Shownotes
We live in a culture that celebrates self-sufficiency. We’re told to grind harder, manage outcomes, and control every detail. But what happens when you reach the end of your rope and realize the burden is more than you can carry?
Pastor Kevin gets blunt: real spiritual growth doesn’t come from trying harder or earning your spot. It starts when you finally let go, rest, and admit you’re not the source of your own strength. Drawing from Genesis to the words of Jesus, he walks through the tension of wanting to do it all yourself—and the freedom found in surrender.
This is not weakness; it’s wisdom. Becoming childlike isn’t about immaturity—it’s about owning your limits and trusting God to do what you cannot. If you’re worn out or stuck, you are right where you need to be.
The invitation is simple but costly: rest, trust, and let Him carry what you can’t.
Scriptures Referenced
Genesis 1; Proverbs 3:5; Matthew 23:12; Luke 17-18, 18:15, 18:17; John 15; 1 Corinthians 5:7
Key Insights
- Jesus is our Source.
- Rest is a part of God’s design.
- Faith is revealed by how much you depend.
- We don’t just need what Jesus gives; we need Jesus.
- The Kingdom belongs to those who depend on the Lord.
Key Sections
(00:00:00) - Trade Striving for Rest
Most of us live exhausted, trapped in the idea that spiritual maturity begins with what we do for God. That pull to measure your faith by activity feels noble, but only wears you out. Pastor Kevin invites you to a different path—one where growing spiritually begins with giving up control, where the first choice is to rest instead of rush, and where God’s plan is to fill you up before you try to help others.
(00:15:39) - Dependence Over Confidence
A spiritual experience can slowly change into self-confidence. The more you learn, the easier it becomes to trust your own thoughts instead of relying on God. Notice the drift from dependence, as faith quietly shifts from Jesus to your grasp of spiritual things. Pastor Kevin exposes how easily we try to “do God’s job for him” and calls you to a radical return to childlike trust.
(00:44:05) - Become Childlike Again
Performing, producing, managing outcomes - these exhaust you yet bring no closer intimacy with God. Jesus welcomes only those who embrace utter dependence, like an infant with nothing to offer but need. Here, every pretense of strength is surrendered. You find lasting transformation not in what you achieve, but in how you trust and rest as a beloved child.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/arise-dependently
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
All right, well, guys, welcome. We are actually starting the
Speaker:second portion of our year series. So
Speaker:over the last several months, we have been in
Speaker:the side of abide, and we're about to start with
Speaker:Arise today. And then in the fall, we're going to be going into
Speaker:advance. And so I'm excited about where the Lord is
Speaker:going to take us in this, and I hope that you are, too.
Speaker:We're gonna read one scripture today. One scripture. And because
Speaker:it's one, I'm gonna ask you to read it twice. So if you'll stand with
Speaker:me, we're gonna read that. The first time you read this, I want you to
Speaker:read it and you go, oh, that's the scripture we're reading. And then
Speaker:the second time you read it, I want you to read it like, oh, that's
Speaker:the scripture we're reading. Okay, are you ready? Here we go. Let's read it together.
Speaker:Truly, I tell you, anyone who will not
Speaker:receive the kingdom of God like a little child will.
Speaker:Will never enter it. Whoa. Let's say it again.
Speaker:Truly, I tell you, anyone who will not
Speaker:receive the kingdom like a little child.
Speaker:Father, I thank you for your word. And I thank you for its truth. I
Speaker:pray, Lord, that it would transform us today. I pray, Lord, that you would speak
Speaker:to our hearts today, God and Lord, as you do the work,
Speaker:Lord, help everything that I'm saying, that's nonsense, fall to the ground. But those things
Speaker:you have stick for eternity in Jesus name. And everybody said,
Speaker:amen. Amen. So we have spent this year,
Speaker:the first quarter, talking about the principle of abiding
Speaker:and abiding. If I were to sum it up in one phrase,
Speaker:abiding is this. Jesus is your source.
Speaker:Jesus is your source. John 15 tells us. He says, I
Speaker:am the vine and you are the branches. And as we step
Speaker:into arise, what we're looking at is coming from the
Speaker:vine as we are the branches. We're looking at this budding
Speaker:that's happening on the branches. And as it starts to
Speaker:bud, we're going to find out what it is that's supposed to happen during this
Speaker:season of spiritual maturity in the Lord as
Speaker:we have surrendered to him being our source. Now, if you're anything like
Speaker:me, I have the propensity of whenever I'm given a green
Speaker:light, man, I wanna take off and go, I'm just ready to. I'm ready
Speaker:to run. And what I believe some of us as
Speaker:believers have also the propensity to do is to do the same
Speaker:thing whenever we have surrendered our lives to The Lord we say,
Speaker:lord, I fully recognize that you are my source.
Speaker:Now what do you want me to do? Now what do you want
Speaker:me to do? And so we become, real quickly human
Speaker:doers instead of human beings.
Speaker:And we're gonna learn a little bit about what that first step looks like. And
Speaker:it may not be what you think it
Speaker:is. As we step into this arise now, if you can transform
Speaker:your back to the beginning of the year, the beginning of the series. And
Speaker:let me tell you something, I know you've slept. I know some of you don't
Speaker:even remember what you did yesterday. So I'm gonna remind you what that looked like
Speaker:back then. But we were talking about, we live in this Kingdom of
Speaker:God culture in the context of this broader
Speaker:world that doesn't want really anything to do with the Kingdom of God. And that
Speaker:can be hard. That can pose some
Speaker:challenges because the context with which we live, we're rubbing
Speaker:elbows at work, at school, at the grocery stor,
Speaker:people who do not ascribe to biblical principles and wanna
Speaker:shove their way of living down your throat
Speaker:every chance that they get. And so here you are trying to really own and
Speaker:learn biblical truth, biblical standards of living, a
Speaker:biblical worldview. Yet you're in this context of this world. And
Speaker:it can be a bit of a struggle at times. But
Speaker:here's the thing. The question that we have to ask ourselves in the midst of
Speaker:that as we acknowledge it, is this. Will we be
Speaker:formed by the world we live in, or will we be rooted
Speaker:in the kingdom to which we belong? This is the question that we asked at
Speaker:the beginning of the year. And it's gonna play a role in it. Played
Speaker:a role in abide, it's gonna play a role in arise, and it's gonna play
Speaker:a role in advance as well. Will we be formed by the world
Speaker:we live in, or will we be rooted in the kingdom
Speaker:to which we belong? And so what my hope is is as we mature and
Speaker:grow in the Lord in this series, and then we get into advance, we're actually
Speaker:gonna look when a believer takes a
Speaker:stand for biblical truth, we're actually going to look at what it actually looks like.
Speaker:What is the action point that happens that's going to come in advance. But
Speaker:here's the thing, we got a lot of spiritual surgery that needs
Speaker:to happen inside us before we get to this place where the Lord releases us
Speaker:to go. And so my hope is that
Speaker:as we get in this middle section, that the Lord begins to really do a
Speaker:work inside us, because we've been In a place where we say, God, I now
Speaker:fully acknowledge you as the source. That's where it starts,
Speaker:acknowledging you are the source. I'm not the source. My
Speaker:friends are not the source. The TV is not the source.
Speaker:Social media is not the source. God, you are the source. You're the
Speaker:source of my life. So will we be formed by the world
Speaker:or will we be rooted in the kingdom to which we belong?
