The Formula for Breakthrough is Repentance

So let's lay it down, everything at his feet. Let's humbly come before the throne today, give him glory for he is good and beautiful and worthy of it all, amen? Come on, let's sing it again, here we go. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Everything changed, it's getting harder to recognize. ♪ ♪ The person I was before I encountered Christ. ♪ ♪ I don't walk like I used to, I don't talk like I used to. ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ ♪ When you were wise and loud, I could have only been blind. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ ♪ When you were wise and loud, I could have only been blind. ♪ ♪ When you were wise and loud, I could have only been blind. ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I cannot explain it, and nothing's more heartless. ♪ ♪ In the presence of God, over my heart experienced. ♪ ♪ When my shame hit the inside, in my sin and at the most high. ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside, I was washed from the inside. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ ♪ When you were wise and loud, I could have only been blind. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ ♪ When you were wise and loud, I could have only been blind. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪ ♪ When you were wise and loud, I could have only been blind. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪

♪ I could have only been blind. I only was blind. Oh, yeah. ♪ ♪ Oh, I could have only been, I could have only been the blind. ♪ ♪ The blind, the blind. Watch me clean what is new. Oh, yeah. ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Never been about performance, perfection, striving for acceptance. ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blind. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift, it's freedom. ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blind. Does anybody want to be whole? Enlighten us, purify our scars. ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blind. Does anybody want to be worthy? Forgiving, justifying and giving. Let me tell you, it's only by the blind. ♪ ♪ Never been about performance, perfection, striving for acceptance. Let me tell you, it's only by the blind. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift, it's freedom. Let me tell you, it's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind. It's only by the blind ♪ It's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be holy or righteous? ♪ ♪ You're a father's guidance ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven? ♪ ♪ Justified in the living ♪ ♪ Let me tell you, it's only by the blood ♪ ♪ It's never been about control, it's perfection ♪ ♪ It's time before it's ending, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, it's never been about deserving, reminding ♪ ♪ If you can't just feel and get it, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be holy and righteous? ♪ ♪ You're a father's guidance, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven? ♪ ♪ Justified in the living, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was a blame, could've only been the blame, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was a blame, could've only been the blame, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be holy and righteous? ♪ ♪ You're a father's guidance, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven? ♪

♪ Justified in the living, let me tell you ♪ ♪ Conviction, a struggle for acceptance, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, it's never been about deserting or hurting ♪ ♪ It's a gift that's freely given, let me tell you, it's only by the blood ♪ ♪ Does anybody wanna be holy and righteous? You're a father's guidance, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven? Justified in the living, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, it's never been about deserting or hurting It's a gift that's freely given, let me tell you, it's only by the blood It's a gift that's freely given, let me tell you, it's only by the blood Hallelujah, Hallelujah Could've only been the blood, Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood, Hallelujah Yeah, all the voices sing Could've only been the blood, Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood We're so thankful, we're so grateful for the blood, for the blood that spilled on Calvary Ooh, it only could've been the blood, the blood What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus What can make me nothing but the blood of Jesus? Oh, precious is the flow that makes me ♪ Oh, what a small world without I know ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ There could have only been nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ Thank you, Jesus. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Open up my eyes to the things I've seen ♪ ♪ Show me how to love like You have loved me ♪ ♪ Break my heart for what grace You're worth ♪ ♪ Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause ♪ ♪ As I walk on earth into eternity ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Heal my heart and make it clean ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes to the things I've seen ♪

♪ Show me how to love like You have loved me ♪ ♪ Break our hearts for what breaks Yours ♪ ♪ Everything we are for Your kingdom's cause ♪ ♪ As we walk from earth into eternity ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest ♪ ♪ I love you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, your mercy never fails me ♪ ♪ And all my days, I've been held in your hands ♪ ♪ Until I lay my head, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ And all my life, I've been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life, I've been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able, I will sing of goodness of God ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, and I love your voice ♪ ♪ And I love your voice ♪ ♪ You led me through the fire in darkest night ♪ You were close like no other I've known you as a father I've known you as a friend And I believe in the goodness of God Come on, sing it You know my life, You have been faithful I know, all my life You have been so, so good

Oh, every breath that I am able Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God All my life, You have been faithful You know my life, You have been faithful All my life, You have been so, so good Oh, every breath that I am able Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God Come on Your goodness is running after, it's running after me I know Your goodness is running after, it's running after me You've washed me down, surrendered now I give you everything Your goodness is running after, it's running after me Come on, everybody sing Your goodness is running after, it's running after me Your goodness is running after, it's running after me You've washed me down, surrendered now I give you everything Your goodness is running after, it's running after me Thank You, Lord We say thank You, Lord You know my life, You have been faithful All my life, You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God Yes, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God Come on, just tell them thank You for who He is We thank You for being a good father, a faithful friend

Always kind, always gracious, God, we thank You Come on, sing it to them Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Come on, everybody Your goodness is running out It's running out to me, oh Your goodness is running out It's running out to me I'm lying down, surrendering now I give you everything, oh Your goodness is running out It's running out to me Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. With my life we can surrender now. I'll give you everything, Lord. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. Alright, just the voices, let's sing this chorus again. All my life. And all my life I've been faithful. And all my life I've been so, so good. With every breath that I am able. I will sing of the goodness of God. I will sing of the goodness of God. I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God. Amen. ♪♪ Let the king of my heart be the mountain where I'll run. The fountain I'll drink from, oh, he is my song.

