How Do I Apply the Bible to My Life? - Theology for the Rest of Us

Good morning. Oh man, I got to start with the

verse today. So Philippians 44 you guys

ready? Yes, rejoice.

I didn't get any joy out of that.

There was no rejoicing that happened.

Rejoicing who helped me out and the Lord how often always not

just in the easy seasons, but the hard seasons, right?

And I think about there's no great place to put your joy than

in the Lord. If your joy is found in anything

else, where was a marriage or kids or society or anything,

man, you're going to be a little disappointed, a lot

disappointed. But rejoice found Lord.

Amen. And I'll just say it again,

Rejoice. Come on, somebody.

And so I want to celebrate today.

There's lots of a lot we can celebrate.

I think he already escaped. He's escaped somewhere.

So our new drummer, come on, somebody.

Michael Harbour, you might recognize there's like, who is

this guy? He's over here, the man, the

myth, the legend. Oh man, thank you so much for

Michael. That's awesome.

So it's fun. There's so many new guys come on

team and and it's really praise the Lord.

You think about this. God is just good.

He is so, so good. Amen.

Hidden is faithful. He's so, so faithful.

He's a healer and he's got our back.

He protects us and he's the rock we stand on.

He's our, everything is our substance.

And so often we, we forget like there is so much to be thankful

for and to rejoice for. And I was just sitting here

watching the, the, the worship team.

I thought, man, this, this is so much fun.

The, the crew, they're, they're getting kind of lively nowadays.

I'm telling you, they're getting kind of close and like messing

around a lot. It's kind of fun to watch them.

But anyway, you got to be around the behind the scenes to see it.

But lots of things to rejoice today.

Number one, this never gets old. But last week there was one

person to put their faith and trust in Jesus.

Amen. And that never gets old because

you always rejoice over the one, right?

Like Jesus left the 99 to go after the 1.

And I found this at churches and I've noticed it a little bit in

our seat this last, this last season, our church a little bit.

We really, really love to be the 99, but it's very difficult to

actually be the church that goes after the one to be the church

that is pursuing and and and reaching and rescuing again,

your hands messy and inviting and and praying for and loving

on and it's just a it's a different world, right?

And I just know it's like we love to be in our circle kind of

who's who, but ultimately God's cause to The Who cares and it's

caused the loss and and the broken.

And I would encourage you guys in this season to really have

your one like that person that's on your heart.

Just be continuing to pray for them.

Invite and not just to Sunday morning gathering, but invite

into your life and show the things of Christ, Amen.

Like be the hands of feet of Jesus.

It's not about growing how big this is.

It's about growing the King of God.

And you guys get to play a huge part of that story.

But thank you, Jesus, Amen. He still works every single

Sunday. He's always working.

Last week was incredible. It's kind of maybe a little odd

to say this, but it was our largest like non event Sunday.

So we take out Mother's Day, Christmas, like the days like

just a non, like an almost. I know we call it something just

never note, but it was like the largest one, right?

There were 350 people last Sunday.

Praise God, Amen. It's crazy.

It's amazing. And I don't know about you, but

like I feel like my face is like half dark and half light.

So maybe I'll go over here. Can you see me now?

I have no idea. I'll preach in the dark.

It don't matter. Everything will fall apart.

We'll see preaching it anyway. So last week was incredible.

God just doing a move and there's just people.

I I'm showing I'm I'm the pastor of the church.

I'm like, all right, who are these people?

God help me remember the names, you know, like it.

It's so amazing. So I want to say thank you guys

have been coming out. Thank you guys been bringing

people and just something special happened this season.

No thing to rejoice on our life groups for summer actually going

Live Today so you can go online and check them out.

Come on, praise God, Amen. You get connected.

I'm not going to give you a bunch on it 'cause you hear

about later, but I'm just so thankful for our leaders that

decide to open their homes and to pursue God and invite you

guys in to really just make the ark a crowd of people into a

community of people that are covered in prayer, that love

each other, that point to Jesus, that encourage you spiritually,

all the things. And the last thing that really

sticks out in the season for me right now is this building the

belt and SIM 8. I still can't get past this.

Like every time we we office next door, OK, and then in the

very next building. And so I'm by all the time I'm

over the whole time and I just still lost and the wonder of

like Lord and we prayed for to say yes to our first permanent

space. This is well above and beyond

like what we were praying for. So Lord, what would you have us

to do in this space? And so last night, I'll be

really honest with you, I started dreaming about this

space and I don't know, I just stayed up way too late.

And you're probably going to recognize that as a priest today

as we begin to dream about this space.

And it's like, Lord, what would you have us to do?

And it's not just to gather the church, but how can we scatter

the church through this space? Look like how in the world can

we use this as a hub to get the gospel out to the ones to to the

lost, not not just even here in our city, but around the world.

And so there's all these ideas come to mind.

I'm like scattering center like what in the world?

How would this look like? How can I mobilize our people

that God has given us to take the gospel out to a lost and

broken people, not just here, but around the world, like all

these crazy ideas. But that's what the Holy Spirit

does. Hey man.

And so I stay up all night. Literally I'm sitting there

like, OK, I got to go to bed and the dog woke me up at like 1250.

Come on, somebody. I don't know why I was like, I'm

going to kill this thing right? And then it's like, maybe I was

going to leave it outside. I know it's a little cold.

Maybe I should leave it outside a little mud.

And that from like 12:50, it's like 3:00 in the morning.

I'm like, what we can do with this space, just laying in my

pillow, rolling around just like dreaming about like what God can

do. But it's exciting season.

Amen. So just rejoice that this is

what God has given us. And I thought of this theatre,

you know, it's kind of the pinnacle of society in a sense

of like, this is the best the world has the offer.

Like, here's this entertainment value, here's the theatrics,

Here's the greatest cinematography, the greatest

arrangements of music played on these screens.

And now I got grace. We get to show the goodness of

God and the very place that was a goodness of humanity to preach

the gospel to a lost and dying world.

Amen. It's exciting.

And so I always encourage you guys to continue to pray for

this space. We had to extend our due

diligence. They've got some work to fix a

few things. And so it's like, OK, like we're

going to make sure that gets done.

But man, we're just so excited for God's doing.

Amen. So today we're jumping into the,

our serious thoughts. Best of us.

Last week we talked about how to know what the Bible means.

Like what, what does it mean? What's, what's that look like?

And today I'm going to take it to the next level.

And how do we actually apply the Bible?

And, and there's really three things that happen to read the

Bible. There's really 3 results of

reading the Bible. One is you leave confused.

Anybody ever been confused with the Bible?

Come on, show hands. Let's be if you didn't raise

your hand, you're a liar. Or if you never read the Bible,

come on somebody right? And oftentimes as a pastor, like

I'll read something like, all right, who is this again?

