Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. It's good to have you here.
I got a friend with me. This is James Kozer.
Say hello, everybody. All right. Well, today,
it's long overdue getting James here. He is the
executive director at Carlisle Christian Academy.
And if you don't know where that school is, just
take a look around you. You're sitting in it.
Okay. Carlisle Christian Academy is right here.
We coexist in this facility, and it's been an
amazing journey, honestly, for a little better
than a year now. They've been so gracious with
us as a church, and we work together for the
kingdom of God, and we share this facility. And
I've been, again, long overdue getting James
here so that he could share with you a little
bit about the school. And James kind of does
it all. He's a teacher, preacher, leads a school.
Athlete, I don't know. It goes on and on and
on. He does quite a bit. He's got a wife and
children. Maybe he can mention that, his children
and his wife. And they're wonderful. I've met
his family. So it's so good to have him here.
And, again, he's going to tell you a little bit
about CCA, and then I'll come back and share
a message. So would you give him a warm welcome
from LifeHouse? Thank you, Kev. Appreciate that.
welcome. It is an absolute pleasure to be here
among you this morning to talk about Carlisle
Christian Academy. I am James Kozer. I'm the
executive director here. I'm wrapping up my 11th
year. at Carlisle Christian Academy. As executive
director, basically what that means is I get
to wear a lot of hats, okay? So when you're in
a small school setting, pretty much all your
staff wears a lot of hats, so we can be doing
anything from meeting with staff to jumping in
a classroom to fill in for a missing teacher
to, hey, when the toilet gets clogged and there's
nobody around, sometimes you got to do what you
got to do. Like I said, wrapping up my 11th year,
you know, Carlisle Christian Academy is super
special to me because actually my oldest son,
Elijah, started in Carlisle Christian Academy
when he was in kindergarten, which was prior
to me working here. And he is now a senior, will
be graduating in just three weeks along with
River Reynolds, who's here. Since that time then,
I became executive director and have been able
to have my other two children, Iriana and Alvin.
Iriana is here this morning. They're in ninth
and eighth grade. And it's such a blessing to
be able to have my children in a school, not
just that I work at, but a school that has been
focused on proclaiming the gospel and making
disciples since 1981. If we want to go to the
second slide. I just want to first just be here
to say thank you for this great partnership.
You guys have an awesome pastor in Pastor Kip.
And I could tell just from some of the initial
meetings with him that, you know, we are like
-minded ministries that just want to build God's
kingdom. We really dovetail together when it
comes to making disciples. And so being able
to have a space that we get to share and partner
with, obviously that helps both organizations
with cost. You guys have been incredibly gracious
with... putting in a new sound system, allowing
us to have use of that for our chapels, our worship
team. Your sound people helped last year with
our graduation to live stream it, things like
that. And so this is an incredible partnership
that... You know, I think it's just one of those
things that's mutually edifying, right? It's
both organizations striving for the same thing
and working together for the unique call of God
to make disciples. Christian school is a unique
vehicle for disciple making. I mean, when you
run the numbers, right? So if we had a student
with perfect attendance, 180 days of school equates
to about 1 ,170 hours. per year, right? When
you do the math there, 1 ,170 hours per year,
plus on top of that, a lot of extracurricular
activities, some sports teams, after school activities,
those types of things. And so it becomes a really
unique opportunity to really expose students
to the knowledge of God. If we go to the third
slide here, you know, we are a duly accredited
organization. We serve kids in kindergarten through
12th grade. We're super excited because starting
next year in August, we're bringing our elementary
campus here, and we're going to be one unified
campus. We've been in here for about three years
with our secondary students, grades 6 through
12, and so we're excited that we are finally
at the point where we can pull this all together,
unify our student base, and we're excited because
we got a lot of plans to get the older kids serving
with the younger kids. types of things. We serve
students from all over, but one of the unique
distinctives about us as a Christian school is
we're actually a mission -focused school. What
that means is that we actually do not require
parents to sign agreement to our statement of
faith, and that's actually pretty unique for
a Christian school. They do sign agreement understanding
we will teach according to our statement of faith.
But at the end of the day, if you're maybe just
looking for a place where they're going to get
some different. individualized instruction, a
safe place where your kids are going to be safe
from bullying, or for whatever reason, it's an
opportunity for us to bring in families who maybe
have no church background, no church exposure,
and get those kids in, give them a great education,
but have that education be centered around the
knowledge of God and the truth of Jesus Christ.
