What are You Reflecting | Todd Jones

What's up, church? How we doing? Good, good,

good. Welcome this morning. Welcome to everybody

online, wherever you find yourself watching.

We are so glad that we're here today. And this

might not be a shock to you, but I am entertained

by simple things. It doesn't take much, man.

There's not a lot going on up here. I remember

as a kid just staring at a window when it was

raining or there was water on it, right? And

I would watch the water droplets. And you got

to find your favorite water droplet. You know,

and you like watch it collect the others as it

goes down and it's a race. You're like, man,

are we going to win? Are we not? It gets to the

bottom. You're like, yes, I won. All right. I

remember as a kid watching a movie when the movie

was over, the DVD sign would just bounce around

the screen. All right. I could watch that for

hours because you're like, man, is it going to

hit the corner? I like it's going. You're like,

it's going to do it. It's going to do it. And

it's like, you're like, no, it didn't do it.

I remember reflections. I love reflections are

very entertaining. I told you it doesn't take

much. Remember when I first realized that when

the sun reflects off of my watch, it's really

fun. I was at a baseball game and I saw the reflection

and my team was the one that was pitching. And

so I had this intrusive thought that was like,

man, if I reflect it right in the batter's eyes

right now, I can help. I did not let the intrusive

thought win. OK, I didn't do it. But yeah, they

happen, man. Reflections are cool. The thing

about reflections, though, is sometimes they

trick you. Years ago, I was at the gym, and I

don't know why I felt it necessary to tell you

years ago. That's pretty obvious. It was years

ago I was at the gym. But I was there, and I

was working out, and there was this room like

right here where I would work out, and then there

was a room around the corner that had more weights

and more things in it. So one day I was like,

I want to check out this other room. And I walk

over to go in that other room, and I walk straight

into the mirror. There was no other room, okay?

It was reflecting the weights and everything

else that was there. Listen, a mirror's job is

to reflect. It's not about the mirror. It's about

what it reflects. So the question I want to ask

today of us is this. If your life is a mirror,

what are you reflecting? If your life is a mirror,

what are you reflecting to the world around you?

Because the mirror's job, it's not about the

mirror. It's about reflecting. What is it that

you reflect? We're in Galatians, like Pastor

David said, we're in Galatians and we've been

going through this book. We only have two weeks

left of going through Galatians. And the thing

about the Galatian church is that they are living

after Jesus was already here on the earth. They

are living in a world where Jesus already showed

up and already said things that now change the

course of how they're supposed to live, right?

They grew up in this Jewish culture where it

was like, man, there's this old law, but then

Jesus came and he changed this. And now they're

having to live by what Jesus says. So they're

living in a world where Jesus already said things

like he did in John 13, 34, where Jesus said,

a new command I give you. Not the old law that

we used to do. Here's a new law. It's coming

to you. Ready? Love one another. As I have loved

you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone

will know that you are my disciples if you love

one another. This is the identifying factor.

It's following the new law of Christ, which is

loving others, right? But this Galatian church,

they insisted that people would know them by

their religiosity, know them by the religious

acts that they did. They insisted, man, people

will know us not by our love, but will know us

by our Jewishness. If we uphold the law and do

all the right things that we're supposed to do

according to Judaism, then we'll be good. And

so Paul is writing this letter of correction

to them going, hey, you missed it. It's not about

the old law, it's about the new law, and the

new law is following what Jesus said in the law

of love. I have an observation when it comes

to church, when it comes to religion, and this

isn't backed up by theologians, this isn't backed

up by science, this is just my theory here, is

I think the more religious you get, the more

you focus on the individual, but the more real

you get, the more you focus on community. It's

kind of the difference between an individual

sport or a team sport. All right, when you're

on a team, it's like, man, everything I do has

to do with the team. So I wanna make sure that

I support the team. I wanna make sure that my

decisions are ones that are affecting the team

in a positive way. I wanna make sure I'm there

for other people. It's not all about me. But

when it's an individual sport, it's like, I got

a goal, I'm heading towards it. I don't care,

because it's all about me. Listen, church, you

need to know that Christianity is a team sport.

Christianity is a team sport. It's one in which

we come alongside one another when we're going

through things. We say, yeah, I'm there for you.

