Pentecost Sunday

Welcome to the church.

We're so glad you're here.

We're halfway through May.

It's actually over halfway through.

It's flying back already.

It's a flying back.

Hey, you know this is flying back?

These titles.

I'm brand new.

Oh, I'm code.

Okay, that was new.

Pro edit mode.

Um we're so glad.

Are you gonna add the sound effects?

Yes.

Okay, cool.

Yeah, that might make it easier.

Uh yeah, so we're so glad you're here.

Awesome, awesome.

It's not all gonna be gold with us, and that's fine.

I'm just kidding, that was really good.

I was just kidding.

Yeah.

Just make sure you use the right lower third so that it actually looks like something got you.

Um whatever.

I'm not talking to you like you're editing.

Um who knows?

Whoever's editing this, please use the correct lower third.

We're so thankful for this.

Our team who does a lot of the video editing.

We're so thankful.

Hey, have you seen that picture, Beck?

Anyway, hey, we're so glad you're here because this is going down the hill quick, and um we need to get started because it's Sunday fun day.

It is.

May 19th is here, and it's gonna be a great day.

Yes.

Tell the people what they need to hear.

Man, well, there's all kinds of things you need to hear.

First and foremost, the word of the Lord is gonna keep coming at you with that in a little bit.

You wonder why people don't come to church anymore.

But before that, I mean, a couple things you just need to know about.

Hey, real quick, real quick, let's just do it, just for kicks and giggles, we're gonna play a little Sunday school game.

Yep.

Where I'm gonna ask a question and let's see what your answer is.

Okay.

Based off of what just happened.

Why is it important for us to love people?

Because God wants us to.

Ah, the Jesus cop-out answer.

So tell them what they want to hear?

The word of the Lord.

Of course, Brandon.

Yeah.

Sorry, Jesus.

Hey, we're just here we are.

Hey, make sure you download that church video.

Welcome to amateur hour.

We are so good.

Wow.

Okay, I'll take over.

So, download Church Move.

It's got everything you need to know.

Summer Jam is quickly approaching.

We're like two weeks out.

It is.

And we need help.

We need volunteers.

Yep.

We need you to register your kiddos so that we can prepare for those kiddos.

We need volunteers.

We need volunteer.

Uh I said that right.

Okay.

So sign up.

You can do that on the app.

You can also take next steps on the app.

You can um figure out other events that are going on.

We got a kids' camp.

What is student?

Students camp, yeah.

Coming up.

Um I'm sorry, I'm I'm not, you know, I'm not.

You're doing great.

I don't have a student.

I mean, you're doing great.

I do have a little student.

Kids are going to kindergarten actually.

Anyways, um, so download the app.

Yes.

And also, when you do that, you get a free gift.

It's called a link to download terminals that you'll need today.

Yes, that's true.

And if you don't like it, then we'll give you your money back.

That is also true.

It doesn't cost you.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Well done.

Someone say it's worth exactly what you pay for.

I don't know, but I don't think it's a good idea.

I think it's worth more.

I think it's really good app.

It's a great value.

For your your purchase.

I mean, you pay nothing and you get eternity in return.

Someone say it's likened to the gospel.

Yeah.

See, there we go.

We're back.

We're back on track.

We're back on track.

We took a detour down in Cornfield to get away from the cops, but now we're back.

We're back on the state highway.

We know what that means.

We're back.

We're from Franklin County.

You know exactly what that means.

We did that before.

Just give me a big thing.

We did not do that.

Sheriff Thomas, we did.

No.

Never mind.

We did not do that, Mr.

Andrews.

Not at all.

Hey, we've got some great stuff coming up.

We hope you're having a blast.

We hope that the summer is off to a great start.

The summer is off to a great start.

Summer Jam is coming up.

Just to highlight that, man, make sure you uh register your kids for that.

Like Cody said, we do need volunteers.

It takes an army to pull that off.

Because we're doing this at multiple locations.

So at our social circle campus and our wanna grow campus.

So simultaneously, boom, we need two teams, two armies to pull that off.

So if you're interested, go to the app, it's there.

And we are gonna jump into some worship today to just refocus, get our minds and hearts on Jesus, and um and get ready to hear the word of the Lord because we believe God wants to speak to us today.

So I hope you're ready.

It's gonna be awesome.

We'll be back on the other side to close this out.

But let's hear from God together and that motorcycle.

Your name is Eour Shine through the shadows, burn the life.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus over fear and all anxiety, so every soul help can divide oppression as we're name is power.

