Experiencing God's Rest

January 18, 2026

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Right now we're gonna jump into this word.
Meditation text comes from avery familiar passage of
scripture for many, Matthew 11,verse 28.
If we can read it together.
Let's read.
Come to me, all who are wearyand heavy laden, and I will give

(00:22):
you rest.
Amen.
I like how the message reads it.
It says, Are you tired?
Worn out?
Burnt out on religion?
Come to me.
Get away with me, and you'llrecover your life.
I'll show you how to take a realrest.

(00:43):
That's not bad.
Our main text comes from Hebrewschapter 4, verses 11 and 12.
I really want to encourage uswith this word today coming out
of the fan.
That we have some kind of dailyhabit in God's word.

(01:09):
We got a number of disciples inclasses that we'll be starting
pretty soon.
I definitely would like to get afew more Bible studies going and
see what the Lord says.
But I want to encourage you asyou come out of this fashion.
If you heard from God, it'sbecause you heard him in his
word.

(01:30):
And so I really, really want toemphasize that.
For 2026.
Make it a goal to see God's wordevery day.
And let's see what the Lorddoes.
So, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 11through 12, here's what it says.
Therefore, let us be diligent toenter that rest so that no one

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will fall.
Through following the sameexample of disobedience.
For the word of God is livingand active and sharper than any
two-edged sword.
Tell your neighbor, it's not afeather.
And piercing as far as thedivision of the soul and spirit
of both joints and marrow, andable to judge the thoughts and

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intention, intentions of theheart.
Amen.
And I want to talk aboutexperiencing God's rest.
Experiencing God's rest.

(02:37):
When we've entered in a periodduring the sleep, in what is
called REM.
Rapid eye movement.
This phenomenon occursthroughout the night.
Sometimes four to six times.
But when it happens, experts saywe have deep, deep rest.

(03:03):
We experience the true essenceof rest.
When it happens, we experiencebetter memory processing, better
mood regulation for ouremotional health, better
concentration and problemsolving skills, a better overall
brain function.
In a word, we all need REM inour nightly sleep.

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It gives us rest.
It's similar to what happens formany of us when it comes to our
digital devices.
Whether it's smartphone ortablets or smart TVs, every now
and then our devices will get aglitch where it seems like the

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software has crossed its wires.
Nothing really wrong with thedevice, it's what's going on on
the inside that's not right.
And so when that happens, whatdo we do?
We don't go down and trade inthe phone or trade in the TV.
We ain't got that kind of money,amen.
No, we reboot the device.

(04:10):
We reboot the tablet, we rebootthe smartphone, we reboot the
smart TV.
And by rebooting it, it comesback and begins to operate
optimally, the way it wasdesigned to function.
In a word, the device had a deepsleep.
In a word, it took a nap andwoke up and felt better about

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itself.
Same is true for us.
We need that reboot of the soul.
We need that REM of the soul,and that's really what I'm
raising today.
Is there an REM of the soul?
Because how many of y'all knowyou can go to bed early and
sleep all night and still wakeup worried and bothered?

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I can get rest in my physicalbody, but is there rest for my
soul?
Is there a divine reboot thathelps me operate properly?
And a society that encouragesoverwork for lower pay, and a
society that advocates for meritand success based on lies and

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not the truth.
In a society in which we don'teven know if our children are
gonna come home safely thatnight.
How many of y'all know we needsome rest?
That's what the writer is tryingto communicate in this text in
verse one of the chapter.
The writer answers the questionfor us is there REM rest for the

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soul?
He says, Yes, there is rest forour souls.
In verse 11, the writerencourages us to enter into that
rest.
And surely there's threeelements of rest that usually
the scriptures talk about.
There's the eternal rest thatevery Christian has who placed

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faith in Jesus Christ.
That when life ends on thisside, there's an eternal rest on
the other side.
Anybody know what I'm talkingabout?
But a second level would saythere's also that kingdom rest.
That's when Jesus will bringabout the consummation of all
things.
The world will come to an end, anew heaven and a new earth will

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be birthed, and an entire newreality will be brought into
existence.
And what God intended in Genesis1 will become a reality when
Jesus returns.
All that is good, but I believefor our purposes, the rest that
the writer is talking about heretoday is what Jesus said.

