Pastor Brodie | Spiritual Discipline | June 1st, 2025

How are we doing this morning, church?

We excited.

Yeah, man, I like it when we're excited and we're ready for what God wants to do.

Uh today is actually it's uh we have missionaries that are in from uh from Mexico that are with us, and uh I have many stories about this man in particular.

He was my PE teacher when I was in 1994, and I was convinced that he was trying to hurt me or kill me with the things that he made me do over those years.

And so this is uh someone who's had an incredible impact on my life and many lives when we were at school.

We've been partnering with them for the last many, many years.

Uh, they do Bible translation with Wycliffe, they are uh translating the Bible into the uh Miestech language, and they've been doing that for many years.

They're here for a year, they're part of our KCC family, and it's a real honor to have them with us today.

I would like you to just put your hands together and welcome up Kevin and Laurel Penner.

This is an amazing opportunity.

We were telling stories about uh Physed, and he actually didn't deny any of them, which made me a little unhappy because I thought maybe it was, you know, but um we're so glad that you guys are here and that you're a part of this church.

It's been a while since you've been back.

And so what we've we've actually asked, because um he has been translating the Bible for the last few years, and we are actually going into this time of of spiritual disciplines, talk about prayer, worship, fasting, and the Bible.

We've actually asked them to just share a little bit about who they are, but also talk um just about how the Bible has made an impact onto where they are.

So I'm just gonna hand it over to you guys.

Okay.

Good morning, church.

It's so good to be with you in person again.

It has been a number of years since we've been able to be here.

Um, we have such great memories of our time here in from 1994 to 1999 when we taught at Heritage Christian School.

And two of our kids were born here, and uh we just um we just have so many great memories, like I said, of our time with you guys, and we're so grateful for your partnership with us since the very beginning.

This church sent us out to the field uh 20 over 20 years ago and has partnered with us ever since, and we're so appreciative of that.

Uh as Brian said, we work on a Bible translation project for the Meesec people in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.

And we are home for a year of home assignment and making our base in Three Hills, Alberta.

But we're glad to be with you for the next um 10 or 11 days or so, we'll be in Kelowna.

So we'd love to uh have the opportunity to connect with with any of you who would like to learn more about us and and just reconnect.

All right, thanks.

Um, so it's a little bit dangerous, Brian, to um give the mic to a Bible translator before the sermon and ask him to talk about the importance of God's word.

But I'm I'm happy to do that and I am gonna try and keep it real short, Brody.

You know, um back when um Moses was gonna hand the reins over to Joshua, he gave Joshua some really important advice.

And he said, keep this book of the law.

So that didn't even include the great stuff we have in the New Testament, but the law really is good, and it explains how God thinks about what's important.

And he said, Keep this book of the law always on your lips, meditate on it day and night.

That's what Brody was talking about when when you don't you don't just come to church and worship, you come to church worshiping, right?

You meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to obey everything written therein.

So Jesus said as you go and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything that I commanded to you.

And that's what Moses was saying, so that you're gonna be careful to do the things that I told you were important.

And then he said, then you will have good success and you'll make your way prosperous.

Of course, we have to define prosperity and success the way God does.

So our minds are constantly bombarded in this world with a point of view uh of what's good and important that is completely different than what God says is important.

And we grow up with that, and we become broken and we adopt those things in our minds.

And Paul said how important it was for us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Well, what Pastor Brody's gonna talk to you about today is so important to that process is how do we get our minds to think like Jesus?

Because we can come here and get excited in worship, and that's awesome, and God can meet us, but when we go to out tomorrow, Jesus tells you to pick up your cross and follow him.

And so our minds have to be transformed.

So um, you know, when what we've been doing, as as has been said, is working on translating the scriptures into the East to U Lemese Tech language.

So we've had the Bible in English for over 600 years, and now we have many, many versions.

We're working on the first version for these people.

So we had the privilege, yeah.

Um so we've got Genesis 1 to 11, Jonah, short little book, but we've got the first gospel, Luke, and just last year, John.

And that was the thrill for me because John is is such a uh a dear book to me.

Um so so John 3.16.

You all know it by heart.

Would you like to hear it in Mistec?

So now those words are in Istayudla Mistec.

So as we've we we there was a pastor Miguel who first started translating with us, and one day in church um I heard him describe the translation like this said, when we read the Bible in Spanish, it's like eating a hard tortilla.

