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#20240925 - A Backup Plan - John 6:60-69 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Thanks, everybody. Yeah, our church name is
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Brooklyn Church. I'm not that creative, but it
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worked out good because if you Google churches in Brooklyn,
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you'd find our church. But that's kind of our story.
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I'm just a normal person. I don't actually belong to be
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here. I don't know why Ed thought it'd
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be a good idea to bring me up here other than guess God has me
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to be here with you, especially with the storm, right?
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He texted me and he said, hey, just so you know, we might be
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cancelling services. So I was thinking, well, what
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are we going to do? And you know, there's the Bible
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verse about preaching to every creature.
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So looking for any squirrels out there.
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Just that's how we're going to spend our weekend.
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But seriously, glad to be here. I'm here with my wife Jenna and
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our little baby Ace. That's one of five kids.
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So if you do the math, I started when I was 11 years old.
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I'm just kidding. Turn your Bibles to John Chapter
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6. This morning Pastor Ed asked me
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to speak on perseverance. The past eight years I've been
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working on this church plan in Brooklyn.
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Eight years we've seen churches start and close down in eight
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years and it's taking us quite a while.
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We're going to talk about that journey, but I am so excited to
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announce that next Sunday we're going to start our very first
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Sunday in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
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So be praying for us. Thank you.
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It's amazing to see what guys done, but we'll talk about some
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of those stories. But I want to talk about
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perseverance because I think there are people that are
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discouraged. This morning.
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We're watching pastors quit the ministry.
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We're seeing fathers leave the home, abandoned their families,
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families breaking up over divorce.
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There are people that are on the verge of giving up and you know
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what? I think right off the bat we
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need to say that the trial in front of you is not
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insurmountable. In fact God says not by might
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nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord, which means there
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is a way to fail and that is when we live life without the
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Spirit of God. The Bible says as the life is
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lifeless without the Spirit, so we are without the Holy Spirit
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if we don't have the breath of God.
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Empowering us, moving us. Then we're going to lose focus
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and we're going to be discouraged.
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So why don't we read this passage, John chapter 6 verses
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60 through 69. We'll pray and we'll dive in.
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Says therefore many of his disciples when they heard this
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said, this is a hard saying, who can understand it?
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And we'll we'll talk about what that means in a little bit.
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When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about
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this, he said to them, does this offend you?
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What then, if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was
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before? It is the Spirit who gives life.
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The flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are
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spirit and they are life. They were in a place where
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they're really confused because what their expectation of what
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God wanted from them was completely different from the
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reality they were living in. Verse 64.
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But there are some of you who do not believe.
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For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did
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not believe and who would betray Him.
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And he said, therefore I've said to you that no one can come to
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me unless it's been granted to Him by my Father.
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From that time many of his disciples went back and walked
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with him. No more than Jesus said to the
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12 do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him,
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Lord, and this is the key verse, to whom shall we go?
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You have the words of eternal life also.
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We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son
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of the living God. Let's pray, Lord, we just pray
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for everybody here this morning who knows?
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Someone, or maybe they themselves, are on the verge of
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throwing in the towel. And I pray, Lord, that we would
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not lose heart. There is a harvest of joy
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awaiting us. Help us, Lord, to look to you.
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For your spirit, your strength and pray that you bless this
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message right now in Jesus name, Amen.
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I've entitled this message a backup plan.
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A backup plan. Now I have a.
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Condition, I don't know, I've never seen a doctor for it, but
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some people call agoraphobia, which is fear the marketplace.
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Other people might call it anxiety, but I get panic attacks
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if I feel like I cannot escape. So just being a little
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transparent here, but this is just, it is, you may hear some
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of these things. I think it's ridiculous, but
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they are real. I am always thinking about a way
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to escape. I'm thinking I'm in the elevator
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this morning with my child and my wife.
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What if the elevator gets stuck and then we're going to have to
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call somebody else to teach and how do I get out?
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And whatever I'm So what It's actually made for me, is very
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prepared for any situation. I was a youth pastor for 11
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years in Old Ridge, New Jersey, and anytime we were doing a
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youth retreat and a kid broke their collarbone, I was ready.
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I knew exactly what to do. We had a demon.
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Possessed kid on one retreat. I was prepared for that too,
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believe it or not. I sent an intern to go pray for
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him and I ran away and hid in a corner.
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I'm just kidding. In fact, I actually had a youth
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kid who was with me in a car and we're driving down.
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He's I'm feeling sick, and then lo and behold, I actually have a
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garbage bag on me at all times. So he was able to puke in the
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garbage. I'm always prepared, but I think
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it stems from a place of always wanting to be in control.
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There's nothing more terrifying to me than when I feel like I
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don't know what to do. And so I will have real panic
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attacks where I feel like if I can't escape.