One of the things I try to make clear to people
is that we aren't just a school that does some
chapels and some Bible stuff. But we really integrate
Bible into all course content. Our entire curriculum
is just infused with God's truth. So even when
you're in a science class, we are talking about
God's design, God's creation, and what that means
for us, right? What that means for us as believers
and how we need to care for that world and care
for the people around us. You can go to the next
slide. We have so many stories of God's faithfulness,
and I could go on and on and on, but Kip said
some of you need to go to work tomorrow. So we're
going to limit the stories here. And I was praying
this morning, Lord, what story do you want me
to tell? Because I feel like I could tell so
many. And we have so many kids who are going
on to do great stuff. But I want to tell the
story of a kid named Paul, and I've changed his
name. But Paul was a student who came to us from
a public school setting. Paul was one of those
kids who was just a little different. He was
a little socially awkward, really struggled to
fit in with other kids. If you diagnosed him,
you'd say he's probably on the spectrum. And
Paul had a horrendous experience in school where
he felt like he was constantly picked on. He
felt like his teachers weren't helping him out,
these types of things. He came to us in 11th
grade. We had two years to work with Paul. I
remember Paul coming to me in the middle of his
senior year. He said, I got great news for you,
Mr. Kozer. I said, what's that, Paul? And he
said, the doctor said I can come off my anxiety
meds and my high blood pressure meds. And he
said, it's all because of CCA. And it was just
like, it hit me so hard. Thank you. It hit me
so hard because, I mean, isn't that what it's
about? You know, working with these kids and...
and getting them into a place where they can
find out who they are, right? Find out who God
has designed them to be. Find out what God has
called them to be. He would not be your typical
success story about a kid going off to a high
-end college, these types of things. But what
I tell people, success at Carlisle Christian
Academy looks like getting students to understand
that they are a unique child of God and that
God has a specific call on their lives, that
God wants to use them. for his kingdom, right?
And it looks different for every kid. We'll have
some kids going off to college. We'll have some
kids who are going right into the workforce,
so on and so forth. But our heart and our desire
is we want every kid after graduating at Carlisle
Christian Academy to understand that they are
a part of God's kingdom. And that's even greater
than becoming a doctor. It's even greater than
becoming a teacher or a plumber or whatever,
that they are called. by God to be a part of
his kingdom. We can go to the last slide here.
I will be in the back afterwards, and I would
love to talk to you more about who we are and
what we do. I'll have information specifically
about our school, as well as if you're a parent
and you are interested in any summer camp options,
we're going to be running an 11 -week summer
camp, day camp here in this building. If you're
interested in learning more about the summer
camp as well, I'll have that information in the
back. But just some simple ways that as we are
partnered together, if you want to support us
in our mission, we're always looking for prayer
partners. Prayer matters. Prayer makes a huge
difference. And I've seen it. We've got incredibly
faithful people praying for the ministry of Carlisle
Christian Academy. We're big on word of mouth.
If you get opportunity, just tell someone. If
you're with someone and they're talking about
the struggles their kids have at school, just
say, hey, maybe you want to check this out. We're
not for everybody, but for some, we make a huge
difference in their lives. If you're interested
in volunteering at all ever, you want to spend
some time with kids and impact their lives, touch
their lives, we would be happy for that. We have
a golf tournament coming up June 5th. If there's
any golfers, I show up and embarrass myself.
I'm actually really horrible at golf, but I do
my best. And that golf tournament helps. with
our fundraising and i'll just give this real
quick plug i want to turn this into a marketplace
but if you're interested in directing your pennsylvania
state tax dollars to a scholarship that can help
make cca affordable to a family there's actually
a way you can do that and get a direct money
to a scholarship organization that will help
fund someone a student's tuition and you will
get a 90 tax credit it's called the eitc tax
credit program I'd be happy to talk with you
about that. It's an easy way to give and support
Carlisle Christian Academy. I just wanted to
close with this verse. I was sitting here this
morning. Lord, is there a verse you'd want me
to share? And it's from Psalms 145, verse 4.
