Your Everyday-Ordinary Sleeping, Eating Walking-Around Life | Part One

hey good morning we're glad you guys are with us on this rainy sunday we stay in your feet psalm chapter 138 verse 1 it says just allow this these words to um speak for you this morning to shape to communicate your desire as we gather their worship in this place it says i give you thanks o lord with my whole heart this morning we gather to celebrate what god's done we continue to celebrate what was achieved on the cross in the resurrection and the second part says before the gods i sing your praise we can be so distracted with all that's going on in our lives and other areas other things that hold our attention can become other gods they can become other idols that keep us from bringing our worship to god but this morning we gather and sing his praise and his alone we ask that the holy spirit would draw us back to a place where he's our soul desire or our soul focus so let's lift our voices together this morning and sing [Music] to see you jesus in all your glory turn my eyes into my heart to [Music] oh my god [Music] hear the sound of your name [Music] is jesus more beautiful than jesus there is none more powerful the reason christ lived behind jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] roars [Music] turn my eyes away from searching for lesser glories to my eyes and teach my heart with all your wisdom to live forever [Music] my god forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my jesus [Applause] [Music] hear the sound of your neck i'll sing it out jesus jesus [Music] there is none more powerful there is in christ [Music] jesus jesus [Music] there is [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow [Music] [Music] who am i that the highest [Music] i was lost but he brought me you know his love for his [Music] i'm [Music] his grace [Music] yes he died [Music] yes [Music] i am [Music] yes i am who you say i am [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] there's a place [Music] [Music] i am chosen not foresee i am who you say i am you are for me not against me i am who you say i can't say that out i'm chosen [Music] not against [Music] i am yes i am who you say i am [Music] is [Music] is [Music] amen one of the main ways that uh we remain faithful to god and one of the main ways that our worship is fueled is just by centering our minds by remembering who god is remembering his ways remembering his works his story and it's one of the main reasons we gather in this place even on a weekly basis i know i've said this before but we're forgetful people we forget that jesus work on the cross was sufficient that he and he alone is worthy of our worship and so we come back in this place time and time again to remember that story and last week we got to celebrate uh the resurrection in a special way and in this season going forward want to keep that on the forefront of our minds but again it's not just about remembering god's works but it it's also about uh god's invited us into that story he's allowed us to participate to be part of his kingdom and it's it's not just remembering but it's turning around and worshiping god celebrating giving thanks to him for all that he does first corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 it says the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing to those who don't know jesus those who haven't declared him savior the cross is foolishness it means nothing why would he come and die on a cross but the second part of this verse it says but for us to us who are being saved it is the power of god this song we're gonna sing it's one we sang last week and it focuses on the story of the cross the story of jesus life and his invitation to us to participate in that life to find life and hope in him and it's the power of god for us so this morning let's reflect on these things reflect on these words this story let's also allow our hearts to respond in gratitude and worship to him let's sing this together [Music] see [Music] the father's heart displayed for us oh god we thank you for the cross lifted [Music] but even still you bore our and pay the cost o god we thank you the land the story of redemption written on he says jesus you will reign forever [Music] endless hallelujah jesus you will reign forevermore the victory is yours [Music] the lord [Music] know how god [Music] jesus you will reign forever [Music] [Music] is [Music] the king of kings oh god forever [Music] [Music] the story of redemption written he said jesus [Music] of redemption [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] you know there's a this whole last week like i don't know if you live in the midwest you know there's not four seasons there's like 16 seasons and we experienced fall summer this last week i don't know about you but man i love that especially to see you know the trees and the yards greening up the trees bursting forth with new life and man it just feels so appropriate especially coming right out of easter where we declared that you know literally death has been defeated through the cross that's what we celebrated last week and many of you were here for that got to exp you know celebrate that as well and some of you even maybe made decisions this last week of like hey i want to i want to live the jesus way i don't want to live my old way anymore and this is something that we talk about a lot is that jesus's message was not about hey believe this idea it was come and live this life because he said i am the way the truth and the life that word way there's a common word used among the rabbis in the jewish community called halakhah it means the way like it referred to the way that you lived your life and so jesus was saying like i'm not just offering you a different philosophy or a different set of ideas to