Back to the Foundation | John Challinor

Well, welcome to church. Like anybody's heart

just feel full already? No, cool. Just me. Great.

You guys, this is good. This is good. You ever

tried to impress somebody? Right? You ever felt

like, man, I just need to impress them. And if

you've ever fallen in love, I guarantee you,

you've had that tension. Right? There's very

few people who are like, I did nothing and they

came to me, right? Like you put your best foot

forward, you're trying to impress them, trying

to win them over, right? Like the idea of impressing

people is a tension we live with. I remember

being in Bible college and they had a class in

Bible college to help you communicate to people

better. I'll be real honest with you. I think

the class was terrible. I wouldn't recommend

it. I think there's this thing called the Holy

Spirit that gave you gifts that wants to use

you. And I don't think a canned outline platform

is what he intended. I think he wants to use

you to be you and your voice to be you. Anyways,

off my soapbox, right? So we got this class and

you got 10 minutes. And so you got your message

ready and you get up and you look out and it's

all your fellow peers, students, and they've

got. like clipboards type things, and they're

writing down, grading you on everything. What

is his appearance like, right? What is his hand

gestures like? How does he use inflection? Did

it communicate to me? What were his main points,

right? All this kind of stuff. And I'll be honest

with you, I could care less what they wrote,

right? Like I could care less about my classmates,

right? What I really cared about was the professor.

If I wanted to impress anybody, it was him. And

so I got done and I'm feeling pretty good about

myself. And I get a stack of papers from the

classmates. I'm like, yeah, we'll look at those

later. Where's the professors, right? And I look

and there's a grade on there and it's an A. And

I'm like, yeah. And I go to read his comment.

And I'm like waiting for him to like tell me

how much I impressed him. And it literally just

says, don't ever dye your hair again. I'm like,

seriously? Out of everything I did for 10 minutes,

that's what you got? And what I had at that time

was like highlights, blonde highlights in my

hair. And then I chose the natural version of

that at some point in life. God chose it for

me. But here's the thing. I went to him and I

said, hey, what do you mean don't dye my hair

again? He goes, nobody will ever listen to you.

And I was like, well, I don't think that's true

because I think there's something called the

Holy Spirit that's a little bigger than that.

And so for a decade, I dyed my hair just to prove

it to him. So dumb. So dumb. But we try and impress

people, right? It's what we do. We like to impress

people. We like to set an impression, right?

And to set an impression is that I want to do

something to you that leaves a print. And you

think a certain way because of that print. An

example would be two days ago, I walked past

my daughter who's sitting at the kitchen table

and she's got like this little clip package thing

and she's pressing slime into it. And I'm like,

what are you doing? And she's like, well, there's

lettering on there. So I wanna see if I can get

it to stick and read it on the slime. She's trying

to get an impression from this. She's trying

to get a print. Right. And what it would say

is the impression that you would get. I remember

being a missionary kid. And those of you that

don't know what missionaries are like, like it's

people that like a church like ours, we would

send them out. They go to global locations and

share the message of Jesus. So my parents were

doing that. And for about four and a half years,

we were in Papua New Guinea, came back. And a

lot of people called it vacation. It was nothing

like a vacation, literally. Like my parents were

exhausted and burned out. And so technically

it's called furlough, right? But here's what

happened. As missionaries, you walk into a church

and you're instantly what? Put on this pedestal

like, oh, these are the super Christians who

have it all together. Well, I happen to be a

middle school, no offense to middle schoolers,

students. I happen to be a middle school boy.

and we would go to these churches, and they support

my parents, right? So they get money from these

churches, and that's what allows them to do what

they do. So it's really important that we make

a good impression on these churches. So literally,

I can remember a look from my dad when it wasn't

going well, and it was like, oh, you're about

to get it. You just wait till we leave here type

thing, right? So we go into these churches, and

the churches were fine. We knew how to act in

church, and yet God made us. I had two older

brothers and God just made us boys like boys

do what boys do at that age. And so the worst

part was, is people would invite us out for meals

after, which sounds amazing, except they didn't

want to talk to us. They want to talk to my parents

and hear stories. And so we would sit there for

like three hours at these meetings. Right. And

you got to you got to imagine we've been to church

after church after church. I've heard all these

stories multiple times. And so inevitably, you

begin to what? Be a middle school boy. God made

you to squirm. It's what he made you to do, right?

