Turn Over Your Will

July 14, 2024

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Scripture referenced 11 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Psalm 72 Opening worship reading: 'blessed be his glorious name forever, let the whole earth be filled with his glory'

1 God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.
2 He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
3 The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
4 He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.
5 They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6 He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
7 In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.
13 He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy.
14 He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
15 They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long.
16 Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
17 His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
18 Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.
20 This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse.

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1 Thessalonians 5

Main text for the sermon, covering the will of God, alertness, encouragement, rejoicing, and prayer

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you.

2 For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

3 For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.

4 But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.

5 You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness,

6 so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.

7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.

8 But let us, since we belong to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

9 For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

12 But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,

13 and to respect and honor them in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

14 We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all.

15 See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, for one another, and for all.

16 Rejoice always.

17 Pray without ceasing.

18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

19 Don’t quench the Spirit.

20 Don’t despise prophesies.

21 Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

25 Brothers, pray for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

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1 Thessalonians 4

Mentioned briefly as additional context in Thessalonians, not preached directly

1 Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more.

2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,

4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,

5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God;

6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.

7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.

8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.

9 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,

10 for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more;

11 and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you;

12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.

13 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

15 For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,

17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

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1 Peter 5:6-11

Referenced in connection with humbling yourself under God's hand and resisting the devil; also noted as the current men's Bible study passage

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;

7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.

8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

9 Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.

10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

11 To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

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Galatians 5:19

The works of the flesh listed as a vice list alongside the fruit of the Spirit

19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,

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Romans 8

Referenced briefly as 'you are more than conquerors through Christ,' noted as from last week's reading

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

8 Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

15 For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

25 But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

33 Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Hebrews 13:17

Quoted in context of recognizing leaders: 'obey your leaders and submit to those in authority because they give account for your souls'

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

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1 Thessalonians 5:11

The first Bible verse Pastor Carl's daughter learned: 'encourage one another and build each other up'

11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

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1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Used as the benediction: 'may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely'

23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

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Acts 1

Referenced to show God's people using lots to replace Judas, before the Holy Spirit came

1 The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,

2 until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

3 To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.

4 Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10 While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,

11 who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

13 When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

14 All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In these days, Peter stood up in the middle of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said,

16 “Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.

17 For he was counted with us, and received his portion in this ministry.

18 Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.

19 It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’

20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation be made desolate. Let no one dwell therein;’ and, ‘Let another take his office.’

21 “Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22 beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23 They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

24 They prayed, and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen

25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”

26 They drew lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

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Acts 2

The coming of the Holy Spirit, after which random chance was no longer used

1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky.

6 When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.

7 They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans?

8 How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?

9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”

12 They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

15 For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.

16 But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

18 Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

21 It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know,

23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;

24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

25 For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.

26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;

27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.

28 You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,

31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay.

32 This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.

33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.

34 For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,

35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.

43 Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

44 All who believed were together, and had all things in common.

45 They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.

46 Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,

47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Pastor Carl walked the congregation through Step Three of the 12 Steps alongside 1 Thessalonians 5, showing how the decision to surrender your will to God's will sits at the heart of both recovery and the Christian life. He connected this to a week of extraordinary pastoral weight, including five deaths, three weddings, a premature birth, and the news of the attempted assassination, all of which he framed as the kind of unmanageable circumstances that make Step Three not just reasonable but necessary.

What was said

Steps One and Two lay the groundwork. Step One is the admission that your life has become unmanageable and that you are powerless over your problem. Pastor Carl was direct that this is simply what any good evangelist means when they say you have to get someone lost before you can get them saved. Step Two is coming to believe that a power greater than yourself could restore you to sanity. He acknowledged that in a church setting people want him to just say "Jesus," and he did, but he also held space for the phrase "as we understood him" in Step Three, arguing that it is a statement of humility, not a loophole. It means: my current understanding of God is not complete enough, and I need Him to show me more.

Step Three is the decision point, and Pastor Carl was careful to call it exactly that, a volitional act. You make a decision to turn your will and your life over to the care of God. He said that for many Christians who have had solid theological training from childhood, this step can be the hardest, because they assume they already know God well enough. His own experience was that recognizing he still needed to know God better than he did was the thing that opened the step for him.

He moved into 1 Thessalonians 5 by asking what God's will actually looks like in practice, since surrendering to God's will requires knowing what it is. The Thessalonian church was anxious about end-times teaching, and Paul's response was essentially: that is not the thing you need to be focused on. The day of the Lord will come like a thief, but you are not in darkness, you are sons of light, and that changes how you live right now.

Paul's practical instructions in that passage became a kind of checklist for what a surrendered life looks like in community: be alert and sober, put on the breastplate of faith and love, hold onto the hope of salvation as a helmet. Pastor Carl tied "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God" from 1 Peter 5 into this, noting that giving over your will is how He lifts you up, and that the adversary will keep bringing up old charges even after you have been declared innocent by Christ's blood, which is why staying alert matters.