Help me out. Like give me the whole whole

story. Like, and there's more to it.

And I like to find the gold. Like I read a passage, I don't

understand it. I always like miss a great

opportunity to find out what God has for me today.

And so I have to search and study, but we often leave

confused. That's maybe the level that a

lot of us can leave it out. It's like that didn't really

make any sense, but hey, OK, it's all right.

Second level is we leave educated.

We, we, we get smarter like we, we went to the Bible study.

We, we showed up on Sunday, like I went to the Bible in a year.

How many guys are doing, by the way, Bible in a year?

Some of y'all got the, the, the video deal and all that stuff.

And you're like you, you get, you get like man, sometimes you

don't apply it and it's just education and you get a little

smarter. And and the third level, this

level of God wants us to leave at is we leave transformed.

We we leave like a word from the word.

We leave more obedient. We leave changed.

But I don't know about you. Have you ever met somebody that

could that knows the verses but looks very little?

But like Jesus, he hasn't been like that before.

Somebody can quote the scripture, but it's like man,

they don't really know. They don't really know God the

way you never know because the way they treat people, the kind

of the right foot of Christian fellowship kind of people.

It's really dangerous. Amen to study the scripture and

not let it change your life. It it is extremely dangerous to

go to Bible study and hear the word of God or read the Bible in

devotion and not be obedient or submissive to what God is

showing you. It it's very dangerous for your

life and it just happens when the Bible becomes a textbook

that there's so many friends I've had that have been to Bible

college or or admit people went back to like a seminary.

And this is literally I was on a trip to Egypt and I met this

lady and she's a missionary Cuba, but she was in Egypt and

she said the worst three years of my life is when I went back

to get my master's degree in, in in my Mdiv because the Bible

became a textbook. And it is very easy to get the

spot where like, well, I know all the answers and I know what

this looks like. I know this looks like, and it's

very dangerous for your life or the Bible becomes a check box.

We're like, well, I got to do my daily reading, not most from a

high, the highest or high old school, right?

Like you just check off the box, just kind of go through the

motions or it's a religious obligation.

I don't know if you grew up in that kind of world was just you

just kind of did the thing, but you weren't being the thing.

And what happens is you've been gained knowledge, but your

pursuit is maybe not Jesus, your pursuit of something else.

And as you pursue your life and your dreams, you're adding Jesus

into your plan and your schemes and your direction.

What ultimate is happening is you have somebody else in the

throne of your life, you're worshipping an idol, right?

And you add Jesus in and instead of putting Jesus above all that

Jesus in, and we're on the throne.

And so it might be the greatest weapon in Satan's arsenal is

that we'd actually get to the word of God and leave the same

that they would sit down with the mule of Jesus and we still

leave hungry for the things of God.

I've seen this so often as a pastor.

And maybe it's just because the people I'm around and the kind

of people that speak up, I don't know, But some people are really

good at preaching the gospel to others, but they're very bad at

preaching the gospel to themselves.

They're very good at pointing fingers and forgetting that like

this, I am the work of God. I'm not perfect, I make

mistakes. We call them the Sunday Saints

and Monday ain't. Come on, somebody you know, I'm

talking about nothing like Christ.

It's the people that get the right foot of Christian

fellowship. Come on, somebody you said

sticking a hand that they can't put you on their foot and kick

you a little sideways and you're like, man, do you really love

Jesus? Like it didn't really seem like

it. I really my goal, I guess as a

pastor is kind of sad, but I try to offend those people fairly

quickly. Just saying, just saying it's

the people that got a head full of knowledge, but a heart full

of themselves and it's hard to watch.

And so this the Bible says about knowledge, about transformation

with lack of application. So Matthew 23 and verse 27, it

says, woe to you, this is Jesus talking.

These are red letters here. Woe to you.

Teachers of the law and Pharisees.

These are people that knew the Old Testament.

They knew the Bible. Matter of fact, they would have

memorized the entire Old Testament by the time they're 14

years old. These people knew every verse

they could quote every scripture, they could finish

everything you said about the Bible.

But Jesus says, you what? Help me out, you hypocrites.

You, you say one thing, but you do another.

Like in, in real honest, like we're all hypocrites to some

level, Amen. Like we, we, we all have a, a

tendency and a nature and a, and a selfish desire.

Like, well, I know what I should do, but I ah, right.

And the difference is in this Scripture is there's some of us

and I think this is the pursuit and I have to ask this question

are are you struggling towards or you just disobedient?

Is it going Oh Lord, I I really struggle like I really want to

pursue you, Lord. I want my life to be a different

Lord change me. But man, I'm struggling the good

that I would, but I should Romans 7 come on somebody.

I'm chasing down God, but I'm failing at times go Jesus, Amen.

But those it's like, well, I'm finding my sin.

I'm good. I can justify it.

I'll do my own life. I don't need to be obedient.

I've I've I've been to church long enough.

I, I always get tickled when people graduate from church.

I've been like, had that happen before.

People come here and they're like, well, I've done it long

enough. You know, the kids have

graduated. I've, I've ran the course like

I'm spiritual enough. Isn't that crazy?

It's like, who are, who are you? It's insane.

And you look at this, it's, it's hypocritical.

And he says this, you're like a whitewashed tomb.

This is interesting. You talk about whitewashed tomb

in that time period of Jesus day, the people in tombs

obviously using the tomb, there's above ground and the

outside of tombs, when you walk by them, if they weren't

signaled or or notified somehow you might touch them and be

corrupted, like you couldn't participate in the ceremony.

So during these big ceremonies they do in the Jewish culture,

they actually go around with lime and actually paint the

outside of the tomb so you wouldn't touch them, so you

wouldn't be corrupted by the dead things or the corruption

that's happening inside the tomb.

And so they walk by and they say, oh man, there's whitewashed

tomb and they knew where it was. They, they take a different

route. And so Jesus is calling them a

whitewashed tomb and he explains what it is.

It says which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside

are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

He says in the same way on the outside you appear to people as

how righteous you look the part, but on the inside you're full of

hypocrisy and he takes a no level and wickedness.

This is interesting because you can actually know of God

intellectually, but actually not know God You you, you can

actually mentally understand who he is you, you can arrange the

facts. You can even do great things for

God, for God, not through God. It just goes back to like

Matthew Chapter 7, like 21. It's like Lord, Lord, we we cast

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

out these demons and we do these great things for you and Jesus

says depart from me. I do not know you.

You work of iniquity. They've been gnashing and

gnawing of teeth. You can actually go to church

your entire life. You can actually come on a stage

and you can preach the gospel and not actually know Jesus.

Is that scary? It should be humbling.

Amen. And in these religious leaders,

these were the people that led the way in their day.

They had knowledge without application.