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It could be claustrophobia. It could be on an airplane
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turbulence. Whatever it is, I'm always
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nervous, I'm always freaking out.
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I'm always thinking about what is my backup plan.
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Here's the problem. When we are following the Lord,
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it involves taking a step of faith, which means you are
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literally stepping forward into the unknown.
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You're trusting that God is on the other side.
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He's calling you as when Jesus called Peter to walk on water.
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Step by step you're moving. This sounds impossible.
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This looks like I'm not going to make it, but I'm going to trust
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and believe that you're still there.
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There's an actor, David Mamet, who's not a believer at all, but
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I just like his quote. He has this writing that he did
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to actors where he was saying if you want to make it as an actor,
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never have a fall back plan. Because if you have a fall back
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plan, guess what, you're going to fall back on your plan.
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And I found to be true one of the.
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Worst things you can do with anxiety is give in to your fear
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because it only makes it easier to keep on giving in when you
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choose to Take the car, turn around, I'm going home, I feel
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like I'm going to die, I'm just going to just forget about all
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these things. Then it just becomes a habit.
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Before you know it, you're always giving into your fear.
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Hopefully the reverse is true, that when you take a step of
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faith, you see that God is still there, He is still faithful, and
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you can reflect on all of His promises and know that He is
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faithful and true and He will never leave you nor forsake you.
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That's the way it should be. But if you are taking a step of
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faith, that means you will face trials that seem terrifying.
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I've seen them. We're going to talk about some
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of those things. But maybe you're here this
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morning and you're saying I'm just tired.
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I don't know how we're going to be able to make it with our
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finances. I've been applying to jobs,
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hundreds of jobs for the past year, and I'm still not figuring
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it out. But here's what it comes down to
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is trials reveal to us what we're really trusting in.
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So in this passage that we just read, the context is Jesus is
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with his disciples and there's a bunch of followers that are with
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him as well. And as the multitudes following
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him around this, this funny thing happens where he asks his
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disciples, hey, we got like 5000 people here, how are we going to
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feed him? And the Bible actually says he
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did this not because he didn't know what to do.
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It's because he was trying to test his disciples, which to me
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is a little messed up if you ask me, but I think that's what God
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does to me all the time. He's just like, hey, Alan, what
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do you think you're going to do about this?
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I mean, I don't know, you're God, you're supposed to figure
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this out, right? And then the disciples do a very
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human thing. They look at each other and go,
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whose fault was it that we messed up?
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This can never happen again. We're going to have the after
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action meeting at the at the church afterwards to make sure
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that, you know, we're always bringing enough food, we always
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have enough money, whatever. And then one guy picks up a poor
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little kid who has like his lunch packed by his mom and.
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He's like, oh, there's a. Little kid, we can take his food
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and distribute it amongst everybody else, you know, And
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Jesus takes the five loaves, the two fish multiplies it.
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So there's just plenty to go around and more leftover right
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after that, the followers are just like, man, if we follow
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Jesus, we get free food. Cool.
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So they started hanging around him all the time.
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Eventually they're like, wow, Jesus, what a coincidence.
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We happen to be in the same place at the same time.
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What are you going to do today? What miracle are you going to
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give us free food again? And now Jesus starts to
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challenge their motivation for following him.
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And that's going to happen to every single person who calls
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themselves a Christian. At some point.
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Your motivation for following God will be challenged in the
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Bible. Actually promises all you desire
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to live godly in Christ. Jesus will endure persecution.
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It's going to happen. Why?
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Because God needs to see whether you love God for God or the good
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things He gives you. How will you know that if you
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have a relationship with God, if you only worship Him when things
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are going great? Can you worship Him in the
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deepest of valleys when it seems hard to understand, hard to
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accept, Confusing, So Jesus says to his disciples and the
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followers. Well, if you want to really
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follow me, you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood.
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That's the real. Food and they're saying.
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OK, look this this. Is a hard saying.
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Who can accept the saying that you're you're portraying to us
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and what Jesus saying is if all you're doing your life is
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chasing after food, you're going to be like your ancestors in the
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wilderness who got the free manna every single day provided
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by heaven and they still died in the wilderness without receiving
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the promised land. How many people the things, if
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your prayers were to be answered today, the thing that you're
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praying for, the thing that you're desperate.
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For God to move on. How would eternity be affected?
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You ever think about that? Often times that things that I
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pray for is like God. I don't know how we're.
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Going to pay the bills this month.
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In light of eternity, what is November 2024 right?
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Are the things that we're praying so small that if God
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were to answer them today, that would have zero effect on
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anybody else's life instead? When God is calling us to take a
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step of faith, it's often because he wants us to follow
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him and not follow our plans for our own lives.
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So Jesus says you got to eat my flesh, drink my blood.
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This is how you have eternal life.
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This is how you have life to fool.