The middle section of the passage, encourage one another and build each other up, landed personally for Pastor Carl because the first Bible verse his daughter Pascal ever learned was 1 Thessalonians 5:11, and he said he still hears it in her four-year-old voice. He used it to describe what a healthy recovery community and a healthy church share: people a few days further down the road reaching back for the ones just behind them. He connected this to the instruction to recognize those who labor among you, referencing Hebrews 13:17 and pushing back on how that verse gets used by leaders to demand compliance, arguing it is addressed to the congregation as an invitation to let their leaders give their account with joy rather than grief.

He walked through the vice list from Galatians alongside the fruit of the Spirit, not as a lecture but as a tool for self-examination ahead of Step Four, which he previewed as a fearless and searching moral inventory. He lingered on rivalry, saying that Americans are wired for it and that the country has passed any healthy form of competition a long time ago, and on sorcery, reframing it as manipulating the spiritual realm to get what you want from someone else, which he said covers more ground than most people assume.

He closed with the benediction drawn from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: "May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it." Pastor Carl added one line of his own to it: you cannot do it on your own. Surrendering your will to His will is the way forward.

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.

Pastor Carl talked about step one being the admission that our lives have become unmanageable, and said 'before you get somebody saved, you gotta get them lost.' Where in your own life have you had to reach that point of admitting you were powerless before anything changed?
Step three is described as a decision to turn your will over to God's care, and Pastor Carl said the phrase 'as we understood him' is a statement of humility, meaning 'I don't know God as well as I thought I did.' In what ways has your understanding of who God is shifted or grown over time, and how has that affected how you live?

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Speaker 1Yes.

Speaker 3Well, good morning, everybody. It's about that time. I would love to worship together in song. And so, Mayeski, would you stand with us? And I've got an encouraging word from Psalm 72 to lead us in a worship.

It says, blessed be his glorious name forever. Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. Would you join us in singing, to God be the glory. You notice I'm not Jennifer or Judy, and I'm not behind the piano.

But I'm Carl

Speaker 1and and and Ray. Sing along with us. We're gonna sing we're gonna sing the hymns. We're gonna do them the best we can without the piano.

Speaker 2The people rejoice. Oh, come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory. Great things he has done. Amen.

Speaker 1We usually sing two in this service. In the first service, we sing one. We call it the throwaway song because there's hardly anybody in the room in that first service for the first song.

Speaker 3But y'all come on time.

Speaker 1But y'all came on time. We're gonna sing two of for you. Sing sing them for us too. Praise God. Amen.

Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. And I well, I'll get to it in a minute. Here we are. First BBQ.

That's what was happening out here this morning. That's an announcement for next month. We're having another one planning on August 18. And then again on September 15, But we'll gather together. Table fellowship is so important in the New Testament and we see it all over the place.

Out here gathered in, we're gonna be gathering together between services on August 18 just like this morning, just like we did last month. It's good. Games, food, fun, fellowship. I still haven't seen any games, but I don't know. Seeing if we have enough food last week was the game and then last time, but this one we had plenty.

So games, food, and fun, and fellowship. It'll be good. The first b, camp out. There are two options this year. You can go to either, you can go to both, you don't have to go to any of them, but you need to know when they are.

So July 19 through the twenty first and August 23 through the twenty fifth down around Palisades Lake. We have done it a lot of times up at the Coulter Bay area, we're not doing that this year. It's gonna be down Palisades Lake. Brian McCooey knows more information about it and Mike Demetrius knows more. Basically, it's come as you are, drop in for as long as you want to.

If you want to spend the night, bring a 10 or camp or whatever. If you just want to come down and eat, come on down and eat. If you want to sit around the campfire and sing songs, it's good to do that. So we'd love to be together with you. Sunday school, I'll skip that one.

Middle school and high school, Sunday school is still meeting during the 09:00 downstairs. And I'll go back to this. Grades three through five are off, giving the teachers a break. But miss Crystal is still doing kindergarten through first and second grade. And she says, anybody can come that wants to to that.

So she's down there. And middle school and high school is still on. This one's a big important announcement I need for you to hear. We are doing church again at the fair, the twenty eighth, this July 28, 10AM. No church here that day and just one service at the fair.

It'll be at 10:00 in the morning. Usually, they put us under the big top right there where the Lions Club is doing breakfast. And so, we will come in on the heels of their breakfast and start the service at ten. So try to when you get there, come for breakfast. Right?

But be kind of kind, gracious, and respectful as we can be as we're setting up and getting ready. July 28, 10AM, we will not be having church in this building. We will put up signs on all the doors. It's walking distance from here. You can park here as long as there's space and then walk that away to the big top.

At church, under the big top Teton County Fair twenty eighth at 10AM. Some of y'all will know will have known Linda Larue. Linda and Sonny have been here in the valley for the last couple of years and Linda is Brad Yates mom. So Brad and Natalie Yates, you all know them, right? Most of you know them.

Linda passed this Wednesday. So last week after the service, after this service closed, Tanya and Pascal and I got to go and we sat on the hearth with her, took communion. We had communion here last week. We took communion to her and she took communion. She has had cancer and for the past couple of years, even their trial coming up here was a very, very difficult time, but she is an absolutely, absolutely secure in her salvation in Jesus.

And her home going happened Wednesday about 05:05 in the morning. We're gonna have her service Wednesday at eleven here and y'all are welcome and invited to come be a part of that. So Linda Larue, Sunny is her husband now widowed and they're in Melody Ranch and if we can help them any way we want to. But first of all, celebration of life for Linda Larue, Wednesday at 11:00. Is there anything else I've forgotten?

