Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.
We hope today's message is encouraging to you.
To be here with you, you know, we're in a series called the
seven Habits of Jesus people. If you were here last week,
Pastor Tim kicked it off for us that what it means to be a Jesus
person, a Jesus follower means you're going to be a little
peculiar, right. So all week long I've been
talking to people and every now and again the phrases come out
like you're so peculiar. And never before has that felt
good. Really, honestly, because that
is kind of strange, but it's OK. What it means is we're going to
be different than the world around us.
And if you are here this morning, I want to tell you
you're on a good path. You're already on a good path
because you're here. And especially if you're a young
adult, if you're between the ages of 18 and 30, whatever the
qualification is, I want to say something to you right now.
I want to say to you that the Lord says you're on a good path
and don't let anyone deter you from the path that you are on.
Don't let the attraction, the allure, the false draw of what
the world says will satisfy you, allure you away from this
peculiar path. And if you're, if you're a
student and you're getting ready to go to camp, the Lord is
priming your heart. Yes.
And so I say this to the young adults and to the young people
in our midst, that you are the next generation of leadership
for where the world is going. And if you haven't noticed, it's
a little unstable. The only stable thing that you
will find that you can stake your life to is the eternal
power, presence and promise of God.
And so for that, I say you're on a good path.
And so this morning, as we take another step in the series,
we're going to get to the first habit.
Last week, the stage was set. If I haven't introduced myself
yet, I don't think I have. My name is Christine.
I'm one of the pastors here at Illuminate Church.
My husband is Lee Pastor him and together the Lord is birthing
and growing a hell shaking ground, taking battleship of
believers of Jesus, people that are getting there that are
willing to be peculiar. And if that is you, you're in
the right place. And if you're here checking it
out, you're in the right place too.
But what we want to do this morning is we're going to delve
into what does it mean to be a Jesus person, to have habits
that make us like Jesus. I don't know if you've noticed,
but it's never been so easy to waste our lives.
Anybody noticed? And I have had lots of
conversations lately with some of you young adults, been in my
home and two separate occasions, 2 of them said I wish nobody had
ever given this to me. I wish that I could have a flip
phone, right? And so as a parent of a wide age
gap, I would say to you that we were parenting someone when
these came on the scene, our oldest and now we're parenting a
12 year old. And what we learned in between
is we didn't know anything, right?
Isn't that the gift of an age gap?
When you have a much older and then a younger son, you get a
second chance, so to speak. And so while our 12 year old, we
love you. We promise we will coach you
faithfully. And true, he's constantly
asking, when can I get a phone? And the young adults around me
are saying, help me break free. And it's not just you young
adults, It's all of us. It's all of us tethered to this
onslaught of information that makes us feel like we need more
stuff. And now I'm not.
I'm not only comparing myself to the people in my life around me,
but I'm comparing myself to every woman across the planet.
And AI, right? So never before has it been so
easy to get divided, to get pulled into unnecessary
conversations, to get sidetracked by what's going on.
Never before has it been so easy to waste our time, but what
Jesus is calling us to see is that when we waste our time, we
actually waste our life. And so the first habit of Jesus
people, the habit that we want to cling to as a foundation, is
that Jesus people have a rule of life.
Everybody say rule of life. If I've already lost you because
I had the word rule in it, stay with me.
It doesn't mean some rigid set of religious practices.
What it means is a determined course of your life, a
determined and set course based on a set of values.
That's the first part of our equation.
A rule of life involves values and then it couples with it
practices. So if you want to know what is a
rule of life, it's when you have values that are specific coupled
with practices that are specific, and it results in an
outcome that you set out to get. So a set of values supported by
a construct of consistent practices that ensure those
values are fulfilled. That's what a rule of life is at
its most basic level. So let's start with some values.
How many people value like a super productive morning?
You're like a morning person. Don't be shy.
I need to see hands. Like right out of the gate,
you're out of the bed. Some of you, some of you might
supply it with coffee, right? Do I have coffee drinkers?
Yeah, that's a practice. How many of you value like kind
of some flexibility, You're kind of slow in the morning, get up
and hey, yeah, nothing wrong with that, right.
So as you see, different values, different practices, not right
or wrong, we're just, we're not all exactly the same, right.
How many people value health to the point where physical
exercise is a part of your every week?
Yeah, we got some unenthusiastic clapping on the front row here.
No. OK.
If you value working out, give me your attention.
How many people are like, get in there and get it done in the
morning? Like I'm a get it done in the
morning or I'm never going to do it?
