God reveals himself to Moses as I AM in the burning bush
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
2 Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
6 Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’
19 I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
21 I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”
Sermon on the Mount redefines murder as harboring anger and adultery as lust
1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
15 Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.
16 Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
22 But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
23 “If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
26 Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
30 If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
34 but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
41 Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
47 If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
whoever has the Son has life; written so you may know you have eternal life
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
draw close to God and he promises to draw close to us
1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
2 You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.
3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
14 Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
15 For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
16 But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message, brought by Natalie at the Wednesday morning Bible study, centered on the question Jesus put to His disciples: "Who do you say that I am?" Working through Matthew 16 and Matthew 19, Natalie traced what it means to move from a secondhand, textbook knowledge of Jesus to a personal, experiential one, and what an honest answer to that question actually requires of us.
What was said
Natalie opened by noting where the group sits in their walk through Matthew. The disciples have been with Jesus long enough, through enough, that He finally turns to them and asks the question directly. That sequence matters. He did not ask Matthew who He was when He first called him out of the tax collector's booth. He said come, follow, and be with me, and understanding would grow from there. The question about His identity only comes after years of walking with Him.
When Jesus phrases the question as "Who do you say I am," the words themselves carry weight. The phrase "I am" is the root form of the name Yahweh, first spoken to Moses in Exodus 3 from the burning bush. God identified Himself there as self-existing, needing nothing, always present, the covenant God who is with His people. When Jesus uses that same construction, He is making a claim about His own nature, and Peter's answer, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God," was not something Peter arrived at on his own. Jesus says plainly that the Father in heaven revealed it to him.
Natalie pressed on the implications of the question. First, it requires a response. C. S. Lewis's argument from "Mere Christianity" was quoted at length: a man who made the claims Jesus made was either Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. There is no fourth option that allows us to call Him a great moral teacher and leave it there. Every person will have to land somewhere on that question.
Second, the question has an objectively correct answer. It is not a matter of what is true for one person versus another. Natalie named the tendency in the surrounding culture to treat spiritual truth as personal and experiential rather than verifiable, and said that while experience can deepen our understanding, it does not determine what is true. She pointed to the Jefferson Bible, Thomas Jefferson's version of the New Testament with the miracles removed, as an example of people editing the text to fit their own framework rather than receiving it as it is.
Third, the question divides. The disciples had to hold their conviction against three strong currents at once: the Roman government, which required them to name Caesar as Lord; the crowds, who had flattering but incomplete ideas about Jesus; and the religious leaders, whose authority the disciples, as uneducated fishermen, had no formal standing to challenge. Natalie said that same pressure exists now, and that testing what we hear against Scripture is not optional.
The parable of the rich young ruler gave the question a sharper personal edge. He came to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, confident he had kept the commandments. Jesus loved him enough to go straight for the thing he could not release, his wealth. Natalie said Jesus does this every time He encounters someone in the Gospels. He goes after the idol. The young man's failure was not that he was rich but that he thought his faithfulness was enough, that he had not grasped his need. Natalie had someone in the room try and take a fifty-dollar bill from her hand while she held it out as a gift, to make the point: you cannot try to take something that is being given. You either receive it or you do not.
She closed by identifying three things that keep people from understanding their need for Jesus: thinking too much of themselves, thinking too much of the world, and not thinking enough of the kingdom. She was direct about the first one, saying that a one-through-nine answer on a scale of certainty about salvation is all the same thing, because it means you still think your own effort is part of the equation. She used a story about a wild horse called Thunderhoof to land the message: it was not until the horse fully submitted to its master that it found the freedom it had been running toward all along.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Natalie talked about the difference between a textbook knowledge of Jesus and an experiential knowledge, using Matthew as an example of someone who followed first and learned who Jesus was along the way. Where would you say you are on that spectrum right now, and what has shaped that?
Natalie presented C. S. Lewis's argument that Jesus has to fit into one of three categories: Lord, liar, or lunatic. Has there been a time in your life when you genuinely wrestled with which one he was? What settled it for you, or are you still working through it?
Let's stand together this morning. Holy Spirit, we welcome your presence in this place today because we worship you. Let our hearts and our eyes fix on you and you alone. In Jesus name. Clear it up.
Let's sing that together. How great. Let's proclaim it. Lord. Just take a minute right where you are.
Just take a minute and remind yourself and just declare. Just speak out just loud enough for your own ears to hear what makes him great today. When you sing that, what are you calling on? What are you calling on the promises in his word? Maybe it's an experience you've had with him, just his faithfulness in your life.
Maybe it's you're declaring his greatness today and standing on it for something you need to see in the future. Just take a minute and just say, Lord, you are so great. Lord, you are so great. And then list the reasons that he is great today to you personally. We thank you that you are here today.
You are here today. Meet every need in this room today that comes expected, comes hungry. Speak over us who we are today. Speak our identity over us. Who you say that we are.
Speak this over yourself. My father. Speak our identity over us today. Maybe those in this room today who have dreams that have seemingly died, that lord today, you would resurrect those because of who we are and who we belong to and who we worship. Yes.
