The Great Commission: Your Mission In Faith

We had a one of many little communication fails between N and I and she didn't bring a computer that I would use for notes. So, I'm going to use my little phone. So, if me doing this a lot, it's not I'd like to tell you I'm praying, but I'm trying to read my notes., I do want to take a second. I want to recognize my friends Cody and Natalie right here. Will you wave at them, guys? They're Yeah, go ahead. Give it up., they're from Tulsa. They drove over today to come be with us tonight. they have a few kids and they're they are just together to be here, but they wanted to come be here with you tonight. And I appreciate that. God's doing a great work in their life. They're very valuable, awesome people, plugged into God's Church and just great people, great man and woman of God. And they're here tonight and so I want y'all to love on them, spend time with them, visit with them, learn from them, encourage them, whatever you can do. But they're here with us tonight and I appreciate y'all coming. It's very cool to have them here., I want to talk to you tonight about the mission. If I if I if I had one topic to talk about the rest of my life, it would not be the mission. It would be the true nature of God.

If there was one thing, if they said, "Hey, you can talk about one thing the rest of your life. " I would spend every ounce of energy I had to tell you, to help the true nature of God. Because if you don't know who he is, that is the basis for how your relationship goes with him. Again, if you think God's waiting to judge you and strike you and he's going to put sickness on you, to teach you a lesson, then you do not have a true understanding of who he is. And that affects your relationship with him. It affects your confidence. It affects your your position to go forward and be who God's called you to be. And so, if I could talk one thing, it'd be that. And secondly, after that, once we know who God is, the other thing that I'll talk a lot about and you've heard me talk a lot about is our identity. Once we know who God is, now we know who we are. And if you don't know who you are, then you still can't act and accomplish everything that God's called you to act. We've talked about Ephesians 3:20 a lot recently, which just that God wants to do infinitely more by his power that's working. It's working. It's working to accomplish. What is it doing? It's working to accomplish in you infinitely more. But if you don't understand who God is and who you are, then it's hard for that to happen. And so, man, we get our mind renewed to the Truth of who we are. We get our mind renewed to his Word, his promise, it becomes the anchor to our soul. We believe God's report more than anybody else's report.

That's what that means. If God says yes, then it's yes. If somebody else says no, they're wrong. The Bible even says that, and I can't think the exact reference. It says, "Let every man be a liar and God be the Truth. " Right? In other words, the human opinion compared to God's Word or God's direction, God's Truth, they don't match up. If God said it, that's the Truth. That's what we anchor our soul to. And so, we have to get our mind renewed to the Word. And so, we talked about that a lot lately. And but I want to go another direction tonight because that only matters for the benefit now of the plan. I will spend most of my life preaching the true nature of God and the and our true identity in Christ because that's to our benefit. That's for us. But that's only we're the beneficiary of this relationship. But the bene the benefits that we enjoy are for the responsibility of giving him the glory of pointing to him. And so the beautiful tension is that we're not preaching the Gospel that it's selfish for us that we're the ones to gain although we're the ones to gain. But why are we the ones that need to be gaining? We need to be gaining and growing so that we can be more effective for the mission. That's the purpose.

We're not the destination. Your success is not the destination. But your elevation, God's blessing on your life is so that God can be glorified through you to the people around you. So we have a responsibility to know God, learn him, get a in a relationship with him, to know his heart, to know his promise, to know his Truth, and we have a responsibility to grow and understand who we are as his children. That's why we spend a little bit of time meditating on that, processing that, saying that. That's how you win. You have to practice it. I heard I heard a great statement one time. Of course, everybody knows that they say practice makes perfect. And this guy was talking about he had a tennis coach and he said he said that's actually not true. He said perfect practice makes perfect. Because if you keep practicing he was doing his wrist wrong or something. I don't I don't speak tennis very well but he was doing his wrist wrong and he said he said if you keep practicing that way then you'll always do it that way. So you're practicing wrong. Right? So perfect practice. So we have to practice the disciplines. Practice speaking the Word. practice saying it over and over. We have to hear ourselves saying it.

We have to we have to keep showing up and keep saying it and keep sitting on the Word and keep working it. But it's not that's the destination or the end goal. That's for the benefit now of accomplishing the mission. There is one mission for your life. It is a singular mission for every individual and then for us corporately. It is referred to as the great commission. We have one mission and it's to it's to make God famous. Period. That's it. And when I say famous, that's probably dumbing down the generality. It's a general statement. It is to exalt the name of Jesus in your life. It is to re it is to the privilege is for us to return home as sons that we've talked about. But now the mission is to get other people to come home. That's it. And let me just tell you, when you're about the singular mission that God has established for his creation, that is where the fulfillment is found. That is where the excitement and the contentment is found. Otherwise, what are we doing? We're just building businesses. My why for being successful in business is so that I have greater financial margin to give to every good work and help fund the Gospel to people that don't hear it.

