March 2, 2025 • 32 mins
Challenge your perspective on spiritual growth and community in this thought-provoking episode. We dive into the deep-seated issues of hypocrisy within Christianity, emphasizing the critical importance of genuine nurturing for our faith. Using the metaphor of plant growth, we explore how both individual and collective efforts contribute to a thriving faith life. Join us as we examine the stories of those who navigated their way from doubt to belief, shedding light on God’s transformational power.
With rich insights from Scripture, this episode inspires listeners to reflect on their roles as nurturers of faith. The conversation encourages you to extend grace, love, and support to those around you, especially those who may feel disillusioned or marginalized. We also discuss the Parable of the Talents, urging everyone to recognize their gifts and invest them wisely in God’s kingdom.
Engage with us as we unravel the essence of being part of a community that thrives on mutual upliftment and authentic connections. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to grow and nurture not only your own faith but also that of others around you. Join our journey, and let’s grow together! Be sure to subscribe, share your thoughts with us, and leave a review!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pick at it, just right, you start to find all of
the loosey-gooseys, the leavesthat aren't really there.
Why is that?
Because even those of us whoare the most seasoned in Christ
still have a little bit of extra.
That's not really Christ in ourlives, right?
(00:20):
And so the problem is is oncewe start to pick that out and
the world loves to pick this out, right, and then who is this to
the world?
This is Jesus, this is thechurch.
The fake stuff, the stuff thatwas pulled off.
Oh, you know, I talked to aChristian once who smoked.
(00:43):
You know, I talked to aChristian once who smoked.
I talked to a Christian oncethat used to swear.
I talked to a Christian oncethat used to drink.
I talked to a Christian oncethat used to what?
Just fill in the blank, right?
And then they go.
Well, all Christians arehypocrites, all Christians.
Oh, I'll never go to church.
(01:05):
I heard somebody say one timewell, that's why I don't believe
in God, that's why I don'tbelieve.
You want me to tell you why youdon't believe in God?
Because you're too dumb to eventry.
Let me tell you something thereis no way that you can
genuinely not believe that Godis around, if you just live in
his presence for a moment.
I'm gonna tell you.
During worship this morning, Iwas thinking to myself like Lord
, I don't know what you'retrying to do right now, but just
do it right, because I knowwhenever you do it it's going to
(01:27):
feel like fire.
It's just something big isgoing to happen, and I always
wait for whatever it is thathe's going to do, and he didn't
do it.
He didn't do what I expectedhim to do.
I expected this altar to befull of people laying on their
face, but that was in my brain,right?
Is it fair of me to say well,god, you didn't do that, so you
(01:48):
must not be real?
No, because I know who Godreally is right.
This isn't about what I want.
This is about what he's goingto do right.
And what is God going to dotoday?
He is going to raise up healthyChristians Now.
He's not going to do that byjust giving us all the things
(02:10):
that we want all the time.
He's going to start you outright here Now.
See, when I look at this plant,I know that it's still a healthy
plant.
How do I know that?
It's got a little bit of green?
It's fairly firm, doesn't looklike it's going to little bit of
green.
It's fairly firm, doesn't looklike it's going to fall off
anytime soon.
But what most of you can't seethat I can is there's lots of
(02:33):
green little sprouts starting onthese stems.
See, god is doing something newfor this plant.
Sometimes the old has to dieoff in order for the new to
start to grow.
Amen.
(02:53):
Now, this doesn't give me hopefor this plant, because I look
at it in the flesh and go, yeah,two little starts.
That thing's still really uglylooking.
It still looks really sad andpathetic.
But I know that in the righthands that thing can continue to
grow.
You are the hands that willwater and feed one of those
(03:16):
seeds.
Casts on the stone, on the path, on the fertile soil, it
doesn't matter, you will waterthose seeds.
Now we can plant the seed, wecan water the seed, but we
cannot make the seed grow.
That is the responsibility ofGod, right?
(03:38):
So I will scatter as much seedas I can, scatter Everywhere
that I can throw.
Have you guys ever seeded yourlawn?
They tell you how much you'resupposed to use, like it's got
this mathematical equation forthe square footage of your yard
and if you have one of thoselittle things you push around,
you got to set the dial justright, fill it full of seed.
You know how I do it Shake thebag out, right?
You can't seed too much, right?
(03:59):
That's how I feel.
I feel like when I'm sharingthe word of God, I cannot seed
too much, I cannot throw enoughseed, but I have to be full in
order to be able to spread seed.
See, I can't come to church onSunday and sit in the back and
play on my phone.
I can't come to church onSunday and have a coffee and sit
(04:27):
and think about how happy I'llbe when this is all over and I
get to go home.
I can't come to church onSunday or Wednesday night or
even talk to somebody on thephone and think, my, I just
don't even know how God couldeven put up with that person,
because you're choosing topoison at the root rather than
nourish at the root.
Okay, a lot of us.
(04:53):
Our roots are too shallow andwe're dying because we don't
even understand the real love ofGod, because we're too worried
about the world, we're worriedabout revenge, we're worried
about how good we look on socialmedia, we're worried about what
fleshly people think and we'renot worried enough about what
God thinks of us.
Amen, listen, if you follow meon Instagram which I know none
of you do, because I got likeseven followers on Instagram I'm
(05:14):
practically famous at thispoint, right, a few more they're
going to have to start payingme.
I know that the life thatpeople see on social media is
not the real life, right?
For those of you who follow meon any type of social media
Facebook, whatever you get tosee the good, the bad and the
(05:34):
ugly.
Now, there isn't a lot of uglyin my life right now, but that's
because I've re-centered myselfon what God would have him,
what I would have him do in mylife, and it is his will, not
mine, right, amen.
And I'll tell you when I madethat decision.
Actually, when my wife helped memake that decision and I say
that truthfully, not jokingly,because when we had a serious
conversation what do we want in10 years?
(05:56):
You ever gone to a jobinterview?
Where do you see yourself in 10years?
Everybody's like, oh, I seemyself growing, right here.
None of us mean that If anotheropportunity comes up and I can
make more money, I'm going there, right, hallelujah, thank you,
jesus, but I know with God Ican't go anywhere else and make
more money.
I know that I can't leave hisgrace and his mercy and get more
(06:19):
.
It might look like it on thesurface, but I promise you I
can't.
And so when my wife and I askedourselves where do we want to
see ourselves in 10 years, wewanted to see ourselves
somewhere far greater than weare today, right, financially,
emotionally, spiritually.
My wife and I, we have a prettygood marriage.