We're here to worship you today. You've already gone before us and paid all the price that ever needed to be paid for our forgiveness. So let us receive that today and walk in our identity. Identity. Here we are.
Lord, we praise you. You are worthy. Let us just think for one moment and actually help us, Holy Spirit, to grasp for that you are right here, right now, in this room. You inhabit the praises of your people, that the very God we're singing about and singing to is right here in our worship, that our worship draws him. And his word says in James that as we draw close to him, he promises to draw close to us.
So what is it that you need today? What is it that you need to repent of today? What is your heart's cry today? Pour it out. Pour it out to him.
He is here. He is faithful. He is worthy, and he longs for an intimate relationship with each and every one of us. So, God, come. We just ask that you would speak to us today through your word and through what Natalie brings us today in the message.
We ask that we would be changed today because we met with you, and we encountered your word, and we encountered your spirit today. Thank you that you made it in such a way that just like the manna from heaven, that we have to come fresh new every single day because you long for that intimacy with us each and every day.
So we eat of that manna this morning. Our hearts are prepared and ready. Come by your spirit. Change us and speak to
us in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. You guys can have a seat. There.
Hey there. I'm Casey. I just wanted to make an announcement. We have been talking about children in the study book. In Matthew, we were talking about the children and how important they are into the kingdom of God.
And I just wanted to let you know about some few happenings in our community. So on Monday nights here from six to 07:30, we have a kids club called Awana. And I don't know if you're aware of what Awana is, but it's training kids up with the gospel of Christ to serve him. And a bulk of what Awana is is memorizing scripture. I just want you to know that we take kids from the community.
It's not just first be kids. I wanna give you some numbers. So at Awana, this last Monday, we had thirty nine third through fifth graders memorizing scripture. We take kids from toddler all the way I think a lot of our helpers are seventh graders because they just don't wanna leave, so they help us. So toddlers to seventh grade, we're hitting about 80 kids on a Monday night.
That's why you're seeing all these colors on the carpet. Yeah. Praise God. So God is working in these kids, and these third through fifth graders are gonna be going into the middle school soon. So do they need scripture in their heart?
Absolutely. Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer for Young Life. Lots of us met together either in the morning, in the afternoon, or in the evening here to pray over Young Life's involvement in our high schools. There are a thousand high schoolers in this valley or more, and they need our prayer. And fellowship of Christian athletes has been ramping up.
That is doing well. The Ascent group that meets on Thursdays, again, it's kids from all different churches. They're hitting numbers 55 high school students squeezing into the tribe building. So there's a lot of awesome things, yeah, happening with the kids in our valley, and they need our prayers desperately. So I just ask that you guys would just consider praying during the week for the littlest student all the way up to the high schoolers because they need it.
And now we're gonna have Natalie bring us a message today. Thanks, Natalie.
That's so awesome. I'm so glad that you shared that because we are gonna talk a little bit about the little children today. And actually, after this Bible study, there's a group of all the leaders from Young Life, FCA, Ascent, and some moms from every church are gonna be meeting to talk about what that looks like to build the funnel, to train up our students, to send them out, to fill the funnel again. We are teaching these students how to fish, and it's so awesome because it's taken a very, very long time. As Mike D will say, fifteen years, he's never seen anything like it ministry in the valley.
There's a movement in the women and in the kids happening right now. We're witnessing it. Okay. When we started a couple weeks ago, the very beginning of Matthew, as you might recall. Do you remember how the book of Matthew starts?
What's the first chapter? What do we do? The genealogy, yes, amazing. Thank you, Stacy. The genealogy of Jesus.
It's a little history lesson. Why? Because God is delivering this news through his disciples, through the gospels, it is his written inspired word, it's a little history lesson to say wake up my people, my Jewish people, this is the Messiah. His life, death and resurrection fulfill over 400 prophecies in the old testament, this is the one I'm telling you about And then he calls his disciples and they come immediately, and then fast forward and we're at the point where now he's been ministering to his disciples, they've been do you remember the keys to discipleship? It's be with Jesus, become like Jesus, do as he did.
His disciples have been following him now for, I don't know, a few months, maybe a year at this point. We know Jesus' ministry is three years long, so we're near the end. So I don't know at what point he called them and now it's the end. Maybe it's two years in, they've been walking, and now this is the point that he turns to them and says, who do you say that I am? I thought this was so interesting.
This wasn't the first question that he asked Matthew, as we learned when he called Matthew out of the tax collector booth. He didn't say, Matthew, who do you say I am? You are Messiah. Okay, come follow me. No.
He said, Matthew, come follow me. Come be with me and I will show you who I am. You respond in faith, but you learn by training and practice, and now they're ready to answer this question. It is the difference between a textbook knowledge and an experiential knowledge. You abided by textbook knowledge, Matthew.
I told you that I am who I am and you're gonna follow me, but now you have the experiential knowledge and you can say, you're Messiah, you are my Messiah. That's what I want you to sit on today, ladies, is we're gonna talk about this important question, who do you say that I am? Turn with me to Matthew 16, if you have your bibles, and we're just gonna read along briefly. It starts in Matthew sixteen thirteen where it says Peter declares that Jesus is Messiah. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the son of man is?
