1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:05,120 Hey, this morning it is my privilege to introduce Jeremy 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,800 Martin. Now, this fighter comes from 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,120 Stanwood, MI. You know where Stanwood is, 4 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:14,160 right? Suburb of Big Rapids. 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,080 No, you guys look to me like we're in the world. 6 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,480 It's it's just South of Big Rapids. 7 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:27,240 And Jeremy is the men's group leader at Res Life in Big 8 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:28,920 Rapids. Did I get that right? 9 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,880 Am I close? No, you'll correct it. 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,280 He's going to get up here and re say everything I'm saying 11 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,320 anyway. But I'd like to pray for him 12 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,160 this morning. We're thankful for him and in 13 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:48,400 the fella last week, Josh. And there are other people that 14 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,360 are coming to us from Big Rapids right now. 15 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:51,760 We're relying on them pretty heavy. 16 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:53,280 Would you stand with me as we pray? 17 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,640 Father, we thank you so much for Jeremy and Ashley to be with us 18 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,400 today. We thank you for their 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,880 commitment to you, their commitment to the church, and 20 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,520 their willingness to be here. And I just ask that you would 21 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,600 surround them with your presence, that you would fill 22 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,440 them with the power and the anointing of your Holy Spirit, 23 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,920 and that that would just flow through them and that everyone 24 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:27,760 would sense your presence. So be with us today in Jesus 25 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:32,080 name we pray and all God's people said, Amen. 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,480 You can be seated. You can start your thing man. 27 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:51,400 He's he's full of it, love it. He asked me first thing he asked 28 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:52,680 me. He comes in, he says, hey, so 29 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,520 how much do you weigh? Yeah, that's not happening, bud. 30 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:01,320 I was proud of it. Maybe, but I'm not giving you 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,600 that kind of information since I said you just introduced me as a 32 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:05,760 heavyweight. If that's what you're trying to 33 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,919 do. No, but you know, it's a 34 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,680 blessing to be here. I thank you guys for welcoming 35 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,640 us in. It's, it's been, it's, it's kind 36 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,360 of cool because I'm at Res Life Big Rapids and I've been on 37 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,480 staff there for almost 2 years now as a men's director. 38 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,000 We've got a church that is, is this is what it looked like when 39 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,360 I was a kid. I've been in this church since I 40 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,320 was young and this is bigger than what it was when I first 41 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,320 started going there. And as I grew, the church grew a 42 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,480 little bit. And then in the last, I don't 43 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,440 even know, 10 years or something, it like something 44 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,760 happened, like a movement of God happened in the church exploded. 45 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,520 But there's a core that has been there since the beginning. 46 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,440 And when I look at a church like this, I'm like, man, you guys 47 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,320 have the core and it's just a matter of when the explosion 48 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,160 happens and how are you going to be ready for it? 49 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,920 Because I got a feeling like I know God's on the move and I 50 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:01,200 know he's on the move in Big Rapids. 51 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,040 And I can assume he's on the move in Gaylord because I think 52 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,720 he's on a move across the world. So, you know, I, when I see 53 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,000 groups like this, I'm like, this is awesome because this is the 54 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,200 core of the church. This is what the church is going 55 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,160 to rely on when it does explode because it's coming. 56 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,600 People are searching things out right now in this world. 57 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,520 They don't know what direction they're going, but there was 58 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,240 this really big Gray area, you know, at a point when I was 59 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,080 younger, I feel like, and I feel like nowadays as I'm getting 60 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:27,880 older and maybe it's just my age, I don't know. 61 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,120 But it's like the Gray area is getting smaller and either 62 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,880 you're following Christ or you're following the enemy. 63 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,120 And there isn't a lot of middle ground anymore. 64 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,320 It used to be an area where you can kind of blend in with a 65 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,760 crowd and you could do a lot of Christian things, but you can 66 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,000 hang out with some other people and it wasn't like horrible. 67 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,680 Nowadays I feel like there is a, there's a division down the 68 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,960 middle where it's black and white on the lifestyle you're 69 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,000 living and it's becoming more and more obvious every day. 70 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:58,680 So a little bit about me, my wife Ashley, I've been married 71 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:04,240 19 amazing years, probably 6 pretty good ones for her if you 72 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,680 were to ask her. So I had a pretty good stretch 73 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,000 in the beginning where I, I asked myself all the time. 74 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,960 I don't know how she made it through it or why she did it, 75 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,680 but praise God that he put her in my life because I don't know 76 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:16,720 if there's a many other women in this world that would have stuck 77 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:21,640 around, but she's been my rock. When I knew Christ, when I 78 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,720 didn't know Christ, she was always in my corner cheering for 79 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,440 me and I'm very grateful for her. 80 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:32,000 We have three awesome kids, 19 year old McKenna, 17 year old 81 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,560 Lexie and our 11 year old Reset Jayden. 82 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,560 He was our start over. We had our first two young. 83 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,080 We got together in high school. We both had dreams of our own. 84 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:44,960 We were athletes, we were standouts. 85 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,720 We're both going to college. We had opportunities and we got 86 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:51,240 together in high school. We've been friends since 87 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,640 kindergarten. So we've always known each 88 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:54,560 other. We were always friends. 89 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:56,680 We were dating other people. We would still have 90 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,760 conversations as friends and like I'd ask her about girls and 91 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,800 she'd ask me questions about guys and never knowing that it 92 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:04,360 was just going to end up being us anyway. 93 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:08,280 So it didn't matter. But we had a kid. 94 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,480 We got we got pregnant our senior year and we had McKenna 95 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:16,520 in September after we graduated. And that the choices that we 96 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:20,360 made, the LED into that had us to both to a point where she 97 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,360 wasn't going to go play softball because being pregnant your 98 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,720 senior year is kind of hard to get your scholarship that you 99 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,320 had already had conversations with. 100 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,840 And I couldn't go on to play football, which is what I want 101 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:34,520 to do because how do I watch her sacrifice what she wanted to do 102 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:35,680 and then go do what I want to do? 103 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:40,200 I just couldn't do it. So I went to work and we got 104 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,920 married after. McKenna was here for just over a 105 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:48,080 year and been riding the wave of life ever since. 106 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,200 So Lexi came into the world. She's Spitfire. 107 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,960 She's it is. It blows my mind how you can 108 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,520 have kids and every one of them be so different. 109 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,240 None of them are the same. They don't live life the same. 110 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,440 They don't think the same. And they can all be amazing in 111 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,320 their own ways. And that's a that's a blessing 112 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,160 that we get to experience right now. 113 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:11,160 Proud that I could say that all my kids are Christ followers. 114 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:17,080 You know, they've given their lives to the Lord, chasing it in 115 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:19,840 their own way. Thank God we all have our own 116 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:22,200 journeys. And, and I'm, I'm happy and I'm, 117 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:24,480 I'm grateful for each one of my kids and what God's going to do 118 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:31,480 with them. So I have been working for 119 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,440 myself for five years. I'll give you a little backdrop 120 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,800 on who I am. I worked construction for a lot 121 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,840 of my life, grew up on the poverty side of things. 122 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,680 We weren't poor, but we weren't, we were definitely not rich. 123 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,000 So I always had this dream of my life of having all this, the 124 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,840 things that you never have when you're a kid and, and you chase 125 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,680 that for all the years. And I got into road 126 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,680 construction, which then led to building construction. 