Speaker 1: 0:00

Now I have a question for you. Are you here right now, like not in Melothian Middle School or wherever you're watching online, but are you here mentally? Are you here in your chairs? Are you here right now, in this very moment, because it is very difficult to be present in a moment. The chances are there's a good possibility that during my message today, you are going to get a text message and you're going to want to respond to that text message while I'm talking. There's a good chance that while I'm talking today, you're going to be sitting right here and thinking to yourself I wonder what's going on on social media, and then you're going to check it and want to see what's happening out there while you're right here.

Speaker 1: 0:56

Who would agree that sometimes it's hard to be present in the moment? Isn't it true that you can be somewhere physically, but not there mentally? You might be worried about finances. That makes sense. That could be stressful. You might be worried about a relational conflict that you can't handle at the moment, but it's still in your mind. You may be bringing work pressure with you, or you're thinking about tomorrow's Monday. You're thinking about what am I going to do? Or you're thinking about hopefully you get enough chicken wings at the Super Bowl party you're going to. That's a big one to worry about.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Here in this moment. Here in this moment, I want us to do something. I want us to set our hearts and mind on Jesus. I want us to be right here in this moment, in this environment, because, here you go in this moment, as an everyday person, we could be ready to learn what it means to follow Jesus. And here's the truth you are made for more, but not more stuff, more production, more things to add to your schedule. No, you are made for more of Jesus in your life. You are actually made to have a deeper and richer communion and connection with the Holy Spirit. You are made for so much more, but the problem, the problem often is we are so distracted we can't even identify God's voice. So this is what we're going to do today. We're going to be here, we're going to be right now, we're going to be in this moment and we're going to lean in and figure out what does God want to say to us?

Speaker 1: 2:35

Today, here you go, I want to read a story in the Bible about Jesus. That's always a good thing to do, and Jesus is at a wedding and the host runs out of wine. That's not a good thing to do. And Jesus' mom says Jesus, you got to do something about this. And Jesus is like Mom, you're already three, four glasses in, like calm down. And Jesus' mom's like Jesus, you know what to do. You've been doing this for me since you were a little boy, come on. And he's like Mom, he's like Jesus, he's like OK.

Speaker 1: 3:07

And so Jesus takes these big jars Now not just your normal wine bottle. He takes these big 20, 30 gallon jars and he gets some servants to fill it up to the brim and check out what happens. Check out what happens. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the Franzia after. Said that in the scriptures After the guests had too much to drink. That's just a funny Bible verse to me. But okay, but check out this next part. Okay, check out the next part, because I have read this story so many times and I have always read it as you save the best till last, but check out what it actually says. But you have saved the best till now, right now. More of right now, more of right now. So one of the most striking qualities about the way Jesus lived His life is that, no matter who he interacted with, no matter what he was doing, he was always present in the moment. He was fully present. He lived with an undivided attention to the moment.

Speaker 1: 4:32

There's this one story in the gospel that really illustrates this point very well. Jesus is walking through Jericho. He has this massive crowd following him. At this point, he has over a thousand plus people of crowd follow him. At this point he has over a thousand plus people. Anywhere Jesus went, there was a large crowd that followed him wherever he went. So he has this large crowd going. He's passing through Jericho. There's people fighting for his attention.

Speaker 1: 4:56

He's walking in and a blind beggar named Bartimaeus cries out Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me and his disciples. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me and his disciples, his disciples. They were offended for Jesus. They were offended. They said they were like who is this guy that's calling out for Jesus? Jesus is too busy for this guy. Jesus has too much important things to do. Jesus has too much on his agenda to worry about this guy. The disciples were offended, and they were so offended by blind Barneus that they rebuked him. Out of all the people trying to get Jesus' attention, they looked at this one guy and the disciples rebuked this man and said he doesn't have time for you. And the disciples rebuked him. But then Jesus rebuked his disciples. And then Jesus does this thing. That's so crazy. Again, he has all these people that want his attention. He does this crazy thing. He calls Bartimaeus over to him.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Jesus in this moment, though he has all this stuff going on gives his undivided attention to a blind beggar on the street and he calls him over and he says and he says what can I do for you? How can I help you? And Bartimaeus cries out could you heal me? I want to see. And Jesus heals him right then and there, and with the word of faith. So one. The miracle is that Jesus healed him. But second thing to notice is that Jesus stopped everything for a guy that no one had time for. He stopped everything he was doing for someone that no one else had time for, fully engaged with the person right in front of him.

