Speaker 1: 0:00

All right, let's be honest today. Does anyone in here have some bad habits? Couple people Okay. Well, we got some holy people up in here today. You know now, we all have some bad habits. Maybe you have the bad habit of cutting someone off before they finish a sentence. Maybe you have the bad habit of putting on makeup while you're driving a car no judgment, but don't do that. Maybe you have a bad habit of doing. Maybe you're a serial snooze button person. You always hitting the snooze button. Okay, I got a couple of bad habits. Please don't judge me. Okay, being vulnerable up here today. I got a couple of bad habits Please don't judge me. Okay, being vulnerable up here today. I got a couple of them. The first one I didn't even realize I did it until I got married.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Okay, I am notorious for not fully zipping the sandwich meat and cheese meat bags all the way. You know what I'm talking about. I got like a little bit and then Erin just looks at me in such disappointment every time she gets the sandwich meat and it's all dry and crusty. She's like why'd you do this? You know another bad habit I have and I've been working with my men's group on Tuesday night at 6 o'clock at Wegmans plug with this one. I had this bad habit of eating candy in my bed. Dude, it's bad of eating candy in my bed. It's bad. My whole side of my bed is filled with Starburst wrappers. You're like what's wrong with this pastor? Is he OK? No, I'm not Help, ok. And then the other bad habit I have, and this one's starting to become a legacy. I'm passing down.

Speaker 1: 1:42

I am a fingernail biter and a couple of years ago I was sitting on the couch next to my daughter and she was biting her fingernails and I said, kingsley, stop biting your fingernails. And she looked at me and said you do it all the time. And I was like I'm a hypocrite, what's wrong with me? We all have habits. We all have some bad habits that we wish that we weren't doing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing what we do repeatedly shapes who we become. What we do repeatedly shapes who you become. It's not what we do occasionally, it's not what we do every blue moon, but what we do repeatedly will form us into the person we are becoming. What you repeat is what you become. What you repeat is what you become. Last week we started this series called Trippy, which is leading us to Easter Sunday, which I'm so excited for.

Speaker 1: 2:39

What we're talking about this far out doesn't make sense, not logical unconditional love of God. Last week, we talked about something that is foundational to our faith, that's fundamental to our faith, is that God pursues us first, that God pursues us, that God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son. He was in pursuit of us first, and so, today, what we want to do as everyday people, we want to ask the question if God is in pursuit, how do we say yes? How do we say yes? How do we consent to being found? And as everyday people with everyday lives, with everyday schedules and responsibilities, how do we follow Jesus?

Speaker 1: 3:25

Because the reality is the reality is this we know that our lives are being formed by our habits, by our habits. We know, when it comes to our health, we know how we eat or what we don't eat, how often we work out or how often we don't. We know, when it comes to our career development, how we show up at work, the habits we have there. We know our lives are based on the routines and rituals that we have. We know that, and you might say well, luckily for me. I'm a free spirit, I don't have any routines, I can't even stay to a task list. I'm a free spirit bird. And to that I will say that is your routine, that is your habit, that's who you are, that's who you are, you know. And so if we know that our lives are made of the habits that we do, how do we have habits that can form us into the likeness of Jesus? And what I want to present to us today is the habit of intentionally spending daily time with God.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Intentionally spending daily time with God, because here's the thing our mission at LVC is not to just increase in church attendance. Our mission is not to have the biggest church in Richmond Virginia. Our goal, our mission here at LVC is not for me to one day show up in the parking lot with my Cadillac Escalade and chromed out rims, bluetooth speakers. That's not our mission here. Our mission is to help everyday people learn how to become Jesus followers. Here at LVC, we are very interested in who you are becoming, because here's the truth you are becoming someone and you the truth. You are becoming someone and you're either being formed by Silicon Valley, you're being formed by news media outlets. Everyone's being discipled by somebody. It's just who you are, who you're allowing to do that, and we believe that allowing Jesus to have an intimate part of our lives is so important, because the problem that we see is that everyday people are walking away from faith in record numbers.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Walking away from faith. They are overwhelmed by life, they're disillusioned by religion, disillusioned even by megachurch pastors and things like that, the media. They're disillusioned, and so they're walking away from faith, and the solution that we see? The solution that we see is that we must go and do. We must go and do, we must serve, we must invite, we must live our lives in a way that honors God, so that people who aren't coming to church will see the way we live and say, hey, I want what you got. Because what do we gain? The solution, what do we gain? Why does it matter? Why does it matter? Because people will discover how to navigate the complexities of life when they can have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Speaker 1: 6:08