127 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:04,400 And I got in a company right before, I don't even know, 2015 128 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:06,840 or something. And I started traveling for work 129 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:10,200 and I traveled the country doing big builds for a company that 130 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,000 had a lot of room to grow. And I chased that growth and I 131 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,360 chased that fame, I guess you'd call it, or the corporate 132 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,680 ladder. And I sacrificed a lot of our 133 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,960 families time and we began to travel for work. 134 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:28,960 And the first move, we moved to Texas when Jayden came into the 135 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,680 world, I think he was like 1, maybe not even right around 136 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,240 1:00. We moved to Texas and lived down 137 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:34,960 there for a year. And that was the first time we 138 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,440 ever left our community. He said Stanwood, nobody in here 139 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:39,480 knew where that was. He kind of described Big Rapids. 140 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,320 A few of you might have heard of Big Rapids, but we're from a 141 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,600 small town. You know, if you're not Amish 142 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,000 and you're not a farmer, you probably have no idea where it's 143 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,280 at. So it doesn't, you know, it's 144 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,800 not real appealing. So when we moved away, it was it 145 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:55,880 was literally moved away from everything we ever knew. 146 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,680 We had just got to a point where we had kind of made an imprint 147 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:02,560 into the church we were serving in the youth. 148 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:07,120 We were doing the things and we got we got the call to go to 149 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:08,160 Texas. We left. 150 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:10,680 We didn't realize what we were signing up for. 151 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:12,960 I knew what I was kind of signing up for. 152 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,640 It was a chase of the money because that's what everybody in 153 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,800 the world does and went down there and started working seven 154 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:20,240 days a week. So when you work seven days a 155 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,040 week, you don't go to church on Sundays because you don't have 156 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,960 Sundays off. And your wife is a stay at home 157 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,960 mom with the kids in a community where she knows no one. 158 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,200 And she does homeschooling because you don't trust the 159 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:31,840 community that you're moving into because you don't know 160 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,159 anybody. And she basically raised the 161 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:35,960 family by herself for that whole year. 162 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:38,600 And then I got a call to go to Pennsylvania. 163 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:43,320 So we moved from Texas to Pennsylvania and she continued 164 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,440 to be a stay at home mom that raised kids by herself. 165 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,080 We put our kids into the school there because it was kind of out 166 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:51,760 in the middle of nowhere. So it made us more comfortable, 167 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,320 if that makes any sense, because that's what we were from in 168 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,960 Texas. We were in Grand Prairie, which 169 00:08:57,960 --> 00:08:59,440 is right between Dallas and Fort Worth. 170 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,040 It's huge area. So we just, we just couldn't 171 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,360 find peace in that. And on that dream and that 172 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:09,040 corporate chase to climb the ladder. 173 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,760 Anybody that's ever been in corporate knows that if you want 174 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:13,920 to climb the ladder, you have to bump elbows with people who are 175 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,280 above you on the ladder. So that led to, I was in 176 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,440 management at that time, that led to a lot of late nights 177 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,040 hanging out with the high ups. And when they flew on the 178 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,320 corporate jet, you take them out and you guys, you drink 179 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,920 together, you party together, you bump elbows, you build 180 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:30,520 friendships, you climb the ladder. 181 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,520 It's, it's simple, right? It's not about what you know, 182 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,880 it's about who you know. And that lifestyle led me into 183 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,840 something that I had gotten away from, which was heavy drinking, 184 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:45,000 drug addiction, which then leads to a depression because you 185 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,440 don't really understand your purpose. 186 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:50,280 So I ended up climbing the ladder. 187 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,120 Things were good. We finally got to a point where 188 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,280 our kids were getting ready to go to school and it was time to 189 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,320 move home because we knew that when our kids got to like 7th, 190 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,600 8th grade, we wanted to be back where we grew up. 191 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:01,880 And they'd always told me, when you're ready to go home, we'll 192 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,480 send you home. So we come back home and home 193 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,280 was your kids stay at home and we need you in Detroit and we 194 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:13,960 need you in the UP and you still sleep in a hotel, but you're in 195 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:15,720 Michigan. So that's kind of cool. 196 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,720 So we got our kids back home and we put them through school and 197 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,480 we're doing that whole journey. So then it got to a point where 198 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:24,680 I'm only working five days a week. 199 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:27,240 So you got two days a week. You can actually have some kind 200 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,480 of a life, but the only life that you know at this point is a 201 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,800 party life because that's all you've been doing outside of 202 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:34,840 work is partying with the corporate leads. 203 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:40,920 So then that led into a spiral journey of heavy drinking and 204 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:43,880 drugs and poor choices that come with those. 205 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:45,840 Everybody knows that you don't do those two without having some 206 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,720 poor choices mixed in that that are above and beyond that. 207 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:53,880 And it took me down a dark path. And I struggled with depression 208 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,680 a little bit in high school, but not to a degree that it grew on 209 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:00,880 me. And we'll pray and we'll get 210 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,400 into that. Givenly Father, I just thank you 211 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,600 for today. I thank you for what you're 212 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:08,840 doing in this place. I thank you for Gaylord. 213 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:13,120 I thank you for the family of believers that that meet here 214 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,680 and are doing life together. And I thank you for the 215 00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:20,840 leadership that's here, that is selfless, that is just serving 216 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:22,560 you Lord and serving you faithfully. 217 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,880 I ask that this message glorifies you in every way. 218 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,560 I that anything that is of me falls to the wayside. 219 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,400 I pray that their ears are open to hear the word that you have 220 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:34,480 for them. I pray that their eyes are open 221 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:37,120 to see you and everything that that we go through. 222 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,000 And I just pray that you soften their hearts to receive the word 223 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,000 that you have in Jesus mighty name, Amen. 224 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:47,200 So I started hanging out with a group of people that I had known 225 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:49,760 before we left, but we got closer when I came back because 226 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:51,320 I partied harder than when I left. 227 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:56,000 And this group of people partied hard and they were the nicest 228 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,040 people you've ever met. They would do anything for you. 229 00:11:58,160 --> 00:11:59,600 They would give you the shirt off their back. 230 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,160 They loved well, but they never knew Christ. 231 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:07,960 So there's things that they would do that would lead you 232 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,080 away from what you know you're supposed to be doing. 233 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:14,560 My best friend at the time, we, I mean, we live life together. 234 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:18,120 We snowmobile, we fish, we hunt, we, we literally spent every 235 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,320 weekend of our lives with our families together. 236 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,760 We had seasonal campsites. We all, I mean, it was as close 237 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,160 knit as you could get. And the lifestyles we're living 238 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:32,320 make it hard to stay married. As I said, my wife, she's, she's 239 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:34,800 been amazing to stick through the lifestyles we've lived 240 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:36,800 because a lot of our friends are divorced. 241 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,760 My one best friend, he was going through a divorce at the time 242 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,120 and he was in a place where he didn't know what he's going to 243 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:45,760 do. So we offered up a room in our 244 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,840 basement to get him off, you know, just to give him somewhere 245 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,960 to be for a time. And the day he was supposed to 246 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:54,000 move in to our house, he committed suicide. 247 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,920 So when he committed suicide, that brought a dark, a darkness 248 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,680 over all the families. I mean it, it brought in 249 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,880 something that I had dealt with depression, but not to this 250 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:09,280 degree to where it would drag you into a place of just misery. 251 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,360 And everybody knows if you're not living a Christ life, the 252 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,560 best way to deal with depression is by drinking more and doing 253 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:17,600 more drugs so that you can mask it. 254 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,000 And that was the life that that I had lived to try to mask that 255 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,640 for a pretty probably a year of my life. 256 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:26,520 And it was the darkest year I ever lived through. 257 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:30,200 And I got to a point where I knew that I had to do something 258 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,160 different. Like I said, I was raised in the 259 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:36,120 church. I knew of God. 260 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,960 I didn't know who God truly was, but I knew that I had to do 261 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,040 something different than what I was doing or as it wasn't going 262 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:43,840 to work. So we started going back to 263 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,120 church and made it a pattern again in our lives and just 264 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,600 started to try to be present in the building. 