We don't fight very oftenbecause I know better.
(06:40):
Right, listen, I love my wife,but what's the purpose of
fighting with her?
She is my spiritual covering,just the same as I'm her
spiritual covering.
If I fight with my wife andshe's mad at me and I have to go
to work that morning and I knowshe didn't pray for me, which
my wife would never do I'mworried about my safety Because
I know my wife's got my back inall things, right.
(07:03):
When can we start treatingother Christians like that?
When can I look at the personsitting next to me and say I
don't like your life, I don'tlike, I don't like you, but you
know you're sitting next to yourwife, right?
I said sit next to the personyou don't like and he goes amen,
okay, I know that if, when Ican turn to the person I'm
(07:29):
sitting next to, whether I likeyou or not, and I can say I'm
going to pray for you, I'm goingto lift you up, that's when I'm
going to make a change in theworld.
Right, that's when I'm going tomake a change in the world.
See, we scatter seeds on thesoil that we like.
That doesn't mean that it isfertile soil, right?
Because some of us fellowshipwith people who, every time you
(07:53):
plant the seed, the birds justcome and eat it up, right?
Those are the people we spendtime with and then we just can't
figure out why isn't Godworking in their lives?
Well, I'll tell you, you can'tmake that seed grow.
Only God can make that seedgrow.
Their heart has to be softenedbefore that soil becomes fertile
(08:15):
, before God is able to make itgrow.
All right, I already plucked outleaves.
Oh man, I skipped around a lot.
So now I'm confused.
I know I felt good about this.
I was like I got this.
Oh man, okay, when we'redealing with those people who
(08:42):
are not Christ-like, thosepeople who are, we would
consider the path where the soilcannot grow any seed.
Can I tell you that you cannotrationalize with somebody who
hates God, even if they won'tadmit it.
When you're sowing the seed andthat seed is not growing, when
(09:07):
you're sowing that seed and thatseed is not getting watered,
when you sow that seed andthey're like, well, that's the
most ignorant thing I've everheard.
You cannot rationalize withthat person.
I'm not telling you to run, I'mtelling you get it at arm's
length and pray for that person,lord, soften their heart,
prepare them for what you aregoing to do in their lives.
Amen.
Listen.
(09:28):
I performed the wedding of acouple many years ago who did
not believe in God, and theyasked me as their friend and
when I wrote their weddingservice, they came to my house,
we read through it and they saidthey're very respectful of who
I was, but as their friend.
(09:49):
They said they're veryrespectful of who I was, but as
their friend.
They said we would like tolimit the mention of God and we
would prefer that we don't prayduring the ceremony, but we will
bless the food at the receptionand I think that my wife
probably looked at me like I hadsix heads when I agreed to do
that, because we're all like whywould a pastor do that?
I'm going to take what I canget.
(10:09):
You're going to let me blessthe food at the reception, where
there are going to be morepeople.
I'm going to take that rightNow.
That might not feel like agreat return on investment, but
I'm going to take it.
And I said hey, listen, I'm nothere to force God on you.
If that's what you want, I'mhappy to do that.
And we did that.
(10:29):
And the young man's mom calledme and she said Pastor Michael,
I just don't understand.
You're not even going tomention God in your message,
because we had rehearsal,obviously.
And I said you're right, I'mnot.
I said because theyspecifically asked me not to and
I've approved it.
(10:50):
And she's like well, what ifyou just put this here?
And I said, yeah, I'll considerit, I'll think about it.
I never thought about it and Inever planned to do it.
Today they have two children,beautiful children, very healthy
children, and they attend alocal church.
Now, these are people whowanted nothing to do with God
(11:11):
when they got married.
But do you realize that it tookconversation, lots of
conversation, conversation thatwas maybe covered a little bit
just in who God really is.
And hey, listen, you guys aredoing great things.
I know that you're both growingtremendously.
Have you guys found a localchurch to connect with?
(11:31):
Oh, no, we're not interested ingoing to church.
And I kept asking that questionover and over again.
See, they look like this.
They had these little starts onthem and I could see those
little starts.
At a close examination I couldsee that something was happening
.
And then all of a sudden I bumpinto him somewhere and they had
(11:52):
their oldest son with them atthe time and they introduced me
to him and cutest little boyyou'd ever meet and he had on
those shoes that when he walkedhe squeaked Like they had
squeakers in the back cutestshoes in the whole wide world.
And I was just, we were justloving on it, on their son.
We were talking and the guy saidto me he said, hey, I just
wanted to say thank you forpraying for us.
And I said it's my pleasure.
(12:12):
Anytime I can pray for somebody, I want to do that.
And he said, no, you don'tunderstand.
We knew that you were prayingfor us because we had this
desire to know who God reallywas.
Now these are people who wouldhave never ended up, likely
ended up in church, but Icontinued to water a seed that
was not really going to growvery quickly.
(12:35):
Today they're in church almostevery Sunday.
I would never say anybody's inchurch every Sunday, but most
every Sunday.
They're happy and they'reforming a relationship with
Christ.
That relationship with Christhas strengthened their marriage.
That relationship with Christhas allowed their children to
grow in Christ.
This is a big deal, but mostpeople would have taken them and
(12:56):
thrown them in the trashbecause they looked sickly, they
didn't look healthy.
Can I ask you that when somebodywalks through our door, maybe
they look different than us, oreven better.
Yet maybe you know somethingabout them that the rest of the
church doesn't know.
This is my favorite.
I love it when people come inthe church for the first time
(13:17):
and somebody sneaks up to me.
Just, pastor michael, did youknow that they blank?
Pastor michael, that personthat just came in right over
there they were at the bar lastnight.
They smell like booze.
Pastor Michael, did you know?
And they're always pointing andtelling secrets.
(13:37):
Can I promise you that Iprobably know something about
you too, because chances aresomebody else is going.
Pastor Michael, did you knowRight, when those people come
through the door, when does itbecome common practice for us to
just embrace them and love themwhere they are Not for where we
(13:59):
want them to be, but where theyare when they walk through the
door?
Because I'm going to tell you,I'll take a drug addict, I'll
take a prostitute, I'll take ahomosexual couple, I don't care,
as long as I can show them whoGod really is.
Because, let me tell yousomething, when we start turning
those people away, when westart trying to tell them that
they're not welcome in the houseof God, they will never find
(14:21):
Jesus.
We can take them, throw them inthe trash and it's over, and
they will never know who Godreally is.
Because if the church treats methat way, certainly God will
treat me that way.
Can I tell you something?