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This is how you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you is
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by following me, not following your understanding of what I
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should be doing or expectation of what I should be doing.
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But that's what trials do. Trials reveal to us where our
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motivation lies. Now, here's one of the biggest
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issues that we find in in living the Christian life.
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Often times we use circumstances to try to determine God's will.
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So when things get hard, I guess God's not calling me to this
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really. I mean, it's too hard.
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I feel like I'm striving. Or sometimes it could be a trial
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and we're saying, oh, it's persecution and maybe God is
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actually closing the door. How do you know?
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So you have suffering, you have a trial.
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It seems like an obstacle. How discern if this is Satan or
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if this is God? Well, one of my favorite stories
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is in Acts chapter 16, when Paul and Silas are in prison and they
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are chained. The gates are closed and they're
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singing worship songs. Suddenly a miraculous earthquake
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occurs. And if you remember the story,
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their chains are loosened, the gates are opened.
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Now, any one of us, myself included, if we're in that
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situation, here's what I would think.
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I would think, wow, thank you, God, you miraculously want me to
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leave. I mean, if, what are the chances
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that both things are true? If God had caused an earthquake
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and the gates opened and they're still chained, it would be kind
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of cruel and they wouldn't be able to leave.
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Or if the chains are loosened and the gates still closed,
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they're not able to leave. But the fact that both of these
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things happened miraculously, God wants us to leave and in
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fact, they stayed. Why?
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Because the real open door was the heart of the Philippine
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jailer who is ready to receive the Lord.
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Not every open door has God on the other side calling you
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through. Sometimes it requires a
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discernment of the Holy Spirit to know truly what His will is,
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and that is only found by knowing His Word.
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Look at verse 63 again. It is the Spirit who gives life.
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The flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are
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spirit and they are life. If you go by fleshly
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understanding, you will only do what you are capable of doing,
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assuming perfect. Conditions.
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If everything happened according to my own control, my own
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planning, I probably have a pretty decent life.
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I wake up at the time I want to wake up.
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I do all the things I want to do, I work out when I want to
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work out, and everything happens except for the fact that there
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are so many variables outside of my control and yet fully within
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God's grasp. That's why Jesus said do not
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worry about tomorrow, Seek first the Kingdom of God and His
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righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
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So not looking at circumstances, not looking at the trial to
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determine God's will, but do you know what God has said?
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Or are you going off of your own feelings premonitions.
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You know, when Job was stricken with illness when he had all of
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his things taken away from him. This was a test for him right to
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see whether or not when everything's taken away, if he
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will still say the Lord gives the Lord takes away.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. And yet he had a bunch of
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friends that tell him, hey listen, maybe you're in sin.
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Maybe you've done something wrong, like terrible advice and
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there will be naysayers anytime you want to do God's will.
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But if you know God has spoken, then you keep on going.
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You don't give up. You don't lose heart because
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it's God's job to get you out of the mess that you're in now.
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For us in Brooklyn, I said it's been 8 years.
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We've had a lot of prayer and a lot of things leading up to
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this. You know, eight years ago, I
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remember meeting at Legends Coffee with Pastor Ed Taylor.
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He said never stop taking a step of faith.
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So I pray, Lord, what does it look like to take a step of
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faith? I had a missionary from Italy
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that was doing a youth retreat for us, and I was driving him up
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to the retreat center the whole way.
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He's talking about how we left New Jersey to just start a
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church. And it was amazing to see all
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these different stories of people coming to know Lord.
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Like I grew up Calvary Chapel. I heard these revival stories of
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people that are hooked on drugs or living a life a certain way
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and then God radically transformed their lives.
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And I've always wanted that to happen for me as well, to be
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able to move a location and say, if God does not show up, we're
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in trouble. And to see people that would
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say, hey, thank you for taking that step of faith.
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Because I now have a walking relationship with Jesus, all
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because this random weird family from New Jersey decided to to
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walk in obedience. But that always excited me.
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So I'm. Talking to him.
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This missionary and I just thought, wouldn't it be cool if
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I'm really called to plant a church, then a man with this
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much experience will kind of just affirm the calling on my
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life to do that one day. Later that night, he's teaching
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the message. In the middle of the message,
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completely unrelated, he says, I just want to take a moment to
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affirm the calling on Alan's life that he's going to plant a
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church one day. So it was the exact sentence
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that I was think I was wasn't even a prayer.
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It was a thought of my mind. It was the same sentence.
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I thought, all right, wow, maybe it's a thing.
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So I began to pray. Alright Lord, if this is really
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you calling me to plant this church, I would think there's
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probably a couple things that need to happen in order for me
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to. Be a good.
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Steward of the ministry, I need the time and location confirmed
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by the Lord so that when things get difficult, I know that was
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you that called me, not myself. I would like like in the book of
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Acts that talks about a man from Macedonia, a person from the
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area who says we need a church here.