You gave money at the notforgotten offering. Why? To get the Gospel to people. Anybody here going to Iran anytime soon? I'm not. Let's send money to people that are getting the Gospel out. So, we need successful people so you have finances to do that. You need strength and health in your body. Why? So you can serve one another. You need you need forgiveness in your heart so you can live free and be able to love people the way that God wants to love them through you. But if you got all that bitterness and and frustration and and unforgiveness in your heart, it's going to be really hard to have compassion for people because you'll play the victim your whole life because you're carrying all the unforgiveness. So you'll never operate who God's called you to be to live free so you'll never as effective as you could have been for the Gospel. And here's my deal. If God is and God loves you and God saved you, then I want to be free so I can be effective for him. I want to give my life to him. See, everything in the kingdom is completely backwards in what . Everything, everything that you naturally want to do, the kingdom does it like this. Like forgiving, like giving, like serving, right? Loving people that are unlovable, praying for your enemies.

None of that is in your natural fleshly desire. None of you are looking to give money away. None of you are in your flesh. None of you are None of you are looking for any reason. But the kingdom compels us to give. God gave of himself. He loved you when you were unlovable. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He loved you. He saved you. He gave of himself. We received the love. And thereby now, I give him my life. He's not going to come take it from you. You give him your life. You give him your finances. You give him your health. You give him your heart. You give him your future. You give him your You give him everything.

And so my question to you is, have you deemed him worthy of your life yet? There's there's the Holy conviction for you for just a moment. Have you deemed him worthy to have all of your life? Because most of us would like to hang on to a couple things because we know a little bit better than God about some of those things. what I'm saying? I think I know how to handle some God. I'm almost 48 now. I think I know what I'm doing. I don't really need you at this area. And that's foolishness. We abandon our life. We give it to God. Nobody's charging you money to come to Church tonight. You're not paying a monthly membership. This in the Kuanas Club. This in the Lion's Club or whatever it's called, right? This is Church. And it's for the benefit of equipping saints. It's for the benefit of growing. It's for the benefit of putting ourselves corporately together as believers so that God can move in our midst.

Refine, teach us, and collectively we come together with our resources of giftings that God's given you and talents that you've developed and financial resources that you have and collectively every joint supplies and we are effectively more powerful to reach more people for the cause of Christ, which is the mission. That's why we come together. That's what we want to do. And we want to do a lot of things strategically to invite more people in. And then we want to disciple them. You don't know how to read the Bible? Come fellas, come to the Thursday morning and learn how to read the Bible. Today we're going to talk a little bit about fasting. Don't walk out on me yet. We're not there yet. We're going to talk we're going to We've talked about giving. I don't talk about it a lot. I asked somebody the other day, I said, "How many times you hear me talk about money? " Not very often. I've been real strategic and real patient on that because I don't want to run people off yet. But let me tell you, when I talked about the not forgotten offering, how much of God do you want? You're going to give him your heart, but you're not going to give him your pocketbook. And you say, 'Well, now he's just trying to get money. ' I'm not. I'm just asking when you spend your money, is God in the middle of it?

That's all I'm asking. Is he the priority in your finances? Is he the priority in your health? Is he the priority in your relationship? Is he the priority in your words that are coming? Is he the priority of your life? Have you acknowledged him in every way? Have you given him your life? Right. Matthew chapter 28:18, Jesus came and he told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in Heaven and on earth. " Okay, pause. Just s let that one sink in for a minute. Okay. Jesus has how much authority? All of it. Where at? In Heaven and on earth. He's the man. Okay? You got to recognize it.

You got to process it. He's not just an option. He's not a religious option for you. He's not just a good teacher. He has all authority in Heaven and on earth. Therefore, because of that, I've I've teased about this before. When therefore, you have to ask what is there for. Okay? So, you back up a sentence. Jesus has all authority on Heaven and earth. Therefore, because of it, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, which means submerging them in the name, the presence, the power, the Truth of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this. Everybody say, be sure of this. He's telling you to be sure of this. You need you need to you need to be confident of this. You need to you need to you need to let this one down deep into your soul. Be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We're going to talk about that toward the end of this message.

But the definition of commission in the dictionary. com he's commissioned us the great commission to go and make disciples to spread the Word to compel people into his house that his house may be full. This is what he's called us to do to take the greatest news in the world. Find me a better Gospel. Find me a better message. Find me better news than there is a God and he loves you and he's paid for it and he's compelled us and told us and commissioned us to go. The Word commission means this. The act of committing or entrusting a person or group etc. with supervisory power or authority. Committing or entrusting a person, group etc. with supervisory power or authority. An authoritative order, charge or direction. An authoritative direction for us to go as a people. An authoritative charge to take action on. Authority granted for a particular action or function. Okay. What does the first verse say that we read? Jesus has all authority in Heaven and on earth. What does it mean to be commissioned? It means that he has entrusted us with authority and power.

He's he has given us a direction and a charge and he has granted us authority for a particular action or function. This is our objective. This is the mission of your life. I've said it many times over in many different ways. But you're not going to cheat death. If Jesus hadn't come back before your days are numbered, it doesn't matter if you got $10 in your account or 10 billion dollars in your account. When you're toast, you're toast. When it's over, it's over. And you're not taking any of it with you. So, what is the mission of your life? What is the purpose of our gathering? What is the purpose of being here? And it is proactive. It is not to sit and just attend services and soak up The purpose of Church, we learn, is for the equipping of saints. It's to it's to encourage one another. It's to sharpen one another. It's to worship together. It's to it's to it's to get in his presence together. It's to let it sit under the Word. So, the Word will work in you and it's refining you and it's teaching you.