And it says, one generation shall praise your
works to another. and shall declare your mighty
acts. I think if I had to sum Carlisle Christian
Academy up into one verse, it'd probably be this,
that I have a team of teachers who want to just
declare the faithfulness of God, declare the
mighty acts of God, declare the works of God
to another generation so that they'll raise up
and they'll be the next generation to tell their
children. Again, thank you for the partnership.
Thank you for not just being sharers of the building,
right, co -tenants. We're so much more than that.
We are co -laborers in Christ who are working
towards building his kingdom. And so let me just
pray for you guys real quick, and then I'll step
off here. Lloyd, thank you so much. For Lifehouse
Church, the ministry here, Pastor Kip, Pastor
Alyssa, all those on the ministry team, and those
who faithfully come and are a part of this church.
Lord, bless them. Continue to grow this church.
Grow them as disciples of Jesus Christ who go
forth and really have a true, meaningful impact
for God's kingdom. And Lord, just continue to...
to reach into the hearts and minds of the people
here, that they would be used for you as a light
right here in Carlisle. And we pray this all
in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Would you give him
a hand? Thank you for being here again. James
is going to be at the Connection Station. If
you want to get more information, please stop
by and talk with him. You can find more out about
the school and all the great work that they do
here at CCA. Super excited for that relationship
just to continue and build all along the way.
And I have found the secret to being a better
golfer. The couple times a year I go out, I just
find people who are worse than I am, and I go
with them. And I feel great. But, yeah, I'm with
you. I'm a hacker. It's terrible. Well, listen,
a few weeks back, I attended my grandsons, one
of my grandsons. Two of them play ball. They
both play baseball. And I went to a Little League
game, and we arrived at the field, and it was
in the evening, and we began to get to the respective
sides of the field that we were going to sit
and watch Bennett play. And I remember sitting
down. We get our chairs, right? You take all
your stuff. You got your chair. You got your
drink. hat, you got your sunglasses, you take
everything that you're going to need, snacks,
the whole nine yards because, you know, you're
going to be there for days. And you get parked.
And I remember sitting down at this field and
looking across the field and realizing that the
sun was directly across from us. So we were going
to be staring out into the field at the sunshine,
and the sun was beginning to go down. And the
further it went, you know, we began to pour our
hats down further and got our sunglasses. Everybody
had their sunglasses on. And I was trying, all
of us, We're over there trying to make out where
Bennett was, you know, when he went out into
the field. Because all these little boys, they're
all dressed the same. They got the same uniform
on. They're all about the same age. They're all
about the same height. And they're going out
into the field and scattering out across the
field. And they teach these kids to bat and to
catch and play different positions. They move
them around sometimes. So we're looking for Bennett.
And I can't see his back because he's facing
us. Or I'd have known his number or his name
on the back of his. And because the sun was so
bright, we're screaming. and we're looking and
we're like, I think that's Bennett out in right
field. You know, one's like, nah, I think he's
on second base. Nah, I think he's on right field.
And we just watched for a little bit of time
and we began to realize that in fact was Bennett
out in right field. How did we know that? We
couldn't make out his facial features because
of the sunshine in our eyes. We couldn't see
his name or number on the back of his shirt.
But what we saw was how he carried himself. I
saw how he stood. I saw how he moved around and
walked. And it was his, as we looked, it was
his movements. It was what he was doing that
began to unmistakably understand that this is
in fact Bennett out in right field. Couldn't
see his face. Couldn't see his jersey number.
Couldn't see his name. But we saw Bennett because
of how he was standing, what he was doing with
his hands. We're like, oh, unmistakably that.
is Bennett. And it is the same way if you follow
Jesus Christ. If someone, anyone is watching,
there should be a defining quality that people
see in you that gives you a way as a Jesus follower
every time. If you got your Bibles, I want you
to go to John chapter 13. We're going to start
off at verse 31. We've been working through the
book of John now for some period of time. And
Jesus names a characteristic in the book of John
that is a dead giveaway if you are a follower
of Jesus Christ. A defining feature of you that
will let others know who you belong to. And I
can tell you this. It's not a jacket. It's not
a uniform. It's not a tattoo. It's not a flashing
neon sign that's above your head pointing down
to you saying that this is a Jesus follower.
There's a quality that if someone's watching,
they'll know. So as you turn to John 13, 31,
I'm going to pray. If you would, bow your heads.
