The Hills Church Live | September 5, 2021 | 10:00am

oh [Music] [Music] [Music] something happens [Music] when i call you [Music] with that name [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] yourself [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] we're still in the presence [Music] listen [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] there is no hesitation [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] my desire is [Music] oh love [Music] love [Music] oh [Music] you can jesus [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Applause] what every voice is [Music] [Applause] is now [Music] foreign [Music] my desire is to know you deeper is [Music] [Music] god of every nation they fulfill me ages [Music] who can compare lord [Music] there's [Music] there's no one like you jesus [Music] the victory of the cross you are the god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's no one like is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] know [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] whatever comes my way never crush my [Music] your praise is [Music] [Music] delivery [Music] my how could i want more when i am all [Music] your yours is [Music] i can hear your voice [Music] delivered [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey good morning church would you stand with us in this place man it is some kind of temperature in here but i hope you're excited to worship this morning we're going to invite the blessing of the lord to come in before us as we worship come on let's praise him this morning i invite you to praise however you're comfortable maybe that's raising hands uh maybe that's moving a little bit to these songs but let's praise this morning [Music] [Music] of every blessing to my heart to sing by grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodious on it sung by flaming tongues above praise the mountain fixed upon it mount of thyroid [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] jesus on [Music] his precious blood jesus saw me when a stranger wandering from the call of god me from danger interposed his precious [Music] [Applause] i was lost in another darkness till you came and rescued me i was bound by all my sin when your love came and set me free now my soul can sing a new song now my heart has found a home now your grace is always with me and i'll never be alone now my soul can't see the new now your grace is always oh [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you all ready to worship this morning come on let's feel some energy in the room yeah we're grateful to be here we're happy to be here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] king of [Music] crashes over me crashes over me but you are for us you are not against us champion of heaven to enter [Applause] [Music] to your race [Applause] [Music] is is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] you make me break [Music] you make me break [Applause] [Music] [Music] you make me make me break no fear [Music] [Applause] [Applause] you make me is [Music] you is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you are oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's amazing to see uh to see god move with his people and to see god move on behalf of his people and to think that the god who created all things would move mountains for people to think that the god who who his spirit himself would command spirits and that's who he is he's a historic god he's a god of history he's a god who's moved on behalf of saving on behalf of the brokenhearted on behalf of those that need to be saved and so we're going to sing to a god who goes by the name i am i want to ask you this morning if you need something moved this morning if you need to know a god who is powerful in your life would you worship with us in this song let's sing out together [Music] i wanna be close close to your side so heaven and death is a lie i wanna hear voices of angels above singing as a one hallelujah holy holy god almighty the great i am who is worthy [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] your soul hallelujah [Applause] [Music] know [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] here there [Applause] power is the presence [Music] the great i am [Music] yay [Music] [Applause] [Music] in this place mountains shake before you the demons run and flee at the mention of your name king of majesty there is [Music] the great i am [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] the great i [Music] i am [Music] hey man you need to see the church man forgive me i've missed singing i haven't sing for a couple of weeks because i had a little bit of sickness going on and so i'm so glad to be back you may be seated this morning we're gonna move into a time of communion and that that name for god i am comes from whenever uh god called moses up to the mountaintop and um he was gonna send him on a mission to deliver his people from from being in bondage and in slavery and oppressed and moses said god when when i send them and they ask who sent them what do i say and he says tell them that i am who i am i sent you and they would recognize god by that name and i love right before um god's people would get to actually leave egypt and it's been a time of plague plagues in egypt um there's a time for a passover lamb and what that meant is that the households would which uh would sacrifice a perfect lamb without blemish and put the blood on the on the door top and a plague of the death angel was coming for the firstborn not all of egypt but it passed over god's house because of the passover lamb and similarly when we come to the table of communion and we're going to take these elements this this bread that represents the body of jesus and this cup that represents his blood poured out i love how how john the baptist whenever he