And what's at risk, though? Because if we don't live out our mission, there's something at risk, and that's future generations of Jesus followers. The future generation, our kids, our community, the next generation will grow up not knowing who Jesus is or how to follow him, and so that's why we say it's right now that we got to do something, because God is calling his people back to him today, but not just to attend church on a Sunday, but to walk with him daily, to spend daily time with him, to know him through and through. Jesus is calling his people back to him. So my heart at LVC is to see everyday people really following Jesus, because if that happens, man guys, it changes everything. It changes everything. It changes the way our schools look. It changes the way our communities look. It changes the way our neighborhoods look. It changes future generations. It changes everything. So we're passionate about it.

Speaker 1: 7:07

So how do we do it? How do we do it? I know it's not the sexiest thing, it's not the coolest thing. Maybe we can print it on a t-shirt or a coffee mug or something, but how do we do it? We must spend daily time with God. We must spend daily time with God. It's not maybe I'll do this, I might occasionally slip God in, but we must daily, intentionally spend daily time with God. Have him in there, okay.

Speaker 1: 7:35

John Mark Homer defines spiritual habits or practices of Jesus like this he says disciplines are rooted in Jesus's lifestyle that create time and space for us to access the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, lead into transformation from the inside out. That's what spiritual habits do you know? So, before I get practical, though, I want to teach you some good theology. Is that okay? Can I teach you some good theology today? Okay, here you go. If God pursues us, jesus finds us. So, if we are found by Jesus and salvation comes from grace alone, do spiritual habits just lead to work-based mentality? Does it lead to just like we got to? Does it lead to? I have to pray more, do more, give more, have enough faith more. Then I can earn God's love.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Because the problem, the problem or the wall that you will run into if you haven't already ran into it in your Christian walk is this it's the wall as if God can do something, but he doesn't, and if God can move, but I don't see him moving yet, and this is a wall that we can run into, that we can get confused about. For example, when my father-in-law got sick a few years back, we were praying for him. We were praying that God would heal him and we believe that God heals and so we were praying for him. We had a whole team of people praying for him and eventually he still ended up passing away. God didn't heal him, and so it was said to my wife that the reason why God didn't heal him was because either she lacked faith or my father-in-law lacked faith.

Speaker 1: 9:10

And so, as if God is one of those old school like strongman games at a carnival you know what I'm talking about with the giant mallet. And you got to hit the mallet, and the harder you hit it, the higher the meter goes to hit the mallet, and the harder you hit it, the higher the meter goes. As if God's at the top, but his presence and his power is at the top and our faith is the mallet. And then we got to hit it and based on how hard we hit it, god will move. If I have enough faith, if I pray harder, if I do this and it's just so difficult because Jesus says if you have faith, as small as a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain to move from here to there and remove. So I guess the conclusion I come to my faith is not even the size of a mustard seed. So this is what happens, right?

Speaker 1: 9:55

And so maybe you grew up in situations, maybe you have situations in your daily life where you feel discouraged. Maybe you're struggling with your mental health, maybe you have unhealed trauma from your yesterdays that are shaping your tomorrows, and you prayed prayers that sounded like, if you take this away from me, god, then I'll do this. So if I'm found by Jesus, then why doesn't life fall into place the way it should Come on? Can I get real with us today? Can I get honest with us today? And so, if I can be really honest with us today, one place that I constantly get it wrong in my parenting is this is my heart's in the right place, but sometimes I'm always trying to overprotect my kids.

Speaker 1: 10:44

I'm trying to always overprotect my kids. And what am I trying to protect them from? I'm trying to protect them from pain, from suffering, from the problems out there, and what I end up doing is give it as a disservice to them. And of course, there's wise parenting. Blocking certain content on smart devices is important. Locking up cleaning supplies when they're little yes, that's responsible. But then there's overprotecting. There is a thing as helicopter parenting. If someone's mean to our kid, well, I want to step in and defend. If a teacher gives a bad grade, I want to fight their battle for them instead of teaching them how to do it themselves.

Speaker 1: 11:24

And so, the other day, my daughter she writes her. She has a daily thankfulness journal that she does, and her thankfulness journal the other day was I'm thankful for my friends because they help me when I'm sad, and I'm sitting there thinking to myself what's she got to be sad about? Look at this great life that Aaron and I provide for her. But here's the truth, though To be human is to suffer, and if suffering is a part of life, then why do we sometimes preach a gospel that makes it seem like that suffering is not a part of that good news? Why do we have a version of the gospel that promises a pain-free life? You can be saved and you can still suffer, and you're like Jacob. That don't sound very encouraging, but it's the truth. Think about it.

Speaker 1: 12:16

Almost everything we do is a pursuit to avoid pain, to have pleasure, to provide, to consume, to escape the constant reminder that there is pain and suffering in this life, and I want to say something that is very hard for us to take a hold of, especially in our Western world. It's hard. Jesus never avoided suffering, he always went directly into it. And there's examples. There's examples Jesus and the woman at the well. This woman had a lot of pain. He went right to her. Jesus heals the man with leprosy. Jesus calms the storm. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus confronts demons in Gentile territory. Jesus, in the garden, suffered, was in pain for what he knew, what was about to take.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Now, I'm not saying we need to go out looking for suffering. Some people are like pastor told me I should be in pain. No, I'm not saying that. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying pain is a natural part of life. Suffering happens. Problems are, no matter what we do, no matter how much we try to prevent things, even from our kids. Pain is a promise that comes. It comes.

Speaker 1: 13:30

And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is this how was Jesus able to endure suffering and find purpose and fulfillment from it? Come on as everyday people who are learning how to become Jesus followers. How? How did he do it? How did he endure pain? How did he go into the messy places in people's lives? How did he do it and not get crushed and not get discouraged, but find purpose and fulfillment? You ready for the answer? He spent daily time with his father. I can end the message right there, because there's no three tips I can give you. There's no do this and then you'll have the best life. Now, jesus was able to handle the complexities of life because he had an authentic relationship with his father. And this is what he invites us into. This, my friends, is what Easter is all about Is that he broke sin, that he paved the way that we can be in union with our father, god. And so one more point of theology. Can I give one more point? One more point of theology.

Speaker 1: 14:40

If salvation is instant what we call justification then spiritual habits aren't about getting saved repeatedly. Spiritual habits are about growing into the person God has called you to be, and this is the process of the Bible called sanctification that's a nice word the ongoing transformation of becoming more like Jesus over time. Let's make it plain. Let me make it clear today. Let me make it plain today. Okay, because in certain church settings you may grow up confused.

Speaker 1: 15:08

There is a difference between justification and sanctification. Okay, here you go. Justification is being declared righteous before God. The best way to put it is as if you're walking into a courtroom you sped, you broke the law and you go up front, you know you deserve the speeding ticket, but the judge says you're free, you don't have to pay the penalty of that. There's justification. Okay, that's justification.

Speaker 1: 15:32

Sanctification is being made righteous in daily life and the timing justification is instant, happens right at salvation. Sanctification is ongoing, happens throughout life. How does this work? Justification happens by God alone, through faith alone, through grace alone. Okay, we can't add. It's not Jesus plus this equals my salvation. It's Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Okay, and then sanctification is between God and the believer. It's a partnership. How great is that? The God who made the heavens and the earth wants to partner with you. The God that made the stars, who made every unknown creature in the seas, that same God wants to do daily life with you, wants to yoke up with you, wants to partner with you, wants to navigate marriage with you, wants to navigate raising some hard-headed teenagers with you. It's ongoing.

Speaker 1: 16:33

And what's the basis? What's the basis for it? Christ's finished work on the cross is justification and sanctification is Christ's finished work on the cross and the Holy Spirit working within us. Scripture says this we have been saved, we have been justified by faith. 2 Thessalonians says God's will. This is God's will for you, your sanctification. The image we see is legal courtroom for justification, but it's transformation for sanctification, freedom from penalty of sin. And sanctification is freedom from the power and practice of sin. Can it be lost? No, but sanctification. Growth can stall or regress, but the process continues and this leads to peace with God and sanctification leads to holiness and the fruit of the Spirit. The primary goal of justification is adoption into God's family and the primary goal of sanctification is maturity as a child of God. Here's a simple way I can say it Justification is when God says you're mine. Sanctification is when you start learning to live like it's true, says you're mine. Sanctification is when you start learning to live like it's true.

Speaker 1: 17:50

And spiritual habits prayer, scripture reading, fasting they aren't ways to get into God's family. It's how we grow up in God's family. Spiritual habits aren't chores for the religiously serious. They're sacred spaces where God meets us and heals us and restores us. Well, we can come to him empty-handed saying here I am Lord, here's my problems, here's my pain, and he begins to do a good work within us. They're not about earning, they're about receiving. So let's get practical here. Okay, let's get practical.