Father, thank you for this time. God, I pray
right now that you would anoint our ears. God,
that you would anoint our hearts, our minds,
that we would hear. God, that we would understand,
that we would receive your word in Holy Spirit.
Make alive the truth of God within us, that we
might walk in the ways of God. And we pray this
in Jesus' name. Everybody say it together. Amen.
Are you with John? John chapter 13, say amen.
All right, good, good. Well, let me, just before
we go into that scripture, real quickly, I want
you to picture this. Jesus has trained his mentees,
the 12 disciples that he's been walking with
and talking with for three and a half years.
They are now trained. They go and they spend
a last supper together, the Passover meal, before
Jesus would go to the cross and die and resurrect
from the grave. And as soon as they leave the
Passover meal together, Jesus begins to speak.
to his disciples. He begins to give them some
instruction. So John 13, 31 says this. So when
he had gone out, Jesus said, now the son of man
is glorified and God is glorified in him. If
God is glorified in him, God will also glorify
him in himself and glorify him immediately. Jesus
starts off talking to them, and he's talking
prophetically in nature. He's talking about himself.
He's saying that once the plan of God unfolds,
once I go to the cross, once I rise from the
grave, I'm going to be glorified. My body's going
to be glorified. I'm going to go back to my glorified
state. And like so many things in life, right?
The disciples who are walking with him and are
listening to Jesus probably didn't fully understand
what he meant by this. They probably didn't fully
get their head around what Jesus was talking
about when he said, I'm going to be glorified.
How many know many times we do not understand
sometimes what God is speaking to us on the front
end of whatever we're going through? Amen? Sometimes
you get a word from God. Sometimes you read a
scripture. Sometimes something stands out to
you, and you're on the front end of something,
but it just, you know, you know what relates.
You know what's for you. You know the Holy Spirit's
problem, but you just don't fully know what it's
for. You know it's God's party. How many know
spiritually as well as in life, hindsight is
20 -20? When you get on the other side of something,
you're like, oh, yeah, that's what that was about,
right? Oh, now I see what God was doing. Oh,
right? We do that. And what I'm saying is, sometimes
you need to hear the Word of God, grab a hold
of what He's telling you on the front end, and
don't let go of it. Whether it's a scripture,
whether it's a word, grab a hold of whatever
God is speaking prophetically in your life, because
you're going to need it, because you're going
to go through the fire sometimes. And how many
of you know when you're in the fire, you can't
see? When you're in the fire, everything's fresh,
everything's hot, everything's right in front
of you, everything's distracting you, everything's
against you. Hang on to the word of God. Now,
I know this is a little sidetrack I got on, but
I felt like this morning somebody needs to hear
what I'm talking about. It is the word of God
that gives us hope. It is the word of God that
holds us up when everything's pulling us down.
It is the word of God that will build you up
and keep you from crumbling. And Jesus' disciples
will not fully understand what he's talking about
with his glorification with him and one day with
us until they get on the other side of the crucifixion
and the resurrection. Let's go back to verse
33. If that word was for you this morning, grab
ahold of that and write it down, all right? John
13, 33, Jesus continues, and he says this. Little
children, I shall be with you a little while
longer. You will seek me, and as I said to you,
as I said, and as I said to the Jews, where I'm
going, you cannot come. So now I say to you.
a new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another as I have loved you, that you also
love one another. By this, all will know that
you are my disciples if you have love one for
another. Jesus says that there is something,
there is something that people observe, there's
something that people see that will make you
unmistakably his. There's an identifying mark
that truly makes you a follower of Jesus Christ,
and everybody knows it. There's an attribute
that is so pronounced in your life that when
people see it, who are on the outside looking
on the inside, they're going to be like, yep,
I know who they belong to. I know who they're
a part of. These are Jesus people I'm looking
at, right? What is that unmistakable attribute?
Jesus says it clear, right? By this, all will
know that you are my disciples. My followers,
if you have love, right, if you have love for
one another, if we love our brothers and sisters
in Christ, we are unmistakably his. If we love
the way that Jesus says we should love, if we
love the way Jesus did love. If you love me and
I love you, I almost broke into the Barney song
when I started thinking about this. How many
remember Barney? Yeah. It's over and over in
my head again and again and again, right? But
it is. It's the way you love me and I love you.
People will know us by that. When those who are
on the outside of the church, staring on the
inside of the church, what does it look like?