Speaker:Okay, so we're going from this place of abide to
Speaker:arise. And in order to do that, I believe we have to go
Speaker:all the way back to Genesis. We have to go back to
Speaker:the beginning. Did you know that in the beginning, God
Speaker:created the heavens and the earth? In
Speaker:the beginning, God created. In other words, this idea
Speaker:was always God's. This idea was always
Speaker:his. In the beginning, he created. Day one, God said,
Speaker:let there be light. And there was light. And so he
Speaker:created day and night. And you know what he said after that? He said,
Speaker:day two, he created the sky and the heavens. And after he got done with
Speaker:that, you know what he said? It's good. Then he
Speaker:created the land, the sea and the plants. And after he was done creating
Speaker:those things, you know what he said? It's good. You're catching on.
Speaker:The sun, moon and the stars on day four. And God created it
Speaker:and said, then he created the fish and the
Speaker:birds. And after he did that, on that day, he said,
Speaker:and then day six, he created animals and he
Speaker:breathed into man. And he said, you know what
Speaker:this tells me? Everything God created is good.
Speaker:Everything that God does and has a hand in
Speaker:is good. Because God inherently,
Speaker:He is good. There is no strain, There was
Speaker:no effort. Real effort, no real resistance.
Speaker:Beginning only authority and completion. With God's sovereignty
Speaker:on display. God was providing order.
Speaker:God was the provision. He was the
Speaker:completion of all things. God creates the world. He
Speaker:forms man. And he breathes life into
Speaker:man. And as we see man there laying down, and I want
Speaker:you to jump and parallel from John 15 to Genesis 1,
Speaker:he says, I am the vine, you are the branches. In
Speaker:Genesis 1, God breathes into man. He breathes into man.
Speaker:And guess what that breath is? It is the source of life. It's the
Speaker:source of life. So we're drawing from, from the beginning, we've always
Speaker:supposed to been drawing from God. We've always supposed to been drawing from
Speaker:God. And here's the thing. He breathes breath into man. Man breathes
Speaker:and he gets up. And guess what? The first thing
Speaker:Adam breath gets to experience with God, the
Speaker:very first thing that Adam gets To experience with God
Speaker:is rest. What?
Speaker:Wait a second. I mean, I would
Speaker:think if God is breathing into Adam for the first time,
Speaker:I mean, if it was me and I'm laying there and he's breathing into Kevin
Speaker:for the first time, I want to get up and start running. Let's go, game
Speaker:on, Start taking on. Let's start doing stuff. Let's start doing stuff. I want
Speaker:to do it. I want to get. I want to get into it, right? But
Speaker:the very first thing that humankind,
Speaker:mankind gets to witness is listen to this.
Speaker:A completed creation
Speaker:and a God resting. Not because
Speaker:God was exhausted, not because God needed
Speaker:to take a break. He was resting so that
Speaker:he could enjoy the beauty of what he had
Speaker:created. God is resting from a place
Speaker:of enjoyment of his creation, and man
Speaker:comes on the scene, and the first thing man sees is God
Speaker:enjoying the beauty of what he created. I want to
Speaker:suggest to you today that the first man, the first
Speaker:thing that takes place as you have submitted and surrendered your life
Speaker:and said, he is my source, the very first thing that happens is God
Speaker:invites you on a journey of rest in him. The very
Speaker:first thing that takes place is not take up your swords, look at your
Speaker:ability, look at your talents, look at the platform. He
Speaker:says, no, the first thing that we do is we rest in everything
Speaker:that he's created. He is the source. He is
Speaker:God, and we. And we are not.
Speaker:God's intention was always this. You
Speaker:don't carry this.
Speaker:You are supposed to trust me, says the Lord with it.
Speaker:See, when it comes to rest, guys, we tend to view
Speaker:rest through the lens of the, of recovery.
Speaker:In other words, okay, if somebody says rest, it's, I'm tired,
Speaker:so rest. I'm exhausted, so I'm going to rest.
Speaker:I'm anxious, so I'm going to. I'm going to rest. I'm empty, so I'm going
Speaker:to rest. Guys, can I tell you, Adam was not tired. He was
Speaker:not overloaded, he was not empty. He was not anxious.
Speaker:And this tells us that rest is a part
Speaker:of God's design. Rest is a
Speaker:part of. In other words, your creator
Speaker:created you. And an aspect of you from
Speaker:the very jump is supposed to be this rest,
Speaker:this beautiful, wonderful rest that
Speaker:happens naturally. But here's the thing. We live in a
Speaker:culture that fights tooth and nail against this principle of
Speaker:rest, tooth and nail
Speaker:against rest. I've been on staff
Speaker:in some way for about 15 years here, but for the last five,
Speaker:a little bit over five years, I've been in this position. And
Speaker:after year one, I remember we were going to an admin board meeting,
Speaker:and we've got a fantastic admin board here at the church. Really
Speaker:has served us well for a very long time. And we're going in there
Speaker:to do the year review. Now, I'm walking in from the lens of, okay, this
Speaker:is the first year around the. You know, this is my first circle around this
Speaker:thing, and we're reviewing how things are going and all that stuff. But the Lord
Speaker:says to me, kevin, when you go into that admirable meeting, I want you to
Speaker:tell them that you're supposed to take a month off. And I
Speaker:go, oh, I can't do that. Who goes into a new
Speaker:position? And after less than one year, you go, hey, guys, I just
Speaker:want to let you know, I'm supposed to take a month off.
Speaker:I was nervous, and now I know these brothers, but I'm like, what
Speaker:are they going? Lord, I can't go in there. And can we wait at least
Speaker:five or six years in. I mean, go in there. I mean. Or, okay,
Speaker:how about a week? Can I take a week off? You know? No. He said,
Speaker:I want you to go in there, and I want you to tell them I
Speaker:want you to take a month off. So I went in there. I
Speaker:was so nervous. I don't know that they know this, but, I mean, I was
Speaker:sweating. I was like, in there. And I said, okay, guys, well, thank you. We've
Speaker:reviewed the whole thing. Things are going well. And I said, okay, I don't really
Speaker:know how this works, but God told me and
Speaker:Shari that we're supposed to take an entire month off this next year.
Speaker:And do you know, like, the minute the sentence left my mouth, there
Speaker:was an amen on the table. Like, it was as if the
Speaker:Lord had already prepared their heart in their mind, like they had already gotten
Speaker:there before I had gotten there. And I want you to know that it
Speaker:wasn't me presenting this because I was exhausted. I wasn't.
Speaker:In fact, I was actually opposite. I was geared up and I
Speaker:was raring to go for the next year. I'm like, what are you
Speaker:talking about? Rest? Here's the thing.
Speaker:Sabbatical. The principle of sabbatical, typically culturally,
Speaker:is assigned to someone who gets identified. As you're worn
Speaker:out, you're depleted, and so now you need to take some time off.
Speaker:But how much better is it for the pastoral team to serve you
Speaker:from a position of proactive rest than reactive
Speaker:whenever there are down in the ditches, worn out?
Speaker:And so we went on this sabbatical and can I tell you, for the first
Speaker:time in my life, I remember turning off my cell phone,
Speaker:completely backing out of everything. And it
Speaker:was the most wonderful time that Shari and I have ever
Speaker:experienced with each other and more importantly, with the Lord.
