The Upside-Down Kingdom: Service as the Antidote to Pride

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
The Gospel of the Lord
[00:02:05] Let us pray.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Hmm.
[00:03:10] What are you doing?
[00:03:39] Hmm.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:07:09] Let's pray.
[00:08:10] Thank you.

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
What's going on, Cove Church?
[00:08:21] Man, it's great to be with you all today.
[00:08:22] Come on, let's stand to our feet.
[00:08:24] I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for Christmas.
[00:08:26] Anybody ready for Christmas?
[00:08:28] I know it's only a couple of days away, but today we're going to lift up our voices and we're going to join the heavenly choir singing, Hark!
[00:08:35] Hark!
[00:08:36] The herald angels sing, and we declare glory to the newborn King.
[00:08:40] Come on, let me see your hands like this.
[00:08:47] I want every voice in this room and online to sing with us.
[00:09:22] Lord angels sing glory to Thee
[00:09:40] Christ the everlasting Lord Light and life for all He breathes Risen with healing in His wings Out He lays His glory
[00:10:05] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[00:10:33] Sing glory to the King.
[00:10:39] Glory to the King.
[00:10:47] Glory to the King.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Glory to the King.
[00:10:57] Glory to the King.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Today, Lord, we give you all of the glory and all of the honor and all of our praise.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Let's continue to clap our hands as we continue to declare the faithfulness of our God.
[00:11:36] You've been good, good for all my life So nothing could ever change my life
[00:11:48] Your's is the way, the truth, the life that I will choose Oh, I know that I know You will never let me go Every road, every high You are faithful all the time I've tasted and I've seen
[00:12:37] To the left or right I will keep heaven in my sight No, I will not be shaken Nothing is moving me I've got a faith to show the things I can
[00:13:09] Every low and every high You are faithful all the time I've tasted and I've seen You've been so, so good to me
[00:14:13] All of my days, all of my days All the things Jesus did me All of my days, all of my days All the things Jesus did me
[00:14:45] I know that I have You won't ever let me go And every low and every high You are faithful all the time
[00:15:12] I see You've been so, so good to me

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
If you see the faithfulness of God in your life, let's declare and shout thank you to God.
[00:15:48] Thank you, Father.
[00:15:49] We acknowledge your greatness in our life.
[00:15:52] We acknowledge your mercy when we're still undeserving.
[00:15:56] We acknowledge your promises that have come to pass.
[00:15:59] We thank you for who you are.
[00:16:01] I know that I know that you will always be faithful, not because it's never been hard.
[00:16:09] But because you've always been faithful and constant through every circumstance, every season, I can see your fingerprints through everything.
[00:16:18] And we trust you.
[00:16:19] We thank you.
[00:16:20] We love you and we exalt you.
[00:16:22] We give our worship and honor to you, God.
[00:16:25] Nobody else is deserving but you.
[00:16:28] Nobody else gets our praise but you.
[00:16:31] No one else gets the glory but you.
[00:16:34] Only you are deserving.
[00:16:36] Only you are faithful.
[00:16:38] We love you.
[00:16:40] We worship you.
[00:16:41] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:17:00] Light of the world, treasure of heaven Brilliant like the stars in the wintry sky
[00:17:10] Joy of the Father Reach through the darkness Shine across the earth Send the shadows to light Light of the world From the beginning The tragedies of time
[00:17:38] No maps for your love From great heights of glory You saw my story And God you went to Him And became one of us Sing hallelujah Sing hallelujah

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Sing Hallelujah for the things He has done Come and adore Him Bow down before Him Sing Hallelujah

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We are the rich by the price that he paid.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Sing hallelujah for the things He has done Come and adore Him, bow down before Him Sing hallelujah to the light of day

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Soon will be coming with fire in His eyes He will ransom His own Through clouds He will lead us Straight into glory And there He shall reign

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Hallelujah for the things He has done Come and adore Him Bow down before Him Sing Hallelujah to the light of day

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We sing hallelujah to your beautiful name.
[00:20:59] We sing hallelujah to your powerful name.
[00:21:02] We sing hallelujah to the light of the world.
[00:21:07] Lord we bless you and we praise you and we believe that your light shines through any and all darkness.
[00:21:14] We believe that in some times of hopelessness you are our hope.
[00:21:19] In times of anxiety, you are our peace.
[00:21:23] In times of fear, in times of uncertainty, in times of doubt, you are our constant.
[00:21:30] You are faithful.
[00:21:32] You are never changing, never failing, never moving.
[00:21:36] And so our lives are built and set on you, Jesus, the solid rock, the firm foundation.
[00:21:44] and no matter what the world shakes no matter what happens around us we can believe firmly that we are set upon you the immovable one the holy one the one we praise the one we worship the one we adore come on all across this room let's just celebrate the beautiful name of Jesus one more time and give him glory hallelujah go ahead and say hi to your neighbor tell him Merry Christmas I'm glad that you're here and then have your seat

