Listen & Do It

Thanks for listening to the His Hands Church podcast.

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And thank you for being part of what God is doing at His Hands.

If it's your first time here and you've never been here when Ken speaks, Ken is a part of our family.

He's a professional comedian, really great guy, loves God with all he has, and is just a really gifted gifted teacher.

And so he speaks here pretty often.

We all know him and love him, and you'll definitely enjoy that this morning.

If you've never been here before, when he's here, I've got a couple quick announcements before we bring Ken up.

First of all, I know this this is surprising, but the school year is about to start.

I know as if you needed reminded.

Some people are clapping.

Imagine you have children.

The summers are really short here, they just are, and it seems like it sneaks up on us every single year.

But we we semi-follow the school year here in Cherokee County for some of our groups and classes and some things like that.

So I have a few announcements related to that.

The big one is that our high school group kicks back off on Wednesday, August 7th.

So high school students.

Yeah.

There you are.

As always.

Consistent.

We'll be back on Wednesday, August 7th.

If you are a high school student or you have one, you've never been to our high school group, we have an amazing, amazing group of young people.

They they love each other like a family, they love Jesus, and uh and we have a lot of fun together.

So that starts on Wednesday, August 7th.

Some of you have kids that are in those sort of transitional years, at least as far as our kids stuff goes.

And if you have a child that's about to make the jump into first grade, they're gonna get to start coming into his kids, our first through fifth grade room on Sunday, August 4th.

So Sunday, August 4th is when you can move them up.

And the same goes for kids going into junior high.

So if you have a student that's about to be in the sixth grade, every single Sunday morning, we have an awesome group of junior high students.

They're over there right now.

We have a live video feed of worship.

Uh we do a lot of fun stuff together.

They're about to throw water balloons at me in a few minutes, so I have to get back over there for that.

That kind of thing that kind of thing happens.

Wouldn't you love to throw water balloons at Steve one morning?

We can make that happen.

Hope he's not listening to this.

Okay.

Um but our junior high students are also awesome, and we do a lot of fun things together.

So if you have a student going into the sixth grade, they can start coming to the junior high thing on Sunday, August 4th as well.

Going into September, September's gonna be a big month for us.

First off, Labor Day is also Independence Day this year.

We get a yeah, we get a double holiday.

City of Woodstock cancel their fireworks display with all the weather.

They moved it to Labor Day.

So that means that Labor Day will have the building open.

There'll be fireworks, there'll be food, a lot of fun.

It's gonna be a huge event, so we definitely want everyone to come out, hang out, have a good time with that.

And then in September, our groups and classes also kick back off.

For the whole month of September and the entire month of October, we'll have groups and classes here on Wednesday nights.

Uh we have a great set uh great schedule.

We have a parenting class this year with with Daniel and Althea Griesbeck.

The guys group will be meeting again.

It's a very formally named group, guys group.

Brian Skuris leads that.

Lynn Walker's doing the women's group again.

Uh yeah.

Lynn Walker gets a shout at every time.

She's so popular.

The Freedom from Addiction Group now, Stephanie sent me an email and it says that that group is led by Nike Mamone.

Now I know a Mike Mamone, and I don't know if he has a brother named Nike or if that the N and the M just got transposed.

So it might be Mike Mamon, it might be Nike Mamon, I don't know.

Either way, it's gonna be a great group.

Marlon's gonna be leading the art group as always, and then we have uh Bill Thrasher leading a Bible study through the first chapter of Genesis.

That's gonna be a really good group.

Our high school students will be meeting, and then obviously we have a junior high small group as well.

So September groups and classes, Labor Day slash Independence Day, yeah, it's gonna be great.

Only other thing I'll say is uh Stephanie let me know that we could use some help in our coffee area, the blue light coffee team.

A lot of you guys go and get coffee on Sunday mornings, it really helps.

And they could use just a little bit of help.

It's it's a great team of people, awesome people on that team, and they help out on a once-a-month basis.

So if that's something that that you can help with, if you have experience with that or you just think you'd be good doing that, or want to try, uh go to the info desk.