It's said this way in Galatians chapter six,

verse one. He says this, brothers and sisters,

if someone is caught in a sin, if someone is

doing something they shouldn't, you who live

by the spirit should restore that person gently,

but watch yourself so you also, or else you also

may be tempted. Sin will happen. What he's saying

is sin is going to happen and you're going to

need a team. Sin is going to happen and you're

going to need a team around you. Because what

teammates do is teammates pick each other up.

And they don't just pick each other up, they

pick each other up gently. Some of you already

know this. Some of you have been counting down,

you know, but in 19 days, college football is

back. And in 32 days, the NFL is back, right?

You guys are like, heck yeah, baby, let's go,

right? Some of you are about to embark on a journey

that leads in utter disappointment, right? You're

like, you're gonna follow that team. I'm preparing

myself, I already know. I don't care though,

even if there's no disappointment, go Niners,

okay? I'm saying it, go Niners, there we go.

Yes, there's a Christian in here, I heard you.

That's awesome. Praise the Lord, I'm glad you're

here today. All right, someone last night, when

I said that, they yelled, they're like, go Cardinals.

And I was like, wow, you really are asking God

for big things, that's amazing. A lot of faith

in this man, all right? All right, but here's

the thing about football. When you watch football,

if you see the quarterback gets knocked down

because the defense is trying to knock the quarterback

down, I always love watching the linemen, all

right? The biggest, strongest, meanest guys on

the field. The way that they go over and they

pick up their quarterback so gently, right? They're

just like, oh my gosh, you're gonna kiss him?

This is so sweet, what are you doing? But it's

so gentle and they pick him up and they're like,

I'm going to care for you. I'm going to pick

you up. See, I think we need to start acting

like linemen when it comes to the church and

we need to start gently picking each other up.

But I think our first response in the church

is not that, right? If we're honest, the church

oftentimes is known for condemnation, not gentleness.

Oh, shouldn't have done that. They deserve it.

They shouldn't have done that. Oh, if you're

going to act that way, you don't belong in a

church. Get out of here. Oh, who are you? You

shouldn't be doing that. Why do we come down

with condemnation? And even if we do restore

someone, right, Paul's saying, hey, restore them

gently. If we do, usually it's from a distance.

Usually it's like, oh yeah, you can come in,

that's fine, but just stay away from me because

you're unclean. I know what you've done. What

Paul is saying here is he's saying, hey, you

restore them closely. All right, how do I know

that he's saying closely? Because he says, if

you're gonna walk with them, be careful that

you don't fall into the temptation that they

fell into. How would you fall into it if you

weren't walking closely with them? It's not from

a distance. It's walking closely with somebody.

If we are living in the spirit, which is what

we talked about last week is living in the spirit,

then we produce something called the fruit of

the spirit. And one of the fruit of the spirit

is gentleness. Gentleness is a fruit of the spirit.

But we like doling out justice instead of gentleness.

Oh, we're gonna fight for justice. That's just

not right. That's what we like to fight for.

It's the difference between myself and my wife.

For me, if someone makes a mistake, if someone

does something, I love to cancel someone. I love

a good cancel. You're done. Cut them off. Cancel

them. They messed up. My wife is the other side.

She's like, man, why don't we just love them

and we act with gentleness and we restore them

and we do all these things. I'm like, what? You're

acting like Jesus over there? Come on. She's

like, yeah, that's the point. That's kind of

what it's about. We need to restore people gently.

What does that look like? Verse two. It says

this, carry each other's burdens and in this

way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. When

you restore someone gently, you carry their burdens.

You carry the oppressive load that they're feeling,

the thing that drew them away, the difficulty

that they're going through, the pain in their

life. You come alongside and say, hey, I wanna

carry this burden with you. And I remember about

11 years ago, I found myself in a place where

I didn't have a job. I didn't have any way to

provide for my family. And I had a friend named

John Fuller who said, hey, I know you won't just

take money if I give it to you, but I have yard

work that needs to be done. Would you come over

and do some yard work for me? And I'm like, yeah,

I can work for it. So I go over to his house

and he takes me out in the yard and he shows

me and he says, hey, the leaves are just out

of control. Can you pick up the leaves? And I

look over there and I'm like, the 12 leaves that

are on the ground over there? And he's like,

ah, it's just terrible, man. And this bush over

here, it needs to be trimmed. It's just, it's

out of control. And I'm like, you mean the perfectly

manicured bush with like one branch out of place?