But when we read it in Mystic, it's like eating a soft tortilla.

It's it's easier to eat.

And that's what we want to provide for them is a hard tortilla.

Sorry, a soft tortilla, and and not make them um not eat um a hard one, right?

So um, and then Pastor Francisco, who's the current pastor in the church in our little town, um, I heard him praying about the translation, and he said, Um, just when we read the Spanish, it it's sometimes hard.

But when we read it in Mistech, it speaks directly to our hearts.

So I don't know how many of you would would learn another language um in order to read the Bible, but I'm really glad that people uh it would certainly be worth it, but how many people would do it?

And I'm really glad that um all those years ago um people sacrificed their lives even uh and their time.

And William Tyndale was martyred for his work on translation, and we have an English Bible.

We have many of them now, and so um this is a good thing.

Um I'll share um at least one other story, but um Celerina, when when we were she's one of our translation team members, as we were recording um some of the scriptures, because we have a Bible app, just like the one you have on your phone, and it has the text and it has the audio, and it highlights as it reads the audio, it highlights the scriptures so that people can access it more easily.

And she said uh as we were trans, uh we had been um recording, and she said, um she just said how it is so awesome to hear, to listen to the Bible in MiStek, you know, and others have said um you know how how beautiful it is.

And when um one more, sorry.

So we were we were working through um this story in John 8 about the woman who was caught in adultery, probably trapped, actually, and dumped in front of Jesus, and they wanted to know what he thought because the law of Moses said she should be stoned.

And of course, you know the story, I hope.

If you don't, you need to meditate on that one.

And Jesus um he didn't condemn her, and he said, Let the one who threw who has no sin throw the first stone, and gradually they just started leaving until it was just for her and Jesus.

And as we work through that, I listened to Primo, he's the patriarch on our translation team, the grandpa, and he said, Thankfully he forgave her.

That's what he did for me.

And you know, and so that's the important thing as we as we read and make the scriptures a part of our lives, then we're transformed.

Remember the Pharisees, they diligently studied the scriptures, but they refused to go to Jesus to have life.

So our wills have to engage with the scriptures and and and in order for us to be transformed by them.

So I'm I'm past my four minutes, but um thank you for your partnership with us um in this work.

We appreciate it so much.

Um they're gonna be here for a little bit of time.

They do have a space out in the back that if you have any questions, you want to know more.

Um, this is an opportunity to get to know them for the newcomers.

They're gonna be downstairs with us, eating that free lunch with us, and so it's a good opportunity for us to just have a chance to connect with them.

And we're just so grateful you guys are here.

Thank you so much for sharing today, and we're looking forward to just a little more time with you guys.

Bless you.

Let's give them a hand, everyone.

And now let's welcome up Pastor Brody.

I'd just like to comment that I'm on day 585 on Duolingo in Spanish.

So don't ask me to say anything because I don't know for God's love of the world.

Oh, maybe I could.

But uh what what an awesome, awesome word.

Like, that's a quite the summary of the message, actually, today, because I believe that uh it's the word of God that actually makes a difference for each and every one of us.

If you've come to Christ, the first thing you should get into your hand is a Bible.

And the first thing you should get into your mind is his words towards you.

Because it's God's love letter to mankind, and it's his story of redemption, it's a story of sacrifice, a story of of resurrection and new life, and how he God just doesn't uh he doesn't just bring uh like make dead or old things new, he makes dead things come alive again.

And we're alive now because of Christ and because of what he did for us.

So um, man, it's always been such a uh you know like such an encouragement to hear what you you've done and for the years that you've served and the work that's been accomplished.

And I bet you're happy for Starlink now, hey?

That's right.

Get that Wi-Fi and updating and all the well, who knows what's gonna happen there for the future.

This week also we had some really good news, and good news worth celebrating, uh, Flex Academy, which is our school that uh Kevin and Laurel were teachers of a number of years ago was uh was uh announced best in Kelowna, and they were given the gold, they were given the gold award for the best private school, uh, elementary private school, silver award for the best high school, and gold award for the daycare or the after-school program.

And so, man, what an amazing thing.

God is using, continues to use education in this community to uh raise and empower courageous leaders, uh leaders that are going out, making a difference, not just in Kelowna, but around the world.