believe i'm offering you a brand new way of living a brand new way of existing in god's kingdom and i know that there are some of you here today that you're looking for that life you've been looking for a while and you've been trying a lot of things and it's not working and so you're trying out this jesus thing and i'm telling you here today you we've already experienced the presence of god and power he offers that life just as we see life bursting forth around us now in this time in the season jesus wants to burst forth new life in your life as well if you will submit to his way amen you guys can go have a seat [Music] well hey i just want to welcome everyone here today uh i go ahead the uh fourth or eighth graders you're welcome to uh go attend your classes now uh you're dismissed from the service uh just wanna give a welcome to everybody we're glad you're joining us this morning and just a few things that i want to kind of put on your radar and they all have to do with new life which is really really exciting uh we've been telling you for a while ever since near the beginning of the year that at the end of the year last year because of your generosity we were able to purchase the bowling alley in the shelbyville area to be our future you know permanent campus for the shelbyville uh our shelbyville congregation and so we kind of set forth this challenge on vision sunday that we realized we would be able to debt free if we're able to follow this plan the way we feel like it's been laid out to renovate that facility which we were able to buy it completely with cash so debt free we were able to purchase that facility and uh we are able to get the right types of bids to where we believe we can renovate that for about 650 000 and we've broken that you know kind of god-sized goal into three different phases and we rolled all that out and if you go to shelbyville.cc uh it has all that information on there so you can check out kind of how the phases work but we put out the challenge of for people to give generously toward seeing that new campus happen and i'm really really excited to let you guys know that at the beginning of this month back at the beginning of april uh we met the first phase so we've raised the initial 125 thousand so yeah you can get excited about that that's okay it's okay for you to be excited about that um so that's kind of the initial phase to just begin doing the framing and the sheet rock and you know get all the jagged metal that's everywhere out of the way you know so people aren't puncturing themselves and getting lock jaw and i probably shouldn't talk about that anyway uh but so we're done with the first phase we're moving on to the second phase which is the next 125 thousand and this is where it gets exciting because if we can raise this next 125 000 that means the first sundays in shelbyville can actually meet in their future permanent home and that's what we're really really excited about that to begin to use it for specific ministry on a very regular basis so i want to encourage you to seek the leading of the spirit on how you may be a part of that whether giving of your time giving of your resources gifts big or small doesn't matter any generosity is welcome in this as we see this new church launched out in the shelbyville area so we'll continue to give regular updates on that so that's really exciting but speaking of shelbyville coming up tonight from 5 p.m to 6 30 we're having a new campus prayer night at that bowling alley we're making sure all the see this is why i shouldn't have said anything about the jacket metal because you're all gonna because people are gonna be meeting there and praying and praying for the future of that new campus we promise van has moved all the jagged metal off to the side so uh if you're coming tonight bring lawn chairs rain or shine we're gonna have it inside the facility so rain isn't going to prevent it from happening um but we'll pray that people don't step on jagged metal apparently um but anyway so 5 to 6 30 tonight that new prayer new campus prayer night's gonna happen um so make sure to check that out uh come and seek with us as we uh just pray for the future of that new campus and then finally uh what i had mentioned before you know there may have been some of you who made a decision last week on easter sunday for christ to begin to follow in his way and so the next step once you put your faith in christ is to be baptized the scriptures command it over and over again that we should be baptized and so uh we're actually coming up in a few weeks on sunday april 25th we're going to be having a baptism sunday at our campuses and so i want to encourage you if you've never been baptized before and not even just if you gave your heart to the lord last week but if you've just never been baptized obey the scriptures get baptized if you have questions about it we would love to talk about what baptism means and what that means for you and if there's hindrances or roadblocks that are keeping you from doing that we can talk through those things we'd love to answer your questions but you can sign up if you go to dot cc slash baptism you can sign up for uh one of the to get baptized in one of the services on that weekend april 25th so thanks guys [Music] so welcome to your everyday ordinary i have to read it sleeping eating walking around life i try to memorize that i just i failed but uh anybody have any idea where we got that title i'll wait it's okay no we got it from uh the message version and it's romans chapter 12. let me read this for you because you get a good idea of what this series is about so here's what i want you to do god helping you take your everyday ordinary life you're sleeping eating going to work walking around life and place it before god as an offering embracing what god has