Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Keep Connected with Christ!- Minister Max Lucado

Transcript

Keep Connected with Christ!- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

0:01
Speaker 1: Send a special greeting to those of you who are
0:03
Speaker 1: watching online. Also those of you who are part of
0:08
Speaker 1: one of our campuses in Fredericksburg or Crownridge, North Central,
0:14
Speaker 1: West Side, Alamo Ranch in the Tall Brazil Journey Fellowship,
0:20
Speaker 1: we send you special special greetings. And by now you're
0:24
Speaker 1: likely aware you may not be, that Randy Frazy has
0:27
Speaker 1: sensed a call to pursue a citywide ministry and has
0:31
Speaker 1: resigned as our senior minister. We continue to thank God
0:35
Speaker 1: for the growth of our church experience under his leadership.
0:38
Speaker 1: Can you imagine Oak Hills without campuses in Fredericksburg, the
0:43
Speaker 1: Alamo Ranch, North Central, or the Tall Brazil campuses. We're
0:47
Speaker 1: so grateful for the time we've had to study through
0:50
Speaker 1: the story and through believe all of these were initiatives
0:54
Speaker 1: under Randy's leadership, and we deeply appreciate him and Roseanne
0:59
Speaker 1: and issue many any prayers for their new chapter. The
1:02
Speaker 1: elders have asked me to resume the role of senior minister,
1:05
Speaker 1: and after much prayer, my wife Danelon and I have
1:08
Speaker 1: sensed that the Lord is telling us to do so,
1:10
Speaker 1: so we said yes, I felt it would be good.
1:14
Speaker 1: Uh this weekend alone first to step away from our
1:17
Speaker 1: study through the story, and and take just a moment
1:20
Speaker 1: and and and allow me to share some thoughts with
1:22
Speaker 1: you regarding my heart as senior minister, and and uh
1:26
Speaker 1: and what what see seems right to me that we
1:28
Speaker 1: should focus on as a church. By the way, I'm
1:31
Speaker 1: really glad you came back. I wasn't sure anyone would.
1:40
Speaker 1: So let's pray and then we'll get to work. We
1:47
Speaker 1: welcome you, Holy Spirit. Please forgive our speaker his sins
2:07
Speaker 1: or many, grant that we can see just Jesus through Christ.
2:15
Speaker 1: We pray. Amen. If you knew you had one final
2:22
Speaker 1: conversation with a good friend, what would you talk about?
2:29
Speaker 1: Granted one final meal with some colleagues, what would you
2:34
Speaker 1: want to discuss a given one last opportunity to be
2:41
Speaker 1: with your family, what would you tell them? Jesus had
2:47
Speaker 1: the opportunity to answer this type of question on the
2:51
Speaker 1: night before his crucifixion. He had a final meal and
2:54
Speaker 1: also a final conversation with his followers, and that evening
3:00
Speaker 1: gave birth to what we could call his final sermon
3:03
Speaker 1: before the crucifixion. Don't you know he chows his words carefully.
3:09
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why we cherish them. So here's what he said.
3:13
Speaker 1: He said, abide in me as I abide in you.
3:16
Speaker 1: Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless
3:19
Speaker 1: it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you
3:22
Speaker 1: abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches.
3:27
Speaker 1: Those who abide in me and I in them bear
3:29
Speaker 1: much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
3:33
Speaker 1: Whoever does not abide in Me is thrown away like
3:36
Speaker 1: a branch in withers. Such branches are gathered, thrown into
3:40
Speaker 1: the fire and burned. If you abide in Me and
3:42
Speaker 1: my words, abide in you, ask for whatever you wish,
3:46
Speaker 1: and it will be done for you. My Father is
3:48
Speaker 1: glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become
3:51
Speaker 1: my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I
3:54
Speaker 1: have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep
3:58
Speaker 1: my commandments, you will abide in me I love, just
4:00
Speaker 1: as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in
4:04
Speaker 1: his love. I believe this is a timely message for
4:08
Speaker 1: our church. It's my heart's desire that we learn to
4:12
Speaker 1: abide in Christ, that we like branches to a vine,
4:17
Speaker 1: cling to him. I sense that this is the highest
4:21
Speaker 1: calling of the Christian that our highest call is not
4:26
Speaker 1: to bear fruit, but our highest call is to stay
4:30
Speaker 1: connected to Christ, and the purpose of the church is
4:35
Speaker 1: to help encourage this union. I was not seeking this
4:39
Speaker 1: second tour of duty as senior minister, as you know,
4:45
Speaker 1: I filled this role from nineteen eighty eight to two
4:48
Speaker 1: thousand and eight. Here's a picture, a couple of pictures
4:53
Speaker 1: of the day we arrived at nineteen eighty seven from
4:56
Speaker 1: Brazil in the airport, our first visit to the church.