It's showing you and it's healing you and it's strengthening you. And then we leave here and now we are proactive about the mission. Part of the mission of this Church is to help supply and support and encourage many of the thoughts and ideas that come from the Holy Spirit in you. Most people think about Church this way. This stuff's out of my notes, but most of them think this way that you get an idea and you're going to bring it to me and now I'm going to formulate a program that we're going to we're going to manage. Actually, God's going to put something in your heart. The Church is going to come behind you and help fuel you and you're going to lead change. It's not all my job. My job is to encourage you and equip you. I've been commissioned and now I'm commissioning. See how that works? But I'm commissioned also. I'm part I'm playing my part. And many of us do. This is I'm telling you, this is already one of the most generous churches and your time and your effort. There's more for us to always give. There's more for us to lay down. There's more for us to sacrif There's always more. There's more opportunity. There's more for us.

There is more inf everybody say infinitely more. There is infinitely more that God has for us individually and corporately than you can even ask or imagine. You say, "Well, that sounds like a real lot of positive talk. " That's what the Bible says, guys. That's what I read. Remember, that's what God has for us. And so, we have to be about the mission. And it's in every one of us. Listen, if that's the mission now, it is in every one of you because God has put competitive competitiveness in you. And for some of you, that's a hoodie who every one of you has it in you because now you have a desire to be as effective as you can be. Nobody wants to be the weakest chain link in the chain. Nobody wants to be that. Nobody thinks that way. Everybody in here goes, "Man, I want to do my part. I want to do my part. " Okay, great. I want to be as effective as I can be now individually to add value to you and corporately I want us to be as effective as we can be so that we can effectively reach more people. We have to embrace the mission that gives us a new why. Everybody say a new why. Why do we renew our mind to the true nature of God?

Why do I need to know who I am as a Son in Christ and a Son in the house? Why do I need to know that? But then secondly, why must we obey? Why must we take action? Because this is the mission. This is this is the job. This is what you're putting your hand to. This is the work that we never retire from. This is the work. This is the purpose of your life. And if we're about the purpose of God, then that's where the fulfillment is. That's where the contentment is. And that's where Romans 8:28 comes in that we often throw away real casually. that God causes everything to work together for good for those who love him. Love him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength and are called according to his purpose. When we are about the mission of Christ, God's causing everything to work together for good. He's taking the obstacles, the hurdles, the adversities you face, the setbacks that are now setups for more. God is refining. God is leaning. God is directing us.

He's empowered us. And he's with us. He's leading us through it. My question to you would be, have you gotten rid of the old wise before you gave your life to Jesus of why you did the things you did? Because now we have a new why for what we do. Listen to me. Your success and how well you do those things is not going to earn you more love from God or more brownie points. The reason we want to do them is because I want to get as much of God as I can have in my life. But I want God to be able to do as much as he can do through me. I have to listen to me. Everything when I say there's no in between, which we've talked about, it was the theme for our brodown. There's no in between. Everything is either of God in your life now or everything is of you. That's it. Everything falls under one of those two. It's either about you or it's about him. I'm preaching kind of hard tonight, I think, but I okay with it. It's either of him or it's of you. Again, we go back to the spending. We go back to the talking.

We go back to the what we watch. We go back to how we look at other people and how we treat other people. Am I treating other people as unto the Lord or am I treating him as unto me and how I feel? If I've given my heart and my life to the Lord, now he becomes the lens with how I see. Am I parenting as unto the Lord or am I my parenting as unto me? That's becomes my motive. That becomes my lens. But before I gave my life to Jesus, I had all my wise I did things. Why I did it. Why did you do it? See, it's one thing. Listen to me. Here's what I'm trying to say about this. Nobody's condemning you for the ways you've messed up before you gave your life to Jesus. But have you addressed the why you did those things before you gave your life to Jesus? Well, why I did it because I was afraid and fearful? Why because I was bitter and unforgiving? Why because I was jealous and lustful? Why because I was insecure? Have you dealt with the why you did the things you did before?

So that you can be healed and whole now do and have a new why for what you're going to do. Because if I haven't let the Lord heal my heart on those things, then I'm not going to produce these things because I don't have his presence healed and strong in my heart to operate through there. I'm not going to give or do or serve because I'm still insecure, afraid, or don't see myself as a Son. I only see myself as a slave. That's why I read that verse. You don't have a Spirit of slavery anymore. You don't fear judgment anymore. You're not a sinner anymore. You're the righteousness of God. You're a Son or a daughter. You're a joint heir with Jesus. You are you have the mind of Christ. You hear God's voice. You're led by his Spirit. God's caused everything to work together for good for you in your life. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. All my needs are met according to his riches of glory. Whatever I put my hand to will prosper. No weapon formed against me will prosper. There's healing in my hands.