done does for you is the best thing you can do for him don't oh i have to hear you it's a lot easier to see don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking instead fix your attention on god you'll be changed from the inside out readily recognize what he wants from you quickly respond to it and unlike the culture around you always dragging you down to its level of immaturity god brings the best out of you and develops well-formed maturity in you see it's what this uh series is about it's about i got some good news i don't know i don't know if you know this or not i i think you do i we talked about this i think last week jesus is alive did you hear that part yeah and we should be excited about now here's the thing that shouldn't just be an easter thing you know what i'm saying because the last time i checked it he's still alive it doesn't matter what the weekend is right and as we celebrate easter if you will it should be something on a daily basis because of the resurrection then uh we can live and we can live in in christ because of what he's done i'm going to get into that just a little bit more in just a second but basically this series is about this if you know jesus if the resurrection means something to you if it's changed your life we want to talk about how does it change your life you know in what ways in what ways how do we actually get to know him i mean really you know and and and so i think the the temptation is going to be as we get into this is for some of you to think well this doesn't really have to do with me because i've been a christian for so many years and i just want you to can that arrogance right now and that says it sounds like a strong term but the reason i say that is because i've been a christian for a long time and i know how arrogant i can get thinking that certain things don't really matter to me or apply to me but the truth is is you know as well as i do that to become a living sacrifice as it says in another version of romans 12 for the sake of christ is not necessarily something that just happens one time is it it's not now with this series we're actually going we're asking every single group to go through this with us to meet and talk about this this material because we think it's important and we even have a group meeting during second service here on campus you can go there starting today matthew jones is teaching it it's up there in room 305 anybody just to sit around and talk get to know some people and talk about the sermons every week talk about this this uh this particular series i wanted you to know about that now if it's okay before we start i really need uh to take some time to pray is that okay let's do that father god um you uh you know my heart on this on this one i the the scriptures that we're gonna read today i mean just so much reflect the heart and command of jesus and uh lord it's just so it's it's not gonna be easy for us to circumvent so father god i pray that you will help us to to really dig into your word i pray more than anything that regardless of what i say that your holy spirit might work upon our ears that your holy spirit may work in our hearts and that we may actually you know walk out of here transformed a little more today just because we have been face to face with you we've been face to face with your body and father god i thank you for the special time that we have together as as one church in different campuses together as one church with with people who just uh for for a myriad of reasons are either here or watching online or whatever father whatever you've led us to i pray that you will bless your word that you will plant something in our hearts that just can't be undone something unstoppable it's in jesus name i pray amen uh so the good news is the fact that jesus raised from the dead and we you know it's just so funny because i feel like every time we come to church we we say those kinds of churchy things if you will churchy things and we don't really we respond but we don't respond you know what i mean it's like we've heard it too many times we don't really understand what happened but according to the scripture you understand this right because of the resurrection of christ then every time we get up here to preach or teach or any time we talk to each other about the word of god it is not in vain because the grave is empty that's what paul said in first corinthians chapter 15. the hebrew writer also says according to hebrews 4 that we can now because we have a high priest like jesus who can sympathize with every single weakness that we have and because he went to the cross and because he raised from the dead then you and i can approach the throne of grace with confidence that there's no reason for a priest anymore he is our priest there is no need for a gateway if you will some other way to god you and i can be before the throne of the almighty god just because of jesus now i i understand those sound like just mere words but i pray that you really think about that for a second the impact of that now i've got a i've got a concern this this sermon is heavy on my heart and um gosh i must be i'll just be honest with you i don't know why i'm up here the last like two or three sermons like it's my own stupid fault because we're sitting and teaching team meetings and we're like hey we got some ideas for these sermons who wants that one i'm like oh i'll take that one and then i start getting into it and i realize why did i take that one and the reason is is because i i just uh i've been having like this wrestling match with god you know i don't know what it is like the last two months especially have just been a wrestling match and he's like jumping off the turnbuckle hitting me in the back with a chair everything that there is in wrestling he's done it to me and um