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So a person from Brooklyn who says it'll be amazing to have a
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church in this era that has no churches, which we actually
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found that neighbourhood have a person who is like a #2 an elder
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guy who's older and wiser and can be able to kind of give some
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wisdom to have. You know, this was kind of like
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a request of I'd like to be married.
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I was 30 years old and thinking, I guess I could plan single
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people have done it, but seems more wise to be able to plan
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married. So one after another, I was
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praying for these things, a successor for the youth ministry
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and God was answering time after time again.
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So it became very clear to me that without a doubt in my mind,
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through versus reading people, circumstances.
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A person from Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn with the neighborhood I
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was praying about came to Old Bridge, NJ and says, hey, I just
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got saved. I'm looking for a church and I
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live in Carroll Gardens. I thought, well, that's crazy
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because I'm planning a church in Carroll Gardens.
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I started to meet with them every other week, driving into
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Brooklyn, praying with them, discipling.
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Him and he works at a large church there now.
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So I was starting to answer all these different things.
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But you know what? We started to face significant
18:16
challenges. So as I got married to an
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amazing woman, she was a single mom of three beautiful children.
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And that did present some of the challenges.
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I'm not going to go into all the challenges today, but there was
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a dad who is a part of their lives and you know, he wasn't
18:31
the easiest to work with. So every Saturday, Jenna would
18:34
be waiting at Starbucks parking lot for an hour and a half, not
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knowing if he's going to show up to return the kid because he
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would block her number, wouldn't answer any phone calls.
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So the entire Saturday, every single Saturday was ruined.
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Couldn't plan anything because we had no idea what time our son
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was coming home. It got so bad to at one point he
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was living in and out, in and out of hotels, and he stopped
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sending our son to school. So we had to send the police to
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go chase after him. In the midst of working in
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ministry and planning a church and all these things, I had to.
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I had a lawyer who told us for three years, you're probably not
19:06
going to be able to move to New York City because you need his
19:08
permission to leave. I begin to have people tell me,
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you know, maybe I don't have to live in New York City.
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Maybe we could live in New Jersey, do this commute.
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And I said, no, I know God's called me to build a local
19:18
church in this specific neighbourhood in Brooklyn.
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That's what God's called. Me to do.
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And I had so many people to tell me, you know, it's so expensive,
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how are you going to be able to afford there?
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And I was looking into apartments and the, the
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landlords would tell me unless you make $200,000 a year, you're
19:33
not going to be able to move into the neighbourhood.
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They look at your pay stubs. They saw my humble church salary
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and they thought. If the rent costs more than your
19:42
entire year salary, how are you going to be able to pay?
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And you know, it's OK, we're going to raise money.
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It's going to be great, You know, so challenges financially,
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legal fees and all these different things.
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And one after another, God was answering.
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We're able to finally move into the neighbourhood after a
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pandemic that shut down and, you know, taking years to make all
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these things happen. We moved to the neighbourhood.
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We had a lot of momentum. And then my wife was struggling
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in a really deep way, so much so that I realized.
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That actually had to stop everything with the church plant
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and that freaked a lot of people out.
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For 1 1/2 years, we did nothing with the church plant.
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It was a place where one after another people started to leave
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our church planning team. Rumors started online about all
20:26
the things that were going on. I started getting hate messages,
20:29
2020 messages a day of people saying things and whatever and.
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All the while I don't really care what they said because I
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knew more than anything else. So much so that if I was wrong
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about this, I don't even know what God's voice sounds like.
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And I think that's a larger thing in general.
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I don't believe in Jesus because I read a book.
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I don't believe in Jesus because I watch a YouTube video about
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the Kalam Cosmological Argument. I believe in Jesus because my
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life doesn't make sense without God every single day.
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Hopefully this should be the normal Christian life that we
21:04
are responding in obedience to a God who calls us to walk on
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water. Our lives should be a series of
21:11
impossibilities so that if God is not real, something in the
21:15
universe has a lot of explaining to do.
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This should be a witness to the unbelieving world that says, I
21:22
want what you have because it seems like everything always
21:25
works out in your favor. And even when they don't, you
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have a joy and peace that no one else has.
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And I have to tell you, there's there's something about giving
21:34
up a church plan for year and a half saying I don't even know if
21:36
this is going to move forward anymore.
21:38
Losing potentially everything, losing friends, people saying
21:41
stuff and saying, wait a minute, I'm I'm still OK.
21:47
Why? Because I've put my trust in
21:50
God, not in the calling that he has for me.
21:53
So even if I were to lose everything, if I have got to
21:56
have everything and there's there's I hope that everybody
22:00
can experience this one day. When you reach the valley and
22:04
you know that you're still OK, you still have a piece, then you
22:06
know, there's nothing that Satan can throw at you that can
22:09
destroy you. And there's a guy that can meet
22:12
you in the deepest of any valley.
