Planting Seeds of Faith: Peter's Call to Community

Well, I'm glad you guys are here. Welcome to Covenant Church. we have people that drove all the way from California to be here tonight. Isn't that amazing right there? They said, "Man, we've heard about church in this coffee shop and they just got in their car and drove. It was amazing." So, you guys are making a big deal. You're making an impact. but we are glad to have y'all. And anybody else that's here for the first time, thank y'all for being here. I believe you're in a healthy place and when things are healthy, they grow. And we have a responsibility to plant the seed of our life in healthy soil. If we take the seed of our life and we throw it out in the middle of the road where the concrete is, nothing's going to happen. But if we can put it in the good soil, in good community, in the good environment, good word, good message, your life is going to produce exponentially more than you even think is possible. And so it's a big deal that you find community. It's a big deal that you plant yourself in community. And can I help you with something? Go ahead and challenge you. It's a big deal that you take ownership of this community. This community can only grow and be healthier and stronger because you take ownership of it. This is not a circus or a oneman show or my gig or my thing, whatever. This is our thing. We are the body of Christ together. And when people take ownership of kids ministry and people take ownership of hospitality and people take ownership of music and ownership of setup and tear down. That's what creates moments for ministry to happen in people's lives. That's where breakthrough happens. But it's also where relationships are built, man. You stacking chairs with your buddy and that's where you start talking and build relationship, man. doing things with media department or whatever it is. Find an area, find a need and meet it because that's what what makes all the difference. , we need people that can sing. I can't sing. I've I've broke out in song before and did better than I did tonight. It really my voice cracked. I'm sorry. I apologize for that. Usually I can hit that B flat. what I'm saying? But I couldn't hit it tonight. I don't know where it was. , but people that you if you got talents, you got desires, you got whatever it is, man, bring it to the table and don't wait for somebody to come come find me. We'll we'll get you connected. We'll get you set up. If you got a crazy idea, we'll sit on it for a minute and we'll figure out how to use it best, okay? But whatever it is, just know that this is your house as much as is anybody else's house and you belong here and we can create opportunity. , we've been talking about a lot of stuff for a long time and lately we've been talking about the buy in. We've been talking about what it is to follow Jesus. And I just want to play off and I I intend to keep it relatively short tonight, but that means nothing to anybody in here. , but I but I I I want to just touch on the fact of what we hit on last week with Peter. , and I I just it's it's a remarkable response that he had. It's in John chapter 21. And we've been talking about the idea that Jesus talked about follow me. And when he says follow me, he's not talking about this happy golucky skip in the park, , whatever. He's saying imitate me, follow me, practice the disciplines. Come with me, learn of me. , man, let me let me make you fishers of men. Let me teach you how to think differently. Let me help you rep prioritize things in your life. Let me let me affect your value system. Let me let me change how you see everything and change the lens with how you see life. You've been a fisherman your whole life as a profession and I want to take the same mentality, the same attitude, the same intentions, but I want to take them and use them now with for an a different outcome, a different purpose. And that's how we get to live our life. We're fishers of men now. So man, we go we got jobs, we got family, we got all the things, but the purpose is now way more fulfilling because now through everything that I'm doing, I'm ultimately I want to build the kingdom. Everything I want to do with any thing with the staff or anything where I work as I just want to impact the kingdom. Anything I can do in the community, I want to impact the kingdom. Anything I want to do in my finances, my health, it's just so I can impact the kingdom. The purpose for my life has shifted and changed. It is not for me and my glory anymore. now because I want everything I can ever attain or grow or accomplish to point to him. The purpose for everything I want to do now is different. And so in John chapter 21, Jesus is talking to Peter after Peter's denied him, after Peter is sitting in his guilt, his conviction, his shame, all that. And he's longing for the opportunity to be restored. He's longing for the opportunity to see Jesus again. He's got the same attitude that we just sang about. He's cutting holes in roofs if he can. He's he's crawling on his hands and knees to get to Jesus if he can. He's climbing trees if he can. In this case, he jumped out of a boat fully clothed and swam to the shore because he wanted to get to Jesus. Why? Because he wanted to be restored. Man, he felt the conviction. He felt the guilt. He felt the shame. He felt whatever he was feeling because he wasn't the the the bro that he wanted to be for Jesus. He wanted to be that guy. , he's the one swinging the sword and cutting off the soldiers's ear. He's the one