Speaker 1: 18:29

I want to give us three spiritual habits we can add to our lives this week. The first one is this solitude and silence is where you get clear Solitude and silence. One of my favorite things to do and I know you're going to judge me again, but one of my favorite things to do and I know you're going to judge me again, but one of my favorite things to do is when my wife takes the kids down to see her mom and sister in Virginia Beach. I love to deep clean my house. Come on, it's a wonderful time and I'm talking about like I move the refrigerator clean behind there. I mean, I deep clean my house. You know, I love it. You know all the clutter I declutter. I get the places back in the right spot so we can effectively use our storage the way we're supposed to on our house, instead of just throwing all the coats in one room and all this stuff. I love it, man, it's cleaning out my house. I love to do that, and here's the thing.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Here's the thing about the habit of solitude and silence. It's like a daily cleaning out your house. It's a daily cleaning out your heart and cleaning out your mind. Now what I'm going to say next. Everyone has different work schedules and some people work nighttime schedules and stuff like that. What I want you to do is creatively figure out how to add this to your schedule, to your work schedule, your life schedule.

Speaker 1: 19:41

Because here's the thing, there is something important about first things. There's just something so important about first things. It's the principle of first things is so important. It's like what they tell you on an airplane, right when the oxygen mask comes down, what do you do? You put it on yourself first before you assist someone else. Solitude and silence is like putting on the oxygen mask of life first, so that you can be effective throughout your day, so you can be helpful for people throughout your day.

Speaker 1: 20:08

See, we see Jesus say this. Jesus did this very early in the morning, while it was still dark. Jesus got up, left the house, went off to a solitary place where he prayed. Where he prayed Notice that the text doesn't say very early in the morning. Jesus snoozed his alarm. After snoozing it three or four times, he picked up his phone and checked his messages, mail and media. Then, once that made him depressed and anxious, he hurried out of bed because he realized he was behind schedule. He didn't do that. He didn't do that, but I was guilty for years of doing something like this.

Speaker 1: 20:49

I would start my day almost every day with Instagram. That's how I used to start my day. The best part of waking up is seeing other people's lives better than yours and all the stressors from life that will come that way. But the daily habit of solitude and silence is like sweeping the room in our hearts. Sweeping the room, cleaning it out. This is what I do and, again, you don't have to do what I do, but I want to give you an example. This is what I do every day.

Speaker 1: 21:18

Every day, I wake up and the first thing I say in my bed the moment I wake up Jesus, I give you this day. Or I say something like today is the day. The Lord has made Something like that. That's my first thought. I'm trying to give it to Jesus. I go downstairs. I currently do a little 10-minute workout Come on, hashtag HSB Coming for it. Hot summer, summer body that's what it means. I haven't got there yet, anyways. But then I make some coffee, then I spend some time in silence. Sometimes I use this app called Lectio 365. Other times I use this app called Pause, and they're just prayer, they're guided prayer apps, which are really awesome.

Speaker 1: 21:55

Other times I sit in silence. I just sit in silence. I remember the first time I spent an extended amount of time in silence. It was like five minutes. Man, man, my mind was so loud. I, the moment I tried to be silent because so many notifications, so many things, and just being in silence was like whoa, this is hard. It's hard. Yeah, try it. If you never have the time that you're just in silence, try it and at first you'll be like whoa. I didn't recognize there's so much noise in my life. So after that I just read my Bible.

Speaker 1: 22:29

Then I'm old school, I get on my knees. I get on my knees and I have a set things of prayers and daily declarations. I pray. I pray for my wife and my kids and I pray for you guys every single day, every single day, without question those. I pray for my wife, my kids and LVC every single day and I keep a journal nearby just in case, just in case. I want to write something down Now, some. And I keep a journal nearby just in case, just in case I want to write something down Now.

Speaker 1: 22:54

Some mornings I really feel God. Some mornings I say, wow, god, your presence is so good. Other mornings I feel really tired and it's like okay, but it's about the habit, it's about doing it repeatedly, about doing it repeatedly. Let's be real. Most of us are living exhausted, overcommitted, distracted lives. Our calendars are full, our minds are racing, our souls are cluttered and the noise is everywhere. But what I've learned and I think you felt it too God doesn't yell over the noise. God doesn't yell to us over the notifications. He doesn't yell to us over the, over commitments. He waits for us in the silence. He waits for us. God waits for you to make space for him.