265 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,480 So I always get a huge shout out to youth pastors. 266 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,920 Alex is doing things right now and those are that couple. 267 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,240 They're, they're amazing and they're, they're planting seeds 268 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:04,120 in our youth that will never truly understand until you get 269 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,680 to see what grows from it. So I walk in the church after 270 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,200 being wayward hard for a good period of life. 271 00:14:11,560 --> 00:14:14,440 And as I walk in the church, my youth pastor is the first one 272 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,400 that comes and chases me down. It is so good to see you. 273 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:21,000 And he could see it on me that I was not in a good place. 274 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,280 He had knew that my friend had committed suicide and he could 275 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,080 tell that I was wearing it. And he he come and he searched 276 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,240 me out and he's like, man, I got this thing I would love to see 277 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,720 you do. And I'm like, OK, well, let's 278 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:34,920 hear it. I'm I'm all ears. 279 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,800 And he says, well, there's this, there's this event that I went 280 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:40,120 on. It's a men's event. 281 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,400 It's called the road map.org and it's a men's encounter. 282 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:46,880 It's so amazing. It'll change your life. 283 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:48,800 I'm like, OK, I was like, let's hear it. 284 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,360 It's four days. You just separate from the 285 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,200 world. And as soon as he said four 286 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,160 days, I'm like, not happening. There's no way I'm taking four 287 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:58,520 days off of work. For one. 288 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,360 It's going to compromise everything that I've been doing 289 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,080 for the last, you know, six years at this point to get to 290 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,000 where I'm at. And if I'm taking a vacation, 291 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:09,800 I'm not taking a vacation to just go sit with a bunch of 292 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:11,920 random dudes for four days. It's not happening. 293 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:13,960 And he pitched it harder, though. 294 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,520 I mean, he did a good job. And he gives me the name, and 295 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,000 I'd play the game and I'd put it in my phone and I act like I was 296 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,080 going to do something with it. And I walked out the door. 297 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:24,200 The next week, I come back and he says, did you sign up for 298 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,880 that event? I said no, he's like, dude, I'll 299 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,640 pay for it, I'll pay for it, you sign up right now, I'll pay for 300 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:30,840 it. I said OK, what was the name of 301 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,280 that address? I punched it in my phone. 302 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,560 I walk out that door that day. Not happening. 303 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:38,640 Dude. This went on for literally like 304 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,760 months and finally one day he come up and he's like, hey, what 305 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:43,880 do I got to do to get you on this van? 306 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:45,640 And I looked at him. I said, dude, you have pestered 307 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,720 me so much, I will literally just go on the event to get you 308 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:52,600 to leave me alone and thank God for his faithfulness though. 309 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,480 And it was his consistency as that youth pastor of just like 310 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:57,640 pressing and he knew God put something on his heart. 311 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,040 He knew what he had to do. And I'm so thankful he never 312 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,720 gave up on me because if he would have never, never made it 313 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:07,760 to where I'm at right now. So I go on this event and it's 314 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:11,040 four days where you pretty much turn in like electronics, all 315 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,480 the things and you just disconnect from the world and 316 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,520 they make a table to where you sit in the presence of God for 317 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,360 four days. You, you can take away as much 318 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:22,440 or as little as you feel. There is no pressure, no 319 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:24,400 nothing. But they put you in a position 320 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,360 to where you can truly meet God. And I'd always thought I knew 321 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:29,920 God. I prayed, I did the things, but 322 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:34,360 I never truly understood the Father that he is until this 323 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,400 encounter. And when I walked out of that 324 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,120 place, it shook me to my core. It it changed my outlook on 325 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:41,960 life. It changed the way I thought. 326 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:48,120 And, and that was one of the things that once you've been 327 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,840 free, it puts a desire in your heart to want to see other 328 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:56,240 people experience that freedom. When I came home that week, my 329 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,360 wife picked me up because I didn't know, but I guess you can 330 00:16:58,360 --> 00:16:59,880 drive yourself there. I thought you had to get dropped 331 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:01,560 off. So she dropped me off and it was 332 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,360 probably for the best thing because the first day I probably 333 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,280 got my vehicle and left. And she picks me up when we're 334 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,839 riding home and I'm a talker. So we're on our way home and I 335 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:12,599 haven't said a word. And mind you, I haven't talked 336 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:15,960 to her in like 5 days. And we get almost home and she's 337 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:19,560 like, how was it? Like what, what, what happened? 338 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:20,920 Like what happened? What's going on? 339 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:22,680 And I kind of snickered and I looked her. 340 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,119 I said, I'm still processing it. Like one of two things. 341 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,359 Either people are going to think that I've completely lost my 342 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:32,160 mind in four days or they're going to think that I found 343 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,480 Jesus and there's nowhere in between. 344 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:39,560 And I just like it took me weeks to process everything that I had 345 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,560 learned about who God was and I had found. 346 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,920 But in that finding that new freedom, it it put a desire 347 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:51,480 inside of my heart to want to serve and serving is important. 348 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,760 People don't understand it. And I see in the head like the 349 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,360 volunteer sign up up there. We're called to serve. 350 00:17:58,320 --> 00:17:59,960 They should not have to be reaching out to be able to 351 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:01,400 serve. We should be as a church 352 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,480 congregation. We should be serving and we're 353 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,760 not serving this church. We're not serving, you know, an 354 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,760 individual, we're serving God. When you sign up to to do the 355 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,520 youth or the VBS or, you know, for your, whatever you're doing, 356 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,680 you are serving the living God. You're not, you're not serving N 357 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:21,520 life church. It's way bigger than that. 358 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:23,640 And a lot of people, I think I have a hard time understanding 359 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,920 that, but I see not we, we pulled in this morning and I see 360 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:30,400 we're sitting in the in the parking lot and I don't know if 361 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,040 you guys know this. You guys are a little bit late 362 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,400 risers. I'm kind of like you guys at our 363 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,320 own church, so I'm not going to throw stones. 364 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,440 But we're sitting there and we're watching this guy and he 365 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,640 comes out there and he's got this leaf blower and he's 366 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:47,440 blowing like the parking lot. Like, all right, that's 367 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,920 different. You know, blowing parking lot 368 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:50,760 off. They didn't see him doing the 369 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,000 sidewalks. And I'm like, that makes more 370 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,360 sense. But you realize what time Kurt 371 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,320 gets here in the morning to blow the parking lots off. 372 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,840 And then I come to find out this guy's got like, he's got so many 373 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,560 jobs in this place. And I'm like, you're the same 374 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,240 guy blowing the parking lot lot off in the mornings. 375 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:10,080 Like, come on, hey, there's some youth in this room. 376 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,880 Get up and serve. Get up and serve. 377 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,800 You'll find, you'll find so much fulfilment and doing the 378 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,640 simplest things when you're doing them for God, it'll blow 379 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,240 your mind. It doesn't even make sense, but 380 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,600 it's real. So it, it gave that desire to me 381 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,480 to serve and I started serving on these events after I went 382 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:31,160 through it, I made this commitment with God that I 383 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:32,280 didn't know I was signing up for. 384 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,080 But in this time, I'm out there and I'm walking around and I'm 385 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,800 like, you know what Lord, this is the last day I'm out there 386 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:38,800 and I'm, I'm walking, I'm praying. 387 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:43,120 I'm like, Lord, if you send a family member or a friend 388 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,400 through this event, I'll serve it. 389 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:50,480 It's an easy one, right? I serve that event for almost 2 390 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:52,760 years. Every single event after that, 391 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,520 because either a family member of mine or one of my best 392 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,520 friends have gone through the event and literally I watch God 393 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,320 change lives over and over and over and don't get it mixed up. 394 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,440 It's not the event that changes lives, it's the encounter with 395 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:06,960 the living God that changes your life. 396 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,040 There is no like recipe, but once you've been in the presence 397 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,360 of God, you can't help but have it change your life. 398 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:19,360 And as I started serving that, there was one time where I'm 399 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:24,520 serving it and I got to a point in my life where I could, I 400 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:26,360 could have like I called it my 2. 