You can begin by shifting from religious rules to a daily, intimate relationship with Jesus, who is the truth. As you remain in His word, you will find the freedom to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Let this week be an opportunity to offer your time, talents, and treasures as an act of worship.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Let's pray. Because I believe that you came here to hear from God. You you might have felt like your friend drug you here. You might have felt like, hey. You just came because your son or your daughter or your mom or dad invited you or drug you, whatever.
But really deep down, God drew you here, and he loves you and he cares you, cares for you, and he has a word for you that I think is going to encourage you, but also draw you into a deeper, closer relationship with him. And if it's really God who's speaking, right, because I I my prayer is that I get out of the way, and I get this is this is not about me. It's not about it's about him. It's about him speaking in such a way that it impacts and shifts your life for eternity. And if that's really the case, then let's sit on the edge of our seats.
You know? Let's let's lean in. Let's listen in such a way as if, man, it can impact our lives for eternity because it can. So, father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for loving us.
We thank you that you're here. Lord god, we thank you, god, that that you you chose to impact people. And 1 of the ways is through the foolishness of preaching, as your word says. So, Lord, I I we ask you. We leave our hearts open to you today.
Say, Lord, impact my life. Impact our lives. Speak to us in such a way that it shifts our the the course of our life for eternity. Lord God, we're listening. We're here.
And I just any distractions, any anything that would rise up against the the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ, I rebuke it and say no in Jesus' name. And I just thank you, father, for what you're gonna do. That today, lives are gonna be transformed. People are gonna be healed today. People are gonna be delivered from wrong ways of thinking.
People are gonna be delivered from bondage, Lord God. I thank you that that people are gonna go from death to life today, that people are gonna receive Jesus. *Father, I thank you for freedom* today. Well, you're here. You're welcome.
We give you this service. In Jesus' name. Amen. So last week, we talked about something that plays into worship in a very big way. We said a statement last week, and the statement was a lot of people know this statement.
The truth will "set you free". Right? You hear that all the time. The truth will set you free, and that is true. But as I said last week, that's only half of the truth.
Because the rest of the verse says, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So the prerequisite to being set free from the truth or by the truth is knowing the truth. And the knowing it's talking about there is not just a head knowledge. We dug in. The knowing it's talking about there is an intimate, personal, relational knowledge and experiential knowledge of the truth.
It's much deeper. It's not religious. It's not I'm just following this code of rules and this list of laws. Wake up and say alright what do I have to do today? No.
It's a relational I wake up and say, Jesus, thank you that I know you. I'm excited to live this life with you. Show me what's next, God. I'm excited. It's a personal, intimate, conversational, daily relationship with the God of the universe.
That's knowing the truth. Who is truth? *Jesus* said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is truth. It's an intimate relationship with the 1 who is truth.
A lot of us live our lives as if we're trying to find out what we have to do next instead of just going to the 1 who is truth and trusting him in daily relationship. That's freedom. And it says, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And we said, well, wait. Wait.
Wait. Then so then there's a a prerequisite to knowing the truth too. And what is that? Right before it says, if you remain in my word if you remain in my word, then you're really my disciple. Then you will know the truth.
So remaining in his word. Who is the word? *Jesus*. In John-1, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God.
The word was God. Was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is the word. Jesus is the truth.
It's remaining in who he is and what he says about your circumstance regardless of what the circumstance says to you. So many people get lost in I feel this way. I see this but God. He says we're "more than a conqueror" but God I feel defeated. But God, look.
It looks like I'm defeated. We get stuck in what we've lost or what we might lose instead of remaining in what we have. Remaining in what we have, his word, him, relationship, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Understanding that is key. We're gonna get a little bit philosophical kinda sorta, and we're gonna bring it down to practical.
Okay? That's okay. So we're starting today talking about the worship series, and what I just said is so under so vital to understanding worship. Why? *John-4:23*.
Says, yet a time is coming and "has now come". Everybody say has now come. When true worshipers, let's say that together too. True worshipers. Will *worship in the Father in spirit and in truth*.
For they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. I don't know about you, but I want to be the kind of worshiper that the father seeks. I wanna live a life of worship and live a life that is the type of worshiper that the father seeks. Amen? Yeah.
That's right. That's the title of the message today. A worshiper, the father seeks. To *worship in spirit* and in *truth*. What does that mean?
What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? To worship in spirit. Does that just mean I'm I'm I'm gonna be in touch with my spirituality? I'm gonna be open to to spirits or the spirit just be open to anything that would touch my life spiritually? Absolutely not.