Speaker 1: 6:38

Then there's another story. There's a story that actually follows this story. Jesus is still on his way, he's cutting through Jericho, he's trying to get to Jerusalem, which then would eventually lead him to the cross, and he's making his way through. He has already been interrupted once by a blind Bartimaeus, but then then he gets, he's cutting through and he gets interrupted a second time, but this time he's not interrupted by a poor beggar on the street, he's interrupted by a rich, wealthy man who's in a tree. That's interesting, and so check this out. Check this out.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Verse 1, 19,. Verse 1, it says he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy, and Jesus was on his way somewhere else. He's already been interrupted once and he stops for this rich and corrupted tax collector. And I want you to see something about the diversity that Jesus had. He had enough time for a blind beggar and he had enough time for someone who looked like they had it all together. Jesus has time for everyone. He has time for everyone, and so I love that about him, and so he stops with them. And this tax collector he would have been a person who would charge people what you owe to Rome, and then he would add on to it. And these tax collectors, man, they did some horrendous things If you read up about them. Morally, they were very corrupt and they were some of the most despised people, some of the most hated people around. And Jesus sees this guy and he calls him by name. Jesus essentially invites himself over to his Super Bowl party, invites himself over to his Super Bowl party, which is interesting and, like I said, he's been interrupted once already.

Speaker 1: 8:31

And then he gives time to this no good sinner, zacchaeus. And while he's interacting with Zacchaeus, while he's talking to Zacchaeus, while he's eating lunch with Zacchaeus, while he's eating lunch with Zacchaeus, zacchaeus has this moment, this moment of feeling that this man loves him, that Jesus is for him, and he cries out kind of with this, with this, this like unrehearsed sign of repentance, he says, he says I've done a lot of bad things. I know you have my house and I know you probably heard it. I've done a lot of bad things and all those who I hurt, man, I'm going to give it back. I'm going to give it back to them. I should give them four times the amount I stole from them. He's overwhelmed by the grace of Jesus because Jesus, jesus, spent time with them.

Speaker 1: 9:26

Jesus got to know his story, jesus talked to him and then Jesus says something so fascinating in this, at the end, after Zacchaeus has this kind of moment of repentance, jesus says today, right now, in this moment, not someday later, not let's change all the stuff in the past, but right now, in this very moment, salvation has come to this house, right now, in this present moment. And so Jesus had an undivided intention to the moment. And he stops and he gives people one of the greatest gifts he can give His intention and his love. And Jesus was fully present in the moment. And, guys, I want to be like that. I want to be like my Savior, jesus, who could stop his busy schedule and love a blind man. And stop his busy schedule and love someone who everyone else says that guy, well, he's not even worth your time. How beautiful is this? Jesus was always fully present in the moment.

Speaker 1: 10:42

But let's be real, I'm not always like that. I know I'm not. Most days my mind is running faster than my body, thinking about people, thinking about schedules, things I have to do, conversations I have to have, and not just real conversations. Oh no, oh no. I also have those imaginary arguments in my head when I say the right thing to the right person at the right time. You know what I'm talking about. But I want to be where my feet are planted. I want to be fully there in the good moments, when I'm hanging with my wife and playing with my kids, and I want to be fully present in the hard moments, when I'm walking with someone through a crisis, when someone is hurting, when life is heavy. Recently, my mind was very overwhelmed by some things that I was kind of working through and dealing with, and I definitely was not present in the moment with my family, you know, at the end of the day. And so I'm kind of just thinking through things and I'm there, but I'm not there. You know what I'm talking about. I'm there, I'm at my house and they're around me, but mentally I am somewhere else, and so I'm so just kind of running through all these thoughts.

Speaker 1: 11:50

I finally tell Aaron. I say Aaron, I got to run to the store real fast, pick up some things for dinner and I did have to pick up some things fast, I mean food lion and I get into food line, I pick up the stuff I need and I'm standing in the aisle, and then I see these flowers. I see these flowers by the checkout and I think to myself, man, it's been a long time since I bought Aaron some flowers. And so I said, no, I'm going to buy her some flowers. And so I get the flowers and I buy them and, no joke, as soon as I buy these flowers, there starts to be this shift in my heart. There starts to be this shift in my heart.

Speaker 1: 12:27

I'm like man, why am I so stressed out? Why am I in such a rush? Why am I replaying these conversations and thinking about all these things I have to do and all the things that I wish were different, and all these different things? Why am I doing this? And so I had this shift, and, and so I said you know what? And I was thinking even earlier, my kids were like dad, can we go outside? And I told them no. And I said because it's cold outside. But really I told them no because I was being a grump for being honest. And so here you go, I bought a flower, I was getting groceries.

Speaker 1: 12:56

I go back home, I run inside, I give Aaron these flowers and then I say kids, let's roll down the yard Now, if you've never been to my house. I have a very steep yard, and so we run outside and we start rolling down the hill. And we're running up and we're rolling down and my son Jameson just got into Sonic the Hedgehog and so we're all pretending like we're Sonic rolling down the hill. And then I got really dizzy because I recognize I'm getting older, so I can't be doing stuff like that, but anyway. So we're playing, we're having a great time and no joke.

Speaker 1: 13:29

As I'm laying there with my kids, I have this moment. I have this gut-wrenching moment of realization that my kids are only getting older. They're only getting older. And the moments when they ask Dad, can you play with me, dad, can we roll around, dad, can we have fun? It's a small window of opportunity compared to the rest of their lives. And so, as I'm laying there, thinking and playing with my kids, why am I in such a rush to get somewhere else and not enjoying the moment that I'm in? Why am I not enjoying right where God has placed me? And so I want to ask you something about that. Are you still here? Are you still here Mentally?

Speaker 1: 14:21

Mentally, because, statistically proven, you're not here, according to Harvard, good old Harvard. Harvard says 47% of the time you're in a conversation with someone, your mind isn't fully engaged. Harvard said, 47% of the time people's minds are not at the same place that their feet are. 47% of the time you're sitting in church at dinner with your family engaged with someone at work, talking to someone at the gym in the middle of your small group almost half of your waking life your mind is not fully engaged. Where the rest of your body is, in fact, one of the biggest enemies to our attention, I would argue, is our cell phones. They always just creep around, like mine is in my back pocket right now. They're always just there lingering around. In fact, it's shocking to think about this, how often you can be distracted.

Speaker 1: 15:22

The average cell phone user study shows touches their phone 2,617 times a day. That's a lot, that's a lot of times, and that's just the average. And here's what I know about you, lvc You're way above average Way. And so the average is 2,617, but the top 10 of cell phone users they touch their phones more than 5,400 times a day. And can I just tell you something that's gross. Those are some dirty phones. Make sure you clean them, but thousands of times a day you aren't with, wherever you are, whoever is in front of you.

Speaker 1: 16:08

Your mind is somewhere else. And it's not just the phone though we can blame the phones but it's not just the phone. We also play these crazy games in our mind. Okay, I'm going to pick up myself, because maybe you don't know this. There's two games I play in my mind all the time. The first one is the win-then game. The win-then I don't know if you ever play this game. I play this in my mind all the time. When I get this, then I'll be happy. Then you get the then, and then it's like well, when I get that, then I will love this.

Speaker 1: 16:40

When this happens, then this I mean you see this to high school students all the time when you're done with high school, then you can start college. And when you're done with college, then you can get a job. And when you're done with your first job, then you can get your real job. And then, when you get your real job, then you can get married. And when you do this, and then you get kids. And then, when your kids grow up, and then you can get. And it's always this pursuit for the next thing, it's always going after something else. We go through life wishing away the current moment, wishing away what you have right in front of us, and don't miss what you have now, pursuing what you want later. Jesus was fully engaged in the moment. So that's one game, but the other game I play is the what if? Game. What if this happens? What if that happens? Here you go. Here's one that could happen to us.

Speaker 1: 17:31

Someone could be like well, what if I don't pass this test? And what if I don't pass the test? And because I don't pass the test, what if I don't get into the school I want to get into? And because I didn't pass the test and I didn't get into the school I want to go into, I end up settling for a lesser school. And because I settled for a lesser school, I got a lesser education. And because I didn't pass the test and because I didn't go to the school I wanted, I ended up marrying someone that I didn't really want to marry, but they were the only option left. And so, because I married this person I didn't really want to marry, now we got kids that are kind of. And now, because I got these kids that are kind of something, that I'm in a marriage I don't really want.

Speaker 1: 18:09

And because I didn't pass this test, what if my kids end up needing braces? And because I didn't get the job I wanted to get, I can't afford the money to pay for their braces. And now they're walking around with messed up, jacked up teeth and now that makes them have all this anxiety and problems in high school and that leads to a life of crime, all because I didn't pass that test. I know I make light of it, but don't we worry like that sometimes, don't we do that? That? We get worried, we get concerned. What if this happens? What if the government does that? What if the economy does this? What if the government does that? What if the economy does this? What if aliens attack? And Jesus said this. He says, therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. Had that hit? Why? Because tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Do not worry about tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 19:14

And let me say something about this verse. This isn't just one of those good tip verses. That's a good tip for life. Jesus, thank you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a command. Jesus has given us a command, and Jesus is very clear that when we break commands, that's known as sin. So I'm going to say something and I'm chief sinner To worry is to sin, to worry is to sin.