401 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,000 I could have two social drinks and then shut it off, where all 402 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:31,680 the rest of my life I could never shut it down. 403 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,320 Once I had two, it was like that was too many because there was 404 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:37,840 no stopping after that and it just changed who I was as a 405 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,400 person. And I started noticing God 406 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,080 giving me a little hints because I could have the two and then it 407 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,840 would almost pull a filter off of my life of where I would say 408 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,840 things that I wouldn't say if I was sober, but it wasn't so 409 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,400 hurtful or bad that it was like I'm a lot better than I used to 410 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:56,800 be. It was one of those like in 411 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,560 betweens. And I was I was praying one 412 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,000 night and the Lord spoke to me as audible as he ever had. 413 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:04,880 And he said, Jeremy need to quit drinking. 414 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,560 And I'm going to tell you I had every excuse in the book. 415 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,440 I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. 416 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,760 This is not to be a drunkard. I can have two glasses of wine 417 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:15,640 and not be a drunkard. And I can be sober minded to 418 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,800 steal and all the things. And he said you need to quit 419 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:19,360 drinking. I said what in the world? 420 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,320 Oh Lord, why do I have to quit drinking? 421 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:23,600 But everybody else can still drink. 422 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,720 And you know, it doesn't change. You know who they are and all 423 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:28,560 these things. I went back and forth and back 424 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:29,920 and forth. And he finally said to me, he 425 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,480 says if your son's life depended on it, would you quit? 426 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,120 And it froze me. Of course I quit my kids life 427 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:43,200 depended on it. He never spoke to me again about 428 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,280 it. So then I got this process into 429 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,280 my mind. I'm like, what does that mean? 430 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:49,520 Does that mean my kids going to be an alcoholic if I keep 431 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:50,760 drinking? Does that mean that like 432 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,720 something happened to him? Like what does that look like? 433 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,000 And it bothered me for a year straight. 434 00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:00,080 And I was putting together a message for our men's group and 435 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,800 I'm writing this down about this encounter I'd had with the Lord. 436 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,400 And he comes back and he finally gave me the second-half. 437 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:11,680 And what he told me was, was if you quit drinking for your son, 438 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,680 how much more important are my sons and daughters? 439 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,720 And this is before I was ever a men's director. 440 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,920 And he spoke to me, said, how are you going to stand in front 441 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,920 of people and tell them that they can quit doing something 442 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,000 that you've never quit? How can I rightfully get in 443 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,040 front of a guy that's struggling with alcoholism and say, hey, I 444 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:32,440 know you can. You can quit. 445 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,720 I know you can do it. I've never done it, but you can. 446 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,000 So that was God that's given me. It was the foresight and being 447 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,360 obedient in it. It allows me at this point in my 448 00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:46,240 life to to sit with men that have this struggle and say, Hey, 449 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,360 God took it from me. He can take it from you. 450 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,240 Live in testimony, dude. You can quit anything you want 451 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,120 to quit. I've been sober for, I don't 452 00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:58,080 know, three years or something now and drug free for five, I 453 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,680 think 5 or 6 years now. And praise God, absolutely 454 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,760 praise God. So for that it opened my eyes up 455 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:10,200 and it was like, what are we called to do? 456 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,200 So I'm a landscaper by trade. I own a landscape company down 457 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,520 in Stanwood. And I walked into the church a 458 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,720 couple years ago and one of the administrative pastors comes up 459 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:21,600 and says, what are you going to do? 460 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,280 And God calls you the full time ministry. 461 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:25,880 I don't know, you better talk to God about that. 462 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,640 I didn't know what I was doing when I started a landscape 463 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,280 company. So he just kind of chuckled in, 464 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:34,640 you know, I never understood what my calling was going to be, 465 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,440 but I started to understand that it was beyond the church 466 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,600 building. You know, we're called into the 467 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,960 streets. We're called into Gaylord for 468 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,640 you guys. You know, we're called into Big 469 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,640 Rapids, where we're at. We're at college to campus. 470 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,200 There are kids walking around lost everywhere, you know, and 471 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,280 when you think of the church, everybody has a tendency of 472 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,120 thinking of, you know, this place right here or for us, it's 473 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:58,960 Res Life Church. But I was sitting in church one 474 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,080 day and I, I'm looking at one of the screens. 475 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,240 I know Josh had all kinds of cool stuff you guys look at. 476 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,360 That's not my gig. If you wanted me to build you 477 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:09,400 like a block wall or something, I could have done that and put 478 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,880 it across the stage. But as far as the PowerPoint 479 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:13,280 presentations, that's not my thing. 480 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,280 But I'm looking at 1 and it says it said church on it. 481 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,440 And it the part that stuck out to me on it is in the center of 482 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:27,160 the church are the letters. You are because you are the 483 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,760 church. You are the living examples of 484 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,440 the church. When you walk out of this 485 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,560 building, you may be the only church anybody ever experiences. 486 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,080 It may be an encounter that you have with somebody. 487 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:43,080 It may be a conversation that you have with somebody, but it 488 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,280 might be it. You might be the one shot that 489 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,320 we have to bring somebody to Christ. 490 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,800 So I was like, OK, well, that's that's a pretty big deal. 491 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,520 That's a lot of weight to carry. So what is it supposed to look 492 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,880 like? You know, what are we supposed 493 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:00,600 to look like? How are we supposed to be living 494 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,920 to be that example of the church when we come across people and 495 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,480 you know, I believe that we've been called the just love and 496 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,280 lead. So if you get your Bibles out, 497 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,600 how many got actual Bibles? Come on, pick them up. 498 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,720 Let's see them. Oh yeah, all you phone and iPad 499 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,040 guys. I see you guys out there. 500 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,680 So our pastors on us about having a paper Bible. 501 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,280 I don't know if Josh told you, but he if he if you don't have 502 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,320 one, he'll give you 1. He is about the Bible and at 503 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,280 first when he started talking about him, I'm like, what's the 504 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,440 matter? I've got, I've got a Bible on 505 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,560 like 7 devices, right? I mean, I can pull Bible up on 506 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,000 my watch if I wanted to, I think. 507 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:43,840 But at the end of the day, if we lose power, you live, you lose 508 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,200 your sword. Are you willing to take that 509 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,840 opportunity of not having the living word of God in front of 510 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,840 you because it's on your phone? And his big thing is, is what 511 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,480 are you going to leave your kids when you pass away? 512 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,680 You think anybody's going to pick your old iPhone up and go 513 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,240 through it and read what you had to say on a Bible app. 514 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,280 It's not happening. But if there's a day that they 515 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,520 take your Bible and they start opening it up and seeing what 516 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,600 you put in there for notes and what you have highlighted and 517 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,840 the things that you've already gone through, you can save them 518 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,440 years of trials by reading what you've already been through and 519 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,160 seeing what you found to be the truth. 520 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,680 So that's why I believe it's important to have your, your 521 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,200 Bible in front of you. So we're going to go to second 522 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:30,800 Peter 1, verses 3 through 8. And it says by his divine power, 523 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:35,160 God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. 524 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,160 We've received all of his, all of this by coming to know Him, 525 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,360 the one who called us to Himself, by means of His 526 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:44,080 marvelous, glorious, and excellence. 