Walking Worthy: Grace, Weakness, and the Trap of Worldly Happiness

• Human Weakness and Divine Strength [01:21:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the theme by admitting his own physical exhaustion from a recent race, framing his weakness as an opportunity for the Lord to be strong.
• Divine Confirmation through Worship [01:21:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor notes that the worship team unknowingly sang songs that aligned with his intended message, which he interprets as the Holy Spirit confirming the direction of the sermon.
• The Road to Emmaus Metaphor [01:23:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor establishes the biblical narrative of Jesus walking with disciples on the road to Emmaus as the central metaphor for the sermon, focusing on the 'walk' and the context of Roman occupation.
• The Road to Emmaus / Discipleship Response [01:23:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the post-resurrection appearance on the road to Emmaus as a transition point to discuss what disciples should do after encountering Jesus.
• Roman Culture vs. Christian Culture [01:24:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the safety and excess of Roman civilization (Pax Romana, gladiators, vomitoriums) with the distinct, non-assimilating culture of Christ.
• Happiness vs. Joy/Peace [01:29:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that worldly happiness is a temporary chemical reaction and a 'counterfeit,' whereas biblical joy and peace are eternal fruits of the Spirit.
• The Metaphor of 'The Walk' [01:31:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes the biblical metaphor of 'walking' (used extensively by Paul) to illustrate the dichotomy between walking in the world's ways versus walking in God's light.
• Separation from the World [01:36:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the 'old way' of walking with the 'new creation' identity, citing Ephesians and the call to walk as children of light rather than in darkness.
• Walking Worthy/Appropriately [01:38:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > He defines 'walking worthy' through Ephesians 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, and Colossians 1:10, clarifying it means walking 'appropriately' and addressing recent scandals in church leadership as failures to meet this standard.
• Grace and Works [01:42:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > He reconciles the tension between salvation by grace and the expectation of good works, arguing that grace empowers believers to do good works rather than earning salvation through them.
• Reliance on the Spirit [01:47:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > He emphasizes that believers do not walk alone but are supported by the Holy Spirit, faith, and the community, using his own physical struggle with a race to illustrate dependence on God.
• Repentance and Revival [01:49:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > He calls for corporate and personal repentance, turning away from idolatry and cultural happiness to choose Christ, referencing the Old Testament model of revival.
• Revival and Idolatry [01:50:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines revival as a corporate turning away from idolatry and back to the Lord, connecting it to the song 'tear down my idols'.
• Christian Witness and Public Perception [01:50:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the need for Christians to be 'awesome' examples when the world sees negative examples of believers.
• Personal Repentance and Choice [01:51:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages choosing God over culture and immediate happiness, framing it as a decision to turn away from current choices.

• Sermon Illustration [01:19:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about a grueling hike in Acadia National Park with his older brother, and then details a recent 13-hour, 45-minute relay race from Asheville to Greenville with his family, including his 79-year-old father, which left him physically exhausted.
• Sermon Illustration [01:23:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Byron's previous Easter message about the two meals (Garden and Emmaus) and the disciples' eyes being opened. He then details the historical context of the Roman Empire, including the Pax Romana, concrete aqueducts, and the 'Vomitorium' used during seven-course meals to illustrate cultural excess. He also contrasts two biblical figures named Enoch: the first (son of Cain) who built the first city (representing worldly culture), and the second (from Adam's line) who 'walked with God' and did not see death.
• Sermon Illustration [01:29:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor puts his wife, Stephanie, on the spot to ask her how he feels about happiness. She correctly answers that he doesn't like it because it is temporary, which serves as a setup for his theological point about happiness being a fleeting chemical reaction rather than eternal joy.
• Sermon Illustration [01:44:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts his experience running the ninth leg of a 'beehive hike' race, describing the physical difficulty, the heat, and his knee injury from an Easter egg hunt, to illustrate how he had to keep walking even when miserable, relying on God's strength.
• Sermon Illustration [01:48:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > He shares a story about a friend named Kathy, a Tony Award-winning costume designer who hated his WWJD bracelet, to illustrate the social difficulty and judgment Christians face when living out their faith visibly.
• Sermon Illustration [01:50:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a personal moment of reflection triggered by Becky singing 'tear down my idols,' which resonated with his thoughts on the need for revival and turning away from idolatry.

• Pastoral Charge [01:05:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > Inviting Ivana Lawson to stand and come forward for prayer.
• Pastoral Charge [01:07:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > Inviting Jeremy and Lorena to come forward for prayer.
• Pastoral Charge [01:51:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > Repent of choosing worldly happiness and actively choose to walk with the Lord.
• Pastoral Charge [01:51:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Inviting Oliver to lead a prayer for the congregation to choose God.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:08:07] It's good to see you all in this beautiful weather. It might be a little hotter today, but right, I mean, on my way in, it was nice and breezy. It's brilliant. I love it.
[00:08:16] All right, well, if you can hear my voice in the foyer, why don't you make your way on in here? We're going to get this thing started.
[00:08:24] Yeah, I'm really excited for this morning. I don't know, I don't know about you guys, but I feel some anticipation of what the Lord is planning on doing.
[00:08:33] So let's, if you don't mind, why don't you stand with me and let's enter into a space of worship together.
[00:08:41] Yeah, let's pray.
[00:08:43] Heavenly Father, we are so excited to be in your presence this morning.
[00:08:48] Lord, this is the highlight of our weeks that we get to be here together and praising your name with people who we know are praising the same name as we are.
[00:08:59] so lord we just ask that you would rest on our hearts this morning that we would be woken up with a fire of life that comes from loving you lord lord move in our hearts break off the chains
[00:09:14] that have been holding us down lord and bring us into a new land of love so we just praise your holy name and we say holy are you yeah in jesus name amen let's just get our hearts ready for a

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:09:28] minute before the Lord. I just want to worship, just set our gaze upon you, Jesus. We just thank you so much that we're gathered here in your name, Lord, under the banner of love. Don't you love
[00:09:49] that? That we don't walk like we used to and we don't talk like we used to. We've been changed.
[00:09:59] thank you lord we just bless you jesus thank you lord thank you lord just lift our eyes up to you lord and give you thanks we worship you jesus you're the one that our hearts love and behold
[00:10:19] today lord we're here to glorify your name the name above all names we welcome you here holy Spirit. Have your way. Have your way. Have your way. Have your way. Have your way. I just keep
[00:11:24] hearing that. We're going to sing it later. I don't walk like I used to, and I don't talk like I used to. We've been changed by the grace of God, by the blood. Thank you, Lord. Can somebody say
[00:11:44] Some of you have been working.