God should have thrown me awayyears ago.
If he was throwing people away,I should have been on the top
of the list.
I'd have been in the bottom ofthe bag.
You know, I'm hoping he's usinga hefty bag because there's
(14:43):
going to be a lot of us in it,right?
And we're going to be kickingand screaming the whole time
because we somehow think thatour sin is different than the
sin of the world.
I'm going to promise yousomething, church If you are
sinning and a lot of you arelike, oh, I don't sin, I'm
perfect, I got life figured outyou need to be the first one to
the altar when we open it uppretty soon.
Because I'm going to tell yousomething If you're sitting in
your seat thinking you've got itfigured out, then you need to
(15:05):
be in heaven, right?
I don't know if you need to gowalk.
No, I'm not going to say that.
Redirect me, jesus, redirect me.
All right, I got to cover onemore passage of scripture.
This morning we're going to goto Matthew 25, 14.
(15:26):
Matthew 25, 14.
I still hear pages turning, soI'll wait.
We all there there, okay, again, the kingdom of heaven can be
illustrated by the story of aman going on a long trip.
(15:47):
How many of you know thisparable?
It's one of my favorites.
It's one of my favorites.
It's one of my favorites.
It's one of my favoritesbecause I think it's one of Dave
Ramsey's favorites.
I don't know, you'll get it ina second.
It's a funny joke.
He called together his servantsand entrusted his money to them.
While he was gone, he gave fivebags of silver to one, two bags
of silver to another and onebag of silver to the last,
(16:09):
dividing it in proportion totheir abilities.
Then he left on his trip.
Now I'm going to tell yousomething.
There are some people that ifyou left them with five bags of
silver and then went on a trip,when you come back you ain't
never going to see them again.
Right, right, they're going totake your five bags of silver
and they're going to runWheeling Island.
(16:31):
Here I come, baby, cha-ching,cha-ching, cha-ching, and you
come back flat broke.
Amen.
I can't gamble for that reason,because I don't know how to stop
.
I know that about myself andI'm okay with that, right, I
just say I can't.
Even this is not.
I can't go to Chuck E Cheese.
You give me one of those.
(16:51):
Like all day play cards man,and I'm like I can't go.
Pizza's ready.
Nope, I'm good, I'm good.
And you know what?
Those coin pushers.
You ever played those coinpushers?
I sit there all day long.
Some little four-year-old comeup.
Can I play?
No, I just got the machinewarmed up.
Go somewhere else.
Anyhow, the servant who receivedfive bags of silver began to
(17:15):
invest the money and earned fivemore.
The servant with two bags ofsilver also went to work and
earned two more.
The servant who received onebag of silver dug a hole in the
ground and hid the master'smoney.
After a long time, their masterreturned from his trip and he
(17:35):
called them to give an accountof how they had used his money.
The servant whom he hadentrusted with five bags of
silver came forward with fivemore and said Master, you gave
me five bags of silver to invest.
I have earned five more.
It's a pretty good return oninvestment.
Right?
He's doing it Dave Ramsey styleright there.
The master was full of praiseWell done, my good and faithful
(18:00):
servant.
You have been faithful inhandling this small amount, so
now I will give you many moreresponsibilities.
Let's celebrate together.
The servant who had received twobags of silver came forward and
said master, you gave me twobags of silver to invest.
I have earned two more.
The master said well done, mygood and faithful servant.
(18:24):
You have been faithful inhandling the small amount, so
now I will give you many moreresponsibilities.
Let's celebrate together.
Then the servant with one bag ofsilver came and said Master, I
knew you were a harsh man,harvesting crops you didn't
plant and gathering crops youdidn't cultivate.
I was afraid I would lose yourmoney, so I hid it in the earth.
(18:48):
Look, here's your money back.
But the master replied you,wicked and lazy servant, if you
knew, I had harvested crops thatI didn't plant and gathered
crops that I didn't cultivate.
Why didn't you deposit my moneyin the bank?
At least I could have gottensome interest on it.
Then he ordered take the moneyfrom this servant and give it to
(19:09):
the one with the ten bags ofsilver.
Those who use well what theyare given, even more will be
given and they will have anabundance.
But from those who do nothing,even what little they have will
be taken away.
Now throw this useless servantinto the outer darkness, where
there will be weeping andgnashing of teeth.
(19:32):
So the question may be reigningwhy are we here?
What's the point?
But I want to tie those twopassages of Scripture together.
(19:53):
You see, the master had giveneach servant some money and they
made their own decisions onwhat they would do with that
money.
And when it came time to returnit, they each had a story to
tell.
The one entrusted with fivebags came back with ten, the one
entrusted with two bags cameback with four, and the one
entrusted with one returned withthe same bag.
The man who did not invest thetime and the energy to turn a
(20:15):
profit was chastised and lostwhat little he had, and the
other received that money.
Go back to Matthew 13, 11.
For me, this was the firstscripture we started with.
Today, he replied you arepermitted to understand the
secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not.
To those who listen to myteaching, more understanding
(20:38):
will be given and they will havean abundance of knowledge.
But for those who are notlistening, even what little
understanding they have will betaken away from them.
Can you go to the next one?
For me?
You're sleeping on me.
That is why I use theseparables, for they look, but
they don't really see.
(20:59):
They hear, but they don'treally listen or understand.
To trust you with more, he musttrust you with little, and
today I ask if you are lookingfor more, has he been able to
trust you with little?
(21:22):
We have a very simple task athand that each and every one of
us can do every single day, andthat is to nourish this plant,
that's to feed it, that's towater it.
That means that person you'resitting next to, that you don't
like.
Yeah, if they fight later on,it wasn't my fault, I didn't
(21:48):
start that.
We have an option that's to tryto find new life in this plant
and to give it hope, to give ita fighting chance that most of
the time we won't give itbecause we look at it as sick
and dead so that it can soongrow to be like this.
(22:10):
Can you imagine if everyChristian that was in, not just
in the world but in thisbuilding alone, looked like this
, if we were all full of leaves,if we were all happy and
healthy and had life all sortedout, how great would the kingdom
of God become?
Amen.
But the reality is, many of usare like this, so many of us are
(22:30):
like this.
Reality is, many of us are likethis, so many of us are like
this, and we continue to pourand nourish and help.
Both of those passages are aboutdoing more with what little you
have.
Do you have a desire to startministry?
Do you have a desire to have abetter job?
Do you have a desire to grow ina way that you don't believe
(22:53):
that you can possibly grow?
I'm asking you are you doingenough with what little God has
given you today.