Your name is Your name is Break every stone, shutter the shadow Your name is power, your name is Your name is Break every shoulder, shine through the shadows, burn the shall Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkness over every enemy, and Jesus for my family.

I speak the holy name Jesus from the mountains, and she's a peace, Jesus in the darkness over every enemy.

She's a small family, a sweet home, she is power, your name is so shine through the shadows through the life.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus.

Come on, church over every heart and every mind.

I speak Jesus on the mountains.

Well, it is great to see everybody this morning.

My name is Russ.

If I hadn't had a chance to meet you and I'm one of the pastors here at Church of the Grove, excited to be with you guys this morning.

Especially if it's your maybe first or second time, third time.

I hope you you feel the warmth and welcome.

And now I hope that you have experienced just the power of the Holy Spirit and we're going to hopefully experience the power of God's Word as it's preached.

Today is a is a little bit different.

We teach typically through series, and so we we just came out of a series and um and uh and and so today is a really a standalone day.

And then next, don't if if you if you want you you love incredibly just powerful stories, um next week we're gonna start with Joseph, the story of Joseph.

If you want to start reading, start reading in Genesis 37.

And so that that will be a pretty lengthy series, um, a pretty lengthy series.

So I'm I'm pumped.

I'm I'm probably uh maybe three weeks uh in preparation uh or so um uh working on that series, but today is a different day.

Today, today in the world of Christendom is what we call the day of Pentecost.

And and I'm gonna be quite honest with you, um, in the tradition, uh, you know, uh you know, I I come from a very unique ecumenical background, and so I have I had one the tradition of the church that I came in Christ in, um, and we we we talked about the Holy Spirit all the time.

There was always always what what we what they would say was manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

I'm just gonna be honest with you, you know, being transparent, I believe that some of those experiences were actually very genuine, um, but I'm gonna tell you a lot of them were were a bit manufactured and manipulated, and they came out of human effort, uh, you know, because they felt like they had to have something happen, or, or they didn't have church.

Um, and so um I'm not scared of those environments.

I'm not uh, you know, I listen, uh there you'd be surprised at some of the the preachers that I listen to that that are that are from very backgrounds.

Now then I went, I I when I came to Christ and and and spent several years, I was in the business world.

I uh I ended up back in what was called a Southern Baptist Church, and I went to a Southern Baptist seminary uh to get my master's degree, and then um did my doctoral work at a really a non-denominational seminary, uh, but but it's typically more Baptist like.

Um and so we uh as a church are are are I always tell people we're somewhat baptistic, somewhat baptistic in our faith.

We believe in the in the word of God, the full counsel of the word of God.

We by no means would fall into the category of what some would call cessationists, which means that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or a portion or the power gifts, ceased.

They stopped, they ended when the last apostle passed away.

I believe that all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available to us today just as they were to the early church.

Now, I I can I explain to you why why for some reason, and I've I've traveled, I have, I don't consider myself a world traveler, but but I I've got a list of countries that I've spent some time in, and I'll be honest with you, when we go, when we when I go out of the country, it's like, man, the the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is just it's different.

And I think one of the reasons is because they a lot of them don't have the word of God like we have the word of God available to us.

I don't I wonder how many copies of the Bible you have on the on the on the shelves at your house.

We have quite a few.

We've got the word of God available to us, and so we've got the evidence of God at work.

And so today is Pentecost Sunday, and and and what what does it mean?

Pentecost is it's it's it's the 50th day.

Pente is is so so think Pentagon.

It is a it I think it's the largest building, you know, as far as landmass in in the world, the Pentagon, where all of our armed forces are kind of headquartered.

Um it's a five-sided, five-sided building, big five-sided building.

So Pente is five.

And so Pentecost, it is a 50-day um after Easter celebration, and it commemorates as Christians.

Now, I could go back and give you the history of Pentecost in the Old Testament, but but we're we're not, that's not where we are today.

We're in the New Testament, and it's the 50th day commemorating the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The coming of the Holy Spirit is one of, if not the most important days in the life of the church.

And so everything changed on the day of Pentecost.

And you know, some of you, if you don't know the story, um, Jesus spends 40 days preaching after he's resurrected.

He he comes and he lives.

He lives a sinful, sin, sinless, sinless life.

He's a perfect sacrifice.

He dies a gruesome death on a cross for the remission and the redemption and the forgiveness of your sins.

They bury him in a tomb.

Three days later, he is resurrected, bodily resurrected.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Yeah, and so then he spends four days with his disciples preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God.