[00:44:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:44:55] You feel like you've been working so hard.
[00:45:02] You've been kind of gutting it out to try to do the right thing.
[00:45:07] Be righteous.
[00:45:09] Be acceptable.
[00:45:10] And I just feel, I just see him breaking off.
[00:45:15] Striving.
[00:45:16] And works.
[00:45:18] And just reminding our hearts that it's just a blessing.
[00:45:20] It's all a gift.
[00:45:24] And I just see us just leaning back.
[00:45:28] So if that's just you, I want to invite you into his peace.
[00:45:44] I want you to invite you to just lean back in him this morning.
[00:45:50] I want to invite you just to let him do the heavy lifting this morning.
[00:45:55] To take off that load off your shoulders and put it on him.
[00:45:58] Because it's only through grace.
[00:46:02] From grace, by grace.

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:46:50] turn your eyes towards him this morning see him clothed in his robe of glory and majesty

[00:59:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:59:01] just look at him look at his beauty and his glory how could anything compare how could anything take up any space in your heart or in your brain other than his majesty yeah see that cloak see that robe
[00:59:19] of glory. Just reach out and grab a hold of the hem of that cloak. Just touch the robe. If you need healing this morning, reach out for the hem of that garment and let that power flow through
[00:59:38] you this morning. Yes, Lord. We say yes to your healing majesty. We say yes to your transforming grace. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Like the woman with the issue of blood, all you got to do is touch
[01:00:04] the robe and let that power pass through you. Believe for the power of his healing this morning.
[01:00:11] If you've got sickness in your body, if you have frailty in your bones, I'm feeling if you have chronic illnesses that you've been struggling with, Lord, we believe that you can break that

[01:00:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:00:24] off for us. So just reach out and grab onto that garment. Yes, Lord, thank you for what you did at

[01:01:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:01:45] Calvary. Oh, Lord, we believe in the renewal of our hearts by your blood, Lord. We believe in that inner working, total restoration, God. And all we can do is thank you for it. Oh, we worship your
[01:02:03] holy name, Jesus. You deserve all of our praise. You deserve every step, every breath. So we give it all to you, Lord. We give it all to you this morning, tomorrow, the day after, every day of
[01:02:19] our lives lord we give that to you because you're so worthy of it yes lord thank you so much i was

[01:02:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:02:40] thinking uh i want you to come up here let us pray for you i don't feel like they want to come up here and lay hands on linda lord thank you for pointing linda out that you love her you have a
[01:03:19] calling on her life you have like a moses anointing on you linda set your people free we just pray that anointing will just increase on you lord we're just going to break off that the lies that
[01:03:37] on Linda. We're trying to bind her up, Lord.
[01:03:41] We thank you for the cross and the power of the cross to break every curse and every lie that would try to attach itself to Linda today in Jesus' name.
[01:03:53] And Lord, I just also see the Lord really wants to do some healing in your body.
[01:03:58] So we just release that anointing of healing and begin to flow through these hands that are laid on in the name of Jesus.
[01:04:06] yeah so just let that healing flow let it flow yeah and linda you don't let the enemy talk you out of your inheritance don't let him because he tries to do that but don't listen don't listen
[01:04:23] and i see that the lord really wants to extend your time that you have more time that god is extending your life here on this earth because he's not through with you you know he's not finished
[01:04:36] with you, so you just get off that thing that wants to tell you that you're done or that your end is near. It's not near in Christ. Thank you, Lord. We just bless our Lord in Jesus' name.
[01:04:54] Just bless her. Bless her heart, Lord. While this ministry time continues, just in your own space,

[01:05:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:05:19] in your own words, reach out to the Lord. He's still present here in this moment. He has not left us his robe still covers us all so just uh in your hearts turn towards him also ivana you

[01:05:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:05:35] know lawson stand up we're gonna pray for you well you can come over here we'll pray for you right quick i felt like the lord was pointing you out also so so anybody want to come over here
[01:05:54] and lay hands on ivana now and just bring her i know her mama does but you know yeah thank you Lord, yeah, you've got lots of friends here, people that love you.
[01:06:09] Yeah, Lord, we just want to release your grace on her life, Lord.
[01:06:14] Lord, that you really are turning the page, closing a chapter, beginning a new chapter in her life, Lord.
[01:06:23] And so we want to declare that over her.
[01:06:26] Lord, we love what Paul said, forgetting what lies behind, but reaching forward to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
[01:06:33] So we just want to declare that over her today, Lord, that she could put away things that need to be put away that are not for this time.
[01:06:44] We just declare that over her, that you have more for her.
[01:06:48] Yeah, you are writing a good chapter for her, Lord.
[01:06:51] And we just want to, no fear.
[01:06:54] We just want to get the fear.
[01:06:56] No fear about tomorrow.
[01:06:58] In Jesus' name, there's no fear.
[01:07:00] God has you.
[01:07:01] He's your rear guard, and He's also got the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord, so He's got a good future for you.
[01:07:09] He wants you to trust Him.
[01:07:11] He doesn't want you to take your life into your hands.
[01:07:13] He wants you to give your life to Him, give your future to Him.
[01:07:18] Let Him write that chapter together with the Lord.
[01:07:22] Dream together with the Lord.
[01:07:24] Tell the Lord, Lord, let's dream together.
[01:07:26] Let's write this chapter together.
[01:07:27] and if you'll do that the Lord will give you inspiration that you've never had before and so we want to declare that over you in Jesus name thank you Lord thank you

[01:07:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:07:39] can we do one more Jeremy and Lorena don't just stand up yeah just one more or they can come up too just come on up Jeremy and Lorena are from Argentina they're here with us for a while
[01:07:58] So I just feel like the Lord just really wants to bless them.
[01:08:03] So come on up and pray for them too.
[01:08:06] Thank you, Lord.

[01:08:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:08:15] Yes, we want to, anybody who wants to pray for Jeremy and Lorena, yeah, bring a blessing on their life.
[01:08:23] Thank you, Lord.

[01:08:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:08:30] Yeah.

[01:08:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:08:34] Lord, we just want to break off any kind of spirit of poverty, off of them that has tried to attach itself to them, Lord.
[01:08:43] Anything that's gotten on them that's trying to hold them back spiritually or just in the financial realm, Lord, just in their health realm.
[01:08:55] Lord, we want to break that off, Lord, in Jesus' name.
[01:08:59] We want to clear the deck today, Lord.
[01:09:01] Clear the deck today for them, Lord, just like so they can really be launched into the things that you have for them.
[01:09:09] Lord, that this really is a time in their life where you're really trying to bring some different order to them and setting some things up for them.
[01:09:17] Lord, for them to be launched in a way they've never been launched before.
[01:09:21] And I just call it forth, Lord, right now, Lord.
[01:09:24] I just pray for their minds right now, that their minds would be open, their minds would be renewed, their mind of Jesus would be flowing in them like never before, Lord.