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Merry Christmas!
[00:22:18] Good morning, Cove Church!
[00:22:20] I see Panthers jersey!
[00:22:21] Let's go!
[00:22:22] Big game today!
[00:22:23] Good morning, Cove Church.
[00:22:25] How are you guys doing?
[00:22:26] Can you believe this is our last Sunday meeting together of 2025?
[00:22:32] Can you believe that, Cove Church?
[00:22:34] It has been an amazing year.
[00:22:35] Hey, next week, just a reminder, after Christmas, we will not be hosting services in our buildings.
[00:22:43] We'll have a special service online, specially put together for us to check out from our homes.
[00:22:49] This is a thank you to our team members and our staff as they're doing
[00:22:53] We have six Christmas services and this weekend's services.
[00:22:57] Can we thank all those that volunteer and who give their time?
[00:23:02] So be sure to join us online next week, covechurch.tv.
[00:23:07] We'll have services at 9.30 and 11.30 online where we can be together, but we're doing it from our homes.
[00:23:16] It's an exciting time right now.
[00:23:19] I want to encourage you, if you
[00:23:21] I haven't figured it out yet.
[00:23:22] We got Christmas Eve services in two days starting Tuesday.
[00:23:27] We have them Tuesday and Wednesday.
[00:23:28] We have six services and what that means is we're expecting double, triple, maybe even quadruple the number of people we normally see come through our buildings.
[00:23:38] If you're not yet serving, we have a spot for you.
[00:23:45] If you call this church home, I want to ask you and encourage you to, as a family, serve this Christmas.
[00:23:51] We've got still spots in Cove Kids.
[00:23:54] We've got spots doing hot chocolate or coffee, especially at the 4 and 6 on Christmas Eve.
[00:24:01] Those are the services that we know, that's a big ask.
[00:24:04] but I want to encourage you those are big attendance lots of new faces and maybe this is a new Christmas tradition for your family to serve together at the four and six so if you haven't yet gotten signed up serving you can go to the next steps area hey I want to stop and celebrate 2025 2025 has been
[00:24:21] An awesome year.
[00:24:22] We've been focused on going all out as a church.
[00:24:25] That was kind of our motto this year of focused on getting outside the walls of the church and meeting needs in the community as the church.
[00:24:33] And I just want to remind you, you are the church.
[00:24:36] I'm not talking about the staff.
[00:24:38] I'm talking about us as a church going out and meeting needs.
[00:24:41] And that's been awesome to see us serve, whether that's
[00:24:45] Bring in some groceries.
[00:24:46] We've had stories of people buying groceries or fixing cars or cleaning up people's yards.
[00:24:53] One of my favorite stories was hearing about was up in Statesville.
[00:24:57] Caitlin, who is a mother of three and a widow as of 2021.
[00:25:02] She lost her husband during COVID.
[00:25:05] She was coming and serving at our church, and people noticed that she had kind of mud on her shoes and even at the bottom of her pants.
[00:25:12] And someone asked her, you know, what's going on?
[00:25:16] Are you walking through the mud?
[00:25:18] What is going on?
[00:25:20] And she explained that during Hurricane Helene, the bridge that attaches their property to the road got washed out.
[00:25:28] And so they've been having to park on the other side of this little creek and taking her three kids anytime they want to leave the house.
[00:25:35] They have to walk across this creek in order to get to their car.
[00:25:40] And so our church saw this need.
[00:25:43] and individuals from our church said we can build a bridge let's get on building a bridge for uh for
[00:25:49] For Caitlin and her family, we talked to contractors and one of the business owners and civil engineers said, you know, you guys don't understand what you're taking on.
[00:26:00] This is crazy to take this on.
[00:26:02] But we had people, individuals from the church, give their time, their money, their resources.
[00:26:07] People helped donate equipment, supplies, even that contractor who said that,
[00:26:13] Civil Engineer who said, this is crazy.
[00:26:15] He said, I like a little crazy.
[00:26:17] I want to be involved in crazy.
[00:26:18] Let's do it.
[00:26:19] I'll give something to it.
[00:26:21] And we got this bridge built out for Caitlin.
[00:26:24] You got this bridge built out for Caitlin as the Cove Church to make sure that she gets to cross the road and be able to get her car.
[00:26:32] What an amazing thing.
[00:26:35] I want to say thank you so much for your generosity.
[00:26:38] Maybe it's just a check that you write.
[00:26:41] You don't think much of it.
[00:26:44] I know we think about what we're missing out on as we write that check, but you don't maybe see where that money goes.
[00:26:50] It goes towards how do we continue to introduce our friends to Jesus, learn to follow Him, and celebrate His presence in our lives.
[00:26:56] We want to continue to go
[00:26:57] All out as a church.
[00:26:58] So maybe you're doing end of year giving.
[00:27:00] I want to say thank you so much for your generosity.
[00:27:03] Thank you so much church for your faithfulness in the tithe.
[00:27:06] Many of you have started tithing this year.
[00:27:08] I want to say thank you for your faithfulness.
[00:27:09] Thank you for your end of year gifts.
[00:27:11] You can give in the silver boxes on your way out or you can give online at covechurch.org slash give.
[00:27:18] Alright, I want to say thank you.
[00:27:19] 2025 was amazing.
[00:27:21] I believe in 2026 is going to be an absolutely incredible year.
[00:27:25] Right now we've got our founding pastor Mike Maddings bringing the message today.
[00:27:30] So why don't you guys make some noise, welcome our founding pastor to the stage as we get ready for Christmas at the Cove.

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Tis the season.
[00:27:45] You know what that means.
[00:27:47] There is shopping to be done, meals to cook, company to entertain, and Santas to go visit.
[00:27:53] Traffic will be slow, checkout lines long, and calendars full.
[00:27:58] Christmas can so quickly feel hectic, stressful, and even overwhelming.
[00:28:04] Yet when you look at the manger, isn't it always still, quiet, peaceful, hopeful?
[00:28:13] Truthfully, we haven't changed that much.
[00:28:16] Mankind used to imagine what the coming of the Messiah would look like.
[00:28:21] They knew He would come as a fierce warrior, a king, a conqueror here to turn the world on its head.
[00:28:27] No one could even imagine His grand entrance.
[00:28:30] And instead, Jesus came in the most normal way you could imagine.
[00:28:36] We will always be drawn to the loud, the craziness, and the unbelievable.
[00:28:42] But maybe this Christmas we would be better served to focus on something simple.