Let the king of my heart be the shadow where I hide. The ransom for my life, oh, he is my song. You are good, good, oh. You are good, good, oh. You are good, good, oh. You are good, good, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Let the king of my heart Be the wind inside my sails The anchor in the waves Oh, he is my song Let the king of my heart Be the fire inside my veins And the echo of my days Oh, he is my song You are good, good, oh. You are good, good, oh. You are good, good, oh. You are good, good, oh. Alright, this is true, let's sing it together, come on church. You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Come on You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Now come on, let's sing together, come on church. You're never going to let You're never going to let me down I know You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Let's make it loud, come on You're never going to let You're never going to let me down No

You're never going to let You're never going to let me down I believe You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Yeah ♪ You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Oh You're never going to let You're never going to let me down I believe it ♪ You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Oh You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Oh, you're never going to let You're never going to let me down You are good, good Oh, you are good, good Oh, you are good, so good, so good Oh, you are good, good, oh You're never going to let You're never going to let me down You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Oh, you are good, good, oh You're never going to let You're never going to let me down You're never going to let You're never going to let me down You're never going to let You're never going to let me down Oh, you are good, good, oh You are good, good, oh You are good, good, oh You are good, good, oh Come on, give Him some praise, come on! God, You are good! Come on, don't stop, He's good, He's faithful, He's faithful, He's faithful, He's faithful! You know the Word of God says that His love endures forever There's more of His love for you here today If you believe that, if you receive that, say Amen! He's here, He's here, we don't want to miss a moment of it We don't want to miss a moment of it Just bow your heads across the room Raise your hands to the sky and say, Thank You, Jesus, for saving me

Thank You, Jesus, that Your blood was enough We love You, Jesus We love You, we thank You, Father Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, into the world to save a wretch like me Thank You, Lord, that Your promises are yes and Amen And Christ Jesus says the Word of God We stand on that this morning You are good! You are good, God! You are good! We praise You today for Your goodness I thank You, Lord, for Your mighty plans for every boy and girl represented here in the house this morning that You have good plans for Your children I thank You, Father, that Your Word says that every good and perfect gift comes from above the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows You're good! You don't change You've always been good We trust You this morning, Jesus We trust You this morning We lay our plans before You this morning, Jesus, and say Have Your way, God Have Your way in me Guide my steps Lead me into ways everlasting Lead me into Your truth Deeper and deeper, day after day Show me how to love better today

Like that song says Show me how to love like You have loved me Laying down Your life for me Show me how to love like that, Father Teach us Your ways this morning, Jesus No matter the cost Teach us Your ways this morning No matter the cost It's worth it You're worth it You showed us on the cross You're worth it Take a deep breath Just breathe Him in Breathe Him out In Jesus' name, all God's people said Amen, amen. Well, you may be seated. Thank you so much, worship team. Give them a round of applause. Thank you guys for serving the house this morning. So good. I wanted to give you guys an update. Last week at the end of service, we took a special missions offering for Thailand to give towards Bibles and helmets going into one of the least reached nations on the planet as we looked at, and you guys showed up. I wanted to update you. We don't always get to do this.

You guys gave over $10,000 to bless people in Thailand. So give it up for generosity this morning. That will provide hundreds of helmets and over a thousand Bibles for the people in Thailand. So absolutely amazing. 99% unreached, and by your faithful giving, we can help make a dent in that. So thank you for that. And as we transition to the offering this morning, I wanted to read you guys a story. The story says that one morning, there was an elderly woman making her way to church, and she was accosted by would-be robbers. As they confronted her, she worried because she had a considerable donation and an offering with her for the church that morning. Normally, she might have just given them whatever they asked for and left, but she was determined to make sure that this money went where it belonged. Bravely, in a shaky voice, she cried out, Stop! Axe 238! To her surprise, the would-be robbers quickly fled. Quite shaken up, she reported the incident to the police, who later caught the thieves, and when asked by the police why they changed their mind and left her alone, they answered, well, she said she had an axe and 238s. And I couldn't help but to think

that maybe that was Miss Betty back there. If you know Miss Betty, she's just sweet as can be, and I would just be so awesome if she declared the word of the Lord and they thought she had an axe and 238s. Well, this morning, I hope no one here has an axe and 238s, but what we do have is our tithes and offerings. So if you'll stand with me this morning, I wanna encourage you, bring your tithes and your offerings into the house of the Lord. There are three ways that you can do that. There are envelopes in your seat back that you can fill out and bring those forward here. We'll have buckets up front on both sides, as well as you can scan the QR code on the screen when that slide goes up, and there is also the Altar Fellowship app you can give on there. That's my preferred method of giving with our family. So if you will, I know some of you are preparing your offering this morning. We'll just bow our heads and close our eyes to pray for that. Father, I thank you for your generosity to us. Lord, you showed us what it meant to give in giving all. You gave everything. You gave us your son. I thank you, Father, for paying the price that we couldn't pay, and I thank you that we get to give back.

Lord, we thank you for the generosity that we get to see being poured out on our brothers and sisters in Thailand. I pray that would result in many coming to know Jesus for the very first time, that it would ripple effect across the next generations to come for millennia until you return. And Father, I thank you for those of us who are giving this morning and the offering. Lord, I pray that you would meet needs above and beyond, Father, that we would be known and continue to be known as a generous house, a house that meets needs, a house that believes in your command of generosity that is better to give than to receive. So I bless all of the offerings this morning and the tithes, and we say, have your way in us in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Well, we'll be receiving the offering down front. Love you. I think so. Wow. Thank you, thank you. I don't even know if I have the honor to say you may be seated. That's not my, that's not what I say. That's what Pastor Matty says. Thank you, guys. Man, what an honor to be here. All right, yeah, so I'm Owen Barclay. I'm 25 years old, and I love Jesus.