that said, "I'll never deny you. I won't do it." And he and then he realizes he did it because he got sidetracked. He got distracted. He got caught up in the emotion. He got caught up in the fear and he did. He did deny Jesus. And then when he realized he had done it, that he got he got he lost his focus and did it. He felt the guilt. He felt the shame. He felt it. And then Jesus is gone. And all he wants to do is find Jesus to make it right. And I don't know, I can't recall exactly how long it's been, but Jesus on the shore cooking fish. They're out in the boat fishing. Peter's with the right people. If you're going through something, be around the right people while you're going through it. You're not going to win isolated. You'll ne you're never going to win isolated ever. You're never going to win in the dark by yourself. You were built to to be with community. You were built to be there. When God made Eve, he said, "It's not good for man to be alone. It's not ideal for you to be there. You got to have the bros in your life. You've got to have community in your life. You've got to be part of something bigger than you. You've got to have something to buy into. You've got to have vision. Otherwise, we sit in the dark, isolated, and all we can do is focus on all the stuff that I suck at. I I don't need that. I want to get my eyes off of me and all my deficiencies and turn my attention to who he is and the victory he's won because that's where my liberty is. That's where my freedom is. And so here's Peter. He sees Jesus. He says, "Hey guys, y'all caught anything?" They're , "No." And he says, "Throw your net on the other side." And they catch a boat sinking load of fish. And John looks at Peter. He goes, "Hey, remember last time three years ago? Remember when Jesus called us? That's how that happened. That's Jesus on the shore, bro." Peter freaks out, jumps in the water, swims. Why? Because he couldn't wait to get back to Jesus. They have a conversation three times. Do you love me? I love you. Feed my sheep. Do you love me? I love you, Lord. Feed my sheep. Do you love me, God? Lord Jesus, it's hurting me that you keep asking me. I do. He says, feed my sheep. And he says, he begins to tell him, you're going to have to lay down your life for me. And he says, I want you to follow me. Now, think about it for a minute. Let's put ourselves in the gravity of that moment. Put yourself in Peter's shoes. Everybody's come running to Jesus. Thankfully, you're here tonight. So, that's some degree of running to Jesus. Right? And Jesus saying, "Do you love me?" You're , "Yeah, I love you, man. Get involved. Do you love me?" "Yeah, of course I love you." "Okay, let's do something. Do you love me?" "Yeah, I love you." And he says, "You're going to have to lay down your life for me." And he was letting Peter know they're coming for you. They're going to hate you. They're going to kill you. And in John chapter 21:2, if you got it there, Jody, you can put on the screen. He says this. He looks at John. Peter's talking to Jesus and he looks over at John. When Jesus tells Peter, he says, "You're going to have to die. They're going to they're going to stretch out your hands and die." And he looks over at John. He goes, "What about him, Lord?" And what I want to tell you tonight is this message. This is what I want to build on. Is the greatest distraction that you're going to have in your life to fulfilling your purpose, to living in the fullness of God, is the distraction, the focus of other people. You're going to live your life, and you've all done it. We've all done it to this point off and on. Some of us are better at than others, but we've all lived our life almost by default comparing ourselves. The mature believer can still struggle with it. You can be a mature believer and compare yourself to other mature believers. You can be in ministry and compare yourself to other people that hold a microphone. I know I'm not as good of a communicator as as some other people. I know that. And I can dwell on it. I can dwell on the fact that well, we don't have those resources. I don't have the same resources that a guts church has, you know, but they didn't have these resources 30 years ago either. Nobody did. And we get focused on what we don't have or why not me or what about him or what's he going to have to do? Well, that's not fair. And we get all sways and sidetracked and we lose focus of what Jesus said to do. He said follow me. And we're , , I want to follow you Lord. I love you, Lord. You know I'm all in, Lord. And say, hey, I need you to give your life for me. , whoa, what about this dude? What about him? And here's all I want to tell you. If Jesus is saying, "Follow me." This is a rhetorical question. Nobody's going to answer because nobody wants to be wrong. And I get it. But if Jesus says, "Follow me," then then where do our eyes need to be? Go ahead. On Jesus. On Jesus. If I'm following Jesus, I better keep my eye on Jesus, right? And so the Bible says in Colossians 3:2, not on the screen, says this. He says for us to Paul writes, he says for us to set our mind on things above, to think on the things of heaven. And in in Hebrews chapter 12 says for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finish of our faith. We've got to be locked in. See, here's something that's hard for us to grasp and understand because we've just never known different. And so, I'm introducing you to something new. I'm introducing you to something that's always been there. you just didn't know it because the