Transcription
Let's get a good one. Good morning, everybody. Good to see all of you guys. If this is your first time here at Hill City, uh my name is John Waggler. I'm part of this team and just grateful you're spending a portion of your Sunday uh here with us and hope that Hill City becomes a place that you can call home and grow in your faith and knowledge of who Jesus is, what it looks like to live that out and do that with a great community of people. That's our greatest hope for you um here.
And uh if it is your first time, you walked into an actual front entrance that has also been which is great. Yeah, it's really cool. Um when uh for so long like everyone's been coming through this doorway and people are like actually kind of feels like a church again as we came in through like multiple doors and uh it's been a long time. And what's really cool about, if you think about it just in a fuller perspective of that entrance, but also connected to what's going on upstairs and the new rooms and everything in the day school and and uh what's happening there like obviously during a service and uh it the money that's been invested into it's it's not just about architecture or interior design that the investment is really in people's stories. It's in what's possible. It's a dream to set out to reach more people. It's all of those things. And that's what that investment is really uh going into. Is it does it look nicer than it did? Uh yeah, which is maybe the lowest bar to get over that what it used to look like. And uh but it's really great to just be be able to um be walking into a space that feels welcoming and everything. And so thank you for those that have like helped make this happen uh together with our generosity. Um it's like really cool. And um do we have more to go in this building? Uh yes, it is a very large building that hadn't been really touched for a long time. So uh we do have more to go, but just really excited about where we are um and what that means for more stories and more opportunities to reach people. Um and so thank you uh for that.
I also do want to highlight um our partner as well um Shine Forth. Um for those of you that don't Yeah, looks great. Uh for those of you that don't know, like part of our heartbeat as a church um has been a lot around foster care and adoption since the start of our church and continues to grow in so many different ways and we want to continue to expand what that looks like on how we serve as a community, how we get involved, um how we support all the people that foster um all those like in every possible area. And so we want to continue to grow in that as a church. And so you can talk with them on your way out. there'll also be one of our families that'll be there to able to talk to you. So, so many things happening uh around that on your way out here uh this morning.
And um and so and then the last thing is we've been doing these stories uh for so long and uh what I love about each story every single week is it just never gets old. the uh sometimes when I watch these stories, I get to see them uh all the time beforehand. And one of the things that I get concerned about for us communally sometimes is that we can become numb to something. And what's really cool about these stories, and they all have like their little twist and little details to the story. Um but what's really cool about these stories is like they are evidence of God at work, and we should never be numb to that. And so, and we have an endless supply of stories like in this room all the time. And so, um, Tammy's story today is no different. So, let's take a look at her story.
It's really like the last 20ome years that I can say that God has done big big things in my life. Really wanted to have a child and it took me eight years. Um, so at 38 I had my daughter and having her gave me the courage um to get out of a marriage that I' had been in for 16 years. I was married to an abusive alcoholic and I knew that she couldn't be raised in that environment and um I went to Safe Harbor which is one of Hill City's partner groups and I can still remember when I walked in and met the Christian counselor there and she just she explained the cycle of abuse that I was in and like these light bulbs went off and um I knew that something had to change. Um but think of all the fear that comes with that and God gave me a verse. It's still my verse to this day. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and sound mind. And I just began to say like, "All right, Lord, I am given this fear over to you, and I am going to move through this with love." Um, and the miracles just started unfolding. I was given a sbatical from work. Um, and I was able to take that whole year off while I went through the divorce, while I went through the counseling and the healing. Um, I moved back in with my mom, with my daughter, and I was offered this contract work so that I could do it at home at night when she was in bed. And, um, it was the exact amount of money that I needed to buy a house. I bought a house in this neighborhood and found a church in that area. And the day I walked in, I mean, I was all intent on like, this is going to be a research project. We have to go to all these churches. And I ran into this woman that um, I had known years before that when I taught. And she's like, "You got to be in my small group." And she just she put her arms around me. and the whole community in that church really just became a family to me. This is how God just shows up. Um and he just ordered my steps. Sometimes I look at this and I'm like, why would you ever doubt him when these things happen when you really put it all together? Years later um he gave me the courage