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Welcome to the River City Church
Podcast and a message by our 

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lead pastor Jason Powers. 
Our prayer is that this message 

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would inspire and encourage you 
build your faith and point you 

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to the life changing love of 
Jesus. 

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May you enjoy the goodness of 
God as you follow him today. 

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Good morning, man, I am glad. 
I'm so glad to be here. 

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I missed you all. 
I'll tell you, I have something 

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to tell you. 
So if you're here for the first 

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time in the past six weeks or 
so, you don't know who I am. 

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I'm Jason. 
I'm the pastor here. 

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Every summer I take a little bit
of time to get away and just and

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and kind of pray and let our 
teaching team teach. 

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I want to acknowledge our 
teaching team. 

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Holy cow. 
Right? 

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Like. 
So it was Aaron, and then it was

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Rebecca, and then it was RJ, and
then it was Jennifer, and then 

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it was Johnny. 
And I'm forgetting somebody. 

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And it's terrible. 
It would have been great. 

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Jason Casey. 
Thank you. 

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Yeah. 
Jason Casey. 

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Sorry, Casey. 
But you know, I'm grateful for 

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them because listen, they all 
have full time jobs. 

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This is not their thing that 
that they do. 

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And so they took time to listen 
and to pray and to ask God, hey,

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like, what do you want to say 
and how do you want to say it? 

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And I, they talked about tough 
stuff. 

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And that leads me to you. 
Like, I want to thank you for 

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coming. 
And I want you to know, right? 

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Like a series on idolatry heavy 
lifting. 

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Tough stuff, right? 
Most, a lot of churches during 

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the summer they're like we'll 
talk about self esteem and you 

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know and what kind of tell story
like not you. 

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No way. 
You're like we want to talk 

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about and I'm so I'm so grateful
for you. 

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And so last week during this 
service we had an opportunity to

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sneak in now and I we we snuck 
in and we kind of sat back there

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and and the deal was I just 
wanted to go to church at my 

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church right. 
And not be the pastor and not 

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have to fix things or figure 
things out. 

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And so, as I was sitting there, 
I was almost. 

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Immediately, just kind of 
overcome. 

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Right. 
And they were just emotion. 

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And I want to say, so very 
careful case. 

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So I'm not one who hears audible
voices from the Lord. 

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Right. 
Like, I just like, you know, 

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some people do whatever, but but
they're every once in a while, 

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you just get an impression, 
right? 

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Like a sense of feeling, 
whatever, that's so strong that 

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you know that it's something 
it's unusual for you. 

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And that was sitting back there,
right back in this kind of 

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little area last week. 
And I'm watching, you know, 

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little Gabby sing and, you know,
this is a House of miracles, 

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what I want to tell you. 
And I hope you'll hear this. 

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And you'll receive this for you 
because, like you were here, the

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Lord is so pleased. 
And this isn't a sense of that 

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He doesn't know, right? 
Like, this isn't a sense. 

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Like you've hidden that ugly 
thing really good, so He doesn't

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know what's come and gone. 
No, the Lord sees, and He knows 

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what your life is about, and He 
knows all the struggles that 

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you're facing, and He knows the 
ugly stuff. 

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And you're here, listening. 
And so I just want to say thank 

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you for being a kind of place 
that in the summer will continue

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to show up, will continue to 
listen to, to difficult hard 

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teaching. 
And I believe that you go home 

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and you think about it and you 
and you kind of wonder. 

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And so a lot of you right now, 
today are just like finally, we 

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don't want to talk about idols 
anymore. 

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And that's not really the case 
at all. 

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See that first service didn't 
laugh at that either. 

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They're like, well, because it's
not funny. 

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It's not funny at all. 
Here's the thing. 

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Here's how we have to talk about
it. 

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It's serious business. 
It's a big, it's a big deal, 

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right, Because we've, as we've 
seen right, we saw kind of 

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throughout the whole six week 
series of the deal, right. 

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These idols, they get in us and 
they are sneaky and they are 

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subtle and they get their 
tentacles in us and they get 

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their hooks in us and then they 
begin to drive and control our 

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lives and they begin to make 
life difficult and unmanageable 

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and hard and and we just get 
down that road, right. 

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And So what I would say is, as a
believer, as a Christian, this 

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business of. 
Idols we don't ever graduate 

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from. 
We don't ever get to get away 

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from looking at our hearts and 
going, Lord, is there anything 

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in my heart that is taking your 
place? 

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Is there anything that's calling
the shots in my life? 

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But you right? 
And that can be dangerous. 

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That can feel hard. 
We don't. 

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We don't want to do that. 
I don't. 

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I don't want to talk about that.
It's easier to just assume and 

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it's easier just to pretend. 
What I would just say is it's 

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really not. 
Because idols are cruel 

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taskmasters, right? 
They are absolutely unpleasable.

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We have a God who is pleased, 
and we have these idols and 

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these taskmasters who are 
radically unpleased. 

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Not only that, this whole 
process of of dethroning idols 

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in our life, that's what 
following Jesus is. 

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Jesus came as king. 
Jesus came as Lord, right? 

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The Lord, the the. 
The word literally means like 

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boss, like master. 
And so Jesus comes as king and 

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he comes as boss. 
And so he's going to, he's going

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to take aim at all the idols. 
And so as we follow Jesus, 

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listen, you should expect 
regularly to find areas in your 

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life where you just go. 
I'm trusting that instead of 

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Jesus. 
It doesn't mean that you're 

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doing it wrong. 
It means that you're doing it 

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right. 
It means that you now have an 

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opportunity to make those 
decisions and to and to follow 

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him. 
Right. 

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And it's not just Jesus. 
It's not just in the New 

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Testament. 
If you go to the Old Testament 

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right, all the way back to the 
very beginning as God, you know,

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Adam and Eve, right? 
What it said, they, he told him,

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don't eat that. 
And what reason would they have 

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to eat that? 
Except they said they saw that 

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the fruit was pleasing to the 
eye and it was good for food and

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and it was good for making one 
wise. 

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And so they chose those things. 
Over the reality that God is 

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king. 
And since then all of human 

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history has been plagued by 
idolatry. 

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And so the message of God to his
people in Israel as they were 

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taking their promised land, as 
they were wandering in the 

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wilderness, the message always 
was go get rid of the idols. 

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And when we get to the Book of 
Kings and Chronicles, it tells 

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kind of the the story and the 
history of of God's people. 

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We talk about these kings and 
they would say he was a good 

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king, but. 
He didn't go after the high 

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places. 
He didn't go get the idols down.

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He did a lot of good things and 
it was great, but he let the 

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idols remain. 
And so it's an invitation and 

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it's a challenge to us to not 
let those idols to remain, to 

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not let those things. 
So let me paint really a picture

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for the rest of the year. 
Okay, you don't have to remember

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this. 
Like, we're just going to do it.

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But I want to give you. 
So, you know, kind of we know 

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where we're going, right, for 
the next six or seven weeks. 

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We're starting a new series 
today called A Long Walk to 

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Freedom, right. 
And. 

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What we're going to talk about 
this week is we're going to talk

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about, let me back up too many 
times, I think in church, even 

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as pastors, because it's easier 
for me to just stand here and 

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Thunder forth on things that you
should do. 

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Stop being idolaters, Stop 
worshiping at stop. 

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You're just right. 
And some people, like, if we 

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grew up in church, we'd love 
that. 

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Like, kill them sinners. 
Gee, right. 

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Tell them right. 
Yeah, right. 

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And we think. 
And so it's easy to Thunder 

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forth. 
Here's the problem. 

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When that becomes the reality of
what this is about, we walk out 

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of here and we may have a vague 
or a general sense of the fact 

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that we've messed it up somehow,
but we don't know how to do it 

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different. 
And so if we've just spent six 

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weeks talking about the fact 
that we have idols and big idols

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of money and idols of of 
distraction and idols, you know,

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and all these things. 
If we have all these idols in 

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us, if we don't believe, if we 
just don't start to get a sense 

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that God can actually lead us 
out of those and away from 

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those, what happens in is what 
settles in is hopelessness or 

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anger or bitterness. 
And so you may experience that. 

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That may be your kind of. 
Experience right now, but what 

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we're going to do for the next 
several weeks is we're going to 

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look at the process for removing
idols for our lives. 

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And the reality is like and you 
get like this is a little bit 

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self-serving maybe or may seem 
that way, right. 

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But you need kind of the whole 
process, right. 

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Which means that you have to 
come back next week, right. 

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We're not going to get the whole
thing this week, right. 

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So for the next six weeks we're 
going to talk about the process 

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of idolatry movement removal. 
After that, we're going to spend

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about four weeks and we're going
to look at some very crystal 

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clear practices that Jesus use. 
The practices that Jesus. 

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To make sure that he stayed free
from idols. 

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That will help us stay free from
idols. 

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And then after that, here's the 
danger if we just stop there, 

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right? 
We talk about the process and we

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talk about the practice process 
that the problem there is we 

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just leave from here and go, 
great, I'll do it. 

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I've got the strength and the 
willpower and I'll just, it's 

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all up to me. 
And there is nothing about that.

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That's good news, is there? 
There's nothing about that that 

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that should give us hope. 
So we're going to talk about the

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process and we're going to talk 
about the practices. 

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And finally we're going to talk 
about the power to do that. 

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We're talking about the Holy 
Spirit and the role of the Holy 

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Spirit in our life. 
And so this is an ongoing 

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conversation that impacts and 
affects all of us, right? 

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But my hope is that as we 
continue to walk together, we 

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begin to really have an idea of 
how to answer that question. 

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How can we get rid of these 
things that control us? 

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And that destroy us, that ruin 
our lives. 

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The first question that we have 
to ask is, and that you may be 

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asking and and listen, I hope at
some point over the last six 

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weeks as you as you heard, as 
you listen, you just started to 

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say, man, yeah, I struggle with 
that. 

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I think that's that's an idol in
my life. 

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The question then becomes that 
we have to ask is, is freedom 

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from that thing? 
Is it really even possible? 

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Does God really want me to be 
free in an understandable sense,

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where people would be able to 
look at it and just be able to 

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go? 
That person does not have 

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evidence of of that brand, that 
unique brand of idolatry in 

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their life. 
Is it possible? 

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And so that's kind of the 
question that we're going to 

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camp on. 
And let me just kind of maybe if

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I need to tip my hand, the 
answer is an emphatic yes, You 

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can live free. 
From the things that if God 

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reveals it, if the reason that 
he reveals it is because he 

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wants to take it away from you. 
So we're going to spend most of 

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our time in John chapter 8 
today. 

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If you want to turn there. 
I want to set some context. 

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The 1st 11 verses of John 
chapter 8 is this crazy account 

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and not crazy like in a bad way 
like eye opening and humbling 

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and beautiful account of Jesus 
with a woman caught in adultery.

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And we're not going to kind of 
talk about that today. 

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But before that, John Chapter 7,
John sets the context for that 

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and what we find is Jesus and 
his disciples and John. 

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Chapter 7 and continuing to 
John, Chapter 8 are celebrating.

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It's the time in Jerusalem 
called the Feast of the 

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Tabernacles. 
OK. 

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And so the Feast of the 
Tabernacles was a big weeklong 

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feast ordained and instituted by
God. 

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And the point and the purpose of
the Feast of the Tabernacles was

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to celebrate God's deliverance 
of the Jewish people out of 

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slavery in Egypt. 
So it was all about freedom. 

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It was all about deliverance. 
It was all about God taking his 

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people who he loves and leading 
them. 

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Now, when he led them out of 
Egypt, and we've heard right, a 

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part of the Red Sea and the 
Egyptians came, it was this 

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great miraculous thing. 
He didn't immediately say great.

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You go from Egypt and now you 
live in Israel. 

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For 40 years. 
They wandered around in the 

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desert. 
And it doesn't say that they, 

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you know, pitched the tent and 
they stayed there for 40 years. 

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It says that they wandered 
around. 

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And the way that they moved was 
interesting. 

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We're told that there was by day
there was a pillar of cloud and 

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at evening there was a pillar of
fire and so. 

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There was this unusually great 
bright light in the sky, and it 

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would camp out. 
For sometimes when the the 

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pillar of fire would camp out, 
the people would stop and they 

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would pitch their tents and they
would have their lives and they 

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would do their thing. 
But when the light, when the 

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pillar of fire moved, began to 
move, the people of Israel would

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pack up their stuff and they 
would follow this fire. 

