Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / A People, Not an Audience | Ps Mike Mulheran

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A People, Not an Audience | Ps Mike Mulheran · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of a God
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perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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I just don't have to be here and be able to share the word of
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God. I count the great privilege be
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able to share the word and in this theme of is there not a
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'cause this year and this month specifically looking at we've
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church. I want to share around 1 passage
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script. You're going to know this
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passage by the end of this message.
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It comes from one Peter chapter 2 verses four and five.
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It says these words so it's coming to him as to a living
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stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious
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you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual
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house, a holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices
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acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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If you need a title for my message this morning, it's
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called a people, not an audience.
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I think all of us have favorite words that we use and these
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words just simply just roll off our tongue.
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We don't necessarily give much thought to it, but it's like
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dominant words in our lives. I look at some words that have
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just become so commonly used. I also use this word, the word
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awesome. It just seems to just roll off
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our tongues. You wash the car and you did
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awesome. No, no, no.
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You just washed the car. You know, I vacuumed the house
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yesterday for my wife. That's awesome.
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Nah, it's just vacuuming the house.
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You know, standing in front of the Rocky Mountains.
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That's awesome. Going out and looking up the
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stars and the moons in the evening and you just man the
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handiwork of God. That's awesome.
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Another word that we've heard a lot over the last five years is
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the word unprecedented of something that just has not been
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a usual precedent. But we tend to use this word
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over and over and over, not just in relation to viruses, but
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that's unprecedented. Like Mike, you preached an
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unprecedented message. This no, it's just a message.
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But they've had these words to just roll off our tongues.
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And there's a word that I would say so many times during the
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week. And I've found the words we use
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over and over often lose the weight of its meaning through
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the commonality of our use. And that word for me is the word
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church. I'm a church a lot.
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Hemorrhage. Like I'm there like 6 days a
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week. I'm there a lot.
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And it just rolls off to my grandkids.
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I'm going to church. They're like, are you going to
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church, Moose? Yes, I'm going to church.
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Where do you work? Church?
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Where do you worship? Church 322 Wicker Road, 11
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Hensel Rd. Caboolture Clopping the dress.
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I love this church like and so church just rolls off my tongue.
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But have we lost the true meaning of church?
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For some of us today, it's just a place I go to, a place I
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serve, a place I support. You know, for others, it's your
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Sunday rhythm. I can't do without this rhythm
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of going to church For others. It is a place, a community of
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believers that we come in and we worship God together, we grow
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together. It's a church can be so many
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different things to different people, but in saying the words,
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sometimes we can lose the depth of what the church really,
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really is. And the church is a people, not
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an audience. I do not want to be a church
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where things are happening in front of us without things
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happening within us and through us.
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Is that this is not a spectator sport where we come along and we
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hear some 62 year old guy or 61 year old guy say some words.
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No, no, I I want it to be a place where we are a people and
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we are growing together. We are believing together.
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We are putting faith together. There is something so powerful
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that happens whenever you and I come into a community of
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believers. I say it like this.
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There is this divine melting of our separateness.
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You and I are individuals, but as a corporate body of
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believers, the church, it's like ice cubes that just melt into
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just this beautiful, refreshing water that you are beautiful as
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an individual, but you are magnificent together.
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And God has designed you to be so uniquely spectacular.
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But in the place of coming together in his presence and
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carriers of his presence, everything changes.
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And so this morning, I don't want us to get familiar with the
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word church. I need to be the church.
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And then when we skip into the New Testament is none of those
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things I said about the church were wrong.
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But the New Testament paints the picture of the church as
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something living, something powerful, something that's so
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full of purpose that will change the world around about them and
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bring glory and honor to God in everything that the church does.
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And here in this passage, it says coming to him as to a
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living stone, rejected by men indeed, but chosen by God and
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precious. Here the apostle Paul is talking
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to new believers that they are marginalized in their community
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that they're still trying to work out what this faith
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actually is. You know, we've got 2000 years
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of historical, you know, from the day of Jesus coming to his
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death and resurrection has been built upon and talked about.
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But here these guys are living in the very first early years of
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it thinking what does the church actually look like?
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What what is mission? It's like going to prep all
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again. And here the apostle is speaking
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to these marginalized people. And one thing he does not talk
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about. He does not talk about systems,
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processes or strategies or structures.