It is not your Jesus t -shirt. It is not your
Jesus bumper sticker, and I'm all for all that.
It's not even because we meet in this building
a couple times a week or at our other location
a couple times a week. They should know that
we belong to him because of how we carry ourselves.
When they're squinting into the sun, right, and
looking from a distance, and they can't even
see your face, but they see how you carry yourself.
They see what you do. They see the rhythm in
your life. They see how you treat other believers.
If we do this right, they should squint and stare
and then declare that we follow Jesus. I worked
on that all week, all right? It rhymes, right?
They should squint, stare, and then declare that
they follow Jesus, truly. Church, this is not
optional in God's Word, right? Loving other Jesus
followers like Jesus loved me is not optional.
Jesus said, this is a new commandment that I
give you, that you love one another as I have
loved you, that you also love one another. A
commandment is a law. A commandment is an order.
It is not a suggestion. It wasn't Jesus making
a nice suggestion like, this would be super nice,
church, if we would just all get along and love
one another. That's not what he was saying. This
is a command. This was not a symbolic utopian
idea of some kind that would be super nice, right?
And it would look great if it looked like this.
That was not what he was saying. He said, this
is a commandment. This is what it's supposed
to look like. This is what we're supposed to
do. And he didn't leave anything to chance when
he said this. He told us what we were supposed
to do, right? I'm supposed to love you and you're
supposed to love me. Then he said, this is how
you're supposed to do it. He didn't even leave
that to chance. He said, you're going to love
others like I love you. That's what it's going
to look like. He told me what to do and how to
do it. Complete clarity in this command. No room
for shifting this way or shifting that way or
adding my own definition. And many times, right,
as individuals, we're completely down with the
first part of this scripture. Well, I love you,
but. But we won't even consider the first part,
the second part of it. I can love you. Now, I
don't mind loving you if I can love you my way.
We're all about that my way kind of generation,
right? I love you, I just have to do it my way,
right? I did determine what the extent of those
parameters of my love will be. I make sure that
my love for you fits my lifestyle, right? My
personality, maybe my schedule. That I love you
means I determine how close to you I get or I
don't get. I decide how much loving you is gonna
cost me. And how much I'm not really willing
to spend. I love you if I want to. That's not
what he's talking about. And when I hit my limit,
right? When I hit my limit of loving you, peace
out. I'm out of here. I don't mind loving you
like that. But that's not what Jesus was talking
about. That's not what he was saying. It's a
whole other thing to take the second part of
this. That means that my stuff, my style, my
ridiculous considerations or limitations, they're
garbage. They don't mean a thing. You can forget
my opinions. I know everybody's got an opinion
online these days, probably multiple opinions,
but my opinion doesn't matter. My judgments do
not matter, right? How I view a relationship
does not matter. This is, Jesus said, this is
how you're going to do it. This is what it's
supposed to look like. This is what he spoke
to us. This is required behavior of the church,
and it is not optional. It's mandated by our
King, by our Lord, by our Savior. And this is
the unmistakable identity of a Jesus follower,
that we love each other. Now, as I read this,
this should probably terrify us just a little
bit, right? If you're thinking like me, this
seems like almost an impossible mandate. This
seems like a very hard thing to fulfill. How
can I love you as much as Jesus loves you? Right?
How do I do that? This doesn't even seem like
a reasonable request by Jesus. I can't love others
like Jesus loves them. I can't even get close.
I'm not even sure I love myself like Jesus loves
me, let alone loving you like Jesus loves you.
And as I look at this, I feel like sometimes
when I'm looking at this, I'm like, ah, right?
If I try to do this, I might be a fake. I might
be a fraud of some kind. I came across this little
article this week. And just when you think you
heard it all, how many know you haven't heard
it all? Yeah, I came across this article. And
it's just a little strange article. It says,
models who look like Jesus are in high demand
in Utah. True story. All right. A growing number
of people in the state of Utah feel like a picture
isn't complete without Jesus. They're hiring
Jesus lookalikes for family portraits and wedding
announcements. Models are showing up to walk
with newly engaged couples through a field, play
with young children in the Bonneville salt flats,
and cram in with a family for the annual Christmas
card. Bob Sagers, this is one of the guys, was
walking around at an indie music festival in
Salt Lake City when a friendly stranger approached
and asked for his number. Has anyone ever told
you that you have a Jesus look to you? The man
asked. According to Sagers, a 25 -year -old who
works at a grocery store. It wasn't a pickup
line. The man's wife was an artist looking for
religious models. I didn't really get that a
lot, he said. This is what Sager said to him.
I don't really get this a lot because I'm six
foot five, dirty blonde, shoulder length hair,
and a beard who says I kind of have an Irish
Scandinavian vibe. I'm a pretty tall Jesus, he
said. And so it was that Sagers began a side
hustle as a savior. Since being recruited about
four years ago, Sagers has posted as Jesus nearly
a dozen times. Others have done so charging $100
to $200 an hour to get pictures with children,
family, couples, and various locations in the
beehive state, right? I don't think that's what
Jesus had in mind. I don't know about you. I
don't think that's what, you know, and I don't
think Jesus called us to be posing, you know,
as Christians are certainly not posing as little
Jesus, right? Frotting it up, making it look
good. But I got to say, when I read the scripture
sometimes, you know, Lord, I don't want to be
a poser in this because you mandated this. You
called me. How in the world do I love others
like Jesus loves me? How do I do that? How do
I fill this mandate? I mean, seriously. And I
know, right, we can do what we normally do. We're
just going to give it our best shot, right? We're
going to get all inspired in the Sunday message,
and we're just going to give it the old college
try. We're going to give it our best shot, right?
Or maybe I put on a robe, right, and a sash and
go charge $100 an hour to get pics, right? Maybe
I need to get in character to do all this. How
do I do this? And the problem is, honestly, as
I look around this room, I don't see any Jesus
lookalikes. I really don't. Toby, you're the
closest. Right back there, all right? He's got
the beard. He's the closest I got. How do I do
this? Because it's not optional. It's mandated
by Jesus. I think Jesus gave us the answer in
Matthew 11, 25. It says this, at that time, Jesus
answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these
things from the wise and the prudent and have
revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for
so it seemed good in your sight. All things have
been delivered to me by my father, and no one
knows the son except the father, nor does anyone
know the father except the son, and the one to
whom the son wills to reveal him. Come to me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. The word of God says, take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. Jesus said this. Every time
I get what looks like an impossible mandate from
scripture, from God himself, I need to remind
myself of this verse. The only way I can love
you like I'm supposed to love you so it looks
like Jesus is that I have to be first yoked to
Jesus. I've got to be connected with Jesus. Willpower,
self -empowerment, cheering myself on, sticking
up sticky notes of scriptures, and I highly recommend
you do this, but sticking up sticky notes of
scriptures on your mirror are not going to cut
it when it comes to this. It is so much more
than that. Self -help never gets me anywhere
in the kingdom of God. It really doesn't, except
frustrated and dwelling in the land of failure
many times, truly. If we try to do what Jesus
says to do on our own power, we will only wear
ourselves out and fail. We will get disillusioned.
We will get frustrated. And Jesus made it so
clear and so simple in these verses. You want
to do what seems impossible to do? Because loving
you like Jesus kind of seems impossible, right?
Doing that all the time. All you have to do is
get yoked to me. who I'm tied to, who I'm connected
with, who I'm abiding with and in. He said it,
right? Come to me, all you who labor and are
heavy laden, the difficult, the impossible thing,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly
at heart, and you will find rest for your souls,
for my yoke is easy. Say easy. And my burden,
It's light. He says it's light. Doing the impossible
and making it all look easy is not about all
your extra effort in something. It really isn't.
You're not going to get there that way. It's
not me upping my personal gain. Right? I just
got to get my game on. It's not about me looking
in and being the man or you, the woman in the
mirror, whoever you are. It's not about my education
or knowledge, and I'm all for education and knowledge
and expanding. I read all the time. But it really
is about getting yoked with the one who has all
the power. Sometimes it's about getting yoked
with the one who has all the power and just breathe
it, relax it. I'm going to get you to do this
right now. Ready? We're going to take a breath
in together. Ready? Do it again. You can't even
do that by yourself. It's him. Right? We never
do this beyond ourselves. We're not capable.
