The Myth of the Gentleman God: Why Meekness Requires Surrender, Not Permission

• The Beatitudes and Discipleship [00:46:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the series 'Heart of Stone' focusing on Matthew 5, defining Beatitudes as 'attitudes of being' and linking them to the church's mission of multiplying disciples.
• Meekness (Praus) [00:50:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor deconstructs the cultural misunderstanding of meekness as timidity, redefining it using the Greek word 'praus' as tamed power, illustrated by a trained war horse and a sheathed blade.
• Biblical Example of Moses [00:57:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses Moses in Numbers 12 as the primary example of meekness, highlighting that Moses was described as meek not during his great exploits, but when he remained silent and did not defend himself against public attacks by his siblings.
• Moses' Meekness [01:00:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts Moses' refusal to defend himself or invoke his resume against the natural human impulse to retaliate, highlighting his intercession for Miriam as the ultimate display of meekness.
• The Math of Meekness [01:03:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines meekness as stopping self-defense so God can defend you, using the metaphor of sheathing a blade to let God handle the conflict.
• Jesus as Meekness [01:04:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes Matthew 11:29, explaining that Jesus is not just teaching meekness but embodying it, using the 'yoke' as an image of harnessed power and submission rather than weakness.
• Gethsemane and the Sheath [01:10:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses Jesus' arrest in the garden to illustrate meekness, noting that Jesus had the power to summon 72,000 angels but chose to 'sheath the blade' and submit to arrest.
• Fruit of the Spirit [01:16:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects meekness (proutess) to Galatians 5:23, placing it alongside self-control as a fruit of the Spirit that requires teachability.
• The Nature of Meekness vs. Weakness [01:15:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines meekness as the 'most powerful act in human history' where Jesus, holding 72,000 angels in reserve, chose surrender, distinguishing it from weakness.
• Meekness as Fruit of the Spirit [01:15:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > He connects meekness (prautess) to Galatians 5:23, explaining it is a fruit that grows only when connected to the Spirit (the vine), not through self-discipline or willpower.
• Receiving Scripture with Meekness [01:19:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > He urges believers to approach the Bible with the 'sheath on,' avoiding the temptation to intellectualize or debate the text to avoid its convicting power.
• The Counter-Cultural Call to Surrender [01:22:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > He addresses the fear that sheathing the blade leads to loss, arguing that the world trains us to believe the person who sheathes the sword loses, whereas the Kingdom teaches the meek inherit the earth.
• Practical Applications of Sheathing the Blade [01:29:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > He identifies specific 'blades' people hold onto: reputation, relationships/grudges, rights/fairness, and control, urging them to lay these at the altar.
• Surrender and Sheathing the Blade [01:29:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of a drawn blade to explain that God does not ask believers to deny their sharpness or pain, but to 'sheathe' it, implying a voluntary restraint rather than self-destruction.
• Reputation and Identity [01:30:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the 'exhausting work of managing who people think that you are' and the resentment of being misunderstood as things that need to be laid at the altar.
• Grudges and Familiar Spirits [01:30:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects holding onto grudges or hurtful dynamics to 'familiar spirits,' arguing that while these feel like safety or identity, they are deceptive and not of God.
• Rights and Fairness [01:31:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the human desire for fairness and what one is 'owed,' contrasting human entitlement with Jesus' example of not calling down angels despite having the right to do so.
• Control and God's Gentlemanly Nature [01:31:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the tension between human orchestration of situations and God's willingness to 'rearrange' plans, noting that God is a 'gentleman' who does not force but invites release.
• Ambition and Kingdom Building [01:31:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques the 'exhaustion of constructing your own kingdom' through ambition and proving oneself, contrasting it with neglecting God's kingdom.
• The Beatitude of the Meek [01:32:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that the promise 'the meek inherit the earth' is not about getting nothing, but about receiving 'everything' through surrender rather than striving.
• Corporate Prayer and Confession [01:33:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions into a liturgical moment of confession, inviting the congregation to be honest with God about what they are holding onto and to physically raise their hands as a sign of surrender.

• Sermon Illustration [00:49:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a dagger borrowed from Pastor Bill, which was carved by a mission trip team in El Salvador, as a physical prop to illustrate that meekness is not an empty sheath, but a blade with a real edge that is sheathed (controlled).
• Sermon Illustration [00:54:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a war horse that has been 'broken down and retrained' to explain the Greek word 'praus,' describing it as a powerful animal whose strength is now under one direction, capable of charging in war but responding to the bridle.
• Sermon Illustration [00:58:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the biblical narrative of Moses being publicly attacked and undermined by his siblings Miriam and Aaron in Numbers 12, noting that Moses did not defend himself or invoke his spiritual resume, demonstrating true meekness.
• Sermon Illustration [01:07:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a humorous anecdote about his youth pastor telling him he needed to be 'fat,' which turned out to be an acronym for 'Faithful, Available, and Teachable,' illustrating that meekness is a teachable posture.
• Sermon Illustration [01:11:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of elementary school children boasting about whose dad is greatest and who can beat up the other's dad, comparing this to Jesus' statement about having 12 legions of angels to defend Him.
• Sermon Illustration [01:12:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a historical/mathematical illustration comparing the power of 72,000 angels (12 legions) to the single angel that killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night, emphasizing the magnitude of power Jesus restrained.
• Sermon Illustration [01:14:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a knife and its sheath to explain meekness: the blade (power/rights) remains sharp and real, but putting it in the sheath (surrender) allows God to use it or defend the believer, rather than the believer wielding it destructively.
• Sermon Illustration [01:15:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > He references Jesus holding 72,000 angels in reserve yet allowing handcuffs to be put on Him, illustrating that this was an act of supreme power (meekness) rather than weakness.
• Sermon Illustration [01:20:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > He describes the 'human condition' where people try to intellectualize their way out of obeying Scripture, using the image of people coming to the Bible with their 'blade already drawn' ready to debate rather than receive.
• Sermon Illustration [01:25:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > He contrasts the temporal flourishing of the wicked with the eternal inheritance of the meek, citing Psalm 37 and Matthew 5 to show that letting God defend you leads to a greater inheritance than winning an argument.
• Sermon Illustration [01:29:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a drawn sword/blade to illustrate spiritual defense mechanisms. He explains that God does not ask believers to pretend the blade isn't sharp or to damage it, but simply to 'sheathe it,' representing the act of restraint and surrender.
• Sermon Illustration [01:31:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus having the right to call down 72,000 angels but choosing not to, illustrating the concept of relinquishing one's rights and fairness.

• Pastoral Charge [01:28:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up
• Pastoral Charge [01:30:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > Lay reputation at the altar
• Pastoral Charge [01:29:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > Sheathe the blade (metaphorically surrender control/reputation/grudges)
• Pastoral Charge [01:34:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand to indicate desire for prayer and surrender

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:13:53] Praise this morning. As you're seated, turn to two or three people and just say good morning.