Speaker 1: 23:41

And that's what solitude and silence is all about. Not isolation, not disappearing, not a three-day retreat with nothing but the woods, a journal and a granola bar. No, I mean, it's the sacred spaces in your real life. It's spending a little bit of time before the kids wake up, it's having that chair in your house. That is your holy chair, that's where you sit and you meet with God there. Here's the thing God is always speaking, he's always pursuing, but intimacy always requires availability. And if Jesus needed space, then so do we, and this is the best part. This is the best part. When you spend time in silence and solitude, you recognize that you're not actually alone, but that you're one-on-one with your creator, with your maker, and that you are more seen than you can ever ask, dream or imagine. It's beautiful, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 24:44

So the second, second spiritual habit that I believe you can start this week is community. It's community. Make space to be known by others. That's why we value small groups. Here at LVC, we try to create space for people to connect, protect and grow together, to get to know each other more, to be known, to be seen. The early church did it like this. They said they devoted themselves to fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.

Speaker 1: 25:11

Like I mentioned, we all deal with problems. We all deal with suffering. How better is it to not be alone when we are, but to have people around us? There's something sacred that happens in community, where we are known, not admired, not tolerated, not edited, but known but known. And let's be real though, community is hard and it can but known but known. And let's be real though, community is hard and it can be messy, and there's sometimes people say the wrong thing at the worst moment. But you want to know something I learned about difficult people, which I can be one of them. Difficult people are less about the person that's being difficult, and it's more about what God wants to reveal in me through that relationship and how he wants to build something in me in that thing, in that relationship. And so here's the truth. You can learn about Jesus in solitude, but you become like Jesus in community.

Speaker 1: 26:08

And if you ever want to see the enemy at work in someone's life, watch how they isolate themselves. Just watch how they isolate. Now I'm not talking about introverted people who like their alone time. Some people are like see, I told you no, no, no, let them have their alone time, come on. But isolating themselves, pulling away from people that they know, love them, that are for them, they isolate themselves. We see this with teenagers a lot easier, don't we? On their phones or on their games and they can feel like it's community because it's social or they're gaming with other people, but no one truly knows them.

Speaker 1: 26:45

I like this story that Jesus tells about the lost coin. Last week we talked about the lost sheep. This week the lost coin is this. It checks out. It says here's what I want you to see. The story doesn't end with the coin being found. The story ends with the party.

Speaker 1: 27:13

See, she doesn't pick up. Find a coin, pick it up and slip it back into her purse. She celebrates. She celebrates, she brings others into it. Why does she do that? Because value is affirmed in community. The coin had value when it was lost, but the celebration and rejoicing happen with people in the same way. When with people. In the same way when God finds you in the solitude, when he speaks to your heart in the quiet place, when he reminds you of your worth and identity in the secret place, he doesn't leave you alone. He brings you into community, because being found by God is deeply personal, but it's never meant to be private. We are found in solitude, but we are formed in community. We are loved by God individually, but we are celebrated in the family of God and in the family of faith. See, community is where joy gets multiplied In community. That's where healing deepens, where celebration continues.

Speaker 1: 28:09

And some of us, we're walking around with our heads down, still thinking we're the coin underneath the couch that no one sees. And there's some of us that have been told your value is left being lost. No one wants to celebrate with you and you're all by yourself. Some of us have bought into the lie that I can do it on my own Number one. I don't need anyone else, man. But if Jesus needed 12 ragtag disciples, maybe we do too. Maybe we need other people in our lives too. Champion us, moving us forward. You weren't meant to do life alone. We put God first. We get into community. And our last spiritual habit we serve. We serve. We make space to be used by God.

Speaker 1: 29:15

You'll always feel a little empty when life is just about you. Let me say that one more time. You can have all the stuff, all the success, all the accolade, but if you're by yourself, you'll always feel a little bit, a little bit lonely. If it's only about you, it'll never reach your full potential, because our purpose is always connected to other people. You're called to make a difference by doing something that makes a difference with people who are making a difference. Formation is not for yourself, but it is for the people around you. Robert McHolland said it like this in his book Invitation to a Journey Our growth towards wholeness in Christ is for the sake of others within the body of Christ, that we might nurture one another into the wholeness of Christ. Needless to say, our spiritual habits aren't just about us, but it's about those out there. It's about those around us, and this is one of my favorite truths.

Speaker 1: 30:06

God doesn't save you from something. He saved you for something, for something. You are not random. He saved you for something, for something. You are not random. Your gifts are not accidents. Your passions are irrelevant. There are things in this world that will never be healed, never be changed, never be built, unless you step into your God-given assignment and listen.