It's quite an exciting time.

Amen.

All right, let me just pray.

Father, we thank you for your word today.

We honor your word today.

We honor it in this space and in this place.

We ask that not just the we would not just be hearers of the word, but Lord, that it would impact and confront us and touch our heart, Lord, in a way, Lord, that makes us face ourselves.

And so that when we leave, we leave, Lord, uh better because we're in more alignment.

We're in a better alignment to where you want us to go.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So, what is the greatest threat to uh to spiritual growth, to your spiritual growth?

And a lot of people would say the greatest threat to spiritual growth is that we all have an adversary.

We have someone who's out to get us, we've got an enemy.

Or you may say, well, it's you know the culture that we're living in and it's other people.

The greatest threat to your spiritual growth isn't any of those things, but it's the fact that you do what is natural to you.

Your growth is about you.

How many of you are like going to the, you know, when you go to the gym every day, the motivation, it's not the world, it's not McDonald's that is telling you that you can't get fit.

It's not your your family that's telling you you can't get fit, it's you.

It's that motivation in you to get up and get out and do something uncomfortable.

And oftentimes we blame the world for things that are happening within us.

And James talks about this in this in the Word, where he says, you gotta keep an eye on yourself first.

Don't blame God.

People were saying, Well, is it God who makes me sin?

Is it other people who make me sin?

And and James reminds us, he says, sin starts in us, gets birthed in us.

It's our own thoughts, it's our own uh refusal to put a block up and to take that self-control and stop that process from continuing from that point, that point A that takes us to point Z.

Don't blame God, look at us first.

So when it comes to discipline, discipline is about us.

And it's choices that we make and consistency that we make in our lives to the commitments that we have in our lives that we choose.

So in this place, we we look at what's natural, and my challenge today is to say that natural isn't always right.

What's natural isn't always right, and if you think about it, it actually feels natural to hold on to a grudge.

I deserve it.

Yesterday, my my wife and my daughter were at the beach and they were backing up the car, and a person came by on their bike and scratched the backside of the car on their bike, and then pedal away quickly.

Quickly, and my wife chased them down as a as a good woman does.

What should I do, Brody?

Get them! So she chases after these people on their bikes, and my daughters there, they were like, they said it felt like we were in a movie.

I was like, Oh yeah, some action thriller movie, you know?

Get to the point where they catch catch up to the couple, and they say, Listen, you scratched the back of our vehicle.

And they go, Did we?

And I'm like, Oh great, here we go.

I said, Well, it's the right thing to do.

You know, I know what it's like to be have my vehicle scratched, the guy said.

I know what it's like to have my vehicle scratched.

And she goes, Well, if you know what it's like, shouldn't you be doing something about this?

And it's like, and then the the the person who rode the bike was riding the bike, took off again.

And you're left holding the bag with a vehicle that's been scratched, and refusing to give information, refusing to give all those things.

And part of me, she calls me up, what do you do?

And I'm like, part of me is that justice mode, you know, where you're like, I am going to like put on that other cap.

There's the pastor cap goes down, and the other cap is like, follow them to their house, get that find out who their friends are, post posters up, get on Facebook, scan their bike, uh, you know, all these things in my mind are like, and the other part of you is like, it's just a scratch.

It's just a scratch.

It's just a scratch.

How many of you know it's natural to hold a grudge?

It's unnatural to just forgive and let go and let God.

I was thinking, what if they showed up at church on Sunday?

Would that be God?

Is it natural to hold a grudge?

Is it natural to scroll aimlessly and doom scroll when you have time and just check out into the world of novelty?

Is it natural to assume the worst in a situation?

Is it natural to stay quiet when you should be uh speaking up?

All those natural tendencies to avoid conflict, to do what's right when it puts the spotlight on you.

It feels natural to follow your heart.

But what if your heart is wrong?

Part of the purpose of the church being together and collectively coming together is to actually allow the word of God to become our mirror.

And this is unlike any other mirror.

Uh the James says it this way: anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

There's a different point of this mirror.

This mirror is different.

Now, a natural mirror, our mirror we hold up, showcases the natural.

But the word of God held up showcases the truth.

And what is right, it's a different type of mirror.

It cuts through to the heart and to the soul of the matter.

And when we look at life and we experience our life, we live our life, we can't just be looking at what's natural and say, it's all good.