See, we started Financial PeaceUniversity.
What are we?
We in week five now?
Is this week five, yeah?
Of a nine-week course?
We've been through baby steps,almost all of the baby steps.
At this point we're reallystarting to get our head around
(23:14):
what it means to be freefinancially, and I think that as
we sit through those classesand we talk to the people, we
realize that some of us neverbelieved that we could be
debt-free or that we could livein a way that we would have
extra money from paycheck topaycheck.
Right, how many of us have hadto live paycheck to paycheck
before in our lives?
Right, it's not fun, but can Itell you, you're living blessing
(23:37):
to blessing today, dragging itout.
I can't do anything because Godhasn't blessed me.
Woe is me when you are castinto the outer darkness where
there is gnashing of teeth.
Let me ask you did you doanything with what little God
had given you?
Right, god has given yousomething every day, and that is
(24:01):
breath in your lungs Every day.
Listen, when he wakes me up inthe morning, before my feet hit
the floor, I feel like thatplant, right, amen.
How many of us wake up feelinglike this plant Before the
coffee, for sure, before thecoffee, I ain't got no leaves.
I don't even know if I'm humanat that point, right?
And I realized listen, I makemy wife's coffee every morning.
(24:24):
Every morning, I tell her I'mnot making coffee today, and
every morning I make her coffee.
This is off the topic, but Ijust want to tell you this man,
I'm leaning into you guys rightnow.
Just buckle up.
I'm sorry, I love you all, butsometimes we're just lazy.
Every morning I get up and Imake a pot of coffee for my wife
, and my wife will tell me Ijust don't do it the same way
that you do.
Let me explain something to you.
(24:45):
It's a filter, it's a scoop.
Press the button Three steps.
There is a difference.
Now I don't like to cook Once Icooked.
I don't like to eat the food Icooked, right, whether it's good
, bad or indifferent, there'sjust something about it.
Men, just do better, right?
I'm not being mean, I'm justsaying like can you imagine if I
(25:10):
wake up feeling like I'm nothuman some mornings?
Do you know how good it feelsfor my wife to wake up and that
coffee's already made for her?
I've added a leaf to her plant,right, that's what I'm saying.
Us men are much stronger thanwe give ourselves credit for,
and we are capable of much morethan we're willing to do.
That's it.
I'm ending on that one.
I'm not going to talk about it,no more.
I'm not going to talk about itanymore.
(25:30):
All right, but if I wake upfeeling like this, how easy is
it for the devil to convince methat that's what I look like,
right?
So, before my feet hit thefloor, god, whatever it is that
you're going to do with me today, do it big, be ready for it,
because if you want to look likethis every day, if you want to
grow and you want to be lusciousis that the right word?
(25:55):
Luscious, is that the rightword Then you have to be
prepared for the work that Godis going to put you through,
because he's going to have toburn out the dross in your life,
right, whenever he calls you tothe altar, he's going to have
to burn out all of that nastyand unhealthy stuff that you got
(26:16):
going on in your life in orderfor you to look happy and
healthy, because this thing canbe full of weeds just the same
as it can be full of beautifulplant.
Amen.
I need you guys to understandthat when we come here to get
filled up every week, it is notto hold on to all of those
fill-ups, it's to pour them backout, right?
(26:39):
So when you're sitting herefeeling like this, you need to
be pouring in to people likethat.
These are the people, listen,these are the people who need
your love and attention.
And I'm not saying you have toinvite everybody over for dinner
just because you feel likethey've had a bad week.
But you know, sometimes I justsend a text that says hey, I've
been thinking about you, I'mpraying for you, right?
(26:59):
That goes a long way.
Hey, how are you guys feelingwhen somebody's been sick?
It goes a long way because itmakes them realize hey, there
are people who care about me,god has put me in the right
place, amen, all right, that'sall I've got for that.
(27:22):
We're going to do communionthis morning.
Before we do that, I just wantto this final statement if you
are looking for more in yourlife, if you believe that God
has called you to somethinggreater and a lot of times
people get a message wheneverthey go to conferences and
whatnot, and I'm sure thishappens a lot.
It probably happened yesterday,where somebody got a word in
their life where something wasgoing to happen and they
(27:44):
immediately think it happenstoday, right?
Well, god said I was going tostart a Bible study.
God said I was going to start a.
You know how many people saythat.
You know how many peoplesurvived the first six months.
I'm surprised we survived sixmonths.
But the reason I'm surprised isbecause for some reason, god
(28:07):
thought I was the right personto put in charge, right?
And I, in my mind, I'm like God, I ain't got this figured out,
buddy, like you got to help meout here.
But I leaned into hisunderstanding and not my own,
right, and that's the difference.
Holy smokes, lord have mercy.
But the problem is is whensomebody speaks a word into our
lives, we want it right now.
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I'm not telling you thattoday's the day.
I'm not telling you tomorrow'sthe day.
I'm not telling you next week,I'm not telling you next month
or next year.
I'm saying that when God movesin your life, when he opens that
door, you'll know, you willknow Amen.
All right, let's pray together.
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Father, I thank you and I praiseyou that, as we go from this
message into communion, father,that you would allow us to just
spot those who are needing alittle extra nourishment today,
god, that they may look likethey don't belong in the house
of the Lord, father, that theymay look like they aren't quite
up to par, but, lord, we knowthat those people are your
children, just as we are, andthat, Father, we should be
pouring into them, blessing them, giving them guidance and
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direction.
Father, I just thank you forgiving us that knowledge, the
words to speak, father, theactions to take.
I just thank you and I praiseyou for that.
Lord, I pray, as we move intocommunion, that you examine the
hearts of those who are sittingin this room, father, and allow
them to experience your love andexperience your kindness.
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But, father, I want everybodywho's sitting here to understand
just how important it is tohave clean and open hearts
during this communion.
Allow us to just set free anyof the things that we're holding
on to Unforgiveness, hurt, hate, father, whatever it may be.
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Allow us to just let thosethings go so that we can be in
communion with you.
Father, I thank you, I praiseyou, I give you all the honor
and glory in the mighty name ofJesus, and the church says amen.
From a communion standpoint, wedon't have a membership
requirement.
If you're sitting in the roomand you want to take communion,
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you are welcome.
The only thing I ask is thatyou make sure that you are in
good standing with Christ beforeyou do so.
The Bible tells us that it isworse for a person to take
communion outside of a healthyrelationship with Christ than it
does to simply not take it.