527 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,160 And because of his glory and excellence, He has given us 528 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,240 great and precious promises. These are the promises that 529 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,840 enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world's 530 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,200 corruption caused by human desire. 531 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,520 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's 532 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,000 promises. Supplement your faith with a 533 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,680 generous provision of moral excellence and moral excellence 534 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:08,800 with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and 535 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:11,360 self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance 536 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,400 with godliness, and godliness with brother, brotherly 537 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,520 affection and brotherly affection with love for 538 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,000 everyone. The more you grow like this, the 539 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,920 more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of 540 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,760 your Lord Jesus Christ. So when I read that, I feel like 541 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,640 godliness is what jumped off the page to me. 542 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,920 And when I first thought about it, I'm like, what does 543 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:41,120 godliness look like? Godliness is the truth of who 544 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:46,560 God is in US. Godliness is a transformation of 545 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,120 the heart that leads to a transformed life. 546 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:54,560 So godliness should be something that is seen on you. 547 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,840 It should be something that you wear your walk with the Lord 548 00:27:57,840 --> 00:27:59,800 should you should wear that everywhere you go. 549 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,240 What godliness is not godliness is not checking the box and 550 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:05,560 saying I went to church on Sunday. 551 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,960 Godliness isn't learning foreign languages of Christianese to 552 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:11,720 where when you're hanging out with the right people, you know 553 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,800 the right things to say, you know how to act, and then when 554 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:16,480 you leave there, everything changes. 555 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:21,960 Godliness is not a performance. Godliness is something that is 556 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,960 true to who you are inside and out, no matter what the 557 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,240 situation is and what that looks like in your life. 558 00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:32,080 You know the quality that I listed. 559 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,360 Those are great lukewarm Christian qualities. 560 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:43,480 If you find yourself act in two different ways, I would I would 561 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:45,160 say you need to measure yourself up. 562 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,160 People want to be saved from the penalty of sin, but have no 563 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,680 desire to be saved from the power of sin in their daily 564 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:54,560 life. I believe that's where the 565 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,200 struggle comes in. You want to be saved in the long 566 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,280 run, but I don't want to be saved today. 567 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,200 I don't want to have to change anything because it makes me 568 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:03,720 uncomfortable. I want to keep living like I'm 569 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:07,960 living, but I do want God to save me from eternal damnation. 570 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,120 You know, that's where the problem comes in. 571 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,000 That's where the the bad name on the church comes from. 572 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,280 I know growing up, I remember watching people go to church on 573 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,400 Sundays and then be pulling out of the parking lot. 574 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,720 You see that mire flipping somebody off and road raging on 575 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,280 the way out the door. And you're like hypocrites, you 576 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:25,560 know? And that's how I grew up. 577 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:27,560 And that was one of the things that pushed me away from church 578 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,720 so much is like, yeah, I had pastor on stage and then he's in 579 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,600 Meijer parking lot and he's ready to fight somebody in the 580 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,240 parking lot. And it's like I thought, what do 581 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,560 I go to that for? That's, that's just two faces it 582 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:39,960 gets, you know, and I think that's where the church had that 583 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:43,320 bad reputation. And, and the reality of it is 584 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:45,560 they're not hypocrites. They're humans. 585 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,200 And humans all have a flesh that we're all fighting. 586 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,840 There's no, I'm telling you right now, this message is for 587 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,040 me as much today as anybody in this room, because we all have a 588 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,200 battle. We're fighting, you know, we 589 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,680 serve the same God. We all have a Goliath in our 590 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:00,360 life. There's no getting away from it. 591 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,120 It's just the reality of it. We all are battling some kind of 592 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,160 giant. It's just, what does it look 593 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,040 like? You know, one person's giant. 594 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,640 It's definitely not the same as another person's giant, but we 595 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:17,720 all have the same enemy. So with that, you really got to 596 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,120 dig out the root. What is it? 597 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,320 The change inside of your body is more than an outward 598 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:27,120 expression. There's something inside of you 599 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,800 that you have to dig out. There's a root that causes you 600 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,200 to do the things that you do, and when you're chasing down 601 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,120 God, God can tend to point you to the root. 602 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,000 What you do with that root is up to you. 603 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,880 If you want to cut the top off of it like you're out in your 604 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:43,560 garden and just hope it don't come back. 605 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,640 Anybody that gardens knows that's coming back, it might 606 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,000 come back bigger than it was before. 607 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:53,360 You got to do the work in your heart to dig that out and pluck 608 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:56,440 that root from the ground and that's where the transformation 609 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,080 begins to change. Your character begins to change. 610 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,560 Godliness produces Christ like qualities such as love, 611 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,680 humility, integrity, patience, mercy, and self-control. 612 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,560 It's typically real clear on how somebody treats somebody else. 613 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,520 You can tell where they're at in their walk. 614 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,080 It sounds extremely similar to the fruit of the spirit. 615 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:21,520 The fruit of the spirit, Lovejoy, peace, patience, 616 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,840 kindness, meekness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. 617 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:27,560 The difference being fruit of the Spirit is what grows inside 618 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:31,240 you, and godliness is the life that reflects that growth. 619 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,120 How do you carry that fruit out? How do you express that fruit? 620 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,920 Do people see it? You know, it's not just a show, 621 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,400 you know. Are you the same person at home 622 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,320 as you are here? Are you the same person at work 623 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,880 as you are here? Do people notice that you don't 624 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,360 blend in with the rest of the world? 625 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,320 Is it something that is temporary or is it a permanent 626 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,600 lifestyle choice? You know, that's that is truly 627 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,440 the easy representation of telling where you are. 628 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:13,280 So godliness is one of those things that it shines its 629 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:19,560 brightest under pressure. You know, so when you leave here 630 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,080 and and you have that guy going on the highway that you don't 631 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,880 even know why he's so mad. But obviously, you know, 7 over 632 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,640 in fast lane wasn't enough and he drives by you and he flips 633 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,520 you off. What's your immediate reaction? 634 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:37,480 You know, I can tell you my past life that I lived wasn't good 635 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,400 there. There was, it was a clear line 636 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,480 in the sand that said that dude right there, he's not godly. 637 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,120 Ain't nothing. Now, I'm not sure if there's 638 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,120 anything good in that guy, you know, but what about when you're 639 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,760 on the family vacation and you blow a tire? 640 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,280 Everybody's already, you got somewhere to be. 641 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,680 You're trying to get somewhere. The pressure's already on stress 642 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:57,360 levels a little high. I got the kids in the back 643 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,400 street seat screaming. You blow a tire and you're on 644 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,480 the side of the highway. How do you react there? 645 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,760 Because when you're under that pressure, it tends to bring out 646 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,640 the true qualities of what you have going on in your heart. 647 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:18,320 So we were in the UP last week on a family fishing trip. 648 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:20,840 We do it every year. It's a time where we get all our 649 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:25,120 kids and my parents and my wife Ashley's parents and we all go 650 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,720 together. Glory to the Lord. 651 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,600 It is amazing. It probably sounds stressful to 652 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:35,000 some of you, but we have been blessed with in laws and parents 653 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,520 that they've mesh really well. And it was a great opportunity 654 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,120 to go up there. And we're up there and we're 655 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,720 headed back from a fishing day and we got the boat on and 656 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,280 everything's going well. And all of a sudden I hear to 657 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:49,680 quote thump. And I'm like, oh, mercy. 