The Hills Church Live | September 5, 2021 | 8:30am

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well good morning we're glad you're here with us this morning won't you stand to join us as we praise the lord come now almighty [Music] come and reign over us sanchez [Music] oh lord our god to thee the highest praises thee hence ever more thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see and to eternity [Music] who breaks the power of sin and darkness whose love is mighty and so much stronger the king of glory the king all kings who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder who leaves us breathless in awe and wander the king of glory looking above all kings this is amazing grace this is unfailing love that you would take my place that you would bear my cross you would lay down your life that i would be set free oh jesus i sing for all that you've done for me who brings our chaos back into order who makes the orphan a son and daughter the king of glory the king of glory who rules the nations with truth and justice shines like the sun in all of its brilliance the king of glory looking above all kings this is amazing grace this is unfailing love that you would take my place that you would bear my cross you would let down your life that i would be set free oh jesus i sing for all that you've done it for me [Music] worthy is the lamb who was slain worthy is the king who conquered the grave worthy is the lamb who was slain and worthy is the king who conquered the grave worthy as the lamb was slain and worthy is the king who conquered the grave worthy is the lamb who was slain worthy worthy worthy this is amazing grace this is unfailing love that you would take my place that you would crawl oh you would lay down your life that i would be set free oh jesus i sing for all that you've done for me oh jesus i sing for all that you've done for me is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead we are one with him again come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave beneath the weight of all our sin you bound to none but heaven's will no scheme of hell no scoffers crown no burden great can hold you down in strength you reign for ever let your church christ is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead we are one with him again come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave oh death where is your sting oh hell where is your victory oh church come stand in the light the glory of god has defeated the night sing and know death where is your sting oh hell where is your victory oh church come stand in the light our god is not dead he's alive he's alive christ is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead we are one with him again come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the great christ is risen from the dead we are one with him again come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave amen go ahead and be seated please [Music] of jesus what can make me [Music] oh precious oh [Music] for my pardon this i see nothing but the blood of jesus for my cleansing this my fleet nothing but the blood of jesus oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow no other found i know nothing but the blood of jesus nothing can force nothing but the blood of jesus not of good that i have done nothing but the blood of jesus oh precious is the flow that makes me white as nothing but the blood of jesus precious [Music] jesus [Music] as i think on the cross and the price that was paid royal blood that was spilled so the dying could live every single disease broken hearts come to you i'm so grateful as your mercy and your grace of jesus you're the reason i'm free all the praise and all the honor to the only lord and savior hallelujah hallelujah you're the reason i'm free with my hands and my heart i surrender again all devotion adoration with my life i will praise [Music] of the blood of jesus hallelujah [Music] hallelujah you're the reason i'm free all the praise and all the honor to the only lord and savior [Music] [Music] let's all stand together who takes all the sin of the world [Music] him who takes all the sins of the world [Music] of jesus [Music] you're the reason i'm free you came from heaven's throne [Music] your son for our freedom the lamb of god in my place your blood poured out my sin erased it was my death you died i am raised to life hallelujah [Music] my name upon your heart [Music] my shame upon your shoulders the power of sin undone the cross for my salvation your blood poured out my sin erased [Music] there is no greater love [Music] there is [Music] my place your blood poured out my sin erased it was my death i am raised i am raised to life [Music] place as we think about communing together i'd like for you to get out the packages that you picked up and if you'll notice in those packages at the very first tab you can pull it back and you see the bread symbolizing the body of christ and then when you pull back the second tab you'll see the blood the blood of jesus christ no not his real blood but the juice that represents his blood you may have noticed that this morning we've sung a lot about the cross about the power of the cross and about the power of the blood we sing such things as what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of jesus what can make me whole again amen nothing but the blood of jesus as i think on the cross and the price that was paid royal blood that was spilled so the dying can live those are the songs that we sang this morning to focus us in on this time that we get to commune with jesus because of his blood let me share how important the power of the blood is by reading a few scriptures from matthew 26 we read and when he had taken a cup and given thanks he gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of your sin john chapter 6 54 he eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i'll raise him up on that last day romans 5 9 much more than having been justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of god through him ephesians 1 7 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace and one of my favorites first john 1 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of jesus his son cleanses us from all sin will you pray with me father thank you so much for giving your son as a sacrifice on the cross for us thank you for his blood and the power that's in it the power for forgiveness the power for being able to give us a time that we can live eternal and the power to cleanse us so that as you look at us you don't see us you see the blood cleansing us god as we commune together as a family we think about christ we think about his sacrifice on the cross and we are so thankful that we will get to be with you again because of him it's through him that we pray amen god i looked i won't be overwhelmed give me vision to see things like you do god i look to [Music] you know just what to do here and i will love you lord my strength and i will love you lord my shield and i will love you lord my rock forever all my days [Music] give me vision to see things like you do god i look to you you where my help comes from [Music] give me wisdom you know just what to do here [Music] you lord my shield and i will love you lord my rock forever all my days [Music] [Music] forever all my days [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah and i will love you lord my strength and i will love you lord my shield and i will love you lord my rock forever all my days [Music] well i think it's getting a little bit cooler in here right now for those of you watching online our air conditioning is being worked on right now i've been told but i thought something as i sat in this room and worshiped and the warmth was like god what are you doing in this moment what are you calling my heart too before i start whining too much here what are you doing with this and i looked out as we were singing and i saw bran ethan a couple of our students who were here and god just took me back to nicaragua to sitting and worshiping with the church a couple of years ago in the summertime i remember seeing those uncomfortable plastic chairs and just sitting in the presence of brothers and sisters singing in a different language that we didn't speak and yet there was just such a sweetness in that moment as hot and miserable as it was in the summer in managua nicaragua just what a sweet sweet moment and so i think god can do things even in these moments that we get a little uncomfortable just to remind us that there are churches right now and maybe some missionaries watching online that will be worshipping with a church today that has no air conditioning that's in some part of the world you know where maybe that's not a luxury they have and yet we all serve the same god and he's still faithful in every one of these churches so thank you god for being faithful here in this church today to give us joy as we worship well my name is adam herndon i'm one of the student ministers here at the hills welcome to the hills for those of you worshiping with us here at nrh we're so glad you're here this morning even though it's been a little bit warm for those of you online welcome to the hills we're thankful that you've joined us as well another moment that i thought of as i thought that nicaraguan church is the moment that that church passed baskets to be generous and give we do the same thing here week in and week out we have these moments to practice generosity and sitting in that church watching that little basket go by and maybe just the small amounts of bills and coins that would go in were such a blessing at church and that was the generosity coming from the hearts of those people in that little church and i'm so thankful for the generosity of those of you in this church that get online that drop an offering in one of the boxes here on our campuses those of you online that have decided to partner with us even if you're not right here in our region that you would get online and partner with our mission to make and grow followers of jesus what a blessing each week to give and be generous to the mission of god well kiddos that are here we are so thankful that you're worshiping with us at the hills and we want to dismiss our first through fifth graders to go to their bible study groups at this time our first through fifth graders and as they're walking out this is just a great time to remind you that we partner with a renew partner called academy four that works every single year to partner up fourth graders at underprivileged schools with a mentor and it starts in october so there's still time for some of you to sign up if you'd be willing to commit one friday a month for 90 minutes to go sit with a fourth grader i want you to know something that fourth grader will forever remember you that 4th grader will never forget that you came this year for 90 minutes once a month and you sat and you spent time with them they have a great program they'll walk you through all of that have you prepared to do that so if that sounds overwhelming don't worry you can go to academy4.org and get some more information or sign up to join this year to mentor a sweet little fourth grader what a blessing that would be to serve our next generation in that way you know statistically they say that marriages that go through premarital counseling are stronger marriages and they have a higher success rate and our church believes that it's worth investing in these marriages before they even begin so if you know somebody who's engaged or dating seriously uh considering marriage we offer a nearly wed seminar twice a year it's coming up again on saturday september 18th