22:14
There is. You know, Pastor Ed Taylor's
22:16
been amazing. He's been ministering to us
22:18
throughout past few years and and I think.
22:22
That really what it comes down to is.
22:25
We as a church should be lifting each other up when we are
22:29
discouraged. If you're on the verge of giving
22:32
up today, how do you know that there's not a person sitting
22:34
next to you or across from you that's also thinking those same
22:38
things? And that's where we need to be
22:40
encouraging one another with a Spirit who gives life.
22:46
So look at verse 30. 68 Again, this is really the key verse
22:50
that we're focusing on. When Peter says to God after
22:54
Jesus said, all right, people are leaving, people are giving
22:58
up, people are throwing in the towel, are you going to leave
23:00
too? Peter says, Lord, to whom shall
23:04
we go? You have the words of eternal
23:07
life also. We have come to believe and know
23:10
that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
23:13
I don't want to go the rest of my my life wondering what could
23:16
have happened if I had just waited on the Lord, if I just
23:19
believe that he's going to redeem whatever it is in my
23:22
life. And I hope that you have that
23:24
same hope that you're not looking back to a back up plan
23:27
to say, well, there's always a way of escape.
23:29
There's a way for me to get out of this mess.
23:31
If I'm feeling like I'm at my wits end and said that you would
23:34
cling to Jesus who is more than able to overcome whatever trial
23:40
that's in front of you. The rest of our time this this
23:44
morning, I'd like to go over some reasons why we might give
23:47
up and then talk about some reasons to move forward.
23:51
Reason that we give up. The first reason is that we look
23:55
back loggingly at our life of sin.
23:59
This is what happened to Lot and his family when they were called
24:02
to leave Sodom and Gomorrah, a wicked city, and then Lot's wife
24:06
turn around and turn to a pillar of salt, not by accident, but
24:10
the context shows that she looked back with eyes of longing
24:14
at her past life of sin. She was looking desiring the
24:19
things that she was leaving behind.
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When Jesus says in Luke Chapter 9 verse 62, no one having put
24:25
his hand to the plow, looking back is fit for the Kingdom of
24:28
God. Again, we see in the people of
24:31
Israel as they're leaving Egypt, walking into the wilderness,
24:34
they began to complain about everything.
24:38
How many of us? We have a bad memory when it
24:40
comes to God's faithfulness. Members, Chapter 11, verse 4.
24:44
Here's what the mixed multitude says to to Moses and they're
24:48
complaining. Who will give us meat to eat?
24:51
We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers,
24:54
the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic.
24:56
But now our whole being is dried up.
24:57
There is nothing at all except this manna before us.
25:02
They're complaining that there's this miraculous.
25:05
Bread that comes in, you know, we harvest every morning and eat
25:07
it straight from, you know, God's kitchen.
25:09
Terrible, right? Remember what it was like to be
25:12
in Egypt? We had cucumbers and melons.
25:14
Like, really. Like, you were a slave in Egypt,
25:18
and that's all it takes for you to be a slave is cucumbers.
25:20
Yeah. I just really miss cucumbers.
25:22
That's just. That's my thing.
25:24
And how many of us at the same time, we look back and say, oh,
25:28
I remember it was like to go partying and to get drunk.
25:31
And we look back at that past life and we only remember the
25:35
pleasure and forget the destruction.
25:39
That's exactly what Satan wants, is for you to only remember the
25:43
good parts of what you left behind, but really looking
25:47
longingly. At your past is despising what
25:51
God has ahead. Anything that you give up for
25:55
the Lord will always be returned a thousandfold when you seek
26:02
first, the Kingdom of God is righteousness.
26:03
You're giving up temporal material things that are going
26:08
to perish one day, and you instead receive an inheritance
26:12
that comes straight from God himself.
26:15
So we look back long in the second reason why we might give
26:17
up is when we yield to the enemy's attacks first.
26:22
Peter chapter 5 verse 8 says be sober, be vigilant because your
26:25
adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
26:29
whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the
26:32
faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by
26:34
your brotherhood in the world. There is a devil.
26:38
He is your enemy and he wants to destroy you.
26:41
That is a fact. And if you think about that, it
26:44
can be discouraging because you feel like you're under a satanic
26:48
or demonic attack. How am I ever, ever going to get
26:51
out of this, this stuff? And, and sometimes you see on on
26:55
TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, you have these healing
26:59
deliverance seminars where people talk about, well, you got
27:01
to come to a super apostle. You got to come to this elder.
27:04
He's going to be able to take off the generational curse or
27:06
whatever. Here's what the Bible says, how
27:08
you resist the devil. You ready for this verse 9?
