesus said, this is the name that I'm going to have for you.

It's Peter. It means rock.

And obviously, as we established, we already know

about what happens at Pentecost in Peter's life, that, you know,

he allowed God to really work in him and transform him.

But there was this process of transformation that Peter had to

go through to really allow the name that God had chosen for him

to really shine forth a process. So the name Simon was used here

by Jesus in this instance because when Jesus was telling

Peter about what was happening, what was about to happen, Peter

was about to fall into his old nature of sin.

And so God, although changed his name to Peter, knew that he was

about to go through this process.

And how many times do we, as we become a new Christian, there's

little things in our life that sometimes tug on our heart or

tug on our mind or tug on our. You know, our lives that are

past just kind of like just kind of pulls us in this other

direction. So Jesus here was talking to him

and he says Simon, because he knew in this moment he was going

to fall into this old nature of sin.

But Peter, in the stories we read about from the beginning,

when Jesus is talking to him, he's like, no, absolutely not.

I would never do that, Jesus. And how many times do we have

God's Word? God's word tells us what's going

to happen and we're like, no, absolutely not.

I would never fall into that. I would never do that.

I'm a new creature and you God, I would never be inclined to my

old pastor, never be inclined to my old nature of sin.

But here in the Scripture, Jesus pointed it out to him, and Jesus

knew him. Peter was not willing to listen.

God knows that we have this side of us that constantly is going

to gnaw at us or we may constantly be reminded of it,

but we have to keep God's word in our hearts and in our minds.

I know for me, I had a very important choice to make as a

child. I was the type of I, I would say

I was, but I probably still AM. And it's probably one of those

things that bugs people a lot about me.

But I just believe what people say.

When I was younger, it was called gullible, but it worked

to my favor because if my parents said the water is hot, I

just, I'm like, the water's hot. Like I don't need to test it to

see if the water's hot. They obviously told me the water

was hot, right? Some other people in my life

were not like that. If they said the water's hot,

they'd be like, well, I'm going to see.

And they're like, right, I just kind of believed what my parents

told me. And it worked out a little bit

well for my life because when they told me, hey, addiction

runs in the family. There's going to be things that

happen in our family that are iniquities that are passed down

from generation to generation. You must be careful for those

things. In my mind, I was like, I'm not

going to touch that with a 10 foot pole.

So I made a very hard line in the sand that said this will not

be a part of my life. And those are things that we

have to realize that we we can't just just be oblivious right to

our old nature of sin. We can't be oblivious to the

things that have been passed down to us from generation to

generation. We cannot be oblivious to the

fact that our choices will have a consequence or a reward and

just live walking around our lives just with blinders on,

acting like it's not a big deal. But we have to be prepared.

We have to know God's word and know that when he says, Hey,

Satan has asked to sift you as we and this is what's going to

happen. We have to have that thought

process in our mind that I will have to constantly make a

choice. Pastor Rich, use the scripture

on Wednesday that says you will have to take up your cross

daily. This is a choice that you have

to make for your life. And obviously the more and more

you make the choice about something, the easier it does

get. But you can't.

You can't mess with fire, right? If you don't want to be burned,

don't mess with fire, is what they say.

So me knowing that addiction ran in the family I just had, what

family does it not run in? Let's just be honest here, OK,

What family does it not run in? So if you're sitting out there

like it doesn't run in my family, surely it does.

But we have to know that God has created us is a part of an A

church family, yes, but he's also created us as a part of a

natural family. And what better of a story is it

that you can say, wow, I was tempted with all these things

over here, but I said, no, I was tempted with all these things

over here. And it may have burned me in the

past, but not anymore because I have God's word as a part of my

life. And God's word is truth.

And God's word is a life changing truth that transforms

us, that we no longer have to live.

Just like we said with baptism today, cutting away of the old

nature of sin, that you would be dead unto sin but alive unto

Christ, the Word, God's Word, which is truth, can transform

your life. And we have to have a confidence

in that. Whoa, I'm getting fired up up

here. God is good.

Come on, give him a praise. And I love this because when I

read the story of Peter, I'm like, wow, see, a lot of times

I'm already like wanting to jump to tell you what altar call song

we're going to do today because I'm so fired up about this,

right? But it says, when I look back, I

didn't think that I would make it.

I was sinking, right? I just knew that I was too far

gone. Then you showed up, right?

So many times we think that we're too far gone.

So many times we think that the choices that we made are now a

part of our identity. And although they are a chapter

in our book, they are not the title of your book because you

are no longer a slave to your sin, but you are a child of God.