[00:14:03] Well, hey, my name is Cade, and today I have the privilege of welcoming all of our first-time guests.
[00:14:11] So, if this is your first time here today, or maybe it's your first time in a long time, we just want to say welcome to Multiply Church. Church family, can you give it up for our first-time guests?
[00:14:22] If you're new here, we have a card in the front seat, and it's called the U-Card.
[00:14:31] If you can fill that out, and after service, bring it outside to the courtyard, you will see some tents with signs that say, New Here.
[00:14:39] We just want to greet you and exchange the card for a gift, thanking you for worshiping with us today.
[00:14:45] One more time, can we give it up for our first-time guest?
[00:14:52] At this time, we are going to give our tithes and offerings.
[00:14:56] If you are giving this morning, there are three ways that you can give.
[00:15:00] First, you can scan the QR code up on the screen and give online.
[00:15:04] or you can text the word multiply lake norman to the number 77977 or as the ushers pass by you can just drop it there let's pray lord i thank you for this day and i thank you for this
[00:15:21] congregation and this church and i pray uh that today your presence would just continue to saturate this place and that you would just continue to do mighty works and just to send us out for this
[00:15:34] week ahead. Lord, I pray that you would bless this offering and that you would bless the giver, Lord.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:15:39] And in your name I pray, amen. All right, we invite you to stand and join us as we continue to worship.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:16:15] of praise that only who else is worthy you are the name God of the yet you chose to make my heart feel my brokenness show me why a song of an angel sings who else is worthy
[00:17:18] there's no reason who else is worthy In the scripture of two sisters, you probably know the story, but it's of two sisters named Mary and named Martha.

[00:33:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:33:54] And in the story, Jesus is coming to their home in Bethany.
[00:34:03] Martha, she's anxious and she's frustrated and she's busy and her mind is preoccupied with everything that she's going to do because there's a guest coming over and not just any guest, but the Messiah is coming to the house and she's getting the preparations ready.
[00:34:19] imagine if somebody was coming over to your house tonight for the very first time and man you needed to get home and prepare and clean the house and make sure everything was washed and make sure the
[00:34:29] food was prepared and and you were stressed out has anybody ever been in that that situation and Jesus is there he arrives and Martha she's still doing everything and and Mary is she's just sitting at Jesus's feet, just with him, just in his presence. And Martha's frustrated. And she
[00:34:54] says, Mary, help me, Mary. Why aren't you as preoccupied with these things for Jesus as I am?
[00:35:02] And Jesus interrupts Martha. And he says, Martha, you've chosen a good thing, but there's actually only one thing that's necessary. And Mary, your sister, has chosen the better thing, and that thing is to sit at my feet and be in my presence. And I just wonder if there's anyone in the room
[00:35:28] today that your heart is like a rag, and you just need to wring out everything that is preoccupying you outside of your relationship with christ i know for me it's i can get so busy that man like
[00:35:45] jesus in my intimacy and my intentional intentionality with him is that like the last on the totem pole but what i have learned is that i am not the best version of me unless i'm sitting
[00:35:57] at christ's feet that i am not really who i am unless i'm sitting at the feet of god and so i just really want us to stay in this moment for a little bit. Man, if there's anything that you need
[00:36:09] to wring your heart out this morning before the Lord, I would even be so as bold to say, come to these altars and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Because at the feet of Jesus is where you're
[00:36:20] going to find your true self. It's where you're going to find your burdens to disappear. At the feet of Jesus is where you're going to find everything that you're searching for. But it takes a sacrifice and surrender. So as we go back into this song, if you just want to come
[00:36:36] and just lay at the feet of Jesus at these altars, it's a sign of sacrifice. And man, I'm going to put my priorities on the altar, man. I'm going to put my preconceived ideas on
[00:36:48] the altar, man. I'm going to put my fight that I just got in with my spouse on the way to church, I'm going to put it at the altar. Lord, I'm going to put everything that's worrying me and
[00:36:55] ain't making me anxious at the altar because at your feet is where i belong and so if that is you i just want you to flood the altar i just want you to run up because jesus is here his anointing
[00:37:09] his presence is here so i don't want you to wait any longer there's one thing that's necessary if that's you as they continue to sing just come to the altar just to tell god today we are humbled
[00:42:23] because you are mighty and do anything for God. I pray that we would become more aware of your presence, Lord, so much so that we would fall to our knees in adoration and worship, and that our
[00:42:42] hearts would be wrung out before you because Lord God, you are the anchor of our souls. Lord, where else could we go? Because you hold the power of life in your words or God, who else could we turn
[00:43:00] to what else could we prioritize in our lives, Lord God, but to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn and rest and abide.
[00:43:10] Holy Spirit, have your way today, Lord.
[00:43:13] Let those who have ears, Lord, let the word penetrate their hearts and their souls, Lord God, to bring transformative power.
[00:43:22] Lord God, those who, Lord, are weary and burdened and down, and Lord, I pray that the oil of joy through the spoken word of your son or God would lift the heavy burden today.
[00:43:38] Or that we would walk out, not just checking a box, Lord God, but we would walk out with a different countenance about us.
[00:43:44] Our very faces would change before you, oh God, because we've been in your presence.
[00:43:52] God, we love you and we bless your name, have your way in the rest of today.
[00:43:56] And the church said, amen.
[00:43:58] Come on, if you love Jesus, can you give us some praise in the place?
[00:44:04] Amen, amen, amen.
[00:44:06] You guys can be seated.
[00:44:08] Come on, it's a great day to be in the house of the Lord today.
[00:44:13] Amen?
[00:44:14] Awesome, awesome.
[00:44:16] So, obviously I am not Pastor Bill.
[00:44:20] He is much better looking than I am.
[00:44:24] No, but Pastor Bill, he was going to be here today.
[00:44:28] and at about 6 47 a.m i get a call from him um that he was actually uh gardening he was watering the plants he actually said i was being a good husband and i was doing my duties of watering the
[00:44:44] flowers every morning and while he was out there watering the flowers he got stung by a bee or something and pastor bill is allergic to stings and so he said this epinephrine is going to knock
[00:44:56] me out. So I will not be able to be there today. So he sends his loves. He sends his greetings, but he is not able to be with us today. He's good. He's safe. He's home. He's just probably
[00:45:06] sleeping. So Pastor Bill, hey, can we honor the man of God of our house, Pastor Bill?
[00:45:18] You know, this thing about the pulpit and the mic and the table and the stage, you know, a lot of people want it, but there's this old saying that says heavy is the head that wears the crown.