Speaker:And the Lord downloaded me to me principles and things
Speaker:that I needed for this house. And I came back
Speaker:and I was ready to march into that admin board and say, I think three
Speaker:months will be the ticket next year.
Speaker:I was so thankful for that time off. I was so thankful
Speaker:for that time of rest. Now I went to the staff and said, the admin
Speaker:board has also given permission for you to take off. And guess what? It was
Speaker:met with resistance. Some of the staff said, I don't want to do it.
Speaker:I'm not going to do it. This is. I don't know that to say this
Speaker:is dumb. But they said, you know, this is weird. Do you know what
Speaker:FOMO is? Right? I mean, I don't want to miss
Speaker:out. Okay? And so there was a little bit back and forth about this whole
Speaker:principle of rest. But here's the thing, that's a natural response
Speaker:because we are culturally conditioned not
Speaker:to rest. We are culturally
Speaker:conditioned not to be able to slow down
Speaker:and actually take time. And as these staff members began to
Speaker:get into a place of sabbatical, guess what they realized,
Speaker:Whoa. What is it like to go into a place of
Speaker:rest when you're not depleted? What can the Lord actually speak to you during
Speaker:that time to get you ready to come back and really run?
Speaker:I'm so grateful that we go to a church with the leadership that sees the
Speaker:value in the leadership resting in the pastoral
Speaker:team, resting guys culture says it's
Speaker:uncomfortable to rest. When somebody comes to us and
Speaker:suggests, hey, you need to take some time and rest, our
Speaker:defense mechanisms kick right in. It's like
Speaker:we've been wronged in some way by somebody saying, you might want to consider
Speaker:resting guys, we were never designed to manage
Speaker:our life's outcomes. We were designed to live dependent
Speaker:on the one who already holds everything together.
Speaker:And if you don't understand that basic principle,
Speaker:you will spend your entire life trying to do God's
Speaker:job for him. Here's the thing.
Speaker:Something tends to happen to believers who have been around
Speaker:the track a number of times, who have heard the word, who have gotten into
Speaker:a Bible reading plan. We begin to understand
Speaker:the language, we begin to see the patterns, we begin to
Speaker:recognize the platitudes, we begin to get into all of the
Speaker:minutia, and we end up, listen to this if we're not careful, we
Speaker:end up moving from a place of dependence from confidence to
Speaker:understanding, and from understanding
Speaker:to confidence. But the confidence is
Speaker:not in him. Our confidence, listen to this.
Speaker:Is what we think we know about Him.
Speaker:And so we begin to order our life, not dependent on the
Speaker:Lord, but out of the confidence in what we think we know about
Speaker:Him. Are you with me? And so, so
Speaker:this, I believe, is where the disciples are. And so the
Speaker:Lord took me to Luke chapter 17. If you have your word, you can go
Speaker:there. Luke 17, 18. And what I wanna pay
Speaker:attention to here we've done on Thursday nights, the letters in red.
Speaker:Well, today I wanna look at the letters in black. So the letters
Speaker:in red are what Jesus says, and that's where we really need to
Speaker:draw from. But the letters in black actually give
Speaker:not only context to what Jesus is saying, it also is the response,
Speaker:response of the disciples and the people around on what
Speaker:Jesus is saying. And we can fit into the shoes
Speaker:of the people and the writing in black. Okay, and so we're
Speaker:gonna get there in just a moment. But so the reason I'm picking up in
Speaker:Luke 17 is because the previous chapters, Jesus is
Speaker:building and building and building a case for who he
Speaker:is, what he's doing. We see the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep,
Speaker:the lost son. He's building all of these things. And Luke 17 is the
Speaker:first time we see these black letter come up. And there's a
Speaker:response from the disciples. And I want to start, I want to start in Luke
Speaker:17 because of that. So we open in
Speaker:Luke 17. Jesus has been walking with the disciples.
Speaker:He's building a case for himself. And let me say this first. I have
Speaker:been so noticing the thread of God in my life lately.
Speaker:I want you to know that if you will open your eyes, you will see
Speaker:the thread of God in your life. Our
Speaker:God, the one we serve. The God we serve, the God who breathes stars. He
Speaker:is super. He is ultra intentional.
Speaker:If you will pay attention, A connects to B connects to C, if you
Speaker:will pay attention. And what we tend to do with these scriptures is we take
Speaker:a parable and we plop it out of the context and then we teach on
Speaker:it. There's nothing wrong with that. We dive deep in that way. But I want
Speaker:you to understand, I believe that Jesus was on a mission with these
Speaker:disciples and he was showing them something. He was dismantling
Speaker:things all along the pathway that were not
Speaker:isolated moments. It was a journey together
Speaker:because he was trying to get them to a Place of utter
Speaker:dependence on him. Utter and complete dependence
Speaker:on him. And so we're opening Luke 17, and
Speaker:Jesus is here. And it is the part of Scripture where he's saying, if a
Speaker:brother sins against you, you ought to forgive him over
Speaker:and over and over and over again. How many have
Speaker:had to forgive somebody over and over and over again? And did you have to
Speaker:do it over again? And did you have to do it over again, again? And
Speaker:did you have to do it again, again, again? Here's the thing. It's okay. We're
Speaker:okay forgiving. We're okay forgiving again
Speaker:until the again comes. Are you with me? And here's what
Speaker:Jesus is doing in this moment, okay? He's saying, you need to
Speaker:forgive again. Okay? But here's the deal. I don't know about you.
Speaker:When I've gotten to a place where I have to forgive again, again,
Speaker:okay? I am sussing
Speaker:through such hurt, such woundedness, such
Speaker:brokenness and all this, that for me to forgive again, again,
Speaker:I actually have to draw from the source of God. So what's
Speaker:happening here is Jesus is saying, forgive again, again,
Speaker:again. But in order to forgive again, you're going to need to draw from
Speaker:me. Cause you're not going to be able to do it on your own strength.
Speaker:And let me tell you something, if you do it on your own strength, you're
Speaker:probably gonna have strings attached. Jeremy, I forgive you, but I expect
Speaker:you to do X, Y and Z. No, that's not the forgiveness he's talking about.
Speaker:Forgive again, again, again. You're gonna need his
Speaker:strength, the source of life, to
Speaker:fuel you and work in your brokenness so that you can walk in true freedom
Speaker:and liberation and forgiveness. And so he's
Speaker:saying, forgive again, again, again. And here's where we see they say something
Speaker:for the very first time. They say this, Lord, increase
Speaker:our faith. That's the response. Lord, increase our faith.
Speaker:Now, I used to read this. I used to read this
Speaker:from the angle of. I thought this was a quantity thing, but I
Speaker:don't believe it is. I used to read this. In a way, it's kind of
Speaker:like, Hannah, you got faith at level five, so you need
Speaker:actually faith level seven to do this. Okay? You're not quite there. So just get
Speaker:some more in your tank and then you'll be able. Sam, you're at level three,
Speaker:and you need, like level eight to get here. So you need something to happen
Speaker:so you can kind of measure. And the reason
Speaker:I quantified it is because of what Jesus says next. He says if you have
Speaker:faith like a mustard seed. Right? Okay, I don't read it. This is
Speaker:how I kind of. I've kind of begun to read this. In this way
Speaker:they say, lord, increase our faith. And Jesus is saying, if you have faith like
Speaker:a mustard seed, you can move a mountain. In other words, you're not focused
Speaker:on the right thing. This isn't about you. Listen to
Speaker:this. This is the point. This isn't about you accumulating
Speaker:enough faith so you don't have to be with me anymore.