i walked away limping quite a few times and you know what i i just um i can't help but i just got to tell you this is another one um in my i i was talking to somebody beforehand and some i'm just a nervous wreck and uh it's not because i'm i'm used to preaching in front of people i started i actually started preaching when i was 15 years old and it was some of the worst sermons you've ever heard in your life but you know i tried and they haven't got much better but so that's not about that uh i'm a nervous wreck because when you start to really think seriously i mean seriously start to think about what it means to be a christian you have to ask yourself some major questions and one question is this is i have this concern you see i have a concern because of passages like paul wrote to timothy in the second timothy 3 where he says in the last days there will be lovers of self lovers of money and they have so much pride now that list is longer and you can go and read that but i'll tell you what bothers me about that is because it's so true we are a culture we love ourselves we are a culture that we love our money and we are a culture that we are extremely prideful i've got a concern and the concern is is that i think that there are so many people in our culture and maybe some of you even sitting here today along with me at times that's for sure who have mistaken what jesus meant when he told you to follow him and you decided somehow and maybe it's because you were taught this way that what that means is to make one decision at some point maybe even be baptized to go through this decision to say i want to be a christian but it's become nothing more to you than that what scares me or passages that jesus with jesus some of his teachings they scare me i'm just being honest one passage that scares me is that one word he says many will say to me on that last day lord lord haven't we done this in your name haven't we done that weren't we doing when did we go to church every sunday didn't we give to people didn't we he's going to say away from me because i don't know you i'm just being honest that puts a little fear in me because sometimes i really i'm just i'm just putting everything out there in my heart i just really wonder where i'm at you know i just really wonder where we are at i just really wonder how far have we strayed sometimes from the gospel because when you read the gospels and you read about the life of jesus you read you also read teachings like this and to me this is i want to get across to you today if i get across anything today i want to get across to you what it really means i hope and pray i'm going to try my best anyway of what i think maybe it really means to be a christian you know what it what it really means i've had some people say have come talk to me said darren i really want to uh i really want to know what is what it means to follow jesus i really want to i want to become a christian and so i've done my best to try to tell them what what that means but sometimes the first words out of my mouth is here let me let me tell you this if i could talk you out of this i would that doesn't sound very encouraging does it and what do you mean by that because if i can talk you out of it you don't know what it means and i read passages like this matthew chapter 16 verse 24. then jesus told his disciples happily read this with me would you out loud and that could be kind of cool kind of as an old church thing and if you're not reading it you don't love jesus okay everybody together if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me and of course jesus only met men of course it means mankind you know men and women right all of us if anyone let me explain this passage a little bit because it's really interesting matthew mark and luke all have this passage uh john is going to include some of this passage in a little bit we'll talk about that but matthew mark and luke i'll include this passage and it's really interesting because it's in the same context here's the context right before this jesus met with the disciples and he says who do you say that i am who are people saying that i am and they said well some says jeremiah some say the prophet of you know your elijah and and then who do you say that i am you remember what peter said you are the christ the son the living god and he said blessed are you simon because this has not been revealed to you by man but by god right remember this passage and then right after that what does peter do jesus says how he's going to be betrayed how he's going to be he's going to be killed and then peter comes up to him and says i'm not going to let that happen no way we're not going to let you die and then what does jesus say get behind me satan always encouraging words and then right after that it goes into this passage then the crowd then he comes up to the crowd with these disciples he was just talking to with them too and says put that passage back up there and let's read again together if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me wow what does he mean you know what's really interesting the word come after me in the original language is the same word exact word that is used for get behind me satan you think what does that mean it's really interesting because the word is actually when it's used with a very strong imperative verb like get behind me satan all right it means uh it has this idea of get in line all right get away from get out of here but when that verb is when that same word is used in a different with a different verb like it is here and come after me it means get in line but not get out of here but come after me get in line so here's what jesus is saying get in line and then let him if you're gonna do that you gotta deny yourself now i shouldn't have to really uh pontificate