They knew truth without submission.

They knew the things of God without obedience.

And you can hear the Bible and not follow.

You can study and not surrender. You could even quote the Bible.

Come on somebody and know the verses, but actually not believe

them. And this is what it says about

the demons, right? And say themself, they know the

Scripture that they they even tremble.

The demons tremble, but they actually don't know and follow

God. It's real easy to get that spot.

There's a lot of Christians that get real complacent in their

faith. Like all of a sudden, like I

guess I've been around church long enough, I guess I'm good.

And so I just show up and it becomes a consumer mindset.

We've been thinking about this. Jason was talking about too.

He's done this before, but but in a theater, like we're going

to go in and the seats are really comfortable.

Come on, somebody, they've got armrests.

You got place to put your coffee and your big gulps.

Come on, somebody. We might even keep the soda

found. Thank you, Jesus.

And the popcorn and it, it doesn't quite recline, but it,

it rocks a little bit, right? I've had recliners in Sunday

morning. I swear I'd appreciate nothing

but sleeping people. Amen.

Can you imagine sitting there? I'm going to cut the power to

this thing, you know what I mean?

But it's going to be real easy to show up and be like, man,

this is super comfortable and you go to the theater.

Why? To be entertained.

It's so it's the, I can just imagine less in there that it's

going to be very, very easy to be complacent and like, let's

come and sit and some let's go and tell.

Amen, an application like what does the Lord want us to do?

Looking at this, I would encourage you if you think about

why wash tomb that that's like 1 extreme like you read the Bible

and you leave unchanged, but the but the other stream is like why

wash tomb? The other stream is actually

being washed white as snow. Amen.

Like one you're dead on the inside and there's wickedness

and there's corruption and there's brokenness and things

decay. And if you know Jesus, you have

faith in Christ. What God does is he takes the

things on the inside and he resurrects them and brings them

to life. He takes the wickedness and he

gives his righteousness and he gives his mission and he gives

his Holy Spirit. And so they're completely

opposite. And one is from grace and one is

for grace. And there's some of this

disobedient matched in the middle.

I, I got a man of my life that told me this one time.

He said, Sean, you're, you're, and it's going to be big terms.

I'll break it down, but you're orthodoxy has to match your

orthopraxy. What you know about God has to

match what your actions are for God, your practices.

And here's what happens when, when your knowledge of God

exceeds your practices, guess what happens?

You become a Pharisee. You're the guy goes on Facebook

and you can't help yourself, man, because you don't really

love other people right now, but you sure know what they should

do. And you become really critical

of others. It's always interesting because

you can see humanity. You can see the good and the

bad, you can see the worst and the best and you can forget like

I need to pray for these people, like I need to lead these people

and I can't help them, but God can at moments like it's not my

ability, it's God's ability, but it's really just Christians get

really, really jaded because of truth and they forget about

love. They forget about the greatest

work that God is going to do is actually in your life.

If you're so consumed about others, you're going to miss

what God wants to do. And often times we'll spend

years or decades of their life. We'll talk about our parents and

we'll talk about this thing in the past.

We'll talk about this and it's like, what about you?

What is God doing in your life? And so that's one way.

And I think some people hide behind this intellect and it's

it's just amazing to me. And then the other side is your

practice is out. Seize your knowledge.

And so these are like philanthropist, these are the

good deed doers. These are people that just do it

in the name of love. We just care for people to care

for people, but Jesus is really not a part of it.

Like, well, maybe I'll bring the gospel up or not.

I had a leader in our city that asked me to stop praying at

certain events because the culture just didn't want to

tolerate anymore. I was like, well, you probably

asked the wrong person. Wait till the next leader comes

in because I'm just going to keep doing it.

Amen. It's like, why am I apologizing

for this? It's crazy, but your orthodox

and orthopraxy should match. And here's a level which Paul

laid out in Philippians chapter 3 says I want to know Christ and

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

that this word for know is not the word of knowledge.

Gnosco. It doesn't mean to know an

intellectual sense when he says I want to know Christ, yes, to

know the power of his resurrection.

He's not talking about his sense of like, well, I want to study

in a book and it I want to, I want to actually fly plane and I

want to read the manual. I'm like, man, I'm so satisfied.

That was so much fun. It's not what he's saying.

What he's saying is I want to experience the depth of

knowledge of God. It's not just intellectual

knowledge. It's an experiential type of

knowledge. Like I want to actually

experience the fullness of Christ.

I want everything that Christ has for me to be given to me and

I want to walk through it. And he's ultimately said the

power is resurrection. By the way, when you knew Jesus,

you experienced the power of the resurrection.

Amen. Like there's something inside

you that was dead in that tomb that Jesus resurrected to life.

And Paul wanted that even with further he said in participation

in his what suffering. He didn't want to read about the

suffering he actually wanted to suffer like Christ.

I'll be honest with you in in American Christianity, I don't

find this very often, even in myself like I want to suffer for

Christ. And yes, we come and step and

tear down. Not the same level of suffering,

Amen. Not the same level participating

in sufferings, becoming look at this even a further extent

becoming like him in his what? His death.

And so somehow, and it's just, it's just funny how I said this,

somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Like he's like, not only do I know his power is resurrection,

like I want to experience the fullness.

I don't experience the suffering.

I don't experience the suffering to his fullest all the way to

his death. I, I, I want to be martyred for

Christ. I'm gonna be treated just like

Christ. I, I want to be, I want to be

disowned by this culture. I want people that hate me.

I'm gonna be taken to trial. I'm gonna be falsely accused.

I, I want to be murdered for the gospel.

Wow, that's a whole nother level.

Amen. And he didn't shy away from it

and he wanted to go full on and and his his mission like not

that he doesn't, he says somehow attain the resurrection of the

dead. He's not like, man, I hope I can

get there. Like maybe it work out if I do

all the right things. No, he's like, this is my

ambition, my goal and through all things like, oh man, this

would be the prize. That's what he's saying.

He's not questioning if he's going to be red or dead.

He's just talking about how the goodness of God is going to be

that he's going to be resurrected from the dead.

He's just so passionate about it.

And so the ultimate move we're learning here is not just what

I'm learning through Scripture, it's what I'm living out.

Do you see Paul? He's a man that's obedient and

submissive. Just as the Father sent me

talking about Jesus, so I send you the Father sent Jesus.

Jesus was submissive to the Father.

Amen. He didn't go.

I'll do my will. Let my will be done.

Thank you for sending me. I'll do my will now.

He was submissive to the Father. And so last week, we'll walk

through this. Last week, we could talk about

how to read the Bible. And if I summarize last week

into two words, it'd be So what? So what, when you open the

scripture and you get to any passage, you have to ask the

question, So what? So, So what is happening?

