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Dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to
Micah Parkman leads a Sunday service on practicing the presence of Christ, prayer, community, and spiritual renewal at Celebration Church SK.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus holds ultimate authority over all creation and circumstances.
- Practicing the presence of Christ involves continual prayer and surrender.
- Community prayer strengthens faith and supports diverse groups within the church.
- God’s presence is essential for meaningful worship and transformation.
- Spiritual renewal and revival are sought both within the church and the broader community.
What the video covers
- The sermon focuses on Christ's supreme authority over all powers, present and future.
- The theme 'practicing the presence' encourages believers to recognize Jesus' supremacy in all aspects of life.
- Congregational prayers emphasize surrendering anxiety, fear, and burdens to Jesus.
- A call to pray for various groups within the church community, including musicians, leaders, and business leaders.
- The importance of experiencing God's presence in gatherings for true spiritual benefit is highlighted.
- Special prayers for prodigals and those on the fringes of faith to be drawn closer to God.
- Encouragement for church small group leaders to trust God’s guidance and lead without anxiety.
- A vision for business leaders in the city to reflect God’s glory in their work and influence.
- The service includes worship, reflection on biblical stories, and an invitation to deeper intimacy with Jesus.
- The message concludes with a prayer for renewed passion, unity, and spiritual awakening in the church and community.
Chapters
- 00:00Christ's Authority and Supremacy
- 09:00Prayers for the Congregation and Community
- 17:08Praying for Church Leaders and Small Groups
- 31:22Miniseries Introduction: Christ’s Priorities
- 37:11Worship and Declaration of Freedom in Christ
- 49:58Trusting God’s Message and Legacy
- 54:24Mobilizing Leadership and Spiritual Presence
- 74:23Invitation to Intimacy and Dependence on God
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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Our theme today is practicing the presence. And we see here in this passage that Christ is seated far and above all rule and authority, power and dominion, every name that is named, not just right now, but even into the
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future. So, I want to start us off with some short prayers if you want to come up here. And we're just going to start off with saying, Jesus, you are far and above. Fill in the blank. So Jesus, you
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are far and above anxiety, for example. So if you want to come up and give a short prayer, that's how we're going to start and then I'll lead us into what happens next.
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Jesus, you are above the plans that I would create. Jesus, you are far and above every sickness, illness, or disease.
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Jesus, you're far and above fear. Rational fear, legitimate fear. You're far and above. Seems almost even my understanding of the scriptures.
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I have to understand these words are think that points to Jesus, you are far and above the wisdom of this world.
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Jesus, you are far above all lost things. Everything we look at, no matter if it's people or spans or things, you are far above all things.
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This is a notion of mine through the week and I see that belongs here too. Jesus, you are far above your creation.
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I look in 38 and this is the sign from the Lord. As he promised, I'll cause the sun shadow to move 10 steps backwards on the sun of Ahaz. So the shadow and the sun dial move back 10 steps. Father, we
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can't even come close to understanding how you would change the way your created worlds and universe operates.
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And yet this is just simple for you. You are above your creation. You're welcome to keep praying those prayers. And I'll also invite you in to pray for the different groups of people you see in our congregation that they
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would have a desire to spend time with God and also be able to develop discipline for so when you think of different age groups, different talents, different occupations, however you want to think of it, praying for those groups. So God, I thank you for behold
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this weekend that we had so much here to look at you and praise you and understand who you are.
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And I thank you for the musicians that led us through that. Lord, I ask that you would capture their attention once again, capture their hearts, that they would fall more deeply in love with you.
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Would you teach them how to prioritize time with you? That they would know how to structure their lives around looking at you and that out of this space that we would birth new songs from our community.
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Jesus, your word says that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is fully after you.
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Thank you, Jesus, for the weekend and the people who desire to behold you. And we just want to say that as a community and congregation, we want to behold you. We long to see more of you and to as we see you to see each
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other rightly. Jesus, we pray that in our church community and beyond that we look at people and see them the way you see us and that we are just, um, seeing the glory of God manifesting among us and that we carry this glory of Jesus
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into the world around us. So this morning whether we are tired, uh, as people are getting ready, as people are just preparing their hearts, will you come and meet with us this morning not for our sake but for the sake of your
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word and for the sake of, uh, the world around us. We need you and we are so dependent on you. We, we come to you like children expecting to meet with you, to encounter you, and to find you, Jesus.
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Hey Lord, your servant Moses said, "Do not send us forth from here unless your presence go with us." Lord, we are asking for the same thing that as we gather here today that your presence will be there because if your
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presence is not here, Lord, it's just a social gathering and it does not profit anyone. So we just ask Father God, we request, we ask for your presence to fill this place. We ask Father God that as your people come in that they will
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encounter you. That the encounter will start right at the door. That as people coming, Lord, that whatever anxiety, whatever distractions, whatever burdens they carry, Father God, that as they cross the threshold that they will meet with you, that they
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will encounter your presence and they will hear you say, "Give it to me. Give me all your burdens.
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Give me all your distractions. Give me all your anxieties." We thank you, Father, that you call us to come to you and you say your burden is light.
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So, Father God, we just pray not just only for this auditorium, not just only for celebration, Lord, but wherever two or more are gathered in your name, that your presence, your presence will fill each place, will fill each
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auditorium, that the people who gather will know that they are in the presence of the King, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and that no one would leave the same way they came, but they would live with a renewed
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intimacy with you. We ask in Jesus' name. Lord, I think of the, um, people in our body that are just kind of on the fringe, those that maybe haven't decided if they're coming or going or where their heart is at. And I think of
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the prodigals that are represented by the body here. And I pray for, pray for these, Lord, that their desire and passion and fire for you would increase, God, that they would, um, encounter you, um, in this place and in our lives as we, um,
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engage them, Father, but that you would be at work in their, their hearts, in their minds, stirring them up towards you. Um, God, it is amazing how you draw us. And we just pray that you would be drawing them, that you would be pursuing
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them, and that their hearts would be awakened to that, and that they would grab a hold of the love and the things that you want to pour out to them and pour into them and transform them and bring them into the fellowship of the
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body of Christ, wherever that is, not necessarily here, but where you are drawing them to participate with the body, that they may be stirred up and that their fire can continue to be increased for. Father, I want to bring before you this
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specific community of business leaders in this city, um, that your presence would be upon them. That those that know you would know your presence. Those that don't know you would know your presence, that your influence in their lives would turn
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their businesses to outreaches of your name. That within their businesses, heavenly Father, their policies would glorify you. Their processes would glorify you.
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Their inter-business relationships would glorify you. That their results would glorify you. Heavenly Father, we pray for those in this community, but also the broader community of Regina. Father, would you begin a renewal and a revival inside the business leadership community
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in this city and Lord, we pray for the small groups that are starting in celebration.
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We just pray, Father God, that, um, we pray particularly for the leaders, Father, that, um, that there will be no anxiety, that they will know that you are the one leading, that the leaders are just conduits.
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So we just pray, Father God, that, uh, you will prepare each heart to receive what you have and the heart of the leaders, that there will be no anxiety because you will be the one speaking through them. You will be the one
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leading because this is all yours. We thank you, Father God, for what you are going to do.
