A Passionate Lifestyle

The transcription emphasizes the power available to believers from the kingdom of God, encouraging them to pursue it passionately and persistently. It highlights the need to be relentless in faith, not letting obstacles deter them. The speaker underscores the importance of living by God's principles, resisting worldly influences, and staying committed to God's calling. The message warns against complacency and urges believers to be fervent in seeking a share in the heavenly kingdom. It stresses the significance of being resolute and dedicated in faith to experience God's best and impact others positively. The speaker also discusses the decline of seriousness towards spiritual matters and the need for believers to uphold God's authority and power in their lives. to the kingdom of God, to the children of God, to the body of Christ. There is a power that has been set out there for us to obtain, but you only obtain it by going after it and not relinquishing it until you've taken hold of it, and it's directing and it's empowering. It's causing you to be able to move in your life. It's causing you to be able to do those things in your life. The Amplified says, from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force as a precious prize. A share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion. I want to read that again because we're talking about that we live for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We live for the one who spoke the heavens and the earth into existence. We live for the one that told the children of Israel to go to the river and to Moses to stretch out. To stretch out his staff, and that when he did that and he touched the water, that the waters would split so that we're not talking a hundred people. We're not talking that they had time to build these floating bridges that you see the army corps of engineers that they'll build to get across the river. We're talking about that he split the water with the same God that split the waters so that the children of Israel could go into safety, go into victory is the same one that lives on the inside of you, so that you can do the things that he's called you to do. That's how much he cares about you. That's how much he loves you. That's how much he wants you to be successful and to be able to do the things that he's called you to do. And then he took that spirit to reside, to live on the inside of you, so that you could... He says here, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault. Listen, every single day, every single day people are coming against the kingdom of God. Every single day that people are coming against the children of God. Every single day people are watering down what the truth, what the Word really says about who you are in Christ. Every single day people are wanting to buffer you and to say, no, you can't do that. No, you're not old enough to do that. No, no, you're too old to do that. No, no, no, no, no. You don't have the experience or you don't have the knowledge. You don't know how to do anything like that. And constantly, that is a buffering against to keep you from going in and going forward into the kingdom. Going forward into what God's called you to do. And so what we have to do is we have to be obedient to what Christ here, He says, violent men and women. Passionate men and women. People that don't let go of it no matter what. Some of the worst things you can ever see is one of these dogs, and they'll have somebody with a cushion thing around their arm, and they're training them to be attack dogs. They're training them to grab hold and to never let go. And you'll hear stories where they actually had to kill the dog to get him to release what he was trying to take a hold of because he wouldn't do it. That's what he's talking about here. God has placed some things in your heart. He's placed some things in your thought life. He's placed some things in your prayer life that He wants you to grab hold of. And whether you see it happen tomorrow or not, that you don't ever let go of it because you're a passionate person for the things of God. Because you're going after it. I don't care how disappointing your life has been. I don't care the thing... I do care. But what I'm saying is, I don't want you to care so much about what has happened that you stop going after what God has called you to. Because we were watching something... I can't remember what it was last night. But the guy said, the past is exactly that. It's past. It's gone. It's over. It's over. It's over. And see, God has called us to be alive. God has called us to be moldable. God has called us to be ones that can change, that we roll with it, no matter what happens with us in this life that we're living. Not saying it's the perfect life. Not saying it's been the best life. But what He wants is for you to experience His best for you now, and His best for you tomorrow, and His best for you next week, and next month, and next year. Because He doesn't want you to be somebody that can't... I just don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You've got to be a violent person. You've got to be a passionate person to go after what God has called you to take hold of as a precious prize. And that prize for all of us is a share in the heavenly kingdom. And this should be sought. It should be gone after with the most ardent zeal that nothing should hold you back. Because it's a life change for somebody else. We get so caught up. And I want to see things happen. You go after the things of God. You start showing people what the things of God look like. You start living a life that is kingdom-minded, and that the kingdom of God that Jesus is talking about here, those principles are taking effect in your life. Those principles are what are guiding you. Those principles are what's directing your