How to show Truth & Grace | Living like Jesus

Convictions and Shocking Love. Immovable Convictions and Shocking Love. I believe that this message can be like 15 cups of coffee for your soul this morning. I don't know if you've looked around lately, but the world is kind of crazy. Anybody agree with that? And I think that we can bring light into a dark place through what we're going to learn today. So 2 Timothy, if you've got a Bible with you to also be on the screen as well. Chapter 1, verse 13 and 14, it says, "What you've heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you and guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." Two verses that we're going to really unpack today is very powerful. And this is really what we're going to press into all morning. And I pray that we can take something away from this. This was a letter to Timothy. Some of you know him as young Timmy, which is just a fantastic graph name. And Timothy was getting some wisdom from Paul. And he was encouraging him, and he was leaving some things behind. He had just gotten on telling him at the beginning of this chapter that faith had been passed down from his grandmother to his mother, and now into him. And he had said, "Fant into flame the gift of God inside of you." And he had this moment where he was saying, "Do not move from the hope that is held out in the gospel. Do not be ashamed of the gospel." And then he takes a moment to say these, and I just want to kind of paint the picture of the word that was being written. Paul was in a prison cell. And he was writing this letter, and instead of focusing on himself, he could have thought about and focused on many things, but he took his time and his energy to encourage Timothy.

And he begins to challenge him and encourage him to not give in and not give up. This was a really rough time to preach the gospel, by the way. Emperor Nero was ruling at this time, and this man was known for lighting Christians on fire and putting them up on stakes to light his garden, which that's pretty wild. And so to preach the gospel in this time, it took some boldness and some courage, and I'll say it this way as we set up the text for this morning. If you look around in the world today, I think we can all agree that the world is getting darker. Would you agree? The world is getting a little crazier. If you look at the news, social media, anything like that, you would see that there's darkness, but in the midst of darkness, you can be a light, amen? You can shine bright, and I believe that in awful situations that God can get glory if we would be obedient to his word. So Paul teaches us how to have immovable convictions and shocking love. This is actually a little quote from our founding pastor, Pastor Rick, and he's really instilled this in us. Verse 13, it says this, "What you have heard from me keep it as a pattern of sound teaching. The New King James version that says to hold fast to the truth, to hold fast to God's word, to sound teaching, to the promises, to the commands, and the non-negotiables of Scripture. I want you to write this down, hold fast to the truth, hold fast to the truth, tell your neighbor to say you better hold fast, and tell the person who just told you this, you better hold up. All right. Don't be telling me what to do. Why would Paul tell Timothy to hold fast? In these last moments of his life, he could have said many things, and he chose to tell him to hold fast. Write this down, hold fast, it means remaining tightly secure. So he's saying you need to remain tightly secure in the truth of God's word.

Anybody like roller coasters in here? Y'all look crazy. All right. Some of y'all are like, I love them. You like adrenaline, and that's not me. I'll ride them, but I'm going to be terrified. I may pass out on them. All right. But here's the thing. Everybody that gets on a roller coaster, it does not matter who buckles you in. If you're anything like me, you're going to double check. All right. Double check. I'm a quadruple check. I was like, hey man, can you come back over here and check it again? Because this thing's about to flip upside down, do a little twirly do in the air, and I'm not trying to fall off of this thing. I want to be secure. Paul is pleading with Timothy, and he's saying you need to remain secure in the truth. And I want to plead the same thing with you today. [BLANK_AUDIO] I can talk to our family and this is really a message towards Christians today If you are a non-believer and you're here I just want to let you know you're in good company You are welcomed here as long as you want to be here and we will love you and hopefully point you towards the truth and God's word But I want to challenge believers this morning Anybody want to be challenged? I'll just say this if you if you want to go to a church and not be challenged This ain't the one to be at all right cuz I want to grow and I want to be more like Christ Holding fast is suggesting that there would be someone or something that would try to take the truth from you Holding fast would suggest that there would be attempts in in the in the future