Bible says it's a veil that was over our eyes. But the very heartbeat of of life as we know it, God is the very heartbeat of life. And I don't know if that's a good word or not, heartbeat. God is the very breath that we breathe. we exist because God exists. God, the very truth of who he is in the beginning was the word. The word is with God. The word was God. The word has always been God has always been. When God said, "Let there be light," he said, "let there be Messiah. Let there be let there be the Christ. Let there be my presence. Let me He separated his presence from everything else. Later he created light as we know it. Sun, moon, stars, all that stuff. He put his presence in place out of the gate, right? And so he said, "You got to fix your eyes on me. You got to follow me. You got to keep your eyes on me." And so he's the very centerline of everything I have. But we were born into a corrupted, broken system that's corrupted by the lusts of our flesh. That sinful nature. And that sinful nature only knows how to see what we've been abused or beat up or or taught or whatever it is to see. And that becomes the lens with how we see stuff. Am I making sense? It becomes how we see it. For example, if if you were taught racist things when you were little, then you naturally have racist tendencies. You see things through a different lens. If you were taught that women were a certain way or men were a certain way, then you just grow up thinking it when you see it through a lens. In the moment, we're trained to see stuff. We're trained to look for I used the example last time, man. If if if it could be a woman in here, too, but if you're a man that's in in the habit of of pulling up your phone or looking for images or looking for pictures, you're training yourself to look for things. So, by default, guess what you find? You're walking through town and you see things that you've trained yourself to look for. If your identity is in your work, then you size everybody else up based on their work ethic. If your identity is in your health and fitness, then you size everybody else up on their health and fitness. If your identity is in your money, then you size everybody else up based on their money. Watch this. If your identity is in church and religion and and good behavior, then you size everybody else up on their religious involvement. But if your identity is in the mercy and the grace of God, then you begin to see everybody else through the lens of God's mercy and grace. It's where you identify. It's where you if this is your value system, it becomes the lens with how you see things. And so you were born into a system where you were taught by corrupted, broken people, even if they meant well. My mom raised me. She loved the Lord. She was a wonderful woman, but she wasn't perfect. And there's things that I've had to overcome because because of family dynamics and because of things all the stuff. But I I was given a head start, but it wasn't everything. And I've had to work through stuff in my life. But you've got to work through it. And where I worked through it at in this environment. where the breakthroughs happen. where the tears happen. where the where the exchange happened? It happened in this environment. It didn't happen by myself. Listen to AC/DC. Highway to hell in my room in the dark. Some holes in the wall happen. But no breakthroughs. It happens in here. It happens when the message comes out because the message is what's anointed. The word, the truth, the heartbeat, the breath, the pulse of life. The the presence of God is present. But we have to train ourselves to see it. We have to train ourselves to look for it. And it's not positive or negative thinking. That's great. We can be positive thinkers and never know Christ. See, I think I said this before. The the idea of a half glass, a glass half empty or half full. The negative person is half empty. The positive person is half full. Can I tell you what the Bible says? It says that your cup's overflowing. Your life is full and abundant and overflowing. So, it's not about, well, positive or negative. It's , no, no, no. My identity is in the fact that I've been delivered, redeemed, restored, saved. And so now because I know my cup is overflowing, because I know who I am in Christ, because my identity is in his mercy, his grace, his redemption, his restoration, his generosity, everything about who he is, because I go vertical because I go to the because he lives, not because I live because of his victory, all my fear is gone. But if I don't focus on his victory, I live in my fear. If I don't focus on his victory, then I don't care about tomorrow. Without his victory, I don't want to do another day in this shell. But because of who he is, because of his victory, because of that, now I go through life and I deal with the same adversities everybody else deals with. But there's people in here and myself that now can look and find God in the situation. Did I that circumstance? No. But I can find God in here. God's doing something. and God's at work. Man, Pastor Bill texted me the other day. He said, "Man, how's the summer going? How's ministry going?" Da da da. And I text him back and said, "It's been a hard summer, right? Been a challenging summer, but but I'm confident. My I'm at peace because I know God's doing something bigger than I realize." Why would I talk that? Who talks that? I'm not denying the facts. Can I help y'all? We don't deny the facts. I'm not denying the facts, but my focus is on the truth of God's word that overrides the facts of my circumstance. Is God present in this moment? Yes. Is God still God? Yes. Has God changed? No. Doesn't matter your circumstance. Doesn't matter how you got here. Doesn't matter your addiction. Doesn't matter your past. Doesn't matter your breakdown. It doesn't matter because God's still God. He's the same God he was yesterday in your addiction. He's the same God today now that you're out of it. He's the same God when you lived over in this town. He's the same God here. He's the same God in California is in Missouri. God's God. And we get to anchor our soul to the truth of his word and who he is wherever we go and wherever we've been. So now, if I want to follow Jesus, I've got to look for his truth in every situation. I've got to get the message, which I've said many times over, the message down in my heart. This is why I've got to get my mind renewed to the truth of his word. If I want to experience transformation in my life, I'm going back to maybe week one of my preaching here, the atonement, man. Jesus, because he lives, the cross, the resurrection, I'm open to it. And if we bought into it, I love it. my that's my salvation. But now because of it, there's the opportunity for transformation. But I've got to get my mind renewed. So Romans 12:2, which is not on the screen again because I'm not preaching my notes tonight. Romans 12:2 says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may live or prove God's good, perfect, and pleasing will. What is his will? It's what he wants. What does God want for you, ma'am? good, perfect, and pleasing. How do you experience it? By getting your mind renewed. Your mind renewed to what? The truth. But the facts are, yeah, yeah, I know the facts. I'm not denying the facts. But let me get my mind renewed while I'm in the facts, to the truth of God's word, so that I may prove God's perfect will in the midst of these facts. You're going to overcome. You're going to win. You can't not win. The only way you don't win is if you quit. You can't not win. The Bible calls you an overcomer, which indicates there's something to overcome. We all got things to overcome. And you're an overcomer. But if you don't see yourself as an overcomer, then you're going to always stay under that thing that you're built to overcome. You're going to have to get your mind renewed to the truth of God's word. I've got to put a focus and fix my eyes on the truth of God's word if I'm going to begin to see it. But to do that, it's going to require some degree of sacrifice. And I I mentioned this last week, man. Jesus is telling Peter, "You're going to have to die." Peter's , "Yo, what about him?" And let me tell you, I don't know how many days it was exactly from when Jesus I know when from when Jesus ascended, it was 50 days, but Peter hung around until Acts chapter 2 when the ushering in of God's church came and Peter went on. Everything changed in that moment, man. He was filled with boldness. He was filled with power. He was filled with a confidence and man there was an evidence for all these different dialects that were in town where they started speaking these unknown tongues, unknown language and all these people were , "Man, these dudes are drunk. Can I help you with something?" The sign of them speaking in tongues didn't do anything except catch their attention cuz they all go, they didn't go, "Wow, look at that move of God." They said, "Wow, look at those drunks." I'm letting y'all think about that for a minute. They said, "Man, are those guys drunk?" And then guess who steps up? Our boy Pete. Pety Pete steps up and he's , "We're not drunk. It's not what you think it is. Let me tell you what just happened. God just moved in our midst." And this Christ whom you crucified, but God resurrected, man. Let me tell you something. He'll do it in your life. And 3,000 people get saved. And Acts, the book of Acts open happens over the next 30 years. people getting saved, the church growing, planting churches, people getting baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit, all kinds of things happening. Why? Because that that came. But Peter put himself there and Peter ended up giving his life for the cause. But everything shifted. He became a fisher of men. His priorities changed. Everything changed because he put himself in the room when the usherance of God's presence came. Because he put himself with the right people in the boat. He was there when Jesus was on the shore. Because of everything that happened, Peter was in the right place with the right people. And God moved. And when God moved, he was there. and he gave his life for the cause. And now we're using his story to be motivated tonight. But he had to make a sacrifice before that happened. Before there's going to be a resurrection in your life, there's going to have to be a death of something. If something new is going to happen, something's going to have to end before something new can start. We're going to have to let go of something. We're have to let go of my preference and my focus on somebody else and go, "What about him? I'm going have to lose let go of my focus of all my failures and past. I'm going have to let go of of of my frustration because I don't have what they have. I'm g have to let go of my fr frustration of why did he ask me to have to give my life? I'm going have to let go of that stuff. If I'm going to be the man of God God's called me to be and go follow him and do something great, I'm going have to get my eyes off of everything else but Jesus. I'm