thoughts. Those principles are what's directing your mouth. Those things will help direct your steps. And then as you're doing that, you're all of a sudden, you're becoming a person that is being effective in reaching and taking it to other people. The kingdom of God is suffered violence. It's endured violent assault. But the church has got to stand up and say, No more. No more. See, what the world needs now is a church that's full of power. Amen. Amen. Jude 1, verses 17-19, he says, But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master Jesus Christ told us that this would happen. He told us this, that in the last days, there would be people who don't take these things, the things of God, serious anymore. There's going to be people that do that. And they'll treat them like a joke. They'll make a religion of their own, make a religion of their own whims and lusts. These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. And there's nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit. See, Jude was smart enough. First of all, he was connected to the things of God. He was very much connected to the Spirit of God. But he was smart enough to look forward in time because they were already seeing it before we hit 100 AD. Because Jude wrote this, this is before 100 AD. So not long after Christ's burial and resurrection, not long after the disciples had received the power of the Holy Spirit in the upper room, not long after Paul had gone on his missionary journey, Jude is writing this and he says, Look, there's going to be people that are going to be the ones that split churches because they take this as a joke. They take it as a... This is just... We don't have to have church. We don't have to live for God. I don't feel like it today. You know, I don't want... You know, I want to impress so-and-so, so I'm not going to act that way. I don't want to... I don't want to... There's so many things. There's nothing to you when you're like that. There's nothing to me when I'm like that. If I'm not being passionate, if I'm not being violent, if I'm not being somebody that has got a hold of the Scripture, the promises... You know, I told you, I guess a couple of weeks ago, that sometimes we get up and we look in the mirror and we go, Well, that's... And we'll even preach this. We'll say, Well, when you look in the mirror in the morning, you tell yourself, Well, that's God. No, that is not God what you see in the mirror. The only place that you find God is in the Scriptures. And if you want to see who God is, you want to see who you are because of God, you have to go to the Scriptures. You have to be inundated with what the Word is saying about God, what the Word is saying about you. You've got to be passionate about that. You've got to be going after it with all of your being. I'm not giving up on that. I know I'm not seeing the promises of God happening in my life like the Word says, but I'm not going to let go. I'm not going to give up on it. Because you are being somebody that is passionate, that is violent. Be violent about it. Nobody's taking that away from me. Nobody's pulling those things away because I'm not going to be one like Jude is talking about, that takes it, doesn't take it serious. I'm not going to be one that treats it like a joke. I'm not going to be one that decides, Well, this is how I feel today, so this is how we're going to live today. No, we're people of standards. We're people of purpose that's found in the Word of God. When you're not like that, the result is a church that is neglect of power, that is neglect of authority. Those two things that Jesus gave to us before He ascended into heaven. He said it. He said, I've got all authority. He said, now I give you all authority. I've got all power. Now I'm giving you all power. Now go into the world and preach the gospel. Go into the world and lay hands on the sick, and then they'll recover. Go into the world and cast out devils, and they'll be free. Matthew 28, 18 tells us that Jesus came and He spoke to him. He said, all authority. Everybody say all. Say authority. All authority. All authority. All authority except for with sickness. All authority except for where it comes to provisions, to God being able to meet the needs that we have. And I'll even go over and I'll say even the wants that you have. Because He said He gives us to the desires of our heart. All authority except for, you know, when it comes to my ability to be able to speak the Word clearly to somebody that I believe is supposed to hear what the Word of God has to say. Jesus says all. Everybody say all. All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. And as a member of the body of Christ, as a member of the body of Christ, that authority resides in you. That authority, that power resides in you. Now, don't get all giddy because you're like, ooh, now I get all this authority. Now I get all this power. But guess what? You have all authority. You have all power on the inside of you. It's there whether you like it or not. I like that. That's something I think is kind of funny. That God gives us stuff. We have it whether we like it or not. But it takes us learning it, figuring it out, so that we can act like it. So that we can walk in it. So that we can have it. Jesus said all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority. Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 verse 17 says, Brethren, join in following my example. This is Paul talking to people at Philippi. He says, follow me in my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. Now, whether you maybe you don't know a lot of believers, maybe you're not around people that are Christian very often. Don't worry. The Bible takes care of you and gives you people that walked after the pattern of what it looks like to be a believer and to follow Christ. And what happens is when you start following those people, listen, the Bible's full of examples. Some of them are perfect Jesus. Some of them are not perfect, Job. You know, we've got, we have imperfect examples. But the point of it is, is that Jesus, the perfection, that is the example that we follow. That is what we go after. That is the, that word that we don't let go of, that we hold on tight to it. And nobody can take it away from us. Nobody. But Paul is saying here, he says, look, there's people, there are people that are an example. He says, first of all, I'm an example. You know, another place in Scripture, he says, follow me as I follow the Lord. That is such a bold statement. I would never, I would never say that. I just wouldn't. Because I know there's going to be a time that I will have an opportunity to stumble and fall. And I don't want you to stumble and fall with me. The only perfection that we follow is the perfection of the Word, is the perfection of Scripture. He says here, note those who so walk as you have for us, you have a, have us for a pattern. Verse 18. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. Again, he's, he's starting, he's talking about these people that are, they're starting to get self-seeking, that are starting to want to say, well, I want to do it my way. I don't want to do it God's way. I want to do, do some other way. He says here that those people are, are people whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. One of the things to help us is we're in the last days. One of the things to help us is we're, is we're trying to, to help people. Listen, people have a lot of questions. First of all, they question, is God really real? That should be the easiest thing for you to answer. Yes, my life, my testimony, that is an example showing I could not be the person, the man, the woman that I am today if it hadn't been for the power of God working on the inside of my life. You are a living testimony. You are alive. And that life is not just for you, but it's for the other people that you're put in, you're placed in contact with. He says here, people who need this, they set their mind on earthly things. That means they're governed. That means they're, I shared a message a while back about what's your government, what is your governor? How many of you know what a governor is? I'm not talking about Governor McMaster's, but you know, like in a car, you have a governor or a moped or a golf cart. There's a governor and sometimes that governor keeps you from going super fast, right? We don't, I think the new cars today are like, there's governors all over. I mean, nothing, they don't let you have any fun. You can't even swerve without the steering wheel vibrating on you and trying to get you to go in the right way. Yeah, so, but some of the older vehicles, you know, like my first car was a 1979 Volkswagen Scirocco. That car did not have a governor. And it can get you in trouble, right? But what we want to do is when it comes to the things of God, that the only thing that limits us is what the word of God tells us. Not our experiences. I think the perfect example of this is Peter walking on the water. That he was, his governor for him to even get out of the boat was Jesus. And he said, Jesus, if that's you, then tell me to come. It wasn't, well, Jesus said, he wasn't being all big, bad and bold. He's like, Jesus, if that's you out there, because nobody else is responding here in the boat. If that's you, then tell me to come. And that one word that Jesus said. The one word. So many times we think, well, I know what the word says, so I have faith. But your faith does not begin until you obey the word of God. Whatever you're obeying, that is where your faith is. Whatever you're saying yes to, that is where your faith is. So Peter had faith in Jesus because he was obeying. That faith was evident. You could see it. He was walking on the water when he was focused, when his mind was not set on the earthly things, the storms, the wind, the waves, all the stuff that was going on that every part of his being is like you don't ever get out into the water in a situation like this. You don't want to be in the water. But his eyes, his obedience was on the word. His obedience is on what Jesus had told him to do. Verse number 20. For our citizenship is in heaven, for which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Let's go back to 20, Esther. For our citizenship is in heaven. What does that mean to you to be a citizen? You know, we've got 4th of July this week, and we always celebrate our country's independence with fireworks and things like that. You realize nobody else in the world celebrates the 4th of July. Do you understand that? It's true. Nobody else in the world celebrates the 4th of July. But we celebrate our independence. And one of the, I think one of the things that I am very, I'm very patriotic and I love my country. But my citizenship is in heaven first. I'm a citizen of the United States, so I have to abide by the laws, the rules, the enforcement that is placed in the United States. But my citizenship is in heaven. So if you want to go back to your governor, what is governing your faith? Is it what you experience here as a citizen of the United States? Or is it what you're experiencing as a citizen of heaven? See, there's different laws. God's ways, this is Scripture, God's ways, they're higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. But one of the beautiful things about God's ways and God's thoughts is they will never lead you into trouble. They will never lead you into disobedience. They will never lead you into a place where you're like, oh no, how did I get here? God, please help me. No, if he took you there, it's because he's gonna, he's gonna do something with you there. So when Paul's saying here, our citizenship is in heaven, see, during