He has transformed my life, and he's quite literally the only reason that I am even standing here right now. And yeah, first of all, I just wanna honor Pastor Matty and his yes to the call of ministry on his life. And as you guys know, I mean, if you are seated in this house and have received from Pastor Matty, he and his family are incredible. He has blessed my life abundantly, and so I just wanna say thank you, Pastor Matty, for your yes, and that is the only reason that I am standing here right now. And so, quick backstory. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and I literally spent all of my life in Pennsylvania up until just about three years ago. I was listening to some of Pastor Matty's teachings on Spotify, so I didn't even have a face to the name. And to be honest with you, I thought he was like a 65-year-old white man. I didn't know who he was. I literally. I just heard his voice and I was listening to his teachings and I kept listening and I kept listening and eventually I just knew like this teaching of the word of God I wanna be as close as possible to this and so kept praying and I just felt the Holy Spirit say go and I said okay and so I came down here. My mom and I visited almost three years ago and we were like let's see if this is where

the Lord is leading and it is and it has been and the fruits of the past three years can show and so you know when I came down here I let go of literally everything right growing up in Pennsylvania I did not bring anything but a bag and a few things here and I had three prayers that I said alright God if you're calling me here I'm gonna need you to do just a couple things please, please God, please. I said Lord these prayers, these three prayers were God I need brothers by my side that I can walk with. I need brothers that I can do this with. I need fathers and mentors and leaders who have gone before me that know what they're doing because I don't and the last prayer was Lord prepare me for my future wife and that he did. My beautiful, amazing wife Ellie Barclay I love you and we have a baby on the way by the way so hallelujah please be praying for her anytime that you think about me or this message pray for my wife she's amazing I love you so much but God has abundantly answered these prayers that's all I came here with was a bag and a couple things

and I was like Lord please I don't know what to expect I don't know anybody I don't know anything but if this is where you're calling me I'm believing that you're going to give me brothers you're going to give me leaders fathers in the faith and hopefully you'll bless me with an amazing wife and he has done all of those things more than I could have ever imagined and so yeah glory to God of what he has done so just a couple weeks ago literally two weeks ago Pastor Matty asked me to preach and I only had one word and that was wow and I looked at him in shock and then I had two words after that I said that's terrifying and that was it I didn't give him a yes right there and I went home and I'll be honest with you guys I felt in my spirit that this is what the Lord has been leading me to do and I didn't know it would be here or this I just know that I want to live a life for him

and share his word not knowing what to expect and so I had a lot of peace knowing okay God I know that this is what you're leading me to do but I need your help because I have a lot on my mind I have a lot on my heart I have a lot in my notes and there's an entire book of everything that I'll be sharing there's so much but God I need you to speak to me I need you to make clear as to what it is that you want me to talk about and a couple days go by after Pastor Matty had asked me to preach and you know praying about it still haven't told Pastor Matty yes so there's kind of like this in between and my wife and I one night last Wednesday we were just talking and she had asked me a question we were having some marriage talk it was a really good talk and one thing led to another and she asked me a question and she said you know what is the formula

to break through in these areas and I grabbed my Bible and I said something I said you know often times the formula to break through is repentance and as I said that I grabbed my Bible went over to the couch and I sat down and I was speaking with my wife and I started reading out of James 2 that just came to mind immediately in James 2 verse 17 specifically where James writes faith without works is dead you guys are awesome yeah that's also by faith itself if it does not have works is dead and so you know I'm talking to my wife about we can say things we can think things we can proclaim things but we must be doers of the word and living examples of the word and not just

ones who claim it with their tongue and so I keep reading and unintentionally I kind of go into James chapter 3 and if you guys are familiar with James chapter 3 James is writing about how the tongue itself is dangerous like he talks about the fire of hell can consume our tongue and the man who can tame it that man is perfect and obviously none of us are only Christ is and as I'm reading this kind of unintentionally reading James 3 I was convicted in that moment I'm reading this to my wife not even that it was relevant to the conversation, but I just looked at my wife and I just felt convicted in my spirit and I looked at her and I said, hey, I need to be honest with you. I am convicted right now. I need to actually confess to you something that has been stirring up in here

that's overflowing out of my heart and coming out of the mouth. As the word says, like the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And I'm experiencing something in the abundance of my heart that is not holy, it's not pure, it is not perfect. And it's coming out of my tongue in private. And that was, simply to put it, curse words by myself, not towards anyone, not towards anything, but there's something in me that this anger is stirring up and it's coming out of my mouth and that's the fruit of this root in me. And I only shared that because I'm convicted about what the word said in that moment and I'm like, you know, this is something that I'm struggling with. And as I said that to her, I heard the Holy Spirit say, if you want your wife to understand what it means to be a doer of the words you're saying, I need you to be a living example of what I'm telling you to do. And so I knew in that moment, I wasn't only just to confess that, hey, I've been lacking self-control in here, there's actually a root and I'm going to cut it off. And so I stood up, went into our living room and I unplugged my computer. I grabbed my computer and I put it in our living room and I pointed to it and I was like, this is the root.

This thing for me is the root of where this speech is coming from. And so, yeah, it was a fleshly purchase, is a computer setup, I should have never bought it for myself. And so that conviction led to a decision and conviction of the Holy Spirit is authoritative. And so we are met with a knowing in our spirit of what we ought to do. And, you know, my flesh doesn't like that. But I have written right here, it doesn't matter what my flesh thinks because it's dead anyway. And so, remove the computer and I knew that this for me is the root of where this bad fruit is coming from. Now, I wanna make it very clear, I wanna make this very clear. I'm sharing this one because the message today is going to be, you know, how do we respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit? But I do wanna make very clear that for me, the video games and doing that, that is my personal conviction. That is not me saying video games are sin or they're inherently bad at all. It is quite literally me and my God and the conviction that he's put in me that the fruit of this thing has never been good. And so I have to cut it off.