There's salvation in my lips. These are Holy hands. Now, THIS IS WHO I AM. But now, if I'm going to use them, I've got to know who I've got to I've got to get rid of that stuff that's not of him. That's where the true nature of God comes in. That's where the burden. But now, why do I got to get good at that? So, I can be about the mission. Otherwise, we're just coming in to attend services and get fat and happy. I want I want to be a vessel God can use. I want to get my selfishness out of the way. I want to get my greed out of the way. I want to get my lust out of the way. I want to get my laziness out of the way. So, I've got to kill it. I've got to kill it. I've got to crush it. I've got to crucify it. I've got to take it and I've got to nail it to his cross and go, "That's not me anymore. That's been killed.

That's been hung on a cross. That's not me anymore. " And when he resurrected, that's new life in me. So, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the same Spirit that now strengthens and quickens your body. It's the same Spirit that renews your mind. It's his anointing. It's his presence. IT'S HIS Word. IT'S ALIVE IN YOU. IT'S WORKING in you so that it can lead you. And when we're led by the Spirit of God, it will produce God results in our life. It will build his kingdom. That's why the Bible says that he will build his Church. It feels like we're building something, doesn't it? No. No. No. What you're doing is laying your life down, becoming a vessel that's willing to serve and give, and God will use it to build his Church. And I'm not saying Covenant Church is his Church. I'm talking about all of it.

But we are responsible for this gathering. We are responsible to make sure that everybody that wants to get into God's house can get into God's house. That is our place. That is our position. And when God puts on our heart, there's resources to do it. There's people to do it. When people come from all over the world for healing here, we have an army of people who are equipped, who are ready, who are vessels that God can use for healing. We're ready to receive people. You're broken. Come on in. Let me get my hands on you, bro. You're coming. You flew in. Hey, listen. We'll take care of it from here. We got resources. We'll take care of your rooms. We'll take care of your food. Why? Because there's resources.

There's meat in God's house. We got you. See, we've created a position that we're healed. We're ready. We're strong. Man, they coming in at night. They need me to stay up late. That's all right. I can stay up late because I got energy and strength in my body because of who we are. I'm committed to this. I'm willing to sacrifice. That's a small cross for me to lay on to stay up a little bit later to bring ministry to somebody, right? We're ready for this. We're ready for the extra effort. We're ready for the extra energy. It's a new why. And so my question to you is, do you accept the mission? It doesn't have to be answered right now. I'm just going to ask you though, have you accepted the mission? And do you accept the mission?

I hate to go all mission impossible on you. I don't even remember how it goes now, but if you should accept this mission or whatever, choose to accept this mission. And let me tell you, in the Spirit of Tom Cruz, you have to choose the mission. You have to choose to accept it. You do. You can say no. It's great. I'm not I'm not If you say no, I'm not questioning your eternity. I'm not where we're at. I'm just saying if God is and that love is that great and Jesus on the cross is that true and the Gospel is that awesome and you have received that much love, there's got to be some degree of compelling me to want to be a part of it. I want all I want to be a part of it. I want to serve. I want to give. I want to be part I want to help. I want to grow. I want all of it. But listen, if you accept the mission, it requires everything. See, this is where it gets a little bit confusing for people. See, you are going to give everything to the Lord, but you don't have to give everything to the Lord to be saved. He saved you, so now you're going to give everything to him.

It's very important that you understand that it is not your performance that makes you right with God. It is not your works that justifies you. Your faith in him justifies you. You're right with God now because he has saved me. Because he has sacrificed me. Because he does love me. Because he has given everything to me. I willingly give him everything back. I willingly come to Church. I willingly serve. I willingly do it. I want to do it. I willingly get up in the morning to get in the Word. I willingly turn that show off. I willingly change my environment. I willingly do it. Why? because I'm giving him my life every day. I accept the mission. It requires everything of me.

Matthew chapter 16 24 it says, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. It's either of God or it's of you. It's either Jesus way or it's your way. If you want to roll with Jesus, you got to give up your way. That's it. " And I know as Pastor Bill would say, this is one of those that can kind of thin the herd. People go, "Well, I mean, that's a little bit of a harsh deal. " I'm just saying, do you want to play or not? Because let me tell you, there's if you want to be on the ball team, there's certain things you got to commit to. Yeah. You want to play, you want to be a disciple of Jesus, okay, you got to you got to commit. There's a program. There's a there's a submission to the his way of doing things. There's a submission to the program of the coach. There's a submission to it. If the practice is at five o'clock, then we're going to be there five o'clock. If we're going to run, I guess I'm running. Whatever it is, I'm committed to it. So, I'm gonna give up my own way, take up my cross, which means die to my flesh, and follow him. If you try to hang on to your life, you lose it.

But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. If you if you lay down your way, you will discover a fulfillment and a contentment and a joy and a peace and a satisfaction that no other mission in the world will ever give you. This is why you've heard so many people give their testimony and they got to this level of income. They got to this level of health. They achieved this goal and then in the end it was empty. It didn't matter. Now what? It was a great mission. It was a it was a noble mission. But in the end, so what? And I mean, listen, set some goals. Get after it. Let's go. But it's because those little missions, those submissions are sub to the great mission. My life is committed to the mission. So man, if you're in this business or this industry or this sport or this hobby or whatever, I'm going to set goals to achieve for the greater greatness of the greater mission. That's my why. That's not the destination. That's the avenue or the tool to make him famous. And they also have this avenue and tool and this avenue and tool and this avenue tool.

