Transcription
All right. So, we're we are we are in our um verified faith series, right? And so, we're going to continue. We have just a few more weeks till we finish James, right? Amen to that.
I was talking to my uh my wife this this week and as I was working through this message and as soon as I really landed on where this theme was going to be for this message and started working through the points, the the conviction and the pain that I felt in in writing this sermon was was so profound that I was I was just I was under it. And I looked at her and I said, "Man, this is going to be a tough tough message today." And I said, "You know what? I I'm gonna be very generous today because I cannot hold all of this conviction to myself. What kind of Christian, what kind of pastor would I be if I just let all the conviction kind of weigh on my shoulders and not share it with my good brothers and sisters here in the room? So today, um, I'm in a giving mood.
And so we're going to we're going to hop into this message into our verified faith series and looking at a decent amount of text and kind of weirdly kind of going at the end of chapter 4 uh to the beginning of chapter 5. We're looking at verses 13- 17 of chapter 4 and verses 1-6 of chapter 5. And we're going to weave those together into this sermon. So, if you wouldn't mind, if you can, please stand with me in reverence of God's word. We're going to read this uh together. When you're ready, say, "I'm ready."
>> I'm ready.
>> All right. You guys sound ready. Here we go.
"Now, now listen you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money.' Why? You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it's the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.
Now listen, you rich people. weep and whail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look, the wages you failed to pay. The workers who mold your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one who was not opposing you."
This is the word of the Lord to us today. I'm going to talk from this text the title and theme verified by dependence. verified by dependence. Pray with me this really long prayer today. Lord Jesus, help us change us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
>> Amen.
>> You may be seated. Most of us would answer this question like this. And I'll say it like this. Hi. How many of us love God?
>> How many of us also like to be in control?
>> All of the hands. All of the hands went up. Like we love God, but we want to be in control as well. Like we want we want God in our life, but we we sometimes don't want God in in our plans.
>> You guys hear what I'm saying? Maybe I say this. We want we want God in in our plans. We maybe not want God's plans to be our plans. Does that make sense how I'm weaving that together? We want God's presence, but we may be ah, well, I'll say I want God's presence, but sometimes I don't want the the process and the pressure that that is is required sometimes to actually step into what God wants me to step into. Sometimes I want God's peace, but I I don't want God's permission to do the things that I want to do. And maybe that's some of us in this room in the room. Maybe if you're thinking about somebody else right now, all right, uh then you you've already missed where this sermon is probably going to go.
There's a phrase that this teacher and author named Parker Palmer coined and he coined this phrase. It's called it's called functional atheism. Functional atheism. and it's been sitting with me all week and and he defines it like this and and I'll put it here on the screen in in his book his book that's called uh let your life speak and he says that this is this is the belief that the ultimate responsibility for everything rest in me rest with me. It is a belief held even among people whose theology affirms a higher power than the human self. people who do not understand themselves as atheists but whose behavior belies their belief. Functional atheism he says is the unexamined conviction within us that if anything decent is going to happen here I am the one who needs to make it happen. Functional atheism is the reason why the average group according to studies can tolerate only 15 seconds of silence. People believe that if they are not making noise, nothing is happening. Listen, we're going to we're going to put it to the test. 15 seconds. Here we go. I'm just messing. We're not we're not going to do that. We're not going to do this today. You guys would freak out and leave, right? That um but this is Parker Palmer's language is is not mine, but he's naming a real problem that exists. is the problem of my confession says that God is the Lord of my life but my behavior says that I am the one that is in charge of everything.
>> It's not whether about I love God. It's about whether I trust him enough to stop living like I'm the only one that's holding everything in my life together. Many times we treat God like a like a co-signer, like a holy co-signer to our life. Lord, I I've already chose this job. I've already chose this relationship. God, I've already chosen this move. I've chosen this timeline. But what I need for you right now is just go ahead and and sign your name on the dotted line with the plans that I've already began to move forward on. The scary part is that we we call that faith.
I'm ask you I'm ask you a few questions here this morning. These are not condemnation questions. These are clarity questions just to help us frame what we're talking about today. Do do we actually invite God into our decisions or do we just inform him of them after the fact? Is the peace that we experience, does it come from prayer or does it come from our backup plan? These are questions I've been sitting with this week. And here here's the one that checked checked me probably the most. If if God didn't give me what I wanted, and I'll say it like this is more confrontational towards you. If God didn't give you what what you've been asking for, if he didn't come through the way that you want, would anything about how you actually live change? Would your schedule change? Would your priorities change? Would your spending change? Right? Would your bank account change? Would your posture change? I think for many of us the the other question would be or would our life actually look exactly the same because we weren't consulting God about anything anyway.
And if you're feeling some tension already, that's the point. That is the point early in this message because the verified faith series is this series where James is stepping into situations into places where we are confessing with our mouth that that we believe God. But then James is stepping into these very spaces where we're saying that and he's saying prove it not with your words but prove it with the way that you live and the way that you love and the way that you walk and the way that you talk and the way that you care. You guys follow what I'm saying? Verified faith doesn't just confess that God is our Lord, but a verified faith actually lives out in a way that says I am fully dependent upon God. And if God does not move in my life, I don't move.
So, the first place that gets exposed here in this passage is um what I'm going to uh label as the the atheism of the calendar. The atheism of the calendar. The I'm going say I'm going say it like this. The practical atheism of the calendar. We're not saying that God does not exist, but we're saying as we look at these specific things, it it it maybe doesn't look like we are following or following God as as God is a real being that has real meaning for the decisions that we're making in our life. So, we're saying the atheism of the calendar.
Listen, James chapter 4:3, James moves into this into this space again. He's he's talking, as we've already talked about, he's talking to people who are in church, people who are who are members of the community, not people who are outside of the church. And he's and he's talking to people who are making moves within the church, people who are doers, people who who have businesses, people who have who are shaking things up. And they're they are people who don't sit still. There's no lazy bone people here in this space. They are movers and shakers. He doesn't call them by name, but he begins to to quote what they've been saying and what he's been hearing them say. And he's quoting back to them how they've been moving and shaking. He's saying, "Today or tomorrow, you're going to go to this city or to that city. You're going to spend you're going to spend a year there. Wow. You're going to do all this business and you're going to actually go do business and and make a profit." Time and city, timeline, strategy, outcomes. It's not a maybe. It is we will, I will. They're talking about tomorrow as if tomorrow is fully guaranteed. They're talking about outcomes as if they know that the doors that they're going to knock on and press on are going to be open and the prophets are going to come pouring in and everything about their life. Listen to it. It's not it's not an issue about what they are doing. It's not an issue about their movement. It's it's about what is deleted from their statements. There is no mention about God at all in what they are saying. There's no dependence or or this idea that as they move, they're only moving where God tells them to move. The problem isn't commerce. The problem isn't productivity. The problem is what's missing. God is not even a factor in the sentence. This is the posture of functional atheism that Parker Palmer is talking about. It's not that God doesn't exist. It's that it doesn't really matter if he does. Their tone is saying, "I'm in charge. I'm sovereign. I'm on a throne. I own tomorrow."
So James steps in and he confronts their assumption and he's pretty cold about it. "Why? Why? Why? You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. You don't have no idea what tomorrow is going to bring."
>> And then he says, "Your life is but a mist. It's but a mist." It's not saying that your life isn't real. A mist is real. Anybody ever felt a miss is real? But it's instant. As fast as you feel it, it's as fast as it vanishes. It's here and then it's gone. And he is shrinking their confidence in the moment. And he says, man, instead what you what you ought to say is that if the Lord wills, we will live and then we will do this and we will do we will do that. If you can see the structure of the sentence, he's saying we ought to be praying that that hey, the there is the Lord and if he wills, then we will live.
>> Then once we're living, we will do the things that God has called us to do. Like there is an there's there's this idea and I think it it makes sense like for for you to be able to do something, you you must have breath in your lungs to be able to do it. And where does breath come from? Breath comes from God. So he is actually trying to help them with their assumptions and rearrange and reorient them towards the one who is actually in control of everything. You cannot do anything unless you have breath and that breath comes from God himself.
You may be looking at me like like but can't they just live Germaine? Can't they make plans? And the reality is is that they they can make plans. But what James is really trying to communicate is something much deeper than than what than what we may see here in this in this passage. It is it is them placing themselves on the throne and displacing God from his seat on the throne of their life. It is family the essence of sin that we see in scripture. It's not that they're doing something bad. What James is saying is that they're they're boasting about what they're going to do is is evil. It is the again the essence of of sin of self-ruule in scripture. The original story in the Garden of Eden that we see Adam and Eve, we see Adam and Eve there, they are offered a autonomy by Satan himself in the garden. They are they are offered this ability to be able to make their own decisions to to know what what is good and and what is evil and to decide for themselves without really having to ask God what what should be the things that we should do. We don't need God's guidance anymore. We can have all of this authority. We can be like God. We can self-ruule. I Isaiah in Isaiah 14, there's this passage in Isaiah that that that speaks about this really some have said it's like the the the satanic rebellion and it and it kind of gives you this idea of the statements that that uh Satan was making in in heaven when he was revoling against God and they were I I will statements. Isaiah 14 I I will rise up against you. I will sit on the throne. I will be almighty. I will be like God. I will be greater than God. It is it is the essence of rebellion and sin against God. And so we may think that James is a little dramatic here in the passage, but really what he's trying to communicate is this this statement and your heart's posture right now and the way that you are moving without God. It's functional atheism, but it is practical rebellion against God.
And this part got me this week, family. Real real talk. I'm being for real. This week, I'm making moves because that's what I do. I make moves. I'm I am I'm at my computer. I'm moving money around. I'm shifting things around. I'm trying to just survive in the richest county in America. You guys follow what I'm saying? I'm I'm trying to live. I'm trying to be productive, trying to provide for my family. I'm looking at all different things. I got like three or four screens going up and I'm I'm moving things around. And all of a sudden, I'm looking and as I'm working on the sermon, hear me. I'm working on the sermon and on my other two screens, I have I have stock market and all types of stuff, news popping up everywhere. And it hit me. Did I even ask God about what I'm doing right now? Did I even pray or did I just perform? Listen, being a doer can turn into functional atheism really fast. Some people don't panic. Some people just begin to produce. That's just how you are wired. and production looks responsible while the heart is still running the show. And that's the connection right here. James is talking to doers. There's a lot of doers here in this room, right? We got we got doctors and lawyers and degrees upon degrees. We got entrepreneurs, business people, all types of people, people who know how to make things move. And I'm so excited to be in a room with doers. Like I know that if I have a problem at 9:00 a.m. and I lay it out to you guys, you guys are going to solve my problem by 9:03 and 57 seconds. Like that's that's how long it's going to take because you are doers. And I mean that with all respect. The danger isn't that you plan. And the danger isn't that your planning isn't a gift. I think the danger is that your planning can be a trap. And the way that you move can be a trap because God becomes optional in the way that we plan.
We talk about like some of the big things, career, money, relationship, kids. And I think James, what James is trying to do is he's trying to expose the tone, at least for us, where I'm going, exposing a tone that says, I already know what I'm gonna do with my career. I already know what kind of relationship I want to be in. I already know how I want to manage my money and where my money is going to go. I already know how I want my kids to grow up. I already know these things. And it's not that your plans aren't are are dumb. I mean, some of our plans are brilliant because you all are brilliant people. But the question really is where is God in the process? Man, it's possible to be smart and still be I was going to say selfish, but it's possible to be smart, but I'm going say it like this. It's possible to be smart and still be self-ruuled. And we can be successful, be awesome, but we operate as if we are sovereign and God is not.
So, I'm going ask you a few more questions here today. When was the last time a plan changed because of prayer? Not because the plan wasn't working, not because somebody made a mistake. It's because God redirected you. Is prayer the first move or is prayer the last resort? Do decisions get made and then you pray over the decisions that you make or do you pray through those decisions and then make the move? You guys follow what I'm saying there, right? Does your calendar reflect dependence or self-ruule? Does your budget reflect dependence or self-ruule? Is God the boss or is he your employee? If everything rest, here's the question. I I think I I'll I'll land here with this question. If everything rest on God, why does it feel like everything is resting on me? This isn't condemnation, family. This is conviction. And I've been sitting with it. So, if you're feeling it, man, I'm so glad that you're feeling it, too. I don't think God is trying to shame us, but I think God is trying to save us doers from self-ruling in our life.
So, the response isn't don't plan. Are you getting there early? Oh, come on. That's great. Go ahead, man. I need it. Hey, man. We still got We still got plenty of time. We got plenty of time this morning. I love it. The conviction was that strong you just had to come get on there. That's crazy. I said land.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, my bad. My bad. No, no, no, no. Uh-uh. There's plenty more to come, my brother.