He's like, and then the weeds. Weeds are, oh

man, like weed. I'm like, the 10 weeds I see?

Like, what is happening? He goes, this should

take you about four hours. I have to leave and

I'll be back to pay you after four hours. He

didn't need yard work done, but he was bearing

my burdens. He's going, hey, I know what you're

going through. I know this is a difficult time

for you. And I wanna come alongside you because

this is what community does. This is what teammates

do. This is what the church does is we come alongside

one another. We bear each other's burdens. We

walk with one another. Why do we do this? Because

this is how we fulfill the law of Christ. What

is Christ's law? That we would love. This is

how we fulfill his law. They will know you by

your love. That's what being a teammate is about.

And here's why being a teammate is so important.

because you're gonna need a teammate. See, I

think a lot of times we think, yeah, I'll be

the teammate, I'll be the one that's supporting

everyone else. You're gonna find yourself in

a place where you're gonna need a teammate, because

you're a sinner too. You're a sinner saved by

grace. You're gonna sin, you're gonna fall, you're

gonna have brokenness, you're gonna have things

happen in your life, and you're gonna need a

teammate to come alongside you in that moment.

All right, you're no better than anyone else.

You are a sinner too. Verse three says this,

if anyone thinks that they are something when

they're not, They deceive themselves. They lie

to themselves. That's a lie that you tell yourself

when you think you're something when you're not.

But the truth is, is that when we start doing

well in something, when things start going good,

we're like, I got this. I'm good. I think I'm

a little better than I am. And we're lying to

ourselves. About five years ago, my friend and

I got really into playing cornhole in the backyard.

We were really good. Corn, you know the game?

You throw the... beanbags and you make it on

the board and in the hole, right? And we got

real good. And so I'm like, man, we're so good

that we're going to enter into a tournament.

And so we entered into a tournament. You already

know your boy won the tournament. All right,

we won it. All right, we just straight up, we

dominated. It was awesome. We were awesome. And

so we're like, we're going to go for another

one. So we signed up for another tournament.

We won that one too. All right, some of you are

waiting for it. Okay, here it comes. So then

we signed up for the next tournament. And we

go through the first couple games, and we win,

and then we get this next game that we're going

to play, this next partner that we have to go

against. And we're kind of small talking, and

they say, hey, do you guys play here often? And

we're like, no, this is our first time. What

about you? So we're pretty much here every week

except for last week. And I said, well, where

were you last week? They said, we were playing

in another tournament. I said, well, where was

that? And they said, on ESPN. And I was like,

like the sports network on TV, ESPN? And they're

like, yeah. And I'm like, oh, this will be fun,

right? Listen, we got absolutely crushed, all

right? We got crushed. And I was like, man, this

is crazy because we thought that we were doing

good. And we thought that we were something when

we were not. And the truth is, that's exactly

what happens in my spiritual life. I'm praising

you, Jesus. I'm reading my Bible. I'm praying.

I'm in a good place with you, God. So I'm awesome.

And then the next thing I know, I get hit with

temptation that I fall right into. I go, man,

I thought I was something when I'm not. He's

saying, don't deceive yourself. Don't lie to

yourself and think that you're something when

you're not. Instead, verse four, each one of

you should test your own actions. Then they can

take pride in themselves alone without comparing

themselves to someone else. For each one should

carry their own load. Nevertheless, the one who

receives instruction in the word should share

all good things with their instructor. All right,

what Paul is saying here, if you have more than

one kid, you know exactly what he's saying. He's

saying this, worry about yourself. Worry about

yourself. I don't care if it's not fair. I don't

care what they did. Worry about yourself. Worry

about yourself. But a lot of times we like to

compare to everyone else. And we like to judge

other people's lives going, man, if I was in

that situation, I would have done this because

I'm so much better. We like to compare to what

everyone else is doing. The truth is you don't

know their life. You don't know what's actually

going on. You have no clue what's going on in

someone else's life. I hate to even admit this.

I was at the grocery store the other day and

I was in the parking lot and I saw this guy drive

in. I saw through the window, through his windshield,

very athletic, very built guy, good shape. And

he pulls in and he pulls right into the handicapped

spot. And I'm going, what is this guy doing?