Speaker 1: 19:48

And why, why, why, why is that a sin?

Speaker 1: 19:51

Why is to worry a sin?

Speaker 1: 19:52

Why?

Speaker 1: 19:52

Why is that a sin?

Speaker 1: 19:55

Why is to worry a sin? Because to worry is to say God I actually don't trust. You See, there's actually this interesting thing when you read the Bible, we see this word faith, and the word faith, kind of, has been used in so many different ways, and I would argue that the English translation of the word faith, especially in the New Testament, is a poor translation to what the writers are actually wanting to say when they say these words faith. What they're actually saying is trust, trust, trust that all things are possible through those who believe, trust that God is with you. Have trust that God is for you. Have trust that I can lean my life on God, that I can depend on God for everything and I can give God every one and every thing. Because I can trust Him, I don't have to worry about tomorrow, not because I'm superhuman, but because I have a God who is supernatural. I have a God who is for me and not against me. I can trust Him with my finances when it feels like my bank account is low. I can trust Him with my relationships, even though I'm angry at this person right now and I don't know how I'm going to get to a place of forgiveness for that person. I can trust Him in that area right now. I can trust Him with my dreams and my future, even though I don't know how I'm going to map it. I don't know how I'm going to get there. It doesn't always make logical sense, but I can trust Him. And I can trust Him because he was good back then and he's good right now, right now, right now. And Jesus says don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry.

Speaker 1: 21:36

Let me ask you a question again Are you still here? Are you still right here? How many people have texted you since I've been talking? How many of you are wondering if Taylor Swift is making it to the game or not? Because it's really, really important to be present in the moment. So why is it?

Speaker 1: 22:00

Do you think we often aren't present? Sometimes, I think we're just plain distracted. There's a lot of distractions going on, A lot of things. Okay, but what if one of the reasons we aren't fully present is, like I said, we lack trust in God, but think about this, think about this. We do. We get freaked out, don't we? We get freaked out about situations and things that are happening. Try to figure out how we're going to do it, how we're going to work this out. And this is what I think. This is what I think.

Speaker 1: 22:33

What I discovered is the future that you can't control. Let me say that one more time Surrender the past that you can't change, no matter how much you wish you could, you can't change it. It happened. And then trust God with the future that doesn't even exist yet. But you want to know what does exist this moment, right now, right here, right in front of you. The only way to be fully present in the moment is to let go of a past you can't change and surrender to a future and trust God.

Speaker 1: 23:06

James, the half-brother of Jesus, put it like this. He says Whoa, that's intense. Here you go. Have you ever seen an hourglass before? Like I love in the movies? Like when they have the hourglass, they tip it over and they slam it down and they got this certain amount of time before something explodes or something like that. You know it's always so dramatic. Here you go.

Speaker 1: 23:42

I actually have an hourglass. I was trying to bring it here but I couldn't find it in my house. I guess I don't use it that much, but here's the thing. The thing about an hourglass it kind of freaks me out when you look at it, because the sand is going fast right now. That sand goes fast and no one knows how much sand is on the top. So you think you do, but there's a lot of people who thought there was a lot more time than what they really had. The second thing that's interesting is no matter what you do, you can't stop the sand from flowing.

Speaker 1: 24:16

Time is passing. Every day is a gift from God. Today is a gift from God, and some of you are wishing it away. Some of you are wishing it away. And the third thing is, once the sand is at the bottom, you can never get it back, and you're like Jacob. I feel depressed now. No, no, no. I want us to get something here with this, because King David says something that I think is so important for us to take into our hearts. He said this he says Because this is the day the Lord has made. This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice in this day We'll be glad in this day. Today is the day the Lord has made. This day not yesterday, not tomorrow, but this day is the day the Lord has made. And I hope you're here because I want to tell you something today you can't be happy where you are not. You can't serve Jesus where you are not. You can't love people the way Jesus did where you are not. This is the day the Lord has made, and the most important moment is right now. The most important person is the person right in front of you. The most important moment is now Like for me.

