Pack the Essentials
First B Jackson
2023-06-04

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

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Alright. Good morning, church. How are we doing? Is everyone is everyone wide awake? How about then we stand together and we'll start by worshiping in song, with there is power in the blood?

A little verse a word of encouragement to get us there. Revelation 12 verse 11, and they overcame him, the enemy, by the blood of the lamb. Let's sing. There's power in the blood. In the old rugged cross.

Let's sing of it. And you can have a seat here for a moment. We've got some announcements.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to First Baptist Church. So glad to see your, wonderful smiling faces. There's a lot going on at First Baptist Church, and we try to put it all on the website. We wanna hit a couple of details while we're here.

So tomorrow night is Monday night here at First Baptist Church. It's a great opportunity to get together to meet a different group of folks. Meal, music, and message. Felix and Guadalupe are gonna be cooking tomorrow. And if you haven't been for one of their meals, you owe it to yourself to stop by.

And you're preaching on Mark? Mark eleven, the passion week, and the beginning of the passion week. And so come get filled with passion. And we also have the solid rock tour. This is a Presbyterian church event where they have a bunch of kids coming from Africa to sing.

Also a very joyous event and a great way to show our connectivity to all the other churches in town too. So go go support. It's it's a fun thing. Pets Unleashed Vacation Bible School is coming up. We need volunteers of all ages.

Would you would you stop by? Would you consider signing up? And also, kids can register online as well as adults or at the table back there. If you have any questions, ask Liz or myself. But it's super fun.

It's really energetic, and we could really use some extra hands. The church camp out too. This is coming up here, and we're gonna go down to Palisades Lake this year. So don't go up to Grand Teton National Park where we normally are. We're gonna be down here.

I mean, go go up there, but we won't be. So Mike Demetrius is our contact person. Would you give him a call because it's big open space. We don't know exactly where we're gonna be yet because it's there's no reservations that can be taken. But bring your floaty toys, bring your camping stuff, and it's a great way to meet people.

And even if you just wanna come for the day or just one night or whatever, we we can we'd love to have you there. So I think that's it for right now. The Eons, this is their last Sunday here. So we we celebrated down the hall with them. We love them and I I think we're gonna pray at the end.

Yeah. So if anybody can do all of the things that they could do, we could use your help because we have a lot of big holes that were formed by that lovely family. So if you can play piano and sing and banjo and guitar and mandolin and clean and teach and do Sunday school and VBS and Juana, let us know because we could we could use just a few positions opening up. We love you guys and we'll I guess we'll pray for you guys at the end. But we're gonna pass it off to Mike for graduation Sunday.

Alright. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. Thanks for doing that. Guys, today's an exciting day.

We have got a lot of seniors that are graduating and heading off to the next phase of life. So I'm gonna just, we'll go through their names, show you some pictures. Matthew Fisher, is headed off to Gonzaga University. Really excited to be sending him off there. We've got Caleb Lundy headed to Point Loma Nazarene University.

That's out in California. And then Adam Olson also graduating. With his older brother and older sister have graduated now. He is the third and last of the Olson family that is graduating and also headed to Point Loma Nazarene University. And then we've got Wyatt Ross headed off to Montana State to study mechanical engineering.

Now Wyatt also got a scholarship this summer where he's gonna get his pilot's license this summer before he goes off to college to get a degree in mechanical engineering. So super excited for him. So look for him up in the sky as he's flying around. Ethan Saunders is gonna head off to UC Boulder. So kids are just going all over the place.

And then we've got Aiden Clemmer. He's gonna be or Anika Lampa gonna be right here. We'll go to Anika. Anika is gonna be going up to Wisconsin, Minnesota. I know it's somewhere cold.

Minnesota. She's gonna be studying up there at Bethany Global University. And then Aiden Klimmer is gonna be doing a gap year, and he's gonna be serving down at Habitat for Humanity, serving our community there. So we're excited to be sending these seniors off. We have one more that I don't have a a photo for.

