Children of God - George Solomon

Hey guys, Pastor James Murray here, and I want to welcome you to the Abide Sydney podcast. This whole podcast is designed to help you on the journey of discipleship, and our mission is to make disciples of the people of Sydney. But maybe you're not from Sydney. We hope this blesses you. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this podcast. Hey, well, welcome three o'clock service. I don't know about you, but it was so weird today. I thought, oh, three o'clock service, great. I'll get up in the morning, have a coffee, have a burger. And I did that. And I was at home by 10, and I thought, what now? So what turned out to be a good idea was actually a terrible idea, but I had no idea. I wanted to nap. I wanted to stay awake. I don't know what to do. I had coffee. I had everything. But here we are, three o'clock. Next week, 8.30, 10 o'clock. 8.30, 10 o'clock. Yes? 8.30, 10 o'clock. 8.30, 10 o'clock. Someone's paying attention. Good, good, good. Hey, if you haven't been here before, maybe you've skipped a week. We are in the third week of our series going through the book of 1 John. I shall warn you. Actually, Tate, did you run today? Because I saw you at a cafe drinking coffee in Cronulla. I'm just saying. I didn't see a medal around you. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I walked to Cronulla, bro. Like, it's all good. It's all good. This is a really challenging subject. This is a challenging, probably, I think, one of the most challenging scriptures throughout of all of the Bible. And the reason being is because it talks about two things that sit in the beginning of the Bible in Genesis. It is found in the middle. It is found at the end. It's, in fact, threaded all the way through the entire Bible. And we, sometimes, if we're honest, struggle. We struggle with it. You want to know what it is? Let's put it up. 1 John. 1 John, the disciple of Jesus. If you have your Bible, you can open up to it. Otherwise, we'll read off the screen. Here we go. Let me give you a bit of context of what's happening so you understand what's going on. Because otherwise, sometimes it just doesn't make sense. False teachers are sitting inside of the church with the disciples. And they have claimed that they know Jesus. But their actions don't meet up with Jesus. They don't meet up with their lifestyle. In other words, they profess to know Jesus, but they're not living it out. And I mean, you probably heard this phrase, right? Actions speak louder than words. Is that right? This is exactly what John's talking about. You can say whatever you want to say, but here is the proof to whether you're following Jesus. In other words, he's trying to get rid of, dissolve, disqualify these false teachers. And this is what he brings them to. He says this. By this we know. That we know Him. Speaking of Jesus. If we keep His commandments. He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar. Why does he say it so softly? He's a liar. And the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him or comes to completion or is matured. But we know love in us is being progressed. Progressed through what we do. So we haven't arrived, but we are getting there. But whoever keeps His Word, the truly of love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know we are in Him. He who says He abides in Him ought Himself also to walk just as Jesus walked. I think there's another verse. Can you put it up, Malcolm? Brethren, brothers, sisters, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have heard. From the beginning. The old commandment is the Word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment. I write to you which thing is true in Him and in you. Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Is there more to that, Malcolm, that you can put up? Yes. He who says he is in the light does what? Hates his brother. Think about that. Hates his brother. He is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light. There is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness. Walks in darkness. Listen to this. And does not know where he is going. Assuming to think that he does know where he's going. He has no idea where he's going. Because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Has blinded his eyes. John gives us, the Bible gives us two unmistakable, call it what you want, evidence proof of how do we truly know Jesus. And this is it. One, a life that obeys Jesus or the commands and a life that loves others. That is summing what John has just already said. I want to show you a picture of a man by the name of Wesley Autry. Can you put that up, Malcolm, please? Wesley Autry, ordinary man. Nothing special about him. One day standing on the platform of a New York subway with his two daughters. To his right is another man who all of a sudden has a seizure. And in that moment, he falls to the tracks and lays unconscious. The train is entering the platform. Some people stood back. Some people just froze. Some screamed. This guy, Wesley, train on coming into the platform. Two daughters stand there, dives onto the tracks. True story. And