Family, marriage, find all the things, right? But if you try to hang on to your life, you're going to lose it. So, so our website or whatever is lifeforlife. urch. That's the definition, the working definition. The pastor taught me that life for life is a covenant relationship. But can I help you with something? You're going to give up your life and you're going to get his life. You're going to get the life of God when you give him your life. When you give him this part of your life and this part of your life and this part of your life, then the life all capital letters, exclamation points, bolded, italicized, underlined comes in to that part of your life. You give him your shame. You give him your guilt. You give him your poverty. You give him your sickness. You give him your crap. WHAT DO YOU WHAT DO YOU GOT TO GIVE HIM? What do you What do you Like I said before, you think he needs your money? What do you got to give him? Were you there when he founded the g or created the galaxies and put the ocean perimeter on? Were you there?

What do you have to give him that you're so proud of? That's why it says, man, we're going to take all of our achievements, all of our crowns, and we're going to put them at his feet. You didn't even pick being born. You didn't even choose life. He chose you. And he gave you life. And when you take the life he gave you and you give it back to him, you get the promise of his life in it. and through it. There's infinitely more that he can do in and through you. It's his power that's at work within you. Everything now is as unto the Lord. We're not going to look at it. It's not in the computer, but at the end of chapter 3 and the start of chapter 4, Paul's writing to the Colossians and he's saying he's saying, "Look, if you're a child, obey your parents as under the Lord. If you're if you're a husband, love your wife as unto the Lord. If you're a wife, submit your husband as unto the Lord. I mean, if you're a slave, obey your masters as under the Lord. Like, it doesn't matter what role you're in. The role that you're doing is as under the Lord. Now, pick a role. Whatever role you take, A WIFE, ALL RIGHT, you took a husband role, as under the Lord.

You have some kids, good job. as under the Lord. You pick up a job, you start a business, you're an employer as under the Lord. You take a job, you're an employee as under the Lord. Why? Because you gave your life as under the Lord. It's his now. Everything belongs to him. And so now, let me begin to wrap this thing up. There's a flow. Everybody say flow. There's a flow. That Word flow creates an imagery for you. I know it does. A flow of water down there is a flow. There's a flow of God's Spirit through you. There's a flow of God's presence. He's constantly moving. He's the very essence of life itself. He's just continual.

He doesn't nap. He doesn't take breaks. He's not tired. He's not fatigued. He's not hangry and grouchy. He's not distracted with ball games and stuff. He's not distracted with the stress. He's not worried about anything. He's unstoppable. And there's a flow of him. And we were talking about this before, Church. He's been the same God for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he is today. And he's FLOWED THROUGH GENERATIONS. HE'S THE God OF GENERATIONS. His blessing goes for generations. The things that you're doing now to as unto him and letting God heal the Y in your heart is changing the trajectory of your grandchildren because of God's promise. It's eternal. It's the same God then that it will be tomorrow. And so today, let him have my heart. Today, let me get out of the way.

Today, let it get in so he can flow in me and flow through me and flow among us. So my challenge to you back to this why is where do I have these stoppers, corks, dams, blockages that are stifling the flow of God in my life? I go back to the question, do you want God to flow in your life? You don't have to. Do you want God to flow in every aspect in your life in every part of your life? Then let me assess myself. Let me get in the Word and get in a community, a service. Let me get in the presence of God. Let me get into a worship music. Let me get in a let me get in a flow with him so that he can reveal and refine things in my life. The Bible says that just like a Father corrects his child because he loves him. Our Heavenly Father corrects you. He wants to correct you. He is not waiting to punish you, he wants to refine you and correct you. If you're off course, he's going to correct it. But you've got to allow him to correct it. That blockage, that stifling is causing it not to flow the way it's capable of flowing. And it's hindering, listen to me, the fruit or the production on the other side of it. If some water's coming through but not all the water, now there's not enough water to provide for everybody. Not everybody's getting enough water that they need to function because there's a dam that's blocking the water.

And so I have to assess the things in my heart and go, I want it to flow for the effectiveness of the mission. Not listen to me, not for your achievement, not for your bragging rights, not for look at how Holy I am. Look at how perfect I am. No, no, no, no. I've humbled myself. I've picked up my cross. I want his way and so let me get out of the way so he can have his way in and through me. There's a flow. There's a flow of it. In Solomon, Song of Solomon chapter 2:15, it says this. It says, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. " Look, our vines have tender grapes on them. Nina and I had the privilege to go to the serenity house that y'all were gracious enough to send us and it was super serenity there and peaceful. We looked up the definition. It means calm and we were like just sitting there like we almost couldn't talk. It was that calm. It was that it was very cool. But anyway, it's peaceful and we tried to talk about vision. We tried to talk about the Church and our marriage and our family and our kids and all the things you want to talk about. And what I wanted to do and what kept surfacing my heart is I had to find these little foxes and hunt them down and blow their heads off.