saw jesus he said look the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world i don't know if um if you're in egypt this morning um or maybe you've come out of an egypt but it feels like that egypt is still chasing behind you i just want you to know that you have the god who is the god of deliverance when he delivers you and when you're in his hand you cannot be taken and so we're going to remember a perfect land that was given for us that made a way not only in this life but more importantly the life to come the eternal life that we cannot be taken out of god's hand because of what jesus has done on the cross and so would you pray with me this morning and we'll take communion together father thank you for this time that we've been able to just praise you god to acknowledge that you are a historic god and god right now we thank you that when it comes to having a perfect lamb that that cost you something that cost you your son and he laid his life down and so we take this bread that represents his body we take the cup that represents his blood that was poured out for us and father we are thankful and grateful this morning for that sacrifice in jesus name [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] cause you're the guy who fights for me lord of very victory hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Music] out this song together let's get a little joyful come on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] come on said now i is [Music] is [Music] hallelujah [Applause] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] bro the joy of the lord y'all have a seat listen driving here today dennis i asked god for a word for this church this morning and i'm driving over the overpass to get on 8 20 and god says my joy the word today is my joy that my joy is going to be in this place wow thank you lord for affirming that don't you feel the joy of the lord in this place today thank you man even in hard times even in the things that we suffer through man there's something so much greater than happiness in this life that deep deep joy that comes through the spirit man thank you god my name is adam i'm a student minister here at the hills i'm so glad you're with us if you're new here today at our nrh campus welcome we would love for you to text the word new to this number on the screen if you're with us online right now welcome we would love for you to text new to the number on your screen right now we would absolutely love to follow up with you when we get that text from you a teammate will reply not a robot so this week you will hear back from somebody on our team uh to welcome you and answer any questions you may have but man we're just so glad that you're with us all right uh our first through fifth graders it's a special time for you every week when we get to send you off to your bible studies but this service our sixth and seventh graders are gonna leave for bible study as well so first through fifth graders are gonna look for our hills kids volunteers and their green shirts sixth and seventh graders are going to go with emmanuel dominguez right back here one of our student ministers and you will have a bible study time as well he's going to take you down to the student area so you guys are all dismissed man as this group leaves um i just want to invite anyone in this room that wants to partner with one of our renew partners academy four uh just to listen up for a second uh this this is an organization that serves underprivileged schools in this area by matching up a mentor with every fourth grader in that school and so i'll just tell you right now if you want to make a difference in the next generation that fourth grader will never forget you the rest of their days on this earth they will remember a mentor like you that came in at a time like this and spent time with them so it's a once a month commitment it starts next month in october you go for 90 minutes on a friday once a month to spend time with this fourth grader to pour into them to invest in that young person's life so if you want to go to academy4.org they have answers to probably a lot of your questions and you can get signed up through academy um 4. i was reminded today in this hot auditorium if you're watching online our air conditioner is having issues today and so they're they're working to fix it but as we worship today michael was sitting behind me one of our former students my wife's next to me and i was just taken back to nicaragua a couple years ago sitting in a really hot outdoor church on a very uncomfortable plastic seat and remembering uh what it was like to worship in that setting in another part of the world and just be so thankful for how big god's churches that it goes all over the face of the earth that people are sitting worshipping today with no air conditioning all over the face of this earth and god is faithful and he teaches us things even in these moments where we may feel a little uncomfortable today man would you just remember people who sit every week in worship without air conditioning thank you god for the blessing i also remember a moment in that service where we passed the little basket and how powerful it is to be in a tiny church in a foreign country and watch um just the small offerings the coins and the little bills that were thrown into those little baskets as we passed them and just to see the power of you know the simple act of generosity from these families that that lived in some of these communities that did not have much and they came every week ready to give and so i know a lot of you come every week and you are ready to give and you have a generous heart and we thank you for that for those of you who are here in person if if you want to put something on the offering boxes or give online you can text or get on the app those of you watching online thank you