5:02
Speaker 1: I was a lot younger then, I was a lot
5:06
Speaker 1: smarter than Over the years, I've conducted many weddings, your weddings,
5:17
Speaker 1: buried many of your loved ones. I love this church.
5:23
Speaker 1: I just love this church. Far from a perfect church,
5:29
Speaker 1: in fact, it's quite messy at times. But God's favor,
5:35
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, has been upon us. I love our
5:41
Speaker 1: elders and staff, our leadership team, and those who serve
5:46
Speaker 1: here on the church staff. They're just top notch. I
5:51
Speaker 1: love where we're headed, building strong campuses, impacting neighborhoods through
5:58
Speaker 1: the kindness of Christ. This can work, and we have
6:01
Speaker 1: great days ahead of us. I've since, however, that it
6:05
Speaker 1: would be good for us before we just keep pressing
6:08
Speaker 1: forward to pause and be quiet and listen. I'd like
6:14
Speaker 1: to kick off forty days of listening prayer today and
6:19
Speaker 1: invite every person who has any connection with this church
6:23
Speaker 1: to take time and pray every day. What are you
6:26
Speaker 1: saying to us? What do you want to do? What
6:32
Speaker 1: is your plan? What are you up to? Where are
6:35
Speaker 1: you leading? You're the shepherd of this church, You're the
6:38
Speaker 1: true shepherd. You're the pastor of this church. Where do
6:43
Speaker 1: you want us to go? And as the Lord speaks
6:48
Speaker 1: to you, let us know. Created a special email address
6:54
Speaker 1: listening at Oak Kills Church dot com. If the Lord
6:58
Speaker 1: gives you averse or gives you your word, let us know.
7:06
Speaker 1: How do we listen to God? How does this happen well?
7:12
Speaker 1: One way is, like Tom Anthony taught us a couple
7:15
Speaker 1: of weeks back, is to pray and pause, to pray
7:18
Speaker 1: and then be quiet, just be silent. Another way is
7:24
Speaker 1: to be especially attentive to the messages that come your way.
7:28
Speaker 1: If you've invited the Holy Spirit to speak to you,
7:31
Speaker 1: then be on the alert for a word that comes
7:34
Speaker 1: through a friend or through a passage of scripture. Especially,
7:38
Speaker 1: maybe you could requisition a part of your day that
7:41
Speaker 1: typically is used for something else, like a daily commute
7:45
Speaker 1: or cutting the grass or washing the dishes, and use
7:48
Speaker 1: that in addition to the task to say Lord, I'm listening.
7:53
Speaker 1: I'm listening. I go in with two ears in one
7:57
Speaker 1: mouth and listen more than you speak. Maybe you could
8:04
Speaker 1: gather the kids around at night, or have a few
8:07
Speaker 1: quiet moments with your spouse and just say, Lord, is
8:12
Speaker 1: there anything you're telling us? As a church. I think
8:17
Speaker 1: the Lord loves his church and he wants to guide us.
8:22
Speaker 1: I sensed his guidance during this transition. It's not been
8:26
Speaker 1: an easy transition. I had to make some take some
8:32
Speaker 1: time for some serious prayer. During this whole process, I
8:35
Speaker 1: got a pimple. I haven't had a pimple since college.
8:44
Speaker 1: Delon said it was a stress pimple. I don't know.
8:47
Speaker 1: I don't even remember how to pop those things. Sixty
8:51
Speaker 1: two years old, I'm getting pimples. On the night that
8:56
Speaker 1: Randy shared his resignation with the elders, he and I
8:58
Speaker 1: had agreed to meet in the prayer tower afterwards on
9:03
Speaker 1: the Crownridge campus, and so I was already there, got
9:06
Speaker 1: there good twenty minutes before he and I was having
9:10
Speaker 1: some doubts, and I was saying, Lord, you sure you
9:14
Speaker 1: don't have somebody else for this, somebody younger, smarter, faster, quicker, surely, Lord,
9:21
Speaker 1: or somebody else for this. And there's a prayer book
9:26
Speaker 1: up in the prayer tower, just a nice little prayer book.