Absolutely not. We talked about how to deal with Satan and how to deal and the last part was how to deal with Satan. If you missed it, check the podcast out. Satan and his demons, they're real. Just we we're not just open to anything.
Let's go to John-14:16. This is Jesus speaking. He says, and I will ask the father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever. The *spirit* of *truth*. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth.
To worship in spirit and in truth, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. You can't worship in spirit without the truth. Yeah. In the Holy Spirit, you can't worship in spirit without the truth. And if he's the spirit of truth, then you can't worship in truth without the Holy Spirit.
So to worship in spirit without the truth is demonic. Just to be open to anything and everything. And to worship in truth, but thinking you don't have the spirit is a lie because he's the spirit of truth. Go hand in hand. The truth will set you free.
Knowing the truth will set you free. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Why? Because truth and the spirit are 1 in the same. They go together.
Amen? And I just wanna keep going here for a second. The world cannot accept him, the spirit of truth, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. *Jesus* paid the price so that he could be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you. I think so so many of the church has the mindset of an orphan. We have a heavenly father who's with us. He never left us or forsaken us. He he this is part of his word, but yet we see our circumstances and what we're going through, and we say, but god, where are you?
But God, I feel lost. I feel I feel left. I feel sick. I feel broken. I feel this, that, the other.
You can't be here. Where are you, God? That's a lie. It's the mindset of an orphan. You're not an orphan.
He said, "never will I leave you". Never will I forsake you. I am with you. Romans-8:14-15. By his *spirit* by his spirit, we're we because of his spirit we're sons and daughters of the most high God.
We can cry out Abba Father knowing that he's with us. Knowing that he loves us. That's the truth. To worship in spirit and in where are you God is to worship a lie. That's to focus too much on me and what I'm going through instead of focusing on what he says and who he is.
You cannot worship by focusing on your loss. You can only worship by focusing on what he says and who he is with you. Because we're not worshiping our loss. We're worshiping him. A worshiper the father seeks, we're supposed to worship in spirit and in truth.
I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Let's keep going. On that day, you will realize that I am in the father, and you are in me, and I am in you. *Jesus* is with us.
He is with us. He is with you, and he wants you to approach him boldly in truth. Because only when you do that can you take your eyes off of you because you're secure in his love for you and to begin to quit living for you and to live for him and to serve others as we're created to. Amen? Okay.
Alright. So let's bring all of that down to the practical by looking at a story where this is lived out so we can put this into practice in our daily lives. Alright? Let's go to second Chronicles. And I just preached on this, but we're gonna do it again.
And I preached on this in the in the view of prayer and fasting. But we're gonna look at it through the view of worship. In 2 Chronicles-20:1. Thank you, Jesus, that you're with us. Thank you that you're here.
Thank you that you love us. Lord God, thank you that you're pushing us forward in you. Alright. Here we go. 2 Chronicles-20.
You guys ready? God's good. He loves you. After this, the Moabites and the Ammonites with some of the Munites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Just so you know, if that's a bunch of crazy words to you, King Jehoshaphat's the king of Judah.
This is thousands and thousands of years ago, and he has amazing stuff for them, but it doesn't look like it at the time because they have many different nations waging war against them. It says in verse 2, some people came and told Jehoshaphat, a vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It's already at Hazazar, Tamar, that is in Gedi. Now vast army. What does he mean by vast army?
This is thousands of years ago. This is hand to hand combat. Swords, spears, arrows, you know, some and some of the better armies, horses, that kind of thing. Right? This is not today.
And and vast army, scholars would say a vast army, "7 to 1". Right? They were outnumbered 7 in this this case, scholars say they were outnumbered 7 to 1. This is sure defeat. This is sudden death.
They're walking into a massacre. They're walking into a slaughter. And what does a slaughter look like back in those days? It looks like sword cutting off arms, cutting off legs, cutting off feet, cutting off everything, decapitating people, spears through. I mean blood everywhere on the battlefield.
That's what it looks like. Like the circumstance says, oh my gosh. It's over. And they're not just worried about themselves. See these warriors, these men, they also know that in those days, like in battles like that, what would happen is after they won the war and they slaughtered all the men, they'd go and rape the wives and then take the children and make them slaves.
So they're also worried not just about their own self, but they're worried about their wives and their children as well because they know it's sure defeat. It's over for them. It's done. I think we can learn from this circumstance. It's practically what we just talked about.