And He shows up at the most perfect timing in the most

perfect way. He uses the people in your life

that you may not even thought that He would use any places in

them in your life to bring forth that change that you need to no

longer operate in your old nature of sin.

In Luke 22 it says. Then after about an hour had

passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, Surely this

fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.

But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are saying.

Immediately while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.

The Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the

word of the Lord and how he had said to him before.

The rooster crows. You will deny me 3 times like

man. Now you remember the word of the

Lord? He just spoke it to you, right?

He just told you Peter, what was going to happen.

And now you remember the word of the Lord.

How many times do we read the word of the Lord?

Do we know the word of the Lord? But we allow it to take a back

seat in our life. How many times?

Because a lot of the times His word is going to stretch us.

A lot of the times his word is going to make us uncomfortable.

A lot of the times his word is going to offend and not make you

feel good. So when that happens, we allow

it to take the back seat to our lives and just say, I'm a child

of God. But in this instance in my life,

I'm just going to set the word to the side and then we'll just

like pick it back up next time, right?

That's not how God's word works because his entire word is

truth. So imagine had the had Jesus

spoke to Peter, he said, Peter, listen, he's asked to sift you

as wheat. But guess what?

Peter could have been like, Oh my gosh, Satan asked to sift me

as wheat and I'm going to deny him three times before the

rooster crows. So when someone comes up to me

and says, you know him, you'll be like, heck yeah, I know him,

right? I mean, if he would have kept

God's word at the forefront of his mind, he would have

remembered and said, oh, I'm not denying him because I'm going to

stand by God's word, which is truth.

How many times in our lives do we get presented with an

opportunity or a choice or whatever it is in our life, and

because it doesn't make us feel good, we allow it to take a back

seat. There was a moment in my life, a

moment of weakness in my life because I felt like my life was

just not going the way that I thought I was going to go.

I was like, Laura, this is not the timeline that I told you

that I wanted when I was 12, All right?

This is not happening the way that I thought it was going to

happen. And I remember one of the

leaders in young adults, she gave all the girls these like

the tiniest of tiny journals. And she was like, this is so

perfect. You can keep it in your purse.

And I'm just like, you know, like it was one of those like,

like, I'm not journaling, but we decided to go to Peru and I

brought this little journal with me.

And it was in the moment in my life where I was seeking the

Lord for direction over my life. And I was just like, tell me

what to do. I just want you to make the

choice for me, right? Like, I just want like the doors

to open and be like, and I'm like, that's the choice that I'm

supposed to make, right? And I remember sitting in my bed

in Peru and I was like, I'm going to take this little

journal out and just write in it, whatever.

And I remember I was sitting down with my journal as I'm

trying to make this choice over my life.

And I remember writing in it. I stopped listening to your word

and I stopped listening for your voice.

And that's exact. And I tried to find it.

I wanted to bring it here for you today.

And maybe I lost it for a reason, but that's what I wrote

in my journal. And it wasn't like by accident.

It's not like I accidentally stopped listening to God's word.

It's not like I accidentally forgot what His voice sounded

like. It's because life was not going

the way that I wanted to go. And because God was taking so

long, I just decided to do something else and it was not

the right choice for my life. And I knew it wasn't the right

choice for my life. We cannot allow God's Word to

take the back seat in our lives. But what if every choice that we

made, God's Word was sitting right in front of us, right?

The tool kit, the map, whatever you want to call it, the truth,

it could be on the forefront of your mind, God's word.

Then you speak God's word, Then you make a choice, God's word.

Then you react God's word. Then you take a step.

What if God's word? We're sitting at the forefront

of our mind like Peter when he said, then he remembered God's

word. Don't be a then you remember

God's word people, but be the people who says my church is the

pillar in ground for truth. Allow yourself to be a part of

the church who is the pillar in ground for the word of God in

our lives because there is an importance to his word over our

lives. It is the truth in which will

set you free. It is the truth that's going to

bring forth that life transformation that you are

waiting for. Many times we set it a lot

aside, but we need to keep it at the forefront of our lives.

A scripture that we quote so often around here because we

believe in it. Romans 12/1 to two.

It says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the

mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

I could just stop there, but I'll keep going.

Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good,

acceptable and perfect will of God.

In the very beginning, I started with the world has their truth

and they're gonna fight to get you to believe in their truth,

but God's word is truth. Everything else opinion.