And so you begin to act up and find ways to entertain

yourself with knives at the table, you know,

like that kind of stuff. And it's not long before

you get a real quick clue that you're not making

a good impression. And if you don't make a good

impression on these people, from my parents'

perspective, what happens? They may not support

you anymore. We live with all kinds of pressures,

don't we? We live with all kinds of things where

we're trying to impress people around us. Don't

believe me. Take a look at social media. What

is social media? I have to put something on there

that will impress you. Remember, leave an impression

on you that you think a certain way of me. Think

about it. Some of the stuff that people post,

It's like the pressure to do that. I gotta be

honest with you. I'm waiting for like the social

media that's like, here's my worst day, right?

Like I just woke up, went to Taco Bell for lunch.

Sure, you all wanna see that, right? But it's

not that, right? It's the highlight reel. It's

our best foot. It's our vacation that I want

you to know we took that vacation and I want

you to feel a certain way about it. I want you

to know how we're doing. And all of a sudden

we live with all these forms of constantly we

are aware of what we are projecting to other

people. Hey, think about it. You guys, we just

came in this room and God is present. God who

is the creator God who's holding it all together,

who holds your breath in this very second that

is making the earth spin so fast and yet you're

not dizzy like that God, right? And he holds

it all and he knows right now you're in this

room and you have a moment to worship him. And

this is, can we just like be honest? This, some

of us are like, I don't know if I can hit that

note. I don't think I'm going to sing at this

part because I'm more worried about what my voice

sounds like to you than I am to lifting it up

to this God who is, In complete control of everything,

including the very breath leaving my body. I

feel like I should raise my hand. Okay, I'm going

to go for it. Well, this is what it feels like.

Okay, it's angled. Is angled okay? Does it need

to be straight? Wow, I see that guy over there

and he's waving. Do I need to wave? Like, is

the wave what I'm supposed to be doing right

now? I know, I know, I know. I'm just going to

keep him here. This feels safe, right? I'm just

going to pretend like I'm carrying something.

It feels safe. You know what? Maybe I'll spread

them a little wider. How big was that fish? You

ever heard that one? I love, you guys, I'm going

to pick on Pastor Ben for a second. I love Pastor

Ben in worship. You know why? Because if you

ever stand next to him, he don't care. And why?

Because he loves Jesus a whole bunch. And this

is a chance to worship the God that created him.

And so he worships and the rest of us sit there

and go, I don't know if that sounds good. But

I love that he just raises his voice because

that's what he was created to do. Isn't it crazy?

Like if we just normalize this thing, that am

I the only one that you get in a worship space

and you're like, you're limiting yourself. And

the impression that you are giving to God because

I'm so worried about impressing you. I'm so worried

about what you will think. I'm so worried how

I'll come across. I'm so worried. And all of

a sudden, all of a sudden, a moment, a moment

that was created to enter into a beautiful posture

with the person of God is lost. Because my eyes

are on me instead of on him. But we do it in

all kinds of things. In Galatians chapter six,

Paul kind of is ending the letter and the way

he begins to end it in verse 11, he says, see

what large letters I use as I write to you with

my own hand. We don't know. We don't know what

happened, but all of a sudden there was a font

change. We don't know how large those letters

were. We don't know if it's because of his eyesight.

We don't know what happened. But he states here,

he goes, hey, I want you to know something. If

I wanted to impress you with my penmanship, I'd

let the other person do it. But he goes, I want

my voice to leave an impression on you, and it

matters that much. that I'm going to write with

my own hand, even though I know these letters

are large. Verse 12, to those, to those who want

to impress people by means of the flesh are trying

to compel you to be circumcised. Okay, so he

writes specifically to a group of people. And

if you're like, why are we talking about circumcision?

