What's up, church? How we doing? Good, good,
good. Welcome this morning. Welcome to everybody
online, wherever you find yourself watching.
We are so glad that we're here today. And this
might not be a shock to you, but I am entertained
by simple things. It doesn't take much, man.
There's not a lot going on up here. I remember
as a kid just staring at a window when it was
raining or there was water on it, right? And
I would watch the water droplets. And you got
to find your favorite water droplet. You know,
and you like watch it collect the others as it
goes down and it's a race. You're like, man,
are we going to win? Are we not? It gets to the
bottom. You're like, yes, I won. All right. I
remember as a kid watching a movie when the movie
was over, the DVD sign would just bounce around
the screen. All right. I could watch that for
hours because you're like, man, is it going to
hit the corner? I like it's going. You're like,
it's going to do it. It's going to do it. And
it's like, you're like, no, it didn't do it.
I remember reflections. I love reflections are
very entertaining. I told you it doesn't take
much. Remember when I first realized that when
the sun reflects off of my watch, it's really
fun. I was at a baseball game and I saw the reflection
and my team was the one that was pitching. And
so I had this intrusive thought that was like,
man, if I reflect it right in the batter's eyes
right now, I can help. I did not let the intrusive
thought win. OK, I didn't do it. But yeah, they
happen, man. Reflections are cool. The thing
about reflections, though, is sometimes they
trick you. Years ago, I was at the gym, and I
don't know why I felt it necessary to tell you
years ago. That's pretty obvious. It was years
ago I was at the gym. But I was there, and I
was working out, and there was this room like
right here where I would work out, and then there
was a room around the corner that had more weights
and more things in it. So one day I was like,
I want to check out this other room. And I walk
over to go in that other room, and I walk straight
into the mirror. There was no other room, okay?
It was reflecting the weights and everything
else that was there. Listen, a mirror's job is
to reflect. It's not about the mirror. It's about
what it reflects. So the question I want to ask
today of us is this. If your life is a mirror,
what are you reflecting? If your life is a mirror,
what are you reflecting to the world around you?
Because the mirror's job, it's not about the
mirror. It's about reflecting. What is it that
you reflect? We're in Galatians, like Pastor
David said, we're in Galatians and we've been
going through this book. We only have two weeks
left of going through Galatians. And the thing
about the Galatian church is that they are living
after Jesus was already here on the earth. They
are living in a world where Jesus already showed
up and already said things that now change the
course of how they're supposed to live, right?
They grew up in this Jewish culture where it
was like, man, there's this old law, but then
Jesus came and he changed this. And now they're
having to live by what Jesus says. So they're
living in a world where Jesus already said things
like he did in John 13, 34, where Jesus said,
a new command I give you. Not the old law that
we used to do. Here's a new law. It's coming
to you. Ready? Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone
will know that you are my disciples if you love
one another. This is the identifying factor.
It's following the new law of Christ, which is
loving others, right? But this Galatian church,
they insisted that people would know them by
their religiosity, know them by the religious
acts that they did. They insisted, man, people
will know us not by our love, but will know us
by our Jewishness. If we uphold the law and do
all the right things that we're supposed to do
according to Judaism, then we'll be good. And
so Paul is writing this letter of correction
to them going, hey, you missed it. It's not about
the old law, it's about the new law, and the
new law is following what Jesus said in the law
of love. I have an observation when it comes
to church, when it comes to religion, and this
isn't backed up by theologians, this isn't backed
up by science, this is just my theory here, is
I think the more religious you get, the more
you focus on the individual, but the more real
you get, the more you focus on community. It's
kind of the difference between an individual
sport or a team sport. All right, when you're
on a team, it's like, man, everything I do has
to do with the team. So I wanna make sure that
I support the team. I wanna make sure that my
decisions are ones that are affecting the team
in a positive way. I wanna make sure I'm there
for other people. It's not all about me. But
when it's an individual sport, it's like, I got
a goal, I'm heading towards it. I don't care,
because it's all about me. Listen, church, you
need to know that Christianity is a team sport.
Christianity is a team sport. It's one in which
we come alongside one another when we're going
through things. We say, yeah, I'm there for you.