So what happens? This vast army, 7 to 1, is coming against you. Verse 3, alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord and proclaim a fast for all of Judah. And as I said when I preached this the first time, man, may every circumstance that comes in front of my face, every circumstance that happens, let me respond like Jehoshaphat, *God*. Alarmed?
Sure. But let me resolve to inquire of the Lord. Let me resolve to go and sit at his feet and say, God, what do you say about this? Because I wanna remain in the truth, and the truth is your word. The truth is what you say, not over what I see.
I will wanna remain what what you say and trust you regardless because your word is more powerful than what I've been through. Your word is more powerful than what I see that that could possibly happen to me. I wanna remain right there. Amen? Thank you.
I love it. It's encouraging. Okay. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord. Indeed, they came from every town to seek him.
So it wasn't just the leader who was doing this. It was everybody. They were all together in this thing, encouraging 1 another to seek the lord. Come on. That's community.
That's the church. That's the bride of Christ. I'm sure some of them, some of them probably didn't want to. Some of them thought it was over. But because the community as a whole came together, there was hope in hope arising.
You know? It's a you know, the mom bit mob mentality on the bad side? It was a little bit of probably of the mob mentality on the good side. Some positive peer pressure. Hey.
Come on, man. Let's go seek the Lord on this 1. It's called the bride of Christ. We encourage 1 another. When when they won't seek the Lord, let's seek the Lord for them.
When they won't listen to his word, let's stand with them, bear their burdens, and and look to the Lord for them, intercede for them until they get up and start looking at Jesus. Let's love people that well. Amen? Okay. Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly, verse 5, of Judah in Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in front of the new courtyard and said, Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not God who is in heaven?
You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no 1 can withstand you. I love that because his focus is on who he is. Let's skip down to verse 12. He says, in the end of his prayer, he says, our god, will you not judge them?
For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. All the men of Judah with their wives and children and little ones stood before the Lord. Some of you are in that place right now. You don't know what to do.
It seems like the enemy is attacking you on every side. It looks like the cancer is gonna kill you or it looks like, you know, your wife's gonna leave or your husband's gonna leave. It looks like your kids or whatever that that that your family's never gonna get back together. It looks like this and it looks like that and it looks like that and you're at the end of your rope and that is the best place that you could possibly be. Because if you haven't already yet, turn your eyes to Jesus, when you finally are able to let go of control of your future and turn your eyes to Jesus and trust him and look to him, then you can hear what he says instead of what you've been thinking.
Because when we hopefully it doesn't take getting to the end of the rope for that to happen but sometimes it does and if it does, okay. Let's just turn to Jesus and encourage 1 another to turn to Jesus sooner than it take getting to the end of a rope, But staying there, remaining. Remember, remain in his word. Then, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's not, oh, Jesus, will you help me?
And then 2 2 days later, 2 months later, 2 years later, however long, nothing happens. You say, well, I'm done with that. I'm going on this way. That's not remaining in his word. That's not faith.
It's remaining in his word regardless of how long it takes. Lord, I give you my life, and I'm gonna, by grace through faith, remain until I see your word come to pass. And even if I don't, even if I die here, I know my children will see it, and I'll walk in eternity with you, and that's enough for me. Amen. So I'm gonna praise you in the middle of the storm.
I'm way ahead on my notes. So Our eyes are on you. Then, the spirit of the lord came on Jehaziel, son of Zechariah, the son of Beniah, the son of Jael, the son of Mattaniah, a Levi, and descendant of Asaph as he stood in the assembly and there's a really cool revelation there. We don't have time for it. Go listen to the prayer and fasting podcast.
But he said, listen, king Jehoshaphat, and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem. I love the fact that the word of the spirit of the lord came on someone in the congregation, and he spoke. *God* speaks. A lot of times, he speaks through people. You have the same spirit in you that I have in me.
Holy Spirit in me is not more powerful than the Holy Spirit in you or in your kids if they know Jesus. Come on. He can speak through you if you let him, if you'll listen. Ain't that amazing? You are a minister of the gospel.
It's my role to equip you to be ministers so you can be the word of the Lord to people around you. Yeah? Listen, king Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem. This is what the lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, this 7 to 1 army that is sure destruction by logic.
For the battle is not yours but god's. Tomorrow, march down against them. They will be climbing the passives, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert Of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your position.
**Stand firm* and see the deliverance* of the Lord will give you Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Go out and face them tomorrow. The Lord will be with you.
That's crazy. Do not be discouraged in the midst of sudden defeat. Do not be discouraged. How many times do we receive a word of the Lord or not just receive this amazing, wonderful prophecy that's awesome, but just go back to his word? He's already given his word.
How many times do we go back and read his promises but say, but God, look at my circumstance, and we go and try to fix it ourselves? What if we would just remain in what he says and just remain there regardless of our circumstance? This circumstance is probably worse than what you're going through. Maybe, maybe not. Even if it's not, his word is still the his the same answer to every problem.
His word is still the same answer to every problem, even yours. He still loves you. He still cares for you. His word is still the same answer. Do not be discouraged.
Do not be afraid. Stand firm regardless. Go and face them tomorrow. You know what? When you can receive God's word and receive what he says about you, he's not gonna tell you to run from your enemies.
He's gonna tell you to stand and face them because he's with you. He'll give you the courage, not don't be discouraged, but be encouraged and stand with your God and face them. You can face whatever circumstance you're going through when you know that the God of the heaven and universe is with you and is in you. Amen? He's with you and he's in you.
Let's keep going. We're getting to worship. So here's what they did. Verse 18. Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord.
Then some Levites from the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very "loud voice". They worshiped and they praised God based on what God said. Now let me ask you a question. What changed? Like really?
On the outside looking in, what actually changed? They were still outnumbered 7 to 1. Right? Like nothing physically changed but yet they still worship god. They didn't wait until they saw their circumstance change and then begin to worship him and praise him.
No, they trusted his word as if it was already done physically. They trusted it supernaturally. It's called faith. They had faith receiving what god had spoken before they saw anything happen and they worshiped him. Some of them got down on their knees crying tears of joy.
Thank you, Jesus for what you've done. Others that said, they were praising god. Thank you, Jesus. God, I just thank you for what you're doing in a loud voice. Don't judge other people for how they worship.
You don't know what they're going through and what they've been through and what they've been freed from or the word of the lord that that that was spoken over them. Man, some of us, we need to just get on our knees. We need to just sit still and say, thank you, Jesus. God, it's amazing because of his word, Despite how we feel and despite what we see, we need to remain in his word until we know it experientially because then the truth has set us free. Some of us, man, we're so down and depressed.
We just need to receive his word, take it by faith despite how we feel, and just begin to shout and thank you Jesus for what you've done and praise him with a loud voice regardless. You guys, you don't see me in my home when nobody's there and I'm not telling you this to boast or to brag on me. I'm just telling you this so you can see part of my life and and go and do it in your own. Man, sometimes I feel terrible. Not that I necessarily should but sometimes I just feel terrible.
Sometimes, somebody will come and believe a lie or or you know, betrayal or whatever else that happens. I don't and and it's just like, man, god, what? What's going on? I don't understand. Blah blah blah.
And then, you know, the enemy speaks all these lies and discouragement and you're like, you're starting to take it in. You're like, I just and then I go back to his word. I go back to His Word. The more I grow the quicker I go back to what He says. The more I go the quicker I go back to what He says.
Therefore there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Right? I can be content in all circumstances. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Which means I can be content whether I'm in prison, whether I'm facing persecution, whether I'm facing death, whether I'm faith, what debt, well, it doesn't matter.
Whatever I'm facing, I can be content. I can even do that because you're gonna strengthen me in the midst of this. So, you know what I do? I turn on some worship music or some praise music. Sometimes I go back to the oldies and I just thank you Jesus.
And I I'm in my in my living room and some, you guys are thinking, man, he's out of his mind. I sure am. I'm out of my mind and into the mind of Christ. Some of you guys need to get out of your own mind. And just begin to worship him.
They're coming up for worship. Hallelujah. It's gonna be awesome. So, they began to worship and praise him in a loud voice Look what they did. Verse 20, early in the morning, they left for the Desert Of Tekoa and as they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, listen to me, Judah and all the people of Israel, Israel or Jerusalem.
Have faith in the Lord, your God, and you will be upheld. They continued to encourage 1 another in the midst of sure defeat. They continued to encourage 1 another with the word that was spoken in the midst of sure defeat. That's what you are to 1 another. That's the importance of groups.
That's the importance of serving. That's the importance of community, because isolation will surely kill. We need the body of Christ. We need 1 another to wash 1 another's feet, get the dirt went off went off of 1 another's feet, and remind each other that you're forgiven, that you're loved, that you're strong, that Jesus is in you, and we're together in this thing. Amen?