It's what's natural, it's what feels good, it's what feels right.

Instead, we look let the mirror invade and touch our heart and actually touch that area of our life that is uh that needs to change, needs to be adjusted to come into agreement with God's way.

That's why in the old temple process, when you came towards God, came to the Holy of Holies, there were stages and steps you would take.

And one of the steps was to go and wash at a silver laver or uh like uh a bowl, a silver bowl.

And the priests would come to this bowl and they would they would look into this bowl and it would be polished to silver.

And when they looked into the bowl and they took their hands that were dirtied, they'd wash their hands and they'd see a reflection of their own face in that bowl.

And it was a reminder that you need to be honest with yourself.

Honest with who you are, honest with how you're living your life.

And there are issues that we have in our life when it comes to honesty.

How many of you feel like you're a hundred percent honest with yourself?

I'm in shape.

My thoughts are clean.

I make good decisions.

I'm not greedy.

I'm not offended.

I'm fine.

I said I'm fine.

Everything's okay.

All those issues that address, we address ourselves.

And as believers now, natural is what you were, spiritual is what you're becoming.

We're all on a journey of.

Spiritual journey, becoming who God created us to be.

And much of these natural disciplines, like we have, that we need to develop, we similarly need to develop spiritual disciplines.

And we need to continue to do the reps spiritually to help us grow spiritually.

So we're training for a life that actually matters.

And this week we're talking about exposing those areas, we call them false proxies, which are a counterfeit sign that says that we're doing great spiritually when maybe we're not.

And we really assess our life and engage our life.

I thought about it today when we were in worship.

I was listening to the church, and I've been in church for a long part of my life.

I've been in many different services.

I've been in quiet services, loud services, exuberant services.

I've been in services where people are waving towels over their head.

I've been in services where there are flags going and people are screaming.

I've been services when you were marching around a building.

I've been in weird services.

We used to think we should bring the march back.

The march back.

And everyone would do this chongal eye or this kind of like, he's the Lord of the dance, he's the dancing Lord.

And then it would just went off.

And everyone was dancing.

I've been in those services, I've been in quiet services.

I've been services in Canada and Mexico, and and I've been in services all around the world.

One of my been in one worship service in Taiwan where I was, they were singing, they would do participatory uh worship, and you'd sing, Zamitsu, Hallelujah, Oh, Zamitsu, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

And people would sing the song.

And I didn't know, I was just singing along as a white Canadian guy.

Zamitsu, and I didn't know the difference.

Now I was singing, Praise the Pig, Hallelujah, Oh, praise the pig, hallelujah.

Because pig and God are very similar except for one little dip in the dialect.

And people are like, praising the pig, huh?

White Canadian guy with a big grin on his face, just dancing away.

You're preaching?

Yep, that's me, praising the pig.

But I've been in services all the time for a long time, and I started thinking about it during worship today.

I thought, where in the Bible did it demonstrate worship?

And I started thinking as I'm standing still, hands raised, singing to God, reverent, acknowledging who God is.

And in my heart, I'm like, I'm just doing what I feel I feel is my point of worship.

And then in my mind, I started thinking about how David danced before the Lord.

And I'm like, oh man, this is what I'm preaching about.

David's worship was different.

The Bible says he danced with all of his might.

He got exhausted in his worship.

To the point the scripture says that people looked on him with like a sense of like, in und like, what has he done as the king to become so undignified?

And he was undignified before people to be dignified before God.

And he stepped back in his worship to a point where he said, I don't care what anyone else thinks.

I'm going to worship God with all my heart, with all my might.

He got so hot, he pulled off his priestly robes until he was dancing in his underwear.

It's a different kind of church, people.

We'd have to leave the phones at the door.

There's a different point of worship.

And I started thinking about is this a false proxy in my life?

Where in my mind I think I'm worshiping before God as I'm still and I'm singing about how holy he is and worshiping the Lamb that was slain, who like gave his life to because he loved us and cared for us and all glory belongs to him and all worship.

And I'm standing there and I'm thinking, oh God, are you living life?

Am I worshiping the way you intended me to worship?

And that challenge in my heart creates now.

Am I going to just jump around and dance?