9:28
Speaker 1: You've seen the daily prayer readings that exist in books,
9:31
Speaker 1: and there's one in the prayer tower. And I picked
9:34
Speaker 1: it up and read that day's reading, and the passage
9:38
Speaker 1: itself would not have had any form of equal impact
9:44
Speaker 1: had it not been for what I was wrestling with.
9:46
Speaker 1: I took a picture of it so I would always remember.
9:50
Speaker 1: But the passage from Second Kings two fifteen said the
9:54
Speaker 1: company of the prophets from Jericho who were watching, said,
9:58
Speaker 1: the spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. Now I'm
10:04
Speaker 1: not the brightest bulb in the box, but I was
10:08
Speaker 1: praying about transition from one leader to the next, and
10:13
Speaker 1: here's a verse describing a peaceful transition from Elijah to Elisha,
10:18
Speaker 1: that the Lord can orchestrate that. And I thought, well, okay, Lord,
10:25
Speaker 1: if you're talking, I want to be listening. I want
10:27
Speaker 1: to hear what he says to you. It's my desire
10:34
Speaker 1: that we would have a walk with Christ that is
10:36
Speaker 1: so intimate that we would sense when he speaks, and
10:42
Speaker 1: we would know when he moves. I have a hunch
10:46
Speaker 1: that's your desire as well. That's the promise of this
10:50
Speaker 1: passage again. Let's read that text from John fifteen. Abide
10:55
Speaker 1: in me as I abide in you. Just as the
10:58
Speaker 1: branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in
11:02
Speaker 1: the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
11:05
Speaker 1: I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who
11:08
Speaker 1: abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
11:12
Speaker 1: because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does
11:16
Speaker 1: not abide in me is thrown away like a branch
11:19
Speaker 1: and withers. Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire
11:22
Speaker 1: and burned. If you abide in me and my words,
11:25
Speaker 1: abide in you as for whatever you wish, and it
11:28
Speaker 1: will be done for you. My Father is glorified by
11:31
Speaker 1: this that you bear much fruit to become my disciples.
11:34
Speaker 1: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
11:37
Speaker 1: Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you
11:40
Speaker 1: will abide in my love, just as I have kept
11:42
Speaker 1: my father's commandments and abide in his love. Again. This
11:47
Speaker 1: was Jesus's final sermon, his final time with his followers.
11:52
Speaker 1: They did not know what was coming, but he did
11:57
Speaker 1: so He escorted them out of the upper room, down
11:59
Speaker 1: the stairs, the narrow streets of Jerusalem, out the Eastern gate,
12:02
Speaker 1: down a path called the Path of Kidron, into the
12:05
Speaker 1: Kidron Valley, and they came to stand in a vineyard.
12:12
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the disciples as they form a horseshoe
12:17
Speaker 1: around Jesus, Peter, James, and John and Matthew, and as
12:22
Speaker 1: the moonlight falls upon their bearded faces. But they have
12:27
Speaker 1: no idea what's about to happen. They have no idea
12:31
Speaker 1: that before the sun comes up again, their leader will
12:35
Speaker 1: be arrested. And they have no idea before the sun
12:38
Speaker 1: sets again their leader will have been crucified and killed.
12:45
Speaker 1: They have no idea that all of the promises they've
12:47
Speaker 1: made just hours before are about to be broken, all
12:50
Speaker 1: those pledges to never leave. They're about to scatter like
12:54
Speaker 1: scared cats. They have no idea what's about to happen.
12:59
Speaker 1: But Jesus knows exactly what's about that happen. So what
13:02
Speaker 1: does he say to them in this his final conversation?
13:08
Speaker 1: Does he tell them to buck up, stay strong. Does
13:11
Speaker 1: he tell them to roll up their sleeves and get
13:13
Speaker 1: to work. Does he tell them to fetch their weapons
13:15
Speaker 1: and get ready to fight? Now? He talks to them
13:20
Speaker 1: about about a vineyard, and he uses the vineyard as
13:29
Speaker 1: an allegory, a metaphor. He says, God is like a gardener,
13:36
Speaker 1: an orchardist, one who's in charge of a vineyard. And
13:41
Speaker 1: he prompts, and he pampers, and he stirs. He coaxes
13:48
Speaker 1: the best out of the vineyard. He wants to bring
13:55
Speaker 1: the best, the best fruit out of us. So the
14:01
Speaker 1: picture is God is in charge. We are not. Are
14:05
Speaker 1: you okay with that? Can we do our thing?