What does this have to do with anything? This

was, if you follow the kind of trail of the Bible,

specifically into the nation of Israel, it was

given by God as a way to identify as a true son

of Abraham and a true son of God. And so what

happened is that what was a sign there of going,

hey, I represented with this group of people

that God is my God. Then what they did over here

is they were requiring others to do it. But what

I want you to get is this, that it's a group

of people who are making another group of people

do something because they are trying to impress

another group of people. And so they're now looking,

right? They're now going, hey, you need to go

through this act, through this action, this outward

sign. You need to perform this outward sign.

But really what they're trying to do is get you

to do it so they can turn around and go, look

how great we are. Look at what we're doing. Look

at how the impact we're having. And maybe just

for us, you should have your guard up. when it

comes to religion. And what do I mean by that?

I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of reading

about people who were in a position of power

that abused that power and have used it in a

way in the name of God. Like, I'm just, I'm over

it. But the way we avoid that is this. I don't

allow somebody to put me under a gospel, under

the good news, under the message that is not

true. The message that is true is that it is

Jesus and Jesus alone by grace through faith

what saves you. That's it. Right? And so what

can happen though, what can happen though is

that message is really freeing. And so you got

Christians being crazy, right? You got people

out on the streets being wild. And so what the

church did is goes, oh, we got to control them.

And so what happens is a group of people, why?

Because here's the thing, somewhere along the

way, people thought that if I'm a good pastor,

you're going to be good people. That ain't my

job. My job ain't to make you not do certain

things. That's God's job. Right? And so somewhere

along the way, we started to go, okay, okay,

if we're gonna have 300 plus students in a room,

then we gotta control what they do. Right? Why?

Because they are a representation. When they

go to their schools, they're a representation

of what? Heights Church. And so we gotta control

what they do, tell them what to do. Why? Because

we, we, we, the people making them do it, are

trying to impress. Look at how great we are.

Look how good we are. Have you seen our students?

Our students are better than any other students.

They don't swear. They don't smoke. They don't

hang out with people that do. I don't know why

I chose those. Those are weird. Isn't it funny

how we can get sidetracked from the gospel? And

what's happening here, they're getting sidetracked

from the gospel. They're going, hey, you guys

got to do this. You got to put in some self -effort

and self -worth and gain some self -value to

be bigger and better. No, you don't. You have

to believe that Jesus is the son of God and he

died on a cross for your sin. And if you believe

that, you have everything. There's nothing else

to earn. There's just a life to live that is

living that out in every space and let it impact

every single space you go into. And here's the

thing, right? Like they're going, we got to control

this because if we control this just right and

we make you do just the right things, then we

look like we got it together, church. I would

much prefer to be a part of a community Where

we are struggling, but it's real. I would much

prefer to be a part of a community where marriages

are actually changing, not just changing behavior

modification towards one another that will run

out. Right? I don't want to be families that

are raising their kids in such a way that the

rules are so stringent and so tight around them

and we keep preaching at them what it means to

be a good Christian. So much so that when they

get older, they're like, I don't want anything

to do with the faith because it doesn't work.

You know what's crazy to me? I was just having

a conversation with somebody in between services.

You know what's crazy to me? It's how for years

the church Would set all these rules to try and

impress and control, right? That we've got it

all together. And then you go home and the marriages

are toxic. And then we wonder why our kids go,

I don't want to be married. You wonder why we

have promoted a gospel of legalism, meaning there's

things you gotta do and gotta perform, and we

promote that and push that, and then when it

doesn't work and it falls apart, we wonder why

the people who chose, who were willingly with

us go, I'm out. Because you were always meant

to represent God. You were always meant to, as

Todd said last week, reflect God. And so what

happens is in this case, the reflection that's

given is it's more about them and them impressing

somebody else. And then he goes on and says,

the only reason they do this is to avoid being

persecuted for the cross of Christ. He gives

the motive. He goes, hey, they're making them

do this, right? Like, and it's looking good for

them. But then what happens is he goes, hey,

the only reason they're doing this is to avoid

persecution. Now, remember. In the story of God

and specifically, specifically in Paul's life,

there's a moment in Paul's life. Paul's the author

of this. There's a moment in Paul's life where

Paul is going to Damascus and he has in his hands

papers. And those papers are to kill Christians.