For the truth to be distorted deluded altered Manipulated changed and snatched away from us holding fast is also saying there would be a day where people would believe that They can come up with their own truth. They can live by their own truth They can rewrite the text we they could take things out of the Bible and take things out of context Holding fast suggests that people would come and and say that not all scripture is God breathed which completely goes against the word That there would be a day where people would have their own ideologies and understanding of how to get to heaven While stiff-arming Jesus Christ in the process We got a whole fast Hold fast would suggest that there would come a day where people would call sin good and good evil And yeah, I don't know if you know this, but that's the days we live in today Hold fast would suggest that marriage and gender and sexuality and biblical Scientific truth would no longer be seen as truth. Can I go here today good? I'm I plan on it anyways that there would be a day that you can do and you can be whatever you want to be that there would be a day where You need to hold fast to the truth because everything else around you is crumbling hold fast because we live in a world That is literally trying to indoctrinate children at a young age We've got to hold fast. We live in a world where literally the world is trying to encourage children to explore their sexuality at a young age The hold fast because there there are people that are being censored online just by saying the name of Jesus Hold fast. So why in the world? Would Paul take some time? To tell Timothy to hold fast to the truth. I Think he knew that it would be under attack I Think that he knew that it would be under attack and it would only continue to be more under attack until the day that Jesus returns Now I don't want to discourage you today. You should have hope It's a great day to be a believer of Jesus Christ and a follower of God But we have to get this right as we press into this today. I want to teach us how to love well Ephesians 4 verse 14 through 16. It says and then we will no longer be infants Tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people and they're deceitful scheming There's good news right here verse 15 instead everybody say instead

Speaking the truth in love which sounds really cliche, right? Just speak the truth in love But how? Like like how am I supposed to disagree with someone and still love them and serve them? Are y'all are y'all tracking with me? I want to unpack that today says we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Jesus Christ everybody say hold fast We have to hold fast to the truth We have to hold fast to the truth It's very very simple what God is saying to do what he's saying through Paul to Timothy now in the evenings when Kendra not wind down for the day and The kids go to sleep in Jesus name amen. All right, we were excited about that You know you can kind of you got a little window of time to just do whatever you want to do Right and all the parents said amen and and so I love that time I love my kids, but I'll also like just quiet in peace. It's actually really relaxing and So I will typically go through a routine and I like to get me a bowl of frozen grapes Don't judge me. All right, and and I get me a lacroi or a bubbly on on the rocks That's sparkling water by the way and and some of y'all you despise that well It helps me not drink soda and and I like to just relax. I like to watch some YouTube videos in the evening and And I'll watch videos on theology. I like watching sermons. I like watching leatherworking videos. Anybody watch those ASMR videos? It's just like the-- y'all are weird, just like me, all right? And I'll watch these things. But recently, I stumbled across this series of videos. And I was going to show some of them today. But for the sake of time, I'll just tell you about it. These videos, there's a group of guys that will go into these public spaces, and they will lead worship.

They will do worship in the middle of a bus station, or a train station, or on a street of a corner. It's the corner of a street. It's amazing. And it's like, I've been captivated by this, and I just keep watching these videos. People will stop, and they will bow down, and they will worship. They will lift their hands in the middle of this bus station. There are people literally giving their lives to Jesus, asking for prayer. It's powerful. But then I was watching this other guy. And he's what you would call a street preacher, all right? Anybody ever seen a street evangelist? You've probably seen someone on a street corner holding up a sign, talking about how hot hell is, with a megaphone, pointing out people's sin. That's not what this guy's doing. This guy's different. And I noticed as soon as I started watching this video of him that something's different about him, you know when there's just something about someone and you've got to check about it like that. You're like, man, that ain't from God. And if it's from God, it's from a different God. That ain't from my God. And so I'm watching this video and through discernment, I'm like, man, this dude's being led by the Holy Spirit. This dude is literally created for what he's doing.

He's standing in these public spaces, and he's just sharing the truth of God's word. He's got a smile on his face. He's not angry. He's not condemning people. He's just simply sharing the truth. Now, these guys and different people are marching by and ridiculing him and insulting him, as you would expect in some areas. And there's this moment where this guy comes by and dumps this big drink on him and kind of pushes this little, you know, this street preacher. And he just kind of turns his other cheek and continues doing it. But off in the distance, you can see in the video, there's this guy who's standing there, and you could tell he's listening the whole time. 30 minutes had gone by, and he slowly walks over. And this guy was dressed in a pretty interesting costume to say the least, which is why I'm not showing the video. And he had attempted to change his gender. He had left his kids and his wife, and he had gone out on this adventure to discover who he was. And he walks up to this guy, and you could tell he was very curious about what was being talked about. So he walks up and they start this conversation. 45 minutes later, this guy ends up putting faith in Jesus. He receives prayer, he repents,