[01:09:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:09:33] Yes, thank you, Lord.

[01:09:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:09:34] Yeah, and I feel like, you know, And if you would just keep a surrendered heart.
[01:09:40] If you would just keep surrendering to the Lord.
[01:09:43] Surrendering your opinion.
[01:09:45] Surrendering what you feel like you want.
[01:09:47] Just keep surrendering to Him.
[01:09:49] And the Lord's going to open doors for you that you never dreamed of.
[01:09:53] And it's going to be better than what you could have done for yourself.
[01:09:56] What you thought for yourself.
[01:09:58] Just keep doing that.
[01:09:59] Even when it's hard to do, the Lord will give you the grace to surrender.
[01:10:05] To keep surrendering.
[01:10:06] This is just a time for surrender, I feel, because God has something beautiful for both of you.
[01:10:12] Yeah, thank you, Lord.

[01:10:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:10:14] Yeah, I really agree with Byron's prayer, because when I touched you, I felt like the Lord said, not a new page.
[01:10:22] He's not turning the page.
[01:10:24] He's giving you a whole new book.
[01:10:27] It's a whole new book.
[01:10:28] It's a whole new thing.
[01:10:30] It's a brand new book.
[01:10:32] And there's going to be stories written in that book.
[01:10:36] that are wonderful and bring glory to the Lord and prosperity to your family.
[01:10:43] They've got a whole new book.
[01:10:45] It's a new thing coming, new thing coming for you.

[01:10:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:10:57] Yeah, Lord, we agree with what you're doing in our family and beyond, Lord.
[01:11:02] Thank you so much.
[01:11:04] Worthy is your name.
[01:11:07] In Jesus' name, amen.
[01:11:13] We're going to go ahead and ushers, you can come forward.
[01:11:15] um we're gonna take this opportunity to respond to what the lord's doing so in a minute the baskets will be passed around for cash or check there's also this code and some instructions behind me for digital giving um but lord we just uh humbly stand before what you're
[01:11:36] doing and uh not in the way of what you're doing but partnering with it so we ask that as we give to your mission, Lord, that it would be blessed, that the things that we give to would grow in
[01:11:52] abundance and prosperity, and that we would also be blessed by sowing in, Lord, with a bountiful harvest. So in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Those baskets are coming around. And while that's happening, Melissa, do you want to come up? Let's do this. Thanks, Oliver. Awesome. I'll do the

[01:12:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:12:20] announcements are we dismissing kids or in a minute maybe have them in here until i do the announcements okay we'll let the ushers make their way down the aisle and then we'll dismiss the kids
[01:12:30] so the ushers don't get bowled over so just bear with me for a couple of minutes here welcome to river life this morning i see a few new faces out there i hope you feel welcome even as we do
[01:12:41] our family business so to speak praying for our friends here you might not know them but they all have stories and I feel like the Lord really used that prayer time with them this morning. Ivana's
[01:12:51] just back from YWAM, so we're so happy to have her back. She's going to have some awesome opportunities ahead of her, so be praying for her. And Jeremy and Lorena, you're going to be heading
[01:13:01] back to Argentina soon. How much longer are you here for? Till July. Okay, good. So we have a little bit of time with you still, but be praying for Jeremy and Lorena as they go into a new season
[01:13:13] too and mama linda has a special place in my heart because she really spoke destiny over my son now i'm going to get choked up but she really encouraged him in his worship and she just always
[01:13:27] just loved him and and and he calls her mama linda so i look i really feel like that was the lord and i do want you to keep speaking destiny over young people yeah that's that's going to be an important
[01:13:41] part of your calling so don't back down from that and I don't know how much you realize how much that encouraged Joel and every time he comes back if there's one person he comes to give a hug to
[01:13:52] it's you so we love you anyways sorry so okay the ushers are now at the back so the children can leave as you leave the other people I'm going to give announcements to try to still stay focused
[01:14:09] here. These are some important things going on. It's a little bit of a sort of commercial break, so to speak, but they are all important things that happen in our church. If you don't already,
[01:14:20] please sign up for the email announcements. That's where everything is listed. We're only going to touch on a few things this morning that we want to highlight, but there's lots of important things going on. There's Bible studies and prayer meetings and all kinds of fun things going on in
[01:14:33] our church. I love that we have community outside of just our Sunday mornings. So make sure you sign up for those announcements. This morning I'm going to highlight four things. A couple of them are
[01:14:42] very soon and a couple of them aren't until next month, but still things to pay attention to. So this Thursday is our healing rooms. We thankfully are a church that believes that Jesus heals today
[01:14:53] and we believe in the power of prayer and the power of gathering around you those who need prayer. So it's an open time, 7 to 8 30 here in the main building. You can email healingrooms
[01:15:06] at riverlifefellowship.com if you have any questions, but it's just a drop-in time.
[01:15:10] So you can come, you can bring a neighbor, you can bring a friend, anybody who needs prayer for healing, please bring them.
[01:15:15] It's this Thursday from 7 to 8.30.
[01:15:19] Secondly, we have our graduate recognition.
[01:15:21] It's going to be the first Sunday in May, but you have to get your information to Kristen ahead of time.
[01:15:27] Do we have a deadline for that, Kristen?
[01:15:30] Now-ish.
[01:15:33] While it's on your mind, just go ahead and email her.
[01:15:35] next friday okay but nowish would also be good so if you check your email announcements if you don't get those yet and you want your graduate to be recognized go onto our website all of those
[01:15:47] details are there she has some questions for you like where are they graduating from and what are their future plans and and then that sunday may 3rd is when we recognize all of our graduates
[01:15:56] it's a great time to give them the recognition they deserve for all of their hard work and that's For high school or college or doctorate programs, any achievements that have been made this year, we want to recognize.
[01:16:10] Third is we have our Spring Garden Widow's Tea.
[01:16:14] That's coming up May 23rd, and it's going to be at the Pell's home.
[01:16:21] So thank you to the Pell's for hosting that.
[01:16:24] And Juanita Peachy helps host that.
[01:16:27] I think she started the celebration, and it's a really sweet time.
[01:16:32] So if you know someone or you are a widow and you would like an invitation to this, the email address is in the announcements.
[01:16:40] It's also here, oneforchrist at gmail.com.
[01:16:45] And just reach out to her for more details.
[01:16:49] Last but not least, and this is an added announcement.
[01:16:52] I don't know if Denise has the slide ready for this, so sorry, Denise.
[01:16:55] Corey just wanted me to add this real quick at the end.
[01:16:58] The Latin lunch for the Camp Morley fundraiser is next Sunday.
[01:17:02] So it's right after church.
[01:17:04] It's going to be an amazing lunch.
[01:17:05] It's there in the back building.
[01:17:07] There's going to be some seating, but if you want to, you can bring a chair and sit outside.
[01:17:11] Hopefully the weather is as beautiful next week as it is today.
[01:17:14] And just grab yourself a plate.
[01:17:16] It's $15.
[01:17:17] Or if you want to take it to go, you're welcome to do that.
[01:17:20] You can grab an extra one for a neighbor.
[01:17:22] You can just, whatever you need to do to support our Camp Morley peeps.
[01:17:29] And I think the youth are probably going to help serve.
[01:17:32] The leaders might be helping serve.
[01:17:34] You can get to know some of our youth.
[01:17:36] And Erica, we thank you for being involved in that.
[01:17:40] And Francisco, of course.
[01:17:42] I don't see Francisco this morning, so I'll thank you on his behalf.
[01:17:48] They're amazing, and it's going to be a great lunch.
[01:17:51] So $15 is going to help offset the cost of Camp Morley.
[01:17:55] As with everything, inflation is crazy, and camp is becoming more and more expensive.
[01:18:00] So we want to make sure that it's easy for our kids to go to camp, or at least possible.
[01:18:05] It's not even easy necessarily, but possible.
[01:18:08] So any amount that you can bring and give and buy an extra plate, that would be awesome.
[01:18:14] So that's next Sunday, right after church, in the back building.
[01:18:19] All right, I think I got it covered.
[01:18:21] Sorry if I kind of ran that through a little bit quickly, but we want to give Corey a chance to preach this morning.
[01:18:26] So, yay.
[01:18:30] All right.
[01:18:34] So let's reach our hands out to Corey this morning and just pray for him.
[01:18:37] Lord, we just thank you for Corey.
[01:18:39] We thank you for his place here at River Life and for his ministry and for the word that you've given him to share this morning.
[01:18:46] We just ask for your grace this morning, Lord.
[01:18:48] We ask for your peace.
[01:18:50] We ask for fluency.
[01:18:52] and just, Lord, that he would be able to communicate what you've put on his heart for us this morning.
[01:18:57] In Jesus' name, amen.