Okay, so people that have rejected Judaism, he

is out here on the streets, chasing people down

and putting them to death. Right? That's what

he's been mandated by. So people that are connected

to the Jewish faith that have now met Jesus,

what do they know? If I leave the Jewish faith,

the Jewish faith is what? They're going to come

after me. How do I know that? Because persecution

was rampant when this was written. So there's

this tension, right? So what they decide to do

is to bridge some of the gaps back to what some

thought was there was some thought here and we

can actually mesh these together. So they're

trying to mesh the two religions together by

going, you know what? If we just take a little

bit of that and we take a little bit of Jesus

and we put it together, we'll be safe. Their

motivation was it's easier. Their motivation

was this is safety. Isn't it interesting when

it comes to conversation about how we act, there's

something innate in our brokenness as humans

that we love a good list of rules. You ever notice

that? But you ever notice you can't keep them?

You know what I mean? Like you walk into a room

and there's a sign that says, don't touch the

light switch. And the whole time you're like.

no, I shouldn't, but what happens if I do, right?

There's just something inside as you tell me,

don't do that, right? Like the Bible often says

like, do not fear. You ever tried that? I'm not

gonna be scared. I'm not gonna be scared. It

doesn't work. It doesn't work. There's something

inside of us that we know, we love a good rule,

but we can't keep a good rule. And yet, in so

many religious circles, what have we done? We

create these rules. We create these, I'll be

real honest with you guys, it'd be way easier

to do my job and preach if I could just come

in and go, hey guys, I wrote a bestseller, five

keys, five keys to a healthy life. And I'll just

give you the five keys. Hey guys, I wrote another

book. Five keys to what it means. Why is it always

five? We'll go seven, because that's the number

of completion in the Bible. Seven keys to being

a good Christian. And instantly, instantly, we

would go, ooh, what are these going to be? Right?

Like, well, first off, let me just help you out.

There is no such thing in the Bible as a good

Christian. Like, let's just eliminate that concept,

right? Like, you are a Christian or you're not.

That's it. You're either reflecting Jesus or

you're not. It's that easy. But we love a good

give me a list, right? So you get this list and

now you leave here and you're like, okay, I got

this tangibly. I can go do this. No, you can't.

Because that's not what you were saved to. That's

not what this is all about. When Jesus shows

up and he saves you, he transforms you and he

gives you the Holy Spirit to live inside of you.

Now let's put that in context. The same power

that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the same

power that allows Jesus to perform miracles,

the same power that brings life is inside of

you right now in the form of the Holy Spirit.

That's the power that's beating inside of your

body right now. And we think, Okay, the power

is in self -will. You are no match. I am no match

for sin. And I never will be. It'll beat me every

time. I will never overcome sin in my own power.

Ever. You know why? Sin is crafty. It finds new

ways to get you. Right? Because the power isn't

in what? In my own flesh. But what we crave is

we crave easier. But you weren't called to easy.

You know what you were called to? You were called

to walk in the, by the spirit, moment by moment.

You were called to take this power that is inside

of you and to live my life moment by moment aware

that the power to overcome, the power to be set

free, the power to not do the same things again,

is inside of you. I don't know if I say this

in church. I don't have anybody to ask. I asked

Pastor Ben last night, so maybe I'll just say

it anyways. That booty call, you don't have to

pick up. What do I mean? Friday night, your phone

rings. It's them. You know why they're calling.

You don't have to pick up the phone. I'm tired

of people going, well, I just couldn't. I just

couldn't help myself. Yes, you can. You know

why? Because you have the power of God who raised

Jesus from the dead inside of you, and you have

the power to overcome that moment and not pick

up the phone. Right? You have the power inside

of you. That for some of you, you're going to

go to the cabinet again. You know the cabinet

I'm talking about? It's out of reach of the kids

because you don't want the kids to get it. And

up there, you got all your alcohol up there,

right? And you're like, well, I can control it.