he's got tears in his eyes, and he says, "I wanna go back to my family. "I wanna get my life together. "I wanna know what you're talking about. "I need eternal life. "I need grace. "I've gone way too far to be used by God." And you know, it's this powerful moment. And as I was watching this video, it changed the whole sermon for this week. Because I realize, especially in the region that we live in, going into the summer, we have to get this right. We have to hold fast to the truth, but you better do it with some grace and with some love. It with faith in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This street evangelist leads this dude to Christ and then invites him over for dinner. The dude is literally convulsing and he's like, I can't even think about the last time I sat around a dinner table with a Christian. And it did something inside of me. And I hope and I pray that something in this message would spark something in you today. There's a big difference, by the way, of someone who shares the truth through anger and frustration, than someone who shares the truth through grace, love, and faith, would you all agree? Anybody ever been preached at? Has anybody ever been talked to?

There's a difference. I try to do both. There's a difference. You can share the truth of God's word and still love someone and have faith. There's a big difference and this guy does this well. If you disagree with me, then go get you a sign and you go out with a megaphone and a Bible on Dixon Street this week and you start yelling about the kingdom of God. And then report back on Sunday after you've been mean to a bunch of people and you're pointing out their sin and let me know how it goes for you. Now you may be anointed and called by God to do that. I wanna talk to you, okay? I'm very, very interested and intrigued. But I would be willing to bet that that's not gonna go very well. Would you all agree? Or you could go out today after church and maybe you have bad service at your table and instead of turning your nose up, maybe you leave double the tip. you learn their name, you listen to their story, and you speak to their potential. Maybe you build a relationship, or this is crazy. Maybe you return the buggy to the cart thing instead of just leaving it in the parking lot. Wow, that resonated with some people.

Maybe you go make someone's life easier, their job easier, and there's a lot of ways to be a light. You can add value everywhere you go. A value of the Tom Bowley family, my family, and I hope you adopt this as well, is leave places and people better than you found them. Leave places and people better than you found them. It's very, very simple. My son hasn't figured it out yet, but we're working on it, right? Meet a physical need. Feed someone. Get someone around your dinner table. Verse 13, it says, "What you've heard from me, "keep it as a pattern of sound teaching with faith "and love in Christ Jesus." And with that being said, hold fast to the truth, but do not forget faith and love. Would you write that down? Don't forget faith and love. Do not forget faith and love. I know a lot of people that are really good at the truth. They major in the truth, but they've minored in faith and love. Or maybe they've minored in faith and love, but they do not cling to the gospel and the truth of God's word. You have to have both. It is so important that we get this, right? I wanna ask you a question. Did you know that you can build a relationship with people and become friends with people and disagree with them as well? Yeah, it's crazy.

First Corinthians 13, it's beautiful. It says love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. It's not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way and it's not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but it rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things and it endures all things. The reality is that many of you are not gonna go out and hold a sign and yell at people. At least I would hope not, but so many of us will, we will become keyboard warriors at a certain point at night and you'll be scrolling and you just disagree with that person on Facebook, Twitter. I'm gonna show them and we will get to typing away and in one moment you've lost all influence with that person. I'm not saying don't make the cute posts, reading your Bible and everything's perfect with your coffee and just spending time with the Lord. It's very Pinterest-ing. I'm not saying don't do that. I'm not saying don't share what you believe is true. I'm just saying be very careful on how you're doing it. When you're not showing love through faith in Christ, it can be dangerous. And I've never seen someone argue someone

into the kingdom of God, by the way. I just haven't. We have to get this right. I think so often we get it wrong because we forget that we're not fighting against flesh and blood. And as I was praying about this message, I was reminded of Ephesians 6 where it says finally be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. It says put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil schemes. Hear me. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. But it's against the rulers and the authorities and against the powers of this dark world. Well, John Green is a dark world. We need some Christians to be a light. It's really hard to be a light when all you're doing is you're angry and you're frustrated and everything flows from that place. It goes on, it says put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes that you would be able to stand your ground. There's a way to do this and represent Jesus well. Now listen, the very person you're thinking about right now, some of you are like you've got that person in mind that you disagree with. Some of you all think about the family member and you just can't stand being around them. If you hear their name, you're like ah. Or maybe it's a coworker or whatever the case may be.

