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[Music] [Music] He [Music] I [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] aah n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n nah [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] Praise the Lord; his Mercy is more, it's stronger than darkness, and new every morning. Our sins, they are many, but his Mercy is more. [Music] [Music] What love could remember no wrongs we have done, omn on no wing it counts not, there some thrown into a sea without bottom or sure. In our sins, they are many, but his Mercy is more. Praise the Lord; his Mercy is [Applause] more, stronger than Darkness, you every more. Our sins, they are many, but his Mercy is [Music] more. What patience would wait as we constantly Ro? What father so tender is calling us home? He welcomes the weakest, the viest, the poor. In our sins, they are many, but his Mercy is more. Praise the Lord; his Mercy is more, stronger than Darkness, new every morning. Our sins, they are many; his Mercy is [Music] [Music] [Music] more. What riches, kindness he's lavished on us! His blood was the payment; his life was the cost. We stood need the dead; we could never afford. In our sins, they are many, but his Mercy is more. Praise the Lord. [Applause] His Mercy is [Applause] more, stronger than darkness and new every MN. Our sins they are many, but his Mercy is. Praise the [Applause] Lord; his Mercy is more. [Applause] You're stronger than darkness and new every morning. Our sin they are many, but his Mercy is more. Our sins they are many, but his Mercy is more. Our sins they are many; his Mercy is more. [Music]
We're reaching out to welcome you. God, fill this place again with your soul, flood our thoughts with Wonder and [Music] a give us a great glimpse of a never-changing [Music] till all we want and all we need is found in you, found in you Jesus; every Victory is found in you, found in you. [Music] Open wide our hearts now to yours, and every fear bows down to your for love that we would see like never before. Give us the great glimpse of a never-changing God. Till all we want and all we need it's found in you, found in you Jesus; every Victory is found in you, found in you. Till all we want and all we need is found in you, found in you Jesus; every victory found in you, found in [Music] you. In your presence there is freedom [Music] and in your presence we are made oh, and in your presence there is freedom and in your presence we are made whole. [Music] And in your presence there is freedom and in your presence we are made home. Till all we want and all we need is found in you, found in you Jesus; every Victory it's found in you, found in you. To all we want and all we need found in you, found in you Jesus; every Victory it's found in you, found in you. You [Music] h [Music] I.
I call you Maker; you give life an eternal spark. I call you Healer; you commend any broken heart. I call you Faithful Father; you can finish anything you start. Heart, my soul is made to respond. I know you by a thousand names, and you deserve every single one. You've given me a million ways to be amazed at what you've done, and I am lost in Wonder at all you do. I know you by a thousand names, and I'll sing them back to you. Your love is boundless, beyond what I could dream. Your Grace is patient; you're never giving up on me. I call you Bondage Breaker, cuz you're handing out the prison keys. My soul was made to be [Applause] free. I know you by a thousand names, and you deserve every single one, and you've given me a million ways to be amazed at what you've done, and I am lost in Wonder at all you do. I know you by a thousand names, and I'll sing them back; I'll sing them back to [Music] you. You are Rock of Ages; You're the Great I Am. You are King forever, the beginning and the end. You are Lord and Servant; you're the Son of Man. You're the Lion of Judah; you're the Risen Lamb. You're the second Adam, here to lead us home. You are Yahweh's Glory, now revealed in flesh and Bone. You are ocean parter; you will make a way. You're our death defeated; you have risen from the grave. You are full of Mercy; you are rich in Love. You Are Jesus, Messiah, the one true God. I know you by a thousand names, and you deserve every single one, and you've given me a million ways to be amazed at what you've done, and I am lost in Wonder at all you do. I know you by a thousand names, and I'll sing them back; I'll sing them back to you; sing that back to you, yeah. [Music]
You were the Word at the beginning, one with God the Lord most high. [Music] Your hidden glory in creation, now revealed in you. Are Christ, what a beautiful name it is! What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ my King! What a beautiful name it is; nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is, the name of [Music] Jesus. Didn't want heaven without us, so Jesus you brought Heaven down. My sin was great; your love was greater. What could separate us now? What a wonderful name it is! What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ my King! What a wonderful name it is; nothing compares to this. What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus. [Music] Death could not hold you; hell tore before you. You silenced the power of sin and grave. Heavens are roaring; praise of your glory, for you are raised to life again. You have no rival; you have no equal, now and forever, God. You Reign; yours is the Kingdom; yours is the glory; yours is the name above all names. What a powerful name it is! What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ my King! What a powerful name it is; nothing can stand against it. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. You have no rival; you have no equal, now and forever, God. You Reign; yours is the Kingdom; yours is the glory; yours is the name above all names. What a beautiful name it is! What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ my King! What a beautiful name it is; nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus. What powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus.
Lord, we just come before you this morning; we just thank you so much for your goodness and your mercies to us. [Music] You are the only one that's truly worthy to be [Music] praised, and we just thank you for this opportunity this morning to come before you, to sit at your feet, to worship you, to be reminded of Who You Are [Music] and just to just to praise you, just to worship you. Be with us now as we continue our service; be with our hearts; draw us nearer to you, and bring all to you in your precious Son's name. [Music] Amen. What up Church? Turn your Bibles to John chapter 7, if you would. We're going to going to be continuing our series, God revealed, and today we're going to cover the subject of the fact that God is regulated. God is temperate; he's he practices self-control; he's not regulated or controlled by the circumstances around him; he's reg regulated and controlled by his Father. And of course, we're talking about his incarnate Ministry and him walking the Earth. And of course, Jesus would never ask you to do something he's not willing to do himself, because that's the type of leader he is. And so he's asking us to emulate him as Christians in this idea of temperance or self-regulation. So that'll be John 7:1-31 is our text today, while you guys are turning there. Last week we had our next step banquet; we are raising funds to buy the property behind us and all the parking spots—150 parking spots plus the property—uh, which we'd use for Community engagements, youth activities, uh, children's ministry, all behind us. Um, if we don't purchase it, it'll be sold to somebody else, and we will be locked into just the few parking spots we have in in this building. I think this would be a just a great step for our ministry; it's very rare for a church to have Land open up, especially in the middle of a city. So uh, we are we we have agreed to pay 275 for this property behind us, and next week is our next step commitment card Sunday. So we had 190 adults here last Sunday night for our banquet; had such a great time. We're asking them and maybe you as well, who didn't come—we had a few who—I don't need a banquet to give; we're already giving, Pastor. It's like, praise the Lord for that. And um, it was funny because last week Robbie, who was our speaker, talked about how God answered prayer and how God answered his prayers for um some some projects they were raising money for was through the death of some of of his church members. And so I had a church member write on the bottom of them her card, uh, "I don't want to die to be an answer to prayer, so here's $2,000." So uh, I thought that was hilarious, but um, if you want to be involved in that and you feel led of the Lord to participate, next week we're going to turn in our commitment cards for that, and then the second week, so on Palm Sunday, will be our first fruits offering for the for the, and we're asking everybody to do a 2-year commitment to pay for the land in cash. So we're excited about that. We shared with the church family what we want to do on the property. Um, of course, that included what we call the Dream Center, a place where people can get biblical newthe counseling. I believe the uh then the next 10 or 15 years uh the amount of people that are going