to date um later in life. Not an easy thing. And I found um a Christian man, a sober man. I'm remarried for seven years now. And um I have stepchildren and grandchildren. And um like life is so full, you know. I can remember the moment that God gave me forgiveness for him. It was the Holy Spirit who just came over me and I just fell on my le knees and he just said, "I forgave you. If I forgave you, who are you to not forgive?" Right? like we we all just have our um our context, our stories, like why he was the way why my ex-husband was the way he was at that time. I could just have forgiveness. It just became but it was a God moment. It was a distinct God moment that just said um uh it was about deserving like because what you say to yourself is I've done all the right things. I deserve a different outcome. I think that's why I stayed so long and I just realized that I don't deserve anything. didn't earn anything that Jesus gave us freely, his life. And so if that's what he gave me, then why would I why couldn't I give that to someone? And it was so freeing. It was so freeing after that. I know that this is from continuing to trust him. But um every day is still um you still have a choice to trust him every day. And so last year um out of seemingly nowhere, I got sick. Really sick. It was something that just took me out for about six months. It was just another opportunity to turn to him and say like, "Lord, I am not in control. You're my rock. I am healed from that right now." But I know that what he has shown me is that if I turn to him, he's got it and I'll be okay. I see the Bible differently now. I see that he has called us to create heaven on earth. I think there was um some of it's probably just old school teaching. The way I was raised, it was a lot about personal salvation and then one day you'll get to this place called heaven. And now I'm like, we need to make that space right here, right now. you know, within a community with in any given conversation you have with somebody. Um, and so I just feel like that's what's happening is more and more people are waking up to that and that is um, it's beautiful.
When we do these stories, sometimes they're filmed months in advance. And uh I'm always amazed how often the story connects to what the sermon is going to be about and those things are often not even planned. And when Grace films them and edits them and everything and and she just like sends them over, um I'm always shocked. And so even like Tammy uh I was watching her story uh this week and I was like, man, it's crazy she mentions courage a couple of times because that's what we're going to talk about today. We're talk about being able to live free. Uh courage is a part of that. Um, how many guys would love to be courageous? Yeah. Um, I don't know of anyone who's that like when you think about courage, someone's like, I don't think so. I don't I don't I don't like that, you know. And so, we all want to be uh have courage and and what it means to be labeled as courageous. And what does it actually uh look like? There are different ways that can be described. Um, some people just think it's like a bravery to pull something off. And is that true sometimes? Sure. That can be a part of it. The Bible talks about having courage a little differently in a little more uh of a fuller context of what it means to actually be courageous. And I just want to say this first. Um every single person in this room, no matter what you are uh in terms no matter what stage you are in your faith, no matter who you are, no matter how you're wired, you can be courageous. God can instill courage inside of you like you've never known before. And so even if you feel like you're in a state of despair or you made a decision that you never thought you'd have to make and it's like man like God will will give you the courage that you you need to to stay in alignment with him. As we've talked about this idea of freedom to actually be free you need to be courageous. Uh for anyone it's like you you'll never experience freedom without having the courage to say something do something step into something that you never thought you would do um before. And so that's part of what we want to talk about uh here today.
Um, because this idea of freedom again, we want to continue as we're looking at these letters that Peter wrote um to the early church. Uh we we want to like look at these things in a way it's like why is he talking about freedom in this way and what does freedom actually look like? Even last week Nicole said this that so often the cultural narrative is is that what freedom looks like is independence and to be able to do what you want to do. That is actually not freedom. uh it'll actually cause you to be enslaved by something else or enslave someone else. And so um it actually there's being be able to do whatever you want doesn't even actually make logical sense. Uh there's this guy um Peter Cone who is followed by millions of people and I actually listened to a lot of his stuff. He helps a lot of people and does some really cool stuff. He was talking about freedom uh the other day, but he said something in that in that vein of like now that when you're actually free you can do what you want. And I was just like that's actually not correct. And so uh and so when we look at freedom what it can be and and if the truth if it's true that who the sun sets free is free indeed then freedom is actually based off of the reality and the truth of who Jesus is. And so when we say what the good news actually when we sing about the good news it's like oh the good news of Jesus is what actually prepare um propels us to freedom. But we need courage to actually step into that.
When I think about courage I was thinking about this uh woman named Elizabeth Thompson. She was an artist in the late 1800s. She actually did this painting called uh the roll call. And this painting become in became incredibly uh famous. Thousands and thousands of people would flock to the museum to to look at it um because she had completely changed the narrative of art um in relation to like war um because part of what courage is is changing the narrative to something, having the guts to change the narrative to it. And so Elizabeth does this painting and at that point in time like um most people had any recognition about painting uh at all were all males. And so she she does this. And so when paintings were done around anything involving war, they were done to like celebrate being like a hero or extreme patriotism or power or uh like elevating a king of some kind. She steps in is actually does this painting and it's pretty cold. It's actually talking about suffering. uh the the faces of the soldiers uh if you were to zoom in on them like they're hurting and there's a lot of pain and there's suffering involved in in all of it. And so she's depicting something that no one else actually did in trying to change the narrative around how people thought about what was happening with war. Well, it's celebrated eventually. Actually, Queen Victoria purchases the painting at one point in time as well. Um, but the the painting gets really celebrated. prominent and uh and one of the most prestigious things that you could do is actually get voted into the Royal Academy. No woman had been voted in at that point in time. And so she gets put up for vote and she falls just two uh two votes short. Here's what's interesting about um this idea. Here's a person stepping into courage. Here's what we know about any scenario where you're stepping into courage against any kind of system. Whenever a system sees progress, it will always try to protect itself in some kind of way. And so um in this case what you end up seeing is uh it was a maledominated system. So she paints another painting was actually considered more beautiful and meaningful than this one. But they the men put the painting do you think they put it in the front or the back of the museum? They put it in the back corner of the museum so no one would really see it. And then when she becomes voted when she the vote comes up again it's like the system protected itself and she doesn't get in. uh the end of her story is one uh where you begin to see that she continues to paint and everything but she doesn't have the prominence or the impact that she but however later on people start attributing the reason that they started painting in that way was because of her and so the courage that she had to change the narrative shaped future artists and how they started depicting things there and after. And so even though in the beginning the system started to try to protect itself, what we do know is like if you just keep having the courage eventually it will change but it's hard it's hard to step into that. It's hard to kind of keep yourself centered around that when you think about the idea of courage. The world will always celebrate power and platforms but the kingdom of God celebrates courageous faithfulness and perseverance. That is one of the things that we see that's different about when you read scripture about freedom and courage. It isn't just about a moment. It's about consistent perseverance, a consistent p faithfulness. Like that's courageous to stick to it. Anyone can do anything one time. But to have the courage to keep at it, to have the courage to persevere, to have the courage to be faithful speaks to something different. And that's what Peter um who was writing these letters to the early church and helping them understand what it means to to actually live this faith out. He's helping them understand what it looks like to follow Jesus in a courageous way. And so much of these letters that Peter writes to the church are actually uh centered around this question. What is my life a witness to? So right now in this room, I don't care where you are in your faith. I don't care how young you are or how old you are. You live your life in witness to something. So when someone sees your life, it is a witness to something. And the question is, what's it a witness to? So who you work with, your friendships in your home, uh when you're at school, like people like, oh, you are a witness to what? Because we're all a witness to something.
And what Peter is doing when he's uh beginning to to actually write these letters, it's like really interesting. He he's pretty aggressive in his tone uh in certain points and then some other points he like steps away and is like a little more gentle, but he's very direct. He's not sugar coating things. And I love that part that he's not sugar coating it. Uh and and it's good because sometimes I think within the church we often sugarcoat things that actually is a detriment to people. So sometimes we just need to say what it is. You know, sometimes you'll be talking to someone and they'll be like, "Well, I'm really struggling with this. I'm struggling with that." Like, wouldn't it be great sometimes just to be like, "Yeah, yeah." Because that's sin. That's what that does. Now, we like it's rare people do something like that. But to be able to have the kind of conversations with people to just say like, "Yeah, yeah, like sin separates us from God." And like that's why you feel that way. That's why that that's why it's happening. Like let's like bring that into it the way we should, but what do we do? It's like, "Yeah, I know. It's really hard. It is a struggle. I don't know, but we do know a lot of times. And so, it's important then to engage, and that's what Peter's doing. He's like coming, he's going right to the point all the time uh with people. And reminded me of this guy, Charles Spurgeon, who had this like deep heart and would grieve the state of the church. This is back in the 1800s. And his sermons were often really aggressive. And I remember hearing these two quotes recently, and I was like, that's pretty good. So Spurgeon said this, the first one, he said this, "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor." I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand which one you think you are. But he's not wrong. And it forces us then, what am I a witness to? And so when you hear questions like this sometimes, and the second one I'm going to read is actually way more aggressive than this. But I want you to feel it because it calls into question how much courage we have. It calls into question like how serious we get. It calls into question like am I living out of conviction or comfort? Like what am I an actual witness to in my faith? On the second one, he says, I actually love this one. Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. Yes. Is that the way you think about it? Is that the way we see like do we have that kind of deep passion and love and courage to live our faith out that way? To live a life that actually provokes questions to have the kind of willingness to step forward and be like, "Oh, this is who I am at work and this is how I'm going to be courageous here. My kids play sports. This is the kind of parent I'm going to be within this. My kids are in drama. my kids saying like this is the kind of parent I'm going to be uh in this um my uh at at at home like this is this is like who we're going to be as a friend. This is who I'm gonna be as a husband, as a wife, as whatever. It's like it's like man, am I stepping into it in this way? When I meet people who I'm talking to that don't know Jesus, is my heart like grieving that they don't know Jesus yet? Do I try to put myself in places where I might I just might have a conversation where it requires courage of me to share the love and hope that I have so often when you get in conversations like I can't remember the last time I shared my faith with someone. The reason is is because we're not living lives that actually would have someone ask the question why do you live that way? And so we have to then start asking ourselves, what am I witness to? What does it look like? Am I really stepping into courage in the way that God desires for me?
So in first Peter 3, he says this. Peter continues on. He's like, "Finally, all of you be likeminded. Be sympathetic." And these are all good things. Love one another. Be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. But it feels good when you do. On the contrary, repay evil with a what? Because you might inherit a blessing. Now look at this. Does he say some of you? What does he say? So all of us, if we call ourselves a Christians, if you if you're not if you're in this room and you're like, I don't know how I feel about this Jesus thing. I'm trying to figure all this stuff out. Great. You don't you can kind of ignore that part because you're like, you're not you're not there yet. So it's fine. But if you say you follow Jesus, he says this, all of you were called to this. All of you were called to treat people this way, to think about people this way, to talk this way. All of you were called to do this. And he says, "Hey, like you don't replace someone with like evil for evil, insult for insult. You don't do any of that. And listen, all of you together do this." And so the first thing that we learn about courage is that courage is built through a community. And so courage is not an individualistic thing. Courage is saying that like, "Oh man, I used to talk one way, but I had I was in community with other people chasing after Jesus and they told me I shouldn't talk like that." They began to help me question the ways that I was thinking and the the my perspective on things. And we started to sharpen one another. And that through this deep desire and passion to follow Jesus, the community builds courage, not you alone. So even sometimes when we get into like a a life a section of life where we're like man I haven't had as much courage recently. I would ask you then what is your community look like? And is your community trying to engage you in a way that's like hey let's push each other towards courage. Let's push each other to like essentially like you're saying to encourage is to instill courage. To discourage is to take it away. And so it's like when we go evil for evil, what are we doing? It's like we're discouraging. When we go insult for insult, discouraging. We're only looking at being