14:08
Speaker 2: We do?
14:09
Speaker 1: Ever? So often raise your hand. I hereby resign as
14:14
Speaker 1: ruler of the universe. God is in charge, Well you're not.
14:21
Speaker 1: Any fruit that happens is up to him, not up
14:25
Speaker 1: to us. So Jesus then is the vine. He's the
14:31
Speaker 1: thick part, the stalk, the trunk, if you will, that
14:35
Speaker 1: digs down into the dirt with roots and draws the
14:40
Speaker 1: necessary nutrients out of the soil and passes them up,
14:43
Speaker 1: cables them, is the conduit for them and delivers them
14:48
Speaker 1: into the branches. That's us. We're the branches. And as
14:52
Speaker 1: this process works, as God does his cutting and trimming
14:56
Speaker 1: and nurturing and feeding and caregiving, Christ receives the nutrients
15:01
Speaker 1: and distributes them, then something wonderful happens. Fruit happens. The
15:07
Speaker 1: fruit of the spirit is love and joy, and peace
15:10
Speaker 1: and patience and kindness and goodness and self control. All
15:14
Speaker 1: of these wonderful things happen. All of us desire to
15:17
Speaker 1: have those fruits, don't we All of us do. But
15:22
Speaker 1: Jesus says that the secret to being fruitful, to bearing
15:25
Speaker 1: these fruits, is not forcing the fruit, but staying connected
15:28
Speaker 1: to the vine. That the secret to bearing fruit is
15:34
Speaker 1: not forcing the fruit, but staying connected to the vine.
15:39
Speaker 1: It does you no good nor me to say, okay
15:41
Speaker 1: today I'm going to be happy today. I'm going to
15:45
Speaker 1: be joyful if it kills me. Forcing fruit doesn't work,
15:52
Speaker 1: clinging to the vine does. This is something wonderfully freeing.
15:57
Speaker 1: And of all the things for Christ to tell his
15:59
Speaker 1: descis amples on the night before his crucifixion, the one
16:03
Speaker 1: thing he wanted them to reflect back on and to
16:06
Speaker 1: remember was you just hang on to me. You hang
16:11
Speaker 1: on to me like a branch hangs on too the
16:14
Speaker 1: vine unless we miss the point. Jesus employs the word
16:18
Speaker 1: abide ten times in seven verses. Look at this, Abide
16:24
Speaker 1: in me and I in you. As the branch cannot
16:26
Speaker 1: bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine,
16:29
Speaker 1: so neither can you unless you abide in me. He
16:32
Speaker 1: who abides in me and I in him, he bears
16:35
Speaker 1: much fruit. If anyone does not abide in me, he's
16:38
Speaker 1: thrown away as a branch and dries up. If you
16:40
Speaker 1: abide in me and my words, abide in you. Ask
16:43
Speaker 1: whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
16:45
Speaker 1: Abide in my love. Abide in my love, just as
16:47
Speaker 1: I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
16:50
Speaker 1: What's the key verse? A key word in the verse? Abide,
16:55
Speaker 1: Come and live in me, Jesus says, make me your home.
17:02
Speaker 1: What does it mean to abide somewhere? Most of you,
17:06
Speaker 1: if not all of you, abide somewhere when you go home,
17:12
Speaker 1: Quite the odds are quite good that you will relax
17:16
Speaker 1: a little more. You may put on some more comfortable shoes,
17:22
Speaker 1: You may find something to eat. Your home is a
17:25
Speaker 1: place of rest and nourishment. It's a place where you're
17:31
Speaker 1: really your authentic self. You're not trying to show off.
17:34
Speaker 1: You're not trying to impress anybody. It's okay to have
17:37
Speaker 1: bad breath in your home. It's okay to have your
17:40
Speaker 1: hair uncombed in your home. It's a safe place. So
17:44
Speaker 1: Jesus says, let me be that. Let me be that,
17:49
Speaker 1: not a place where you have to perform. Let me
17:52
Speaker 1: be your ultimate place of rest. Let my word, let
17:56
Speaker 1: my promise be the foundation of your home. Let my
17:59
Speaker 1: sow sovereignty be the walls that keep the cold wind.