here in just a couple of weeks it just costs i think forty dollars to cover the cost of the the exam that you take that gives them some information about you as a couple and get you ready to go through and talk about communication and money management and so many important things that are going to go into that relationship i think it would be a great great blessing for anybody who would come and join that group just for that one day here in a couple of weeks as they consider being married well we're getting ready to hear a special message today but we're going to watch this video from rick to get us set up for a message 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 ask for nation 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 and welcome again to the hills it's great to be back as rick said i've really missed all of you and i've definitely been praying for you the last couple of years and you're amazing preacher rick actually i love rick he is my church today excuse me compass church and so you're kind of you're kind of getting the short end of the stick today i'm sorry about that but but uh 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 i hope that so so glad to be here today and i just want to thank you so much uh for this warm welcome and i want to welcome those of you that are watching online today our online community we appreciate so much and i want to encourage you to be here next week with this brand new series and the new vision that's getting rolled out this is the time to cast vision in the church the world needs jesus more right now than ever before and so i'm excited i'll be excited to tune in and hear that new vision as well well i was recently asked i was asked to speak for a few christian college chapels so i thought maybe i should learn the language that college kids are speaking these days i've been out of the game a little while my wife and i we are empty nesters and so i just went in and i googled gen z phrases and man you know what i discovered is i'm not very current i'm not very current i discovered that i know that comes as a big surprise but i found myself every time i looked at a grouping of words i found myself thinking what does that even mean so i just wanted to share with you in case you have college kids or maybe you have grandkids that are college kids or whatever i want i want to just make sure you understand my findings here so i learned there are a few phrases out there that i were not familiar with one of them was i got the t i got the t anybody know what that means okay i got the t means i got the details i've got the low down i know the latest gossip not to be confused with sip the tea okay sip the tea that that means mind your own business okay sip the tea or spill the tea give me the load down okay so there you go how many of you just learned something right okay then there's just a real easy one you got this bet just bet bet and it just means okay yeah that's cool but all right then there's no cap i've learned this no cap no cap means no lie for real seriously no way you know that kind of thing and then there's my favorite by felicia by felicia which means i'm tired of putting up with you that's what that means and then this is my favorite to actually say it's it's bussing it's busting it just means it's great it's great everybody say it's busting say it it's busting it's great church is busting today right okay so here's the thing we might not understand everything that 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 in our relationships and i want to talk to you about the power of words in your life and how it has to change the potential potentially change someone else's life and i'll start with this have you ever had the best of intentions you ever the best of intentions but just ended up saying the wrong thing anybody just me not long ago on a cold winter night during the polar vortex during snowmageddon we had four days at our house where we had no heat there's plenty of heat in this room today by the way but not long ago on a cold winter night during the polar vortex my wife and i were cuddling on the couch and i wanted to express my love to her and i was trying to find the words to be romantic and yet i'm always looking to make her laugh as well and so i looked her in the eyes and she was so beautiful and her skin was so soft and i said sweetie oh you're so beautiful you're so cuddly you're just like a big marshmallow and i knew in that moment that was the wrong thing to say and immediately the synapses in my brain were like backtrack backtrack there must be backtracking and i said to her i mean when i say marshmallow i mean like a mini marshmallow like like a size two marshmallow like a microscopic thin tiny the kind you sprinkle on cocoa that's what i'm saying but it was too late right the weight of my words had done me in and it caused me to realize you know sometimes we're better off saying less right or saying nothing at all and it caused me to realize that here's a poll because people have different personalities are you the person who says something or says nothing and talk to your neighbor about this if you want when service is bad at the restaurant do you say something or do you say nothing do you say you say something do you call over the manager or do you say nothing you know i don't want to deal with it let's get out of here we'll give a review on yelp that kind of a thing uh when someone asks you about religion or politics at a dinner party do you say something do you talk about religion or politics or do you just make a joke so you can avoid it and that kind of thing okay here's another one when you're talking to someone and there's something in the other person's teeth do you say something or do you say nothing you're like i don't want to embarrass them i'm not going to say anything are