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And so one of the ways that the 
Jewish people would celebrate 

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the Feast of Tabernacles in the 
Temple right now is thousands of

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years before. 
In Jesus's time, in the 1st 

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century, the way that they would
celebrate the feast of tyranny 

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was in the temple. 
They would have these great 

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giant chandeliers right with 
lots of with big candles and oil

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and the and the idea was in the 
temple, which was where the 

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presence of God was dwelt right.
The chandeliers in that temple 

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and the kind of one of the outer
courts of the temple, the 

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chandeliers that were lit up 
would give light to the whole 

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city. 
From anywhere in Jerusalem you 

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could see the light and again 
there's deep and rich and fixed 

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symbolism all over this. 
The idea is the light would draw

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our attention, that light would 
draw us and invite us and lead 

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us up into God's presence in the
Tabernacle. 

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So this idea of God leading with
light and God's light being a 

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guide it absolutely. 
Saturates Jewish history, Jewish

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theology, the whole entire ethos
would have understood God's 

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light as being their guide. 
We see it in the Psalm Psalm 

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chapter 43, verse three. 
Send out your light and your 

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truth. 
Let them lead me. 

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Let them bring me to your holy 
hill and to your dwelling. 

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This could have been read at the
Feast of the Tabernacles. 

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Let your light shine, and let it
draw me and guide me. 

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00:13:07,260 --> 00:13:10,340
Then I will go to the altar of 
God, To God my exceeding joy, 

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00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:12,020
and I will praise you with the 
Lear. 

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00:13:12,020 --> 00:13:15,100
Oh God, my God, If you go to 
Psalm 119105. 

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Which is this? 
Extended. 

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And I say extended, I mean, it's
long. 

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Like hundreds of verses. 
This extended meditation on the 

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00:13:22,140 --> 00:13:27,100
role of God's word in worship. 
And Psalm 119105 says your word 

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is a lamp onto my feet and a 
light onto my path. 

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00:13:31,660 --> 00:13:36,820
And so the entire kind of Jewish
idea of who they were was 

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saturated with this idea that 
God leads his people. 

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That God has a plan for them, 
that he will lead them from 

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slavery and exile into life and 
in the goodness and in freedom. 

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And in a sense, the word was 
just follow the light. 

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00:13:53,670 --> 00:13:57,710
And so this deeply entrenched 
idea in the lives of the Jewish 

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people as they, as they said, 
right, we look for the light. 

285
00:14:00,470 --> 00:14:03,030
The light is in the temple. 
The light is in God's word, 

286
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which is the Torah. 
The light is, is there and it's 

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00:14:05,390 --> 00:14:06,990
ready to go, and we just follow 
the light. 

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00:14:07,110 --> 00:14:10,630
So now you can imagine at the 
Feast of Tabernacles when Jesus,

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00:14:10,630 --> 00:14:14,070
this Jewish rabbi stands. 
And in verse 12, Jesus spoke to 

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00:14:14,070 --> 00:14:18,510
them saying, I am the light of 
the world. 

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00:14:18,830 --> 00:14:24,110
Bro, you are cracked. 
We know what light is about. 

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00:14:24,110 --> 00:14:26,870
Light is about illumination. 
Light reveals, light shines, 

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00:14:26,870 --> 00:14:29,790
light shows up. 
But he doesn't just stop there. 

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00:14:30,590 --> 00:14:36,230
He says Whoever follows me will 
not walk in darkness, but we'll 

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00:14:36,230 --> 00:14:38,460
have the light. 
Of life. 

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00:14:39,020 --> 00:14:42,660
And So what we what we've gone 
from is Jesus's word, which is 

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00:14:42,780 --> 00:14:44,820
which? 
To the 1st century Jewish mind 

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00:14:44,820 --> 00:14:47,180
was the Torah, the first five 
books, Genesis, Exodus, 

299
00:14:47,180 --> 00:14:48,540
Leviticus, Numbers, and 
Deuteronomy. 

300
00:14:48,700 --> 00:14:51,260
They'd enshrine the message of 
the prophets and all that to 

301
00:14:51,260 --> 00:14:53,060
leave them. 
But the problem was, in the 1st 

302
00:14:53,060 --> 00:14:57,140
century, the Jewish people in 
Israel weren't very free. 

303
00:14:58,060 --> 00:14:59,260
They were under Roman 
oppression. 

304
00:14:59,750 --> 00:15:01,510
They didn't have the kind of 
life that that they thought they

305
00:15:01,510 --> 00:15:03,190
would be. 
And so they were looking for 

306
00:15:03,310 --> 00:15:05,950
freedom and for exile. 
And so the way that they dealt 

307
00:15:05,950 --> 00:15:09,350
with that was by rigid and 
meticulous adherence and 

308
00:15:09,350 --> 00:15:11,470
obedience to the Torah. 
It's about the rules. 

309
00:15:11,470 --> 00:15:12,830
This is where the Pharisees came
from. 

310
00:15:12,830 --> 00:15:16,630
They just said if you mess up a 
little bit, God won't come back.

311
00:15:16,750 --> 00:15:19,270
And then we'll just be stuck and
we'll be slaves forever. 

312
00:15:19,270 --> 00:15:24,430
And into that Jesus stands up 
and says, guys, I'm the light of

313
00:15:24,430 --> 00:15:26,360
the world. 
I'm the 1. 

314
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,680
So it's not just the books of 
the law, it's just not the 

315
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,000
Torah. 
It's Jesus's life, it's his 

316
00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,440
teachings, it's the ministry. 
It's in Matthew chapter 5 when 

317
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,160
Jesus said blessed are the poor 
and spirit for they'll receive 

318
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:43,800
the Kingdom of God. 
He said blessed are those who 

319
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:47,600
mourn, for they'll be comforted.
Jesus is giving a picture and an

320
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,800
illustration of what his 
teachers when he says forgive 

321
00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,200
and you'll be forgiven, but if 
you don't forgive, you won't be 

322
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,160
forgiven. 
And he says turn the other 

323
00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:01,680
cheek, go the extra mile. 
Forgive 70 * 7. 

324
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,600
When Jesus stood in his teaching
in his life and he says a lot of

325
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,400
people are going to come to me 
and Matthew chapter seven, he 

326
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,240
says a lot of people are going 
to come to me on that last day 

327
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,480
and they're going to say, Lord, 
we we built a big church and we 

328
00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,000
preached for you and we did all 
these amazing things, Jesus, and

329
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:17,800
we're ready to to kind of come 
be with you. 

330
00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,920
And Jesus's response will be I 
never knew you. 

331
00:16:22,270 --> 00:16:24,710
He's not going to say he didn't 
spend enough time in the book. 

332
00:16:24,710 --> 00:16:26,190
He's not going to say he didn't 
memorize. 

333
00:16:26,190 --> 00:16:29,190
He's going to say you didn't I 
didn't know you. 

334
00:16:29,190 --> 00:16:31,390
Now some of your fields starting
to feel a little scandalized 

335
00:16:31,390 --> 00:16:33,510
right now you're just like a bad
pastors getting like dangerous. 

336
00:16:33,510 --> 00:16:35,430
We're going to get there That's 
that's that's good, right. 

337
00:16:36,190 --> 00:16:40,590
I'm saying Jesus said I didn't 
know you. 

338
00:16:40,590 --> 00:16:43,750
And at the end of Matthew, 
chapter seven, he says, If 

339
00:16:43,750 --> 00:16:47,150
you'll build your life on my 
teaching. 

340
00:16:47,890 --> 00:16:51,170
On me, then you'll be like this 
house that's built on a rock and

341
00:16:51,170 --> 00:16:53,810
its foundation is strong and 
it's good. 

342
00:16:53,810 --> 00:16:55,930
And if you build your foundation
on that, then your life will be 

343
00:16:55,930 --> 00:16:57,970
stable and it will be steady and
it will be good. 

344
00:16:57,970 --> 00:17:00,730
But if you don't, if you build 
it on something else, you'll be 

345
00:17:00,730 --> 00:17:02,370
stuck. 
And so Jesus makes this 

346
00:17:03,090 --> 00:17:06,890
scandalous statement. 
I am the light, and he says 

347
00:17:06,890 --> 00:17:09,650
follow me. 
So what do we do with the book 

348
00:17:09,650 --> 00:17:11,930
then? 
What do we do with the Torah? 

349
00:17:12,490 --> 00:17:13,450
Now, right? 
We're supposed to, we're 

350
00:17:13,450 --> 00:17:15,290
supposed to do that. 
What about Leviticus, man, 

351
00:17:15,290 --> 00:17:17,810
there's got a bunch of rules in 
there and we just discard those.

352
00:17:17,810 --> 00:17:20,210
We just throw those away. 
We'll go down to verse 30 in 

353
00:17:20,210 --> 00:17:23,530
that, right? 
Verse 30 says as he was talking 

354
00:17:23,530 --> 00:17:25,130
about Jesus, Jesus was saying 
these things. 

355
00:17:25,130 --> 00:17:27,290
Many believed in him. 
So now the context for this is 

356
00:17:27,770 --> 00:17:30,890
they were everybody that would 
have hurt Jesus in this, in 

357
00:17:30,890 --> 00:17:33,330
this, what he's saying would 
have been a Jewish person. 

358
00:17:33,330 --> 00:17:35,530
They would have had their their 
hopes in that and so. 

359
00:17:36,170 --> 00:17:39,410
What happened says when it says 
they believe him, These are what

360
00:17:39,410 --> 00:17:41,770
we in the kind of the 21st 
century, W would call new 

361
00:17:41,770 --> 00:17:44,010
believers. 
OK, And listen. 

362
00:17:44,010 --> 00:17:46,010
You may be a new believer and 
listen real quick. 

363
00:17:46,010 --> 00:17:48,970
This is so good. 
If you're here and you're a new 

364
00:17:48,970 --> 00:17:50,690
believer and you're a little bit
concerned and you're a little 

365
00:17:50,690 --> 00:17:51,730
worried about me, I don't know 
enough. 

366
00:17:51,730 --> 00:17:55,210
I'm not doing this. 
Like, listen, Jesus knows. 

367
00:17:55,530 --> 00:17:58,210
And Jesus welcomed them. 
And I want you to hear this. 

368
00:17:58,210 --> 00:18:01,500
We welcome you too. 
You don't have an expectation 

369
00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:04,220
that you live up to anything 
because because I want you to 

370
00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:06,820
know, we also understand that 
being a new believer and having 

371
00:18:06,820 --> 00:18:09,500
new new ideas and learn follows 
means there's a lot of stuff 

372
00:18:09,500 --> 00:18:10,500
that we're going to get wrong, 
right. 

373
00:18:10,500 --> 00:18:13,340
Like I new believers get, 
specially these Jewish believers

374
00:18:13,340 --> 00:18:15,700
that could have been like I 
believe Jesus, kind of like what

375
00:18:15,700 --> 00:18:16,940
you're saying. 
You're the light that I'm 

376
00:18:16,940 --> 00:18:19,740
supposed to follow you, but I'm 
not ready for all that Leviticus

377
00:18:19,740 --> 00:18:22,700
stuff. 
I'm not I I just, there's so 

378
00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:24,820
much that I don't know. 
Like can I just have Jesus and 

379
00:18:24,820 --> 00:18:27,820
not kind of have the rules and 
can I have Jesus and can you 

380
00:18:27,820 --> 00:18:29,340
just love me? 
Can I can I not do that? 

381
00:18:29,340 --> 00:18:30,820
Right. 
And so new believers can be 

382
00:18:30,820 --> 00:18:32,220
messy. 
And I just want you to say it is

383
00:18:32,260 --> 00:18:36,420
a beautiful and a blessed 
messiness that we don't just 

384
00:18:36,420 --> 00:18:41,180
welcome, we seek it here. 
We want to be honest with where 

385
00:18:41,180 --> 00:18:43,340
we are and who we are and and 
what we're doing. 

386
00:18:43,340 --> 00:18:46,260
And So what we're told is Jesus 
was surrounded by these new 

387
00:18:46,260 --> 00:18:48,140
believers who were trying to 
figure out. 

388
00:18:48,770 --> 00:18:50,130
What? 
What's it about? 

389
00:18:50,130 --> 00:18:51,530
What are we doing? 
You may be here, too. 

390
00:18:51,530 --> 00:18:54,810
Now listen, you may actually 
have been a follower of Jesus 

391
00:18:54,810 --> 00:18:57,930
for a long time and not know 
what it's about. 

392
00:18:58,530 --> 00:18:59,890
I want you to know that's Okay 
too. 

393
00:19:00,450 --> 00:19:03,290
Okay. 
What's not Okay is to stay. 

394
00:19:03,290 --> 00:19:05,970
Where we are. 
And to build a fence around it 

395
00:19:06,250 --> 00:19:09,170
and to lay down a foundation and
idolize it. 

396
00:19:10,020 --> 00:19:13,060
It's not okay to stay. 
Well, here I am, and I cannot 

397
00:19:13,060 --> 00:19:14,940
and will not go anywhere else. 
So Jesus is. 

398
00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:17,300
We're told in verse 30 that many
of them had believed him. 

399
00:19:17,420 --> 00:19:21,140
So Jesus said to the Jews who 
had believed him, If you abide 

400
00:19:21,140 --> 00:19:24,700
in my word, you are truly my 
disciples, right? 

401
00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:26,380
So this is a conditional 
statement. 

402
00:19:26,380 --> 00:19:29,900
If you do, then you are. 
And the converse of that is, if 

403
00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:34,320
you don't, then you're not. 
And so now we have to ask what 

404
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,040
we're doing. 
And in the 21st century year, I 

405
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,640
think a lot of us when we read 
this, we the first thing that 

406
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,480
comes to remind is Bible study, 
right. 

407
00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,480
The word of Biden is to like, 
remain to camp out. 

408
00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:45,240
It's a picture like of the 
Tabernacles, right? 

409
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,600
Like I'm going to sit, I'm going
to build a house here and I'm 

410
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,920
going to remain. 
And so some of us maybe read 

411
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,760
this and we look at maybe we 
were taught in, in our, in our 

412
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:54,840
churches or our Sunday school 
growing up that you need to 

413
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,240
spend 37 hours a day in Bible 
study. 

414
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,480
And if if you don't, you're not,
it's not OK, right. 

415
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:02,880
And Jesus is probably mad at 
you, but. 

416
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,120
But you're sure not going. 
But we've already kind of seen, 

417
00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:08,640
right, how Jesus expands, right?
And Jesus takes. 

418
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,640
And he's talking about his life,
the message of his life, the 

419
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,000
things that he said for sure, 
but the things that he did, the 

420
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,480
way that he walked, the life 
that he led, how he treated 

421
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,920
people, how he treated religion,
how he treated the church, how 

422
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,680
he treated the temple. 
And he says, so if you abide in 

423
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:31,440
my word and he says you're truly
my disciples, that still holds 

424
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,520
true today. 
We don't notify that. 

425
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:36,440
We don't take that away. 
We don't, we don't know that you

426
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:41,160
have to abide in His word. 
And so one of the things that I 

427
00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:44,280
kind of sense and recognize and 
realize while I was away for six

428
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,680
weeks, right, and and things 
popping in your head or 

429
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,440
whatever, one of the things that
came back to us is for River 

430
00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,000
City to to continue to see God's
pleasure and places. 

431
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:59,680
We have to be a place that is 
radically saturated in God's 

432
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,650
word. 
It's not enough for you to come 

433
00:21:03,650 --> 00:21:06,250
and get a little dose from me 
every week. 

434
00:21:06,250 --> 00:21:09,250
It's not enough for for you. 
But it's also not enough for us 

435
00:21:09,250 --> 00:21:12,530
to have 75 Beth Moore Bible 
studies lined up, right? 

436
00:21:12,530 --> 00:21:14,570
I mean, just go. 
I've done them all right. 

437
00:21:14,570 --> 00:21:17,410
It's not that's not okay, right.
What we have to do is moment by 

438
00:21:17,410 --> 00:21:19,730
moment, day by day, instant by 
instant. 

439
00:21:19,730 --> 00:21:24,290
We have to acknowledge and stay 
and be in this message of 

440
00:21:24,290 --> 00:21:28,290
Jesus's life, right? 
So he goes on and you will know 

441
00:21:28,290 --> 00:21:32,610
the truth and the truth will set
you free. 

442
00:21:33,290 --> 00:21:36,010
That's good news isn't it? 
Now truth. 

443
00:21:36,810 --> 00:21:38,410
Truth is a heady and a dangerous
thing. 

444
00:21:38,410 --> 00:21:41,770
See, This is why Jesus is so 
clear throughout his teachings. 

445
00:21:41,930 --> 00:21:46,690
The word of God is expressed in 
in the written word points to 

446
00:21:46,690 --> 00:21:51,290
Jesus. 
Jesus is the word of God and 

447
00:21:51,290 --> 00:21:54,530
that's why he says if you abide 
in me. 

448
00:21:55,010 --> 00:21:57,890
He didn't say if you go to Bible
study every week. 

449
00:21:58,770 --> 00:22:02,670
He said the the idea that God 
has created you to be free, but 

450
00:22:02,670 --> 00:22:06,430
the way that God works his 
freedom into your life is 

451
00:22:06,430 --> 00:22:10,830
through truth. 
And truth doesn't change in 

452
00:22:10,830 --> 00:22:15,070
every generation. 
Truth isn't new today and false 

453
00:22:15,070 --> 00:22:17,790
yesterday and it's not true 
today and it won't be true 

454
00:22:17,790 --> 00:22:20,390
tomorrow, right. 
And so it forced us to to kind 

455
00:22:20,390 --> 00:22:22,830
of contend and to step back and 
go, OK, what's real and what's 

456
00:22:22,830 --> 00:22:25,870
big and what lasts and and and 
what indoors, right. 

457
00:22:25,870 --> 00:22:28,230
And so he's talking to these 
recent hang ups who would have 

458
00:22:28,230 --> 00:22:31,790
been thoroughly saturated and 
entrenched and drenched in in 

459
00:22:31,790 --> 00:22:36,630
all of the Torah and all that. 
And he said, follow me and that 

460
00:22:36,630 --> 00:22:39,830
idea. 
Follow me is the same idea as 

461
00:22:39,830 --> 00:22:44,550
abide in my word. 
Jesus didn't say for us to walk 

462
00:22:44,550 --> 00:22:47,630
around 24 hours a day with our 
head in the book. 

463
00:22:48,670 --> 00:22:51,150
Because if we walk around like 
this, do you know what we miss? 

464
00:22:52,110 --> 00:22:54,830
You. 
You miss creation. 

465
00:22:55,470 --> 00:22:58,270
Romans 120 says that what's been
known about God can be seen, but

466
00:22:58,390 --> 00:23:01,230
even his invisible qualities by 
what's been made. 

467
00:23:01,790 --> 00:23:06,090
So if we walk around here and 
what Jesus is saying us is if we

468
00:23:06,090 --> 00:23:10,210
as a people, if you as a person 
will intentionally and 

469
00:23:10,210 --> 00:23:14,650
deliberately and consistently 
grow in the way and in the 

470
00:23:14,650 --> 00:23:19,170
lifestyle of Jesus, then you 
will have the life that he 

471
00:23:19,170 --> 00:23:21,810
created for then you will be 
free. 

472
00:23:22,010 --> 00:23:25,890
He did not say if you are always
at Bible study. 

473
00:23:27,010 --> 00:23:31,800
Underlying here thing here is 
that academics, an academic 

474
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,800
pursuit of Jesus or religion or 
faith does not lead to the kind 

475
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:37,520
of freedom that God wants for 
you. 

476
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,040
And as scandalous again as that 
may sound to some of you are so 

477
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,960
twitchy right now, you're just 
like you say the Bible doesn't 

478
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,960
matter, right? 
Listen, what I'm saying is you 

479
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,440
probably know somebody who knows
more Bible than you that you 

480
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,230
would never want to be around. 
You maybe know somebody who 

481
00:23:58,230 --> 00:24:01,390
knows so much scripture and your
thought. 

482
00:24:01,390 --> 00:24:06,470
Maybe if Jesus is like them, 
I'll take my chances at the 

483
00:24:06,470 --> 00:24:12,190
other place in eternity. 
If Jesus is stuffy and cranky, I

484
00:24:12,190 --> 00:24:13,670
don't want to be any part of 
that. 

485
00:24:14,770 --> 00:24:19,730
You don't get the life that 
Jesus has for us exclusively by 

486
00:24:19,730 --> 00:24:21,450
having a data set, by knowing 
that. 

487
00:24:21,570 --> 00:24:24,210
And here's how we know. 
We live in a time where there 

488
00:24:24,210 --> 00:24:27,930
are more Bible study resources 
and tools available to us, to 

489
00:24:27,930 --> 00:24:31,970
the common person and the common
man than ever before in history.

490
00:24:32,090 --> 00:24:34,730
And I would venture a guess, and
I don't think it's some great 

491
00:24:34,970 --> 00:24:39,050
kind of challenge and stretch of
belief to say we are no more 

492
00:24:39,050 --> 00:24:43,420
free than we ever have been. 
We have more opportunities to 

493
00:24:43,420 --> 00:24:45,260
open the word and to understand 
what it means. 

494
00:24:45,340 --> 00:24:48,740
We have ordinary common people, 
unschooled, unlettered people 

495
00:24:48,740 --> 00:24:51,540
have the ability to get into the
original languages and and 

496
00:24:51,540 --> 00:24:55,100
dabble and get in and understand
the Hebrew and the Greek. 

497
00:24:55,300 --> 00:24:59,900
And yet we don't experience the 
freedom that the very book seems

498
00:24:59,900 --> 00:25:03,980
to imply and promise to us. 
And So what that tells me how 

499
00:25:03,980 --> 00:25:08,580
this brings us all back around 
is maybe we've made an idol out 

500
00:25:08,580 --> 00:25:14,550
of the Bible or Bible study. 
Maybe we have begun to worship 

501
00:25:14,750 --> 00:25:17,270
the scripture is kind of like 
the 4th member of the Trinity, 

502
00:25:17,270 --> 00:25:18,670
right? 
Which makes it not the Trinity 

503
00:25:18,670 --> 00:25:21,790
anymore because try is 3 and all
kinds of mental gymnastics to 

504
00:25:21,790 --> 00:25:24,510
get around that right. 
And so let me real quick though,

505
00:25:25,310 --> 00:25:28,070
put some things to rest, 
rightfully so. 

506
00:25:28,070 --> 00:25:31,430
You may be concerned that I'm 
diminishing the the the 

507
00:25:31,430 --> 00:25:33,880
scriptures, but I'm saying man, 
you don't need the scripts. 

508
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,320
You don't need that. 
So just to make sure that I'm 

509
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:37,360
very clear, going to put it up, 
you can take a picture and 

510
00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,440
remind yourself I'm going to 
read it so that I don't make any

511
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,360
mistakes and I don't fumble my 
way past. 

512
00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:44,360
Are you ready? 
The Bible. 

513
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,480
This. 
Whatever you know the English 

514
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,680
standard version of the new 
International version of the New

515
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,080
Living translation. 
The Bible is a trustworthy, 

516
00:25:53,780 --> 00:25:56,980
indispensable. 
That's a word that you have to 

517
00:25:56,980 --> 00:25:58,860
know. 
You have to hear my heart on 

518
00:25:58,860 --> 00:26:02,260
this. 
The Bible is an indispensable 

519
00:26:02,260 --> 00:26:09,620
tool because because here is why
it is indispensable, because it 

520
00:26:09,820 --> 00:26:14,410
accurately and faithfully. 
That means when you read it, you

521
00:26:14,410 --> 00:26:16,890
can trust it. 
You can believe it and it will, 

522
00:26:16,930 --> 00:26:19,050
and you can trust it to be 
repetitive, to understand, to 

523
00:26:19,050 --> 00:26:22,850
get over it, it accurately and 
faithfully portrays the full 

524
00:26:22,850 --> 00:26:25,490
expression of God's heart. 
You want to know what God's 

525
00:26:25,490 --> 00:26:26,690
heart is? 
You can see it. 

526
00:26:26,690 --> 00:26:29,170
It's in the Word, the full 
expressions of God's heart and 

527
00:26:29,170 --> 00:26:36,290
his will for humanity, which is 
the life and teaching of Jesus 

528
00:26:36,690 --> 00:26:40,370
and the Gospels, and by his Holy
Spirit through the Church. 

529
00:26:41,050 --> 00:26:46,370
K So the Bible is an 
indispensable tool because it 

530
00:26:46,370 --> 00:26:49,010
points us to Jesus so. 
And I talk about the Gospels and

531
00:26:49,010 --> 00:26:51,210
the Holy Spirit and the book of 
Acts and the church and all 

532
00:26:51,210 --> 00:26:52,410
that. 
So does that mean that the Old 

533
00:26:52,410 --> 00:26:54,450
Testament is no. 
Listen, what I'm telling you is 

534
00:26:54,530 --> 00:26:58,770
every page in the Scripture, 
every passage, every idea points

535
00:26:58,770 --> 00:27:01,250
us to Jesus. 
For instance, the feast of the 

536
00:27:01,250 --> 00:27:03,250
Tabernacle. 
They thought it celebrated 

537
00:27:03,250 --> 00:27:06,250
ultimately their escape from 
slavery in Egypt. 

538
00:27:06,290 --> 00:27:09,330
And it did. 
But what we see in John Chapter 

539
00:27:09,370 --> 00:27:13,210
8 is it pointed to Jesus see the
pillar of fire in the sky. 

540
00:27:13,210 --> 00:27:14,610
That's not the light of the 
world. 

541
00:27:14,610 --> 00:27:18,010
Jesus is the light of the world.
But what God had been preparing 

542
00:27:18,010 --> 00:27:22,730
his people to do since forever, 
He had prepared them to look for

543
00:27:22,730 --> 00:27:25,050
his guidance. 
He had prepared them to look for

544
00:27:25,050 --> 00:27:28,170
his leadership. 
He had prepared them to expect 

545
00:27:28,330 --> 00:27:31,970
an illumination of their life, 
to have light in the sky and 

546
00:27:31,970 --> 00:27:34,770
light in the darkness. 
So when Jesus stands and says I 

547
00:27:34,770 --> 00:27:37,570
am the light of the world and 
John chapter 14, he says I am 

548
00:27:37,570 --> 00:27:39,370
the way and the truth and the 
like. 

549
00:27:39,410 --> 00:27:42,530
What Jesus says is I am what God
has been saying since the 

550
00:27:42,530 --> 00:27:44,850
beginning. 
So we need the Old Testament 

551
00:27:44,850 --> 00:27:46,730
because it points us to what 
Jesus is. 

552
00:27:46,930 --> 00:27:50,330
It points us to who Jesus is. 
But what I mean, but I mean is 

553
00:27:50,490 --> 00:27:55,490
you don't get to trump Jesus. 
With Leviticus we don't get to 

554
00:27:55,490 --> 00:27:58,410
say, We don't get to say right. 
When Jesus says love your 

555
00:27:58,410 --> 00:28:01,090
enemies, we don't get to talk 
about Babylon and 

556
00:28:01,090 --> 00:28:03,930
Nebuchadnezzar, right? 
Like when when we don't get to 

557
00:28:03,930 --> 00:28:06,930
trump Jesus with Paul. 
What we do is when we read 

558
00:28:06,930 --> 00:28:09,570
something like Paul and Paul 
says something and we look at 

559
00:28:09,770 --> 00:28:12,730
Jesus and Jesus seems to be 
doing the exact opposite, what 

560
00:28:12,730 --> 00:28:15,210
we do is we reconcile it. 
And this is where we need 

561
00:28:15,210 --> 00:28:17,890
community, this is where we need
all of those tools. 

562
00:28:18,050 --> 00:28:20,370
But what it does is are you 
listening? 

563
00:28:22,290 --> 00:28:27,490
It removes from us a flat 
reading of scripture. 

564
00:28:28,290 --> 00:28:32,570
It removes from us every 
opportunity for us to use the 

565
00:28:32,570 --> 00:28:39,170
scripture as a hammer to destroy
or fix or win. 

566
00:28:40,330 --> 00:28:45,250
Because what we look at the word
of God is Jesus, who found his 

567
00:28:45,250 --> 00:28:49,530
enemies and redeemed them and 
loved them and restored them. 

568
00:28:49,850 --> 00:28:52,050
And so when we read in the 
scripture something that Paul 

569
00:28:52,050 --> 00:28:53,650
says what we've asked is our 
prayers. 

570
00:28:54,130 --> 00:28:59,980
Jesus, help me find you in this.
Help me know and understand you.

571
00:29:00,100 --> 00:29:04,540
And so my hope when I say that I
want River City to be a church 

572
00:29:05,020 --> 00:29:10,340
radically saturated in the 
scripture, what I mean is I want

573
00:29:10,340 --> 00:29:14,740
us as His church to have a 
radical awareness of the 

574
00:29:15,380 --> 00:29:19,460
presence of Jesus in our lives. 
I want us to be growing in the 

575
00:29:19,460 --> 00:29:21,780
things that Jesus grew in. 
And we know in Galatians chapter

576
00:29:21,780 --> 00:29:27,230
522 and 23 Love if we're getting
the doctrine right, but we're 

577
00:29:27,230 --> 00:29:29,750
not more loving. 
We've made an idol of something.

578
00:29:30,790 --> 00:29:33,030
Joy. 
If the church isn't the most 

579
00:29:33,030 --> 00:29:35,190
joyful gathering of people in 
the world. 

580
00:29:35,190 --> 00:29:37,790
We've made an idol of something.
And it's keeping us from what 

581
00:29:37,790 --> 00:29:39,110
God has. 
Because remember, what an idol 

582
00:29:39,110 --> 00:29:41,070
does, right? 
It lies to you. 

583
00:29:41,270 --> 00:29:44,470
It seduces you. 
It it tells you that it's all 

584
00:29:44,470 --> 00:29:46,470
up, it's all according to you, 
right? 

585
00:29:46,830 --> 00:29:49,310
So Galatians 5. 
Love and joy and peace and 

586
00:29:49,310 --> 00:29:51,870
patience and kindness and 
goodness and faithfulness and 

587
00:29:51,870 --> 00:29:55,350
gentleness and self-control. 
And we may have the most 

588
00:29:55,350 --> 00:30:02,150
biblically educated church in 
history, and we may not actually

589
00:30:02,590 --> 00:30:06,390
live be living the kind of life 
that Jesus wants to call us into

590
00:30:08,910 --> 00:30:10,150
now. 
It feels like, feels like I'm 

591
00:30:10,150 --> 00:30:12,310
like, mad or angry, whatever. 
It's not it. 

592
00:30:12,310 --> 00:30:14,030
I think that's what we've been 
talking about with the idols, 

593
00:30:14,030 --> 00:30:15,510
right? 
Like you got to see him to know 

594
00:30:15,510 --> 00:30:16,670
him. 
And the question then becomes, 

595
00:30:16,670 --> 00:30:18,630
what? 
What is it that Jesus wants from

596
00:30:18,630 --> 00:30:19,230
us? 
Like, why? 

597
00:30:19,310 --> 00:30:21,030
What will following lead to? 
Listen at the end of that 

598
00:30:21,030 --> 00:30:24,590
Matthew 8 passage. 
Matthew 8, John 836 says if the 

599
00:30:24,590 --> 00:30:31,230
sun sets you free, you will be 
free, indeed freedom. 

600
00:30:31,510 --> 00:30:36,270
Galatians 51 says that it is for
freedom that Christ has set you 

601
00:30:36,270 --> 00:30:38,710
free. 
So don't be burdened again by a 

602
00:30:38,710 --> 00:30:41,670
yoke of slavery. 
You were created to be free 

603
00:30:41,870 --> 00:30:45,430
Christian, so don't give in to 
bondage. 

604
00:30:45,430 --> 00:30:48,590
Don't give in to don't give in 
to slavery again. 

605
00:30:48,950 --> 00:30:50,390
Here's this kind of the big 
idea. 

606
00:30:50,670 --> 00:30:54,860
Following Jesus will lead you 
into the freedom that you were 

607
00:30:54,860 --> 00:30:58,900
created for. 
And I humbly submit to you if 

608
00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:01,340
you're night, if you're, and I'm
not talking necessarily day by 

609
00:31:01,340 --> 00:31:03,140
day, minute by minute, but I'm 
talking about over. 

610
00:31:03,140 --> 00:31:05,940
When you look at the broad 
movements of your life, if you 

611
00:31:05,940 --> 00:31:09,740
are not increasingly free, there
is a better than likely chance 

612
00:31:09,740 --> 00:31:12,260
that you are not actually 
following Jesus. 

613
00:31:13,380 --> 00:31:14,660
You may be doing lots of Bible 
study. 

614
00:31:14,660 --> 00:31:16,580
You may be here every time. 
You may be doing all those 

615
00:31:16,580 --> 00:31:19,580
things. 
But Jesus wants to lead you from

616
00:31:19,660 --> 00:31:24,680
lead you to freedom from 
bondage, from slavery into 

617
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,400
freedom. 
And again, Now this question 

618
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,440
comes back. 
Do we believe that? 

619
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,280
Because you may have been 
following Jesus for 20 years and

620
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:34,960
there may be this thing that you
don't have. 

621
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,240
And listen, what I don't want to
do is I I don't want this to 

622
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:38,800
become some heavy kind of hammer
thing. 

623
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,080
Jesus comes with grace. 
What I want us to do is take an 

624
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,210
honest and authentic look at our
lives and just say I'm not as 

625
00:31:45,210 --> 00:31:48,810
free as as I should be. 
And Jesus doesn't do that to to 

626
00:31:48,810 --> 00:31:51,130
yell at us or to punish us. 
He does that. 

627
00:31:51,130 --> 00:31:54,050
He reveals that he's the light 
to show it to us so that we can 

628
00:31:54,050 --> 00:31:56,690
go, oh, I want to be free in 
that area. 

629
00:31:56,850 --> 00:31:59,290
I want all the freedom that 
Jesus can muster. 

630
00:31:59,370 --> 00:32:01,410
We started the year by looking 
at the Garden of Eden, right? 

631
00:32:01,530 --> 00:32:03,170
And you know, the thing about 
the Garden of Eden is there were

632
00:32:03,170 --> 00:32:05,370
no boundaries to it. 
There are four rivers that 

633
00:32:05,370 --> 00:32:07,530
flowed out of it but there was 
number end to it. 

634
00:32:07,530 --> 00:32:11,050
It was boundary less well. 
He told him not to eat that 

635
00:32:11,050 --> 00:32:13,930
fruit. 1000 seeds trying to 
crush their right. 

636
00:32:13,930 --> 00:32:15,930
It's like you just want to 
apple, right? 

637
00:32:17,050 --> 00:32:20,930
What if the whole idea behind 
the apple was there had to be 

638
00:32:20,930 --> 00:32:24,770
some way for humanity to 
tangibly acknowledge and 

639
00:32:24,770 --> 00:32:28,450
recognize that they are there is
a God, and they're not it. 

640
00:32:29,530 --> 00:32:33,410
And the only way to make that 
happen is to obey. 

641
00:32:34,850 --> 00:32:39,810
And the temptation in the garden
was you provide for yourself. 

642
00:32:40,780 --> 00:32:44,780
You provide what you need, 
what's good for you, you be God 

643
00:32:44,780 --> 00:32:47,540
without God. 
And I just say to you lovingly, 

644
00:32:47,740 --> 00:32:49,660
my hope is this invites you into
freedom. 

645
00:32:49,780 --> 00:32:53,420
You are not created or capable 
of being God. 

646
00:32:54,380 --> 00:32:56,100
Your frame was not designed for 
it. 

647
00:32:56,100 --> 00:32:59,700
And let me just say this. 
If you're tired, if you're 

648
00:32:59,700 --> 00:33:06,660
exhausted, if you're anxious, if
you're angry, if you are 

649
00:33:06,660 --> 00:33:11,180
frustrated, that's what trying 
to be God feels like. 

650
00:33:12,980 --> 00:33:15,220
The awareness that there are 
things that you just can't. 

651
00:33:15,220 --> 00:33:17,260
For all of your trying and 
wishing and hoping, you just 

652
00:33:17,260 --> 00:33:20,260
can't fight and you just can't 
figure out and you just can't 

653
00:33:20,340 --> 00:33:22,700
make it happen. 
So let's talk about a truth, 

654
00:33:23,100 --> 00:33:25,380
right. 
There's a truth that will set 

655
00:33:25,380 --> 00:33:27,100
you for just that you know. 
You'll know the truth and truth.

656
00:33:27,100 --> 00:33:30,860
Let me show you a truth that 
will set you free to this. 

657
00:33:31,140 --> 00:33:33,580
You thought we forgot? 
Maybe. 

658
00:33:34,020 --> 00:33:38,130
There it is. 
This is our confession. 

659
00:33:38,130 --> 00:33:40,410
We say this every week. 
We are badly broken. 

660
00:33:41,650 --> 00:33:44,410
Let me just tell you, Church, 
that statement right there has 

661
00:33:44,410 --> 00:33:47,890
the ability and the capacity to 
deliver a measure of freedom in 

662
00:33:47,890 --> 00:33:50,610
your life that you have never 
experienced and understood. 

663
00:33:50,730 --> 00:33:52,970
We love this statement. 
We have it on our shirts. 

664
00:33:52,970 --> 00:33:55,010
We have it on our hats. 
Listen, people come to me all 

665
00:33:55,010 --> 00:33:57,690
the time and they wonder, like I
believe that Badly broken is 

666
00:33:57,690 --> 00:34:00,650
deep and deeply loved, is 
embedded into the culture of who

667
00:34:00,650 --> 00:34:02,370
we are. 
But the question isn't do we 

668
00:34:02,370 --> 00:34:04,210
know it. 
The question isn't do we love 

669
00:34:04,210 --> 00:34:05,770
it? 
The question isn't even do we 

670
00:34:05,770 --> 00:34:08,130
believe it. 
The question is, is it setting 

671
00:34:08,130 --> 00:34:11,170
us free? 
Is this reality that we are 

672
00:34:11,170 --> 00:34:13,489
broken but loved? 
Is it setting us free? 

673
00:34:13,610 --> 00:34:16,489
So the question is, are we less 
anxious then? 

674
00:34:16,489 --> 00:34:18,250
I'm not just talking about River
City, I'm talking about the 

675
00:34:18,449 --> 00:34:21,570
church at large. 
Are we as a church less anxious 

676
00:34:21,570 --> 00:34:26,290
than the culture at large? 
Are we less afraid than the 

677
00:34:26,290 --> 00:34:29,570
culture at large? 
Are we less angry within the 

678
00:34:29,570 --> 00:34:31,370
church than those who are 
without the church? 

679
00:34:31,850 --> 00:34:35,290
Are we less divided within the 
church than we are without of 

680
00:34:35,290 --> 00:34:37,489
the church? 
Are we less likely to be 

681
00:34:37,489 --> 00:34:41,210
offended and get our feelings 
hurt inside the church than 

682
00:34:41,210 --> 00:34:43,969
outside the church? 
My experience is the answer to 

683
00:34:44,010 --> 00:34:48,889
all of those is no, we're not. 
Not universally. 

684
00:34:48,889 --> 00:34:50,370
Not that there aren't some 
pockets of it. 

685
00:34:50,370 --> 00:34:52,489
But listen, church, I'm not 
trying to yell at you here. 

686
00:34:52,489 --> 00:34:55,290
I'm not trying to. 
I'm hoping that you will embrace

687
00:34:55,290 --> 00:34:59,810
this idea that there can and 
there is supposed to be more for

688
00:34:59,810 --> 00:35:03,590
you. 
How do you respond when you get 

689
00:35:03,590 --> 00:35:07,910
into the Scripture or you hear a
preacher preaching and he 

690
00:35:07,910 --> 00:35:12,910
preaches a text, a verse, a 
teaching that confronts some 

691
00:35:12,910 --> 00:35:17,390
kind of sacred belief of yours? 
I'm allowed to do that. 

692
00:35:17,390 --> 00:35:18,790
I'm allowed to be that. 
I'm allowed to. 

693
00:35:18,790 --> 00:35:20,470
God would never. 
And we read in the scripture and

694
00:35:20,470 --> 00:35:23,230
it says that and we go find. 
It says how do we deal when 

695
00:35:23,310 --> 00:35:27,970
Jesus confronts our idols, when 
there's a teaching that we just,

696
00:35:27,970 --> 00:35:30,170
I can't imagine how a God would 
do that. 

697
00:35:30,170 --> 00:35:34,610
And we look in here and just go,
I've either got to make this go 

698
00:35:34,610 --> 00:35:39,970
away or I have to change or I 
have to be God in my own life, 

699
00:35:39,970 --> 00:35:42,650
in my own world. 
There's a passage that I often 

700
00:35:42,650 --> 00:35:47,000
read at Easter Luke chapter 19. 
It's on Palm Sunday and Jesus is

701
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,840
ridden in to Jerusalem where 
he's standing outside the city 

702
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,720
and everybody's just celebrating
Jesus, Jesus, right. 

703
00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:55,400
And they're so happy. 
And Jesus gets off his donkey 

704
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,800
and he walks over to the edge of
of the mountain and he looks 

705
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,200
over Jerusalem and the crowds 
are behind him and like 

706
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,000
Jerusalem right where the where 
the chandelier was, where the 

707
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,760
temple was, where the very 
presence of God dwelt, right. 

708
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:07,960
And and Jesus stands over there 
and listen to his words and look

709
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,480
19 verse 41. 
And when he drew near, and he 

710
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:16,700
saw the city, he wept over it. 
And what did he say? 

711
00:36:17,260 --> 00:36:22,420
Or that you even you had known 
on this day the things that make

712
00:36:22,660 --> 00:36:27,250
for peace, but now they're 
hidden from your eyes. 

713
00:36:27,410 --> 00:36:29,250
See, the problem wasn't that the
Israelites. 

714
00:36:29,250 --> 00:36:31,170
The problem wasn't that the 
Jewish people in the 1st century

715
00:36:31,170 --> 00:36:34,130
didn't know what the goal was. 
They knew the goal was peace. 

716
00:36:34,290 --> 00:36:36,690
They had looked for peace. 
They just thought it went 

717
00:36:36,690 --> 00:36:39,370
through a different source. 
They thought the secret to their

718
00:36:39,370 --> 00:36:43,330
peace was getting rid of Rome. 
If we can just get political 

719
00:36:43,330 --> 00:36:46,010
freedom from Rome, then we'll be
fine. 

720
00:36:46,170 --> 00:36:49,330
If we can just kick them out of 
Jerusalem and finally get Temple

721
00:36:49,330 --> 00:36:52,010
worship back to what it was 
supposed to be, then we'll be 

722
00:36:52,010 --> 00:36:54,050
OK. 
And Jesus stands up and he says,

723
00:36:54,170 --> 00:36:57,290
if it was that easy, you would 
already be free. 

724
00:36:57,410 --> 00:37:00,130
But he says, but you can't. 
You haven't, right? 

725
00:37:00,170 --> 00:37:02,090
That's not it. 
And so my question for us is, we

726
00:37:02,090 --> 00:37:04,250
read these fruits and spirits. 
We come to church, we do all the

727
00:37:04,250 --> 00:37:06,730
Bible studies and we do all the 
stuff right in the fruits. 

728
00:37:06,730 --> 00:37:08,730
We talk about love and joy and 
peace and patience, kindness, 

729
00:37:08,730 --> 00:37:10,570
goodness, faithful and genitals,
self-control. 

730
00:37:10,610 --> 00:37:13,450
And what I would ask about your 
way of life, about the way that 

731
00:37:13,450 --> 00:37:15,810
you live, the way that you 
approach your finances and your 

732
00:37:15,810 --> 00:37:18,250
marriage and your relationships 
and sex and money and 

733
00:37:18,250 --> 00:37:20,330
rock'n'roll. 
How's it working? 

734
00:37:22,970 --> 00:37:26,630
Are those who attend this 
meeting and meetings just like 

735
00:37:26,630 --> 00:37:30,470
it all across the country? 
Are we more free than the 

736
00:37:30,590 --> 00:37:33,670
average citizen? 
And again, lovingly, I would say

737
00:37:33,670 --> 00:37:41,950
that's not always the case. 
So this series is loosely based 

738
00:37:41,950 --> 00:37:48,470
on the 12 steps of recovery and 
the 12 steps of recovery have a 

739
00:37:48,470 --> 00:37:50,950
word they say for kind of the 
life that we lead, where we look

740
00:37:50,950 --> 00:37:52,990
and we just go. 
That's where I want to get. 

741
00:37:53,710 --> 00:37:55,830
But I'm not getting there doing 
the things that I do. 

742
00:37:55,830 --> 00:37:57,390
They're not leading me to where 
I am. 

743
00:37:57,670 --> 00:38:00,550
But I'm going to keep doing the 
things that I'm doing and hoping

744
00:38:00,550 --> 00:38:04,830
that tomorrow I will get there. 
I'm hoping that by turning left 

745
00:38:04,990 --> 00:38:08,950
I will go right. 
I'm hoping that by pursuing 

746
00:38:08,950 --> 00:38:13,110
peace with bullets and guns and 
knives, I'm hoping that by 

747
00:38:13,110 --> 00:38:19,390
pursuing happiness and 
wellbeing, by by money and power

748
00:38:19,390 --> 00:38:21,630
and prestige, that those will 
leave me, even though that they 

749
00:38:21,630 --> 00:38:23,590
never have before. 
Do you know what the word that 

750
00:38:23,590 --> 00:38:25,390
recovery people use? 
I think it's a valid and a good 

751
00:38:25,390 --> 00:38:29,990
word, insanity. 
What they say is our lives have 

752
00:38:29,990 --> 00:38:34,190
become unmanageable without 
anxiety. 

753
00:38:35,270 --> 00:38:38,230
Our lives have become 
unmanageable without addictions.

754
00:38:38,230 --> 00:38:41,230
Do you know how we have 
addictions to control that 

755
00:38:41,230 --> 00:38:46,720
feeling of being out of control?
And so we drink, or we spend, or

756
00:38:46,720 --> 00:38:50,200
we have sex, or we do whatever 
The thing is for us. 

757
00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:53,200
And we hope that tomorrow I can 
have enough of a drink to be 

758
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,200
over it. 
Tomorrow I can earn enough money

759
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,000
to be over it. 
Tomorrow I can have enough likes

760
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,160
on my Facebook that I will feel 
powerful and important. 

761
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,880
And what happens is we're stuck.
And the word that we have for 

762
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:12,160
that stuckness is denial. 
And denial is the mortal enemy 

763
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:17,790
of your freedom. 
As long as we continue to deny 

764
00:39:17,910 --> 00:39:20,630
that Jesus wants to lead us 
somewhere and we're not getting 

765
00:39:20,630 --> 00:39:23,310
there, or that he hasn't let us 
there yet, that this isn't it, 

766
00:39:23,310 --> 00:39:24,630
this isn't the full and the 
total thing. 

767
00:39:24,630 --> 00:39:27,350
As long as we do that, we won't 
be free analyst and we talk 

768
00:39:27,350 --> 00:39:29,710
about it like we love America. 
Jack, what about freedom? 

769
00:39:29,710 --> 00:39:30,870
Not going to happen. 
Freedom. 

770
00:39:30,870 --> 00:39:32,110
America rightly exists. 
Good. 

771
00:39:32,930 --> 00:39:35,570
We do have sociological freedom.
We have political freedom. 

772
00:39:35,570 --> 00:39:38,370
It's a wonderful place we can 
have this conversation, and we 

773
00:39:38,370 --> 00:39:41,050
should have conversation. 
But I found a helpful idea and a

774
00:39:41,050 --> 00:39:44,890
helpful definition of freedom in
Martin Luther King's book Where 

775
00:39:44,890 --> 00:39:48,730
Do We Go From Here? 
And he uses kind of three big 

776
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,960
posts to identify what freedom 
is. 

777
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:53,920
The first thing that freedom is 
we're going to have, if we're 

778
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,840
going to be free, is we have to 
have the capacity to consider or

779
00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:58,960
weigh our options. 
OK. 

780
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,320
We have the ability to imagine a
life that's different from where

781
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:03,920
we have now. 
So here's what that looks like. 

782
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,200
Now in the life of the 
alcoholic, of course you can say

783
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:07,600
I'm free to have a drink. 
I can do whatever. 

784
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:09,800
Great. 
Can you imagine a life without 

785
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,040
it? 
It's not. 

786
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:13,920
The question isn't are you free 
to drink? 

787
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:18,040
The question is, are you free 
not to drink in a real and 

788
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,910
practical sense? 
In a way where not drinking 

789
00:40:21,910 --> 00:40:27,710
wouldn't cause your entire world
to unravel, do we have the 

790
00:40:27,710 --> 00:40:30,150
ability to make a choice? 
That's the second one. 

791
00:40:30,150 --> 00:40:32,790
Do we have the the capacity to 
weigh our options? 

792
00:40:32,950 --> 00:40:34,990
Then do we have the ability for 
those options? 

793
00:40:34,990 --> 00:40:37,550
So those decisions to express 
themselves in decision. 

794
00:40:37,670 --> 00:40:39,030
Like you can just say I'm free, 
whatever. 

795
00:40:39,190 --> 00:40:41,510
Can you take a month off of 
Facebook? 

796
00:40:42,150 --> 00:40:44,150
You just say, man, my anxiety is
so high right now. 

797
00:40:44,150 --> 00:40:46,150
Can I take a month off of 
Facebook? 

798
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:48,720
And of course, intellectually 
you're free. 

799
00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:50,680
Like, you're free to go. 
Like, like, of course I can. 

800
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:54,680
I've just never actually done 
it, despite the fact that it 

801
00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:57,000
causes me anxiety and fear. 
And it makes me, and it turns me

802
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,520
against people that I shouldn't 
be against and it makes me 

803
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:01,440
resent people that I shouldn't 
resent. 

804
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,160
And the third one, I think this 
is really great. 

805
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,440
This is the one that kind of, 
like, impacted me. 

806
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,040
The third component of real and 
actual freedom is 

807
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:13,240
responsibility. 
Do we? 

808
00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:18,300
Do you have the capacity to 
acknowledge my life is what it 

809
00:41:18,300 --> 00:41:20,460
is because of the decisions that
I have made? 

810
00:41:21,460 --> 00:41:23,380
And listen, There's a lot of 
stuff outside of your life that 

811
00:41:23,380 --> 00:41:25,420
you can't control. 
You can't control the person who

812
00:41:25,420 --> 00:41:28,220
abused you. 
You can't control the abuse that

813
00:41:28,220 --> 00:41:30,780
you suffered, but you can 
control what you do with that 

814
00:41:30,780 --> 00:41:34,210
pain. 
You can't control what kind of 

815
00:41:34,210 --> 00:41:37,930
person your boss is, but you can
control how you respond at work 

816
00:41:37,930 --> 00:41:39,730
and how you respond to your 
boss. 

817
00:41:39,850 --> 00:41:42,850
You can't control your how your 
spouse treats you. 

818
00:41:42,850 --> 00:41:45,890
And let me be very clear. 
If your spouse is abusing you, 

819
00:41:45,890 --> 00:41:49,130
if they are, if they are 
physically hitting you, if they 

820
00:41:49,130 --> 00:41:52,890
are day after day assaulting 
your personhood and your 

821
00:41:52,890 --> 00:41:55,130
humanity, I want you to know 
there's a breaking covenant 

822
00:41:55,130 --> 00:41:57,090
there. 
That's not, that's not what God 

823
00:41:57,410 --> 00:41:59,170
created and designed marriage to
be. 

824
00:41:59,330 --> 00:42:00,970
But I'm just saying, I'm just 
talking about like your your 

825
00:42:00,970 --> 00:42:04,610
husband's a little annoying and 
we're all a little annoying. 

826
00:42:06,410 --> 00:42:09,650
There's no iteration of marriage
where that's not the reality. 

827
00:42:10,890 --> 00:42:15,170
But what I would say in the 
normal flux and warp and wolf of

828
00:42:15,170 --> 00:42:19,770
life, are you prepared to own 
your part in the dysfunction of 

829
00:42:19,770 --> 00:42:24,130
your marriage? 
Are you willing to own your part

830
00:42:24,210 --> 00:42:26,610
and the dysfunction of your 
relationships? 

831
00:42:27,530 --> 00:42:29,050
And this all comes back to 
idols. 

832
00:42:29,890 --> 00:42:33,650
So you can stand on my desk and 
tell me that you that sex is not

833
00:42:33,650 --> 00:42:36,890
an idol for you. 
But the question I would ask is,

834
00:42:38,730 --> 00:42:42,770
has have your relationships ever
been affected or destroyed by 

835
00:42:42,770 --> 00:42:48,330
pornography or by infidelity? 
If you've chosen sex over a 

836
00:42:48,330 --> 00:42:51,450
relationship, over a person, a 
person, a relationship, that 

837
00:42:51,450 --> 00:42:54,570
means everything to you. 
Sex may be an idol. 

838
00:42:55,580 --> 00:42:57,820
It may be something that you 
have to root out of your life. 

839
00:42:57,820 --> 00:42:59,660
But it begins by acknowledging 
it. 

840
00:42:59,940 --> 00:43:03,060
It begins by recognizing that's 
the thing that I have to deal 

841
00:43:03,060 --> 00:43:05,180
with. 
You can just say politics isn't 

842
00:43:05,180 --> 00:43:07,180
an idol for me. 
I'm not an. 

843
00:43:07,180 --> 00:43:11,300
I'm not a slave to politics. 
But if knowing a person's 

844
00:43:11,300 --> 00:43:15,580
position or stand on a political
issue has ever made you question

845
00:43:15,580 --> 00:43:20,820
their salvation or cause you to 
fear them, it very well may be 

846
00:43:20,860 --> 00:43:23,300
an idol. 
I love the way Johnny said if 

847
00:43:23,300 --> 00:43:28,680
you if for political reasons, 
you have ever expressed vitriol 

848
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:32,720
to a person created in the image
of God, you may have an idolatry

849
00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:35,880
problem. 
You can say that social media 

850
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:39,800
isn't an idol, Isn't an idol. 
And while I was on my break, I 

851
00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:41,920
had a moment, I was sitting on 
the couch and I was very anxious

852
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,280
and my chest was tight, right? 
And you know what, like, And I 

853
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:45,960
was watching a baseball game. 
I was watching the Astros. 

854
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,400
It'd be terrible. 
And so all this anxiety in my 

855
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:49,400
heart and right. 
And So what? 

856
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:50,840
My, you know, my response was 
right. 

857
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,160
The first thing my mindset was I
got to get distracted, right? 

858
00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,000
I got to distract myself from 
the anxiety rather than backing 

859
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,200
up and evaluating it and looking
at it and saying whatever. 

860
00:43:58,200 --> 00:43:59,440
So what I did is I got on 
Twitter. 

861
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:05,720
Anybody's anxiety ever been made
better on Twitter, right? 

862
00:44:06,700 --> 00:44:11,620
So the question thought in my 
head, I do not get to complain 

863
00:44:11,620 --> 00:44:15,500
about what I'm willing to 
tolerate and as long as I turn 

864
00:44:15,500 --> 00:44:18,540
to Twitter, I am tolerating 
anxiety in my life. 

865
00:44:20,140 --> 00:44:21,740
Delete. 
Set it down. 

866
00:44:21,940 --> 00:44:23,540
And so then what I was doing, I 
was like this. 

867
00:44:25,540 --> 00:44:28,550
I don't know what to do, but you
know what I'm not doing. 

868
00:44:28,830 --> 00:44:32,870
I'm not going to that idol that 
promises if you just scroll for 

869
00:44:32,910 --> 00:44:35,510
if you just doom scroll for 10 
minutes, then you'll be free. 

870
00:44:35,710 --> 00:44:37,430
Then you'll feel better and it 
never does. 

871
00:44:37,630 --> 00:44:40,430
This is the time where Facebook 
is going to be rich and full and

872
00:44:40,430 --> 00:44:42,830
positive. 
This is the time where I'm going

873
00:44:42,830 --> 00:44:44,910
to find life on Instagram, 
right? 

874
00:44:45,590 --> 00:44:48,470
It's never friend. 
And So what if we just say 

875
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,360
anxiety is so intolerable to me 
that I will not log into Twitter

876
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:55,640
and all the things I will not 
get on Facebook. 

877
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,120
I will not because I like I know
if I get on Facebook I'm going 

878
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,680
to gossip about somebody, right?
And so all the lies you'll be 

879
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:02,360
left out you won't know what's 
going on. 

880
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:04,960
You won't do that, right? 
All the lies at the I'll tell 

881
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:08,280
and what have you said. 
I would rather be non anxious 

882
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:11,360
for my family and present in 
this moment than out there 

883
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:15,800
somewhere worrying about the end
of the world because you can't 

884
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:18,600
make Putin back down or 
whatever. 

885
00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:22,010
You can't do it. 
And friend, I'm just not sure 

886
00:45:22,010 --> 00:45:28,410
that you were created to bear 
the entire weight of sin and 

887
00:45:28,410 --> 00:45:30,050
struggle for the whole human 
race. 

888
00:45:31,250 --> 00:45:34,850
I'm not sure you were created to
understand every dark and evil 

889
00:45:34,850 --> 00:45:36,370
thing that's going on in this 
world. 

890
00:45:37,170 --> 00:45:39,650
There's enough in here to worry 
about. 

891
00:45:40,530 --> 00:45:44,730
And so we can deny our idols, 
But the fruit is there standing 

892
00:45:44,970 --> 00:45:47,170
at us. 
We can deny that money is an 

893
00:45:47,210 --> 00:45:50,300
idol. 
But have you ever fought with 

894
00:45:50,300 --> 00:45:53,460
your spouse? 
Do you get anxious and tense and

895
00:45:53,460 --> 00:45:55,780
nervous at an unexpected 
expense? 

896
00:45:56,580 --> 00:46:01,020
Money may be an idol. 
You can deny that religion is an

897
00:46:01,020 --> 00:46:05,250
idol. 
But if you continue to show up 

898
00:46:05,250 --> 00:46:08,850
year after year and do the same 
thing day after day and week 

899
00:46:08,850 --> 00:46:11,610
after week and month after 
month, and it never bears any 

900
00:46:11,610 --> 00:46:14,170
fruit, and it never grows in 
you, and you're not becoming 

901
00:46:14,170 --> 00:46:16,250
more loving and you're not 
becoming more kind and you're 

902
00:46:16,250 --> 00:46:19,930
not becoming more joyful, what 
you may have is a religious 

903
00:46:20,130 --> 00:46:23,930
idol, which is no better than 
any religious idol. 

904
00:46:24,770 --> 00:46:29,690
They're all religious idols. 
And So what I say is we have an 

905
00:46:29,690 --> 00:46:33,700
idolatry problem and what I want
you to grasp like like this is 

906
00:46:33,700 --> 00:46:35,660
its six week process, right? 
Like this is the thing that 

907
00:46:35,660 --> 00:46:37,820
we're going to, we're going to 
be going like self-serving as 

908
00:46:37,820 --> 00:46:38,580
heck. 
I know, right? 

909
00:46:38,580 --> 00:46:40,340
Come back next week and I'll 
tell you right a little bit 

910
00:46:40,340 --> 00:46:41,380
more. 
Not going to tell you the answer

911
00:46:41,380 --> 00:46:45,380
next week either because it's a 
long walk for the rest of our 

912
00:46:45,380 --> 00:46:47,060
lives. 
But here's where it begins 

913
00:46:47,060 --> 00:46:50,260
today. 
Can you admit that your life has

914
00:46:50,260 --> 00:46:54,740
become unmanageable? 
Can you admit that the way that 

915
00:46:54,740 --> 00:46:58,940
you deal with stress and tension
and problems does not produce 

916
00:46:58,940 --> 00:47:01,960
the freedom that you desire? 
And listen, if it does, if you 

917
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:04,360
sit here and just go, I have no 
problems with the way my habits 

918
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:05,760
are. 
Like, good, you should teach. 

919
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:07,120
Next week we'll add you to the 
teaching team. 

920
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:09,520
Good, I say that. 
But here's the thing, I say that

921
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:13,600
with all seriousness. 
If we won't face and confront 

922
00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:15,680
the pain and the hurt and the 
emptiness in our lives and the 

923
00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:18,320
things that lead us there, we 
will never be free. 

924
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,760
We will live lives of desperate 
insanity, doing the same thing 

925
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:26,360
day after day, getting no 
different results, and wondering

926
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:28,720
and lamenting why not. 
So what do we do today? 

927
00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:29,800
First thing you have to just 
come back. 

928
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,080
I'm just going to read a passage
real quick, real quick. 

929
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:37,400
Hebrews chapter 12, first one. 
Since we're surrounded by so 

930
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:41,000
great a cloud of witness, let us
lay aside every week, every 

931
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:45,840
weight and sin which clings so 
closely, and let us run with 

932
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,280
endurance the race that is set 
before us. 

933
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:53,590
Looking to Jesus, the founder 
and perfector of our faith for 

934
00:47:53,590 --> 00:47:56,510
the joy that was set before him,
endured the cross, despising his

935
00:47:56,510 --> 00:47:59,830
shame, and is seated at the 
right hand of the throne of God.

936
00:47:59,990 --> 00:48:01,870
Three things real quick. 
The first thing you have to do 

937
00:48:01,870 --> 00:48:04,470
is accept that there is a race 
chosen for you, and you know 

938
00:48:04,470 --> 00:48:06,630
what that means. 
That means it's not your race to

939
00:48:06,630 --> 00:48:08,470
run. 
It means you don't get to decide

940
00:48:08,470 --> 00:48:11,150
who you are, how you go, where 
you're going, the path by which 

941
00:48:11,150 --> 00:48:13,030
you get there, or all the rules 
that take you there. 

942
00:48:13,190 --> 00:48:16,470
It means that Jesus has the 
right to change your mind at any

943
00:48:16,470 --> 00:48:17,790
time. 
It means that there may be 

944
00:48:17,790 --> 00:48:21,150
things that you have closely 
held for years as beliefs and as

945
00:48:21,150 --> 00:48:23,670
you get in the Word and as you 
pray and as you talk to levers 

946
00:48:23,670 --> 00:48:26,270
and you get wisdom, wise counsel
and wisdom, and may mean that 

947
00:48:26,270 --> 00:48:28,990
you have to set aside some 
things that are very close and 

948
00:48:28,990 --> 00:48:30,910
very near and very dear to your 
heart. 

949
00:48:31,030 --> 00:48:33,710
And the reason we do that is 
because the race that He has set

950
00:48:33,710 --> 00:48:38,900
before us is a race to freedom. 
And it is a marathon, not a 

951
00:48:38,900 --> 00:48:40,180
Sprint. 
And you won't get there 

952
00:48:40,180 --> 00:48:42,220
tomorrow. 
You'll get there on the day that

953
00:48:42,220 --> 00:48:45,260
you die and you open your eyes 
in eternity and you'll go, This 

954
00:48:45,260 --> 00:48:46,980
is what it was for. 
But here's the hope. 

955
00:48:47,140 --> 00:48:50,140
The hope is that if we begin 
practicing and doing that right 

956
00:48:50,140 --> 00:48:53,060
now, heaven won't be that much 
different than this. 

957
00:48:53,260 --> 00:48:55,060
And I don't mean that heaven is 
going to be like this. 

958
00:48:55,180 --> 00:48:57,700
I mean that this will begin to 
take on the very nature of 

959
00:48:57,700 --> 00:49:00,860
transcendence of people. 
I've known people who have since

960
00:49:00,860 --> 00:49:03,840
that now he's turning is going 
to be infinitely more 

961
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:05,960
spectacular than anything that 
we can imagine. 

962
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:09,040
But you can begin to have a real
and liberating sense of God's 

963
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:10,920
presence right here and right 
now. 

964
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,560
But you have to give up your 
race. 

965
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:17,840
And he may say you've been 
worried about winning your whole

966
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:20,480
life, and I don't want you to 
care about winning anymore. 

967
00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:22,600
I want you to care about your 
child at home. 

968
00:49:24,930 --> 00:49:28,370
And when you say I will do 
whatever it takes to do that, 

969
00:49:28,610 --> 00:49:30,090
you will begin to experience 
life. 

970
00:49:30,090 --> 00:49:31,810
That's the second thing we ought
to accept. 

971
00:49:31,850 --> 00:49:35,130
There are behaviors in us that 
are keeping us from freedom. 

972
00:49:35,210 --> 00:49:36,970
It's not externally imposed on 
us. 

973
00:49:36,970 --> 00:49:39,130
That means it can externally be 
taken away. 

974
00:49:39,810 --> 00:49:41,650
I don't care what legislation 
they pass. 

975
00:49:41,970 --> 00:49:45,770
Jesus wants me to be free, 
whether I live in wherever I 

976
00:49:45,770 --> 00:49:50,090
live, whatever the case is, our 
freedom is not exposed, is not 

977
00:49:50,090 --> 00:49:52,730
given to us externally. 
It comes inside. 

978
00:49:52,850 --> 00:49:56,300
You are free to be as loving, 
and it's joyful and it's 

979
00:49:56,300 --> 00:50:01,260
peaceful and it's patient and 
it's kind and as good and as 

980
00:50:01,260 --> 00:50:05,940
gentle and as self-control as 
you can possibly imagine. 

981
00:50:06,780 --> 00:50:08,740
But what keeps us from that is 
sin. 

982
00:50:09,380 --> 00:50:12,620
And you have to acknowledge that
you have chosen the path, you 

983
00:50:12,620 --> 00:50:14,540
have chosen the way. 
And the last thing that we have 

984
00:50:14,540 --> 00:50:16,260
to do once we've done that is 
you have to begin to look at 

985
00:50:16,340 --> 00:50:19,580
Jesus. 
Well, how do we do that? 

986
00:50:19,580 --> 00:50:20,660
He's not here. 
I don't see him. 

987
00:50:20,660 --> 00:50:22,340
Right. 
We look at Jesus in the Word 

988
00:50:23,430 --> 00:50:26,390
because we believe that the 
Bible is a faithful and 

989
00:50:26,750 --> 00:50:31,630
indispensable reflection of the 
life and teaching and purpose of

990
00:50:31,750 --> 00:50:34,870
Jesus in this world. 
So what do you do is you start 

991
00:50:34,870 --> 00:50:37,830
reading John this week, and I'm 
not going to tell you to read a 

992
00:50:37,830 --> 00:50:40,510
chapter of John because you may 
get 3 verses in and you may just

993
00:50:40,510 --> 00:50:42,950
have to stop and you may have to
pause and look at it and go and 

994
00:50:42,950 --> 00:50:43,830
go. 
So what is this telling me? 

995
00:50:43,830 --> 00:50:44,990
How do I do? 
What is this? 

996
00:50:45,150 --> 00:50:46,310
Keep doing? 
Do that. 

997
00:50:46,310 --> 00:50:47,790
The purpose isn't to get through
it. 

998
00:50:47,910 --> 00:50:50,510
The purpose is to go, to make it
to the end. 

999
00:50:50,670 --> 00:50:53,750
And what we do is the problem is
we read, we go to the Bible and 

1000
00:50:53,750 --> 00:50:55,030
we start reading. 
What are the people doing? 

1001
00:50:55,030 --> 00:50:56,670
What are the Pharisees doing? 
What do they listen? 

1002
00:50:56,670 --> 00:50:58,310
You know what they do? 
They do what you do. 

1003
00:50:58,310 --> 00:51:00,830
They're just like you. 
And every single way, what I 

1004
00:51:00,830 --> 00:51:03,750
want you to do is look at Jesus.
What is Jesus teaching? 

1005
00:51:03,830 --> 00:51:06,750
What is Jesus saying? 
What is he correct? 

1006
00:51:06,830 --> 00:51:08,790
Acting? 
What behaviors does he correct? 

1007
00:51:08,870 --> 00:51:10,630
How does he encourage his 
people? 

1008
00:51:10,630 --> 00:51:13,030
What are the teachers, the 
things that he's teaching and 

1009
00:51:13,030 --> 00:51:14,870
saying? 
What are they getting at? 

1010
00:51:14,950 --> 00:51:17,870
And you begin to make the life 
and the ministry and the 

1011
00:51:17,870 --> 00:51:20,950
teaching of Jesus the very 
center point and the very hub of

1012
00:51:20,950 --> 00:51:23,670
your life. 
And what will happen is truth 

1013
00:51:24,230 --> 00:51:28,270
will begin working itself out in
your life and you'll begin to 

1014
00:51:28,310 --> 00:51:30,990
experience it. 
Now we're going to practice that

1015
00:51:30,990 --> 00:51:33,070
today through the taking of 
communion. 

1016
00:51:34,470 --> 00:51:43,140
And communion is a tangible 
symbol of what Jesus came to 

1017
00:51:43,140 --> 00:51:48,260
give us. 
It was the Passover meal, 

1018
00:51:48,260 --> 00:51:49,820
another one of those 
celebrations that got it 

1019
00:51:49,820 --> 00:51:53,060
ordained for his people. 
And the Apostle pile, the 

1020
00:51:53,060 --> 00:51:56,500
Apostle Paul rights I received 
from the Lord what I passed on 

1021
00:51:56,500 --> 00:51:59,060
to you, the Lord Jesus. 
On the night he was betrayed, he

1022
00:51:59,060 --> 00:52:02,900
took his took bread, and when he
had given thanks, he said, 

1023
00:52:02,900 --> 00:52:08,240
listen, are you listening? 
Said, This is my body which is 

1024
00:52:08,240 --> 00:52:12,400
broken for you. 
Do you know why that's 

1025
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,600
important? 
Listen, Jesus was the eternally 

1026
00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:19,600
existing Son of God. 
In him there was no brokenness. 

1027
00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:22,200
He did not ever have. 
He did not ever in his in his 

1028
00:52:22,240 --> 00:52:25,340
eternity. 
His character was perfectly 

1029
00:52:25,540 --> 00:52:28,300
holy, perfectly righteous, 
perfectly good. 

1030
00:52:28,420 --> 00:52:30,220
He was never touched and 
strained by sin. 

1031
00:52:30,340 --> 00:52:33,180
He was never actually broken. 
But when Jesus said what did he 

1032
00:52:33,180 --> 00:52:34,660
say? 
He says, this is my body, which 

1033
00:52:34,660 --> 00:52:36,820
is broken for you. 
Do you know why he had to be 

1034
00:52:36,820 --> 00:52:39,820
broken for us? 
Because we are broken. 

1035
00:52:41,660 --> 00:52:47,140
Not just in a general sense, in 
very specific, deliberate, 

1036
00:52:47,460 --> 00:52:53,480
practical ways. 
We are broken, and what this 

1037
00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:58,720
cracker means for us is that 
Jesus is perfectly willing to 

1038
00:52:58,760 --> 00:53:02,160
identify with you in the most 
heinous moments that you can 

1039
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:04,600
imagine. 
See, we don't want to confess, 

1040
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:06,240
because what if that makes God 
angry? 

1041
00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:10,840
The body tells us that he is not
angry. 

1042
00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:14,960
So as much as this is a 
reflection of Jesus's love for 

1043
00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:20,220
us and his willingness to 
identify with us, Church, we are

1044
00:53:20,220 --> 00:53:25,780
now the remaining body of Christ
and we continue his ministry. 

1045
00:53:26,540 --> 00:53:30,380
Not of being highly polished and
well put together, of being 

1046
00:53:30,380 --> 00:53:36,740
broken for a world that is 
broken, hurting with a world 

1047
00:53:36,740 --> 00:53:40,740
that is hurting not because we 
don't know that there's God, but

1048
00:53:40,740 --> 00:53:44,820
because they don't. 
So, Jesus, we thank you that you

1049
00:53:44,820 --> 00:53:48,530
met us where we are. 
You gave us this tangible 

1050
00:53:48,530 --> 00:53:51,010
reminder that you are not afraid
of our sin. 

1051
00:53:52,050 --> 00:53:55,050
We don't have to deny the things
in us that are broken, even 

1052
00:53:55,050 --> 00:53:59,610
though we want to. 
And so as we take this bread 

1053
00:53:59,610 --> 00:54:07,250
today, we confess our brokenness
and your provision. 

1054
00:54:08,010 --> 00:54:12,290
Let's take the bread in the same
way after suffer. 

1055
00:54:12,290 --> 00:54:14,650
He took the cup and he said this
cup is the new covenant in my 

1056
00:54:14,650 --> 00:54:17,690
blood. 
Do this as often as you drink it

1057
00:54:17,930 --> 00:54:22,450
in remembrance of me. 
So the idea behind covenant, 

1058
00:54:22,450 --> 00:54:24,610
when Jesus was talking about at 
the past over Passover would 

1059
00:54:24,610 --> 00:54:28,410
have been out forgiveness. 
The question is what does Jesus 

1060
00:54:28,410 --> 00:54:30,690
do with all of those things that
we confess to him? 

1061
00:54:31,490 --> 00:54:34,930
What does Jesus do with all 
those things that we announce? 

1062
00:54:35,450 --> 00:54:38,330
The old covenant said that there
had to be a death, a spotless 

1063
00:54:38,330 --> 00:54:40,090
lamb. 
And so for thousands of years, 

1064
00:54:40,090 --> 00:54:43,280
good Jewish people would March 
their lambs all the way up to 

1065
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:45,200
the temple and they would drop 
them and they would leave them. 

1066
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:48,760
And then one time of year, one 
guy had to go through all these 

1067
00:54:48,760 --> 00:54:51,520
rituals to be righteous enough 
to stand before God and after 

1068
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:54,040
and offer sacrifice and and 
praise. 