It's said this way in Galatians chapter six,
verse one. He says this, brothers and sisters,
if someone is caught in a sin, if someone is
doing something they shouldn't, you who live
by the spirit should restore that person gently,
but watch yourself so you also, or else you also
may be tempted. Sin will happen. What he's saying
is sin is going to happen and you're going to
need a team. Sin is going to happen and you're
going to need a team around you. Because what
teammates do is teammates pick each other up.
And they don't just pick each other up, they
pick each other up gently. Some of you already
know this. Some of you have been counting down,
you know, but in 19 days, college football is
back. And in 32 days, the NFL is back, right?
You guys are like, heck yeah, baby, let's go,
right? Some of you are about to embark on a journey
that leads in utter disappointment, right? You're
like, you're gonna follow that team. I'm preparing
myself, I already know. I don't care though,
even if there's no disappointment, go Niners,
okay? I'm saying it, go Niners, there we go.
Yes, there's a Christian in here, I heard you.
That's awesome. Praise the Lord, I'm glad you're
here today. All right, someone last night, when
I said that, they yelled, they're like, go Cardinals.
And I was like, wow, you really are asking God
for big things, that's amazing. A lot of faith
in this man, all right? All right, but here's
the thing about football. When you watch football,
if you see the quarterback gets knocked down
because the defense is trying to knock the quarterback
down, I always love watching the linemen, all
right? The biggest, strongest, meanest guys on
the field. The way that they go over and they
pick up their quarterback so gently, right? They're
just like, oh my gosh, you're gonna kiss him?
This is so sweet, what are you doing? But it's
so gentle and they pick him up and they're like,
I'm going to care for you. I'm going to pick
you up. See, I think we need to start acting
like linemen when it comes to the church and
we need to start gently picking each other up.
But I think our first response in the church
is not that, right? If we're honest, the church
oftentimes is known for condemnation, not gentleness.
Oh, shouldn't have done that. They deserve it.
They shouldn't have done that. Oh, if you're
going to act that way, you don't belong in a
church. Get out of here. Oh, who are you? You
shouldn't be doing that. Why do we come down
with condemnation? And even if we do restore
someone, right, Paul's saying, hey, restore them
gently. If we do, usually it's from a distance.
Usually it's like, oh yeah, you can come in,
that's fine, but just stay away from me because
you're unclean. I know what you've done. What
Paul is saying here is he's saying, hey, you
restore them closely. All right, how do I know
that he's saying closely? Because he says, if
you're gonna walk with them, be careful that
you don't fall into the temptation that they
fell into. How would you fall into it if you
weren't walking closely with them? It's not from
a distance. It's walking closely with somebody.
If we are living in the spirit, which is what
we talked about last week is living in the spirit,
then we produce something called the fruit of
the spirit. And one of the fruit of the spirit
is gentleness. Gentleness is a fruit of the spirit.
But we like doling out justice instead of gentleness.
Oh, we're gonna fight for justice. That's just
not right. That's what we like to fight for.
It's the difference between myself and my wife.
For me, if someone makes a mistake, if someone
does something, I love to cancel someone. I love
a good cancel. You're done. Cut them off. Cancel
them. They messed up. My wife is the other side.
She's like, man, why don't we just love them
and we act with gentleness and we restore them
and we do all these things. I'm like, what? You're
acting like Jesus over there? Come on. She's
like, yeah, that's the point. That's kind of
what it's about. We need to restore people gently.
What does that look like? Verse two. It says
this, carry each other's burdens and in this
way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. When
you restore someone gently, you carry their burdens.
You carry the oppressive load that they're feeling,
the thing that drew them away, the difficulty
that they're going through, the pain in their
life. You come alongside and say, hey, I wanna
carry this burden with you. And I remember about
11 years ago, I found myself in a place where
I didn't have a job. I didn't have any way to
provide for my family. And I had a friend named
John Fuller who said, hey, I know you won't just
take money if I give it to you, but I have yard
work that needs to be done. Would you come over
and do some yard work for me? And I'm like, yeah,
I can work for it. So I go over to his house
and he takes me out in the yard and he shows
me and he says, hey, the leaves are just out
of control. Can you pick up the leaves? And I
look over there and I'm like, the 12 leaves that
are on the ground over there? And he's like,
ah, it's just terrible, man. And this bush over
here, it needs to be trimmed. It's just, it's
out of control. And I'm like, you mean the perfectly
manicured bush with like one branch out of place?