these times, it was real easy for the Jewish people to be overwhelmed by the Roman rule. The Romans were very much, they were the most powerful nation in the world, definitely in that part of the world. And so the Jewish people were second-class citizens. And so when Jesus was here on the earth and the disciples are like, hey, this is it. Jesus is the Redeemer. Jesus is the Deliverer. Jesus is the one that's gonna set us free from the rule and the reign of the Roman Empire. Paul's even dealing with this now. He's like, guys, don't look at what you can see. Look at what, look at the citizenship that you are. You're a born again child of God. You have entered into the kingdom of God. There are different rules and regulations. There are different things that should be governing your life than what, what the Romans do. Then even what you do, even what your parents did, even what your grandparents did, even what, no matter what job you have, those things don't govern your faith. Because you've entered into a better kingdom. You've gone into a better place. But you've got to, you have to know that for yourself. I can't, I can take you to the Scriptures and I can provoke you. The Bible tells us that don't forbid, that forgive, that assemble together of the saints so that we can provoke, so we can, so we can, you know, encourage each other and move each other, move with each other into the direction of the Word. The Word is the only thing that helps you. The only thing that saves you. The only thing that delivers you. The only thing that redeems you. But those things are part of the citizenship that you have in heaven. And if you get caught up in your citizenship here on earth, you begin to limit yourself to what God can do. You begin to limit yourself to what God's wanting you to do. So there is a pattern. There's something different that we should be following. And it's not the pattern of this world, but it's the pattern of Christ. That's the kingdom that we're in now. We're in Christ's kingdom. You're in Christ's kingdom if you're a born again child of God. Did you know that even, even beggars have the opportunity or the ability to not be a beggar, but they choose to be a beggar? I have to use scripture references because it's so easy to taint the Word of God with our own experiences. But when Peter and John went to the Gate Beautiful and there was a beggar there, right? And he's lame. The Bible said he'd been lame since birth. And you know, this is not, maybe you've heard this taught before or spoken about before. This is not a, this wasn't the first time that man was at the Gate Beautiful. It said it daily that people had taken him there. So there's a really good chance that Jesus passed by this man because we know that Jesus passed by the Gate Beautiful. But yet that man was still a beggar. That man did not grab a hold of the message of Christ, didn't go after the redemptive power of God when it was right there with him. It was right there. Maybe you could have touched Jesus. But he didn't. It's not because Jesus, listen, Jesus, the Bible tells us that Jesus, there were some places that he could do no mighty works. But you have to make a decision. I'm going to choose the things of Christ. That if the message comes before me, I'm going to choose it. I'm going to make it a part of me. But you have to choose it. I think that's my point here if I'm not getting it across. You've got to make that decision. You've got to choose it. You've got to choose to follow Jesus. Your king, your leader, you have to choose because you have new citizenship and now there are new laws. There are new thoughts. There are new ways that we're supposed to follow, that we're supposed to abide by, that we may not be used to them. You may not be used to. You know, you may be like, well, I've been sick my whole life. I don't know what healing feels like. But yet in the kingdom of God, there is a principle of healing that it's yours. That you have to go after it and not let go of it. No matter what, no matter what the waves look like, no matter what the wind sounds like, no matter what the doctors, God bless the doctors, no matter what they say, the Bible tells you one thing. You've got to hold on to that and hold on to that. And when Kenan comes up and he tries to tell you, no, you're not supposed to be like that. No, you have to hold on to it and hold on to it and hold on to it. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you hold on to what the Word of God has said to you. But you can only do it. You can only do it by the Spirit, by the power of God. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. What I'm getting to here is that living in the kingdom of God, there is a principle of healing that it's yours to go after. Living in the kingdom of God, there is the most important principle, the most important thing about the kingdom of God, 1 Peter 2, is we've got to know how the kingdom of God works. We have to understand how the kingdom of God is set up and how God sees the kingdom of God because a lot of people out there will try and define what should be God and what is God and what's not God and how we're supposed to walk by God. Only the Word can be our definition. Only the Word can be our standard. If you look in 1 Peter 2, verse 4, he says here, you are coming to Christ who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but He was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living, you, the body of Christ, each individual that has called on Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, you now have this position in the kingdom of God because you've been set there. You are now living stones that God is building into His spiritual kingdom. What's more, you are His holy priests and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. Your obedience, your words, your praise, your attentiveness to what God is saying when God moves on you, when He speaks to you in your life, those things, those are a spiritual sacrifice and those things please God. As the Scripture says in verse 6, I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem chosen for great honor and anyone who trusts in Him... Everybody say, I trust. I trust in Him will never be disgraced. Maintaining your trust in God will keep you from being disgraced. But it takes obedience and it takes faith. Yes, you who trust Him recognize the honor that God has given Him. But for those of you who reject Him, we're talking about Jesus, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone and He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they do not what? Obey. We stumble because we don't obey. Those we come in contact with stumble because they don't obey. I think this can be very freeing for some of us because we want to say, well, I've got the Word. I'm telling you what the Word says. Now, why don't you just do what the Word says? Oh, that can be frustrating. You see it. You see it in somebody's life. I know the Word would work in your life. I know this. I know it because I've seen it in my life. I've seen it in other people's. I know the Word works. But you, it's not your responsibility to make them obey. All the parents said, oh me, because you're supposed to, you are supposed to make your kids obey. But that's another topic. Praise the Lord. They stumble because they do not obey God's Word. And so they meet the fate that was planned for them. Verse 9. Now, I want everybody, I want you to, I want you just to sit up straight for a minute. I want you to poke your chest out just a little bit. But you are not like that. You are a chosen people. You are royal priests. A holy nation. God's very own possession. If we thought like this all the time, not just here, but when you walk out the door and you get in your car and you start your car up and you pull up, and you start your car up and you pull out on the way to Hampton, and somebody honks their horn at you, you know, you forget. You're God's possession. God owns, and if He owns you, if He possesses you, that means He cares about you. That He loves you. That He has things for you. He's got plans for you. You know, my kids, I love my kids. And it's one of my greatest, the greatest honors in my life where there's four days that I became a father four times. Greatest honor of my life. Greatest. And now I'm doing everything that I possibly can trying to put in them the things for life. And I realize sometimes maybe I didn't do a good job here. I didn't do a good job. Listen, God never does a bad job. Don't look at my kids like, well, I wonder what He didn't teach them. Don't look at them like that. What I missed, God takes care of. Amen. But there are things, there are times in our life that we're like, God, I'm not sure that you... No, every single time. He cares for you. He loves you. He gave His Son for you. He gave us the Spirit of the Living God to live on the inside of us so that we could be empowered in Him. We live and move and have our being because we are His very own possession. And if you don't start thinking along those lines and you don't quit thinking about, well, all the things, all the failures, all the things that have happened in my life that I'm just not quite sure anymore and get back on what the Word says, never letting it go, being a violent, passionate person, where you will end up. Where you will end up going. He says that you are not like that for you are a chosen people. You are a royal priest, a holy nation, God's very own possession. And as a result, you... Listen, it's not so that you can have so much. Not so that you can be the biggest, the baddest, the brightest. It is not God's possession of you. It's not for you. Every single time I'm like, oh man, it's not for you. Verse number 10. Verse number 9. As a result, you can show others. You can show others the goodness of God. For He called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light. As a result, listen, everything about the Kingdom of God, it's constantly moving and constantly going, constantly showing forth. It should never stop with you. It should, because if it does, it dies. See, that's the beauty. That's what the Spirit of God is. The Spirit of God, if it stayed in the temple, you know, if it stayed in the Holy of Holies, we wouldn't live the life that we have now. It had to be released so that it could live through us and affect others that we come in contact with. That's a constant. It's a constant going and going and going and moving. Because what we're wanting to do is we want to show others the goodness of God. We want to show others the life that God has for us. We've received a new address. We have a different citizenship. We have a different home now. And God has better plans for us than what He had, than what we had before we got there. God has better plans for us than what we had before we got there. If we only knew what God created us for. If we only walked in what God created us for. If we only walked in it. Psalms 32.8. Psalms 32.8. I'm going to begin to close here. Praise the Lord. Psalms 32.8. Psalms 32.8. Since the Lord says, this is in the New Living Translation, He says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. He says, I will advise you and watch over you. The Lord says, I will guide you on the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Then He goes into verse nine. He says, do not be like a senseless horse or mule. It needs a bit and a bridle to keep it under control. I throw that in there because, I don't know, first of all, it's the Word. I'm not throwing it in there. It's like an either or. Either you're looking to the Father for direction. Either you're counting on Him. You're consecrating yourself. You're giving yourself to Him. Looking to Him for the best pathway. Looking to Him for the best walk in your life. It's, He has it. He has it. And it is for you. Or, on the other side of it is, you become like a senseless, what do you say? Horse or mule. Aren't you thankful that He can even use horses and mules to push us into the Kingdom of God. Push us in. No matter what you've gone through. And we all go through things. I think my admonishment this morning is that you don't lose sight of what God has spoken to you. He's given you so much. He's made so much available to you. He's made so much possible to you. But it's in His Word. I can't tell you everything that He's given you. I can't tell Him everything He's given you. I can't tell you that. But all I can do is provoke or to encourage you to begin to go after the things that are the Kingdom of God. How the Kingdom of God is governed and how it's ruled. How the Kingdom of God reigns. See, Jesus was perfect love. He was the perfect expression of the Father. Because we know the Bible tells us that God is... Y'all can help me out. God is love. The Bible tells us that God is love. So if you ever wonder, well, what is love? What does it look like? You have to go to the Scriptures. You've got to go to the Word of God. Because that's that definition. Yeah, we have 1 Corinthians 13 that lays out some actions of love. And listen, if you're not walking, all of those are part of you. You have those on the inside of you. You may say, well, I'm just not a patient person. I really have a hard time being kind to people. Can you believe a Christian would say something like that? Well, the Bible says that those are the fruit that love, how it demonstrates itself. Now, like I said earlier, your faith, those fruits won't be activated until you're obedient. You obey those things. And you realize that is me. That is who's on the inside of me. As we're walking through this, I want you to understand part of what weakens the kingdom of God is when we weaken what the love of God is. Not part of. That's what weakens the kingdom of God. It's by saying that no, no, no, God's love doesn't look like this. See, we live in a different kingdom now. We live in a different, we have different rules. We have different, we have different authorities. We have different, we have different laws that we're supposed to be abiding by. But the main thing is, is that it's love. It's a kingdom of love. And if you're not a person that is going after what the love of God looks like, then you're weakening, you're weakening that authority, and you're weakening what the body of Christ can do in your area or in your neck of the woods. Jesus, when he was with, you know, we know the rich young ruler. Some will say he was a rich young ruler. Some say he was a religion scholar. You know, there's different things that they'll say about him. And he came to him and he said, you know, Jesus, what do I need to do to inherit the kingdom of God? You know, Jesus goes through and he names off, you know, some of the Ten Commandments. He names off five of them. And then the guy, he looks at Jesus and says, Jesus, I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. See, there are good people around you. There's good people that are doing good things. But what the difference in the love of God and the love of the world is what Jesus said next. He said, are you willing to give up everything that you have? Are you willing to lose the things that you've accomplished? Are you willing to lose the things that you've been able to do without any intervention from me? Are you willing to lose those things just because you've been a good person? And the Bible tells us, he says, are you willing to lose it? And then he says, follow me. Follow me. Now, Jesus didn't get up into man's face and, you know, call him names and, you know, try to shame him into following him. He just gave him, first of all, he is the Word, so he gave him the Word. He said, give up the things that are obviously in the way of you seeing me fully and follow me. There are some things that we have to let go of that define us. We're defined by them. We're defined by a disappointment. We're defined by, um, there's some, I mean, I can get really personal here. You know, I'm, I'm a, I am a, I'm a product of a broken home. I'm a, that could be my definition. And it could be like, well, that's all I know is, you know, a divorced home and not knowing, you know, what that's like to have parents on both sides the whole way through. I could be like, well, that's just who I am. You know, maybe you've experienced a loss, a premature loss. Those aren't, that's, those things are not negated. It's not that they go away. It's just, how do you, how do you move that definition off of your experience and onto what the Word says, onto what, what the Scriptures say? It's different. We, we, we have to have a different mindset. We have to have a different, we have to have a different approach to life. And there's so many, there's so many good things out there that, that, that help, maybe can help. They try to help you mentally or they try to help you physically, but only God's Word can help you from the inside out. And in effect, and it changes the rest of your life. It changes you for the rest of your life. I want, if you would stand with me this morning. It's a different kingdom. It's a different, it's different principles. Peter walking on the water was not because he was obeying the principles of the earth. I, but as soon as he got caught up in the principles of the earth, he started to think. Let's, let's just take a minute. I want to, I want to be sensitive here to what God's doing. Now just close your eyes. Let's enjoy his presence. Let's enjoy what he's doing this morning. Father, we love you. Father, our hearts, our hearts are for you. Lord, I know that there's, there are things that we experienced in our lives that we can't, we can't shake them. We can't shake them in our, from our mind. We can't shake, shake our thoughts. We can't shake them. They're real to us. They are, they are part of who we, they're part of our experience in life. So this morning, Father God, I ask you, I ask you to help us. I ask you, Father God, to help us. Gospel is good news. It's, it's the best. The gospel is life, peace, joy. Keep your, just keep your eyes closed. This is, this is personal between us and God. I want to, if you're somebody that's stopped expecting from God, if you're somebody that feels like maybe you don't know if he's still there, um, maybe you believe he's there, but you're not really expecting him to meet you where you're at. You know, the word Jesus told his disciples, he says, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. That means he'll never, he'll never leave us in a situation. He never leaves us. And you're here today because he hasn't left you. You're, you're standing in this room today because he has not left you. So, take a minute. Let's, let's sing it. I pray to you again and again. And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else. Except for a heart singing you're here today because he's not left you. No matter how dark it's been, his light is what gave you life to go on to the next day. I can't get off of that statement. You're here today because he didn't leave you. Now imagine if you were aware of the fact that he's with you, where you're going to be tomorrow. Because when we acknowledge, when we acknowledge the presence, when we acknowledge the power, when we acknowledge the, what Jesus has done for us, it does begin to move us. It begins to move us in a different, we begin to think differently and we begin to see ourselves differently. We begin to see ourselves the way that, the way he sees us. He sees us as, he sees us healed and whole. He sees us as the head and not the tail. He sees us as the lender and not the borrower. He sees us as blessed coming in and blessed going out. Imagine that if it was that good for those in the Old Testament to serve God, how far better, it's far better, far better. But you're here today because he didn't leave you. And that means no matter what's going on in your life, he's been, he's been there to sustain you. He's been there to help you through it. If we get lost, we start to think, well, I don't see God. I don't see him working in my life anymore. But he's saying you're here today because he never left you. And if you will begin today, make that decision today. Today my focus is on what is Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me and all around me. He's all I need. Imagine that, imagine if the rich young ruler had gone to Jesus and Jesus told him that, you got to get rid of the things you're holding on to. So it wasn't follow me and then get rid of them. It was, listen, you think you've got this so figured out. I'm saying all of that. It's not necessary. Just follow me. But you've got to let go of the things. You have to let go of those things. It's new life. This is the spirit of God is saying this morning. It's new life. It's out of darkness into the kingdom of the son of his love, of the kingdom of light. It is new light. But you have to, you've got to turn your expector. My eyes are on you. My eyes are on you. I expect the word that you gave me to get out of the boat, to carry me and sustain me as I take a step by step by step. I expect it. I'm expecting you Lord to do exactly what you said you were going to do. I'm expecting it. I'm expecting it. Paul said, he said, when you've done all the stand, you can, you get, begin to get tired and you begin to get weary and it gets too hard. Then you give up and you go sit down in the chair, you kick your feet up, you get a glass of iced tea and you just rest for a little bit. Not what he said. He said, when you've done all the stand, stand. You stand on that word that he gave you. You stand on that promise that he gave you. That promise today, some of us have to, I have to be reminded that he'll never leave me. He'll never forsake me. I'm here today because he did it. Thank you Father. Thank you Father. Thank you Lord. So what do we do? We throw up our hands and we praise him again. We praise him again. Even if all that we have is a hallelujah. If that's it, if that's all you can say. Father God, we thank you. We thank you. I thank you Father. Thank you Father. Thank you Father. I thank you Father. I praise your name. I praise your name. I praise your name. Thank you. You've never left me. You've never forsaken me. I thank you. I thank you Father that I'm here today because of you. I thank you for it. I thank you for it. Father God, I ask you to help us to see, to see it, to see ourselves differently. Lord, that we have a new, we have a new desire. What does the word say? What does the word say? What does the word say? That that's a passion. It's a, it's a, it's a violence that we're just being stirred up on the inside of us because there's a lot of things going on out there that are saying the exact opposite. But Lord, we want to, we want to know what you have to say. And then Father, as we begin to, to see that, to begin to see more clearly that Father, that the, the, the, the dust, the, the, the, the haze that's been there, Father, begins to lift. And we do, we do, looking, gazing at the word of God as a mirror begin to see who you've called us to be. Father, thank you. I thank you. Your truth says that it's in you that we live and move and have our being. Help us, Father God, to keep moving in your direction so that, Father, that we can move in the direction of those that need you that are in the lost and the dying world. Father, we thank you for this. We praise you for it. Let's sing and then you're dismissed.