But you can't. And you know you can't. But you

keep going back to that cabinet, right? And tonight,

you're going to go back to that cabinet. And

you're like, I just can't. I just can't. It's

overwhelming. It's too much. I just need to let

go of what my day's been and what. And so you

go back to it. You, you, you, you, you have the

Holy Spirit inside of you. You have the. power

to not open the cabinet. In fact, you have the

power to pour it down the sink. If it's a problem,

get rid of it. That's the power that's inside

of you. Some of you, you're like, I just don't

know what you're talking about. I went to a prayer

meeting and I just had some prayer requests.

No, you didn't. You gossiped. Because your issue

is you can't control your mouth. Your mouth runs

all the time and it's hurting people. Well, I

can't stop it. It's the way God made me. He made

you to talk, yeah? I'll give you that. He didn't

make you to use your words in that way. Well,

I just can't stop it. You don't understand. Yes,

you can. You have the power that raised Jesus

from the dead and he's inside of you and he can

control your tongue because James tells me he

can. Right? You have the power inside of you.

I have to choose. whether I'm going to set up

rules and regulations, right? So my rule is,

okay, I'm never answering the phone from that

person. Good luck with that. Good luck. Because

I'll find another way to communicate with you.

I'm not going back to that cabinet, but I left

it there, but I'm not going back, but I left

it there, and it's always on my mind, and you'll

go back. Until you choose that the way to live

your freedom that you've been given in Jesus

is by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will

be overcome every time. The Holy Spirit will

never lead you into the things that are opposite

of the person of God. He won't. And we have the

same tension that they have here. We want the

easy way out. Give me the easy option. Give me

the list of rules, John. Tell me what I need

to do. Tell me how I should act. No, no, no.

What I will tell you is you have the Holy Spirit

inside of you, and what we are told is if you

walk by the Spirit, you will not fulfill the

lusts of the flesh. If these people were walking

by the Holy Spirit that he's talking to, they

would not be trying to impress other people by

making other people do religious things. They

just wouldn't. But their own selfish ambition

to be impressive to somebody else is what's driving

them, and in that moment, driving them by their

very flesh. How do I know that? Galatians chapter

Galatians 5:19–21

5, verse 19 through 21. If you're in any question

of what the flesh is, it's all there. Your booty

call is there, by the way. Somebody liked it.

One person. One person. We'll keep that for next

time. No, don't be sorry. I liked it. It was

a good moment. I hope it's happening in Baghdad

right now. It was a good moment. You see, sometimes

I think we really, really just want this thing

to be easy. But when I look at the person of

Jesus, you guys, the cross wasn't easy. The cross

was excruciating. When I look at the life that

Jesus lived, Jesus didn't live a comfortable

life. Somewhere along the way, we exchange the

idea of a Christian life for a comfortable life.

I know many a person, I know somebody right now

personally who's sitting in a hospital. Ask them

if they're comfortable right now. I talked to

somebody else who lost a loved one this last

week. Ask them if they're comfortable right now.

You weren't designed for comfort. You were designed

to walk with the living God. And because he knows

how broken we are, he went to great extremes

to put inside you the Holy Spirit so that you

could walk the life that he created for in Jesus,

one that is free, one that is abundant. It says

in the next verse, verse 13. Not even those who

are circumcised keep the law, yet you want to

be circumcised that they may, or they want you

to be circumcised that they may boast about your

circumcision in the flesh. It's so interesting

to me that he's going within this context. He's

talking about like, hey, they can't even keep

the law themselves. You know what's crazy? Every

human that ever put human standards on me in

the name of religion can't even live them themselves.

At some point, we got to be honest. We're out

here on these streets together, struggling together.

And the only hope we have is the person of Jesus.

And the only hope for this life is the Holy Spirit

working through us. And we just got to be honest

with that. And that means I'm going to have good

days and I'm going to have bad days. But if I

have honest days, that's the difference. But

we're designed to do it together and walk together.

Because there is no other option that works.

Verse 14, may I never boast, may I never boast

except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May I never boast. So Paul kind of reaches this

point with his large letters on this paper. And

he goes, may I never boast. We live in a culture

that boasts all the time. We live in a culture

that's all about us making something greater.

And often it's me making myself greater. Like

social media is something within our cultural

system that it's toxic for us. You don't believe

me? Read the statistics of what it does to your

teenage kids. Read where depression and how the

suicide rate has been affected by your daughters

seeing people who are trying to impress them

with how great their clothes are and how skinny

they are and what body image they should have.

