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Sunday | Be The Church | Jamey Bridges | Week 3 · Life Community Church

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're in this series called Be the Church, and uh we're we're taking these couple weeks where we're just talking about what does it mean to be the church.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I saw a story a couple weeks ago, and I'm a sports guy.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I love sports, um, but I'm more of a player fan.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just a team fan.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love players, and there's certain players that catch your eye, or you've seen their careers, and uh I I've always been a baseball fan.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Some of that has changed the older I got because I like busy activity and all that kind of stuff.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so, but there's one pitcher that has always like I've watched him the last 20 years, and his name's Justin Verlander.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: And Justin Verlander is um obviously 21-year career.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Last Saturday was his last one.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're a baseball fan, he is a he's a pitcher of our generation.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's won two World Series, he's won MVP, which is very difficult for a uh for a pitcher to do.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And his story, when it started 22 years ago or at 22 years old, he would have never known what this story and how it was going to end and everything that was gonna happen in between.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thrown two, you know, three no-hitters, uh won two championships, not in 2006, though.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um uh he also uh part of his story that most people don't talk about is the the fact that he's been hurt a lot.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Nine times he's been on the R.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh nine times he's he's missed uh lots of games.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's missed one whole season and three major surgeries.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: One to build his arm literally back together, another one you'll feel this to sew his groin together, and then one to literally reconstruct his abdominal wall because of how destroyed it was.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's missed almost every other year.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: He's missed games.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And again, full years that he's missed.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he wouldn't have known all the peaks, he wouldn't have known all the volleys, uh, and he certainly wouldn't have known how this thing was gonna end because last Saturday he took the mound for the last time.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of uh a manager coming and pulling him out, something changed, and they scripted this, and he had a surprise, and the surprise was his seven-year-old daughter.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: She came to take him out of the last game.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And here's what's so special about this because you know who wasn't there when the story started?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: His seven-year-old daughter.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know who wasn't there in the middle of his story being written?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: His seven-year-old daughter.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, Justin Verlander, who is gigantic, and when you're 5'9, everybody is, but he's 6'5.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And when he saw her running towards him, you could see visibly the tears, the sobbing, the emotions.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And later afterwards, talking to the media, he said, This was the most beautiful moment of his life.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And when I saw the video myself, I thought there are some endings you could have never imagined in the beginning.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: There are endings of stories you can't even imagine in the middle of the story.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: But at 22, Justin Verlander didn't know that this is how it would end because that was the most that the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to him wasn't even born yet.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you need to hear this today.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: You're trying to think through how this moment in your life may end, how this situation might may end, how how you're only looking through the possibilities, the people, the circumstances that that exist around you right now, that don't even exist for the future.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: They're existing right now.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you're standing in the story trying to see how is this story going to end?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And God hasn't even finished creating the pieces of the puzzle yet on it.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so we wait.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And what we do in the waiting, what we do in the middle, actually matters the most.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: What we do in the in-betweens, in the meantimes, when you look at scripture, there's three words that happened a lot in the meantime.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: In the waiting.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: What you and I do in the waiting matters.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And there's 25 verses right before you hit Revelation.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you know it because you write at Revelation, and it's the book of Jude.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: 25 verses.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And Jude is writing to a church who is in the middle of what God is doing in their story.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he opens in verse 3 with this challenge.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: He says, Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: He uses a word defend or to contend, which literally means to stand, or it carries this idea of earnestly dying or caring or standing for something, something worth protecting.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's where we get this picture of an athlete giving everything he can in a competition.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Judas essentially saying the gospel, the good news of Jesus is worth fighting for.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the hardest place to contend for your faith isn't always at the beginning of your story and isn't even after you've seen a breakthrough in your story.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's in the middle.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the middle you prayed, but nothing's changed yet.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: In the middle where you obeyed, but you've not seen that obedience pay off yet.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: In the middle is where God gave you a promise, but you haven't seen the fulfillment of that promise.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody can celebrate after the Red Sea parts.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Faith contends while Pharaoh is still behind you and the sea is in front of you.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is what he's talking about.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we contend?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: As followers of Jesus, as people who are desiring to be the church, how do we contend?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: We contend by remembering what you believe.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Jude doesn't tell the believers to invent a new faith.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: He says, contend for the faith that God has entrusted.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: When your circumstances become confusing, return to what you know.