18:04
Speaker 1: Let my roof of grace protect it from the hailstorm
18:08
Speaker 1: of guilt. Just make your home in me. You see,
18:14
Speaker 1: I think it comes down to this, that our aim,
18:19
Speaker 1: our only aim, is to be at home in Christ. Now,
18:27
Speaker 1: we Christians tend to miss this, and we banter about
18:30
Speaker 1: phrases like I'm going to change the world, I'm going
18:33
Speaker 1: to make a difference, I'm going to solve all the problems.
18:38
Speaker 1: I think those are noble ambitions. But I've come to
18:41
Speaker 1: see that those are fruits. Those are fruits. Our better
18:46
Speaker 1: statement would be today, I'm going to connect with Christ
18:50
Speaker 1: because he wants to connect with me. So how do
18:54
Speaker 1: we do this? How do we abide in Christ. Well,
18:58
Speaker 1: the answer is, I think different for in every individual
19:01
Speaker 1: because we're all different. We have different learning skills or
19:04
Speaker 1: different aptitudes, different personalities, but it will always include some
19:09
Speaker 1: common denominators like encountering scripture, prayer, worship, finding our unique service,
19:19
Speaker 1: how we can best serve the heavenly Father, fellowship. The
19:24
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is we're like grapes. We do
19:26
Speaker 1: better in bunches and we grow together. We're more fruitful
19:32
Speaker 1: when we're together. I think that's why the devil likes
19:34
Speaker 1: to tear us apart. But you find the way in
19:40
Speaker 1: which you connect to Christ the most. But please remember this,
19:44
Speaker 1: it's his invitation. This isn't something you have to foster.
19:49
Speaker 1: You're not trying to convince God to connect with you.
19:52
Speaker 1: He's trying to convince you to connect with him. What
19:56
Speaker 1: happened in the garden of Eden. He wants to replicate
19:58
Speaker 1: before the fall, Adam and Eve walk with God in
20:00
Speaker 1: the cool of the evening, no shame, no fear. When
20:04
Speaker 1: you wake up in the morning, before you climb out
20:06
Speaker 1: of bed, just incline an ear to heaven and listen,
20:10
Speaker 1: and you will hear God say, why don't we live
20:13
Speaker 1: this day together. Don't go out by yourself. Let's just
20:20
Speaker 1: go together. I know what's coming. You keep an ear
20:25
Speaker 1: inclined to me, and I'll keep an eye on you.
20:30
Speaker 1: I have a dream that someday I will live a
20:32
Speaker 1: day in which my thoughts about God outnumbered my thoughts
20:35
Speaker 1: about anything else. I'm so far from that. But you
20:40
Speaker 1: know there's a scripture in the Bible that says that
20:42
Speaker 1: God's thoughts about me, God's thoughts about you outnumber the
20:45
Speaker 1: number of grains of sand on the seashore. He can't
20:49
Speaker 1: quit thinking about you. You're on his mind all the time,
20:56
Speaker 1: and so he issues that invitation. Now, if you decline line,
21:01
Speaker 1: he'll be sad, but he won't abandon you. He'll come
21:06
Speaker 1: back throughout the day and say, hey, we can walk
21:07
Speaker 1: through this together. Let's just stay connected, connected, connected. So
21:16
Speaker 1: I hear by issue my first edict as senior minister,
21:20
Speaker 1: stay connected to Christ. You just connect to Him. Just
21:26
Speaker 1: connect to him. You know the best thing you can
21:28
Speaker 1: do for your marriage be connected to Christ. The best
21:31
Speaker 1: thing you can do is a parent. Be connected to Christ.
21:35
Speaker 1: The best thing you can do at your workplace, you
21:37
Speaker 1: be connected to Christ. The best thing you can do
21:40
Speaker 1: in your neighborhood. Be connected to Christ. The best thing
21:43
Speaker 1: you can do in this church be connected to Christ.
21:46
Speaker 1: He won't let you down, he won't walk away. You
21:50
Speaker 1: connect to Him, and fruit in the right way at
21:54
Speaker 1: the right time is going to happen. It's not up
21:57
Speaker 1: to you to force fruit. It is up to you
22:00
Speaker 1: and me to connect to Christ. This is a slightly
22:05
Speaker 1: different emphasis than the one I had when I inaugurated
22:10
Speaker 1: my first term as senior minister. There's some interesting symmetry here.
22:15
Speaker 1: My first time to preach at this church, when Dianlon
22:19
Speaker 1: and I came and visited from Brazil, I was thirty
22:21
Speaker 1: two and here I am starting this again at sixty two,
22:26
Speaker 1: and somebody said, that's kind of like a Brett fav
22:28
Speaker 1: of preaching my first go around. My first message was
22:37
Speaker 1: from the life of Caleb in the Old Testament, and
22:41
Speaker 1: the theme of the message was give me my mountain.