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We give you all the glory, Jesus' name. God, I thank you for everyone that has come today to gather together to pray, to seek your presence. Father, would you make known to each one of us who we are
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to you? Would you make known to us your power that we would see you rightly, that we would behold you and see how you have been...
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nothing that can come against you and that you are living inside of us. So God, as we go through our weeks, when we see the hardships, when we experience pain, that we would remember that you are far and above those things, that we
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would look to you in those moments and behold you. Amen. Thank you everyone for coming today. Our service will start in probably seven minutes.
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Five minutes. Fred says five minutes. We might not have 60-second minutes though. Amen. Hallelujah.
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Are we on? We are. This is your two-minute warning. We are going to get started at well probably Talia was right about 2 minutes after 10.
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Good Good morning celebration. Good morning to the stage left. Good morning to the stage right. Good morning online. Hey online. Uh you notice we got started at 10:01 not 10:02. So that's halfway between Talia's suggestion of mine. I know we still got a few people
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coming in. Just we're ready to get started. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning. We thank you that you have provided us with another glorious day that we can set aside. call it a Sabbath and raise you up and call you great,
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call you glorified, bow in your presence, set before you the most precious thing that we have to give you is our time. And so it is all yours this morning. Come, Holy Spirit. Would you fill us and guide us into a time of
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worship and study, prayer, and understanding that we might know our Lord in greater and greater ways so that we might have a bigger and bigger influence in this world for the glory of God our father. Amen. Amen. Just I I
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want to touch on a couple of things. I brought this up. Do you know why I might have brought this up?
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No. Expressive worship. Yes. Hey, uh, if you didn't notice when you came in, the aisles are wider.
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Did you notice that? We squeezed a couple of chairs to the side so that there's room for you to dance and sing and worship however you want. You'll notice there's buckets at the side there, buckets at the side over here. Uh
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you are welcome to worship today in whatever way feels um inspired to you. Don't hold back because whoa, what's somebody going to think of me? I've done that before and that's not what our God wants. When he says get up and dance,
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get up and dance. When he says get on your knees and praise me, get on your knees and praise him. Follow our Lord.
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We've got um Nico talked last week about the series that we're going into. And so this fall, we're going to be spending our time asking the question, what does it actually mean to behold Jesus and to become like him? And so inside of that,
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we're going to do a miniseries right now on what are Christ's priorities? What what were Jesus' priorities? What are they now? Because as we study our own priorities, we learn a lot more about us. Right? If you look at my calendar,
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you'll notice that I don't spend a lot of time in the gym, but I do spend a lot of time reading. And so, you get to understand what my priorities are. And we're going to dig into Christ's journal
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and see what his priorities are. One of them is making sure that we love our God.
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Will you stand with me while we read the great commandment? when he says something's great, it's probably worth paying attention to, right? Join with me. And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
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and with all your mind." And this is the great and first commandment. And the second's like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. Lord, have mercy on us and
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write both these laws on our hearts. Let's go into our Lord's prayer. Thank you, God, that you've given us a pattern for our prayer. Anytime we don't know how to start, what to be praying for, you've given us a structure that we
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can come back to and understand that this is your heart. Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and
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ever. Amen. Hey, Dashner, you want to lead us into some worship? Yes. Good morning.
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You know, last um since last night at 10 o'clock, we had actually 30 hours of worship and prayer in this place here.
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So, some people might be a little tired. Uh others might not be here this morning, but God is worthy to be praised. Right.
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Yes. That's right. So, let's do that together. So you can just clap your hands, you can dance.
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We'll just uh praise God together. Jesus, you're worthy of our praise. On the good days, on the bad days, let everything Let everything satisfy.
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Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. [cheering] Praise the Lord. Let everything Let everything satisfy.
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[music] [music and singing] went out. His praise is the water. My enemies drowned. [music] As long as [singing] I'm breathing, I've got a reason to Oh my soul.
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is a lot. How could I keep the Lord? Oh my soul. Oh. I praise God you sovereign. Praise God.
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You reign. Praise God. [music] You rose at the grave. I praise God. You're faithful. Praise God. You're [music] true. Praise God. There's [singing] nobody.
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Praise you. Praise God. There's nobody greater [music] than you. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul.
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Praise the Lord. Oh my [music] soul. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. I'm going to [music] praise [singing] the Lord, oh my [music] soul.
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Oh no, I won't. I won't be quiet. My God [music] is alive. How could I keep it?
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Oh no, I won't. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it?
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No, I won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. God is alive. How could I keep it?
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I want to praise [music and singing] the Lord. Oh my soul. Lord Lord let everything Let everything That is bread.
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That is bread. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let every day Let every sing.
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Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. [applause] You know, there's something about praising God no matter the circumstances. And sometimes you feel like, man, I don't feel like it. My circumstances don't look like it. But there's something when we declare the
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goodness and praise of God that circumstances are changing and we believe that we pray for that because we have a reason to praise him. Amen.
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You unravel me with a meloy. You surround me [singing] with a song of [music] deliverance from my enemy.
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All my feet are gone. I'm no longer slave to fear. I am a child of God. That's why we praise. I'm no longer [singing] a slave to fear.
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I am a child. [singing] From my mother's blue, you have chosen [music] me. Love my name.
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I've been born again to your family. Your bloods. [singing and music] I'm no longer I am a child.
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I'm no longer [music] a slave. [singing] I am a child of God. I am surrounded [singing] by songs of [singing] the father.
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I am surrounded by songs [music and singing] of deliver. We've been laborating from up there.
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We're sons [music and singing] and daughters. Let us sing [singing and music] of freedom.
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[singing] Oh, you split the sea. You split [music] the sea so I could walk right through it.
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My fears [music] were drowning perfect. You rescued me so I could stand [music] and sing. I am a child of God.
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You split the sea. You split the sea so I could walk right through it.
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My feet [music] were drowning perfect. You rescued [music] me so I could stand and sing.
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I am a child of God. I am a child of God that declared I am a child of [singing] God.
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I'm no longer [singing] I'm no longer a slave [singing] to fear. You know, the stories of the Bible, they are reminders and examples of that the Lord has freed us, that he's for us, that he's rescuing us. And so, the story
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of Israel and Egypt is a significant one. And so no matter what your bondage or your slavery or your prison was, here's what what's the truth of the story of Israel. And it's the truth of the story of us.
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He took me out of Egypt. He brought he brought me out of [music and singing] the promised land.
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Now I will not forget you. I'll sing of all you've done. Death is swallowed up.
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But fury of your love. [music] You stepped into my You took me by [music and singing] the head. You marched me out of [music] the promised land.
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Now I'm going to forget you [singing and music] I'll sing all you've done forever.
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[music and singing] You know the Israelites they started dancing. So if you want to dance with that Jesus, we thank you for celebrating and for delivering us.
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You stopped. You stepped into my ages. [music] You took me by the hand. You mared me out in freedom into the promise. [music] Now I will not forget you. I sing of [music and singing] all you've done out forever. By the fury
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[music and singing] of your love, you stepped into my Egypt. You took me by the head. You washed [music] me out in freedom into the promised land. And now I'll not forget [music and singing] you. I sing of all you've done. Death is swallowed
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up forever by the fury of [music and singing] your love. God who [music] fights for me. Lord of every victory. Hallelujah.
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Hallelujah. [music] You have [singing] to see. You have led me through the deep. [singing] Hallelu.
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Hallelujah. You the God who fights for me. Lord of every victory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm pulled [music] aart to see you have led me [singing] through dirty.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. [singing] Oh preious is [singing] his blood. Oh, preious. [singing and music] His love for us, unfailing, [singing] unchanging, worthy.
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Sing to God. Oh, precious [singing and music] is his blood. Oh [singing] precious is his love.
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Unfailing, unchanging, worthy is the man. Behold [singing] the one who took upon my shame.
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Son [singing] of God [music] till he choose the grave. With [singing] love in his [music] eyes, he gave up his life.
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[music] My freedom [singing] worthy of the cross to see the son of God upon that cross.
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His [singing and music] heart was enough. What glorious love. [singing] Oh [music] prefailing, [singing] [music] [singing] unchanging. [singing and music] Worthy is the lamb.
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Precious. Oh, praise the living one. Oh, praise the praise and son of [singing] God.
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Creator, sustainer. Worthy is the lamb. stand against his [singing] perfect love. My savior race all morning [singing and music] rain.
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Oh precious is his [singing] blood. Oh precious [music] is his [singing] blood for us.
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unchanging worthy. Praise the holy one. Oh, praise the living [music and singing] word. Oh praise the praise that son [singing and music] of God created sustain [music] worthy [singing] is the lamb.
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Jesus, we look to [singing] you and worship you. Thank you that you rescued us and that you freed us by the power of your blood and by laying down your life.
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Hallelujah. All praise to you Jesus. Sing hallelu. All praise to you together. Hallelujah. All [singing] praise to you Jesus [music] we sing.
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Hallelujah. Oh praise to you. Oh [singing] his love. All pressure is his love for us. Unfailing, unchanging, worthy is the praise the living.
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Oh, praise the living son of God. [singing and music] Creator, sustain. Worthy is the lambior.
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Worthy is alive. Worthy [singing] is worthy. Oh, precious is [singing] his love. Oh, precious [singing] is his love for us.
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[singing] Worthy is the lamb. What can my s of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow that white as No [singing] father [music] but the for [singing] my glancing my Oh, precious is the White as found [music and singing]
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nothing [singing] can forain. God of good that I have done. This is all my hope.
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This is [music] all my home [singing] and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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not rightous. All pressure is that makes me white as snow. Oh, [music] I found [singing] I know nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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Preious is [singing] the white as snow. found Jesus. Worthy is [singing] the lamb was slain.
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Worthy is praise the living. Oh, praise the living [singing and music] son of God created.
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[singing] Worthy is the lamb. Let's praise him one more time. Oh, praise the living one.
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Oh, praise the ris [singing and music] of God. Creator, sustainer, [music and singing] worthy is the lamb.
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Worthy is the lamb. worthy as a lamb. praising our God. Thank you, Terara, for a microphone. Appreciate that. Just join me in praising him.
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It seemed like during the worship that there were um prayers of both thanksgiving and submission amongst us today. And so if you're brave enough, would you just shout out your praise of thanksgiving, your praise of submission, your acknowledgement that he is Lord? What
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were the words that were upon your heart while we were worshiping? Just call those out.
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Father, I thank you that you are Lord above all and I can completely trust you for your message. Thank you Jesus.
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Amen. For healing and for life. Jesus, for your faithfulness to us, Jesus, that you have never left us alone, that you are with us all the time. You follow us and go before us. Thank you for your faithfulness.
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Oh, your heavenly guidance. Thank you, heavenly father, that you have placed so much critical wisdom and knowledge in your word and in our hearts and that you continue to speak to us today. Thank you for your guidance, Jesus,
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for your will. Yeah. I thank you that you've got a plan, heavenly father, and that your desire is to show us your will and draw us into it.
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He is our provider. Example after example in scripture and example after example inside of this body and this body as a whole. Heavenly Father, you have provided so graciously for the people in this body. And yet there are those who need your provision
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today. Heavenly Father, for those in this body of celebration who need your provision today, Heavenly Father, we ask that you would expedite it, that you would bring it in a timely manner that that reverses and brings glory back to
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you, but provides for the needs of today in this body. Heavenly Father, Jesus there uh uh let me take that out of prayer.
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Let me just say this to you. This was a great time of worship for me.
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There was a line in the Egypt song about I am a child of God.
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There's a um chorus that we've sung often um who who the sun sets free is free indeed. I am a child of God. Yes, I am.
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Can you say that? I am a child of God. Yes, I am. You can be seated. Sit up for a second. So, I was serving in Ontario a couple of weeks ago, and I went to the church that was putting us up, and the
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pastor played this video of his three-year-old on his bicycle um riding up and down the street in the neighborhood and riding up and down everybody's driveway at the top of his lungs. I am a child of God. Yes, I am.
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this three-year-old just racing up and down the street screaming at the top of his lungs, "I am a child of God. Yes, I am." You think our VBS's don't make an impact on our kids? You think our day
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camps don't make an impact on our kids? You don't think Kristen and the leaders that are going to have the kids today aren't going to have an impact on our kids, which is going to have an impact on our neighborhood? Of course, it is.
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But sometimes that truth gets lost in us and we forget that I am a child of God and I need to depend on him as much as your three-year-old needs to depend on you.
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Praise you, Jesus, that you are the faithful guiding providing willing God that will provide for us and care for us exactly as we need.
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Amen. Amen. when I want to give you an opportunity. Um, we move from from worshiping in song to worshiping in in education, but we also talk about worship through giving of what God has provided to us. And we talked about him
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being a provider. I encourage you that this also become a regular part of your worship of God is your tithes and offerings to him. Do it in secret. This is not something that we need to share with each other, but there are ways that
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we make it possible for you. And so, you know that we can do this through e transfer. You can give online. You can do it in person. There's a box at the back, some envelopes there if you want
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to get receipted for that. Uh we can also do wills and estates. Uh and it's that's an exciting way to leave a legacy for God as well.
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Heavenly Father, we pray that everything that is given to you for your glory is used precisely for that. Heavenly Father, would you give the the staff and the board wisdom and how to apply those resources most effectively here in this
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city and abroad, heavenly father, to raise up the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Um, speaking of elders, Nico, can you join me? Um during our last uh what was it? Our budget meeting, right? We had an election and one of our
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elders was finished her term. And so we'd like to honor you, Connie, if you wouldn't come up so we can pray for you.
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And as Connie stepped away, we elected a new elder, Jordan. Jordan, would you mind coming up and joining us as well?
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We'd love to pray for you. Okay, Connie asked if she's still allowed to be on stage. Yes, we actually this stage is not just for There's no special people here. I know you know that. Can we just uh together
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honor Connie? She served us as elders. If you haven't seen her in the capacity as an elder, she was incredible. Any elders?
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Yeah. So, can we just honor her? Yes. [applause] You know, at [applause and cheering] this season, uh Connie asked us to uh you know, her term is up, but she said also there's lots of different things going on in her life right now. But we
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asked we said to her, "You have to come back because uh we really appreciate you as an elder." And so we uh want to give you a little something uh just a little picture from the church and as a
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gratitude for your leadership. She loved and carried and prayed for you. She spoke up for you. I stood in the gap for you uh many times in our elders meeting.