And what do they do? They start to look at themselves.

Why? Because somebody else is boasting about

this is the way. This is what's awesome. Hey,

I'm not preaching, and I feel like I'm preaching,

and I ain't preaching at you. I've raised kids

in two generations. One generation, we let them

have social media. This one, I'm not. Because

I see the damage it's doing. And until they can

handle it, until they can make a choice, it's

up to them. But why? Because people boast. You

know what? I'm sick and tired. Wow, I sound really

grumpy today. I don't know what that's all about.

I don't know where that came from. I'm fatigued.

by seeing your kids and how awesome they are

on social media. Your kids ain't that awesome.

You know why? Because they're hellions just like

everybody else. You just chose to capture them

when they were good. Right? Let's be honest.

That's what it is that you boast about. Look

how great we are as parents. Man, I just want

people to post. I was talking to one of the safety

guys who was walking around today. I'm like,

I think I'm just going to start posting like

reality 100 % and see how it goes. You think

about what we've been given in the Holy Spirit,

that you can produce love and joy and peace and

patience and kindness and gentleness. That you

have this self -control, which means you have

control of the self. That's what the Holy Spirit

wants to give you and wants to produce within

you. And we're so busy trying to go, man, I'm

just going to, I'm going to love you more. And

you try and love somebody more. And they're like,

I'm going to have you arrested. Don't love me.

Right? Or you think about peace. And so you're

like, I got to get to this place of peace. So

I'm going to create a Zen pool in my backyard.

And I'm going to sit there. And you know what's

funny? You may think it's peaceful until your

kids show up. And you're like, oh. Why? Because

the only thing that can bring peace and love

and joy, the only thing that can bring a gentleness

to your anger, the only thing that can bring

kindness for your cynicism, the only thing that

can allow you to actually control this self is

God himself in the person of the Holy Spirit.

And it came at an amazing cost, you guys. The

end of that verse says, through which? So he

says, may I never boast except for in the Lord

Jesus, which is just a random question on that.

Like, what are you boasting about? What's your

life boasting about? If it's not Jesus, it's

pretty worthless. I'm gonna be honest. May I

never boast. And before you go, man, John was

like really in my business today. Hey, I understand

football season's coming. I'm gonna boast about

the Steelers. I get it, I get it. We all got

the same struggle. May I never boast except for

in the Lord Jesus. our Lord Jesus Christ, through

which... The world has been crucified to me and

I to the world. You have to get this. I know

I'm over time, but this is so important, so important.

There is a triple crucifixion that happens right

here. And the first crucifixion is Jesus. What

did Jesus do? He went to a cross and they crucified

him. Now as excruciating as the physical side

of that is, you just need to understand that

what's happening in that moment is he is taking

the entire sin of the human race, your sin, my

race, your sin, my sin, and the entire human

race, and he is putting it on him. him and he

is in that moment he is taking the sin of every

single human that will ever live and he is allowing

it to be placed on him and it's causing separation

with the father on your behalf he who knew no

sin became sin why so that you could become right

with God And so he takes on and he crucified.

He's crucified in that moment and there's separation.

There's a tearing apart. And it says one of the

things that is torn apart in the second crucifixion

is that the world and all its systems, you realize

that the enemy has this world and he's gearing

it towards leading you away from Jesus and everything,

everything around you is geared to push you away

from Jesus, not towards from the world standards

set up. And it says you have been crucified to

that, which means it has no power. It means we

don't have the excuse. They're like, well, I

just live in America in this time. No, you have

no power over you. You've been crucified to it.

But what it also says is I, I have been crucified.

I have been crucified with Christ. He said earlier

in this letter. So therefore I no longer live,

but Christ lives through me. What do you have

right now? You have the greatest gift given to

any human that's ever lived. And it is the freedom,

it is the freedom that comes in the person of

Jesus. You've been set free. And here's what

that means. Here's what that freedom is for.