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
All right.
[00:28:54] Hey, Cope Church.
[00:28:55] Merry Christmas!
[00:28:57] Woo!
[00:28:59] It is here.
[00:28:59] Man.
[00:29:01] You guys excited about Christmas?
[00:29:03] I love it.
[00:29:04] I love it.
[00:29:05] Hey, people are always asking me, especially this time of year, like, Mike, what are you doing in retirement?
[00:29:10] And here's one thing that my wife and I are doing, is we're NFL.
[00:29:16] I've been, I think, too busy in my mind up until now, but we are bored now.
[00:29:20] We've got some boring time, you know?
[00:29:22] It's hot and cold in retirement.
[00:29:24] Sometimes you've got nothing to do.
[00:29:26] So we've been watching a whole lot of NFL, which reminded me of something that happened.
[00:29:32] It was a few years back.
[00:29:33] Manny Ohomi leads Samaritan's Feet Ministry, and he asked me, he said, Hey, Mike, would you go with me down to New Orleans to the Final Four?
[00:29:41] He was going to receive an award from Under Armour.
[00:29:45] So we meet at the airport, and at one point he said, Hey Mike, did you meet Steve?
[00:29:50] He's sitting over there.
[00:29:51] I said, No.
[00:29:52] He said, Go over and talk to Steve.
[00:29:53] Meet him.
[00:29:54] I said, Okay.
[00:29:55] Went over there, sat down.
[00:29:56] We talked for a while.
[00:29:56] I asked him, What are you doing for a man?
[00:29:58] He goes, I don't know, man.
[00:30:01] He asked me to go on this kind of thing.
[00:30:03] When I go, I just do whatever he wants.
[00:30:04] I don't really have a role.
[00:30:06] I'm just there.
[00:30:07] And so I said, Well, that's kind of what I'm doing.
[00:30:09] So we talked for a while and went back over.
[00:30:11] I sat down next to Manny and he said, well, what'd you think?
[00:30:15] I said, you know, it was good.
[00:30:16] We talked and everything.
[00:30:17] He said, Mike, you do realize that Steve Smith with the Carolina Panthers, number one right receiver at that time in the league.
[00:30:24] I said, well, he didn't know who I was either.
[00:30:30] And that reminds me, you know, Steve just wanted, especially in that environment, to kind of slide below the radar
[00:30:40] And in the same way when Jesus came 2,000 years ago and his birth slid under the radar because many people were expecting a Messiah who would be like King David.
[00:30:53] Someone who would come and through power overcome Roman rule.
[00:30:58] They were looking for a Messiah King who would be like King Solomon and return Israel to the richest nation on earth at that time.
[00:31:10] They were looking for someone who would be a political leader who would rule and force change to happen.
[00:31:17] And along comes Jesus, hanging out with sinners, tax collectors, social outcasts, even prostitutes.
[00:31:24] Touching lepers and unclean people like the woman who had a bleeding problem for 12 years, healing blind beggars, all kinds of people with physical and mental handicaps.
[00:31:39] And Jesus introduces what I like to call an upside-down kingdom.
[00:31:45] Where he says to enter, you have to come like a little child.
[00:31:48] Love your enemies.
[00:31:50] Pray for those who persecute you.
[00:31:52] Do good to those who hate you.
[00:31:54] He says giving is better than receiving.
[00:31:58] And to be first, you have to learn to put yourself last.
[00:32:03] He cast a radical vision when he said in Matthew chapter 23,
[00:32:09] The greatest among you will be your servant.
[00:32:13] It is an upside-down kingdom that is, I believe, still extremely radical today.
[00:32:20] I remember telling my daughter when she was a little girl about this idea.
[00:32:23] Jesus said, if someone slaps you, turn your cheek.
[00:32:27] And she misunderstood.
[00:32:29] And she was quoted saying, if someone slaps you, turn your cheek and slap them back.
[00:32:34] It's kind of like a head fake, you know, to her.
[00:32:37] You get a jab back in there.
[00:32:40] But I believe that God wants us to really get this profound concept.
[00:32:48] And so just hours before he was arrested, he and his disciples are in a large guest room on the second floor of a building in Jerusalem.
[00:32:56] And they're eating a meal together.
[00:32:59] John 13, I want to begin there, but before I do, I want to challenge you to take your Bible and open it up or turn it on.
[00:33:07] If you have the YouVersion app, we talk about that a lot here at the Koch Church, you can open that app up and down in the bottom right corner it says Events, and you can find right now this message.
[00:33:17] I'm going to be using a lot of verses, and you'll get much more out of this if you're following along, so I want to encourage you to do that.
[00:33:25] So John tells us that it was before the feast of Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come.
[00:33:33] You may remember that his mother asked him at one point to do something about a problem at a wedding when they ran out of wine and Jesus said to her, my time has not yet come.
[00:33:45] But now his time has come.
[00:33:49] He's going to depart out of the world to the Father.
[00:33:51] Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end.
[00:33:56] Jesus loved His disciples.
[00:33:59] He called them His very own.
[00:34:01] They were His family.
[00:34:03] And I want you to know that Jesus loves you.
[00:34:07] Someone here needs to hear that.
[00:34:10] In the same way He loved His disciples, He loves you.
[00:34:14] And He wants you to be a part of His family if you're not yet a part.
[00:34:20] He had devoted Himself to them.
[00:34:22] He poured Himself into them for three years.
[00:34:25] And this is the goodbye meal.
[00:34:27] And Jesus wants to show His love.
[00:34:29] I like how an older translation puts the last part of that verse.
[00:34:33] He now showed them the full extent of His love.
[00:34:37] How do you show someone that you love them?
[00:34:39] How do you communicate love?
[00:34:41] How do you get that across?
[00:34:43] Serving demonstrates your love.
[00:34:46] John very famously said that God is love and Jesus shows us that that love is demonstrated by serving.
[00:34:57] If you want to communicate your love, you want to reach someone, you do it by serving them and humbling them, humbling yourself as a servant.
[00:35:06] If your spouse is stubborn, maybe inflexible, maybe they've been hardened by your attitudes, your abuse, your verbal abuse, or your neglect, and maybe you wanna start over, you wanna do over, but you don't know how to change things.
[00:35:22] To melt a hard heart, to reach someone who is distant and indifferent, serving shows the depth, the realness, and the rawness of your love.
[00:35:30] This is how Jesus got through to people he served.
[00:35:33] Now, talk is important.
[00:35:35] You need to say that you love people.
[00:35:37] You need to tell people that you're sorry.
[00:35:39] Telling your children, your spouse, your friends that you love them, that's crucial.
[00:35:43] But at some point, love must be demonstrated.
[00:35:47] This is why Jesus served so much.
[00:35:49] At one point he said, I came here not to be served, but to serve others and to give my life as a ransom for many.
[00:35:58] He could have sat in heaven and told us about his love.
[00:36:01] And God did that through the prophets and through the Old Testament.
[00:36:05] and that was a great thing.
[00:36:07] But coming here and serving is even better because it proves that God loves us.
[00:36:14] Jesus spent three years serving people.
[00:36:17] Serving is not just what Jesus did, it's who Jesus is.
[00:36:23] John tells us in verse three,
[00:36:26] about what Jesus was thinking.
[00:36:28] That's what I like about the Gospel of John.
[00:36:30] It's a little bit different than the other Gospels because he tells us what's going on in Jesus' mind.
[00:36:36] Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and he was going back to God, rose up from supper, he laid aside his garments, and taking on a towel, he tied it around his waist, and then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
[00:37:02] Now, when you know who you are,
[00:37:05] Where you came from, where you're going, and you understand what God's doing and whose you are, you then have the confidence to serve people because you know that you're making a difference, you understand what's happening, and you know that what you're doing matters and that it's important.
[00:37:23] Jesus didn't serve because he was weak.
[00:37:26] He wasn't a doormat.
[00:37:28] People weren't taking advantage of him.
[00:37:30] Jesus served because he was powerful.
[00:37:34] Serving actually shows strength and not weakness.
[00:37:41] Jesus wasn't forced to die on the cross.
[00:37:44] They didn't grab him and arrest him and take him.
[00:37:48] Ephesians says that Christ loved us, loved you, and he gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.
[00:37:58] He gave himself up.
[00:38:01] Matthew, Jesus says, don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, but if I did, how would scriptures be fulfilled?
[00:38:12] I like that old chorus, maybe you've heard it.
[00:38:14] He could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set him free, but he died alone for you and for me.
[00:38:24] When Jesus died freely for you and for me, it was the ultimate act of serving.
[00:38:32] Jesus was taking my place.
[00:38:34] He was taking your place on the cross because he loved you so much.
[00:38:40] He died for you and he died for me to prove that he loved you.
[00:38:45] You may be wondering, how do I know that God loves me?
[00:38:47] In one act that's still good for all times, he demonstrated how much he loved you.
[00:38:54] And even if you were the only one, he still would have died for you.
[00:38:58] That death is for every one of us personally.
[00:39:01] And I want you to know that God loves you.
[00:39:04] And some people wonder about how do I know that God's real?
[00:39:07] And you hear old people say, you'll hear them say that no one can prove God, there's no proof.
[00:39:13] The proof is when God's Holy Spirit begins to tug at your heart.
[00:39:17] And God begins to put on your heart that He loves you.
[00:39:21] And you begin to feel His realness.
[00:39:23] That's the proof that you're looking for right now.
[00:39:26] God can be proved.
[00:39:28] What greater proof is it than what happens inside your heart and your mind as God calls you to Him?
[00:39:34] And so Jesus said, I know I came for the Father.
[00:39:36] I know I'm going back to the Father.
[00:39:39] And he's washing their feet and he comes to Simon Peter in verse 6 who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?
[00:39:46] Kind of blew his mind, right?
[00:39:47] And Jesus answered him, what I'm doing you don't understand now, but afterwards you will understand.
[00:39:55] And Peter said to him, you'll never wash my feet.
[00:39:59] Luke's gospel gives us more insight into what's going on right here.
[00:40:04] Luke said that about this time in the evening, they had begun to argue among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the kingdom.
[00:40:13] And Jesus told them,
[00:40:14] In this world, the kings and great men order their people around.
[00:40:19] But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.
[00:40:26] Normally, a master sits at the table and is served by his servants, but not here, for I am your servant, the servant king.
[00:40:38] What was happening is Peter was struggling with his own pride.
[00:40:41] The disciples had repeatedly argued about who was the greatest.
[00:40:46] It was a pride issue.
[00:40:47] And in that day, the lowest, the least, most important person would wash the feet of the group.
[00:40:53] And here they are to honor Jesus.
[00:40:56] It's at his last meal with his closest friends.
[00:40:59] And no one wanted to be the foot washer.
[00:41:02] That was something that was common.
[00:41:04] There were dusty roads.
[00:41:05] They had open sandals they ate sitting down on the floor.
[00:41:08] It's a practical matter that someone would want to help wash up and clean up.
[00:41:13] And so no one wanted to do it.
[00:41:14] Jesus got up and started washing feet.
[00:41:17] He did what no one wanted to do.
[00:41:20] See, serving is the antidote to our pride.
[00:41:23] You know, pride's really hard to see in our own lives.
[00:41:25] You know what I mean?
[00:41:27] It's easier to see in someone else, but it's really hard to root pride out of your own heart.
[00:41:36] Serving is the antidote.
[00:41:37] If you really want to grow as a person, if you want to mature as a Christian,
[00:41:41] Just do what no one else wants to do.
[00:41:44] And there's plenty of that.
[00:41:46] And you can see it really obvious.
[00:41:47] You'll be in a group, no one wants to do it.
[00:41:50] You just get up and be the one that does it.
[00:41:52] This is so upside down.
[00:41:54] And today, even business classes in college talk about servant leadership.
[00:41:59] That idea came from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:42:01] But most people think of serving as being demeaning.
[00:42:05] It means being to the subservient.
[00:42:09] My wife was shopping in a department store and she heard one woman ask another lady about a certain shoe.
[00:42:16] It was that classic mistake.
[00:42:18] She thought a customer was the salesperson.
[00:42:20] And the second lady overreacted in an unmistakable way.
[00:42:25] She said, I do not work here.
[00:42:28] And her tone said it all.
[00:42:30] She was nicely dressed, meticulous, and very attractive.
[00:42:34] You could tell she had been humiliated to have been mistaken for a lowly shoe clerk.
[00:42:40] And then there were more words that were exchanged that made it very clear she even thought she was better than the other lady.