[00:45:28] and the reality is is that we don't know what our pastors really go through they live in a glass bowl they're the overseer of your souls they pray for you daily they and if you know pastor bill and
[00:45:43] marianne man they are true shepherds and man i just am honored to be able to sit under him and pastor bill if you're not sleeping and you're watching man i'm just so thankful that you trust
[00:45:53] me to be able to do this and i'm going to be bringing the word today so if you got your bibles go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 5. We're going to be going through the next message in
[00:46:06] our series, Heart of Stone. I got tasked to do Matthew 5.5. How many of you have heard of the term, the Sermon on the Mount before? Raise your hand. You've heard of that? Okay, great. Well, in
[00:46:19] the Sermon on the Mount, this is after Jesus's public ministry, and he's done a lot of things, But then he stands before hundreds of people, and he reads off what is probably one of the greatest messages ever told.
[00:46:33] And he begins in Matthew 5.
[00:46:36] And the last two weeks, man, we went over the first two Beatitudes.
[00:46:41] Can I break down the Beatitudes for you?
[00:46:44] It's going to sound weird or more philosophical.
[00:46:47] It's not.
[00:46:47] Ready?
[00:46:47] This is it.
[00:46:48] Beatitudes just mean the attitudes of being, okay?
[00:46:51] The Beatitudes, the attitudes of being.
[00:46:54] So if you are a Christian being abiding in Christ, this is how you should conduct yourselves.
[00:47:01] And this is what Jesus, he is sharing this with the people because he understands what we like to throw around as Christianese nowadays.
[00:47:10] But he understands the true power and the weight of the word discipleship.
[00:47:14] Everyone say discipleship.
[00:47:16] And we at this church at Multiply Lake Norman, we're a church that multiplies churches that multiplies churches.
[00:47:22] And we multiply disciples that multiply disciples.
[00:47:26] And that is kind of the crux and the core of, and the mission of the church.
[00:47:30] But the reality is this, if I just ask you to come to my church event, but I don't know you, you're probably not gonna show up.
[00:47:38] Whoa, got quiet.
[00:47:39] The reality is that it's easier for you to show up, to be at things, for us to be in community together, because like this is the sacred gathering of the saints.
[00:47:48] This is a traditional thing that the Bible says, do not forsake this very thing right here, the gathering, the assembly of the brethren.
[00:47:57] And the reality is that we will forsake the assembly of the brethren if we don't have true discipleship in the church.
[00:48:04] Because the truth is, is that I need to lock shoulders with you and get in the dirt with you and pray and cry with you before I say, hey, come to my thing.
[00:48:13] And so Pastor Bill's heart, Mary Ann's heart, my heart our staff's heart is to be a church that disciples people and so that is the heart of why pastor bill's like you man we got to go through the beatitudes because we want to understand the
[00:48:27] way jesus disciples people not just how the western american church disciples people but christ how can we learn and glean from what jesus said and so this week week three of heart of stone And the through line of this series is this, that God is the sculptor, the believer in our heart is the stone, and Matthew 5 is the chisel.
[00:49:01] In other words, Matthew 5 is the sword.
[00:49:04] How many of you have heard of the Bible being called the sword of the spirit?
[00:49:09] Okay?
[00:49:10] And so we're taking the sword of the spirit, and we're not diminishing it to a chisel.
[00:49:15] But how many of you know, have you been Christians long enough to know that, man, you read some things that the Lord is trying to get in your heart, and man, it's just like chiseling away
[00:49:23] stone.
[00:49:26] And so we're going to pick up in Matthew 5, and today I want to ask a simple question.
[00:49:34] Before we get into the scripture, I want to ask you a question.
[00:49:36] What do you do, see I got this blade up here, what do you do when you have a weapon that you've decided to lay down what do you do when you have a weapon that you've decided to lay down
[00:49:55] this is a dagger or some sort of miniature blade now miniature yeah it's not a sword okay it's more like a machete style but a dagger if you will pastor bill let me borrow this this is was in
[00:50:09] his office i think it's because he was frustrated with the staff and so he had to prepare you know No, he got this from a mission trip in El Salvador, and they carved these cool little things out in the sheath.
[00:50:24] And so he said, yeah, go ahead and use my dagger.
[00:50:26] He said, I haven't used it yet, but maybe you could use it.
[00:50:29] And so, but what do you do when you've chosen to take a weapon and you've chosen to lay it down?
[00:50:36] I want to talk to you this morning about one of the most misunderstood words in the Sermon on the Mount.
[00:50:45] A word that has been domesticated, it's been defanged, it's turned into something that we see as soft or passive, and honestly, just frankly, unappealing.
[00:50:58] The word is the word meek.
[00:51:01] Everyone say the word meek.
[00:51:03] Okay, so meek.
[00:51:05] And before I'm done today, my hope and prayer is that we have a better understanding and we can see this word in a different light, the word meek.
[00:51:16] And so the text this morning, Matthew chapter 5, verse 5, you can turn to it.
[00:51:22] It's going to also be up on the screen.
[00:51:25] Matthew 5, 5, he gets to the first Beatitudes, and then he says, Blessed are the meek.
[00:51:31] Everyone say meek.
[00:51:33] For they shall inherit the earth.
[00:51:36] I'll say it one more time.
[00:51:36] Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
[00:51:39] Matthew 5, 5.
[00:51:42] And so we get the setting.
[00:51:43] Jesus, he's sitting on the hillside.
[00:51:45] He is a crowd.
[00:51:46] a crowd of people in front of him and, you know, all types of people, all walks of life, people that are poor, people that are wealthy, people that are mourning, people that are hungry, people that are oppressed, all types of people. And he opens up his mouth and he begins to describe
[00:52:01] what a blessed life actually looks like. How many of you want a blessed life? Raise your hand.
[00:52:07] Come on. Don't be like, like fake humble. Like if you really want a blessed life, raise your hand. Like, okay, thank you. When I said that, like half, half the hands actually went. It was good. Okay. Like it's okay to be confident in a blessed life that God wants to
[00:52:22] give you. Right. Right. There's lamenting, there's mourning, there's those things, but it takes faith to see that even in those things, I still live a blessed life. Amen. And so he's, he's showing us what it actually looks like to live a blessed life. And I want you to kind of get the picture
[00:52:37] because the Jewish people, the Israelites, they're oppressed by the Roman government.
[00:52:44] Okay?
[00:52:44] And so these people, the only context they have of a blessed life is being free from Roman oppression.
[00:52:50] And so I want to just say this, that the blessed life that Christ was trying to perpetuate to them through his spoken word was not a life free from Roman oppression.
[00:52:59] Okay?
[00:53:00] It's not even a life that your culture would, in our culture, would describe as blessed.
[00:53:06] Okay?
[00:53:07] It's not that.
[00:53:07] This life that God calls blessed is one that's only found in him.
[00:53:13] And so he says, blessed are the meek.