you like hey i got your back hey bro there's something in your teeth there might want to check a mirror that black bean dip is making you look like you're from kentucky so you might want to might want to get it out of there right that kind of thing my apologies to anybody from kentucky so there are definitely times when we need to say nothing allison krauss wrote a song about that she said you say it best when you say nothing at all so i want to learn a lesson today about the power of words from the bible and i want to start with the book of james james chapter one i think this is some of the best advice in all of the word of god james chapter one and we begin in verse 19. he says this my dear brothers and sisters you must all be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry so we break this down three action words quick slow slow quick to listen slow to speak slow to become angry i want to talk to you about quick to listen because i want to tell you who i am i've always been quick to speak i've always been quick to do quick to to go quick to decide i'm not much of a processor i've always been quick to move and unfortunately because of that i've been quick to be irritated and quick to be annoyed now this is not a boastful thing in light of this scripture at least this is just the truth about me i was a sprinter in high school i ran the 100 and the 200 and the mile relay i know that was 30 pounds ago but hey hang with me but here i am today years later just sprinting through life but james says be quick in order to do one thing and only one thing to listen and again i'm quick at doing and moving and working and sometimes even giving and loving but i'm not always quick to listen it makes me think back to the 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 be to get done but her sister mary was quick to listen to jesus teach and his response tells you all you need to know my dear martha you are worried and upset about all these details there's only one thing worth being concerned about mary has discovered it and it will not be taken away from her now for me i'm more like martha so i have to pay attention to jesus at this moment i would suggest to you that most of us are martha most of us are not married and that's not all bad but maybe there's a lesson here when it comes to listening and again i've not mastered this in my life i let my wife look at my manuscript for today and she looked at it and she said oh honey a message on listening that's so interesting that you would preach about something you have no real life experience in that is that is touching that you would do that it's a valid statement we've entered the grandchildren stage and what i know about this some of your grandparents i can tell just by your brightness and your smile but i love the grandparenting stage it's amazing it's everything that everybody said it would be i have a grandson named henry he is two years old and his parents uh went out for the weekend and left us with henry so we're babysitting henry and at the time we were dog sitting for our son's uh dachshund his name was einstein so our tranquil little empty nester house was a wee bit spirited uh that weekend i mean if you want to ramp up the intensity at your house just add a toddler and a wiener dog and life will speed up with great intensity trust me all right and my wife decided to leave me in charge for a couple hours and go get her nails done and so she did that and she said listen to me keep an eye on henry so i decided to watch a cartoon with henry it's called coco melon i don't know if you've ever seen coco melon okay but if you have little kids you've probably seen it and it's it's an episode i'll be honest with you i don't know how it happened but i got mesmerized with this baby cartoon so i'm glued to it there's about a little baby named jj he's getting new bed and i'm like this is great what a great plot this is incredible cartoons are so much better than they used to be and i took my eye off henry for just a moment and i looked over and i couldn't i couldn't see henry anywhere and i went around the house and i found him and he was with einstein the dog and he was eating einstein's food and now they were sharing bites i want you to know he was sharing with einstein but he was eating dog food i later confessed to my daughter and i sent her this text i sent her this text and it says hey say henry hypothetically ate a little piece of dog food is that a terrible thing she said he literally eats it by the handfuls at our house not a big deal that man i felt better i really did i got to tell you i felt so much better but i tell you this for those of you that are judging me i want to show you the protein level of this dog food it's amazing look at all the things this dog food does healthy weight strong immune system look up there in the top right it gives you bright eyes and i want you to tell me is it working or not here's my grandson henry right here here he is tell me he doesn't have bright eyes i'm not saying feed your toddler dog food i'm just saying it's not the end of the world so all's well that ends well but seriously i'm trying to listen to the people around me these days a little bit better than i used to proverbs tells us this fools think their own way is right but the wise listen to others william ery did a ted talk says this listening is the missing half of communication absolutely necessary but often overlooked you get the feeling that james was onto something here when he says be quick to listen because james knew 2000 years ago that listening is the missing half of communication and remember we live in the age of communication so much talking and texting and tweeting and posting but how much listening is really happening in this world of distractions i've learned something about myself lately maybe you have this problem too when it comes to listening i often listen merely with the intent of trying to figure out my response back to the other person that i'm having conversation with but uri says that a genuine listener will actually put the other person in the conversation in the spotlight allowing yourself to take in their speech and their body language and inflection to really understand what they're saying so when we're a selfish listener we don't really connect with the other person that we're simply exchanging words with we connect but we don't converse i'll speak to that in a moment when it comes to genuine listening we don't just listen to what is said but what's not being said we don't just listen to the words but we listen to what is behind the words and it's crucial to communication have you ever thought about this why don't we teach our why don't we teach listening to our elementary kids you ever thought about that we teach reading we teach writing we should teach listening imagine a world where parents listen to their children maybe we can understand them and as a result lead them better imagine a world where wives listen to their husbands men just go with me here for a moment what if husbands actually listen to their wives all god's lady said amen maybe we'd have happier marriages and fewer divorces what if leaders actually listen to their people what if churchgoers actually listen to the preacher just want to see if you're awake this morning what if on radio and television we had not just talk shows but listen shows what if we had instead of peace talks we had peace listens you tracking think about your life when somebody really listens to you it makes you want to listen to them listening is contagious so james starts us out and he says if everybody would just be quick to listen we'd all be better people and then he says this we should be slow to speak the art of moving into a conversation slowly the bible says in ecclesiastes this is powerful let your words be few too much activity gives you restless dreams too many words makes you a fool let your words be few i've been married to an amazing woman for 34 years i've i've learned that listening is indeed the missing half of communication and that sometimes it's better to say less and i'm learning these days that i could have saved michelle and i a little time and a lot of heartache if i could have learned to say less and it's not too late for me to make that adjustment i want to camp here for a moment and talk about quick to listen and slow to speak when it comes to relationships you know in any relationship a dating relationship or in the marital context there's going to inevitably be some conflict now when it comes to conflict for me words come easy i'm just going to tell you because that's what i do for a living right i frame words that's what i do i i say words and and they come swift and i'm quick to speak my wife michelle she's a processor she's a thinker in some cases she's a dreamer and she starts she sorts things out michelle's process is really godly it's awesome stop think and pray this is a great great process she stops she thinks through things and she prays and then she speaks here's my method act speak and hope for the best that's my process act speak and hope for the best when it comes to communication and conflict i am ready fire aim did you catch that 8 30 service ready fire aim michelle's method is my wife ready ready ready aim ready ready fire so we're just different right we're so different here's another potential danger when it comes to conflict in some forms i actually enjoy it not negativity i don't like fighting i don't like that nobody likes that just good healthy debate i like good discussion my i like to talk sports my son lana and i talk baseball and football all the time on on the phone i love talking all things theology what are new books that i need to read on on the subject the bible is fascinating to me i have all kinds of questions about the old testament i like talking about what did god mean there and why did some kings follow god and some didn't and and then the whole fascinating world of sacrifice and and covenant and just all the struggle and the tension and then of course the new testament the miracles of jesus and why did jesus tell that story and and just the mystery and intrigue of the stories in the book of acts and and the mystery and the puzzle that is the book of revelation i just love that i love talking about it i like debating about it i used to like talking about politics but that's not fun anymore there's no room for disagreement any longer and kindness seems to be out of the equation people look at the people that their candidate is running against and they start by exploiting their vices but then they start actually picking out and finding faults in their virtues so i don't really know how all that works but i don't like talking about politics anymore but i like a little debate and i like some healthy and spirited discussion and michelle not so much my wife any form of debate or conflict and she begins to worry is it going too far are certain parties getting angry am i disappointing someone is a fight about to start and news flash about conflict there is a direct link to opening your mouth and anger did you know that i mean read the rest of the verse actually hold off on that i'll get there but what happens is when conflict happens and it's just inevitable i get amped up and she gets locked up and this is so often the case in relationship it's amped up versus locked up and remember 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 and michelle needs a little bit of time and when you're in an argument when you're in conflict time is never on your side so there's i'm amped up i'm ready to go she's locked up who wins 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 another person is stuffing this happens in marriage you have spewers versus stuffers and no one is really listening and that's the what the lack of listening when that happens and there's too much talking it leads to something that grieves the heart of god sin proverbs 10 says this when words are many sin is not absent when words are many sin is not absent there is a direct link to opening your mouth and anger it's the third directive in our grouping of verses quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry now to be fair anger is a common human emotion let's face it you and i we all get angry from time to time one of my favorite lines in toy story is when mrs potato head says to her man are you in a good mood and mr potato head says not sure and she says okay i'll pack your angry eyes just in case sometimes we pack our angry eyes don't we maybe it's a result of road rage or rude people or arrogant people who think they know all the answers maybe your spouse makes you angry he always leaves his underwear on the floor she squeezes the toothpaste from the middle of the tube makes you angry could be your boss people you work with little things maybe it's big things maybe poverty makes you angry maybe child abuse sex trafficking makes you angry by the way don't confuse anger with indignation james is talking about temper not justice he's talking rage not a righteous cause and he tells us the reason he is passionate about this because human anger produces does not produce the righteousness that god desires he's talking about the deep-seated lust and fears and entitlements and pride in our heart that creates sin and anger and many times not always but anger is the genesis of sin ephesians 4 says this in the bible verse 26 in your anger do not sin in your anger do not sin now what that indicates is that it's possible to be angry and not sin but it's a slippery slope that's how oft often it is with our anger we just don't know when to stop how to be angry and not sin it's a huge problem in our society that's why james says quick slow so quick to listen slow to speak slow to become angry and some of you have battled that all of your life you're enslaved to it you're an angry person but you've been denying it you've been justifying it in fact and some of you it comes out really violently others of you it comes out really passively but in the end the form is irrelevant it's just toxic some of us have deep angry moments maybe it's the moment you lost your innocence because someone stole it from you the moment you lost a chance to have your dad tuck you in bed every night because he left and he took that from you maybe it was a spouse they left you they betrayed you they broke trust and your picture of happiness was shattered or maybe it wasn't so much about your spouse it was the your parents you've got a mom or a stepmom or a mother-in-law that won't let you off the mat manipulating controlling overbearing and it clouds everything and it angers you maybe it's your professional life you finally got a job you liked you worked your way into good standing you were making a name for yourself and then something fell apart someone stole your idea cove had forced some layoffs you were the victim of office politics some of us get super angry on social media and you think because you're right about something it's okay to post you use your anger to bash people over the head or to hurt people or to tear people down and people who don't know jesus see from your profiles that you're a christ follower and they might think hey man if that's a christian i don't want to be a christian or worse yet they think yeah that's why i'm not a christian so there's all kinds of problems with anger sometimes we think we know the best about the situation when we don't know the whole story at all we fail to see context and we lash out and make generalizations and we get angry and we blame others when we honestly should probably look in the mirror and take a look at the main cause of our anger we failed to listen it was the missing half of communication we were so busy forming the next sentence that we missed it all together so here's what we know about anger god doesn't want that for us right there in verse 20 anger is not what god desires for you so let's stop and review the last few moments if we can what have we learned listening is the missing half of communication that's when practice it's contagious that when words are few they can lead to understanding but when there are many they can lead to anger and sin and that's not what god desires for you and for me so this last few moments i want to leave you with something i found in psalm 46 many of you have read that before i love reading the psalms and there's two that i want to direct you to right now psalm 46 and then cut it in half and we'll go to 23 just for a moment the bible says if you want to hear from god god says be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth determine psalm 46 be still and know that i am god in that setting this is not advice to make us lead a more contemplative life as important as that is it's not saying you know assume the lotus position and be still it really means lay down your arms and surrender 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 in just a moment as we always do at the hills we'll have an invitation song and there'll be an opportunity to find someone to pray for you and find someone that might be willing to receive you in terms of praying for you and also an opportunity for you to think about baptism an opportunity for you to surrender in christian baptism and i think that all of us at some point need to be able to say to god hey i need you to be my forgiver to be the controller of my life to be my best friend to be my lord and i'm going to listen to your voice for a change i like to meditate on