Speaker 1: 25:40

I used to live for the big moments, the special moments when I could do this thing. When I get to do that thing, that's the great thing. But the more I've been fully present, I've recognized that the most powerful moments are often the smallest moments. Often, the smallest moments, the most meaningful ones, aren't the mountaintops, but the conversations with the people I love. It's not just about the when, then, it's about right now, the people I got around me right now, and what God is doing right now. Please don't miss what you have now pursuing what you want later. This is the day the Lord has made, and when you look at the way Jesus lived, not just the truth that he taught, but the way he lived as he walked along. People, people weren't interruptions to Him, people weren't interruptions to him, people weren't inconveniences to him. See, here you go.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Right now, I get this awesome opportunity every day, monday through Friday, that I get one hour to two hour. I get this one to two hour gap with my middle son, jameson, and so I pick him up from preschool, and my oldest, she's at Gordon, and my youngest, he still takes an afternoon nap, praise Jesus. And I get this like two-hour gap with just Jameson. And now, jameson, though, is different from my other two kids. My other two kids. They constantly want my attention all the time, like every single moment of it. They want it.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Jameson, however, he is really good with self-play. He loves to play by himself. He's kind of independent in that way, and so, when I pick him up from school, we have this time where we work together, so I work on church stuff, and he works by playing with his Spidey toys and his Hot Wheels. He loves it, he loves it. Now, recently, though, when it was nice those couple of days before the winter came at, he wanted to go to Rockwood and go to the park after I picked him up, and, of course, those days were the days I really wanted to knock out some work, though right. And so I was like, okay, okay, I'll take you to Rockwood and we'll do that. Now I got to add something to that, though, okay, because one of my prayers for Jameson has been that God would grow and strengthen our connection.

Speaker 1: 27:58

Now I do this thing it's called prayer circles. I do this thing where there's these basically big, audacious prayers that I know I can't answer, that I need God to answer, and what I do, and what I do is I have three prayers that I have for my wife, for Kingsley, jameson and Hayden Three prayers that I know, just big prayers. And then I have prayers for the church, and one of the prayers, one of my big prayers, that I know I can't make happen, that I've been praying for every single day, is that we get our own permanent location. Can someone pray with me, please, with that one? That would be great. Add that to your prayer circle. But there's these big prayers I've been praying and every day I pray them.

Speaker 1: 28:41

Every morning I pray these same prayers, and one of them for James, like I said has been that God would deepen and grow our connection Because of my other two kids. I just naturally connect with them. We just play, we hang out. But James, you know he's a little different than them, his love language is different and so anyway. So this has been my prayer for him, that we would have this. And here you go, and this is what I want, this is what I want to call to attention. Okay, so I have this prayer for Jameson that I've been praying, and so when Jameson asks me for time to play, that is an answer to a prayer. Time to play, that is an answer to a prayer. See, we can't overcomplicate prayer. We overcomplicate it sometimes. I prayed God deepen and strengthen my connection with Jameson. Then Jameson says Dad, can we play? And so here you go. But this is what I want you to get. This is the part I really, really, really want you to get.

Speaker 1: 29:35

If I was so busy, if I was so distracted, if I had so many different things, if my mind was always going somewhere else, I would miss out on the answered prayer that God was giving me. Because here's the cool part Every time I take him to the park and we go there for like 30 minutes or so, then we'll get back and Jefferson doesn't need a lot of time. But when we get there his heart opens up, his imagination opens up and he talks and he plays and he has a good time. Then we get back home and always, always on those days, that night, that night, he always chooses me to put him to bed over Aaron, come on, and he always wants me to snuggle with him and sing him a song. And, friends, I want this to be so clear. I want this to be so clear because we overcomplicate this spiritual walk sometimes we overcomplicate it.

Speaker 1: 30:23

Sometimes we think it's got to be these grand, mystic, big things. I prayed, I sought the Lord, he moved my son, but if I was so distracted thinking about when, then I would miss out on right now. And I just wonder, lvc, how many times God is like hello, I'm right here, I'm trying to answer your prayer right now, but we're so consumed with tomorrow that we miss what he's doing right now. And I know that's not for everything, but I will, friends, I think it's for a lot of things. We're so distracted, we're so distracted, we're so consumed, we're so worried. We pray to our worry more than we pray to our God. God, can I be honest? Today, we spend more time thinking about the things I wish I could change, rather than thinking about the God who can change me. And it's the Holy Spirit in us, working, moving through us, and we quench Him, we silence Him, and the Holy Spirit's like let me out, let me be alive in your life, let me do what only I can do. And so, friends, friends, I don't want anyone to feel bad or guilty because they get distracted. Trust me, I get distracted too. I'm always distracted.