What if I told you that your battle is not against them? What if I told you that your battle is not against flesh and blood? Because if we believe that the word is true, which I do, then we would know that there's something else at work and it's actually, it's not them. So did you know you can disagree with someone and learn and love them and serve them well? Man, there's tents in the room today. I don't wanna love my enemies. That would be absurd. That means that I would have to go out of my way. This is the way of Jesus. I wanna ask you a question. Is your approach helping or hurting people? And if you're not sure, just ask someone close to you. Another way to ask is your approach, building the kingdom of God, or is it turning people away from the love of Christ? Are you pointing people to Jesus, or are you just pointing at their sin? - Wow. - This week I wanna give you some practical challenges, write this down, go out of your way, and walk in his way, the way of Jesus. Find a way to do it, there's lots of ways to do it, just a few, find someone you disagree with, and find a way to serve them and love them this week. Find a way to feed a person a meal that disagrees with you.

Learn someone's name, hear their story, speak to their potential. God will give you an opportunity to share the gospel with them. I wanna ask you to do this. Think of the person that you just can't stand from your past. Some of y'all already knew, you write that bam, you know. I dare you to text someone and encourage them this week. Hey, I'm thinking about you, and it's good thoughts. (laughing) I am praying for you that during this next month, where maybe you would be tempted to judge someone, maybe you should genuinely pray for them. Maybe instead of judging or casting blame or pointing the finger at someone, you can serve them. You can invite them over for dinner. Now, I know that this sounds crazy. I know that this sounds completely controversial to the world that we live in, but that is the message of the gospel. Jesus got ridiculed for it, by the way. Why is he eating with sinners? He's drinking with them. It doesn't make any sense. May watch what God will do if you would be obedient to the word of God. I wanna still remember this. Truth without faith and love equals modern day Pharisees. But faith and love without truth, some would say, well, Seth, that's a watered down gospel.

I would be willing to say that's no gospel at all. We have to have truth. We have to have faith and love. And I think good things happen when you put both of those things together. I was laughing this week, I was getting my hair cut. And I like to go to a few different barbershops and just be a light. I'm not trying to point out anything or do anything crazy, but the stuff you'll hear in a barbershop is wild. And then this question, it always happens. Well, what do you do? Well, I work with people. Well, what kind of people? All kinds of people. I'm a pastor and everybody's like, zoop! It's just like people start acting weird, you know? So I just tell people I do leather work and I talk about the Bible, you know? And it never fails. People start sharing things about their past or why they feel like they can't come to church. And every now and then I'll hear this phrase, well, I'll come to church, but I don't want you to try to get me to change anything. And I just say this, hey, if you don't like change, you will hate church and you won't like Jesus either. Because y'all, I don't know about you. Whereby look at me real quick. Jesus changed everything about my life.

Literally everything. I'm not perfect, but he got involved in every little area. I was a thief for six years. I used to steal. I was addicted to pornography. I was addicted to drugs, alcohol, poppin' pills, just to numb the pain. I was in so many toxic relationships. I was my own little God. I was building my own little kingdom full of arrogance and pride. And Jesus changed everything. So I say, well, man, you probably shouldn't come to the church if you don't want to change. 'Cause that's all I talk about, is how God changes everything, right? That's what happens when he gets involved. Paul is telling Timothy, at the beginning of this letter, he says, hey, by the way, Timothy, your boy was jacked up. He says, I was very far from the things of God. He starts off in first Timothy one, and he says this, we know that the law is good if one uses it properly. Can we just read that again? We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. Not beating somebody up with it. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous, but for the lawbreakers and the rebels.

The ungodly and the sinful, the unholy, the irreligious for those who kill their fathers and their mothers say what? For murderers. for purgers, for whatever is contrary to the gospel, to sound doctrine. That is who it's for. That's all of us, by the way, before you start thinking, "Yeah, that's them. No, that's us." To save broken people. This is what he says, "I thank Christ who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service, even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief." Which, by the way, I want to pause. Most of what you see people do that you disagree with, it's just in ignorance and unbelief. And God may have just not got involved in their life yet. It says, "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love." Here we are again, faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This is crazy what he's about to say. Here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save who? Sinners. Who I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, he says it again, "Christ may display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." This is crazy. Paul's not saying, "I got it all figured out." He's saying, "Hey, I was the worst one." And I'm encouraging you to hold fast to the truth through all of his writings in the New Testament. Paul never forgets the truth. He never forgets faith. He never forgets love. And he never forgets how far he has fallen himself. This is what I've realized. In 10 years of ministry, I can typically sniff out when someone is pretty self-righteous. They're judging other people because they sin differently than them. And for some reason, that individual has forgotten how far they have fallen. The Bible says, "Take the plank out of your eye." How do we get to this place? He was far from God, but he never forgets how Jesus saved his life. I'm not sure if you remember, Paul was killing Christians. Second Timothy, he says, "What you've heard from me, keep this as a pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus." Very simple message today. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Everybody say, guard it. I've realized in life, you guard what you love. You guard what's most important to you. You guard the things that you don't want to lose. I've recently been driving around,