to need um professional Counseling in their personal life, just by how they're being raised and the things they've been exposed to at such a young age uh they're going to need some desperate help that even pastors themselves are not necessarily equipped to to handle. So I'd like to see something like that happen there, and also maybe even some free uh or low-cost dental and vision care, something like that for our community, which would be a lot of fun. Of course, all that tied into sharing the gospel; it's not just to fix their teeth; it's to fix their soul. People need Jesus more than anything uh in their life. In fact, that's what Jesus came to save; he didn't he didn't just come to make your body healthy, although he does care about that, but what he cares about more is our soul; is our soul; is the health of our soul. And sometimes it takes a physical ailment for somebody to finally come to the realization that they need their soul to be saved. So those are just some thoughts I wanted to share with you. Also, we have our connection card; we ask everybody who attends here or is a regular member to fill one of these out. On there, put your prayer requests, um, if you want to be baptized, you want to join. Next Sunday is membership Sunday, so everybody who's gone through my journey point class, come see me after the service uh to make sure you get recognized for membership this next week. Really excited about that. Um, and there's also a digital version, so if you want to scan with your phone the QR code instead of filling this out and putting it in the offering boxes, you can scan this and fill that out. That just helps our team know how to minister to you and in a better way. If you don't want to be pastored or shephered, don't fill this out and just come uh here; that's fine, but uh we we desire to help you in your journey as a Christian. So another thing I wanted to do today that's a little different is there's a lot of buzz in the air in our culture about DEI and illegal immigration. How many you guys have heard about this stuff? Okay. Um, Let me let me just tackle one of them cuz I don't have enough time to do both and my message today, but let me just look at illegal immigration from a Biblical lens really quick, so you can kind of wrap your head around it. And I would encourage you to not allow your emotions to get flared up right now, but to just listen with an open mind. Um, although we're called as individuals, so from an individual domain, it doesn't matter who where somebody comes from. On an individual level, God has called us to love the Sojourner. We are called to love anybody, regardless of where they come from, that walk in these doors or walk into our life, to love them as a human being because they're made in the image of God. Would you guys agree with that? That it doesn't M I don't care who walks—if this illegal immigrant walks into this church, I want them to get the gospel and get saved. We're not going to treat them like second-class citizens, okay? So that's on an individual Church domain level; that's what God calls us to do. Now there's the government domain, and the government domain is designed by God, Genesis 8:9 and 10, to protect their Citizens first. So there is a first priority list when it comes to the home and government, and every nation has a government; that's their priority is to protect their own Citizens First. See, why did God create boundaries and borders and Nations and tribes? It was to protect good, to preserve good. See, when the entire world got together in a one-world government to build the Tower of Babel, they were acting as God, and why God is against a one-world government is because if that one-world government becomes corrupt, the entire world becomes corrupt. So why is there Nations? The reason why there's boundaries in Nations and tongues and tribes is because Nations declare where bad ideas end and good ideas begin; it's a way that God has designed the world to preserve righteousness. So that's why there's Nations, and because our nation is homogeneous, and because we are under the umbrella of the Latin phrase urbus Unum, which means "out of many, one," thank God that we are a nation of many tongues and tribes, but we are under one umbrella, which means we all want to preserve freedom in our constitutional Liberties and rights. And so when people come across the border illegally and are against our nation, they should not be welcome here because we want a nation that is many people but under the same desire, the same direction as a nation. So to integrate and make our country more homogeneous, there has to be a process in which people people that do come into our country from a governmental domain are are integrated in a way that is beneficial for all of us that are here. So for an example of this is like in my home. God says to a pastor, you know, "if you don't take care of your own home, how are you going to take care of the church?" Right? That what it says like one of the one of the qualifications of a pastor is, how can a pastor, if he doesn't take care of his own home, his own home, how can he take care of the Church of God? So if your home is falling apart, you you have no authority to then lead a church. And so in in a government domain or realm, if the government can't even take care of its own citizens, then they shouldn't go about rescuing the the rest of the world. So um their obligation, their first list of priorities is first their own citizens. So that's what I would say about that, and from a biblical perspective is how God has designed things. So I hope you guys know my heart on that; I'm not trying to be divisive; I wanted to bring a little bit of clarity. Of course, there's a lot more nuances to this, and if you want to talk about this subject more with me, I'll be in the foyer after the service, and I would love to talk to you about that subject. Next week I'm going to cover DEI at the beginning of our uh of our sermon and uh and just look at that from a Biblical perspective. Now, how many you say, "What does that have to do with church?" And "Aren't we just here to preach the gospel?" Look, we have to exit the word; that's important; that means to communicate God's mind in every matter, and we also have to exit the world, so we know how to apply the word to the world. And God has his mind on every matter of life, and I think it's important for a church to at least address these subjects from a Biblical lens. What do you guys think? So remember the church—what's the church here for? Not to make you happy; the church is here to be the pillar and the ground of the truth, okay? So um I want you to know I'm not loyal to a certain party; I'm loyal to the scriptures and to what God's mind is on every matter, and he transcends all of those things. Hope you know that. Okay, you guys with me? Now I made everybody mad; we're going to teach the Bible, all right? So I want to talk to you about toxic people, um, and I know we've we've uh dealt with these types of people, and of course John chapter 7, if you read the chapter, know that Jesus had dealt with these people as well. When I was a teenager, I loved a the band called The Refreshments. I don't know if you guys ever—they're from Arizona; I grew up in Arizona—they're and uh they had a song called "Stupid People." Now that might be a cuss word in your home, and I apologize ahead of time for saying the word "stupid," but it is the name of the song, and it goes, "Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people." I just thought that was real catchy, cuz I thought, "Yeah, the world is really full of stupid people," and I thought it was great uh and until I realized I've been that guy myself. I'm like, "Maybe I'm the dumb one too." Um, I've been like this to others, and others have been like this to me, and I want us today to accomplish two things. I want us to first of all normalize chaotic relationships and how I should respond to those types of relationships. I don't know if you've ever felt this way—if you ever felt misrepresented, uh, lied about—has anybody ever lied about you, misrepresented you, slandered you? Um, maybe they were divisive; they kind of separated you from your friends because they were jealous of your friendship with somebody else and made you look bad to make them look good. Maybe you felt misunderstood, maybe unseen, unheard, hated, and of course, with Jesus, eventually murdered. And if you've ever felt that way, you're kind of in Good Company, because Jesus has felt that way, and I think everybody in this room has felt that way. One thing you don't want to think is that you're the only one, that somehow you're the only one who's ever gone through slander and misrepresented misrepresented and lied about or hated, and I think everybody in here um has felt that way. Maybe it's with your family; could be a parent; could be somebody who's—it's not supposed to be this way with the people that are in my life; could be a spouse, but unfortunately it's part of our Lives because God has made us free will agents, and Free Will agents can use their their lives to to bring about good or bring about evil; they can use their life would be vessels of righteousness or unrighteousness. And the reason why we face this type of people in our lives is because love exists, and without Free Will, without Choice, love couldn't