It's Timothy Pepin, and he's been helping out with youth group a lot. And he is graduating, and he's gonna be going to Azusa Pacific out in in Los Angeles, California. So lots of kids going off on their way, and I would invite you guys to pray with me right now as we pray for these students. Father, thank you that you know each and every one of these students. God, you know their hearts, you know the challenges and struggles that they face.

And God, I just ask that you will meet with them in those struggles, that you will guide them on the path that you have for them. You will reveal yourself to them in in a very real and tangible way that they can continue to walk with you in the in the years to come and that you'll just bless their path and and bless those that they encounter. We we love you and we thank you for your faithfulness in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen.

Alright. Thank you, Mike. And can we give Mike a hand too because we appreciate him as a youth pastor and shepherd. He shepherded these kids for many year many years, including my own. I'm just thankful for you, Mike.

So thank you. And should we stand and sing again? Why should he love me so? Christ loved the church. He gave himself up for her.

This is such a good verse and so true. No one can say, Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to do the good work of convicting and convincing that we would even be able to say Jesus is Lord. Shall we sing? His name is wonderful.

You can have a a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving, and a big thank you to Julia and to Emily this morning for for joining us in song. It's so good to have the the the range of vocals and just bring these songs to to life. And, also, Steve Baldock. Are you here, Steve?

Hey. Steve, would you mind, praying here?

Always these microphones. Let's pause and pray real real quick. Heavenly father, we we probably came here for a lot of reasons today, but one of them is to worship you. You're the Lord God and there's no other. And we worship you for who you are, and we just wanted to take a minute here to put some offerings in this plate, our money and our lives and our skills and abilities.

Please use us any way you want to further your kingdom. Thank you for letting us come to church today. Amen.

Thank you, Judy. And can see Mike's up here, and he's gonna be sharing this morning, he gets to share the good news, to share the good news. And this was a message that was really tailored for our graduating seniors. But I said, Mike, this is for all of us at every age. We should never grow tired of hearing the good news of the gospel.

We need to we need to hear it and preach it to ourselves daily. So before you share, Mike, can I just pray and

and give

thanks? Lord, thank you for your word, a a light to our feet, a a a to our path. And and we pray, God, that you would use Mike's personality to share your word. We we fill up on on on bread, but, God, you are the the bread of life. And and we ask, Lord, God, that the the scripture would make its home make its home in our hearts, that it would encourage us and it would spur us on, and we thank you that we get to hear it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Carl. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Michael Demetrius. I'm the youth pastor here at First Bee, and so honored and privileged to get to serve our community in that way.

We've got incredible students, incredible parents, it's really tough on our high schoolers here in this valley. I equate it to I feel like these kids are in Afghanistan to some degree because they do not have a lot of other believers around them. When they go to church here, I mean go to school here, there's a lot of not Christianity going on. So I just acknowledge that our students have kind of an uphill battle that they're they're facing. So thankful for our seniors, thankful for them marching forward to the best of their abilities to carry out the purpose that God has for their lives.

As we get started, I'm just gonna get situated here, but I have a question for you. Oh, and when I prepared this message, I used a lot of scripture. So there is little cards in the back of the seat pockets in front of you that's going to have a bunch of the scriptures that we're going be going through. There's also a little pencil if God uses me to say anything that is useful, jot it down so that it doesn't just float away into the abyss. Make sure you make a little note of it so that hopefully it can bless you on your path.

Everything that I'm saying here I believe to be true. Some of it is going be my perspective. A lot of it is going to be the Bible and I'll try to let you know when we're doing something from both. I want to say that all truth is God's truth. So if you hear something here today and it makes sense and you like it, take it with you.

It's not mine. All truth is God's truth and it's for us. So let me ask you, what comes to mind when you hear the words pack up? What does it mean to pack up for you? And I work with a lot of youth and we go back and forth.

I talk to them and they talk to me. So I'm going to ask you guys to interact with me a little bit. What comes to mind when I say pack up? Going somewhere. Going on a trip, right?

And I think that's what it is for me too. I talked to Tim Dalton one time and he was telling me, you know, I think life is all about loading and unloading. Loading and unloading, that's all you really do. You go to the grocery store, you load up the groceries, you get to the car, you unload them from the basket into the cart, you get home, you unload them from the cart into the house, into the refrigerator, then you slowly unload them, then you do it all again. You pack for the trip, you get to where you're going, you unload everything into the house or the campsite, then you load everything back up and then go home and you unload it again.

It's just loading and unloading. And as we roll into summer, I know this is true for me. I feel like I'm always packing for something and then unpacking when I get there. And if you're like me, you've probably gone on a trip or maybe it was even just a sporting event outside here and you felt a little unprepared like you didn't have the essentials. Maybe you're at a football game and the sun goes down, the wind kicks up a little bit and you go, I really wish I had that jacket just hanging right by the door or I wish I had that umbrella right inside that closet at home.

And then we know what it's like to be unprepared and not have the essentials when we need them Or maybe you are like me when you've had a trip and you pack up and you load up a bag and then you go on this trip only to come home and go, I drug this hunky suitcase around and I didn't even wear half this stuff. I just hauled it all over the place. And you find that you had some non essentials inside your bag. Could you pass me that water please? One of the keys is to take the essentials, to have the essentials and not the non essentials, excuse me.

So, today I have to confess before we get started, I do have a problem with backpacks. Many people in the first service already talked to me about it and I'm okay with it, alright? But as we roll into summer, I find myself always packing up and I know that if I'm going go on the river or I'm going go on a hike and it could rain, I want to take this backpack. This backpack is waterproof, good taped zippers, it's also got a flap that as long as I roll it properly, I can take this down the river with me in my jacket and my towel, my food, it won't get wet. So some days it's essential that I take this backpack out.

I like this backpack and it's a great one. It's not good for every day though because there's some days in the fall that I like to go out and I like to go hunting. When I go out hunting, my brother-in-law just got this pack for me and I am pumped on it. So this is a great day pack for hunting because what it does is it gives you the ability to slide a rifle in from the top so I don't have to have a sling and be fighting it all the way up. I'll do that when I get up to where I'm going to hunt but when I'm just hiking in the middle the night, sometimes it feels like the middle of the night.

The early morning, it's still dark and I'm trying to get up above those elk. I slide the rifle in the back and then I don't have to worry about it. It's comfortable. I can get where I'm going with the essentials that I'm going to need for when I get there. So this pack is awesome for those fall hunting trips.

I'll set this right over here. But those packs do two different things and they have different essentials that will go in each one. But some days, I love to get up there on the Teton Crest Trail and spend a couple of days back there in the back country. And if I'm going way up that high and I'm going to be back there a couple of days, I need a little bit bigger pack. I need something like this, you know, something between 30 or 40 liters that's going to be able to fit my tent.

I'm going be able to get a nice sleeping bag in there. If I get up there ten thousand feet up there near Marion Lake behind the tram, it's going get cold at night. If I don't have my sleeping bag, it's going to be a rough time up there. So I go with a little bit bigger pack where I can get everything that I need, all the essentials in there. But I wouldn't want to take this say just down to the little market to get a couple of tangerines or anything, that's too big for that.

So some days that pack is essential but knowing where I'm going and what I hope to do when I get there helps me determine the essentials and pick the pack that I need. Does this make sense? Okay. This next pack, this is a good one. So this pack, it's a great backpack.

Okay? I can fit my lunch, some water in here, great little day pack. But the reason this pack is so special to me and it kind of looks like the other ones, but I have a four year old and a four month old and one thing I know about my four year old is he's excited to go hiking. He likes to go hiking for about 400 yards. Okay?