going to have to say, "Okay, I'm not necessarily feeling it, but if everybody's going fishing, by God, I'm going fishing, too. If everybody's going to go wait in that room, I guess I'm going to go up there and wait, too. Cuz I'm not I'm I'm with y'all. I'm with y'all. If y'all are going, I'm going. Okay. If you're waiting for Jesus, I'm going to go wait for Jesus with you, too. Cuz I don't have anything else. That's what Peter said. Where else am I going to go? I'm not sure I understand that message you just talked about. Where else am I going to go? And there's going to have to be some degree of sacrifice to say, man, I'm going to be in the room. I'm going to I'm going to rip the roof off the wall. I'm going to I'm going to do whatever it takes to get to you. I'm going to do whatever it takes. I'm going to be willing to get up earlier in the morning. I'm going to be willing to go to bed earlier at night. I'm going to be willing to throw my phone in the river. I would to every other day. I'm going be willing to change the food that's in the pantry. I'm be willing to put a guard on my mouth and stop talking that way. What are you willing to let go of so that you can embrace something new? How about this one? I'm willing to commit to being on Sunday nights at five o'clock. How about that one? Maybe one of the hardest decisions most of us will make in our lives. Because what's amazing? Last week, nobody wanted to come. I'm I'm When I say what I'm about to say, I'm exaggerating, okay, a little bit, right? But last week, nobody wanted to come because it was hot. And this week, nobody wants to come because it's nice. And next week it'll be raining. Nobody was come because it's raining. But what happens when you're committed? You come in the sun. When you're committed, you come when it's nice. When you're committed, you come in the rain. Why? Because this is what I do. I'm not deciding I'm going to do it based on the weather. I've already decided I do it, so I don't care what the weather is. Did y'all catch all that? That was another rabbit trail for everybody. But it's because I'm going to make the sacrifice, the commitment that this is what I do. I'm going to rip the freaking hole in the roof off because I'm going to get in the room because if God moves tonight, I'm gonna be there. Let me tell you why you don't want to find out Monday morning that God did something amazing in people's lives and God showed up and man there was a awesome experience and the tangible presence of God and you weren't here and you hear about it tomorrow over lunch you're man I was going to come but it was really nice and we was sitting by the river I'm not taking shots I'm just that's what I hear right so we want to be very careful and very intentional to do it so here's my little takeaway for you Right? If our if our focus our our discipline is to follow Jesus and the the key to doing that is keeping our eyes on Jesus, then here's all I want to tell you. If our eyes aren't on Jesus, then who are our eyes on? And there's one of two scenarios. Our eyes are on other people or our eyes are on ourselves. And so, I'm saying this to you so you can run the gamut tonight. run an evaluation of your life. Maybe it's one particular area of your life, but your eyes are either on other people or your eyes are on yourself because they wouldn't be on Jesus. Here's what . And don't get me out of kind I could I can make a case. Paul says, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Your hope is not in that person. But if somebody's in front of you following Jesus, you want to you want to pattern your life after them. You want to follow them. You want to learn from them. You want to walk with them because they're walking their way. That's that's not the same thing. What I'm talking about is my hope. My focus is on who Jesus is and his truth. If somebody is helping point your attention to Jesus, then you need to latch on with them. Your hope doesn't go in that person. You just learn of them. You walk with them. You you embrace their encouragement, accountability. What I'm talking about is one of two things. Number one, we're either coveting what other people have or we're condescending of who people are. When I talk about our eyes on other people, we're coveting what other people have. Well, I don't have what they have. Why Why do I got to die if he doesn't have to die? Well, why did why do I got to go? Well, why did why didn't I get that? Well, why didn't I get the promotion? Well, why didn't I Why do they get Man, they got they got a new truck. They got a new whatever. They get to go on trips. They get to Man, their kid, they don't have to deal with what I have to do. And our focus is on what they have or what they don't have to do, just Peter was. And that's the greatest distraction to us being able to follow Jesus. We're so caught up in what everybody else is doing. And the Bible's very clear and Paul says it's our responsibility to run our race. I can only run my race. I can't run Nah's race. I can't run my wife's race. And I'm not responsible for her being happy today. Doesn't that make you feel good? I'm responsible to honor her. I'm responsible for maning God for her. I'm responsible for how I talk to her. I'm respons but I'm not responsible for her choosing to be happy today. I'm not responsible for you and your choices. I'm responsible for what I communicate and share with you. I'm going to stand before God for that. But what you do with it's going to be up to you. I'm not responsible. I can't fix you. I