[01:19:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:19:00] Thank you, Melissa.
[01:19:01] I needed that prayer today.
[01:19:04] So I'm going to lead with this.
[01:19:07] I'm really tired today.
[01:19:09] So I'm going to kind of apologize up front.
[01:19:12] I don't think it's going to negatively impact me, but I'm worn out.
[01:19:16] So I'm going to tell you why, because it'll be a sermon illustration later this morning.
[01:19:20] If you were here last time I preached, which was about a month ago, I was talking about this hike that my wife and I did in Acadia National Park.
[01:19:26] And my brother, my older brother, and I remember I turned over here, I was like, don't trust older brothers, told me it was a good idea to go on this hike.
[01:19:34] And the whole hike, I thought I was going to die.
[01:19:37] So this same brother, nine years ago, calls me up.
[01:19:43] He's like, hey, Corey, we're running from Asheville to Greenville.
[01:19:47] I signed you up.
[01:19:51] So for the past nine years, we've done this relay race where we start in Asheville, North Carolina and you run six miles or so and you hand a baton to somebody else and they run the next six miles
[01:20:02] and we do that to Asheville.
[01:20:05] So like Jacob Whitlow was there and Oliver ran with us for the first time this year.
[01:20:09] Michael Ulrich ran with us for the first time.
[01:20:11] My dad who's 79 ran with us.
[01:20:15] We were there at the start and the race coordinator's like, I think you're the oldest person who's ever run.
[01:20:21] You're 79.
[01:20:22] We had a 70 year old guy run once.
[01:20:25] I was like, yeah, it was him.
[01:20:26] It was nine years ago he ran it when he was 70.
[01:20:29] So he broke his own record, which was cool.
[01:20:33] But so Saturday night, I think I probably slept about three hours.
[01:20:38] And then we hit the road at four to drive to Asheville to do this stupid run through the mountains.
[01:20:46] We finished 13 hours and 45 minutes or something later and then drove back to Mooresville.
[01:20:53] and I don't know, y'all, if you've been in a car with five other sweaty dudes all day, but it's just a, it's something, it's something. So I'm tired, okay? And I suppose when Byron was like,
[01:21:08] hey, I'm gonna have you preach on the 12th, I probably could have said no, but I really feel like the Lord's put something on my heart that I've been wanting to talk about for a while.
[01:21:17] I felt really good about saying yes to that, even though I knew I was going to be tired this morning, I think there's this not in my strength, but my weakness component. I'm willing to submit
[01:21:28] to that. Lord, you can be strong today. I don't have to be. And if this is a word for the Lord for us as a congregation, then it's going to be that whether I'm tired or not. Okay. So as we get
[01:21:38] into church this morning, I'm feeling more and more confident that this is the Lord wants to do something today because the worship team kept singing my songs or like they kept singing my message, like the heart of my message kept on coming through. And I'm not saying that this is
[01:21:54] good or this is right. But generally speaking, I don't talk to anybody about what I'm going to preach about. Like not even Christy. Like I just, it doesn't, I just, I don't know. I'm not saying
[01:22:03] that's good, but I just don't. But it's fun sometimes when then the Holy Spirit shows up and Becky apparently knows what I'm talking about. Or she knows the heart of the message or Sarah, whoever's picking songs because that was, I had to like keep stopping to write down quotes from
[01:22:21] the choruses of songs that we were singing to working. So I was like, oh yeah, this is point one. Oh yeah, this is point two. Oh great, this is point three. So I'm anticipating hopefully the
[01:22:32] Lord's going to do something fun today. I also think that this is a good follow-up from some messages that we've had recently. Personally, I think this is a good follow-up to the message that I gave last time, I was talking about life is mysterious. It doesn't always work out the way
[01:22:49] that we want or expect or hope, but that's okay because in the midst of it, you know, the Lord's there. But I think there's this question of what do we do if we don't really know? And then even
[01:23:00] last week, Byron had this really great Easter message about two meals, one in the garden and then one on the road to Emmaus, and the disciples' eyes are opened. And it's kind of like this what's
[01:23:11] next? Like, what do we do next? What's our response? I felt like that was on my heart, and I feel like I want to talk about that this morning. So I'm going to start with that road
[01:23:21] to Emmaus as the transition point from Byron's message last week to this message today, where Byron was sharing the story about the road to Emmaus. So after Jesus has been crucified the following morning, post-resurrection. Jesus has met some of the disciples. He's met Mary, and now
[01:23:42] he's meeting other people. So heading west out of Jerusalem, down the road is the town of Emmaus, and Jesus is walking along with two other people who don't realize he's there. And it's really that thought of the walk that is going to be the metaphor throughout the message this morning.
[01:24:05] So they're on this road to Emmaus.
[01:24:08] I think that's, for me, a key component, is that there's this road that's created.
[01:24:12] So the reality of the world at this point in history is that the Romans control everything.
[01:24:17] The Romans are in charge.
[01:24:18] They have been for about 300 years, 400 years.
[01:24:21] They will be for another 300, 400 years.
[01:24:24] You know, it's maybe peak Roman history, but kind of the reality of the situation is because the Romans rule the whole world, or the world that they care about.
[01:24:34] obviously there's a whole lot of other stuff, but like from Israel all the way up to England at one point at their widest, there's this thing known as the Pax Romana or the Roman peace.
[01:24:47] So because they control everything, there's no fighting, there's no conflict. That's all on the borders where they're trying to expand. But what that does is it generally creates a situation where it's safe to be on the roads. You can travel freely within the empire without really having to
[01:25:03] worry about bandits, without worrying about how to get robbed, or there's no like the Huns aren't going to show up and attack you, you're probably safe. And that's just one of the things that the
[01:25:12] Romans like bring to civilization is this safety. But we know the Romans, you know, in the creation of concrete, they can make these awesome buildings or these aqueducts that for miles and miles will transport water from one place to another place, or even just the roads themselves. Like, you know,
[01:25:30] not walking through dirt is nice sometimes, you know, so you get on an actual road with good paving and, you know, it's, it's nice. Right. But that's just kind of half of the coin for the
[01:25:43] Romans. Cause the other half is they're also bringing their culture, which, you know, seems pretty cool. You know, it's civilization. It's nice. They got stuff. They got all these gods, which then at some point it's like oh is this really value add because part of why they were
[01:26:06] so except um successful at assimilating other cultures is if they showed up they're like hey we're here to conquer you and if you were like yeah great conquer me we'll buy in then it was
[01:26:17] easy you just joined in okay you want to worship my gods cool worship my gods you got gods cool we'll worship your gods that's all good we'll share gods it'll be awesome so for a lot of the
[01:26:28] world, it was super, super easy. You just buy into Roman culture. But they had this problem with people who aren't okay with that, like the Jews. It's problematic because they're like, well, we're not going to buy into your culture. The Christians, we're not going to buy into your
[01:26:45] culture. And so it becomes this problem where the Roman stuff is really nice, but Roman culture is not so great. And it's really, I think, built on this foundation of excess. You think the Colosseum, right? We all have a grid for gladiators and combat and then fighting. I mean, that's
[01:27:10] excessive. I don't know that that would fly so much today. When the Christians are at odds with them, typically it's the Christians that they're putting in the Colosseum, and that's no good.
[01:27:21] The Romans used to do this thing where they'd have these really long meals. If they had a banquet, Would it be like seven, not courses, because in our mind we're thinking fancy restaurants and we're thinking like courses like this.
[01:27:32] But they would have like seven meals, like for real, for real.
[01:27:35] So they actually had this building adjacent to dining halls called the Vomitorium.
[01:27:42] Like this was a real thing that existed.
[01:27:44] So that mid-seven meals, if you need to step out and make a little space for later on, you could do that.
[01:27:51] And I just always have thought about that as like, that's a really great example of what the Romans were really about.
[01:28:00] This excess and this need to feed themselves.
[01:28:06] I guess I see a lot of parallels in today's culture.
[01:28:10] And I think a little bit of what I'm setting up is there's really this paradigm, this kind of schism of the culture of the world and the culture of Christ.
[01:28:22] You know, the culture of the world, I don't know that it's that different today from 2,000 years ago.
[01:28:29] I think there's this really, this kind of deep-seated draw into do what makes you happy.
[01:28:41] And I think that exists on a cultural level, like, you know, culture, like modern culture wants to be happy.