What a jerk. Why would he take up this spot?

I need to tell him. I need to give him a piece

of my mind and let him know what's wrong with

this situation. And as I'm walking towards it,

he opens the door and he sets out his wheelchair

and he slides into his wheelchair and he rolls

into the store and I'm sitting there going, man,

I'm such an idiot. Because I saw a little piece

of his life and I wanted to make a bunch of assumptions

and judge everything in his life. And that's

what we do, man. We look at someone else's life

and we go, man, I'm gonna compare myself to you

and I'm gonna judge you. And when the truth is,

is that's comparing apples to oranges because

you don't know their life. You don't know what

they're going through. You don't know the situations.

You don't know how hard it is for them. And listen,

what he's saying is he's saying, hey, worry about

yourself. Quit worrying about everyone else.

Worry about yourself. You can't compare to someone

else. And some of you have caught on already,

right? You're reading through this passage. And

you're going, wait a second, verse two, it said,

bear each other's burdens. But this one says,

everyone should carry their own load. And you're

like, is the Bible contradicting itself? Is it

wrong? Do we cancel it? Nope, nope, hold on,

hold on. Okay, in verse two, the word that's

used for this, the word means a heavy oppressive

load. And when somebody is going through a heavy

oppressive load, when someone is dealing with

an issue, yes, we are to come alongside them.

But the word that is used in verse five is a

soldier's pack or an individual's responsibility.

There's a difference here. And what he's saying

is this, is this load is meant for them. What

he's saying is so many of you are so into the

gossip around you. You love the drama. And so

you go around collecting the problems of everything

around you and you start dealing with things

that you were never meant to deal with. Well,

I'm gonna say that again because some of you

need to write it down. You need to highlight

it, you need to circle it, and you need to tattoo

it on your forehead, all right? Listen to me,

some of you are so into the gossip around you.

You love the drama, and so you go around collecting

problems that you were never meant to deal with.

Worry about yourself. Worry about yourself. That's

not for you to take on. It's not for you to judge

other people. It's not for you to take on their

issues. You were never meant to deal with those.

Worry about yourself. Let me ask you this. Have

you ever seen a scary mirror before? You ever

looked at it, seen something scary? That happens

to me sometimes. It's kind of a lot. I look in

the mirror and I'm like, who is that old man

looking back at me right now? I'm like, that

guy's got a lot of wrinkles. That guy's gray.

Guy lost his hair a long time ago. It's kind

of scary. Here's the thing. A mirror's job is

to reflect whatever it's pointing at. That's

its job. It's just to reflect whatever it is

that it's pointing at. Listen, what are you pointing

at? Are you pointing at gossip? Are you pointing

at sin? Are you pointing at lies? Are you pointing

at yourself? Or are you pointing at Jesus? Because

what you're pointing at is what you will reflect.

What is it that you are pointing at? Because

whatever you are pointing at, that's what will

happen. That's what you will reflect. Verse seven

says this, do not be deceived. Again, don't lie

to yourself. Do not be deceived. God cannot be

mocked. A man reaps what he sows. What you sow

is what you will reap. And you're not gonna fool

God. What he's saying is it doesn't matter how

hard you fake it, you're not fooling God. It

doesn't matter how hard you fake it, how good

you look on the outside, God knows what's truly

going on on the inside. About a year and a half

ago, my wife and I started praying that God would

provide for us a 15 -passenger van. We have five

kids. We're inviting tons of friends to church.

sports, all the things that we do, it's usually

we have triple buckle going on in the back seat.

So we're like, man, we need this. God, would

you provide? And we saw God do something amazing.

We saw God provide it in a way that we could

never have afforded. And he gave us a price that

was only from God. And we were able to buy this

15 passenger van and we were so blessed by it.

And one of the things that was so amazing when

we bought this is the tires, the tread on the

tires were like perfect. And we're like, this

is amazing. We don't need to replace these tires

because they're perfect. The tread is really

good. It looks amazing. And so we were able to

drive it all summer, and we drove it to many

different places. And one of the trips that we

went on was to California. And as we were driving

it to California, our tire absolutely blew. And

when I say blow, I mean like for real, for real.

It looked like this, okay? This is what it was.

Like it really blew, okay? I didn't even know

tires could do that, right? This thing blew,

and we're on the way. We're outside of this beautiful

little city called Needles. I don't know if you've

ever been to Needles before. Why are you laughing?