can't fix me. I have to discipline myself to keep my eyes on Jesus. And if you're expecting me to do it because I'm holding this little microphone, why is it any different for you? If I got to do it, you're expecting me to do it. Guess what? I'm expecting you to do it. I need you to do it. I need your eyes on Jesus because I need when God speaks to your heart that whatever you share with me, I need the Holy Spirit in you to help me. And I and and you need the Holy Spirit in me to help you. And this is how we come together and function. But if all I'm doing is looking at you going, "Well, I don't I can't I'll make it about me." If I well, I can't preach Pastor Bill preaches. Well, I don't preach Ferdin preaches. Well, I don't preach Joel Ostein preaches. Well, I don't preach Judah Smith preaches. Well, I don't preach. Yeah, guess what? I'm not any of them. I get to speak me. And you guys can do what you want with it. You don't have to be here. I can offer you an invitation Jesus offered his disciples. Would you to leave, too? I'd rather you not leave right now while I'm talking, but you don't have to come back. Okay? But the point is this. You can say, "Man, well, we don't have what they have." I'm not going to focus on that. why? Because we have everything we have need of right now. Philippians 4 is very clear. Paul said, "I have learned to be content in all things. Whether I base or whether I bound, whether I have a lot, whether I have a little, I have learned, listen, I have learned to be content in all things. I have learned to be content because I know that through Christ, I can do everything whether I abase or abound. If I got Christ, I'm good. He's my everything. So if everything is great, it's still Christ. If everything is hard, it's still Christ. That's what it is. I've learned to be content because my contentment is in him. I got more verses on that, but I'm going to hit this point and we're just going to keep moving. I'll come back to that one next week a little bit. But we also don't want to be condescending to people, man. That's when we start sounding those Pharisees. They would walk around in all their robes and their religious gear and they would pray in the public and this is how they would pray. This is how Jesus describing it. They would pray and say, "God, I thank you that I'm not these. You tell me who wants to go to church with that dude. God, I thank you that I'm not these people. Let me tell you, when you start getting that hotty and that arrogant and that that you're something and somebody you're condescending other people, let me tell you something. There is no room for the presence of God to be moving in your life. Man, if we're not moved with compassion, Jesus said it this. He said he saw the crowds and he was moved with compassion for the people because they were sheep without a shepherd. In other words, they look lost and they didn't know what they didn't know and they needed direction. and he was moved with compassion for them and now he was comp because that compassion he was moved to want to help them. But if I sit there and go, "Well, I'm glad I'm not them. I'm not going to help very many people." And so we get our eyes on that and that what that does is now that flips it right to my last point. We get out of here. It's just that then my eyes become about me. I'm glad I'm not them. And now it becomes one of two things. The eyes on me is either I'm greedy or I'm guilty. man, I can't see Jesus or follow Jesus because I'm coveting what other people have or I'm condescending and judging and making judgments about other people and other political platforms and other whatever. Or I've got so self-absorbed in one of two ways. Selfishness can look both ways. Selfishness can be greedy and selfishness can just be guilt and shame. And I'm so absorbed with my failures and my guilt and my shame that I went and hid myself from God. and they're never going to win. I go back to what I said a while ago. God comes to the garden. He's , "Where are you?" And they said, "We hid ourselves." And he said, "Why?" Because we were naked and shamed. And they felt the shame. They felt the guilt. And so instead of getting in the boat and swimming to Jesus Peter did, they went and hid themselves. And this is what we do. This is what we do. We hide ourselves and we cover it up. And he says, "We were naked and ashamed." And God says to him, he says, "Who told you you were naked? Who told you you couldn't get better? Who told you that you had to live in that guilt? Who told you that you couldn't be healed? Who told you that life couldn't get better? Who told you that there wasn't a future for you? Who told you that your latter days wouldn't be better in your Who told you that? Who told you that you were broken? Who told you that you couldn't be repaired? Who told you that you had to be stuck in the Who told you that? Who told you? And let me tell you something. you have heard that report from somewhere, someone something and believed that lens either was from a corrupted I'll say a corrupted broken parent, a corrupted broken teacher, a corrupted broken worldly system that we talked about last week that God said, "I'm not praying that you would take him out of the world. In fact, I'm sending them into the world. I'm going to send them into that broken system so that you can bring light and life into it. But you're going to have to be moved with compassion for something that's not right. I can't be sitting back condescending and judging it and greedy and selfish and guilty