No, I'm not gonna make a scene for my own self, but I gotta go before God and say, Lord, teach me how to be a better worshiper that can come into your presence with thanksgiving and praise and experiences your presence and feels the spirit, the power of God that's transformative in my life because of obedience.

I worship you in spirit and in truth.

I give thanks to you.

I'm thankful.

Are you really thankful?

Come into the church, come with praise, come with thanksgiving.

Are you really thankful?

Are you really praising God?

It's a hard reality to unpack because in our life there's this comfort where we fall into that says we can believe the lie that says, you're doing the right thing, you're doing a good thing, and in all honesty, there are areas in your life that need to be adjusted and need to change.

Or else you'll never experience the growth that comes with the change.

Proverbs 14, 12 says that there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

In our life, that the proxies, the false proxies or mindsets makes us feel like we're growing, but don't actually prove that we're growing.

Here's it in my life, this is where I faced false proxies, where I thought busyness was a badge.

And busyness was more important than being fruitful.

I thought, you know what?

I'm gonna be active, and that activity is gonna mirror effectiveness.

And so I'm gonna have a full calendar.

How many of you like having a full calendar?

Yeah, no, some people who are like, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my calendar busy, I'm gonna keep my calendar full, because that that busyness will reflect as some that what I'm doing is worthwhile.

But when we look at the scripture, God doesn't reward busy people, he celebrates faithful people.

Jesus said in John 15, if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

And what I've had to learn to practice is quietness before God.

Consideration of God and say, you know what, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna take some time, I'm gonna think and reflect on God, I'm gonna meditate on God, and that I'm not gonna rush my devotions, I'm not gonna rush my time with God, I'm gonna allow God to speak to me.

See, there's a difference between we live in Kronos time where we're kind of like calendared and by the hour, and we've got agendas and and patterns in our life that we're like keeping a schedule, and then God has Kairos time for a moment.

He speaks to you in a moment, he speaks to you in a moment, and in that moment, your life can be adjusted and changed.

And I bet if we were talking to Kevin and Laurel, Laurel, that there would be a time in their life where that moment came and they were called to go to Mexico to translate the scripture.

There was a time in their life where there was an adjustment, a shift that happened that said, you know what, maybe we should adjust our life where we're at right now and take on this big adventure.

A moment in time.

Oftentimes our busyness can be a smokescreen for spiritual shallowness.

And Solomon said it way this way.

He said, it's all smoke and mirrors, it's smoke and mirrors, it's vanity upon vanities, the work that we're doing, the busyness that we put on in our life, all the things we build, is really just a smoke show to disguise the shallowness where God actually wants us not to be wide, he wants us to be deep.

We seek after the deep things of God.

The Spirit calls into the Spirit, it calls into the deep places of God.

Busyness versus fruitfulness.

We look at that spiritual discipline, an area that I'm learning, I'm I'm learning myself.

Jesus is asking us to slow down, choose intimacy over industry, choose a life of intimacy over anxiety, over the busyness that life can actually create for us.

And it's responsible for each of us to actually develop that fruit, that fruitful discipline in our life.

Another area is emotions over transformation.

Because feeling something isn't the same as as becoming something.

And I know you can come to church and you can feel uh you can feel maybe an emotion, you can feel excited, you could feel charged, you can feel emotional, maybe even cry or or or be super excited in a in a space, but that doesn't translate into transformation in your life.

Emotion isn't transformation.

And that happens, and it's a reality in our life because your spiritual life can't depend on your mood.

God is good when I'm feeling good, when I wake up and it's sunny outside, when I wake up and the kids are all nice, and when I wake up and the house is clean, I'm feeling good.

When I wake up and the fridge is full, I'm feeling good, but spiritual, spiritual discipline is based on something completely different.

It's based on the transformative work of God in your life, not just an emotional transformative work.

So we look for more than the emotion, and we go to the core.

And how many of you know emotions are exciting?

Emotions are are uh contagious, but transformation in your life happens on the core, and it's like the base work, it's the foundation work that your life is built on.

So we work on the transformation.

Discipline doesn't care if you feel it, discipline cares when you show up and you make it a discipline.

I think about people, the culture today that's living with likes and followers.

And it's like, oh, if you check so and so's Instagram or Facebook and you you look at the likes and the followers, follows versus the impact that is being made in life.

Because your platform doesn't equal your purpose, and we live in an age where it where you've just because you have a lot of attention, it doesn't mean that there's personal significance that you're actually making a difference.