[00:42:48] To be a servant, you have to be willing to be mistaken for someone who is less than.
[00:42:55] You have to be willing to be mistaken for a servant.
[00:42:59] And I love how so many of you have done that here at the Cove Church.
[00:43:03] Rob Monson passed away not too long ago.
[00:43:05] He was an amazing trauma surgeon in the Charlotte area.
[00:43:10] When President Bush visited Charlotte, they requested Rob to be on standby the entire time he was in the area in case something would happen to the president.
[00:43:21] One of Rob's favorite things was being on our parking team here at the Cove Church.
[00:43:26] That and Michigan football.
[00:43:29] And he was this...
[00:43:31] Really prestigious surgeon and he's out parking and many people didn't know that.
[00:43:37] Rob saved a lot of lives on the operating table and he also helped the church save a lot of souls in this church.
[00:43:44] Or maybe Dr. Campbell was your physician.
[00:43:47] He also worked and served here.
[00:43:49] He was in the production team helping us capture our broadcast our services and he led a lot of people to Christ in that way.
[00:43:58] Both of those men have passed away now, but their serving will make a difference for eternity.
[00:44:04] And so many of you, I want you to get this, and I want to thank you.
[00:44:08] So many of you are so humble and you quietly serve, and it makes a difference that will last for eternity.
[00:44:15] The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5,
[00:44:17] We need to learn how to humble our own selves.
[00:44:28] You know what I'm talking about?
[00:44:30] How do you grow in humility?
[00:44:31] You overcome your pride by serving.
[00:44:35] And I know it was humbling for Peter to have to sit there and allow Jesus to wash his feet, but it had to be humbling for Jesus also.
[00:44:44] Here Jesus is just hours away from his death on the cross.
[00:44:47] One of the last things he finds himself doing is one of the lowest jobs of any servant's duties, to wash feet.
[00:44:55] Not just a couple of feet.
[00:44:57] Imagine 20 more stinking, dirty, smelly feet.
[00:45:03] It wouldn't have been as hard to wash the Apostle John's feet.
[00:45:07] I mean, they were really good friends.
[00:45:09] But what about when the wash basin and the pitcher are slid over to the next guy and you look up and it's Judas.
[00:45:17] You've invested three years into someone and they sell you out for money.
[00:45:20] Because in just a few hours, Judas is going to betray Jesus with a kiss.
[00:45:25] And Jesus is on his knees and he washes Judas' feet.
[00:45:30] It takes real humility to serve even when you've been betrayed or you've been hurt or when people don't appreciate you.
[00:45:39] You know, ever been in that situation where you feel like, man, I don't think anybody really cares about what I'm doing.
[00:45:44] They don't get it.
[00:45:45] I believe the most difficult thing you'll ever do is to serve your wife or your husband.
[00:45:51] When you think they don't deserve it, it's very difficult.
[00:45:54] Or maybe your boss or your ex or your neighbor.
[00:45:59] Man, Jesus knew what he was doing when he told us that we had to love our neighbor.
[00:46:04] Sometimes they're crossing all kinds of boundaries there.
[00:46:07] Or maybe you're nursing a grudge, or you have a long-standing bitterness or a resentment.
[00:46:13] How do you get over that?
[00:46:15] You serve.
[00:46:16] I want to challenge you husbands to serve your wives.
[00:46:20] Fill their car with gas, even though it's their car, they should take care of it.
[00:46:25] And wives, fix your husband's favorite meal.
[00:46:29] I hope my wife is hearing this.
[00:46:33] You may know he can cook or eat out.
[00:46:35] We resist that naturally, don't we?
[00:46:38] A man was suffering from severe anxiety.
[00:46:41] While he was at the doctor's office, the doctor asked to speak privately with his wife.
[00:46:45] The doctor told her, we're going to have to provide him with a complete rest, a period of total quiet.
[00:46:52] And she said, I suggest that you prepare him his favorite breakfast when he gets up in the morning, and when he gets home, have his meal ready, and then encourage him to rest and be as affectionate as you can be, be cooperative.
[00:47:06] And then the doctor told her very seriously, if you don't follow my advice, I'm afraid your husband's going to die.
[00:47:11] Well, after visiting on the way home, her husband asked, so what did the doctor have to say?
[00:47:16] She said, honey, the doctor said you're going to die.
[00:47:22] It's not easy, is it?
[00:47:27] But it's the key, serving is the key to humbling yourself and being willing to do whatever God wants me to do, to obey.
[00:47:35] Look at what Jesus said.
[00:47:36] When he finished, he said,
[00:47:39] I've set you an example that you should do as I've done for you.
[00:47:45] So this is an example for us to follow and a command for us to obey.
[00:47:50] A servant doesn't choose who they will serve or when they will serve.
[00:47:56] They obey.
[00:47:56] Serving shows that I'm being obedient.
[00:47:59] Jesus didn't get to Judas and then just throw in the towel and say, no, not him, that's far enough.
[00:48:05] I want to encourage you to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and learn to trust your own ability to hear God here on the inside telling you that He wants you to serve and then just obey the voice of the Holy Spirit.
[00:48:20] That's really the way to live the Christian life.
[00:48:22] I love Henry Blackaby, he was an old school preacher from years ago, and he said, whenever you see God at work, that's your invitation to join Him.
[00:48:32] Some people say, where's God?
[00:48:33] What do I do?
[00:48:34] When you see God doing something, he's allowed you to see that so that he can invite you in.
[00:48:40] And so listen to the Holy Spirit and follow him.
[00:48:44] In Colossians, in chapter three, verse 23, God tells us, he says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not people.
[00:48:54] It is the Lord Christ you're serving.
[00:48:57] And so humbly obey and remember, don't worry about that person and maybe you've got a problem.
[00:49:03] You're serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:49:05] Now with Peter, Jesus answered him eventually and he said to Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no share with me.
[00:49:14] Jesus said to Peter, you'll understand later that Peter's always impulsive if you know him.
[00:49:20] He's always saying the wrong thing and jumping to the wrong conclusion.
[00:49:24] He said, Lord, wash my hands and my head too, not just my feet.
[00:49:27] He's like, give me a whole bath.
[00:49:29] He doesn't understand.
[00:49:30] He still managed to miss the point.
[00:49:33] And here's the thing.
[00:49:34] You have to be willing to serve even when you don't understand it.
[00:49:38] You don't get it all.
[00:49:40] Because serving is an act of faith.
[00:49:42] You have to trust God.
[00:49:43] And we talk about this a lot when it comes to money.
[00:49:46] Because the principles are really clear about money.
[00:49:48] It's a test of your faith that if you'll give and all that, that God will come through.
[00:49:52] But serving is very much like that.
[00:49:56] You have to trust God that He knows, that He's in control, that He has a plan, that if you obey Him, He will bless that.
[00:50:06] And so you don't understand, but you listen down here and you take that next step.
[00:50:11] My wife Carrie and I got involved in serving when we were 20 years old.
[00:50:16] We were invited by the pastor.
[00:50:18] He addressed the young couples in the church.
[00:50:20] He said, hey, we really need you to serve in the nursery.
[00:50:23] I could say that for our church right now.
[00:50:25] We really need you.
[00:50:25] And so Carrie and I said, okay.
[00:50:27] I said, well, in one condition, no diapers.
[00:50:30] We'll do that.
[00:50:32] But we went and we served.
[00:50:34] And the two-year-old, they put it in the two-year-old class.
[00:50:36] And we were in there serving.
[00:50:38] And there was a set of twins in there, two-year-old twins.
[00:50:42] Girl Twins, and they had that twin language, you know, they kind of speak for each other.
[00:50:46] We couldn't understand it.
[00:50:47] We kept asking, what'd you say, what'd you say?
[00:50:50] And the pastor's little smirnicky three-year-old said, I don't know why you're in here if you can't hear baby talk, you know?
[00:50:56] And I said, well, I don't know why I'm in here either, you know?
[00:51:00] Just following God.
[00:51:02] I was only in there for a couple of weeks and the pastor came to me and he said, we want you to teach the 35 to 55 year olds, which was a mind blower.
[00:51:11] I'd never done anything like that.
[00:51:13] I thought, what can I tell?
[00:51:14] I'm 20.
[00:51:14] You don't always understand what God's doing.
[00:51:17] But I agreed to do it.
[00:51:19] And God used it and brought me along and you don't always know.
[00:51:25] But you just start out on this journey and follow the Holy Spirit like Jeff and Natalie Stormett did.
[00:51:31] Jeff came to faith in Christ here at the Cove Church and God really started to work in his life and in Natalie's life.
[00:51:39] They had a real heart for children and they'd seen so much poverty and just problems with children and the Statesville area where they live.
[00:51:50] And so Jeff's son said, Dad, the boys I hang out with, we would love to have a little Bible study.
[00:51:56] And Jeff told me, he said, I didn't know anything about the Bible.
[00:51:59] So he started listening to it as he was driving about.
[00:52:04] And so they brought some boys over.
[00:52:06] I think it was four boys the first night.
[00:52:09] And they came and they had a meal and then they studied the Bible and then they went out and they played football.
[00:52:17] and the next week they had eight, couple months later they had 30.
[00:52:22] And I was just beginning to wonder, what do I do with this?
[00:52:24] He's got a day job, he's got this thing happening all around him.
[00:52:28] He told me that about that time he started having a reoccurring dream and in that dream there was a football stadium full of kids and they were playing football and people were worshiping God with their hands raised.
[00:52:39] And he was embarrassed to talk about that.
[00:52:42] But one night after having that dream he woke up and he realized that Natalie was awake also.
[00:52:47] And he asked her, you know, why are you awake?
[00:52:49] And she said, well, why are you awake?
[00:52:51] And he was embarrassed, but he told her about that dream.
[00:52:55] And she said, I just had the very same dream.
[00:52:58] And so they were just struggling with this.
[00:53:01] And so he'd taken his little buddies to see Facing the Giants.
[00:53:07] Do you remember that movie?
[00:53:07] It was about a football team that really followed God.
[00:53:11] And then he was in church and sitting right over here in this area, I believe it was on this Morrisville campus.
[00:53:18] He was praying during the message.
[00:53:19] I think he admitted that he kind of lost track of even what was being said.
[00:53:23] He was just praying and struggling with God about all of this and saying, God, I need a sign.
[00:53:28] And about that time, he opened his eyes from praying during the message, and the lights had gone dark in the auditorium.
[00:53:34] We turned them down, and the screens came on, and we played a clip from that movie they had just seen facing the giants.
[00:53:41] And that was the sign.
[00:53:42] He'd been asking for a sign, and there it was on the screen, really large.
[00:53:47] And he said, I've given God an ultimatum.
[00:53:49] I need a sign or I'm going to move on.
[00:53:51] Today, they have almost 400 boys in discipleship.
[00:53:56] They kind of follow the same pattern.
[00:53:59] They beat them a meal.
[00:54:01] They train them about the Bible.
[00:54:03] They have academic support.
[00:54:07] They have sports support and college prep.
[00:54:11] They've beat 70,000 meals this year.
[00:54:14] The older kids helped to...
[00:54:17] Mentor the younger kids.
[00:54:20] They've had 6,000 salvations over these years at Power Cross and their events.
[00:54:27] That's a conservative number.
[00:54:29] Those kids have received over $10 million in free college scholarships.
[00:54:35] Now they not only know Jesus, but they have an education and a future.
[00:54:40] I want to encourage you, don't wait to start serving until you understand it all.
[00:54:46] Get going, get moving, start small and see where God takes you.
[00:54:51] Now you might ask me, you know, Mike, why do you want me to serve?
[00:54:54] I'm so busy.
[00:54:57] I don't know the Bible.
[00:54:59] You know, the Bible is full of folks with all kinds of excuses.
[00:55:02] Jeremiah was too young.
[00:55:03] Gideon was too weak.
[00:55:05] Moses was like the king.
[00:55:07] He's got this list of excuses.
[00:55:09] He said, I can't speak.
[00:55:11] They won't believe me.
[00:55:12] I feel unworthy.
[00:55:13] And eventually, on this list, it goes on.
[00:55:15] He says, Lord, please send somebody else.
[00:55:19] Why is this so important?
[00:55:22] You don't understand what God might be doing.
[00:55:24] You guys remember the movie Karate Kid?
[00:55:27] I'm talking about one, not two, okay?
[00:55:30] I'm sorry.
[00:55:30] One was, that was it.
[00:55:33] If you somehow missed that in our culture, the story is that young Daniel wants to learn karate.
[00:55:40] He goes to Mr. Miyagi, the karate master, and
[00:55:44] Mr. Miyagi tells him, first I want you to wash and wax my cars.
[00:55:49] You know, wash on, wax off, wax on, wax off.
[00:55:53] But if you forget, it was eight of his antique cars, a lot of cars, and he had to wash them.