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Come unto me.
All ye that are weary and heavyladen, and I will give you rest.
Kind of like what that72-year-old woman said that had
just finished the march fromSelma to Montgomery when Martin
King was marching for the forthe vote, the voting right in

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Alabama.
They asked her, Was she tired?
She said, My feet is tired, butmy soul is resting.
That's the kind of rest I want.
I may be physically tired, buton the inside I'm still strong.
And I believe God wants to giveus that kind of rest.
And I believe our thesisstatement helps us find it.

And here it is (07:31):
the rest of God is found in the word of God.
Is there rest for our soul?
Yes, it's found in the word ofGod.
Psalm 1 says, but his delight isin the law of the Lord, and in
his law he meditates day andnight.
For he shall be like a treefirmly planted by the river

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waters, which yields its fruitin season, and its leaves does
not wither.
And whatever he does, heprospers.
Don't miss that.
He's doing that in the desert,y'all.
He's doing that in difficulttimes.
But you know God is working inyour life when he calls you to

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flourish in unflourishingplaces.
Ah, the word of God is whatgives me the rest of God.
For the word of God is livingand active, sharper than any
two-edged sword.
What does he mean by the word ofGod?
Because understand, when hespeaks this word, they don't
have the Bible like we have ittoday.

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It's not in its complete form.
If anything, they had the OldTestament and may have had a few
letters of the New Testament,but we don't get the full canon
until the fourth century untilthat African theologian
Athanasius puts together thatcanon.
So what does he mean by the wordof God?
It's better to say the word thatGod has spoken for our time.

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Meaning this it's the word ofGod through the lens and the
eyes of Jesus Christ.
He says in verse 1 that God hasspoken to us through his son.
So Christ becomes the center, hebecomes the lens, he becomes the

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window by which I understand thescriptures that are spoken to
me.
Put it another way, it's aChristiological hermeneutic that
we ought to come to the text tounderstand what God is saying to
our lives.
Matter of fact, I'll go so farto say it as Jesus said it in
John chapter 5, verse 39.

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I love this text.
He says, You search thescriptures, and in them you
think they give you eternallife.
But it is those scriptures thatyou search that testify of me.
In a word, Jesus says, if youreally want to know who I am,
every time you read thescriptures, I'm gonna show up in

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your life.
Oh, I wish I could preach this.
Because we got a whole lot ofChristians today that can pick
up the Bible and say nothingabout Jesus and think that
somehow God is involved in it.
Jesus said, No, everything fromGenesis to Revelation, it is a
revelation of who I am to theworld.

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The rest of God is found in theWord of God.
So I'm gonna say it like myGreek professor at Dallas
Seminary, Dr.
Daniel Wallace.
One of the foremost scholars inGreek on the planet, y'all.
This man was so brilliant thatwhen they went to grade his
dissertation, nobody on thecampus could read it.

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They had to send it outside thecountry for somebody else to
read it.
He's a bad brother.
You hear me?
But here's what he used to tellus.
And I want to get it right.
He says, our study of thescriptures ought not lead us to
master the Bible, but it oughtto lead us to the master of the

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Bible.
Isn't that the problem today?
The way some Christians quotescriptures, they act like they
didn't master the Bible.
And the question is, has themaster of the Bible mastered
you?
That's what it means to have theword of God in our lives.
That we are like it ought tolead us to a closer walk with

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Jesus.
So let me just say a few thingsabout the word of God.
Number one, the word of Godreveals to us the voice of God.
Why do we need the word of God?
Because the word of God revealsthe voice of God to us.
How do we know God is reallyspeaking to us?
How do you know it was just itjust was some bad pizza you had
the night before?

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Or is your mind talking to you?
Because when you look online tosome of the stuff folks said God
told me, okay, you had bad pizzalast night, bruh.
You need the word of God.
Chapters three and four reallyform a homily.
And in this sermon, this minihomily that the Hebrew writer

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crafts here, he has his maintext as Psalm 95 and 7.
And in that text, we get thesewords today, if you hear my
voice, harden not your heart.
Three times he quotes thatverse.
And that's the point he wants tomake about the importance of
hearing God's voice.
And that text is a psalm ofworship that David wrote for the

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people of God.
And it's like David wasreminding them that look, we can
come to worship, but now worshipalone is not enough.
Don't make the mistake ofprevious generations.
And he refers back to whathappened in the book of Numbers
and how Israel had come to thepromised land and they had sent

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12 spies into the wilderness,and 10 came back with a bad
report.
And because the 10 came backwith a bad report, they wandered
in the wilderness for 40 years.
The trip was only a 10-day trip,but took 40 years to get there.
Ever wonder why it takes folksso long to get to some purpose
and goal in their life?