It's a beautiful little place. I don't know if

you're from there. If you're from there, I am

sorry. Okay, I am sorry. But you're probably

closer to the Lord because you know what hell

is like. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Come

on, don't laugh at that. That's dumb. That's

not nice. That's not nice. It was 110 degrees.

We're on the side of the freeway. We're waiting

for this tow truck to pick us up and they take

us to this tire place and we get there. And as

we're there, we're just like, man, what is going

on? The tread looked amazing. And the tire guy,

he looks at it and he gets into it and he goes,

the problem is, is yes, it looked great on the

outside, but the age of the tire shows that on

the inside, it was rotting on the inside and

it was baking on the inside and it was ready

to blow at any moment. And I think the truth

is that a lot of us are like that. The tread

looks great, and we have everyone faked out in

our life because we act a certain way, and we

look the right part when we come to church, and

we show up when we're supposed to, and everything

looks good on the outside, but on the inside,

you are baking, you are broken, you are rotten,

and you are ready to explode. And the crazy thing

is we go to people to confirm our ideas. Man,

we took it to a tire place when we first got

it, and the guy just looked at it from afar,

and he goes, the tread looks great, you're good.

We're like, we got an expert opinion, we're good.

We come to church around church people and we

go around religious people that said, I look

good. I'm fine. But you're not fooling God because

on the inside, you are rotting. On the inside,

you are broken. It is not about how well you

can fake it. Some of you can fake it really well.

You can play the part. You can look a certain

way. You can act a certain way. You can show

up and wear the right clothes. And God's going,

you're not fooling me. You're not fooling me.

Verse eight, whoever sows to please their flesh.

from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever

sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will

reap eternal life. Some of you are putting in

a bunch of bad stuff, expecting good to come

out. You ever made a healthy shake before? Put

in a bunch of nasty stuff and expect it to taste

good? You know what I'm saying? You put in all

the gross stuff and you're like, oh, it's gonna

taste good. Some of you out there still believe

that. And you're like, no, I actually make a

pretty good one. No, you don't, it's nasty. Unless

you put ice cream in it, that thing's nasty.

I'm telling you right now. You're lying to yourself.

But we do that with our lives, man. We want to

sew in a bunch of bad stuff and we expect good

to come out of it. We sew in pornography in our

life and expect true fulfillment. We sew in anger

and we expect healthy relationships. We sew in

alcohol and we expect peace. We start sewing

in gossip, expecting a drama -free life. It's

not happening. Are we so in all these self -centered

things and we expect to start loving others?

It's not gonna happen because what you're doing

is you're sowing in the flesh, expecting something

else. And I'm telling you right now, when you

sow from the flesh, you will reap from the flesh.

Paul says this instead, sow to please the spirit.

Instead, sow to please the spirit. What does

that mean? What does that look like? First is

this, if you're taking notes. It's prioritizing

time with God. It's prioritizing time with God.

And here's the thing about time with God. I understand

this. You don't have time. I know you don't because

I don't have time. I got five kids. I got two

jobs. I got so many things going on. I don't

have time. That's why you can't try to find time.

You have to make time. Because that's what a

priority is. When you prioritize something, you

say, I don't care what I have to do. I'm going

to make it a priority to have time with God.

I'm going to make it a priority to get into God's

word. I'm going to make it a priority to spend

time in prayer. I'm going to make it a priority

to think about God and invite him into my day.

Because if you don't prioritize your time with

God, guess what? God's not going to be showing

up in your day because you never invited him

in. And some of you are like, how come I don't

hear God? Well, guess what? You never even asked

him in. You never prioritize time in your life

to spend it with God. And I get that time is

hard, but I can't think of a better thing to

do with your time than to prioritize spending

time with God. Because when you do that, what

you're doing is you're sowing to please the Spirit.

And when you sow the right thing, you reap the

right thing. All right, next is this. It's selflessly

serving others. Sowing to please the Spirit is

selflessly serving others. And we are so bad

at this because we are all about serving ourself.

All right, back to the time thing. You're like,

I can't serve anyone else. I don't have the time

for it because I don't want to sacrifice my time.

Hold on, how many me's and my's did you say there?