Yeah. How many people are like, get it
done at night, get it done at night?
It doesn't matter when. Yeah.
So whatever your value is, it's going to drive your practices.
Right. So what we're acknowledging
today is that we all have patterns and habits.
In fact, I would say you have a rule of life whether you know it
or you don't. Even if your rule of life is
chaos, you have a rule of life. And so today we're slowing down
to ask ourselves some intentional questions that God
is asking. And I would start with these two
right up front. Is your rule of life happening
to you or is it set by you? Are you being intentional?
Am I being intentional or am I just taking whatever comes at
me? The second one is, is my rule of
life helping me become more like Jesus or is it helping me fit in
more with the world? And I think you would say,
building on last week's message, whether you were here or not,
you're not going to blend in with the world if you're
peculiar. And Jesus, people don't blend in
with the world. We stand out because he has a
message he is sending through us.
So today, we are taking the time to look at the way we build our
lives to be sure that we create an intentional, conscious plan
that puts us on the path to follow after Jesus.
It's a rule of life. My dad has a rule of life.
He will be 85 this December. Yeah, that's worth climbing for.
And I'm going to tell you he might be one of the most
principled and structured people I have ever known.
I mentioned he's almost 85. I think at this point he could
go out and climb on a ladder and repair his own roof.
Both physically and skill wise. He's that guy.
He's a mathematical genius. He was an early computer
programmer. And despite the fact that he's
almost 85, he still mows his lawn in Florida when it's 99°
outside, cultivates his own landscaping.
I've got a picture here of some beautiful roses that he grows.
And he grows them partially because he loves them, but he
also grows them from my mom. And he takes care of my mom.
And one of his values is to make sure that she's cared for.
And she loves these roses. And he grows them, and he
cultivates them. And I was spending some time
with him this past weekend. He was an educator for a number
of years. At one point in his career,
that's how he finished. And when he retired, he became a
stained glass artist. I want to show you a few of his
beautiful pieces. He is a Craftsman to the NTH
degree. I'll show you another one.
Here's a beautiful lamp. And then I've got one more.
This one might be my favorite. He taught himself how to do this
and this is who this guy is. He is literally a get after it,
make the most of your life kind of guy.
And I was spending time with him last weekend and we were just
kind of shooting the breeze. You know, I'm visiting and just
want to hear about what's going on.
And he shows me this binder. It's like a, you know, a 2 inch
binder. And he brings it out and he
starts flipping through it and he's showing me that he's
tracking everything he's eating and how he's wearing a glucose
monitor and how much it spikes, how long it takes to come down.
He's not diabetic, OK, he's not diabetic, but he loves to master
and conquer anything. So he's conquering right now,
intermittent fasting, aikido lifestyle.
And his goal is to be like 0 flat line on his glucose spikes.
Are you getting the picture? So this man has a set of values.
He has a rule of life. He has practices that support
his values. And here are his values.
Don't stop moving. Don't stop growing.
Don't stop learning. Make the most of every season of
your life. Keep it really organized.
That's in there too. But he has practices that
support his values. And as a result, at 85, he is
physically and mentally incredibly fit in more ways than
I can count. This is the power of a rule of
life. When you have values and you put
practices with them and you create a structure of a rule of
life, you will have an outcome. You will have fruit.
The thing is though, Jesus people have fruit that's
different. It's peculiar.
It's different than the rest of the world.
Jesus people have a rule of life that results in transformation
and we become like Jesus. Did you know that Scripture
tells us in Romans chapter 8 that this was God's plan, that
we would be transformed into the image?
You know God speaks through creation.
He shows us in canyons and mountains and depths of oceans.
He reveals Himself. But his greatest artistry is in
the creation of you and I and in the transformation of our lives
by the Holy Spirit. We begin to bear His image and
we take his hope and His love to a broken and hurting world.
This is God's plan if we will accept and receive and embrace a
rule of life that makes us Jesus people.
But just in case you're wondering, well, what's in it
for me, let me tell you what you get.
Jesus people have a rule of life that results in an intimate,
knowing and being known kind of relationship, always near to an
eternal, powerful, loving God. Does that sound good?
Where every need is met, yours and those around you.
Where your steps are guided, your wounds are tended to and
healed. You have strength and power and
comfort in constant supply. And when you choose a Jesus rule
of life, you have shared mission, You have eternal
impact, you have purpose beyond your wildest dreams.
And you don't have any shame. Because the love and the
lifeblood of Jesus takes away everything and anything that's
of us and replaces it with himself.