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know God is good.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know Jesus is Lord.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: I know the cross was enough.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: I know the tomb is empty.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know your word is true.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know your grace is sufficient.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know my story is in order.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: The middle of your story is a terrible place to rewrite the allergy.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is a terrible place to deconstruct from something that you've known your whole life.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Has there been some mess up equations?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Has people gotten off in their yes?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go back to what we believe, what got us to say yes in the first place.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would say this about your marriage.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Go back to a moment where you're like, this is where we were good.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go back there and let's rekindle something in our marriage.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Don't allow a difficult chapter to redefine the story that God is writing.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And here's what I know you cannot defend a faith that you don't understand.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we as followers of Christ, we don't need a 30-second inspirational scripture quote.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: We need to, we need scripture to understand what it is that we believe.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And this is why Peter, during the probably the the most persecution, when you look at the Bible in the early church, and you think our leaders, hear me, you think our leaders are bad?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Nero was dry, he was pulling people from their homes, lighting them up in the street.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And Peter is writing to a group of people, and he says this if someone asks you about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's he saying?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Listen, we contend not to win an argument, but to demonstrate who Jesus is.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And for us to contend, some of us in this room, you're in the middle of it.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to why you're even here.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think we're in the middle of something.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: We tend to forget why we do what we do.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you need to write a mission statement.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or revisit a mission statement.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's your family mission statement, maybe it's a personal mission statement.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, you need to revisit and remember why you do what you do.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because the older we get, the more grumpy we get.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Which is crazy because you're retired.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: All you gotta say is welcome to Walmart.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's not hard.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just doing it for the love.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So why are you so grumpy?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Go back to why you're doing what you're doing.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Remember.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Rekindle.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Remember what he's done.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think we contend by staying when you feel like quitting.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I literally had a vision of people walking into church this week wanting to throw in the towel, wanting to give up.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Paul told the Galatian church, so now, so let's not get tired of doing what is good.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes contending isn't shouting louder.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes continuing contending looks like showing up again, worshiping again, praying again, opening your Bible again, forgiving again, serving again, walking into church again.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: See, I think we have this idea of faithfulness as boring.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And while it is repetitive, usually faithfulness is this understanding that I know what I'm supposed to do, it's purpose, right?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's purpose knowing what I'm supposed to do, and I'm gonna continue to do because success does not come from what we do occasionally, it comes from what we do consistently.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And when I stand before Jesus, I want to hear well done, good, and so it's it's contending when the circumstances around us don't feel right, it's a refusal to compromise biblical truth.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Contending means I'm going against what culture says is true or culture says is popular, and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm going against my feelings either.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna understand that God's word is our authority, and this is the reason Jesus prayed.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Make them holy by your truth.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Your word is truth.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Teach them your word, which is truth.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying these things because in the middle of whatever it is you're dealing with, there's a contention that's happening, and there's lies.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: In the middle is when lies start happening.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: The enemy loves unfinished stories because the middle gives him room to whisper things like, God forgot you, he's not faithful.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you keep showing up?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you keep going?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing's changing.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody else is moving forward.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe this faith thing isn't real after all.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the reason Paul said to the Corinthian church, we live by believing, not by seeing.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Contending means I refuse to allow what I see to cancel what God said.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: This doesn't mean I'm denying reality, it means reality doesn't get the final word.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's what this means.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's recognizing also false teaching in the middle.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: People, listen, has anybody ever gotten bad advice?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know why they gave you bad advice outside of being ignorant about the situation?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: They gave you bad advice because they weren't walking where you were walking, they weren't seeing from your perspective that you were seeing.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't make them bad, it just makes them wrong.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: We need to be people that discern in this moment.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And this is actually Jude's biggest concern in Jude 4.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's his biggest concern because he understands there are certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: What's he saying?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying, listen, when you're in the middle of something, there are gonna be people that will come along and they're wrong.