658 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:51,720 I look in my mirror and it's after the evening fish. 659 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,640 I look in my mirror and I can see sparks tumbling down the 660 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:56,640 road. I'm like, that's not good. 661 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,760 I don't know what I just hit and I don't know how I didn't see 662 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:00,600 it. And then the light kicks on on 663 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,240 the dashboard and I'm like, for real. 664 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,640 And the air pressure starts dropping like a rock, like, OK, 665 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,400 pull it over. So I pulled over and my 666 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,800 father-in-law, he's just like, oh, because he was with us that 667 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:15,520 day. He said, oh, that's about as bad 668 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:16,920 as it gets, you know, what do you do? 669 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,760 So I'm going to prepare like I prepare for the worst and then 670 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,360 pray for the best. But if the worst happens, I'm 671 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,840 ready for it. So I've got like bottle Jack in 672 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,679 the back of the truck. I got impact wrenches, tools 673 00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:31,920 like you're not going to catch me, not ready for it. 674 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:35,040 So I get out and you know, I'm changing this tire on the side 675 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,080 of the road and I mean 10 minutes with different spare 676 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,000 down, new tire on the truck, whatever. 677 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,719 And we get done and we get back in the truck and he looks at me 678 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,159 and he goes, man, I don't know if that could have gone any 679 00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:49,400 better. I don't know if I got to change 680 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,920 the tire in my garage that fast. And I just kind of laughed and, 681 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,080 you know, in the back of my head I'm thinking, and I just put 682 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:56,639 that tire on like not even a month ago. 683 00:34:56,639 --> 00:34:57,760 And it's a three quarter ton truck. 684 00:34:57,760 --> 00:34:59,520 So nobody, you know, truck tires aren't cheap. 685 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,280 And we had a conversation on the ride home and he's just like, 686 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,560 don't even get like, you don't even get upset about it. 687 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:07,400 Nothing you're going to do about it. 688 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:09,280 It's already done. I mean, how mad are you going to 689 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:10,480 let that get you? You're going to ruin a whole 690 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,640 week over a blown tire. Does it stink? 691 00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:15,840 Absolutely, it stinks. But he just came to Christ here 692 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,000 in the last couple years and he grew up in a household that 693 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,680 didn't exist. So he knew what his reaction to 694 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,440 that would have been. But then he had an opportunity 695 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:31,560 to see my reaction and he knew me since I was a kid and he knew 696 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,000 how hot headed I was and how my temper would flare and how I 697 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,240 would have reacted before. But he got to see the difference 698 00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:42,720 that God's made in my life to where it's OK. 699 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:45,120 You know, I'm not going to worry about the money God provides. 700 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:47,720 I'm not going to get stressed out about the situation. 701 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:49,760 It's going to be OK. It's not, it's not that big a 702 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:51,120 deal. It isn't, it isn't life 703 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:52,440 threatening. Big deal. 704 00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:57,640 So for me, that blown tire, you could view it as an 705 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,840 inconvenience or you could view it as an opportunity to show 706 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,680 what God's done in your life. And if that's the one thing that 707 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,680 my father-in-law got to see what God has changed in my life and 708 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,840 it cost me 3 or 400 bucks, praise the Lord, that's a great 709 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,560 investment. It's a great opportunity to show 710 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:17,600 my father-in-law what change can happen in anybody's life that's 711 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:19,320 willing to submit and just follow the Lord. 712 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:26,920 So, you know, you got to be willing to view things 713 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,840 differently as a Christian. I was talking to Bob this 714 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,600 morning and you know, Bob's got a lot of knowledge, a lot of 715 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,680 wisdom. And he's telling me and he says, 716 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:40,240 he says, you know, if you just live according to the word of 717 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:43,080 God, things go good. It's easy. 718 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:44,760 It's it's like a recipe for success. 719 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:47,920 And I kind of chuckle because I'm like, I'm the advocate. 720 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,360 I kind of like to poke. And I said, what about Job? 721 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,680 So what job do wrong? You know, and he's just like, 722 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:56,520 that's one I never really understood. 723 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,080 You know, Bob and he's just like he's got all the reasons behind 724 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:00,600 it. And I said, you know, it's 725 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,320 really not so much about the recipe to having things go your 726 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,440 way all the time because they're not going to when God, you know, 727 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,920 it's more about how do you view your problem? 728 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,720 How what are you going to do with it? 729 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,720 How do you view it? You know, Job could have viewed 730 00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:20,560 it as I've lost everything. I got no reason to live. 731 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,560 God must hate me, but he never steered that way. 732 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,880 Everything can go wrong and that's just opportunity for 733 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:31,480 growth. So all my friends always tease 734 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:33,880 me because like James is my book. 735 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,760 I love James. And when they heard that I was 736 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,640 coming up here, they're like, So what book you preaching out at? 737 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:40,320 What are you going to preach out of James this week? 738 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:45,440 And I said, well, whatever. So you know, James 1/2 through 739 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,000 4. This is for the guys at home. 740 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,920 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your 741 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,720 way, considered an opportunity for great joy, because you know 742 00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:57,040 that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 743 00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:00,760 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may become mature 744 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,760 and complete, not lacking anything. 745 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:08,760 So if you can change your mindset and twist it to when 746 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,920 trials come your way, praise the Lord. 747 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:18,720 Praise the Lord, because without those trials, you don't get to 748 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:21,680 be complete, you don't get to be mature, and you're going to be 749 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,160 lacking something. So when trials come your way, 750 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:26,240 you have to just be willing to accept it and say, you know 751 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:27,640 what, Lord, what's the lesson in this? 752 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,480 What can I learn from this trial? 753 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,800 What can I do differently? What is this here to mold me? 754 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,680 What are you going to use this for? 755 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,920 Because anything that's that the enemy is going to use for evil, 756 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,320 God's going to flip it to good. We got to be able to walk in 757 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:40,680 that. We got to be able to walk in 758 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,320 that in everyday life, everything that we're doing, you 759 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:45,880 know, every conversation. And that's that's the hardest 760 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,800 thing I think to get through is to understand that bad things 761 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:52,840 happen to good people, but God's still going to use something in 762 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:58,680 that to better that person. We're never done growing and our 763 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,440 purpose is never done. I got to meet Jerry. 764 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,200 I don't know. I'm sure you guys probably know 765 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:07,320 Jerry this morning. And he says, Yep, survived 766 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,480 another heart attack, open heart surgery. 767 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:11,040 And he's telling me all about it. 768 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:13,960 And he's like, I'm just blessed. And I said, yeah, you are just 769 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,840 blessed, but you're not done. And he says, oh, I don't know 770 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,440 what else are, you know, he's 8088 years old. 771 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:21,280 He says, well, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do. 772 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:22,680 I said, I don't know what you're supposed to do either. 773 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,680 But God's not done with you. That's why you're still here. 774 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:26,880 You know, at the end of the day, when you're done, you'll be the 775 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:31,200 first one to find out, you know, praise, praise the Lord for for 776 00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:33,640 guys like Jerry, though, you know, he's, he's sitting in 777 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,320 here, you tell the first thing he's so proud. 778 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:39,040 And he's telling me about four generations sitting in the 779 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:44,160 church. Man, I tell you what, that's 780 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,400 something to be proud of. That's, that's doing something 781 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,320 that's, that's treasure stored in heaven. 782 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:53,120 You know, if there's nothing else, Jerry knows he's got his 783 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,160 family where they're supposed to be, but he's I just don't know 784 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:58,120 what else I got to do. I said, Jerry, you've been at 785 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:00,080 this church long enough. You're not done. 786 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:01,920 You're not you're going to continue to walk with this 787 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,120 congregation and lead by example. 