[00:56:00] and make sure that it was good he's doing this motion he's waxing on he's waxing off and then he had to do his fence scrape and paint his fence with this motion up and down and then sand the floor in his house again and at one point Daniel's just going to give up he doesn't understand him but eventually he realizes that those motions were necessary to strengthen his arms
[00:56:26] And he didn't understand, while he was serving, doing seemingly meaningless chores, that he was also strengthening the very specific muscles for those similar motions in karate that he would use.
[00:56:40] Obedience to the karate master, Mr. Byagi, held the secret to Daniel's success.
[00:56:46] And in the same way, God wants you to serve, often for reasons that you don't understand or they don't make sense, but God uses the act of serving to strengthen you spiritually.
[00:56:59] So don't go through life being a spiritual 90-pound weakling.
[00:57:05] You become stronger spiritually as you serve.
[00:57:09] Jesus told them after he washed their feet, Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
[00:57:18] Knowing God's Word is great, but a big blessing comes when you do God's Word.
[00:57:24] To be blessed means that you have God's favor, you're happy, you have joy in your life.
[00:57:31] You have provisions.
[00:57:32] You see God at work.
[00:57:33] And I'm convinced that one of the reasons that many Christians today are not happy is because they haven't discovered the joy of serving others.
[00:57:42] You can't serve without being blessed.
[00:57:45] Serving will bless you in return.
[00:57:48] If you give your life to others,
[00:57:50] God will honor that.
[00:57:52] You can't out-bless God.
[00:57:54] You can't out-obey Him.
[00:57:56] If you follow Him, He's gonna honor that.
[00:57:58] You know, the first blessing that comes to mind when you serve is you'll discover your spiritual gifts.
[00:58:03] You'll discover your destiny.
[00:58:05] When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of you.
[00:58:09] And one of the first things that God does is He gives you a spiritual gift that you can use.
[00:58:15] This is part of your destiny.
[00:58:17] Maybe you've run into the word predestination in church.
[00:58:19] Some people misunderstand that to be about your salvation.
[00:58:22] It's not about your salvation.
[00:58:24] It's about your giftedness.
[00:58:27] John the Baptist had a predestined call upon his life to be the forerunner for the Messiah.
[00:58:33] It wasn't his salvation that was predestined.
[00:58:36] It was the work that he was going to do.
[00:58:38] And in the same way, God has a work for you.
[00:58:41] He has gifts that he wants to give you.
[00:58:42] He has a destiny for you.
[00:58:44] And I want to get you going on that journey of finding out how God's gifted you and what He has for you to do, the work that you have to do.
[00:58:53] Could you imagine once you begin to discover your spiritual gifts and you begin to see what God has planned for you, how much fulfillment there is in that, how much purpose and meaning
[00:59:05] To know and to begin to understand what you're supposed to be doing here on this planet.
[00:59:10] Another blessing that comes to mind is reaching people for Jesus.
[00:59:14] You know, it may not be obvious why it's so important to do certain things.
[00:59:19] Show people where to park their cars or stand at the door and greet people or have coffee ready.
[00:59:25] But those simple ways of serving have an impact.
[00:59:28] They put visitors at ease.
[00:59:30] They help people find their way or lessen the awkwardness of a first visit.
[00:59:35] A 300-pound man can hide behind a 10-ounce cup of coffee.
[00:59:39] And when you serve, you're preparing people who don't know Jesus Christ.
[00:59:44] You're setting the stage.
[00:59:46] You're making all the preparations so they can be brought into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:59:52] You're preparing a special meeting.
[00:59:54] And every week, someone comes to faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:59:58] And I want to thank you for that.
[01:00:00] and just remind you it has an eternal impact.
[01:00:05] I want to thank those of you that are serving as life group leaders or maybe you have a host home for our life groups or in Celebrate Recovery or Grief Share or Divorce Care or maybe you're on a setup team or the build team or the devotion team.
[01:00:18] There are a lot of people working behind the scenes that you'll never see or administration team or worship team or production.
[01:00:25] Cove Kids takes a lot of serving, and I want to thank you for the work that you do in those children's lives.
[01:00:33] You know, people ask me what I'm doing in my retirement.
[01:00:35] One of the things that I've started doing is hanging out with our students on Wednesday night.
[01:00:41] I serve their sort, I guess.
[01:00:42] I don't really know what I'm doing there.
[01:00:45] I mean, I've been there for a while.
[01:00:46] People say, what are you doing?
[01:00:48] I feel like they're giving me more than I'm getting, but I show up, and I go into the breakout session in a small group,
[01:00:55] With Avery and Brad, they're two brothers that serve and lead those boys over there, and it's great serving with them.
[01:01:02] Avery's actually a wildlife officer, and I think that's a perfect fit for those middle school boys.
[01:01:08] I think he should wear his uniform, gun, handcuffs, all of it, you know, just perfect.
[01:01:16] Recently, Avery found himself in a position where he had to jump off the boat.
[01:01:20] There was a woman that was drowning.
[01:01:22] And he grabbed her.
[01:01:23] He saved her.
[01:01:24] And everybody's making a big deal about it, he said, you know.
[01:01:28] They wanted to put him on some cover of some magazine for the wildlife.
[01:01:33] And he's just downplaying it.
[01:01:36] And I understand that.
[01:01:38] He said, it's just in the normal course.
[01:01:39] You're just there.
[01:01:40] You just jump in.
[01:01:41] It's not a big deal.
[01:01:42] But in hearing about the story, it was a big deal to the woman.
[01:01:46] Because she really was drowning.
[01:01:48] And she said, he saved my life.
[01:01:52] Now to you, what you're doing may not seem like a big deal.
[01:01:55] It's a little thing, but you're making a difference for eternity.
[01:02:01] I told Avery and Brad that one day, maybe 30, 40, even 50 years later, you're gonna be getting calls from these boys, and they're gonna be saying, you made a difference in my life.
[01:02:13] You changed the direction of my life.
[01:02:14] You saved my life.
[01:02:16] And I know because I've made that call to my youth leader.
[01:02:19] Thank you, the people that have affected my life growing up.
[01:02:24] And a third reason, one day God will reward you for serving.
[01:02:28] There's a reward that will last for eternity.
[01:02:31] There's not one verse in the Bible that says God's going to reward everyone equally.
[01:02:36] Did you know that?
[01:02:37] Listen to Ephesians 6.
[01:02:38] Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good that we do.
[01:02:43] Salvation's free, but there are varying degrees of reward in heaven.
[01:02:49] Listen to Ephesians in chapter 6.
[01:02:50] Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward every one of us for whatever good they do.
[01:03:03] Jesus even encouraged us to serve for a reward.
[01:03:08] That sounds wrong, doesn't it?
[01:03:09] It sounds like a bad motive.
[01:03:10] I'm just serving for a reward.
[01:03:12] But in Luke, in chapter 12, Jesus said, listen to this,
[01:03:16] Be dressed for service and be prepared as though you're waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast.
[01:03:23] Then you'll be ready to open the door, let him in the moment he arrives and knocks.
[01:03:28] There will be special favor for those who are ready and waiting for his return.
[01:03:33] I tell you, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat.
[01:03:40] Whoever comes, when he comes, there will be special favor for his servants who are ready.
[01:03:48] And when Peter heard this, he asked, he said, Lord, is this illustration for us or for everyone?
[01:03:53] And I get it, because when you look at this, what it's saying is that when we die and go to heaven, that Jesus is gonna serve us.
[01:04:03] And we're all gonna have our Peter moment, right?
[01:04:06] Even right now, you're thinking,
[01:04:08] When we think about Jesus, we think about him like in a robe, serving the disciples, dusty road.
[01:04:15] But he went back to heaven and he was glorified again.
[01:04:19] We understand that he left his glory, he left his power, he came to earth, but he went back.
[01:04:23] He's the king of kings.
[01:04:24] He's in the throne room of God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
[01:04:28] He's the creator of heaven and earth.
[01:04:30] Surely he wouldn't still be doing that.
[01:04:32] But you notice that when Jesus, after he was resurrected, he came back to meet his disciples at the Sea of Galilee, and he was in his resurrected body, he was glorified.
[01:04:45] And he fixed them bread and fish, and he served them.
[01:04:51] Because serving is not what he did, it's who he is.
[01:04:54] It demonstrates his love.
[01:04:56] And I believe this is gonna happen literally.
[01:04:58] And we're gonna be in heaven, and Jesus is going to
[01:05:03] Serve us.
[01:05:03] Jesus replied to Peter.
[01:05:05] He said, I'm talking to any faithful servant to whom the master gives responsibility.
[01:05:11] If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.
[01:05:16] Imagine that.
[01:05:18] The Lord Jesus in heaven bringing out food, filling our glasses.
[01:05:23] You know, we're gonna be in a resurrected body and you might find it hard to believe, but I believe there's gonna be reward like that.
[01:05:30] And you know, one of the greatest ways that he served us was on the cross.
[01:05:36] I don't know if you ever thought about that, but we deserve to be on that cross.
[01:05:40] He took our sins, he became sin for us and did what we could not do.
[01:05:46] and died for you on the cross.
[01:05:51] So right now, I'm just letting the Holy Spirit speak for a moment to those of you that have not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
[01:06:02] And you're wondering, is there a God?
[01:06:04] Right now, I want you to just take a moment within your own self and you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit drawing you.
[01:06:13] That's the proof you're looking for.
[01:06:16] The battle that's going on in your heart and mind right now is the evidence of the realness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:06:28] And do you know the number one reason, in my experience, I think scripture would back this up, the number one reason people don't receive Christ is because of pride.
[01:06:37] It's not because of the dinosaurs, okay?
[01:06:40] You know what I mean?
[01:06:41] It's not because of all these other things that people bring up.
[01:06:45] It's because of pride.
[01:06:47] Because in a moment like this, you'd have to admit that I was wrong, that I've been rebellious, that I've sinned, that I've hurt people.
[01:06:57] You have to admit in a moment like this, I need a savior.
[01:07:00] And it's very humbling to do.
[01:07:05] So I wanna give you an opportunity right now.
[01:07:07] Will's gonna come up with me.
[01:07:08] Will wants to lead us in a moment.
[01:07:10] We're gonna pray for some
[01:07:13] Healing and health in our church.
[01:07:15] There's some illness.
[01:07:17] But first, we want to give you an opportunity to respond to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:07:21] Can I get you to stand up?
[01:07:22] Let's all stand together.
[01:07:26] Let's bow our heads.
[01:07:28] Let me pray for us in an attitude of prayer.
[01:07:33] Lord Jesus, we come before you.
[01:07:34] Thank you for serving us.
[01:07:37] Thank you for being the servant king.
[01:07:40] Thank you for the invitation to come into this upside-down kingdom, Lord.
[01:07:44] We pray that you help us to live this message out, these radical statements you've made, Lord Jesus, to live them.
[01:07:54] Lord, I want to pray right now for people that don't know you as their Savior.
[01:07:58] I'm going to pray for the person you felt God tugging at your heart.
[01:08:03] That's your evidence.
[01:08:04] That's your proof.
[01:08:07] I want to challenge you to overcome your pride and say, Jesus, I believe.
[01:08:11] I believe you're real, and I'm coming to you and asking you to forgive me, cleanse me, change my heart.
[01:08:20] I want to turn from my way of living, and I want to live for you.
[01:08:26] I'm going to follow you the best of my ability all my life.
[01:08:29] I want to be a Christian.
[01:08:31] I want to be your follower.
[01:08:33] Would you save me?
[01:08:34] You'll come into your heart, and He'll save you.
[01:08:37] Father, thank you.
[01:08:38] Thank you, Father, for those who are being saved right now.
[01:08:41] Make that your prayer.
[01:08:42] This is something you have to do for yourself, praying from your own heart.
[01:08:50] And in much the same way, for those of us who are following Him,
[01:08:55] You have to go on the journey to find your spiritual gifts yourself.
[01:08:59] It's a journey you have to go on.
[01:09:02] No one's going to be able to tell you, oh, this, that.
[01:09:05] No, you're going to have to learn that.
[01:09:07] I want to encourage you to start that journey.
[01:09:09] Say yes to that journey.
[01:09:13] Say, God, I want to just listen to the Holy Spirit.
[01:09:16] I want to be obedient and follow your example.
[01:09:20] Thank you, Father.
[01:09:20] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:09:22] Amen.

[01:09:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Amen.
[01:09:24] Church, we're going to continue to pray together.
[01:09:26] We're going to have the prayer team come on forward right now.
[01:09:30] If you're on the prayer team or on staff here, would you come on forward?
[01:09:33] You know, it has been a heavy spiritual week.
[01:09:39] both in the life of the cove and I know in many of your lives as well and you know I know sometimes we reach a point where uh you know we we try to do the right things we try to take the right next steps but so often with a diagnosis or with marriage struggles or grieving or mental health you reach a point where you just go man I I don't have the answers and you know sometimes the only thing we can do is come to God in a moment of prayer and desperation and so I want to
[01:10:08] invite you if you have a prayer request this Christmas season maybe you're carrying some weight I want to invite you to come on down and let someone pray with you we're here to pray with you I want to let you know about some of the things going on in the church I mean obviously many of us heard about the Biffle family and we're praying for them many of you heard we lost a staff member who
[01:10:31] We had served here for 20 years.
[01:10:33] He just retired this year, Bob Austin, and he passed away.
[01:10:37] We honored his life and buried him yesterday.
[01:10:40] And then on top of that, there's a prayer request I want us all to be praying for as a church, and that's still ongoing right now, and that's Jennifer Quick, who we prayed for her a while ago.
[01:10:51] I don't know if you remember.
[01:10:52] She's our worship leader, and she had lung cancer, and she was going in for surgery, and the surgery actually went really well.
[01:10:59] um she was out but then it got infected and thursday they took her into the hospital and she ended up in septic shock and they were the official diagnosis 34 year old mom of two worship leader here with us um and uh the diagnosis was basically i believe it got to the point the doctors were saying it's a non-zero chance that she'll win as in
[01:11:24] There's not no chance, but whatever the closest thing to zero is, that's kind of where we're at right now.
[01:11:30] They didn't have any answers, they did the surgery, they did all other things, and our body just wasn't fighting this infection.
[01:11:36] And they were like, our body's just shutting down, you know?
[01:11:39] I have exciting news to report that 30 hours ago Jennifer's body woke up you know out of nowhere and has been just fighting and we're still a long way from out of the woods on that you know I want to be really clear she's still in septic shock but her body's fighting and the doctors are even though we don't really know why her body suddenly started fighting but it is fighting now there's so many people
[01:12:03] I'm praying for her.
[01:12:04] I mean, I think we know.
[01:12:05] I'm like, they're going to be looking a while because I don't know if they're going to find the answer.
[01:12:10] you know that God is showing up in an amazing way and so I want to invite you to be praying for Jennifer and the Quick family as well but right now even as we're praying together I want to invite you to come on down if you're here today and you're carrying anything or you're at a point in your life with some things where you're going I'm so tired of trying to carry this myself I just need to surrender it to God because I don't have any other answers you know I can't figure it all out and so
[01:12:36] Would you come forward and pray right now as we pray together?
[01:12:39] Let's bow our heads together, church, and let's pray.
[01:12:40] Father God, we come to you today and we just lift up all the spiritual weight in the room right now.
[01:12:49] We lift up the Biffle family and all those affected by that tragedy.
[01:12:54] We lift up the Austin family.
[01:12:56] and God we lift up Jennifer specifically and the Quick family and we're praying uh God that in the middle of this situation where we we're so thankful for the doctors and the hospital and the surgeries and all those that you know have opportunities and answers but God we come to a point where we just go God if you don't show up this isn't gonna happen
[01:13:22] And so we just surrender this situation to you and ask boldly, as children can ask their father, Father, would you bring healing to Jennifer?
[01:13:31] Would you bring her body to healing?
[01:13:33] God, we're imagining a day when her husband, who wasn't supposed to walk, is up here drumming, and her dealing with tongue cancer is going to be up here worshiping.
[01:13:43] That God, it's going to be a testimony to your goodness, your faithfulness, your provision.
[01:13:49] That God, you are not finished, even in the darkest situations.
[01:13:54] And so God, our prayer is that we would see you work in miraculous ways.
[01:14:01] We know your word tells us that we can rejoice even in our suffering because suffering produces endurance.
[01:14:10] Endurance produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God, you always come through.
[01:14:18] Even when it's not the way we had imagined, you always show up.
[01:14:22] And so God, we surrender this situation, this situation that feels so heavy, that feels so broken.
[01:14:29] and we just surrender it to you and say God may your glory show through this situation we're praying and believing that you're going to bring healing to Jennifer we're asking that you do that in the name of Jesus we thank you for sending your son Jesus here that we might know you that we might see that we might see God in the flesh that we might know who you are the way you love the way you serve
[01:14:58] and and so God we thank you and we can come to you in the name of Jesus because Jesus has atoned our sins and so we can stand before the creator of the universe and ask boldly God do a miracle in the name of Jesus and so we surrender it to you we surrender each situation to you there's other diagnoses here there's other marriages that are struggling here and God we might be at a breaking point and right now we just we surrender those situations to you
[01:15:28] We trust you.
[01:15:30] We hand it to you.