We can't do it. Your willpower isn't going to
do it. It's not what I can do. It's who I'm yoked
with. Worship team, if you'd come. Yoked means
this. Yoke means tied to. Yoke means connected
to. Yoke means strapped together with. Yoke means
abiding. And if I had to give you a picture,
some of you maybe have seen that old picture
of maybe two oxen together, and they got that
wooden yoke that goes across their back and ties
them together. Or maybe something that might
be a little more relevant or modern is a team
of horses that are pulled together with straps
and bars, and they're tied together. And it is
the power, right, of them being yoked together
that they can do the impossible. They will tell
you if you take one horse and hook up weights
to it and get it to pull, it can pull X amount
of weight. If you hook up two horses, you think
it would be double the weight that it would pull,
but it actually triples or quadruples the weight
that two horses can pull. Well, in this case,
you're yoking up to somebody who has unlimited
power. Unlimited. As a matter of fact, my power,
if you take my power compared to Jesus' power,
I have no power. If I could give you a picture,
it'd be like Jesus putting on the yoke and then
I get on the yoke and my feet are just dangling.
I'm just hanging from it. That's what it looks
like, right? It's all him. It's the power of
being yoked. I experienced this idea of being
yoked in high school. I sat beside this girl
named Barb who was intellectually superior to
me in school. She really was. And Barb and I
were friends. And the reason we were friends
is because back then when you went to class,
they sat you alphabetically and her last name
was close to mine in last name. So we had multiple
classes together and Barb was always sitting
somewhere right around me. So we got to know
each other and we got to be friends. And Barb
was smart. She really was. And we had these two
particular classes that we were both in. And
actually in the one class, she was intellectually
superior to me. But in the other class, I was
intellectually superior to her. And we came up
with this great idea. We need to help each other
out just a little bit, right? And I don't recommend
this, but you know. Through that semester, Barb
really helped me out with a class that I thought
I was going to miserably fail. And I helped her
out with a class that she thought she was going
to miserably fail. And together, we got an awesome
grade in both classes. We really did. But the
point was this, right? The point was that if
you're connected with somebody that has superior
power, superior intellect, superior in every
kind of way, You can do the impossible, not because
of you, but because of them. And Jesus came and
he said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light
because when you connect, when you abide with
me, I have all the resources you need. I have
all the power you need. I have all the answers
that you need. I've got it all. All I have to
do is abide. All I've got to do is stay yoked.
And it gets easier and it gets lighter. I'm not
going to tell you everything's going to be easy
in life. I'm telling you, if you get yoked, think
about being yoked to somebody. Pretend you're
that animal, right? When you're yoked to somebody,
they're right next to you. They're right beside
you every step of the way. If you're yoked with
somebody, you hear every word. that is spoken
with the one that's beside you. If you're yoked
with somebody, you feel the pull of the other
person. You feel the power of the one that's
beside you. You will have reverence for the sheer
ability and knowledge of the one you're yoked
to. If you're yoked to somebody, you're in a
safe spot, right? If you're yoked, you do exactly
what he does. Exactly. It is in the yoke where
it becomes easy, squeezy, lemon breezy. With
Jesus. My nephew used to say that all the time.
It's in my head. It's in the yoke. It's in the
yoke. I'm going to ask you to stand. When Jesus
gives us commands, and he does, in Scripture
that are not optional for followers of Jesus
Christ. And you think it's an impossible thing
to do. It is on your own. In your own power,
in your own strength, in your own whatever you
got, motz, right? Whatever you got, beat your
chest all you want. It is not until you yoke
with the Master that you'll begin to walk step
in step. It's not until you yoke with the master
that the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit begins to
speak into your spirit. You start to step where
he steps. You start to hear what he speaks. You
start to know which direction he'll go. You start
to understand the safety that's in this right
beside the master. I never said it was going
to be easy. I just said his yoke is easy. He'll
carry you through the hard thing. When you're
in the fire and you can't see. When the flames
are all around you and the heat's on you and
the pressure's on, and it's easy when you're
not in the pressure, but when the pressure of
life comes and the situation, circumstances,
I don't know if you've ever gotten a place where
you're like, how in the world did I get here?
How in the world am I in the middle of whatever's
going on? It might not even be your mess. It
might be somebody, how did I get here? What am
I supposed to do with this? It's in that spot.
You need to understand, you're yoked to the master.
More than ever, you stand. quietly yoke to him.
You stand as close as you can, and you wait for
his instruction. You look where he says to go,
right? When he points that way, you go that direction.