He's like, and then the weeds. Weeds are, oh
man, like weed. I'm like, the 10 weeds I see?
Like, what is happening? He goes, this should
take you about four hours. I have to leave and
I'll be back to pay you after four hours. He
didn't need yard work done, but he was bearing
my burdens. He's going, hey, I know what you're
going through. I know this is a difficult time
for you. And I wanna come alongside you because
this is what community does. This is what teammates
do. This is what the church does is we come alongside
one another. We bear each other's burdens. We
walk with one another. Why do we do this? Because
this is how we fulfill the law of Christ. What
is Christ's law? That we would love. This is
how we fulfill his law. They will know you by
your love. That's what being a teammate is about.
And here's why being a teammate is so important.
because you're gonna need a teammate. See, I
think a lot of times we think, yeah, I'll be
the teammate, I'll be the one that's supporting
everyone else. You're gonna find yourself in
a place where you're gonna need a teammate, because
you're a sinner too. You're a sinner saved by
grace. You're gonna sin, you're gonna fall, you're
gonna have brokenness, you're gonna have things
happen in your life, and you're gonna need a
teammate to come alongside you in that moment.
All right, you're no better than anyone else.
You are a sinner too. Verse three says this,
if anyone thinks that they are something when
they're not, They deceive themselves. They lie
to themselves. That's a lie that you tell yourself
when you think you're something when you're not.
But the truth is, is that when we start doing
well in something, when things start going good,
we're like, I got this. I'm good. I think I'm
a little better than I am. And we're lying to
ourselves. About five years ago, my friend and
I got really into playing cornhole in the backyard.
We were really good. Corn, you know the game?
You throw the... beanbags and you make it on
the board and in the hole, right? And we got
real good. And so I'm like, man, we're so good
that we're going to enter into a tournament.
And so we entered into a tournament. You already
know your boy won the tournament. All right,
we won it. All right, we just straight up, we
dominated. It was awesome. We were awesome. And
so we're like, we're going to go for another
one. So we signed up for another tournament.
We won that one too. All right, some of you are
waiting for it. Okay, here it comes. So then
we signed up for the next tournament. And we
go through the first couple games, and we win,
and then we get this next game that we're going
to play, this next partner that we have to go
against. And we're kind of small talking, and
they say, hey, do you guys play here often? And
we're like, no, this is our first time. What
about you? So we're pretty much here every week
except for last week. And I said, well, where
were you last week? They said, we were playing
in another tournament. I said, well, where was
that? And they said, on ESPN. And I was like,
like the sports network on TV, ESPN? And they're
like, yeah. And I'm like, oh, this will be fun,
right? Listen, we got absolutely crushed, all
right? We got crushed. And I was like, man, this
is crazy because we thought that we were doing
good. And we thought that we were something when
we were not. And the truth is, that's exactly
what happens in my spiritual life. I'm praising
you, Jesus. I'm reading my Bible. I'm praying.
I'm in a good place with you, God. So I'm awesome.
And then the next thing I know, I get hit with
temptation that I fall right into. I go, man,
I thought I was something when I'm not. He's
saying, don't deceive yourself. Don't lie to
yourself and think that you're something when
you're not. Instead, verse four, each one of
you should test your own actions. Then they can
take pride in themselves alone without comparing
themselves to someone else. For each one should
carry their own load. Nevertheless, the one who
receives instruction in the word should share
all good things with their instructor. All right,
what Paul is saying here, if you have more than
one kid, you know exactly what he's saying. He's
saying this, worry about yourself. Worry about
yourself. I don't care if it's not fair. I don't
care what they did. Worry about yourself. Worry
about yourself. But a lot of times we like to
compare to everyone else. And we like to judge
other people's lives going, man, if I was in
that situation, I would have done this because
I'm so much better. We like to compare to what
everyone else is doing. The truth is you don't
know their life. You don't know what's actually
going on. You have no clue what's going on in
someone else's life. I hate to even admit this.
I was at the grocery store the other day and
I was in the parking lot and I saw this guy drive
in. I saw through the window, through his windshield,
very athletic, very built guy, good shape. And
he pulls in and he pulls right into the handicapped
spot. And I'm going, what is this guy doing?
What a jerk. Why would he take up this spot?