Anybody? Chuck. Men's Bible study will be happening on Thursday. Yes. So it just didn't have the announcement this week, but yes.

So thank you very much. 11:55, Thursday. It's a lunch time Bible study. If you want lunch, you better bring it with you. It's a good time.

We're going through first Peter and we are up to one of my favorite passages in the New Testament. First Peter five six through 11. I've mentioned that between services to a couple of different people. It's a great time. Thursday, 11:55 to one.

There's nothing else. Can we pray? This is what I almost did at the beginning. So I in the first service that kinda came out in the middle of the service that I am not political. Y'all know that.

Right? And in in hardly any way. I'm just not. I do sincerely and profoundly believe that all politics is local. Right?

And I mean, like, right here. If I am treating y'all well, I'm doing the best I can with politics because I'm not ever gonna run for office. Okay? I can't do that. I couldn't imagine doing that.

It's a heavy burden for anybody who does. There are there were a couple people that contacted me, both of them in this service yesterday with the news. I had not even heard of it. Yesterday, through working through the scripture for the sermon, for the wedding that I was doing was a process of an all day. And then after during the wedding, had received the notice of the death of an uncle of one of the attendees at the wedding and it was just a heavy ministry day in an otherwise even heavier ministry week.

We have had in the last ten days in the family of this church, we've had we have had five deaths. We've had three weddings and another one this afternoon. We've had a baby that was born by c section in our hospital. It's a long story, but I'll give you the short version. Baby is born by c section, mother needs to stay here to recover from the surgery, but baby's lungs are not developed and needed to be in the NICU in Idaho Falls.

The mother and father are church planters in Pinedale. He grew up seven miles from where I grew up. His dad was a pastor at a church. Actually, the church I mentioned in the first service. When when he was growing up, they know my whole family.

I know their whole family. I have not met them ever until I got the call about the baby. So I went and sat with Elizabeth Woodfin the night before she was able to leave to go over and Amy Jordan got the chance to go over and visit with the Woodfin's and see the baby and be a part of what's going on in their life. We have had everything literally, we've had everything from a premature birth to premature death to self inflicted premature death to it's it's been every possible extreme that you can imagine, including the provision of some amazing financial provision for another family altogether. It has been joy and pit.

Joy and pit all week in a way that it's hard to express honestly. And last week when I got up, this has been a difficult ministry week. That's not a cop out. That's that's just saying please be praying for the life of this body, you know, and these leaders. And this week was probably double what last week was.

So that's the announcement. After all of that, I got the news of the attempted assassination and didn't know anything about it. Not a political guy. Don't watch the news generally. Probably wouldn't have turned it on otherwise.

But can I just pray for that situation? God, for our country, I ask for healing. I ask that we would be good and godly examples of good citizens who do our best to do our duty to live at peace with all. May we be the pattern that they have to go by. You're the pattern Jesus.

You're the pattern. You had political stuff in your day. You said to render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God. I and my attempts Lord to render the things to God that belongs to him. It looks like I avoid this.

I don't avoid it. I don't understand it. God Almighty, would you help us to follow after Christ in such a way that our humility and our bearing the burdens of others and our understanding that we would be examples to the flock of God that is among us first, to the people that visit us from all over the world in the same way. And Lord, I pray for healing for the country. I pray pray for the family of the one who was killed or the people who were killed yesterday.

I pray for healing of our political divisions and strife and enmity and rivalries and ugliness. I pray that you would put an end to that, Lord. And I know that the way that you do that is by people who are dedicated to you and called by your name would humble themselves and pray that we would fall on our face before you lay down our will and allow your will to take over. Would you do that for us, Lord? I pray for everybody injured, for everybody aggravated, and Lord, I don't want for this to be one upmanship where one thing happens so that another happens so that another happens and it just gets to be more and more.

May we be instruments of your peace. Where there is strife, may we bring harmony. Where there is war, may we bring peace. May we be a part of what you are doing in this community first, but may it spread from here. Would you take our lives wholly surrendered in Jesus name?

We give you the glory for all of the success and Lord, we are afraid that we are the reason for most all of our failures. God, lay that before you. Would you help us? Would you help us do the right thing? Would you help our country?

Would you help the families that are related to it? Would you help calm the sea when the waves and the billows are rolling, Lord? Would you just say peace, be still? Lord, we ask to be a part of that. In Jesus name, amen.

Amen. Would you stand with us? What a friend we have in Jesus. And I'm gonna country fy everything he plays this morning. Sorry.

That just happens when he plays and I play this.

Speaker 2Temptations. Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be disturbed. It's even a loaded

Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'll invite the ushers to come forward. And would you pray with me? God, I'm so thankful this morning.

And part of the reason I'm thankful, Lord, is you you just tell us to be. And when things look so dire and so desperate and so dark and so difficult, you bring joy, Lord. Lord, we ask that you would help us. You would help us to see the things to be grateful for. We pray lord that you would take these offerings that were given lord, trust in you.

We're given these, trust in you to do whatever you want to do with them. I pray that as a church, we would be an instrument that could be played by you, an instrument that could be played to sing your grace, to open the life gate that all may go in, Lord. That's what we want to be a part of your good gospels advance. We don't want for anything to take us off course. Lord, may we always be grateful and may we always trust you with what you have given to us, that we give it back, Lord, that we give it back trusting you to do what you wanna do with it.

Your will done your way. May we be a part of it. In Jesus name, amen.

Speaker 2Of life. Words of life and beauty. Teach me faith and beauty. Beautiful words of wonderful words of Beautiful words wonderful words wonderful words of Christ, the blessed one gives to you all words of life. The Offer pardon and peace to all wonderful words of life.

Jesus only savior, sanctify forever. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words alive. Beautiful Thank

Speaker 1you, Carl. I forgot we were I I forgot we were singing another song. It's kinda nice to sit down every once in a while. There was a I heard a preacher say one time that that this is neither here nor there. It doesn't go with the sermon, but that's alright.

He said, the Christian life can be like baseball game, football game, whatever he said there. 80,000 people in the stands who are in desperate needs of an exercise and there are 22 people on the field and desperate need of some rest. That's not the way I feel all the time, but that's the way I feel right now. So step three. It says step three and then the next thing it says is first things first.

That sounds funny to me. We covered steps one and two last week and I'll go back and hit those. I have been here for twelve years full time and for those of you who are visiting because I see quite a few of you who are, I came in scared to death and I thought I'll just preach the gospel of John, Get to know Jesus, right? Then the gospel then Acts of the Apostles and then all the books in order and when we ran out of New Testament, I've been going back and hitting a few greatest hits. Things, I'm gonna start over before long, but in my own personal life, in my own spiritual walk, in the last six and a half years, the thing that has been the most important and the most beneficial to me has been taking the 12 steps seriously.

I was doing it originally because I had heard they work. I mentioned Ron's story last week. I have lots of those stories. Lots and lots of them. Some of them I won't tell.

Some of them I can't tell. His I could tell. I changed his name. I have a lot of those and I know that they work when people take them seriously. That's one of the things they say.

The program works if you work it. They also say first things first. They also say, live and let live because it really has to be about us individually in a group of people. We have to deal with our own stuff. Right?

And then easy does it because almost anything can knock you off track. Right? Almost anything can knock you off track. So step three is what we're going to go through today but those little maxims are helpful and if you look at them, you go, oh, that's not biblical. Okay.

We'll get to it. I promise. We're going to get to scripture today but I'm going to first go through these. Step one, this is, I promise, the good old gospel way. In order to be saved, you have to realize that you're lost.

Do you agree with that? Any good evangelist will say, before you get somebody saved, you gotta get them lost. We admit we were powerless over our problem. Whatever that problem is. Now, these 12 steps came from Alcoholics Anonymous, The Big Book, 1939 updated in the fifties, updated in the seventies, updated more recently, is really good and I would recommend it.

It's a good read. They've added more stories but they've kept the core. It might sound a little antiquated to some of you, some of the language but it's really well written. We admitted we were powerless over our problem that our lives had become unmanageable. When you get to that point where you're willing to admit it that is the place of humility, if that place of humility is followed by step two, here we go, Coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

If you can come to that place on the heels of the humility of admitting your problem, there's great hope for you. There is a power that's higher and I know we're in church. I'm a Baptist preacher. I get it. I know that y'all been around for a while and you know that power and you know his name is Jesus and you wish I'd just say it.

I'll say it. I say it every Sunday all the time. I say it at Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Also, I'll say this in Saturday. I don't skip Saturdays.

If you get to the place of humility of realizing that I have messed this life up and there's nothing I can do about it. I have a problem that I can't do anything about. My life is unmanageable. I am lost. And then you see the hope of something greater than yourselves.

Now for Alcoholics Anonymous, it's specifically for alcoholics and it really helps if your problems are the same problem. I could say, oh, in the grand scheme of things, all of us have a sin problem and we do. And if we link that together, that's wonderful. But there's something about alcoholics as a an issue that their issue is the consequences are very similar, put it that way. And so when you're going through it, I I have not had that issue but I haven't had that issue because generation after generation in my family, we have had that issue.

And there's an abundance of caution on my mother's part that kinda affected me. She said, will you promise me at a very early age? And and I did. And I and I and I the grace of God is all there is to it because I very easily could've been trapped in that. But that's not my issue.

I've got other issues but when my buddy, when my buddy came to me and said, I got my life is unmanageable. I know that there's a higher power. I don't know how. I don't know how to go forward though. I said, well, I'm gonna link up.

I don't know anything about these steps personally because I've never been through them. I'm linking my problem with your problem and they're different problems but we're gonna go through this together and it was the greatest single undertaking that I've done. I know the scripture. I can back up all these steps with scripture and I'm gonna do that before we're through but we came to believe they're power greater than ourselves. For the folks that are wandering into a church basement somewhere with the the smell of cigarette smoke around the outside, stale coffee and they wander in and they get two or three people that have had some sobriety and they look and they hadn't had but twenty four hours, you know, or less.

That's the higher power for them is that there's there's hope here. I see two or three gathered, right? Hey, where's that come from? Two or three gathered in God's name and there he is in the midst. We're all learning more and more about who God is and honestly, a lot of us have an errant view of who God is.