788 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,480 Praise God for guys like Jerry. You know, I pray that that 789 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,040 there's a day in my life where I can say the same thing and and 790 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:16,560 just be that living example. But walking in godliness is a 791 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:21,920 fine line because people people get it twisted because if. 792 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,280 You're doing things in the wrong order. 793 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:25,640 It tends to put off the wrong vibes. 794 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,400 And then people don't want to hear nothing at all from you. 795 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,160 You know, there you start to get the holier than thou. 796 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:33,760 And I think a lot of that comes from the way we deliver what 797 00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,560 we're delivering. And the way we deliver a message 798 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,440 is extremely important. So this is something that that I 799 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,040 find to be extremely valuable in my own life and it's something 800 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,680 that I've continued to grow in. Godliness is neither harsh truth 801 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:49,760 without compassion or gentleness nor kindness without conviction 802 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:54,120 expresses truth with gentleness and conviction with humility. 803 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:58,880 So, you know, pure facts delivered without empathy can 804 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,960 crush somebody. That's not going to help them if 805 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,520 you're just bringing the facts because you need to hear it. 806 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:08,240 And I'm here to tell you that's not going to bring anybody God, 807 00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:10,960 it's probably gonna get him to separate from you because it's 808 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:12,360 going to hurt them. And then they're just going to 809 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:13,600 push away from the things that hurt. 810 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:15,560 So then they're not going to receive anything from you. 811 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:18,080 But then on the other side, it's, it's a tricky balance 812 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,480 because being nice just to avoid conflict means that you're 813 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:22,760 abandoning what's right and true. 814 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:27,440 And that leads to to shallow and powerless faith because you're 815 00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:28,520 not even going to bring it up to them. 816 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,200 You're just going to let them say the things that are going to 817 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:33,240 lead them down the wrong road. And you're just going to let 818 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:36,960 them figure it out on their own. And that's not fair either. 819 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:42,320 So, so there's this in between that, you know, the, the power 820 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:44,680 of gentleness. It implies that soft delivery 821 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,920 doesn't mean weak truth. Instead, gentleness makes the 822 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,120 truth easier for a heart to receive it. 823 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:56,040 So delivering in a place in a manner that people know that you 824 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:59,040 actually care enough to have a conversation with them is really 825 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,840 the key. It's about having a firm spine 826 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,640 and a soft heart, and it echoes in the Bible from Ephesians 415, 827 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:10,200 and it's speaking the truth in love. 828 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,760 You know, something that we always say is nobody cares how 829 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:19,760 much you know if they don't know how much you care, you don't 830 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,680 have access to everybody's life. But if somebody gives you access 831 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:28,080 to their life, you have to, you have to carry that extremely 832 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:33,640 gentle and you have to, you have to handle their heart in a way 833 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,720 that God would be proud. So that's something that as a 834 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:42,600 parent, I know I continue to learn because for some reason, 835 00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:48,200 kids don't understand how much you care to a degree because 836 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:49,800 they don't understand how much you love them. 837 00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:52,400 You know, I think as a parent, it's really tough because you 838 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:54,680 want to see the best for your kids and you know, the roads 839 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:57,040 that they're walking down and, and you see it coming from a 840 00:42:57,040 --> 00:42:59,840 mile away, but they don't understand how much you love 841 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:01,360 them because as a kid, you just can't. 842 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:05,360 You can't even exceptionalize how much a parent actually cares 843 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,200 about you. I know I never did. 844 00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:09,400 I never understood how much my parents cared about me until we 845 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:11,280 had our first kid. I didn't know what love was. 846 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:13,800 I thought I did. I told girls I loved them. 847 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,080 You know, it worked, but as far as I actually know what love 848 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:21,720 was, you know, I didn't, I didn't know what love was. 849 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,200 I didn't, I didn't know how to love. 850 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:31,480 Well, you know, but when you're when you're speaking out of 851 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,560 love, it's the truth that provides the direction and the 852 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:38,720 love provides the motivation. Our friend group, we always, we 853 00:43:38,720 --> 00:43:41,480 always tell each other because we have access to each other's 854 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:44,680 lives and, and we do life together with our group that we 855 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,040 do now. And we always when you hear 856 00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,720 somebody come up and they tell you, brother, I love you enough 857 00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:52,640 to tell you, you know, they're about to put something on you 858 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:54,360 and you're like, oh, what did I do? 859 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,560 How, what did I do wrong? What do I got to change? 860 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:58,640 Because that's that's a great way to open. 861 00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,720 I love you enough to tell you that you need to stop doing 862 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:03,480 this. Or I heard you did that or you 863 00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:04,920 know, and, and we just call each other out. 864 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:07,680 But but you know that they care about you. 865 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:09,600 They don't want to see you get sucked back into the world. 866 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:11,280 It's the easiest thing to fall back into. 867 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,520 We always, we always laugh because you know, 1% off isn't 868 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:17,960 bad, right? 1% off ain't bad. 869 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,040 If you can live your life in a godly fashion and only be 1% 870 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,000 off, it doesn't seem bad. But if you're traveling across 871 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:29,080 an ocean and you're 1° off, when you get across the ocean, you're 872 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:30,640 not going to be anywhere where you, where you thought you were 873 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:31,840 headed. You're not even going to be in 874 00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:35,120 the same country, you know? So if you're 1° off and you're 875 00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:38,440 walking with God two years down the road, 3 years down the road, 876 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:41,760 you're going to look over and be like, well, I was walking beside 877 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:42,840 God. I don't even know where God's at 878 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:44,160 anymore. I can't see him, can't hear him, 879 00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:46,600 can't feel him. What happened? 880 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,040 You know, it's really easy to get pulled back into the world. 881 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,920 So true godliness is the life sincerely oriented towards God, 882 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:00,640 expressed through having Christ like characters and everyday 883 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:05,080 integrity. True godliness is growing rather 884 00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:08,720 than perfect, authentic rather than staged, and produced by the 885 00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:10,600 spirit rather than self manufactured. 886 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:15,320 When walking in the spirit, mature when walking in spiritual 887 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:18,360 maturity. You should do it naturally. 888 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:23,200 Don't hear what I'm not saying. Naturally doesn't mean 889 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:28,240 effortlessly because it takes effort, but there's two types of 890 00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:33,240 natural and if you're a brother or sister in Christ, 1 is a new 891 00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:36,400 nature because the world and the flesh that you were born into 892 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:40,000 and then becoming a Christ follower is all new nature, all 893 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:41,400 new. Everything inside of you should 894 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:45,640 change every thought, every, every action. 895 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:49,160 It should continue to be new. But there's a point where it 896 00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:53,320 becomes second nature when you're walking it out so long 897 00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:57,160 that you begin to do the things naturally, just like a 898 00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:59,480 professional athlete. You know, professional athletes 899 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:02,480 don't get there because they just were in the presence long 900 00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:05,600 enough and they just showed up. Now it comes from strength. 901 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:10,560 Strength training, conditioning reps over and over and over and 902 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:11,560 over. And that's our life. 903 00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:13,320 We're getting reps over and over again. 904 00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:15,800 Are you going to do the Rep the right way? 905 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,080 Are you going to do the Rep the wrong way? 906 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,160 But you don't get to become a professional athlete because 907 00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:22,200 you're doing things the wrong way. 908 00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:26,920 It's consistency and living life consistently and doing the 909 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:29,400 things you know you're supposed to consistently and now a lot, 910 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:32,600 not allowing the enemy to veer your practice. 