I need to tell him. I need to give him a piece
of my mind and let him know what's wrong with
this situation. And as I'm walking towards it,
he opens the door and he sets out his wheelchair
and he slides into his wheelchair and he rolls
into the store and I'm sitting there going, man,
I'm such an idiot. Because I saw a little piece
of his life and I wanted to make a bunch of assumptions
and judge everything in his life. And that's
what we do, man. We look at someone else's life
and we go, man, I'm gonna compare myself to you
and I'm gonna judge you. And when the truth is,
is that's comparing apples to oranges because
you don't know their life. You don't know what
they're going through. You don't know the situations.
You don't know how hard it is for them. And listen,
what he's saying is he's saying, hey, worry about
yourself. Quit worrying about everyone else.
Worry about yourself. You can't compare to someone
else. And some of you have caught on already,
right? You're reading through this passage. And
you're going, wait a second, verse two, it said,
bear each other's burdens. But this one says,
everyone should carry their own load. And you're
like, is the Bible contradicting itself? Is it
wrong? Do we cancel it? Nope, nope, hold on,
hold on. Okay, in verse two, the word that's
used for this, the word means a heavy oppressive
load. And when somebody is going through a heavy
oppressive load, when someone is dealing with
an issue, yes, we are to come alongside them.
But the word that is used in verse five is a
soldier's pack or an individual's responsibility.
There's a difference here. And what he's saying
is this, is this load is meant for them. What
he's saying is so many of you are so into the
gossip around you. You love the drama. And so
you go around collecting the problems of everything
around you and you start dealing with things
that you were never meant to deal with. Well,
I'm gonna say that again because some of you
need to write it down. You need to highlight
it, you need to circle it, and you need to tattoo
it on your forehead, all right? Listen to me,
some of you are so into the gossip around you.
You love the drama, and so you go around collecting
problems that you were never meant to deal with.
Worry about yourself. Worry about yourself. That's
not for you to take on. It's not for you to judge
other people. It's not for you to take on their
issues. You were never meant to deal with those.
Worry about yourself. Let me ask you this. Have
you ever seen a scary mirror before? You ever
looked at it, seen something scary? That happens
to me sometimes. It's kind of a lot. I look in
the mirror and I'm like, who is that old man
looking back at me right now? I'm like, that
guy's got a lot of wrinkles. That guy's gray.
Guy lost his hair a long time ago. It's kind
of scary. Here's the thing. A mirror's job is
to reflect whatever it's pointing at. That's
its job. It's just to reflect whatever it is
that it's pointing at. Listen, what are you pointing
at? Are you pointing at gossip? Are you pointing
at sin? Are you pointing at lies? Are you pointing
at yourself? Or are you pointing at Jesus? Because
what you're pointing at is what you will reflect.
What is it that you are pointing at? Because
whatever you are pointing at, that's what will
happen. That's what you will reflect. Verse seven
says this, do not be deceived. Again, don't lie
to yourself. Do not be deceived. God cannot be
mocked. A man reaps what he sows. What you sow
is what you will reap. And you're not gonna fool
God. What he's saying is it doesn't matter how
hard you fake it, you're not fooling God. It
doesn't matter how hard you fake it, how good
you look on the outside, God knows what's truly
going on on the inside. About a year and a half
ago, my wife and I started praying that God would
provide for us a 15 -passenger van. We have five
kids. We're inviting tons of friends to church.
sports, all the things that we do, it's usually
we have triple buckle going on in the back seat.
So we're like, man, we need this. God, would
you provide? And we saw God do something amazing.
We saw God provide it in a way that we could
never have afforded. And he gave us a price that
was only from God. And we were able to buy this
15 passenger van and we were so blessed by it.
And one of the things that was so amazing when
we bought this is the tires, the tread on the
tires were like perfect. And we're like, this
is amazing. We don't need to replace these tires
because they're perfect. The tread is really
good. It looks amazing. And so we were able to
drive it all summer, and we drove it to many
different places. And one of the trips that we
went on was to California. And as we were driving
it to California, our tire absolutely blew. And
when I say blow, I mean like for real, for real.
It looked like this, okay? This is what it was.
Like it really blew, okay? I didn't even know
tires could do that, right? This thing blew,
and we're on the way. We're outside of this beautiful
little city called Needles. I don't know if you've
ever been to Needles before. Why are you laughing?