for partnering with us some of you don't even live in this area you're somewhere else in the world and yet you want to partner with our mission to make and grow followers what a blessing for generous people to continue to partner with the hills we love you and thank you for that lastly i'll just give a shout out to any dating or engaged couples who are here we have a nearly wed seminar twice a year because research shows that if you will invest in your marriage with some pre-marriage premarital counseling or opportunities like this you'll find more satisfaction in your marriage and your marriage usually has a better chance of lasting through difficult things and so this is something that will help prepare you for a marriage whether you're thinking about it or you're already engaged it's coming up on september 18th on saturday in two weeks it'll cost you 40 bucks it's just a one day thing they'll walk you through tons of different communication things conflict resolution financial planning stuff together it's just a really really sweet time for you maybe to encourage a friend to come and spend that time pouring into that relationship so if you have a friend or co-worker someone like that that could be blessed by this we hope you'll encourage them to get one thehills.org events and sign up for our nearly wed seminar all right we have a special video today with a special speaker so watch this really quick welcome hill's family whether you're in person or online i have an announcement and a prayer request the announcement is this that next week we will begin rolling out the next vision for our church for the next two weeks i'm going to be sharing with you the huge vision god has given us and the goals we intend to pursue nation and generations [Music] ask for nations and generations god is going to have to show up i want you to show up here and join me in prayer it's going to be exciting now today we're in for a treat after a three-year absence my dear friend drew sherman from compass church in collyville is back with us drew is more than a friend he's a co-worker he's a kingdom encourager he loves our church and the kingdom of god in tarrant county is in better shape because of drew's ministry so hill's church after three years away would you give a big welcome to our friend drew sherman thank you so much what a great welcome and it's so good to see you i've missed you and i've been praying for you the last couple years and of course you're amazing preacher rick actually i love rick he's at my church compass church today i just texted the maintenance and told him to turn off the air conditioning i want him to feel [Applause] i wanted him to be one with us today here so but no uh rick is preaching at compass and and you're so you're kind of getting the short end of the stick i'm i'm afraid but i'm hoping that maybe what the lord has prepared in my heart will minister to your heart and all god's people will be blessed today so let's do this and i want to also just encourage you to be here next weekend what an important weekend to hear the vision for the next five years and i'm gonna be i'm gonna try to watch online because i'm excited about what god is doing here at the hills church i was recently asked to speak for a few christian college chapels and i thought you know it's been a while since i've been around college kids and i just thought i want to make sure that i understand the language that kids are speaking these days and so i googled gen z phrases and man you know what i discovered i'm not very current i i discovered that i know that may come as a big surprise but i found myself every time i looked at groupings of words i thought what does that even mean so i want to share with you some of my findings in case you have college kids in the house or maybe grandkids that are college kids or are you getting ready to have college kids here are some of the the language that that i learned first of all i got the t i got the t i got the t anybody know what that means it means i i got the low down i got the details i know the latest gossip not to be confused with sip the t that's totally different okay that that means kind of mind your own business or spill the tea right which means uh give me the lowdown spill the tea all right how many of you are learning right now you're learning okay uh this one's easy just bet just bet just bet that just means like yeah that's cool good bet uh no cap no cap this is great means like no no no lie like for real like shut up are you serious like that that's what no cat means no cap no kidding and then i like this one uh bye felicia bye like i'm tired of putting up with you felicia bye i don't know who felicia is but we're tired of her um and then uh and then my favorite this is great i love this uh this describes church today like it's busting it's bussing it's great it's fantastic it's busting everybody say it with me it's busting church is busting today okay how many of you learned something just now all right we need you to wake up a little bit here's the thing we might not understand everything the younger generation is saying today but there are some words that all of us can say that have the potential to make a huge impact in our lives and our relationships i want to talk to you about the power of words and their potential to change your life today and i'll start with this have you ever had the best of intentions but you just ended up saying the wrong thing anybody else not long ago on a cold winter night during uh the polar vortex i know it's hard to envision cold right now but just think about it think about what it was like all right during snowmageddon my wife michelle and i were my wife her name is michelle wanted you to understand she was my wife we were cuddling on the couch and uh i wanted to express my love to her and i was trying to find the words