27:11
Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same
27:15
sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
27:19
How do you resist the devil? Do the harder thing.
27:23
It's easy to go to a Deliverance conference, you know, it's hard
27:25
being vulnerable with your brothers and sisters who are
27:27
going through the same stuff as you.
27:30
When you come to a church like this, it's easy to look at
27:32
everybody else and go like. Wow, nobody knows what it's like
27:35
to be me. Nobody knows what I'm going
27:37
through. And that is a lie from the
27:39
devil. Did you know that 50% of
27:41
marriages have infidelity in the marriage?
27:44
And then you come to a church like this and you assume
27:47
everybody has a life perfectly put together.
27:51
But the Bible says the way that you resist the devil is in part
27:55
by sharing in the same suffering so that you're not utterly
27:58
discouraged. Imagine if a church can be
28:01
vulnerable and you're sharing with one another and saying,
28:03
hey, listen, I know it's it's kind of embarrassing, but I have
28:06
this addiction to pornography. And you tell somebody that and
28:09
they say, brother, I'm so glad you shared this with me because
28:12
I had the same addiction too. Let's pray together that God
28:15
would break this bondage in our lives.
28:19
You start to pray over different areas of your life and you see
28:22
how God heals. As the Bible says, bear one
28:24
another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
28:28
In order to do that, here's what you got to do not be ultimately
28:33
judgmental. The second that someone beats
28:35
vulnerable, someone says hey, here's what I'm struggling with
28:39
and we don't immediately respond with a.
28:42
How dare you? How could you?
28:43
I told you so and instead you say, hey, listen, I want to let
28:48
you know I'm so thankful that you trusted me enough to share
28:53
this with me. I want to let you know I love
28:55
you, God loves you, and I believe that there's nothing in
28:59
your life that God cannot redeem.
29:03
How do I know that? It's all literally all
29:04
throughout the Bible. A story of redemption that while
29:09
we are still sinners, God, Jesus Christ died for us.
29:13
How many people? Get so discouraged because they
29:15
feel like their life is beyond repair, that there's no way that
29:19
God can fix this. I've just dug myself in a hole
29:22
too deep. But you know how God created the
29:25
universe? He spoke the universe into
29:30
existence. He created the universe from
29:32
nothing. And if God can create something
29:35
from nothing, don't you think he can do something with something?
29:39
Don't you think you can look at your life and not be like, Oh
29:42
no, well, yeah, his life is really messed up.
29:45
That's probably we're going to leave it over to Satan at this
29:47
point. God works all things together
29:53
for good. He can take whatever story,
29:56
whatever mess you have and use it to bless and reach somebody.
30:01
That feels completely unrelatable.
30:04
And we've seen that in our story as well.
30:07
So let's talk about reasons to keep on going #1 we have a
30:11
living hope and God keeps his promises.
30:15
First Peter chapter one verse 3 says blessed be the God and
30:17
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant
30:20
mercy has begun us again to a living hope through the
30:24
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
30:27
incorruptible, undefiled and that does not fade away reserved
30:30
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through
30:34
faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
30:37
Love that we have a living hope. You're going to be kept by God.
30:41
You have an inheritance that's awaiting you as long as you are
30:45
putting your hope in Jesus and on something else that we're
30:48
living hope here is completely different than the world's hope.
30:52
The world's hope is wishful thinking.
30:54
It's saying stuff like I really hope it doesn't snow this
30:57
weekend in Colorado. That doesn't mean you know for
31:00
certain. It just means that it's a wish.
31:02
I hope the hope of the Bible is completely different because
31:06
it's grounded in a historical fact.
31:10
What the Bible is saying is if it is true that 2000 years ago
31:13
that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, then there's
31:17
nothing that God cannot do in your life.
31:21
You have a living hope in Jesus. He is faithful to keep His
31:25
promises. Secondly, another reason to keep
31:29
on going is that we have daily renewal.
31:33
First Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16 says, therefore we do
31:36
not lose heart even though our man is perishing, yet the amber
31:39
man is being renewed day by day for a light affliction, which is
31:43
but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and
31:46
eternal weight of glory. There are times that I feel very
31:52
discouraged. There are times that I feel
31:54
completely depleted of energy as we've encountered challenges,
31:58
we've seen miracles, we've seen God do.
32:00
Amazing things I never planned, you know, in a year and a half,
32:03
as you're focusing on the family.
32:04
The first thought was, well, what are we going to do for
32:06
work? How are we?
32:06
Going to survive the near but everybody says you got to move
32:08
back to New Jersey you won't be able to afford living out there
32:11
and then within two weeks I found a job working in luxury
32:14
flooring. I had no construction background
32:17
and God has raised me up in the company and and now I'm I'm busy
32:20
and. He's provided for us in that
32:21
way. He brought a Christian School
32:23
literally a block from where I live that four of the kids are
32:25
able to live, be able to go to school.