And that's where this pack comes into play because it's got all the pockets as normal, but it also allows me to unzip from the side and there's actually a kid carrier in here so I can stuff him right here in the back and we can keep on hiking and we're going to get to our destination and do what we hope to and we're all probably going to be pretty happy because he's going to be not exerting all of his energy and we're going to get there and we're going to have a good time. So some days, if we're going on a hike and I'm taking my four year old, I need a kid carrier. That's essential for what we're trying to do. If I don't have this, we probably won't make it where we're going and we're probably not going to do what we hope to do. So, this is a special pack.

I'm actually going to I'll keep this one up here. We'll use it for a little illustration. Fantastic. This next pack. This one is really special.

Okay? When I look at this pack, I've got more memories with this pack than any other pack. This is a pack that has been for me, been with me through just about everything. This is one of the first packs I got. I mean this pack has been around the world with me.

The thing I love about this pack is I can roll it up and I can stick it inside one of my other packs. Okay? This pack is essential. It goes with me. I can roll it up, put it in another pack Then I've got my clothes, my tent and everything, but if I'm just going to do a quick little trip to the market, get a couple of tangerines or mangoes, I take this pack.

If I'm just exploring, this pack has been to Myanmar with me. It's been all through Southeast Asia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam. Gosh, it's been through Europe with me. It's been to Spain, Italy, Greece, Morocco, England. It's been all over the place and this one is the one I'll put my essentials in.

Whenever I'm travelling and I like to travel light, I go through hostels, right? So I'm paying $10 a night and I'm staying in a place with a whole bunch of other travelling hippies and not everyone is honest. But in this pack goes my essentials and whenever I travel, I haven't traveled in a while, but my sequence of importance would always be most important thing I have on me. Does anybody know what it is when you are outside the country? A passport.

That is an essential. So passport, money and before the cell phones got so big it would be a camera. Now it would be a cell phone. But those would be the essentials. If my socks get stolen, the goes on.

Shorts, shirt, the show goes on. Passport gets me back into my country of origin. So I have to protect that. That's the one thing that I'll fight dearly for. Everything else, if someone wants to steal my bag, it's alright.

I've got my money. I can buy some more stuff. Does this make sense? But you have to know those essentials before you start. This pack today is going to illustrate the essentials.

So as we wind down to the end of this school year and I'm looking at my seniors, I always go, do they have it? Do they have the essentials? And when I'm asking myself this question, I'm not I'm not talking about the rug for their dorm room. I'm not talking about the the mini fridge that they're gonna need or the shower caddy or the shower curtain or any of this stuff. They can get that stuff at Target.

Do they have the essentials? Do we prepare them spiritually? So I ask you, think about it. If you could tell our seniors, here's the essentials, here's what you need. Hey, I know you think these things are so important right now.

Those are not essentials. You could leave those out of your bag and be okay. I mean, do you know what those things are? Would you have that advice for them? It's got me thinking going, what are the essentials?

What are the things that they need to know, need to have as they embark on the rest of this journey called life? So I've thought about this and well, let's open up this bag. This message was prepared out of a series that we just did with our middle school students called Famous Last Words where we looked at Jesus hanging on the cross. He's hanging on the cross. He's already being crucified to take away the sins of the world.

He came, lived that sinless life. Now he is hung on a cross. The criminal on his right, the criminal on his left. Everyone around, the people that are there, they're all murmuring. I saved other people.

Let's see if he saves himself. They're almost breaking out the popcorn watching this show. See if Elijah comes and gets him. One of the soldiers that are around, they're kind of mocking a little bit too. Yeah, I saved other people.

Let's see him save himself. One of the thieves, the criminals on the cross speaks up. He says to him, hey, you saved other people. You saved we want you saved all these other people. Why don't you save yourself and us?