It means that I can walk and live by the Spirit

of God. That freedom means that as I walk and

live by the Spirit of God, He produces within

me the very taste of heaven. He produces in me

the life of God through me to everything. And

it means that I can live in freedom. Freedom

means you have a choice. And so as we wrap up

our time, I want to do it different today, if

you'll let me. What I mean by that is this, that

we've been in this for, I think it's nine weeks,

maybe 10, I don't know. But we've walked through

the letter of Galatians and you've heard for

weeks now. In fact, there was a four week block

where it was the same message every week, right?

You could have taken your notes from the week

before and kept them. Jesus plus nothing equals

everything, right? Like that was just the...

And then we hit the point where he starts talking

about true freedom. And here's what I feel sometimes

we miss. That this is not designed for you to

walk away and just go, well, that was good. I

hope you do that because I want to impress you.

Just kidding. But we're meant to respond. We're

going to respond to what God puts in front of

us. The only way we change is through response.

And so in a few moments, here's what we're going

to do. That if you're here and you've been here

maybe over the weeks, whether that's here or

Baghdad, Paulding, online family, and you just

go, hey, I felt this tug. If I keep trying to

find my self -worth in what I do before God,

I'm still trying to make God happy. I'm still

trying to live up to some expectation that somebody

else put on me of what this Christian faith looks

like. That maybe you find that you're the one

putting those expectations on other people. That's

not your job. Maybe for you, it was the, hey,

I'm free, but I'm using that freedom and I'm

living for myself and the works of the flesh

are in my life. Like sin is just running rampant.

I keep making the same choices. I keep coming

back to the same place. And as we've gone through

this, you realize I need to go back to the foundation

of Jesus plus nothing is everything. I need to

go back to the foundation of I need to walk in

the power of the spirit. Because I've been missing

that. So here's what we're going to do. If you

are, would you stand where you are? I promise

it's not that scary. And now I'm just going to

ask you right where you are, just kind of close

your eyes or bow your head, whatever, just for

privacy for those around you. And again, I think

there's something powerful about When we respond

physically to a decision and things that are

happening on the inside. And so if you're here

and you go, John, I resonate with those things.

I resonate with someone who's trying to earn

my way to God or I'm trying to make God happy.

I'm trying to earn something that I already have.

Or you're here and you go, I'm just, I'm in a

space where, yes, it's Jesus, but I've added

all these rules and all these things that I think

I've got to keep up with. Or maybe you're here

and it's just a harsh reality that you realize

you live more by your flesh than you do the very

spirit of God that's inside of you. And today

you need to surrender and go, I'm done with that,

whatever that is. And I'm coming back to just

the foundation of Jesus. And maybe for you, it's

just a realization that I need to walk by the

spirit of God. Because my life doesn't look a

lot like love, joy, peace, patience, the fruit

of the spirit. So I'm gonna count to three. And

on three, I'm just gonna raise your hand. And

the reason for your hand being raised is one,

you, you are making that decision. It's happening

inside of you. But I just wanna pray for you.

I just wanna pray over you. And so one, if any

of that resonates, two, God loves you so much.

Three, just go ahead and raise your hand. Thank

you. Thank you. Thank you. Hands all over the

room. Thank you. Thank you. God, we just come

before you. The creator, sustainer, maker of

our souls. God, we pray over each and every hand

in this room, in multiple other rooms. where

people are gathered. God, I pray that you would

meet just like we started. Meet us where we are

at. These hands raised, God, it's just our declaration

that we need more of you. That we need to come

back to a fresh foundation of everything you've

given in Jesus. That we need to strip away all

these things where we just want to work. to try

and earn something we already have. God, we strip

away the works of the flesh and the sin that

is beating us down. God, and we come to the foundation

that through Jesus, we just stand by the Spirit.

And so in these moments, would you speak? God,

as we make room for you, we make room through

worship for you to continue to work. God, we

ask for your Spirit. to do what is natural in

heaven. But we ask that supernaturally here,

you speak and you move and you create a power

in this space through our worship, God, that

we feel your presence, that we know you are here.

And would you speak to us and confirm the decisions

we've made? We pray over Baghdad and Paulding

today and our entire online family that the spirit

would be present and moving. As we make room

through our voices and our song to just say thank

you for loving us so much. And everybody said.