You can you can get Stephanie's contact information there or sign up, and it's it's gonna be awesome.

I've said awesome nine times so far this morning.

So let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll we'll bring Ken up with us.

Jesus, you are awesome.

We love you so much.

We do love your presence, God.

We love the fact that we can be here, just be exactly who we are, and know that we are absolutely adored by you.

And the only reason that we love you so much is because we know how much you love us.

So I just pray that you would remind us of that this morning, Lord.

Speak to us and challenge us through what Ken's gonna share just to live that life that you have for us because we know it's good.

We just pray that you would bless our days, our weeks, and most of all, just remind us daily that you're here for us and you can do anything, and we can trust you with everything.

And we ask all this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

Dang it.

Wow.

I cannot tell you how good it is to be back in his hands.

Uh, I can give a yes.

I can illustrate it though by uh how many of you, I don't know who was praying for rain.

Um stop.

Uh it's it's done.

When I I've been on tour.

When didn't when did they move Atlanta to a suburb of Seattle?

When did that happen?

Because it has just been raining, cats and dogs.

And and to yesterday, sun came out, and and I got to do my yard, and my son and I went and did another yard that he helps cut.

And after you've had a lot of rain and gloom and doom, and then that sun, it's like, what is that fireball in the sky?

Whoa.

That just warmth and dry, that that is what his hands is to me.

It's just that oasis of just, huh?

It's just home.

It's a place to just be able to rest and go, wow, this is this is what it's about.

This is just a place, an oasis.

And uh it, I get to be here next week as well, and I'll talk about that at the end.

But um, it is just really, really cool.

We uh I was asking Justin, I said, you know, what are you guys into?

And he says, Parables.

And I'm like, I love parables.

That's like my favorite, because Jesus uh in one of the gospels said he never spoke to any group without using a parable.

He always told stories, and I'm like, that's my life, is just stories.

And so I started praying about him like, well, which parables?

And I kind of went to one of my favorites, which is in Matthew 7.

There's some really cool ones in there.

So if you have a Bible, I want to encourage you to open to Matthew 7.

It's gonna be kind of radical to underline a couple words here this morning, but uh it's one of my favorites.

But then I thought I thought, Lord, you know what?

I I think I shared that parable one time at his hands.

I I'm pretty sure I shared like one of my favorites, and what God I sometimes I can almost hear God laughing, and and he was just kind of like, oh yeah.

And I I it was like six years ago that I shared it.

Now I know every one of you are here, you remember every word that I shared, and it radically transformed your life, and it was that day that that did it.

And then I learned more about this parable, and the more I read them, the more I learn.

So if the foundation sounds the same, it is.

And there's one or two pieces, but I'm gonna share a lot of what God has teaching me through the same one uh over and over.

Because the truth is we really approach faith in one of two ways, and and we really have some simple choices.

Either we're approaching faith religiously through rules, or we slip into the idea of I want to be faithful, and it comes out of a pure heart.

I want to be faithful, I want to connect with God, and and we turn to rules in a religious way to fulfill that.

I've heard it mistaught for years, and it breaks my heart now that I think about it, because if I ever slipped in that way, I just think, oh, I I wish I hadn't, and I hope I didn't.

But the concept of look at what God did for you.

He died on a cross, he took your sins, he gave you eternity.

Now what are you going to do for him?

And that concept is so counter Christ.

It's so counter.

Yet, good-hearted believers are saying, you know what, he did die for my sins, he did forgive me, he has given me life.

I need to do something for him.

Instead of that rules in religion being a relationship of love, unending love.

Because if I'm about the religion and the rules, I will end up in failure often because I can't measure up to all the rules all the time.

And that failure will lead to frustration, and it will lead to what the Bible calls foolishness.

And I don't want to be foolish.

Or the relationship.

The relationship of unending love ends in hope.

And every time I fall short, I know that God doesn't give up.

I'm not condemned by this, I'm not condemned to this, and and I have hope that God within me is gonna overpower this.

It gives me freedom.

I have a freedom that if I fall down or if I screw up, God's not gonna go, loser.

Why did you do that?