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Uh she was the one who always closed the meeting. you know, it's like uh uh when it got a little too long, uh she said like, "Okay, can we wrap this up?" You know, it's like motion to adjurnn and
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she's like, "Yep, first one." So, I love that about her. We had our first elders meeting without you and it was like motion to a journ. And there was just a silence for a moment. It was like we
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miss her, you know. So, uh thank you for loving on us and we know that you continue to uh elder and lead and so we want to bless you and Thank you for that. Church, can we stand up? And we
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also want to welcome Jordan. Jordan is one of our new elders. Can we just give him an applause for a moment? [applause] Even though he did not adjourn the mood meeting, he actually uh came right in and he, you know, just brought his voice
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in and and so this is a good man who uh we're glad that you're part of us and bring in your voice and represent the body. And so if you can, let's just stretch out our hand to them. And if
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elders, if you're here, could you just come around and we'll just pray for um both Connie and for Jordan that the Lord will just uh bless them. And um as one leaves that there will be just um Jesus,
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we want to say thank you for Connie. Thank you for the way she carried the congregation in this last three years in her prayers, in her uh advocacy, in the way she uh spoke up as she listened, she
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came around people. Thank you that um she continues to just pray and but we also want to release you uh in in into this next season where the Lord is having different things for you. We want to say may the Lord will just uh speak
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over you. Well done, good and faithful servant. And Jesus, we want to bless uh Jordan and we want to say thank you for his leadership for thank you that you brought him here. And like we time and time again say as elders, we cannot do
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anything without you. And so I pray that you will mobilize him. That by the power of your holy spirits, you will move through him Jesus. That he will be able to represent the congregation of celebration well. But even more than
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represent you, us uh that he represents you, Jesus. We pray that he will speak uh words that are in line with where you call us as uh celebration church to go.
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Jesus, I pray that he will have big ears to hear and to listen well uh both to you Jesus and to the congregation and that he will be able to bring um speak up and and and be heard. Come Holy
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Spirit and all God's people say amen. So keep them in your prayers uh all the elders u and keep Connie in your prayers too. Thank you.
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Now try not to spill that through the loved working with you, Connie. Yeah, she is a spectacular elder. I was really pleased to be at the elders meeting this past week when uh Jordan was there as well. Um I can see why we chose you to
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replace Connie. You also have that capacity to bring us to a point of order, to bring us to a point of let's make a decision. Let's close that conversation. Where are we at with this decision? And that's super valuable at
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that level. So, carry on, my friend. Nice. Good to work with you. Um, it's time to release the the leaders and the kids that are going to go in the back and and if you hear them shouting, I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. Then just
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join in whenever that happens. Kids, you can be released. Kristen's going to take you out this way. I see Matt going that way. So, he must have a grade five crew going this way. And so, uh, let's put up
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our prayer for the kids. And, uh, if you're on this side, uh, pray for the grade fives. And if you're on this side, pray for everybody under that. And, uh, let's stand. Let's, let's make this an intentional prayer for our kids.
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Heavenly Father, we thank you for the children of this body. Show them how much you love them. Grow their faith in your son and fill them with the power of your Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Go kids, have a great
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time. Learn about our God. Amen. Hey, I got one more thing before I get to turn this over to Brian who's going to come and read some scriptures for us. And so, he might as well start his way up. Uh,
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if you're new here, uh, thank you so much for being here. Uh, we've got red cards that are in the pew pockets in front of you. We would really appreciate it if you would fill those out. And I'm
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just going to be honest with you if you fill that out and you take that to one of our welcome team today. Who's our welcome team today? Where are they?
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Yeah. Yeah. Dick and El Nora. Perfect. Back in the corner. If you find them afterwards and give this to them, we promise we're going to follow up with you just to make it uncomfortable. No, I'm kidding. Not to make it
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uncomfortable because we do actually care about everybody comes through these doors. We want to make sure that you receive what you need uh from having showed up today. So, thank you very much. Uh we'll follow up with you and
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we'll make it gracious and simple. I promise you that, too. and you won't mind hearing from that welcome team.
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They're wonderful. So, Brian, will you come read some scriptures for us? Um, as I was preparing and as he's still coming, there was a single line out of Matthew that I think is going to start this off for us, I just wanted to touch.
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Um, about that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And I think we're going to hear a little bit about that today.
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Good morning everyone. We have two readings today. Uh and join me with the first one if you would which is Psalm 63:es 1-5.
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Oh God, you are my God. I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you.
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My whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.
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Your unfailing love is better than life itself. How I praise you. I will praise you as long as I live. Lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.
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Second reading is um 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 9 and 10. Each time he said my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.
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So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults hardships persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For
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when I am weak, then I am strong. Morning. Morning, Fred. Nobody ever uses your name when you're on stage. Uh, it's good to be with you this morning. Turn to the person beside you and say, "It's good to be with you
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this morning." Turn to the person on the other side of you and say, "Your hair looks great this morning." Respond to that person and say, "Thanks.
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I'm trying something new." Say it with me. Thanks. I'm trying something new. Some of you aren't, but look at look at each other's ears as we pray. [laughter] Man, before I do this, one of the things I love I love being
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part of this community. And I love that prayer is something that is baked into the culture here and growing out of this even amidst the silliness. So, as I pray this, pray it over each other's ears and the the ears of your heart, if you will.
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Holy Spirit, we invite you open our ears. Open our ears, Lord. Open my friends ears.
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We want to hear the words of Jesus. I ask that you'd peel back distractions.
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You'd set our eyes on Jesus, remind us of what he said, and soften our hearts to be good soil for the gospel.
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Amen. I'm a little sleepy this morning. I'll admit it. I was here at the Behold Conference a couple times yesterday and it went till about 10:30 last night. And so if you hear me coughing or drinking extra water, I was singing probably
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harder than I should have. Any vocalist will say it wasn't very good mic technique or anything, but um so just forgive me if I yawn. You're not boring me. Um I got a question for you.
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Who here likes Star Wars? Show me your hands. Give me hands. Star Wars people.
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There's a few Star Wars people. Who here hates Star Wars? Anybody like really disdains it? Okay, there's a few Hey, don't don't attack them. No, don't kick them out. That's not what we do here.
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But I have a I have a question for the lovers of Star Wars. I guess it doesn't have to be lovers of Star Wars. Has anybody seen the Clone Wars TV show? I'm looking over here. This is Yeah, there's
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a few over there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's It's awesome. If you don't know, keep people are shaking their heads. Let me let me make a case. If you don't know, The Clone Wars is an animated TV show. [groaning]
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Animated. Grown-ups can't watch animated things. Come on. There's great There's great an Wall-E is a great film. One of the best. Anyways, I'll take a step back. It's an animated TV show. It's in the Star Wars world, and it's set between a couple of the
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movies. Um, and it's I'll admit it, it's targeted towards tween, teenagers. Uh, it's not quite a kids show, but it has some of those elements. Um, but it's loved by many, especially those, my people, my generation. Um, [laughter]
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young adults don't have to sit here, by the way, if you're new. This is not a it's not a seating plan. Just happens.
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[laughter] Um, but the Clone Wars was my favorite show growing up. And it's like, honestly, it's It's really good. I'll admit there's some parts that are pretty bad, but a lot of it is fantastic. Uh I I remember spending countless hours with
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my brothers, like building Lego versions of what we were watching in the shows, the spaceships, trying to make the guys.
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It was all about the guys when I was building Lego with my brothers. We got make a guy, make the Clone Wars guys. Um and they just have cool armor and it's like spaceships and stuff. And we would
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like run around with like sticks in our hands outside and be pretend to be Jedi fighting battle droid armies and Sith lords and you know the sound. It's just awesome. It's so awesome. Such a good show. One of the one of the best
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characters in the show, arguably the main character. Her name is Ahsoka. This these you guys got to you guys got to simmer down here. Ahsoka, she is awesome though. I'll admit it. She's this reckless teenager. She's introduced, I think she's 14 when you
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first meet her in the show, and she's a Jedi Padawan, but because the Jedi order is involved in this war, she's thrust into military leadership, which is crazy, by the way. I don't know how that happened, but she's a commander in the
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army as a 14-year-old. So, but there's this crazy actually really interesting dynamic where she's going through kind of normal teenager problems trying to discover herself, making mistakes, growing, having fun, but it's all in the middle of this confusing traumatic war
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context. And she's making mistakes that cost her friends lives. It's actually it's really it's quite striking in that sense. Great story. And I remember watching this show as a kid. I was a couple years younger than Ahsoka as it
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was coming out, I think. But I I felt like I grew up alongside her, faced some of the same sort of things that she was facing, albeit not in a war context. I lived in small town Saskatchewan. It was
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quite peaceful. But there this this journey, yeah, there's something about that story like that that really captured me. I loved it so much. I still love it admittedly. You guys might realize the more and more I preach how
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much of a nerd I am. Bri makes fun of me. She's like, "Every Sunday you preach, there's a new nerd thing that you talk about." Um, so she didn't even know when we got married. Speaking of Bri, Bri's my wife. Love her to bits.
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But when we when we got married, when we first got married, she hadn't watched the Clone Wars.
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That's a safe one. That's a safe one. You guys were worried there. Um, I just see if you were still awake. Um, but I she like she liked the Star Wars movies, you know, she's like they're pretty good, but she's never really got into
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the animated stuff. Maybe she was like Fred who's like animation's not for grown-ups. [laughter] But I love this so much. And so around when Bri was pregnant, um, not around, while she was pregnant, I I was like, Bri, I love this show so much. Will you
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watch this with me? will you share in this? And she agreed? Um, and I think it went pretty well. Went pretty well. We uh sat down to watch it and about 2 minutes into the first episode, she blurts out, "We have to stop watching
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this. The animation is going to make me puke. I can't take it. Turn it off right now." [laughter] [gasps] So, I don't know if anybody has been pregnant in the room and had a similar experience where your husband tried to
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show you an action-packed animated show and I don't that's quite specific. Anyways, um you might you might know how that feels. Anyways, didn't go quite how I was expecting that to go. So, I was like, "Okay, maybe it's just not maybe
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it's just not for her." Um I didn't really put together at the time that this is like a just a pregnancy thing. I thought she just really hated it. But about about a year later, I I was like,
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"Bri, I know. How did this happen? This is what happens when I don't read my notes." Um, we were watching through the Star Wars movies, which Bri already liked. Uh, and and we were I was like, "This is this is my chance." And I'm
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going to say this to these guys over here because they know what I mean. This I was like, "Bri, you know what's really going to enhance the story? It's going to develop the characters so much better, right? Like
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it just makes the movies worth worth it. The prequels are actually good because of this. The Clone Wars, we should watch the Clone Wars. It'll make the movie so much better, babe. Seriously. And she was like, "Okay, fine. I'll watch a few
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episodes." A few episodes. I think I don't know if she gave me a specific number, but I I think there's seven seasons of the show, and I had some hard work of distilling seven seasons into like six episodes of Essentials to try
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and hook her. and if not hook her, then to at least set her up for the movies to be better. And so we sat down to watch these episodes.
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And have you ever I'm sure I'm sure you've had this experience. Maybe not with a movie, but somebody you love is showing you something that they love [laughter] and they're like, whether it's like a funny video, they're like, "This is so
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funny. Watch this." Or it's like a movie they love or they're like, "Hey, read this book." Something I don't know, whatever it is. And they're For us it was we're sitting on the couch beside each other and the screen is here
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and I'm kind of watching like this and like just waiting for her to be like, "Aha, this is the best thing ever." And so we watch a few episodes and I'm kind of watching the show, kind of seeing how things are going. And
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eventually I'm just like, "So what do you think so far? How's this going?" Couple episodes in and she's like, "It's it's okay. It's okay." This Ahsoka character though, so annoying.
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And so for me, ju it's just like this dagger to the heart. But Bri clearly loves me so much.
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Clearly loves me so much. And so she endured through these that six or so episodes that I had carefully selected.
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It took me like days to pick which episodes, but [laughter] but she endured through these episodes.
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And I remember being like, "Okay, thanks for watching through these with me. I guess we're moving on." And she by the end of them was like, "Hold on.
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Actually, I think I'd watch more." What was that? What was that, Bri? You got You're kind of liking it. I'd like to watch some more.
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So, she started to fall in love with this show. Praise God. I have at least a little bit of a nerdy wife, whether she knows it or not. Um, and a few weeks pass and we've watched quite a bit of the
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show and we weren't watching the show at the at this point. Like I mean, we're watching it periodically in the evenings, but we're just washing dishes quietly. You know, Milliey's sleeping.
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We're just I don't even think we were talking. We're just quietly washing dishes late at night. and raise out the sink and just unsolicited these sweet genuine words come from her lips. I love Ahsoka.
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Yes. Yes. She's in the back covering her face like anybody can see her now. They can. Bri, I love Ahsoka. Okay, we're gonna come back to the Clone Wars in a moment, but last week we kicked off our fall and
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Nico gave a teaser for what the whole fall season is going to be about. And I think it's even broader than that, honestly. But we'll stick to the fall season for now. And it's all about learning to behold Jesus. Say, behold.
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Behold. We're not talking about the conference that was this weekend here. That's part of it, but behold.
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That's not really a word most of us use most of the time. I used it unrelated to church stuff the other day, but I thought that's probably the first time I've said it like that in two years or something. Like it's just
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not one that comes up very often. But it's literally appears thousands of times in scripture depending on the translation. But it's it's a really really common word or phrase that we run into and we use it literally every week
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here. It's part of our slogan. So, it's worth kind of pausing and defining it, right?
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Yeah. I think it's worth it. So, let's do this together. I think there's there's benefit to doing this together and at least seeing where we're at.
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Sometimes we're wrong when we do this. We're wrong with a definition, but it's worth just just bringing things to the light. So, help me help me do this. Help me define behold. Just shout out look.
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Look. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's like the one of the face value key pieces of the word. Lots of the times you see the word it's like look this thing is happening.
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John the Baptist when Jesus is approaching him to be baptized John says behold the lamb of God. And there's more to it than just look. But that's kind of the face value of the word. What else?
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Focus. Yeah. Yeah. There's something to it. It's not just a glance. It's not just fleeting like oh there's your J.
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There's a there's a level of focus. Behold this thing. That's excellent. What else? Comprehend. Yes, you guys are killing this. You're doing way better than I did initially when I thought. This is why I have to ask you. Comprehend. Yeah,
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there's there's a level of understanding of knowledge. It's not just see the like I'm seeing a book right now, but if I'm looking at this, I'm engaging. I'm beholding the meaning that's tied to it.
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the like there's just there's lots of depth to looking at something with understanding. Yeah. Comprehend it. What else?
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Amazement. Amazement. Yeah. That's part of it. There's it's it's kind of woven in to hey.
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Yeah. But I love the amazement in there. It's it's assumed especially in scriptures use of behold. often it's saying behold the Lord and there's like a there's a fear in a fear and a beauty in that. So spoiled um you guys already
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got this though so I I don't know why I would have belabored it. Behold is to see and understand. Say see and understand.
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Or you could say see and know. Say that. C and no as in K N O W. Um C and No. Not that.
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So when when John the Baptist, this is one of my favorite moments in scripture.
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So I'm going to refer to this a few times maybe, but when John the Baptist sees Jesus coming up to the Jordan where he's baptizing people and he says, "Behold the lamb of God." He is saying see and understand that this Jesus is
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the lamb of God. It's not just look at that guy. He's he's saying this is worth your focus. This is worth your attention and you need to comprehend what's going on. I love your guys's words there. It's I might like them even more than this
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definition that I stole from Fred when he told me. Uh and so like our slogan verse as a church, can you do you guys know what I'm talking about? Can you say it?
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Yeah, many of you know. I heard some murmurs. Some of you might have murmured something else, but as we behold him, we become like him. So, as we see and understand Jesus, we become like him.
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Does that make sense? Okay, back to more Clone Wars stuff. Bri didn't just smile or smile and nod when I told her how much I loved the Clone Wars. She didn't just shrug it off and was like, "That's
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cool." U she actually gave up some of her time. And eventually quite a bit of time she had offered to that in order I think partially just to enjoy it but but in part to better understand me and and
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understanding me through this lens of something that mattered to me. And this is kind of a silly example, not really.
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It was meaningful to me. But kind of a frivolous example of a deep reality in our relationships, in all kinds of our relationships, is that what um what we care about, our priorities, our values, even just our like the
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hobbies, the things we spend our time in, spend our time doing, those things reveal so much about our heart. those things those things shape us as we behold those things they're we becoming like them but also when you're looking
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at somebody else and you see their what matters to them that gives you like a lens of oh this is this is what's shaped them does that make sense um if it doesn't I can keep trying to try to comment good we're good okay so
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if we want to learn to behold Jesus that's what we're focusing on this fall if we want to learn to behold him one of the key pieces is is looking at what matters to him and looking at him
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through that lens. This is what Jesus's values are, his priorities, and that informs how we see him. That shows us parts of his character. Does that make sense?
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Yeah. Okay. It makes sense to Nico. But this we want to we want to look at Jesus through the lens of his values because that shows us what he cares about. Very.
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It's just part of understanding him, seeing and understanding. So, help me out. There's lots of answers to this question that I'm going to ask you. And I think you can probably all say something different and still be correct. Um, but let's list off some of
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the things that matter to Jesus. What matters to Jesus? Us. Yes. People, our hearts. What else?
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Love. Love is so important to him. the greatest commandment that we we read every week. That's the core of it. Love God and love others. What else?
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Forgiveness. Yeah. Forgiveness is so important to Jesus. What else? Time with the father. Time with the father. Yeah. You see it in his life. He models going away to just be with his dad. What else?
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To do the will. Yeah. To obey. It's so critical to Jesus's message. He's It's so important to him. And he ties it to love. He says, "If you love me, you'll obey.
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What else? What matters to Jesus? Say again. Spoilers, Donna. Yes, children. We're going there more today. Children are very important to the heart of God.
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Unity. Yeah. Jesus in some of his last words. Pray to the father. Bind these bind my friends together. Bind my church together by your spirit. What else?
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Serving. Yeah. Servantthood. It's so key. Uh we'll get there a little bit more later, too. What else?
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Humility. You guys are spoiling everything. Say ones I didn't think of. Uh I'm kidding. That's great. Very important to Jesus. What else?
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Truth. Yeah, truth is so core to Jesus. There's Oh, man. Now, I'm going to look at it because I'm I'm going to misquote it.
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Flip to John one. This truth bit. I'm still searching. If you find it before me, let me know. You know what I'm talking about.
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John one. Not that one. Well, if I can't find it, that's okay. I don't think so.
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Hey, that's okay. Sometimes we just don't find it. Oh, it's because it's different translation than I'm used to. That's why it's worded different. Anyways, we have seen the glory of the father in Jesus who came full of grace and truth.
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I don't know where you guys are seeing that. I It's not written in mine because it's different words, but that's okay.
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He's full of grace and truth. That was a bit of a tangent. Sorry, guys. What else matters to Jesus?
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The poor. Sorry. The poor and the hungry. Jesus, it matters so much to Jesus that he identifies with him. He says, "When you serve people in need, you're actually serving me. And when you ignore people in need, you're ignoring me." So
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important to Jesus. One more. What's what matters to Jesus? Yeah. It's important to Jesus that we know that we're going to suffer and be persecuted.
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He and this even I would go as far to say that that suffering matters to Jesus. that he because of his nature, because of his mission to suffer on our behalf and his invitation to us to come and suffer with him so that we will
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receive his glory is really important to him. Okay, that's awesome. Thanks guys. So, we're going to spend this next month diving into a series that we're calling the greats of the kingdom. Say great.
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Yeah, the great of the kingdom. in an attempt to behold Jesus through this lens of his priorities. And this list of things that we're going to go through is not universal. Obviously, you guys hit a lot more points that I think are very
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true there of what matters to Jesus, but we're just we just don't have our entire lives to do this. Oh, wait. Do it on your own time. But we're going to do these four together. These greats of the
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kingdom. And these are things that are either Jesus explicitly calls great. So in this list uh childlike humility and servantthood he says um these and I guess love actually too but he says this is the greatest in the kingdom do this
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or if you want to be great in the kingdom of god do this um or the greatest commandment is love that's those three references there and then the the last one there is something that we've dubbed not as a church but
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Christians have dubbed the great commission uh because it's so core to Jesus's teaching in his life. So, it's these things are either explicitly called great by Jesus or we've called them great because they're so central to what he taught. Does that make sense?
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Great. Uh so, we're going to go through these in the next four weeks, including today.
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But if you look at this list, in many ways it just honestly it seems impractical, kind of foolish what what greatness is defined as in his kingdom of like childlikeess.
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Like honestly, let's be honest with this. It's it seems kind of dumb at face value at least. Some of us have experienced the the fruit of it, the goodness of that, so we don't question it. But it is
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it is kind of silly. Where else would you define childlikeness as greatness? I don't know. Definitely not before Jesus came. You wouldn't be able to define that. Um, and even like love is really important, but like if you're trying to
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climb the corporate ladder, that's not the core of what you're doing. Like you want to be effective probably. And loving people might be part of that, but I don't know if that's how you define greatness, you're probably not going to get there. Same
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with servantthood. Um, Honestly, these things like just at face value in a lot of ways, these just kind of seem foolish.
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Do you guys hear that? I I'm not you're not going to get stoned if you say yes.
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It just just being honest with this list. It's like really this is it? Like this is the stuff he explicitly says is great. And it seems it seems kind of silly, but I think that that's really intentional because greatness in God's kingdom is is
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greatness in a kingdom that's upside down from what the world We call it the upside down kingdom all the time. It's familiar language.
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And if you flip to 1 Corinthians 1:27, it kind of proves this that this is on purpose. Says that God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to
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shame those who are powerful. God is making a point here. and he really values those those things that were listed. But through that he's also making a point that that what the world calls wisdom, what the world calls power
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is nothing compared to my power. And it's defined entirely different. So over the next month, we'll dive into those four things. Um but we're going to start with childlike humility today. So you can open up to Matthew 18. And
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you'll probably want to be there. It's good to have it in front of you. And we'll start right in verse one.
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About that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them.
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Then he said, "I tell you the truth. Unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven." So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the
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kingdom of heaven. I think that's so cool. Oh, what a strange answer, Lord. What a strange and beautiful answer. He could have said anything.
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Could have said anything. And he brought a kid, a little kid into their midst.
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Said, "Become like this little kid." That's how you That's how you become great. Be humbled like this little kid.
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And I I think it's it's pretty plain looking at that last line. And this is what Jesus is saying here is an invitation to become humble, but not just to become any sort of humble, to become humble in the image of a child's
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humility, to become humble like a kid. And and so this got me thinking as I was looking into this, what constitutes childlike humility as opposed to just humility in general? It would have been easy enough for Jesus to say, "Yeah,
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humble people get to the kingdom." And he didn't have to bring a kid in or anything.
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But he thought it was important enough to bring a kid in. And there's a few distinctives to how kids express humility, how kids are humble. But the main I think the main one, uh, and you can argue with me about this later, uh,
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but at least the one we're going to go into today is independence. Sorry, Abby. If you look over here, there is a very dependent child.
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[laughter] very dependent. If any of you have ever had children, you know this. When they're about the size of this water bottle and they can't hold their own neck up, they can't feed themselves. They probably won't go to sleep without help.
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They're going to freeze without help. Like there just across the board, like just the very bare minimums to survive.
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A child does not what it needs to do those little children are utterly dependent on their parents. Utterly dependent.
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I don't know how little the child was that Jesus brought. But even Millie Milliey's a year and a half old now roughly. And she like she still just won't eat half the time. And if she wants to, she doesn't know how to on her
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own. She can't reach food. She couldn't find it without us providing it for her, going to the grocery store, getting it, her preparing it. Like, she she might have some of that, but little children can't do that all on their own. They are
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actually utterly dependent on their parents to survive. And this is, I think, really simple with what Jesus is saying in that in this passage in in Matthew and I think that God like there's there's nuance to it but I think that
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God really wants to drive home the simplicity today. Jesus is saying to be great in the kingdom you must live aware that you are entirely incapable of sustaining yourself. You must know of your weakness and you need to lean on God's strength
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like a child fully dependent on their parent. So when we sing, Fred was singing this uh I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.
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There's freedom in that because we recognize I am dependent. It's actually really good to be dependent and it's a it's a gift from the Lord.
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And so I want to just think about this now. So we're doing we're practicing this beholding Jesus through his priorities. What he he talks about as some of the most important things.
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And so this we want to explore what this priority reveals about his heart. And so let me tell you a story about Millie.
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She's sleeping right now, but I don't think she'll mind if I tell you this story. Um she has been wanting to brush her own teeth lately.
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Um, she's got like five of them, so it's not a big task, but [laughter and gasps] she is so bad at it. It is so painful.
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She'll wrench the toothbrush out of my hand and she's got a pretty good grip and she'll just like put it in her mouth and just be really happy to just have a toothbrush in her mouth. It's It's quite
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funny to have something in there on purpose, I guess. Um, she doesn't brush them. If she any movement. It's not around her teeth really. She's like she's quite bad at it. Uh there's lots of grace because she's a tiny baby, but
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she is vocally upset when I try to help. Um and you guys don't see this side of Millie here. She loves she loves being here. But every once in a while, you know, she's just really wants something [laughter] and she really wants to brush
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her teeth. And um it's frustrating. Not because she's saying, "Dad, I want this." I'm I'm not upset by her desiring to do that. I actually really want her to brush her own teeth once she can do it. What What
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bothers me is I know that the best thing for her is for me to brush her teeth.
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The very best thing for her in this case, her her oral hygiene is not going to be good if she does it on her own.
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She needs help here. She's her teeth will get scummy. Her teeth will not be white. this like she actually really needs help here. And it grieves me as a father in a small way. But it grieves me as a father when she rejects that help.
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Who knew that toothbrushing is going to make me cry this morning? But every once in a while, every once in a while, she will, for some reason, I don't really know why, she'll just kind of submit to it. She just like, I don't
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really care today. Or like, actually, maybe I my teeth feel gross and I need some help, Dad.
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And I love those moments. I love them so much because she is in those moments submitting, acknowledging her dependence whether she knows it or not. Acknowledging her dependence and I can actually do for her what is best for her. And I think that
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the father is thinking a similar sort of thing for us that he tears up when he sees us trying to seize control of our lives.
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Trying to do things without his help because he knows that him it's just going to be better. Period. You name the thing with him, leaning on him, it will be better. There's nothing in your life that's better if you do it alone.
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And this is this is what makes childlike humility great. This is why Jesus calls it great is because when you are fully dependent on your father, your heavenly father, then his greatness shines through you. His power is made perfect
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in your weakness. This is confirmed in God's own words. Says 2 Corinthians 12:19, he's talking to Paul or Paul is recounting him talking to Paul. He says, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.
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And Paul says, "Now I'm glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me." And worship team, you guys can come on up.
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Do you guys see that? This is really beautiful. Jesus's heart is for us all the way.
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He's not saying be dependent to me because I want to lord over you. He actually just wants what's best for you guys. Actually wants what's best for you.
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And so this this question of how do we practice this comes to mind. How do we practice childlike humility? This really simple thing. How do we actually put it to work in our lives? And honestly, it just starts starts so simple. starts so
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simple by allowing the Lord to reveal your own weakness, which sucks. Sucks a lot, but it's an important step.
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inviting the Holy Spirit to to search us out, shining the light on our hearts, pointing out any grievous ways in us as the psalmist says, and through that admitting our own weakness and our need for God and then receiving
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his strength. His power is perfect in our weakness. So those prayers then become as you as you do that, this becomes like a dayto-day thing. God, I need you. I'm actually nothing without you. God, I can't figuratively brush my
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teeth well on my own. I need you to help. I submit to your help. And so in a moment, the band will sing a song that that is familiar. We sing it fairly often. And the refrain sing it over and
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over again. I depend on you. I depend on you. That's the anthem of childlike humility. It's I'm fully dependent on you.
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Like a child. how kids say it when they're three months old. I need you. I need you, Dad. I need you, mom. And so, as we sing this song, I encourage you to invite the Holy Spirit to search your heart
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and make your weakness known to you. That's the starting place here. That's where it all starts. You won't experience dependence until you realize that you're really weak because you are already, you ought to be dependent on him. As I look out in this room and if I
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looked in a mirror, I see a bunch of dependent people. When God calls us his kids, it's good news because he wants to show his strength. But it's also a a wakeup call that we are fully dependent whether we
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like it or not. So I invite you to stand up. And so as we go into this song, just invite the Holy Spirit to search you.
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Open your heart. You don't need to sing along. You could even just sing along to the words, I depend on you.
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But as as we sing this, Holy Spirit, come and search our hearts. Show us where we're like Millie trying to brush her own teeth. Uh and and show us where you have something better for us.
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Help us recognize our weakness. Give us the humility to submit to you out of that place of weakness.
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You teach us to depend on you fully like little children. One thing we want to do before we go into this song, we want to do something um which is actually expressing our dependence to which is actually the declaration of our faith
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together. It's the Apostles Creed. Do we have that in the back? Here we go.
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Is that the the Just a second. You know, like in in many churches after the sermon, what they're doing is actually declaring together the Apostles Creed.
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And it is both to remember what we believe but also to put our sermons [music] under the framework of here is what we believe so that we can check if the preacher was uh you know just not coming up with his
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own but really if it's in line with our belief statement. And so we want to do this together as an expression of our faith and then we want to go into this song together.
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I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontious Pilot, was crucified,
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died, and was buried. He descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to he and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe
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in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
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Amen. So Jesus, this is our declaration. This is the faith we put our trust in and we look to you for my daily for my daily breath.
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I depend [singing and music] on you. I depend on you for decad. I depend [music and singing] on you.
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I depend on you. Oh, you're the way, truth, [music] and life. You're the wild that never runs dry.
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I'm the branch and you are the fire. Draw me [music and singing] close and teach me to where the spirit as I follow.
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I depend on you. I depend [music and singing] on you. of victory from God.
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I depend [singing] on you. [music] I depend on you. Oh, you're the way, the truth, and [music] the life.
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You're the one that never runs dry. I'm the brand and you [music] are the draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my [music] strength, my song in the night.
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Be my [music and singing] all, my treasure, my pride. I'm yours forever. You're mine.
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Draw me [music and singing] close and teach me to when I [music and singing] pass through as I rest I [singing] depend on Why [music and singing] on you for eternal life to be ready?
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I depend on you. I depend [music] on you. You're the way truth and [music] the lie.
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You're the one that never runs dry. I'm the branch and you are the v.
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Draw me [music and singing] close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song [music] in [singing] the night.
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Be my all, my treasure, my pride. I know forever you're [music] mine. Draw me close [singing] and teach me to abide.
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Will you [music] teach me? Teach me. Teach me to abide. [music] Sing this together. I depend on you.
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I depend on you. I depend [singing] on you. I depend on you. I depend on you.
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I depend on you. I depend [singing] on you. I depend on you. I depend on you. We depend on you.
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We [singing] depend on you. We depend on you. [singing] We depend on We depend on you.
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Now, what comes to mind for me right now is how when a child repeats after you, you ever experienced that? But that is how the Lord asks us and invites us in to just repeat. just look at what
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he's doing and to follow him. So, let's just sing this one more time. You're the way, the truth, and the life.
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And so, we look to you, Jesus, and we want to copy you. We want to follow you.
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Help us to do this not just on a Sunday morning, but every day of our lives.
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You're the way, the truth, and the life. You're the one that never runs. I'm the [singing] you are the draw me [music] close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song in the night.
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Be my all, my treasure, my prize. I am yours forever. your mind. Draw me close and teach me to [singing] abide.
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Thank you, Micah. That was the challenge to ask God to point out where we're weak or where we're not living dependent on him is a significant challenge for us. And so I want to turn your heart and mind to
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being like Jesus. There's a line between Jesus's worst mo one of his worst moments and one of his greatest miracles.
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He had just heard that John the Baptist, his cousin, who had made a path for him to be successful in what he was doing, had been killed. You can imagine how distraught he was and maybe even thinking, "Is what I'm doing worth it?
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And then he turns around and he feeds 5,000 people miraculously. But there's a line in between that says, "And in that moment, he went off by himself to be quiet and to be with his father." My encouragement to you this week is to
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take Micah's challenge seriously. spend some quiet time with your father and ask the question where reveal to me in my life where holy spirit where am I not living dependent on you where is the weakness that you want to teach me how to brush my teeth
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father would you give us wisdom and knowledge direction and provision and love this week by calling us away to be with with you to ask you the hard question, Father, what am I doing on my own that would be so much better if I
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let you take the lead? Would you give us that grace this week and be with us as we go and share the beauty of who Jesus Christ is with the people around us?
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Amen. Amen. Have a seat for a second while we talk about a little bit of family business.
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Okay, maybe I'll watch an episode. We'll try one. Which one? Send me the playlist.
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I'll commit to the first of the six. It's good. Hey, you know what? Um, anything special going on this week here?
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What's that? Alpha. How many people here have signed up for Alpha? [laughter] Look at that, man. Oh, man. If you have not signed up for alpha, I encourage you to do that today. You can do it out in
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the foyer. You can do it online. Uh you can find somebody that's wearing an alpha tag. You could see mine, but it's at home hanging on my corkboard, and I forgot to bring it today. Uh Talia, would you just stand up and show your
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alpha tag? If you see somebody wearing one of those, they want you in their home or at the church on their uh alpha team. And so I encourage you to sign up for that so we can talk about the big
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questions about our faith. Um the leaders, I just want to remind you that Tara's got a bunch of information for us. Um do they have to come see you or have you got it lined up somewhere?
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They can. Okay. Go see Tara. And she's got a bunch of resources for the week.
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This week our alpha classes start. They begin when? Today is the first one. Allison is first out of the gate. That's awesome. and we've got them Mondays and Wednesdays and Thursdays and Sundays. I think th those are the nights. So, uh
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find what works for you. And if you need child care, if that would make the difference of you coming or not coming, there's two groups meeting here in the church on Wednesday nights that will have child care available. Um who's
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leading those? You're leading that with what? You have one and Jordan has the other.
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Yeah. So go see them if Wednesday night with childcare uh would be really special for you. Um post service prayer.
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So you see where the prayer banner is over there and there's a set of double doors in that room. If you need prayer this week, don't leave before you come and get one of our uh prayer team to
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pray for you. We would love to do that with you. Um and you know what I forgot to do last week when I was facilitating?
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Birthdays. Birthdays. We love to celebrate together as a family. So, I'm going to ask in the last two weeks, who's had a birthday?
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See, that's why I missed. There weren't any. That's not true. There's got to be one. There's always one.
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Oh, Ollie had one, but he's not here. Okay. Anybody in the week coming up?
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Donna, thanks for serving as an usher today. Donna, we've been doing that for a long time. We really appreciate that. So, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Donna and Olly. Happy birthday to you.
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Yeah, it's awesome. [applause] I just wanted to say one more thing. You talked about the Behold. Some other people talked about the Behold. Um, the thing that I thought was really neat is is they had so many so much variety in
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what was available, whether it was prophetic exercises or prayer stations or prayer walks or the different worship sets and the intercession. Don't forget our faith is this really wild thing that can be shown in so many different ways.
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When you get alone with God and you say, "Would you reveal something to me?" Don't set it aside because, well, that's not what I expected. Expect the unexpected.
Topics:Sunday ServiceMicah ParkmanCelebration Church SKPracticing the PresencePrayerChristian WorshipSpiritual RenewalJesus ChristFaith CommunityChurch Leadership
