1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,560 Hey, Go Church family, welcome back for another month of our podcast series. 2 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:16,280 We're so excited to be here. 3 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:18,960 My name is Gilbert and I'm here with Pastor Matt Hattaball. 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:20,520 Hey everybody. 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,120 And like we promised, we're here with someone else this month. 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:25,120 We're here with Lara. 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:26,120 Hi everyone. 8 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:27,120 Hi Lara. 9 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:28,120 Hi Lara. 10 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:29,120 Hello. 11 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:30,840 Thank you so much for joining us. 12 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:31,840 Thank you for having me. 13 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,200 I'm so happy that I'm here with you. 14 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,760 Yeah, it's fun to have other people. 15 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,880 We want to keep doing this, introduce other voices. 16 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:47,120 And I'm just excited about the message, this series that we're getting into, because it's 17 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,200 really going to help us all grow spiritually. 18 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:51,200 That's right. 19 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,660 Because at Go Church, we talk about values and when we say it's your place, we don't 20 00:00:55,660 --> 00:01:01,640 mean it's Pastor Matt's place or my place only, it's your place to love, grow and go. 21 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:08,520 And that's also why we want to have more people with us on these podcasts, is because we want 22 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:14,600 the voices that are in Go Church to come out and to be able to go from love, to grow, to 23 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:15,600 go. 24 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,320 We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God, to grow in His love and to go 25 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:22,680 out into your world with His love. 26 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:23,680 Yeah. 27 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:32,040 Go Church is your place to grow and part of growing is being released in giftings. 28 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:41,440 And I am happy and very, very blessed that people saw things in me that I didn't see 29 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:48,320 in myself and they empowered me to exercise and develop in those gifts. 30 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,440 And so that's what we want to do at Go Church. 31 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:58,280 We want to create spaces for that and that's why Laura is on us on the podcast with us. 32 00:01:58,280 --> 00:01:59,280 That's right. 33 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,760 We're so excited and this month we're actually going to get into a series called Trails of 34 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:08,760 Thought and I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun for us. 35 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:14,280 The discussions are going to be excellent and also very challenging because this is 36 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,800 a subject that we all need work on and we all need constant consistent work on. 37 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:20,800 Yeah. 38 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:26,520 But before we get into the theme of the month and really introduce the series, we want to 39 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,800 talk to you a little bit about Go Church and who Go Church is. 40 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:31,800 We just said it. 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,280 We said it's your place to love, grow and go. 42 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:42,600 But I will also say that Go Church is a Bible-based, Spirit-filled and groups-based church. 43 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:48,880 We're also for the most part an English-speaking church and we cater to English speakers. 44 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:50,160 We're looking for you. 45 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,880 If you're in Lebanon and you're an English speaker and you don't happen to be in a church, 46 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:56,160 swing by. 47 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:01,720 If you are an Arabic speaker or a French speaker or an Armenian speaker, we still welcome you 48 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:09,320 and we're so happy to meet you and we want to welcome anyone and everyone who feels called 49 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:13,600 to be part of this church. 50 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:20,360 What I will say as well is that we're introducing a new series and every month we do this. 51 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,040 If you're new to Go Church and this is the first time you're listening to our podcast, 52 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:25,040 welcome. 53 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:26,920 We're so glad to have you. 54 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:32,000 What we are doing today is we're introducing a new series for the month, which is a teaching 55 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,000 series. 56 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,480 It's a message, whatever you want to call it. 57 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:40,640 We're actually digging deeper into this subject for the whole month. 58 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:45,200 This is the first Sunday of the month. 59 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,120 This coming Sunday we have our big Sunday gathering. 60 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:49,720 I'm excited about the big Sunday. 61 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:50,760 We're so excited. 62 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:52,560 It's always fun. 63 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,600 It's always fun. 64 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:56,240 We get together as a whole church. 65 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:02,240 What we do is come together to celebrate, to worship the Lord together, to bring our 66 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:09,280 offerings, to take part in communion together and to hear the message, which we're going 67 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,880 to dig deeper into over the course of this month. 68 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:13,880 Yeah. 69 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:19,720 In these series, while they have different titles, they have different themes, we're 70 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:28,120 really aiming at doing one thing and that's causing opportunity for us to change into 71 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,680 his image, to grow. 72 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:38,720 While they have maybe different graphics, different titles, they're all in a theme of 73 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:48,440 causing us to look at ourselves, look at him and make changes so that we make more room 74 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,200 for him to work in our life. 75 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,840 That's right. 76 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:59,400 Like I mentioned, we have different kinds of meetings and actually why we have different 77 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,760 kinds of meetings is because that's what we see in scripture. 78 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,480 Our church is based on scripture in scripture. 79 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,120 This is what we're looking to model. 80 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,360 This is what we're trying to do as we build the church. 81 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:18,740 We see in the early church that most of the church meetings happened in home groups and 82 00:05:18,740 --> 00:05:25,440 small groups all over the city, even though there would be some elders over the whole 83 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:31,000 church in the region or the town and there would be a pastor over them. 84 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:36,820 We see that most meetings happen in small groups and in homes. 85 00:05:36,820 --> 00:05:42,320 You see Paul in his epistles always saying, greet the church that is in this person's 86 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,600 house or that person's house. 87 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,280 Most of our meetings actually look like that, small groups. 