Who do people say the son of man is? Do you remember a couple weeks ago, we talked about the difference between the disciples and the crowds? Do you remember that? He always delineated between his followers, his apprentices, and everyone else because it was possible that there were people in the crowd that maybe liked what he heard or liked what he had to say they weren't all in yet, he doesn't delineate, oh, this is a lukewarm believer, they're receiving what I'm saying but they're not responding. There's no such thing.
And just as we talked about, there's something called like a practicing Jew versus just being Jewish because you inherited this lineage, there's no such thing as Christian by blood. Right? You can't just be born into a Christian family and therefore you are Christian, it is Christian by practice. So there was no third option, it's the followers, the apprentices and everyone else. So he says, who do people say?
Who do the crowd say the son of man is? And how do they respond? Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, some say Jeremiah, one of the prophets and the list goes on. Then he turns to his disciples and he says, who do you say I am? He knows it's going to be a different answer.
The mentality of the crowd is irrelevant. The noise is irrelevant. What people around you are saying is irrelevant ladies, you have the word of God and you know the truth. Who do you say that he is? Jesus words his question carefully, I am.
Who do you say I am? I am is the root form of the name Yahweh. I am is God. God first declares this name for himself back in Exodus three. I think I wrote that down for you, Exodus three, so you can go back and read the story of God revealing to him himself to Moses in the burning bush and Moses is a little intimidated by what God's asking him to do, he's a little unclear so Moses says, okay God, if I if I follow your instructions and I go down to the Israelites and I say the God of your fathers has sent me and then they say, who like who's that?
What's his name? Who is he? What am I supposed to tell them? He's saying, who are you? God,
tell
me who you are so I can tell them. And then God identifies himself to Moses, he says, I am who I am. That's confusing, right? I am who I am. This is what you're to say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you.
What does that mean? It feels like nonsense to us except that we know that I am is the word Yahweh. So he's identifying himself in a couple of ways. First he's telling Moses, I'm the covenant God, I am with my people. I'm a self existing God, I need nothing to be, I am always I always was, I always am, I always will be, and I need no one or nothing to do what I'm going to do.
In fact, I'm gonna make this bush just burst into flames just to show you. And the purpose of that miracle wasn't to dazzle Moses even though he was dazzled by that, it was to display God's character that he had announced. It's a revelation that I am, is and always will be independent, self sufficient, fully, completely God even as he promises his plans to come down to us, to his people, to be with us, to dwell among us, to redeem us. I am is Emmanuel, God with us, and it points to Jesus Christ. How did the disciples respond to this question?
Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. And Jesus replies, blessed are you. This was not revealed by flesh and blood but by my father in heaven and I tell you, I am God, Messiah, you are Peter. He says, I am Messiah, you are Peter.
And on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. He says right here, Jesus is Messiah, the anointed one, the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation that's prophesied all throughout the old testament, the son of God, the very rock and foundation on which the church will be built. At this point, remember Jesus has been traveling all over teaching with his disciples, he's been healing many, forgiving sins, walking on water, driving out demons, feeding the thousands, raising the dead and after all of this, it still had to be revealed to Peter. We know that because it says, this was not revealed by flesh and blood but by my father in heaven. Not just by the miracles and demonstrations, not just by the word of Jesus, but by God himself.
It's important to know ladies, Messiah. The vision of who Messiah would be was very misunderstood at this time. K? The Jews are expecting this bold military leader who's gonna deliver them from Roman rule. So as you can imagine, Jesus has something much different in mind but he knows that the disciples don't understand this yet and the people are not gonna understand this yet.
So he begins to foretell his death to say, hey hey, I am Messiah but it's not what you think it's gonna look like. I know that you want this majestic, mighty, strong, powerful ruler but it's not gonna be that way. This is a new kind of savior, one of a humble servant who would die to set us free. Why does it matter to define who Jesus is? Some thought he was a prophet, others as we read earlier, he was doing these miracles and some some people, the crowds are calling him the devil because they're like, who could do this but the devil?
It's such an evil act or prolific act. The Jews killed Jesus as a heretic. The Romans conquered him as an insurrectionist, yet his followers claimed that he rose from the dead and they worshiped him as God, and for this they were willing to die. The historicity of his life and death is undisputed even by other religions, and from scripture we know that even the demons acknowledge this man. In James two nineteen, it says, you believe there's one God?
Good. Even the demons believe that and shudder. Jesus' birth reset the calendar for everyone, all time, every culture, nation, tongue. It reset to zero. For two thousand and twenty four years past, who was this man?
What we believe about his identity has some serious implications. As a w Tozer says, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. I wanna explore a few ramifications of Jesus' simple question, who do you say I am? And this is in your notes. First is it requires a response.
At some point in all of our lives, we will have to decide who is this man, who reset time. If Jesus wasn't the Messiah, he made some really crazy claims. He claimed he existed before Abraham, he claimed that he was the son of God, he offered forgiveness of sins, something that only God could do and they killed him for it. He even claimed no one comes to the father except through me, as if he's an entryway. In the words of C.
S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, he says, a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be considered a great moral teacher. No. He would be a lunatic or else he would be the devil. You must make your choice, either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let none of us come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He's not left that open to us and he did not intend to. This argument is called lord, liar, lunatic. He has to fit into one of those three buckets. There is no other alternative.
Who do you say that he is? The core principle that sets Christianity apart from every other religion is our belief that our God, the God of the universe took on flesh and blood and lived among us. And then in his immense love, he died so that we could be forgiven. Do you believe that claim to be true? The second implication is that this question has an objectively correct answer.
Notice that Jesus didn't say, great answer Peter. Judas, what do you think? Who do you think I am? What do you say? K?
If you follow your emotions, they're going to lead you astray. Jesus is not whoever you want him to be, and how you feel about Jesus doesn't change who he is. There's a single correct answer, and it's not based on feelings or personal opinions. Although, as we know, that deep experiential knowledge can give us greater clarity of who he is. It's an objective truth that's revealed in his word, there is one answer.
And this is important because we live in a day where people where the crowds think that spiritual truth is not necessarily objectively true, they see it as personally true. What's true for Suzanne might be different than what's true for me. That's your truth, that's your belief and this is mine. They don't view it in terms of verifiable doctrine and history, it's personal experience. But this is not the answer.
He is the Messiah. And then the third implication of this question is that it's gonna divide people. You can already see this is your truth, that's my truth. You live this every single day. We should deny, as believers, we should deny this post modern world view that spiritual truth is experiential.
Remember the reference to the Jefferson Bible in week one that Deborah brought up? So Thomas Jefferson is a father of the enlightenment. They were all about science and philosophy. So you know what Thomas Jefferson did? He took a version of the Bible of the new testament and he cut out every reference to any sort of miracle or something that was overly spiritualized that couldn't be explained by science, cause he believed all this has to make sense from a scientific perspective and I wanna remove any sort of mysticism about this because I don't want that to be a stumbling block for these logical thinkers.
So he created his own Bible it exists today, it's called the Jefferson Bible. But we are not the author of this book and in fact, the single thing that's most warned about in the new testament is false teaching and false doctrine. Picking and choosing what you wanna believe and discarding the rest. Jesus is saying be on alert because remember how the devil works? He doesn't tell you a flat out lie, he just undermines the truth.
He'll plant a seed of doubt. So you'll hear a pastor give you scripture and then he'll add something else or he'll pull another scripture out of context and layer it on top, and then all of a sudden you're thinking that sounds true because I know a was true and b sounds like it should be true, therefore c is true altogether. No, he's warning against that sort of creation of your own truth. Can you imagine how difficult this is must have been for the disciples? Talk about division, talk about the truth dividing.
For centuries, faithful Jews were waiting on God's promised Messiah. The disciples did not have two thousand years of church history to verify their claims. They were out there on the front lines boldly saying, it's him. He's the one. And they had to say it in the face of public opinion who would not agree.
It's underscored by the very contrast of these questions. Who does the crowd say I am? Who do you say that I am? Jesus knew it would divide. The disciples had a stand against three strong currents to affirm this conviction.
First was the Roman government. The government didn't care if Christians worshipped Jesus but they also had to affirm Caesar as Lord. But the disciples said no, we will not bow down to see to Caesar and that narrow and exclusive view cost many of them their lives. The disciples also had to go against the opinions of the religious crowd, the crowd again. Varying notions of who Jesus might be.
Some heard his powerful teaching against sin and thought John the Baptist. Others saw his miracles and they're like, that reminds me of Elijah. Others thought he might be another one of the prophets. All flattering but inadequate ideas of who Jesus really was. You may too have to go against the crowd of our day.
Many who will call themselves Christians have ideas about Jesus that fall short of affirming him as Lord and Christ. Some see Jesus as all tolerant, all loving. He wouldn't speak against anyone's sin, he is love. They seek to get their denominations to affirm things that we know to be sin in the Bible. Others use Jesus to endorse worldly views and take sides on political issues or mix Jesus with some sort of pop psychology.
You have to stand against these views to confess him truly as Lord and Christ. And then the third, they had to oppose the Jewish Jewish religious leaders, the pharisees, the rabbis. These disciples were not formally educated in Hebrew scripture. Remember, in order to become a rabbi, you studied your entire life and memorized the entire old testament and trained under a rabbi until you were ready to become one yourselves. They were recognized as leaders in Israel.
They were interpreters of Moses, the guardians of the Jewish law, and these are a bunch of uneducated fishermen coming to challenge their views. They had to stand up against him. So this question, who do you say I am, divides people, and you must take your stand. And like Peter and the disciples, you're probably gonna have to go against public popular opinion or even challenge religious leaders by using the truth in this book. Test what you hear against the scriptures.
And the fourth point is that this question requires a personal response. It requires faith and obedience. If you do believe Jesus is Messiah, if you have made him the Lord of your life, it requires response. Jesus goes on to warn the disciples, remember don't tell anyone that I'm gonna be put to death because it's not what the disciples were expecting to hear. Christ was supposed to be this political messiah, power, dominion, not suffering and rejection and death.
See, it's easy to follow a king with a crown. It is much harder to submit yourself to crucifixion. To follow a crucified savior and live a crucified life requires deep faith and obedience. See, Jesus wasn't sent by the father to make everyone happy so that we can go on living self centered lives with God's help saying, alright God, this is great. I've got this.
I'll call you in when things get rough. Isn't that how a lot of us live our lives? He's the prayer is the genie in the bottle. Oh Lord, I'm really in a bind now. Can you get me out of this?
No. He said, if that's when you're coming to me, if that's the only time you're coming to me, that's not how this works. I want your heart. I'm not here to fix problems. I actually might create some problems and some tension for you.
Remember testing of our faith, the trials? It produces perseverance. So who then do you say Jesus is? If you say Jesus is God, who came down to us, Emmanuel, as man, God with us, to redeem us so he can spend we can spend eternity with him. It requires something in response.
See, to say the sinner's prayer is actually pretty easy. To show up in church on Sunday morning or show up here on Wednesdays doesn't require that much sacrifice. The idea that I'm going to heaven for eternity, that's easy. Check, check, check. But giving things up in his name, fundamentally changing the way that I live my life, denying the flesh daily, that is hard.
But if we abide, we'll come to experience him, and this notebook will no longer just be a text. This is where that contrast really got me. Matthew just got up and followed, and it took those steps of obedience to actually gain a personal relationship with Jesus. To some of you you're like, I don't even know what what does that mean, a personal relationship with a being that's not here. Maybe you've just taken the first step, maybe he has said come follow and you said, great, I'm going to follow, but then you didn't actually follow.
You're like, I'm still gonna I'm not really gonna change my routine, I'm not really gonna add anything or take anything away. I made that bold proclamation and I know that I am saved now because I committed my life to Jesus, but did you really commit your life to him when you prayed that prayer? When you were coming back out of the waters, did anything change? Did it? Our hearts will change but our actions will change too.
And in return, abiding in faithfulness, we will get that epignosis, deep experiential knowledge and then we will be prepared to say, yes, you are my Lord. You are not Lord, you are my Lord. You are my savior, you are my God. It makes it personal. Don't be discouraged.
If you've just taken that first step and you didn't really get much further and you don't really get what this means yet, don't be discouraged, he has something for you because remember our faith journey is not just a binary thing, we said yes and now we're saved. No, it is a linear progression over time, Sometimes it's not so linear. It's called sanctification and we're not he's not gonna be totally done with us until he takes us to heaven. It might take forty years, it might take seventy years, some of you might be the thief on the cross and you're 82 and you say yes and you're going that day, express lane. Okay?
But you've missed out on the opportunity for the last eighty years to actually know who he is and trust him. You're You're almost meeting him for the first time at heaven's gates and he'll do that for you but he has so much else waiting for you here. I wanna talk about what Deborah mentioned last week, the soils, our hearts. Our hearts and our posture towards God, this is the secret for determining our faithfulness and obedience. You heard about that last week.
Rocky soil, it's not gonna take root. The thorny, weedy soil, it's gonna get choked out in a hurry. No, you need good, healthy, ripe soil in order for those seeds to multiply. And I have a hunch that there's some of you in this room that are trying to be faithful to what you know but you haven't seen the whole picture yet. And part of it might be God's timing like we heard with Peter, he had to be God had to reveal that to Peter.
Peter's walking with Jesus for two years seeing all these signs and miracles but God still had to open his eyes. But for some of you, it might just be a hindrance. You may not have taken those steps of obedience yet. You may have never heard the teaching in this context, you may be hearing this for the first time saying, oh man, I said I prayed the prayer and nothing actually changed drastically in the way that I'm living my day to day life. But guess what?
We can know. Jesus told us last week that he speaks in parables because the crowds were not in a posture to receive what he was saying. He said, though seeing, they do not see, though hearing, they do not hear or understand, but blessed are your eyes because they see, and ears because they hear. Ladies, if you're not hearing it, if you're not getting it, get on your knees and pray and ask God, what is hindering me? Is there some sin in my life that I am not seeing that is preventing me from experiencing you?
Is there a lack of obedience on my part? What am I not doing God? And then ask the ladies in your small group, I feel like I'm just hitting a wall, what is it? I I feel like I don't have a personal relationship yet, what can I do? That's what community is for.
We're gonna examine the story today, a parable of a man known as the rich young ruler as a way to kind of determine where we are in our own response to that question. So I want you to turn with me to Matthew nineteen sixteen, and I wanna give you a little bit of context because in this particular gospel, we don't get a lot of background about who this rich man is, but I'm gonna give you a little picture of him and this is just taking from Mark and Luke and other stories where this parable is shared. So the rich young ruler is wealthy, he's young, he's healthy, he has authority and autonomy. We know this because it says literally he is the rich young ruler in some of the other gospels. Not only that but people viewed him as a faithful man, he was more like an elder in a church.
He was kind of the picture of faithfulness, this good looking young guy with influence and he was faithful. It's the picture of faithfulness. Our hearts crave all these traits rich, young, healthy, authority, autonomy, I guarantee at least one of those resonates with you, if not all five. All five of those resonate with me. And what does the rich young ruler say?
Just then a man, the rich young ruler came up to Jesus and asked, teacher, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you ask me what is good? Jesus replied, there's only one who is good. Pause right there. There's only one who is good.
Rich young man, you cannot be good enough to get into heaven. If you want to enter life, keep the 10 commandments, he says. Which ones? Says the rich young ruler. I'm good, I keep your commands.
Jesus comes at him with a law. He says, you shall not commit murder, adultery, steal, these are the 10 commandments. But we know from the sermon on the mount in Matthew five, you look at that list and you're like, I'm good, I haven't killed anyone. Well, what does Jesus tell you in Matthew five? Harboring anger in our hearts towards another, same as murder, failed that one last week.
You shall not commit adultery. Okay? Lust towards another man that is not your husband, even in your mind. Failed that one, George Clooney, Matthew McConaughey, know. But honestly, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your mother and father, we know from Sermon on the Mount anger, lust, coveting, selfishness, these things all discredit us immediately.
But what does a rich young ruler say? This is the point where you should say, I should say, he should say, Oh Jesus, I know I've tried so hard but I just can't. I fail every day. I've tried so hard and I can't do it perfectly. But no, what does he say?
He's like, got those two. What else? What else must I do? Okay. So Jesus is like, man, he is missing it.
He is missing it. He's missing his need for the one he is standing face to face with. He's like, I'm good, I'm keeping your commands, I got this Jesus. Can you tell me for sure that I'm saved? So then what does Jesus do?
He goes for it. He says, if you wanna be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor. Then you'll have treasuring in heaven, and then you can come and follow me. When Jesus comes face to face with people in the New Testament, he always loves them enough to go after their idols. Think of the woman at the well, he encounters her on his journey, he actually goes out of his way to find this woman and he says, woman, where is your husband?
She's like, I don't have one. He's like, I know that that man at your house last night was not your husband. He goes right for the sin because he loves her enough to call it out and say, but I'm still here and I still love you and I'm still good. He went right for it. This rich young man had a deep love of money And what are we told over and over and over about in the Bible?
You cannot serve two masters, God and money. Insert your own sin. You cannot serve two masters, God and people pleasing, God and love of material things or adventure or kids, family, whatever else it is. No. We can make idols out of all the things that are meant for our good.
Remember the scripture says, it is not the money that is evil but it's the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money is amoral, we've talked about this earlier in the study. Loving your kids, that's fine. Your kids are morally neutral might not be morally neutral, different example. But it's how our what is our posture towards those things?
If those are king of our lives, then there's no room for Jesus at the throne. He's missing it. Faithfulness begins with under understanding your need for Jesus. If you do not understand your need for Jesus, you will not have him. What keeps us from understanding our need for him?
This outline is in your notes too. The first thing is thinking too much of ourselves. In this passage, Jesus is saying to the rich young ruler, I do not need these things from you. I don't need your church attendance, I don't need your prayer, I don't need your perfect keeping of the law that you think you have conquered. I need you to understand your need for me.
Why does he respond to the rich young ruler with the law? He's just answering his question. He's like, what must I do by myself to get into heaven, Jesus? And he's like, oh, if you wanna play by that measuring stick, you have to be perfect. Now the point of the law is the measuring stick so that we understand we can never be perfect.
The point of the law is not for us to keep it perfectly, it's to say this is the bar for sin and you're going to fall short and that's why I came for you. I'm gonna say that again, that the rules in this book, the laws given to us are not to say you have to keep them perfectly in order to get into heaven, they are to say you can never be perfect enough and that's why I came for you. On a scale of one to 10, if you died today, how certain are you that you'd get into heaven? 10, fast lane. One, definitely not going.
I want you to write that number down on your sheet. It can be really small if you don't want anyone to know. Maybe you'll talk about this in your groups today, maybe you won't. Scale of one to 10. And then why?
You don't have to write that part down but think, why why am I a seven? I was a seven. That's the safe answer. That's the I'm pretty confident but I still want to be humble answer is a seven. Okay?
That was my answer. The first time I was asked that question, was 25. On a scale of one to 10, how sure are you? And I'm like, I am firmly at a seven, I'm pretty sure I'm going to heaven. Why?
Well, done some things. So maybe if I was perfect, would say 10, but like I've done some things, and you guys heard part of my testimony. I did have an affair with a married man. I did compromise my body for the sake of being perfect. I did drink myself into blackout oblivion on Friday nights in my adulthood.
I do love money. I did spend a lot of it on material things that would just waste away, but I'm also a good person. Yeah. I'm a pretty good person and I volunteer here and I do this and I serve here and I think on that scale, the the good's gonna outweigh the bad for sure. And part of that was my upbringing, the denomination where I was raised, what I heard loud and clear over and over was that actually like your good works could sort of pay for some of your sins, like this all of this good work kinda negates these bad things like it was a scale.