32:28
And so we, God was, by his grace, answering prayers.
32:31
I, I didn't even pray because he had wanted us to stay in the
32:35
neighbourhood. I didn't pray like, oh God,
32:37
would you give us a, a building right next door that we could
32:40
have our kids go to Christian School?
32:41
I didn't, that was even on my prayer list.
32:44
But when you're following the Lord, you realize that you're
32:46
walking into his plans and his steps and you're obeying what
32:49
he's called you to do not investigate for yourself, which
32:52
is actually a lot less stressful by the way, if you just trust
32:55
God in his plans and not leaning on our own understanding.
32:58
But that doesn't mean that there's not challenges, not
33:00
times. I'm not freaking out saying, all
33:01
right, how are we going to be able to pay rent?
33:03
How are we going to be able to make this work?
33:05
What are we going to do? And at the same time, even
33:09
though the our man is perishing. I have the ability to everyday
33:13
be Emily renewed every time I open up this word.
33:19
I see it's the spirit who gives life.
33:21
The flesh profits nothing. The spirits that Jesus speaks
33:24
are spirit and they are life. When you're getting those text
33:28
messages from that one guy in the church that every single day
33:30
is a Bible verse and you're like, all right, Randy, it's,
33:32
you know, all right, Charles, it's, it's another one again,
33:35
Maybe that person is being used powerfully of the Lord to be
33:38
able to give you a word that you needed to hear that morning.
33:41
Or maybe somebody else needed to hear that word.
33:44
You never know. But it's a spirit that gives
33:46
life. We have the ability to shower
33:48
each other with God's promises in the Psalms, in worship songs,
33:54
to be filling our minds with God's Word.
33:56
Which, by the way, meditation in the world is all about emptying
34:01
your mind. Go out to a mountain, practice
34:03
your yoga, don't think about stuff.
34:05
But here's the problem. Your struggles are still there
34:09
when you're done with the mountain, whereas biblical
34:12
meditation is filling your mind with God's goodness.
34:15
Whatever shrew, noble, good, rapport, praiseworthy, meditate
34:18
on these things, it's the God of peace that will be with you as
34:22
you remind yourself of what God has done.
34:26
Keeping a journal and saying God is faithful here, here, here,
34:29
and here. He's got to be faithful in this
34:31
mess too. And that's important because you
34:34
and I will be discouraged. You will feel like you're
34:37
perishing outwardly. And that's why we need to hold
34:40
on to God's promises. And lastly, we can keep on going
34:46
because Jesus has gone before us.
34:49
Therefore, in Hebrews chapter 12 verse one, we also, since we are
34:53
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
34:56
every weight and the sandwich so easily ensnares us.
34:59
Let's run with endurance the race that is set before us.
35:01
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
35:05
for the joy that was set before him endure the cross, despise
35:07
and the shame has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
35:11
God. If you want to have a miserable
35:14
time here on this earth, look to your left or look to your right,
35:17
or look behind you. Look back at the place of sin
35:21
that you came from. Look to the person who's running
35:24
the race beside you, who seems like they have no problems, no
35:27
struggles in the life. God always answers to the
35:29
prayers, always blesses them. Instead of looking at Jesus,
35:36
He's the one that we're supposed to be comparing ourselves with.
35:39
Sometimes you can feel like how, how does it feel like?
35:42
I'm always going through these struggles, I'm always going
35:43
through these problems, and nobody else has to.
35:46
That's because God has a unique calling on your life and a
35:50
unique story that he needs to birth in you, but you need to
35:53
yield to his promises and allow him to do that work in your
35:56
heart. So you look at Jesus who went to
36:01
the cross. He knows what it's like to
36:02
suffer. He knows what it's like to
36:04
endure pain and also, yes, abandonment when he was in the
36:08
garden. And he's saying to his
36:11
disciples, hey, would you mind just kind of staying awake with
36:14
me, looking for comfort from his friends.
36:16
Everybody falls asleep. Jesus knows what it's like to
36:20
lose friends, to feel lonely. And yet he went to the cross
36:26
because he had you and I in mind, the salvation of the world
36:30
and doing the well of the Father.
36:33
I bet you if God told you right now everything he had planned
36:37
for your life, that would crush you.
36:38
And that's why he calls you not to take 10 steps, but to take
36:43
everyday step by step, in obedience, by faith, not knowing
36:47
the whole plan, just like my kids.
36:49
And they, one of the things that bothers me the most, if I can
36:53
just spend for a second having little kids.
36:54
I got kids between 12 and and 10 months, five kids is when they
36:59
ask me what we're doing and like we're, we're walking around the
37:02
neighborhood. It's like, that's not the right
37:04
way. You got to go left, you got to
37:04
go right. It's like you're six years old.