There's no dumb questions. There's laughter and delight and
joy. Are you getting excited yet?
Flowing between you and God And what Crystal was talking about
earlier, That firm foundation, when it gets shaken, when you
face difficult situations, you won't be alone and they won't be
wasted. This is the fruit of a Jesus
people rule of life. So maybe you're asking, OK, OK,
I'm interested. You've got me, I'm listening.
What's the difference between a rule of life that makes us good
people, nice people, disciplined people, and Jesus people?
Because there's distinction. If we're going to choose a rule
of life that transforms us into Jesus people, we are going to be
good and nice and disciplined, right?
We're also going to be powerful and strong and surrendered and
submitted and faithful and purposeful, and we're going to
be distinct. And this morning the ground
we're going to cover is 3 distinctions of a rule of life
as a Jesus person. So if you are ready for this,
would you close your eyes and open your hands?
And we're going to ask the Holy Spirit who interprets the word,
who knows us through and through to have his way and make it
simple. Just say Holy Spirit, have your
way, however you want to do it. Holy Spirit, have your way.
I'm saying it to Holy Spirit, have your way in my words.
I step aside. I ask you to come and transform
each one of us, including me through this morning.
We want to meet with you. It's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen. So the first distinction of
Jesus people is that Jesus people have a rule of life where
their values and their practices are defined by the word of God.
Where do we go? Where do we look to build our
rule of life? Nowhere but the word of God.
Not in the culture, not even necessarily in your family,
although that might be good if their rule of life is matching
Jesus's rule of life, right? But we're not going to go
anywhere first other than the foundation of the Word of God.
And this morning we're going to practice that together.
And to do that, I want to tell you we're going to read Matthew
chapter 6. And we have notes for you, every
scripture that I'm going to use and including later on when I
give you a tool for building a rule of life mine and a blank 1
is going to be in there. It is in the message notes
inside of the app. If you don't have the app, you
can go to illuminate dot church, Illuminate dot church and pull
up the message notes. I highly recommend it.
But we're going to read Matthew chapter 6 together.
If you'd like a Bible in your hand, you can raise your hand.
If you didn't bring one, our ushers will be glad to gift it.
We've got one over here. I love that you want the Word in
your hands. We want the Word in your hands
and in your heart and transforming you.
We've got hands up all over the place as we're doing that and
getting you Bibles. Let's do just a little
background. Matthew is one of the four
gospels, the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John found in
the New Testament. It's where we get the eyewitness
account of Jesus, how he lived, who we loved, how we spend his
time. So if we're going to build a
Jesus rule of life, we are going to need to look at Jesus, right?
So we're going to look at Matthew chapter 6 together.
Are you with me? You're with me as we're getting
there to Matthew chapter 6, as we read through this, I want you
to listen for two things. I want you to listen for values
and I want you to listen for practices.
So if we're going to find our values and our practices in the
word of God, let's do it together this morning, Matthew
chapter 6 beginning in verse 1. And I want you all to talk back.
Can you be a talk back kind of people?
OK, we're going to read Matthew 6 together.
Holy Spirit highlight to us practices and values.
Jesus said to his disciples, watch out, don't do your good
deeds publicly to be admired by others, for you will lose the
reward from your Father in heaven.
Does that sound like a value? No matter what you're doing,
your heart matters. That's a value of a Jesus
person. Verse #2 When you give, does
that sound like something? What is it A a practice when you
give to someone in need? Don't do as the hypocrites do,
blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call
attention to their acts of charity.
I tell you the truth, you have received all the reward.
They have received all the reward they will ever get.
But when you give, does that sound like a habit or a
practice? Yes.
When you give, give to someone in need.
Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Give your gifts in private and your Father who sees everything
will reward you. Then Jesus goes on to teach
about praying. He says when you pray, what is
that? Come on, talk back.
It's a practice. When you pray, don't be like the
hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and
in the synagogues where everyone can see them.
I tell you the truth, that's all the reward they will ever get.
But when you pray, when you pray, practice.
Right now, we're going to hear about how go away by yourself,
shut the door behind you and pray to your Father in private.
Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
There's a value in here about relationship, about the internal
part of who we are, being authentic and true with God
first before we go and do any of our practices right.
And then in verse 16, Jesus said, and when you fast, don't
make it obvious. He kind of repeats the same
theme in verse 17. He says when you fast, comb your
hair, wash your face so that no one will know that you're
fasting. Except who?