I promise you this if you don'tget up from your seat, there's
nobody in this room that's goingto judge you for that, and if
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they do, let me know and I'llbop them on top of the head,
because we know the importanceof what we're about to do.
Pastor Holly, pastor Dave, willyou guys serve communion this
morning?
And as they're doing that?
So we'll start at this end andwe'll just come up just this
section and then we'll move tothe next section.
Just continue to contemplatewhat it is that God would have
(31:03):
you do in your lives as we takethis communion together this
morning.
I know that God is doing mightythings in a lot of our lives.
I just want us to be fullyaware of who he is and what it
is that he's doing.
Pick at it, just right, you start to find all of
the loosey-gooseys, the leavesthat aren't really there.
Why is that?
Because even those of us whoare the most seasoned in Christ
still have a little bit of extra.
That's not really Christ in ourlives, right?
(00:20):
And so the problem is is oncewe start to pick that out and
the world loves to pick this out, right, and then who is this to
the world?
This is Jesus, this is thechurch.
The fake stuff, the stuff thatwas pulled off.
Oh, you know, I talked to aChristian once who smoked.
(00:43):
You know, I talked to aChristian once who smoked.
I talked to a Christian oncethat used to swear.
I talked to a Christian oncethat used to drink.
I talked to a Christian oncethat used to what?
Just fill in the blank, right?
And then they go.
Well, all Christians arehypocrites, all Christians.
Oh, I'll never go to church.
(01:05):
I heard somebody say one timewell, that's why I don't believe
in God, that's why I don'tbelieve.
You want me to tell you why youdon't believe in God?
Because you're too dumb to eventry.
Let me tell you something thereis no way that you can
genuinely not believe that Godis around, if you just live in
his presence for a moment.
I'm gonna tell you.
During worship this morning, Iwas thinking to myself like Lord
, I don't know what you'retrying to do right now, but just
do it right, because I knowwhenever you do it it's going to
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feel like fire.
It's just something big isgoing to happen, and I always
wait for whatever it is thathe's going to do, and he didn't
do it.
He didn't do what I expectedhim to do.
I expected this altar to befull of people laying on their
face, but that was in my brain,right?
Is it fair of me to say well,god, you didn't do that, so you
(01:48):
must not be real?
No, because I know who Godreally is right.
This isn't about what I want.
This is about what he's goingto do right.
And what is God going to dotoday?
He is going to raise up healthyChristians Now.
He's not going to do that byjust giving us all the things
(02:10):
that we want all the time.
He's going to start you outright here Now.
See, when I look at this plant,I know that it's still a healthy
plant.
How do I know that?
It's got a little bit of green?
It's fairly firm, doesn't looklike it's going to little bit of
green.
It's fairly firm, doesn't looklike it's going to fall off
anytime soon.
But what most of you can't seethat I can is there's lots of
(02:33):
green little sprouts starting onthese stems.
See, god is doing something newfor this plant.
Sometimes the old has to dieoff in order for the new to
start to grow.
Amen.
(02:53):
Now, this doesn't give me hopefor this plant, because I look
at it in the flesh and go, yeah,two little starts.
That thing's still really uglylooking.
It still looks really sad andpathetic.
But I know that in the righthands that thing can continue to
grow.
You are the hands that willwater and feed one of those
(03:16):
seeds.
Casts on the stone, on the path, on the fertile soil, it
doesn't matter, you will waterthose seeds.
Now we can plant the seed, wecan water the seed, but we
cannot make the seed grow.
That is the responsibility ofGod, right?
(03:38):
So I will scatter as much seedas I can, scatter Everywhere
that I can throw.
Have you guys ever seeded yourlawn?
They tell you how much you'resupposed to use, like it's got
this mathematical equation forthe square footage of your yard
and if you have one of thoselittle things you push around,
you got to set the dial justright, fill it full of seed.
You know how I do it Shake thebag out, right?
You can't seed too much, right?
(03:59):
That's how I feel.
I feel like when I'm sharingthe word of God, I cannot seed
too much, I cannot throw enoughseed, but I have to be full in
order to be able to spread seed.
See, I can't come to church onSunday and sit in the back and
play on my phone.
I can't come to church onSunday and have a coffee and sit
(04:27):
and think about how happy I'llbe when this is all over and I
get to go home.
I can't come to church onSunday or Wednesday night or
even talk to somebody on thephone and think, my, I just
don't even know how God couldeven put up with that person,
because you're choosing topoison at the root rather than
nourish at the root.
Okay, a lot of us.
(04:53):
Our roots are too shallow andwe're dying because we don't
even understand the real love ofGod, because we're too worried
about the world, we're worriedabout revenge, we're worried
about how good we look on socialmedia, we're worried about what
fleshly people think and we'renot worried enough about what
God thinks of us.
Amen, listen, if you follow meon Instagram which I know none
of you do, because I got likeseven followers on Instagram I'm
(05:14):
practically famous at thispoint, right, a few more they're
going to have to start payingme.
I know that the life thatpeople see on social media is
not the real life, right?
For those of you who follow meon any type of social media
Facebook, whatever you get tosee the good, the bad and the
(05:34):
ugly.
Now, there isn't a lot of uglyin my life right now, but that's
because I've re-centered myselfon what God would have him,
what I would have him do in mylife, and it is his will, not
mine, right, amen.
And I'll tell you when I madethat decision.
Actually, when my wife helped memake that decision and I say
that truthfully, not jokingly,because when we had a serious
conversation what do we want in10 years?
(05:56):
You ever gone to a jobinterview?
Where do you see yourself in 10years?
Everybody's like, oh, I seemyself growing, right here.
None of us mean that If anotheropportunity comes up and I can
make more money, I'm going there, right, hallelujah, thank you,
jesus, but I know with God Ican't go anywhere else and make
more money.
I know that I can't leave hisgrace and his mercy and get more
(06:19):
.
It might look like it on thesurface, but I promise you I
can't.
And so when my wife and I askedourselves where do we want to
see ourselves in 10 years, wewanted to see ourselves
somewhere far greater than weare today, right, financially,
emotionally, spiritually.
My wife and I, we have a prettygood marriage.
We don't fight very oftenbecause I know better.
(06:40):
Right, listen, I love my wife,but what's the purpose of
fighting with her?
She is my spiritual covering,just the same as I'm her
spiritual covering.
If I fight with my wife andshe's mad at me and I have to go
to work that morning and I knowshe didn't pray for me, which
my wife would never do I'mworried about my safety Because
I know my wife's got my back inall things, right.
(07:03):
When can we start treatingother Christians like that?