and I like driving out through the country, and occasionally you'll come across a building or a house that's abandoned. All right, I'm fascinated with this. You'll see a building, and occasionally you'll come across the church out in the middle of nowhere, and it's abandoned. I've got a few pictures, but you'll throw some of these up. These churches that are abandoned, dilapidated, the trees growing through the building, spray pounds, they've got the windows and the doors that are boarded up. It is completely torn down and broken. I see these buildings, and I'm always asking the same question. This is the question I ask. What happened here? It wasn't an accident. It wasn't a coincidence. I would be bold to tell you they stopped guarding something that was once important. A church never sets out saying, "Yeah, one day we'll die. One day the church will stop. Now you plan a church to make kingdom impact for the rest of your life." So how does this happen? How does this happen? I just got this picture that this is what it looks like in our lives when we stop guarding the good deposit in our life. The good deposit, by the way, is the gospel. It's the saving message of the gospel that we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior. Paul says, "Which is the worst." When you forget about that grace, you start doing stuff that ends up like this. I was looking at this picture and I'm like, "Maybe they lost their passion. Maybe they lost their desire to see lost people get saved. Maybe they're really good at seeing people get saved, but they stopped discipling the ones who gave their life to Jesus. Maybe they didn't have life groups. Maybe people stopped serving. Maybe the worship team died. Maybe they stopped preaching the Bible. I don't know what happened. All I ask is, "What in the world happened here?" And I see people, man. I meet people all the time who were on fire for the things of God, but something happened. Something happened. got them off track. The reality is this happens in our lives. I want you to write this down, guard your love and your passion for God. This happens in marriages all the time. If you're married here and you're with your spouse, just kind of hold their hand, put your armor, give them a little nudge, or maybe you're dating somebody just gently nudge them, you know. And say I'm sorry for the way I drove on the way here. I know we fought in the parking lot and smiled on the way in.

Please forgive me. Some of y'all are experiencing healing right now in the name of Jesus, all right. This is what happens. We forget to throw a log on the fire. And what was once burning bright has now grown dim. Hey, throw a log on the fire this summer, throw a log on the fire in your relationship with God. I'm just going to tell you, I get excited when God moves. Last week, we saw around 20 people go public with their faith through water baptism. That's amazing. Let's try that again. Last week, we saw 20 people go public with their faith. That's amazing. That's incredible. Over this last year, we've seen over 100 people get saved. We've seen marriages restored. This is crazy to me that God would use broken people to reach other broken people. And here's the deal. I'm not going to shut up about it. And I don't care who's watching or who's judging. I could care less. I want to ask you, when's the last time you got excited about what God was doing in your life? When's the last time you got excited about God moving or setting you free? As somebody who's like, "Well, I'm just more reserved. I just don't express my excitement. I'm just going to call." I'm just going to say that's not true because I've seen you as some razorback games. I've seen people walk in the bomb stadium, the football stadium, the basketball stadium. You will paint your body.

You will wear gear, I'm red, and I love sports. I love the hobbies. I love all the stuff. But listen, when we have more passion about a ball being kicked around a field, thrown around a field, dumped in a basketball goal or hit out of a park, and we can make some noise about that. But when we see someone get radically set free, y'all, we can't shout a little bit. We can't... You know, Seth, I'm not making noise in touch. That's it, period. Or maybe you're like, "That's I'm manly." I have heard you call the pigs and you make a fool of yourself. And when it comes to singing a worship song, you talk about, "How great is my girl? I'm sad and I'm mad all the time." Just hear me. Can y'all just go with me real quick? Be careful misplacing your passion. The enemy wants to try to derail somebody and get them to stop guarding something. You're going to lose your joy. And I don't know about you, but where the joy of the Lord is, there is freedom. There is excitement. There's a reason to praise. And I'll look around during a worship. Don't think I'm doing this today, because during this next worship song, I'm looking straight. I'm not looking at nobody. Some of you, you're really living on the edge, because you'll come and you'll be like this. And today, we're going to cross our arms and smile. Or let's do this.