psalm 23 for obvious reasons it's amazing really but i want us to to do it together as we close not not every verse just the first three and i want to do something we're going to put that these verses on the screen for you and i want you just to read them with me if you will and i'm actually going to read them with you in the king james version we usually preach from the niv i think or teach from nlt but i love the beauty of these first two verses can we say it together we're going to put it up there say 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 have you ever thought to yourself why did david start that way because he wants us to know that god wants to protect us and care for us you don't have to do anything he says that we should lie down he makes us lie down why is that because it's the most vulnerable position that we can be in he says i want you to lie down and i want to take you to a quiet place with still waters would you do me a favor for a moment if you're watching if you're watching online do the same thing would you just be still for a moment and close your eyes for a moment would you surrender your ears and your heart just for a moment just close your eyes let's just be still before god just for a moment let's just listen let's be still and think about his amazing grace and his loving compassion for a second be still and see him in the beauty of your children and your grandchildren be still and experience him 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 be still and see him on an old rugged cross be still as you envision the empty tomb be still and know that he is for you that he loves you that he's preparing a place for you think about that for a moment be still and know that he is god be still just be still and listen to the voice of god you can open your eyes now that very next verse says this he restores my soul many times and on many occasions there is 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 to say nothing it's restorative it's replenishing to just be still and know that he is god we're gonna sing an imitation song and if you need prayer someone will be here to receive you and pray with you in our prayer room right here to the right and if you want to speak to someone about salvation or baptism we are here for you maybe today is the day that you need to lay down your arms and surrender and to listen to the voice of god let me pray over you today god we love you and i pray that you would help all of us to be quick to listen to be slow to speak and to be slow to become angry for this is not the manner in which you want us to live and lord i pray that we would be still before you today and that we would surrender our hearts and our ears and our life to you and to your voice and god i just thank you so much for studying your word today i love your word thank you for the honor of teaching today and we pray all this in jesus name amen let's stand as we get ready to sing love you guys who has held the oceans in his hands who has numbered every grain of sand kings and nations tremble at his voice all creation rises to rejoice behold our god seen it on his throne come let us adore him behold our king nothing can compare come let us [Music] who has given counsel to the lord who can question any of his words who can't teach the one who knows all things who can't fathom all this wondrous deeds behold our god seated on his throne come let us adore him behold [Music] who has felt the nails upon his hands bearing all the guilt of sinful man god eternal humble to the grape jesus save your risen now to reign behold seated on his throne come let us adore him behold our king nothing can compare come let us adore him you will reign forever you will reign forever you will reign forever [Music] [Music] [Music] our king nothing can compare come let us adore the whole love god seated on his throat come let us adore him behold our king [Music] come let us adore him man let's thank these worshipers for leading us this morning thank you love you guys the lord went before me in this message yesterday my wife said something about man it seems like you haven't been listening to me the last couple days and i deleted all my social media apps just thought man i got to take a season of just being able to listen better so thank you lord for that and thank you lord for the ways he's going to lead you in your step of listening better so whatever god puts on your heart just walk in confidence that he wants you to be a better listener today whatever that looks like man thank you for that message thank you for being here drew uh what a blessing to have you here so as rick said earlier do not forget that next week you do not want to miss the launch of our new vision for the next five years god is going to empower this church to do some beautiful things in the kingdom and if you want a preview of those you can go to nations and generations.org and get a sneak peek at some of this the specific things the goals the tasks that god is going to put us to as a church to carry out this vision so i hope you'll check that out hey before we leave if you are new and you're here today or if you're new and you're watching online we would love for you to text the word new to this number we would love to follow up with you connect with you this week we promise we won't spam you but we would love to start connecting with you if you'll text this number this week digitally we love you thank you for being with us have a safe labor day and we look forward to worshiping with you soon [Music] is when we proclaim the name of jesus [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] of jesus [Music]

Channel: The Hills Church

Views: 1,071

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: yNE5ER4jEys

Length: 70min 40sec (4240 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021