Love Bless Forgive
First B Jackson
2023-08-06

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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There we are. Good morning, everybody. How are doing? It is good to see you this morning. Very good to see you.

What do you say we, stand up and worship in song? I've got an encouraging word from Psalm eight to lead us into worship. It says, when I consider your heavens and the work of your fingers and the moon and the stars which you've set in place, who are we that you're mindful of us, that you care for us? Lord, our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Shall we sing of it?

Is that a yes? All right. Let's sing.

Is this thing on? Yes. Hey. Good morning. How are you?

Really? How are you? Good. Good. That's better.

Yeah. Thank you. I'm glad to be back. I've actually been away. Tanya and Pascal and I have been away for a few weeks actually, which is rare, pretty rare.

And we're back. And before we left, we didn't say much to many. But we were helping as an organization to move some emergency vehicles, four wheel drive vehicles from Scotland to Ukraine. So that's what we have been doing for the past couple of weeks. And they're there.

The organization is amazing. We'll talk more about it at some time when my brain shows back up. Okay? But I love you all and I missed you while we were gone. It was really, really nice.

It was great to have Brad kind of filling the pulpit for two of the weeks and Chris. I mean, what? I knew I was gonna do something silly. Nick for the other and I'm very, very thankful about that. I heard just a minute ago that it's Brad's birthday.

So happy birthday, Brad, wherever you are. Not even here? Okay. Good. We won't have to sing to him now.

Alright. There are announcements. I don't know what they are, but let's find out together. How about that? Hey.

Monday nights at first b. What is it?

Yep. So we will not be down the hall tomorrow, but we're gonna take well, just a few

of us will sign up

for the hoot and hopefully be able to to play with a a bass and a fiddle in here. So Monday night at the the Hootenanny.

At the Hootenanny out at Dorning's. Right?

At Dorning's.

Yep. In the park. We try to do this occasionally. Yeah. Oh, that's good.

That's gonna be fun. Alright. The hootenanny, tomorrow night. And we will get there earlier, but what time does that start? Do you know?

Six. Six ish? Somewhere around there. Come early if you wanna get a seat. That's the way it is.

Hey, there it is. Hey, we've done that before. First BBQ, is that what day is it? I'm serious about this. I don't know what day it is.

Today's the sixth. Okay. So August 27 is our next one. Between services, we'll do a first BBQ. That's fun.

It will be out here on the lawn. Between services is when it gets going, so August 27. There's a kitchen committee forming with minimal commitment required. If you'd contact Nancy Tee, that'd be great. So (307) 699-9789 is her number.

If you have lost something, I don't know, winter coats, water bottles, there's all kinds of stuff. Tennis racket, there's all kind Bibles. Yeah. If you're missing your Bible, you wake up and you're doing your quiet time and you think something's missing. It might be back there in the back of the sanctuary next to the couch.

Old Bills, it's that season. So the given season for Old Bills is August 11 through September 15 this year. You all know what that is, most of you I imagine. It is a way that you can amplify your giving. If you give to First Bees Benevolence Fund through Old Bills, usually it comes out for every dollar in, about a dollar 50 comes out the other side.

So what we use the donations through old bills for is our benevolence fund. We're able to say yes when people are having a hard time and can't afford, say a hotel room or can't afford a car repair, or can't afford whatever. If they come to us and are asking, we can say yes because y'all have donated through this. So that's coming August 11, September 15. There are lots of organizations in town that participate in it, y'all know that.

Tons of other ones like the Good Samaritan Mission and others around town. So if you wanna do that, that's when that's happening. If you want to get our emails, you can sign up for weekly church announcement emails at firstbjackson.org or you can tell us about it and we'll get you signed up. And I think, is that it, Preston? That's the last one.

Anything that I've missed or forgotten? Probably. Would you Yvonne, yes. You may say something.

Today is the tenth anniversary

Bonnie's death. So today is the tenth anniversary of Bonnie Wood. We lost her at 21 years old of her death. And Yvonne and Russ are her parents. And if y'all would reach out to them and just let them know that you love them.

They're taking care of Hayden as much as possible. He's home. He's not with them today, but Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

I understand. Would you all pray with me and then we'll stand and sing. Alright? God, I I just pray for your superintending hand and for your comforting. We, Lord, I need it.

Comfort. We need your help. There are a lot of difficult and dangerous situations in the world right now. Lord, you've called us to be salt and light in a in a world that needs preservation, that needs illumination. God, we are only able to reflect you.