Speaker:Are you with me? It's not about quantity. It's not about, okay,
Speaker:my faith tank is full enough. So, Jesus, I don't need you until my faith
Speaker:tank is empty. He's saying, no, you must be dependent
Speaker:on me all of the time. You can't forgive again,
Speaker:again, again. Unless I'm the source.
Speaker:Faith, all you need is a little bit of faith. You can move a mountain.
Speaker:That's not even a big deal. Don't connect your. Don't
Speaker:disconnect yourself from me is what he's trying to do. Listen, he's taking them
Speaker:on a journey. These are that have walked and lived and
Speaker:breathed with Jesus, okay? So they're walking with him. He says, listen,
Speaker:listen, you need me as your source. The
Speaker:issue is not how much you have. The strength of your faith is
Speaker:revealed by the object of your trust. Because
Speaker:faith is revealed by how much you depend.
Speaker:Think about it. Your faith is revealed by how
Speaker:much you choose to depend on the source.
Speaker:I decided about five, six
Speaker:years ago, I decided I was gonna get some muscles. And they were
Speaker:selling these muscles at Lifetime Wellness, you know, on a package, you know,
Speaker:annual package, monthly package. And so I went over there and they
Speaker:said, you know, in order to get you some of these muscles, you're gonna have
Speaker:to meet with a guy named Spike. And Spike's gonna help you out. He's gonna
Speaker:do a consult with you. And so I went down to Lifetime Wellness
Speaker:and, you know, I sandwiched it. In my day, I had a meeting, like at
Speaker:12 and a meeting at 3, and I was at 2, and
Speaker:I get down to Lifetime Wellness and I'm like, okay, I got this tight window,
Speaker:but I'm gonna go in here and do this. And I go in there to
Speaker:the gym and I go up to the receptionist and Spike has
Speaker:left a packet of information for me to read. So I get up
Speaker:there and the lady says, if you'll just have a seat right here, here's some
Speaker:information for you. Spike will be right out. Now, I'm thinking To myself.
Speaker:I've got an appointment coming up right behind this, so I need Spike to be
Speaker:on time, okay? Now Spike is five eight, I'm five' eleven, I'm a little taller,
Speaker:but Spike is like, he walks like this. I mean, he's got the muscles on.
Speaker:He got muscles for sale, okay? He's just walking over, okay? And
Speaker:Spike, I'm waiting for Spike to come out and it's 20 minutes. And what I
Speaker:do is I sit down, listen to this. I sit down
Speaker:and I want to be productive.
Speaker:I want to do something. Like I'm not wanting to just sit.
Speaker:And so what I do is I grab my phone and I start to go
Speaker:through and answer emails and start to set up appointments, and
Speaker:guess what? About 2:10 I start getting upset. Why? Because Spike has not shown up
Speaker:yet. And so I'm like, I'm answering emails and I'm getting things done. I'm like,
Speaker:listen, I don't care if spike comes at 2:20, I'm not leaving here at 3:20.
Speaker:I have an appointment. He's got to get done in the 30 minute time. I
Speaker:mean, I'm like, what's going on? Okay, so I'm scrolling right here about
Speaker:2:20ish, Spike comes out the door. Now this is the first time I met Spike.
Speaker:First time I see him, he's walking out like this. Now here, when you see.
Speaker:I don't care how tall they are, you see a guy like this, you don't
Speaker:tell them you're mad at them. You just go, hey, hey, nice to meet you,
Speaker:Spike, you know, nice to meet you. Now internally I'm kind of like, man, you
Speaker:wasted 20 minutes of my time. What's going on? Right? So he comes out, he
Speaker:introduces himself, and we go down into the gym and he asked me, have you
Speaker:ever done a lunge? Okay? So he said, I'm gonna have you do these
Speaker:lunges, okay? So I said, okay, now here's the thing. I'm wired to be an
Speaker:overachiever, okay? So I'm gonna do the best lunges
Speaker:I can do as fast as I can do them, right? So I get down
Speaker:and I'm like, whoosh, you know, whoosh, you know, I'm doing it
Speaker:all the way down and come all the way back. I'm like, yeah, here we
Speaker:go. He said, okay, great, do it again. Oh, okay, okay,
Speaker:yeah, let's do it again. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Back and forth, all the way back.
Speaker:Great. Okay, I need you to do it again. Oh, okay.
Speaker:Thought to myself, I'm gonna slow down a little bit this time.
Speaker:Whoosh. You know. Okay, so I'm
Speaker:doing it. He has me lift some things. He has me do some leg exercises.
Speaker:3 o' clock on the dot comes. He says, thank you for coming. You're just
Speaker:gonna need to go down the two flights of stairs to the bottom and get
Speaker:your checkout slip. And I will be emailing you what you need to do. Now.
Speaker:I had a couple things going off in my mind at that time. Three o',
Speaker:clock. I thought to myself, first of all, you cheated me on my hour. But
Speaker:I'm not saying that out loud. The second thing I thought to
Speaker:myself is, I'm so glad this is over, because I am tore up from the
Speaker:floor. I am so sore. I got over there to.
Speaker:And I tried to step down the first step, and
Speaker:I could not lift my leg.
Speaker:I mean, I'm serious. I could not lift my leg. So Here
Speaker:comes Spike, 5, 8. And he says, are you okay? I
Speaker:said, I can't lift my leg.
Speaker:Spike picks me up like a baby and
Speaker:walks me down five, eight, walks this five,
Speaker:eleven man down the two flights of steps in front of all of these hunky
Speaker:guys walking in, just ready to work out. I was so embarrassed.
Speaker:I said to myself, I will never be at the gym at two o' clock
Speaker:again. And so I get to school
Speaker:that day and I'm in so much pain. And how many know that you have
Speaker:friends in your life that like to broadcast your pain? Anybody? Okay, this
Speaker:is my friend.
Speaker:Have a good day. Oh,
Speaker:Shut up.
Speaker:We have adopted this mindset. I want to do it myself.
Speaker:See, here's the problem. That paperwork that Spike
Speaker:gave the first 20 minutes, it literally says in the
Speaker:instructions, take the first 20 minutes and do these stretches
Speaker:so you will not be in pain.
Speaker:You see, there's something that's supposed to be done before
Speaker:you get moving. There's a process. The Lord
Speaker:is intentional with our lives. He's intentional with what he's
Speaker:doing in our lives. And then that place of rest, there is
Speaker:stretching of your muscles. That's happening. There's things that he's doing
Speaker:to equip you and prepare you to advance. You can't
Speaker:skip from abiding to advancing. There's gotta be a place in the
Speaker:middle, which is the place where. So we start with
Speaker:this thing that says, I want to do it myself. Now, the disciples are
Speaker:unintentionally working their way toward this
Speaker:I want to do it myself mentality. And Jesus is
Speaker:teaching them that the only way that this works
Speaker:is by depending on him. That's
Speaker:literally the lesson. He's saying, I need you to depend on me. So
Speaker:we then go into the story about the servants,
Speaker:and he talks about servants who don't demand reward.
Speaker:Why? What he's doing here is he's dismantling
Speaker:this idea of entitlement. Have you ever met anybody
Speaker:who seemed entitled? So here's the thing.