[00:53:16] And most of us, we hear that word, right?
[00:53:18] And we picture someone that's timid, right?
[00:53:21] Meekness, we kind of correlate the, synonymize the word timid, right?
[00:53:27] We kind of do this thing, right?
[00:53:28] Timid, shy, someone that, you know, who apologizes more than they should.
[00:53:34] Someone that just gets steamrolled and rolled over.
[00:53:37] The people pleaser, like that type of person.
[00:53:41] Some of you know those types of people.
[00:53:43] Some of you would sadly or confidently admit, like, hey, that's me, right?
[00:53:47] So they're these types of people, and that's what we would kind of assume meekness corresponds to.
[00:53:56] Someone that doesn't have, like, a real edge to them.
[00:54:02] Let's see if I can do this safely.
[00:54:06] Someone that doesn't have a real edge to them.
[00:54:08] Oh, this is cool.
[00:54:08] It says, Pastor Bill, El Salvador team.
[00:54:12] Sweet.
[00:54:13] Someone that doesn't have a real edge to them, okay?
[00:54:16] I'm going to put this thing away.
[00:54:22] But that's not the word that Jesus is describing at all.
[00:54:29] The word meek in the Greek is a word that means or that is praus.
[00:54:35] Everyone say praus.
[00:54:37] P-R-A-U-S, praus or praus.
[00:54:41] I don't know how you pronounce it, but we'll say praus for the sake of this message today.
[00:54:46] Praus, okay?
[00:54:47] And the Greek word praos in the ancient world was a very specific context.
[00:54:54] It was used to describe a horse that had been broken down and then retrained up to be stronger.
[00:55:01] Praos.
[00:55:03] Not a timid horse, right?
[00:55:05] Not a weak horse, but a powerful horse.
[00:55:10] Everyone say powerful.
[00:55:11] A powerful horse, one that had been trained so that all that strength was now under one direction.
[00:55:21] Prowse.
[00:55:21] The horse now being prowse could charge.
[00:55:25] The horse could fight in war.
[00:55:27] The horse chose to respond to the brittle.
[00:55:31] This type of meaning, this clear direction, this tamed power.
[00:55:41] Prowse.
[00:55:42] It's like this blade, right?
[00:55:45] This blade is still here.
[00:55:48] The edge is real.
[00:55:49] But meekness is not just this empty sheath.
[00:55:55] But meekness is a full sheath.
[00:55:59] Meekness is a sheath with a blade inside of it.
[00:56:04] In other words, meekness, prowse, is power that has been submitted to God.
[00:56:10] it's authority that has been submitted and tamed under the power and the work of the holy spirit in our lives strength that has found its master prowse that's what jesus calls blessed and then it says this in the second part of verse five it says and then for they shall inherit
[00:56:42] the earth. So the prouse, the meek, they don't lose ground. They inherit ground, okay? You don't lose ground, but rather you inherit ground. The people, you can identify these people, the people that are always grabbing, right? They're constantly fighting for position.
[00:57:04] They're defending themselves. They're asserting their dominance. Jesus says that they're not the ones who end up with the earth, but rather the meek, the prouse are. And so I want us to see these, this word exemplified in scripture. So there's two portraits. I'm going to give you
[00:57:20] the first one is Moses. Everyone say Moses. If you've heard of Moses, raise your hand. Okay, good. We're on the same page. Moses. And in Numbers 12, 3, it's going to be up on the screen. It says,
[00:57:31] now the man Moses was very meek. There's that word, meek. More than all people who were on the face of the earth. So I want you to understand what makes this verse so remarkable. The narrator
[00:57:49] describes, or the narrator here doesn't describe Moses as meek at the burning bush. He doesn't, you know, because when we think of Moses, we think of those big moments in scripture, the burning bush. He doesn't describe Moses meek at the parting of the Red Sea, okay?
[00:58:09] And he doesn't describe Moses as meek when he's standing before Pharaoh calling down plagues on the Egyptian people.
[00:58:18] He doesn't call Moses meek there.
[00:58:21] He describes Moses as meek, prouse, right in the middle of a moment where Moses is being publicly attacked.
[00:58:31] What do I mean?
[00:58:32] We see here in Scripture in Numbers 12 that he had two siblings, Miriam and Aaron.
[00:58:38] and Miriam and Aaron are challenging his leadership.
[00:58:44] They're undermining his leadership.
[00:58:48] They're questioning his authority, not just privately.
[00:58:51] They've already done that.
[00:58:53] They're questioning his authority publicly.
[00:58:56] If you are in any sort of leadership position and your authority has been questioned publicly, you know that that is not a fun spot to be in.
[00:59:07] And so Moses is here.
[00:59:08] He's done all these great exploits.
[00:59:10] He's done all these things, and here he is by his own family being publicly attacked and questioning his authority.
[00:59:18] And Moses, who had, you know, he led the nation out of slavery.
[00:59:22] He stood in the face of a living God on the mountain.
[00:59:26] Moses, who probably has more of a spiritual resume than anyone on earth at this point, is being publicly humiliated, publicly attacked.
[00:59:41] Yet he says nothing.
[00:59:46] He says nothing.
[00:59:50] He doesn't go straight to defending himself.
[00:59:54] He does not.
[00:59:56] He doesn't even invoke his record.
[00:59:59] Now, if I'm Moses, okay, we can do this, right?
[01:00:03] Like, we can step into.
[01:00:06] Like, if I'm Moses, I'll be like, okay.
[01:00:09] Like, hold on.
[01:00:11] You weren't the guy.
[01:00:13] Okay, you weren't the guy that God chose.
[01:00:17] you weren't the guy that took the staff and planted it in the ground and all of a sudden the Red Sea parted like that would be something Trevor and his immaturity and stupidity would do okay
[01:00:29] if you can relate then don't raise your hand but like yeah okay right that would be something that we would do we would invoke the very things that qualified us in the face of public attack
[01:00:44] yet he does not even do this, and he doesn't even remind anyone what he's built. He has led the Egyptian people out of slavery, and he is their leader, and the masses are following him, the children of Israel, and he is not
[01:01:02] invoking any of his resume. He says nothing. He has a blade, but he chooses not to draw it.
[01:01:11] And watch what happens next. God steps in later in chapter 12 in verse 4 through 8. God, he summons Miriam and Aaron and Moses to the tent of meeting. And in that place, God himself publicly,
[01:01:25] he was publicly attacked. Now he's publicly defended by God. So much so that God strikes Miriam with leprosy. And then here's the thing that gets me every time. Moses, once he sees that God's judgment came upon Miriam at this moment and Aaron, he doesn't just go, serves you right.
[01:01:52] He doesn't do that because that's what we would do.
[01:01:55] But he doesn't do that.
[01:01:56] He goes to Miriam, and he intercedes for her.