I'm speaking Carter County. Listen to me. Listen to me. It's mildly humorous and perfectly accurate. fine for me and catch them. Catch those foxes. What does the fox say? I don't know. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE HARD TO FIND SOMETIMES. BUT CATCH THEM BECAUSE WHAT ARE THEY DOING? They are ruining the productivity that's capable ON WHAT ALREADY EXISTS in your life. So what are the foxes? Is it bitterness? Is it unforgiveness? Is it something I'm watch? Something I listen to? What is the fox? SO YOUR PRAYER IS, God, show me THESE FOXES AND I WILL CATCH THEM AND I will eliminate them BECAUSE I WANT THOSE GRAPES TO BE AS FAT and juicy as they can be. And listen, God's already doing it in your life. There's already grapes there.

God's already working in our hearts. God's already done a great thing in our life in three years. God's already done a lot in your life as an individual from whenever you gave your life to Jesus to whatever role this Church has played. WHATEVER IT IS, God'S ALREADY PRODUCING, but there's still these stupid little foxes that want to keep it from becoming everything it's capable of. And that the flow to the grapes is from the root system through the vine, the sap, whatever it is. I'm not a scientist, but y'all know it better than I do, goes to it to give it the nutrition it needs. But the foxes will chew on it and keep it from being that in your life. So, we go to John 15:4, a verse that's hung up in the offer him building with a very cool image and picture. You got to drive by and just look in the lobby. And it says, "Remain in me. " New King James. Abide in me. Dwell in me. The the life, the flow, the presence of God. Live in me. Live in my Word. Li Keep your focus on me. Talk to me. Bring me into things. Remember me when you go places.

Make me your priority. Dwell in me. Speak my Word. Talk my Word. Listen to my Word. HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE THAT know my Word. Take advice from people that are speaking my Word into you. ABIDE IN ME. DWELL in me. Hope in me. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed. And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Where are the foxes that are keeping that from happening in your life? I got to hunt them down. I got to assess it. I got to find it. And let me tell you something. Here's what's cool about the Lord. He'll help you.

He'll make it., that little uncction in your Spirit, that little conviction in your lives, it's like, I probably shouldn't watch this. Yeah. Hey, there's a fox. That's what that is. That's the Holy Spirit blowing a whistle. We got one. That little thing in your heart that says to do and you're like, I don't know. Ding, ding, ding. Why don't I want to? That idea that came in my heart sounds like God. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how I don't know how I'm going to provide. I don't know how it's I don't know how it's going to happen. We get our reason. Ding, ding, ding, ding. There's fear. There's fear. I don't want to get too involved because I might burn out. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

We'll help you. We're in your corner. Jesus didn't burn out. how Jesus didn't burn out? He'd go pray. He got tired. He had to sit down. He got fatigued. He got worn out. He didn't quit. There's things in our heart and we got to find them. We got to refine them. In Zechariah chapter 4, and it's not up there. There's an image. God gave Zechariah a prophecy or an image or a picture. And he showed him this this lampstand and it was filled with oil and it had seven spouts and each spout had seven spouts and but the but the picture has an olive tree on the right side and an olive tree on the left side and the olive trees are perpetually putting oil into that lamp. In other words, there's a constant flow of oil. And that oil represents the flow of the Holy Spirit. It's his presence. There's an olive tree on the right side of it and an olive tree on the left side of it pouring in and then pouring out.

It's a perpetual flow. And there was an objective that Zerubbable Zechariah was had a prophecy to share with him. And Zerubbable had met adversity. He had met a hardship. He had met a stoppage in the in the process he was trying to achieve. And he said, "Look, it's going to happen. " And I'm paraphrasing here. And then he said this verse, "It's not going to be by might and it's not going to be by power, but it is by my Spirit. It is by my presence. It is by my Word. It is by my power. It is not your power. It is not your might to will it done. It is our ability to submit our will to his will and let him do it in us and through us. That is the beautiful tension again. Was it God or was it you? Yes, you got out of the way and God used you. He's the healer, but you're the hands. It's his message, but it's your tongue. And so what's got my tongue locked up?

What's got my hands in my pockets? Because God doesn't need me, but he needs you. Are you willing? Do you accept the mission? I leave you. I'm wrapping up here again. Luke chapter 6:45 and 46. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart. Where does Jesus live? In your heart. What does that mean? It means his Truth is at the center of who you are as a person. His character, his presence, his who he is, his message, his Word, his love, his righteousness, his everything is at the center of my hope, of my purpose, of my existence, of my why. Jesus, the Truth of Jesus lives in my heart. And an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. What you say flows from what's in your heart. What is in your heart? What is in your heart? Look, it's pretty simple.

Good person. good what? Good good things. Good person. Good things. good heart, evil person, evil things from an evil heart. The determining factor between good and evil is what's in your heart. There's no in between. Have you made your heart available for everything that is good that is God? A fruit of the Spirit is the goodness of God. It's his good things. Have you allowed him to have full rain in your heart? because it will begin to overflow out of your mouth and out of your hands and it will produce good things and be a good person who adds value to other people and is building the kingdom because of what's in your heart and it will flow out of your mouth and out of your hands. And I challenge you as to what you're taking in. So the Bible says your eyes are the window to your soul. That your faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word. And so what are you seeing? What are you hearing? I asked the academy kids. I was going through this verse this week and of course they're big fans of Force Frank and they know the song and some of you probably don't and that's fine.