And so I'm not at all saying you can't play, like, neither do I have that authority, but like, I'm not at all saying, you know, video games are bad. And I could even, one of you, one of you in most games and probably, probably win. So back to the video game clarification. Quick backstory. So video games are something that I have done since I was a little kid. And I actually, my dream before I got saved was to be a streamer. I used to play a lot of like tens of thousands of hours of video games. You can ask my mom. Thank you, mom, for your grace. But I, yeah, I used to tell her like, I'm gonna make it, mom, I promise. I'm gonna be the best Fortnite player in the world. No, the Lord had a different plan. And so quick backstory. The video games that I used to play, I was in a Call of Duty game match one night and really quickly, there was a pastor in this online lobby and I'm speaking and I had literally just gotten saved just a couple of weeks before this moment. So I'm playing Call of Duty. Just a couple of weeks ago, Jesus encountered me. I'm still dead in almost all of my sin. I'm not biblically educated.

I am not submitted to authority. I'm not even plugged into a church, right? This is years ago when I first got saved. I'm playing my game and there's a pastor in the lobby. And I forget how it even went on, but I had just went on to say, you know, I don't know, have you guys ever heard of Jesus? He's awesome. He's God and he's coming back. And one of the guys on my team said, yeah, young man, I do know about Jesus. I'm a pastor. And I was like, oh, that's amazing. That's so cool. And he said, yes, young man, if you knew about Jesus the way that you're speaking about him right now, your tongue would not sound the way that it is in this game chat. And I said, who the blank do you think you are? My pride puffed up. I said, I blanking love Jesus. I was so offended. I was so offended because I'm on fire for God. I love Jesus. And I'm preaching to you in a game chat. Why are you rebuking me? I didn't know that this was not good, right? I didn't know. I didn't know. That's just how I talk.

And so there's so much grace in that time, of course, but it's like by the grace of God, he used somebody in a Call of Duty game chat. We went into a private match, put the controller down, and he had taught me biblically. Like, hey, this is what the Bible says. And I said, thank you so much. And yeah, so there's a lot more to that story, but I will end it there. By the grace of God, he taught me something. So if God can use a call to the game chat, he can certainly use anything, like this moment. So, yeah. And so going back to just last week, the obedient act of responding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, cutting off this root and saying to my wife, I'm sorry. This is the root. The fruit has never been good. I shouldn't have even put this in our house. I'm done. I left the room. The spirit and the presence of God was overwhelming in our home that night. It was very powerful. And I left the room and I texted Pastor Matty, and I was like, my answer is yes. The Lord has spoken. I know what I am to say. Now, of course, this is not the message.

This is literally just the intro, but that is why I'm standing here. So let's go right into Romans chapter eight. That's where we're gonna be today. If you guys have your Bibles, Romans eight is incredible. And if you have not read it, I encourage you to. And also, guys, I encourage you to read Romans six, seven, and eight, maybe even after today, because Paul is pointing to a very clear picture to sum up very quickly the struggle of our flesh, the temptation of our flesh, and the things that, as man, we struggle with, but he's also pointing to the answer, who is Christ himself. And so we're gonna get started in Romans eight, verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. So, give me one second here. We can see that Paul, just four verses in, is making it very clear that, you know,

if you are a follower of Jesus who is filled with his spirit, I think that the evidence is shown in the place that you walk. And what I mean by that is, are we walking according to the flesh, or are we walking according to the spirit? And we can actually discern these things with the help of the Holy Spirit as to where we are through his help. And so, and that every time that we are walking according to his spirit, we are actually echoing the victory that Jesus Christ has won. And we are only able to choose to walk according to his spirit because he chose us first. And so, let's just keep going into scripture. Starting in verse four, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God,

for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. I think, you know, if you have a question and you are maybe asking, you know, where am I walking with God? Am I walking in the flesh or am I walking according to his spirit? You might ask, why then is it so hard to know if I'm even walking according to his spirit? And as Pastor Matty would say, I'm so glad that you asked. And so, let's go back to scripture and just find this out together. Because I'm not here to speak of my personal revelation, it is quite literally right here in scripture. And so, we're just gonna continue. In verse six, I'm sorry, verse nine. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also dwell in you. so give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

And so let's actually, let's go back to verse five. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, right? If we know that all things start in our minds, we must analyze the fruits of the thoughts that we're having. What is the actual physical fruit that's coming from the thing that's foundationally starting in here? And so how do we do that? We simply analyze the fruit of our life. We analyze this foundation, this place, and what is the fruit of it? As the word says, you will know them by their fruits. And so the interesting thing is that the fruit is always going to expose the root, right? When I was convicted in that moment with my wife and said, hey, this is something I've been struggling with. One, I wanna make clear, that only happened because I grabbed my Bible in the first place, right? I grabbed my Bible and only from there was I able to hear the voice of God and the Holy Spirit said to me, hey, this fruit, this thing that you're confessing is because the root is this thing. And I'll be honest with you guys, just maybe less than a month ago, I shared with one of my brothers here, I was like, hey, you know, this is something that I just wanna get into the light.

I've just been like, my tongue just has not been tamed as it should be and as it usually is. And I didn't actually share with him what the root was in that moment. It's not that I didn't know, it's that I wanted to actually hold onto the root. I wanted to keep it in my life. I actually liked having the access for instant dopamine, the access for instant gratification, which for me was found in the root of this game. And so no matter what kind of day I'm going through, what kind of day that I'm having, I can know that there's some hope in this thing because immediately I can receive gratification when I go to this thing. And so we have to be very careful because we all have these sorts of things. And so I would just encourage you guys, be open to what the Holy Spirit may be highlighting on your minds right now as I share what he has highlighted to me and how we are to respond to that. And so, you know, as Paul is writing, to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. My question would be, you know, is your mind experiencing more of what feels like turmoil or death, or is it experiencing life and peace? I think as we analyze that, for most of us, unfortunately, it is more often that our carnal mind,