Speaker 1: 32:13

But I want to end with this thought when you think about Jesus, if there was any time that he could have been distracted from others, it would have been when he was on the cross. Think about this he had all the right to be distracted. His body beat and broken the way they describe Roman floggings was that your internal intestines would fall out. So he's been through this. He's carrying his own cross up the hill, called Skoll, nails in his hands, nails in his ankles, holding himself up his ribs, lungs crushing in on him. That's how you die from crucifixion. You lose breath. And, guys, the craziest thing happens Like I stub my toe and I'm out. I stub it. I'm like I can't talk to nobody.

Speaker 1: 33:20

Foot hurt, jesus on the cross, and right next to him was a criminal, and the criminal. We don't know everything that was said. He probably said something along the lines I've done a lot of bad things. I feel really bad about them, really sorry. And whatever he said, he said this to Jesus will you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And even in the middle of his suffering, the worst, most painful moment of Jesus' life, he was fully engaged with the criminal cross. And he looks over and says today, today, you will be with me in paradise. Today, in this moment, right now, right now, you'll be with me. Friends, jesus had this way of being present in the moment and let's not miss out on what God wants to do right now. Let's not miss out on what God wants to do right now, in this moment, in your life, today, because, friends, it's beautiful and wonderful and he may be answering prayers that you've been praying. God has saved the best days for now. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and I will be glad in it.

Speaker 1: 34:59

So two questions I want to leave us with to think about. Is this what's one distraction keeping you from being present with God and others. What's one distraction and how can you limit it this week? How can you limit it? How can you limit that this week? Second question who is one person you can be fully present with this week? How can you eliminate, how can you limit that this week? Second question who is one person you can be fully present with this week and how will you show them that they matter? That sound good. Come on, let's pray God, jesus, holy Spirit, we're right here. We're right here. We're right here. We are not in a rush. We're right here. Lord Say come, holy Spirit, come in power and in might. We give you every distraction, every lie spoken over us, spoken over our worth and value.

Speaker 1: 36:28

I just didn't even feel like the Holy Spirit, like the story of blind Bartimaeus, where it was the disciples that pushed him aside. I just feel like the Holy Spirit, like the story of blind Bartimaeus, where it was the disciples that pushed him aside. I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying to some people you've been hurt by religious people, you've been hurt by church people. It's left you skeptical of the way the church operates. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Okay, I'm going to be honest, what I feel, what I feel the Holy Spirit saying. I feel the Holy Spirit saying that Jesus rebuked the ones that tried to rebuke you. And I also feel that the Holy Spirit saying that he's sorry for church people who have hurt you. That was not his plan. I don't know who that's for, maybe that's for someone in here. I don't know. I don't know who that's for, maybe that's for someone in here, I don't know but he craves relationship with you. He wants to know you more, deeper. And I also feel the Holy Spirit saying you don't have to hide, you don't have to hide, you don't have to hide, you don't have to hide.

Speaker 1: 37:51

I feel like right now the Holy Spirit is saying you don't have to hide behind that face that looks perfect and all together. But come, come to him, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. We're in no rush, holy Spirit. Will you make yourself look foolish for me? That's what the holy spirit is saying. Like Zacchaeus, rich and proper, wealthy on the outside, has it all together, but climb a tree to get to Jesus. Will you do something ridiculous to get to Jesus? Will you do something ridiculous to get to me? For some people that may be getting prayer today, some people that may be saying sorry to someone I don't know. Holy Spirit, speak to people. Speak to people. Come Holy Spirit, right here, right now, in this moment. Today is the day the Lord has made. Today is the day the Lord has made. Today is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and we will be glad. It's like the Holy Spirit saying to someone you are loved, you are valuable, we're not in a rush, holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 40:00

If you're in here today and you don't know this Jesus that I've been talking about, or maybe you have, but kind of walked away, life got in the way. You want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life. I just want to pray with you and I want to see who I'm praying for. I'm not going to call you out, nothing like that. But if you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life or trust Him again, I'm going to count to three On three. Can you just toss your hand up just so I can see who I'm praying for?

Speaker 1: 40:26

Like I said, I won't call you out or have you come up front, nothing like that. It's right where you are in your chair. One, two, three Bless you. Bless you All across this room. Bless you, bless you. You can just say this prayer with me, right where you are. You can say it out loud or say it in your heart. Say Jesus, forgive me for my sins, make me new. I trust you with my life right now, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.