We don't have any other light inside of us. It's you, Lord. So we ask that you would bring warmth to places that are cold, that we ask that you would bring peace to the places that are at war. We ask, Lord, that you would, by your superintending presence and by your Holy Spirit, you would allow us to be a part of what you're doing in this world. God, would you help us to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.

In Jesus' name, I pray, Lord, that you would use your redeemed to be reaching out to others. Amen. Would you stand with us and sing?

Streams river of living water. Turned my bitter into sweet and all my burdens are lifted. He took the shackles off my feet. There's no sound There is joy and there is joy in the morning. Springing up in my soul, there is life worth living.

You are my deliverer. Are my deliverer, feeding my living air. You are my deliverer, feeding deliverer, feeding my my living living air. In. You are are my deliverer, you are my promise

Amen. I've got a great verse to share just in line with that song. It is from first Thessalonians five. It's always be joyful. And that doesn't always depend on circumstances, and we know that, that there is a joy in Christ.

Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances. Let it overflow. Why? Because this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus.

Let's sing seated above seated above God's on this side, perfect in spot this one. Awesome and great is awesome and great is

Wanna share another verse. It's from this one's from Ephesians. It's now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us. That's his power to accomplish infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. Glory to him in the church and in Jesus Christ through all generations forever and ever.

Let's keep singing.

In the darkness, we were waiting without hope and without light till from heaven you came on. There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets. Do a virgin came the word from the throne and his glory to praise to reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost, to redeem whole creation. You did not despise the cross. For believing in your suffering, you saw to the other side knowing this was our salvation,

We'll sing of his resurrection when it started the church. Amen. I love singing these gospel songs. They are so so rich. They're so powerful.

You can have a seat here for for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. We we get to sing savior and friend. This is one of my favorite verses from John.

Jesus says, as the father has loved me, and so I've I've loved you. Now remain in that love. And before we sing, Ray, would you pray?

I will pray. I will pray,

but I also have You caught up. Here we are. So I will pray, but I also have one thing to say. We're gonna have a missionary speaking today. Norris is here.

And so we're gonna do two offerings today. We're not passing the plates twice because you didn't put enough in the first time. Okay? It's gonna come by this time and this is gonna be just for the general fund for the church, the normal offering but if you just brought one check today, you're gonna drop in the plate. Hold on to it and put it in the second passing of the plate.

That's gonna be for the continuing ministry that Norris is gonna mention while he's up here. So, if you wanna do that, we during COVID, it changed a lot of the way that we did things so you might not be used to seeing us do this. We usually do it four or five times a year. So, this is one of those Sundays where there'll be two offerings and I'll ask God, would you bless both That you'd bless this church to do your will and your way in this community. Lord, among the least of these and among some people, lord, who just don't know you yet, who have financial means, but they just don't know you yet.

God, would you use us to for every socioeconomic stripe here with us, Lord, in this community. But God, we wanna be a part of taking your peace, your reconciliation, your grace, your favor, your mercy, your love to people in the very uttermost parts, Lord. Would you use those who are here gathered in your name to be doing your work on the opposite side of the globe? Lord, would you show us where you want us to be proclaiming? And would you give us the message?

Lord, everything that we have sung so far this morning has been about your spirit doing the work and lighting the flame. God, would you use this fertile ground this morning? Would you plant the seed deep within us and would you cause it to grow? We ask that you'd bless everything that's given, put in these plates, whether it is literal or metaphorical, Lord, that you would use everything that we have and that we're seeding back to you. We're giving it back to you for you to do with it as you please.

Your will, Lord, done in your way. Would you bless this morning? Gift and giver. Amen.

Sweet it is to be given love without end. Just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. I'll all stand alone. I was walking a road.

I'd paid with my sins and You've proven you're true to your word. Seasons will change, but, Lord, you remain with the kindness I don't deserve. Jesus, savior and friend, oh king of all kings. Oh, king of all kings, walking in me. He gives me my confidence, sweet is to be given love without it just to know and live in you goodness Jesus, my savior and friend.

One more Jesus. Oh, my savior and friend.

Now, I'm just gonna introduce and get out of the way this morning. Norris, a lot of you all have known him longer than you've known me. And I've been here a while. But Norris, would you come on up and just tell us what God is doing? I just moved the pulpit out of your way like you're gonna dance.

Sorry. I'll move it back.

I can

dance. Okay. You've got a microphone on.

Is it on? I'm good. Good morning. Good morning. It's always fun to be back here.

We've been here for a few days visiting my big sister, Lane Brown, and my big brother, Norris Brown. Always wanted a big brother and I have one. And, it's kinda fun that we have the same name, Norris, and which is a little unusual. Visiting all our family, Liv and Shiloh and the kids just been so fun for us. We had a little storm up at Jackson Lake last night, and that was fun.

Getting off the lake in the midst of waves and lightning, and it was I love things like that. So one of my bucket list is to be the middle of the ocean on a big sailboat in the middle of a storm. I mean, who wouldn't wanna do that? Right? That's kinda gives you an idea of how I like to think.

Right? It's the way God made me to think that way. And I wanna tell you a little bit about what God's doing through the team that you guys are a part of. And I was sitting with your missions committee this morning praying, and and I tell them I that room is in my mind all the time when I'm traveling because I know that this church prays. This church prays for us and prays for our teams around the world, and it just brought me great delight to be able to pray with him.

So let me pray for us as we begin. So, father, thank you. Yeah. Your presence, your glory. Yeah.

Holy Spirit, would you just move? We bind all voices of the enemy this morning. Only the voices of the Trinity can be heard as we share this time together. We sign your angels around this place as a spiritual perimeter so we could hear clearly from you today what you wanna say to us. So we thank you, father, for that.

In Jesus' name, amen. So one of the things I like to do is set a spiritual perimeter because we have warriors, angelic warriors that are with us. And I I think I've shared in the past how I I know people that can see angels and demons like you and I can see each other. And they tell me that I have a bunch of angels that travel with me, So I like to put them to work and every place I go because they're there. And God is doing things through his blood, through his power, through his presence around the world.

And I'm just gonna give you a few of the things that you are part of because you're part of this team. I like teams. I like to build teams. I like to be on teams. And in The Middle East, where I've been going now twenty years, and I started going there when I was 45 years old, made my first trip to Beirut, met Nadim on that trip, and Holy Spirit told me he was gonna be the guy.

He now leads our team there, and I was just there. I turned 65 in Beirut in March. And sitting at the table with Nadim, we reminisced when it was just him and I sitting there in a little building in Lebanon. And now in that room, part of your team, there were 25 nations represented, 170 Arab leaders, and we crossed over a million followers of Jesus in twenty years. And we just sat there and rejoiced at what God can do because he gets all the glory.

And these are all unknown, ordinary men and women that you would just be so honored to know. And I'm gonna tell you a few of their stories, but every time I think of them, I think of the power of God at work through the least of these and through those who are unseen by the world, overlooked, but God's doing miraculous things. And we just rejoice because God gets all the glory. No. There's no one guy.

There's no expert on the ground that's taken all the credit. It's all just God doing what he does through men and women just like you who have learned how to hear from God themselves, learned how to hear his voice, and learned who they are, and he's doing miraculous things. And in addition, we've been seeing movements of similar things happening in Nigeria and in Uganda, and I've been in India recently and in Nepal. And God just continues to point out men and women that he's been preparing because that's what we do. We go into places and we're not going in with our agenda.

We go in in a posture. What are you doing here, God? Who is it that you have been speaking to that you have prepared for us to know? For us to come underneath from the very beginning and raise them up as leaders. We don't wanna transition leadership from an expat to to a national.

So all of our leaders in every place are all nationals. And then our posture is we come in and serve. We and whatever we train, whatever we coach, whatever we mentor has to be able to be done by every human being who's present, man or woman. So it informs everything that we do. They have to be able to leave the room and go and do whatever it is God's called them to do.

Whoever God has called them to minister to, whatever place that they've been born into. And we say things like, you didn't get to choose your parents. You didn't get to choose your race, where you were born, where you grew up. God chose all of that for you. And you can wish you were somebody else or someplace else all you want.

This is who you are. And what does God wanna do through you in this place where you are? So we're empowering leaders everywhere we go. It's a leadership movement of ordinary men and women who begin to lead and begin to move. Right when I got here, I got I got a text from Nadim Costa, our our guy in Beirut.

And one of our this is being streamed. Right? So I won't I won't say the country. But one of our key leaders in a very, really hard country to be in, who I was just with in March was kidnapped and nobody knew where he was. And this happens on a regular basis.

Our teams are infiltrated and so they arrested him right in his home. They came into his home and took him, and we now kinda know where he is. We still don't know how we're gonna get him out, whether we'll get him out or not. But on a regular basis, the enemy's trying to bring destruction. We've had our leaders tortured, raped, thrown off of buildings, And each time that happens, the church grows.

But the enemy only has the tactics that he has, lies to see, kill, steal, and destroy. And so right now, we're praying for this guy night and day. And similar things are happening to our teams in Uganda. I was on the phone this morning with my with Faisal Katiengue, our Ugandan leader. More persecution, more opposition.

By the way, I'm I'm going to Uganda in September. I made this appeal to Ray and the missions team, and I would love to have somebody from first b go with me on this trip. September 16 through the twenty second, we have a couple spots open. We'd love to have somebody go from here so you could see the scope of the work. In Uganda, it's a young work, and these are young men and women.

And they've been only been at it three years, and they already have 820 discovery groups around the nation. In Islamic universities, they have discovery Bible studies happening. In the ghettos, we have one guy that was he was a gang leader, and I could I could show you a picture of him of when he got beat up by a rival gang and thrown into prison for various crimes that he had committed. While in prison, one of our teammates went to start visiting him. Now he came to know Christ in prison, started doing discovery Bible studies in prison, and he had a long sentence.

In miraculously, he's now out, and he became the I don't know what weight he he boxes it, but he's the Ugandan boxing champion. But everywhere he goes in the ghettos, everybody knows him as this former gang leader. And now he's the the boxing champion of Uganda. So when I travel with him, I feel pretty safe. And you walk through these places and all these kids know his name, and he is the most humble, most tender.

He's been 180 degrees changed, and now he's leading discovery Bible studies all through this ghetto. And it came through this path. Right? Nobody would have expected him to be one of our key leaders. And we have one of our gangs there was having they were getting ready to to do a crime, and they noticed this guy with some other, of our team sitting there, and he was going by the place where they were sitting, and he thought, oh, they're planning some other kind of criminal activity.

I wanna be a part of it. I wanna know what's going on if I can make some money. So he went and just they all greeted him and he sat down with them and they were having a discovery Bible study. And this guy was going, what is going on here? Well, then that brought him into the fold.

And now he his gang, which they were called devil's brigade because they only worked at night. His entire gang came to came to faith because he came to faith and he was the leader. And they've changed their operation and now they make sandals. And I have a pair because he gave me one when I was there last time. And the and I could share story after story of what God is doing through ordinary people like that, that you would look at and say, well, I don't even want that guy in my church, you know?

Because you can go into these ghettos and I I I've been in places I didn't even know where I was because you you're going through I mean, you're squeezing through buildings and if I didn't wasn't with a local, I could have never gotten out. And I said, we passed these churches on the way into these Bible studies. How come they aren't going into those churches? And you can hear them in there on Sunday and they're singing, and he said, well, they don't want these people in their church because they don't look like church people. And unfortunately, that's a that's a pattern.

Christians don't really want to work with the broken, with the Muslims, with the gang leaders because they're it's a risk. But God's doing his work anyway. And now we have those churches coming to us saying, so what's going on over here? You've got all these thousands of people coming to faith. What's going on?

So the church is being brought in because the harvest is coming in, because we have thousands of people coming to faith. So in this this movement that is your part of, your you are teammates with all of this that's going on around the world. And I just want you to be encouraged that your prayers, your support is making a huge difference. It's expanding the kingdom of God. It's expanding the gospel.

And one of the things that I love to think about, I love to think about strategy, and I love to ask questions. The way that we approach, the way that we go into any area, we don't go in as experts, we go in as learners. And we go in and we ask questions. And one of those questions that we were asking was, so what would kingdom results look like in this town or this city or this school or this home? And we let the answers come from the people.

So if the kingdom of God just really was truly present right here, right now, what would it look like? And they start telling us, well, people would have enough to eat. People would get healed. There would be enough for everyone. In the kingdom of God, there's always enough.

And they began to describe what the kingdom of God on earth would look like in this place from their perspective. And then the next question is, okay, so what kind of kingdom leaders are gonna be needed to see those kinds of kingdom results happen. And all the all the answers come from them. It doesn't come from us. And they describe what a kingdom leader would look like.

Right? They would be honorable. They would have a a walk with Jesus that would they could be seen and felt. They would love the lost. They would know God's voice for themselves.

Very simple things, but what does a kingdom leader look like? Then the next question is what are the weapons given to that kingdom leader to actually accomplish and see those kingdom results come to pass? So what are the weapons of the kingdom that we've been given? The word. What are the weapons of the kingdom?

I like weapons by the way. You know, and I can say this here. I can't say this in some places I go. I actually reload my own ammunition. Right?

I like shooting. But those aren't the weapons that accomplish things for the kingdom of God. What are they? Love. Prayer.

Prayer. Faith. Acceptance. Acceptance. Forgiveness.

Forgiveness. Whoo. From the child. Yeah. Truth.

Truth. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. And we all this is just coming out of you. I didn't say any of these things.

And we just we just start making a list up there. Okay. What so how how do we do that? And what always emerges are things like forgiveness and love. And another one that wasn't mentioned that always comes out is blessing.

The power of blessing. By the way, when do I need to be done? Do we have another service? Just tell me what time. It starts at eleven.

It starts at eleven. Okay, what time do I need to be done? 10:30? You wish you for ten? I better I better hurry.

So now you you've heard these results that are happening in other places, but I just wanna tell you what has happened to my family personally as a result of exercising kingdom weapons. Right? And I'm gonna be real personal, and I have permission to share this from my son-in-law and my daughter, but it is employing these weapons, not the weapons that I wanted to use, but employing the weapons of the kingdom have produced things that we never thought were gonna be possible. When my son-in-law asked for my daughter, Lacey's hand in marriage, and, you know, that was that was that was a big ask. Right?

And but he lied to me, and he told me things that he had done things, he had forgiven his father, he had done this work, and that he was ready to go. And he hadn't. And that started to emerge after they got married. And and I started to get angry. You know, I and I I'm pretty good when I'm dealing with brokenness because it's not in my own household, and I can have more compassion.

I did not have compassion for my son-in-law, David. I was angry, and I wanted to hurt him. I that those were the weapons I was envisioning in my head because he was hurting my daughter, and then he was hurting my grandchildren. And so about a year and a half ago, I was praying, and and I was saying things in my prayers that were curses. And and I'm and I hear from God.

God has been speaking to me since I was a little boy, and I heard his voice so clearly say, Norris, will you shut up? And I was startled by what I was hearing. I said, what do you mean? He said, you're aiding and abetting the enemy because you have authority. We sang about authority.

He said, you have authority over your daughter. You have authority over your son-in-law, and you're cursing him, and your words carry weight. And I don't wanna aid in a bit the enemy, so I started asking God, so what? What? He goes, bless him.

He doesn't deserve it. Bless him anyway. I don't want to. Anybody ever felt like that? I don't want to bless this person.

They're hurting me. I don't want to forgive this person. And here I had been teaching this, and I couldn't do it in my own family. Couldn't do it with my own son-in-law. And I had to start repenting before God.

I said, God, would you forgive me? And Laura and I went after this in prayer. Would you forgive me for the curses that I put on my son-in-law? And it would I would have to do it twenty, thirty times a day because all that anger would come back in. I'd have these thoughts, and I'd I'd say, okay.

I break that I break that curse right now in the name of Jesus because curses carry weight. And we learned all this with when I was hanging out with Nadim, Nadim can see in the in the spirit world. And he was saying something in anger to his son one day and watching the demonic move in response to his words towards his own son. So we begin to learn what is this power, and what does it say in James? Out of this mouth comes what?

Blessing and cursing, and it ought not to be this way. And then reading in the old testament all the how nations got changed by a blessing or a curse, and so there's weight that we carry in these places where we have authority. So we began to just change our prayers. And we're whenever I felt those curses coming out, I would I would stop, and I would say, oh, no. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna help the enemy.

I bless my son-in-law. I bless him. I bless his mind. I bless his heart. I bless his marriage.

I bless his business. And we would go around and we would pray blessing around their house and we would sign angels to their house. And we never I never spoke to David because he didn't wanna speak to me anymore. Because I said to him one day because they they have a our grandson, Abraham Abraham had a stroke when he was born. And so third of his brain died on his left side, and he can't really use his right hand or his right leg very well.

He's six years old now. Amazing boy. But I said these these words came out my mouth. I said, David, you're now using your son just like you use your father as an excuse for poor behavior. Which was probably true but it wasn't set in love.