[01:02:02] He intercedes that God, who now has struck Miriam with leprosy as a part of judgment, he goes to her and asks for her healing by the same God that laid judgment on her.
[01:02:18] You understand what I'm saying?
[01:02:19] Moses, who said nothing in his own defense, turns around and prays for the person who publicly defied him, who publicly accused him, who publicly questioned his leadership.
[01:02:40] That is prowess.
[01:02:43] That is meekness in full power.
[01:02:46] when you have the ability to take everything you could do and you sheath it so that God can be the one to defend you and watch what happens that is meekness that is putting your blade in the sheath
[01:03:10] and saying God you're a better defender than I am so Moses we see he didn't he didn't fight for his reputation. He had a God who would do it for him. That is the math of meekness right there.
[01:03:27] That is the math of meekness. When you stop trying to defend yourself, God starts defending you.
[01:03:34] When you stop trying to crowd him out of the picture and just say, no, God, they drove by me and flicked me off, and now I'm going to speed up and not let them get into the lane.
[01:03:45] And like, I'm making it practical for us because we all do this.
[01:03:53] The reality is that man, like God will defend us.
[01:03:59] He says this in the Old Testament, vengeance is mine, I will repay.
[01:04:04] We try to step in the place of God and try to do something.
[01:04:07] And then what ends up happening, we end up being in a situation we never wanted to be in in the first place.
[01:04:12] And then we probably get more hurt than we were from the beginning because we didn't allow God to defend us on our behalf.
[01:04:18] the second portrait or picture in scripture of this word meekness prowse that we see is in the person of jesus everyone say jesus jesus he says in matthew 11 29 take my yoke upon you and learn
[01:04:36] from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart and then you will find rest for your souls so Jesus here he's not just teaching meekness he is saying I am meekness take my yoke upon you
[01:04:57] I am meek I am prouse and notice the image that he uses to communicate this he uses the image of a yoke now when I first was was reading scripture in my young Christian life I'm like what does
[01:05:12] mean like like a like an egg yolk this doesn't make sense like i had a bunch of teenagers just cracking eggs on top of their head like it was just it was weird like youth pastor chronicles
[01:05:26] that's what i can say right there's stories nobody but he it's not it's not an egg yolk it's it's this instrument that they would use in in farming and stuff like that that they would put
[01:05:39] this wooden beam or yoke with two head holes for the oxen, and it would keep their nose down when they would tread the grain. Because if their head came up and looked around, then that means they
[01:05:53] would get out of line, and they wanted those nice straight lines, and they wanted it to be completely effective. And so they would put this yoke on the oxen to keep their head down to go
[01:06:04] straight so that everything was focused, everything was intentional, everything would go as planned.
[01:06:10] and he says this yoke it's not a cage for you it's actually it's actually an instrument that's going to harness my power in you and so when Jesus describes himself as meek he's not saying hey I'm
[01:06:31] weak he's describing the posture that he holds before his very own father strength completely submitted his will completely aligned and his authority and power completely harnessed this was the person of Jesus the embodiment of meekness was Christ and then the invitation he says learn from
[01:07:03] me so what does that tell us that meekness is teachable meekness is teachable I the church I came from before this i learned a lot in that church one thing i learned from my pastor and
[01:07:22] some of you might laugh at this but he's like trevor you gotta be fat i'm like hold on i don't want to be like i'm like what are you saying pastor like that's what i was trying to decipher
[01:07:33] what he's he's like no no i need you to be fat and i'm like okay fat he goes f-a-t i'm like i know i know it i know how to spell it and he goes no i need you to be fat it's an acronym it means
[01:07:44] faithful available and teachable and so like now I get to tell like young leaders like hey man I want you to be fat they're like whoa right no but but truthfully meekness is faithful available
[01:07:58] and teachable you have to be faithful to the things of God you have to be available for the things of God and you have to allow the things of God and the people of God and God himself by the
[01:08:11] work of the Holy Spirit to teach you. None of us have arrived. We are all in this coil of learning and sanctification. Some of us are here, some of us are here, and none of us have arrived, and we
[01:08:24] won't arrive until Christ comes back in glory. And so who am I to try to make this tiered Christianity? No, Jesus was saying, hey, in this attitude of being, blessed are the meek. If you
[01:08:36] can be meek I will bless your life and so he says learn from me be teachable the second thing in scripture we see Christ his meekness on full display and what I believe is the best representation
[01:09:00] the fullest expression of meekness so not only did he say I am meek and learn from my meekness But now he exemplifies and leads his disciples to actually show them what true meekness is.
[01:09:15] And it happens in the Garden of Gethsemane.
[01:09:18] And some of you know the story, but in Matthew 26, Jesus, he's praying in the garden.
[01:09:26] In the Bible, he knows that Judas has gone and summoned the authorities to come and arrest him.
[01:09:33] And so in this moment between knowing that he's about to be arrested and the cross, he's praying.
[01:09:45] In the scripture, it talks about that he's praying so fervently that he begins to sweat drops of blood.
[01:09:54] I don't know.
[01:09:56] I'm almost certain that none of us have experienced that type of anguish before.
[01:10:00] But this was the type of anguish that Christ was facing.
[01:10:03] So much anxiety, so much stress, so much weight on him.
[01:10:07] because we know that the full wrath of God was poured onto Christ on the crucifixion.
[01:10:13] The full remission of our sins was poured out on Jesus that day.
[01:10:18] And so walking into that, he was anguished and he's sweating drops of blood.
[01:10:27] And then Judas arrives with the arrest party.
[01:10:31] Jesus, man, I love Jesus because he just says some things in scripture where you look at Jesus and be like, no, he's kind of like a, like he well we would say weak no he's actually meek and we see it here but then he eventually
[01:10:44] like he'll say some things it's like okay geez i look i was a little gangster like that was that was kind of cool and he says this he says this in matthew 26 53 he says do you think that
[01:10:57] i cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels I'm going to read it again.
[01:11:05] Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father, and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels?
[01:11:13] You know what this reminds me of?
[01:11:14] This reminds me of when you're in elementary school, and you got a buddy, and that buddy's like, bro, my dad's the greatest, bro.
[01:11:19] And then you're like, no, my dad's the greatest.
[01:11:21] And he's like, well, my dad will beat your dad up.
[01:11:22] And you're like, well, my dad will beat your dad up.
[01:11:25] And you're doing this thing.
[01:11:27] And, like, this is what Jesus is like, hey, my dad, don't you think that y'all are coming to arrest me, But at one moment, I can appeal to my dad, and he will send 12 legions of angels on my behalf to come and defend me and to wipe you guys out.
[01:11:45] And so just to kind of put some math to this, I really need you to understand what Jesus is saying and the weight of it.
[01:11:54] I'll say it this way.