on this at all right on what it means to deny yourself but unfortunately i do right because we are lovers of self lovers of money and we have a lot of pride yeah so what does it mean i tell you what let's go on the rest of the passage here because you can't really take one without the other limb deny himself take up his cross and follow me you know it's really ancient what do you mean by take up his cross he meant it literally i think right the reason i think he means this literally is because of the context if you read a little bit later down here i'm not going to cover these verses but if you read a little bit later you're going to find out that he actually talks to the disciples about how they are going to die or the fact that they will have to face death for the sake of christ you know i think he means it literally you need to take up your cross now back then when someone would carry their cross i mean this is a roman crucifixion it was was meant for the the worst of the worst it was meant for the slaves it was meant for the people who were treasonous and yet jesus is nailed to one of those crosses because he was treasonous and i just find this fascinating that they would make you carry that beam you know the beam that goes across that's what you would carry you wouldn't carry the whole thing and they make you carry this beam and as jesus was carrying the beam on the way up to golgotha if you remember he stumbles and falls and someone even has to help him because he's he's so weak at that point that was common they would make you carry that thing and the reason they would make you carry that thing is to humiliate you because on the way to your own death people would stand along the side and spit on you and scorn you and curse you so you understand the picture right and i just find this so ironic that the romans what they used to humiliate jesus did willingly the message of the cross like lucas i quoted is foolishness to this world but to those who are being saved it is the power of god why because jesus the son of god who could have stopped that at any time with ten thousand angels decided not to and when they thought they had him when they thought they were humiliating him he did it intentionally do you hear me so what does he mean when he says take up your cross you too intentionally take up that beam and let the world scorn you and humiliate you and spit on you and curse you that's what it means to be a christian oh see why i'm having a problem because i see a culture that is so different than that you see what it means to be a christian you to give your heart to jesus giving your heart means dying i mean how many passages do you need in the new testament where paul speaks of in romans 6 and another romans 7 and another and so many other places where he says that you have to die what about galatians chapter 2 verse 20. i love this passage galatians 2 verse 20 i have been crucified with christ it is no longer i who live but christ who lives in me and the life i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me you have to to die that's what it means to be a christian death oh i got oh i gotta tell you guys um i've got this really cool idea i just came up with it actually actually was one of those things that happened to me and i'm like oh this is really cool i got a great idea for you of how you can exercise uh your faith how you can build your faith how you can pray like you've never prayed before are you ready i've got the secret everybody ready i got into the car while my wife was driving my spiritual life is better than it ever has been i pray like no one's business now before you jump to conclusions let me clarify something where did your mind go right there when i said that be honest yeah she's a terrible driver now i'm going to let you talk to her about that whether you know now the truth is she's not and that's not what i meant what did i mean the problem is me see i can't stand to get in the passenger seat because i like to drive i it's not has nothing to do with her it has nothing to do with her confidence or incompetence it has to do with me i can't stand to sit in the seat where i'm not driving we're going 65 miles an hour and i'm not driving i'm praying what's funny is i don't pray when i drive why is that you know what is jesus saying to not deny yourself means that and like the message actually says in matthew chapter 16 is that you need to just give it up i'm the one driving not you and see that's just it's like when you become a christian to die to self what does that mean he's got to be driving he's got to be driving which means just you want to you want to have you want to see your faith grow let him drive you know and we have a hard time understanding what that means and i tell you why it's because we're too full of ourselves we can't seem to get out of the way see this is this is the reason why it's so hard for me to speak this morning because i know i'm going to have to tell you these things here's the here's the absolute honest truth i i when i look in the mirror i don't like what i see and i'm not really saying that out of like some sort of depression because i have a feeling a lot of you will probably relate to me i say that because darren will do anything it takes to get his way i don't like what i see when i look in the mirror because darren because of his decisions because of his past because of the the problems i've created i start to wonder why don't i feel like a christian sometimes you know i can't seem to even deny myself the smallest things for the sake of christ let alone the big things we live in a culture that says self everything right self talk self confidence self esteem take a selfie everything's about self not only that but people say these kinds of philosophies and they say them unapologetically and the truth is have you read the scripture have you read what jesus said he said you have to die so if you're contemplating following jesus can i talk you out of it because if i can there's something wrong for some reason we've turned we've turned this this thing from matthew 16 we've turned it into this teaching that all it means in churches nowadays is that if you want a good life you need to follow jesus if you want to be safe and secure follow jesus if you want everything to happen right for you follow jesus and those are lies in the way that we take them you see he's so explicit empty yourself die become mine and then when you do then you might find what you're really looking for because what you're really looking for is not the things you think you you you want and it's so hard for us to deny and to die why because we love ourselves we love everything that life is for us i mean we love the things that we're putting ourselves into even though they may have little significance and when you look to the rest of this passage in in matthew 16 what does he say deny yourself take up your cross and what follow me you know the word for follow there just means come alongside of me be with me giving your heart means dying but giving your heart also means you've got to follow you've got to come alongside of jesus and what does that mean on a day-to-day basis in your everyday life how do you know whether or not you're really even following jesus it seems like it's just a sunday thing for us sometimes you know so how do you know when you're really following jesus is is it is it when that is it when you uh are listening to bgo a lot more than anything else when you got the right radio station on is that when you know you're following jesus it is is it is following jesus when when you've i don't know you've been nice to somebody you don't want to be nice to there's so much more than that right i mean there's got to be so much more than that and so the first thing you've got to know is this if you want to follow jesus you've got to come alongside you've got to know him right this this just hit me like you know punch me in the face and that is this do you spend time with him i mean do you really know him see i don't know he's not a story he's alive he's he's real he's with us every day but i think we're just we're so used to being convinced he's a story that he's that he's religion and it is no no amount of religious piety is going to help you when it comes to following jesus it's about coming alongside of the alive real jesus every day do you know him what does it take to know him believing he's real for one you know praying like getting in the car with your wife if that's what it takes doing what it takes and this is so hard for me to say because i fail so often because i'm just too full of myself i don't get to know him because i i know me way too well does that make sense now what else does it mean to follow jesus i think here's what it means it means that when you come alongside of him you're going to find these things out one is you're going to have to start looking at the world the way he looks at it you're going to have to start loving the things that he loves and hating the things that he hates and spend your time the things he would spend his time with i'm just curious like this is the question for yourself to ask because it's a question i've asked myself and i haven't always liked the answer but it's a good question to ask this last week in one of your ordinary days can can you pinpoint some things that you did or that love the way jesus loved can you pinpoint some things that you you you were about that acted as jesus would act you know are you a disciple or do you just hear i want to read a quote uh from a theologian by the name of morna hooker wrote i've gotten a gospel of mark the crucial divide is not so much between those who do and don't confess jesus as between those who do and don't follow him see i really think a lot of us think that if we just confess christ you know i'm a christian that's all it takes but to be a christian is one who actually follows you know it becomes evident and to be honest there's so many of us who are who have treated our christianity for years as if it's just something we need to learn about to learn about and on that last day do you think god's going to look at you and say well what does it mean do i actually know you or do i know about you if he knows what about you and he knows that you've taken so much of your time to learn about him guess what that's not the same as knowing him there's gonna be a lot of bible scholars who may not be there that last day and so i ask you do you do you know him do you want to follow him and what does that mean let's look at matt i've almost done matthew 16. look at the end of this 24-26 25-26 right after that he says for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what will profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul this passage is found in all four gospels there's a reason for this i can't imagine one of those of one of those guys that hung out with him and lived with him all the time i can't imagine them forgetting this statement that's why they all wrote it down it all impacted them if you save your life you're the one that's going to lose it the same word for life is the same word we see life and life in here and then you see soul at the end and forfeits his soul return for his soul it's all the same word originally it all means the same that's your very being of who you are you see as we progress through this series we're going to talk about what it means to renew your mind we're going to talk about what it means to get out for your body literally as a living sacrifice we're going to talk about what it means to have relationships because we