22:43
Speaker 1: That's what he said to Joshua when they were taking
22:46
Speaker 1: to Promised Land, give me my mountain. So I said
22:49
Speaker 1: to the church, let's all go get our mountain. It
22:52
Speaker 1: was all rolling up your sleeve and getting to work
22:54
Speaker 1: and tearing them up. It was a raw, raw, raw,
22:56
Speaker 1: go go go message. I think my emphasis is a
23:00
Speaker 1: little different these days. It seems to me that I
23:05
Speaker 1: might have been skipping a step. That before we go out,
23:10
Speaker 1: it's important to look up, and before we march, it's
23:15
Speaker 1: important to rest, and before we take off, we have
23:20
Speaker 1: to receive. And that really the highest call of the
23:25
Speaker 1: Christian is to make Christ our home. To the degree
23:32
Speaker 1: we do that, I think we're happier, more joyful. Would
23:36
Speaker 1: you agree. I think the best advertisement for Christianity is
23:40
Speaker 1: a happy Christian. I do I think the worst advertisement
23:46
Speaker 1: for Christianity is the other a miserable Christian. I used
23:53
Speaker 1: to ride bikes. I mean seriously, I was one of
24:01
Speaker 1: these guys that you don't like on the road. Wore
24:05
Speaker 1: the tight shorts, tight shirt clip in pedals, taking up
24:12
Speaker 1: too much room. But I thought it was so much fun.
24:17
Speaker 1: I got into it because I always rode bikes as
24:19
Speaker 1: a kid, and so I found out you can ride
24:21
Speaker 1: bikes as a grown up. I got excited, and so
24:25
Speaker 1: I'd go on these long rides all through the hill country.
24:28
Speaker 1: Oh that is so much fun. I met some other bikers,
24:32
Speaker 1: and as I began to meet other bikers, I came
24:34
Speaker 1: to find out that I was riding a wimpy bike.
24:39
Speaker 1: They told me you needed a faster bike. And also
24:42
Speaker 1: they told me about bike rallies and bike races, and
24:45
Speaker 1: if I wanted to be a part of those, I
24:47
Speaker 1: needed a better bike. So I went and bought a
24:49
Speaker 1: better bike. And this bike we equipped with lots of
24:53
Speaker 1: bells and whistles, all kinds of things that measure everything,
24:57
Speaker 1: not just how fast you're going, but how far you'll
25:00
Speaker 1: go if you keep up at this speed, and also
25:04
Speaker 1: how fast you went last time, and how far you
25:06
Speaker 1: went yesterday, and if you've reached your goal or not.
25:10
Speaker 1: And it had a little GPS, so I always knew
25:14
Speaker 1: where I was. And as if that wasn't enough, I
25:16
Speaker 1: bought another gauge to help me know my heart rate,
25:21
Speaker 1: an or a strap around my chest, and it told
25:24
Speaker 1: me my heart rate. I have no idea why I
25:26
Speaker 1: needed to know my heart rate, but everybody else knew
25:30
Speaker 1: their heart rate, and so I wanted to know mine.
25:33
Speaker 1: And so pretty soon I was biking looking at the
25:36
Speaker 1: gauges a whole lot. Not much at the road, but
25:38
Speaker 1: I'm always looking at the gauges. And then somebody said, oh,
25:41
Speaker 1: you got to listen to a certain kind of music
25:43
Speaker 1: to really bike well. And he told me about this
25:46
Speaker 1: kind of pound pound pound pound pound pound music, kind
25:49
Speaker 1: of a Lead Zeppelin type of thing, or you just
25:52
Speaker 1: boom boom boom. So I got that going. I got
25:54
Speaker 1: it in my ears, I got gauges in my eyes,
25:56
Speaker 1: and so I'm pedaling and pedaling and pedaling and pedaling.