our flesh has dominion more than the mind of Christ. And so if you found yourself in a place mentally where fear, anxiety, doubt, lack of self-control, bitterness, anger, and the fruit of what's coming out of this place and into the physical is not perfect, is not holy, is not patient, is not kind, I think that that is actually an invitation to the acknowledgement that, hey, there's probably something being highlighted in this area. We can see the fruit and say, okay, I'm gonna listen. And I think, you know, we have to remember that our flesh does not want to actually listen and obey the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We want to come up with every excuse that we possibly can to say, this is how I am, this is what I do, this is what I've always done, and this is just, this is how it's gonna be. But I wanna encourage you guys, like, we are simply all followers of Jesus, I would hope, and if you are, you know his voice. And his voice is, once again, authoritative. And so, if something's highlighted on your mind right now and it's like, this is the thing that keeps coming back, listen to it today, please. And let his spirit do a perfect work in you guys. It's an invite, it's an invite. This thing that we hear is actually an invite. And we're gonna go deeper into that. Back to Romans nine, let's go through nine through 11 here. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit,

if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your immortal bodies through his spirit that dwells in you. You are not in the flesh if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. And if the spirit of God dwells in you, Romans chapter eight, verse 11 is a promise to you that his spirit will empower you. Paul is not saying that the spirit of God is gonna empower your mortal bodies. in a fleshly way, he's saying that the Spirit of God is going to empower you because it's his Spirit in you that does that. And so we, man, just acknowledging and knowing that the Spirit of God inclines us, even in our flesh, to be obedient to the highlighting of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, of what we are struggling with, whether that's mental or physical, whatever it may be. And notice, guys, I have not mentioned anything other than my own. If you are thinking of something right now, it's because he's speaking. I am not powerful enough to make you highlight your struggle, it is only the Spirit of God.

And so listen to him today. Amen. Let's go to Romans 8, 12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Put to death the deeds of the body. So I had this thought yesterday as I was at the gym, I was fired up, I'm so expecting for what the Lord is gonna do today, and I'm listening to my music, and I listen to like, I don't know, I listen to like these really weird beats, like it's just like, yeah, Chris is laughing, you know, Chris, like very weird beats, but like scripture will be over it. So it's like this like masculine, like war music with scripture. And I'm like getting super fired up. And I was like, I was like, man, like, and maybe this will just resonate more with the men in the house, but like, I don't know, when you're super fired up and your testosterone's pumping, you can think of like movies that fire you up, right? If you just saw like a, I don't know, like a war movie or like these war knights in armor, whatever, you get fired up and it's like, I think we all have this natural tendency because God designed us this way to like,

want to be that guy, right? We wanna be the guy that holds the sword and runs into the front of the face of the enemy and destroy it. And so, man, I was thinking this, and I was just praying about it, and like, how cool is it guys that, and not just guys, all of us, that if we want to successfully act on that thing that God has given us, we can apply the killing of something to our flesh. Like, think about, I know it's really hard because our flesh does not wanna hear this, but like, imagine if we could take that desire and be like, I'm gonna kill my flesh. It's not something external. It's not like the enemy itself. It's actually, it's these desires. And knowing that when we do that, and we acknowledge the things that he's highlighting, it's like, man, I can take a sword to this thing, and the sword is this thing, and God is gonna do something, and in him, his spirit is going to remove, rebuke, and deliver us and set us free from these things that may be highlighted on your minds right now. Like, that's cool. That's really cool. I think it's hard because it's spiritual

and it's invisible, right? We can imagine these things in the physical, like if I was just holding this thing physically or we wanna do those things, but it's like, man, Jesus already did it physically with his body, and his victory is the reason why I don't have to, and so the acknowledgement of him is going to lead me to saying, oh my gosh, I want to submit these things to the feet of Jesus and know that that is the echo of it is finished. It's defeated, and I don't have to swing my sword. I'm not called to kill anything but my flesh. Amen. Verse 14, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Now, I'm just gonna keep reading here, guys, but something that comes to mind is that Jesus learned obedience through the things which he suffered. That's what the word says. Jesus learned obedience through the things which he suffered, and so we have a unique opportunity today

to accept the voice of conviction and say, as much as this makes that thing in me, which is my flesh trying to agree with this thing, and it feels like I'm suffering, Holy Spirit, help me to learn obedience through this thing that I'm suffering with because you have done it. Guys, it is. is Him in us, and Paul is making that very clear, especially right here, what we're about to read. It is not your strength, it is not your might, it is not your power that is going to overcome these sorts of things. It is Christ, and Christ alone. And the biggest lie that our flesh wants to tell us is like, man, you're not strong enough, or eventually you'll get there. And actually, I feel like the Lord told me this. I don't know who this is for, but I believe there's some people in here that at one point in time, you were closer to Jesus than you are right now, and you have come in agreement with your flesh that it's going to take X amount of time to get back to that place of once you once were. And I want to speak truth into that and say that that is a lie of your flesh that you have come into agreement with in your comfort zone, because today is the day of salvation. All it takes is one moment of obedience, one moment of true repentance of saying,

I'm at the end of myself, for all things to be made new. Christ does not need you to build a ladder and climb up it, and it's going to take four years, because it took you four years to get to where you once were and now I'm not there anymore. And so I look at where I once was and I'm like, man, I guess this is just how it's going to be. No, the ladder is Christ. We climb on the stripes of his back. It's what he has done. It is not what we can do. And so I'm going to remind you that, guys. It is not your strength, it is his. And what a beautiful thing. There's so much joy and grace in that reality that, wow, this burden is only heavy because it's mine. It's mine that I'm agreeing with. Christ says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. If your burden feels so heavy, it's probably because you haven't taken it off and put it on Christ. When we put it on Christ, the burden we receive is light. And he has designed us to simply carry the acknowledgement of what he has already done, not what we can do. All right. Sorry, I got lost. Where are we? Thank you. Okay, yep. So starting in verse 18,