So who's who's writing this? Who, who's it written to?

What's happening around? What's the context of this?

So what is going on? And you have to really pursue

that. Amen.

You can talk yourself into some really, really crazy theology

and some really big mishaps with scripture if you're not diving

deep into what is this actually mean?

So what is happening in the scriptures?

Look at context. The second thing you look for is

authorial intent. Like what's the what's the

intention of the writer? We talked about burying his love

note. He actually wrote a poem I found

out about later. It was framed in the house

because that's how often he writes poems.

Come on, somebody. It was put on the wall like lots

of thing, you know, and I still have, I need to get a picture of

it. I'll put on the screen one of

these days. I don't know if he's around here

or not, but no, no, we'll think less of you, huh?

Barry, is that you're worried? He does have a heart, maybe

more. That's the only way we can go.

Barry, I love you, but I'll thorough intent.

What is God saying through this writer to that audience that

this is where you're chasing down?

We talked about in depth last week, so I'm not going to dive

through it completely, but the big the biggest piece is when we

go to scripture, we don't take our mean to scripture.

We actually find the meaning in the scripture, the, the, the

truth of God's word is actually found in the text where we're

discovering what the author intent is, what what happened

here? Why is this happening?

Who wrote this, what, who they're writing to?

And there's so much more we could talk about.

We didn't dive into, but like historical context, like we talk

about like a Roman soldier, right?

And, and, and armor of God and like what, what would that mean

to be an armor God and Roman soldier?

Like what's going on in the Church of Philippi?

Like what what is he talking about in Corinth?

Have these footsteps of the prostitutes that lead all these

harlots houses like to know all these pieces helps you

understand what the scripture is.

You put some flesh to that culture and you really

understand like what is God really saying here?

And it's our job to do that kind of work, Amen?

Like you just don't read and go well, that was that was good.

Like you got to study a little bit and ask these questions.

So let's assume you do that. That's education, Amen.

You got educated, you learned a little bit.

So they don't dive into how do you apply it?

And, and, and this made me be underrated.

Like nobody talks about this whole lot, but how do you

actually apply what you actually learned?

Let's say you, you, you run out some gold, you found some truth.

You like saw that and you're like, OK, how do you actually

apply this to your life? And I'm going to give you 2

different words. So you had So what?

Say somebody say So what? OK, next part you say now what?

Now what? So what now what?

Come on somebody. So what now what you can't skip

it if if you just a So what person I I've met a guy that

read the Bible in almost every version possible in the English

language. I mean, had a whole case of it

and you'd wonder like, but has it made effect in your life?

Like you've asked the first question.

Quite quite frankly, you've asked it way too much.

You've not asked the second question.

Now what do you want me to do with the Lord?

And every time you go to the table of God, I believe he wants

to feed you. And by the way, I don't think

Jesus feeds us grits, Amen. I don't think you get in there

and you're like, I'm going to eat this as fast as possible.

We got here because it tastes terrible.

I think we sit down with Jesus. He gives you a steak.

Come on, somebody. And who knows it's a sin to eat

a good steak quickly. Oh, I eat this steak so fast I

can't tolerate it. You savor it, Amen.

You sit down and you dine, you listen.

This is what Jesus does. It says open the door, your

heart, you knock, you know it's dying with you.

And you sit with me as we sit with Jesus and we sit there and

listen and spend time with Christ.

He wants to teach you things and show you things you have to

leave changed. So now what?

What's God asking me to do? What's obedience look like?

And by the way, we teach you obedience, Amen.

Like the, the point of knowledge is not that you know, the point

of knowledge is that you obey, that you find out in the Great

Commission, right? Matthew 2019 to, to, to, to

teach obedience to all nations. This is how we learn.

So it's not just, well, here's the truth.

And I think a lot of the disciple making or Bible studies

that they're really good at truth.

And then it occurs. It's like a family fight.

I don't know if you've been around those groups where people

fight about scripture. Anybody been around those

groups? There's been just fighting about

different opinions. And it's like, was that the

point? Is that why Paul wrote that so

you could fight about it? I mean, it's like just, it's

amazing to me. I've kind of seen it all, I

guess. But the question is what needs

to change in me to be more like Jesus by reading this what,

what, what, what do I do differently?

Like there's a surrender that happens.

What's what, How is God inviting me to trust him more through

this? What step do I need to take

today to look more like Christ? What what's God called me

surrender at his feet today and you find this it's not good

enough just to read it. So John 1415, you might know

this one if you love me, come on, somebody you keep my

commands. It you know, it doesn't say if

you love me understand Scripture.

It doesn't say if you love me. Know my commands is if you love

me, you keep my commands that that means you follow him.

There's there's a submission there.

There's no obedience. I I love it to say it this way,

the way that God spells love is OBEY.

Come on, somebody like you, you see it with your own kids,

right? Like, Oh, I love you, Dad.

Oh my God, do you I think you like the idea of me.

I don't know. I'm so sure you love me right

now, right, But that's not personal.

That's somebody else's story completely right.

But did Jesus say if you love me, understand everything.

If you love me, just go to enough Bible studies.

I don't know, there's so many Bibles.

I'm not saying I'm not dogging about having a Bible study

because I think you need them. But Lord help us if we need

another Bible study to get closer to Christ.

Like we, we have so much knowledge that we've not

applied, like to take action with what, you know, often

times, let's say often there's seasons where somebody come in

and say, Hey, pastor, like we really need preaching through.

And they'll say like Daniel or like Revelation and May we kind

of like, and it's kind of like watered down.

So like we need to go like a lot deeper.

And I'm like, have you read Revelation lately?

Oh, no. OK, so you're asking me to do

something that you're not even doing and then you want me to

preach this. And so often just have to

contain my thought. But I'll tell you, my thought is

often this, it's like maybe we'll move on to the harder

things of Scripture if we'd actually do the easy things of

Scripture. Like if you can't obey the

simple things, why would I go into these hard level post pre

Trib amillennial? Why would I go into these

difficult hard things in Scripture if we're not even

doing 1 + 1? Amen.

I'm not saying it's everybody because we're all different

levels, but the people often tell me this and the people that

don't look much like Jesus, but they're really curious about all

these things. And so the way it looks like if

you love me, you obey. If you love me, you submit.

If you love me, you surrender. And that that's an ongoing

thing. You don't, you don't.

And it's really what happened at the cross.

You, you surrender to Jesus. Amen.

Not my will, but your will be be done.

I'll obey you, I'll follow you. You never get past that prayer

or confession. You never get past this hold on

the old rugger cross. So the question to ask when you

read Scripture is how is this verse or passage or the truth

I've learned? How is it significant to my life

today? Somebody say significance,

significance. It it it's you can say

application, which is, you know, because a lot of people say,

well, it didn't really apply to me.

And I kind of guess there's there's some nuance here.

OK, but when you think of application, like you maybe read

the woman kind of adultery and you're like, well, I'm not an

adultery affair and so I'm not like her.

And it's like, oh, it was good. One day I'll maybe know

something about it. OK, totally understand.

But there is an infinite amount of significance to every

scripture. That's why when you go back and

read it a second time or third time or the 100th billionth

time, you actually get something new and different for your life.

Amen. So, so like this woman kind of

adultery, like that's not my story at all.

But if God can love her that much, and she's been through so

much, how much must God love me? And if God can be that merciful

and that caring and that compassionate to somebody that

most people would throw out the door, how should I be loving and

treating people? They're living a life that's

complete apart from the gospel, but they need the grace of God

to effectually touch their life. I can, I can, I can have

significance for that, Amen. And I could go on and on and on

and on and on and on. Of all the significance, there's

millions of significance for every piece of Scripture in your

life. And I found that God often will

give you the most significance where you have the biggest

struggle or the biggest trial in the season of your life.

That's where God will speak through his word.

You're like, man, I don't know where to start.

Well, there's a lot of great places to start, but wherever

you pick up, I believe that God will show you something for your

life through that scripture. It'll often speak to the hardest

thing you're walking through. God is not going to, like, take

the medicine and apply it to a wound that doesn't exist.

He's going to take the medicine and the Holy Spirit's going to

speak through the trial that you're walking through, and it's

going to help you. That's why the Holy Spirit's

called the comforter, Amen. He's going to lead you and walk

with you even through the valley, maybe even called the

shadow of death of the hard places.

He's going to sit down in front of your enemies.

He's going to make a table and he's going to relax and dine

with him as your enemies surround you and nobody

understands you and you're feel like you're all alone, but

you're in the presence of God and He has everything in his

control. Amen.

This is what the Scripture does. This is who the Holy Spirit is.

He gives you a word in the season.

And I found that the word of God, the application that comes

from God, comes at different levels.

And there's more than I'm going to name, but I'll give you

really the four that I think are like the main levels that God

will speak to you when you read Scripture.

One is your identity. God will speak to who you really

are. And it's pretty fun in the life

of a believer when you start exchanging like your version of

who you are or maybe somebody else's version, because that's

what people would usually live for.

We actually start exchanging it for God's version of who you are

and you start rewriting your identity.

And I believe that's probably the deepest level of God is

speaking to you all the time. And if we let him shape it, God

would shape it every single time.

He doesn't want you to leave going, oh, I don't know what to

do. He is speaking to who you are.

How about your motives or your will, right?

Like, why are you doing these things?

And God will speak to you Like, is that for you?

Is this, is this about Sean? Is this about accolade?

Is this is this about accomplishment?

What, what is the motivation for what you do?

And, and God knows that, Amen. I mean, he's, he's judged all of

humanity before just by the thoughts and motivations of the

heart. Motives matter.

And so Jesus is looking at what you're doing and Jesus doesn't

want you to do a lot of stuff. He actually is more than you

becoming someone else. He he doesn't want you to start

adding on church and add on the Bible study and add on a life

group and add this stuff. He actually wants you to be more

like Jesus. He he wants you to become

somebody that you're not in his name.

And how about this no level is emotions like God will speak to

and through and about your emotions.

Should you have felt that way? Should you have got so mad about

that? Should you be so unforgettable?

She have that hot kind of hostility?

Should you really be triggered that quickly?

Is that grace filled? Is that merciful?

And God will speak to that Amen. Awful quiet.

And then he'll speak to your your actions.

Like what are you doing with your life?

Like is that obedience? Is that the direction he's

calling you to go? And so let me just walk you.

I'll just play it out for you. So Joshua one verse 7 and 9,

I'll read a passage, Let me get a context and I'll apply it to

my life and maybe God will speak through it to your life because

they're probably some significance from my

significance to your life. That's fun, right?

So Joshua 17, it says this. We'll, we'll back up.

Give me some context. So Joshua's written Moses passes

away. Who was supposed to bring this

Hebrew people into the promised land?

And he sent in Joshua and Caleb and Bruce spent, he spent in

all, all the the spies and Joshua killed the only two that

said, no, we can do it, we can do it, we can do it.

And those just like, let's take a vote.

And they said, no, we can't. He said, yeah, we can't.

And they wandered for 40 years because they spent 40 days as

spies in the promised land. And so they wandered for 40

years, but should have taken like 2 days to get to the

promised land. They just wandered.

And while they're wandering, they remember the miracle of

God, the Red Sea. And they got to the point the

generations passed away. And they're like, where is the

God these miracles? You know, you see that with

Gideon, like where's this God that pards Red Sea?

We don't see this anymore. Like they've forgotten all the

power of God and the every person that was in that

generation died except for Caleb and Joshua, including Moses,

because their unfaithfulness to God.

And so here's Joshua, Moses passed away, wrote the book of

Deuteronomy the last 30 days of his life because he wants the

mantle of the glory of God to move forward.

He's in the right place. He is humbled and he gives this

mantle to Joshua. He's still alive.

Then we're going to read it, but actually came through God to

Moses before this actually happened.

God's actually quoted himself through Moses.

And so he tells Joshua, you're going to do this man.

Like there's a time I'm I'm not leading the end.

Like I'm, I'm, I'm out and you're going to demand and he

sets up Joshua to like be the next leader of the Hebrew people

to go into the promised land. And so picks up verse 7.

This is God himself speaking to Joshua.

He says, be strong. Come on somebody.

And how very courageous. That's a good word for 2026, by

the way. Be very courageous with your

faith, like we're not called to be like this backseat silent

majority. We're called to be bold and

courageous with what God has put in front of us.

He says be careful to what? Help me out, obey.

There it is all the law my servant Moses gave you and do

not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be what

success where we go so so if you're going to follow God, you

want success in the Kingdom of God, then obey the things of God

and that would make you successful in the eyes of God

and the Kingdom of God. Man, that's some gold right

there Amen. Like what's driving my life.

I'm going to follow Jesus. Verse 8 says keep this book of

the law always on your help me out your lips.

Meditate on it day and night. So you be careful to do

everything written in it. Then you will be what prosperous

and successful. So you just kind of dives even

deeper. Put in your lips, put in your

mind, let it become your life and then you become prosperous

and successful. Verse 9 he just double s down

have helped me out. I not commanded you.

What a great question that matters who is speaking to you.

Be strong and courageous. He reminds me again and do not

be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the

Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

That's a passage, baby. That's a passage.

Like I feel like when you sit down with people and they're

like struggling with like, oh, I got to be courageous and don't

want to do they're freaking out. This this Bible, you're like,

this is like the mantle. Be strong and very courageous

and you just stick in their chest, right?

This is what I'm asking you to do, like put the law in your

heart, follow God, be prosperous.

He's with you wherever you go, step out of faith.

Amen. It's it's like a just a mantra

and it looks really cute, like in the kitchen on the wall.

Be strong, very courageous to make sourdough.

Maybe, you know, but this is marching orders to go to war.

But you imagine the pressure of Joshua, like, OK, I'm going to

leave this meeting. And then maybe like, all right,

guys, I know we've been wandering for 40 years, but now

we're going to do it. And he's wondering like, are

they going to follow? Are they getting mad or what's

going to happen? And you start thinking about,

well, this is a big risk. Like we could all die.

Like, do I have? Are these people well trained

military people? I mean, I saw who was in the

last time we walked through it. But you know what Joshua did, he

obeyed. Amen.

Matter of fact, as soon as he left the meeting, if you want to

read on your own, he turns around to his leaders and he

tells them, hey, guys, just so you know, 3 days from now, we're

going to cross the Jordan and go in that lane.

So get your boys ready. We're going that's pretty good,

Amen. Like he followed the Scripture,

be strong and very courageous. But I, I look at this and I

think, man, how does this affect my life?

Like identity and that this word I have commanded you.

It matters who tells you, Amen. Like when, when Jesus says, I

want you to go and I, I want you to be my hands and my feet and I

want you to give up your degree like your your vision of your

life and I want you to exchange it for what I'm doing, which is

far greater than anything you can dream of.

It matters that that's Jesus talking, Amen.

And as a leader, as a, as a pastor, as a, as a just a

Christian, there's a lot of voices in our lives, Amen.

Like we got family, we got friends, we got kids, we got all

the different people around us. And you know what, it seems like

everybody's got an opinion and that some people have a dream

for your life. I love those people that have a

dream for my life. I'm like, what, who are you to

have a dream from my life? Like, you know, what really

matters to me is what God says, Amen.

So, so when I hear from God, then I'll follow it and

everybody else is just white noise, Amen.

Like I hear you, I love you, I love our church, I love my

family, I love it, I hear it, I hear it, I hear it, I hear it.

But until the Lord tells me to do it, I'll file that and next

to file 86, like I'm waiting to hear from God, Amen.

Because the world that everybody else just has a dream and a

destiny that may not be from God.

And so I'm going to follow the person that part of the Red Sea,

I'm going to follow the person that brought the mana down from

heaven to put a pillar of fire by night.

I'm I'm going to follow that person, Amen.

And this is what Joshua was thinking.

If you look at scripture like your identity, like what is my

life really built on? Was it is this like my old man

like reaction? Am I trying to like fill a gap

or like a wound I'm trying to heal or, or is this truly from

God himself? And I wrestled all those things.

Amen. Like I, I, I've been there

going, man, who am I? Like seriously, you love me that

much? And but your identity shaped by

Christ and Joshua obviously had had a season of walking with God

and what God says it's time to get up and go.

He didn't say, guys, what do you think about it?

He didn't say, do you all agree we should go because that's a

big task. I don't know if we can do it.

I looked at you guys and I was like, right.

I mean, I'd be feeling pretty good if I had like AB2 bomber or

something. Right, but you look around,

you're like, well, but what we have is what the Lord Amen.

And he's more than enough. And so it's all that matter to

Joshua and that's all that needs to matter for you.

So that's the significance. Just it just sticks out to me.

That was free motivation. So motive.

Why do you do it? It says for the Lord, your God

will be with you wherever you go.

That's great motivation, Amen. Like when God calls you to start

a church in the middle of Belden Ray Moore, like not the sexiest

thing to do, Amen. I mean, Kona, HI was great.

Like that sounds like a great place for God to call me, Amen.

I mean, I was like, we can name the church Wake Church.

Like I love wakeboarding and water sports.

Like this is God's call. We could be right there on the

beach. Jesus, Jesus, do you need us

there? Amen and even starting a church

like that's kind of backwooded in 2026, like do we need

churches like people are just so anti church, but who who's

leading the way? Amen Jesus and matter of fact,

he gave us this very command in Matthew 2020.

He said low I'll be with you always, even to the end of the

age. The most important thing about

your motives, you're doing for the Lord, Amen.

Like we, we, you said rejoice in the name of the Lord, the name

of God, Christ. And again you say rejoice

because he deserves all glory and honor, Amen.

Because he's the one that's making the way I'm stepping into

his plans that are already set. I'm not trying to make my own

plans. So what's your motivation to

make his name great, Amen. To make his name and his renown

famous throughout the earth. It's all about Jesus.

Let's talk about a Jesus church and we're not going to be like

there's Pastor Sean in heaven. Pastor Sean, you got Jesus,

Amen. You don't need to go to Pastor

Sean, like go to the feet of Jesus.

You don't want to go. I'm going to talk to real life

church and there's no real life church in heaven.

You are the church, the people of the Kingdom of God.

You made it, Amen. You know, like, well, I'm, I'm,

I'm this denominations, there's no denominations in heaven.

It's just like, what are we doing?

Like we're doing it for the Lord, Amen.

And that's our motivation. Or how about your emotions?

Like Joshua felt it. That's why Moses told him in

God, he says do not be afraid and do not be discouraged.

Have we ever stopped a dream of God in our life because we're

afraid or discouraged? I probably every day God has

called us to do something. It's like, well, that's that's

hard. People don't like it, you know,

and we get afraid of discouraged.

And what's really interesting about this passage is that David

actually repeats this very Scripture to his son Solomon

when he commissions him and hands the mantle to him to

actually build the, quote, palatial structure of the

temple. There's something special about

buildings where your head says, do not be afraid or discouraged,

Amen. I mean, you look at it, it's a

daunting task. If you had, I talked to somebody

earlier that they're paying their house, that's a lot of

work, Amen, To go around and paint your whole house.

The interior is painful. Come on somebody.

But if you drive it or you go to the Belden Theater, it's 25,000

square feet of 32 foot walls and they're concrete and there's

these stadium seating. How do you even get up there?

If you can find a way, you could beat me right after this

gathering and you tell me about to get through a three O door

with a 50 foot stenchion trying to figure it out.

And maybe that's where I went last night a little bit in my

mind, I don't know. But don't be afraid or

discouraged. Amen.

Like we're worried about the things in the future because we

have well, the way it went last time or the wounds of the past

or the fear of failure or the voices that are around us and in

spiritual warfare and demonic forces in that we've stuck in

the Mary clay. We played the same song for

15,000,000 times in a row and God's like, but there's a better

song and he picks you out of the miry clay and he sets over here

and he's going to hear it one time before we fall in love with

it. Amen.

Just break the habit one time. Like dude, God's grace is so

much better than the story. I was right for myself.