1069
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:56,720
But it was always just a lamb. 
And all those people always knew

1070
00:54:56,720 --> 00:54:59,560
that they had to turn around and
go back to their house and be 

1071
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:02,720
just as enslaved as they were. 
They looked around and Rome was 

1072
00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:06,040
still in the house. 
Lambs are still marching, the 

1073
00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:10,000
sacrifices are still going. 
And it didn't really change 

1074
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,270
anything, did it? 
Jesus instead comes and says 

1075
00:55:13,270 --> 00:55:16,550
there's a new covenant, and it's
not in lambs that don't have a 

1076
00:55:16,550 --> 00:55:19,190
will. 
The new covenant is in that God 

1077
00:55:19,190 --> 00:55:24,030
who is willing to identify with 
our brokenness and then lead us 

1078
00:55:24,030 --> 00:55:26,470
out of it. 
And the way that he leads us out

1079
00:55:26,470 --> 00:55:29,190
is with life and gives his 
spirit to us. 

1080
00:55:29,190 --> 00:55:32,790
When we take this cup, we 
participate in the new covenant.

1081
00:55:33,390 --> 00:55:35,550
It doesn't mean that we never 
sin. 

1082
00:55:35,550 --> 00:55:37,310
It doesn't mean that we have to 
hide from our sin. 

1083
00:55:37,310 --> 00:55:40,470
It means that no matter how 
heinous your sin is, you're 

1084
00:55:40,470 --> 00:55:43,670
forgiven. 
You have access to the God who 

1085
00:55:43,670 --> 00:55:45,790
will give you freedom in your 
life. 

1086
00:55:46,590 --> 00:55:49,630
It means you don't have to keep 
going to the drink, to the 

1087
00:55:49,630 --> 00:55:56,230
dollar to work to that website. 
It means you can be free because

1088
00:55:56,230 --> 00:55:59,230
freedom has been made. 
So Jesus, thank you that you 

1089
00:55:59,230 --> 00:56:03,910
gave your life for our freedom. 
We take this cup in remembrance 

1090
00:56:04,310 --> 00:56:05,950
of you. 
Let's take the cup. 

1091
00:56:09,900 --> 00:56:13,180
As often as you eat this bread 
and drink this cup, you proclaim

1092
00:56:13,180 --> 00:56:17,260
the Lord's death until he comes.
So now I want to do as we close 

1093
00:56:17,260 --> 00:56:18,220
up this week. 
I want to give you an 

1094
00:56:18,220 --> 00:56:20,460
opportunity to just meditate a 
little bit on what we've talked 

1095
00:56:20,460 --> 00:56:22,620
about. 
Maybe there's an idol that's 

1096
00:56:23,340 --> 00:56:25,380
popped up in your head and you 
try to think about something 

1097
00:56:25,380 --> 00:56:27,020
else, but you can't and it's 
just right there. 

1098
00:56:27,180 --> 00:56:29,380
What I want to do is Sonia's 
going to lead us and short a 

1099
00:56:29,380 --> 00:56:34,180
verse on a chorus. 
Maybe 2 choruses Verse on a 

1100
00:56:34,180 --> 00:56:37,220
chorus. 
I want you to come before the 

1101
00:56:37,220 --> 00:56:38,620
Lord and go Lord. 
Here I am. 

1102
00:56:39,340 --> 00:56:41,740
It's an open invitation. 
And then listen. 

1103
00:56:42,500 --> 00:56:44,940
If you've never been a believer 
for being a Christian, what 

1104
00:56:44,940 --> 00:56:47,620
being a follower of Jesus is is 
about saying yes. 

1105
00:56:47,620 --> 00:56:50,100
It's saying yes. 
I confess that I'm not God and 

1106
00:56:50,100 --> 00:56:52,540
you are, and I want you to be 
boss. 

1107
00:56:52,660 --> 00:56:55,380
The word Lord just means boss. 
I want you to be boss. 

1108
00:56:55,380 --> 00:56:58,340
I want you to be Lord in my 
life, not me. 

1109
00:56:58,420 --> 00:57:01,710
And the symbol of that, the 
expression of that, is baptism. 

1110
00:57:01,870 --> 00:57:04,910
And so maybe you're in here and 
you've never followed Jesus 

1111
00:57:04,910 --> 00:57:07,110
before or maybe you've kind of 
believed in Jesus. 

1112
00:57:07,230 --> 00:57:09,390
But you know, I've never done 
that. 

1113
00:57:09,550 --> 00:57:12,710
Right after this, I want you to 
go out and be baptized like, oh,

1114
00:57:12,710 --> 00:57:14,670
but I'm in my nice guy. 
Listen, your church clothes will

1115
00:57:14,670 --> 00:57:17,350
dry. 
You'll be okay. 

1116
00:57:18,590 --> 00:57:23,070
Don't miss this opportunity to 
say yes, to walk out of the 

1117
00:57:23,670 --> 00:57:27,950
shadow of death. 
That is denial and into the life

1118
00:57:28,550 --> 00:57:34,140
freedom Father has for you. 
Will you stand and let's worship

1119
00:57:34,140 --> 00:57:47,140
together? 
All who are thirsty know who are

1120
00:57:47,140 --> 00:57:56,250
we? 
Come to the fountain, your heart

1121
00:57:56,250 --> 00:58:06,530
and stream of a life that the 
pain and the sorrow me washed 

1122
00:58:08,130 --> 00:58:17,930
away, and the waves of his mercy
his Steve cries out too. 

1123
00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:25,120
Deep we sing. 
Come, Lord Jesus. 

1124
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:43,040
Come, Lord Jesus. 
Come, Lord Jesus, 

1125
00:59:01,130 --> 00:59:02,850
listen when we sing. 
Come, Lord Jesus. 

1126
00:59:02,850 --> 00:59:04,450
We're not inviting him into this
room. 

1127
00:59:05,530 --> 00:59:09,490
This isn't the temple, where the
presence of God dwells in four 

1128
00:59:09,490 --> 00:59:12,100
walls. 
We are the temple of the Holy 

1129
00:59:12,100 --> 00:59:13,820
Spirit. 
He wants to come into your 

1130
00:59:13,820 --> 00:59:16,060
heart. 
So when you sing come, Lord 

1131
00:59:16,180 --> 00:59:21,180
Jesus, you're inviting him into 
your life, into your context, 

1132
00:59:21,180 --> 00:59:23,620
into your situation. 
You're inviting him into your 

1133
00:59:23,620 --> 00:59:25,540
marriage. 
You're inviting him into your 

1134
00:59:25,540 --> 00:59:27,660
finances. 
You're inviting him into your 

1135
00:59:27,660 --> 00:59:30,020
singleness. 
You're inviting him into your 

1136
00:59:30,020 --> 00:59:34,020
job and into your work. 
And I have to tell you, as noble

1137
00:59:34,020 --> 00:59:37,340
as that is, I would be pastoral 
malpractice if I didn't tell 

1138
00:59:37,340 --> 00:59:40,620
you. 
He only comes as king. 

1139
00:59:41,900 --> 00:59:45,620
And he will ruthlessly root out 
every idol that challenges his 

1140
00:59:45,620 --> 00:59:48,300
authority. 
So I want saw you to sing one 

1141
00:59:48,300 --> 00:59:50,860
more time. 
That chorus and I I listen. 

1142
00:59:50,860 --> 00:59:52,500
I can't let you sing and have 
heart of me. 

1143
00:59:52,500 --> 00:59:54,620
I want you to know. 
And it's okay to just go. 

1144
00:59:54,620 --> 00:59:57,260
Lord, this is scaring me to 
death. 

1145
00:59:57,260 --> 00:59:58,380
I don't know what you're going 
to take. 

1146
00:59:58,380 --> 00:59:59,340
I don't know. 
I don't know. 

1147
00:59:59,340 --> 01:00:02,900
Lord, by faith we said I trust 
that you love me. 

1148
01:00:02,900 --> 01:00:04,940
I trust that you are good and 
you desire good. 

1149
01:00:05,330 --> 01:00:06,650
For me. 
So let's sing. 

1150
01:00:06,650 --> 01:00:14,930
Come, Lord Jesus, come. 
Lord Jesus. 

1151
01:00:20,110 --> 01:00:46,430
Here come, Lord 
Jesus. 

1152
01:00:46,430 --> 01:00:49,730
We invite you into our space. 
You created us. 

1153
01:00:49,730 --> 01:00:52,130
You desire freedom for us, and 
we have rebelled. 

1154
01:00:52,810 --> 01:00:54,890
We have rejected your guidance 
and your leadership. 

1155
01:00:55,570 --> 01:00:57,810
We have made idols of everything
that moves. 

1156
01:00:58,930 --> 01:01:05,050
And yet your great love for us 
chases us through history and 

1157
01:01:05,050 --> 01:01:08,290
invites us to believe, and not 
just to believe intellectually 

1158
01:01:08,290 --> 01:01:13,690
or academically, to believe in 
the fiber of our moments, that 

1159
01:01:13,690 --> 01:01:17,770
you will lead us to freedom. 
So I pray for those who are 

1160
01:01:17,770 --> 01:01:20,510
struggling today. 
I pray for those who feel a 

1161
01:01:20,510 --> 01:01:22,710
weight of condemnation. 
I pray that they would be freed 

1162
01:01:22,710 --> 01:01:24,470
by your forgiveness and they 
would trust you. 

1163
01:01:25,870 --> 01:01:28,870
I pray for those who today have 
realized that they've picked up 

1164
01:01:28,870 --> 01:01:33,870
an idol and father. 
I pray that their willingness to

1165
01:01:33,870 --> 01:01:37,430
simply turn their heart to you 
would be enough and they would 

1166
01:01:37,430 --> 01:01:40,590
know for today and you'll lead 
us. 

1167
01:01:40,590 --> 01:01:42,070
There will be things that we 
have to do. 

1168
01:01:42,950 --> 01:01:47,150
But today we come to you with 
our hearts set. 

1169
01:01:47,810 --> 01:01:51,890
We have the opportunity to make 
a decision to follow you, and we

1170
01:01:51,890 --> 01:01:55,490
make a decision to follow you. 
And we take responsibility for 

1171
01:01:55,490 --> 01:01:59,570
our lives as they are, and we 
ask you to make them different. 

1172
01:02:00,690 --> 01:02:05,210
Jesus, we ask these things for 
your glory, alone and in your 

1173
01:02:05,210 --> 01:02:06,930
name. 
Amen. 

1174
01:02:07,890 --> 01:02:10,210
Listen, I'm going to walk right 
out there, and I'll baptize 

1175
01:02:10,210 --> 01:02:13,090
whoever will, if that's you. 
Come on. 

1176
01:02:13,330 --> 01:02:15,090
May the Lord bless you and keep 
you. 

1177
01:02:15,730 --> 01:02:17,450
May he make his face shine upon 
you. 

1178
01:02:18,040 --> 01:02:21,160
Be gracious to you. 
May he let this countenance and 

1179
01:02:21,160 --> 01:02:22,920
give you peace. 
Have a great week. 

1180
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:28,280
We'll see you next. 
Time Thank you for joining us 

1181
01:02:28,280 --> 01:02:30,480
today. 
River City Church is all about 

1182
01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:33,200
experiencing and expressing 
God's love in our lives and 

1183
01:02:33,200 --> 01:02:35,880
community, and we hope that 
you've been able to experience 

1184
01:02:35,880 --> 01:02:38,480
that today. 
As grateful as I am that you 

1185
01:02:38,480 --> 01:02:40,200
spent this time listening in 
this morning. 

1186
01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:44,080
This podcast is no substitute 
for full participation in a 

1187
01:02:44,080 --> 01:02:46,760
local church. 
I love it when River City people

1188
01:02:46,760 --> 01:02:50,120
listen to other pastors, but it 
is those who show up week after 

1189
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:53,000
week faithfully giving their 
support and time and resources 

1190
01:02:53,000 --> 01:02:56,360
that make all of this possible. 
If we can help you get connected

1191
01:02:56,360 --> 01:03:00,400
to a local church, pray for you,
or support you in any way, click

1192
01:03:00,400 --> 01:03:02,000
the link in the description and 
let us know. 

1193
01:03:02,520 --> 01:03:04,720
If you'd like to financially 
support the ministry of River 

1194
01:03:04,720 --> 01:03:06,480
City. 
Click the give link on our 

1195
01:03:06,480 --> 01:03:09,670
website in the description. 
Don't forget to subscribe and 

1196
01:03:09,670 --> 01:03:11,350
don't forget to share this with 
your friends. 

1197
01:03:11,590 --> 01:03:14,350
Thanks so much for listening. 
May the Lord bless and keep you 

1198
01:03:14,470 --> 01:03:15,950
in all grace and peace.