25:59
Speaker 1: You know, I got to be a pretty good monster
26:01
Speaker 1: out there on the road. Well, one day that bike
26:04
Speaker 1: broke and I had to take it in to be
26:07
Speaker 1: repaired and leave it at the shop. In the meantime,
26:10
Speaker 1: I had to go back to my wimpy bike. Didn't
26:14
Speaker 1: have any gauges on it, had no clue how fast
26:16
Speaker 1: I was going. I wasn't listening to music that day
26:21
Speaker 1: for some reason. And after a few minutes with no
26:25
Speaker 1: gauges and no music, I thought to myself, you know,
26:29
Speaker 1: this is fun. This is fun. This is why I
26:34
Speaker 1: got in this to begin with. As a church, we've
26:39
Speaker 1: been peddling pretty hard, been growing, been building buildings, adding staff,
26:54
Speaker 1: been peddling pretty hard, and God's grace has been upon us.
27:01
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if we wouldn't be well served with the
27:05
Speaker 1: time of saying, now, why did we get into this
27:08
Speaker 1: in the first place, and going back to the final
27:14
Speaker 1: sermon of Christ, which is really the first call of
27:17
Speaker 1: the Christian and that is connect Are we connecting with Christ?
27:24
Speaker 1: Are we connecting with Christ? Are we connecting with the living,
27:30
Speaker 1: loving presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, each one of
27:35
Speaker 1: us not connecting through a pastor or through a leader,
27:40
Speaker 1: but each one of us having our own connection with
27:43
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. And that that is our focus
27:47
Speaker 1: and trusting that He will bring fruit at the right time,
27:51
Speaker 1: in the right way. That's what I'm thinking. I'd love
27:56
Speaker 1: to know what you're thinking and over these next forty days.
27:59
Speaker 1: If you say it's anything, remember that email address listening
28:03
Speaker 1: at oak hillshirt dot com. I'm really honored to be
28:07
Speaker 1: your senior minister again, but you need to know I
28:10
Speaker 1: have not forgotten from whence I came. The Lord called
28:13
Speaker 1: me first when I sat in a pickup truck at
28:17
Speaker 1: the age of eighteen in a piggly wiggly parking lot
28:22
Speaker 1: in a small West Texas town with six beers in
28:25
Speaker 1: my belly and several more seated resting on the seat
28:29
Speaker 1: between me and my best friend James, and I turned
28:33
Speaker 1: to him and I said James. There's got to be
28:34
Speaker 1: more to life than this. It was two years before
28:40
Speaker 1: I found Christ, but that's when the journey began. And
28:43
Speaker 1: so your preacher is a converted drunk. That's who I am,
28:49
Speaker 1: nothing more. I'm not real sophisticated. I know this because
28:58
Speaker 1: one of the members, sure toward the end of my
29:01
Speaker 1: first term, said to me, you know, Loo Kato, I've
29:04
Speaker 1: been listening to you now every weekend for twenty years,
29:08
Speaker 1: and I've got you figured out. He said, you say
29:11
Speaker 1: the same thing every week, just with different rapping. I said, well,
29:15
Speaker 1: what do you mean? He said, every week you say
29:18
Speaker 1: God loves you. It's going to be okay. So if
29:23
Speaker 1: that message speaks to your heart, that's probably what you're
29:27
Speaker 1: going to get. I do think we have some great
29:31
Speaker 1: days ahead of us. I do, but only to the
29:35
Speaker 1: degree that we stay connected to Christ. I've invited my
29:39
Speaker 1: wife Denlon, to come and lead a prayer that will
29:42
Speaker 1: serve as maybe a dedicatory prayer for this season of ministry,
29:47
Speaker 1: and I'd like to invite you to join with us
29:50
Speaker 1: as we pray together. If you've never met my wife,
29:53
Speaker 1: you've never met one of God's angels, For she is
29:56
Speaker 1: that indeed.
30:09
Speaker 3: Let's pray, the Lord says, sons and daughters, pay attention
30:16
Speaker 3: to what I say. Listen closely to my words. Do
30:21
Speaker 3: not let them out of your sight, keep them within
30:25
Speaker 3: your heart, for they are a life to those who
30:29
Speaker 3: find them, and health to a man's whole body. Above
30:34
Speaker 3: all else, guard your heart, for it is the well
30:38
Speaker 3: spring of life. Oh Lord Jesus, thank you for interceding
30:46
Speaker 3: on our behalf. Thank you, Father God, for directing the
30:50
Speaker 3: affairs of the world, of the universe, of our neighborhoods,
30:56
Speaker 3: of our homes, of our hearts. Holy Spirit, What can
31:01
Speaker 3: we do except for you. We can't take one step
31:05
Speaker 3: or breath without you leading us, teaching us, comforting us,
31:11
Speaker 3: reminding us of what is true. Lord Jesus, you said
31:16
Speaker 3: that you are the Way, that you are the truth,
31:19
Speaker 3: and that you are life. And so we cling to
31:23
Speaker 3: you today.