When can I look at the personsitting next to me and say I
don't like your life, I don'tlike, I don't like you, but you
know you're sitting next to yourwife, right?
I said sit next to the personyou don't like and he goes amen,
okay, I know that if, when Ican turn to the person I'm
(07:29):
sitting next to, whether I likeyou or not, and I can say I'm
going to pray for you, I'm goingto lift you up, that's when I'm
going to make a change in theworld.
Right, that's when I'm going tomake a change in the world.
See, we scatter seeds on thesoil that we like.
That doesn't mean that it isfertile soil, right?
Because some of us fellowshipwith people who, every time you
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plant the seed, the birds justcome and eat it up, right?
Those are the people we spendtime with and then we just can't
figure out why isn't Godworking in their lives?
Well, I'll tell you, you can'tmake that seed grow.
Only God can make that seedgrow.
Their heart has to be softenedbefore that soil becomes fertile
(08:15):
, before God is able to make itgrow.
All right, I already plucked outleaves.
Oh man, I skipped around a lot.
So now I'm confused.
I know I felt good about this.
I was like I got this.
Oh man, okay, when we'redealing with those people who
(08:42):
are not Christ-like, thosepeople who are, we would
consider the path where the soilcannot grow any seed.
Can I tell you that you cannotrationalize with somebody who
hates God, even if they won'tadmit it.
When you're sowing the seed andthat seed is not growing, when
(09:07):
you're sowing that seed and thatseed is not getting watered,
when you sow that seed andthey're like, well, that's the
most ignorant thing I've everheard.
You cannot rationalize withthat person.
I'm not telling you to run, I'mtelling you get it at arm's
length and pray for that person,lord, soften their heart,
prepare them for what you aregoing to do in their lives.
Amen.
Listen.
(09:28):
I performed the wedding of acouple many years ago who did
not believe in God, and theyasked me as their friend and
when I wrote their weddingservice, they came to my house,
we read through it and they saidthey're very respectful of who
I was, but as their friend.
(09:49):
They said they're veryrespectful of who I was, but as
their friend.
They said we would like tolimit the mention of God and we
would prefer that we don't prayduring the ceremony, but we will
bless the food at the receptionand I think that my wife
probably looked at me like I hadsix heads when I agreed to do
that, because we're all like whywould a pastor do that?
I'm going to take what I canget.
(10:09):
You're going to let me blessthe food at the reception, where
there are going to be morepeople.
I'm going to take that rightNow.
That might not feel like agreat return on investment, but
I'm going to take it.
And I said hey, listen, I'm nothere to force God on you.
If that's what you want, I'mhappy to do that.
And we did that.
(10:29):
And the young man's mom calledme and she said Pastor Michael,
I just don't understand.
You're not even going tomention God in your message,
because we had rehearsal,obviously.
And I said you're right, I'mnot.
I said because theyspecifically asked me not to and
I've approved it.
(10:50):
And she's like well, what ifyou just put this here?
And I said, yeah, I'll considerit, I'll think about it.
I never thought about it and Inever planned to do it.
Today they have two children,beautiful children, very healthy
children, and they attend alocal church.
Now, these are people whowanted nothing to do with God
(11:11):
when they got married.
But do you realize that it tookconversation, lots of
conversation, conversation thatwas maybe covered a little bit
just in who God really is.
And hey, listen, you guys aredoing great things.
I know that you're both growingtremendously.
Have you guys found a localchurch to connect with?
(11:31):
Oh, no, we're not interested ingoing to church.
And I kept asking that questionover and over again.
See, they look like this.
They had these little starts onthem and I could see those
little starts.
At a close examination I couldsee that something was happening
.
And then all of a sudden I bumpinto him somewhere and they had
(11:52):
their oldest son with them atthe time and they introduced me
to him and cutest little boyyou'd ever meet and he had on
those shoes that when he walkedhe squeaked Like they had
squeakers in the back cutestshoes in the whole wide world.
And I was just, we were justloving on it, on their son.
We were talking and the guy saidto me he said, hey, I just
wanted to say thank you forpraying for us.
And I said it's my pleasure.
(12:12):
Anytime I can pray for somebody, I want to do that.
And he said, no, you don'tunderstand.
We knew that you were prayingfor us because we had this
desire to know who God reallywas.
Now these are people who wouldhave never ended up, likely
ended up in church, but Icontinued to water a seed that
was not really going to growvery quickly.
(12:35):
Today they're in church almostevery Sunday.
I would never say anybody's inchurch every Sunday, but most
every Sunday.
They're happy and they'reforming a relationship with
Christ.
That relationship with Christhas strengthened their marriage.
That relationship with Christhas allowed their children to
grow in Christ.
This is a big deal, but mostpeople would have taken them and
(12:56):
thrown them in the trashbecause they looked sickly, they
didn't look healthy.
Can I ask you that when somebodywalks through our door, maybe
they look different than us, oreven better.
Yet maybe you know somethingabout them that the rest of the
church doesn't know.
This is my favorite.
I love it when people come inthe church for the first time
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and somebody sneaks up to me.
Just, pastor michael, did youknow that they blank?
Pastor michael, that personthat just came in right over
there they were at the bar lastnight.
They smell like booze.
Pastor Michael, did you know?
And they're always pointing andtelling secrets.
(13:37):
Can I promise you that Iprobably know something about
you too, because chances aresomebody else is going.
Pastor Michael, did you knowRight, when those people come
through the door, when does itbecome common practice for us to
just embrace them and love themwhere they are Not for where we
(13:59):
want them to be, but where theyare when they walk through the
door?
Because I'm going to tell you,I'll take a drug addict, I'll
take a prostitute, I'll take ahomosexual couple, I don't care,
as long as I can show them whoGod really is.
Because, let me tell yousomething, when we start turning
those people away, when westart trying to tell them that
they're not welcome in the houseof God, they will never find
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Jesus.
We can take them, throw them inthe trash and it's over, and
they will never know who Godreally is.
Because if the church treats methat way, certainly God will
treat me that way.
Can I tell you something?
God should have thrown me awayyears ago.
If he was throwing people away,I should have been on the top
of the list.
I'd have been in the bottom ofthe bag.
You know, I'm hoping he's usinga hefty bag because there's
(14:43):
going to be a lot of us in it,right?
And we're going to be kickingand screaming the whole time
because we somehow think thatour sin is different than the
sin of the world.
I'm going to promise yousomething, church If you are
sinning and a lot of you arelike, oh, I don't sin, I'm
perfect, I got life figured outyou need to be the first one to
the altar when we open it uppretty soon.