cynical or negative or judgmental or angry or mocking or slandering. It's discouraging. You're taking courage away. And Peter's like, "That's not what we do." And he's like, "All of you together, we love a deep love for one another." And listen, in this room there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories. In this room are different perspectives on everything. Uh in service and and I said listen um they are twins and they grow up in the same home, a wonderful home and with great parents. And and I was like they see things differently. They see a moment differently. They experience us differently. It's like different perspectives, right? But it's like no, a deep love for one another that brings us together. So you can have different perspectives but like we want to have the right foundation settling point and in that like the community together we be in spite of our differences in spite of maybe a difference in perspective. It's like no no no hold on a second we need the courage to fight for the things that center us on Jesus. And we need different perspectives. If everyone voted here like the same exact way oh it'd be miserable. Actually, I wouldn't be your pastor. Like, we I would I wouldn't want to I wouldn't want to pastor that kind of church unless I wanted to be like torch it a little bit. But like, we should have different perspectives. We should see things a little differently cuz guess what? There's so much beauty in it. Um the smartest person in this room is not even close to smart as like the collective group. And so it's an understanding that man to really build courage here is to say like, "Hey, we need to value one another, value our stories, value our perspectives, value what we're we're going through." And it really matters. But what also really matters are the words that we're using. So when he's talking about like this idea of like uh the blessings that come from our tongue, he's when he says we inherit a blessing, he's not talking about something eternal or in the future like when we die. Is that a reality in our faith? Yes. But what Peter's actually talking about is that right here, right now in this life, like whether or not we experience the amount of blessings God has for us is actually directly connected to the words that come out of our mouths. So when you think about it, how Peter describes, and this is what I'm saying, like it's like he's either saying that something's evil or it's not. So, uh, how many of y'all have gossiped? When you were talking to your friends about gossip, we were like, "That was evil. No one does that." We were like, "Ooh, tell me more." But it's like, "No, no, like the way he It's like that's evil." If you've slandered someone, if you've mocked someone, it's like, "Oh, no, no, like that. That's evil." And you actually you you forfeit a blessing that could come from God. What about using flattery to manipulate someone? Anyone done that? Yeah. Well, Peter, it's like, oh, no, no, like that's actually going to take you away. Like you you forfeit a blessing within that. And so Peter's like, "Hey, like communally together, like we're going to mess this up." Like I know Kenny. Kenny's a lovely lovely human being, right? Passionately loves Jesus. When I was reading the Spurgeon quotes, like this is like Kenny's wheelhouse. Like these like this lives, breathe, and easy, right? Does Kenny mess up sometimes verbally? Yes. Yes. Right. But what's the responsibility of the community? We come together and we sharpen one another. Give us the courage to actually say things the right way and to think the right way and reshape the way we begin to engage relationally. Um Peter continues in verse 10. says, "Whoever would love life," I want to pause here about loving life. The word that he uses there is agape, which is like this covenant love, the the deepest sense of love. And that we should have this love of life. You only get one of them. He's like, I want you to have this deep love of life. Like a deep love of this life. We'll sing uh later on uh the great Are you Lord? And and one of the lines talks about like the breath in our lungs to have like this deep love and understanding of like that God gave us breath in our lungs. So like when you woke up this morning, it's like have a love of life. Um, recently some of you guys know or heard me say um about I I had a blood clot, ended up in the ER and discovered some heart things and some different things and going through some medical things and and for a few weeks I would go to bed at night and and and literally had this last thought. I hope I wake up in the morning and and in that it like wears on you after a little while and um and like through appointments and different things like I'm in a way better place and all of a sudden we're figuring things out and and but but in that like I would like every morning I would literally breathe and just go thank you Jesus. And it changes how you start like thinking about things. So even like when we were singing that song this morning, man, I just sing that line just a little differently and people been through way worse stuff than what I'm talking about. But it's like that's like part of like reshaping like a little piece of it and and an understanding was like there. It's like to love life because you only get one of them. It's like and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good. They must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And so again, like Peter's not like sugarcoating anything here. He's here here's what he's saying. He's like, "Hey, you want God to be attentive to your prayers? You must do these things. Watch what's coming out of your mouth. Like you must see it this way. It's not It's a command. It's not a suggestion. And the things that we go along with, he's like saying like some he's like we know when things are evil when they're good. It's like what are you doing? Like what are you going along with? We must go with what's good with centers Jesus.
When uh Peter's writing this part of the letter, he's actually directly quoting Psalm 34. Psalm 34 is a really interesting uh psalm was written by King David. But it's not about King David's power. It's not about his platform. It's not about how great he was. It's about actually who God is in the midst of suffering. Who God is in the midst of when things aren't going your way. Like that's what Psalm 34 and what David actually talks about is like I've tasted and I've seen the goodness of God and in that this is how I know who God is. And so the words that now come out of my mouth are different and how I see life are different how I speak about life are different how I speak about suffering how are different how I speak about the season of life are different about when things aren't going well for me. It's different. And I have the courage enough to do it because I know who God is. I have the courage enough because I'm in the right kind of community. I have the courage enough to speak to it in this way because our words really matter. Again, words will bring an encouragement to someone and still encourage or discouraging. How many you guys talk to yourselves in your head? Yeah. Um how many of you uh it it can get negative? Yeah. Yeah. Um is that encouraging? No. you're robbing yourself of courage. So, our words matter. It's the same reason why if I was like, "Hey, do you remember anything someone said to you negatively when you were in seventh grade and you're like, "Yep, this dude came up to me and said, right, why?" Cuz words matter. When someone says, "Sticks and stones may break my bones and names will never hurt me." It's one of the dumber sayings that we've ever had because words impact. And so, it matters. So to have the courage to say the right kinds of things. And so when we think about it this way, it's like courage will speak truth to suffering and is emotionally responsible. Meaning you will grieve, it will be hard, and you could talk about your sadness. But what being emotionally responsible is to say like I have the courage to say, I've tasted and I've seen the goodness of God. And though my emotions are taking me in a direction right now, I understand that there's a bigger picture here of who God is in the midst of all of this. And it might be difficult, but I'm going to have the courage to keep speaking the truth of who Jesus is within this. Or you might be having a friend go through something that's really difficult, but you having the courage to keep speaking truth into their life so that they can become more emotionally responsible. It's the beauty of our words. um courage um responds correctly to the challenges that are in front of us. It's like we see this in front of us like oh I want to have the courage to respond correctly to speak correctly to identify myself and connect with the right kinds of things. When Peter's talking about this, he's like, if you're thinking about what's like what's going on in like the loud voices all around us all the time, it's like, do I have the courage to make sure I'm centering Jesus in every conversation at home, at school, at work, when people are talking politics, when people are talking whatever. Do I have the courage to center myself like on Jesus in this and correctly respond? That's what courage does. It's about alignment, not about power. It's about alignment with who God desires us uh to be. Um courage isn't about feeling fearless. It's discovering if we can handle the dis the discomfort of living into truth. Meaning like sometimes it's hard when you know what's true. Um here's what's interesting about conversations with people sometimes. How many you guys have regrets? Great. If you look back at your regrets, if you had taken a breath for a second and just said this, what's the next right thing to do? How many of y'all think like, I actually knew it. Arguably about 99% of the time. Might there be a moment here and there where we don't? Sure. But primarily, you think about it, it's like we actually do know what's true. We do know what we should do. It's like, but am I willing to have the courage to like sit in the discomfort that might be there to actually make the right decision to step into truth?
In verse 13, uh Peter continues on. He says, "Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?" Again, this passion to do good, not just say we're something, but to actually do good. But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are what? Blessed. Do not fear their threats. Do not be frightened. Like don't It's like keep centering Jesus. Keep doing good. Don't try to say you're centering Jesus being a jerk. Center Jesus and do good. And guess what? Some things might come your way or our way. It's like, but no, we have the courage to be like, "No, I'm going to be blessed in this." But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do so with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. meaning you live and I you and I live such a life that people might speak poorly of a Christian or the church or whatever, but like everyone else is like, "You're an idiot for speaking about Christians that way. They're the most gracious. They're the most kind. They're the most generous. They're the nicest people to be around. You should want to hire one. You should want to be with one. You should want to be friends with one. You should like they're the best. You need a plumber, get a Christian plumber. You need an electrician." Like, it's like whatever. It's like it's LIKE THEY'RE THE BEST at everything. Like there's so ethical. They're so And it's like is that real though? But we should be. That should be our calling all of us. When he says always be prepared to give an answer to the hope that you have is implying that we live lives in such a way that people are actually wondering why we live the way we do. If we don't live a life that actually mirrors what Jesus taught, there's no reason for us to be prepared. No one's going to wonder. But when we step out in courage, when we step out and live our lives in such a way, people are going to be like, "Why are you that way? Why do you live your life that way? Why do you talk like that? Why are you so good about how you love others? Why why did you come to their defense? Why did you say stop gossiping? Why did you call me out on like why why why are your friends like why do you pray together? Why? When you're saying your friend actually called you out on something like why why is that? Hey, you your church gave away how much money for your show? Like why is that? And it's like oh there's something that is provoking questions for people. So courage is not about winning a debate. I love to win a debate. I do. But courage is not about winning a debate. Courage is a deep concern to live in such a way that it provokes questions. Why are you that way? What is it about this hope that you have? You see, if we don't have this deep concern for the way of Jesus and the way that we live, we do have to question, do we understand Jesus at all? We should have this deep passion. Again, not perfect. Like, that's why we're in community together. Um, some of you all walked in at a 10 today and that's awesome. Some of us walked in at a three and we pick each other up and we encourage each other. It's like it's the beauty of community. But it's like, man, this deep passion to want to live in the way that Jesus actually desires to live in such a way that people are asking questions. If the truth has really set us free, then people should see that freedom and that courage in how we're dating and how we're married and how we work and how we play, who we are at school, who we are at work. They should see it how we spend our money like all those things there be should be such a freedom that actually is showing I live my life to show everyone allow me around me this living hope that I have do we have the courage to do so band you guys can come back up when I was thinking about this piece of it I was just thinking about even like what happened with the share offering you know given And if you guys didn't hear last week, we're we're going to give away about $295,000 to all these partners, right? Which is great. Yeah. Why do we do that? That every person that calls Hill City home like invests financially into our community community financially to continue in ways already. But like there's so much more of like what's possible. The kind of community that like is always dreaming about courage to step into to to to justice issues and conversations that other people want. The kind of community that's like, "No, we all invest in this together because like what better return on our investment would there be than to see like people come to know Jesus?" like like I don't want to like walk away someday from pastoring this church wondering if we forfeited a blessing together. It's like what does it look like for us to build on some of the beautiful things we've already done? And there's a lot to celebrate, but to have the courage to say, "God, you're not done yet." to have the courage to say I know there's way more possible to have the courage to step into things that like whoa I cannot believe how many people we're reaching now that's what Peter's doing and he's like who wants to come along for that I'm ask you guys to just bow your heads for a Just want you to sit with this. Um and start with just asking yourself a question of what area of my life am I living in such a way that it actually doesn't provoke any questions to anyone looking at me like they would never ask me about my hope they would never ask me about my joy they would never that like I don't live my life that like what area might there be. And then I just want you to sit with what would it look like if you were really free? What would it look like if you lived with incredible courage to follow Jesus?