Your Father, who knows what you do in private, and your father
who sees everything will reward you.
And here's a great value. Don't store up treasures here on
earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, where
thieves break in and steal. Store up your treasures and
where in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, where
thieves do not break in and steal.
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will
be also. So you can see just from this
one passage, just from Matthew chapter 6, you could begin to
build a very strong rule of life.
Let's highlight a couple Jesus highlights.
He wants us to give to the needy, to fast, to pray, to
treasure heaven's eternal rewards over the earth's flash
in the pan rewards, and then He puts a strong value behind it.
We can't do good things for people's attention, for their
approval. We do everything we do out of a
love for God, because God sees. God rewards, not because he's
watching you, because he loves you.
And out of this love relationship, we could build a
really great rule of life. So you might be asking, OK, if
I'm supposed to find my practices and my values in the
Word, but I'm not very familiar with the Bible, how am I
supposed to do this? What I would say to you is
today, decide you want it and borrow someone else's rule of
life that has been living this and has been in the Word and has
built something that's worth copying for now, borrow it, copy
it and just start doing it. And as you spend time in the
Word, you will grow, you will tweak, you will change, you will
make it your own, but don't wait to figure it out.
Borrow something from someone worth following.
As Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ, everybody with
me. Yes, so we're also going to give
you tools in this series to help you along the way.
The next six weeks are going to be some of the practices and
we're going to get down into them.
Next week is about reading the Bible.
How convenient? Isn't God amazing?
Yes. So let's pick up here in Matthew
chapter 6, verse 24. We're going to find another
value. No one can serve 2 masters, for
you will hate one and love the other.
You will be devoted to 1 and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
And the big value here is our second point.
So the first point was we're going to find our values and our
practices in the word, not in the world, right?
But our second point is this, Jesus, people have a rule of
life where their values match their practices.
There's no division, there's no confusion.
So what is Jesus saying? He's saying here, if you're
going to serve God, but money is calling your name and it has
your attention, you're going to be divided.
It won't work. You can't have two masters.
We can't have two sets of values.
We can't have values that are inconsistent with our practices
or practices that are inconsistent with our values.
Are you hearing the invitation to be 1 integrated whole?
We have to have practices that match our values.
And when we look at Jesus's life, we see that a Jesus
person, a Jesus follower, will have to surrender every part of
ourselves. You know, when Jesus walked to
this earth, he did not see, say, or do anything unless it came
from the Father. And so Jesus had a value.
We're going to stop for just a moment here and study how Jesus
valued a love relationship with the Father.
If we want to look for a place where practices match values, we
don't have to look any further than looking at Jesus.
He spent time with the Father. You know, we can find a phrase
or a version of a phrase like this over and over in Scripture.
Jesus went out to a mountain to pray.
He spent the night praying to God.
He often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
He went out in the desert by himself to pray.
He got up, left the house early in the morning and went to a
secluded place and was praying there.
Do you hear a theme? Where did Jesus go when stuff
was happening? He went away to be with the
Father. He prioritized the relationship
with the Father. Jesus didn't have a separate
strategy or a separate compartment for dealing with
pain. When John the Baptist, his
cousin and forerunner, was beheaded, Jesus went out to
grieve and be with the Father. When Jesus had to make a big
decision about choosing the 12 disciples that the church would
be built upon, he spent the night before in prayer.
When Jesus was being exalted and heralded as an earthly man and
an earthly king, and the crowd wanted to make him the King, he
got away to be with the Lord. And when he faced the ultimate
suffering of bearing the the knowledge he was going to go to
the cross, he wrestled in the garden in prayer with God.
He said, I know this is what I came here to do.
I know this is what we agreed on.
But if there's any other way, can we can we go another way?
And in that exchange, in that time alone with the Father, he
exchanged his will and said, no, you're right, there is no other
way. Let's go.
So what did Jesus do at any decision after a hard day, after
an exciting day, when he was birthing a new ministry?
Everything he did was based on a big value of being with his
Father, practicing, taking time with the Father.
So if we're looking at our own rule of life, how do you prepare
for a giant move, A launch of a business, a birth of a baby?
Where do we go when our heart is broken?
When grief plunges us into pain? Where do we go for wisdom?
Where do we go when everything is falling apart?
Where do you go when everything's going great?