Speaker:Listen, I've read the Bible a few times. I've been at church all my life.
Speaker:I've been around Christians, you know, so, yeah, I should have that
Speaker:special seat in the congregation. I should have that special notoriety.
Speaker:They should be giving me a platform. They should be doing. There's this sense of
Speaker:entitlement. I say it out loud and absolutely sounds ridiculous,
Speaker:but let me tell you something. There's so many actions out there that match those
Speaker:words. Just because you don't say it off the cuff
Speaker:doesn't mean that your actions are not mimicking this. And here are some
Speaker:disciples. And it's kind of like he's dismantling this idea
Speaker:that if you get it right, you get a pat on the back. What
Speaker:he's actually saying is, if you do it right, your
Speaker:posture should be, I'm unworthy to have even been chosen to do it.
Speaker:That's the heart posture. Because you understand if you do it right, it's
Speaker:actually that you were drawing from the source. That you were
Speaker:drawing from the source. Are y' all picking this up today? Okay,
Speaker:so he's dismantling his entitlement. So in other words. Okay, guys,
Speaker:I did not earn this position as lead pastor. It
Speaker:wasn't like the elders got together and said, okay, here's the way to
Speaker:achieve the title of lead pastor if you just meet these benchmarks. In
Speaker:fact, I think I'm God's greatest joke to this church, honestly. Okay, but
Speaker:here's the deal. There is a call on my life.
Speaker:And the reason that's important is because, I mean, none of y' all do this.
Speaker:But I get these emails and these opinions. It's never y'. All, but I get
Speaker:these emails and these opinions and these thoughts, you know, that are
Speaker:targeted, that are. That are left field. Like, I don't think you should have done
Speaker:this. I don't think you should. And I'm so grateful for the feedback. Again, all
Speaker:y' all only give me positive stuff,
Speaker:right? Okay, but you get these. I get these
Speaker:emails and I get these opinions. Because here's the thing. And here's the thing. Do
Speaker:you know what? I'm actually Supposed to get those things
Speaker:because I'm the leader, and leaders have fewer
Speaker:privileges than followers. Okay, leaders have things. But here's the thing. You
Speaker:know why my peace is not disturbed when somebody sends me something that is
Speaker:kind of out left field, or maybe as a. I don't take
Speaker:it as a personal attack, but maybe it's meant that way. I don't know. You
Speaker:know why my peace is not disturbed? It's because I have a call on my
Speaker:life today, this position. And so if I'm drawing from the
Speaker:source, which is Jesus, then what you say to me is not
Speaker:my source, which means it doesn't affect how I feel or how I walk or
Speaker:what I do. Does that make sense? Now? It doesn't mean that it's not
Speaker:valid. Doesn't mean it doesn't have to be addressed, all of those things. But
Speaker:emotionally, it's like people are like, can you believe they said that about you? Well,
Speaker:yeah. I mean, I've been a doormat for a long time in my life, you
Speaker:know, to certain people. But guess what? I draw from the source. I
Speaker:draw from the source. Now, here's the problem. When he lifts the call and I
Speaker:continue to be in this position, then we're in trouble. I'm not just in trouble.
Speaker:Y' all are in trouble, too. You don't need a pastor. You don't need any
Speaker:of your pastors to be in the position without the call. You need
Speaker:God to anoint the people who are leading you. You need to recognize
Speaker:that anointing. But here's the thing. You need leaders in your life who lead from
Speaker:a posture of, I cannot believe God would choose me worthy to do this. I
Speaker:cannot believe that the Lord would choose me to do this. So, Lord, I want
Speaker:to be. You need to be. You need me to be drawing from the sour
Speaker:source. If you want truth in your life conveyed from any
Speaker:of your leaders, you need them to be drawing from the true source. Not from
Speaker:their ideas. Not from Facebook, not from Facebook,
Speaker:not from Facebook,
Speaker:not from Facebook. Okay,
Speaker:so then we go into the story of the ten lepers. You see, ten lepers
Speaker:are healed. Ten are healed from Jesus, and only
Speaker:one comes back. And here's the thing. Everybody
Speaker:can receive from Jesus. Everybody's able to come and
Speaker:receive from Jesus, but very few are actually made whole. You
Speaker:see, here's the thing. The 10 experienced the healing, but only one in that moment
Speaker:was made whole because that one came back.
Speaker:So the principle here is, I don't just need what Jesus
Speaker:gives. I need Jesus. So the Principle
Speaker:here, disciples, as you're walking is you don't just need the things I'm giving
Speaker:you. This isn't like a three year window for you to get everything I give
Speaker:you and then adios, okay? I don't have anything to do with your life
Speaker:anymore. I hope you learn what you learned and do it. No, he's like, I'm
Speaker:going to be with you. Like, the idea is that you need to depend on
Speaker:me. And so that leper comes back completely healed, but doesn't just
Speaker:receive healing, receives wholeness. And guys, you will receive
Speaker:wholeness. If he's your source, if you go back to him. Jesus said,
Speaker:whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, but whoever loses their
Speaker:life will preserve it. In other words, when you proactively
Speaker:surrender to this king and say, I surrender to you, Jesus,
Speaker:and I acknowledge you as my source, you will have life, and you'll
Speaker:have life abundantly. A life that you can't even. It's so extraordinary,
Speaker:the peace that he gives you. And so if Luke 17 kind of
Speaker:defines faith, Luke 18 demonstrates it. And so,
Speaker:so Jesus takes everything he's just exposed and he
Speaker:begins to walk them through what it actually looks like. And so this is
Speaker:where we're gonna go to those words in black. And so in chapter 18, verse
Speaker:1, it says this. Then Jesus told his disciples
Speaker:a parable. Now, parable means story. Jesus told his
Speaker:disciples a story to show them that they
Speaker:should always pray and not give up. Okay,
Speaker:so when you see this parable of the persistent widow, what are we supposed to
Speaker:be taking away from it? We
Speaker:should always pray and we should not give up. Okay,
Speaker:so he goes through this story with the widow. She
Speaker:has nothing. She has no power, no leverage, no influence, just need, just
Speaker:dependence. And here's what dependence does. Dependence will keep
Speaker:you going back to the source. What Jesus is teaching here is
Speaker:when you depend on him, dependence, repentance is
Speaker:infectious. You depend, you get, you go back. You
Speaker:depend, you get, you go back. You depend, you
Speaker:receive and you go back. This widow keeps
Speaker:going, keeps going. Don't you think that Jesus is okay with
Speaker:you continuing to come to him over and over and over
Speaker:and over again? Some of you are one over again away
Speaker:from a breakthrough in your life. Some of you are one
Speaker:more persistent prayer away from God shattering the
Speaker:ceiling and everything breaking free in your life. Some of you have
Speaker:given up on this God who breathes stars by saying, well,
Speaker:I guess he doesn't see me, I guess he doesn't know me, and I'm gonna
Speaker:Draw to my own way of doing this. But he's saying, come back again, come
Speaker:back again, come back again. His source never runs out. His source
Speaker:never runs out. You might not have the breakthrough yet, but I'm gonna give you
Speaker:the sustainability to walk until the breakthrough comes. Y' all aren't hearing what
Speaker:I'm saying today. He is the source that we depend on.
Speaker:And she keeps going and going. One of the largest indicators.