So God just tells them, don't be afraid.

And if we get past that fear and we believe this promise right

here for ourselves, that if it's if it's fearful and

discouraging, it's not from the Holy Spirit.

It doesn't lie with Scripture. It's not from God himself.

And if you could just put that in your mind every time you're

facing a decision because is this from God or is this from

man or is this from somewhere else?

And the fourth level was actions that you may be success wherever

you go, that that's the end result is like it, it really

matter where he went. It just matter.

The Lord was with him, Amen? Like he just travelled like a

nomad, like, well, we'll go in like we'll get to Jericho,

you're coming, you know, watch out, those walls will be mine.

But we're going this way today. And God just is with him and he

takes care of it. I mean, how bold would your

faith be if you do wherever you step that Jesus with you and

ahead of you, That's pretty amazing, Amen.

Like, is there any territory on this earth that God doesn't mean

to walk and redeem? Is there any nation or place?

Is there any alleyway that should be afraid of?

That's what he's saying. And so you look at what are my

actions? Is it, is it about me?

Is it, is it my money, is my powers and my stories about

God's story. Because ultimately he gets the

glory and He wants to walk in the safest place as a center of

his will. So we'll continue three simple

practices. I'll just like how do you

actually apply this? Let me give you 3 simple things

so you can take something home. 1 is make time.

Make time to be with the be with Jesus.

Make time to be in the scripture.

We talked about this last week a little bit, but Matthew 4 four

man should not live on bread alone, but on every word that

comes from the mouth of God. Let the Bible is your daily

bread. Amen.

Let you you got to get into the Scripture and you have to make

time for that. So here's what I tell you.

Pick a place, pick a time and pick a book in the Bible.

Just do those three things. Just pick a place, pick a time,

pick a book and maybe it's the morning, maybe it's at your,

your, your lunch break. Maybe like a, like a night owl,

come on somebody and you just want to get in the Scripture,

like do it like repeatedly over and over and over again.

Pick those three things and see what the Lord can do.

Just take 10 minutes. I would encourage you guys.

It's not about quantity, it's about quality.

It's about quality time with Jesus.

Like you can get more from one verse than you can get from

reading the entire book of the Bible back and forth.

If you ask the question, Lord, what we have me to do, practice

the submission part of it, like sit there and think about what

you learned. Like meditate on it, which is

the second piece. So not only make time, but

meditate. Don't just read it like have it

read you. Like if you if you spend a

moment with Jesus a day, you've missed the point.

The idea is not that you take a moment and say OK, that was

great got that done. Now I go do my other things

right now I got all all these things.

The world will not run without you, my friend.

You got so much going on and so you got to run everything else

down. What you have to do is you take

a moment with Jesus and then you meditate it on it all day.

You put it in your mind is so you see Joshua is is in there.

You can go so many places on this, but Joshua 18 read earlier

says keep this book of law always on your what on your

lips. Meditate on it day and night

means contemplates. Think about it, chew it like put

it on your heart all the time so that you may be careful to help

me out to do everything written in it.

Did you guys see how scripture moves?

Do you guys see that little piece there?

He said, put on your lips like we put it back up.

We can go back just so you can see it, but put on your lips.

It's your first thing you do. So you read it and you say it

out loud and you're like, wow, OK, this is what here it is.

And then you don't you moves into your mind, you meditate.

That's that's where you do meditation in your mind.

So when it Bible says take every thought captive, make a be to

Christ and all day long you're like, OK, how am I going to put

that thought captive? What's that mean?

Like what's that look like? And you started this image of a

soldier with a sword and it's like sticking right there, the

neck of a thought. I was like, Oh, this is good.

And throughout the day you're learning from the Holy Spirit

what he's showing you about the scripture.

You're learning and you meditate on it.

What happens is as you meditate, because you're thinking about

all day, because you renew your mind, it says that so that be

careful to do everything written in it.

So boosting your lips to your mind to your becoming like

Jesus, Amen. And if you skip those steps,

you're not getting a lot lot from the Bible.

A lot of people read the Bible. It's like I'm not getting

anything from the Bible. It's like maybe you're skipping

the application, Amen. Like maybe you, you skip the

whole make time, meditate part of the scripture.

And the last thing I'll encourage you to do is to

memorize. So make time, meditate.

And the last time I treated to memorize, I'll I'll tell you

this. Every struggle has a scripture,

Amen? Every struggle has a scripture.

You, you have to find the Scripture that speaks to your

deepest wound, that speaks your pain point, that speaks your

habitual sin, that speaks to things broke in your life, that

speaks to your triggers. You have to find a scripture.

And by the way, there's a lot of them.

If you need some help, just ask me or look the person next to

you and say I'm jacked up, so are you.

What's the Scripture you've been using?

Come on somebody, there's always a scripture.

You have to memorize that scripture.

And you can see this in Psalm 119, obviously super famous

verse. I will seek you with all my

heart. Do not let me straight from your

commands. I have hidden your word in my

heart that may not sin against you like you're placing it right

here. Because here's the thing, the

word to memorize when there when it's when there's peacetime

actually becomes your weapon when there's pressure and

there's war. Like imagine this, no one shows

up to the battlefield is like, oh, I forgot to sharpen my

sword. Hold on, hold on.

Just sharpen the sword. You, you're ready.

Amen. And so when you show up, you

already have a scripture. So when you're in a battle at

11:00 at night or there's something happened to your

family, like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I've already got this down. Like there's a verse like I've

memorized like Job and maybe it's pornography and you know

you, I'd better cover my eyes or not look lustly upon a woman.

Great verse. Amen.

I just gave a verse for all the guys in the house.

Come on, ain't a lot of ladies. It's kind of crazy.

But you should memorize the scriptures that attack the very

thing that Satan and the world is trying to pull from you.

And ultimately the true essence of applying the Bible or reading

the Bible is that you actually add Jesus to your life and

subtract yourself. That's the true essence of

reading the Bible. It's not like, oh man, I didn't

major up. I didn't finish my Bible reading

plan today. I didn't check the box on you

version. You know I mean I'm not the

pastor that's going to post like here's the perfect breeding plan

I did everything was perfect. It's never perfect Amen.

But pursuit and the ideas we add Jesus to attract ourselves.

You see this in John 3/30. He must become greater and I

must become less every time you go to Scripture, Lord, more of

you, less of me, more of you, less of me.

Galatians 220. Paul said this way.

I've been crucified of Christ as the only I that live, but Christ

lives in me, Amen. It's no longer my will.

It's not in my direction. The life I now live.

I live through Christ and Christ alone.

I'm a dead man walking. Amen.

There's a part of me that died with Christ and Jesus

resurrected. I have nothing else to do with

my life but to serve and live for Jesus.