We'll do the double pocket. Or you've got that death grip on that chair in front of you, that poor chair. Oh, you've got your coffee. Don't forget the coffee. And we're going to go here, being bold today. Right? Man, don't want to get too crazy. People start looking at me thinking, "I'm a Jesus freak." Oh, you know what? I'm doing a little hip action today. Some of y'all need to smile. It's fun in church, okay? You know what, Seth? I may lift the hand today, but I'm not going above my shoulder, okay? And I know I'm poking, okay? But does God not deserve some praise in the house of God? Y'all, this is the bride of Christ. We have a reason to rejoice. I picked this message for a reason when everybody be out of town, so I'd have less people frown than that, me, all right? I just think we have a reason to give God praise. But I was thinking about this message and I had this illustration, I know it's silly. But have y'all ever gone into an airport and y'all see the family that's like waiting for their loved one to come home, y'all know what I'm talking about? And they can't wait, I mean, they got signs, some of them get credit, they'll paint up, you know what I'm saying? you know, and here's the thing, those family members, they are not concerned at all what anyone thinks about them. Why? Because the someone they love has come home. Are you all with me? And they will get excited. They will make signs. I love watching it. I like recording. I think it's it's amazing. It's it's awesome. If you've never had a sign held for you, I will hold it for

you when you return home. All right. But there's a big difference between a taxi driver and an Uber driver and someone who's awaiting their family members because the taxi driver will sit there with someone's name on a on a card with no expression. It's like, well, all I know is I'm waiting for this person. I don't even know who the person is who's coming. I like to sometimes I think about how funny it be to go up and trick someone to act like you're the person. You know, how far would they let you get in the car? You know, but listen to me. I know this is a silly example, but go with me. How crazy we believe the Bible, right? We're two or three or gathering his name that he is with us that he's amongst us. So how crazy would it be to be in a church? Jesus shows up and we're just standing here frown and holding a sign expecting someone to show up and we don't even know who he is. This is the picture I got. I'm not saying put on a show for nobody during worship, but what I am saying is that we have a reason to give God praise. The Bible says that you can shout and make a joyful noise. Did you know that shouting is biblical? Shouting. Psalm 27. It says that then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me and add his sanctuary. I will offer sacrifices and shouts of joy. Did you know you can speak and it is worship to God? You can open your mouth and speak out. Listen, it says I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak of his praises. Singing. Psalm 47 all through Psalms. It says sing praises to God. Did you know that you can bow before God in its worship? Bow in Psalm 95. Come let us bow down and worship and kneel before our maker. You can dance. Now David, he got a little crazy. Don't be doing what he was doing. I think he was naked, but just hear me out. Psalm 149. It says this. Let them praise his name with dancing. So maybe before you start judging someone who is moving a little bit during worship and getting excited about the things they have got, maybe you could say I bet God has done something big in their life. Maybe it will spark something in me. Dancing. Playing instruments. I love in this one it says that if you can play them skillfully. Clapping. Would everybody just clap your hands real quick? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Psalm 47. It says clap your hands. All you nations shout to God with cries of joy. Let everybody lift your hands up. Lift your hands up. Some of you are like I will never. I won't do it. Okay. Yeah. Now we know who did not put on the owner. Put those things down. All right. It says I will praise you as long as I live and in your name I will lift up my hands. Jeremiah says I will praise you as long as I live and in your name I will I will lift you up and I will sing out with all of my hearts. Yeah. I'm just telling you maybe you have not truly

experienced the Lord move because you've been given half of yourself. I double dog middle school days triple double dog dare you to stop caring what other people think. Just it's not worth it. I love the end of this verse. It says guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Did you know that when you get saved you put faith in Jesus Christ when he sets you free that the Holy Spirit the same power that raised him from the grave it now lives inside of you. I want to say this the Holy Spirit draws people to repentance not you. In the day that you alleviate yourself of the responsibility of pointing out everybody else to send you will live freely. You'll have some fun in church. The day that you realize that it is not your responsibility. It is the Holy Spirit that draws people to repentance. I don't know about you but it frees me up a little bit. So I've been wrestling with this. We're going to say these few things and we're going to pray. God has sovereignly chose broken individuals. That's us to be the billboard for his love and his grace. God has sovereignly chose humans to be the example throughout all of the earth. So I would say we have to get this right. I've learned this over the years. The moment you stop trying to be the Holy spirit and other people's lives and you stop trying. them. We've all been guilty of this. This is the very moment that God actually starts using your life to bring heaven to earth.