Jesus had a value that matched his practice and his value was
Father first, relationship 1st, and everything else comes
second. Good, bad, ugly, everything in
between. I'm not moving until I've been
with you. He had a value that was
supported by His practice. And in Matthew chapter 6, that
same verse, the same passage as we were looking at, at the very
end of the chapter, there's one more value we want to grab onto
from Jesus. And Jesus is talking in this
section of scripture. After he talked to them about
praying and fasting and serving, and he taught them the Lord's
Prayer, He said, you're going to face day-to-day life where
you're going to need clothes and food, You're going to need
provision. And when you face these things,
you're going to want to take care of it yourself.
You're going to have anxiety and worry over where it's coming
from. Anyone identify with this?
Yeah, we're, we're all my honest people.
Anyone identify with providing for yourself?
And then Jesus takes them through this exercise and says,
do you see the lilies of the field?
Nobody got up and dressed them this morning.
God did it. And do you see the Sparrow?
Do you see them flitting around? Do you see them toiling to eat?
And of course they said no. And Jesus then said, when you
face this life, this crazy upside down life, you're not
going to provide for yourself. You're going to have to make a
choice, though our God is willing to provide for you.
And then he says this verse in Matthew 6, verse 33.
But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be added to you. And So what is Jesus saying?
He's saying that if we say we trust God, like if we would say,
yeah, I trust God, that's a value.
But then I'm self-sufficient toiling and striving to provide
everything for myself. Is my value matching my
practice? No, what Jesus is saying is you
have an opportunity to put God first.
Seek the things that matter to him.
Build a Jesus rule of life and then you will not only have what
you need, you will have peace or you can do your rule of life
your way. You can have this discord
mismatch and you'll have anxiety and worry.
Because when we say we believe in something and we value
something and we do something else, it creates a like a chasm
in our being because we know we're not matching.
The whole is interrupted. There's no integration of the
parts. And so Jesus people have a rule
of life where the values and the practices come from the Word of
God. And because they come from the
word of God, and as we grow and mature, our practices and our
values match. Then what we have is peace and
provision, power, effectiveness, and all the things that God has
promised. And this is what Jesus people do
Amen. Jesus people prioritize, not
compartmentalize, our relationship with the Father.
And that leads us to the Third Point.
Because even if we build our habits, our practices, and we
grab our values from the word and we make them match, if we
don't invite the Holy Spirit to lead, we're toast.
So our Third Point we cannot live without is that Jesus,
people have a rule of life that allows the Holy Spirit to lead
and transform. And I'm going to be really
candid with you because I love you.
We can't cheat this. We can't cheat it.
We can't cheat the fact that we can't muscle change from the
outside in. We can't read enough books on
self help. The only thing that truly
transforms us into the image of Christ and sets us free is the
Holy Spirit. And what Jesus is building here
at Illuminate Church are Jesus people living and walking by the
Spirit. At the end of my days, what I
want to be known for is a life that was led and could only have
been lived by the Holy Spirit, by the amount of His presence,
of the way He changed me and transformed me into His image of
the things that He called me to do.
That the only way I could have lived it is by the power and
presence of the Holy Spirit. And that is a value that I hold.
And if you're here today and you're saying I don't know what
that means, I'm glad you said it and I'm glad you're being honest
and you are in completely the right place.
Let me explain it to you this way.
When God created you, He created you with a body and a spirit.
And the body is the part of us, the flesh parts of us that
desires things our own way. Like, you know, the Burger King
motto, You can have it your way. Your body really loves that
motto. But your body is going to die
and decay. And the part of you that lives
eternally is your spirit. So at any given time, your
spirit that longs for and loves your eternal home is trying to
lead you and guide you to line up with the Holy Spirit.
But at the same time, your flesh is trying to win.
Can everybody see it? You're at war within yourself.
So to be led by the Holy Spirit means we are going to have to
crucify our flesh. In fact, Galatians 5 talks about
this. We are crucifying the flesh,
dying to ourselves, getting a lifeblood transfusion, Jesus's
blood into ours. Our DNA changes, we change from
the inside out. The kind of rule of life that
allows that to happen is one that is led by the Spirit.
And so today we're going to take just a little look at our fruit
because the fruit, the output is how the Holy Spirit leadership
is displayed. So today, if we break it down
into two lists, they're found in Galatians chapter 5.
Starting in verse 22, we're going to see that Jesus people
produce a certain kind of fruit. So if you want to know if you're
being led by the Spirit, let's look at our fruit in verse 22 it
says, but the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Does this sound good?
I don't think you're really hearing me if you're not
screaming. Yes, and I say this earnestly.
What would it be like if your life were overflowing with love
and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and
gentleness and faithfulness? Where you were on the path that
you want to be on and not having trouble swerving off of it?