911 00:46:33,240 --> 00:46:36,120 You have to continue to make it to where when bad things happen, 912 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,120 your natural reaction is something that got to be proud 913 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:41,800 of. Your natural reaction to a bad 914 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,880 situation, to when money's tight, to when your vehicle 915 00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,080 breaks down, it's got to be a natural reaction to. 916 00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,560 I can't wait to see what God's going to do with this. 917 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,080 And that's where we got to continue to grow to. 918 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,880 And I don't think that you grow to that without being put 919 00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:00,600 through the trials. So, you know, I met a guy in the 920 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:02,080 UP. How am I doing on time? 921 00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:05,360 I got a little carried away. The last one, just a quick one, 922 00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:10,280 rabbit trail met a guy in the UP and we were at the boat launch 923 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:12,720 and we come in and he's standing there and he's got his veterans 924 00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:14,440 hat on. And anytime I see anybody 925 00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:17,440 wearing a military of any kind, I go up and I just have to thank 926 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:20,840 him for their service and what they've done and just tell them 927 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,840 thanks for for us to be able to live the lives we live because 928 00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:25,760 of their sacrifice, because it's a sacrifice. 929 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:30,800 And his was Vietnam. And I have a handful of friends, 930 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,640 parents that were there and they all have the same mindset. 931 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:36,000 And when I told him thanks, he looked at me and said, I don't 932 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,680 understand why I made it out. That was his one comedy that he 933 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,400 made back to me. And I said, you know, the best 934 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:42,840 part is you don't have to understand. 935 00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:44,560 But at the end of the day, God's not done with you. 936 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:48,840 So whether you served, whether you didn't serve, if you're in 937 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,000 this room today, God's not done with you. 938 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,960 You got to continue to walk in the Spirit and to continue to 939 00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,480 grow because the God's not done. And he looked at me and he 940 00:47:57,480 --> 00:47:58,760 didn't even know how to react to it. 941 00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:03,160 And he's just like never, just kind of like it was like all new 942 00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,720 revelation too. And I'm like, you know, like, 943 00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:07,800 OK. And I asked him, I said, you got 944 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:08,880 kids. He goes, Yep, I said, you got 945 00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:10,520 grandkids. He said, Yep, that's why you're 946 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:12,880 not done. I said, God left you here 947 00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:14,400 because there's something that you're supposed to teach those 948 00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:18,200 kids and he ain't taking you until until you do what you're 949 00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:19,360 supposed to do. It's your choice. 950 00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:22,080 And and he kind of received that and he wasn't sure. 951 00:48:22,240 --> 00:48:24,880 And the weirdest thing, two days later, he shows up in the exact 952 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:27,360 same fishing hole on that. And I'm like, OK, I was nice to 953 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:30,040 you once, now you're in my fishing hole. 954 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,440 So no, he was actually getting ready for a tournament and we 955 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:36,680 had to have, we ended up having a great conversation and I got 956 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:38,560 to be that church to him that day. 957 00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:41,640 And I pointed out a bunch of fish that I left on the beds for 958 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,040 him so that he could win his fishing tournament the next day, 959 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:47,040 hopefully. But it it turned into a 960 00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:49,840 conversation where I ended up helping him load his boat back 961 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:51,280 up. You know, he was 80 something. 962 00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:52,800 And I see him out there and he's trying to load a boat by 963 00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:54,480 himself. I'm like, can you use a hand? 964 00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:57,760 Of course he needs a hand. So I ended up helping him get 965 00:48:57,760 --> 00:48:59,240 the boat out. And he sat there and we had a 966 00:48:59,240 --> 00:49:01,720 conversation afterwards. And he's just like, I don't know 967 00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:03,560 if I've ever met anybody quite like you. 968 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:06,640 And I thought to myself, praise the Lord, you know, this is this 969 00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:08,760 is that encounter that maybe that's what God was waiting for. 970 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:11,280 Maybe he was waiting for you to have a God encounter and to just 971 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,120 be loved. Well, you know, but well, what 972 00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:15,680 are we? Are we in too big of a hurry to 973 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:19,240 be that person for somebody because this world has happened. 974 00:49:19,240 --> 00:49:21,080 It's so fast. It's so easy to get in such a 975 00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:23,640 rush to not be that example of Christ when we have 976 00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:25,840 opportunities to. And I'm not saying that I 977 00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:27,680 stopped for every person with a blown tire on the side of the 978 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:29,400 road. But if I feel a tug in the 979 00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:33,840 Spirit, you do, you know, and I believe that that walking in 980 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:38,000 that spirit is something that we have to really be able to dial 981 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:40,120 in on. You know, it's a it's a daily 982 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:41,680 habit. It's walking in step. 983 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:45,000 It's being intentional on growing the fruit that's inside 984 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,200 of you so that you can feel it when you're called. 985 00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:50,040 And I think that's the one thing if you could take away from here 986 00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:54,320 today, it would be to continue to grow in the Spirit of God and 987 00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:57,800 understand when you're hearing from him, because once you 988 00:49:57,800 --> 00:49:59,640 understand when you're hearing from God, there's nothing that 989 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:02,280 can stop you. So I'm going to close out 990 00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:04,840 dearly. Father, I thank you for today. 991 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,720 I thank you for an opportunity to come to Gaylord and just 992 00:50:07,720 --> 00:50:11,240 bring your word. Lord, I pray that you continue 993 00:50:11,240 --> 00:50:13,880 to do what you do here in Gaylord and use this church to 994 00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:17,280 continue to spread your greatness across Gaylord and to 995 00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:21,720 continue to be the church outside of the church, the Big 996 00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:23,800 Sea church. Lord, I pray that you get you 997 00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:28,080 begin to pour your spirit into everyone in this room and and 998 00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:31,920 give everybody just the boldness it takes to be the Big Sea 999 00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:35,440 Church everywhere they go. Lord, as I pray today, I just 1000 00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:39,000 feel, I feel a stirring and I felt it in first service too. 1001 00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:42,880 And I just feel like I got to ask if there's anybody in this 1002 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:44,800 room that struggles with any kind of depression. 1003 00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:48,160 I just ask that you look up here anybody that struggles with 1004 00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,960 depression. Yeah. 1005 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:54,680 Have you guys committed your life to the Lord? 1006 00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,360 Yeah. OK, So I just come together 1007 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:01,880 right now and I come against the power of the enemy. 1008 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:05,360 I come against the whispers of the devil that that try to tell 1009 00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:09,240 you that he has you in a place because of the truth of it is is 1010 00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,320 in Romans. It tells us that that we have 1011 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:16,040 the life giving spirit inside of us and it has freed us from the 1012 00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:19,280 power of sin that leads to death and sin has no hold on us. 1013 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,080 We come against any kind of demonic realm that is trying to 1014 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:26,560 whisper into the ears of of God's children. 1015 00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:29,280 We come against you right now in Jesus mighty name. 1016 00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,480 We silence you in Jesus name. You have no authority in their 1017 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,880 lives and I just pray that you begin to open their eyes to see 1018 00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,520 who they are in you. Lord, we pray that you open 1019 00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:43,000 their ears to to hear your voice clearly, to overpower the voice 1020 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,040 of the enemy. I pray that you soften their 1021 00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:48,560 hearts to continue to to mend and mold into who you've called 1022 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,080 them to be. And I just pray that that you 1023 00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:53,280 just continue to fill their bodies with your spirit Lord, 1024 00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:55,240 from the bottom of their feet to the top of their head. 1025 00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:57,360 Let your spirit flow through them. 1026 00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:01,120 And I just pray that that any voice of the enemy just begins 1027 00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:04,880 to just be binded in Jesus mighty name. 1028 00:52:05,240 --> 00:52:08,440 And I just pray that you begin to lead them down a path and put 1029 00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:11,520 them in front of the people that they need to be surrounded by to 1030 00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,480 bring them out of a darkness that the enemy is trying to 1031 00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:18,480 isolate them to. I just thank you Lord, for the 1032 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:23,080 spirit that is in this room that is the strongest, it is the the 1033 00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:24,960 mightiest, the greatest, the holiest. 1034 00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:27,480 We just thank you for that spirit that you trust us with 1035 00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:30,560 Lord. And we just thank you for for 1036 00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:32,480 just being there. Lord, we just pray that you 1037 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:35,360 continue to to lead and guide every one of them. 1038 00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:38,800 I just, I just asked right now if there's anybody in the room 1039 00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:41,640 that has not given their life to the Lord, just raise your hand. 1040 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:45,920 Anybody in the room, all sons and daughters, praise God. 1041 00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:47,800 We just thank you. Lord, we thank you for this 1042 00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:49,400 opportunity. We thank you for what you're 1043 00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:51,560 doing. We just ask that you continue to 1044 00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:53,240 lead and guide us and all that we do. 1045 00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:55,960 We, we just give it to you. Lord, lead us. 1046 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:59,160 Let us be servants and let us be faithful and let our spirit 1047 00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:01,000 continue to grow In Jesus may name, Amen.