I just can't do it because I don't want to give

up my time. It's not about you. It's about selflessly

serving others. It's about showing up and saying,

listen, I know I don't have time for this. This

isn't what I want to do, but it's not about me.

It's about serving others selflessly because

when I do that, I'm sowing to please the spirit,

not to please myself because it's not about you.

Our youth and kids programs start midweek this

week. We have them back on Wednesday at our Prescott

location and Thursday at our Prescott Valley

location. Kids ministry, middle school ministry,

high school ministry. And listen, I'm telling

you right now, the only way that that happens

is when people step up to serve selflessly and

say, hey, I want to be a part of this. And all

of you right now are going, man, I hope the person

next to me is listening right now. No, that means

you. That means you. I don't have time. I know

you don't. I just don't want to do it. I know

you don't. It's not about you. It's about serving

selflessly. I'm just going to tell you a very

real need that we have with that right now at

our Prescott location for our high school ministry

right now. We're going to launch this thing.

We're going to have over 150 high schoolers showing

up on Wednesday. It's going to be amazing. And

we're in need of about, yeah, go ahead. It's

awesome. I'm glad that we're going to have those

students here. We're in need of about 10 to 15

leaders that are willing to say, I want to step

up to make this thing happen. 10 to 15 people.

Men and women that are saying, hey, I want to

show up and I want to walk alongside a student

and I want to be in their life because it's not

about me, it's about serving selflessly. Because

when I serve selflessly, what am I doing? I'm

sowing into the Spirit. I'm sowing to please

the Spirit. Next is this. It's staying in community.

It's staying in community. Community, I'm gonna

rattle some of your worlds right now. Community

is not just showing up on a Sunday. It's having

Christian community in your life that you can

walk with those people, that you can go to those

people, that can come alongside of you when you're

wrestling with things in your life. Pastor David

was over at my house on Friday night and for

about two hours, he just sat on my couch and

talked to me about this faith journey that I'm

wrestling with. And I'm going, God, how do I

step out in faith and make it not about me, but

about you? I don't even know what this looks

like. And David comes and sits on my couch and

goes, hey, let's just talk, man. This is what

community does. And for some of you, you've been

running from community again because you don't

have the time for it. And again, because you

don't want to get vulnerable with people. But

I'm telling you right now, you need to live in

community. Why? Because we are on a team and

teammates. means that you have to be in community.

You often hear us talk about life groups, and

maybe you've been putting off this life group

because you're like, I don't need it. But I'm

telling you right now, life groups, sign -ups

are happening within the next couple weeks. And

some of you right now need to make the decision

that you are going to sow into pleasing the Spirit

by getting yourself in community, even when it

might be uncomfortable for you. And I'm going

to step out right now and say that God is going

to bless you for that. I'm not telling you you're

gonna win the lottery. I'm not telling you you're

getting that Lamborghini you got your eye on.

But I'm telling you that there will be a blessing

in your life because you step out to say, hey,

I wanna sow into this to please the spirit and

step into community. Next is this, is using your

gifts for the kingdom. Your gifts, your talents,

the things that you are good at, the things that

you are passionate about, the things that you

have, those are things that God has given you

to use for him. We talk about it when it comes

to generosity on this stage. We say, listen,

God has given you all of this stuff. It's all

his anyway. So we're asking that you would step

out in faith and say, hey, I want to give back

to God. But it's not just financial. It's everything

that you have in your life. God has given you,

not for you. He's given it to you to bless others.

He's given it to you to serve others. He's given

it to you to use for his kingdom. It's not about

you. None of this is about us. What is it about?

It's about reflecting to the world something

different. That's how we reflect. That's how

we reflect to the world. Not the law of religiosity,

but the law of love. Jesus' law of love. Listen,

I get it. It's not easy. It's not easy to do

that. It says in Galatians 6, verse 9, let us

Galatians 6:9

not become weary in doing good. Don't get tired

of doing good for at the proper time, we will

reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore,

as we have opportunity, let us do good to all

people, especially to those who belong to the

family of believers. Don't get tired of doing

good. All right, what is good? Good is Christ's

law of love. That's what it is. It's loving people.