to be romantic and yet i'm always trying to make her laugh as well so i looked her in the eyes and she was so beautiful and her skin was so soft and i said sweetie you're so beautiful and you're so cuddly you're like a big marshmallow and i knew in an instant that was a mistake the synapses in my brain were like there must be backtracking there must be backtracking and i said i mean like the mini marshmallows you put in the cocoa like microscopic size two marshmallows that you sprinkle on the coco but it was too late the weight of my words had done me in does that ever happen to you it caused me to realize you know sometimes we're better off saying less or saying nothing at all allison krauss wrote a song like that she said you say it best when you say nothing at all and i started thinking about that that's a great lesson for all of us and i want to use a moment a very very amazing moment in the in the in god's word in the book of james and i want to go to james chapter one so if you have your bibles you can turn there or maybe you have a smartphone or a device you can go to the youversion app james chapter 1. and i want to talk about these the power of words today and james has this amazing advice he says in verse 19 perhaps you even heard this verse before my dear brothers and sisters so it's for everyone you must all quick be quick to listen be slow to speak and slow to get angry my dear brothers and sisters take note of this everyone should be quick to listen should be slow to speak and slow to become angry so we look at those action words three action words quick slow slow i want to talk to you about all three of those today first of all being quick to listen and i love this because let me tell you who i am i've always been quick to speak i've been quick to do quick to go quick to decide i'm not much of a processor i'm quick to move and unfortunately because of all of that i'm quick to be irritated i'm quick to be annoyed sometimes i'm quick to judge this is not a boastful thing in light of this scripture quite the contrary this is just the truth about me and my personality i was a sprinter in high school i ran the hundred and the 200 i know what you're thinking that was 30 pounds ago but i was swift back then and i was a sprinter and i'm still a sprinter now sprinting through life but james says be quick in order to do one thing and one thing only listen and again when it comes to doing and moving and working and sometimes even giving and loving i'm pretty quick but not always quick to listen you think about that story of jesus and mary and martha martha was quick with doing and serving and hosting she was consumed with all the tasks that needed to get done but mary was quick to listen here's what jesus says he looks at martha and he says my dear martha martha martha martha you are worried and upset about so many things there is only one thing worth being concerned about mary has discovered it it will not be taken away from her i'm more like martha most of us are martha most of us are not married that's not all bad but there's a lesson there when it comes to listening and again i've not at all mastered this in my life i always let my wife read over my manuscripts before i preach every time and my wife looked at this manuscript and she said oh a message on listenings so interesting that you would preach about something you have no real life experience in this is amazing drew let me know how that works out for you it's a valid statement um we've entered the grandkid years and how many of your grandparents anybody yeah it's the best ever they tell you it's the best it is it's the best it's amazing and we have three new grandbabies in the last two years so we're very busy and we found ourselves recently i have a grandson named henry and henry is almost two he'll be two a week from today and we were babysitting henry and at the same time we were dog sitting for our son's dachshund his name is einstein so our tranquil empty nester house was a wee bit spirited if you know what i mean i mean if you want to ramp up the intensity of your house just add a toddler and a wiener dog and life will really speed up it'll really speed up so my wife decided to go get her nails done and uh she left me in charge and she said you just have one job just keep an eye on henry keep an eye on him so henry and i uh we played blocks we played toys but i got a little bit tired and i thought hey you want to watch coco melon i don't know if any of you young parents ever watch coco melon but it's a baby cartoon and he loves cocoa melon so we're sitting there watching cocoa melon and i'm thinking this is going to keep his attention for like 30 minutes it kept my attention for 30 minutes it did not keep his attention for 30 minutes so i'm mesmerized i don't know what that says about me but i'm watching a baby cartoon the little baby he's getting a big boy bed and i thought it was very exciting so we're watching the plot was pretty intense jj's getting the big boy bed and i look around and henry's gone and i can't i'm like oh my gosh i had one job and so i paused coco melon because i wanted to see how it was going to end and then and then i look around and i finally i see henry and he's off in the corner with einstein the dog and he's eating einstein's dog food and they're sharing bites which we've taught henry to share so that that was sweet he was giving him a bite and then taking a bite and i later confessed to my daughter hannah i said to her i texted her and i said hey say henry hypothetically a little piece of dog food is that a terrible thing and she said he literally eats it by the handful at our house not a big deal at all for those of you that are judging me i've brought the contents of this dog food here and i i want you to look at something this dog food promotes healthy weight healthy skin and coat not sure how