So looking at the life that says, How are we making a difference?

I can tell you today, the penners are making a difference for a whole culture of people.

Bringing a written word, a language, the word of God into a culture, into a space, that's making a difference.

I don't know what their Instagram looks like, I don't know what their followers look like, but I can tell you they're making an impact.

And that impact makes a difference.

Jesus said not to go get followers, he said, go and make disciples of people, not followers, disciples.

Go deep, go into a place where you're a disciplined one, where you're actually shifting a core discipline of who you are, that foundational part of who you are.

King Saul was uh was an example uh versus King David of someone who was Saul was just obsessed with people's opinions of him.

He counted the people, he made a note, he was he made sure he was the most regal and stood the tallest.

When it came to the kingdom of God, he he tried to act like a king.

And David was different.

When David followed Saul, he came in and he was concerned about God's presence.

That's why he danced in front of the ark because the ark was coming up to Jerusalem.

He said, I want to make a way I care about the presence of God more than I care about the people and their opinions of me.

So we pursue that.

It's what builds the kingdom.

So this message today is really a message for us all because we live in a culture of false proxies that's there to convince you that what you're doing is actually good for you when in fact some of the things that we're doing every day need to be reviewed, need to be edited, need to be recognized through the eyes of the scripture as Lord, am I doing this right?

Like, am I walking the right way?

Is there an adjustment and a change that needs to happen in my life in order for me to grow and in order for me to make an impact?

So that makes a difference.

Romans 12, 2 says this, and it was referred to by Kevin today.

It says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

There is a pattern to this world, and it's easy to fit into the world's pattern, but Jesus instructed us this way.

He says, You're not a part of this world's pattern, you're not of this world, you're of a different world, you're of a different pattern, and so don't be don't be surprised when this world doesn't like you.

Because you're gonna operate from a different pattern.

So we're entering Pride Month.

It's a different pattern.

We've got a whole culture that's celebrating pride, and the scripture says that pride in itself is something that God resists, but he gives grace to those who are humble.

We don't celebrate pride, we resist pride.

I'm taking it all off the sexual identity and gender identification issue.

We don't celebrate pride, we celebrate humility and service, we celebrate a heart that's humble and contrite before God, because God will resist a culture that celebrates pride.

So we say no to pride.

I love the people, care for the people, but the spirit of pride we need to resist.

Because God resists the proud, the haughty in heart, the ones that think that they're better than another.

That's a proud spirit that God will resist.

It's a cultural lie.

Just be yourself is a cultural lie.

The gospel truth is be transformed.

Don't be yourself.

You don't want me to be myself.

Grumpy, upset, conniving, looking for my own way, finding a way that I win and you lose, and I get to the top and you stay on the bottom.

I have power and you don't.

That's power.

God works on a different level.

He says you come under and you serve and you elevate from below from a place of service.

The least among you will become the greatest among you.

The cultural lie that you stay and be yourself, and it's okay to be you.

Don't be you.

Be who God created you to be.

It's the clinging on to what we know and clinging on to what's comfortable, even though it's toxic or limiting to our lives.

So when culture says this, we need to watch ourselves and we need to adjust ourselves and actually reflect what God is saying about us and what we are to become.

So the biblical reality in our life is being a disciple, a disciplined one.

When we choose and make a decision to follow Jesus, we choose discipleship, we choose to be his student.

He becomes our Lord, we become the student.

And Jesus would say, in order to be this the student, you don't be yourself, you have to deny yourself in order to follow me.

Deny yourself so that my habits, God's habits, can get formed in you.

His thoughts can get formed in you.

His mindset and his perspective can be formed in you.

Because out of that thought, out of that mindset, out of that development, all you will grow into the person that God has intended for you to become.

And out of that, you will have the life and that life with more abundance to it.

And celebrate that life.

And this is just a challenge to all of us.

I know we're approaching Joe uh like the summer months.

Yesterday would have been a surprise, but it was uh it was nice for a part of the day.

Um, but before the wind picked up, how many of you saw the wind yesterday?

And it's like, wow yeah, thanks, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

But all of a sudden, you know, as we're approaching time, we have almost a tendency to step back and lean on our on our heels.

Instead, step in and say, Lord, I want to become more like you.