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: They're giving you bad advice.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying you better be able to spiritually discern in the middle of your crazy.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, it's gonna sound like my later point is contradictory to this because you do need people, but you also have to have discernment as to what you're going through and the advice that people are giving you.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: He says, who have secretly slipped in among you, they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our Lord God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only Savior, our sovereign and Lord.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Listen, there will be people, and if they're giving you advice apart from Jesus, they're ungodly.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: If they're saying, like, hey, seek first this kingdom, let's pray about this, let's walk through.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: What is the Holy Spirit saying?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: These are the people you want to surround yourself with.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: If someone starts over, well, well, my opinion or what I would do in this circumstance, you want to pause and you would go, listen, I know you got good intentions, but I ain't listening to you.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Will they unfriend you?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Probably.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Will they say, I don't want to hang out with you no more?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't listen to my advice?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Probably.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're more concerned about that relationship than what the Lord is saying to you, then go ahead.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Keep being their friends if that's what you want to call them.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't call them friends, I call them people with agendas, and their agenda sometimes is to be heard.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying discern in the middle of the contention, discern who is giving you the advice because the enemy's lying to you.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Contend by letting the middle change you.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think we spend a lot of time asking God, when are you gonna change this?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes God's question is, what if I'm using this to change you?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, some of us are in the same season of life because we're not learning anything.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you're saying, God, how long am I gonna be here?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, I don't know.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: When are you gonna learn?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to teach you something, I'm trying to show you something.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: God, why is it still summer?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's October.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Naturally, that doesn't make sense.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: I should be drinking around a fire, a nice pumpkin spice, but instead I'm still swimming.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make sense seasonal.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Some of us are in a season of life that it's hot when it should be cool.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going, God, where are you?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why aren't you changing this?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm trying to change you.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph had a dream.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: We don't stop there because pit and slavery came before the palace.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Prison.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: David was anointed king, but years of running from Saul in a cave.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: We don't talk about that.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: We just talk about David and Goliath and he was anointed.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: And look at David's life in the end.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: He's a man after God's own heart.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: What about the years of running for his life?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Peter, same thing.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: He experienced failure before becoming a leader of the church.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Paul encountered Jesus.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: His story included suffering, rejection, persecution, prison.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Their middle wasn't wasted.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: God was developing something in them before he did something through them.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: He's writing your story.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And he's you're going through something hard.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: But unless you go through something hard and difficult, how can you be forged through the fire?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: It gives you something to say.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're if we're living with a mindset of I came with Jesus and everything got easy, everything, oh man, it's just smooth.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's more money in my account than I've what a blessed life I have.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: If we carry that mindset, then when it gets hard, you know what we do?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Peace out.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I knew this thing wasn't real.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm out.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yet when Paul talks, he says, actually, trouble develops endurance.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Trouble develops character.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Which gives us what?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: A confident hope.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: A confident hope.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of only praying, God, get me out of this, maybe we should start praying, God, don't let me come out of this unchanged.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: God, let me have some scars.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think we also contend by worshiping before we know the ending.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is probably the greatest expression of faith that you and I can have.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: We know about Daniel, we know about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I think what's so important about these three Hebrew kids is when they said, and listen, you bow or you're going into the furnace, they said, Listen, we'll never bow to you.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: And even if, even if I die.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Even if, what are they doing?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're taking a stand and they're saying, like, I'm gonna worship before I know how this thing's gonna end.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Habakkuk says, Essentially, he says that even if the crops fail and the fields are empty, this is what he says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't say when life is perfect, I'm gonna rejoice.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna worship.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: He says, No, contending is not I'll worship when you fix it.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's not I'll worship when I'm still when when I'm still in it.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's when I not when I trust you when I understand it, I'll trust you because I know who you are.