exist. Now, how many you guys are thankful for Love? Now, with love comes this part of life, because love wouldn't exist without the evil side of man. And like your spouse doesn't have to love you; they can hate you and misrepresent you and despise you, and they could also love you, but it feels good to be loved by someone, by their choice, by intentional Choice; it feels good, doesn't it? So now the question is, what do I do when there is somebody in my life who is lying about me and misrepresenting me? So I want to teach us how to normalize it and how to respond to it. Now, if we don't normalize and we don't respond biblically, what happens? Two things happen to us that I want to warn you. First of all, we become tortured by these people for too long. God does not want you to live in torture for too long, and I'm not saying you avoid being tortured, because that's part of being in relationship. You say, "Well, then I'll just avoid all relationships." Well, that has its own torture; that has its own torment; isolation has its own hell. So it's like you're in this like conundrum, because you're like, "Well, if I'm in a relationship, I could get hurt, and if I'm not in a relationship, I'm just living in pain," and you got to choose your pain; you got to choose which one you want to be in. And of course, God has designed us to be in relationship; he's designed us to integrate with other human beings; it's just discerning which ones I should get involved with. I mean, Jesus has a lot to say; Proverbs has a lot to say of what kind of friends we're we are to choose. You know, it's like, "Cast out the the scorner, and the simple will obey," you know, um, "a man a man that has friends must show himself friendly." It's hard to have friends when you first don't show up and you're not friendly; it's really hard to be friends with somebody who looks like they hate you. So we become tortured for too long if we don't normalize bad people in our life and we don't respond biblically, and we become trapped for too long by their torture. So how long have you allowed others to determine how your day goes? I guess would be a good question. How long have you allowed others to determine how your day goes, and they you know you just know you're going to have dark Triad people in your life where they're where they're Psychopathic, narcissistic, and Malakian. I'm like, you get somebody like that, it's impossible to have a relationship with that person. So it's like learning how to detach from those types of people and learning that it's okay to detach from them. By the way, I'm not, you know, you are not called to be in close relationship with somebody who's hurting you. So are you tired of allowing others to control you and regulate you? Is another question. And are you done with others being the thermostat in your heart instead of God? Are you done with other people setting the temperature for your day? We have we have like bigger things to to conquer than the guy who cut you off and flipped you off and that ruined your whole day. You're going to let that guy like ruin your whole day? We really going to give people that much power in our lives? I was going across uh was it like 502 by Chick-fil-A, and there's all these people protesters out there, and I had a choice right there, of course I had my thumbs down, and I was like, "Boo," driving by. I don't know if you guys saw them, and I had like a tinge of anger when I was driving down the road, you know? My wife's like, "They're allowed; that's their freedom to do that." I'm like, "Thanks for being the Holy Spirit in my life. I want to be mad." I'm like, "You're right; they're allowed to protest; I think it's great," uh, but I I just don't—you don't want other people to regulate you; you want Christ to regulate you. Amen. So people are going to look—when I say normalize, I don't mean allow people to be toxic; just don't be surprised when they do, and then when they do, you're not going to allow them to control you; you ruin your whole day; be offended. We live in a society that's offended by everything, and what they're really saying when you're offended by other people you don't know is they control you, and the only one who should control you is God, and God's regulated; if he's regulated, so can you be, because he's not like losing his mind over the chaos. So what does the Bible say about this? We're going to look at chapter 7; just go through the first 31 verses, and I'll give you four quick points at the end. You guys ready? Okay. Lord, I pray you to help us; teach us today from your word what you how you respond to bad people, and Lord, how you saw past their evil and saw in the future how they would be saved and redeemed and your friend. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, verse one, it says, "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee, and he would not walk in Jewry, uh, because the Jews sought to kill him." In other words, he didn't follow the Jewish traditions, because if he did, they knew right where he'd be and they'd kill him. Now, of course, he's God, so he knows that in their heart they wanted to murder God. And it is interesting, like how does somebody develop malice in their heart? Malice is the idea of of wanting somebody dead. How many you guys enjoy crime shows? You enjoy crime uh True Crime podcasts? Uh, you know, I I we just watched the Anthony Casey Anthony uh Story on Netflix. You guys ever seen that? Um, no, it's pretty crazy what this guy did; murdered his wife—is that who it is? Casey Anthony? Casey Anthony, who's the girl in San Francisco? Oh yeah, Lacy Peterson; that's right. Casey Anthony was the crazy party girl from Florida; that's right. Okay, yeah, that was another wild one, huh? Yeah, Lacy Peterson; her husband murdered her. Um, it's like, how does somebody develop murder in their heart? You know, it's like you you see the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not murder," then Jesus in the New Testament says, you know, "You've heard it said, 'Don't murder,' but he says, 'If you have hatred in your heart towards somebody, you've already committed murder,' because in in Ephesians chapter 4 it gives you the progression to murder, and it's really really simple: 'says, "Be not bitter; let all bitterness, wrath," so see it building; bitterness turns into wrath; anger—now it's boiling up; anger, clamor—that's loud speaking and evil speaking—these are using words that wound—and malice be put away from you." Do you see the progression? How does somebody develop murder in their heart? Was they let bitterness grow all the way to malice without forgiveness? These people wanted to murder God because they let the bitterness of Jesus stealing the their superiority, stealing their um their position from them—they hated him. So it's impossible, by the way, as a a Christian to say you love God while you hate another person, because God lives in people. Like if somebody's evil, how we are supposed to respond to somebody's evil is with what? Good. You overcome evil with good. Where does Vengeance lie? Who is in position to exact Vengeance on somebody? It's not my job; because if I repay evil with evil, all we get is more evil. So my job is to overcome evil with good, to detach, separate, create boundaries to protect me and my family, but not to bring Vengeance on those people. God knows everything that person's ever done, and they're going to have to pay for what they did by him. So these men wanted to kill him, and of course we don't see Jesus exacting Vengeance on them; he sees past that; he sees them as a human soul needing salvation, and many of them did get saved. Now, "the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand"—this is verse two—this is great; I'm going to try to go through this really quick, but the Feast of Tabernacles takes place on the 15th of of the Hebrew month tishri; this is the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in like end of September, middle of October. So let's say middle of October—October 15th—the feast begins 5 days after the day of atonement and at the time of the Fall Harvest that had just been completed. So all the farmers are done harvesting; it was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites celebrated God's continuous provision for them in the current Harvest and remembered his provision, protection during the 40 Years of the Wilderness. So like Feast uh the the feast like all celebrations were a foreshadowing of Christ, and this is kind…
Of an interesting side note is, I think we all know that December 25th is not really the day that Jesus was born. That's a Catholic tradition, because Shepherds would not be tending their flocks at night in December in that time. But what's interesting is in John 1:14, it says, "And the word became flesh." So Jesus, who's the word, became flesh; he was born and what dwelt—do you know what the word "dwelt" means in the Hebrew? It is the same word we used for Tabernacle. And this is the Feast of Tabernacles that they're celebrating during this time he was born. He dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So "dwelt," being the same word as Tabernacle, I wouldn't be surprised if Jesus was born actually in the middle of October, and maybe that's what John is maybe highlighting about Jesus. You can't say that dogmatically, but it's kind of an interesting note, isn't it?
Anyway, I find it ironic that the Jews would celebrate God's deliverance and provision and also desiring to kill God all at the same time. Isn't that wild about religion? It's like, we're going to follow all the Traditions, but we also hate human beings; we're going to murder this man. So this goes to show that it's not what you're doing that's most important; it's why you do what you do that is most important. This is the same problem with the Jews in the Old Testament: is they would they would do all the right things and sacrifice the right animals at the right feasts, but then God says, "Your heart is still far from me." Like, you're doing the right thing, but you don't care about me. And that was the problem with the church at Ephesus in Revelation; they said, "You're doing all the right things, but I have something against you; you've lost your first love; don't forget about loving God." These people had lost their love for God. In fact, Jesus described them as whited sepulchers; they look great on the outside, but on the inside they're dead.
So verse three: "And his Brethren therefore said unto him," Now Jesus had Brothers; I don't know if you guys know this; he had Brothers, half Brothers. Um, his brother, his Brethren therefore said unto him, "Depart hence and go to Judea, that your disciples may also see the works that you do; for there is no man that does anything in secret and he himself seeks to be known openly; for if you do these things, show thyself to the world." And then it goes on to say, "Neither did his Brethren believe in him." His brothers didn't commit to him; that's what the word "believe" means. It doesn't just mean, "I believe"; it means like, "I'm committing to you at the highest order." So his brothers didn't believe in him. So it's almost like a subtle way of mocking Christ; like, "If you're really who you say you are, why don't you just show yourself openly so the whole world can see?" Everybody knows though that's what we would all do if we all had TikTok and Instagram; we'd show the whole world what we do so we can get a bunch of followers and we can monetize this; we can can make a whole bunch of money. And Jesus was not interested in that.
So then Jesus said to them—this is his response, which will tie into the end of the message—"My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready." I love this: "The world can't hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil." The reason why the world hates Jesus is because he sheds light on the darkness; he exposes the evil. And churches that don't speak against evil are not Christ-centered churches. "Go you up into the feast; I go not up yet unto the Feast, for my time is not yet fully come." When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. Now Jesus's answers, uh, answers, uh, with his with his reason for not going up; he revealed his motives and actions. So did you notice that Jesus is saying, "Your life is so conformed to the world that they love you," like you're doing everything that makes the world happy, so of course they're not going to they're not going to hate you because you're in step with them. And so let me remind you of why the church exists: The church exists to be Salt and Light in the world. And again, a church is not the building; the church, you are the church. And when you guys leave this this place and you go out those doors and you get in your car, it's the church spreading out in this city, and you are called to be Salt and Light and to expose The Darkness; at least that's what we're called to do.
In fact, 1 Timothy 3:15, let me show you what God says the churches exist for; it says, "But if I tarry long, that you may know how to how to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and the ground of what." So where you going to get Truth? Where did God commission truth to stem from? Is it the universities? Is it the government? Is it just your thoughts and feelings and experiences? Or is it from the church? And say, "Well, well, how do you know if a church is speaking truth?" If they're speaking the Bible, do they preach the Bible in its original grammatical historical context? That's really important. And I'm not saying I get it right every time; I'm a fallible human being that's trying to do my best, and if I'm wrong, I'd gladly admit that I'm wrong about something. I just want to know; I just want to know God's mind on every matter and hope we're getting it right, but I you know I don't I hope you guys I don't necessarily want to be part of a cult. Um, I know we're just broken human beings in process, and we're just trying to help each other out, and but the the main goal is God; we want to know what you think about things; that should be our heart as a church.
Verse 10: "But when his brothers were gone up, then went he also into the feast, not openly but in secret." And the reason why he went in secret is because he goes, "You know, my time, time's not come yet." Remember his time was Palm Sunday; his time was when he rode in on a donkey. He says, "Now it's my time; it's during Passover week is the time I decided I'm going to sacrifice my life." Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, "Where is he?" And there was much people murmuring among the people concerning him, for some said, "He's a good man," and then others said, "Nay, but he deceives the people." So his brothers mock him; these people lie about him. Okay, "How be it no man spoke openly of fear of the Jews." So of course, because they feared human beings, they were owned by human beings. So these are lies spread about Jesus that he deceives people. This type of behavior always baffles me in the Christian church when a Christian lies about another Christian or anybody. You know, have you ever heard the Axiom like, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't listen or say anything"? You cannot know all the facts about like, where where do you think who do you think you are to speak negatively about somebody else without knowing all the facts? How hateful do you have to be to do that? 1 Corinthians 13 says, "Love thinks no evil." And if you are speaking evil about somebody without knowing all of the details and facts—which is most of the time none of your business anyway—none of my business—and then tell somebody all about that person, "Oh, they deceive people, and they're kind of this person," it's like, "How do you know?" And even if you did know, is that your job to do that? So they speak of Jesus in this way. Now I understand, you know, writing bad reviews for a company or if there's somebody who's really taking advantage of others and warning people about that, I understand there may be a place for that, but and it's so devastating in a church when you have divisive people here dividing Brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters and lying about each other because you're trying to establish a position of dominance or maybe because your ego is so small that you have to te down others to like build yourself up. I mean, I don't know why people do that, but it's just so evil to speak negatively about others, especially in the especially in the church. I I I love talking about policies; I like talking about ideas and laws and stuff. I hope you know when I talk about things that are happening in our world, I I don't want to I don't want to demonize a person, an individual that God loves; I want to demonize the idea, like that's a bad idea; demonize the action, maybe not the person. Does that make sense?
Okay, verse 14: "Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and then he taught, and the Jews marveled, saying, 'He knows this man's letters having never learned.'" Okay, so you see a a deep-seated pride among the Jews. And stay with me; this surprise on the part of uh Jerusalem spiritual leaders gives insight into their arrogance. Much of their rejection of Jesus's message is based on this on this assumption: "Nobody knows better than they do," because Jesus wasn't taught in our institutions, in our Ivory Towers; nobody knows more than we do; how can he stand up and say these things? So no matter what Jesus says, they will reject it since it does not agree with their own study. And that's the problem of somebody who's puffed up in their own knowledge; knowledge alone puffs up. And you see people who were studying the scriptures, not not to develop a love for others and a love for God, but to puff themselves up and look down on others.
Verse 16: "And Jesus answered and said, 'My doctrine's not mine, but his that sent me; if any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine.'" Now let me stop right there; I want you guys really paying attention to this: The best way to know Doctrine is not just to study it, but to actually do it; commit your Works unto the Lord, and then your thoughts will be established. It's not enough to just be a a student of the word, but Jesus says, "If you do his will from his word, then you shall really know the word." "Know" means to intimately know, personally. His Doctrine; Doctrine is what's right; it's discerning what's right and what's wrong, whether it be of God or whether I speak for myself. Look at verse 18; this is so great: "He that speaks of himself seeks his own Glory, but he that speaks his glory that sent him the same is true and no unrighteousness is in in him." So have you ever noticed something here? Jesus is saying, "You don't understand Doctrine by study alone, but by doing his will." And I I love the the phrase, "speaking of ourselves to seek his own Glory." Many teachers are too proud to ever be wrong, and if God was directly even if God was directly talking to them, they just could not see themselves as ever being wrong because they are their own authority. And really the Christian Life, it comes down to who your Authority is: Is my authority a teacher on Earth? Is my authority my own feelings and experiences? Or is my authority the scriptures, are the word of God? And of course, God calls us to make his word our Authority. So when we're living for Christ and somebody has a problem with you, you would say, "You don't have a problem with me; you have a problem with God because I'm living according to his word; so take it up with him; don't take it up with me; I'm not here to seek my own Glory; I'm I'm here to bring glory to him."
Verse 19: "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law?" I love this; he exposes them: "Why you go about to to kill me?" The so again, the law meaning the Ten Commandments, um, the law meaning the Ten Commandments, of course, I was reading this in Deuteronomy. Now you guys are going through the Bible, uh, in the Bible recap; it's been really fun. The Ten Commandments is so great cuz um here you have 10 laws, and if you look at them as just rules, you're going to be you're going to misrepresent what God is trying to do here; he's teaching his people how to love God and love people. And how many you guys want to love God and love people? Raise your hand. Okay, he says in the Ten Commandments, you're supposed to teach your kids when they wake up, when they walk on the Wayside, and also when they go to bed, the Ten Commandments, and he says, "If you do that, they'll fear the lord; they won't fear man; they'll fear God." So you fight Fear With Fear; a fear of God delivers You From The Snare of man. Then if you fear God, Proverbs says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"; Job says, "Wisdom is understanding what God Said, and understanding is doing it." So if you want to be a child of God who has a fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom that leads to understanding, then we have to at least know the Ten Commandments; we have to talk about them. Why do we have to talk about them? Because that's how we love people and love God. So he says, "You guys break the Ten Commandments, and you're you're seeking to kill me." And then the people answer and says, "You have a devil." I mean, who who who's going around trying to kill you? Of course, Jesus knows the facts; he knows what's true because he knows their heart; he who's trying to kill you. And they attack his character; they that you you're using a a logical fallacy called ad hominin, which is instead of addressing the issue, they attack the actual person; that's how you know somebody's lost the argument.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, "I have done one work, and you Marvel." Of course, do you guys know what that work was? We talked about it about three weeks ago; he healed somebody on the Sabbath, and this is their big this is their big uproar that he healed a man on the Sabbath. He says, "I've done this one work, and you all Marvel." "Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not because of Moses but of the fathers, and yet on the Sabbath day on the Sabbath day you circumcise a man; and if a man on the Sabbath day receiv circumcision that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry at me because I have made a man every wet whole on the Sabbath day?" I love Jesus' response because he's actually addressing the issue, not attacking the person; he's like, "So you guys are you guys will circumcise a man on the Sabbath, but then you're mad at me; you want to kill me for healing a man on the Sabbath." So he calls them out on their hypocrisy, and um these Pharisees are hard on others in issues they themselves violate; that's what makes them so evil. If you don't think your kids won't call you out on this, think again. And I think this is one of the problems children struggle with with their parents is their parents are so hard on them on all their rules while they themselves are breaking them, and it's like, you know, this idea of "do as I say, not as I do." Kids typically do what you do; they don't do what you say. Amen. My kids don't follow pretty much anything I say; they follow everything we do. So when I'm binge eating in the middle of the night in the kitchen, guess what they do? I'm kidding; I don't I don't know if they do that or not. You know, if I'm not walking with God and I tell them to, they're be like, "I'm just going to do what you do; I'm going to do what you say." Obviously it's not good enough for you, so it won't be good enough for me. Um, if you're hard on others, just know others are going to be hard on you; like if you're an exacting boss at your work, you don't see them as a human being; you're just treating them as as like robots you can use for your own gain, um, don't be surprised that when you fail and have a little failure that they're going to be just as hard if not harder on you; call you out on that. But whatever you give people is what you get back; it's a very simple principle found in Matthew chapter 6. And then he says, uh, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Now I love this; he goes, "Don't just judge." Judge means to evaluate or to condemn. We judge in two ways; we condemn. Now how many you guys know we are not called to condemn ever; nowhere are we in Authority or a position to condemn someone. The only Authority or position we have is human limited human beings is to evaluate a situation and determine what to do next. God is the only one who can condemn. So he says, "When you evaluate, evaluate with a righteous judgment," that means with a fair evaluation; that means to treat everybody equally, whether they're rich or poor; they should be held to the same standard. If you break the law because you're rich doesn't mean you get out of it now because you can pay somebody off; that means if you're going to hold me to a standard, you got to hold everybody else to that same standard, especially when you're raising your kids. How many you guys know you got to be that fairness has got to be there. So a righteous judge judgement so in so includes innocence until maybe proving guilty would be a principle from scripture; verifiable evidence; Witnesses; having a conscience towards real justice. So he says, "When you are judging, don't judge don't judge things just according to the appearance; judge a righteous judgment." Now this is one of the reasons I got off social media; well, there's a lot of reasons why I got off social media; been off since November, and my mind has never been healthier; my soul is just thriving cuz I don't think I was meant to Bear the weight of the entire world. And if somebody wanted me to know something going on in their life and they have my number, they can text me or call me, but uh one of the reason I got off because there always these messages that would go out and I would unrighteously judge the situation and be tempted to speak out against speak out about it without knowing all the facts. When somebody asked me, "What do you think about this?" I'm like, "I I really can't say anything about it because I don't know all the facts." So I'm being exposed to all these situations going on; Wars and companies that are taking advantage of others and all, and I just I don't I I don't have the time nor the resources to gather all the facts to make a righteous judgment on the situation, so I'm just bowing out in the whole thing. So um, you know, when it comes to a situation that you're facing in your life, especially when it comes to relation relationships, and you you need to gather all the facts and you need to give that person a fair evaluation; in other words, if you're going to listen to gossip about one person, you might as well do the job of going to the person they're talking about and get their side of the story, unless you're the type of person who who wanted who who wanted to hear a version or a story of another person that lined up with how you wanted to feel about them, and in that way you might want just check your heart. But but either way, like we are called to love people whether they're evil or good; it doesn't matter; we're all good and evil ourselves. But he says, "When you judge, do it do it righteously; make it a fair evaluation."
Okay, verse 25: "Then said some some of them in Jerusalem, 'Is not he whom they seek to kill? But lo, he speaks boldly, and they say nothing to him.' Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? This is the savior? How be it we know this man whence he is; but when Christ comes, no man knows whence he is." Then cried Jesus in the temple and taught, saying, "You you both know me, and you know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom you know not; but I know him; for I am from him, and he sent me." Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come. Watch this: Because of his boldness, because he handled toxic people well, many of the people what believed on him and said, "When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" So the whole purpose of him coming to this Temple and being surrounded by good and bad people, people who are inquisitive and wanting to know the truth and those who didn't want to destroy him, the reason why he was able to enter the temple and to uh preach all of that was for people to be saved, because there are those who whose lives would not be the same as a result of his presence in their life. And so he handled these evil people so well, and I want to just share with you four quick points on how we can handle them the same ourselves. So he he's mocked; he's lied about; he's misrepresented; he's hated. So how does he respond to all this? First of all, I'll share; so you have his brothers; you have the Pharisees; you have people in the crowd being like, "I think he's lies to us." So here's the first point: Don't take it personal. You notice in the whole story, Jesus doesn't take it personal; he doesn't make it about himself; it's all about others; it's all about those who would come to believe. Isn't that amazing? Don't take it personal when somebody attacks you; it's not about you; it's about something going on in their own life; maybe they're trying to manipulate you, and it's not them that's speaking; it's the manipulative part of them that's speaking, and that's definitely coming out of insecurity and evil, but don't take it personal; it's not about you. When it becomes about you, you volunteer your Liberty; you volunteer your freedom when you make it personal. When somebody attacks you and misrepresents you and you take it so deeply and personally, you lose your freedom; they own you now; you give it away to them. When I say normalize, I just mean like it's going to happen; okay, it's going to happen; people are going to do this; it's it's like think of it this way; it's like putting away your coat in March and April, not expecting it to snow again, and then when it snows in April, you're like, "What what's going on?" And it's like, you know, it snows every April, like like flurries will come down; are you like, "I've been here 14 years now; I'm not surprised anymore; I keep the coat in the closet; I know I need to bring it out; I love wearing shorts; I love wearing t-shirts, but I'm not putting the coat away." I'm normalizing snow in April; I'm not going to be surprised by it and depressed about it; it just happens. Now if it snowed in June, I might be a little ticked; I'll be honest; I'll be like, "This is not normal," but when somebody somebody malign you, somebody misrepresents you, somebody lies about you, don't act surprised; normalize it; that way when it does happen, you're like, "Yeah, it's how people are; people do this, and it's not about me; something's going on in their life," and you want to see beyond the hurt and see the soul; something's happening to them that's making them want to do that, and I just feel bad for them. Now I don't have to be around them; I don't be their best friend; I don't have to have them over for dinner, but I don't need to take it personally. You see Jesus on the cross; the same people when he was on the cross wagging their heads, mocking him, spitting on him; I don't know anybody in this room has ever hung on a cross with people spitting on you; okay. And he says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He didn't take it personally; he wasn't like, "It's all about me; please feel sorry for me; I'm the victim." And many of those people who did Mock and spit, their lives were transformed after the resurrection; that believed on him. So he saw beyond the hurt and saw their humanity and saw their salvation; saw beyond what they were actually doing. And because he didn't take it personal, he was able to see that. And when you don't take things personally, you're able to see there's that person's hurting, and hurting people love to hurt people, and they they probably had a lot of bad things going on in their life, and and um yeah, I'm not going to take a personal; like it's if it identifies me; like it establishes my value; it doesn't; they're just going through a hard time; I'm going to pray for them; and that what Jesus says to do; those that lie about you, misrepresent you, pray for those that do that; do good to them that use you.
Then he says, um, like, "By the way," because he didn't take it personal, guess who one of his brothers was? James. J. So so one of the ones that kind of mocked him is like, "Why don't you go just make your ministry public and so everybody can know you?" And and uh I mean that's what we would all do, of course; he's projecting a little bit. Guess who wrote the the Book of James? Was J was Jesus's half brother, one of those men, and he wrote a chapter chapter three and said, "Life and death are in the power of the tongue." Here's a guy who became very self-aware of who he was, but because Jesus didn't give evil back to evil, he saw him as a human being; James gets saved and writes an incredible book and of course becomes a Force for good in in the world. And Jesus was able to see that because he didn't take it personally. Number two, I would say, do the next right thing. You know, every time Jesus was misrepresented, lied about, um, wanted dead, he just did the next right thing. Like, if you want to know what you're supposed to do in your life is you use your energy and your time and your mind to just do the next right thing, uh, because if you don't if you if you don't take it so personal, you can continue to do the right thing, and there will be opposition to doing the right thing, but just keep swimming; you know, just keep swimming; just keep swimming. I don't know if you guys know who the head of NIH, Dr. J. Bachara, uh, who who's going to be confirmed soon, who he is, but when COVID hit and Dr. Fauci and Company locked everything down, you guys remember that time? That was a wild time, wasn't it? Of course, it it's finally come out that they were funding gain of function research in the Wuhan lab, and and it wasn't just from some random bat that was flying around infected person, um, and the lockdown actually did more harm to humanity, um, than the actual virus itself; we all know that now. But here's a guy during that time who worked for Stanford and called all that stuff out. So him and Dr. Martin Kolf of Harvard and Dr. Cutra Gupta of Oxford stood up to the Mob and of made-up academics; I would would say journalists and pharmaceutical companies; I would would say these Elites behaved as a ravening mob, not responsible policy makers dedicating to saving lives, um, this guy spoke truth to power and started the great Bearington declaration that helped crystallize the opposition to the covid Tyranny, uh, this guy did. And Dr. J is a Stanford University Professor whose work focuses on epidemiology, and of course, he was one of the best in the world, um, and of course his studies are are incredible on this subject that is well researched and also uh many many of those have quoted him. These three, each a professor at their Premier institution of Higher Learning, suffered from a multi-year smear campaign led by Dr. Fauci and Francis Collins; they led a charge that resulted in the shunning of these three of the best epidemiologist in the world, um, because no good deed goes unpunished. Fauci, Fauci, that guy, Dr. Fauci, "Get your boosters; get your boosters." You remember that time? That was
Just nuts, uh, Fouchy—who's expertise in bureaucratic policies and distributing research grants—this is what it all came down to. Because if people didn't—if the epidemiologists didn't fall in line with the—with the uh—with Dr. Fouchy, they weren't funded by these grants. And that's really the um, idea of of fascism. Fascism is: you can own your own property, you can own your own business, in your own research lab, as long as you fall in line with us.
He did his best to destroy the careers of these men he called "Fringe epidemiologists," and Fouchy redefined "Fringe," and the entire establishment went to work destroying them. And now this guy, just kept doing the next right thing regardless of what—what happened to him—is now going to be the NIH director—took Fouchy's job. Like, how cool is that? Like, here's a guy who didn't buckle; he's like, "No, this is what's right. I'm going to keep doing the right thing regardless of what happens to me," and now he took his job. How cool is that?
So what I'm saying is, when you have people malign you and lie about you, and and and use deceit to tear you down, you just continue doing the next right thing. That's what Jesus did; that's what we're called to do. Don't give up, don't quit, don't cry in a corner, don't move to another state hoping all your problems go away. Look, here's the problem: if you move to another state because you want to run away from toxic people, here I want you to know something: there's toxic people there too. At least here you know their FA, right? So it's like—like, where do these people not exist? They're everywhere, okay? You could take his picture down, okay, but—but just do the next right thing.
And then number three: speak and live from a greater authority. Jesus is like—it's not—he said, "When I'm—me doing what I'm doing here on Earth is not about me, it's about him and doing his will." So when you're loving somebody, if you can't love them, just love them in the name of the Lord. Like, "I don't have the power to love you, but he does, and God, I'm going to love them through you." So, "I can't do it myself, but I need you to help me to do this." Um, if people don't like you, let me share this with you: that's their problem. You're not responsible for making people like you; you're only responsible for you. You're not responsible for what people think, what they say, what they do; they're responsible for what they do. You're responsible for protecting yourself; you're responsible for how you react to their talk—toxicity. So when you're living, teaching, and loving, you do it on mission from your Father, okay? Not just to get what you want.
So people might not like how we do things—kids, co-workers, family. I would just say, "Oh well, who cares?" "I don't like what you said." I'm like, "Okay, tell me why." Remember what Jesus said: "Those who speak of themselves declare their own glory." I hope you know, I don't want to speak—speak of myself and how great Cody cool is. Um, there's nothing great about me; the only thing that's good about me is Jesus Christ, and I hope that you experience God through me, and I hope you don't experience me, 'cause that guy is no good. That's why Paul said, um, "In my flesh dwells no good thing," but thankfully I don't have to live by my flesh; I get to live in the Spirit, and in the Spirit you get to experience Christ—things, good things from him.
And then number four: live blameless as Sons and Daughters of God. Live blameless as Sons and Daughters of God. Um, the—the thing is that Jesus did the next right thing, but he—he lived so openly that nobody had anything to tear him down with. You have plenty of people lie about you, but make sure that nothing they say is actually true. This is why, if you're going to run for politics, or a pastor, or be in any kind of position in the world, you need to keep your integrity and your character intact. Because if not, people who find out about what you did will own you. And this is the problem with politicians who corrupt their character: they go to these parties, and they compromise who they really are, and these people have them filmed, or they know about it, and they do it on purpose so that they can own you. And this is why you want to make sure your interactions with—with other human beings is pure and good and lovely, so that that person that you participated in evil with doesn't own you as well.
And so when Jesus did his ministry, we knew it was good because he was—he was—he wanted to do his ministry openly; he never did it in private. Like when he healed somebody, he just did it public; he taught—he taught in public. Because when you live a life of righteousness, you can live openly. Uh, people who live evil want to hide; that's why they—most of the evil is done in darkness, at night. So what do we do? We normalize chaos, and we prioritize Christ. And here's the thing, and I'll end with this: I don't have a fun story to give you guys, but I'll just end with this, okay? What you don't want—and this is why your identity and your relationship with Christ is so important—is that your bond and connection with him daily, in his word and in prayer, helps regulate your day, and not the chaotic people around you. You're—listen, you're going to have people flip you off, you're going to have people lie about you, you're going to have people malign you, they're going to try to one-up you, whatever it is, you're going to have people like that. Normalize it; that's life, that's human nature, okay? What you don't want is those people to own you. So your relationship with Jesus, and your time with him, and your—in the word and talking to him, and your relationship with him will help you regulate your emotions and your mind and your purpose in the midst of all the chaotic people. So even if somebody in your home is acting a little crazy and is disregulated, it—they don't have to own you either. You could just stay regulated. I'm not saying you don't have emotions; I'm just saying you—you don't have to let them set the temperature for your day. Let Christ do that. You be the stable force in other people's lives because you're regulated by him, not other people. Does that make sense?
I don't even—listen, I don't even want the weather to regulate me. Now that one's hard, because you guys ever—I—I didn't know what SAD was—Seasonal Affective Disorder. I was like, "Who's got SAD, man? That's sad that they got SAD." And then I didn't realize that I had SAD until the first sunny day, and I was so happy. I'm like, "Maybe I had SAD. I think I was sad. I'm so happy today. Maybe I—" I don't know. But I do—I don't even want the weather to be like the determinative force of how well my day goes. It's like, "Dude, you have Christ." Like, joy and love and peace come from him, not the weather. Don't think by moving to Arizona or Florida like—it's going to be like—that's where my joy comes. I'm like, "Good luck with that idol, 'cause they have their own demons over there." You ever—it's like Florida—that's great until summer comes, and you're living in a—the human mouth—that's what it feels like, living in a human mouth. You know what I love about Michigan? The clean, crisp Michigan air; it's refreshing, isn't it? I love it. And winter—it's no—it's no big deal. Look, the daffodil is already coming up; I saw the robins chirping yesterday. Like, it's here; it's here. I'm wearing a white shirt; like spring is here, guys. It doesn't get better than that. And we're saved. How many of you guys are saved? Dude, life is awesome. You have everything you need for life and happiness in him. Like, don't let circumstances and weather and people control you. Just be like, "It's not about me; it's about—without you, Lord, you regulate me. I love you," and I hope that helps you today.
Lord, thank you so much for our—our time together. Thank you for your word. I pray that um—our relationship with you would determine our attitude in the world. Lord, we already know how the world ends, so we don't even have to be regulated by climate change alarmists; we could be regulated by you. We don't have to worry about all the things happen—happen in the world; you are already taking care of that. So Lord, would you give peace to our hearts, joy in our hearts. I pray that uh—Lord, we wouldn't let people ruin our whole day. I pray we'd normalize chaotic people, we'd prioritize you in our life, and I pray that you—we would allow you to regulate our mind, our emotions, and our purpose. And I pray that you'd help each and one of us to live like you did. Um, Lord, you responded to the—these men so well, as they hurt you—they tried to hurt you, but you didn't let them; you conquered that, and because of that, other people's lives were changed. So help us to be that force of good in the world, and I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand together. [Music]
I'm no longer a slave to fear; I am a child of God. And I'm no longer a slave—here I am, a child of [Music] God. Who ra—me with melody, you thr—me with soulong of deliverance from my [Applause] enemies, till all my fears are [Applause] gone, and I no long—sa—fe. [Music] I am a child of God, and I'm no longer a slave to [Music] fear; I am a child of God. [Music] From my mother's womb you have chosen me; love has called my name; I'm born again, family; your blood FL—through my veins, and I no more [Applause] sa—ve. I am a child of God, and I'm no longer [Applause] sa—ve. I am a child of God. I am surrounded by the arm of the [Music] Father; I am [Music] surrounded by song. Love [Music] deliverance; we will [Music] live from our [Music] bondage. With the Son and the daughter sing of bre—oh oh oh—you sp—the seas, you walk—I do it—my fears in perfect love, you rescue me so I can stand and sing: I am a child of God. You sp—the seas; I can walk right through it; I feel the ground in perfect—in love you ask me so—why you stand—sing: I am a child—I am a child of God; I am a child of God.
Messages that I see myself in, I don't really like as much; it's my love-hate relationship with scripture. I love it when it's like, "Just be good," and I'm like, "Yeah, this is great!" Then it's like, "Stop doing this!" Oh, I don't really like that. We got a few announcements, and we'll let you go, ladies. We had a couple for you, and you're going to have to get your pens ready because you have to sign up for some stuff. But just a reminder: the Bible Recap—we are going through the Bible Recap as a church. Uh, Pastor Cody mentioned that even this morning—working through scripture together as a church conversation—my L—my lady—I'm seeing the ladies up here—my lady—my wife, she gets to go through it with some of the ladies on Wednesdays, and they really enjoy that. She always comes back and she's just like, "Oh my word, it's just so fun to hear other people's input on scripture and what they see, how they glean off of scripture." So that's been encouragement to us, and hopefully it's been encouragement to our church as well that we get to go through it together.
All right, ladies, get ready to sign up for some stuff: The Seed to Summit—get your pen ready because my wife is standing out there at a table and she's got sign-ups for this event. This has—um—April 26th; registration ends April 7th. This is going to help us—we see the event is on the 26th; the registration ends the 7th. This is going to help us with the seating arrangement, and then I was also told—I've not done this—I was also told that gives us time to create the centerpieces for the tables. Like, I—what I've heard is the ladies all do it together and they make their own centerpieces. I hope—hopefully that's correct; if not, I'll be making another announcement that Andrew last week didn't know what he was talking about. So that's—that's exciting. My wife—we've been talking—my lady—we've been talking about that uh—quite a bit, and she's excited for this. So the 7th—that's registration—so we know that's the end of registration, so we know who's coming, make sure we got the tables, seating, and then also those centerpieces.
Couples Retreat is coming up; we're looking forward to this. This is Monday and Tuesday, but it starts Sunday. So after church on Sunday, we're heading over to Holland, and we're just hanging out in the evening; we're staying that evening over there in Holland at the hotel. Then we have sessions all day Monday, and then there's an option to stay through um—Tuesday morning—stay that evening, Monday evening into Tuesday, and then head back to real life after—after that. So that's coming up soon; make sure you register for this. We've got Friend Day coming up; this is exciting. Friend Day is coming, and uh—Sunday, April 6th, 10 a.m. So we want to make sure that we bring our friends and invite friends. So if you don't have any, you've got some time; we can work on that. We can show ourselves friendly to bring somebody to Friend Day. Uh, it's really tough. Um, I've been in ministry a lot, so a lot of my friends are ministry people, and it's like, "Hey, do you want to go to church?" They're like, "Stop doing that; like, we work together." Like, "Oh, okay, I'm sorry, Tyler, if you don't want to go, that's cool, but you're invited." So Friend Day is coming up; we're really excited about it, um, and we also get to see all your friends, and we get to judge you. That's going to be like, "Oh, they hang out with those people; interesting." I'm just kidding; please, I'm just kidding. Um, and then our missionary—missionaries today—the Staleys; we're going to be praying for them.
One more thing for the ladies is the Ladies Tea, and also the Ladies Bake Sale. We're having a Ladies Bake Sale, April 6th. April 6th—there's another sign-up out there, so get ready. Um, you have to sign for two things today, so that's going to be tough. I understand carpal tunnel; it's uh—it's intense, I understand. So right out—right out there in the lobby, there's two sign-ups for the ladies; you can take care of those. Let's pray, and then let's enjoy the week.
Heavenly Father, thank you for uh—just your word, God. Thank you that we get this opportunity to have Pastor Cody just expound on scripture and challenge us. God, I know just through conversations with him that you're working in his life in these areas, and just how he's talking about how this—studies for these messages—just impacts him, and then those conversations impact me and get me thinking, then hearing the full message gets me thinking even more. And God, thank you for this opportunity that we get this—that we can grow, that we can be edified, that we can be encouraged, and that we can be lifted up. God, we praise you for that. God, we thank you for the weather; we understand that the weather is—is back and forth all over, but God, we thank you for the variety; we thank you for just the beauty of your creation. God, we thank you that we have the hope, even in just—in the weather—that there's going to be brighter days and sunny days. But God, thank you for it; thank you for this time that we get together, and God, thank you for our missionaries. God, thank you that they are lifting your name and that they are impacting their area and their community and where you have led them. God, let us be so to speak missionaries here, walking out of these doors and being a light even into our own communities. God bless this church, this church body right here, that we would impact Grand Rapids and the surrounding areas for you; that we would live in a way that we are not regulated by this world, that we are separated, that we are being sanctified, being separated from it, and that we will point and lift up your name and point others to you. God bless us; use us in mighty ways, in your name, amen. Thank you very much; you're dismissed. [Music]