And he tells them, he tells them to go, go to the upper room, you go there and you pray and you prepare, and the one, the advocate, the helper, the comforter, the Holy Spirit will come to you.

And the Holy Spirit comes in power.

I mean, it is it is something like you've never seen.

The Holy Spirit comes, and it and it says that tongues of fire rested on the heads of the disciples.

They came out into the streets, speaking other tongues.

Now, this was during a festival where Jewish people from all types of nations were coming, who probab who definitely did not all speak the same language.

And the Holy Spirit spoke through the disciples, spoke through the apostle Peter, where they could hear the voice of God, each one of them, in their own language.

And so Peter preaches this incredibly powerful evangelistic message.

3,000 people get saved on one day, and they're all baptized, and so the Holy Spirit has come.

The Holy Spirit has come.

And so we we see God expressed.

God is a triune God.

He is the Father, and He is the Son, and He is Holy Spirit all in one.

How do you understand that?

Maybe you can't in your own power.

It is a mystery.

Paul speaks of it being a mystery.

The gospel is a mystery.

The triune God, it is a mystery, it's a mystery.

And I could give you all kinds of illustrations where people have tried to explain it, but none of them do justice.

None of them do justice.

God is three in one.

He is one God expressed in three personalities: the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit.

We can understand the Son, Jesus.

We can understand He's born as a human being, grows up.

It's hard for me to understand how he grew up sinless.

That's unique because I know I'm not sinless.

My wife reminds me of that on a regular basis.

My kids remind me of that.

They have reminded me of that.

Um on occasion, uh, you know, when Abigail was little and I had to punish her.

She said, Daddy, I don't think the Lord wants you to do this.

And so, and so, and so then there's God.

There's God, um, the Father, he is the creator, but and and and so he is transcendent.

He is beyond us.

He is He, you know, I I there's a bit of me, part of me understands that, but the Holy Spirit is a bit mysterious.

And in this post-Enlightenment culture that we live in that values logic rather than experience what it's we want everything to make sense.

Everything has to make sense in our minds.

And the Holy Spirit doesn't fit in that category.

The Holy Spirit cannot be fully understood in your natural mind, in your earthly mind.

As a result, today, Christians, for many of us, for many of you, especially if you grew up in a certain tradition, the Holy Spirit is a familiar stranger to you.

He is a familiar stranger.

I kind I kind of get it.

And I put my faith in him, and and and he indwells, the Holy Spirit indwells in me, and there's times that I sense it, but when it comes down to daily, daily walking, he is somewhat of a familiar stranger.

Because I can tell you, God wants more.

God wants so much more for us and wants to do so much more through us.

John 16.

So here's the text.

Jesus has been teaching.

He's traveled, he's mostly traveled around the Sea of Galilee.

He travels to Jerusalem, he travels, he's been in the desert, but he knows that his time is coming to an end on earth.

And so here's the message he gives his disciples, John 16, verse 5.

John 16:5

He says, But now I'm going away to the one who sent me.

And not one of you is asking where I am going.

Instead, you grieve.

You grieve because of what I've told you.

But in fact, it is, let's say it together.

It is so Jesus physically is going away.

How can how that that's that they're grieving?

They're grieving that.

But he's saying, This is best for you.

This is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the advocate won't come.

And that word advocate could be translated.

Some of your Bibles translate that word as helper, some translate that word as comforter, some some translate that word maybe is as other things, but it's the advocate.

The word in the Greek is parakletos, the one that comes and guides you, the one that comes alongside and leads you.

And so he says, if I don't go away, then I will send him to you, and when he if I do go away, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin.

And of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment.

The world's sin is that it refuses to believe in me.

Righteousness is available because I go to the Father and you will see me no more.

Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now.

Listen to me, listen to me, listen to me.

There is so much more that I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now.

You can't bear it now.

I believe he is speaking about how he will reveal himself to generation after generation after generation through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And then he says this when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth.

He will lead you.

The Holy Spirit will be your leader, he will guide you.

When you hear the message that the world offers, when you hear the message of the deceiver, Satan, Lucifer, the enemy, and you hear the words of God, the truth, whether I'm not talking about through through a preacher, I'm talking about in the world at large, when you hear the contrasting voices, the Holy Spirit in you will identify with the truth versus what the enemy wants to throw at you.

And it says he will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard.

He will tell you about the future.

He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

All that belongs to the Father is mine.

This is why I said the Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.

Now, let me just ask you right now, what's going through your mind?