88 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:52,320 We meet in groups that we call grow groups. 89 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:57,320 We used to say by faith that grow groups are happening all over Lebanon. 90 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,080 Now grow groups are happening all over Lebanon. 91 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:01,080 That's right. 92 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:02,740 Grow groups are happening all over Lebanon. 93 00:06:02,740 --> 00:06:07,240 We have grow groups on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the moment. 94 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,520 They're happening in Ashrafiyah, Sinat-fil. 95 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,240 Now we have grow groups for kids. 96 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,200 Oh, that's amazing. 97 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:19,580 We have grow groups for kids and they have a lot more fun than the adults. 98 00:06:19,580 --> 00:06:23,120 We also have groups in Biblos and Sheka. 99 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,160 We're really happy to see this growth in the church. 100 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:33,400 We're really happy to see more places for people to come into and just get into fellowship 101 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,520 and come into their place where they're supposed to be. 102 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,040 We're so glad about it. 103 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:44,400 I'm actually at the moment part of the Sinat-fil grow group and Lara is actually with me. 104 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:45,400 Yes, so am I. 105 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,480 How's the grow group experience been for you so far? 106 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:49,480 It's amazing. 107 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:56,080 It's the one day I wait for the whole week, the time with the grow group. 108 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:03,320 We dig deeper in the message and we hear about practical ways to implement what we're hearing 109 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,960 and we pray with each other if anyone has any prayers. 110 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:08,960 It's amazing. 111 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:09,960 It's great. 112 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:10,960 Yeah. 113 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:11,960 We have a great time. 114 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:17,280 The practical part is really the thing that makes the difference because it's one thing 115 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:21,200 to have a lot of knowledge, but the Bible says that knowledge puffs up. 116 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:29,340 The problem with being puffed up is just a small pin will deflate all of that. 117 00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:33,320 If knowledge puffs up, love builds up. 118 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:39,200 As a church, we want to not just experience love, but grow in love because love is going 119 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:47,120 to build us up and make us able, there's a theme, to go out and really make a difference. 120 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:53,320 So grow groups are an opportunity for us to look and say, how can we practically apply 121 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:55,480 these truths to our life? 122 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:56,480 Yeah. 123 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:02,960 Another thing I love about grow groups is that this is our place to build real, genuine 124 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,720 friendships and relationships that we can carry in our lives. 125 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:12,120 So grow groups shouldn't be a place where you come once a week and leave and then you 126 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:13,640 come next week and you leave. 127 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,960 It should be your church family. 128 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,680 It should be the people you look forward to spending time with. 129 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:30,400 I would encourage you this week or next week, whenever you come and leave from grow groups, 130 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:32,120 reach out to someone. 131 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:33,640 Say hi to someone. 132 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:39,520 People are, we're all looking for quality friendships in our lives and you wouldn't 133 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:44,740 imagine the quality of people that you have around you in these groups. 134 00:08:44,740 --> 00:08:45,740 So I encourage you. 135 00:08:45,740 --> 00:08:47,720 I encourage you to reach out and... 136 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:53,680 If you think about this in the New Testament, we see, and there's, I don't take this the 137 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:54,680 wrong way. 138 00:08:54,680 --> 00:09:00,120 There's nothing wrong with having organized meetings and we see there's some organized 139 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:06,980 meetings, sometimes very spontaneous meetings, meetings, but really the New Testament is 140 00:09:06,980 --> 00:09:09,920 full of relationships. 141 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:15,680 Look at the letters that Paul wrote and at the beginning and end of those letters, especially 142 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:21,800 he would talk about, hey, make sure you talk to this person and tell them I said hi. 143 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:27,160 And hey, I wanted to let you know that this person who you know, this is what's happening 144 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:28,400 with them. 145 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:36,840 There's relationships are part of the life of a follower of Jesus. 146 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,640 And that's really what we were talking about in September. 147 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:48,480 The follow me message is it's not just events and it's not just actions, it's relationships 148 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:56,280 and those relationships are an exchange and that's how we care for one another. 149 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:57,280 Yeah. 150 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,520 So this gets me thinking of the letter that Paul wrote to Philemon. 151 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,960 And at the end of the letter, he says, hey, prepare a room for me. 152 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:06,640 I'm coming to stay over. 153 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,760 So if you don't have friendships that are that deep in a girl group, there's a problem. 154 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,400 You should be able to tell your friends, hey, I'm coming over this week and prepare a room 155 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,280 for me. 156 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:18,800 I'm joking, but I'm not joking. 157 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:26,400 I really pray for all of us to come up together and for us to build a perfect bond of unity 158 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:27,720 and love. 159 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,040 And that happens through friendships. 160 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:34,440 It doesn't only happen when we sit there and get all serious and try to figure things out 161 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:40,240 in scripture, try to figure out what the Lord's saying to me, but honor the relationships 162 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:47,360 that the Lord put in our lives and work on those relationships because that's the Lord's 163 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:52,040 will for our lives too, to be able to develop these friendships. 164 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:53,320 And that's key. 165 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:54,320 That's really important. 166 00:10:54,320 --> 00:11:03,240 It's actually one of our key, how do I say values, attributes in our girl groups and 167 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:04,960 that's the care element. 168 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:06,200 We care for one another. 169 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,600 It's not that the leader cares for me, the leader is supposed to reach out to me. 170 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:16,000 No, we are supposed to reach out to each other and build genuine relationships, genuine friendships, 171 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,480 offer help. 172 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:24,440 And the last thing that I do want to say about girl groups is we don't come to attend church. 173 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,320 We don't come to sit in a chair and hear what someone has to say. 174 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,400 We're all coming to bring our supply. 