[01:28:49] And if you're outside of that, like that's not, they don't love that.
[01:28:53] It creates conflict.
[01:28:55] But I think then there's this celebration of you should do whatever you want to to be happy, right?
[01:29:01] Those are the choices that you should make are being happy.
[01:29:05] So I am going to put Stephanie on the spot, okay?
[01:29:10] I told her I was gonna do this.
[01:29:11] I didn't say what I was gonna ask her.
[01:29:13] But this is years of being a youth leader.
[01:29:16] And we'll see if I did a good job communicating anything that I believe to the youth, okay?
[01:29:22] So Stephanie, no pressure.
[01:29:23] I'm just gonna look like an idiot if you get this wrong, okay?
[01:29:25] How do I feel about happiness?
[01:29:30] I don't like it, okay?
[01:29:32] Do you remember why not?
[01:29:35] Yes.
[01:29:36] Okay.
[01:29:37] She said because it's temporary.
[01:29:40] So here's, and you may not agree with me, and this is not a doctrinal issue, so we can disagree and it's fine and we don't have to go to blows, okay?
[01:29:47] I believe that happiness is actually a counterfeit.
[01:29:53] I think that it's, because it's a chemical reaction, I saw something, I tasted something, I touched something, and it caused this thing inside me to feel nice.
[01:30:06] That's happiness.
[01:30:09] But like Stephanie said, that's a temporary thing.
[01:30:11] That's fleeting.
[01:30:13] That's not, actually, you know, that's like not listed as, for example, a fruit of the spirit, you know, but like peace and joy are.
[01:30:24] But happiness didn't make that list.
[01:30:28] So when the world says, hey, you should be happy, it's really, I think, creating this counterfeit. And there's not really a good Old Testament concept for happiness. Sometimes in the Hebrew and different translations, they'll translate
[01:30:47] a word as happy, but it's not always the best like core meaning of that word, which is usually blessed or joy. Those are different concepts, right? Because where do those things come from?
[01:31:02] Those come from the Lord.
[01:31:03] Those are not temporary things.
[01:31:06] Those are eternal things.
[01:31:08] And that's what the Old Testament talks about.
[01:31:11] But our culture offers us something else.
[01:31:16] All right, so I wanna make sure I'm dialing into this metaphor that we're carrying all the way through this morning about the walk.
[01:31:23] Okay, that's what we're talking about.
[01:31:24] So let's do a biblical example of the walk.
[01:31:28] There's this character in the Bible who's really famous for the only thing he did was walking with God. Does anybody know who that is? That was Enoch. Do you know how many Enochs there are in the Bible? There are at least two, the same word, the same name. And this is the
[01:31:47] second one. The first Enoch shows up in Genesis 3. He's the son of Cain. That's like kind of a rough lineage to be born into, right? My ancestry is jealousy, betrayal, and murder. Ouch.
[01:32:14] And then when Cain leaves the safety of the garden and goes out to the land of Nod, he has his son named Enoch, and they build the first city, and he names that first city Enoch,
[01:32:25] which is, I think in the Old Testament, at least pre-Jerusalem, like the city is the antithesis of like the wilderness and the Lord and the garden.
[01:32:38] That's where culture is.
[01:32:39] That's where the culture of the world is, is in the city.
[01:32:44] So this first Enoch we're introduced to is the Enoch of the world, this heritage and this appetite for culture.
[01:32:54] In Genesis 5, coming from the other offshoot from Adam and Eve's, like the line that they not came, the other line, is another Enoch.
[01:33:05] And we know just a little bit about him because he only pops up.
[01:33:08] But in Genesis 5, it says he walked with God.
[01:33:12] That sounds meaningful to me.
[01:33:15] And then it says he was not for God took him.
[01:33:19] It's kind of interesting.
[01:33:21] Only one other time we get any information about this, And it's not until the book of Hebrews in the New Testament where they say that he should not see death.
[01:33:33] So there's this, like, component where, like, God takes Enoch home with him.
[01:33:38] And he escapes death, which is, I mean, that's a result of the fall, is dying.
[01:33:46] But he walked with God.
[01:33:49] That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
[01:33:53] Other ways, Jeremiah says, talks about how they walked after idols.
[01:33:59] Well, that's culture, right?
[01:34:02] And in Deuteronomy, they say like Israel, you should walk in all of his ways, not culture.
[01:34:07] So there's this, again, schism.
[01:34:12] We have the culture of the world and we have the culture of Christ.
[01:34:17] In the New Testament, Paul loves this metaphor for walking.
[01:34:21] He uses it quite a lot.
[01:34:23] In 13 letters, Paul refers to the walk 19 different times.
[01:34:29] So he's getting a good average, you know, more than once per epistle or once per letter, where he's bringing up this call to, this is how you should walk. John and his epistles add two more. So in my mind, I'm thinking through
[01:34:44] 21 different verses in the New Testament where there's allusion to walk this way. If Dean was here, I was going to reference Aerosmith, but he's not, so I won't. Walk thee! All right. Dean, if you're watching. That's for you. 21 verses. I'm not going to read them all to you. Don't worry.
[01:35:10] But I think that really they pretty neatly fall into three categories for me. So I'm going to talk about those three different categories as Paul's breaking up this information to the baby Christians of the world, right? This is the new church. There weren't Christians before this,
[01:35:27] right? These are the letters that he's sending out. And how is he talking to them about walking a certain way. So the first one is just acknowledgement of what we've already been talking about. The first group of walk a certain way, Paul is really pressing into this dichotomy.
[01:35:45] There's a separation. There's this thing and there's this thing. And he does it in two ways, but it's really the same acknowledgement of these two different spaces. So first he calls out the way things used to be for you,
[01:36:03] the way that you used to be, because we're new creations now.
[01:36:08] We get adopted into the family of Christ.
[01:36:11] That's what we celebrate at baptism when we go down and we come back up.
[01:36:15] We're a new creation.
[01:36:17] In Galatians, he says that we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but it's Christ who lives in us.
[01:36:22] So he leans into this.
[01:36:24] Hey, you are a new creation now.
[01:36:27] Don't walk the way you used to.
[01:36:28] You're now something brand new.
[01:36:30] or he'll use that same kind of terminology to talk about don't walk like they do, right?
[01:36:37] Stressing into that separation of the world walks a certain way.
[01:36:41] You should not walk that way.
[01:36:43] That's not the intention.
[01:36:45] That's not the design, okay?
[01:36:46] So that's big bracket one is there's a clear way.
[01:36:51] There's a different way that we should live.
[01:36:56] And Ephesians, he says, you once walked according to this world.
[01:36:59] Again, in another place, he says, walk now as children of light.
[01:37:03] and another especially says walk in the light, not in the darkness, right?
[01:37:06] So there's this thing.
[01:37:09] So when we were singing, we don't walk like we used to.
[01:37:13] We don't talk like we used to.
[01:37:14] Becky, you weren't here when I was sharing.
[01:37:16] Like, you guys were singing my message all morning, and I had to keep taking, like, the quotes of, oh, my gosh, like this is part of my message, right?
[01:37:23] So we don't walk like we used to.
[01:37:24] We are a new creation.
[01:37:25] We don't talk like we used to.
[01:37:26] We're walking in something brand new.
[01:37:29] Okay, so this is the second category, and it's the biggest. It's 10 out of the 21 verses lean into this. And I really want to be careful.
[01:37:39] I feel like in my tiredness, this is the point where I could fail the most in this morning's message. So I'm going to do my best to be really diligent to not mess this up. Okay. But the second
[01:37:55] biggest grouping is there's a way that we should walk. And Paul really leans into that over and over and he says things like, walk in love. That's an easy base point. We can start there, right?
[01:38:11] So that's a way that we as Christians, as new creations in Christ should walk is walk in love.
[01:38:18] Okay. We all good so far? Okay. But then he really leans into this concept of walking worthy.
[01:38:29] So I am going to read those three verses.
[01:38:32] Ephesians 4.1.
[01:38:36] He says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling in which you have been called.
[01:38:42] Okay.
[01:38:42] 1 Thessalonians 2.12.
[01:38:47] I did not pre-give these to Denise, so I'm reading slowly to allow her to deal with my negligence.
[01:38:54] Walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
[01:39:00] Okay.
[01:39:00] And the last one is Colossians 1.10.
[01:39:03] walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Okay. So Paul is really pushing on the church that there's some expectation. I think that's hard to talk about in church, you know, but for him,
[01:39:31] there was expectation, like you're, you're walking now worthy of being a new creation.
[01:39:36] And if that word makes you feel not so comfortable or makes you think of Wayne's world, if not, I'm leaving that there and I'm moving on.
[01:39:47] Okay.
[01:39:48] Another translation that would be appropriate is, yeah.
[01:39:56] Hey, guys.
[01:39:57] Appropriate.