[01:11:55] A Roman legion of guards, of soldiers, was 6,000 soldiers.
[01:12:02] One legion, okay?
[01:12:03] A Roman legion of soldiers was 6,000 soldiers, okay?
[01:12:10] 12 legions is 72,000, yet these are not soldiers.
[01:12:22] These are not humans.
[01:12:26] These are angels we are talking about.
[01:12:31] Put it into perspective for you.
[01:12:32] 72,000 angels, yet in 2 Kings chapter 19, one angel, everyone say one angel, one angel kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one single night. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?
[01:12:55] He did not just like, one angel could have done the trick, Jesus, yet he says, no, I'll appeal to my father if i really wanted to and 72 000 angels would come in and just tear this place up that
[01:13:18] is what jesus is communicating to these guys to judas to the to the arrest party and so he's standing in an olive garden right he's surrounded by all the other people coming to arrest him
[01:13:31] but because everyone say the word because because the sheath is the plan jesus does nothing they he lets them arrest him the sheath is the plan the whole story of your and i's redemption hangs on one act of meekness in a garden at a night and one night because christ said i could
[01:14:00] do this thing, but I'm going to choose to sheathe this blade. You and I sit right here confessing Christ today. One act of meekness changed the trajectory of your family lineage. We have to understand the way, and so maybe if we understood that a little bit better, man, we would walk into
[01:14:22] rooms like this with full expectancy of what God can do. I don't walk into church to check a box, Man, I walk into church because I know God has what I need.
[01:14:35] And he has the miracles that are going to enter into my family.
[01:14:39] He has the provision that I need.
[01:14:40] He has the blessing that I need.
[01:14:42] And not only that, even if he gives me none of it, God, thank you that you did not send 72,000 angels.
[01:14:58] He doesn't use them.
[01:14:59] And not because he can't use them, not because he's afraid, but because the sheath is the plan.
[01:15:05] And this is the knife and the sheath, right?
[01:15:08] Right here, this is the knife and the sheath.
[01:15:10] And it's the most ultimate expression of Prowse, the most powerful being in the universe, Jesus Christ, holding 72 angels in reserve, letting them put handcuffs on him anyway.
[01:15:26] This is not weakness.
[01:15:28] This is meekness.
[01:15:29] This is the most powerful act in human history, wearing the literal face of surrender.
[01:15:39] This was who he was and who he is.
[01:15:47] So we need to learn from him, glean from the way he conducted himself, right?
[01:15:54] Next thing I want to talk about is there's fruit in meekness.
[01:15:58] There's literal fruit that comes out of meekness.
[01:16:00] Obviously, in Galatians 5.23, this is the chapter of the fruit of the spirit.
[01:16:04] I'm going to read the back half of it.
[01:16:05] It says, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law.
[01:16:09] Galatians 5.23, Paul puts meekness, proutess.
[01:16:14] Everyone say prouse.
[01:16:15] Now say proutess.
[01:16:17] Okay, so this is the noun form of prowse, okay?
[01:16:22] So prow-tess in the fruit of the spirit, he places the same thing that makes a horse run straight with authority and power.
[01:16:31] He puts this into, the same word he uses here is the same word he uses in Galatians 5 when he says gentleness, okay?
[01:16:39] And he puts it right next to self-control.
[01:16:45] That's not an accident.
[01:16:48] Jesus says, hey, meekness and self-control are one and the same.
[01:16:52] They go hand in hand.
[01:16:53] By the way, did you know that it's not the fruits of the Spirit?
[01:16:57] It's the fruit of the Spirit, meaning all of these fruits happen when you're connected to the Spirit of God.
[01:17:03] It's not just, oh, I've got to work on my patience.
[01:17:04] I've got to work on my meekness.
[01:17:05] I've got to work.
[01:17:05] No, it's like, hey, when you're connected to the vine, this is the fruit that will come forth from your tree.
[01:17:14] And he puts it next to self-control intentionally.
[01:17:19] But here's what it means for us practically today.
[01:17:21] Here's what it means for us practically.
[01:17:22] you cannot manufacture meekness. I'm going to say that again. You cannot manufacture meekness.
[01:17:30] You cannot discipline your way into meekness. You cannot willpower yourself into prowess.
[01:17:38] It is a fruit. You grow it by staying connected to the vine. You grow it by staying connected to the source the spirit cultivates it in you as you abide i'm gonna say that again as you abide
[01:17:56] as you abide in other words if you are not seeing the fruit the spread in your life my question to you is are you abiding in christ are you connected to the vine you say hey pastor trevor don't hit
[01:18:13] me with none of that legalism stuff well i'm gonna just say this man to be connected to the vine you got to surrender, die to yourself, pick up your cross, and you might have to wake up a little
[01:18:23] bit early and get in your word. You might have to fast when the Holy Spirit's saying, hey, fast from this thing, or fast from food, or push back. You might have to go and forgive somebody that has
[01:18:32] wronged you, and they might not even say sorry back. Christ did the supernatural thing, but he calls you and I to do the natural thing. This isn't Christianity with a blue verified check mark because we're just associated with Christ.
[01:18:51] No, he says in the book that one day we're gonna stand before him and he's gonna say, hey, hey, hey, I never knew you.
[01:19:00] Well, God, I cast out demons in your name.
[01:19:01] I did all this stuff.
[01:19:02] It's not works-based salvation, but it's a relationship.
[01:19:09] And man, if you're in a relationship and you're not talking to them and you're not spending time with them, it's only a matter of time before that relationship starts to deteriorate.
[01:19:24] In James 1.21, there's also a meekness we need towards the word of God.
[01:19:29] And I'm going to be a little bit strong on this one.
[01:19:33] He says in James 1.21, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
[01:19:40] James uses the same word to describe the posture we bring to Scripture.
[01:19:44] And I want to stay here for a moment because the truth is that this is the one thing sometimes that most of us, we get exposed.
[01:19:56] James says, receive the word, the Bible, the spoken word, the Scripture, the red word.
[01:20:01] Study it.
[01:20:02] Open it.
[01:20:02] get it into your life he says approach receive the word with meekness with prowse some people some people come to scripture with the blade already drawn you ever met that person that tries to intellectualize themselves out of obeying scripture well god really didn't mean that and if
[01:20:28] you look at the greek and you look at the hebrew and you look at the bro chill he says unless you come like one of these, referencing little children, you will not inherit the kingdom of
[01:20:36] God. Am I saying that study is not important? Absolutely not. He says to rightly divide the word of God. There is a authority to studying scripture. And can I tell you there's a difference between studying it and reading it? But we all know those guys, those ladies that they try to
[01:20:54] intellectualize their way out of obeying the word of God. Here's why. Here's the human condition.