that translates to a toddler but healthy joint look up here in the top right hand corner bright eyes i want you to look at a picture of this boy and tell me he doesn't have bright eyes okay so don't be judging anyway i guess all's well that ends well but seriously i'm trying to listen to the people around me these days a little better than i used to proverbs tells us fools think their own way is right but the wise listen to others william ery did a ted talk he says listening is the missing half of communication absolutely necessary but often overlooked you get the feeling that james is onto something here when he says be quick to listen james knew 2 000 years ago that listening is the missing half of communication and remember we live in the age of communication right everybody's talking texting tweeting posting but how much listening is really happening in such a distracting world these days i've learned something about myself lately when it comes to listening i'm often listening merely with the intent of trying to figure out my response back to the other person in which i'm having conversation but yuri says that a genuine listener will put that other person in the spotlight allowing yourself to take in their speech their body language their inflection to really understand what they're saying so when we're a selfish listener we don't really connect with the other person we're simply exchanging words we connect but we don't converse when it comes to genuine listening we don't just listen to what is said but what is not being said we don't listen to just the words but what is behind the words and it's crucial have you ever thought about this why don't we teach listening to our elementary kids we teach reading and writing do we teach listening imagine a world where parents listen to their children maybe we could understand and as a result lead them better imagine a world where wives actually listen to their husbands yeah that's impossible but anyway or men how about if husbands actually listen to their wives all god's women said amen what if leaders actually listen to their people what if church goers actually listen to the preacher just want to see if you're paying attention wasn't that funny was it what if on radio and television there were not just talk shows but listen shows what if instead of peace talks we had peace listens think about your life when someone really listens to you you want to listen to them listening is contagious so james says be quick to listen be quick to listen open your ears and your hearts to people secondly he says be slow to speak sort of the art of moving into a conversation slowly the writer of ecclesiastes says this so let your words be few let your words be few i need to read that today i need to practice that and then he says later on in that verse too many words make you a fool too many words make you a fool i've been married to an amazing woman for 34 years i've learned that listening is indeed the missing half of communication and that sometimes it's better to say less i'm learning to say less these days i've learned that if i would have saved said less the last few years that i would have saved michelle and i a little time and a lot of heartache and i want to talk about that it's not too late for us to make adjustments in that let's talk about quick to listen and slow to speak when it comes to relationships you know in any relationship dating relationship or in the marital context there's going to be some conflict now i want to just say this when it comes to conflict for me words come easy it's what i do for a living i frame words so words come easy for me when it comes to conflict for michelle not so much she's a processor she thinks through things in some cases she's a dreamer she sorts her thoughts out so michelle's process is this it's beautiful stop think pray that's our process stop think and pray it's a wonderful very christ-like process here's my method act speak and hope for the best okay that's my process act speak and hope for the best when it comes to communication and conflict i am ready fire aim are you with me on that did you follow that michelle's method is ready ready aim ready ready aim again fire we're just so different and here's the potential danger when it comes to conflict in some forms i actually enjoy it not negativity i don't like fighting just good healthy debate i like to talk about sports i like to talk about theology about the bible i have lots of questions i like to walk through all those things i used to like to talk about politics but that's not fun anymore because kindness has kind of got thrown out the door right so i don't like to do that but i like a little debate and a little healthy even spirited discussion michelle not so much any form of debate or conflict and she begins to worry is this going too far is somebody getting their feelings hurt is a fight about to break out and news flash about conflict there is a direct link to opening your mouth and anger there's a direct link to this and if you read the rest of that verse in fact hold off on that i'll get there but what happens is when conflict happens and it's just inevitable i get amped up my wife gets locked up i get amped up i'm ready to talk she gets locked up amped up versus locked up i'm quick with words that's my job i frame words i speak so i have something to say immediately when it comes to conflict michelle needs a little time and just know this when you're in a fight time is never really your ally and timing delivery is real important so amped up versus locked up who wins every time surprisingly nobody nobody wins if i'm quick with words that's not winning if she's suppressed and stuffs it way down that's not going to eventually end well either one person is spewing the other person is stuffing spewers versus stuffers no one is really listening and when