[01:39:59] Walk appropriately.
[01:40:01] Does that make anybody feel better?
[01:40:04] I feel like this message, it's been on my heart for a while.
[01:40:07] But just over the past couple months, and we've addressed it a couple times from the pulpit already, is this situation in American church culture where these prominent male leaders have not been appropriate.
[01:40:26] And every time, like, I see that or I hear that, like, it drives me crazy.
[01:40:31] Like, I'm like, this is not a trick.
[01:40:34] This is not hidden.
[01:40:36] This is not a surprise.
[01:40:39] All of this stuff that we're reading about today is fully available in the scripture for anybody to read.
[01:40:45] And you would have, I guess, hope maybe or expectation maybe that people know that.
[01:40:54] That we, there's just a certain thing we do.
[01:40:57] It's just, it is like we live a certain way.
[01:41:01] There's an expectation that we don't do certain things because then we're in that wrong side of the schism where we're partnering with the world.
[01:41:09] rather than what's the kingdom of Christ doing.
[01:41:13] Is that okay so far?
[01:41:15] And then I guess, you know, we talk a lot frequently about how we're okay being small.
[01:41:22] You know, we don't know if there's a thing about, like you become so big that then, what happens at that point when your name is so big?
[01:41:29] But what's that song that we are singing?
[01:41:32] I don't know that I know the song, but it was, if the highest place I get to is at your feet, then I've done it all.
[01:41:40] I was weeping. You know, I'm okay with that, Lord. I don't need to, like, I don't need to be in a podcast or have my name on the side of the church. We drive to Wilmington all the time and we see
[01:41:51] these churches. It's like such and such church, pastor, so-and-so. I'm like, that's crazy to me.
[01:41:56] I kind of joke about like, oh yeah, I'll put my name on the side. Like, I just, I don't, I don't see any value in it. Like, I'd rather be anonymous and do the work of the Lord. And if then all I get
[01:42:07] is to sit at his feet? Brilliant. Brilliant. I'll take it. Brilliant. I feel like there's this tension in theology at this kind of conversation, especially from the pulpit.
[01:42:25] Because I think it's really easy to hear a message about like, hey, there are expectations.
[01:42:31] And for the people to be like, whoa, you're talking about works. Oh, you're preaching about works this morning. So I really loved it when Sarah was leading into, I'm really praying like the break off this thing of works because I'm going to talk about works. So I, like, I feel
[01:42:47] like that really set the heart for what my heart is. Okay. Grace. Everybody like grace? We are a grace people. We are a grace culture. I have been saved by faith through grace. That's Ephesians.
[01:43:06] Do you know what the next line says?
[01:43:10] Right.
[01:43:11] Do you know what the next verse says?
[01:43:13] Right.
[01:43:14] And then, oh, maybe it's not the next verse, but then the next paragraph is, so that I can do good works.
[01:43:23] I can't separate.
[01:43:26] I really can't be the kind of person who would read the Bible and only pick out the stuff that I like.
[01:43:34] Because if I'm doing that, then I'm really on this side of the schism again, choosing happiness, choosing the things that are easy and make me happy versus Lord, what are you doing?
[01:43:45] Okay, so I am saved by grace and grace is in me so that I can do some things.
[01:43:52] Well, I can get behind that.
[01:43:54] That makes me feel okay.
[01:43:57] Because even if I think about I have hard stuff to do, it's not about me doing it.
[01:44:02] Let me give you a practical example.
[01:44:06] If you remember, again, that message about the beehive hike where I thought I was going to die for sure.
[01:44:13] Part of the sermon illustration was that I think the Lord was, well, I didn't know what was coming.
[01:44:21] So sometimes in life, the Lord hides things so we don't know what's coming because otherwise we want to go through with it, okay?
[01:44:28] This race this weekend was not that situation.
[01:44:35] I have known, I mean, really for the last nine years that this day was coming.
[01:44:41] And I've known for probably six months that I was going to run the ninth leg.
[01:44:45] which is the hardest leg. Nine miles, mostly in the open, rolling hills. After you run a morning leg, you run a morning leg, hilly leg, and then nine miles afternoon. And for about the past two
[01:45:03] weeks, I knew that it was going to be about 80 degrees, which is just the worst. I think most people would acknowledge nine miles is hard in the sun, except for maybe Will Gelling.
[01:45:17] When in his heyday, I just kind of in my head vision that Will was running nine miles in the sun before breakfast just to get his juices flowing. But for me, I was like, this is going
[01:45:29] to be bad. And then last week, it was Easter. It was great. We went to an Easter party.
[01:45:36] It was great. We did an egg hunt with the Forsythes. It was not great. They gamified Easter egg hunting. And all of a sudden, there were eggs worth different points, and there was people chasing you. And I don't know if you all know Brian Stepanek, but he's quick.
[01:45:54] And I had to outrun Brian Stepanek. I worked my tail off to outrun Brian Stepanek, and I lost.
[01:46:01] I came in dead last in this stupid Easter egg game we were playing, and I hurt my knee.
[01:46:09] All week, I was like, oh, crap.
[01:46:13] I got this six-mile run in the morning, and then a nine-mile run in the afternoon, hills that I have to run.
[01:46:21] And so this week was a little bit rough for me, especially.
[01:46:24] So for the past six months, I've been dreading this thing, and I kind of anticipated that this would be the hardest thing that I had ever done.
[01:46:31] it was the hardest thing I had ever done.
[01:46:37] And in full disclosure, in my weakness, I'll say it was significantly worse than I thought it was going to be.
[01:46:45] I think I was like, I can get to a good point before I will probably need to take a break and walk.
[01:46:52] That point did not last very long.
[01:46:55] I don't even know if I was a third of the way through the race when I was like, I need to walk.
[01:47:00] I just, I don't know that I can do this.
[01:47:05] But I could walk.
[01:47:06] I could do that much. Like, I felt at the time, like, I can at least walk this. I don't have to stop, but I can at least keep walking, even if this is so, so hard. Even if I'm miserable, I can
[01:47:19] still keep moving forward. And if that's the least I can do, then that's the least I can do. But I'm going to do that much. So here's the third bucket, and I think the most important one, is we are not
[01:47:32] in this walk alone. That's not the design. That's not the attention. So all of these other verses in Paul's third bucket about the way that we should walk are walk in him. You need to walk
[01:47:45] by the spirit, walk by faith and not by sight. Yeah. So there's this, you know, there is an expectation y'all. We can live a certain way that the world doesn't appreciate, doesn't recognize, doesn't like, doesn't enjoy.
[01:48:05] Sometimes doing that's really, really hard.
[01:48:09] You all know what I mean?
[01:48:11] Man, in college, I wore one of those WWJD bracelets and I had this friend, her name was Kathy, who was a theater major in design costumes and she hated it.
[01:48:24] I think like probably morally because she was not a Christian, but then aesthetically, she was like, that looks dumb.
[01:48:30] And she's like won Tony Award for costume design on Broadway.
[01:48:33] was. She was so fancy. She's like, can you not wear that? I was like, man, do you know how hard it is to do all this stuff I'm supposed to do? It's hard. It's hard to be a Christian and live
[01:48:50] as a Christian and choose this walk with Christ. But y'all, the design is always we're not doing that walk alone. It's not intended to do that walk alone. And if we're walking that walk with
[01:49:04] Christ, with the Lord, and full of grace, that's when we can do that walk. And then I think there's this final component of we don't always. We don't always walk the walk, which is hard, right? I don't
[01:49:25] know if that resonates with anybody. Or maybe we're not walking at all. Maybe we're not even trying to walk. I don't know where you're at. But there's this reality where we don't always do a
[01:49:37] good job, but we can start walking again. Walking's not that hard. We can do that. I shared at the Good Friday service that we were talking about just repenting a little bit in the final prayer.
[01:49:58] And I talked about how in the Old Testament, the Old Testament model of revival is that corporately the people turned away from idolatry and turned back towards the Lord.
[01:50:10] And I kind of let that go on.
[01:50:11] I didn't really think about it until this morning.
[01:50:14] Becky was singing again, tear down my idols.
[01:50:17] I want revival.
[01:50:19] And just how much that resonated with how I think we need to be as people, as Christians, as the body, especially when we're in the situation where the world is seeing examples of Christians that aren't awesome,
[01:50:37] very public examples of Christians that aren't awesome.
[01:50:40] but we can be awesome even if we're not right now, you know?
[01:50:51] Even if we're not tomorrow, we got Tuesday but I think there's this like I'm going to turn away from these choices that I'm making the world, the culture and happiness what's making me feel good right now
[01:51:08] but Lord, I'm going to choose you I'm going to choose to walk with you I think I'm going to have Oliver pray Hopefully he's ready for that.
[01:51:20] Is that okay?
[01:51:22] All right.