175 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:34,360 We're all coming to participate in church and build the Lord's church. 176 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,140 So I want to ask you this question. 177 00:11:37,140 --> 00:11:39,120 How are you helping in your girl groups? 178 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,020 Are you helping by bringing food? 179 00:11:42,020 --> 00:11:45,040 Are you helping by setting the space up? 180 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:47,560 Are you helping by inviting others? 181 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:54,540 Are you taking part of the discussion that the leader is trying to carry through? 182 00:11:54,540 --> 00:11:56,740 So are you helping with the welcome? 183 00:11:56,740 --> 00:11:58,800 Are you helping with the discussion portions? 184 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,120 Are you helping with reading scripture? 185 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:06,040 If you're not, I would encourage you to actively take part of something, to actively come with 186 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:11,680 a mentality of wanting to help, wanting to contribute, wanting to build this up and serve 187 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:14,960 your brothers and sisters in that girl group. 188 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:20,880 And there's something very special about that because you reap what you sow. 189 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:28,760 And when you sow friendship, when you sow service, you know, when you put yourself in 190 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:35,520 a position where you are serving the word of God, you can also reap more of that. 191 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:42,720 And you know, just before we started, Lara was talking about the Bible reading plan that 192 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,560 we do as a church altogether. 193 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:50,680 And Lara, you were saying that, you know, you were encouraged every single day to share 194 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:52,880 something, right? 195 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:58,040 And so every single day I, you know, I pick my Bible reading plan up in the morning and 196 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:04,760 I see that Lara commented and Lara, you know, shared an amazing reflection about the chapter. 197 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:11,120 And what did you say is happening now after you've been pushing yourself to do this? 198 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:17,680 As I said, I, it started with the committing to the Lord and to myself that I will write 199 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:24,400 every day and that, that helped me to read the Bible plan every day. 200 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:32,560 And now I just, I just love like reading and then reflecting on it and it happens automatically. 201 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:37,360 And I feel I'm so blessed with what others are writing as their reflections. 202 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,800 And I keep, honestly, a lot of people are coming to me and telling me, we can't wait 203 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:42,800 for what you're writing. 204 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,000 I have one of them. 205 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,680 From, from Go Church. 206 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:54,800 And I even at the Turkey conference, I met from the global Go Church family of people 207 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:55,800 as well. 208 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,800 And it has been amazing. 209 00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:58,800 Awesome. 210 00:13:58,800 --> 00:13:59,800 Praise God. 211 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:04,960 See, that's, that's what I mean by you reap what you sow, you know, you're sowing words, 212 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,640 like you're, you're sharing your revelation, you're sharing your reflections. 213 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,160 And I'm just convinced that you get more by doing that. 214 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,080 But you notice that you said something key. 215 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:18,280 You said it started with a commitment that you made. 216 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:25,480 And that's kind of the key of our whole follow me message from last month was everything 217 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:27,760 springs out of this quality decision. 218 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,320 I'm going to make a decision. 219 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:32,920 Jesus has already made his decision. 220 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,240 He's, he's already committed. 221 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:41,360 The thing that needs to happen now is I have to, I have to respond. 222 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:47,680 When you make a quality decision, when you make that commitment, then you make space 223 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,320 for Jesus to come in. 224 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,120 And, you know, I love the way you phrased it. 225 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:56,200 Now you have these, this, this river flowing out of you. 226 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,240 Well, how did that start? 227 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:02,560 It started with your decision, your commitment. 228 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,640 And we want everyone at the Go Church family to do that. 229 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:06,640 Yes. 230 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:07,640 Praise God. 231 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:08,640 Hallelujah. 232 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:14,200 I want to hear a lot more about Lara's revelation and the things that, that are really in Lara's 233 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,400 heart over the course of this month and this podcast. 234 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,600 So we're very, very excited. 235 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,440 Another announcement point I do want to make is I want to talk a little bit about our believers 236 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:24,880 gatherings. 237 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:30,680 And I'm sure many of you who are listening have already been part, have already come 238 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,800 or attended our believers gatherings. 239 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,160 But I don't want to let that go. 240 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:41,960 I want to talk about a little bit because it's so important that we come to our believers 241 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:43,840 gatherings expecting something. 242 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,040 If you notice, I am not referring to them as worship nights. 243 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,560 I'm not referring to them as music sets. 244 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:55,760 I'm referring to them as believers gatherings because it's not about the worship team and 245 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:57,040 it's not about the music. 246 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:03,720 The worship team and the music, everything there, the sound equipment, the lyrics on 247 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:11,160 the screen, the word, all of these natural elements that are present are designed to 248 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:19,400 help and support the environment to create a room for the Lord to manifest his presence. 249 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:21,120 And that's what we're trying to do. 250 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,920 We want to experience the presence of the Lord. 251 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:31,640 We want to be able to experience his manifestations, the manifestations of his goodness in operation. 252 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,020 We want to hear from him. 253 00:16:33,020 --> 00:16:34,680 We want to see him move. 254 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:41,860 We want time to, like Acts chapter 13 says, we want to minister to the Lord. 255 00:16:41,860 --> 00:16:48,800 So we're not only coming to think about what we're going to hear, what we're going to say, 256 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:54,300 but we're coming and believing that we're bringing our praises to him and we're opening 257 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:56,360 ourselves up to him. 258 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:01,960 And in return, he's revealing more of himself to us, that we're getting a revelation of 259 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:07,360 his love, that we're getting an understanding of what he's called us to do and where he's 260 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:09,320 called us to go. 261 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,400 And so I just want to encourage you to do that. 262 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:13,400 Amen. 263 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:14,400 Amen. 264 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:20,000 So Lara, how's your experience been with the believers gathering so far? 265 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,600 What you said applies to me. 266 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:29,120 I changed the, like, it stopped being worship night. 