That's what I took for years of my life but I heard from the stage when I was 25, Ephesians two eight and nine says, you're saved by faith through grace alone, not by works so that no one can boast. And I was like, hold on a second. I'm not saved by my works because then I would think it was my own effort? Yes. It does go on to say in Ephesians two ten that God did set aside good works in advance for you to do, that you're going to walk in if you abide.
It doesn't say, remember, grace is not opposed to effort But it is opposed to thinking that you can earn your way into heaven because you can't. See, on the scale of one to ten, one through nine is all the same. It's self reliance because if you think you can do something that keeps you out of heaven, it also suggests you can do something to get you in. And there's only one thing that can get us into heaven, and that is the recognition that we cannot get there on our own. That was Jesus' job.
Can we know if we're saved? First John five thirteen says that we can know, whoever has the son has life, whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. I write these things so that you may know you have eternal life. Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Can you know?
Yes, you can. Leah, really quick. It's a $50 bill. I want you to try and take this from me, okay? Oh.
Hold on. I I want you to try again. I want you to try again. Oh, sorry. It's really hard to take something that's being given.
You can't take something that's being given to you. I wish I'd only given you a one now.
Tape it up.
Can't try to take something that's being given. You can't try. You either receive it or you don't. You can't try to earn it. There is nothing you can do on your own.
You either receive that gift that's being given or you don't reach out for it or you tear it in half. Just kidding. This is why when we skip down a little bit, Jesus says it's easier for a giant animal to go through a tiny hole, a camel. He says this because the disciples are like, well, who can be saved then? Because the rich young ruler, this is the man that we thought was the example of faithfulness.
It's like saying, okay, if you wanna go to heaven, you gotta be really fast. You gotta run so fast and beat the rest of the the race field. But then it's like Jesus is saying, oh yeah, and the guy who won the Olympic gold medal this year, he's still not fast enough. And you're like, well then it's impossible. I'm I've never been to like, you know, a high school track meet, let alone an Olympic trial.
There's no way that I can keep up with the leader of the pack. The Olympic gold medal isn't fast enough. The rich young ruler is not faithful enough and that's why he says, what is impossible with man is possible with God. He says, no one is good enough, not even one, but God made it possible. Hell, this is why the gospel is offensive, do you see?
Because I have to tell you and you and you and you and you that you are not good enough, but that should set you free. I don't have to be perfect, but I do have to go to him with my need every single day, thinking too much of yourself. I can be good enough, I can work my way into heaven, I've got this God, I'll just call on you genie in a bottle when I need it. And the second thing that can keep us from understanding our need for him is thinking too much of the world. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world but lose their soul or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
That's Matthew sixteen twenty six. Do you remember the temptations from week two? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. This is how Satan tempted Jesus in the garden or in the wilderness. This is how Satan tempted Eve back in the garden, and the scripture I gave you then was first John two fifteen through 17.
It says, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. But deep down, we kinda hope we can love the world too.
I know I do. I really love my kids. I really really love living in Jackson Hole. I love skiing in the wintertime. I really love my work, my job.
Sorry I wasn't here last week, it's my busy season so I was in California. And I really love the provision that it provides because it gives us freedom to do all these fun things in Jackson Hole. I really enjoy those things, but remember it's not those things themselves, it's the love of those things. It is misplaced worship of the things that are meant to be gifts from the Lord, not means to an end in themselves. Jesus is asking you for everything and it belongs to him whether you give it to him or not.
I'll say that again, Jesus is asking you for everything and it belongs to him whether you give it to him or not. To follow him is going to cost you but not following will cost you everything. What are you holding on to? You can't let go of something, if you can't let go of something, if it's your money, that's an easy one for us to imagine. If somebody asks you today, I am in need of $500,000, and say you have the ability to meet that ability?
Remember the poor woman who gave 2 coins and it was the only thing she had? If someone asks you, I really need $500,000 it's like a life or death, You had the ability, it was sitting in your bank account but you're like, that's it, that's my savings. Could you part with it? Could you? For the right reason, my house burned down like this is the only whatever that looks like.
If you can't let go of something, you don't own it, it owns you. This is how the enemy works, he's trying to distract us with trinkets and treasures and relationships and things of this world because we're wired to worship. He wired our hearts to worship him and it's really easy for that worship to get misplaced. And then the third thing that can keep us is not thinking enough of the kingdom. If you've trusted in Christ, if he is Lord of your life, this broken world is as bad as it's gonna get.
This is the floor. The cancer, the loss of a loved one, the wildfires, the hurricanes, the birth pains, this is as bad as it's ever gonna get. And then you think of those days hiking in The Tetons with all of your girlfriends, you pack a lunch, you're sitting at this high mountain lake, eating with all of your best friends, enjoying the conversation, the sun warming your face, and you're like, this is heaven. It is. It's just a little commercial.
Those high points, that's just a little commercial. We cannot even comprehend how good it's gonna be. But if you don't understand your need for him, this is the ceiling. This is as good as it's gonna get as this world. Oh man, I know that's heavy, but it's important because the rich young ruler missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime.
Could have been the thirteenth disciple, we don't even know his name. He appeared to be a faithful man, but he could not give up the one thing that his heart loved more than the Lord, which was his wealth. He completely missed his need for Jesus. For many of us, Jesus is an add on. He's a priority on our list of priorities but he's not the paper that they're written on.