and shame and think that I'm going to follow Jesus and now make light and impact in the world around me. That's what he said in John 17. God, I'm not praying that we take him out of the world. In fact, I'm going to send him into the world the same way you sent me into the world. But I've got to get my eyes off myself, man. I can't just be all greedy and selfish and what's in it for me. Let me help you with something. God's going to take care of you. God's going to take you places and do things in your life that you could not have imagined for yourself. what the Bible says and I can't think of the reference but it says God will make he makes one rich and adds no sorrow with it. In other words, you can have all the worldly wealth and have no joy. What God wants to do is he wants to elevate your life. That commanded blessing of elevation your life. God wants to grow your life. He wants to heal relationships. He wants to heal finances. He wants to heal your body. He wants to heal your hope. He wants to heal your heart. He wants to heal your mind. He wants to do all of that. And he will do all of and there's so much growth and opportunity for you in your life. But it's going to be so much different because your attention is on him. So God can create the elevation. Man, you can have a hundred bucks in your pocket with no joy and full of sorrow. Or you can have a hundred bucks in your pocket and not be addicted to it or or or have your heart in it or or your hope in it and it just be a blessing. I have it to be a blessing if I want to be a blessing with it because my hope's not in it. There's a joy and a peace because it's not in what's in my pocket and I don't have to fight and kill for it. I Yes, I am going to go to this verse. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I'm going to go back to covenant and then I'm out of here. Maybe. I'm just kidding. You guys are going to boo me off here. First Timothy chapter 6. I'm counting on you, Jody. Everybody's counting on you. There go. She nailed it. Okay, here's what it says. Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. Hold on to that verse right there. Godliness we talked about is an attitude toward God that results in actions that are pleasing to him. So if I have godliness in my life, I have an attitude toward God. And that attitude toward God is a reverence or a fear that's going to compel actions that are pleasing to him. So if we remove God out of something, it's a godless society. So there's no attitude for him. There's no reverence for him. So there's no actions that become pleasing to him. Okay? So godliness, an attitude toward God and actions and results that are pleasing to him with contentment now, not coveting what everybody else has, but I'm content with who I am. I'm content with what God gave me. I'm content with these giftings. I'm content with this frame. I'm content with this hairdo. I'm content with what I have. I'm content with where we are. That godly contentment is great in and of itself is great wealth. Next verse. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. That's pretty simple. , we know that. But here's, , God felt he needed to reinforce it for you. In other words, you didn't pick being born. You didn't bring anything with you. You didn't choose it. I chose you. I picked you. You didn't come with anything. You're not going to leave with anything. So, why in the world are we coveting what everybody else has and getting all hung up about it? And it becomes a distraction. That's why Paul said, "Our affections are what's limiting us." Paul, he he was talking about his relation with him. He said, "My my heart for you is full, but you're not limited by my heart. You're limited by your affections toward me." And this is the same way it is with God. God's not God's heart's not restricted anything of him for you. It's that our heart is limited because we're distracted with other affections, the cares of life and the things of this world. And so, we end up chasing, pursuing them when we can't leave with them anyway. And so when I turn my heart to him now there's no limit to how much of God I can have. Next verse says this. So if we have enough food and clothing let us be content. Easy enough. Next verse. But people who long to be rich. Now don't take this out of context. This isn't about money. I could preach you 100 verses of how God wants to create financial margin in life once you have more than enough that you can be generous and be a blessing and give to people. I'm not talking about being the worldly wealth and all the toys and stuff. If you got them, smoke them. If you got them, share them. If you got it, open your door up for people. If you got it, be a blessing to people. Okay? I can make a case for you. Let me tell you, God doesn't want you living broke and poor without. Because it's really hard for me a blessing to you. When when he comes to me and says, "Can I borrow five bucks for lunch?" I'm , "Hey, I ain't got it, bro." It's hard for me to to be to do ministry if I ain't got it. Hey, man, can you give me an encouraging word? Hey, I ain't got it. Hey, can you give me some good news? If I ain't got it, I can't help him. So, don't do this out of context. Look what it says. People who long, that's a heart thing. That's a thing that says if I have it, then I'll be happy. Then I'll be somebody. Then I'll be a person of value. Then I'll be noteworthy. People who long for it, their focus is on it. They're driven by it. Fall into temptation because my motive is about that. It's not