When you feel his pull, you move with his pull.
That's how the Spirit guides us and directs us.
We're people of the Spirit. When it's impossible,
what makes you unmistakably his is that we hear
his voice, We stay yoked and we love one another
like he loved. Amen? I'm going to ask you to
bow your heads. Now, here's what I know for sure.
As God began to bring this alive in my heart
and in my spirit, as I began to look at these
verses, there are some in the house. You're either
in the fire, you've been in the fire, you're
walking into the fire, or you're somewhere on
your way out of the fire. But you're tired, you're
weary. You've been fighting something on your
own, maybe something hidden in your life, and
you've been fighting, and you've been fighting,
and you've been fighting, and you're wore out.
Good. Because when you get wore out, you stand
still. When you get wore out, you start to look
up instead of looking in. If that's you in the
house, That's you in the house this morning.
You're never going to be able to love like you
need to love. You're never going to be able to
walk like you need to walk if you don't say yote
to the master. And our first inclination as humans,
I don't know why it is, but when we get in the
heat, we tend to run from God and say the exact
opposite that we need to do. So if you're here
in the house and your head's bowed and your eyes
are closed, I want anyone looking around, if
that's you, And you know this message is speaking
and pulling on you. I want you to raise your
hand up, put it right back down. I'm just going
to pray for you this morning. Just going to pray
for you. That's all. Thank you. Thank you for
all the honesty in the house. Thank you for the
honesty. Thank you. I want you to look back up,
church. I'm going to pray in a moment. Stay yoked.
Now more than ever. Man, I am reading about what's
taking place in the world around us. I'm reading
what's taking place in AI. I'm reading about
the shifts that are about to take place in the
next 18 to 24 months in the world around us.
You better stay yoked up to Jesus, right? The
Word of God tells us that in the last days, great
delusion is going to come. There's going to be
great delusion. There's going to be things that
will draw and pull on us, and we'll get deluded
in our thinking. Don't do it. If you stay near
the master, you're going to hear him speaking
in your ear the truth of God. You're going to
be able to wade through some of the garbage that
you're going to see, that the enemy is going
to put in front of you. And if you're here, draw
in. Submit to God. Here's the big deal, right?
You've got to submit to get yoked. I don't know
if you've ever been tied in the middle of something
or tied up to somebody, maybe handcuffed to somebody.
Don't raise your hand. But you've got to submit.
You can't fight. Let's pray. Father, I thank
you for each person in the house. I thank you
for those who are listening online this morning.
God, your word is quick and powerful, and it
is sharper than a two -edged sword. Lord, we
draw in today. God, we pull in close to you.
God, we submit our hearts, our lives. God, if
there's been an area where I've just been fighting
you, I've been fighting it on my own. I've been
looking to myself. I've been trying to self -improve.
I've been trying to do all these things. I'm
just letting go, God, and I'm tying to you. Lord,
I'm gonna do what you say to do. I'm gonna live
like you say to live. I'm gonna walk like you
say to walk. I'm gonna pray like you tell me
to pray. I'm gonna speak how you tell me to speak.
Lord, I'm just gonna, I'm not leaving your side
because I gotta abide in you. If I'm going to
make it through this thing, if I'm going to get
through and come out the other side, Lord, alive.
God, if I'm going to come out the other side
in you, God, I'm going to stay right next to
you. I'll make that commitment in my heart. God,
I confess, Lord, that I've been trying to do
this on my own. I repent today. I turn and go
a different direction today, which is right beside
you. I'm going to love like I'm supposed to love,
not because I got it in me, but because I'm in
you. And I thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen
and amen. The defining mark of a believer that
makes you unmistakably his is that you are yoked
to Christ. You walk like he walks. You talk like
he talks. And when the world is looking into
the sunlight, squinting, squinting. For some
reason, I go saying, man, something about that
person. I think they know Jesus. Amen? It's true.
I want you to sing one last song with Zach. He's
going to close us out in prayer. Give you an
opportunity in the house. If you don't know Jesus,
he's going to give you that opportunity. You
can know him today. Thank you for tuning in to
this message from Lifehouse Church. We pray that
you were impacted powerfully by this message.
If you have been personally affected by our ministry
and you would like to partner with us as we love
God, love people every day, visit our website
at www .lifehousecog .com.