[01:20:59] if we can over uh we can over um um complicate it then we can be less responsible well hold on god i didn't really understand that one hold on god that is so high and lofty it almost seems
[01:21:17] unattainable so i'm gonna just do my thing no he says approach the word of god with meekness don't come to the word of god with your sword your blade already drawn ready to debate it right
[01:21:30] these people they're ready to debate it they're ready to explain it in terms that they're already comfortable with. They're ready to edit the parts out that cut too close to home. These types of people. But meekness means you come to it with the sheath on. You come to it, you let it cut you.
[01:21:48] You, not the other way around, you let the word of God get into you and to illuminate the things that are wrong in your heart. The first thing to approach the throne of Christ that you have to do
[01:21:58] is say, God, I am wicked and need you.
[01:22:03] If we think we're so high and mighty that even the savior of the universe can't get ahold of us, well, my God, Lord, help us.
[01:22:14] But you come to the word with the sheath on.
[01:22:17] You hold your own understanding loosely enough that God can actually get through to you.
[01:22:24] So as the worship team makes their way back up, here's the tension.
[01:22:28] Here's the tension in the room.
[01:22:30] And here's the statement that we're kind of wrestling with already as we're going through this, and it's this.
[01:22:35] Maybe you've thought of this.
[01:22:36] I know I've thought of this.
[01:22:38] If I lay down the blade, if I lay down the blade, then that means someone else is going to take something from me.
[01:22:50] If I lay down my defense weapon, then that means I am vulnerable and easy for someone to take something from me.
[01:23:04] We say things like, someone is going to win.
[01:23:07] Someone's going to misrepresent me, and I won't get to correct them.
[01:23:11] We say things like someone is going to get the credit that they don't deserve.
[01:23:16] We say things like someone is going to walk away thinking that they were right when in reality, if I would have argued my way, they would have realized that they're not right.
[01:23:23] Do you understand?
[01:23:24] This is what we do.
[01:23:25] This is our nature apart from God.
[01:23:33] And the world, unfortunately, the world has trained us to believe that the person who sheathes the sword loses.
[01:23:41] the world and the keeping up with the joneses and the american dream and all that stuff man like so be it but it's so counter-cultural to the kingdom of god and the word of god
[01:23:55] someone is going to walk away with everything i own everything that was owed to me everything that i've worked for if i sheath this blade but i want you to see what what the bible says
[01:24:14] you know what's funny I can say a statement and then say comma but I want you to see what the Bible says what I'm saying to you is that you have a way the Bible says there's a way that seems right
[01:24:28] to a man but in the end it leads to destruction meaning you and I have preconceived ideas things that we've learned things that we've walked with things that we still carry that is so countercultural to scripture man and God just saying sheathe the blade and let me in Psalms
[01:24:47] 37, David is writing this Psalm because his congregation, listen to this, is watching wicked people prevail. David is writing Psalm 37 because he is watching people that do not deserve what they're getting get that. They're watching wickedness and evil win. Win. They're
[01:25:21] watching the aggressors win. And David does not give them a philosophical answer. The thing that's going to be the key to unlock this problem. But he gives them a temporal answer. He says in Psalm
[01:25:45] 37 11, but the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked, they flourish for a moment. The wicked, they flourish for a season. But the meek, they inherit for a lifetime. The meek, they inherit for an eternity. The people that you see winning that
[01:26:16] don't deserve it, it's temporal. Don't jump to the defense and get yourself deeper water. No, let God defend you and let God bring you the inheritance. In Matthew 5, our key verse, this is where Jesus gets, blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the earth. He gets it from
[01:26:49] psalm 37 so years and years and years and years and years prior david this same scenario is happening and david says here's the answer there's peace in meekness the wicked they just flourish for a moment so i want to come back to where we started and this is it that this blade right here
[01:27:16] this blade this blade is still sharp the edge on this blade hasn't changed putting it in its sheath doesn't destroy the blade. This sheath doesn't pretend that the blade isn't real. So meekness, meekness doesn't ask you and I to pretend that you don't have power or rights or
[01:27:50] a case to make, but rather it asks you and I to trust God is a better fighter than you and I.
[01:28:04] That he can defend you better than you can defend yourself. That your inheritance he's holding for the meek or the inheritance that he's holding for the meek is more worth than whatever you'd win by drawing the sword. Moses didn't lose when he said nothing. He gained a God who spoke for him.
[01:28:26] Jesus, he didn't lose when he stayed on the cross. He gained the resurrection and the name above every name. You are not losing when you sheath the blade. Rather, you are positioning yourself to inherit blessing from God. You're positioning yourself to humble yourself over
[01:28:49] the mighty hand of God and let the blessing flood in from him, not from you. Draw on the sword.
[01:28:56] And that is not weakness. That is the most powerful thing you could do. So I want you guys to all stand as we wrap this up here's what i've noticed about meekness is that meekness is easy to agree
[01:29:17] with in theory but you know we nod at moses we we love the gethsemane moment but man when meekness hits our plate and hits our table man we start to quiver and shake because man you're gonna tell me
[01:29:29] that i gotta put some things down i gotta lay some things down yes for you for some of you there is something maybe maybe there's one thing that you're grasping instead of surrendering and the blade is still drawn
[01:29:49] and God's not asking you to pretend it's not sharp.
[01:29:52] God's not asking you to damage the blade, but God's just asking you to sheathe it.
[01:29:57] For some of you, it's your reputation.
[01:30:01] Some of you, you're holding your own reputation, right?
[01:30:03] The need to be understood correctly, the exhausting work of managing who people think that you are, the resentment that builds when somebody gets you wrong and you don't have the ability to correct it.
[01:30:14] Some of you need to lay your reputation at the altar.
[01:30:19] Some of you, it's relationships.
[01:30:22] You're holding on to a relationship.
[01:30:24] Maybe it's a person that hurt you and never apologized.
[01:30:27] Maybe it's a dynamic you keep returning to trying to win.
[01:30:30] Maybe it's a grudge that has become so familiar that it's safety for you.
[01:30:38] It's easier to be in my grudge than forgive because it's my safe place.
[01:30:44] It's my identity.
[01:30:45] It's who I am.
[01:30:45] You know what the Bible calls those things?
[01:30:47] familiar spirits and all throughout scripture jesus he delivers people from familiar spirits meaning meaning there's this thing that i identify with because it's who i am but it's so deception and deceiving because that's that that spirit is not of god some of you it's rights right you're
[01:31:13] holding on to what you're owed the fairness that hasn't come the outcome you deserve that didn't happen jesus had a right to call down 72 000 angels yet he didn't some of you it's control
[01:31:26] You're holding a situation.
[01:31:27] You're managing it.
[01:31:28] You're orchestrating it.
[01:31:29] You're protecting it from outcomes you're terrified of.
[01:31:32] The plan that you're gripping so tight that God cannot rearrange your plan.