It's Christ's law of love in our life. We should

be reflecting Christ's law of love. This passage

is coming out of the end of Galatians 5 is that

list of the thing that we call the fruit of the

spirit. And then Paul goes right into writing

this one of saying, hey, this is how you live

it out. This is how you live it out and bury

each other's burdens. This is how you live it

out and not judge one another. This is how you

live it out and sow into pleasing the spirit,

not pleasing into the flesh. What he's saying

is it's the fruit of the spirit. So let me ask

you, what are you reflecting? What are you reflecting?

Because you reflect what you're pointing at.

We need to be pointing at Christ. When you're

pointing at Christ, that is what you were reflecting

to the world around you. Some of you, you walked

in here today and you've never said yes to Jesus.

You've never put your faith and trust in Jesus

for the very first time. You've never said, I

trust that Jesus died on a cross for my sins,

that he rose from the grave. And that through

putting my trust in him, I can have a relationship

with God. And if you've never done that, you've

never pointed the mirror that is your life at

Jesus for the very first time. And today is the

day that you need to surrender and say, I give

it up to you because I want to point the mirror

that is my life at you. So I reflect Jesus to

the world. And for some of you, you've done that,

but your mirror has gotten a little bit off.

And you need to repoint it at Jesus. You need

to focus back in and say, man, I've been pointing

at all these other things, but I need to point

the mirror of my life at Jesus so that is what

I am reflecting to the world. It means reflecting

the Holy Spirit. And how do we do this is this,

is we have to start by inviting the Holy Spirit

in. I would challenge all of you to start your

day just by inviting the Holy Spirit in. Holy

Spirit, guide me. Holy Spirit, I want to learn

from you. Holy Spirit, teach me. Holy Spirit,

speak to me today. Again, some of you are expecting,

man, how come I'm not hearing from God and you're

expecting to hear from him, but you never invited

him in? Ask the Holy Spirit in and don't just

ask him in. Okay, what if we as a church took

the next step? Don't just ask him to show up,

ask him to show off. Because I think God wants

to do something so much bigger in your life than

you even are expecting. Don't say, don't just

show up, but man, show off. Blow the box of who

I put you in out of my mind because I don't want

you to stay in a box. I want you to do something

big. I want it to be amazing. But here's the

thing, if you're gonna ask the Holy Spirit in

to guide you, to speak to you, you gotta listen.

When you feel that nudge to serve, when you feel

that nudge to talk to somebody, when you feel

that thing inside of you that's saying, man,

I need to apologize. And you feel that thing

inside you that's saying, man, I need to give.

And you feel like, man, I gotta step out in faith

right here. Do it. Do it. Because when you ask

the Holy Spirit to speak to you and then he speaks

and you don't listen, what you're doing is you're

turning down the volume on the Holy Spirit. You

say, man, I spoke, but you didn't listen. Listen

to me, church. Our job is to reflect him. And

how we reflect him is by remembering what he

did for us. When you came in today, you received

a cup. And what this is, is in the church world,

we call this communion. And communion was what

Jesus said in motion when he was in the upper

room with his disciples. And he was about to

go to a cross. And he explained to them what

this meant. And what the role of communion is

in our life right now is to remember what God

has done for us, to recenter on the fact. that

he died on the cross for you, for you, that he

loves you. He's not angry at you, he loves you.

It's a time for us to confess, God, this is how

I have not lived for you. I wanna put that behind

me. I wanna repent of that. And I wanna focus

on what you did on the cross because you paid

for it all. And so for the next few moments,

these are yours to just think, to remember. Think

about what it meant that God gave his only son

for you. For you personally, he loved you enough

to die for you. Take a few moments and think.

As Jesus took the bread, he said, this is my

body that was broken for you. Eat this in remembrance

of me. It says that in the same way he took the

cup, he said, this represents my blood that was

spilled out on your behalf. Drink this in remembrance

of me. Lord God, we praise you. God, we are so

humbled and grateful for what you have done for

us on the cross. God, I pray that you would give

us the strength and the power to walk in that

this week, that we would reflect you to the world

around us, God. We would not think more of ourselves

than we should. God, that we would humble ourself

to gently walk alongside people. God, that we

would sow into what pleases the spirit, not so

into what pleases the flesh, God, that we would,

in what we decide to do and the decisions that

we make and the situations that we encounter,

that we would reflect you to the world around

us in love, that we would keep your law of love.

We're grateful for you, God. We're so thankful

for all the blessings that you've given us. We

love you, Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen.