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All right. Good morning.

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How are you guys?

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I love that you guys are here.

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I love being here. I love being here. I hope you guys enjoy being together.

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I don't know if you think about it much, but, Look around.

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Look around at the people around you. Right.

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This is going to be part of the gang that we're going to be spending

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like the rest of eternity with. Right.

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So this is a pretty good group. You know, this is what we you know, I enjoy that

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joy seeing you guys each week and just spending time together.

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Hey, before we get started, before we get into our scripture

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for today, I want to begin this morning with a story.

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And our story begins with three words.

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The three words in the beginning.

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Now, three times in, in the story of

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Scripture, the story of the Bible, three times we come across

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as three words in the beginning. The first time, once it's in the beginning of creation,

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at the beginning of Genesis where it tells, it

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tells about how our creator God created us

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and everything else that we know and then that's how our story begins.

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The second time we find this is in the beginning of the story of Jesus in the book of John,

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where it tells about how our Savior God came to us to rescue us,

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but he came also so that he might make himself known to us.

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He became visible to us and so that we might know him, truly know him.

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Amen. Third time

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is a place that many people don't know, but it's in the.

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Our passage for today is in the book of First John,

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where John again the same one who wrote the gospel.

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He is an eyewitness of Jesus. And he he remembers all this, this thing, and he's

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carrying this, this in this story with them.

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And he's reminding us of our invitation and into this new creation

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that God has offered to us this new creation called eternal life.

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And we're going to be looking at that today.

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we've been in a series

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last several weeks on on spiritual gifts, but we're going to we're going

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to kind of find an anchor point today for that.

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for that whole topic and some really important I think I went away last week.

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There were some things that struck me and I wanted to touch on those today.

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Now, this story begins with the words in the beginning,

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because in the beginning, God was always he was already there.

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He was already there. The same as he's going to be there long after the end

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of what we know as time and space and the same way.

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And we need to remember this the same way that he is there in every when

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and where and how and why that happens between the beginning and the end.

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Right? And we need to know that for our lives, because God, God is with us.

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He's with us today. He's with us in our questions and in our wonderings.

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And the thing that he wants us to know about him in all that time,

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the thing he wants us to know is that he is not this solo, stand alone God.

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You know this God who's angry and sitting up on the top

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of some heavenly mountain, you know, hurling thunderbolts,

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trying to get rid of all the other kind of rival gods and not knowing

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what quite what to do with this headache that he calls human beings.

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Right?

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That's not the God he wants us to know. No, our story starts out and he says, in the beginning was this God,

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and this God was the father and the son, and the Holy Spirit.

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And he wants us to know that you know what? From from eternity past to eternity future.

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The father loves the son and loves the spirit,

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and the son loves the father,

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and loves the spirit, and the spirit loves the father, and loves the son,

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and and that them together.

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That was enough.

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That was enough. Their love was enough.

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They didn't need anything else. Because in that love, that love is found, joy is found peace

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and is found this, this kind, this and this goodness.

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And there's found a rest and a settled ness.

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And so God didn't need anything else,

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but it was out of that.

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Not needing anything else. It was out of that fullness that he then determined to create

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is out of that fullness that he created.

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And he created a world, yes. But more importantly, he wanted to create, to bring into being a creation

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that then he could invite into that same life,

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in that same fullness,

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into that that place of rest, in peace and and enough.

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And he invited he wanted to invite that creation.

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So so our creator God, father, son, Holy Spirit,

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he created a space for us first, and then he created us,

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and he placed us in that space, and he invited us to walk with him while we lived in that space.

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He invited us to walk with him in that life and experience that life.

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But instead of choosing that life, we chose a different lie, right?

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I mean, the two are really close. There's one

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one letter that separates those words, but there's a vast world of difference.

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And we chose the lie. The lie that he wasn't enough,

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the lie that this life that he offered wasn't enough.

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The lie that maybe somehow this God who created us with the one intent,

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the sole purpose of bringing us into the fullness of the life that he knew

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and experience that God, that somehow he was holding out on us.

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And the lie that somehow there was more to be found about life

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and of life apart from the God of life.

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And there was to be found in him.

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And so we went away. We left him, and we tried to be enough for ourselves.

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And many of us have lived those lives who tried to be enough for ourselves.

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And it's then that we discover the meaning of words like loneliness,

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fear, hatred, distrust, envy,

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jealousy, brokenness,

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violence, pride, and poverty.

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Because our lives are never enough.

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We aren't created to be enough, and sometimes we try

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and pull people into make it enough or stuff into making enough.

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But it's never enough because we were created to be invited

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into the life of God,

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the only life that will ever be enough.

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That was the purpose of creation.

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But without him, there's always something missing.

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But then, thanks be to God.

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Because this God who doesn't sit apart from us,

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who doesn't complain about what a nuisance we are, this God

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who loves within just a community of the three,

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but also this love, the that wanted to spill over

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and bring us into this God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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He wasn't satisfied that his creation would be somehow kept separate

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from this invitation that he had made to us of life.

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And so this God came.

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He came like a shepherd to find us.

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He came like a doctor to heal us. But most of all, he came like a son in the power of the spirit

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to make known to us the love of the father,

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the very love that had initiated and compelled our creation.

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You guys, that's the thing

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that when we stand and we're we're going to read this passage out of first John.

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But that's the thing that John, an eyewitness of Jesus,

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a follower of Jesus in the first century, that's the thing that John couldn't

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get out of his mind and out of his heart until the day that he died.

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And so every time he'd start writing, he'd always go back and he'd say,

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in the beginning,

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in the beginning, remember, do you remember the beginning?

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Do you remember why God even started this thing?

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And the love that initiated the work that we saw in the life that we saw in Jesus?

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So with that story in mind, with that beginning in mind, I want us to stand.

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We're going to read the words that John wrote in first John one one through three,

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and listen to this invitation, listen to this passion that he has,

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that which was from the beginning,

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that which was in the beginning,

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which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have examined,

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which we have even touched with our hands.

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I'm talking about God's message of life,

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that life was revealed to us and we have seen

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and now we testify and proclaim to you

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eternal life, which the God which

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was with the father and was revealed to us, and we proclaim to you

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what we have seen and what we have heard, so that you might

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share in it with us.

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For we share in it with the father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

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You guys, we've been serious the past couple weeks on

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on spiritual gifts.

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But last week it struck me that, you know, there is only one context

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that those gifts make sense. If there's only one context

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that the Spirit of God who gives those gifts makes sense in.

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And there's only one context that the the community of the people of God

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called the church that benefit by those gifts makes sense.

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And that's in the context of this living, this vital, this real relationship

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of being drawn into the very life of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit,

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and then living a life that that reflects that same kind of love

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and the same kind of reality that they have been sharing from eternity past.

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It will share into eternity future.

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So the only context this makes sense in.

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And so these gifts that we talk about, the gifts of spirit,

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they emerge out of that that's where they find their their source.

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That's where they find their character, where they find their nature.

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That's where they find their purpose.

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So as we talk about gifts, it's important that we go back to the beginning.

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We go back to that foundation, we go back to the base and we say, okay, so what is this whole thing?

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What is this really? What is it about? Where does it begin?

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This morning's message is titled in the beginning.

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Let's pray. Father,

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in the course of our lives,

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Oh, God. First, I just want to thank you.

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You're here. You're here right now.

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You have

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from before time began,

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your desire and all of creation was that we would know you,

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that we would come into being and have the capacity and the ability that you have woven

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into us in creation to know you

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and to be brought into this life. And you've brought us there through Jesus.

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You've brought us there,

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and you're constantly making yourself

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known to us in the world we live in.

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And the beauty that surrounds us, that it says just it just shouts with your

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your voice, the line that goes.

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Out even in the heavens just shouts your.

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You're praising who you are.

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And in the things that we see, we we see glimpses we get.

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We get touched by something that's behind that.

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Something that's invisible. Something we can't see.

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But this is a reality that all of this

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stands on. That's you.

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That's you, father, son and Holy Spirit.

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The community that we call God,

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the One God, three persons.

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Is now reaching out in time and space to invite us

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and to draw us into that same life, that same experience, that same community,

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that we might know how to love you.

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And that we might know how to love each other the way that you love.

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So, God, this morning there's so much that can clutter our minds.

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There's so much we can bring in.

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Bring in from a world that's shaped by the lie that you don't exist.

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That there was no purpose.

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That there was no community. There was no communion.

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There was no God. There was no there was no father, son, and Holy Spirit.

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There is no there's no purpose to all of this.

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The lie that somehow we just are struggling.

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We're just kind of trying to make it on our own.

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That lie that becomes very empty and very lifeless. God.

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And there's so much of that that just it's almost like when we come in,

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there's like the disciples of Jesus. We just got to wash our feet off.

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We just kind of we've been walking around in it.

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Jesus, we need you to just wash our feet off with your word

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and remind us about the beginning.

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Remind us about the foundation. Remind us about the source and the place where it starts.

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So, father, we're here with open ears and eyes and hearts to hear.

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Hear your voice. Holy spirit, you're here with us.

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So teach us, show us. Reveal.

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Make known. Make Jesus known in this place.

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Father, we pray this.

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So that we might know you.

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That you might be lifted up and honored.

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We pray these things in your name for your glory.

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Father, the name of Jesus, your son, by the power of spirit.

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Amen. Amen. Have a seat.

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So if you think about this story by definition, then

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what does it mean to be a Christian? Christian is one who lives a life of confidence

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and confidence, because we know that God loves us

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and we know that he is not just able, but he's willing.

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He's desiring to use us and to show himself through us.

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We live a life of contentment because we know that whatever comes our ways,

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we know that when we look at it, we can see the hand of God behind it.

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We know that we see the protection of God around us.

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In it we live a life of consciousness, of God's continual presence with us.

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We live to be a Christian and to live a life of compassion

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for those who don't experience this life, because we know that we are all created to to know this life.

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We live a life of death, compelled to do whatever is necessary,

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whatever means are necessary to invite people into this experience

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of this amazing life, this God,

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this community, this communion

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with our creator, Savior, friend, our father, our Lord,

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these. So this is the definition of what it means to be a Christian.

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I mean, this just a bottom line because these are the reflections

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of the character of, of the this life

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of God that we know he was sharing.

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This is kind of the outgrowth of this life that he shared beforehand.

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So to live that life is to live in those ways.

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But but on a weekly basis, right on a daily basis.

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How many of us come to a point, we go, how in the world am I supposed to live

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like that kind of Christian with any kind of consistency, right?

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Because in Iran, when the kids are driving you up the wall, right?

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When your spouse is driving you up the wall, right?

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When when you're you're you can't find your keys

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and you're already late for your class. And, you know, today is test day, right?

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When you've when you've been investing in some client, in some,

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for your company and you've been investing for months and months and months,

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and then out of the blue, for no reason,

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they decide to go a completely different direction.

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And it threatens. It threatens your career.

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It threatens your self esteem. I mean, all of a sudden everything surrounds you.

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Or what about those times when,

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when a friend betrays you, or when that darkness inside of you

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that you wrestle with regularly opens up and threatens to consume you

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with fear or with anxiety, or with depression or with anger,

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or with lust, or with with compulsion or addiction,

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all those things that we deal with because we're broken people

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who have tried to make our way without God, in a world

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that's become broken because we've gotten off track.

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And in those times we say, man, who in the world could ever live like a Christian?

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By that definition, confidence

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and content meant and consciousness of God's presence and compassion

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for who could, who could do that with any kind

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of consistency.

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According to that definition. So we usually settle for lesser kind of definitions, right?

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We usually will alter the definition.

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So it's more attainable. But in doing that what we do is we trade the life

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that God shared, that God has offered, that he has invite us into.

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We trade that for some other kind of a life.

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We trade that for a life of like a religion or a spirituality.

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You know, something that really is it really is life

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less because it's not the life that God intended.

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It's just another form of living that life

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without God trying to be enough in ourselves.

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And so regularly we have to we have to look.

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And God wants us to ask the question, what life

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are you living out of?

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What life are you living out of?

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What life are you anchored to?

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And you find it's the foundation of who you are.

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You know, when I was in high school, we were going on a trip to Disneyland

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with, the group I was in, and, and so we had to raise some money.

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So we did this one fundraiser, and it was called a rock athon.

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Now, rock athon, is where you go, and you ask people who sponsor

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you, you know, to raise. And usually it's just friends and family.

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So they just they would give you the money for the trip.

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But the truth is, you know, you're going to do something to earn it.

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And so they'll give you money to go in the church or in the school gym

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and to stay up all night rocking, rocking chairs.

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So you're rocking all night in the rock a thon to raise money

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for this trip, right? So, we were all there.

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And as, I mean, as exciting as all that sounds,

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you guys will be surprised to know that there are

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some people that were having a hard time staying awake.

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Right? And so they had brought all kinds of different things to try and help them out.

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No, some people brought no dogs. Now, if you don't know what no, those is if you can.

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So you guys remember with some, if you took Red bull

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and you boiled it down to its main ingredients, right?

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And you made it into a pill because it's just basically a shot

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of caffeine and,

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excuse me. And so, they would just they get kind of they get a little bit sleepy

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and they just pop in this, this, caffeine pill.

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And so you'd watch them and they'd be like, they'd be like, groggy, groggy.

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And then for 15 minutes, man, they are they are rocking the night.

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Worth. Right? Is your clue. This is great.

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And they're running around seeing everybody and go,

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guys, you know, 15 minutes. And then, then they hit the that cliff. Right.

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Did you go off and then boom they're gone for two hours.

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You know they're just they're out. They might be gone for them.

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And and what you found was that these pills, they were they get less and less effective

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right over time because in the next time it may be ten minutes.

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And pretty soon you have some you probably feel they're lasting like 30s.

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Right? And they're out.

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How many of you guys have felt at times that your,

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your Christian life is kind of a version of that kind of no, don't buzz right.

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You're just you're trying to pop this God pill

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and there's different forms of it, right? Sometimes it's the force of will pill that we pop in, we go, I'm gonna change.

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I'm going to start going to church, and I'm going to start reading my Bible.

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And I got to start being a better person.

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Right. And sometimes it's that guilt and shame one, you know, where

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you just like.

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I guess if I, I guess I don't want to go to hell. So.

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I better go to church right?

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You guys, that's not the life that God invited us into.

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It's not that life where we these things, that they'll give us a buzz because those things are so short lived.

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You're even the will. I mean, people with this strongest. Will you get to the end of it?

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And then you crash, and then you find that you crash, and then there's this.

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This time that you're just gone. You're out.

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You're out of commission. And it might be weeks.

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It might be months. It might be years.

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And then finally you feel guilty enough to go back.

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Are you feel like, no, I can do this. And you go take another run in it. But it's like that.

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It's like that. No. Those that caffeine pill.

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And that's not what God invited us into.

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What is the life that God intended for us?

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That's not the life. Think about it.

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That's not the life that God shared from eternity past.

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That's not the life that inspired creation so that he could invite others in.

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What a horrible thing to invite people into.

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Okay, I need another, you know, need another God pill, right?

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That's not what he offered to us.

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You guys. Throughout the Bible, we get these pictures that God gives us and and regularly,

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because of the world that we live in, we have a need of protection.

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We have a need of safety. And so God presents himself.

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He shows himself, he gives us these pictures

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where he's this place of safety and refuge.

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Right. So it may be that he says, he is a shelter in the time of storm,

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or he is the the rock that doesn't move the solid,

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or he's this inaccessible height where no one can reach us.

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Or maybe it's it's where he shows us that he is that companion on our side

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and our protector, or he is that father that holds our hands so that when we stumble, we don't fall.

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Or maybe it's that he is that mentor that prepares us,

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that prepares us for the battles and the challenges that are to come.

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But one thing that you notice in all these passages, when you read Scripture

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and you read this description of God is our as our protector, as our refuge.

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And this especially comes out at the end of of Matthew, where Jesus

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says, you know, he's like this rock that we build our house on to,

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but you find that when he says, build your house and anchor

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it to the rock, he doesn't say, wait till the storm comes

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and then try and get out there and build your house on the rock.

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Right? He doesn't say, wait till the enemy is swooping in

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through and crashing your borders, and then try and set up

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that place of refuge and find that place in me.

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Instead, he says to us, things like,

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abide in me, right?

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Remain in me. Set up your home in me, your dwelling place, your home and base.

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Because he doesn't. He wants to be our default.

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He wants to be that place we we go every single day of our lives.

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He wants to be that. That places our home base, not that storm shelter, you know.

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Did you guys ever grow up with storm shelters? Or maybe it was the cellar of your house

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and you go down there and it's just cobwebs or every.

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It's creepy, right? It's dark. It's damp because nobody's down there most of the time.

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Right. And in between emergencies, nobody bothers.

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The only thing that could drive you into a storm shelter

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with all this creepiness would be the fact that a tornado's coming.

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But God doesn't want to be that storm shelter that gets no use.

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He wants to be our home,

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because that life that he has offered us is the life that he he offers us.

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He gives us so that we can live in it,

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and then we can experience the life that he has known, that he has enjoyed.

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He offers it to us because he lives this life, right?

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He loves this life where he is.

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The father loves the son in the spirit, in the son loves

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the father and the spirit, and the spirit is loving the father and the son.

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And where there's this kindness in this grace and this joy, this companionship, he loves that

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he's saying, so abide in me, live in me.

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And he says, if you'll do that, says, two things will happen.

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One thing that will happen is that as you even in the good times,

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in the good times, you'll find that you'll grow in depth

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of understanding, of knowing him,

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of knowing him,

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and also experiencing this life and this contentment,

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this satisfaction, this rest, this joy.

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It will grow in depth

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as you spend time with him.

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The second thing that will happen

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is that you will experience a deepening

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and greater confidence and peace, even when the hard times come.

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That if you if if the the roots go down during the good season,

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you can bet that when the storm hits, it's not going to topple over.

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The house isn't going to get washed off the rock because the foundation is strong enough.

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It's good enough. And those things,

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they're not great enough to even touch the life,

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to touch the community, to touch the protection

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and the the grace that there is

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within this relationship with the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.

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And that he's brought us into

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to share with each other.

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You know, a verse I remember my dad, often

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quoting throughout my life is found in Isaiah 26 three.

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It's you will keep him in perfect peace,

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whose mind is stayed fixed on you

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because he trusts in you.

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And I remember when I was a senior in high school

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and we had a house fire, and we're standing there watching,

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and it was in the garage and it looked like the whole house was going up.

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The fire spread across the whole front.

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It was just it looked like the house was consumed.

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Thankfully it wasn't. But standing out there, you wouldn't have known any different

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because there were flames everywhere. They seemed to be pouring out of everywhere in the house.

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And after it was over, after it was

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over, they went and they they kind of started

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pressing in some questions to my mom and dad,

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you know, asking them if they had anything to do with this thing

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because, because as they were as this house

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seemed to be completely engulfed in flames, they were just standing out in the, in the, in the cul de sac where we lived,

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holding hands and just watching what looked like our whole lives, going up in flames

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with a calm that they seemed to think was a little too great

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for someone who's watching their whole life, burned to the ground.

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And I was watching. Then I was like, you know,

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I knew where it came from

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because in the good times, God had been their shelter.

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They hadn't just run to God in that moment,

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they were able to stand up there and say, well, we have all the things that matter the most.

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He gave us everything that we have.

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If he wants to give us more, he'll get it to us.

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If we don't need it, it's gone.

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And there was just calm because their life wasn't found in that stuff.

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It life wasn't found in that moment. Their life was found in him and he kept them in perfect peace,

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whose minds were stayed on him because they were trusting in him.

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Why do we spend time each day?

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Why do we spend time each day? Why do we take time? Why do we make time?

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What do you invest time each day in study in God's Word

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so that we might know it better?

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Why do we take time each day? Why do we make time each day to just be with God

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and not just lay out for him the list of things that we have,

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but listen for him to see if he has things to speak,

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to say to us, and ways to guide us. Why?

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Why do we take time to fill our minds with God's Word

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and to to memorize, to train our minds, to think his thoughts after him?

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Why do we gather with his people on times like this?

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So that we can just give to him the praise that he deserves?

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And remember, remember what he has done

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and be reminded of who he is.

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Why do we take time to be with each other and invest time in the lives

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of other people that we don't even know sometime,

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but we gather with God's people, we go out and we say, you know what?

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There's something better they need to experience. Why?

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Why is it consider something better? Why do they need experience?

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Why do we need to be involved in that at all?

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Because we know that establishing

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our life in God,

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our life in this father, Son and Holy Spirit

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and our life, establishing ourselves in the life that he has given to us.

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And he's offered to us that life that we will experience from now into eternity.

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We know that investing that does two things.

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One, it reminds us of who we really are.

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It reminds us of the life. It tells us of the life

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that we were really called to and we were meant for and created for.

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But two, that when the things of this life do come crashing against

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us, we'll know what's solid and what won't shake.

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We'll know.

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We will be in perfect peace, because our minds will be fixed on him.

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Because we will trust in him.

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Rest doesn't matter. It seems like it matter doesn't seem like it matters, right?

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Doesn't it? Doesn't it get overwhelming at times?

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You guys, church seems like it matters, right?

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Sure seems like this one is going to take me out.

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But yet he invites us into this place of safety.

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It's nothing less than himself,

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nothing less than

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this life, this community.

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That was before time began and will last long after the end of it.

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You guys, the gifts and callings of the spirit

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are a part of that life, right?

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When we talk about spiritual gifts,

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we're not talking about things that we just put on for a moment.

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And they give us a buzz for a time, and then we leave and we live our real lives.

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We're not talking about that. We're talking about something that emerges

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out of the life that we know God has called us into,

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and that he has made available to us in Jesus Christ.

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Outside of that context. They don't they don't make any sense outside of the context.

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This community of people doesn't make any sense.

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But we are the people of God who have been called into the life of God

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for the purposes of God, and he equips us to

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make not just him known,

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but to make that life known among us.

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Amen. So I want to I want to close I want to just give you three questions,

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three questions for maybe three different sets of people

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who might be in here this morning. The first question is this are there?

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There is of you. Any of those of you who are here who don't know

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this of God, not that God you may have heard of a God

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you may have, I mean, but you don't know that God.

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You don't know that life. Maybe you've never heard that that kind of life was even available.

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That's when he turned it on. You know, this eternal life is

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you don't know that. You didn't know that God had invited you into that kind of sharing of life

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with him and sharing of life with each other.

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So the question is, you know,

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here we are in all of creation. It says that all of creation, the other whole purpose of it

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was to get you to this place so that you might hear the invitation

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of God to be brought into that life,

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not to have a better life here, not to make everything go perfect here,

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not to stop all the storms, but to be brought into that life

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that is the shelter from the storms

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that that communion with, with him and with those he loves, that communion

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that becomes that protection from the things that all that the world

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can throw at us, all that brokenness can throw at us.

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And that is all about it's all about relationship is it's not about religion.

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It's not about getting a better list of rules

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that will help you live a better and more successful life.

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It's not about that. It's not about keeping yourself with this weight of of guilt.

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that that will make you do better.

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But will make you do better in this isolation

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where you go to your dying day trying to impress and and,

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somehow gain the favor of this God and earn

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this God's love, who is offered it to us freely.

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So here we are with the father.

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The father. He loves the son, and he loves the spirit.

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But he's also saying he loves you, right?

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And the son, he came to die because he loves the father

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and he loves the spirit. But he also wanted you to know he loves you

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and the spirit. He's here and he equips his church. Why?

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Because he loves the father and he loves a son.

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But he also wants you to know he loves you.

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He loves you. They love you enough to want to pull us in us enough.

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They want to pull us in to this.

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This life is offering, this life that they have known.

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So the question for you this morning is if you haven't known that life,

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if you haven't known that God, if you haven't even known that invitation

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that was yours.

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Are you willing to take do you

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do you desire, will you take

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that invitation

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that he is offering you this morning?

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Because it really is just a matter of he is offered.

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It is turning to him and saying, God don't know what all this means.

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But yeah,

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I want to say yes to your invitation to be part of

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your life, your community, the purpose of everything.

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Yeah.

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That's you. And I encourage you to just have that simple,

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honest conversation with God.

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I'm not going to say that all sin. You're going to understand everything about it.

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It's like being born, right? He started. I was a kid.

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I was talking the other day about flailing around, and then you go,

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wow, that's my right there. Times in your Christian life you're going to be going along.

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You go, oh, that's me, right?

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And you're going to grow up like every hand. You're going to learn more about this life and you're going to grow into it.

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But you begin at the point where you just say, yeah, God, that's what I want.

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That's out there. That's what I want.

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Second, maybe there's some of you here.

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Are there those of you who are here that.

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Yeah, you've heard this guy. Do you know this thing?

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But you're not you're not living in that life, right?

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You're you're kind of holding on to Jesus, but you're still trying to still trying

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to make this life part work,

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this part where you can you can be enough for yourself

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even though you have the backup plan with Jesus.

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He's your storm shelter, right? But he's not your home.

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And again, I can't tell you all the details of what that means, but

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you're not experiencing life, you're not experiencing,

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and you're not going to grow in the joy and the depth of your knowledge of God.

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And you're not going to grow in the the life that he intended, that

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he created you for, designed you for, brought you into being to know

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you're not going to know that if you're not living in it.

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So the question for you is, is, are you willing to make

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really to make God

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your default instead of just this,

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this option?

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What will it take? Well, it will take it'll take investment

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of some of your time and some of your effort and and it'll take

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where you intentionally carve out time to be with God and listen

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and to spend time with him and to be in his word.

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It will take letting go of some of the worry and believing that man. God.

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If I anchor into this, he says, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness

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and all this other stuff that worries you so much,

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he'll be taking care of it.

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If you choose to follow him, it doesn't mean that things are going to get perfect, but life will not have to crush you.

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So are you willing to to make God your default?

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Because that too. That's a pretty simple switch.

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It's a he's given us this thing called a will, and he says, just decide.

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Make the decision to make him your Lord, your Savior,

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your default, your home base, and to enter into the life.

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Because, you know, if you don't,

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you're not experiencing you're not experienced salvation.

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It's not me. I'm not saying that you're not going to be saved. I don't know, that's up to you.

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Just between what's ever gone between you and God.

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But you're not experiencing the life now that he intended you to experience,

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which is like a preview of what's to come,

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of the fullness of what's to come.

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So ask yourself, you know what? What do you need to do?

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Are you willing to take his invitation to enter fully into this life?

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You guys? one of the things that prompted this last week, as I was thinking and I was,

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I've had conversations with people that have been have come through even the churches that I've pastored in.

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And, they've gone out

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and they've abandoned kind of their faith, their Christianity.

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They just jettisoned the whole thing.

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And they said it was because, you know, some of them would give this story like,

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oh, man, I just I picked up this thing that was just burden.

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And so it's such a relief to get rid of it.

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I said, man, I do not want anybody that comes through the ministry

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here at church, at Christ Church that spends any time here at all.

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I don't want I would hate to have anybody leave this place and not have

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the reality that I know

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that God gives to us

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of life in him,

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that they walk out of here somehow with this religion

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that just crushes them, that becomes just one more thing that they have to do.

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And they walk out of here with this, this weight of guilt, of their

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just failing because they don't understand the God.

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God doesn't care about the failures.

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He cares about the direction that you pressing into this life

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and growing into who he's called you to be.

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I would hate for anybody, anyone here,

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even this morning, to walk out of here,

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not realize that this is life he's calling us into.

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Jesus says, come to me, all of you who are are weary

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and are heavy burdened, and I'll give you rest.

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Why? Because he's inviting us into his life.

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It's not inviting us into some other thing.

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So will you take him up on that invitation to not just have him as a safety valve,

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but to have him as your home base,

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as your default, as your dwelling place.

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Because in that there's great, there's life, there's joy, there's freedom.

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The third is, there may be some of you here that aren't living, that life,

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and you're growing in it and you're, you know,

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you've found that relationship with with Jesus.

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You found that he is your default. And and you don't just run to him in the hard times.

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You are growing in him. But as you abide in him, he says that the spirit will give

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you opportunities to grow. And that

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question for you is are you taking advantage full opportunity,

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full advantage of the opportunities that God opens up for you to grow,

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to grow deeper in this life? So, for example, last week I had you guys just reach over, right?

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And lay your hand on someone and just speak a blessing over them.

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And I said, you guys can do that any time.

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So how many you guys have blessed somebody this week?

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I mean, literally gone up and just blessed them. Why?

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There's an opportunity every single day, every single Sunday for sure.

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Who's going to get mad at you if you go up and say, can I just

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can I just because blessing over you, I wouldn't.

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Would you guys be angry if somebody said, hey, can I can I pray for you?

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Can I not just list but can I bless, speak as a blessing into your life?

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No. So you know Christ and have been brought in this word.

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Lean into the things that he opens up.

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Now we're talking about spiritual gifts. And the last thing I want to tell you about is so at the 1030,

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during that that time, Pastor Sheryl is going to be leading a,

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like, a discovery class about these spiritual gifts.

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I tell you guys, you guys are at the nine, so you could be there,

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and she doesn't care if people walk in.

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But if you have the time, if you don't have just a pressing need

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driving you home, right.

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I encourage you to be there. Why?

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Because that is how we grow.

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We lean in, we learn.

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We give the spirit. The spirit says, here's an opportunity.

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We say, okay, I'll take that. And we grow

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and we grow in the depth of our understanding,

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the depth of the confidence and the depth of understanding this life,

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this life that God invited us into, this life

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that was from the beginning.

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We're reminded again, yeah, don't don't get caught up in the religion.

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Don't get all caught up in the learning of the facts, in the knowledge. No,

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said go back in the beginning.

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remember that

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in the beginning, God

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and his love for you.