Do something for me for a change.

You know, that's not God.

Instead, he says, I will give you forgiveness and I will give you power and I'll give you freedom and I'll give you peace and I'll give you hope.

So, whatever that motive is, and that's the foundation, because truth is, as I lay that out, most of us go, Well, I really don't want the rules in religion.

I don't want that, I want the I want the relationship of ending love.

I want to function in that way.

And the question for you and I to ask this morning is two choices that we make that determine which part of this road we go in, which direction we're going, because very well-meaning, good-hearted people kind of slide down that Pharisee hypocrite road of I'm gonna do it religiously, and and look at me, God's just really happy with me because I keep all the rules, and it it ends always tragically.

Or maybe you're even here this morning, and and you've been through that time where you've been in that environment of rules and religion, and you didn't measure up, and and you were burned, and you're just like, that's why that's why I don't like God, that's why I don't like church, that's why I don't like anything to do with it.

And yet the the truth we're gonna look at today shows this freedom and hope and peace.

With that, in Matthew 7, we see this in clarity, in a simple foundation.

This is the New Living Translation.

I'm gonna have you look at a couple different words, whatever your translation is.

I'm gonna point out a couple words to underline in this.

Read it with me, uh, just you read it to yourself as I read it out loud.

Anyone, and this is starting in verse 24 of chapter 7 of Matthew, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who built his house on solid rock.

Though the rain comes in torrents, and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't fall, it won't collapse because it's built on bedrock.

But anyone who hears my teaching and does not obey it is foolish, like a person who built his house on sand.

When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.

What is the foundation of my faith?

This past summer had a really cool uh opportunity experience.

One, we had some friends that were going to Costa Rica.

They're missionaries.

I've shared some of their story.

Donald and Christy, they're great.

We had a party of everybody who supports them at our house, and it's as fate would have it, we're sitting in our house and just the siren went off.

The tornado siren went off.

So we flip on the TV, and where it is, I am blown away at technology now.

Because literally we show on the TV, and it's not only, hey, in this area of Atlanta, this has happened, but they zoom in and it actually has road names.

And they show this red funnel cloud possibility thing moving across, and then they zoom in, and we're sitting there at the party going, wow, it's really blowing outside.

Wow, that's unreal.

And and we're looking at it, and then they zoom in on the roads, and it's like, our roads.

And this red mass is like two minutes away from our road, and everybody's like, Wow, that's like right around here, and I'm like, Yeah.

I said, I I don't want to sound like alarmist or anything, but why don't we go ahead and go to the basement?

Why don't we do that?

There's a TV down there.

Let's move the party downstairs.

And the two funny parts were we get down there, and Heather, my wife, is literally, we're like, Heather, come on.

It's like a minute away from here.

Come on.

She goes, I gotta pick up these things on the steps.

And I'm like, why?

If the tornado hits, and do you really think they're gonna come in going?

I don't know if there's people, oh, there's mess on the steps.

Let's go to the next house.

You just really, it just but I I had total confidence.

One, we had a TV down there and we're watching it, and we watched it go over, but the confidence comes in my house, in the foundation of my house.

Because I know where it's built.

I know what it's built, because my wife for Mother's Day one year, she goes, you know what?

I just wish we had some Leland cypress on this line of so they could grow up and kind of put a buffer.

And she goes, That's what I want for Mother's Day.

So I got six Leland cypress, about four feet tall.

They're now 30 feet tall.

I mean, they grow crazy, but I planted them.

And I went to plant them and I got the shovel and I went, uh.

This far below the surface of the soil in my yard is granite.

And I literally spent three days, six to eight hours a day with a pickaxe, just knocking out this granite and the shale and these rocks.

And my hands were like just hamburger after those three days because you have to a hole three by three by three, and I had to do six of these, and I was worn out.

And as I'm digging through that granite and rock, that was a pain.

But as I sit in my basement with the tornado funnel cloud possibility going on, I thought, flipping built in a granite hole.

What are you gonna do to me here?

Let the bring on the tornadoes, you know, because I'm I'm safe.

I'm totally safe.

Inversely, we're at the beach this past summer.

And at the beach, uh, we go down to Gulf Shores.

My in-laws have a beautiful house down there, but all the houses are on stilts.

And they build them to code.

You have to go down a certain level, and they build all these stilts, but this huge storm came up, and we're at the beach, and I've been to the beach.

And how many of you ever dug a hole in the beach and you just keep digging, and then you hit water, and it's I mean, it's not that far.

And I think, you know what, that I know that they've built it to code.

I know the pillars are down there, but this huge storm is going, and no lie, this is a nice house, but as the wind's blowing, we can feel the house move.

And I just thought, built on sand.

Wow.

And I remembered at that moment, I didn't share it with Heather, but I remembered that the hurricane had come through a couple years prior to that.

And we were driving around after that about a month and a half later, and there were houses, literally lots, and I remember the houses.

And it wasn't like rubble, it was just gone.

I mean, the houses were gone, level lot, flat sand.

It's like, where'd it go?

And they're like, gone.

The storm just wiped it out.

And that is a beautiful picture of what he's talking about right here.

That building the foundation, if my foundation is on religion and rules, it's the stilt house of sand that given a good hurricane is gonna be gone and that's gonna be hurt.

But that one that is really built on the motive of a relationship and that loving relationship of a God who says, I know you're not perfect, let me build this into you.

Then we begin to see, okay, how do I have that one?

How do I have the granite basement with the TV?

And so when the tornado hits, I don't even think about it.

How do I get there?

One of two choices, and it's buried really in these verses.

Look at the wise men in the first and verse 24.

Anyone who listens to my teachings and follows them is wise.

I want you to underline that word listen.

Now, yours may have the word hear, but I want you to write above it the word listen, okay?

For this reason, because if we go down to verse 26, it says, But anyone who hears my teachings and does not obey them is foolish.

That word is different.

It's different.

Not only, you know, it may be the same in your translation, and that's great, but there is a different verb tense, there's a different intensity behind them.

And the question between being religious, I hear it, and this is an indicator.

If I come on Sundays, if I open my Bible and I hear it, versus I listen to it.

This word listen defined is more of a close attention to pay heed, where hearing just means to be aware of sound.

If I can illustrate it this way as to which is which, hearing.

Have you ever been at a party or maybe work social situation where you're meeting people?

Have you had this experience where you meet somebody and you go, hey, oh, it's nice to meet you.

I'm Ken.

Yeah, nice to meet you.

Where are you from?

What do you do?

And by the time you get that, where are you from, what do you do out of your mouth, you have no idea what their name is.

And they said it less than 30 seconds.

And it's just like, what?

Because we were hearing.

We weren't listening, we were just hearing, we were aware of sound.

Too often I find myself just hearing the truth, just hearing what I'm reading, just saying, okay, that's good.

Yeah, I agree with it.

Okay, move on.

And I instantly forget it.

Versus listening, if I could put it this way.

How many of you guys here today have ever been single?

Raise your hands.

Okay.

Some of you guys were born married, evidently.

That's awesome.

Uh I want you to go back to a time where you met, you saw, and then you met her.

Maybe it was the first her you ever met, maybe it was the one that you're married to now, but you just remember going, oh, it just, it really just took your breath away.

Now I want you to imagine that first encounter.

I'll never forget when I met my wife.

I literally was tongue-tied and just, oh, wow.

And I'll never forget her saying, Wow, I'd love to see you again.

Can you give me a call?

And I didn't have anything to write with.

And she said, Well, let me give you your number.

She goes, You need something to write with?

I was like, I don't have anything, but go ahead and give it to me.

Because I'm gonna remember it.

How many of you think I remembered that phone number?

I remember that phone number.

Why?

Because it was important.

Why?

Because I'm gonna call her.

Because it's important, and all of a sudden I am listening.

I am tuned in because there's a relationship, there's a desire there, and I don't want to miss this.

That is the point of listening.

She didn't have to say it twice.

I was like, hey, yeah, I'll give you a call.

I'll give you a call later.

You know, 15 minutes is later.

Is that long enough?

And she goes, no, give me a call tomorrow.

I'm like, well, you know, one minute after midnight, technically tomorrow.

So I whoo, you know, I just I'm engaged.

I am there.

That's listening.

That listening is what God longs us to do.

And that listening is not out of a duty, it's not out of a motive of, okay, I'm supposed to listen, I'm supposed to hear your truth, I'm supposed to, supposed to rules, regulations, religion.

No, it's out of a relationship of, man, this is this is a good thing.

I I want this.

I need this.

My boys learned this this last year.

My daughter is nine.

Um, I've coached my boys in basketball for years.

I've shared part of this before.

But this last year, Kennedy said, Dad, will you ever coach one of my teams?

I'm like, Well, absolutely.

And I said, Not only will I do it, but Graham and Cody, who are 15 and 14, I said, they're gonna do, they're gonna be my assistant coaches.

She was so excited that her brothers are gonna coach, and this is awesome.

Now I'm just telling you, you haven't lived till you coach nine-year-old girls.

Anything.

I'll give you one fun example.

We were in the middle of a game one time, and and it's the the learning process, and this one girl on our team, she's just getting fouled left and right, and they're not calling anything, and I'm just I'm trying not to get into it.

I'm like, she's getting killed, you know, and they're not calling it, and it's it's not this.

And my my son was like, Dad, it's just, you know, it's just it's upward, it's not for that.

Just let it go.

And I'm like, all right.

And at halftime, I'm she comes over and she's like, Coach, can I ask you a question?

And I'm ready to bow up and say, Hey, I'm gonna stand up for you in the second half, and I know you're getting killed, and I'm gonna say something official.

I'm ready to do all that and validate my player.

And she goes, Coach, can I ask you a question?

I'm like, Yes, you can.

Go ahead.

And and she goes, Who is bringing snack today?

Okay.

All right.

I said, I don't know, but I will find out.

My other favorite memory is that I was actually on tour and I had to miss a game, and I had prepared grand.

Sam, my oldest and Cody, they're they're 11 months apart.

And I said, I want you to coach the first half, you to coach the second.

And I've been mentoring them as coaches.

And I said, You got to put them in positions, and here's how and when to say it, and all this.

And so I talked to them after the game, and I loved it.

I loved it.

I'll never forget Cody going, Dad.

I said, How do we do it?

And they said, Well, we did this and this well, and every girl scored.

I'm like, that's amazing.

You guys are incredible.

And he says, But Dad, I mean, I'm sitting there at the beginning of the half.

And I'm like, okay, everybody get around.

Okay, you're gonna play this position, you're gonna play this one.

Okay, everybody understand?

Okay, you're gonna do this.

And he says, and they're looking at me, they're shaking their heads, going, okay, okay.

Now, I didn't have the heart to tell them that these nine-year-old girls are like, Oh, this is Cody's, tell them it's a good.

And now I just I just they they didn't understand that part.

I mean, these little girls, they were just enamored with these boys, and and he says, Dad, and I told him they're shaking their heads.

And then it's like that they they throw the ball in, and it's like they've never heard anything I said.

They're running around crazy, they're not guarding the right people.

He says, What's going on?

And I said, Welcome to coaching.

That's what they do.

I said, Because they heard you, but they weren't listening, they were distracted.

And the truth is that God understands that from us.

And he's like, hey, but it's a relationship.

I am infinitely patient.

I'm not worried about you being perfect.

I'm worried, I'm interested in you being here with me.

That's what I long for most.

Is that relationship over the rules?

So the question I have for you and I is which way are we sliding?

Are we sliding towards where I come and I hear or I read and I hear and I agree?

Yes, God, that's good.

Good for you.

And then I just go on my own way on my own.

Or am I intently listening?

Going, God, I know I'm not gonna get everything today, but God, will you just show me what you want me to hear?

And God, today, this week, will you just will you just walk with me?

I just want you with me, and will you just show me how to do these pieces?

Will you give me wisdom?

Because I need you with me, and I want to listen to your truth.

I want to listen to you through my friends, I want to listen to you through just talking to you.

I love Justin's prayer.

Love it because God is that kind of fun when we find ourselves laughing because we say awesome 47 times, and then we start out, Jesus, you're awesome.

And I think Jesus is going, cool, I got an awesome today.

That's awesome.

And I just that personal touch of listening.

And then the the second decision, am I hearing or am I listening?

The second one is simply this.

And I want to read it in an NIV version because it it sounds a little bit different.

It says, those who listen to these words of mine and put them into practice is like a wise man.

And then in verse 26, it says, But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.

It's it's simply, am I going to do something with it or not?

And the tragedy is that too often we feel like if we know more and we agree with it, that's enough.

That's sliding into that religious rule side where God is saying, I just want you to listen and practice.

Just try it.

Just take that and say, I want to do this with you.

And and God, what do I have to do to do this?

And Lord, it's it, I'm not sure how, or I'm not sure if I can do it right.

And God's like, it doesn't matter, just practice.

And God's gonna work it for our good because our heart is right, and that connection is with Him.

And the truth is, is that we we gotta ask, Am I doing it out of the motive of relationship or religion?

I I want to give you some very practical examples.

Um, we have these four pillars, and there's giving, we give, and God says, give a tithe.

Well, those on the religious side have going, it is a tenth, and we are it's a command, and we need to be obedient and give.

That's not why I give.

I give because I want to be connected with God at a level in every area of my life.

And when I give, it's like, okay, God, you said that you own it all.

And I need your help because it seems like I never have enough.

So, God, I want to give because I need your wisdom in this area.

And God, as I look at a budget, will you show me what's needed versus wanted?

And will you just help me?

I need you here.

And if this means I can connect with you, I need this.

The other resource I don't have a lot of is time.

And God says, you need to take a day off, you need to take a Sabbath.

Well, God, I don't, I can't afford a day off.

Well, do you want, do you want my wisdom?

Because I want to just I want to have that connection with you one day where we just hang out and totally, completely just be you and me and rest.

I want to give you rest.

I want to give you insight, I want to give you clarity.

Because the truth is that we do not believe what we think.

We don't believe what we debate, what we read, what we see, or what we experience.

We believe what we do.

That's what we believe.

And I can take this truth and I can go, wow, I've read this.

Help me do this, because I I believe it.

And my belief is in my actions.

How many of you at any point in life have had a mom?

Any point in life, mom?

Okay, that was your second shot there.

Good job.

I believe when moms get pregnant, they go to mom school.

I do not know where the school is, but I know it exists.

Because every mother in the world says the same exact things, and they learn it from mom school.

If you doubt me, let me ask you to finish these statements.

Keep your elbows, don't frown, or your face will that way.

If you can't say something nice, mom school.

That's where they learn it.

But there's one my mom used to say, and she said it over and over and over.

When we say, well, I don't know, she's like, you know what?

Action speak.

We can say all day that we believe this.

But I want to give you a multiplied effect of that.

Not only does do we believe this individually as an organization, I love his hands and say, you know what?

We believe that giving connects us with God individually and collectively.

15% of what's given here, yes, it pays for the lights and some very minimal staff, but 15% says, where are we going to give in the community?

And we're gonna give that on, and we're gonna be a part of these different ministries here because we believe that we want to connect with what God's doing for me, but also in our community.

And it's saying, God, I want that relationship, and we want to see you moving specifically in our world.

And I saw a few weeks ago, I saw a little bit of a tragedy, but in the in the God transformation.

I'll just put it this way.

Uh for my job, about every four or five years, I have to do new promotional shots.

I hate looking at myself.

I hate it, but I got to do these to show people how much older I'm getting.

And and uh it's and I'm sitting there and there's this great photographer up in Nashville I use, and uh, there's this young lady who does the makeup.

Now, her hers is the impossible job.

Make Ken look decent, and that's not easy.

And I said, I need you to do a really soft Lynn, get as far as way as possible, kind of clouded, make it foggy, and and that's the way I look most attractive.

And and I'm sitting there in the chair, though, and she's doing the makeup, and and I'm not gonna give your name, but and she she's doing the makeup, and I just go, How's it going?

It's so good to see you again.

Tell me the latest.

She got a little bit somber.

She goes, Well, I don't remember the last time you're here.

I said, Well, you were dating this guy, and she goes, Oh, wow, well, it's kind of come full circle.

And she said, It's been five years, dated for five years, and I just moved out.

And uh I just I got to the point where I'm like, Really?

Where where is this going?

And he goes, No, I really care about you.

I really care about you.

She goes, Well, then we've been together five years, and I've done everything that you ask, and we moved in, and then and now you're you're not gonna we're not gonna get married.

And he goes, Well, you know, there's some things I gotta work out still, and and she said, and and I I wanted to jump in so badly.

I'm like, five years, you can't work it out in five years, it's not gonna work out.

And she goes, So I just moved out, and it was really hard, but I really feel like it was the right thing to do.

And she goes, you know, I I really start to go back to church.

I'm really seeing, you know, God, what do you want to do?

And you know what?

God gives us rules and he gives us those parameters for our good.

But in that relationship, he shows us how those rules are out of love and out of protection.

I have a friend, Gordon Douglas, in Philadelphia.

He was voted, he and his wife are voted parents of the year in the city of Philadelphia.

They have, I think, 14 children.

Four of them are theirs, and the rest are adopted, and several of them special needs kids.

And he said, it is wonderful chaos in our house.

And he said, I love this analogy.

He says, you know what?

So many times I think I'm just telling my kids, he says, I hate saying no, but it's it's for their good.

And he says, I hear myself saying this time, they're like, Well, why can't I do that?

He says, Because I because I said so.

And he says, then they're like, Dad, but I want to wear this.

He says, No, well, why not?

Because I said so.

And he says, because it it's it's out of love.

And he says, I think some God, sometimes God will show us his truth, and he's like, Yeah, I know you don't fully understand it, but you need to trust me.

And well, God, why can't I do this?

Why can't I move in?

Why can't I do this?

Because I know, because I love you, because I love you, and I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want you to experience that.

I want you to have the fullness of what I have for you.

And I'm gonna walk with you through this, and I'm gonna be there with you.

And and to get to that point where we trust Him beyond all that our actions are gonna move that way.

Because true love is that which says, I want this relationship.

It's not the religious part.

The religious part is saying, hey, obey the rules and maybe God will love you enough.

But Jesus is sitting there, no, no, no, I'm I'm here.

How many of you that are married went through this process where you called the girl and said, Hey, you know, I just I really like you, and and then she goes, Well, we ought to go out.

Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Okay, so we gotta go out.

Um, okay, so tell me what's involved in that.

Uh I gotta buy dinner, I gotta buy you dinner and I've got to take you somewhere to entertainment.

How long is this gonna take?

Okay, three, four, oh my, four, five hours?

And we're gonna, okay, okay, so if I do that, you'll like me.

That's what you're saying.

I just need you to commit here.

That's not how it goes because that's the rules.

The relationship is we call and we can't wait to take to dinner.

We can't wait to spend time, and it's never enough time, and you're on the phone for four hours.

Gosh, it feels like 15 minutes, and it just that's the relationship side.

And if we want to experience that relationship side, it really does come from listening to the truth and doing it.

That's the way we build on that foundation.

I don't want us to forget this.

So I've got two motions, and this is really foundational.

The motive is relationship, but the decisions are to not hear it and agree, which slides to the religious side, but to listen and do it.

A friend of mine used to teach first grade, and I was telling her about a tough time I had, and when I was in the corporate world, I would sit in these board meetings, and I think they call them board meetings because you are bored in the meetings.

And I said, But it's important.

The president's talking, I'm just like, oh man, oh man, I just my daydreaming, I'm thinking about my flights.

She goes, Oh my gosh, you should do what I do with my first graders.

Like, it's it's a board meeting, it's important.

She goes, Well, you should do what I do with my first graders.

I'm like, what do you do with your first graders?

She goes, Anytime that they're distracted and first graders get distracted, she goes, Okay, class, put down your pencils, put them down.

Everybody take your elephant ears, take your elephant ears.