It wasn't, it was just, it crushed him. And I had confessed that came out of my mouth to him. And I had to repent of that. So we just kept praying. Praying blessing.

Love, bless, forgive. Love, bless, forgive over and over and over again. And and you can actually he he he spoke at our church on Father's Day. My son-in-law gave his testimony of how he came to my house and said, I'm sorry. Would you forgive me?

And I embraced him, and I said, of course. And when he left, Jesus said, that's what I can do If you use the weapons that I gave you, that's what I can do. And they're counterintuitive to me. They don't come naturally to wanna love and bless. I mean, I don't wanna bless the guys who kidnapped my friend.

I don't wanna bless the people that have raped my teammates. I don't wanna forgive them, but I've learned some things by being around those people. And it came home to roost at our house, in our home. And my son-in-law has made a 180 degree turn. And on Father's Day, he his own father who who he also called, he ends he didn't his father had never met his grandchildren because he said, I don't ever wanna see him again.

That that's how much hate was there because he'd been abused. And he called his own father and forgave his dad. And his dad asked him to forgive him. Then he called his daughters and asked them to forgive him. And he flew out on Father's Day from Chicago to be at that service knowing what was gonna be said about him, and he endured it because he wants relationship.

And for and David will say now, he goes, forgiveness is like magic. What it did. And he didn't want to forgive his father. He didn't want it. He wanted that he wanted to hold on to that vengeance and that wound, and that doesn't produce the kingdom results that we're looking for.

And when you sit with people who were saying, you're having to ask them to forgive the people that killed their husband, killed their son, raped their daughters. I'm real quiet in those meetings because it's gotta be the Holy Spirit that does something like that. And now you'll hear hear testimonies of these women who some were dragged out and raped in public. And they'll say, they're not they're not angry. They're not bitter.

They're not shaking their fist at God saying, why didn't I thought this was a god loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. Well, that's not wonderful. But Jesus' promise is what? I'll never leave you or forsake you. I'll be with you.

I'll be with you. God with us and that's their testimony. Jesus is with me. He was with me in the midst of the hell on earth I was going through and he's with you. He's with me.

We were born for a relationship with the trinity. That's why we exist and they're always with us. What did David say? Even if I go to the depths of hell, your presence doesn't leave me. And many of us have experienced hell on earth.

Some of you may still be. God is with you. What does he look like? What does he sound like? We're sharing with the missions group.

You know, we're we do a good job of teaching people how to have quiet time, And I have it, but I'm not consistent at it because I I don't think that way. I I have ADD. Sitting still for an hour is really hard. Always has been. But God said through a woman twenty years ago, Norse, God wants you to know, he likes the way he made you.

And he's gonna speak to you while you're moving because that's how he made you. That's how you hear his voice. Then you don't have to hear his voice like somebody else. What does this voice sound like? And we we no longer are saying, oh, I'm so busy.

Like, somehow, we're too fast for God. He can't keep up with our busy lives. What if we started instead of teaching quiet time, we began to say, let's learn how to hear God's voice in the chaos because I'm 65. My life's never been busier. When am I gonna finally have time to hear from God?

What does this voice sound like in the busyness? Let's not let's not let the enemy be lord of anything because Jesus is lord of all, even your busy life, even your the chaotic his voice is there. What does it sound like in chaos? In your busyness. And if we became known as people that could hear his voice at all times, what does it sound like?

There was this one little boy, and he'd been locked in a closet most of his life by his parents in the darkness. And we're asking him that question, what is what is the voice of Jesus sound like to you? What does he look like? And he closed his little eyes and he said, he's building me a house of Pringles. What does that mean?

He come to find out that's what he was that was his food every day. His parents would throw him a can of Pringles. It's the only comfort he had. And Jesus showed up building him the house out of Pringles. And it just shows the tenderness of Jesus, the intimacy with which he knows each of us, and the power he has to show up in every broken part of our life.

He's there. He's not mad at you. He's not upset with you. He's not wanting you to be somebody else. He doesn't talk like that.

He likes who you are. He's not condemning you. We we do a good job of condemning ourselves. That's not God's voice. That's not how his voice sounds.

And we're watching ordinary men and women just like us learn how to hear God's voice for themselves. And those were early lessons in my life from my dad. I was I don't know how old I was, 16, 17 years old, and I got called before the elders of our church, Almaden Valley Christian Church, and they were questioning my salvation because I was so violent. I loved knocking people out. I loved physical violence in every form, and I played football really hard.