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Maybe it's because they're noton board with what God is trying
to do in their life.
And David circled around andsaid, Look, we can have good
worship, we can have goodministry, but if we don't do
what God tells us to do, we'regonna wander in the wilderness.
Hear me well.
We're more inclined to ignoreGod's voice than we are to hear.

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Oh, y'all don't hear me today.
Ah, let me say it like this.
Let me say it like this.
Let me say it like this.
Here it is.
Say it like this.
So, so um, years ago, years ago,because this hasn't happened
recently, years ago, counsel,young man that was thinking
about getting married and didn'tknow if he was gonna get
married, wasn't sure, and andyou know, young folk would ask

(14:10):
you questions.
And I let them ask whateverquestion they would ask,
whatever you want to ask.
And he asked me the question, soPastor, why should I get
married?
Who are you to tell me aboutmarriage?
Now he didn't mean anythingdisrespectful, he really didn't
understand why he neededmarriage, why did he need a
paper?
Who are you to tell him how tofunction as a husband or her?

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He said, I can do that all on myown.
Why do I need all this?
You know I had an answer, right?
Just checking.
And I said, you're right.
I said, you don't have to do it.
You don't have to do any ofthis.
I said, but I do it because I'ma Christian.

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I do it because my God expectsme to do it.
What you do, you do what youbelieve to be true for you.
I do it as an act of faith.
I do what God expects me to dobecause I love him enough to
demonstrate it in my faithbefore God.
If you don't love the Lord, youdon't have to do any of this

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kind of stuff.
And what I was trying to teachhim is there's a difference
between belief and faith.
I can believe a lot of thingsabout God, but until I begin to
practice what God wants for mylife, it's just a waste of time.
Oh, let me put it like this.
I've used this illustration, butit works.

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It's kind of like that man whowalked on a tightrope across the
Niagara Falls, and there werecrowds that were there, didn't
think he couldn't do it he coulddo it, because y'all know they
showed up to see if he was gonnafall and die.
You know that, right?
They show up, they stretch atightrope across the Niagara
Falls, and he walks, and Iforgot exactly how what the

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distance was, but it was apretty long distance.
He walks all the way across theNiagara Falls on a tightrope,
and then when he gets to theend, the crowd just erupts in
thunderous praise.
Couldn't believe a man could dothat.
He turns to the crowd, he says,Do you believe I can do it
again?
They said, Yes! Do you believe Ican do it again?

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He says, Yes! I mean, the crowdsaid yes.
Then he says, Who'll be thefirst one to jump on my back as
I walk back?
And just like y'all laughing, itgot quiet.
It's one thing to believe thathe can walk on a tightrope
across the Niagara fall.
It's another thing to get on hisback and by faith and trust him

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to take him across.
And I know faith sounds crazy toa lot of us, but it's more than
just believing that he rose fromthe dead.
I will trust him and follow himin how he wants me to live my
life.
It's not just belief, it'sfaith.
Want to hear the voice of God?

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You gotta respond in faith.
We're debating what God wants usto do.
What I'm saying is sometimes Godhas already spoken as to what
we're supposed to do.
And until we handle thatrevelation, what makes us think
we can handle some newrevelation?
We ain't even handled the oldrevelation.

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Oh, let me keep going.
I'd have made you mad.
Here's the second one.
The word of God allows us toknow the heart of God.
A lot of things here describingthe word of God is living and
active, sharper than anytwo-edged sword, able to judge
thoughts and intentions.
Number one, the word isrefreshing.

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When it says it's living andactive, it's kind of like what
the old preacher would say.
When we open the Bible, Godopens his mouth.
It's alive.
I put here in 2 Timothy 3:16,all scripture is inspired.
That word inspired, Godbreathed.
And it's an image designed to goback to what God did with Adam.

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The Bible says God breathed onAdam and he became a living
soul.
The word of God will give youlife.
It'll bring you back to life.
But hey, even Christians need tobe restored to new life.
Sometimes I need to be renewed.
And the word of God acts asbreath to renew my life.

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That I might be fresh.
That's what David meant when hesays he restores my soul.
He refreshes my soul and givesme new life to keep going.
The word of God is refreshing.
The word of God is a mirror.
It's a mirror.
Because in the text, he alsosays it's able to judge.

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In other words, while we judgein others, the word is judging
us.

And here's the idea (19:07):
it's not judged like in a courtroom.
Because Paul said there's nocondemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus.
The devil will try to put on yousomething that God has already
forgiven you of.
No, the judgment is aboutdiscernment to help us see in
our behaviors what is good andwhat is not good.

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It's to help us to distinguishbetween good and evil.
Because we live in a world whereall the lines are blurred.
Say amen.
It's all blurred.
And so the word of God is ableto judge.
The psalmist said it like this,and this is a great prayer.
Search me, O God.
Know my heart.
Try me, know my anxious thought,and see if there's any hurtful.

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One translation says, grievousway in me and lead me in the
everlasting way.
The word of God is a mirror forme to look in.
Too many Christians think theword of God is a window to look
in the lives of other people.

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Tell your neighbor the word ofGod is not a window, baby.
It's just a mirror.
That's what it is.
It's a mirror.
Helps me see when my hair ain'tright and my face ain't right.
I don't need you to tell mewhat's not right.
Okay, I'm gonna leave thatalone.
Word of God is surgical.
He calls it a two-edged sword.

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And the word here for sword is adagger.
It's the same one he uses inEphesians 6.
The sword of the spirit, thedagger of the spirit.
And hopefully nobody in here hasdaggers.
Amen.
But a dagger is for close toclose, close hand-to-hand
combat, close encounters.
We would call it a scapel.
The word of God is surgical andprecise in what it wants to do.

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It's not trying to kill us, butit is trying to kill what could
kill us.
That's why I use the wordscapel.
We can't handle daggers.
Somebody come at us with adagger, we're gonna pull our
nine millimeter, right?

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So I said, let me switch thisup.
A scalpel.
We know surgeons use scapels.
But we have the good sense.
He ain't trying to kill us.
But he is trying to kill whatmay kill us.
Had an interesting experiencethis week that helped me see
this in a way I never sawbefore.
So so most of y'all know, Ithink it was October 31st, I had

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to have a minor eye surgery.
And everything's fine.
But the worst thing they want tohappen to your eye is get an
infection.
Because I've had to have anumber of cornea transplants.
Long story, if you want to knowthe story, I'll tell you after
service, I ain't got time to gothrough all that.
But the last thing they want isan infection.
So there was something appearingon my I couldn't even feel it.
I was fine.
She took one look, put thatcotton swab on.

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I said, ooh, that hurts.
And looked like an infection wasforming.
So they gave me an antibiotic,but this was an interesting
antibiotic.
This was not an oral antibiotic.
They eventually did give me anoral antibiotic, and I'm on it,
I'm still on it right now.
But this one was a drops, twodifferent medications that went
into my eye.
And I had to put them in my eyeevery single hour of the day.

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And they had to be refrigerated.
If you took them out of therefrigerator and left them out
too long, they were no good.
The antibiotic had to be coldfor it to work.
Interesting, over the first day,everything was fine.
Second day, my eye began toreally hurt and sting.
Went back to the doctor.
I said, you know, my eyes beganto hurt.

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She took one look at it,everything is looking wonderful.
She just shouted.
She said, Matter of fact, youcan start decreasing the dosage.
I said, Yeah, but my eye ishurting.
She said, that's because one ofthe medications that you have,
it's a toxin.
I said, talk to me.
My homilytical antennas went up.

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She said, the toxin has to beput in your eye to kill the
infection.
I said to myself, oh, it'ssomething that was put in my eye
not to kill me, but to killsomething that's in me.
I said, then what was the secondone?
I said, when I put that one in,I don't feel anything.
She said, oh, that's a soother.

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It's healing what the toxinleaves behind.
Before he can heal me, hethought he has to cut me.