[01:51:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:51:24] Amen.
[01:51:27] Yeah, amen.
[01:51:28] Let's just stand and respond to this.
[01:51:32] If you feel convicted by this message, that's a good thing.
[01:51:37] Really meditate on that as I pray.
[01:51:40] If you feel condemned by this message, that is not a good thing.
[01:51:43] So I am going to call that out right now.
[01:51:47] We're going to have the ministry team.
[01:51:48] you can make your way forward. We're going to have the ministry team come forward. If you are feeling condemned, we want to break that off of you. So come get some prayer. And if you need
[01:51:56] help figuring out which is which, the ministry team would love to work through that with you.
[01:52:01] So yeah, let's just bow our heads and turn our gaze on the Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you have designed a path that we can walk on. Like the Romans paved that
[01:52:16] road, Lord, you have set the stones in front of us so that we can walk. And like Isaiah says, we cannot grow weary. It will be tough at times. There will be moments of struggle, but Lord, we
[01:52:27] turn towards you and we say, thank you. And we are relying on you to get us through.
[01:52:33] So Lord, help us be joyful in this walk. Help us take comfort in the fact that it has been designed for us by you. So, Heavenly Father, we thank you, and we commit ourselves again
[01:52:48] to walking with you. Amen. We've still got some time this morning, so the ministry team is up here. I think we're going to have some music playing behind us in a second. Oh, Judy Ball,
[01:53:02] you had a word. Do you feel good about delivering that? You can take that back.