How do you want me to live? It's no longer my will, I'm

living for you. Deal Media said this.

He said God sends no one away empty except those who are full

of themselves. So you have to ask the question

if you're reading the Bible. I'm like, well I'm not getting

much out of it. I might have to ask the question

is it because you're full of yourself.

There's no room for God because often times that's what happens

because we're reading it to get some kind of intellect that says

in the second chronicle, second Chronicle 69 for the eyes of

Lord range or roam throughout the earth to strengthen those

two hearts are fully committed to him.

Go back to KJVI. Love it like the eyes of Lord

run to and to and fro. It's pretty amazing.

He's looking for those people that their eyes are on the Lord

and they're submissive. Lord, I'm going to follow you.

I want to have your plan. I want, I want to go your

direction, whatever you want. Here's a blank contract you

filled in. I'm all in.

I want that for my life. Lord, show me what it is.

And God says I'm going to strengthen those people.

I'm I'm going to elevate those people.

Those are the humble people that that God's going to lift up is

going to use. They're open handed and their

glory bears for Christ. And ultimately I'll leave you

this. There's a man in the Bible.

His name is Jacob and Jacob like has a crazy story, but he stole

his brother's birthright or is the the the blessing from his

dad when his dad was passing away and he stole it and he ran.

He went to his uncle's place. He's coming back.

I'm summarizing a ton of here. He's come back home and he knows

he's got to face his brother Esau.

His brother Esau is a warrior. He's hardened, like he's

thinking he's going to go home and he's going to battle, he's

going to die because no way he's going to defend and beat his

brother. You saw.

And so he ends up by himself on purpose, sends his wife, his

kids, all his belongings, all his stuff to other places.

And he ends up, it's crazy enough.

He ends up wrestling God himself.

Pretty awesome story, Amen. And he wrestles God and God's

like basically we just give up already, you know, And he says

I'm not letting go you. He says it's just 3226.

I'm not letting go unless you what?

Unless you bless me, I'm not letting go until you bless me.

And so Lords like okay. And he boom, he hits him in the

right hip and he, he just wretches.

He just torques him down right, like God just would have killed

him, but just takes his hip out and he and he, he has to walk

the limp from the on right, But he's just holding on to him.

He gave him a new name. He did bless him.

He gave him name Israel and he changed his name and he he

blessed his lineage and he blessed the generation.

And matter of fact, the immediate blessing was is that

he went back home and he measured you saw and his he was

so nervous. He sent gifts out in front of

him. Give him more, give him more,

give him more three different times because that's what him

know like don't, don't hurt me. And he saw he's like just goes

past everything and he runs up to his brother and gives him a

hug and they're reunited because of God's blessing.

This is what Jacob was wrestling and I just want to encourage you

when you get with Scripture and by the way, Jacob actually saw

it says he saw God's face and yet he lived.

That's that's big to see God's face to know him fully if he

sees that face as dead because the holy is the righteous of

God, but he saw God's face. I would encourage you when you

get into Scripture, you do not let go of what you're reading

until you get something from God.

You do not let go of what God has put in your lap.

It is too precious for you to dismiss or to go, well, that was

too complicated. I know what it means.

Or it's like, well, that was good education.

You do not leave there until you've got a meal from Jesus,

Amen. You, you sit there and you look

at that Scripture and you meditate on it and say, Lord,

what do you have me to do? Even I'm reading Joel, the book

of Joel, I could find something from Joel, Amen.

Like you get something from the Bible and you hold on to it and

say, Lord, bless me, show me, what should my life be like?

What do you want to do with my life?

How should I live what looks like, you know, be to you, I'm

going to be very more glory for you.

It's amazing. God always shows up.

He always shows up. He has not failed yet to show up

when you make time for him and you seek him diligently.

Amen. And this is what we do as

Christians. And it makes no sense.

Like how do you do that? Because my power doesn't come

from earth. My power comes from Christ.

My peace doesn't come from earth.

My peace comes from Christ. My identity doesn't come from

earth, it comes from Christ. My motivation doesn't come from

myself, it comes from Christ. My emotions aren't built on

myself, they're built on Christ. My actions are built on self,

they're built on Christ. That's what happens.

You read the Bible and apply it, Amen.

And I feel as a church, as a people of God, we're really,

really good at doing this because most people are waiting

for somebody else to go. I don't want that.

You've got to feed yourself, Amen.

If you just make this one tweak in your life with Christ, be

amazing how far God takes you. So people say, Sean, I'll be

like you. I want to be like these

Christian leaders. What should I do?

I just gave you the recipe. Get in front of God humbly and

let him shape your soul. So finally God would come before

you got to ask a blessing on our church.

God that we be the church that applies not just be hearers, but

doers of the word and God. We become just like you.

I'm praying for those people in the house that say, you know

what? I need to get in the Scripture.

I need to walk with Jesus deeper.

I need to hold on to God until he blesses me.

I need to get in my Bible every single day.

If that's you that Jesus followed, we just raised you in

highs, that's me, Lord, I need to follow you.

Come surrendering now to your way and your will.

God use me. God is no longer about Sean

Petrie. It's no longer my will, it's

your will. So God, help me to know you.

God, I want to sit down with a meal.

I'm so hungry. I'm tired of eating table scraps

in the world. My life built on sand.

Lord I need to build a rock so God don't walk with you.

I'll pray for one person individually.

The 1 today that's come that God has found that those you to

recognize that Jesus loves you deeply and will shape every part

of you because the day they walked in and you realize

there's dead things in your life and even the resurrection power

of Christ. And so today if you need Jesus,

the Bible says even called Jesus be saved, forgiven and made new

that he came in this world because he loved us and died for

us so that we could follow him. We not just because we're trying

because he's made us different. He has resurrection power to

take the old self and kill it and resurrect the version of you

that he has created and called you to be.

And so today if you need Jesus without any be looking around

just our relationship with Christ.

You want to hear from God, maybe for the very first time be

changed. It's why it's all happens.

It's for you. If that's you, just raise your

hand high and say, you know what?

I need Jesus today. I need life in Christ today.

Make God's love today. If that's you, believe through

prayer. The prayer does not save you.

It's your heart, it's your belief, it's confession.

Say Father God thanks so much for sending Jesus.

You love me enough that I was my worst, I was strained in sin,

yet you love me God for unknown reasons.

God, you have such a deep love for me.

God, thank you so much. God, I want you to shake my

identity, I want you to shake my soul.

I want you to change my emotions, I change my actions.

God, I want to walk with you. So thank you God for coming to

my life. God is saving me and finding me

even my worst. God you're at your best so thank

you Jesus. I pray this in Jesus name, the

church said, Amen, give some glory to God.

Amen. You're a little rejoicing today.