[01:15:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Let me just encourage you to come.
[01:15:36] This is the time now for you to respond.
[01:15:38] I know there's a lot of sickness in this room.
[01:15:40] We know what's going on in our culture today and in our community today, and so I want to exhort you.
[01:15:47] I want to plead with you to come.
[01:15:48] This is what the church does.
[01:15:51] The church, we're told to gather together, pray together, to lay hands on one another, and that's what's happening now up front.
[01:15:58] Many of us long for that kind of thing.
[01:16:00] Let's be the church.
[01:16:01] So would you come?
[01:16:02] I know that maybe you have a problem, a health problem.
[01:16:06] Would you come?
[01:16:07] High blood pressure.
[01:16:08] I know there are people that have diabetes problems, sugar problems, arthritis.
[01:16:14] God says that we should pray for these things and believe that God will make a difference and heal.
[01:16:19] There's a lot of things going around, a lot of illness.
[01:16:22] It is humbling to walk down this aisle now with everybody looking around and watching.
[01:16:29] That's where the reward is when we humbly follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:16:32] So those of you that are struggling, maybe with anxiety or depression or struggling with any kind of a mental issue or in your marriage, would you come?
[01:16:45] Come on, would you come?
[01:16:46] Some of you, you're struggling with your marriage.
[01:16:48] Would you be the leader in your family right now, sir, and just take your wife's hand and just bring her down front and just grab her?
[01:16:58] Some of you prayed to receive Christ.
[01:16:59] Would you come let someone pray with you about that decision that you made?
[01:17:03] Would you come?
[01:17:04] Come.
[01:17:04] Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
[01:17:07] Let God do a work in your life.
[01:17:09] Would you come?
[01:17:12] Will's gonna pray in just a moment for your healing.
[01:17:15] Would you come on down front?
[01:17:16] Come.
[01:17:18] Be obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
[01:17:20] I see couples coming.
[01:17:21] I see people coming.
[01:17:23] Would you come?
[01:17:24] Don't miss this opportunity.

[01:17:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Mike touched on it.
[01:17:30] For some right now, it's pride.
[01:17:32] Pride's the thing that's holding you in that seat right now.
[01:17:37] Don't let pride hold you back.
[01:17:40] Mike talked about that today.
[01:17:41] For so many of us, it's pride that ultimately keeps us from just submitting to the Lord and just saying, all right, God, I got nothing.
[01:17:48] We're worried about what are people going to think if I walk down that aisle right now.
[01:17:54] Don't let pride hold you back.

[01:17:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Let God move in that way.
[01:17:57] Come on.

[01:17:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Let me pray for us.
[01:17:59] Father God, we thank you.
[01:18:00] We thank you so much that you are the ultimate provider.
[01:18:04] that God before anything else you know we we do our best we we have so many next steps that we can take but at the end of the day God nothing moves without you and so God every good thing comes from you every good gift comes from you and so God we surrender each and every one of these broken situations and we don't even have the answers on what that's gonna look like
[01:18:27] God, how are you going to use this?
[01:18:28] This is so broken.
[01:18:30] But at the end of the day, Lord, we just today surrender it to you and just say, here it is, God.
[01:18:35] Here's this diagnosis.
[01:18:36] It's a mess.
[01:18:37] Here's my life, God.
[01:18:38] It's a mess.
[01:18:40] Here's my marriage, God.
[01:18:41] It's a mess.
[01:18:42] But I'm believing that you work all things for good.
[01:18:45] And so today, Lord, I surrender it to you.
[01:18:48] I don't have all the answers.
[01:18:50] I don't know how you're going to use it.
[01:18:52] I don't know how you're going to fix it.
[01:18:54] I don't know how you're going to... Maybe what he's not going to do is fix it.
[01:18:56] He makes all things new.
[01:18:58] Thank you, God, that you make all things new.
[01:19:01] And so today, God, we surrender it to you.
[01:19:04] We trust you.
[01:19:05] We're reminded today that our faith is not our feeling.
[01:19:09] Faith is not the feeling of, oh, I never doubt anything.
[01:19:11] Faith is, am I willing to step forward even when I don't have the answer?
[01:19:19] Even when I have doubts?
[01:19:22] Lord, I believe.
[01:19:22] Help me with my unbelief.
[01:19:24] Would you make that your prayer today, church?
[01:19:27] Lord, I believe.
[01:19:28] I believe you can do an amazing thing.
[01:19:30] Help any part of me that doesn't.
[01:19:32] Help any part of me that is still holding back from you.
[01:19:34] Lord, I believe.
[01:19:36] I know on paper you can do all things.
[01:19:38] Give me the faith to believe that you will.
[01:19:41] And so, Lord, we surrender to you.
[01:19:44] We come before you.
[01:19:46] Lord, I believe.
[01:19:46] Help my unbelief.
[01:19:48] Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus.
[01:19:51] Thank you for saving us.
[01:19:53] Thank you for loving us and knowing us.
[01:19:55] God, what will you not do?
[01:19:58] We love you.
[01:19:58] We worship you.
[01:20:00] We praise you with our prayer.
[01:20:04] We come to you in the name of Jesus.
[01:20:06] Amen.
[01:20:08] Hey, our prayer team's gonna continue to pray up here.
[01:20:10] Let them do their thing.
[01:20:12] Ooh, we got some people praying today.
[01:20:14] Let's go, church.
[01:20:15] Hey, if you prayed to receive Christ today, that's an amazing thing.
[01:20:18] We can celebrate that still.
[01:20:19] Let's make some noise, celebrate those receiving Christ.
[01:20:23] If you prayed to receive Christ, make sure you come down here.
[01:20:26] We wanna pray with you.
[01:20:27] We want to pray with you.
[01:20:29] We want to encourage you.
[01:20:29] We want to help you on your next steps.
[01:20:31] Get a Bible in your hand.
[01:20:32] I want to remind you, get plugged in serving.
[01:20:35] If you're not yet serving this Christmas and you heard the message, I don't know what to tell you yet.
[01:20:39] You know, you need to go get plugged in to serve.
[01:20:41] I love you guys so much.
[01:20:42] Come on down.
[01:20:43] Our prayer team's going to hang out here as long as possible.
[01:20:45] We have people coming 20 minutes after the service still coming down to pray.
[01:20:49] So don't miss your opportunity.
[01:20:50] We have a prayer team who's here to pray with you.
[01:20:52] We love you guys, and we'll see you in a couple days for Christmas.
[01:20:56] Love you guys.

[01:22:40] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
and more.
[01:24:50] God Bless!
[01:26:22] In Jesus name we pray.
[01:26:46] Amen.