31:24
Speaker 1: We cleave to you. We cleave to.
31:26
Speaker 3: Your goodness, to your grace, to your forgiveness. We remember
31:32
Speaker 3: that your love is an everlasting love, That you, Almighty God,
31:38
Speaker 3: creator of the ends of the earth, that you never
31:41
Speaker 3: grow tired or weary of hearing from us, of giving
31:46
Speaker 3: us strength, of giving us power, that you know our weakness.
31:50
Speaker 3: You know our needs, and every person in this building
31:54
Speaker 3: today you know intimately, deeply. Thank you for inviting us
32:01
Speaker 3: to abide in you, to rest in you, to dwell
32:07
Speaker 3: in the shelter of the most High, so we can
32:10
Speaker 3: abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Thank you for
32:14
Speaker 3: every promise. That you are our strong tower, that you
32:18
Speaker 3: are our refuge, that you are the shield about us,
32:21
Speaker 3: the lifter of our head. That you are our glory.
32:25
Speaker 4: God.
32:26
Speaker 3: Nothing else is our glory but you. Thank you for
32:30
Speaker 3: all these promises. Thank you for your word that is
32:33
Speaker 3: alive and active all by itself, and when it comes
32:37
Speaker 3: to our mind, when it rises up in our hearts,
32:41
Speaker 3: we receive more life, and we become more active, and
32:45
Speaker 3: we have things, and it's mysterious how it happens. God,
32:49
Speaker 3: But it's all at your commanding, all at your directing,
32:53
Speaker 3: all at all because of your great love for us.
32:59
Speaker 3: So Jesus, we just want to thank you for saying
33:02
Speaker 3: that we can come to you when we are weary
33:05
Speaker 3: and heavy laden, and you will give us rest. That
33:09
Speaker 3: you invite us to learn from you, because you are
33:12
Speaker 3: gentle and humble in heart, and your yoke is easy
33:17
Speaker 3: and your burden is light, and you promise rest for
33:22
Speaker 3: our souls. Thank you that you care about our souls.
33:26
Speaker 3: We commit all these things to you and to your
33:29
Speaker 3: sweet care in the name of Jesus. Amen.
33:33
Speaker 4: This world is endless, so why so long? But somehow
33:43
Speaker 4: I'm still lost in you.
34:02
Speaker 5: The streets are full of moving shadows, countless place as
34:07
Speaker 5: I could go, city shining people passing.
34:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, still feel so lone. Every year old keeps leading nowhere.
34:20
Speaker 5: Every sky feels cold and blue. In this world so
34:25
Speaker 5: fast and open, I'm still lost in missing you.
34:32
Speaker 6: The world is wild, so wid before me, but I
34:41
Speaker 6: keep blues in my way.
34:46
Speaker 4: Somewhere indeed.
34:50
Speaker 6: Less distance.
34:54
Speaker 2: Your memory makes mista.
35:00
Speaker 4: The world loser.
35:04
Speaker 6: Without us, but my heart remains unshoe formal matter where
35:17
Speaker 6: these feet may.
35:19
Speaker 4: Wonder, I'm still lost in seeing you.
35:29
Speaker 5: I have tried to outgrown silence, try to leave your
35:34
Speaker 5: ghost behind, but your name still echo softly through the
35:40
Speaker 5: corners of my mind.
35:44
Speaker 6: The world is wide, so maybe before me, but I
35:53
Speaker 6: keep loose in my way somewhere.
36:03
Speaker 4: Lestes Us.
36:06
Speaker 6: Your memory makes me stay, the world loser without us,
36:20
Speaker 6: but my heart remay is untrue phonal matter where these
36:30
Speaker 6: fee may wonder, I'm still lost in this sing you.
36:41
Speaker 2: Maybe someday stop searching for your face in every crowd,
36:48
Speaker 2: but until that day, this broken heart will keep calling.
36:53
Speaker 4: Your name out.
36:57
Speaker 5: The world is wise, so why before me?
37:04
Speaker 6: But I keep losing my way. Somewhere in.
37:15
Speaker 2: Less distance, Your memory thanks me.
37:22
Speaker 4: Stand the world moves.
37:29
Speaker 6: Without us, but my heart remains some true
37:39
Speaker 5: For no matter where these feet may you wonder, I'm
37:47
Speaker 5: still lost in missing you