he lays over the man besides the trench. And the train runs right over him. So close that the grease hits his cap that he's wearing and leaves a mark all the way down him. They both survived. Incredible story. An ordinary man. He didn't know this man. He didn't ask him what his background was. He didn't ask what nationality. He didn't ask anything about him. He just took one step towards that man. And when reporters asked Wesley, why did you do this? His simple reply was just, I saw someone who needed help. Wow. I saw someone who needed help. This is exactly the kind of love Johnny described in this passage and the Bible describes throughout. A love that moves towards people, not away from people. A love that has no boundaries, no questions, no discrimination. No matter culture, nation, nationality, no matter the what. John says genuine faith isn't measured by what we profess, but rather by what we practise. This is a mark of a true Christian. This is what he's declaring. So what are the commandments that John speaks of? He says it's old and it's new. Well, it's neither. It's actually both. Because Jesus took an old commandment and he raised it to a whole new level, just like he does everywhere else in the New Testament. So Jesus took that and he says this, the standard is love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. The second one is love your neighbour. As yourself, now he takes it a whole nother level. But love like I have loved you. That's totally different. That's totally radical. So the commandments are not a ladder for us to climb to eternity or to heaven or to Christ to find his love. It's not. It has nothing to do with it. He's already proven that love. Listen to this. John uses a word we can easily go past. He says this, He who abides in him, talking of Jesus, he uses the word ought, O-U-G-H-T, ought himself also to walk as Jesus walked. That sounds pretty straightforward. Whatever Jesus did, you did. Whatever he says, I say. So the word ought is an interesting word because listen what it speaks of, obligation. You're obligated. No clause, no terms and condition. You're obligated to jump down onto the tracks and help that man, even if it costs you. That's hard. It's an obligation. A layer deep, it says it's actually a debt required. So if we claim to belong Jesus, what this is saying, therefore there is a responsibility on us that flows from the relationship we have with God. God loved us, that love now flows through us. The responsibility, the responsibility here that John talks about shows itself in two ways. I said at the beginning, I'm gonna say it again. One, responsibility to obey Jesus, all the commands, whatever way you wanna look at it. John says this, by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commands, Jesus' commands. Jesus Himself in John 14 says, listen, conditional, if you love me, if you love me, you will keep my commands. This is a natural flow on effect. This is Jesus just saying, hey, he's not saying prove your love. Obedience shows the love. Jesus isn't saying prove it. Obedience doesn't earn his love. He's saying when you truly love me, obedience will be the natural response of a changed heart. Easy to say, harder to work out. Listen, every act of obedience declares Jesus is Lord. Every act of obedience, you are my Lord. Every act of obedience declares his word has the final authority in my life. He super trumps everything. His commandments are not optional. But the truth is, the truth is all of us in this world, in some cases, treat them like a buffet. You ever been to a buffet? I pay to get in. I pick and choose what I want to eat. This is not that. This is not optional. It is not a buffet of commands. It is a command. Obey, love. It's that simple. Love, obedience. The second one is this. We have a responsibility therefore, because we ought to, love others. He who says he is in the light, hates his brother. And he's in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause of stumbling in him. Now, I don't know if you've done this, but you ever gone up in the middle of the night, whether it's to go and get water or food from the fridge, food from the fridge, or go to the toilet, like, and you don't turn the light on. Like, why? Well, firstly, I want to stay asleep while I'm walking to get to where I'm going. Secondly, I think I actually know the room. Only to get up, I know I don't have a light, out of the bed and bang, I hit the door. I know the door was there. But I'm stumbling in the darkness because there's no light. You hit your head and then you say maybe this. When did that, that piece of furniture get there? When was that door there? It wasn't there yesterday. The problem is not with your big toe that you stubbed. It's not with the furniture. The problem is just darkness. Darkness makes you stumble. John says the same thing spiritually. When we hate, when we detest, I mean, that's strong words, right? I don't know if any Christian detests another Christian. But maybe underneath it, there's another meaning that says, if you hold resentment, if you hold bitterness, if you hold anger, is that not the same? To love less than what God has commanded? Darkness doesn't just hide the path. It causes us to stumble. I grew up at some stage in my life, and my wife will testify to this. I hated people. I did. I never was always like that. I became like that. And I was paranoid of people. Always thinking the worst of people. But that hate I projected on people eventually turned on me and I found I hated myself. I actually didn't like who I was becoming. I didn't like what I had become. So how do you know you're walking in the light? What's interesting is John doesn't write a list of maybe what we think they would be. He doesn't go into, let's begin with church attendance. He doesn't do it. It's great to be here every week. He doesn't begin with, hey, Bible knowledge. It's great that you have Bible knowledge. He doesn't begin even with prayer or the ministries we hold. He begins with one thing. How do you treat people? Jesus flips it all on its head. He always wants to go to a whole nother level. Look at Matthew 7, 12. He says this, do to others as you would have them do to you. Not treat others how they treat you. Listen, regardless what Jesus is saying, regardless of how I've been treated, how do you want to be treated, George? Now, that's how I want you to respond to that person. Oh, that's a grind. That's a grind. In fact, that's impossible. It's impossible, but not if you have the Spirit of God in you. Will it hurt? Yep. Will it take a while? Maybe. But instead of a reaction, I've got to learn to respond in love. I've got to learn to respond in love. Love isn't proven by our words. This is deception at its best to confess that you're a Christian by name and have no nature change at all. He said it. Your love is being perfected in God. There has to be a progression of your heart moving towards the things of God. We're not perfect. We haven't arrived. We fall short. Yes, but there's got to be a difference from the day that I walked in the church to the day that I walk out of church. There's got to be some kind of change. If we claim that we follow the true Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, there has to be some change. It's not measured. This is a big one. It's not measured by how you feel. When Glenn betrays me. When Tay betrays me. Sorry, mate. He just didn't like it. See how he reacted? No response. You should have said immediately, I forgive you. But you didn't. That was your door. But the truth is, it hurts, right? It hurts. It doesn't matter what kind of a wound, where it came from. It hurts. And in that moment, like there are so many things that go, that feel like I just want to respond and then we justify why I shouldn't respond, why I shouldn't do that. And that's where we get it wrong. That's where we get it backwards. We're trying, we're trying to work out love based on our feelings. It has nothing to do with feelings. It has everything to do with a choice and a commitment to walk towards back to love. The Bible turns it all upside down. Biblical love is not based on feelings. It is led by a commitment. That's why we can cut off people when they hurt us. It's easy. Bang. That's why, listen, we stop serving when we don't feel appreciated. We withdraw when we're offended. Or we only love those people who can love us back. I know, I've done it all. I've done every one of those. Every single one of them. Jesus calls us something far greater. He calls us to love as He loved us and to treat others as how we would want to be treated. That changes everything. That's impossible. But not if you have the Holy Spirit. Imagine, okay, imagine, my relationship with my wife is built on feelings. That would be crazy, right? She, I said pretend, pretend, imagine. She argues with me. Never happens. She never argues with me. She scares me sometimes. You know. But imagine we have an argument and we have in the past in our first year of our marriage. It was terrible. We had an argument. We would not talk for two weeks. Two weeks? No, I'd say, don't talk to me unless I have to talk to you. Yes, no, that was pretty much it. Because my love in that moment was based on how I felt. So what does she do? Stops cooking, stops cleaning, stops washing. Where does that leave me? I don't know how to hire someone now, bring a man or. But you understand, we retreat, we do. I do, you do. Tit for tat, whatever you want to call it. The question is here that John's asking. Am I only loving when I feel like it? See, the world tells you to love when you feel or to love only when you've been loved. That's what the world says. Jesus says, no, no, love chooses to serve however that looks like, even if it costs you. How can an ordinary man jump off, the subway onto the tracks to a man he does not know? And Jesus says that scarcely would a righteous man lay down his life for a friend. But this guy did it. I don't know if you're a Christian or not. I don't know what was in him in that moment to save another man. John tells us what love is, pretty clear, right? It's clear. Now Jesus shows us what love looks like. And you can read the Bible, it's all there, right? But what's really interesting, this