Now I want you to wrap them around my head, wrap them around my head.

And she goes, and that just refocuses them.

And I'm like, Yeah, I can do that at the next meeting.

Ken, what are you doing?

I'm a little bit distracted.

I'm wrapping my elephant ears around your head.

Wrapping them around your head.

I just now here's the funny part.

About three weeks later, I was up in New Jersey at a board meeting, and I I was thinking about my flight, and I'm doing this, and and I did not put my hands up, but I just started, I just started laughing.

And my buddy says, dude, what's funny?

And I said, I can't tell you right now.

I'll tell you after the meeting.

And I just pictured my ears getting real big and going around this dude's head.

And it was just that folks.

I'm like, that's hysterical.

So here's what I want you to do.

I want everybody, everybody in the room, if we do it together, it won't feel weird.

Take your hands up here, real quick.

First decision is to listen.

I just want you to do that.

Okay, ready at the same time?

Listen.

That looks so cool from up here.

I don't want to shake your hands and just do this.

It's it's not about agreeing, it's about doing it.

Okay, this is do it.

Everybody take your hands again and just say do it.

Here we go.

Do it.

Those are the decisions.

Put them together.

Ready?

We're going to, if you want to be wise, the relationship, we have to listen and do it.

That's it.

That's it.

You got it.

On the religious side with the rules, we will never measure up.

On the relationship side, we are loved by a God who will never give up.

And you know what?

That is where the freedom is found.

I have not one day of my marriage, not one day of my marriage, woken up and thought, okay, today I cannot commit adultery.

Do not commit adultery today.

No.

All day long.

Honey, I just want you to know I'm gonna not commit adultery today.

That's crazy.

But that's a rule.

It's a good rule.

Nothing wrong with that rule.

But that's not the motive.

The motive is I yeah, out of love and out of adoration, out of just, I want to have the greatest marriage possible, the byproduct is the rule.

And the rules are there to protect us, yes, and God gives us that.

But we'll see this throughout scripture where Jesus is saying, hey, he confronts the Pharisees and is like, hey, I didn't, I didn't come to eliminate the rules.

I came to fulfill them.

But if we're focused on the love and the relationship, it's gonna naturally fulfill it and give us the peace and the hope and the joy and the all the good stuff.

Focus here.

And that's why when I give you the truth, just listen and practice.

Listen and do it.

I don't have to be perfect, because I'm with you.

And I love that we take communion here every week because it's saying, God, I'm broken and I don't deserve it, and I need your forgiveness, and I need you, and we take it.

And Lord, I need your blood, the blood that was overcame death.

I need that power within me.

And Jesus says, I left so that you could have the comforter and the healer and the counselor.

And when we have that and we accept Christ, He gives us that so we can experience the fullness.

I love this parable.

And the question I have for you this morning is which is your foundation?

Am I building it on the rules of religion and agreeing?

Or am I building it on the truth and listening and doing it?

Which am I doing?

I I do want to pray and uh the band's gonna come up and we're gonna wrap up, but I want to tell you about next week, real quick.

But pray with me.

Father, I specifically want to just ask right now, as only your Holy Spirit can, to anyone here that has experienced the rules in religion, that they would see that's not you.

Yes, you give truth.

And there is protection and rules there, but it is born out of a relationship.

That relationship you long to have with us.

And I pray that they would realize it's as simple as starting a relationship and asking you to come in and forgive and just and just overwhelm us with what you have, that plan for our life.

And Father, for those of us who have maybe have slipped into this just routine of hearing your truth and saying, I gotta do something for God, I pray that one, you would forgive us, but we would just embrace, crawl up in your lap and your hug and say, God, thank you for the unending, never-ending love that you have for us.

Today, God, what what do you what direction do you want?

What do you want me to listen to?

What truth is it that you have for me?

And Lord, will you just help me do it?

And I'm I'm not gonna be perfect.

Like a father with a child never mocks a child, but just says, Good try.

You walk with us.

Help us experience that this week.

And it really is only through the gift of Jesus we get to pray in the power of your spirit that we can do anything.

Amen.