So it's not going to work as well because you're not going to sing it for me like I want you to. So I'm going to sing it and it says this. I started a song and they finished it for me. It says God is good all the time and if he ain't then you're lying in the rain in the shine. God is good all the time. I said did you write those lyrics? No. Who wrote them? Forest. But you're singing them. Why? Because you heard them. I got another song for you. I'm on a high to hell. You pick. I'm going with God is good all the time. I'm going to let that one come in so that it comes out of my mouth. That tune's in my head from 30 years ago. But guess what? You That's the first time you've ever heard it in Church, isn't it?

At least from this one. Here's the deal, and I'm I want to invite you to a 7-day fast. And before you go, well, some of you that know go, "Whoa, what does he mean by that? " A fast is no food or water. And like my friend Philip Anthony Mitchell says, he's my new friend. that's only for the real gangsters. Okay? So be before you think that is what's considered a fast. And then there's a partial fast and that's it. Fasting has to do with food and water. Okay? So if you're fasting is no food, no water. If you're doing a partial fast, which is what I'm inviting you to do, then you can I want you to select. There's a lot of a lot of ways to do it., I would even risk the Word trends of fasts., here's the deal. Here's what a fast is. Are you ready? It's a real real aggravation to your flesh. And it's the deepest, most powerful way to tell your flesh that I'm in control because it's the one thing that you truly do need.

Now, let me go ahead and throw this out because we're getting into practical stuff before we finish this service. I'm leaving it to you as to how you fast. If you are producing children in your stomach, you need to take certain cautions. If you have a very strenuous difficult job, you need to take certain precautions how you do it., if you are on any kind of medication or any kind of diagnosis from a doctor that you're currently overcoming, then you need to take any kind of precaution. Okay? But what I'm asking you to do is I'm asking you to find some way to aggravate your flesh. I'm not asking you to go on a diet for the second time this year already. I'm not asking you to pick a food diet regimen that is appealing to you. Although there are elements of restriction to that, I get it. That is not why you're doing it. What you are doing is to purpose yourself to say no when your flesh is screaming and instead of giving it what it wants, I'm actually going to take time to go and pray and seek and read the Word. I'm going to stiff arm my flesh so that I can make room to hear God's voice. And when I say the Word practice, this is how you practice getting good at telling your flesh no when it really depends on it. Why does perfect practice matter in practice? Because when it comes game time, I this is easy. I know what to do. When I've told my flesh no at dinner time for no for nothing when nobody's watch and it's just between me and me and the Lord. Then when it matters that God put something in my heart because we're asking him for wisdom and he gives us wisdom. But now it's going to take strength and courage.

And where is the strength and courage going to come from? God's not going to pick you up by the back of your neck and force you to do it. You're going to have to be able to say no to that insecurity and that fear in that flesh to act on that thing that God's told you to do. And if you want to produce those God results and that God life and you want the outcome of whatever's on the other side of that seed you're going to sew, then I've got to be able to have enough discipline, enough practice to stiff arm that flesh so that I can get that seed in the ground so that it will produce the results that God wants to do with it. But if I can't say no, if I'm not willing to go out in the hot sun, so to speak, and do the effort to get that seed in the ground, then it's never going to produce the fruit that it could have produced if id have got it in the ground. Are you tracking with me? So, I've got to get good at stiff arming that and shutting it down. And so, fasting, the Bible says when you pray, when you fast, can I also be very, very clear with you? I'm going to scream it with all my flesh. I don't want to personally hate it. And as I'm talking about it, I can feel y'all. Your flesh is going freak. He can't He can't make me do it. You're right. I can't. But I am going to give you the liberty to choose how you want to do it. Some people in here have already been fasting a lot this year. And they may want to go another direction this week and they may want to do something a little bit different or temper how they've been or keep it going, whatever. And other people haven't done it. And some of you have never done it.

And so here's all I'm going to tell you. I want you to pick something that you feel like you have to have at the very least. If it's your ice cream before you go to bed at night, that would be on a small scale. Take a meal and give up a meal for the day so you don't have to worry about what you can eat, what you can't eat. Take that meal time and go and pray and read. Cut out something that's dictating your day, something that you feel like you can't say no to very well. and say, "Man, I'm going to give that up. Watch. I'm not going on a diet. I'm going to kill it. I'm going to kill that pleasure. I'm going to kill that thing this week because I am dependent and pursuing God. I want to hear from God. I want there to be a free flow in my life. I want to get good at telling my flesh no so that I can be about the things that God's doing because I'm committed to the mission. If I want to be as effective as I can be, then I do want to give. I do want to fast. I do want to forgive. I do want to encourage people with the Word. I do want to spend time.

I do want to Why? Because I want to be great. I want to be I want to be valuable for the team. I was talking to Jaylen. I talked to my little coaches up here. We were talking about a cool phrase that I heard that said, "I don't want to be the best player on the team. I want to be the best player for the team. I want to be the guy that's adding the most value to this room. And I want you thinking the same way. It's like he can't you can't do it, Jeremy, because I'm going to be the most valuable player for the team in there. Good. Now we're competing in a good way. But I want to I want to be all I can be. We going to proud. I'll be there early. I'll be shooting. You guys seen the redeemed team documentary? They lost the gold medal and of course it's the NBA guys and then they went back and Kobe went and all those guys have been out at the club. I'm paraphrasing the story and they were coming in at 4 in the morning and they're going in the lobby of the hotel where they're staying at and the lobby the hotel doors open, whatever it's called, elevator doors open and Kobe walks out and he's on his way to the gym at 4 in the morning and they're coming in from the club. Naturally, their competitive elements kicked in and it changed the entire dynamics.

They stopped going to the club and they started going to the gym with Kobe. They want to go up medal that year. I'm not going with the crowd. I want to be the best I can be for the team. I want to be the one that sets the standard. I want to be the one that leads. I want to be the one that changes the environment. It's a consecration of yourself to God. That you can be in alignment with him. Man, when we get out of alignment with him, man, this can help get us back in alignment. It's not just a starvation strike or a hunger strike. That's goofy. You're not going to get anything accomplished. Go get your picket sign and sit in the road. I guess that ain't going to do anything. I'm relinquishing. I'm killing my flesh for the purpose of alignment with his Spirit in my life. And I want that. I want all of that I can get. We want to be successful at the mission.

We want all of it we can do. I want to get Listen, I'm going to leave you this thought. Getting my flesh out of the way so that his Spirit can lead. I want to be led by the Holy Spirit in my life. I want I want to I want to have enough courage that when he says to go, we're going to take Jericho. To go, we're gonna deliver my people. to go and we're going to preach the Gospel of this nation to go and we're gonna I want to be I want to be I want to be ready. And so that's what I'm inviting you to. Now, don't let that overshadow the whole message. That's just one more tool to the whole message I tried to communicate to you. We're on a mission, everybody. Should you choose to accept it, you want the fulfillment that only God can bring in your life, then everything about your life is as unto him and about the mission. Now, I've said it many, many times. We're not trying to build an empire here. It's not for the name of Covenant Church. It's not for the name of the landing. It's not for the name of Jeremy. It's not for the It's for the name of Jesus. But listen to me. It is about the mission of building the kingdom through this local Church.

If this is a place you call home, then you bring your value to it. This isn't a spectator sport. This is a contact sport. You got to get in and throw bows every now and then. You have a role to play. And so I want to be all I can be for collectively. Listen to me. Corporately and individually, every one of you has an individual life you go live where maybe not everybody's going to be there, but man, we're going to be in your corner. We're going to have each other's backs. Cody can tell you, Pastor Bill, if he said it once, he said it a million times. If one fights, we all fight. If you go, I go. That's the kind of culture you want to live in, man. We're going to take the mountain together. You taking the mountain? All right, dog. I got your back. I'm here for you. Hey, you're going to you're going to take that step of faith. Cool, bro.

I'll be praying. I'm got your I'm in your I'm in your corner. I'll help hold your hands up. Father, we love you and we praise you for who you are. We give you all the glory and all the honor because Jesus is the King of Kings and he deserves every ounce and every second of it. God, you are worthy of our life. You are worthy of our attention. You are worthy of everything we could give you. You are worthy of every ounce of effort, every drop of sweat, every cent, every quarter we could give, every everything. You are worth it. God, we want to be in alignment with you as individuals, as families, and as a Church body. God, we want to be led by your Spirit. Your Spirit is life. Your Spirit alone is life. And God, we don't want anything to do with the world. We don't conform to the patterns of the world, but we will conform to the patterns and the flow of your Spirit. You lead us and you guide us in Truth. and where your Truth is, there is liberty and there is freedom. And God, I pray for a Holy conviction in our hearts to be strong and to be courageous when you speak, we listen and we act. Right where you're sitting, where you're standing, whatever you're doing, I'm asking you one more time to make a commitment to him, to make a submission to him, to accept the mission.

I make Jesus Lord of my life and I accept the mission now with to follow you. I need you to verbalize it where you're sitting. I need you to make it personal. God hears you. God sees you. I know there's tiny little distractions. I know you might be thinking about other things right now. I need you to focus and just say, "Hey, God, I'm in. I'm here for it. I want all of you I can get. I'm down to ride. " However you want to talk, however you say it, I'm in it to win it. Let's go. You go. Go. I go, Lord. I make Jesus the Lord of my life and I will follow. Take a few seconds and make that commitment for yourself. Not in your mind, in your mouth. It overflows from your heart.

What you say, say to him, "I'm in. I'm committed to you, Lord. Jesus is the Lord of my life. God, I just pray that as people are doing that, you flood them with your presence, the flow of your Holy Spirit begins to unclog and flush out things in their heart that are hindering you from being able to be you in their life and through their life. God, collectively, as a Church, we make room for you now. We give you praise. We give you glory. We give you honor in Jesus name. Amen.