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He talks about Jesus. He talks about Jesus being a
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living stone. He he's breaking everything
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down, he's removing the institution and the
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establishment of a church could look like and brings it all down
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to a relationship. And that's you and I with Tim.
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And yes, there must be structure and there must be strategy, but
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a structure and strategy becomes comes before the presence of
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God. We've got it all wrong.
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I don't want to come to a gathering of believers every
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week and it to be so full of strategy and structure.
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Do we need that? Absolutely.
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I like having lunch at 12:00. I don't necessarily think a
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meeting needs to go to 4:00 in the afternoon.
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I like that. But if the meeting needs to go
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to 4:00 because God wants the meeting to go to 4:00, let's
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throw out the run sheet and the strategy and just do whatever
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God wants to do. Well, there's two good things.
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They they clap on throwing out the run sheet and nine Hensel
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Rd. Caboolture, like you are the
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church. Oh, so as I say, 90, that's 9
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next door. I prefer that little building
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than this one. That's Oh yeah, wait, I just
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threw that in. We are 9 to 11.
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We're just not one number. We are 9.
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They are 10 over the road and we're back here at #11 like we
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confuse the postman around here or post lady, whatever.
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What, what about you going on those ones that are posty?
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Don't get me started like you get me on that train.
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You're going to be here till 4:00 right now.
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I don't want, no, I don't want my grandkids getting some
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participation ribbon. I don't want it.
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If they're not first, second or third, they're losers.
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Get over it. Pat them on the back.
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Do better next time, champ. And there's a golf clap for
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participation ribbons out there. Like thank you for that one
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clap. Like I felt, oh man, the world's
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gone crazy, but Jesus is still alive in the monst of all the
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crazy couple of it's no normal notes, but they're going to go
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there anyhow. A couple of couple of weeks ago,
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well, having family dinner at home and my son-in-law asked me
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this question in light of so many ministries across the globe
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falling right now, God just exposing ministries and thought,
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Oh my gosh, like even just yesterday I saw like a former
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worship pastor murders his wife. Like how?
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How do you get from Rach? And I don't know where Chris is
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today. And we can we can laugh about
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how. And my son-in-law asked me this
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question. He said, he said, Dad, is there
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anything in City Point in the world of City Point that God
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would need to expose in order to bring a cleanliness and a
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holiness to City Point Church? Yeah, it was, it was intense.
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It really was like, you can go home now, champ.
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And I did. I thought, I thought about it
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for a while, a number of minutes, just to just to go
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through. And I came back and I said, you
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know what, Jesse, there, there's nothing that I know of that God
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would need to expose. And in order for us to be a
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holier church. Are we perfect?
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By no means, but I'm so grateful that we have leadership of 40
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years in ministry in Pastor Mark and LA.
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There's been, there's been no scandal.
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The the only scandal we have had as a church is that we simply
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stood up with our college and said that boys can't be in girl
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bathrooms and girls can't be in boys bathrooms.
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And I'm not having a dig at anyone.
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That's the biggest scandal we've had.
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Now. I don't know what tomorrow holds
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with the tomorrow brings, but I'm so glad to be a part of a
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church that doesn't do it perfectly, but does have an
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integrity and a holiness and a respect and regard for the
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things of God. And I don't know why, as I said,
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don't know what tomorrow looks like, but I look back
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historically and I am so grateful for our church.
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I really, really am. I don't know why I said that,
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but that was to somebody. And so here in this passage of
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Scripture is the church does not begin with what we do.
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The church will always begin with coming to Jesus.
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And in this month of we the Church of utilizing gifts and
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talents in the House of God. I am saying you to you today is
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that you don't need to serve in the House of God.
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I'm not forcing you. There is no compulsion at all.
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One thing I know about the church is the church will
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continue, but we are all called to play a role in the part in
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the life of the church and so often volunteering has been
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based on availability. If you're available, well then
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I've got some time. No, I think that's a wrong way
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of looking at it is that serving in the Kingdom of God is about
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nearness and out of nearness. I'm going to go do is that Jesus
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constantly said to his disciples, come away with me.
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They came back with all these ministry reports.
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He sent them out to heal the sick and the cast out demons and
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to preach the gospel. They come back so excited with
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the ministry report. This is what God's doing.