want to love god with everything we've got and love other people but guess what none of that's going to matter if you refuse to surrender here's my prayer for you this morning my prayer for me i want so desperately despite myself i want so desperately really for god's will to be mine and that is so hard easy to say but so so seemingly so hard to do because i get in the way and so i'm asking right now for some of you to think about this for a moment are you ready to really surrender maybe you've been a christian for years but you've never really surrendered i love this what c.s lewis said at the end of mere christianity and i'll end on this give up yourself and you're going gonna find your real self lose your life and you will save it submit to death death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fiber of your being and you will find eternal life keep back nothing nothing that you have not given away will really will be really yours nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead so look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred loneliness despair rage ruin and decay but look for christ and you will find him and with him everything else thrown in you see i i hate getting in the passenger seat but what needs to change is is not my it's not my seats or choice of seat what needs to change is me i gotta start loving the passenger seat i gotta start enjoying i've got to start trusting because there's nothing incompetent about the driver it's only me so i i pray right now that uh well what i'm gonna do is right before i pray i'm gonna ask we're gonna sing and right before we sing i i just asked for you if you would just to kind of by your heads as we pray and i just want you to ask yourself you know where you're at you know father god you know ask him ask yourself father god reveal unto me whether or not i've really surrendered and i i think you'll hear a voice you know i really do i think you'll feel it in your heart and then after we pray and after everything's done after the service is over i'll be standing down here and i know you know towers around a couple other pastors around and come talk to us you know don't just walk out of here when you know something is stirring in your heart we want to pray with you so father god we pray right now in the name of jesus christ for you to prick our hearts where needed oh father we we can get so busy with our everyday ordinary life that we don't surrender our will we can we can live without even thinking of you so father help us to repent from that help us to live every single day by waking up in the morning and just just saying the simple words what do you want from me today jesus we want to come alongside we want to follow and father if need be later on in our in if your plan is is for us to be scorned and humiliated in this world and so be it so father god help us to willingly pick up that cross oh father god i praise you so much for the people who were around you those guys who didn't know what was going on but yet they went to their own martyred him for the sake of the gospel oh father god make us about the gospel make us be christians people who are followers of jesus it's in his name that i pray amen [Music] you stand and sing with us [Music] worthy of every song we could ever see and worthy of all the praise we could ever bring [Music] worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you [Music] jesus the name above every other name and jesus the only one who could ever say worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you [Music] there is none open besides my eyes in one day show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those [Music] seeing around the only day [Music] and jesus the name above every other name jesus the only one who could ever save [Music] worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you glory [Music] there is no one like you there is none beside you open up my eyes in wonder show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me holy there is no one like you there is none beside you open up my eyes in wonder show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me [Music] is i will put my trust in you and i will not be [Music] foundation [Music] will not be shaken you know i i i don't know why this memory came flooding to me but uh i remember when i was in eighth grade just you know a few years ago and uh it was it was that moment i actually committed my life to the ministry and uh it was so real you know it was so innocent you know it's amazing how the human heart can get in the way and quench exactly what god wants you know throughout the years i uh i can't help but admit i think i've lost a little bit of the hurt i used to have the hurt i used to have for such a fallen world and the hurt i used to have for such for the church actually and i just want that back you know i want that back and uh so i i'm asking where before i'm gonna dismiss but i'm gonna be down here and i would love to pray and talk with you if you just got something in your heart like [Music] like me you know i i'm down here not because i'm receiving people i'm down here because i came forward today i came forward because i'm tired of not seeing more tangible transformation in my life i'm tired of getting in the way of what the holy spirit wants to do i'm tired of not really following but just kind of listening and so that's why i'm here this this morning up here i would love to pray with you if that's you too so let me i want to once again let me pray as we dismiss father god we pray your will to be ours in the name of jesus amen have a good week

Channel: New Hope Church

Views: 277

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Id: HffaNc08TeA

Length: 69min 23sec (4163 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021