It's a beautiful little place. I don't know if
you're from there. If you're from there, I am
sorry. Okay, I am sorry. But you're probably
closer to the Lord because you know what hell
is like. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Come
on, don't laugh at that. That's dumb. That's
not nice. That's not nice. It was 110 degrees.
We're on the side of the freeway. We're waiting
for this tow truck to pick us up and they take
us to this tire place and we get there. And as
we're there, we're just like, man, what is going
on? The tread looked amazing. And the tire guy,
he looks at it and he gets into it and he goes,
the problem is, is yes, it looked great on the
outside, but the age of the tire shows that on
the inside, it was rotting on the inside and
it was baking on the inside and it was ready
to blow at any moment. And I think the truth
is that a lot of us are like that. The tread
looks great, and we have everyone faked out in
our life because we act a certain way, and we
look the right part when we come to church, and
we show up when we're supposed to, and everything
looks good on the outside, but on the inside,
you are baking, you are broken, you are rotten,
and you are ready to explode. And the crazy thing
is we go to people to confirm our ideas. Man,
we took it to a tire place when we first got
it, and the guy just looked at it from afar,
and he goes, the tread looks great, you're good.
We're like, we got an expert opinion, we're good.
We come to church around church people and we
go around religious people that said, I look
good. I'm fine. But you're not fooling God because
on the inside, you are rotting. On the inside,
you are broken. It is not about how well you
can fake it. Some of you can fake it really well.
You can play the part. You can look a certain
way. You can act a certain way. You can show
up and wear the right clothes. And God's going,
you're not fooling me. You're not fooling me.
Verse eight, whoever sows to please their flesh.
from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever
sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will
reap eternal life. Some of you are putting in
a bunch of bad stuff, expecting good to come
out. You ever made a healthy shake before? Put
in a bunch of nasty stuff and expect it to taste
good? You know what I'm saying? You put in all
the gross stuff and you're like, oh, it's gonna
taste good. Some of you out there still believe
that. And you're like, no, I actually make a
pretty good one. No, you don't, it's nasty. Unless
you put ice cream in it, that thing's nasty.
I'm telling you right now. You're lying to yourself.
But we do that with our lives, man. We want to
sew in a bunch of bad stuff and we expect good
to come out of it. We sew in pornography in our
life and expect true fulfillment. We sew in anger
and we expect healthy relationships. We sew in
alcohol and we expect peace. We start sewing
in gossip, expecting a drama -free life. It's
not happening. Are we so in all these self -centered
things and we expect to start loving others?
It's not gonna happen because what you're doing
is you're sowing in the flesh, expecting something
else. And I'm telling you right now, when you
sow from the flesh, you will reap from the flesh.
Paul says this instead, sow to please the spirit.
Instead, sow to please the spirit. What does
that mean? What does that look like? First is
this, if you're taking notes. It's prioritizing
time with God. It's prioritizing time with God.
And here's the thing about time with God. I understand
this. You don't have time. I know you don't because
I don't have time. I got five kids. I got two
jobs. I got so many things going on. I don't
have time. That's why you can't try to find time.
You have to make time. Because that's what a
priority is. When you prioritize something, you
say, I don't care what I have to do. I'm going
to make it a priority to have time with God.
I'm going to make it a priority to get into God's
word. I'm going to make it a priority to spend
time in prayer. I'm going to make it a priority
to think about God and invite him into my day.
Because if you don't prioritize your time with
God, guess what? God's not going to be showing
up in your day because you never invited him
in. And some of you are like, how come I don't
hear God? Well, guess what? You never even asked
him in. You never prioritize time in your life
to spend it with God. And I get that time is
hard, but I can't think of a better thing to
do with your time than to prioritize spending
time with God. Because when you do that, what
you're doing is you're sowing to please the Spirit.
And when you sow the right thing, you reap the
right thing. All right, next is this. It's selflessly
serving others. Sowing to please the Spirit is
selflessly serving others. And we are so bad
at this because we are all about serving ourself.
All right, back to the time thing. You're like,
I can't serve anyone else. I don't have the time
for it because I don't want to sacrifice my time.
Hold on, how many me's and my's did you say there?
I just can't do it because I don't want to give
up my time. It's not about you. It's about selflessly
serving others. It's about showing up and saying,
listen, I know I don't have time for this. This
isn't what I want to do, but it's not about me.
It's about serving others selflessly because
when I do that, I'm sowing to please the spirit,
not to please myself because it's not about you.
Our youth and kids programs start midweek this
week. We have them back on Wednesday at our Prescott
location and Thursday at our Prescott Valley
location. Kids ministry, middle school ministry,
high school ministry. And listen, I'm telling
you right now, the only way that that happens
is when people step up to serve selflessly and
say, hey, I want to be a part of this. And all
of you right now are going, man, I hope the person
next to me is listening right now. No, that means
you. That means you. I don't have time. I know
you don't. I just don't want to do it. I know
you don't. It's not about you. It's about serving
selflessly. I'm just going to tell you a very
real need that we have with that right now at
our Prescott location for our high school ministry
right now. We're going to launch this thing.
We're going to have over 150 high schoolers showing
up on Wednesday. It's going to be amazing. And
we're in need of about, yeah, go ahead. It's
awesome. I'm glad that we're going to have those
students here. We're in need of about 10 to 15
leaders that are willing to say, I want to step
up to make this thing happen. 10 to 15 people.
Men and women that are saying, hey, I want to
show up and I want to walk alongside a student
and I want to be in their life because it's not
about me, it's about serving selflessly. Because
when I serve selflessly, what am I doing? I'm
sowing into the Spirit. I'm sowing to please
the Spirit. Next is this. It's staying in community.
It's staying in community. Community, I'm gonna
rattle some of your worlds right now. Community
is not just showing up on a Sunday. It's having
Christian community in your life that you can
walk with those people, that you can go to those
people, that can come alongside of you when you're
wrestling with things in your life. Pastor David
was over at my house on Friday night and for
about two hours, he just sat on my couch and
talked to me about this faith journey that I'm
wrestling with. And I'm going, God, how do I
step out in faith and make it not about me, but
about you? I don't even know what this looks
like. And David comes and sits on my couch and
goes, hey, let's just talk, man. This is what
community does. And for some of you, you've been
running from community again because you don't
have the time for it. And again, because you
don't want to get vulnerable with people. But
I'm telling you right now, you need to live in
community. Why? Because we are on a team and
teammates. means that you have to be in community.
You often hear us talk about life groups, and
maybe you've been putting off this life group
because you're like, I don't need it. But I'm
telling you right now, life groups, sign -ups
are happening within the next couple weeks. And
some of you right now need to make the decision
that you are going to sow into pleasing the Spirit
by getting yourself in community, even when it
might be uncomfortable for you. And I'm going
to step out right now and say that God is going
to bless you for that. I'm not telling you you're
gonna win the lottery. I'm not telling you you're
getting that Lamborghini you got your eye on.
But I'm telling you that there will be a blessing
in your life because you step out to say, hey,
I wanna sow into this to please the spirit and
step into community. Next is this, is using your
gifts for the kingdom. Your gifts, your talents,
the things that you are good at, the things that
you are passionate about, the things that you
have, those are things that God has given you
to use for him. We talk about it when it comes
to generosity on this stage. We say, listen,
God has given you all of this stuff. It's all
his anyway. So we're asking that you would step
out in faith and say, hey, I want to give back
to God. But it's not just financial. It's everything
that you have in your life. God has given you,
not for you. He's given it to you to bless others.
He's given it to you to serve others. He's given
it to you to use for his kingdom. It's not about
you. None of this is about us. What is it about?
It's about reflecting to the world something
different. That's how we reflect. That's how
we reflect to the world. Not the law of religiosity,
but the law of love. Jesus' law of love. Listen,
I get it. It's not easy. It's not easy to do
that. It says in Galatians 6, verse 9, let us
not become weary in doing good. Don't get tired
of doing good for at the proper time, we will
reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore,
as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who belong to the
family of believers. Don't get tired of doing
good. All right, what is good? Good is Christ's
law of love. That's what it is. It's loving people.
