Summer Shorts // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // June 22, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up?
Free Church Wow, you look greattoday.
Looks like some of you got yourhair done this week.
It's summer, everybody, it'ssummer, and I'm trying to turn
the clock backwards.
I want to look younger, notolder, man.

(00:23):
What a great day to be in God'shouse.
Huh, feels like it's a.
No, do not miss summer aroundFree Church.
Like so electric in this houseand so rich in the presence of
the Lord.
And if you're a guest today,thank you for joining us church

(00:44):
family.
Let's welcome our guests thatare with us today and we love to
say this there is no place likethis place near this place.
So this must be the place.
So if you're looking for a place, listen, I don't think you have
to look any further.
Settle in, pick out yourfavorite seat and come back and

(01:05):
be a part of all that God'sdoing.
I mean, in an environment likethis, I just really see.
I just see so much happeningthat's so good that, even in the
midst of every test and trialand struggle, we come into a
house like this and we'rerefreshed, we're filled up, we

(01:27):
experience the joy of the Lord,and so I'm just telling you,
whatever it is that you'relooking for in a church.
We're not perfect, and if Ihaven't offended you yet, just
hold on because I probably willbut I will tell you this our
heart, our heart, is to helppeople know God better every
single Sunday, and I feel likewe're doing that in leaps and
bounds because we're justgetting to just sit in the

(01:48):
presence of the Lord and I'm sothankful.
And all of our online campuswatching all over this nation
and around this world.
We welcome you as well, and youknow, this week our nation
celebrated a day that probablywent too long without being
celebrated, and that'sJuneteenth, and maybe our nation

(02:18):
didn't get it right immediately, but you know what Every step
we take together, we get itright.
What Every step we taketogether, we get it right.
Let me just say you can't counton anybody else to get
reconciliation right except foryou and me If we don't do our
part.
It doesn't matter what anybodyelse does, we have to do our

(02:40):
part, and so I just, I just wantto say I'll pause and say happy
freedom day for everybody.
For the years it took for thatto happen and still happening.
Listen, we're going to do ourpart here at free church and I

(03:00):
just, I just want to say, um,there's no other environment I'd
rather be in than anenvironment like this where,
thank God, not everybody lookslike me and not everybody thinks
like me.
But the reality is I'm about topreach a word as we begin this

(03:24):
new summer series, and I thinkit lines up with the spirit of
this house.
So, as I like to say just aboutevery Sunday I get a chance to,
I'm excited to preach God'sword.
Are you ready to receive ittoday?
The year was 1988 and I was asenior in high school.

(03:45):
So start doing the math.
I'll be 55 in just a few weeks.
I'm working on my exiteverybody.
No, that's like a 15-year exit,20-year, 25-year, I don't know,
maybe I'll preach till I'm 90.
Because I'm turning 55, but Ifeel 25.

(04:07):
And my wife says I act like I'm12.
So there you go Turning, feel,act.
So the year was 1988.
How'd I get off?
1988.
And I was a senior in highschool and our group of friends.
We had been running togetherjust about from kindergarten on

(04:30):
and it was an experience to gothrough one school system, my
entire educational experience,and by the time we were seniors
we pretty much had life figuredout.
We had our own language thatnobody else knew.
When something was really good,bennett, we'd say stuff like

(04:52):
well, that's too bad, that's toobad, and people didn't know if
we were saying it was good or itwas bad.
People would be like, well, isit good?
I'm like yeah, it's too bad.
Like well, is it good?
I'm like yeah, it's too bad.
We had our own phrases, we hadour own music.
I can't even tell you the musicwe listened to.

(05:17):
My parents did not know Ilistened to this music.
So we had our own music welistened to and we had our own
little handshakes and we had itall.
We had life figured out.
And you knew we were in theroom because we had all talked
the same, all laughed the same,all hung out the same, all loved
the same things.
And it's funny because I'llnever forget.

(05:39):
One of our assistant principalscame in the room and he's like I
need to see.
And he, just he kind of said,hit the side.
He said I need to see all theCole Grove boys.
He's like I need to see.
And he, just he kind of said,hit the side.
He said I need to see all theColgrove boys.
And I was like, well, there'sonly one.
But we all knew what he wastalking about and we all got
pulled down into the principal'soffice and he's like now listen
, guys, it's been a great schoolyear, you've had a good run

(06:00):
here, but you're getting out ofhere.
He's like, and I can tell youall have been together for a
long time.
And he said it just like thisbecause you talk the same, you
look the same, you act the same,you skip class the same.
Oh, I didn't say that and hesaid so.
He just went on and on and onand he said I know you're good

(06:21):
friends, I know you're probablymore than friends.
You feel like brothers.
I know you're good friends, Iknow you're probably more than
friends.
You feel like brothers becausebecause I can tell, whenever you
all are together, there's just,there's something happens.
You change the atmosphere inthe room.
You see, he said so.
I'm just asking you for thelast few weeks, can he act like
you really want to be here?
But it's the year I learnedwhen you spend considerable time

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and build relationship withpeople around you, you actually
not only start to, you reallystart to talk like them, you act
like them, you show off likethem and people can tell that
you've been together.
Why don't you just lean to yourneighbor and say you about to
get ready to show me something,ready to show me something?

(07:10):
And turn to the other neighborand just say this, we're going
to look like him.
Let me ask you something.
In fact, yesterday was theperfect day for this message,
because some of you probably gotoutside in the heat.
It's what we've been waitingfor Timeout, psa.

(07:31):
No, complaining when it's hot,not in this house.
No, no, we suffer from Novembertill May and we ain't gonna
complain when it's 90.
This is when our city, this iswhat we live in this city for.

(07:55):
So some of you got outside.
Maybe you worked on the yard,maybe you played golf, maybe you
had a kid's game to go to, andyou've been out in the sun and
we like to say you got a littlesun kissed, a little melatonin
improvement that you look betterthan you did when you woke up

(08:20):
all pale.
I'm on my way to catch up withsome of y'all Get ready, but
you've been sun-kissed.
You might even say you've beenmarked by the sun S-U-N.
Over the next few weeks, we'regoing to lean in together this

(08:41):
summer season and we're not justgoing to be sun S?
U?
N.
We are going to be marked bythe sun S?
O?
N.
My goal for the end of thisseries and the end of this
summer is that when people walkpast you, they stop and they

(09:03):
said have you been spending timein the sun?
Have you been spending timewith the sun?
What is different about youfrom the beginning of the summer
?
And you can just simply say Ihave been marked by the sun.
I've been marked by Jesus thissummer, by the sun.

(09:28):
I've been marked by Jesus thissummer.
So if you want to look like him, you got to know what he looks
like.
Are you ready?
The title of this sermon seriesis called Summer Shorts.
Just kidding, summer shorts.

(09:50):
And I'm going to do my best topreach this short, but the
worship team man, they blew thisthing out today.
So, all right, let's go.
2 Corinthians 3, verse 17.
The Lord is the Spirit, andwhere the Spirit of the Lord is,

(10:16):
there is freedom and we allwith unveiled.
Well, let me just stop rightthere.
The Lord is the spirit.
That word spirit there in theGreek word is pneuma.
We've talked about it a lot.
Pneuma, it literally meansbreath.
Everybody just kind of go.

(10:38):
That is the spirit, that is thebreath.
That is what the word means.
In fact, in John, chapter two,john is writing and he describes
the spirit as wind, and he saysyou know when the wind is
blowing, even though you can'tsee the wind.
You see the effect of the wind.
Yesterday was windy, wind wasblowing out at Wrigley Stadium.

(11:02):
Come on, somebody, cubs, let'sgo, cubs Go, cubs go.
And you can't see the wind, butyou know when the wind is
blowing.
And so John says that's whatthe Holy Spirit is going to do
in our lives.
You might not see it, butyou're going to know what
happened.
So the Lord is the Spirit,spirit.

(11:24):
And where the spirit of the Lordis, there is freedom.
That's why we can come to havefun in church.
That church should be enjoyedand not endured because there's
freedom.
It's why we can lift our handsand surrender in awe of a holy

(11:45):
God, because there's freedom.
So where the spirit of the Lordis, there is freedom.
And we all who, with unveiledfaces, contemplate the Lord's
glory that word glory there iskabod.
It means weight.
So you can't see the wind, butyou know it's moving.
So you can't see the wind, butyou know it's moving.
And then the kabod is theweight, the very full weight of

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God and he says this and beingtransformed into his image,
meaning transformed to look likehim with ever increasing glory.
Weight which comes from theLord, who is the spirit.
So let me just see if I canframe this before we dive in the
idea of pneuma.
The breath, it's the samespirit that hovered over in the

(12:32):
book of Genesis over a world ofchaos, before God said let there
be light.
The spirit is there, hovering.
It is the very same spiritwhere God breathed breath into
Adam.
It is that spirit that fell inthe book of Acts and it sat on

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them.
It's a mighty rushing wind thatblew into that room.
What should happen at freechurch on every Sunday?
Not, it's not like hit or miss.
Every single Sunday you shouldwalk in here and feel this
breath of fresh air, like youcome in and you go whoa, what a

(13:13):
week.
And you go and you breathe thatlast week of stress out and you
breathe that Holy Spirit andBreath of fresh air.
And for us, this is the thingwe need the spirit in order that

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we can carry the full weight ofGod, the glory of God.
So I want to just set this upfor a moment that we have this
wind in us, carrying the gloryof God is not like we're
carrying something on our back.
It's not like we're carryingthis heavy thing, but we carry.

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We have this wind blowingthrough us, within us,
refreshing others around us, andthe glory, the weight is the
reflection of the one we serve.
So I want to talk to you aboutgetting to look more like him,
that as days and weeks andmonths go by, we should look

(14:17):
more and more and more like him,just like all the years of
hanging out with my friends.
We created our own language, wehad our own things we did.
Everybody knew we were comingin and we were coming in hot
because we had spent so muchtime together.
And that's what should happenwhen we spend time with the Lord
and the Holy spirit that wecome out looking more like him.

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Like I said, if you want tolook more like him, you got to
know what he looks like.
So I'm going to give youpassages of scripture and then
we're going to spend a shortamount of time in each of the
gospels.
Are you ready?
Ezekiel, chapter one.
Ezekiel chapter one, verse 10.
Ezekiel is describing a vision,and it's a vision of the Lord.

(15:05):
He says this in Ezekiel,chapter one, verse 10,.
Their faces look like this Eachof the four had the face of a
human being.
On the right side, each had theface of a lion.
Each on the left had the faceof an ox.
Each also had the face of aneagle.
I'm not going to go into likegreat detail of this prophecy

(15:26):
and this vision that Ezekiel saw, but basically he sees a
creature that has four faces,has a lion, an ox, a human face
and an eagle, and in these fourthings represented now in the
gospels, we're going to get tosee what Jesus looks like.
You ready?
Look at verse 28.

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Like the appearance of arainbow in the clouds on a rainy
day, so was the radiance aroundhim.
This was the appearance of thelikeness of the glory of the
Lord.
So if you're going to reflectthe glory of the Lord, guess
what you're reflecting thiseagle, this lion, this oxen,
this human face.
Okay, so he says this, and whenI saw it I fell face down.

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I heard the voice speaking.
So he says what I saw was theimage of the glory of God.
Verse revelation four, seven thefirst living creature was like
a lion.
The second was like an ox, thethird had the face of a man and
the fourth was like a flyingEagle.
All right, so all of that is inthere.
All that should be in yournotes.

(16:31):
You'll be able to follow thosescriptures around.
So, basically, I'm going tospend just a short amount of
time in each gospel and we'regoing to talk through this for a
little bit.
Are you ready?
So Matthew Matthew writes aboutthe face of man and he talks
about the humility of Jesus.
Mark talks about the face of anox and he talks about the
servanthood.
This is ringing.
Should I switch mics?

(16:52):
We?
Okay, there we go, that'sbetter.
Mark had the face of an ox andit's the servanthood of Jesus.
Luke writes about the face ofan eagle.
That's the divinity and visionof Jesus.
But John John writes about theface of a lion, and that is the
boldness, the anointing and theauthority of Jesus.
So we're going to start in thebook of John and I'm not going

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to spend a lot of time readingthrough the whole book, I'm just
going to give you this glimpseand then maybe this week you
read the book of John every daythrough this week.
You ready?
So we're going to start here.
The face of the lion representsthe boldness, the anointing,
the strength, the power of Jesus, and it's all written about in
the book of John.
Now the gospels Matthew, markand Luke are synoptic gospels,

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meaning they're in symmetry.
It's like a cinnamon Synonym,it's like they go together.
You see similar patterns of thescripture.
Matthew starts off with thegenealogy of Jesus.
Luke writes about the birth ofJesus.
Mark dives right in into theservanthood of Jesus.

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But John does somethingdifferent.
John is not the same.
John shows the power and theanointing.
John doesn't give you a manger,he gives you his majesty.
And you would say well, johndidn't start out with genealogy,
he actually did.
He said in the beginning wasthe word, he did the genealogy,

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he just went all the way back tothe beginning.
In the beginning was the word,the word was with God and the
word was God later, in verse 8.
And the word became flesh anddwelt among us and we beheld his
glory.
That's Jesus.
Jesus the word, the word was,the word was at the beginning.

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So John shows us this.
John doesn't give us, he doesnot give us genealogy, he
doesn't show us Bethlehem, buthe shows us power from the very
first verse.
John shows us the anointedJesus, the creative Jesus, the
bold Jesus and that's what theHoly Spirit wants to shape you

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into are those same features ofthat lion Boldness, anointing
power and authority.
John shows us that Jesus hasthe power of creation, but he
also has the power over creation.
Jesus doesn't just walk inpower, he is power.
He speaks to storms, he callsdead men from graves.

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He creates something beautifulfrom nothing.
He doesn't just fix things, heforms things, he shapes things,
he makes things new.
And you carry that breath in you.
The very same spirit thatraised Jesus from the dead lives
in you.

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You have the ability to speakthings into existence.
You have the ability to shapecircumstances by your words.
You have the very breath of Godin you, for a time like this,
to speak a powerful word intothe lives of your kids, into the
lives of your family, into thelives of your workplace.
You have the authority to do it.

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You just got to realize youhave the boldness of a lion
within you.
But how, how, how, how.
How do you carry that breath,because you're the vehicle of
that wind, but how do youreflect that weight and that
glory?
How do we become like that?
You have to lean in and starthere.

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Very simple, I'm almost done.
Three things.
Number one seek him, seek theHoly Spirit, get close to the
very breath of God.
When you come down here for aprayer partner and the band's

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blazing and you say I want youto pray and you're screaming and
the prayer partner's going Idon't know what you're saying.
So they lean in and you lean inand you they whisper and you
feel that little breath of airas they're whispering and that's
that's the Holy Spirit wants todo with you.
That's the Holy Spirit wants todo with you is lean in that
closely.
How do we seek him?
How do we seek him?

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We seek him in prayer.
And here is the victory inprayer.
The victory in prayer is notthat we have an answer to our
prayer.
What Well, I thought I prayedfor the answer.
I prayed for healing and I'mhealed.

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That's the victory.
Well, the real victory inprayer is not that your prayer
was answered.
The real victory in prayer isthat you get close to God.
And my wife and I we didn't dateand get married and then figure

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out how to get to know oneanother man.
We would talk for hours.
I'd drive her to Grand Haven,michigan.
We would walk on the beach,walk out on the pier, have a
little nice dinner.
I tried to show her how great Iwas, because I knew how great

(22:21):
she was and I'd ask her allabout her favorite songs.
I'd ask her all the things sheloved.
We would talk probably talkedmore about me than anything else
, I'm pretty sure but just talk,talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk.
I remember when Elliot and Anisethey were just about to be
engaged, to be married and Anisewas studying abroad in

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Manchester and Elliot was home,and I'll never forget, I would
walk into the room and he wouldbe on the phone with Anise was
studying abroad in Manchesterand Elliot was home.
And I'll never forget, I wouldwalk into the room and he would
be on the phone with Anise.
And I didn't know because hewasn't really talking very much.
They were just kind of walkingaround with their FaceTime,
working on their phone and Iwould ask him.
He would answer a question.

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But I thought he was talking tome.
So I'd say wait, what'd you say?
He's like no, no, I'm nottalking to you.
I'm like, well, who are youtalking to?
There's nobody else in the room.
He's like a niece.
I'm like, oh, and I would lookat his phone.
It'd be like on, for like, youknow how it shows's that time of

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conversing with one another.
It gets you close and sometimesit's not even saying anything,
we're just together.
No, I'll be the last to hang up.
No, I'll be the last to hang up.
No, I'll be the last to hang up.
No, I'll be the last to hang up.
You hang up first.
No, can't possibly hang upfirst.

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Why I just want to be togetherin this time.
That's what prayer is.
Prayer is coming to God, andyou have a plan?
Maybe you have a plan.
It could be that you ask thatyou confess that you thank, and
then you just spend time justtelling God how great he is.
No, god, you hang up first.
You hang up first, god, becauseyou're so great.

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God, tell me again how much youlove me.
No, let me tell you, god, howmuch I love you.
The win in prayer is not thatthe prayer is answered, it's
that you spend time and getclose to God.
That's when we know, that'swhen you get sun.
Marked Is when you're spendingtime with God, because you come
out talking like God.

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Let there be light in thissituation Come out of that grave
, dead dream man, if you wouldjust go through and take some of
the things God has said inscripture and turn it around
into your own life.
How can you say that?
Because I've been spending timewith God, I know how he talks,

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I know his phrases, I know whathe says.
Next, feed on the word.
Feed on the word.
You know there is a differencebetween visiting the word and

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living off of the word.
Visiting the word is we justkind of see the verse of the day
, that one time in the Bible appit pops up like oh, great verse
today.
Living off the word is like ifI don't start my day with this,
then my day is not even going tocount for nothing.

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Isaiah 10, man why?
Why is this summer shorts?
That's next week.
The yoke will be destroyed.
Isaiah 10, 27 the yoke will bedestroyed because of the
anointing oil.
Now, this is the new king jamesversion.

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If you read it in the NIVversion it gets updated a little
bit and the actual Hebrewtranslation for anointing oil in
this case is fat.
Everybody say fat, so it saysthe yoke will be destroyed
because of the fat.

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Can I get a witness in thishouse of the fat.
Can I get a witness in thishouse?
Finally something good?
Sorry, what do you mean, pc?

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Here's the thing.
The Bible says a few thingsabout the yoke Y-O-K-E, not the
egg yoke and it says this thatyou can be unequally yoked.
It says that you can have ayoke on you that is burdensome,
impinging, restricting and makesyou go to spaces and places you

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don't really want to be goingto.
But because you're in this yokeyou don't have a choice.
And the Bible says theanointing destroys the yoke.
When we come to Jesus, there isa lifting of theoke and then

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there's a destroying of the yokeand a lot of us we stop at the
lifting.
As soon as that weight islifted from us, we're like, oh,
I must be free.
And then we go right back intoour old habits, our old patterns
and our old relationships andall of a sudden that weight gets
put back on us.
Listen, you need the anointingto destroy that yoke.
So let me frame this for you.

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I heard an old Pentecostalpreacher say this, and he was
talking about the yoke, and youjust got a picture of this
strong workhorse.
Strong workhorse like aClydesdale, just meant for work,
meant for labor, meant forpulling, meant for strength, and
then a weak mule.

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And you got to imagine thehorse and the mule being yoked
together.
My dad grew up on a farm innorthern Michigan, up in the
Upper Peninsula, and he used totell me they had a decent horse,
but they never had two greathorses.
It was like an okay horse andthen the mule, and a lot of

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times they would borrow anotheranimal from a neighbor because
they just didn't have the moneyto have all like two.
So they would borrow so theycould get the ground ready to
plant.
And so you got to imagine Areally strong, powerful horse
and this mule that's not asstrong and powerful and really
weakly, not going to get muchdone on its own, but yoked
together.
They're yoked together and thispowerful horse and this mule.

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Now, this preacher was tellingthe story.
I heard him say it and it wasso interesting to me.
He tells the story and he saysthat somebody came up to the
farmer and said my God, you aregoing to wear that horse out
being yoked to that terriblelittle mule, right, and
furthermore, you're going towear that mule out trying to do
and accomplish what that horsecan accomplish.

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And the farmers looked at theman and said listen to this, put
your hand on that yoke for thathorse so tight around him.
He doesn't even know.
He doesn't even know he'scarried all.
He just figures that's whathe's supposed to carry.
But now go look at that muleand put your hands up on that

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mule and the yoke was lifted upoff of that mule's back a little
bit.
He says that mule doesn't eventhink he's doing anything, but
together they're getting thework done.
And there's two ways to look atthat.
If, when you are when Jesussays take my yoke upon you, for
my burden is easy and my yoke islight, literally he's doing all

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the work, I'm just yoked withhim and man, you got to know
that mule is like yeah, I am allthat and the bag of chips.
And the horse is like man, I'mjust doing what I'm supposed to
do.
That's what happens when we getin relationship with the Holy
Spirit.
The Holy Spirit's doing all thework.

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We're just in a line, in a step, being directed, being guided,
being comforted, able to doexceeding more than we could
ever ask for or imagine.
Why?
Because we're yoked with theHoly Spirit.
Conversely, if you're yokedwith the wrong thing you got to

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get out of that mess.
And the only way to get out ofit is for the anointing to
destroy that yoke.
You want to know how you getthe anointing.
You feed on the word of God,the same breath that God
breathed into Adam, that theHoly Spirit fell in the book of
Acts, 2 Timothy 3.16,.

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It is by the Spirit that everyword, every scripture was
inspired.
The literal translation is it'sGod breathed.
So when you're reading the word, you're actually breathing in
the spirit of God.
So let me paint this picture Inthe old days, when they had an

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ox that would work around andgrind the corn, grind the wheat,
grind whatever it was that theywere pressing, grind whatever
it was that they were pressing,they would put that oxen
together and he would just startwalking.
He's yoked to the work mill andhe's just walking in a circle

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and that corn begins to grindand as the corn grinds it rises.
And man don't, you know it,that oxen is going around in
circles and the corn startsrising and while that oxen is
walking around, working, hestarts eating.
So he starts feeding, feeding,feeding, feeding, feeding,

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feeding.
And as he's feeding, the yoke'sgetting tighter and tighter and
tighter, because the reality is, when he's done they barely can
get the yoke off, because it'sbecome so tight, because he's
been eating so much while he'sworking.
It's the fat.
It's the fat that he keptfeeding, even while he's working

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and he's getting fatter andfatter and that yoke is just
locked in, no getting out of it.
What do you mean, pc?
Listen to what I'm telling you.
When you're feeding on the wordof God, you're fitting yourself
into that easy yoke with Jesusthat you got to take it in.
It's not just visiting the word, you're gonna just begin to

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devour that word.
While you're working, you'reeating the word of God.
You're eating, you're eating,you're eating, you're eating and
you're putting all of thescripture, all of that breath,
into your life.
Get so spiritually fat that theold yoke can't even lock around
your neck anymore.

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I've been eating and the oldyoke that used to weigh me down,
it doesn't fit.
Some of you are grinding atlife but you're not feeding and
you want the yoke to break.
You've gotta get so fat in thespirit that the old yoke won't
fit anymore.
That's why it says the yokewill be destroyed by the fat,

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because what I used to do, Ijust can't.
I can't be bound by it anymore,because it doesn't fit me.
It doesn't fit me anymore to gointo those places.
It doesn't fit me anymore totalk like that.
It doesn't fit me anymore tolook at that.
It doesn't fit me anymore totalk like that.
It doesn't fit me anymore tolook at that.
It doesn't fit me anymore to belike that.
Why?
Because I've been feeding onthe word of God.