Jesus hanging on the cross right in the middle. The other thief finally steps in and he says, hey, we're getting what we deserve. We're this punishment is just. This man's done nothing. And he turns to Jesus and some of his famous last words.

And he says to Jesus, he says, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? There's the acknowledgment of who Jesus is and the role that he has. That he is this is the innocent, spotless, sinless, lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world. Would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And Jesus says something that blows me away, and it should blow all of us church folks away.

He says, today, you will be with me in paradise. The essentials. How did he do it? How does this guy make it in? I mean, Jesus didn't ask for any resume, no rap sheet.

I mean, hey, let's see your giving schedule. What's your church attendance been like? Have you talked to your wife lately? There's none of that. What's your prayer life like?

Are in a small group? Jesus doesn't do any of that with him. There's the acknowledgment of who Jesus is and just asking for some grace. So this first bag, it represents let's see what we got in here. Represents grace.

It represents grace. It's Ephesians two eight, I believe. Ephesians two eight says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works so that no man can boast. Grace.

Grace is a gift from God and it comes from this bag. As we differentiate the essentials, we've got to put grace on this side. We're going to call this bag number one. The other part that was essential from Ephesians two eight is faith. Faith.

Faith. What is faith? Faith is belief that God did look down from heaven and he looked and he goes, mankind is sinful. There's a separation between me and them. A separation that's so big they're never going to be able to make up that gap.

There has to be a just penalty for this sin. And he looked down from heaven and he went, I'm gonna send my son. He will be the sacrifice. I will punish my son in their place. He sent Jesus to earth and flesh just like we were, and Jesus died the death we should have died.

And the Bible tells us that for those who put their faith and trust in Christ, we will have eternal life. So faith in the grace of God and Christ's finished work on the cross is essential. So we're gonna put that in this bag too. These are essentials. Grace and faith.

This is salvation, And this is what that thief on the cross had. He was shown grace by his faith that Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, would you remember me? I think this is essential. This is our our first foundational step. And if if there's anyone in this room that has not put their faith and trust in Christ and his finished work on the cross, I wanna encourage you, that door is open.

That is a whosoever would believe God has that for you. Well, what about all this other religious church stuff that we do? What about I mean, what are some of these things that are that church people do? Can anyone name any of them? What are the things that we do in church people?

Pray. Absolutely. Communion. What are some other ones? Worship?

Go to church. Attend in church. Serve. Serve. Worship, singing.

Reading God's word. Right? So this second bag, I believe that inside this second bag, this is where we walk with God. This is what we do. If Jesus died on a cross that we might have right relationship with God again, that's our foundation.

The second bag is what we do with that. This is where we I mean, the Bible says, you draw near to me and I'll draw near to you. It's the idea that we can get closer to God, that we can move in his direction under one condition. We will never put God in our debt. I told the students earlier, you're never gonna read your Bible and God give you an a.

You can't put God in your debt. We can't do things and then God owes us anything. Well, God, you gotta give me the spouse. I've been reading my Bible and going to church lately. You gotta give me a good girlfriend or boyfriend.

God doesn't work like that. We press into God for who God is because we wanna grow closer to him. This is the bag where we fulfill the purpose and calling on our life. This is when we get with our heavenly father, our creator, we say, who am I and how does all this work? And where God starts to disciple us into who he called us to be.

So inside this bag, yeah, we've got our reading, we've got our praying, we've got our worship, we've got our serving, we've got our loving one another. We have these things inside this bag but they do not make it into this bag. These things do not come into this bag. We will never be okay with God because we read our Bible. We might draw near to him, but we're never gonna show up to heaven with a resume.

The Bible says that our good deeds are filthy rags before God. We show up by the blood of the lamb, by the sacrifice, by the grace that God has shown us in our faith and trust in that. But then there's other things inside the bag. No secret, Galatians tells us that God aims to put certain things into our heart and life by the power of his Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control.

And I'm sure some that there aren't even words for. That God just does it in us. These things happen through surrender and allow yielding our will to his. The second part of that famous last word series that we did with our middle schoolers was we looked at Jesus on the way to the cross before he got there and we see where where Jesus had his own will and where he says to to his disciples, go rest over there. He goes into the garden and he kneels down and he begins praying.

The Bible tells us that he's sweating blood at this point. He's in anguish. And he goes before his heavenly father like he's done throughout scripture. He goes and talks directly with his father from a lonely position, a solitary place, but this time, it's a little different. Jesus goes to him and he says, God, would you take this cup away from me?

Like, Jesus is looking. He's our he knows it. He's already told other people, I'm gonna be killed for the sins of the world. Not only that, but I'm gonna be raised in three days. So Jesus knows what's coming.

And when he says, would you take this cup from me? He's going, this is about to be hard and I don't wanna do it. But he also follows it up and he says, not my will but yours be done. Let me ask you church, when's the last time you said, not my will but yours be done? When we pray like that and we go, God, this is what I want.

This is what I see for my future, but not my will, but yours be done. You know what's better. Well, Jesus does that on his way to the cross. He goes, I don't wanna do this, but your will be done. And with that, he hauls across across town and gets nailed to it.

And he gets killed by professional assassins to die for the sins of the world, to die for your sins, for my sins. That is the gospel. Inside this other bag, Galatians also tells us that there's things in there that are not good. And these are the things that over time, God will work out. Sometimes he takes them away immediately, other times there's a process what we call sanctification.

It's just a fancy word that means bit by bit. We're working these things out and these things in. So this, this is things, I mean, fits of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions. There's a lot that sexual immorality. A lot of these God works to get out.

He does it through surrender. We don't delete this list on our own. Christianity is not about, I can't do any of these things anymore. I've just gotta white knuckle it by my own strength. I gotta get rid of these, and I've gotta be good.

No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. It is through a surrendering of our will. When I first got saved, I had some bad things in my life. Some of them I was still doing because sometimes we're not perfect and sometimes I would be actively sinning going, God, I know this isn't right and I just need you to know I'm doing it and I'm sorry.

And over time, God worked it out. If we hide it, we keep it. If we surrender it, God heals it. If we hide it, we keep it. If we surrender it, God heals it.

So these things are in this bag. There's so much. So much. And we've got these two bags of essentials then we also have a life that's plagued by non essentials. I use the analogy, I want a Ferrari.

I'll just be honest about it. I like Ferraris. I like the sound of them. I like the idea of going a 160 miles an hour. I like the feel of that hand stitched Italian leather.

I want to use the push button start, all the things. I think it'd be cool. Just not sure it plays a role in the kingdom of God. I'm not sure it's essential. Is it fun?

Sure. If anyone's got a Ferrari and they won't let me drive it, I'm up for that. That'd be sweet. But I used to want them and it made me a different person. Now I want God, that made me a different person.

I still like like a Ferrari, like to drive one, but it's not an essential. It's not an essential. It's not a burden I'm going to carry the rest of my life going I've got to have this. I've gotta have this. I've gotta have this.

I've gotta have these things. I've gotta have these things so God can produce this in me. I bring this up because I think that our students need to know the difference between these two backpacks. That we are saved and we are made right with God not because we're perfect but because Jesus was. That we're never gonna show up to heaven with a list of resume going, God, here's all the things I did for you.

I mean, there's verses there's verses that say alright? Matthew seven twenty one. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, we do not did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles? And then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you.

Away from me, you evil doers. We don't show up to heaven with a resume. Good people don't get into heaven. Do you guys know that, that good people don't get into heaven? Forgiven people make it into heaven.

Forgiven people with grace make it into heaven. But we don't go, God, didn't you see those I let that car out in front of me and I made a tip after church that one day on a Sunday. We don't show up with our good deeds. We show up and go, the blood of Jesus is enough because this is what you said it was, God. So as I think about this, I wanna ask you, and this is me, not Bible, do you see the difference between the two bags?

And do you see how essential it is for this not to make it over here? If any of these make it over here, the devil can convince us that we're not good enough to approach our good and loving heavenly father. You didn't read enough. What's your prayer? You can't talk to God about that.

You haven't even prayed lately. You've been so busy, and the devil will shame us out of our relationship with God. The devil is a liar and he will bait and switch us. This is the message I had for our high schoolers. Here's mine.

Ready? The devil's a liar. In this life, you have to watch out for achievement without fulfillment because when you are getting everything you thought you wanted in life and it is not fulfilling, that should be a red flag that you might be in enemy territory. You might be in enemy territory because the devil lies. He'll say, oh, yeah.

This is gonna be so great. You should just try this. Oh, yeah. Do it that way. You're gonna be great.

God's promises are true. God's promises are true. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. You can't outsend God's grace. The devil will always try to convince you you've done too much, you've gone too far, you are too dirty.

And our heavenly father will always say, come on. Come on. That's fine. That's why I went to the cross. That was my plan the whole time.

I sent Jesus in your place. Now, Galatians three will say, what you've started in the spirit, are you now gonna finish by means of the flesh? It's the idea that when you were dirty and at your worst, Christ died for you. Now you're gonna hide your sin and try to make up for it with good deeds? No.

No. No. It is the grace of God so that no one can boast. It's a gift. So we receive God's grace through faith, and then out of that, we walk with God and we allow him to put in the fruit of the spirit as we invite his Holy Spirit to work in us.

He rids us of the bad. He fills us with the good. This bag is essential. But I will say this, if bag two ever feels too heavy, if it ever feels too burdensome, come back and look inside bag one again. These are our essentials.

Christ finished work on the cross. Jesus died in my place for the forgiveness of my sins. I know that you love me, God. And we can't allow the devil to convince us of anything other than that. What is essential for salvation?

What I just said. By grace through faith. What is essential for us to walk out the calling God has for our life? What's it gonna take? It's gonna take everything you have.

It's gonna take everything you have. Your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, the relinquishing of your will, the not my will but yours be done, and the acceptance of God's will. It's when we look into God's word and we say, God, I really wanna do this, but your word says otherwise. And when our math doesn't line up, we take God's answer, not ours. I mean, the big one on here, sexual morality.

It's like, I love my wife. I'm married now. If I step outside of my marriage, that's outside of God's plan. Probably shouldn't even say this in church, but I'm going to. What if I'm attracted to another woman?

It's happened. If I'm attracted to another woman and I say, oh, this is just my impulses, I'm gonna go that direction. That is a dangerous slippery slope. But I have to look at God's word and he says, nope, Sexual morality is anything outside the context of marriage. I do well to line up with God's word or undermine my life here.

Is it possible to ex I mean, when Jesus was here, he said, pray. My kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven. I don't think he would have prayed that, told us to pray like that if it wasn't possible. Is it possible to experience heaven right here on earth? I think it is.

Is it possible to experience hell right here on earth? Anybody ever seen anybody make decisions that undermine their own future? And they end up in a place where they go, oh my gosh, and their life is in ruin based on lies and deception. No one's ever gonna find out. It's not what Jesus says.

Jesus says what's whispered in the inner room is gonna be shouted from the mount tops. It's all coming out. So we do well. When our math doesn't line up, we take Jesus' answer whether we like it or not. In closing, I think that we need both these bags.

I think Christianity is both of them. And when I was traveling through Southeast Asia, oh, and I went to Morocco one time and as I went into Morocco, I knew nothing about Morocco. I was just in the South Of Spain and I was like, there's the Continent Of Africa. I should go down there. And I remember I get off the boat, hit Tangiers and I'm walking and I see another traveler.

And he's suited up and he's walking fast and he's got his backpacks on like this. Give me just a second. And he's going like this. This is how he's coming across and I said, hey, what do I need to know about this place? And he gave me a rundown.