[01:31:36] God is a gentleman.
[01:31:38] He's not going to force something on you.
[01:31:40] But he'd rather say, hey, son, daughter, if you would just release this thing to me, then I can actually start to rearrange it and manage it and make it what I want it to be.
[01:31:52] Some of us, we're young, and it's ambition.
[01:31:56] It's ambition.
[01:31:57] It's the drive.
[01:31:58] It's the work.
[01:31:58] It's the ambition, and you're building, and you're trying to prove something, and you're holding your own arrival.
[01:32:07] The drive you get to be somebody, to become someone, the exhaustion of constructing your own kingdom, yet you neglect God's.
[01:32:24] The beatitude here in verse 5 doesn't say, wait, and you'll get nothing.
[01:32:29] It doesn't say, wait, and you'll get nothing.
[01:32:31] It says, the meek inherit the earth.
[01:32:33] That's not small.
[01:32:34] that's not a little bit that's everything that's everything but it comes through surrender it doesn't come through striving to get something that that you're not owed yet no no no it comes through surrender surrender i want someone to treat me this way well well hey hey you haven't
[01:32:55] arrived yet surrender keep working surrender keep learning surrender keep being available surrender keep being faithable or faithful surrender keep being teachable right now i want to give you a moment with every head bowed every eye closed across this room i want to give
[01:33:12] you a moment to be honest with god when you be i'm going to give you a moment to be honest with god about what you're holding on to and this is not a moment to perform surrender but this is a moment
[01:33:22] to actually surrender if any of these resonate with you and you you find yourself drawing the sword more than relying on christ you're trying to will your way out of situations or into some but man there comes a point in all of our of all of our lives that man we can only go so far
[01:33:45] but then at some point, man, that we hit a crossroads.
[01:33:49] And in that crossroads, we realize that, man, I've come to the end of myself.
[01:33:53] And now, God, I need you.
[01:33:57] God, I need you.
[01:33:59] God, I have done everything in my human effort that I can do.
[01:34:02] But, Lord, now I surrender myself and my situation and the thing I'm holding on people.
[01:34:08] Lord, God, make a way where it seems that there is none.
[01:34:12] If that is you, I just want to pray over you.
[01:34:15] I want to pray for you.
[01:34:18] If we're Christians and we believe the Bible, that means we must believe in the power of agreed faith in prayer.
[01:34:26] If that is you, I just want you to raise your hand on the count of three.
[01:34:29] No shame, no condemnation, but rather freedom.
[01:34:35] One, two, three, I just want you to raise your hand.
[01:34:40] See those hands.
[01:34:41] There's hands going up all across the room.
[01:34:44] Thank you, Lord.
[01:34:47] See those hands.
[01:34:50] Amen, you can put your hands down.
[01:34:51] I just wanna pray over all of us before we go.
[01:34:54] keep your heads bowed I'm just going to pray God I name what I've been holding I name what I've been gripping and I want you to name it before God I want you to name it before God
[01:35:10] whatever it is God I name what I've been holding I've been afraid that if I lay it down Lord God that I'll lose but I believe you fight for the meek I believe the promise
[01:35:21] so today I'm sheathing this I'm sheathing this I'm putting this away I'm surrendering this before you Not because I'm strong enough to let go, but because I trust you more than I trust myself.
[01:35:36] Lord God, work on my behalf.
[01:35:39] Defend where I cannot defend myself.
[01:35:41] Lord God, I surrender my whole life once again.
[01:35:45] Lord, bless me.
[01:35:49] Help me to be meek.
[01:35:50] In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
[01:35:53] Come on, can you give the Lord some praise in this place?
[01:35:56] Amen, amen.
[01:36:03] Hey, before you guys go, just want a couple of announcements for you guys.
[01:36:06] If you saw the parking sign outside where it said reserve parking for first-time guests, mothers, and elderly, we are doing that as a change we're making.
[01:36:16] We have multiple parking lots at the dentist office.
[01:36:18] We have one over here at this Atrium Health over here.
[01:36:21] Those people allow us to use their space.
[01:36:23] We're trying to open up some space for our church to grow, for people to get a front spot that need that front spot.
[01:36:30] So if you saw that, that is what that is about.
[01:36:32] Just want to be forthright, transparent with you guys about that.
[01:36:34] There's plenty of parking.
[01:36:35] No one's going to be left without a spot.
[01:36:37] But wanted to make you aware of that.
[01:36:38] Second thing is retreats are here.
[01:36:41] Come on, if you're excited about retreats, can you give the Lord some praise?
[01:36:45] Some of you are like, man, what is retreats?
[01:36:47] What are retreats?
[01:36:48] Retreats are impactful times where the guys go away with guys and the ladies go away with their ladies.
[01:36:54] And we spend two nights together, three days together.
[01:36:57] Man, and it's just meat.
[01:36:59] It's just word.
[01:37:00] It's just getting together.
[01:37:01] It's iron sharpening iron.
[01:37:03] It's fun.
[01:37:04] It's play.
[01:37:05] It's enjoyable.
[01:37:06] So you want to make some time, carve some time out in your calendar to go to retreats.
[01:37:12] I think there's a QR code up on the screen.
[01:37:15] Is there one up there, team?
[01:37:16] Perfect.
[01:37:17] So, guys, it is retreat.
[01:37:19] We're titling it Honor.
[01:37:20] We have a guy by the name of Randy Ruiz.
[01:37:23] He speaks all across the world at men's events.
[01:37:25] He's a leader in the faith and especially amongst just mentorship and discipleship of men.
[01:37:30] So he's going to be our guest speaker.
[01:37:31] Guys, your date is August 20th through 22nd.
[01:37:35] You can scan that QR code and register.
[01:37:37] There's also an opportunity on that registration form for you to make payments up until the registration deadline.
[01:37:43] So you don't have to make one lump sum payment.
[01:37:45] Go ahead and scan that QR code and check that out.
[01:37:47] And then ladies, ladies, yours is up there too.
[01:37:50] Created, beautiful.
[01:37:51] We have our very own Pastor Mary Ann speaking at that one.
[01:37:54] You can scan the QR code.
[01:37:55] Your dates are July 30th through August 1st.
[01:37:57] It's going to be an impactful time.
[01:37:58] Listen, listen, this is the community of God.
[01:38:03] This is the community of this area, this house.
[01:38:06] Get in community with each other.
[01:38:08] Don't just run out and say, no one loves me.
[01:38:10] Come on, we got people surrounded with you, by you, that love you, want to speak into your life and pray with you and be with you, man, and just build relationships.
[01:38:18] That's what retreats are for.
[01:38:20] Hey, we love you guys.
[01:38:21] We'll see you same time, same place next week.
[01:38:23] as you continue to love Jesus and change the world.
[01:38:26] We'll see you guys next week.