Comfort, stuff, wealth, we want these things but they don't want us. They will destroy us if we don't use them correctly. They can come at the cost of deep meaning, connection, recognizing your need for Jesus, but Jesus wants you. And what does he want from you? He wants all of you, mind, body, and soul, all of life for all your life.
That's what he's asking. He's asking a lot. But we're created to run on his presence that is the fuel of our very lives. And that rich young ruler is no longer rich, he's not young, he's not ruling anything, and he's not spending eternity with God. Now we don't know.
He could have changed his mind later but ladies, there is an immediacy. When Jesus calls, we have to respond. We're gonna talk about this next week, the parable of the wedding feast, it's gonna lead up to Deborah's last two weeks because what is to come, the disciples have no idea. They were called and they responded, they walked with Jesus, they correctly answered who you say that I am, but then Jesus is preparing their hearts because he's like, guys, it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. I'm going to die, and I know it's not what you signed up for.
And their faith is gonna be tested again, Some of them are even gonna deny Jesus after all of this. It's going to get harder before it gets easier. Every time the gospel is clearly laid out in the New Testament, it's written to those who have believed but have kind of forgotten what that means. I'll say this again, every time the gospel is clearly laid out in the new testament, it is written to the believers that have kind of forgotten what it means. This is my best summation of the gospel in one sentence, I borrowed it from Jonathan Piclouda at Harris Creek Baptist Church.
All of our sins, past, present, future, fully, freely, forever forgiven. He took it all. Everything that we've done, everything that we're doing today, everything that we will do. Ladies, you do not have to be perfect but you have to recognize that he is the only one who can reconcile us. This is not a book of rules.
I've said it a couple times. This is the greatest love story of all time. It is a story about God coming to rescue you and it's meant to set you free. I'm gonna close with this. There's a children's book from the seventies and if I don't know if we're doing closing worship but if you all wanna come back up.
There's a children's book from the seventies called Thunderhoof written by Sid Hof, and it's a story about a wild horse that just wants to be free. He's happy, unencumbered, running throughout the land, happy as can be until a drought hits and he cannot find food and he cannot find water and he becomes so weak that he can no longer run from the cowboys. And he's caught, and he's taken back to the ranch, and he is fenced in, his worst nightmare. But the cowboy eventually breaks him and leads him to food and water and shelter. This horse, Thunderhuff, he's deeply loved and cared for, and he's safe in the boundaries of this fence that he once feared would trap him.
It wasn't until this little horse submitted fully to his master that he found freedom for the first time. Heavenly father, this is a heavy message today, and I just pray that anyone who's wrestling with the fact that they might not really know you personally yet, God, just remind them there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We're all on a lifelong journey to find you and seek you. And Lord, I just pray that these words, if these these are new words to anybody, that they're encouraged and challenged and convicted, not condemned. And God, I pray that you open hearts and ears to hear the words just like you spoke in parables because the crowds weren't prepared.
God, prepare our hearts so we can hear you and see you clearly. And God, I just ask if there's anything that we love more than you, just bring that to our top of mind today. God, I pray that this is confessed in the confines of our small groups. God, if we are not a 10, if we've never thought about the fact that that's a binary answer, one or 10, God, I pray that you give us confidence to know because you tell us we can know. We can know, Lord.
Give us that peace, give us that clarity of understanding, and God, guard the hearts and minds of all these ladies. Lord, we believe but help our unbelief.
So I was just sitting there thinking because, of course, Lisa tells me that she needs me to do this at the very end. So I don't have a song, and so I'm just praying. Oh, man. Like, I just had this song pop into my head, and the chorus says, I trust in God, my savior. And I think about how how lightly I take it sometimes when I'm just, like, casually talking about Jesus, but he is my savior.
Like, I've been saved through so so much, and I certainly would not be here if it wasn't for the Lord. And there's no casual thing about him. And I'm just, like, like, shaking because I'm like, is my savior and I shouldn't be able I shouldn't be afraid to say that to anyone because they're not gonna keep me sane or alive, spiritually alive, having a hope and a future. And, oh, like like, right now, I just wanna be on my knees because I'm so grateful. Okay.
Let's hope I can make it through this. I'm sorry. I pressed the wrong button. Just want to invite you to stand and use that as a proclamation of him being that. To to that.
We're So if you could be going just lifting up your own song, whatever you have to say to the Lord because he wants to hear it. He wants to be involved because he cares. So if you don't know it, that's totally okay. I'm so so grateful to be here today. I just pray that every heart can feel your spirit that's in this you are more.
You are worth more than everything around us, all of our selfish heart desires, and all everything that the world has to offer. And I'm so, so grateful that you found me in the middle of my mess when I was just a little girl, and I had no light around me. Oh, God, I thank you for pursuing me, and I thank you for all the women that are in this room, God. I pray that we carry your spirit with us everywhere that we go, God, and proclaim your name through our words and our actions, And I pray that we don't take this walk with you lightly because you are our savior, Lord.