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So, number one, we seek him.
Number two, we feed on the word.
And the last one, we practicewhat the spirit asks.
We're obedient to the spiritand I would just say this we're
obedient to the Spirit and Iwould just say this the Holy
Spirit, as our guide and ourcomfort, our director, our

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shepherd, he wants to, he'sgonna give you, he's gonna speak
to you.
And I will tell you this it'snot like when I feel like the
Lord's speaking to me.
It's never in like this.
I'll say I don't think it'sever been in this audible voice
where I was like oh, whoa, whatwas that?
No, it's in promptings, in myspirit.

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The spirit communicates with myspirit and what happens is
it'll come as a thought or anidea, and this is what I would
challenge you with when you'respending time seeking God in
prayer and spending time withhim, and just be the last one to
hang up when you're feeding onthe word of God and getting so

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fat that the old habits don'tfit anymore.
Start listening for the HolySpirit to direct you and start
being obedient to that.
So it might happen like thisYou're driving, you're, you're,
you're walking to the grocerystore, you're in line, and the
Holy Spirit might just say, hey,why don't you get their
groceries?
Why don't you get their coffee?
Hey, hey, why don't you just,why don't you wave at those

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people and smile, hey, why don'tyou hold the door for that mom
who's walking in?
You would say, well, those arejust, those are just like kind,
that's just kindness.
Okay, it is.
But if there's a reason theHoly Spirit is prompting you,
the Holy Spirit's not gonnaprompt you to do something mean.
And the Holy Spirit's not gonnaprompt you to like slam the

(35:58):
door in somebody's face.
The Holy Spirit's not gonnaprompt you to like be greedy and
to be like no one else getswhat I get, like the Holy
Spirit's gonna prompt you to dothings that will help others.

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And if you start listening tothe Holy Spirit in that way,
then you'll see a series ofsteps happen where the Holy
Spirit might start just bysaying do something simple Pay
for the coffee the car behindyou, pay for the Chick-fil-A for
the car behind you, close onSunday.
Holy Spirit might just don't,he's not going to tell you today
, because it's impossible, man,it's the only bad thing about

(36:42):
Sunday.
But the Holy Spirit is going togive you those promptings and
if you'll start being obedientstudents, the Holy Spirit is
going to tell you hey, invitethat person to sit at this lunch
table.
Hey, hey, you should just givea thumbs up, high five that
person.
Tell that.

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Tell that older gentleman,thanks for being a good example
to us.
Tell that mom man, thank you,mom, for the way you're taking
care of your kid, bringing yourkid to the park today.
That's really encouraging tosee.
The Holy Spirit's going to startyou with a series of possible

(37:27):
easy to accomplish tasks that ifyou'll respond in kind, then
the Holy Spirit will startknowing well, I can trust this
person to do what I asked themto do.
And if you want to speak lifeinto people's lives, it's going
to start by being an encouragerin kind.
And the Holy Spirit you say,well, I don't need the Holy

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Spirit for that, that's right.
But if you listen to the HolySpirit, the Holy Spirit for that
, that's right.
But if you listen to the HolySpirit, the kindness will be
more impactful because it'll bedirected for a specific cause in
a specific time, and then theHoly Spirit can lead you to
speak prophetic words, lead youto change situations, make you

(38:11):
drive the other way around town,even though you normally go
home a certain way.
Because the Holy Spirit's likelisten, I've got an assignment
for you.
Just be obedient and trust whatthe Holy Spirit is asking you
to do.
You do that.

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You walk in anointing.
The anointing not only liftsthe burden, but it destroys the
yoke.
You think of a few things thathave been burdening you down,
keeping you locked into apattern that you don't really
appreciate.
That you don't like man.

(39:01):
I'm thinking like five or sixright now for myself.
I'm like man.
Holy Spirit, I don't want to betied down to this anymore.
Holy Spirit, I don't want thisyoke on me anymore.
That's enough.
Enough is enough.
Enough is enough.
Coming into this room, I want tolook more like you, jesus, and

(39:24):
that means I'm going to have toremove some of the old things
and get myself yoked up withJesus so that we can walk
together.
What is it for you?
What is it?
What is it?
What is it in the word of Godthat you need to just spend more
time?
And what is it?

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Just being obedient, just verysimply.
Just very simply.
People will believe you looklike Jesus when you start acting
like him.
People will start thinking youlook like Jesus when you start

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talking like him, thinking youlook like Jesus when you start
talking like him, when you startto be obedient like him.
Because, listen, it's not.
It is that he loved you, godloved you that he sent his one
and only son to die on a crossfor you.
But his one and only son, jesus, went to that cross.

(40:31):
He loved you, but he went tothat cross out of obedience.
He was like nevertheless, letthis cup pass.
If I have to, please don't makeme do this.
That's what he was saying tohis dad Dad, don't make me do
this, but if I have to do it,I'll do it.

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I'll be obedient.
Nevertheless, your will be done.
You want to look like Jesus.
Have this expression from theGospel of John of the lion the
face of the lion in your lifeboldness, authority and

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anointing.
It comes from spending time inprayer, seeking the Holy Spirit,
reading God's word, digestingit, eating it and just being
obedient.
Can you receive that word today?
Let's pray.
Let's pray, lord.

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We want to be more like you,look like you, act like you,
walk like you, talk like you, beobedient like you.
I pray that everyone in thisroom, as we leave today, we
leave with an expression ofauthority and boldness and
anointing from being in yourpresence, spending time with you

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.
Listen, if you've never made adecision to follow Jesus, what a
great time to make your startTo be more like Jesus.
It begins with calling him Lordand Savior, following him,
turning from your own ways.
The Bible says if you believethat Jesus died on a cross for
your sins and you confess thatwith your mouth, you'll be saved

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, and that begins atransformation, a step-by-step
process that we're all in.
We all are taking steps everysingle day.
In fact, when I take a step, itmakes room for others to take a
step.
When you take a step, it makesroom for others behind you to
take a step.
We're all taking steps.
The first step is to followJesus.
You've never made thatconfession.
I want to pray this prayer withyou.

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I'm going to count to threewhen I get there.
When I get to three, just sayPC, that's me.
I want to pray this prayer.
I want to begin to follow Jesus.
One it means you're going toturn from your own ways and
follow after Jesus.
Two, it means you believe hedied on a cross for your sin,
but he rose again on the thirdday.
And three, let me see yourhands all over this room to

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begin a relationship with Jesus.
Thank you for that hand.
Thank you for that hand.
Thank you for those hands backthere.
Thank you for that hand.
Thank you, thank you for thosehands.
Let's pray this prayer Ready,everybody with me.
Dear Jesus, thank you forloving me, for dying on a cross
to pay a debt I could never pay,to give me a gift I could never
earn.
I turn for my own ways.

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I'll follow after you.
I call you Lord and Savior, andI receive your free gift of
salvation.
Today I want to be more likeyou.
I want to walk and Savior, andI receive your free gift of
salvation.
Today I wanna be more like you.
I wanna walk like you, talklike you, move like you be
obedient, like you.
Be my Lord and Savior, jesus,in Jesus' name, amen.
Come on church, family.

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Hey, let's stand together.
Amen, come on, everybody, stand.
What a great day in God's house.
And I promise next week, summershorts.
We're going to be short nextweek, much shorter.
I'm going to work, I'm going towork on my preaching, so I can
say it quicker.
Listen, if this is your firsttime, first time in a long time,
stop by our next steps table.

(44:07):
We'd love to meet you, fill outsome information, give you a
gift as our way of saying thanksfor being our guest.
Stop by, hang out on the patiofor a little bit.
Hey, we're praying for ourstudents that are leaving for
Access Nation to Memphis,tennessee.
Be praying for them as theytravel.
Pastor Matthew traveling,mercies.
Hey, it's gonna be a great week.
Listen, may the Lord bless you,keep you, cause his face to

(44:30):
shine upon you as you give today, give generously, and we