And my goal was to knock as many people out in the game as I could. And they questioned whether I could call myself a Christian and have that attitude. And so my dad, we went home. He took me to acts twenty twenty one and twenty two. It says, Paul sailed past Ephesus and landed in Miletus and all the elders came from Ephesus and they even prophesied and and he said and they were telling him the truth.

In the spirit, they were telling Paul, don't go to Jerusalem. Death and chains await you there. Paul's answer was, well, even if death and chains await me, that's where God's telling me to go. He could have stayed and had a wonderful teaching ministry in Ephesus. They all wanted him to stay.

And he looked at me and he said, what does what is God telling you to do? I said, I'm I think he wants me to keep playing. And that lesson, that day, he said, you have to know God's voice for yourself. And you even if you're alone, you have to obey. You have to do what he tells you to do.

And it doesn't mean it's gonna be successful. I don't think Paul got to, you know, about to get his head chopped off going, yes. Finally reached the goal of my life to get my head chopped off. Success and failure look different in the kingdom of God. Success might mean you die, but you've obeyed God and you've went somewhere because he told you to go there.

And we have had people who you know, because if you're a a really good Muslim, the idea of dying for what you believe, you've already settled that issue. You're willing to blow yourself up for a lousy cause. So for them, dying for Jesus, okay. What an honor, they'll say. But to us, it looks like failure, not to God.

So learning what does the kingdom of God look like? What are the weapons that you've been given? Love your enemy. Bless those who persecute you. Consider it all joy when you encounter these various trials.

In everything, give thanks. That was a passage you read today. In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. It's hard. And I don't even I I I know don't know all of your stories.

I know you've got hard stories. I know you've got horror in your life or in your past. Jesus was there. And I know I'm over time. I'm just gonna one do you?

Okay. I'm following the leader here. One of the passages of scripture that we use when we help people to understand that Jesus was with you real time is Luke 22 verses 61 six 61 or 62, and this is one gospel where it says, and when Peter denied Jesus for the third time, and it says, and Jesus looked directly at Peter. And at that time, Jesus is getting his beard pulled out. He's getting slapped around.

What did he want Peter to know in the midst, in the moment of arguably the biggest failure of his life? And I asked that group that question the other night, said he wanted him to know that he still loved him. So you can sit with Jesus in any memory. Your biggest failure, he was there. He's not fickle.

He doesn't leave. Just because we fail him, He doesn't leave us or forsake us. And he looked at Peter right in the eye. I love you. I see you.

Don't let these failures define you. You're still the rock. And he's saying the same thing to you. Just sit with him and look him in the eyes and see what he's saying to you. And love, bless, forgive.

It's the weapons that actually bring kingdom results. So, father, thank you for this time. Would you help us to become men and women that are marked by love and forgiveness and blessing? You set the bar for us, Jesus, with self sacrificing, other centered, unconditional love for your enemies. That's the bar you set for us.

Help us, Lord. Be our strength to love. Be our strength to forgive and to bless, and we'll give you all the praise and the glory for what you are going to do. In your name, amen.

We're gonna we're gonna sing the same power that raised Jesus from the grave. We're gonna sing that song, and I'm gonna ask the ushers if they would come forward. Usually, we'd stand right now but it's easier to do this if y'all are sitting. So, after the plates go by you, go ahead and stand up and join us. Consider the words of the song as we're going in this offering that's been taken up right now is for the ministry around the world, for the team that Norris is a part of.

So, God, we ask for your blessing that we would recognize that same power. I know as I preach, each week expository stuff, and it's just text, text, text, text, text. A lot of times I'll close with, if God's asking you to do something, just do it. God, I'm praying that you would impress upon us, that you would grow in us a sense of discernment to see what it is that you want for us individually to do and that we'd be willing, Lord, and active about doing it. Ask your blessing on this offering in this closing.

Amen.

And I can't walk down this dark and painful road that I can't face. Every fear of the power that on the raging sea lives in us, lives in us. It lives in us, Lives in us. And we have hope. We have hope.

That his promises are true in his strength. There is nothing we can't do. Yes. We know. And there are greater things in store.

We will not be overtaken. Same power that on the raging sea lives in us, lives in us, lives in us, Let's sing that again. The same power that blows Jesus from the grave, the same power that commands the dead to wake lives in us,