267 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,360 It's a gathering of all the believers together. 268 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:36,080 It's ministry time where we do worship, where we pray. 269 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:44,760 And again, it's one of the days that I wait during the month. 270 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:51,600 And I do come now expecting to hear from the Lord, to receive and to praise him and glorify 271 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:53,160 him. 272 00:17:53,160 --> 00:18:00,380 And it's an amazing time for anyone in our Go Church family to come and be a part of. 273 00:18:00,380 --> 00:18:03,560 They will be blessed and they will bless others. 274 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:04,560 That's awesome. 275 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:05,560 Yes. 276 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,440 We're also very excited to have you on the worship team. 277 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:08,440 Amen. 278 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:09,440 Very excited. 279 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:10,440 Our worship team is growing. 280 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,520 We're very happy about that. 281 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,440 Thank God. 282 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:15,640 Praise God. 283 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,240 So moving on from Go Church announcements, I have one more announcement I do want to 284 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:20,240 make. 285 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:21,240 RBTC. 286 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:22,240 RBTC. 287 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:23,240 Lara couldn't wait. 288 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:24,660 Me neither. 289 00:18:24,660 --> 00:18:29,280 So this week, actually, we have RBTC. 290 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:30,280 What is it called? 291 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:31,280 Jump into Ramah. 292 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:32,280 Jump into Ramah. 293 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,840 Pastor Mike, can you tell us a little bit about it? 294 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,440 I'm so excited about this. 295 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:47,360 Jump into Ramah is something that if, you know, for the people that have applied and 296 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:54,400 have been accepted as students, are going to be, we're going to have two days, Friday 297 00:18:54,400 --> 00:19:02,640 and Saturday night, where we get to look at what to expect over the next level of study. 298 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:08,360 There's 21 modules that the students are going to go through. 299 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:13,200 We're bringing in guest ministers from all around the world that are going to come in 300 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,800 and it'll be intensive training times. 301 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:22,240 Training, not necessarily just teaching. 302 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:29,440 And so Ramah is not a, Ramah is a center of excellence where we train leaders, spiritual 303 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:37,000 leaders, supportive leaders, and even people that want to act as what we would call societal 304 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,800 leaders, agents of change in their communities. 305 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,240 But we do that not just by knowledge. 306 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:49,560 Again, going back to the follow me message, you know, it's not just about accumulating 307 00:19:49,560 --> 00:20:00,400 knowledge, but it is training a person for ministry to follow after the call of God on 308 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:08,240 their life, to discover the purpose that God has for us and to be equipped to fulfill that 309 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:09,240 purpose. 310 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:10,240 Praise God. 311 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:11,240 I'm excited. 312 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:18,800 You know, I'm enrolled, so I'm very much looking forward to being part of this experience. 313 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:24,640 You just can't hear enough if you're around Pastor Matt or Chance or Joseph, you know, 314 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,040 that's all they're going to talk about. 315 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:27,120 Ramah, Ramah, Ramah. 316 00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:29,560 So let's see what this is about. 317 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:34,920 I know that, you know, there's so much that we're going to get out of this. 318 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:39,800 And the goal is to come back and strengthen our churches. 319 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:40,800 It is. 320 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:46,480 But it comes back to the same thing that we keep talking about, which is the relationship 321 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:56,080 aspect and, you know, Ramah unlocks a world of relationships with people literally on 322 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:01,440 every continent that are pursuing the plan of God. 323 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:06,740 Now the Lord's doing things through lots of different ministries. 324 00:21:06,740 --> 00:21:08,360 This is just one. 325 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:17,120 But these relationships that we have allow us to bring in experienced anointed ministers 326 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:22,240 to come and just pour into the students. 327 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:28,640 And we'll do that in extended times together on weekends and modules. 328 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:35,000 And if you're hearing this and think, man, I wish I would have known about that or I 329 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,520 wish I would have said that, you know, messages reach out. 330 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:40,520 We want to know about that. 331 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,320 We want to know about your interest. 332 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,100 Registration closed in September. 333 00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:52,040 But if you message me, I can probably help you. 334 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:53,160 Wasta. 335 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,600 No Wasta at Ramah. 336 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:58,120 I read my mind. 337 00:21:58,120 --> 00:21:59,120 Just love. 338 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:00,120 Just love. 339 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:01,120 That's good. 340 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:02,280 That's really good. 341 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:10,320 So for those of you who've been waiting eagerly to listen to the theme, this is the point 342 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,640 we're going to start talking about trails of thought. 343 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:13,640 Trails of thought. 344 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:18,440 I'm actually really excited because this is a theme, a subject that I wanted to cover 345 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:19,440 since last year. 346 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:24,040 Yeah, something that, you know, I've been talking about since last year and I just had, 347 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:25,960 you know, had it on my heart. 348 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:33,720 You know, there's some things I've seen about faith and fear and how those things are, I 349 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,520 wouldn't say connected, but, you know, equal and opposite almost. 350 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:40,440 And I really, I'm excited to talk about it. 351 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:47,280 But honestly, for, you know, for you listening, if you wonder how much time goes into preparing 352 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:55,240 these messages, literally sometimes a, you know, more than a year, we'll talk about things 353 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,960 you and I have talked about trails of thought on and off since, a little more than a year 354 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:01,960 actually. 355 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:02,960 Yeah, that's right. 356 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:11,400 You know, Pastor Matt loves barbecue and, you know, I think everyone knows that, but 357 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:12,800 it's worth mentioning on the podcast. 358 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,600 But actually the reason I'm mentioning that is because we always talk about different 359 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,960 cuts of meat, you know, and like I'm starting to discover all of these things that, you 360 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:26,960 know, Pastor Matt is a seasoned, you know, expert in basically. 361 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,840 And you know, different cuts of meat and the way you're going to prepare them require different 362 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,480 levels of marination sometimes, you know, sometimes things need to sit a little longer, 363 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,200 I need to marinate. 364 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:41,040 And some things, you know, get ready a lot faster and they're just good to go and they're 365 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:42,240 just amazing as they are. 366 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,320 And some things just require a little more marination. 367 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:50,120 And you know, sometimes things take more time to get ready. 368 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:56,240 And that's the case sometimes with messages and with series that, you know, these things 369 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:02,040 need to, you know, take a little bit of time to sit and digest and really see what we're 370 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:08,080 trying to extract because it's not about what we share, it's about what you as a listener, 371 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,080 what you are receiving and what you will apply in your lives. 372 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:17,540 So the measure of our success is how much you grow and how much you change. 373 00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:21,980 So let me introduce this. 374 00:24:21,980 --> 00:24:26,680 And the way I will introduce it is talk about, you know, what we've covered so far this year. 375 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:32,000 So since summer, we've been talking about Able, Able To and Charged. 376 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,640 These are three messages which, you know, three series which were amazing. 377 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:42,520 And actually, the Able series is the reason Lara is able to be here right now and she 378 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,740 feels like comfortable to be part of the podcast. 379 00:24:45,740 --> 00:24:47,800 So that's a testimony in of itself. 380 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:48,800 That's true. 381 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:49,800 Yes. 382 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:50,800 Praise God. 383 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:51,800 Praise God. 384 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:52,800 We're happy to have you here. 385 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:53,800 Thank you. 386 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,120 I'm happy to be here. 387 00:24:55,120 --> 00:25:01,520 And basically, if you notice, a lot of these subjects involve the spirit of man. 388 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:08,080 We're emphasizing the spirit of man, you know, which when we were born again, we are a new 389 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,080 creature in Christ. 390 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,840 Second Corinthians 517 says that all things have passed away. 391 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,840 Behold, all things have now become new. 392 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,840 And obviously, we're not talking about the external appearance because it's not like 393 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,640 all of a sudden I go from looking the way I looked having a six pack. 394 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:29,000 But thanks for mentioning that. 395 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,320 It's a morbid reminder. 396 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:37,320 But yeah, the reality is that my inner man changed and we're focusing a lot on who I 397 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:38,320 really am. 398 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,480 Who I really am is not my body. 399 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:41,840 My body is changing. 400 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,240 My body is aging. 401 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,280 But who I really am is the spirit man within. 402 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,960 But you know, it's a two edged sword, right? 403 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:57,800 Because we can spend too much time emphasizing spirit, spirit, spirit, which is amazing, 404 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,480 which requires emphasis, but then neglecting all the other parts. 405 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:07,320 And it's so important not to neglect the other parts because 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 406 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:12,720 verse 23 says that we are a spirit, we are a soul, and we are a body. 407 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:17,880 These are three components of our being and they're designed to work together. 408 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:23,720 They're designed to work together and it's also, it's really important if we're going 409 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:30,720 to grow spiritually and apply the truth of scripture to our life to develop an understanding 410 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:39,240 that we are a spirit, that we have a soul, and we live in a body. 411 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:45,360 The Bible says in Hebrews that only the word of God can really divide between soul and 412 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:46,360 spirit. 413 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:54,080 But there is a distinction and we apply the truth of God's word to see that, understand 414 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,240 it, and then apply some control. 415 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:04,680 And that's what Paul talks about in Corinthians where he says, I do this. 416 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,000 I do this with my body. 417 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,600 I'm doing this, actively doing this with my mind, which is what we're going to talk about. 418 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:12,960 Yeah, that's really good. 419 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:13,960 That's right. 420 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:21,560 So the point here is that a lot of people go too far in the wrong direction, in either 421 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:22,560 direction, right? 422 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:28,960 So as Christians, when we start changing, when we're born again, our spirits are made 423 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:34,920 new, our focus starts changing, our love, our affections, our desires start changing 424 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,840 and we start focusing on things that are not seen. 425 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:46,240 And that's what 2 Corinthians 4 says in verse 18, that the things that are seen are temporary 426 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,280 and pass away, but the things that are not seen are eternal. 427 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,000 And these are things that we're supposed to focus on. 428 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:59,620 1 John chapter 2 talks about us not loving the things of the world. 429 00:27:59,620 --> 00:28:01,160 We shouldn't love the things of the world. 430 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:06,280 We shouldn't put our focus and our energy on things that are passing away, but we should 431 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:11,080 put our energy towards things that are eternal because the things that are passing away, 432 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,800 John, it's quite stern language. 433 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:15,840 He says that they are enmity with God. 434 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:20,680 They are like enemies with God. 435 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,640 And we start noticing this about people that once we have this new treasure, like Jesus 436 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:31,560 says that you sold everything and you found this pearl of great price and you start seeing 437 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,720 people around you like bothered and thinking about day to day things that frankly start 438 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,600 not to matter to you anymore. 439 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,880 So obviously you notice that people, a lot of people are too far into the flesh, right? 440 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:48,400 They're thinking too much about what's happening right now, what's going to happen tomorrow, 441 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:49,720 what's going to happen next week. 442 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:57,080 You know, like I've been in situations where we I've seen people complain about things 443 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:01,120 that haven't even happened to them yet and you find them doing that. 444 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:07,120 But on the other hand, there's there's another extreme, right, which is neglecting the body, 445 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:14,240 neglecting the soul and just thinking about spirit and being and being stuck in that way. 446 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:21,960 So actually in Colossians chapter two, Paul is addressing addressing the subject. 447 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:27,400 You know, he's addressing this, this, this, this theme or this point called asceticism. 448 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,520 Pastor Matt, tell us a little bit about that. 449 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,360 Well, why don't you pull up that verse? 450 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:41,400 Asceticism really just is a fancy and probably very hard for me to spell word that means 451 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:52,880 to deny oneself to in and in the denial of natural things to assume that it means that 452 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:57,000 you're very spiritual or very godly. 453 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:02,720 And Paul actually is I'll let you read it, but Paul's very, very bold to the church in 454 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:03,720 Colossi. 455 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:11,680 He says, don't let people deceive you and think that just by denying yourself these things 456 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:18,280 that you have suddenly achieved some upper level of spirituality. 457 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:19,280 Why? 458 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:28,560 Because it's the message of the gospel that Jesus has created or he's redeemed us and 459 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,080 then we have been created into his image. 460 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,040 That's that second Corinthians five 17 verse you quoted. 461 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:40,000 So my righteousness can't be based on how much I deny myself. 462 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,000 Yeah. 463 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,040 So let me, let me read the verse since I pulled it up. 464 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,940 It's Colossians chapter two, verse 20, Paul saying, therefore, if you died with Christ 465 00:30:48,940 --> 00:30:52,760 from the basic principles of the world, why is the living in the world? 466 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:57,680 You subject yourselves to regulations, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which 467 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,920 all concern things which perish with the using. 468 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:05,280 According to the commandments and doctrines of men, these things indeed have an appearance 469 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:10,560 of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but are 470 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,520 of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. 471 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:14,520 Right. 472 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,240 Which, I mean, this is, this is really key. 473 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:25,520 If you, if you want to, if you want to advance in the things of God, you can see you have 474 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,840 to move beyond just outward appearances. 475 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,480 And Paul makes that, that point. 476 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,800 You can deny yourself all these things and still indulge in the flesh. 477 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:42,720 That this, this humility per se, you know, per se he calls false. 478 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:43,720 Yep. 479 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:50,880 And actually, if you think about it, if you deny your mind, you deny your, your body, 480 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:52,880 you're not going to be very effective for God, are you? 481 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:53,880 No. 482 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:58,720 Like you're just gonna, you know, you can't go out and so you can do love grow and then 483 00:31:58,720 --> 00:31:59,720 you can't do go. 484 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:00,800 You know what I mean? 485 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:02,640 And that's not what we want to be doing. 486 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,960 We want to go is such an important part of why we're still here on earth. 487 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,680 You know, we're not, we're not here to just enjoy the blessing. 488 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,280 I'd much rather be up in heaven. 489 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:13,680 You know, the streets are made of gold. 490 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:20,840 I don't think any city in the world, you know, we don't see that in any other place, but 491 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,240 the point of why we're here is to be effective for the Lord. 492 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,200 So you know, we don't want to neglect our body. 493 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:32,200 We don't want to neglect our mind and our, you know, how we use our mind. 494 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:38,480 We want to optimize those and work on those in order to be effective for the Lord. 495 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:44,280 You know, if we talk about the body, Paul actually says that, you know, he says, do 496 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,160 you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? 497 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:56,600 So our bodies are key and critical to actually fulfill what Jesus is trying to do in the 498 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,800 earth because we are here in our bodies. 499 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,080 If you don't have your body, you're not here on earth anymore. 500 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:03,080 That's exactly right. 501 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:08,700 You know, second Corinthians five says that you're either present in your body and absent 502 00:33:08,700 --> 00:33:11,760 from the Lord or you're present with the Lord and absent from your body. 503 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:16,840 So if you don't take care of your body, you can't continue doing the things that the Lord's 504 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:17,840 asking you to do. 505 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:24,600 So in that vein and in that, in that reason, we can't deny our minds and we can't deny 506 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:30,360 our bodies and we have to watch over them and we have to govern them in the right way. 507 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:36,240 And actually that's, that's why I want to read the, the purpose for the series this 508 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,640 month and this is it. 509 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:43,260 The Bible teaches that we are a three part being spirit, soul and body, and that these 510 00:33:43,260 --> 00:33:46,460 parts are all designed to work together. 511 00:33:46,460 --> 00:33:51,600 We want everyone in the Go Church family to learn to allow our spirit to direct our thoughts 512 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:56,840 and to govern our lives and actions according to the law of love. 513 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:02,400 So according to this, based on this purpose, we don't want to deny our soul. 514 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:08,320 We don't want to deny our bodies, but we want to govern them and direct them according to 515 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,440 our spirit and according to the word of God, which is in our spirit. 516 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,240 Yeah, that word govern and direct is really key. 517 00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:23,160 You know, it's do something with versus just be passive and whatever, whatever it wants 518 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:24,160 to do. 519 00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:30,800 I mean, I'm pretty sure that my body will eat just as much gelato as I put in front 520 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:31,800 of us. 521 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:37,120 I mean, I don't, you know, I've, I need to grow in, in that. 522 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:38,120 What kind of growth? 523 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:46,520 No, I need, I need to, I need to develop better governance on how much ice cream I eat. 524 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:50,880 But you know, the, the main scripture that we're going to look at, we're not going to 525 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:51,880 talk about dieting. 526 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:58,920 We're going to talk about the mind, but the main scripture here is really key. 527 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:06,720 And I guess we have enough time to kind of review this in Romans chapter, Romans chapter 528 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:07,720 eight. 529 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:15,480 I love the eighth chapter of Romans and in any translation, you know, I think I probably 530 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,840 love Romans chapter eight and Swahili if I could understand it. 531 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:28,840 It's just, it is a beautiful passage about the life of the follower of Jesus filled with 532 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:29,840 the spirit. 533 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:37,760 And, but verse five, he says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds 534 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,720 on things of the flesh. 535 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:43,320 And this is what you're talking about. 536 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:53,320 There's there's a, a, three parts and we need to develop ourselves so that we're putting 537 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,240 the first thing first. 538 00:35:56,240 --> 00:36:04,480 And we are using the truth of God's word to discipline ourselves so that we can be used 539 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:05,480 of him. 540 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:06,480 Why? 541 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,480 Because we're here for a purpose. 542 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:18,580 And Gilbert has this thing that he says that the basic package in heaven is better than 543 00:36:18,580 --> 00:36:20,120 anything you can have on earth. 544 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:21,400 I've never heard that before. 545 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,520 I thought that was, that's awesome. 546 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:24,520 The basic package. 547 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,320 I don't know, I don't know that there's different packages. 548 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,960 I'm not sure that you can support that in scripture, but I think it's true anyway. 549 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,440 What's included in the basic package? 550 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:37,440 Presence of the Lord. 551 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:43,120 You're there like everything that you talk about when it comes to experiencing the riches 552 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:44,520 of his glory on earth. 553 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,160 You're literally like in the presence of God. 554 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,280 And those are just the basics. 555 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:54,640 One person said it this way that when you get to heaven, you experience three levels 556 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:56,160 of surprise. 557 00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:03,600 The first level of surprise is you see someone and you think, wow, they're there, they're 558 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,440 here. 559 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:10,200 And then you start looking around and you're surprised that some other people are not there 560 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,440 that you thought would be there. 561 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:17,280 And then the last level of surprise is you're there. 562 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:21,840 That's funny. 563 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:26,120 But go ahead and let's read the rest of the main scripture. 564 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:32,800 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. 565 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:38,680 But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. 566 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:40,160 Why? 567 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:50,800 Because to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 568 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,680 Do you have that in another translation? 569 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,920 Yeah, I have it in the Young's Literal Translation. 570 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:59,040 And I really enjoy this translation. 571 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:03,040 It's not easy to read because it's translated word for word from Greek. 572 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:13,160 So it doesn't always make sense in English, but if you are able to speak multiple languages, 573 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:18,000 which a lot of Lebanese people do, you can understand that people think differently in 574 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:19,120 different languages. 575 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,800 And so you can appreciate the YLT a little more actually. 576 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:29,400 And in verse six of the YLT, so actually let me read it verses five and six. 577 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:35,400 It says this, for those who are according to the flesh, the things of the flesh do mind. 578 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,960 And those according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. 579 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:44,400 Verse six just hits me, you know, and it says, for the mind of the flesh is death and the 580 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,780 mind of the spirit, life and peace. 581 00:38:47,780 --> 00:38:53,720 So you see that Paul is literally talking about the three part being in here, right? 582 00:38:53,720 --> 00:39:00,400 He's saying the mind of the flesh lead somewhere and then the mind of the spirit lead somewhere 583 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:01,400 else. 584 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:06,120 I know that a lot of translations capitalize the word spirit, but in this context, it's 585 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:12,240 obvious he's talking about the spirit within, which is obviously in communion with the Holy 586 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:13,280 Spirit. 587 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:17,280 But there is what strikes me about this. 588 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:21,060 And this is something we're going to talk about is that you see two paths. 589 00:39:21,060 --> 00:39:23,120 So you see two trails, right? 590 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:29,640 There's the path of the carnal mind and that leads to death and there's the path of the 591 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,400 spiritual mind and that leads to life and peace. 592 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:38,200 You know, maybe it doesn't sit well with a lot of, you know, hyper spiritual people who 593 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:42,560 think that, oh, the mind has nothing to do with it, you know, but this is what Paul's 594 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:48,920 saying literally that the way you govern your mind will determine the outcome in your life. 595 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:50,240 That's exactly right. 596 00:39:50,240 --> 00:40:04,320 The work of redemption that we receive in our spirit can be stopped and even, you know, 597 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:09,360 I wanted to use the wrong word there, stunted. 598 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:16,680 What I mean is it can be cut short and not grow to its full potential because we continue 599 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,600 to think on the wrong things. 600 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:28,280 Thinking on the things of God, the way God thinks about things, keeping our mind governed 601 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:32,120 by the Spirit leads to life and peace. 602 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,360 Romans chapter eight, life and peace. 603 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:35,360 Everybody wants that. 604 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:37,480 Yay, life and peace. 605 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:45,560 But to think flesh ruled, that word carnal, that means ruled by the flesh. 606 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:47,220 The flesh is what? 607 00:40:47,220 --> 00:40:51,480 The flesh is the part that likes fried chicken and ice cream. 608 00:40:51,480 --> 00:41:00,680 If I let that dominate my mind, then I'm going to go away from life and peace. 609 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:05,880 So what I do with my mind matters. 610 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:11,720 In fact, I would challenge you if you've ever heard yourself say, you know, sometimes I 611 00:41:11,720 --> 00:41:13,880 just can't control what I think about. 612 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:20,840 These thoughts come in my mind and I just, you know, I wish I could, but I just can't. 613 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:21,840 I can't. 614 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,560 Yes, you can. 615 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,960 Your mind is yours. 616 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:32,560 You know, your mind will only think about things that you let it. 617 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:33,560 Yeah. 618 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:37,460 And it will think about things if you let it. 619 00:41:37,460 --> 00:41:42,300 But you can control what your mind thinks about. 620 00:41:42,300 --> 00:41:43,300 That's so powerful. 621 00:41:43,300 --> 00:41:45,240 That's so powerful. 622 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:52,240 I do want to mention that point or emphasize that point that your mind leads you places. 623 00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:54,120 Your mind does take you places. 624 00:41:54,120 --> 00:42:00,440 Actually in the book of James in chapter one and verse 15, he says that when desire is 625 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:06,860 conceived, so when it's fully formed, it gives birth to sin. 626 00:42:06,860 --> 00:42:11,040 And sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 627 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:21,000 So the first part of the wrong trail or, you know, taking the first step on that trail 628 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:26,880 is something that happens before you even take a step. 629 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:27,880 It starts in your mind. 630 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:31,920 You know, where you can see that is in Genesis chapter three. 631 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:36,520 Genesis chapter three, Adam and Eve, they've got one rule. 632 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:39,400 One rule. 633 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:41,080 Don't eat this. 634 00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:48,080 The Bible says that the devil comes as a serpent and says, what? 635 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:49,080 Eat this? 636 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:55,760 No, he says, hey, did God really say, you know, and what is that whole passage? 637 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:59,400 If you go back and look at it, won't take time to go through it now, but you go back 638 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:00,560 and look at it. 639 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:11,600 The devil is influencing thought and thought occurred way before action. 640 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:12,680 That's right. 641 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:13,800 That's right. 642 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,560 So we're actually, I want to say we're running out of time. 643 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:18,160 We're beyond time. 644 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:23,400 We're over time, but we've had a great time introducing this and I'm so excited to get 645 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,400 into the, this is going to be a great study. 646 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,080 It's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be, you know, the more honest you are with 647 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:33,520 yourself, the more you're going to be able to do something about it. 648 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:35,840 Because at the end, we're talking about your mind. 649 00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:37,600 No one is in your mind but you. 650 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:42,880 And if you want results, this is a way to get it. 651 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:44,480 We're actually talking about that. 652 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:52,080 I do want to say one more thing, which is I want to refer back to our series on crazy 653 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:53,080 faith. 654 00:43:53,080 --> 00:44:01,200 When pastor Matt Beamer was sharing the series, he talked about, you know, to go to crazy 655 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:03,560 faith, you need to start with baby faith. 656 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:12,240 But in order to really live in that crazy faith and to see amazing things happen, you 657 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:17,080 need to unlock this God given imagination of yours. 658 00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,360 And this is what the goal is ultimately. 659 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:24,000 The goal is to keep our minds on the right things so that God can do what he wants to 660 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,840 do through our spirit, our soul and our bodies. 661 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:33,720 So the trail of thought should be spirit to soul to body. 662 00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:37,600 It shouldn't be body to soul leading to death. 663 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:42,120 And that's something that we're trying to correct over the course of this month and 664 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:43,920 identify in ourselves. 665 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:49,160 So the key points for this month, we're going to talk about over the three weeks is week 666 00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:51,600 one, we're going to talk about trails of fear. 667 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,920 So we're going to talk about the carnal mind and what it looks like. 668 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,200 What does a carnal mind look like? 669 00:44:57,200 --> 00:45:03,280 Hopefully, you know, in week one, we're going to be able to really take an honest assessment 670 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:07,560 of ourselves and how we've been and what needs to change. 671 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:13,200 And week two, we're going to talk about trails of faith, or we can also call that this spiritual 672 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:14,200 mind. 673 00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:16,080 So what does that look like? 674 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,240 And how can we get there? 675 00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:22,560 And part three, we're going to talk about the love solution. 676 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:25,960 You know, when we say love, we know that God is love. 677 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:29,320 So ultimately, we're talking about the God solution. 678 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:30,360 Amen. 679 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,960 But it's so important to be God minded. 680 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:38,880 And that's what we're really going to home in on in week three, the the God minded solution, 681 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:39,880 if you want. 682 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,080 So, so that's it. 683 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:46,960 I'm so excited to get into this with you this month, and we're going to have a great month. 684 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:52,040 Yeah, and if you've made it this far in the day and no one's told you, we want you to 685 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,960 know that we love you and we're praying for you. 686 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:55,960 God bless you. 687 00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:00,680 Thank you for listening to this message. 688 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:05,440 We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God, grow in His love and go with 689 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:07,360 His love to the rest of their world. 690 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:11,680 We invite you to connect with us at one of our groups for our next gathering. 691 00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:17,400 And if no one told you yet today, we love you and believe God's very best for you.