picture starts with a question. question and the question is found in Luke 10 25 and most of you would know where this story actually leads to but listen to what it is it's a lawyer in the midst of a crowd that wants to ask Jesus a question and this is what he says and what's really interesting actually says behold in other words pay close attention real close attention he says this behold a certain lawyer it's not a criminal lawyer it's an expert in the scriptures traditions and the cultures of Judaism they knew everything back to front stood up and testing Jesus said teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life I love Jesus Jesus when you look at Jesus doesn't answer questions just answers with another question do you know why because questions reveals information just a tip if you're in a conversation with people ask a lot of questions they will tell you so much more than they want to tell you just by asking questions so he asks a question what is written in the law what is your reading of it he answers you shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart soul strength and mind listen and then he adds a neighbor as yourself he says to him Jesus you've answered rightly do this and you'll live he should have walked away he didn't he wants to go to another level he then returns fire listen to this but wanting to justify himself said to Jesus who's my neighbor so you got the first two commands right now listen now he's trying to exclude some things out of his life who is my neighbor he knew the scriptures he answered correctly you should have walked away Jesus is not going to shame you but he's going to school you on who the neighbor is you're this you're the teacher of the scriptures and of the law and the traditions oh you want to go there okay let's go there and the reason why because he doesn't quote the whole scripture the lawyer doesn't quote the whole scripture he leaves out of context one of the most important scriptures so you should have walked away but you know what maybe maybe he needed to go there because because he wasn't living the life that he thought he was living he was professing to love the Lord thy God professing to love the neighbor but Jesus wants to go a whole another layer deeper listen who is my neighbor this question is building fences immediately around his life he's putting boundaries on his life straight away a neighbor to them to the lawyers the pharisees the sadducees was of their own people it wasn't anyone else outside of Judah to the Jewish people it was just them if that was true then you can wipe out a lot of the scriptures in the New Testament and the old for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son while we were sinners Christ died for the world you can wipe those all out so he doesn't quote the entire scripture here is the scripture that he that he start well he should have continued let's say because he takes Deuteronomy 6 love the Lord thy God he takes Leviticus love your neighbor and he stopped short listen what he should have said and if a stranger dwells in your land a stranger you shall not mistreat him the stranger who is dwelling amongst you shall be one as born to you oh and you shall love him as yourself this is this is biting this lawyer this is like I mean I knew lawyers were sleazy but like sorry disrespect nah sorry bad experience with lawyers sorry sorry but we all do it we all build fences and boundaries on the commands of God depending on what we want we do what he did we justify we give reason to why I shouldn't respond to Glenn why I shouldn't serve Tay why I shouldn't do so or why I should do and what allows me to live in sin we justify it again I know because I did it I lived in the grey area of life even as an early Christian man at the beginning I was on fire with God I was black I was white I was preaching hell and brimstone to my friends they'll call me Moses and all sorts of thing and then all of a sudden I'll find myself in this grey area of life dealing with the flesh dealing with the lust of life and I started to give really bad things to God I started to give really bad things to God I started to give reason to why I was doing it to the point I said God you made me like that cool so if you're justifying yourself George and how do I set you free from it if you're actually bringing reason and a defence to why you live the way you live how can I set you free I couldn't I had to ask God hate teach me to hate what I'm actually doing because I don't hate it some of it and I truly believe he did but listen we build fences all the time around God I don't hate it I don't hate it come on this is what they might look like here's just a short list just a short list not forgiving we don't forgive because you don't know what they did to me Jesus hung on the cross and said forgive them for they know not what they do he said it in where in the in in in his in the darkest time in a time of excruciating pain feeling the betrayal feeling the wounds carrying Judas to the cross carrying the denial of Peter to the cross and he's still saying forgive me for they know not what they do forgive them even in our feelings of hurt betrayal offences we still have to start with forgive them for they know not what they do listen it doesn't mean when you forgive someone the relationship will always be the same it doesn't mean you don't put boundaries on unhealthy relationships it means you must release yourself from the pain they are causing and allow God to come into the middle of that situation when my brother-in-law on my side of it offended me betrayed me the the one that I broke bread with he was my pastor all of that when he did something was unspeakable to me I had to go to this point and go God like this is two years it took me to get out of unforgiveness two years God like every time I heard his name my stomach twinged every time I saw him I just wanted to wring his neck I did I'm a Christian and God says pray for him is that the devil is that God what do you mean pray for him because you know in my mind pray for him oh no no no that means he's going to be blessed that means he gets away with it that means what was that leave me what what about me like you know it isn't fair listen right I've had enough now I want my share can't you see what they did to me but do you know what I'm saying that's that's what we do we do it it's okay it's okay maybe Jesus maybe that's why Jesus said to Peter forgive seven times not 70 maybe because the feelings the wave of emotions keeps on coming and coming when I started to pray for him you know what I prayed for him bless him Lord that was my prayer bless him Lord you know I pray now I can sit in the room with him I can talk with him I my heart is open towards him I actually message him whatever you need from me I can do for you it's all based on the releasing of the forgiveness and just praying blessing Lord and then that prayer just evolved and as it evolved it separated me from the pain of two years and this was what I told my wife this was our family member I had to say God maybe they don't know what they do maybe they do maybe they don't but I say forgive them for they know not what they do forgiveness I might have to hide behind the pulpit for this one not serving because someone else will do it someone else will do it what does Jesus say I did not come to you I did not come to you but to be served but to serve he puts a towel around his waist he bends his knee and washes the disciples feet man if someone asked me to wash your feet I want to make sure you got a pedicure I'll make sure it's clean I don't want claws hanging off like I don't feed it they're like feet are terrible they're ugly like I don't see what I don't have a foot fetish but I'm just saying it was humility at its best he served he served he served not giving because it cost me nothing for God so loved the world that he gave just saying I'm speaking truth what am I afraid of I'll make a phone call all everyone's gone not not speaking the truth because you know why it might offend somebody I don't want to say that I want to say it to them I want to tell them everything about what they did but I don't want to say to them why because it might offend them no no don't use my name don't say that? Or why did you say it to me? Don't tell me. Look, I don't want to know. Not speaking the truth, not sharing our faith. I've had this one, sitting in a cafe with someone because someone might reject me. I was talking to a Muslim boy about everything about God. Not once did I mention how do you get to Jesus? I walked out of that cafe and it was like a ton of bricks hit me. And the Lord said to me, what was the purpose of that? Now I never lead people to church. I lead them to Christ and the Christ. If they reject it, great. If they don't, do I still struggle? Do I sit there and go, maybe what are they going to think of me? Yeah, I do. I do sometimes. I still do it. I still do it. Loving those who only deserve to be loved. Yet Matthew says, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you. you. Every one of these is another way of asking, where can I draw the line? Where is the fence? Where is the boundary? How high can I build a wall? The question Jesus is asking, will you love as I've loved? Will you? It might hurt, it might cost, but will you? It's the same. It's the answer to the Lord's question. Who's my neighbour? I'm going to start closing and this is what he says. Who is my neighbour? Where does he lead him? To the Good Samaritan. We've all heard that story, right? Can we put it up? I think you got it. Luke 10, 25. Luke 10, 25. All good. But a certain Samaritan. You know what the lawyer was expecting? Not a Samaritan. He was expecting a Jewish guy. Jesus is like messing with this man. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. When he saw him, he had compassion, went to him, bandaged him, poured oil and wine on him and set him even on his own. Hannibal brought him to an inn, took care of him. On the next day when he departed, he took two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, said, take care of him. And whatever else you spend, when I come, I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was the neighbour who fell among the thieves? Who was it? He doesn't say the Samaritan. He won't even use the guy's name. He says, I guess the last guy. He doesn't want to use his name. You know when Jesus says an uncertain or a certain, man came, removed his clothes, was wounded. What Jesus was doing, removing his identity from him. Because by their clothing, they could tell who it was from a distance. There is no discrimination here. There is no boundary here. There is no excuse here. He's naked with no identity. So you cannot put a fence or a boundary around it. Yet the priest who served God in the temple worship walked across the other side. Why? Because he didn't want to get his hands dirty. Because they had pure faith. They didn't want to get his hands dirty. Laws that if I touch an unclean person or if I touch a dead corpse, then I'm unclean. I have to go wash and do the ritual all over again. Boo hoo, who cares? Go do it again. But again, but again, but again, he leaves out the rest part. He leaves out the rest because the law says if you see someone broken in the midst of the road, you are to attend to them. Oh, he forgot that one. Like we all do sometimes. We do. To the Jew, the Samaritan was the last person he would have expected to show compassion because they hated each other. They were at war with each other. Both of them, both of them. But the Samaritan saw him, had compassion, came to him. This reflects, this story, listen, reflects the heart of Christ towards humanity. We were the ones left naked and stripped and destitute. We were the ones left in the dirt and the dust of the earth. Yet he, the good Samaritan, the good shepherd came to us, bandaged us, wounded us, paid the price for us, took us into the inn, into his father's house. And whatever else it cost, I'll pay it. But he already paid it. He already paid it. We're not waiting for anything else. The story of the good Samaritan just shows us love has no boundaries. Our neighbour is not just the person who looks like us, talks like us, walks like us. It's anyone in close proximity that needs a need. I'm going to skip and I'm going to bring it to one last point. Jesus takes this command even one step higher, one level deeper. He gives a special command to his followers. What is it? Love one another. Why? So that the world may see you are my disciples. Why is this so important? Because Jesus said the world would recognise him, him by the love that we have for one another. The church, I know this is going to shock you. It's not a building of four walls. Think about everything I just said, forgiving, serving, all of that. It's not the four walls. It's you, people. We make up the body of Christ. And if we are a V8 cylinder running on four cylinders, we're going to be all the way down the road. We'll get to where we want to go, but it will be such a struggle. So why do we hold back? Why do we not serve one another, pray for one another? Listen, serving, serving, giving, all of that, but serving, because serving is the greatest gift that God gave us to one another. It's not a gap that we need to fill in a roster. No, we do. But that's not why we do it. It's not the reason. Listen, a child in the kid's room may miss the one who could help them discover Jesus. If that's not important, I don't know. May never receive the welcome that made them feel at home and see Jesus. A struggling person may miss prayer, may miss encouragement, may miss the conversation that one of us have. It's all about this. In the body of Christ, no one is insignificant and unnecessary. God uses every cylinder, every believer, every person, thumb, finger, finger, finger, little finger, every one of them. Not just the gifted, the visible, to demonstrate what? The love of God towards humanity. I don't know how else to say it. Why don't we do any of these things? Why do we do some things that we shouldn't do? If John is saying, hey, this proves whether you're a Christian or not, I don't love the same. Please, let's hear this right. Love is different to connection, right? I have people I connect with. I call it whatever you want, but I don't love them in that sense. What it is, is that if I see you in need, I will help you. My heart is open. Room for you, God. Do what you want to do. But I might never see that person again. I might never have a coffee with them again. Like I don't hang out with my brother-in-law. I don't go to lunch with him. I don't do any of that. But if he rings me, I can say, I help you. I help you. Why don't we all stand for a moment? Maybe we need to ask ourselves in this moment, where have we built fences? Have we put boundaries on God's love because of our feelings? I don't feel like serving today. I don't feel like loving. I don't feel like giving. I don't feel, man, if we're built relationships on feeling, the divorce rate will go from 50% to 100%. It wouldn't exist. It wouldn't survive. We can't survive on feelings. Or maybe you've just justified why and why not. Just that simple. Maybe you're here today. Maybe you need to ask yourself some serious questions because it's not me asking the question and giving the answer. It's actually John and Jesus together