about having it. It's about the motive to go get it that that's going to provide something. My hope is in it. So people who long for it fall into temptation, watch, and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. That's that corrupted lens that the world teaches us that he who dies with the most toys wins. That mentality. So now if that's a if I believe that is the anchor of my soul, now I'm going to buy into many foolish and harmful thought processes that are going to plunge me into ruin and destruction. Next verse, the love of money. It does not say money. Money is just money. Money is neutral. It's nothing. Okay? I can I can take this ketchup and I can share it on my French fries. I can take that ketchup and throw it through the window. It's just a bottle of ketchup. I can take money and I can I can move with compassion. I can buy you an ice cream or I can go buy some methamphetamines. It's just money. I can guide a truck and I can pick people up for church or I can get a truck and I can run people over with it. It's just a truck. It's the love of money is the root of all evil. So that thing that longs for it that plunges into harmful destructive things is me coveting that stuff or it's me being greedy for that stuff or it's becoming the guilt. All the things that if I can get to it, it becomes the mode of my life. And some people craving it, look at these words, craving it, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. This is a warning to us as believers. Man, here's what I want to tell you, and I'm done for real, is if you want to follow Jesus, then let's get our eyes off of what the world's standards are. Let's get our eyes off of the world's system. Let's get our eyes off of what other people have, man. If you got them, let it rip, man, and go get it. Build build the businesses. Do the things, but let God lead you in that process. If your eyes are on Jesus, God's going to make you rich and add no sorrow with it. God can bless your business. God can bless your marriage. God can bless your relationship with your parents. God can bless your life and every aspect of your life be elevated and he adds no sorrow with it. And what he does is he sets you up to be effective and he takes your story and your testimony and and you begin to testify of what Jesus done in your life and it brings glory to God of what he's done in your life. Because when the facts were what the facts were, people can relate to those facts in your life. But when you can tell them how your eyes were on Jesus and how the truth prevailed over the facts, they go, "Can you tell me more about this truth? Because I got facts that. I got facts of of family members that. I got facts of finances that. I got facts of doctor's reports that. I got facts of all this stuff that. I had a similar situation. I know somebody that. Can you tell me that truth thing again?" But I'm going to have to discipline myself to fix my eyes on the truth while I'm navigating the facts. Are you with me? Father, we love you and we praise you for who you are. God, I thank you that your truth prevails. Your truth is life. Your truth is light. And Lord, you said in and Jesus, you prayed it in John 17, sanctify us with your truth. Your truth sanctifies us. Your truth sets us apart. Your truth changes everything for us in our life. Your truth is everything for us. And we recognize it. Right where you're sitting, right where you're at, you make it an acknowledgement between you and the Lord. God, I acknowledge that your truth changes everything for me. The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ changes everything in my life. God, I invite you into my situation. God, I invite you into my life. God, I surrender to the lordship of Jesus in every area of my life. I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I commit to your truth. I commit to your way. I commit to following you and I'm willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the cause of Christ just Peter did. I'm all in, God. We're all in as a church. We're all in as people and we give you praise for the victory that you've won for us. We give you glory. If you're in here tonight, never made Jesus Lord your life, it's real simple. It's you choosing to say, "Okay, I'm in. I'm going to follow you. And it's the simple belief in your heart. The belief of who you are, the core you are. The belief that God conquered death, which is the wages of our sin. He conquered it with his resurrection. And then I confess the lordship of Jesus with my mouth. You don't have to confess your sins and your failures for salvation. You confess Jesus as Lord. If you're here tonight, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life. Right where you're at, you believe in your heart, okay, God, I believe that you conquered death. I believe that you won the victory for me. I believe that. And I confess Jesus as the Lord and the boss and the leader in my life. And I'm in. I follow you. He becomes your righteousness. That's why we can say the blood of Jesus washes our sins away. That's why we can sing because he lives. My hope is in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and we acknowledge him as the Lord of our life when we pick up our cross and follow him. I'm allowing you the moment to make that commitment to him yourself. God, thank you for your salvation. Thank you for your generosity. God, thank you once again for your patience with us. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you God for new life today and forever in Jesus name.