I want to contribute more like you would contribute.

I want to be Jesus with skin on to my community.

I want to be the Jesus that this city needs.

I want to be that like Jesus in my home, like Jesus in my workplace, like Jesus to my community in my neighborhood.

I want to be like you.

So help me.

Thank you for taking me to the point where I'm at right now, but help me move to where you've called me to be so I can grow in my faith and be expressive in my faith and love in my faith and make and make a difference and see transformation in our community.

How many of you would like that today?

How many of you want that today?

You've been listening so well.

Do you hear it today?

Do you agree with it today?

That there's that God has more for us.

And God has more for us in our life, and He's and it just doesn't stop today, but He's got more.

Amen.

Amen.

I just want to take a moment and let's just take let's just stand to our feet here together.

Hebrews chapter 14 or chapter 10 says this.

It says, Spur one another.

Would you say spur one another?

That word spur means agitate, like spurs on your heels.

It's like spur one another towards what?

Good love and good deeds.

Spur one another on.

Go ahead, give your neighbor like a little jab with your elbow.

That's right.

Don't give up meeting together, encouraging one another to what?

Love and good deeds become better this week, become stronger this week by asking the Lord, Lord, there are false proxies in my life.

Don't just pray that God will speak to Brody.

Pray that God will speak to you.

God will speak to you and be able to say, Lord, where where am I gonna grow?

Do I have that relationship with you?

Well, where's it in your calendar?

Do you have it in your day planner?

Do you have that point of in your life where you're actually getting up every day, pursuing, yeah, I know God.

Well, where do you spend time with Him?

Well, look at your calendar, plot, put it in, plot it in, and say, I'm gonna spend this morning, I'm gonna spend this time with you, I'm gonna dedicate this time to meditate on you and meditate on your word and listen to what you have for me today.

Spur one another on to what?

Love and good deeds.

Come on, I'm so proud of like the teams who uh served at Serve Week.

How many of you just raise your hand if you served in some way at Serve Week this week?

Right on.

Let's give them a hand this week.

It's awesome.

Hearing so many great stories of areas where people served.

Um, but all the more as we see the day approaching, the scripture says, spur one another on, challenge one another, push each other.

And sometimes it's an uncomfortable relate, it's an uncomfortable conversation, but to have with someone who actually cares and loves you, to actually say, is there an area where I'm slipping?

Is there an area where I need that attention?

Is there an area maybe I've given up on?

And you've seen that change in me, and I need to return to it.

Just return, return to those spiritual disciplines, return to that point so that we're walking right with God, and we're walking right in God's intended design for our life and experiencing God's intended, uh, intended uh experience and and life for each one of us.

Amen.

Amen.

Father, we thank you today for your word.

Even in this moment, Father, we just settle our hearts before you.

And we don't want to rush past this moment.

But Father, would you expose some of those false proxies, those areas in our life where we maybe are convincing ourselves that those areas need to be uh that we're we're in a healthy place where we may not be in a healthy place, or areas that we've we've just covered over, brushed over instead of actually focusing on and actually actually addressing.

Father, would you help us just lift the rug a little bit and just see those areas where we need our life to be adjusted and changed and help us take that first step today, Lord, in our life.

And I just want to celebrate today all those who are with us who even in the last few uh weeks, few months, have made a decision to follow you and have made a decision to step out in their faith, doing today what they weren't doing last month or or or last year, but they're taking steps towards walking in a deeper connection to you.

And I ask, Lord, today that you would empower them, you would give them grace, you would give them a sense of joy and peace in their life as they continue on this journey with you.

Help us, Lord, all of us, to move in that direction together, to move forward together in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's give the Lord a round of applause today.

Amen.

I want to be able to pray, I want to pray one more blessing over you and then give you opportunity that if you're here today and you need prayer, we have a prayer team that's going to be available at the front here, and we would love to pray with you.

And we also have communion off to our right.

If you're here and you just want to set your week off in a in a fresh way, know that you've got people here who are with you to lead you and guide you that way.

And for any of the newcomers that are with us, you're welcome to join us for lunch downstairs.

So may the Lord bless you, may he keep you, may his face shine upon you, may he be gracious to you, and lift up his countenance over you, and may the Lord give you peace.

Amen.

The shalom of God, peace.

Amen.

God bless you, have a great week.