As we read this passage, as we read this passage, I'll just take a second.

I want you to evaluate what's going through your mind.

How are you receiving this?

I mean, I listen, if I'm sitting where you are, and a pastor gets up and he says, I'm preaching on Pentecost Sunday, and the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm gonna be glad if I'm sitting toward the back.

What's gonna happen?

What comes to mind when the Holy Spirit moves?

Are we willing to submit to what the Holy Spirit leads us to say or to do?

And I'm gonna venture out to say that a lot of times we don't.

You're out in the world and and you you feel a nudge in your heart to speak a word of encouragement to somebody, and you've never met them before, you're standing in line with them at the store, or you you feel the Holy Spirit nudge you to ask somebody a question about their salvation or their journey, you know, in life, and it scares you to death.

Makes you nervous.

But you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you.

Do you obey?

I'm gonna tell you a lot of times I I listen, I have I have come up with all kinds of great ways to just skirt out of those situations.

I told you, I grew up, I went, so you know, I I I grew up in a generation where where the pastor said, hey, we're all gonna get together on Tuesday night, we're gonna do church visitation.

That's what they called it.

And I worked at the church, so I had to be there.

But it wasn't my favorite thing to go, because I've had, listen, I've had the door slammed in my face, I've had things said to me that I could not would not want to repeat, you know, you know, to anybody.

I've had I've been threatened.

And so I'm so my prayer life during that season was was strong.

I mean, we get out of the car and from the car to the front door, I I pray, God, please don't let anybody be home.

God, please don't let anybody be home.

But I mean, that's not the culture we live in now, right?

Somebody shows up at my door, my my my two friends, Smith and Weston, are close.

I mean I I'm I I'm a country boy, uh grew up on the outskirts.

And I'm kidding, I would never hurt anybody.

But people come to the door, it's it's it's sometimes it's a little bit unnerving, isn't it?

Especially if you've got the one of those, if you've got cameras and you you can look at them the whole deal.

Um so here's Jesus says he's got to leave his disciples, and it's better that he departs.

Jesus said that it's best that he departs and leaves his disciples.

That means the Holy Spirit, the advocate, will come.

So for Jesus, it is more important for the Holy Spirit to be among his disciples than for him to actually physically be with his disciples.

Isn't that not crazy?

I mean, what would you choose?

What would you choose?

Would you choose Jesus physically or would you choose Jesus inside of you?

Because the big idea today is this the spirit inside of you is better than Jesus beside you.

The spirit inside of you is better than Jesus beside you.

Man, that's a lot of trips to the Middle East.

If you want to spend some time with Jesus and sit at his feet as a rabbi in a physical sense, man, that's that's that's a tough thing.

So Jesus as a gift, he leaves and he says, I must leave.

So the advocate, so the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the one who will guide you in all truth, will come and be with you.

And he will walk with you, he will guide you.

Listen, Jesus says it's better if the Holy Spirit comes.

If this is true, why don't we spend more time talking about the Holy Spirit and what he's capable of, what he can do.

Christianity Today did a survey among Christians not too long ago asking this true or false, the Holy Spirit is a force, not a person.

51% of the responders said yes.

It's more like a force than a person.

7% said I don't know.

42% said false.

So a majority of Christians, this is a Christian survey, believe the Holy Spirit is like a Star Wars.

Force.

May the force be with you.

That's a bunch of junk.

You just listen, you just think really hard, right?

Think really hard.

You know what, you know what, this is you know what gets on my nerves is when people say my thoughts will be with you.

I don't want your thoughts.

I want your prayers.

I want you to think about me.

I want your prayers.

I want you to pray.

I want you to pray over this team.

Don't don't don't give this mission team your thoughts.

Don't give the church your thoughts.

Don't give your friends your thoughts.

Don't give your spouse your thoughts.

Listen, I know some of you, and your thoughts just aren't really sharp.

I'm not looking in any direction.

Prayer, the Holy Spirit is about is about power and prayer and presence of God.

And so I I believe that the tool of the enemy is for you to.

Think that way.

Satan wants nothing more than for us to say, listen, the enemy wants us to stay confused about the Holy Spirit.

He wants us to believe incorrect things because he doesn't want us to walk in the life that Christ has designed for us and made available for us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Virtually no Christian life without the Holy Spirit.

There's no such thing as even a Christian life without the Holy Spirit.

There is no church without the Holy Spirit.

We're a social club without the Holy Spirit.

Listen, we're no different than these are great organizations.

Great organizations, but we're no different than Rotary Koanis or you name it.

You come up with a club.

But when you throw in the Holy Spirit, we become the church.

And the church is the bride of Christ.

And we represent Jesus on planet earth.

And the power of God potentially can flow through us.

Thank you, somebody.

I preached shorter, I'm telling you, if you talk back to me.

The great theologian.

Bono.

Listen, you laugh.

I'm telling you, Bono is a believer.

And here's what he says: religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building.

There's no revelation without the Holy Spirit.

There's no vision without the Holy Spirit.

There's no vision.

God's given us a vision for this church.

He's given us direction for this church.

He wants us to reach our community for Christ.

There's no joy without the Holy Spirit.

You know what the best medicine is for, and I'm not against medicine.

I'm telling you, if you if because when I counsel people, and I don't do a lot of counseling, that's just not my gift.

People tell me I'm doing this, I'm thinking this.

And my counsel is stop.

But I'm not against medicine, but I'm telling you, sometimes a lot of people struggle with joy because they're not walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There's no peace without the Holy Spirit.

There's no freedom without the Holy Spirit.

Billy Graham, this is what Billy Graham, Billy Graham, one of the greatest preachers of his generation.

Everywhere I go, I find that God's people lack something.

They're hungry for something.

Their Christian experience is not all that they had expected, and they often have recurring defeat in their lives.

Christians today are hungry for spiritual fulfillment.

The desperate need of the nation today is that men and women who profess Jesus be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Listen, let me tell you, the Holy Spirit is not an it.

Now I'm guilty of saying it.

When I talk about the Holy Spirit, I'm guilty of that.

It's a bad habit.

The Holy Spirit is a he, it's a person.

You've got the Father and the Son and He, the Holy Spirit.

He is a person.

He's a person.

You can know him, you can walk with him.

He has a mind, Romans 8.27.

He has a will, 1 Corinthians 12, 11.

He has emotions, Romans 15, 30, and Galatians 5.22.

He comforts Acts 9.31.

He speaks, Hebrews 3.7, 1 Timothy 4.

He teaches 1 Corinthians 2.13.

He can be made to feel sorrow, Ephesians 4.30.

He can be insulted, Hebrews 10.29.

He can be resisted, Acts 7.51, and he can be lied to, Acts 5, 1 through 11.

Jesus was someone that perfectly illustrated a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.

He was empowered.

And as when he came up out of the water, a dove descended.

And it was a representation, a physical manifestation showing that he is now empowered fully by the Holy Spirit.

Really didn't need that because he already had the Holy Spirit.

He was the Holy Spirit.

It was for our benefit.

By the way, there's different teachings about the Holy Spirit.

This is what we as a church, what we believe.

When you come to faith in Christ, you are at that point baptized into the Holy Spirit.

You're baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And I know you may have a tradition and you might adhere to a different tradition.

And I mean, we're not going to argue about that.

Some people believe, and some, you know, you know, different denominations believe that you get saved at some point, and God gives you a little bit of him over here, and then there's another subsequent experience where he gives you the rest of himself, and you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Because it doesn't make biblical sense that God is going to give you part of him at some point and then part of himself at the next point.

Here's the biggest problem with this subsequent experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the teaching that goes with that is that is when you are sanctified.

That's when you're sanctified.

And I've been around a lot of people who believe that and teach that.

And they weren't living sanctified lives.

Sanctification is a lifelong process.

We won't experience full sanctification until we step into eternity.

But we can walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

We're baptized.

Now, listen, here's what we believe.

You were baptized, but there are many fillings.

There are many fillings.

So you can be constantly filled, and many of you are not experiencing the victorious life that Jesus wants you to have because you aren't walking in the fullness and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

And when you're walking in the fullness and the filling of the Holy Spirit, then you are courageous.

When you encounter that person and you are feeling that nudge, you are willing to step out on a limb.

And to share your faith.

God, we honor you in your fullness.

We honor you as our Father.

We honor your Son Jesus.

We always say it's all about Jesus.

It's nothing but Jesus.

It's everything, Jesus.

Jesus is at the center of everything, but we honor the gift of your Holy Spirit.

We honor that.

God, empower us, fill us.

God, work in us.

I pray for the miraculous.

I pray for healing.

I pray for, I pray, God, just for us to be willing to step out in the fullness.

Fill us up.

Rest on us.

In Jesus' name.

Paul says this.

He says, He says, for chapter 4, verse 29, he says, don't use foul or abusive language.

Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live.

Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

Get rid of all the bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Paul is saying, don't grievously hurt the one who deeply loves you.

How do we grieve the Holy Spirit?

Bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, evil behavior.

John Bevere says this, and he's got a wonderful book.

I think it's called The Introduction to the Holy Spirit.

He says, in order for us to enjoy a healthy, vibrant relationship with the Holy Spirit, we must be sensitive to the things that bring him sorrow, that hurt his heart.

Much like a husband-wife relationship, if the husband is full of anger and harsh words for his wife, and there's bitterness.

There's going to be breakdown in the relationship.

Let's be real for a second.

The reason that many Christians don't know the Spirit's voice or don't walk in the authority that he brings is because they're living, we are living a lifestyle that openly grieves the spirit and he becomes quiet.

There's something hidden, there's something private, and it has grieved the spirit, and sometimes it won't allow God to do what he wants to freely do.

And so their faith turns into a dry well full of religion and no life.

The Holy Spirit is a person, and he comes where he is wanted.

In Acts 2.

There's the promise of the Holy Spirit.

The disciples were eagerly praying for the Holy Spirit to descend, and tongues of fire fell on their heads.

Mighty miracles begin to happen.

People are empowered by the Spirit.

Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, the gifts of the Spirit.

You read that on your own.

There's power gifts, there's administrative gifts, and then there's the fruit of the Spirit.

It's the transformational process in the life of a believer.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

But listen, it's got to come out.

The spirit inside of you is better than Jesus beside you.

And so we've got to, we've got to we've got to be willing.

We've got to be willing to take a step of courage.

We've got to be willing to take a step of courage.

And sometimes, listen, sometimes when we're all gathered together, the Holy Spirit will nudge you to go speak a word of encouragement, maybe from that side of the room all the way to that side of the room.

And you say, Russ, that that scare that scares me absolutely to death.

Don't stop praying.

They will.

They will come back to the Lord.

Maybe a painful journey for a season, but they will come back.

Don't give up.

Keep loving.

Keep praying.

Keep hoping.

Sometimes you just gotta stop and listen.

And we're gonna close our time this morning with a final just response, asking the Holy Spirit to rest on us.

Rest on us.

And I'm gonna challenge you.

I'm gonna challenge you.

And I and I'm I listen, I know in this room we've got we we've got people that maybe are not believers.

Maybe you're here because of somebody that has brought you here, a spouse, or or you're you're you're kicking the tires of the Christian faith.

There's some of you that are somewhat new in your faith, but there's some of you that are mature, mature and old in your faith, and and grown up mature believers are sensitive to the Holy Spirit's nudge.

And and they will they will be willing to respond to how the Holy Spirit leads.

God's got you in his hand.

Would y'all stand?

Just gonna ask the Holy Spirit to work and to rest on us.

There is no pressure.

We're not gonna sing a ver, you know, keep singing verses until you do something.

It's not that's not who we are.

But I want to encourage you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Maybe it's not in this room.

It's it's when you walk out.

And I'm not giving you permission to ignore what the Holy Spirit's saying now, and how he might want to speak on you.

But the Holy Spirit is reigning.

And he's leading, and he's got something for us.

Amen.

Yeah today, uh that you're challenged encouraged around this word this morning.

And we do want to say if there's any uh next step stirring up in your heart, you feel like God is just calling you to, we want to partner with you in that and give you some resources to help you take those steps.

We believe that's what this life is.

It is a lifelong journey of continue to take step after step following.

So no matter where you're at on the journey, there's a next step for you.

So we would love to come alongside you and uh help you take that.

So two would take start to follow start, follow it to nine steps, do a zero zero and we come on.

Take a step for step, take a step, force tons of steps you can take, uh serving, volunteering, whatever that looks like, uh giving whatever that looks like.

We want to help you take that step for attorney.

Make sure you do that.

Absolutely.

Don't forget Summer Dam ride up or a ton of kids, time stuff up to register.

Um, because I guarantee you that you have a talent that you could attend that would help.

Um we are we've got two separate campuses, uh that's two talents of volunteers.

So make sure you do that.

Uh so would that be like the Costco version of channel?

I don't want to make sure.

It's not like there's not too much sugar.

You know what I mean?

We want to protein up and have like a peanut butter sandwich.

Yeah, like a little bit of a boy together.

Anyway, come hang out with us in person.

Plenty of opportunities.

You can go to uh the website where you can download the app to figure out our service times.

Um we would love to meet you, we'd love to shake your hand.

Um again.