He's like, go south. Get into where I was at. Hit the sand dunes. It's beautiful. Watch your stuff.

People will steal it. I was like, okay. So he had his essentials up here and his others in the back. And I want to tell you, if this pack ever gets if this pack ever gets too heavy, pack two gets too heavy, come back to this first pack. Come back to this first pack.

We're not gonna show up with a resume of how many times we read our Bible, our church attendance, what our prayer life was like, God, did you see how much giving I had? It's not gonna make it in. It's gonna be the grace of God and faith and trust that Jesus died in our place. That's what gets us in. So as we pack up for summer, I want you guys to analyze, has anything made it from one pack to the other?

Let's check our foundation. What is it that we believe about God? Let me pray for us and hopefully as you pack your bags this summer, this will make sense. Father, we love you. God, pray you'll take the words that were spoken here today and use them, God, to draw us closer to you.

God, show us what is essential and what is nonessential. Everything doesn't count equally, God. But I thank you that you sent Jesus to die in our place. You paid the debt we could not pay. God, the greatest news we'll we'll ever hear, we already know.

I thank you that you'll make that real to each and every person here in this room. Thank you for this church. Thank you for your bride. And thank you that you are building your church and that the gates of hell will not prevail. Pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Alright.

Would you would you stand? We'll we'll sing one last song together, and thank you, Mike. What a strong, strong message. So good to hear. The essentials.

What is it that we have in our essential backpack? Saved by grace through faith. And this isn't of our ourselves. It's a gift from God. And, Blake, I've got, the song from the last service, this I believe.

Our father everlasting, the old creating one, God Almighty. And through your Holy Spirit conceiving Christ the son, Jesus our savior. I believe I believe in God our

And speaking of essentials, have you got a little something too? Yes.

Their family, if they could come up. And guys, they're heading off to Romania to continue doing exactly what they're doing here, loving God and serving people. And we're so grateful and thankful for them. And if you guys wanna come and we could just surround them or extend a hand from where you're at, but I just wanna pray in agreement for these guys. They've been such a blessing and an encouragement to this church body and we we love you guys.

We're so thankful for you. So join me in prayer. Father God, God, thank you. Thank you. Thank you that you are building your church.

God, I thank you for the time that we've had to serve alongside Violetta and Florine and Brianna and Melissa and Andrea. God, I thank you for this family. God, we're grateful for this time. And we just say, God, thank you that you love them. They feel like they're ours, but we know they're not.

God, they're yours. I thank you for everything you've done in their hearts and lives to get them to this point, the hard stuff, the good stuff, all of it. God, thank you for your faithfulness in that. And I pray, Father, that you'll just continue to guide them and be with them and protect them and teach them and instruct them and grow them on this next phase of their life. God, when we can't be with them, there's nothing we wouldn't do for for this family, God.

And I thank you that you share that love for them, God. You birthed that love for them. And, God, I ask you to to do for them what for what we can. God, use this church to bless them. Use them to bless the nations.

I pray for a soft landing in Romania and and work for the hands to do. God, your kingdom is worth it. We give you our lives in an act of service, and we pray that you'll use them, God, to expand and grow your kingdom so that many people can know the greatest news on earth, God, that you have forgiveness. God, everyone spends eternity somewhere and I pray that you can use Violetta and Florine and their kids to expand your kingdom that many might know you, God. So use them, bless them, protect them, guide them, guard them, and use them on this journey.

God, we're gonna miss them. I pray for our hearts, God, that you'll help us mend the void. I pray for our church, God. I know that you'll you'll continue to grow us. Raise up those new leaders and, God, give them leaders under them that they can disciple and grow and fulfill the purpose and calling you have on their life.

God, we love you and we love them. And it's through tears. We just ask, God, that you'd be with them on this this phase. We thank you for it all. In Jesus' name, amen.