That's faithfulness. And who would not like a little
self-control? That I could be doing what it is
my heart wants to be doing, right?
This is the fruit of a life led by the Holy Spirit, and whenever
and wherever you see this kind of fruit, you know that your
rule of life is flourishing. But if there is a contrast, it's
the one led by our flesh, by our body, by our Burger King motto.
We've got to be sober about what this looks like.
We're going to back up a couple verses.
Galatians 5, verse 19 through 21.
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality,
impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, anyone
getting depressed, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
disputes, dissensions, factions envying drunkenness.
This list is long, carousing and things like these of which Paul
has forewarned them. If you practice these things,
you're not going to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Do you think it's interesting that he uses the word practice?
Do you think it's interesting that it uses the word practice?
Because we are at any given time putting values and practices
being led by the Holy Spirit, or we are putting other practices
in place and here is what we will get.
The choice is simple. Whenever and wherever you see
strife and jealousy, anger that's out of control, anger
that's a tool or a weapon instead of a dashboard light,
any place you find yourself stuck in habitual sin, this is a
place where your rule of life is not working.
The job of the Spirit, the indwelling gift of the presence
of God. When you are saved, you become a
temple for the Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit's job is to
live in you, guide you, and as we yield, produce good fruit to
become Jesus. People, we're going to have to
embrace. This is a mystery.
Is anyone else? Like, if we're being honest,
this is pretty mysterious, but I can testify again and again and
again to the truth of this miracle.
You can be born again. You are a new creation.
You're born into the Spirit, and over time you will learn to let
the Spirit lead you. You can build a rule of life
that supports this value and you will be transformed.
So we are going to be a kind of people, a Jesus peculiar people
that have a rule of life. We're going to look to the word
to find our values and our practices.
And because we find them there and we grow in maturity, they're
going to match. And we're going to let the Holy
Spirit lead and we're going to be transformed into some
peculiar, wonderful people. This is the invitation to us.
We just took a trip, our family and another family, all of our
kids home from college. We went out to Utah and we went
to one of my bucket list dream places, Bryce Canyon, Zion,
Moab, Arches. And when I say to you that I was
moved by God at the majesty, the wonder, the depth, the variety,
No2 structures looked the same in any place.
We were at one point this giant Canyon called Dead Horse Point,
and we had hiked and hiked and hiked and we got to the overlook
and I wept at the fullness and the majesty and the regality of
the presence of God. It was an amazing trip, but one
of the things I was surprised by is we didn't know anything about
this region. We're picking where we're going
to stay. We picked a vacation rental
spot, and we picked it because it was centrally located.
We could stay in one spot and do a bunch of things, but we knew
nothing about the city. And this city we were in had no
food, like no grocery stores, no restaurants.
Like maybe you're familiar with this.
You're a city person. This is no big deal.
I mean, a country person to a city person.
I was surprised. So as we're driving around, I'm
looking at them like, where are these people getting food?
But you look at their large properties and you see
greenhouses and you see gardens and you see that they're
cultivating the land because they want to eat, right?
And we're not used to this. But we need to borrow something
from this truth. Those people living out in that
area, if they want to eat, they're going to eat what they
grow. They're going to eat what they
produce. And the truth that I believe the
Holy Spirit wants us to really get this morning is you're going
to eat what you grow. You can make a pit stop.
You can eat off of someone else's tree.
You can come in and be around great people and get some good
fruit. But day in and day out you are
going to eat what you're growing.
So why not grow good fruit? Why not grow the fruit that
satisfies not only you and everybody around you, Right?
Thank you Lord, so let's borrow as we wrap up our time here.
Let's borrow something from agriculture and apply it to our
spiritual lives. I've got Sierra in my in the 2nd
row here. She knows all about trellises,
but a trellis is a structure that is used to provide support
to help guide to protect flourishing and productive
plants. There's so many shapes.
I started looking into this and looking at the varieties.
I've got some pictures here for you.
The first one is a Raspberry plant.
I love me some raspberries, but they're building this structure
to create and guide all of the plants to grow up and flourish
and be nourished. This next one here would work
for any kind of vertical growing plant.
It's not real sturdy, but you could see you could grow some
light, simple things and that trellis is going to guide and
shape and help that plant grow. I think my favorite picture is
this one. Isn't this gorgeous?