>> So, uh yeah. What? Uh what is it? We are We haven't approached cruising uh altitude yet. No, we're still going. Um so, the response isn't the response here isn't don't plan. Do you hear me? I'm not saying we don't plan. we we need you to plan. But the response is let's stop planning like God is optional.
>> Right? For some people for some people in the room, the most spiritual thing that you can do this week is to not make another move. For some of us in this space again and many of us are movers and shakers, the most spiritual thing that you can do this week is to not make a move. It's to pray. Maybe the hardest thing for most of us to do is to sit in silence. But it is a discipline that God has called us to. And maybe that is something that most of us in this room should step into this week to sit in silence to to wait with patience for God and to and to ask him and to ask him. And if he don't if he doesn't answer, to ask him. And if he doesn't answer, we ask again. And we just wait until we hear something from the Lord before we step into our own self-ruule because we are so anxious to sit in silence and to wait for God cuz he is in control anyway. Tomorrow is not owned. Tomorrow is a gift from God that's granted to us. And let's just trust him with it before we trust ourselves with it.
The atheism of the calendar. Now, we move into this this next section. We move into chapter 5. It's the atheism of of the the wallet that he begins to talk about. And again, I love this the the way that James begins to talk because he starts this passage with now listen. Anybody ever had a parent that say, "Now listen." Right? You know that they about to say something that's going to wreck your life because you've been doing something you probably should not have been doing. Now, now listen up, you rich people. He begins to talk to again. This this is not this is a warning that James is talking to, but this is the the way that he's phrasing it. It's it's a serious conversation that they they need to really listen to what he's trying to say. And James is aiming at these these people who are uh more than just doers and movers and shakers, but there are people who are comfortably rich and they're using money as their security. Come on now, you rich. He says that's not a compliment. That is a that is a summons. Uh but this is a very serious matter. And so James is confronting people who have closets full of clothes. Yeah. Bank accounts full of money. Portfolio is crazy. Like they they have all that you could ever want. All that you could ever need extra. And they beginning to to hoard these things, beginning to hold on to them and using these things. And it's not just like like like I have enough, but there's something inside of them just says, "Man, I I need more. Give me more money. Give me more clothes. Give me more of these things that I am using." Why? Why is their heart that way? Because they are accumulating these things because it's providing for them security that they're looking for. If I have more clothes, man, I'm going to be protected. If something happens, if one if one thing goes away, I'm going to have another. If I have more more money, I'm going to have I'm going to have more more security for the future and I get to to live out my life the way that I want I want to live. And none of these things are are bad. The the only issue is that they aren't looking to God for their security. They're looking for their money and their possessions to be the thing that actually provides the security in their soul.
So James begins to expose what that really looks like. He says, "Man, look, this is what's already happening to your wealth right now. Your wealth is is is is rotting. The the moths are already eating at your clothes. He's saying that your your goal is is is corroding. These things that you're holding on to, they are already breaking down. They are already breaking down. They're treating things that are permanent, treating things that are temporary like they are permanent. And James begins to make it plain. He says, he said, "Man, you are storing up treasure, hoarding wealth in the last days." In the last days. And he says, "That's really insane." He's trying to paint a picture of somebody hanging off the edge of a cliff. And as they are here standing on the edge of a cliff, they're turning back and they're saying, "I need I need one more T-bone steak, please. I need one more, as Mike said, one more Prada bag." Hey, you know what? I'm going to get that new model that Model S. No, they're getting rid of the Model S now. That's that's so sad. But I'm I'm gonna need that new Tesla right there while while their life is about to end. He said, "Man, that that is absolutely ludicrous that you are trusting these things to provide comfort for you and the reality is that they cannot save you. They are functioning as your savior, but they have no ability to actually hold you because all of us are going to come to a place at the end of our life and we're going to have to to make account for for who we are and what what we've done. But ultimately, if we've placed our our safety and security in these specific things, you're going to find yourself in not a very, I'll just say it like this, and not a very good place.
So, what James is really saying is that money is a terrible savior, and hoarding is a proof that they have made it one. They are stockpiling like God is optional, and that the last days are not a real thing. So James pulls the mask off and he's saying, "Man, what you're calling wisdom, I'm calling corrosion." Listen, this is not about somebody's retirement account. I'm not coming for your 401ks and your IAS and all the different things today. I have them. I believe in them. We have to be smart. I think there's wisdom in Proverbs that even speaks to how we take care of our investments and take care of our families for the future. So, I'm not speaking about that. I'm not talking about you owning a home. You should you should have assets. These are all things that I think are good. But when good replaces God, that's when it becomes a problem. Family, you hear what I'm saying? It's it's not about being being it's when being responsible becomes a replacement for God. Again, it it's coming it's coming for me as much as it's it's coming for all of us in this room because listen, closets closets stay full. packages always showing up. But you know, Huh? What you say? You know what? I've been living in this. So, what I what I what I'll what I'll do here is I'll just I'll use the U language. This is not something we should do as pastors, but I use the U language. Um, our closets stay full. Packages keep coming up, showing up. We always looking for the upgrade. Looking for more more storage. We got more just in case. More stacking, more padding, more more growing, more building. Listen, some of it's wisdom. I'm not saying it's not wisdom. I'm just saying we need to be truthful about about this because it's also a confession of I don't know if I can really trust God with tomorrow.
I'm just gonna skip some stuff to save you the heartache here. Okay. Uh if peace is coming from what's in the closet or what's in the account then peace is sitting on something that decays family. This is what James is trying to communicate. So the real question is what is money doing for you that only God is supposed to do? The issue isn't oh man does it do I have these things. The real question we should be asking right now is does it have me? Does it have me? When it has you, this is when generosity feels threatening to you. When it has us, this is why giving feels so unsafe. Because deep down, the question is, if if I release it, if I give it, will I have will I have enough? Will there still be more for me if I open up my hands and give it away to somebody else?
I'm gonna ask these questions for you. Just let it let it sit here for you a little bit. When anxiety hits, what's the first thing that is touched? Is it prayer or is it an application? When you feel unsure, what calms you? Is it the promises of God or is it your savings account? Are you building a future or are we building a substitute for God? What would have to happen financially for you to finally say, "God is enough." Let that sit there for just a moment. I just felt that from the Holy Spirit. I'm going just let that sit. Is God enough? Is God enough? Again, not condemnation. it. This is really just conviction and reality is as this passage as Paul lays out, you have hoarded wealth in the last days. The reality of some of the things that we're doing, we have to have this fundamental understanding, you know, esqueological understanding that that our life is but a miss. The end is coming. We cannot take this with us. The only thing that we can fully prepare for is this our eternal relationship with our father in heaven. And so we have an opportunity here to to choose one or the other. What will choose the thing that will last and that will save us or choose the thing that will corrode and rot and will actually fade away. Those are the decisions that we have to make.
The atheism of the wallet. Now, we'll move to this last little point. And here we are. We're coming to an end, Pablo. I promise the it's the atheism the atheism of the the neighbor. The atheism of the neighbor. James moves into verse 4 uh through six and he starts talking about again he he he wants to grab their attention. He moves from now listen to to look with an exclamation part here. He was like listen this is what you are doing with the money that that you that you have. these people that have have money um they are now using not using that money as a as a tool for for growth but they're using this money and they're hoarding as as a weapon that is beginning to affect the people that they are supposed to be caring for the wages the wages of the laborers have been held back meaning that they have people that are working for them people that are are are uh leaning and depending on them to to pay their necessary wages, the the the righteous wages because they've been working. They've been mowing their lawn. They've been serving in their household. But yet, these people have are hoarding money and they're so afraid of losing it that now they're actually not paying the people the money that they are owed. and and and scripture says it says it like this that that God can hear their cries. The the Lord of hosts, this says the Lord Almighty, but and so it's kind of weakens this a little bit, but it's really the the Lord of hosts, this Lord who fights for the oppressed, the Lord who fights for those who are weary, the Lord who fights for the broken. these these cries just like the his the cries or the blood that from Abel and when Cain killed Abel it reached heaven like the cries from the Israelites when they were in Egypt their cries when they were in slavery it reached heaven that the same cries are reaching heaven in this moment and God hears it but these people don't hear it what what has happened they they are they are so they are they are so like entrenched and hoarding they're There are things that they've become numb to the cries of the people who don't have. That's the problem. The problem isn't luxury. The problem isn't comfort. The problem is not self-indulgence. The problem is not having nice things. The problem is becoming numb. Numb to the fact that their comfort is connected to somebody else's pain. Numb to the fact that somebody is working hard and still going home empty. numb to the fact that the people are being crushed and it's funding somebody else's lifestyle. I'm not making any political statements here. I'm just I'm just letting you know what what James is communicating in this passage. And what happens is the numbness sits long enough that it it does create systems where people are oppressed and they have they begin to lose the ability to oppose because they have nothing and nobody is fighting for them.
I'm just going to bring this home for us here today. It says um how does a person get so comfortable that they stop feeling what other people are living through? It happens to me when when when life gets when life gets tight around me. My goals, my grind, my my comfort, my upgrade, my needs, my wants, my my wardrobe, and little by little people people stop being people. People become obstacles in my way. People become uh they become interruptions in my life. And that's the danger, right? We can be so focused on on what what we want on getting ahead that that we don't even notice the people that are close to us that are getting hurt by the way that we are moving because we're just kind of stepping on them or over them. It's not because we wake up one morning and say, "I'm going to hurt somebody." It's because we wake up one morning and we want to move so fast. We want to get what we want and we don't even recognize that our spouses, our spouse is saying, "I want to spend some time with you," >> but we just want to chase the next thing. >> Our kids are saying, "I want to spend some time with you, but we just want to chase the next thing." our coworker is saying something in regards to relationship, but we just kind of want to move towards the next thing. We we can be in ministry.
>> We can be numb to the people that are under us because numbers mean more to us than names. The question is not am I hoarding. The question for some of us might be, have I become known? Has my comfort disconnected me from compassion today? Has my drive turned into disregard for others? Has my ambition turned into exploitation at work, at home, in relationships, in our leadership? I probably got like 30 more minutes of things to say, but I'm just going to put it away and I'mma say I'mma say it like say it like this and come to a close. I am as I as I read a message like this, I always come to a place where I'm just like, "Okay, what next?" And I came to this moment last night and it was, aren't you grateful that where society may push aside people and and be numb to the realities of the hardships and pain and suffering. And you can even be in relationships with those closest to you and you're expecting to get things from them, but but they're moving so fast that they kind of run right past you. You want and you have needs, but they have needs and their needs out outweigh your needs. And so it it's all of these things that you feel and but but we have a God who lives and who loves and who operates so completely opposite of what's being described here. We have a God who is not distant in towards our suffering. We have a God who who does not turn a blind eye towards our pain. Who doesn't look at us and and and look at our mess and say, "You know what? I think you got to figure that out on your own." No, that's not what we have. We have a God who stepped down out of heaven. A God who was rich with all the wealth in the world. He didn't use that to step down or step over us, but he used that to step into our lives, into our mess with grace, with love, with faithfulness and care towards all of us, no matter what we have experienced or or have gone through. That that is the beauty of the gospel that we have Jesus Christ that we can look towards and say, "God, I I I want to surrender my life to you because I cannot no longer hold these things anymore on my own." And he doesn't turn away from us, but he turns towards us in every single situation. And so today, man, if you're feeling the weight of this message, the weight of it, as I have felt, it is not to condemn. Like I said, it is to convict us, but it is it is for us to feel the weight of of all the things that we we carry and for us to come to a place that says, you know what, this makes no sense for me to try to carry any of this. There is a God who says that he will carry it for me. There is a God who has carried it for me on the cross. It was nailed to him there and then he got up three days later so that we can now live the life that he has called us to live. That's the gospel and that's the answer to a a message like this. It's not it's not get weird, do less, you know, do all types of other stuff, but it is to surrender our life to Jesus. And I believe that as we surrender our life to Jesus, as we give our calendar to Jesus, as we give our our our wallet and our and our heart and our motivation towards Jesus, and as we as we begin to to allow him to sanctify us and transform us, it will transform our relationships, too. It'll transform everything about us. And we can be who the world needs us to be. A church that looks like Jesus. That's how I'll close today.
Let's pray. God, we thank you. Thank you for your word that does not leave us without instruction, without help. Thank you for your word that changes. Thank you for your word that that that heals us, helps us. So today God, we don't we don't run from this. This is this is word from our father in in heaven to help all of us shift from the sin of self-ruule and shift towards our sovereign Lord, surrendering our life to him, letting him lead. So God, I I pray for everybody in this space that this week their movements would be a little bit different. That the way that they operate, that the way that they the way that they uh they make decisions changes just a little bit and that we place God in the center, removing us from the center. We place God on the throne, removing us from the throne. Place God in the center of our relationships, in the center of our finances, in the center of our decisions, the center of our lives. Make that decision. God, we thank you that help us to be verified by our dependence on you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Amen.