Because I'm going to tell yousomething If you're sitting in
your seat thinking you've got itfigured out, then you need to
(15:05):
be in heaven, right?
I don't know if you need to gowalk.
No, I'm not going to say that.
Redirect me, jesus, redirect me.
All right, I got to cover onemore passage of scripture.
This morning we're going to goto Matthew 25, 14.
(15:26):
Matthew 25, 14.
I still hear pages turning, soI'll wait.
We all there there, okay, again, the kingdom of heaven can be
illustrated by the story of aman going on a long trip.
(15:47):
How many of you know thisparable?
It's one of my favorites.
It's one of my favorites.
It's one of my favorites.
It's one of my favoritesbecause I think it's one of Dave
Ramsey's favorites.
I don't know, you'll get it ina second.
It's a funny joke.
He called together his servantsand entrusted his money to them.
While he was gone, he gave fivebags of silver to one, two bags
of silver to another and onebag of silver to the last,
(16:09):
dividing it in proportion totheir abilities.
Then he left on his trip.
Now I'm going to tell yousomething.
There are some people that ifyou left them with five bags of
silver and then went on a trip,when you come back you ain't
never going to see them again.
Right, right, they're going totake your five bags of silver
and they're going to runWheeling Island.
(16:31):
Here I come, baby, cha-ching,cha-ching, cha-ching, and you
come back flat broke.
Amen.
I can't gamble for that reason,because I don't know how to stop
.
I know that about myself andI'm okay with that, right, I
just say I can't.
Even this is not.
I can't go to Chuck E Cheese.
You give me one of those.
(16:51):
Like all day play cards man,and I'm like I can't go.
Pizza's ready.
Nope, I'm good, I'm good.
And you know what?
Those coin pushers.
You ever played those coinpushers?
I sit there all day long.
Some little four-year-old comeup.
Can I play?
No, I just got the machinewarmed up.
Go somewhere else.
Anyhow, the servant who receivedfive bags of silver began to
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invest the money and earned fivemore.
The servant with two bags ofsilver also went to work and
earned two more.
The servant who received onebag of silver dug a hole in the
ground and hid the master'smoney.
After a long time, their masterreturned from his trip and he
(17:35):
called them to give an accountof how they had used his money.
The servant whom he hadentrusted with five bags of
silver came forward with fivemore and said Master, you gave
me five bags of silver to invest.
I have earned five more.
It's a pretty good return oninvestment.
Right?
He's doing it Dave Ramsey styleright there.
The master was full of praiseWell done, my good and faithful
(18:00):
servant.
You have been faithful inhandling this small amount, so
now I will give you many moreresponsibilities.
Let's celebrate together.
The servant who had received twobags of silver came forward and
said master, you gave me twobags of silver to invest.
I have earned two more.
The master said well done, mygood and faithful servant.
(18:24):
You have been faithful inhandling the small amount, so
now I will give you many moreresponsibilities.
Let's celebrate together.
Then the servant with one bag ofsilver came and said Master, I
knew you were a harsh man,harvesting crops you didn't
plant and gathering crops youdidn't cultivate.
I was afraid I would lose yourmoney, so I hid it in the earth.
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Look, here's your money back.
But the master replied you,wicked and lazy servant, if you
knew, I had harvested crops thatI didn't plant and gathered
crops that I didn't cultivate.
Why didn't you deposit my moneyin the bank?
At least I could have gottensome interest on it.
Then he ordered take the moneyfrom this servant and give it to
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the one with the ten bags ofsilver.
Those who use well what theyare given, even more will be
given and they will have anabundance.
But from those who do nothing,even what little they have will
be taken away.
Now throw this useless servantinto the outer darkness, where
there will be weeping andgnashing of teeth.
(19:32):
So the question may be reigningwhy are we here?
What's the point?
But I want to tie those twopassages of Scripture together.
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You see, the master had giveneach servant some money and they
made their own decisions onwhat they would do with that
money.
And when it came time to returnit, they each had a story to
tell.
The one entrusted with fivebags came back with ten, the one
entrusted with two bags cameback with four, and the one
entrusted with one returned withthe same bag.
The man who did not invest thetime and the energy to turn a
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profit was chastised and lostwhat little he had, and the
other received that money.
Go back to Matthew 13, 11.
For me, this was the firstscripture we started with.
Today, he replied you arepermitted to understand the
secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not.
To those who listen to myteaching, more understanding
(20:38):
will be given and they will havean abundance of knowledge.
But for those who are notlistening, even what little
understanding they have will betaken away from them.
Can you go to the next one?
For me?
You're sleeping on me.
That is why I use theseparables, for they look, but
they don't really see.
(20:59):
They hear, but they don'treally listen or understand.
To trust you with more, he musttrust you with little, and
today I ask if you are lookingfor more, has he been able to
trust you with little?
(21:22):
We have a very simple task athand that each and every one of
us can do every single day, andthat is to nourish this plant,
that's to feed it, that's towater it.
That means that person you'resitting next to, that you don't
like.
Yeah, if they fight later on,it wasn't my fault, I didn't
(21:48):
start that.
We have an option that's to tryto find new life in this plant
and to give it hope, to give ita fighting chance that most of
the time we won't give itbecause we look at it as sick
and dead so that it can soongrow to be like this.
(22:10):
Can you imagine if everyChristian that was in, not just
in the world but in thisbuilding alone, looked like this
, if we were all full of leaves,if we were all happy and
healthy and had life all sortedout, how great would the kingdom
of God become?
Amen.
But the reality is, many of usare like this, so many of us are
(22:30):
like this.
Reality is, many of us are likethis, so many of us are like
this, and we continue to pourand nourish and help.
Both of those passages are aboutdoing more with what little you
have.
Do you have a desire to startministry?
Do you have a desire to have abetter job?
Do you have a desire to grow ina way that you don't believe
(22:53):
that you can possibly grow?
I'm asking you are you doingenough with what little God has
given you today.
See, we started Financial PeaceUniversity.
What are we?
We in week five now?
Is this week five, yeah?
Of a nine-week course?
We've been through baby steps,almost all of the baby steps.
At this point we're reallystarting to get our head around
(23:14):
what it means to be freefinancially, and I think that as
we sit through those classesand we talk to the people, we
realize that some of us neverbelieved that we could be
debt-free or that we could livein a way that we would have
extra money from paycheck topaycheck.
Right, how many of us have hadto live paycheck to paycheck
before in our lives?
Right, it's not fun, but can Itell you, you're living blessing
(23:37):
to blessing today, dragging itout.