Watch this. This is really cool. Have faith in his prophets, and you will be successful. Verse 21, after consulting with the people. So it wasn't just his decision what happened next, but the people believed god so so much that after consulting with the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying, give thanks to the lord for his love endures forever.
What changed at that point? Physically, nothing. Still 7 to 1. Still sure to feet. It's still over.
You know, if I'm imagining Egypt sitting back saying, man, Judah's gone. It still looks like it's over. Everybody around them probably saying, hey, you're done for. You know, you should prep for death. But they're sending the praise and worship band out ahead of the army.
I mean, it doesn't make logical sense but we don't live by logical sense. We live by his word. We live by what he says. Even if we're persecuted for it, you will receive persecution, but blessed are those who are persecuted. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And what did they say? Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. In the midst of certain defeat, they're focused not on the battle, they're not focused on what they could potentially lose, they're focused on his love which endures forever and by focusing on him, what's happening? By trusting in his word, what happens? Verse 22, as they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Ser who were invading Judah and they were defeated.
The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Serah to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Serah, they helped to destroy 1 another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground. No 1 had escaped. They didn't even have to fight because god said he was going to fight the battle and they trusted him.
I wonder what would have happened if they would have acted in fear instead of faith. I hear you *god* but I'm a do things my way. We're gonna have a peace treaty just in case. We're gonna wait to worship until the battle's over. God.
Just just to make sure you're gonna do what you did, what you say you're gonna do. Just to make sure you come through, God. That's a lack of trust in his word. That's called fear, and fear is faith in the wrong God. Fear is faith that the worst thing might happen.
Fear is worshiping a lie. Who's the father of lies? Who's the "father of lies"? The devil. Yeah?
But we worship in spirit and in? Right? So, we worship on what he says, not on what we see. Right? I'll tell you what would have happened.
If that would have happened, their faith and the lie would have manifested the lie, and it would manifested in defeat. It would have been a different story. *2 Chronicles-20* would have been a picture of what not to do instead of what to do. So let's stop walking in fear and believe God's word. Whatever comes my way, my house is on the rock, Jesus, not on the "shifting sand" of circumstance.
I'm trusting in you regardless. I'm sold out, come hell or high water. I've made up my mind, Jesus. Satan, you may kill me. You may kill my wife.
You may kill my kids. You may take all I have. You may cause sickness, but by His grace through faith, I'm gonna praise you through the storm. My eyes are on Him, and to live is Christ, and to die is gain. There's freedom in that place.
We're about to enter into a time of worship. It's gonna be a little different. During this time of worship, we're gonna have opportunity for you to participate in worship. 1 of the ways that you can participate is through taking communion. I'm just gonna talk through what I do when I take communion so that you guys can see.
And then you can take communion by yourself, take it with your friends beside you, take it with your family. As a husband, lead your wife into communion, and take it with them to bless your family together. Or your friends, or, like I said, whatever. Bible says, the purpose of communion is we're remembering what Jesus did. We're remembering his word, remembering who he is and what he means for us in this life and now so we can move forward.
It's an act of worship. *Jesus* says, this is my body. So this is representing bread, right, that was broken for you. Now, the crazy part is in first Corinthians, it talks about there's many people who don't "discern the body" of Christ. And so because of that, they're drinking judgment on themselves.
And there's that's why there's many that are sick and die prematurely. What does that mean? It's been taught wrong in the church for so long. It's just taught so wrong. *Isaiah-53:5* says, by his stripes, by his body that was broken for us, we are healed.
*1 Peter-2:24* says We were healed. We were healed. By his stripes, we were healed. So as I take this, I'm discerning his body. I'm discerning.
I'm believing the truth of his word for me now. He's took in all all of my sickness, all of my my junk in him, but I don't see it in my life right now. Quit with the buts and stay in his word. We're remaining in what he says until we see it. And even if even if we don't see it until eternity, thank you, Jesus.
My kids are gonna see it. My posterity is gonna see it. I'm gonna continue walking and trusting your word by faith. Thank you, father. Broken for my healing.
I'm discerning his body, and so I'm experiencing the fullness of his body in my life now. So so when I take communion, I say, thank you, Jesus, that your body was broken for my healing. If I have any sickness in in my body at the time, Lord, thank you that my lower back is healed because it was healed 2000 years ago. You took the pain in my lower back 2000 years ago from my healing. So as I take this, I'm remembering what you you have done.