Speaker:Listen to this. One of the largest indicators of independence
Speaker:is a shallow, non prayer life. One
Speaker:of the greatest indicators. If you're wondering am I independent or I'm dependent, how
Speaker:often do you talk to God? If you do not talk to God, if you
Speaker:do not have a prayer life, active in your life whatsoever, you
Speaker:do not talk to him, then you are the source of he's not.
Speaker:Prayer unlocks all types of pathways to the king
Speaker:who breathes stars. And guys, we've got to start talking to him.
Speaker:We've got to be going to him. We got to be bringing our hurts, our
Speaker:wounds, our confusion needs to be going to him. Our distractions.
Speaker:We need to be going to him, not to the person next to us. We
Speaker:need to be going to the source. Prayer. Prayer is the indicator on whether
Speaker:we're depending on God. So she keeps coming back. She
Speaker:keeps coming back. Then we see the story of the Pharisees and the tax
Speaker:collector. Let's read those words in black. And it says this
Speaker:to some who were confident of their own
Speaker:righteousness and looked down on everyone
Speaker:else. Jesus told this parable. So when we read this
Speaker:parable, it is to those who were confident of their own
Speaker:righteousness. What does that mean? I'm confident? Hey,
Speaker:I'm doing everything right. Have
Speaker:you ever talked to somebody and they're never wrong?
Speaker:Like, it doesn't matter what you say to them. It's like they're never wrong. They're
Speaker:never wrong. They're confident in their own
Speaker:righteousness. Confidence in all the things that they
Speaker:say and they do. I mean, they listen. They've read this book a couple times
Speaker:and they've got the law on this book. They know exactly what's
Speaker:supposed to happen. They're so confident
Speaker:in their righteousness. And then he says this. He says,
Speaker:and look down on everyone else. Here's the thing. This is
Speaker:how this works. When you are so confident of your
Speaker:own righteousness, then the only one you can see is yourself.
Speaker:So then by proxy, you are looking down on everyone else, but you can't tell
Speaker:that you're looking down on everyone else because you're too busy looking at yourself.
Speaker:Are you with me? So when you're looking in the mirror and all you see
Speaker:is yourself all of the time, and you go, I don't look down on other
Speaker:people. Yes, you do. Because all you see is a version
Speaker:of yourself everywhere you go. And God is
Speaker:saying, put down the mirror and start looking at me. When
Speaker:you look in the mirror, you should see Jesus. If you don't see Jesus, you're
Speaker:not there yet. Y' all are quiet
Speaker:today. Okay, here we go.
Speaker:Jesus says, the one who walks away right with God is the
Speaker:one who knew he needed him. In other words, the kingdom
Speaker:cannot be earned. It can only be received.
Speaker:It doesn't matter how gooder you are, how much you've worked, no
Speaker:matter how much you've put in. I've been. Man, I've been going to this church
Speaker:for 25 years. I'm just a little bit higher now. No, it doesn't matter.
Speaker:There's no earning. Let me give us something that
Speaker:will help us in this culture. Okay? I want to earn my
Speaker:way into the kingdom. I'm going to give you an antidote. I'm going to give
Speaker:you a pathway. Okay, here's the pathway. If you want to earn your
Speaker:way into the kingdom, then the way to do that is
Speaker:equivalent to your level of surrender. If you want
Speaker:a mathematical equation, then surrender more, and then
Speaker:you will receive more of the kingdom. Surrender more. Let go of more.
Speaker:Let go, let go, let go, says the Lord. Okay, so he's
Speaker:walking these guys. Do you understand what I'm saying? This is for us today. But
Speaker:he's walking with these. His friends are right there, and he's taking.
Speaker:This is like, boom, boom, boom. And he's like. He's
Speaker:literally nailing all of these things on the head. And he's like. So if he
Speaker:says to some who were confident of their own righteousness, it meant that
Speaker:there were people there who were confident of their own righteousness
Speaker:and looking down on other people. Are you with me? He's speaking to these
Speaker:people. That's the whole reason of telling this story. Okay,
Speaker:Then something interesting happens. Okay, now I wanna
Speaker:say this first. Connected to this, I'm
Speaker:gonna say something that some of you are gonna email me about. You ready? Okay,
Speaker:here we go. The greatest barrier
Speaker:between you and God is not sin.
Speaker:It's not sin. Sin separates us from God.
Speaker:But God sent Jesus to give us a pathway right
Speaker:to the Father. In fact, in Hebrews, there's a verse that says, because of what
Speaker:J, not only do we go to the Father. It says you can go to
Speaker:him with boldness. So if sin is not
Speaker:the barrier between us and God post resurrection,
Speaker:then I would suggest today that the biggest barrier between you and
Speaker:God is your independence. The biggest barrier
Speaker:between you and God is when you decide, I'm gonna do it on my own
Speaker:strength. I know enough, I've seen enough, I've heard enough. So I'm
Speaker:gonna do it on my own strength. That's the biggest barrier between you and
Speaker:God. Jesus said this, for all who exalt
Speaker:themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves
Speaker:will be exalted. There was a pastor that said this. God, I am so glad
Speaker:when you correct me in the privacy of my own mind.
Speaker:There are times when he will correct you in the privacy of your own mind,
Speaker:and then there are times when he will put it on display for everybody else
Speaker:to see. If you humble yourself, he will lift you up.
Speaker:But there will be a point where you will be humbled if you're going on
Speaker:your own strength. And let me tell you something, it's a lot easier to let
Speaker:man humble you than it is. It's a lot better for man to humble you
Speaker:than for the Lord to humble you. And
Speaker:so then this wonderful, interesting thing happens. And this is kind of
Speaker:gets us to the crux of where we are. He's traveled through all of
Speaker:these things, and then something happens. The Word says
Speaker:that they brought the children to Jesus. Now, I looked this up and
Speaker:I learned something new as I was preparing for that. I learned a lot of
Speaker:things new when I prepared. But one of the things I learned is the word
Speaker:that's used there for children is the word breathe. And the word
Speaker:breathe actually translates into the word infant.
Speaker:Infant. So when they're bringing children to Jesus,
Speaker:it's not necessarily they're bringing 7, 8, 9 year olds. They are
Speaker:bringing infants to Jesus. They're bringing babies
Speaker:to Jesus. Why is that significant?
Speaker:The infants are brought to Jesus and the disciples stop
Speaker:them because they don't see value
Speaker:in the infants. Here's what they see. Listen, with the
Speaker:infants, they can't contribute, they can't
Speaker:perform, they can't understand. In other
Speaker:words, the babies are inconvenient because all
Speaker:they're doing is there to receive from Jesus.
Speaker:Now listen, this is my baby. Oh, yes, she's cute. Okay, here's the thing.
Speaker:She poops, we clean her diaper, she
Speaker:cries, we give her a bottle. All Eliana can
Speaker:do at this moment is sit there, sleep, eat and
Speaker:breathe because she is completely Dependent
Speaker:on us. The babies are being
Speaker:brought to Jesus and they say, don't worry
Speaker:about these babies. They can't do anything here. They
Speaker:can't do anything here because the culture says it's based on
Speaker:what you do instead of who you are. And who you
Speaker:are is who the source says you are. And he
Speaker:says, listen, let the babies come to me.
Speaker:Bring those babies to me. Because here's the thing. If you don't
Speaker:receive the kingdom like a baby, you don't get the kingdom at all.