I'm I'm waiting for all my counselors training people to

say that to live this life of sacrifice, it says to live holy,

to live sanctified, to live acceptable to God, we must know

God's word. We must not be conformed to the

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

This comes from a Greek word that combines 2 words again and

new. This word suggests a complete

change for the better. We can't start this process of

transformation and just stop. Imagine if a Caterpillar just

decided to stop. It gets all stuck in the cocoon.

It's like, I'm done. I'm comfortable.

We would be robbed of those Beautiful Creatures called

butterflies in this world, right?

But that's what happens with us. The moment we get uncomfortable,

we're like, I'm just going to stay here.

I want to be comfortable, I just want to be this and hope that

one day I won't have to be uncomfortable, but I'll still

get to be everything that God has called me to be.

It's not going to happen. We have to believe for a

complete transformation because this word suggests complete

change for the better and adjustment to our moral and

spiritual vision. And Titus says not by the works

of righteousness, but according to his mercy, he saved us

through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of

the Holy Spirit. If we want to be renewed, right?

It says the renewing of our minds.

If we want to be renewed, we need the help of the Holy

Spirit. Jesus said, I'm going to send

you a helper. And they're like, all the

disciples are, what are you? What are we?

You're going to send me a helper and he's like, I'm going to send

you a helper. The Holy Spirit.

Oh my gosh, we have a helper, the Holy Spirit inside of us who

will help us to become everything that God has called

us to be. It is not something that we can

be do by our own strength. It's not something that we can

do through our own decisions on our own.

But in order to completely transform, we need the

transforming power of the Holy Spirit to bring us to complete

transformation. Can I get Amen?

Psalm 119 it says I have restrained my feet from every

evil way that I may keep Your word.

I have not departed from Your judgements, for You yourself

have taught me how sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter

than honey to my mouth, though Your precepts.

Through Your precepts I get understanding.

Therefore I hate every false way.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path.

I have one of those. Like the past, You look at the

past rose colored glasses. This word, this song has been in

my mind for like a month. The word is a lamp until my

feet. Yeah, you all know that one.

But then I listened back to it on YouTube and I was like, I

can't have them do that today. I love the love, love, love the

words. But that was a I'm being mean.

I was going to say a doozy of a song.

The words are amazing. But man, I listened back to

that. I was like, oh man, I think we

sing that better than youth group.

Then Amy Grant's even saying it. But I've been singing this word,

this song over and over again. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.

What does that mean? That means that God's Word is

going to guide us every single step of the way.

But what also is it? It's a light unto our path.

It's going to guide our entire future.

So it guides us every step of the way, but it also illuminates

our path so that we know where we're going, although we might

not know where it's taking us or how we're doing it.

He says, look at the lamp to your feet and trust the light

unto your path. I will take you to any place

that you need to be to become everything that I've called you

to. That's God's word, thy word,

God's truth, not what the world has to offer, but the word of

God is the lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.

Luke 22 says, And the Lord said, I'm repeating a verse because I

love this verse. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,

indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat,

but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail when

you return to me. Strengthen your brethren.

Although Jesus called him Simon, although Jesus knew that he was

going to fall into his old nature of sin, he also knew when

you return Peter, he knew there was a comeback.

He knew that Peter's past mistakes were not going to hold

him back from everything that God had called for him.

And you need to believe that for you that you're not done.

If you feel like I've made it, dive into God's Word again

because we are constantly on a path to growth and maturity and

we have to believe that transformation is possible for

each and every one of us. Complete transformation.

And when you have returned, don't be selfish.

Do not be selfish. Do not get to the place where

you say, well, my past is not holding me back.

How great it is to go to church and leave and do absolutely

nothing. You strengthen your brethren.

You have a testimony. God has worked something

miraculous inside each and everyone of you.

Do not be the descendants of Abraham.

Well, we're the descendants of Abraham.

We have nothing left to do. If you're the descendant of

Abraham, if you are a child of God, how much of A higher

calling do you have on your life?

How much more of a testimony do you have when you return?

Strengthen your brethren. This is what Pastor Lauren has

been talking to us about. The third day, the new day where

you have such a blessing that you have not room enough to

receive. So what do you do?

You now have enough to bless other people.

Because if we're the branches of the church from the seed that

was planted at Pentecost, you are now a branch that has the

the ability to bear fruit. You're a branch that has the

ability to provide housing for birds.

You're a branch that has ability to provide shade for those that

need shade and fruit for those who are hungry.

So allow God's Word to give you freedom to transform your life

so now that you become a blessing to the world in which

you live. This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius

from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us

today and invite you to connect with our church family by

visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media.

God bless you.