So, if we want to be sanctified forever like the song said, if we want for God to do the work, then step three is a requirement. I know I have stuff that I can't do anything about and I believe that there's a higher power, a greater power. I believe that there's a God who exist and could restore me to sanity. Step three is integral in getting better and being saved. Step three is important in being sanctified.

Step three is important and it is a volitional decision to agree with God about your sin. Made I've a mess of things, lord. But I know that you could restore me to sanity. I'm making a decision right now to turn over my will to your will. I don't want what I want because what I want keeps on getting me in the same position and that's the definition of insanity.

Keep doing the same thing, expect different results. Making a decision to turn over our and this is collective. All of these things start with a we. It really helps if you do it in the context of community, really helps. It comes down to an individual decision.

Yes. But in the context of community, it makes all the difference for helping someone else and we'll get to that in step 12. We made a decision to turn over our will in our lives over to the care of God as we understood him and this one, I know a lot of Christians who have gotten free in a 12 step program. I know a lot of Christians that said, at first, this line infuriated me. I didn't like it because it was saying, as we understood him, it just sounded like people could make up whatever God they had wanted and that that would help and that's not true.

It's gotta be God. Oh, well, wait, wait, wait. That's a statement of humility. That as we understood him means, I don't know God as well as I thought I did. Okay?

Especially for Christians, I said, this can be a problem because we've been taught from the cradle, really good theology for whatever background we are. Really good denominational politics. I mean, stuff. Right? We've been taught the way with a small w instead of seeing the way with a capital w.

And so as we understood him is a statement of humilius, continuing the humility that I don't don't know and I've made a mess of things. My current understanding is not good. There is a higher power that can restore me to sanity. I'm gonna let him. I'm gonna surrender my will to God as I understand understand him.

Him. If you have an errant view of who God is, it'll cause problems in this step. So, God, I don't know you as well as I thought I did. The things that I formally did, I don't want to do those anymore and part of that was because of my thinking about you. I'm acknowledging that I don't know you as well as I want to.

Would you show me who you are? At that point, yeah, go to scripture. Read about Jesus in the book of John. Read about the spread of the early church and the Holy Spirit's power in the book of Acts. Read the letters so that you can get some direction as to what the will of God is because if you're going to turn over your will, you turn it over to his will.

You gotta know what his will is. That's what we're gonna go to in Thessalonians in a few minutes. This portion right here, making the decision, Bob's always a big fan of volition. Right? It's it's gotta come down to I want for you to be in control.

I don't want to be the one in control. I want for you to direct my life. And I'll say from experience that as a Christian who is raised by loving parents in a fertile environment where the gospel and the Bible was very it was lifted up. I will say that for me, recognizing that I still need to know God better than I do was the thing that I that I my view of God was probably just a facet of who God is, not a complete understanding. And I might be ahead of a few folks here and there.

I might be ahead of folks that don't know anything about him, but I still have to practice the humility of recognizing if I'm in charge, I mess things up. God can restore me to sanity but it takes the program works if you work it. It takes me being willing to go by that. So here we are up to first Thessalonians five. As I was thinking about it this week in all of the that birth, the grief of death, the laying out the process of the gospel and having someone say, I'll hear you again on this.

I'm not ready yet but I'm listening. All of the vicissitudes of life, everything from cradle to grave, literally, all of that. What is the will of God? In first Thessalonians five, it says, this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. It also says in chapter four, you can turn back to that later.

I can't preach everything every day. First Thessalonians is not particularly about sin which is some of the books are. You know, the Corinthians, boy, what a mess. Galatians, oh, horrible. But the Thessalonians had some teachers among them that were saying, the great mighty day of the Lord had already passed and you missed it.

Okay? And so they're like, wait a second, Paul, tell us more. I don't want you to be ignorant brothers. We hear that all the time usually at funerals. First Thessalonians five, I think is good.

Come back around and summarizes the book and he's saying, y'all don't have to worry about that end time stuff. Now, as to the periods and the times, brothers and sisters, y'all don't have any need of knowing anything to be written to you about that. You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming. It's coming. Just like a thief in the night, it's not gonna be something that you can plan that you can expect a certain time.

If anybody tells you they know the time, they don't know the time. While they're saying peace and safety, oh, this is the good times. There's no problem now. We're fine. We can get that on our own.

While they're saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them. That's not y'all. You've already realized your problem. You've already realized God. You've already decided to turn your will over to him while they are saying peace and safety in your own way.

Sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they'll not escape but you, y'all, brothers and sisters, y'all are not in darkness. Y'all

Speaker 2are

Speaker 1not in darkness. You're walking in the light. You have admitted your lack. You've asked God to help and you are leaning to him. That day is not going to overtake you like a thief.

For all of y'all who have believed, all of y'all are sons of light, your sons of day. We're not of the night. We're not of the darkness because God has taken us from the kingdom of darkness and placed us by Christ's blood into the kingdom of light and truth. So then, let's don't just be sleeping like others do. Let's be alert.

Let's be sober. That particularly reminds me of the passage in first Peter five where it says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you in due time. If you give over your will to him, he will lift you up. It says, resist the devil. You do have an adversary.

He is like the prosecuting attorney. He knows a list of charges against you. Honestly, he knows you're guilty, and he's gonna keep on bringing those things up before you even though you have been declared innocent by the blood of Jesus. Stay vigilant. Stay alert.

It says here. Stay sober, clear minded. For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who are drunk, get drunk at night, you're not of the night. Since we're not or since we are of the day, let's be sober, not inebriated. Having put on the breastplate of faith.

Faith begins with realizing your lack, step one, and realizing God's goodness. Step two, that he can restore you, that he can save you. That's faith and love. Not only can he but he wants to. God is good and loving and he wants to save you.

So, as a helmet, put on the hope of that salvation. There is hard stuff that we go through here. Jesus says, in this world, you will have trouble. You will have trials. But take heart because I've overcome the world.

Last week, we read in Romans that you are more than conquerors through Christ. As a helmet put on the hope of salvation, I'm responsible for what I do today. Lord, would you help me today? I'm turning over my will. God has not destined us for wrath.

That's a good thing to know. But for the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died for us so that whether we're awake or whether we're asleep, we will live together with him. There are times when we take our eye off the ball, but God is with us. When there is a a relapse, there is also available recovery. Therefore, this one every time I read this verse, hear it in Pascal's voice at about 3.5, four years old right in there.

She was at a little preschool a couple days a week. Tanya was filling in for a teacher, and she went into this classroom with miss Meg. Miss Meg was probably in her twenties. I don't know where miss Meg is now but miss Meg was so sweet, so kind, so gentle, great teacher, and the first Bible verse that our daughter ever learned was first Thessalonians five eleven and I hear it and she just walked in the room. Sorry.

I was trying to tell this with her out there. I can hear her voice now from that time going, encourage one another and build each other up. It is so good and it's so important and it makes life so much better. If you go through life lonely and solitary, it is much harder than finding a community of people who will give you a pat on the back whether it's easy or hard, whether it's good or bad, that'll say, brother, I love you. How are you?

And lean in. Encourage one another. Build each other up. You're gonna be alright. God will get you through.

I've got a few more days sober than you do, but together we'll be able to go through it. I've got a few more days of walking this path ahead of you, but together we'll get through it. Now, I love this because Paul says, hey, do this and it can feel like, oh, dude, come on. You know, but he says, do this and he says, just as you're already doing that. I see it.

Y'all are very warm congregation. It's a very warm, very encouraging congregation for me and for others when they come in, I pray from the outside. Wandering in, I pray that everyone would find it to be encouraging and build up building. And he says, just as you're also doing. Now, we ask you brothers and sisters to be recognized in those who diligently labor among you.

The elders, deacons, the pastors, the teachers, the evangelists, the ones who are diligently laboring among you, the ones who are in leadership over you and the Lord and give you instruction. This reminds me every time I read this, it reminds me of Hebrews thirteen seventeen. You know, Hebrews thirteen seventeen says,

Speaker 2obey your leaders.

Speaker 1No. That's not the way it says it. Actually, it's used that way a lot and I've been in churches before when things were getting rough and the pastor was trying to rally the troops and they start saying, obey your leaders. But the verse says, obey your leaders and submit to those who are in authority because they give account for your souls. And it's to the reader.

It's not to the leader. It's not the leader so you can beat people over the head with. It's to the reader to say, God has given us a group of people who have dedicated their lives to taking care of us. And if they're saying, hey, step back from the edge, my friend. Can you step back?

You're treading a dangerous ground right there. It goes on to say, obey your leaders and submit to the ones in authority over you as those who give account for your souls. Let them give that accounting with joy and not with grief. You know how wonderful it is to go to the Lord and say, oh, I'm so thankful they've been involved in this wedding, Lord. What a joyous occasion for this bride and this groom and I got to be standing up front, had a front row seat to this thing last night.

It was wonderful. And there's joy in that and I and my accounting for that is, amen. Go God. You did it. And then there's also when you get the news of a of a hard situation like literally last night getting the news of a hard situation and had to deliver hard news to an attendee at a wedding.

That's grief. But it's not about, oh, they won't listen to me. It's not that. It's that we all are going through it. It's all of us have joy.

All of us have grief. Recognize those who diligently labor among you are in leadership over you in the Lord and give you instruction and that you regard them very highly in love because of their work and y'all be living in peace with one another. Don't make it any harder than it has to be. Be peaceable as much as it depends on you, Paul says. Live at peace with all men.

May I go back to the beginning? Blake, can you go back to like the second slide where it's the fruit of the spirit and the works of the flesh and then remember where we were. We'll come back to that. I didn't share this at the beginning this week. We want to live.

Do we not all want to live in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. That's the fruit of the spirit. If the spirit is active in our life and we're allowing him to be, we've turned over our will to the spirits leading. We should be living in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. No matter the circumstances, grateful.

That's what we should be. But the works of the flesh, Galatians 19 says, are evident. It's easy to see them. It's easy to see these things and it's really easy to see it in other people. Do you agree with me?

You can look and you can see these things. You say sexual immorality. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I'm not guilty of that one.

So let me I'm I'm all about that. Wait a second. Jesus backed off of that and said, it's not just in the flesh right here. It's if you're dwelling on that. Right?

Sexual immorality is one that we all need to consider as our problem. If we did things our way and not God's way, it would be a problem for all of us. It would get us to an unmanageable state very quickly. Impurity, That one doesn't sound so bad. It's impurity.

It's bad. Sensuality, where everything is about the touching and feeling and doing things for this world. Sensuality where we're overcome by our senses rather than by the spirit. Sensuality, idolatry. When anything takes the place that only God deserves is idolatry.

Sorcery, that's another one that is when we read sorcery and go, I don't do tarot cards. When I do the crossword puzzle, if the horoscope's on the other page, I flip it under. Like I'm not gonna get involved in sorcery or witchcraft, but the truth is sorcery is about manipulating the spiritual realm to get what you want out of someone else. Think about it that way. Manipulating the spiritual realm to get what you want out of someone else.

That's sorcery. It's also all the other stuff I mentioned. But if we've if we're Christians and we're the next step, by the way, spoiler alert, next week is take a fearless and searching moral inventory. If you don't know what it is in your life, if you just look at some of these vice list in scripture, he gives us a good idea of what his will is that we'd walk away from those things and toward him. Enmity, to have enemies is to be at enmity where there's someone that's outside of you that you just can't stand.

You hate them. Has anybody struggled with that this week? Yeah. Strife needs no definition, does it? Strife, always a struggle.

Jealousy, fits of anger. When anger Bible says be angry, you're gonna be angry but sin not. Fits of anger is when you let it get the best of you and you chuck stuff, you throw stuff, you scream, you run off in a snit. Rivalries. Oh my goodness.

Y'all, rivalry in this polarized country is that what it feels like to me an all time high. I know there's nothing new under the sun but the pendulum has it not swung as far as it needs to. Can we not bring it back to the middle? Can we not bring it back and just let the rivalry cease? I mentioned in the first service that when I was a little kid, I went to the same church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.

I've gotten a really clear understanding of the gospel. I gotten a really clear understanding that I was loved but at the same time, when we went to play church softball, we're playing West End Baptist Church with that cheating that cheating pitcher, Chester. Right? I had a rivalry against West End Baptist Church. I thought they weren't even saved.

They're in the same association with the same exact theology, the same everything. Actually, Kent Woodfin's dad was the pastor at that church. Years later, rivalry, we are wired for rivalry. If you put Americans especially, it was part of our DNA, think. If you put us in a room, we're gonna choose sides and we're gonna be against each other.

I think there's some good healthy competition, but we've passed that a long time ago. Lord, would you bring rivalry into check? Would you bring it into our minds and our hearts when we start going that direction? Lord, would you convict us that we have a problem in our life is becoming unmanageable so we can let you deal with it. Bring us to a real hope, a real hope of God's love for every soul.

Amen. Rivalries, dissensions, that's where argument gets in and we start to see things coming unglued and division is when it's very apparent, rivalries in that realm too. Envy. I think jealousy and envy are the same thing but it's listed twice, so let's pay Right? If we look around and we say, I wish I had what they had.

I wish I understood like he understands or she understands. I wish that I looked like them. That's jealousy and envy. Wish I had what they had. Drunkenness is listed but it's way down the list, isn't it?

Now, I love that the 12 steps happen among believers that knew they had a problem they couldn't do anything about. It actually helps us with all these other things if we just admit it and go forward. It then says orgies and things like these. So it kinda comes full circle from sexual immorality to the last one and then it says things like this. So it's not an it's not a complete list.

It's a representative list. And there are about nine other lists in the New Testament. Some of them go over that. Thank you, Blake. I'm gonna back up to right there.

See that no one repays evil. Wait a minute. Hold on. Here we are. Right there.

Is that where we were? Yes. This is where we were. But we ask you brothers and sisters to recognize that we already did that. That's yeah.

Thank you, Blake. You were right. We urge you brothers and sisters, admonish the unruly. There is a place for when somebody gets out of line to get them back in line. Admonish the unruly.

You know, I I like to think of those like a small group. Have you all ever been in a small group? Have you ever seen anybody get unruly? You ever been in a church softball game? Just just wondering.

Admonish the unruly is somebody starts to take over the conversation and starts to steer it and everything becomes about their pet project. And then you just go, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, buddy. Tonight's meeting is about step three. Okay? I appreciate your experience.

We're gonna give you a chance to talk but encourage the fainthearted. There's a there's somebody here who got here today and I'm gonna encourage him to speak up. Would you would you, sir? It I promise it helps. Right?

Encourage the faint hearted. The one who doesn't know if they can get through this, if they can turn over their will. I just don't understand. I don't know how to do it. Hey, I'm a couple more days down the road than you are.

It's not easy but it's worth it. Program works if you work it. Take first things first. We're here to help you. Encourage the fainthearted.

Encourage one another and build each other up. Help the weak. One of my favorite things about this church is that y'all are very very intent on helping people who are struggling financially and people who are struggling with just a circumstantial dip in their ability to make things happen and so we can say yes in the office when somebody's in need. When they're weak, they can come in and we can pray for em. When they're weak, then come in and we can help em.