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is what he's addressing.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying worship is in the middle.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: In the middle says, God, I don't know what you're doing, but God ultimately I know who you are, and because I know who you are, I'm gonna worship anyway.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's the reason when Paul is writing from prison from prison.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think we tend to think like Paul is like on an island somewhere, like blessed be the Lord.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: This cup of coffee is great, the ocean's awesome.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a while they were praising and worshiping, the jail began to open.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Not the jail opened and then they worshiped.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: They worshiped before.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, maybe you're in the season of life because of instead of worshiping, instead of thanking, you're complaining.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: I will enter his courts with thanksgiving.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I will enter his courts with praise.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me there's not something you could give God praise for.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me there's not something you can thank him for.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me there's not something you could be saying completely different, except woe is me.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: You want to know when you're gonna get out of the season when we understand that I worship him before.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm content, my worship is a contention.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: What I'm saying when I worship him, when I don't know the answer, is I know who I serve, I know what he's done, and I'm gonna do it anyway, even though my feeler doesn't feel like doing it.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Contention means I contend with the people around you.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because here's what I know you were never in, it was never intentional for you to fight alone.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: When the man of Mark II couldn't get himself to Jesus, he had men who believed enough when he wasn't believing.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you need people around you who will believe when you're struggling to believe.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: People who remind you, this is not the end of your story.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, the Bible says, Paul says to Timothy, first and foremost, he says, Timothy, you cannot disciple others until you disciple yourself.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot give to people what you do not have.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: So learn to be a disciple of me, first and foremost.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he says.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Disciple yourself.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know what else he says?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: He says, in this moment of contending, in this moment where your story is being written, in this moment where everything seems chaotic, he says, Listen, there has to be a group of people that you trust who's gonna tell you to correct you, to rebuke you, and to encourage you.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: We tend to think just surround me with people, encourage me.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, you need people who look at you and go, listen, that's Wrong thinking, and when you get so mad at them for saying that, they rebuke you because this should be the conversation.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: You're struggling in the middle, you bring someone in, and they say, Hey, listen, that's wrong thinking.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta think like this.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Man, forget you.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: You're not a friend.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: You need to tell me what I want.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't do that.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Don't say those things.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I rebuke that.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm doing.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You listen, this isn't all your friend group.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: It might be one person in your life that's gonna look at you and they're gonna tell you the right things because they care about you and they care about where you're going and they care about what they want the best for you, and they're gonna say some things, and there's gonna be times that that person has to rebuke you.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of Peter's life, before he denied it, everybody was running away.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And while they're running away, this is not this is not successful ministry.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is talking, and people are running away.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody, he's not partying, the fastest growing church in America.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And he looks at Peter and says, Peter, they're leaving me.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna leave me too?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he says, Where would I go?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Only you, only you have the words of eternal life.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: What are the words of eternal life that he speaks of?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: That there's a moment where Jesus looked at Peter and said, Guys, I'm going to the cross, I'm gonna die, and Peter goes, No way, I will not let that happen.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: What did he say?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Get behind me, devil.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: What did Jesus do?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: He rebukes Peter, said Peter, that's wrong thinking.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Get behind me, Satan.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: That is wrong thinking.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And yet at the end of his life, he's the one that stood up and said, Only you have the words of eternal life.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, there are some hard things that you have to say to people, and in your mind you don't say them because you think they're gonna respond to them in a negative way.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just telling you, say it.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Say it.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because we were not intended to contend and do this thing by ourselves.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: You do not need people who are gonna always agree with you in your life.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: You need people who say, Well, since you asked, here we go.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: You need those people who remind you of what is true.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta have them.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Last thing, you contend because Jesus is already at the end of your story.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think we evaluate our lives from the chapter we're currently living in, and God sees the whole book.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine stopping Joseph's story in prison, imagine stopping David's story in the cave, imagine stopping Peter's story after his denial, imagine stopping Paul's story in the jail cell, imagine stopping Jesus' story on Friday afternoon.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine what the cross looked like defeat.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Saturday felt silent, but Sunday was coming.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Never judge the whole story by what it looks like in the middle.