Speaker 1: 30:27

I'm not talking about just being a missionary but if you're called to do that, you should do it but I'm talking about being a missionary in your daily life. I'm talking about your daily life routine, your work, your family, your friendships. That's your ministry. That's your mission. Guys, you're on mission. Every day you're on mission. That's why, even when the bad things that happen in our lives, we can still learn from it and be formed by Jesus in those things because we're on mission.

Speaker 1: 30:57

The better question, instead of asking God why? The better question to ask is God, teach me something through this. I know it's a little bit longer, but it'll get you to where you want to be. And so if you're waking up and asking God, how can you use me today? That's a good place to start. And here's the beautiful mystery God uses ministry to bless others, yes, but he uses it also to shape you. When you serve, when you grow, when you pour out, god pours in. And we have at our church, we have our LTs. We call them LTs, our local teams, our lts and our lts. The main goal of our lts is not just to get a task done, but it's to do life together, to serve together.

Speaker 1: 31:39

Maybe in this season of life, small groups don't work with their schedule, but coming early on a sunday morning and helping with setup man, that's where god really moves that up. Man, that's where God really moves. Maybe you have a gift with sound and music, man, come and use it. Maybe you have a gift of hospitality man. Maybe you can connect to children in a way that other people can't. Man, god wants to use you to shape the next generation. Here's what I want you to see. Here's what I want you to see. You're refreshed when you refresh others. That's what the scripture tells us. And all of these habits are moving us towards to become more like Jesus.

Speaker 1: 32:27

Jesus spent time in solitude, jesus was in community, jesus served. He served so much that he went to a cross for you and me. Jesus spent time in solitude, jesus was in community, jesus served. He served so much that he went to a cross for you and me. And so if Jesus did those things, then, man, I'm going to do it. Because how, how does an everyday person with an everyday life, with everyday commitments and everyday struggles and everyday responsibilities, how do you learn how to become a Jesus follower? Well, you do the stuff that Jesus did. You follow His lead.

Speaker 1: 33:02

Two questions of application for us today is this what's one small habit you can start this week to create space for God before your day starts, before the noise hits, before the pressure builds? And then, second, who are you letting really know you and who might you need to invite into your story this season? That sound good. Let's pray God, jesus, holy Spirit, all we want is to be more like you, to know you more, to walk and step with you. Holy Spirit, help people walk and step with you. Yeah, as I was preaching, I really felt the Holy Spirit. Help people walk in step with you. Yeah, as I was preaching, I really felt the Holy Spirit nudge me.

Speaker 1: 34:00

Well, you actually don't feel valuable. It's been said to you that you're not valuable. I mean it's been said to you, maybe not exactly those words, but basically not valuable. I mean it's been said to me, maybe not exactly those words, but basically, but basically, and I feel the Holy Spirit right now saying that you are valuable, and I also feel the Holy Spirit right now saying that he was with you in those moments where someone tried to take your value away With you, beside you, that you were never alone. Okay, holy Spirit, I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying to some people that you tried to put value into other people, you tried to help other people and they left you disappointed. They hurt you real bad.

Speaker 1: 34:58

And even in that parable, you are trying to be like the woman who was searching for the lost coin Say, hey, you got this, you can do this, man, but there's a heartache because of that. Come Holy Spirit. Heartache because of that, come Holy Spirit. That's what the Holy Spirit is saying. Don't let your efforts to love people discourage you when it doesn't go the way you hoped. You keep believing in people. You keep stepping into the calling that God has for your life To love the unlovable, to reach those who are lost. And come, holy Spirit, for those who are suffering. You're suffering daily from physical health, mental, emotional I mean mental health man, man, you feel like you are alone.

Speaker 1: 35:55

Holy spirit, come right now, bring healing, bring your healing power. And it's not by having enough faith, it's not by mustering up enough faith in that god, it's by receiving, just receive, the father's love for you, receive the presence of the Holy Spirit right now. Come, holy Spirit, do what only you can do. And I just feel like there's even someone in here when I even mentioned that story about my wife. You've been hurt by church Faith leader or something. I mean it really tried to take you out, but you questioned some things. That's like the Holy Spirit is saying look to the cross, look to Jesus, he rules and he reigns. He's with you. So, lord, we say more of you. Help us to live intentionally for you, help us spend daily time with you, help us not just pencil you in but prioritize you, lord, like you prioritized us on the cross. So we say come. We say more of you In Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.