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This is what's taking part. This is what I saw and he simply
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stops them mid track and says, hey, you know what, it's all
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wonderful, but would you just come away with me?
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Come and be in my presence and then from that place would you
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go again and so often we turn this around.
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If I just go and do things for God is a God will be with me.
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God says no, I much rather you are with me first and then out
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of that place. Go for me.
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I don't want to be a fraud to the world around about me.
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I don't want to say I'm a great lover of Jesus and not go and do
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things for Jesus, but I've got to get the order right.
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I've got to be in his presence. I've got to be near to him
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because he said this. If you and I draw near to him,
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he'll draw near to us. That that that happens to
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believers after they make that decision to follow Christ is he
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finds us. I didn't find him.
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He found me through the grace and love.
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He found you and then after that point of encounter of him
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shaping our lives and forgiving us, he says, now come into my
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presence and then out of my presence, go.
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If you draw near to me, I'm going to draw near to you.
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And so this morning, I'm not saying to you, would you just go
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and make yourself available? Would you do more things in life
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for church? No, no, no, no, no, no.
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And as church, we've been really good at this over the years.
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I can manipulate any one of you to serve Today.
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We're good. Most retired pastors go into
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selling insurance. True.
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Pastor Dan, he doesn't sell insurance.
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No, no, no, no. We are good at motivating people
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to do things they don't necessarily want to do, and this
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morning I apologize for that. If the church has ever just
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wanted to use you for what you carry, gives talents and
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abilities, no, no, no, I would much rather you are near to God
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than do anything for God. The scariest passage in the Word
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of God, it's Jesus saying to those that know his name, I
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never knew you, I never knew you, but I did all this for you,
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Lord, you never knew me. I healed the sick and I cast out
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demons and I preached your word and I loved in my community.
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I did all of these things in your name and he says I never
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knew you. I don't want those words spoken
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to our church or the church at the end of our days.
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You did all this and you never knew me.
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And so this morning, my simple message is, would you just draw
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near to God? It's not about performance.
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It's not about the gifts and talents, it's literally drawing
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near to Christ and him flowing through our lives and we make
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everything available. And so today, if you've mixed it
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up, just make it right with God. So intimate.
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We'll just bring you into the mood right now.
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Was that the finished side? Are you telling me that I we
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don't? We're not an audience, we are a
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people coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by
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men, but chosen by God before there is any structure, any
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strategy. This message is so brought down
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to simple terms with these 3 words coming to Him.
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He is a God who is accessible, a God who is available.
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And there is a response from humanity is we simply just need
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to come to him. You are great, but not that
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great. He is great and He is
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unchangeable and He flows through our lives and the thing
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that he desires the most is intimacy, relationship with each
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and every one of us. He cheers us on for the good
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that we do, but he cheers us on one because we know him and he
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knows us and the good that we do.
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He doesn't cheer you and on I on to a place of exhaustion, a
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place of frustration, a place where pride may rise up in our
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heart and say, you know what I can do be all things to all
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people. No, he simply says these words.
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Would you just come to me? It's this divine relationship
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that he is after. He is after nothing else this
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morning. It's simply an invitation.
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It's not a demand. It's a response, not a
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requirement. It's the grace of God would draw
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us into this place where I just need to keep on coming back to
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him. Coming back to him.
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I don't know where your life's looking and how it's looking
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right now, but would you just keep coming back to Jesus and to
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the church is such an important part of that.
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But would you come to him is my psychiatrist has some answers
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for and my counselor has some answers for my psychologist has
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some answers for me and I see all of those ones regularly.
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But I need to come to him. They will all give me tools.
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But here's the answer. He is my healing.
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He is my health. They are just a solution to get
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to that place. And so, so simply this morning,
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would you come to him? Don't go to social media, don't
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go to Instagram, don't go to your next door neighbor.
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Would you come to him? John 644 says this.
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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws me.
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And I will raise him up at the last day.
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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.
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And I want you to see this this morning, is that the Father
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draws, the Son receives us, and the Spirit of God sustains us.
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There's a great work that God is doing in all of our lives.
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Is that the Holy Father, He draws you and I into a
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relationship. The Son who came and laid down
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his life for you says, you know what, in spite of how you've
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lived your life, I'm going to receive you.