I can't do anything because Godhasn't blessed me.
Woe is me when you are castinto the outer darkness where
there is gnashing of teeth.
Let me ask you did you doanything with what little God
had given you?
Right, god has given yousomething every day, and that is
(24:01):
breath in your lungs Every day.
Listen, when he wakes me up inthe morning, before my feet hit
the floor, I feel like thatplant, right, amen.
How many of us wake up feelinglike this plant Before the
coffee, for sure, before thecoffee, I ain't got no leaves.
I don't even know if I'm humanat that point, right?
And I realized listen, I makemy wife's coffee every morning.
(24:24):
Every morning, I tell her I'mnot making coffee today, and
every morning I make her coffee.
This is off the topic, but Ijust want to tell you this man,
I'm leaning into you guys rightnow.
Just buckle up.
I'm sorry, I love you all, butsometimes we're just lazy.
Every morning I get up and Imake a pot of coffee for my wife
, and my wife will tell me Ijust don't do it the same way
that you do.
Let me explain something to you.
(24:45):
It's a filter, it's a scoop.
Press the button Three steps.
There is a difference.
Now I don't like to cook Once Icooked.
I don't like to eat the food Icooked, right, whether it's good
, bad or indifferent, there'sjust something about it.
Men, just do better, right?
I'm not being mean, I'm justsaying like can you imagine if I
(25:10):
wake up feeling like I'm nothuman some mornings?
Do you know how good it feelsfor my wife to wake up and that
coffee's already made for her?
I've added a leaf to her plant,right, that's what I'm saying.
Us men are much stronger thanwe give ourselves credit for,
and we are capable of much morethan we're willing to do.
That's it.
I'm ending on that one.
I'm not going to talk about it,no more.
I'm not going to talk about itanymore.
(25:30):
All right, but if I wake upfeeling like this, how easy is
it for the devil to convince methat that's what I look like,
right?
So, before my feet hit thefloor, god, whatever it is that
you're going to do with me today, do it big, be ready for it,
because if you want to look likethis every day, if you want to
grow and you want to be lusciousis that the right word?
(25:55):
Luscious, is that the rightword Then you have to be
prepared for the work that Godis going to put you through,
because he's going to have toburn out the dross in your life,
right, whenever he calls you tothe altar, he's going to have
to burn out all of that nastyand unhealthy stuff that you got
(26:16):
going on in your life in orderfor you to look happy and
healthy, because this thing canbe full of weeds just the same
as it can be full of beautifulplant.
Amen.
I need you guys to understandthat when we come here to get
filled up every week, it is notto hold on to all of those
fill-ups, it's to pour them backout, right?
(26:39):
So when you're sitting herefeeling like this, you need to
be pouring in to people likethat.
These are the people, listen,these are the people who need
your love and attention.
And I'm not saying you have toinvite everybody over for dinner
just because you feel likethey've had a bad week.
But you know, sometimes I justsend a text that says hey, I've
been thinking about you, I'mpraying for you, right?
(26:59):
That goes a long way.
Hey, how are you guys feelingwhen somebody's been sick?
It goes a long way because itmakes them realize hey, there
are people who care about me,god has put me in the right
place, amen, all right, that'sall I've got for that.
(27:22):
We're going to do communionthis morning.
Before we do that, I just wantto this final statement if you
are looking for more in yourlife, if you believe that God
has called you to somethinggreater and a lot of times
people get a message wheneverthey go to conferences and
whatnot, and I'm sure thishappens a lot.
It probably happened yesterday,where somebody got a word in
their life where something wasgoing to happen and they
(27:44):
immediately think it happenstoday, right?
Well, god said I was going tostart a Bible study.
God said I was going to start a.
You know how many people saythat.
You know how many peoplesurvived the first six months.
I'm surprised we survived sixmonths.
But the reason I'm surprised isbecause for some reason, god
(28:07):
thought I was the right personto put in charge, right?
And I, in my mind, I'm like God, I ain't got this figured out,
buddy, like you got to help meout here.
But I leaned into hisunderstanding and not my own,
right, and that's the difference.
Holy smokes, lord have mercy.
But the problem is is whensomebody speaks a word into our
lives, we want it right now.
(28:27):
I'm not telling you thattoday's the day.
I'm not telling you tomorrow'sthe day.
I'm not telling you next week,I'm not telling you next month
or next year.
I'm saying that when God movesin your life, when he opens that
door, you'll know, you willknow Amen.
All right, let's pray together.
(28:50):
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou that, as we go from this
message into communion, father,that you would allow us to just
spot those who are needing alittle extra nourishment today,
god, that they may look likethey don't belong in the house
of the Lord, father, that theymay look like they aren't quite
up to par, but, lord, we knowthat those people are your
children, just as we are, andthat, Father, we should be
pouring into them, blessing them, giving them guidance and
(29:14):
direction.
Father, I just thank you forgiving us that knowledge, the
words to speak, father, theactions to take.
I just thank you and I praiseyou for that.
Lord, I pray, as we move intocommunion, that you examine the
hearts of those who are sittingin this room, father, and allow
them to experience your love andexperience your kindness.
(29:36):
But, father, I want everybodywho's sitting here to understand
just how important it is tohave clean and open hearts
during this communion.
Allow us to just set free anyof the things that we're holding
on to Unforgiveness, hurt, hate, father, whatever it may be.
(29:57):
Allow us to just let thosethings go so that we can be in
communion with you.
Father, I thank you, I praiseyou, I give you all the honor
and glory in the mighty name ofJesus, and the church says amen.
From a communion standpoint, wedon't have a membership
requirement.
If you're sitting in the roomand you want to take communion,
(30:20):
you are welcome.
The only thing I ask is thatyou make sure that you are in
good standing with Christ beforeyou do so.
The Bible tells us that it isworse for a person to take
communion outside of a healthyrelationship with Christ than it
does to simply not take it.
I promise you this if you don'tget up from your seat, there's
nobody in this room that's goingto judge you for that, and if
(30:40):
they do, let me know and I'llbop them on top of the head,
because we know the importanceof what we're about to do.
Pastor Holly, pastor Dave, willyou guys serve communion this
morning?
And as they're doing that?
So we'll start at this end andwe'll just come up just this
section and then we'll move tothe next section.
Just continue to contemplatewhat it is that God would have
(31:03):
you do in your lives as we takethis communion together this
morning.
I know that God is doing mightythings in a lot of our lives.
I just want us to be fullyaware of who he is and what it
is that he's doing.
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