37:06
What do you know about directions I'm driving?
37:09
And they're like telling me where are we going?
37:10
The GPS says we're going somewhere else, like you.
37:14
The fact of me trying to explain this would take way more energy
37:18
than just please listen. Please just trust me.
37:21
I know what I'm doing. And that's how it is with the
37:25
Lord, isn't it? God's driving the car.
37:28
You get to take a nap. Trust rest in his promises.
37:34
He's going to work it together for good.
37:36
Amen. So in conclusion, I just want to
37:40
think about Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and he
37:44
actually prayed this prayer. He said, Father, if there be any
37:48
other way, let this cup pass for me.
37:51
And I almost think about, you know, was Jesus in his humanity,
37:55
not his Godhead, but the humanity thinking about Abraham
37:58
and Isaac when Abraham took the knife to kill his son and the
38:02
Angel stopped them saying, hey, it was only a test, don't worry,
38:04
you passed. Maybe Jesus was tempted to feel
38:09
I don't have to go to the cross. Remember not I'm not doing
38:12
heresy here in the human humanity side.
38:15
And the real fears that he had of the pain that he knew he was
38:19
about to endure, saying, if there's any other way, if
38:22
there's a backup plan, let this cup pass for me.
38:25
Yeah, he says, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.
38:29
How many times have I prayed, Lord, if there's any other way,
38:32
I don't want to go through this pain.
38:34
I want to go through the suffering, but ultimately I
38:37
trust you that you're a good heavenly Father and you know
38:40
what you're doing. So maybe this morning you don't
38:44
need a backup plan, but you need a plan to get back up believing
38:48
in God who resurrects the dead, that looks at your life and says
38:51
there's no part of you that is without purpose, that I'm
38:55
orchestrating this beautiful story.
38:58
It started off with an intro. You are in a verse now.
39:01
You're in a chorus now. You don't know what's going on,
39:03
but there will be resolve and there will be a finale.
39:07
God is crafting a beautiful story out of your life.
39:10
The story is not over with us. We're just getting started with
39:12
next Sunday at Brooklyn Church. And I don't know how many people
39:16
are showing up. I don't know who's going to show
39:18
up to serve. I mean, yeah, praise the Lord.
39:23
Last Sunday we did like a little test and I8 in the morning.
39:26
I got there, got all the equipment myself, the the
39:29
coffee, the food, all myself. I had a little Amazon card.
39:32
I was doing it and I was, I was excited and no help, but I was
39:35
like, I can't do this every week.
39:36
But today I'm just thankful that God has found us a building that
39:40
we can use, but there's still unknowns ahead of us.
39:44
Will there be volunteers? Will there be people that come
39:46
in to serve? Will there be enough money to go
39:48
around to be able to keep on paying rent?
39:51
But if I focus on the trials, I'm going to miss out on the
39:55
beautiful thing that God is doing.
39:57
A person who's struggling with same sex attractions, who's new
40:01
to the faith. A person who was burnt by church
40:03
for, you know, 10 years of his life and is now coming back to
40:07
church for the first time. A person who has no exposure to
40:10
church and they're open to Christianity.
40:11
A person who's Buddhist people that we've been sewing and
40:15
discipling and praying for for years.
40:19
If I look at the storm, I'm going to be discouraged, I'm
40:21
going to give up. But if I look unto Jesus, then I
40:25
can not lose heart and I hope that you won't either.
40:28
Let's pray. Father, we thank you.
40:33
We thank you because Psalm 27 says I would have lost heart
40:38
unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the
40:41
Lord in the in the land of the living.
40:43
Wait on the Lord and he will strengthen your heart.
40:46
Wait, I say on the Lord, I pray this morning for those that are
40:50
discouraged that they would wait on you.
40:54
They would see that redemption is near, that they would only
40:58
trust in you and believe that you can fulfill your promises.
41:01
They don't have to give up. Lord, I pray that if there's a
41:05
lack of vulnerability, a lack of being able to share with one
41:08
another, that you would bring to this fellowship such a deep
41:12
intimacy through your the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
41:18
And we thank you, Lord, as we're about to go into communion, what
41:22
a powerful way to remember that we are to partake of the bread
41:28
and the cup because we remember that your body was broken so we
41:33
don't have to beat ourselves up and your blood was shed so that
41:37
we are free of the penalty of sin and judgement.
41:40
That we can walk free today. Having a clear conscience and
41:45
knowing that there's nothing in secret that you have not already
41:49
forgiven and there's nothing that can be brought down to the
41:53
open that could destroy us. Lord, bless his fellowship,
41:59
bless our time of worship. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
42:03
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
42:06
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
42:09
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
42:18
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
42:22
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
42:27
or download our free Calvary Church app.
42:30
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.