And you look at this trellis and with the intention of what it
has done, not only has it created function, but it's
beautiful. Did you know that the structure,
the rule of life, your values and your practices can produce
fruit that is so beautiful that people want to stop and know
what is going on? And so in our discussion, we've
talked about a rule of life. And what I'm suggesting is let's
build a trellis. Let's build a structure with
intention. And so let's look just a little
bit more at what trellises do. A trellis can do this amazing
thing that creates an opportunity for every part of
the plant to get nourishing light.
Isn't that amazing? A trellis is strong and sturdy,
but you've got to train your plant to use the trellis.
Have you ever seen someone take a, a plant and like tie it up to
the trellis? Because how many know that if
we're left to our own, we're going to go off on our own,
right? But a good trellis with a good
caretaker, which by the way, we have the best gardener caretaker
ever, Father God, who trains us to our trellis, if we will put
the trellis in place, that that trellis can help us grow heavy
productive fruit. Because without that trellis,
heavy fruit growing on a vine will crash to the ground, it'll
rot, the bugs will eat it and nobody will get, nobody will get
the benefit from it. So in agriculture, A trellis
guides, a trellis supports a trellis keeps the fruit from
falling and being wasted. It makes it easier to harvest.
And in your spiritual life, your trellis are the practices that
you match with the values that grows beautiful, incredible
fruit. Because if you have a trellis,
you have a bunch of practices without many values, you're not
going to grow anything. And if you have some values
without any structure or any support to your life, there
might be a bud of fruit. How many have ever experienced
this? Been to a conference, been to a
camp, been to a Bible study, been through something and
there's a surge of fruit, but there's nothing there to support
it. And it dies and falls to the
ground. And we think to ourselves, why
was it real? What happened?
It was real. But a rule of life is a set of
values with practices that are consistent that produce an
amazing fruit. So I'm going to share with you
this morning my rule of life. And I'm going to ask for a
tremendous amount of grace in knowing that I feel very
vulnerable presenting this because I'm not putting myself
forward as a person that has everything figured out.
But if we don't share with you what we have learned, how will
we bring you along, Right? So here is my rule of life.
It's also in your message notes. I won't have time to go over
everything today, but I want to go over just a few things in my
rule of life. My first love is God, and the
rest of my life flows from there.
There's nothing more important to me than my love relationship
with God. And even as important as the
other 4 categories are, if I do the other 4 without the first
one, it will be very easy for me to drift and drift and drift in
my values, right? Either become legalistic or say,
did that really matter? Maybe it doesn't matter so much.
I'm going to put this over the truth of the Word of God.
So in my rule of life, even though they're equally laid out
there, there is an order the I see God comes first.
I start and end each day with God.
Super simple. God, I love you.
Thank you for this day. At the end of the day, let's
talk about what happened or I just want you to know you're my
shepherd. Why?
Because in the season of my life when everything is chaotic, if
there's nothing else I can count on, I know that I'm going to run
into this practice at the beginning and end of my day,
right? It's good to have a trellis that
I know is sturdy and is going to be there and having a reading
plan, reading the Bible, having extended time in a prayer
closet. You remember in Matthew chapter
6 when Jesus said don't do all your praying publicly?
Do you remember he said, actually go in and close the
door? There's a private, intimate
place where everything slows down, where I pour out my heart
to him. I don't do this perfectly, but
it is an intimate, sweet space and something no one is ever
going to talk me out of. You're never going to talk me
out of reading the Bible, having worship in my heart and on my
mind. You're never going to talk me
out of cultivating gratitude because I've been in a love
relationship with Him and it's too sweet and it's too good.
And even when I get off track, my trellis is going to me back.
My community, my family, my husband, my core friends are
going to bring me back because as a rule of life, I seek God
first. I'm going to live relationally.
And that means when we have meals around our table, we put
phones away, we try to home cook meals and be around the table
more than anything else. That's just my personal
preference. You're going to see food on here
a lot. Maybe that's a problem when you
get to our mission matters most. I love to take care of people
with food. I love to make meals.
I love to do whatever I can. It's the way God's wired me.
So as you find your rule of life, when you get to living out
the Great Commission, don't make it mine, make it yours.
Who are you? How did God uniquely wire you to
love your neighbors, to build relationships?
And one thing I want to point out, especially as all my kids
are in the service, it is my value and I hope it's yours,
that the integrity of my life, at the end of my days, my kids
would say that's not just something she taught you, it's
something she taught me. And in the integrity of your
life, thank you, Lord, the integrity of your life is that
every part of who you are would be integrated to a complete
whole. You know, I've shared this with
you and I want you to linger in it at home.