that happens it leads to something that grieves the heart of god and james gets at this it's sin in proverbs 10 it says this so simple where words are many sin is not absent where words are many friend sin is not absent it's there it's in the midst let's go back to what i said earlier there's a direct link to opening your mouth and anger it's the third directive in this grouping of verses james says be quick to listen be slow to speak and be slow to become angry now to be fair anger is a very common human emotion let's face it we all get angry from time to time one of my favorite lines from toy story is when mrs potato head says to her man are you in a good mood and mr potato head says i'm not sure and she says okay i'll pack your angry eyes just in case sometimes we pack our angry eyes maybe it's a result of road rage or rude people or arrogant people those who think they know all the answers maybe it's your boss that you work with little things maybe it's big things maybe poverty makes you angry maybe child abuse maybe sex trafficking makes you angry by the way don't ever confuse anger with indignation james is talking temper not justice he's talking rage not a righteous cause and he tells us the reason to be passionate about this is because human anger does not produce the righteousness that god desires in our life he's talking about the deep-seated lust and fears and entitlements and pride in our heart that creates anger and many times not always but often anger is the genesis of sin in fact paul writes this in your anger do not sin now the implication here if you think about this is that it's possible to be angry and not sin but it's a real slippery slope that's how it often is with anger we just don't know when to stop how to be angry but not sin that's a huge problem in our society that's why james says quick slow slow quick to listen slow to speak slow to become angry because some of us have battled this our whole lives you're enslaved to it you have an anger problem and you've been denying it you you've been justifying it and some of us it comes out very violently others of us real passively spewers versus stuffers but in the end it's all toxic some of you have had good reason for anger maybe it's the moment you lost your innocence because somebody stole it from you or the moment you lost a chance to have your dad tuck you in bed every night because he left he took that from you maybe it was a spouse and they left and they betrayed you and they broke trust and your picture of happiness was shattered maybe it wasn't your spouse maybe it was your parents you have a mom or a stepmom or a mother-in-law that won't let you off the mat just manipulating controlling and overbearing and it clouds everything and it angers you maybe it's your professional life you finally get a job you liked and you worked your way into good standing you're making a name for yourself and then something fell apart someone stole your idea or maybe covid forced some layoffs or you were the victim of office politics some of you get super angry on social media and you think maybe because you're right you have the right to post you use your anger to bash people over the head and to hurt people to tear people down and what happens friend that the reason this is so so harmful sometimes is people who don't know jesus see from your profiles that you're a christ follower and they might think hey if if that's a christian then i really don't want to be a christian or worse yet they think that's why i'm not a christian see there's a problem with all these forms of anger sometimes we think we know best about the situation when we don't know the whole story at all we fail to see context and we lash out and we make generalizations and we get angry and blame others and we honestly should probably look in the mirror and take a look at the main source of our anger we failed to listen it was the missing half of communication and we were so busy forming our next sentence that we missed everything altogether so here's what we know about anger god doesn't want it for us anger is not what god desires for you that's what verse 20 tells us anger is not what god desires for us so let's stop just real quick and review what have we learned listening is the missing half of communication that when practiced it's contagious that when words are few they can lead to understanding others but when there are many they can lead to anger and sin and that's not what god desires for us so with this last piece of advice or instruction or wisdom i want to go to psalm chapter 46 because i think there's a remedy here i think there's something that will be real helpful for all of us if you want to hear from god the psalmist says this be still and know that i am god that i will be exalted among the nations that i will be exalted in the earth this term in psalm 46 be still and know that i am god in that setting it was not advised to make us lead a more contemplative life or as important as that is it's not saying you know assume the lotus position right it means lay down your arms and surrender it means to surrender and i predict one of these days some of you who had no interest in god not all that long ago are going to find yourselves unable to resist him any longer we'll give you a moment in just a few minutes to have that opportunity to surrender and i think you'll reach that point where you'll just surrender and say lord i need you to be my forgiver the controller of my life my friend and my lord i'm going to listen to your voice for a change sometimes i'll cut that psalm 46 in half and go to psalm 23. it's amazing isn't it i want us to do it together as we close uh not every verse just the first couple and uh i like i remember when i memorized this as a kid i i did it in the king james version so if you'll allow me i know we usually use niv and nlt but