Speaker:Which means unless you have utter dependence
Speaker:on him like a baby, until you become like
Speaker:Eliana, until I become like Eliana in the kingdom, until
Speaker:I'm laying there going, gah ga goo goo, God, please,
Speaker:please change me, feed me, help me. Until we can get to
Speaker:that mentality, we're not going to receive the kingdom.
Speaker:Are you with me? He's saying, let them come. I've just taken
Speaker:you on this journey I'm trying to dismantle. It's not about.
Speaker:Not about good works. It's not about entitlement. It's not about all these things. It
Speaker:is about you becoming dependent on me. John,
Speaker:Luke, Thomas, Vonda, April, Deanne,
Speaker:Keith. It's about you becoming dependent on me. Jesus says,
Speaker:let them come. Whoever does not receive the kingdom
Speaker:like this will not enter them. Listen, the kingdom belongs to those
Speaker:who depend on the Lord. The kingdom of God depends
Speaker:on. Depends, belongs to those who depend
Speaker:on the Lord. Babies don't strive, they trust.
Speaker:Babies don't perform, they rest.
Speaker:They don't manage outcomes like we talked earlier. They
Speaker:depend. And Jesus says, this is how
Speaker:we enter the kingdom of God. This level of
Speaker:dependence. Now, I'm going to say this, and this is another email. You
Speaker:ready? There is a boldness rising up
Speaker:in the church. Big C. There's a boldness happening right now, okay?
Speaker:And that's not wrong. And how I know there's a boldness is
Speaker:because Instagram and Instagram has these little things that
Speaker:pop up and it tells you. It gives you one little snippet of a little,
Speaker:like, sharp sword that says, churchgoers, believers should believe
Speaker:this, and this is what we should do. And I don't necessarily think
Speaker:isolated. Those little micro things that we see on
Speaker:Instagram, they're not necessarily false. In fact, a lot of justified
Speaker:right through the word. But here's the problem. The problem is, is we got
Speaker:dependent statements in the hands of independent believers.
Speaker:And what happens is when we get dependent statements and independent
Speaker:believers, what they do is they begin to depend upon their own Idea of how
Speaker:we should execute the thing that they're reading. And that becomes
Speaker:dangerous. That becomes. If boldness is not rooted
Speaker:in this infant style dependence, it becomes
Speaker:dangerous to us and to believers all around us.
Speaker:Boldness with dependence becomes spirit led power
Speaker:and spirit led power leads to transformation in people's lives.
Speaker:Spirit led power leads to transformation in people's
Speaker:life. If it's not flowing from him, it's not worth it
Speaker:if it's not flowing from the Lord. Listen, guys, I'm going to suggest something.
Speaker:The process of discipleship can become an
Speaker:idol in your life. The process
Speaker:by which we call out other people's faults can become an
Speaker:idol in your life. Why am I saying that? Because some people
Speaker:live their day in, day out, breathing life, trying to
Speaker:make things happen, manipulate situations, tell people what they're going
Speaker:wrong, and they have not spent any time with the source. They're deriving
Speaker:their information from the right place, but they're not being led
Speaker:by the Holy Spirit. In other words, here we go.
Speaker:Dependence feels like loss when your identity is built on
Speaker:control. Dependence feels like
Speaker:loss, like I've lost something when your identity is built on
Speaker:controlling the outcomes. It's so
Speaker:easy to masquerade dependency when your security is your
Speaker:own sense of control. Like maybe for your finances. I
Speaker:talked about our admin board just a little bit ago. Here's the
Speaker:thing. Our church, like when we review the financials and stuff,
Speaker:there is Holy Spirit led intervention when it comes
Speaker:to stewardship that allows us to have
Speaker:wisdom, exercise discernment and having some cash over here
Speaker:in case something goes down or goes wrong. When the air conditioning goes out, we
Speaker:need to have money to fix the air conditioning. Okay, so. And that principle
Speaker:can apply in your house. But here's the tension that we work with
Speaker:all the time and we got a great group doing this. The tension is we
Speaker:don't need to be a church that's sitting on $5 million in the bank account
Speaker:when there's a dying world out there. We don't need $5 million to fix
Speaker:air conditioning. Because what that says is we're relying on our bank account. We don't
Speaker:need to trust the Lord for our finances. There's wisdom in figuring
Speaker:out where that balance and tension is, where you don't have the tools
Speaker:in front of you to control the situation. You have to get to a place
Speaker:where you understand, listen, I'm exercising discernment in this situation.
Speaker:I'm being steward in this situation. I'm doing and saying what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker:Based on what I've seen in scripture. But there comes a point when I go,
Speaker:I surrender. You're the source. I surrender. You're the source. I
Speaker:surrender. What you tell me to do? Guys, Shari and I used about three years
Speaker:ago, I was like, I'm gonna start saving up our bank account. I'm literally gonna
Speaker:start saving. And I start saving, I get up to a certain amount, and you
Speaker:know what the Holy Spirit says? I want you to give it all away. I'm
Speaker:like, what? Okay, I started storing up. Storing up, give it all away.
Speaker:He did that about four times to me. I said, forget it. I'm not saving
Speaker:up any. I'm done. I'm done. I don't wanna wait on the
Speaker:blessing for when I got that much money. I want the blessing now. Lord, just
Speaker:use me today. What do you need me to freely give today? Because every time
Speaker:I try to stock up, you know what he's doing? He's saying, kevin, if you
Speaker:start saving up, you're gonna rely on your bank account. And you're not gonna rely
Speaker:on my voice. Now, that's for me. For you, he might have you do
Speaker:5 million. I expect your tithe check next week. Okay, so
Speaker:now Peter does
Speaker:something here that is. Is just outrageous. Okay. If
Speaker:you know the story. Oh, my goodness. It's that time. Okay, Peter does something outrageous.
Speaker:Okay, we're about to close down here. Peter does something
Speaker:here. Okay, I'm gonna tell him my sister. Is my sister here? Is Alexis
Speaker:here? Oh, good, I can talk about her. Praise God. Okay. All right, here's the
Speaker:deal. Now, my mama raised us pretty much.
Speaker:My mom was a single mom for a while there. And she raised my brother
Speaker:and I, and my brother and I. I mean, we got away with things, but
Speaker:we also knew who brought home the law. Is that right, Joey?
Speaker:We knew. Mom's in charge, Right? Okay. Have you ever had a
Speaker:moment where your soul left your body? Okay. We were on
Speaker:an airplane coming back home from vacation, and
Speaker:we're adults. My brother and I are adults. And my sister's in middle school. And
Speaker:my mom's on the plane, and we're all on vacation together.
Speaker:And we're there, and my mom's standing. I guess we're getting situated. Cause I remember
Speaker:I. I was in a standing position. And my mom said, alexis,
Speaker:sit down. To which Alexis turns around and says, mom, you sit
Speaker:down. And I believe she said, and
Speaker:be quiet. My soul left my body, went around
Speaker:the airplane and came back, and I fell down in my
Speaker:seat because all I could See, was my mama's hand coming across
Speaker:the seats and smacking her. I was beside. I mean, it sucked
Speaker:the air out of the room. Okay, was that true, Joey? I mean. I mean,
Speaker:we were sitting there like, what is about to go down here? Now, here's the
Speaker:thing. Youth get ready. As your parents get older, they get softer. See,
Speaker:let me tell you something. Alexis got out of that so easy.