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Let me wrap this thing up.
The word of God brings us intothe presence of God.
And here's where the shift comesas he comes to the end of
chapter four.
He shifts and talks about Jesusas our high priest.
And in chapter five, through Ibelieve it's seven, maybe eight,

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he talks about the high priestlyministry of Jesus.
And so he says in verse 14,therefore, since we have a great
high priest who is passedthrough the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast ourconfession.
In other words, let's hold on toour faith.
For we do not have a high priestwho cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses.

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One who has been tempted in allthings as we are, yet without
sin.
Therefore, let us draw near withconfidence.
I don't have to be scared.
He's waiting for me to come,y'all.
Even when I messed up, I canstill come to him, to the throne
of grace, so that we may receivemercy and find grace to help in

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time of need.
The word will give us peace.
Because when we get into theword of God, the presence of God
becomes real and we experiencethe peace of God.
I'll close with this and I'mdone.
Ha! Came across the story of apreacher.
Been preaching for a number ofyears, and he was getting toward
his senior years, close toretirement.

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And one of the things he wantedto do, he wanted to learn how to
fly a plane.
That was one of his bucket listitems.
And so as he came to the closeof his ministry, he began to
take up private lessons at alocal airport, learning how to
fly.
He was doing really well.

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He was on about his eighthlesson, and they're flying, and
his instructor is sitting nextto him, and for the first time,
he flies into a cloud bank.
Every single flight before thenwas always clear blue sky.
Just wonderful weather.
This time he flew into a cloudbank.

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And there was a little bit ofrain in that cloud and a little
bit of wind that he had neverencountered.
He said, Of course, anxietybegan to build up.
He became a little bit nervous.
He said, the anxiety began toclutch his breathing.
He said his legs began totighten up, his hands began to
grip and sweat.

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He said he began to jerk alittle bit.
He jerked the car the uh theplane a little bit, and it kind
of fly a little bit differently.
And the whole time he's he'sjust sweating with fear.
Finally, he looks over to hisinstructor, hadn't moved,
sitting there with a smile onhis face, like everything was

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right with the world.
He went on and tried to workthrough it, but he just was too
nervous.
Finally, the instructor put hishand on, put his hand on his
hand that was on the throttleand moved it over and said to
him, just trust the instruments.
The instruments will get youthrough the cloud bank.

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Rest and enjoy the ride.
He said for the first time hehad to trust those instruments
and his flying instincts.
And lo and behold, he was right.
As long as he focused on theinstruments, it got him through
the cloud bank.
And the instructor with a smileon his face told him, I told you

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it was gonna be alright.
Pastor, what are you talkingabout?
When we're walking with Jesus,we got an instructor who walks
with us.
And when the storm gets a littleheavy and we get a little bit
anxious, you know what he says?
Just trust the instrument.

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Just trust the instrument.
It'll get you to where you'retrying to go.
All I'm simply trying to say,y'all, let's be a people of the
word.
God will use the word to bringus through every single time.
Come on, let's close with a wordof prayer.
Father, we bless you and thankyou again for your word.

(28:27):
Thank you again for this fast.
Thank you for all that you arecultivating in all of us.
Thank you that the word is atwo-edged sword.
It does cut both ways.
It cuts to kill some things inus, but it's not trying to kill
us.
It's trying to heal us.

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Trying to make us better.
Thank you for that assurance.
Now just lift us up as a church.
Thank you for being the lovingchurch we are.
The compassionate and caringchurch we are.
Lord, may we not lose that.
But Lord, take us a littlehigher and make us a church of

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the word.
Not in arrogance, not in thisreligious pride and piety.
We don't need that.
But Lord, by your spirit, in theimage and the spirit of Christ,
our Savior, our Lord.
May we conduct ourselves in hisimage, in his way.

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That people will say, Thereindeed are the people of God.
Have your way as we come to theLord's Supper.
Bless us now.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Listen to these words of themaster.
While they were eating, Jesustook bread.
And when he had given thanks, hebroke it and gave it to his

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disciples, saying, Take and eat.
This is my body.
Then he took a cup.
And when he had given thanks, hegave it to them, saying, Drink
from it, all of you.
This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out
for many for the forgiveness ofsins.

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I tell you, I will not drinkfrom this fruit of the vine.
From now on until that day, Idrink it new or afresh with you
in my Father's kingdom.
Take a moment and just bow for amoment of prayer and ask the

(30:40):
Lord to help you to receive whatyou need to receive today,
coming out of your fast or justthe service, the worship, the
word.