[01:53:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:53:07] Why don't you take that back?

[01:53:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:53:10] Every time I've seen Becky lately, I've thought about the Haystack revival.
[01:53:18] And I've read a lot about the different revivals.
[01:53:21] And I felt like this because this church says what this young man said, Jesus, I love you.
[01:53:30] There were five young men who were praying for nations.
[01:53:35] And the rain started coming.
[01:53:38] And this one young man got under a haystack, and he just said, Jesus, I love you.
[01:53:44] And it reminds me of this church and Becky a lot in the singing.
[01:53:48] Our singing, we say, Jesus, we love you.
[01:53:51] And I felt like if we would just say that with all of our hearts this morning, Becky, that Jesus, I love you.
[01:54:00] I've been seeing revival here and miracles happening for a while.
[01:54:05] And I just heard you say, Jesus, I love you.
[01:54:09] And if we could all say it together.

[01:54:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:54:11] Yeah, Jesus.
[01:54:13] So let's just take a few minutes and respond.
[01:54:20] If you need prayer, come on up and get it.
[01:54:22] But let's all kind of corporately seek turning away from what was and turning towards what is.

[01:54:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:54:29] The person I was before I I don't walk like I used to I don't talk like I used to I've been washed from the inside

[01:55:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:55:01] It was the blood Only been the In the presence of God

[01:55:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:55:55] What my heart experienced When my shame hit the wayside And my sin at the most high I was washed from the inside I was washed from the inside out Hallelujah

[01:56:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:56:16] I knew it was the blood It had only been the blood I want to call this out.

[01:56:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:56:48] If you have been walking and have grown tired, the Lord has a fresh injection of hope to give you this morning so make sure you respond to that if you are weary and suffering then come get some new hope

[01:57:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:57:04] perfection a stride for acceptance let me tell you it's only by the blood

[01:57:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:57:23] it's never been about deserving or earned

[01:57:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:57:29] It's a gift that's freely given, let me tell you, only by the blood, I just see for the foresight.

[02:01:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[02:01:11] A room that you feel like you've gone too far, but you can't get back to the Lord.
[02:01:17] Why don't you let somebody come pray for you up here?
[02:01:21] Yeah, I think it's your day for the Lord to break that off of you.
[02:01:25] It's never too late, it's not too late.
[02:01:38] It's never too late. It's never too late. It's only by the blood anyway. Yes, Lord. I got one

[02:01:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[02:01:59] last word. Um, just a, an encouraging reminder that when the trouble comes to make sure you're anchored in the Lord, that solid foundation. I think that that words for somebody when the trouble comes, anchor in the Lord and trust in him. Well, gosh, God is good.
[02:02:22] Thank you all for being here this morning. The ministry team is going to be up here for another few minutes. So if you still have something that you need to come get prayed for, come get prayed for. But otherwise, if you need to pick up your kids, now's the time. And

[02:02:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[02:02:36] God bless you all this week, and we'll see you next Sunday.