Speaker:She should have been beaten down. And we didn't. She was just like, sit down,
Speaker:man. I was so unfair. But
Speaker:I read this scripture that what Peter says here. And my
Speaker:soul left my body because Peter
Speaker:has something to say. We get through all of these things. I want you to
Speaker:picture Peter here. Okay? Peter. Now, Peter's stepping out of the boat.
Speaker:All of the things. I mean, Peter, we like Peter, okay? He's the pronounced
Speaker:one. But Peter actually stands up to
Speaker:Jesus. He says, look,
Speaker:look, Jesus, we've left all our
Speaker:family for you. Now, here's the thing. The reason this doesn't
Speaker:escalate is because he was talking to Jesus. Now, Jesus is compassionate. He is
Speaker:kind, he is patient, right? But when I read that
Speaker:in the context of this buildup here, and Jesus
Speaker:said. And Peter's like, look, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna speak on behalf of everybody.
Speaker:Look, let me tell you something. We get to places in our life where we're
Speaker:looking at the Lord and we're like, look, Lord. We buck up to him and
Speaker:we say, now, we might not say it out loud, but I've been around some
Speaker:people. I've literally been around some people, and I'm like, let the lightning
Speaker:strike tomorrow. I rebuke that in the name of Jesus.
Speaker:Okay, here's the thing.
Speaker:He's not rebelling. He's reasoning. But here's the danger. And
Speaker:this is if you don't leave with anything else, this is what I want you
Speaker:to leave with. When you think you understand how God works, you stop
Speaker:depending on how God will. When you think you understand,
Speaker:Peter's coming. Listen, Peter wasn't. It wasn't like Peter
Speaker:decided, I'm going to stand up to Jesus. It's what he did.
Speaker:But it's not like he's meditating on this. Peter believes he
Speaker:understands what's going on. Peter. And so Jesus is making
Speaker:the assertion, here you've got all your family's got to leave, and brother
Speaker:over sister, all this stuff. And Peter's sitting here going, look,
Speaker:we've done this. Did I get it right, Lord? I mean, what's going
Speaker:on? It's the same Time when he, it's the same thing as, you're not gonna
Speaker:wash my feet, you're not gonna wash my feet, you're gonna wash
Speaker:my whole body. Soul sucking
Speaker:out of the room. Peter had been with Jesus, but now he's interpreting everything through
Speaker:himself. And we read and say, how could he say that? But we
Speaker:do it all the time. Every time we evaluate our lives based on what we've
Speaker:done instead of who, who we trust. You can
Speaker:leave everything and still be depending on yourself.
Speaker:Peter approaches the kingdom like a contributor. A baby approaches the kingdom
Speaker:like a recipient. Peter says, look what I've done. A baby says,
Speaker:I'll trust what you will do. Listen, Peter
Speaker:didn't need to do more. He didn't need to say more. He didn't need to
Speaker:be more. He only needed to rely
Speaker:on the lord more. Proverbs 3, 5 says this,
Speaker:Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on
Speaker:your own understanding. Guys, all is all, all
Speaker:is all. But what we do, instead of relying completely
Speaker:on him as we do this, we say, it's going to be Jesus and
Speaker:Jesus and
Speaker:Jesus and leads to destruction.
Speaker:It's Jesus, period. Eliminate
Speaker:the and in your life. Eliminate whatever that and is,
Speaker:eliminate it. And lastly, in this worship team, you come on back and get
Speaker:prepared. The blind man is the story. Next, all of this
Speaker:happens and the Word says that Jesus approaches Jericho.
Speaker:You know what Jericho means? Jericho literally translates to the word walls.
Speaker:Jesus is approaching walls, and at these walls, there's a
Speaker:blind man. I love where this is in the story because he's gone through all
Speaker:of this with the disciples. And it's like, I want to show you a blind
Speaker:man. I want to show you a wall in your life. And guys, some of
Speaker:you came here this morning. You've got walls in your life. You've got blind spots
Speaker:in your life. And this blind man has no choice. He
Speaker:can't see with his natural eyes. So he has no choice but to
Speaker:depend on people, to depend on others. So he's
Speaker:fully dependent. And he cries out and they try to silence him, but he gets
Speaker:louder. And Jesus asked him a question. He says, what do
Speaker:you want? And he says, I want
Speaker:to see. Guys, I think some of
Speaker:us need to acknowledge that we are blind. And I want
Speaker:to see God. I know the scripture,
Speaker:I've been around church, but God, I got blind spots and I
Speaker:want to see from the source. Because here's the thing. Dependence often
Speaker:comes before clarity. See, we want the
Speaker:clarity first. We want to see what the plan is. And then we'll depend.
Speaker:But God says, no, that's not faith. I want you to depend on me, and
Speaker:then I'll show you things that you've never seen before.
Speaker:Dependency often comes before clarity.
Speaker:So what if we actually lived what Corinthians says, We walk by
Speaker:faith and not by sight. What type of
Speaker:exponential things would be happening in our lives?
Speaker:So we abide from a place. We abide from a place of knowing he's
Speaker:the Source, and we arise in this place. And the very
Speaker:first step, friends, is to rest and depend on Him.
Speaker:I found this video on Insta and I want to play it for you
Speaker:because I believe it might connect to our hearts, on how our. Our
Speaker:posture should be with worship.
Speaker:What if today was a breathing moment for you
Speaker:where you looked at your circumstances, your
Speaker:situations, the things that you've been holding on to, and
Speaker:you said, lord, make me an infant. Make me like a
Speaker:child in this.
Speaker:What would it look like if you approached what you're going through
Speaker:with total and utter dependence on the Lord? Would you
Speaker:guys stand with me and those who are going to minister? Would you come forward
Speaker:this morning?
Speaker:Guys, the God of the universe, he is on the throne
Speaker:and he knows you. He cares about you. He sees
Speaker:you and he says, come again. Just like
Speaker:that widow. Come again. Come again. Come again. Come.
Speaker:Come to me. Come to me, those who are weary and
Speaker:brokenhearted. He is the giver of rest. He is the giver
Speaker:of strength. He is the giver of peace.
Speaker:But when we say we draw from the source, we're not
Speaker:drawing from the source. As people who bring our own ideas,
Speaker:our own methods, we're drawing from the source. Like
Speaker:infant babies who say, God, I actually think I know what
Speaker:to do. I think I know what's going on. But God, actually, you have the
Speaker:answer here. And I can totally, fully trust you. That's my
Speaker:faith stuff. I trust you. I lean into you. And I believe
Speaker:that you will radically transform anything going on in my life.
Speaker:Because you care about me that much. If we don't take care of Eliana,
Speaker:she will die. You have a heavenly
Speaker:father that does not want you to die. So believe
Speaker:me, he's looking to feed you. Stop eating the crap the world's giving you.
Speaker:He's looking to sustain you and to hold you. He wants to hold
Speaker:you. Stop being held by other people who aren't God.
Speaker:He wants to breathe life into you. Jesus says, I am the
Speaker:way, I am the truth. I am the life. I love that
Speaker:it's the and not a He is the way so come this morning
Speaker:if you have anything at all all remember that verse in Hebrews Come boldly
Speaker:and let's agree together that this guy can actually do what he said he'll do
Speaker:he's the source, let's worship.