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And when we surrender our lives to Christ is in the Spirit of
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God sustained you day by day by day.
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Would you simply just come to Jesus?
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Whether that's in the morning, whether it's a noon day, whether
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it's a night time, whatever your best rhythm is, give your best
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to God, give your best to him. It says all the way through here
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that Jesus woke up really early and went and prayed Like heck
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no, I don't care what Jesus did. I do, but I don't care when he
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prayed. You get me up at 6:00 in the
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morning, that's going to be my worst time with God.
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I have no energy. I didn't want to necessarily get
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out of bed, but you get me at 11:00 at night, I'm energized,
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I'm pumped, kids are asleep, Nadine's asleep, and I could
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just be Mike and God, what forced me to get up at 5:00 in
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the morning and I'm like, even a little bowel syndrome, all that.
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You know what happens? You get to 61 and things like,
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it's the worst time I could give.
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God, I've got some amens here. This is good.
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Well, I am saying you get your rhythm with God and you make
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that a priority. I'm running around my lounge
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room at 11:00 at night, right? You know when you're supposed to
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be settling down, You put on your blue lights through the
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glasses to get everything ready. Set all the mood lighting's on.
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All that. No, no, no, no, no.
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Everything's on. Fluorescence on.
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Let's run. Let's charge.
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Let's open up the Bible. Thank you.
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Right. Give God your best.
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What's the rhythm you need to give God like this message,
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probably like every message over the past 28 years, is always
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originated behind my lawnmower. I'm pushing my lawnmower and
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Revelation just flows. I don't know if it's a four
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stroke petrol, but Revelation flows like I get my I got my son
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to do the lawn mowing once when he's like 14 years of age.
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I walked out. I was like, I was so frustrated.
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It's like he missed every 3rd row.
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That's the only time he ever mowed my grass.
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Not because I was frustrated with Him, because that's my
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place with God. I have this expectation every
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time I get behind that mower, here we go.
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This is not a chore for me. It's like I'm going to hear from
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God. I'm going to go and write a kick
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butt message. I'm not going to look at my
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notes and I don't even know what I'm doing.
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But would you find your place with God and would you keep
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going back to that place? Because if you heard His voice
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once there, you're going to hear His voice again.
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And I'm not limiting his voice behind a lawnmower, but I just
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know that I get that thing. I start that up, it goes first
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time. I'm cheering already.
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It's like, come on, speak God, get your rhythm, get your place.
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The Father draws the Son receives the Spirit sustains us
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living stones is that 55 minutes here we go.
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Let's buckle in everybody. You also as living stones are
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being built up a spiritual house.
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It's an oxymoron. How can God put these two words
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together of living and stone? You, you look at a stone,
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there's no life to a stone is a stone is enduring.
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It's stable. It doesn't necessarily change
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it. Wherever it's positioned, it is
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positioned. But then you add the word living
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to it and then now becomes this life, this vitality to something
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that is so stable, something that is enduring.
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Something's going to stay in position in place no matter
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what's happening around about them in the world.
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And so he says to you and I, you are a living stone.
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You are just not enduring. No, you had the breath of God
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inside of that endure. You're not just a stable person.
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No, we have the breath of God inside of you.
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It's you don't just remain. Remain in a place of stillness.
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No, you're in a place of stillness empowered by the
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Spirit of God. So he compares you and I as to
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this living stone. There is the breath of God
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inside of our lives that it's met with this place of
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endurance, this place of resilience, this place where
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life is weathered but it still remains.
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He says you and I are living stones.
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He's a living stone. And the thing I notice about
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living stones, if you look at a block wall, a Stonewall, this
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verse goes on that says they are being built up into a spiritual
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house, is there's an individual component of our walk with God
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which is so important. I don't get to heaven by
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anyone's faith, by anyone's relationship with God except my
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own. There's that responsibility on
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us. But when that foundation has
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been laid in our hearts, God doesn't just see you as an
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individual isolated from everybody else.
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Now he sees you and I as living. You've got to get living stone
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dry because if you're doing that right, he says you're now going
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to make up a spiritual house city Point N You are so
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important as an individual. But I, I believe this, you are
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more important as a collective and the world has shifted our
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mindset, our thinking. You just be have to be an
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individual. You do you.
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No, you do God and you do each other.
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And so as a living stone now being built up into a spiritual
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house, it's a wall of just stones, beautiful stones.
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It's a magnificent picture of a house where you as a living
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Stoner are being supported by somebody else and you're
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supporting someone else. That that's the picture of the
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church, that we don't do this relationship with God in
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isolation, but you also do it in a place of community and both
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are so valuably important. As I look at that Stonewall,
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there's no stand out stone, there's no superhero stones,
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There's only one stand out stone and that is the chief
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cornerstone. A brick bricklayer came to me
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recently after I was using this illustration.
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He said to me, I'm a bricklayer and you are so right.
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Is the most important stone is that cornerstone because holds
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the weight and it carries alignment?
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Is the cornerstone always is an alignment, always must be in the
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right place in order for the structure to be in alignment, to
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carry the capacity, the load, the weight.
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And so you and I, we are not designed to be the superstars as
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Jesus is designed to be the superstar.
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He says, would you come to me? Would you allow me to make your
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life and then I'm going to build you up into the spiritual house.
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Right throughout the gospels is the Spirit of God inspires men
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to write. The Spirit of God never inspires
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them to write to individuals. They are always written to
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churches and to cities. It's never once the letter to
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Rachel, no, but so to the Church of Corinthians and Ephesians and
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Ephesus. And God's not saying that you as
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an individual is not important. No, you are so important.
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That's why Christ came. But once you're alive in Christ
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as a living stone, your greatest value, your greatest worth is in
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this community. And so he bills us as living
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stones, but he bills us as a spiritual house, and that's
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where he chooses to dwell. But where God chooses to dwell
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is so, so crucial. In the Old Testament, in the
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wilderness, they carried around the ark of the covenant, the
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presence of God. And wherever the presence of God
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went, that's where blessing and favor just flowed, whether it
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was in the hands of the Israelites or in the enemy's
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hands. Does the presence of God just
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changed everything? He couldn't be contained in a
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Tabernacle. David's son Solomon built a
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temple, the most beautiful temple, to house the presence of
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God. Like wow, God says I can't be
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contained in just one temple. He sends his son, the visible
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representative of God, to earth. He steps foot on common ground
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that you and I share, and He is God.
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He walks amongst us, He heals, He sets the captors free, He
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brings liberty and freedom. But that just wasn't enough
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either. He goes to a cross, comes back
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onto earth, resurrected form, then ascends into heaven.
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Tags Holy Spirit Inn and now you and I.
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We're the dwelling place. It's remarkable.
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He lives in US, lives in you. Would you be the very best
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living stone that you can be, coming to Him over and over and
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over and over, not being forced, not as a demand, but just to
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request an invitation. I'm here, I'm here.
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He's a God who will never, ever leave us or forsake us unless we
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want him to. And he builds us up.
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Magnificent spiritual house. One Corinthians says this, do do
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you not know, do you not know that you are the temple of the
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Holy Spirit? Do you not know, is there this
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realization inside of us who dwells in us, that that just
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doesn't come in on a Sunday morning for a couple of hours
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now, do you not know, would we get gas?
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The reality, those 3 words just didn't come out at all, right?
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What would I say? Did you gas the allergy?
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You know, my medication's wearing off, so we need to get
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off. It's not about doing.
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It's about being becoming. It's about nearness.
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And then out of that, go hard. Leave the tank empty.
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Not to burn out, but leave the tank empty.
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Jesus emptied himself when John says this.
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He came full of grace and truth full, and at the end of his life
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says he emptied himself with the fullness that you and I have.
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Go hard, go hard for the Kingdom of God.
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Go in the power of God. Don't go in the power of you.
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You're great, but you're not that great.
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Go in His power because He fills us to overflow.
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And there can come a time in your life where you just empty
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it all. But I found every time you and I
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empty, Empty is a good place because it always can be filled.
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My first most frustrating days of the week starts in the
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morning was when my wife says to me can I take your car today?
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And I used to just think she just wanted to drive the bigger
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car. But I found out very soon is
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that as soon as you jumped in that car it started screaming at
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you. Warning lights going off.
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Empty, Empty, empty, empty, empty.
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It's OK to be empty. It's got to know who to fill you
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and who can fill you. Who will fill you this morning?
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Let's do it.