I'm choosing to remain in your word. Lord, thank you that it is personal and intimate and relational. Thank you, Jesus, that you're that personal for me, that you are thinking about my pain when you are taking that pain for me right then. You did it for my healing. So by your stripes, I am healed.
I'm discerning your body, and I praise you for that. Lord, thank you, Jesus. I take this in remembrance of you. Jesus said, this is the blood of the **new covenant** that was poured out for you. It's in remembrance.
What does his blood mean? His blood was paid paid the price for the forgiveness of your sin. There's a lot of people think that, man, if I sin and I don't ask for forgiveness right now and I die, I'm going to hell. That's a lie. If you've received Jesus, then he paid for your past, your present, and your future sin.
His blood was good enough for that. Romans-4:8, bless is the man or the person whose sin is never counted against them. *Jesus*' payment 2000 years ago paid for all all your sin. His payment was in the past anyway, so all your sin was in the future. Logically, think about it.
Right? So as I take this, it's reminding me of my standing with my father. We do this in remembrance of him. Thank you, Jesus, that you paid the price for my forgiveness, that Your blood was good enough to wash, not only wash my sin, but to clear my conscience of an evil, guilty conscience, because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So thank You that I'm in You.
So as I take this, I'm remembering what You did for me so that I could stand boldly from my Father and not go to you and lie thinking that I'm just filthy, rotten, nasty. No. You paid the price for me to be clean and pure and holy so I can step before you boldly and speak, thank you, Jesus, that you love me. Thank you that that matters today, that matters for me so that I'm forgiven, not only just just to be forgiven, but so that I can walk as 1 forgiven. And when others see me, they see a man that's forgiven and pure and holy and want to run to the father because of you.
Lord, I'm remaining in your word by remembering what you've done. Thank you, Jesus. I drink this in remembrance of you. Now that's me. Right?
When you guys take communion, just you don't have to repeat everything I just said. Just make it personal. Okay? With your friends, with your family, by yourself. And as they sing, these are open.
Actually, this is the little trash bin. So just put that trash in there. But you guys can, during the first song, second song, whatever, just come and take communion. Discern his body. Discern what he did for you.
We're gonna have our prayer team. Jerry and Heidi, would you guys and Daniel Actually, Keith, would you come and pray too? If you don't mind? Would be amazing. Wonderful.
We have our prayer team on either side here. If you need prayer, you've just confessed what Jesus says. Bible says, call the elders of the church, lay hands on them so that you may be healed. Right? Pray so that you may be healed.
Well, sometimes, I pray for myself and I'm not healed. And I just call my brother as in humility. Would you pray for me? Right? Some of you have sickness in your body right now.
*God*'s gonna heal today. This guy's crazy. Yeah. Crazy enough to believe his word. So if you need prayer or if you just need man, I just I just need help believing.
I just I need ask your brother and sister to pray for you. And if you know what? You can ask the person beside you to pray if they believe in Jesus. You guys are ministers of the gospel. You can minister to 1 another.
You can pray for 1 another. That's a good thing. Yeah. And then, at the end, we also have giving boxes. Some people all get all uptight when I talk about giving or anybody in the church talks about giving.
Stop it. This is no like Bible says, don't give under compulsion. Meaning, don't feel this big pressure of obligation. No. We're we're "cheerful givers".
Why do we give? It's an act of worship. We're putting him first in everything that we do. We put Him first in our time, we put Him first in our talent, and we put Him first in our treasures. And so many there's a lot of people maybe that you've been walking in fear instead of faith in your finances because God's been telling you to put Him first, and you're like, I can't do that.
I don't know. Jesus, but why don't you just start walking in in faith and trust him in every aspect? As an act of worship, I'm gonna praise you through my finances as well. Amen. Just like that, my wife and I, what do we do?
We give the first. We give the first 10% of our income. We give it to God. Well, how do I give money to God? Well, for us, man, we believe that local church is the body of Christ.
Right? The body of Christ. Christ. God. That's awesome.
So we get the first 10% of everything that comes in to the body of Christ, to the local church. That's how we do it. And we're blessed, man, because we're walking in faith. So if you like to participate in that way, shoot. We got the giving boxes there.
My wife and I usually give online. It's just easier for us, but just as an act of worship in freedom, in love. No fear, no pressure. Follow Jesus. Worship him.
Amen?
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