I'd love for you to take the blank one and the instructions
that are in the message notes and go to lunch with somebody
and talk about the Holy Spirit birthing your rule of life.
Right, Since we started this message talking a lot about my
dad, I want to end it there. You know, I told you my dad is a
mathematical genius, but what I didn't tell you is that he was
my 10th grade geometry teacher. Anybody here in or around 10th
grade, how many of you want your dad to be the dork who is
running the overhead with the Yeah.
OK, so I said that lovingly. I'll tell you the story.
So I loved my dad and really loved him being my teacher.
It was kind of amazing and I loved the subject.
I loved seeing him in his genius.
But what was funny is my friends really thought he was kind of
goofy. So there was this thing called
an overhead projector where you scroll the plastic.
Yes, yes. If you're older or at my age,
you understand if you're not. We didn't have technology, so we
had plastic and we wrote on it with markers.
Well, you're supposed to like, erase it with an eraser, but my
dad would lick his finger and erase it and then put it back on
his mouth. So at the end of the day, the
kids were like, Oh my gosh, your dad's such a dork.
He has blue like all over his lips, blah, blah, blah.
And one day in class, this kid said, Mr. Bachman, you're such a
dork. And he goes, that's Mr. Dork to
you. I loved it.
I loved having as a teacher. But in geometry, there is a term
called congruence. Everyone say congruence.
Congruent is when you're studying 2 shapes and they have
the same qualities. They're equal in shape and size.
And one of the parts of the definition that I love the most
is that when 2 shapes have congruence, it doesn't matter
how they're flipped or turned. They're always equal.
And the rule of life that Jesus is inviting you to live is that
your life, no matter how you're flipped or turned, no matter how
you are flipped or turned, is so congruent with His that you have
everything you need and you bear His image through every aspect
of your life. This is the goal of the rule of
life, to make us congruent with Jesus.
And I am not saying that you're going to be perfect.
I am clearly not perfect. But what I am saying is that
Jesus people work consistently and fight for true integrity,
that there is a completeness to whatever is being described.
This is a lifelong journey and we don't accomplish it.
Remember who does the transforming the Holy Spirit.
self-sufficiency is not a value found in the Word.
In fact, utter and complete surrender and complete
dependency on God is what is found in the Word.
So if this is stirring in your heart and you're ready to look
at the fruit of your life, let's just kind of close your eyes and
get into a posture. It's not religious, it's
focused. So we said that if we want to
know how we're doing in the Holy Spirit LED flesh and spirit
battle, we would look at our fruit.
So Holy Spirit, would you help us examine our fruit?
If you're looking at the fruit of your life and you're saying I
want more Jesus fruit, maybe it's that you have competing
values. Maybe it's that you have a value
system that is stressed and rubbing up against another set
of values. Maybe it's that you have a set
of values, but you're in a situation at work or a living
situation where you don't have the support and structure of the
people doing life the way you are.
Maybe you have the right values, but you don't have the
practices, whatever it is. Holy Spirit, would you speak now
to each of us? And what I would say to you is
all is if all of this is ringing a bell of you saying I have
never given my life over in full surrender.
I've never been reborn and made new.
And the invitation to you is, let's start there.
I'm going to ask everyone to pray out loud in just a moment.
What I'm asking you is if the Holy Spirit is stirring you to
say, I've been around church, I've been around religion.
I have never ever understood the complete rebirth, transformation
by the Holy Spirit through the blood of Jesus.
And if you're saying today, I want you, Jesus, to be my
shepherd and my rabbi, and I want to follow you, then when we
all pray, you're going to pray this with us for the very first
time. If everyone would say, Jesus,
you have opened my eyes to the truth of who you are.
You are the only way, you are the only truth, and you are my
life. And today I receive the free
gift of your blood in exchange for my sin, and I'm washed anew.
I declare that you our you are my Savior and I want you to be
my Lord and Jesus, we thank you for all those being saved by
Your Holy Spirit and for everyone else wherever you are.
Would you just talk to Him, tell him what you want, what you,
what you are hearing from Him, and where you want to join Him?
It can sound something like this.
You've stirred my heart, Holy Spirit, help me find the values
and the practices in Your Word. Help me not leave this here and
walk away and forget, but to do Your Word.
It's in Jesus name that we pray with great gratitude.
We love you in Jesus name, Amen. Thanks for joining us today.
We hope God is speaking to your heart through this message.
If you'd like to connect with us, you can text connect to
407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate dot church.
Have a great week.