Help the weak and be patient with everyone. It's easier with some people than it is other people. Just this. Be patient with everyone. This is God's will.

Second, we're talking about God's will. His will is that we would admonish the unruly and encourage the fainthearted and help the weak and be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil but always seek out what's good for one another and for all of the people. Don't just look out for your own interest but for others. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.

I mentioned this morning that sometimes we think of prayers our last resort. What can I do besides pray? Oh, it's your first response. Be praying. Figure out what you can do while you're praying.

Keep on praying. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

He says it as flatly as he says anything in the whole New Testament. God's will for you is that you be grateful. When I delivered the news, we delivered the news yesterday to a niece that her uncle had taken his own life. It was devastating and we mourned with the one who mourned and we cried with her and she was at a wedding of friends and surrounded by people who love her and love Jesus and the ones of the small circle of people that knew were able to gather around and before we left, she said, I'm so thankful that I got this news here rather than while I was at work surrounded by whoever rather than another time. In everything, give thanks.

Not for everything. It's not everything's not good. He is working together everything for good but in everything, there's something to be thankful for. Ask God what it is and he'll show you what it is and don't quench the spirit. God is moving by his spirit.

He is accomplishing his purpose through his people being sensitive to his spirit. I had written down in my notes. Go over Acts one and Acts two before I decided on first Thessalonians five. Acts one, they're trying to decide who's going to replace Judas. How did they do it in Acts one?

Lots, they cast lots through straws, random chance. In acts two, what happens? The coming of the Holy Spirit. Never again do we see God's people using random chance. They have to agree this is what the spirit is doing.

Don't quench that. When the spirit is moving, say yes, Lord. Right? You can either say yes, Lord because he's your Lord or you can say no, But you don't get the chance to say no, Lord. That's quenching the spirit.

Do not utterly reject prophecies. Now, y'all know that I'm not of a charismatic bent, but prophecies is not just foretelling the future as the prophets of old did, but it is foretelling thus saith the Lord. This is what God has said. If God calls something sin, then it's sin. If God says, these things will hurt you, you stand opposed to God in pride if you insist on doing those things.

Do not utterly reject preaching, prophecies. But examine everything and hold firmly to that which is good. This is actually a maxim in the meetings too. My buddy says that this one comes up a lot. It's in fact, I often talk to this guy when he's on the way home from a meeting.

And while he's on his way home from a meeting, he'll call and I'll say, how was it tonight? He'll say, chew the fat, spit out the bones. Not all of it was good. Not everything that was said I agree with but some of it was good and I'm sober today and so so are they. Amen.

Examine everything, hold firmly to that which holds to the scripture, to that which is good, and abstain from every form of evil. When I see that, I think, oh, that could be a very daunting thing but it's not. It's not. If you've decided to hand over your will to God's will, God's not going to lead you astray. You've already made the decision to follow after him.

So, abstain from every form of evil can be daunting and if I get back to the maximum of first things first, if you know what your problem is and you bring that and you lay it before him, you are confessing. Homologueo saying the same thing as God about your sin and he is forgiving you for it and he promises to cleanse you from all unrighteousness to keep you from every form of evil but he'll start with the most egregious things first and don't be surprised when you get to the end of that one, he'll show you another one. Step three, we made a decision to turn our will in our lives over to the care of God. As we understood him, that's a statement of humility. God, show me who you are and I will follow.

You've given me the conviction of my sin and you've given me the confidence of your spirit in my life. You've made the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Lord, I trust you with this. Amen. Next week, we'll go to step four, I believe.

I stole these from Carl. This is the this is the boiled down version from Thessalonians. I'm gonna ask Carl if he'll come back up and we'll we'll go into a time but look at it all on one slide. Be on guard, be alert, be clear headed, that's good advice. Protected by the armor of faith and love.

Nothing can get to you if you keep on putting your faith in the love of God and his goodness. Encourage each other and build each other up. Thank you miss Meg. Honor those who are your leaders in the Lord's work. Live peaceably with each other.

Warn the lazy, the unruly. Carl uses the NIV usually. Warn the lazy, encourage the timid, take tender care of the weak, and be patient with everyone. Don't pay back evil for evil but do good to each other. Always be joyful.

Never stop praying and be thankful in all circumstances and y'all, would you stand with us? Don't stifle the Holy Spirit or scoff at preaching but test everything even here, right? If I've said anything that's helpful, I hope that God lets you remember it forever. If I've said anything that was off, I hope you forget it before you hit the back door. Hold fast to that which is good and stay away from evil.

In Jesus name, we pray. For those who live here among us, lord, may we be an example for the stars, for the folks who just wandered in a town and hope of a job, for the folks who just lost that job, for the folks at the Good Samaritan, for the folks who are struggling in the basement meetings over at Saint John's. Lord God, would you help us to help others? Amen. Amen.

And now for the benediction, this is from Thessalonians five twenty three and twenty four continuing on. And now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. He says that he will. He says that he will. And at glorification, there's no doubt.

But as we are submitted to him and turning over our will to him, he will do this. Now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and your soul and your body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it and may I add, you cannot do it on your own. Surrendering your will to his will is the way forward. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen. Amen.

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12 Steps Addiction Recovery Community Support God'S Will Gratitude Surrendering Control

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