I'm just going to go ahead and read through here, guys. I know there's so much, but at a respective time, I'm just going to read through, and then we'll stop around verse 26 and 27. So Paul writes, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan with ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what we ought to pray, pray as we ought,

but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows the mind of the spirit, I'm sorry, knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Okay, this is fascinating. I'm in my guest room the other day and I'm just like, just talking with the Holy Spirit and I'm just reading this out loud. And man, I, when the Holy Spirit is convicting us, we have a unique opportunity to respond to the intercession of our King. I want you to think about this. When we hear the voice of God, when we are convicted of something, what a wild thought that we are actually might be hearing the intercession of Christ over your life. That's wild. So like with the thing that you're struggling with, if you could audibly hear God, and he's like, my son, I'm for you in this. I'm here. He's declaring victory over you in this area. If you could audibly hear the voice of Yahweh praying and interceding over your struggle, I'm pretty sure that that would probably change everything. It doesn't.

You take that up with him. I don't know what to say, but if you could audibly hear the voice of God saying, my son, my daughter, I'm for you in this. I love you. You're going to be free. If you could hear his intercession, literally with, with your ear, you would probably be like, whoa, if you're for me in this, who could be against me? If you're for me in this, I'm already free, right? So think about this, guys. Let's maybe take a new perspective on conviction itself. What if when we're convicted, we're simply hearing the voice of the intercession in the first place, because the word says that the King is interceding for you right now. And so guys, the things that are highlighted on your minds right now, don't harden your heart. There is no shame. What did Paul say in verse one? There's no condemnation, right? Don't harden your heart, but just say, okay, there's something here. I'm going to believe that this is you interceding for me and that today is the day that I'm going to make a decision and let this be crucified with you on the cross. Because it is, guys, it is not what we can do. It's what he has done. The biggest lie that we want to believe,

because it's called our comfort zone, it has a contract with our flesh, is that if only you were strong enough to overcome this thing, I mean, look, you've been struggling with this your whole life. It makes you look at yourself. But guys, I have good news. We look at Jesus. What has he done? If the nails through his hands and his feet don't compel you to repentance, I pray it does, because that is everything, that God in the flesh would step down and become a man like you and me, walking in the physical flesh and never sinning, but laying his life down willingfully for you on a cross. Guys, we identify with what he has done in that moment. And the things that we struggle with are already with him in that place on the cross. And so we should not be picking up things that are already dead. And if it feels like you're experiencing a mind that is nothing but death, it's because the word says that it's a carnal mind. But the word also says that you have the mind of Christ now. And so, guys, these are simply decisions that we have to make through the acknowledgement of Christ, not relying on our strength or ability to do that, but it is the Holy Spirit that leads us to those places. When the Holy Spirit said,

if you want your wife to know what it means to be a living example, not just a sayer, but a doer of this thing, I need you to actually go get this root, you guys really think I wanted to do that? Like, no. Like, if it was for my flesh, I would literally be home playing Fortnite right now. I'm not kidding. Like, if it was not for Christ saving me, I would not be here. And I would probably be completely dead in my sin, either successful or not as a streamer playing video games. And thank God he took me out of that. Because it's like, man, there's nothing in that. There's nothing in that for me. And so the thing that is highlighted on your thoughts and on your mind, hallelujah, illumination, the thing that he's bringing light to, do not ignore it. Is that a warning for time or was that God? Okay. All right. Okay. All right, where were we? 28, thank you, sir. Thank you, Alan. I think. Yeah, I love you.

All right. And we, okay. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love, for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, he also called. Whom he called, he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? I don't wanna stop here. And I don't even wanna give glory to what I'm about to say more than the word alone. But guys, the scary part is, is that sometimes our own understanding and our own flesh can be the only thing that is separating us from the overwhelming love of God. The enemy himself cannot strip you from the grace and the place that God wants you to be in. But sometimes your disobedience and your rejection to the voice of God can be the very thing that does not. allow you to hear these words and to know the truth in it. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God? Who also makes intercession for us? I'm gonna remind you guys, the thing that you're thinking about, the thing that's not leaving your mind right now, it's intercession for you. Answer the call today. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written, for your sake, we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I mean, amen, hallelujah. Like Paul is declaring right here the truth that there is nothing that can separate us. It is finished and what Christ has done will always be and has always been enough.

Guys, if there is conviction on your hearts, if there's conviction on your minds right now with the thing that is not leaving, you have the honor to respond today through your obedience to our Father. And the good news is, is that when he tells us to let go of something, he is the one we get to grab onto. And if you consider yourself a born-again Christian and that fact that the thing that you're trying to hold onto and letting go of it, if you consider yourself a born-again Christian and you are filled with the Spirit of God and you are following Jesus Christ, but the reality that when you get to let go of the thing today that you're struggling with, it does not compel you that the overwhelming, I have no word, the beautiful reality that who we get to hold onto today once we let go is Christ himself. Guys, if that is not, if that is not an overwhelming joy in your heart, I would say that this morning, today, you have an invite for it to be. Because here's the beautiful thing about repentance is that whether you've been following Jesus for 75 years, shout out to Elder Rich, or you've been following for like a week, it doesn't matter. However long that you've been following God,

however long that you've been following God, guys, the beautiful thing, the beautiful thing, that wasn't in my notes, Rich, I just, Holy Spirit. The beautiful thing is that repentance is an invite to everyone, right? What was the thing that the disciples were saying when they would walk into the places after they're filled with the Holy Spirit? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And so repentance is an invite, guys, to the acknowledgement that there was a man who was God fully and man fully at the same time who walked on this earth, lived a sinless life, who fully loved God the Father with all of his heart and mind. He fulfilled the law and he laid his life down for you and I and bled out on a cross for us, for our mess, for our sin. And so, guys, it is finished. Death and hell are defeated. Let your obedience echo his victory today. Because when you say, all right, yeah, I hear you, Holy Spirit. I actually, I don't even, I don't want to think about, you know, doing this tomorrow because I know there's somebody in here right now. You feel this thing, feels like there's a spotlight on you. Your heart's pounding, but you're like, no, tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow. I just can't do it right now.

I just, man, the thing that you're met with after you can face that sentence of what I just said is. Christ himself. And when you can get past the point of yourself and come to the end of yourself, we are met with the grace of God. And so I'm gonna encourage you guys, I know it's intimidating sometimes, I know it's scary, but repentance is a beautiful thing because it's something that we all are invited to, and it is actually a posture that we are to live in constantly, daily, with our Father. And so, yes, the good news is that when he tells us to let go of something, he is the one that we get to grab onto. And so I encourage you guys not to harden your hearts, but accept the invite to transformation through repentance. If you think that you have to be strong enough, if you think that you have to be strong enough to let go of the thing that's been killing you, I have the best news that you're ever going to hear. It's not your strength that leads to the loosening of the grip on the thing that's been choking you alive, it is your weakness that leads you to the strength of the man who's only strong enough. It is only Christ Jesus. The lie that we want to agree with, because we like control, is that I need to come to the end of this thing by myself, and then my acknowledgement of that thing

is gonna bring breakthrough. We could argue yes, but it is the spirit in you that does these things. And so guys, it is not your strength that's going to bring you to breakthrough in the area that you're praying for breakthrough, it is your weakness. And Jesus says that in your weakness, my strength is made perfect. My grace is sufficient for you. If we could even get that up on the screen, I want to just read this with you guys, and look at this, 2 Corinthians 12, verse nine. And this is what I am, Lord willing, this is gonna be the last thing that I speak. Now I know what it feels like when Pastor Matty's like looking at the board. Oh, there it is. 2 Corinthians 12, nine. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, these are Paul's words after. So Jesus says these things. My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul then says, therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Guys, we have a really awesome, unique opportunity today to boast in our weakness

by coming before the King of Kings. And then the power of Christ will rest upon you. We know this when we, I mean, we just read Romans eight, guys, we can see that it's his spirit in us. And so guys, I want to encourage you. Actually, if we could all stand, please, if we could stand, let your weakness lead you to the strength of Christ Jesus. And so, ah, man, if you feel the spotlight, if you are experiencing conviction of the Holy Spirit right now, I encourage you, don't ignore it, don't harden your heart. Tomorrow is not promised, guys. There's only one thing guaranteed in this life. There's literally only one thing that is guaranteed in this life, and it is death. Somebody else would say taxes, but it is death. It's death, and we don't know when that day is coming. And so if in your mind, the thing that you're convicted about, you attach it with next month, I'll get right. I encourage you through the power of the spirit of God, acknowledge him in the thing that he's highlighting to you right now, and bring it into submission to Christ and watch what he does. I speak to the lie that says that there is nothing after I submit this thing to Christ. There is everything, and it's Christ himself. His Holy Spirit will empower you. If you want your struggle

more than you want the spirit of God, repent. And so if God is doing something in you, guys, I encourage you, the altar is open. This is not performance. This is not for man. If you need to get right with God, I encourage you, bow before him. Let your body be an example of a living sacrifice before Christ, and let your work of repentance be a sign to what the Lord is doing. doing in the believers around us, guys. This is not, I'm not saying these things that we can perform. This is not what that is, guys. If you feel compelled and there's something drawing you, it is not my voice, it is his. So guys, I just encourage you, be obedient to that thing. And whatever that is, let it be placed at the feet of Jesus and watch what he does. He is worthy of the acknowledgement of what he has done. And through that acknowledgement, we are reminded of what the word says. And then we are empowered by his spirit because it's a promise. We can go back to what we said, guys, Romans 8, 11. Remember, his spirit will empower you. If we don't believe these things, test it, test it. Bring it to God and say, God, I can hear you, I see this thing, I'm placing it at your feet.

I don't even believe, I'm gonna be honest, I don't even believe that you're capable of doing what Owen's talking about, but it's your word. And so I'm just gonna lay here and give it to you and hope that you do something. Guys, he wants the honest you. Be vulnerable with your creator today. And so Lord, we thank you that the spirit of the living God is in this place. We thank you that your Holy Spirit is speaking to your sons and daughters. God, we thank you that you are so faithful to speak to us. We thank you for your unlimited wisdom. We thank you that you search our hearts, you know our minds, you know our thoughts. And we thank you that the word of God is alive and active. And we thank you that right now in this moment, every heart and mind that is coming to a place of repentance, this is our worship to you, Christ. This is our worship to you. This moment is simply an echo. It is a reflection of your victory, Jesus. It is what you have done. Thank you, God. Holy Spirit, I ask that the spirit of the living God would fill every heart and mind that has come to a place of obedience to your voice and your conviction. I pray that you would speak very intimately and clearly to your sons and daughters. I thank you that right now we have an opportunity

to hear your intercession. God, let us be your answered prayer. Let us be your answered prayer. I thank you that for every single heart and soul that has come to a place of repentance in this moment, you guys are his answered prayer. And so Lord, let your spirit be filled inside of them. We ask for your wisdom and your spirit and your presence to overflow in every heart and mind in this place, God. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. And it's in Jesus' mighty name that we pray, amen. Amen and amen. Guys, the Lord is clearly doing a good work. I don't want to just stop this. If God is speaking to you, please stay there. I don't even know what happens next because I'm not the pastor and I have no authority. I'm just a vessel. And so yeah, glory be to God for all that he is doing right now in this moment. I love you guys. And yeah, let's be reminded of him today. Of him today. Woo! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What an amazing message, right? So good. Owen, we just, we're so proud of you as a body here. Try not to get emotional. Like, man, last week I met with Owen and just going over some of the notes and everything and the things. And just, man, there's something about you, man, that just like stirs up something within my heart. Like, and my prayer for this body is that what was provoked in personally in me would also be provocation for you. That again, you know, he's talking about Romans 8, 1, that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That that provocation would lead you to the heart of the Father and not away from him. You know, years ago, the Lord spoke to me about the life of David and him being called a man after God's own heart.

And I had thought, you know, How could a person, how could a man, who was so full of sin and wickedness and unrighteousness, how could someone like that be called a man after God's own heart? And what the Lord revealed to me in that moment was that it wasn't because of his sin or his unrighteousness that disqualified him from being a man after God's own heart, but it was his, in Psalms 27.4, if you know me, this is like one of my favorite verses in scripture where it says that, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And David had access to something that was not really his to access in the time in which he lived, because that access would not come until Christ would come and live a life like us and die in our place and be resurrected. It's that through Christ that we have access to that, but David was able to access something before it was even time. And it was because whenever he sinned or whenever he was in wrong, that he would, instead of being drawn away from the presence of God, it's like, no, I actually need God's presence in my life. And then Psalms 51 would come out,

you know, creating me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me, but restore to me the joy of your salvation. His heart was drawn to the Father in his most vulnerable and honestly most wretched moments of his life. It would draw him to the Father. And so that is my prayer for you. Now, we get to come into a time where we're gonna take communion together. And so I'm gonna invite the elders who are going to help with communion for you and your wives to come up. But I just wanna give a little bit of exhortation and instruction on this, that first and foremost, that this is not snack time. You know, we've heard Pastor Matty say this, that this is not just a common moment for us to enter into, but this is actually a moment for us as the body of Christ to be participators in the covenant right now. One thing that is so special about our faith, and even in the Old Testament, is that God would institute multiple means for us to be participators within the covenant. And what we have now in the new covenant is this aspect of the Eucharist or communion. And so just some quick instruction that this moment that we are about to enter into

in participating in communion, it is not just for anyone, but that it is specifically for those who have placed their faith and their trust in Christ and in Christ alone. Not in your works, not in your righteous abilities, or not in your righteous deeds, but simply and only in Christ alone. And so if you've not made that decision, we would ask that you would not partake of the elements. But again, you know, one of the things that Owen said beautifully today is that don't let that be, don't let that stop you from not being able to participate. That today is the day of salvation. And I know that there are elders, there are pastors here, there are people on staff, there are tribe leaders. If there is someone that you trust that you're just like, you know, I don't know if I'm right with God or not. Go and find someone, find me, you know, I'll be available if you wanna talk to me. But do not let this moment pass you by that it's don't come up and just be like, well, you know, it's gonna be awkward if I don't participate this. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians that death and judgment had come upon some of the members of the Corinthian community because they did not discern the body of the Lord rightly. And so my challenge for you is that if you,

not only if you don't know Christ, but if you're sitting there and it's just like, man, there are really some things, some hidden things that I need to deal with. Get right with God now. Do not harden your hearts as your ancestors did, but today is the day of salvation. And so if you need to find someone, if you need to make it right with someone, someone that you have a fence against, someone that has hurt you or someone that is just like, man, I've been living a life that is not. not consistent with the precepts, with the instruction of God. I would challenge you to make that right in these moments. And then when you're ready to participate. But we're gonna do things a little bit differently today. Right now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna have some of the members of the hospitality team, they're gonna start over in the back and they're gonna release you row by row. And you can use either the aisles that are beside you to come down and come to partake of the elements. And then you can either go back to your seat with it, or if you need a moment, you can come up to the altars, the altars are open. Do whatever you feel is best for you. But we're gonna release you row by row. So what we're gonna ask is that you don't come out of your row until you've been dismissed

by one of the members of the hospitality team. Also, we have a gluten-free station here in the center. What I'm gonna ask is that if you don't need the gluten-free options to leave that for the people who actually do desperately need that, because there are some people who could potentially become ill or sick if they don't have that option. And so we're asking that you partake of the elements, whichever one is fitting for you. But I wanna pray real quick, and then we will get started with this. And so I wanna quote this from 1 Corinthians 11. The apostle Paul says that, for what I've received from the Lord that I pass down to you, that on the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he distributed it amongst his disciples, and he said, take and eat, for this is my body. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he took the cup, and after he had blessed it, he passed it around to his disciples, and said, take and drink, for this is my blood in the new covenant. Do this in remembrance of me. And that every time that we partake of this meal, that we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And so Father, I thank you for your body and for your blood. God, I thank you that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. Christ died for the ungodly. And Father, I'm asking God that, that for those that need healing in their hearts, healing in their minds, God, I ask that when they partake of this meal, God, that they would find the healing that they are looking for. God, that they would find the strength that they are looking for. Not that these elements, not that the bread and the wine, not that that has any power in it of itself, but it's you who has power. You said in Zechariah that it's not by might, that it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the spirit of the living God. And so Father, we just ask in these moments that as we take these elements, God, that we will remember your sacrifice, that it wasn't for nothing, but that your word is set out, that it doesn't come back to you void, that it does everything that it was set out to, to accomplish, to do. And so Father, in this moment, we just remember your sacrifice, we remember your words, we remember your teaching, we remember your instruction.

And Father, as we're taking these elements, God, I ask that those things would be inside of us, that they would be life to us, that peace would come into us, that we would live lives that are full of joy, and of expectancy, and just everything that you desire for our lives, everything that you desire to see in our lives, that that would be accomplished in these moments. We thank you and we bless you in Jesus' name. Hospitality team, if you're ready, you can go ahead and dismiss the people. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

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