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: The cross teaches us something.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: God can be doing his greatest work when it looks like absolutely nothing is working.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: So when you don't understand, contend.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: When your prayer hasn't been answered, contend.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: When culture pressures you to compromise, contend.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: There are two ways to contend for the faith.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: We contend for the faith in the world, refusing to compromise the truth, and you contend for your faith in your mind, refusing to believe something that is not of Jesus.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I will tell you, sometimes the second battle is harder than the first.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so he ends this one chapter, these 25 verses, and he says, This, but dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: He said to you, In the last times, there are going to be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desire.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the spirit.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Listen, some of those are your friends.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're ungodly people.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you listening to them?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you listening to them?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: But you, dear friends, by what?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: By discipling, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then he says, Be merciful to those who doubt.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Save others by snatching them from the fire.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: To others show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe, maybe our prayer isn't Jesus changed my story.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's Jesus, keep me faithful while you're writing my story.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus didn't just pray for the unity of the church, he prayed that you and I would remain faithful till the end.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: What you're doing right now in the middle, man, it's important.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: You could have never picked, you could have never dreamed this is where you'd be right now.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago, you would have never dreamed it.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: But in the middle of all of it, hear me, you're still here.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're still breathing, which means your story is not done being written.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: God still has a plan.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care what your economic situation is, I don't care what your last name, I don't even care what you're going through right now.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: I pray that God has your heart so that you can contend well.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it's about.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Are you fighting?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because listen to me, it's worth fighting for.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's worth fighting for.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do something I did in first service, I'm gonna do it with you too.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's some of you in this room, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're contending right now, you're going through something right now, and it's the fight of your life.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's dangerous, it's difficult.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna ask you to do something.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you to stand.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't do this to shame you.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't get this to there's no lights that are shining on you.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't do this so that you're embarrassed.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: I do it so that you understand this is more than a thought.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta bring people into this season of my life.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so, because of that, we don't need to know what it is.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: You just say I'm contending right now, I'm in a challenge right now.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Would you stand with me if that's you?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Just that's it.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's all it is.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is the beginning.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is the admission, this is the starting place, this is the encouragement, this is the moment where you go, okay, I'm gonna keep going.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's the point of today.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: My God, keep going, keep going.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the middle, you may not have met the person you need to meet, and you're only gonna meet them if I keep going.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: You're only gonna experience it if you keep going.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, right now, if you're if you're standing, would you just lift a hand?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is an acknowledgement.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: God, I can't do this on my own.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: God, I pray for every person that's standing in this room.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: God, you see them, you know them, you know what it is that's going on.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: And God, I know not only are you changing their perspective, God, you're changing their lives.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you're changing them because you're writing the story.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're surrendering to the story you're writing.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're not the author, we're not in control, you are.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're acknowledging right now, God.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'll even say it this way, I don't know what I'm doing, God.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's happening.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: But God, I ultimately know I'm not in control.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: You are, and so I give you my life.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: I surrender what is happening.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: I surrender this season, and I say, God, teach me, show me, show me what it is that you're doing.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And God, I acknowledge I need you.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Every spirit of fear, we break it in Jesus' name.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: You've not given us a spirit of fear, spirit of love, power, and a sound mind.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Be real to people of Life Community Church.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: A spirit of love, power, and a sound mind, clarity of mind.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that right now in Jesus' name.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Every single one of us.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Can we give it up for Jesus right now?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one, guys.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one that changes things.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: God bless you guys.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for hanging out with us this morning.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Have an incredible Sunday.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hope to see you soon this week.