to ask you some serious questions because it's not me asking the question and giving the answer. And how of the most important things we are not on this earth for ourselves, we are only here for one thing, that is to glorify Him and bring others into His Kingdom. Experience what we've all experienced. You're the only Bible they'll read. You're the only voice they'll hear. You're the only Christ they'll see. You know, when I came to Christianity, it was because someone tried to preach to me the Gospel and appealed to me in that moment because of what I was walking through. But you know what kept me there? I was walking through the Bible. I was the love of the people that I walked into that church with. There was a guy who knew everything about me. And the crazy thing about it is like, I can only put it simply, I was the criminal and he was a police officer. And he just walked and he hugged me and grabbed me. And I stood there like that. I go, oh, this is awkward. But a man has never hugged me. And we're not talking a little pat. He just embraced me. And then he was there. In my life, he walked my wife and I through our troubles and our trials. Another man in church that would show up every week would encourage me and say, you could do this. The worship spoke to me. The message into my heart, pierced my soul and told me I was wrong. Didn't shame me, didn't condemn me, convicted me and said, there is another way. That's why we're all important. I walked into a church when I walked into the Shire. I'm going to tell you something. Within three seconds, I said, I would not come to this church. And I'm not saying it's a bad church. It just wasn't for me. I ended up here. I walked in that church and not one person said hello. Not one person welcomed me. And there were people at the door. That's how crucial, this is how quick we make our minds up about things. The impressions are made within the first three seconds of anywhere you go. You'll judge a person in three seconds. You will. We need to, I don't know what we need to do. This is what we need to do. Oh, we're going to worship just for a moment. It just appeared. We're going to just worship for a moment. When Glenn, I was speaking to Dylan the other day and I felt God put a word on my heart. I said, oh, like, but I came in today and it just wasn't there. And then it started to stir. And then Glenn gets up and uses the Scripture and uses the exact same word. I said, oh God, is this for this week, for next week? Like I'm going to get preached. I don't want to interrupt him. And, but it was trust. God was saying, do you trust me in what you do? And I had a picture, had this picture of a rope dangling and a man or people's hands just holding the rope so tightly. Maybe it's the fence you've built, the boundary. Maybe it's the justification. But I saw another hand and it was just waiting. But it wasn't going towards the rope, it was just still. And it was like God's hand waiting for that person to let go so that God could grab. He'll go, I'll hold you. But it wasn't the person making the step towards God, it was God again making the step towards us. But He needed to do something in that moment. We needed to do something in that moment. What do you need to do in this moment? What do you need to let go of? What do you need to surrender? What is it? We should worship unashamedly. We should speak unashamedly. We should confess Christ without fear. But we do and it's okay and He loves us, but He's building something in us. He's developing love in us. The only time you look, you know, I have fears. I have fears. But I remember one preacher said, fear is doing it while you're afraid. While you're afraid, do it. Oh man, that's courage, right? That's the opposite. And I do that. When I come up the front and I worship, I used to think in my mind, wow, what are people thinking? Why are they looking at me? People never looked once at me, couldn't care less about me. They could not care what you think. I'm on my knees. I'm going, God, what would they think if I get on my knees and they think you're prideful? I don't care anymore. But I had to get there. I asked so many questions. If I raised my hand, like what's the person behind me? Like, this guy fruitcake? Like, what's wrong with him? Like, man, the most beautiful times I had was in worship. It wasn't even in the Word to be honest with you. It was in worship when I just raised my hand and got on my knees and let go of everything. I said, God, how am I going? I'm only going to find trust in You when I let go. I'm only going to find You when I let go. I'm only going to see what my tomorrow looks like when I let go. I'm only going to trust You for that relationship when I let go of the relationship I should be in. I'm going to trust You about the job. I'm going to trust You about everything. I don't know. I don't know how it's going to work out. I don't know when it's going to work out. I don't know any of that. But I think I can trust You. But you'll never know trust until you step out. You'll never know. You'll never experience God until you step into God. Every eye closed just for a moment.