let's let's look at the king james version together would you read it with me it's going to be on the screens read it with me the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters it's amazing isn't it the reason david opens up with these two verses it's very interesting he basically wants us to know that god is here to protect us and take care of us that we don't really have any needs when the lord is your shepherd you don't have any wants and i love that second verse he makes me lie down in green pastures why because lying down is the most vulnerable position that a human being can be in you're vulnerable when you lie down and he says i want you to lie down and i want to take you to a quiet place with still waters and i just want you to be still be still and then that next verse is interesting he says he restores my soul how do we get restored in this world we listen we listen we get in a vulnerable position and we hear the voice of god so let's just do that for the next moment or two would you would you just be still with me and i'm going to give you a series of things that i want you to think about and contemplate so if you would if you don't mind if you're watching online we'd love for you to do this just close your eyes for just a moment and i want you to surrender your ears and your heart as we close this out first of all take a moment and just be still and thank him for his mercies that are new in your life every morning now be still and ponder his grace and his compassion if you have children or grandchildren be still and see him in the beauty of your kids if your spouse is with you be still and experience him or her in the arms of your spouse be still and fathom his immeasurable love be still and meditate on the salvation that he's given to you thank him for salvation be still and see him on an old rugged cross be still as you envision the empty tomb friend be still and know that he is for you that he loves you that he's preparing a place for you how amazing is that just be still and know that he is god you can open your eyes many times and on many occasions there's a time to say life-giving words to the people that you love sometimes they need to hear the weight of your words but sometimes it's best just to say nothing it's restorative it's replenishing to just be still and listen we're going to sing an invitation song in just a moment if you need prayer from someone they will be here to receive you and to pray with you in the prayer room right to my right here but if you would like to speak with someone today about surrendering your heart to salvation to surrendering your heart to baptism we are here for you today maybe today is the day that you lay down your arms and surrender and you listen to the voice of god let me pray over you today god we love you i thank you for these sweet people in my midst today and i pray god your blessing on each one of them i thank you for the hills church and for the vision that's going to be laid out even next weekend god we pray your anointing on that vision and i pray today your protection and your holy spirit around the men and women of god in this room and i pray god if there's anybody in here today or maybe watching online that needs to surrender their heart and their life to you that they would do so father in just a few moments for this in-person audience as we sing this song i pray that you would stir the hearts of some of your people if they want to surrender their hearts to you that they would come they would walk down here that they would get prayed over and that they would receive the gift of salvation father some need to be baptized and so god whatever that decision is i pray your anointing and your protection over them today we pray all this in jesus name amen love you guys [Music] is he is my heart [Music] speak the word is true he is [Music] my heart [Music] [Music] i [Music] i am [Music] i am [Music] i am free cause you are strong you are sure you are alive [Music] are good always true you are like breaking through [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] speak the word is true [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] here's [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you for that message thank you for being here with us today the lord went before me on this message too okay yesterday my wife has made a couple of comments recently that i haven't been listening as well as i usually do so yesterday right after i commented on your race riley i deleted all social media i don't know when i'll put it back on my phone but i just deleted the apps and i thought man yesterday that was just a reminder like i'm not that present with people like i should be i'm not listening as well as i should so i don't know what the practical step from that is for you but maybe it is a break from social media maybe it is something today you're going to be very intentional about so that you can listen better we hope you'll do that hey do not forget next week we start a brand new vision at this church it's going to be for the next five years like pastor rick said in the video we do not want you to miss next week in the next couple of weeks he's gonna walk us through so many wonderful things to get us inspired encouraged motivated to go right into this and absolutely engage what god has for us here in this next vision so if you want to sneak peek at some of the initiatives in this vision you can go to nations and generations.org and you can see some of the specific things that we're going to pursue together as a church we love you have a great labor day we'll see you soon [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] surrounded by

Channel: The Hills Church

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Id: bbQaADgkFw4

Length: 88min 28sec (5308 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021