It's Christ's law of love in our life. We should
be reflecting Christ's law of love. This passage
is coming out of the end of Galatians 5 is that
list of the thing that we call the fruit of the
spirit. And then Paul goes right into writing
this one of saying, hey, this is how you live
it out. This is how you live it out and bury
each other's burdens. This is how you live it
out and not judge one another. This is how you
live it out and sow into pleasing the spirit,
not pleasing into the flesh. What he's saying
is it's the fruit of the spirit. So let me ask
you, what are you reflecting? What are you reflecting?
Because you reflect what you're pointing at.
We need to be pointing at Christ. When you're
pointing at Christ, that is what you were reflecting
to the world around you. Some of you, you walked
in here today and you've never said yes to Jesus.
You've never put your faith and trust in Jesus
for the very first time. You've never said, I
trust that Jesus died on a cross for my sins,
that he rose from the grave. And that through
putting my trust in him, I can have a relationship
with God. And if you've never done that, you've
never pointed the mirror that is your life at
Jesus for the very first time. And today is the
day that you need to surrender and say, I give
it up to you because I want to point the mirror
that is my life at you. So I reflect Jesus to
the world. And for some of you, you've done that,
but your mirror has gotten a little bit off.
And you need to repoint it at Jesus. You need
to focus back in and say, man, I've been pointing
at all these other things, but I need to point
the mirror of my life at Jesus so that is what
I am reflecting to the world. It means reflecting
the Holy Spirit. And how do we do this is this,
is we have to start by inviting the Holy Spirit
in. I would challenge all of you to start your
day just by inviting the Holy Spirit in. Holy
Spirit, guide me. Holy Spirit, I want to learn
from you. Holy Spirit, teach me. Holy Spirit,
speak to me today. Again, some of you are expecting,
man, how come I'm not hearing from God and you're
expecting to hear from him, but you never invited
him in? Ask the Holy Spirit in and don't just
ask him in. Okay, what if we as a church took
the next step? Don't just ask him to show up,
ask him to show off. Because I think God wants
to do something so much bigger in your life than
you even are expecting. Don't say, don't just
show up, but man, show off. Blow the box of who
I put you in out of my mind because I don't want
you to stay in a box. I want you to do something
big. I want it to be amazing. But here's the
thing, if you're gonna ask the Holy Spirit in
to guide you, to speak to you, you gotta listen.
When you feel that nudge to serve, when you feel
that nudge to talk to somebody, when you feel
that thing inside of you that's saying, man,
I need to apologize. And you feel that thing
inside you that's saying, man, I need to give.
And you feel like, man, I gotta step out in faith
right here. Do it. Do it. Because when you ask
the Holy Spirit to speak to you and then he speaks
and you don't listen, what you're doing is you're
turning down the volume on the Holy Spirit. You
say, man, I spoke, but you didn't listen. Listen
to me, church. Our job is to reflect him. And
how we reflect him is by remembering what he
did for us. When you came in today, you received
a cup. And what this is, is in the church world,
we call this communion. And communion was what
Jesus said in motion when he was in the upper
room with his disciples. And he was about to
go to a cross. And he explained to them what
this meant. And what the role of communion is
in our life right now is to remember what God
has done for us, to recenter on the fact. that
he died on the cross for you, for you, that he
loves you. He's not angry at you, he loves you.
It's a time for us to confess, God, this is how
I have not lived for you. I wanna put that behind
me. I wanna repent of that. And I wanna focus
on what you did on the cross because you paid
for it all. And so for the next few moments,
these are yours to just think, to remember. Think
about what it meant that God gave his only son
for you. For you personally, he loved you enough
to die for you. Take a few moments and think.
As Jesus took the bread, he said, this is my
body that was broken for you. Eat this in remembrance
of me. It says that in the same way he took the
cup, he said, this represents my blood that was
spilled out on your behalf. Drink this in remembrance
of me. Lord God, we praise you. God, we are so
humbled and grateful for what you have done for
us on the cross. God, I pray that you would give
us the strength and the power to walk in that
this week, that we would reflect you to the world
around us, God. We would not think more of ourselves
than we should. God, that we would humble ourself
to gently walk alongside people. God, that we
would sow into what pleases the spirit, not so
into what pleases the flesh, God, that we would,
in what we decide to do and the decisions that
we make and the situations that we encounter,
that we would reflect you to the world around
us in love, that we would keep your law of love.
We're grateful for you, God. We're so thankful
for all the blessings that you've given us. We
love you, Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen.