The Key That Unlocks Hearing Tribe 2023-07-10 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Okay. Because I like to because I also mind bender. Wait. Is it? Okay. No problem. I was just thinking about the the hearing. Is this working? Can you hold it together? I was just thinking about hearing, and faith comes by hearing the word of God. And it doesn't mean having all the answers. It doesn't mean understanding. And I would just encourage anyone who is struggling with faith just to say, yes, Lord. And just let the answers and the understanding come from him. But it starts with just saying, yes, Lord. Were singing fire and wind and open up the gates. Lord was showing me that the fire is our mighty God's power. The spirit leads us, lights our path, leads us, and blows us. He wants us to be. And if we allow him to rest on us and do that and do the work he loves to do with us, he opens the gates to our hearts. So thank you, Lord, that you The Lord just came to me and spoke to me a word, kinda how I've been feeling recently, and then he shared with me how so often we can feel in between and how between being a child to being a young adult, maybe going from being a student to being a young professional or between being a grandparent or a parent, or between disliked and the next and how Jesus came to meet us in the in between, that he came down from heaven and invited us into every season that he has and that we can accept him wherever we are. And if you've seen that, the chosen series that Jesus came and met people wherever they were in life. They were a child or blatantly walking in sin or even trying to pretend to be a clean Pharisee that the Lord loves to just break down any walls that we feel stuck in between. So that's my prayer for you today and for all of us. We pray that. Oh, Do you want us to? I would love to. Dear Lord, thank you so much for coming to us, for for being the God who steps down to pick us up when we're on our knees, asking for a second chance, an opportunity, redemption, to be the God who loved us so much that he let go of what he loved most, his only son, to be the in between, Goats. Goats. And a goat was something that was used to prod oxen. Right? To get them to go in the way they're supposed to go. And he's like, Paul, you are hurting yourself with your choices and your lifestyle. You're you're not going in the direction I want you to be going in. And, essentially, Paul was protecting his own identity. Everything he knew, everything he grew up believing on, you know, he was a a Pharisee protecting a part of my identity that was formed. Like, I'm 50 years old, y'all, and I'm still, like, protecting an identity that was formed in my twenties. Right? Like, I am a skater. I am a snowboarder. Right? You know, I I like to do this. I like to do that. Whatever. So, Lord, I pray over your people today that we walk in the identity you have chosen for us. You have chosen for us. Not what some teacher told us, not what some friend told us, not what our parents told us. I pray that each and every person in this room leave this place, walking in their new identity and going forward in the destiny that you have chosen for that love. Beautiful name. We were singing about, fill us with your presence over and over again, I was reminded of the verse. Proverbs twenty seven seven says, a person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry. And I just had this thought of, if you're praying and you're singing or fill me with your presence and it just doesn't really feel you're not feeling much, and we don't live by our feelings. But there isn't a there's some there's some times that you can be in worship, and there's a very sweet presence, and you and you do feel it and you sense it and there's other times where you're just like, man, this just isn't landing with me. I'd like to challenge you with the thought of, did you come already full of other things? So that when you're asking God to fill you with His presence that you don't really have much room for that presence to get in. Or are you emptying yourself, and are you setting yourself apart throughout the week coming into this time of making space to listen, making space and room for God's able own And do do to that, And then maybe it's time to look at your schedule, look at the way that you spend your time, and reduce the things that are filling your mind up, whether it's screens of whatever sort or news and music, it could be anything. I think I believe the Holy Spirit is able to convict you on what it is for you. But I would just challenge you and encourage you to empty and make space for the Holy Spirit to come and fill you with his presence. Anyone else? So on Friday, my buddy, Matt Summers, had a little bit of a rain. I'm sure you can hear that. And I've working on that. Or maybe it's just the monitor. On Friday, my It's just me. It's just me. We went to we went up in the park, and we were gonna do a a traverse of, like, the easy part of the Grand Traverse. If you're familiar with it, it's like, Tijuana, Owen, the Grand, the middle, the South. And then you do, like then it's the easy part of, like, the main Gilkey's Tower, Naper Se, It's crazy. Cloud Bell down in Naper Se, and then back down. And we're like, we'll go do the easy part, like like the easy part. We did one part and we're like, let's go home. But there was a while that we were in that in between, like you were talking about, Chris. And and what a great place. And and that moment is perhaps lingering in your heart. But for those of you who are here this morning who find yourself in between, you're stepping away from one thing, but there's some trepidation in your heart. There are a lot of question marks about the next thing that you're stepping into. You're in that in between. What a great place for you to just be transparent and vulnerable with the Lord and share with him that you're having those in between feelings. Like, there's this new thing that I'm stepping into. Matt and I were coming down. We were in between the South Teton and the next plate, Gilkey's Tower. And it it feels comfortable to stay on the on the East Ridge of the South Tetons. It looks intimidating to continue on to Gilkey's Tower, but being in that in between place is a place where is there there's that moment of vulnerability where our armor is down. We're stepping away from what we were comfortable with. We're stepping into something new, and so I just wanna encourage you. Okay. I'll go ahead and ask. So when Chris said that, how many of you in here this morning would say, oh, I actually am finding myself, like, in some sort of in between place? How many of you, look at that, Chris. Look look around, Chris. Wow. Look at all of these hands that are in my I'm like in an in between place. So what I I I love what you shared. That was really awesome. Thank you. And then right in front of you as I look in between a happily married couple, you don't have to, like, stand alone, but just Hello. Having a start up. Hello. We're waiting for Brie and Will who just got married and returned from there. Did y'all go on your honeymoon and you're back now? Oh my goodness. I'm so I'm so happy for you guys. You know what they say? A lot of mosquito bites at the rehearsal directly translate to a lifetime long ago marriage and happiness. So we got our we got our share at the rehearsal, didn't we? If you have your Bibles with you this morning, would you turn to the book of Luke? And while you are waiting for that page to load, let me just share with you. If you haven't been to Tribe in ever or if it's been a while since you've been to Tribe, couple of things distinctives about us. Number one, here we are meeting in a bar. Okay. Alright. I like it. I like it. It kind of fits with the vibe of Tribe. We are in a trial, a summer long trial of meeting here at the Virginian Saloon. We own a spot to live work unit over there on, like like, kind of towards the south end of town, and we hold services there. We had two services. We still have the Tuesday evening service where we do a meal at 6PM and then worship and we get in the word together. But our Sunday morning service was just feeling a little cramped. And to be honest, I was not too excited about, like like, going to a place that that allowed for more friends because there was a unique dynamic that that environment was conducive to, and that dynamic was that of a conversation. For for so I've been in pastoral ministry for over twenty years. This is my first assignment from the Lord as a lead pastor, and we plan to try back in 2016. We'll celebrate our seventh birthday the last weekend of October. And for the first several years of that journey, was I kind of on the ladder of like, well, this is what you do as like when you're planning a church. You like, you know, you start in the living room and then you go to like a little bigger thing and then a bigger thing and then like two services and then you're adding like greeter teams and, you know, all of this stuff and the things and, you know, you need more production value and like, well, you go from from, you know, like the fog machine to like a haze or it's, you know, like and and I please hear my heart. I'm not poo pooing. The that current expression that's still ongoing, like, you know, around Jackson, Wyoming, and around the world. Great. Go do it. Do it. Awesome. The Lord bless you. But during COVID, the Lord just pulled out a deep taproot in my heart of this of of that particular model for me and for our tribe BAM. And we went through a metamorphosis during that time, and we bought the TMC and while we were tribe ministry center, we hold services there. And during that time, the format was really conducive to being less of a monologue than more of a dialogue. And and as he broke me out of that old mold, I fell in love with a conversational format of getting into God's word together. You've already seen a glimpse of that during worship when Lissa said, even though we're the ones up here on stage, this is a team effort. Would the Lord put anything on your heart to share? A bible verse as Joy shared, a word or a picture as as came forward. And as we get into God's word together, I wanna keep that same momentum going. So if you have a question, a connection, or a comment, there are members of our tribe team that have microphones. There's one back there. Did you get new batteries? Yes. Yep. So we got new batteries. So up here. And the reason why if if you have one of those and you raise your hand, the reason why we run the microphone around to you is so that number one, your voice can be heard in this room. Number two, we have a number of families that join in service that are part of the livestream. And so when you speak into that mic, our livestream families get to hear that. So is that cool with everybody? Yes, sir. Yeah. Let's do this together. Where did I tell you to turn? Luke three. Oh, Luke chapter six. By by quick way of of a quick review to catch you up with where we've been. Since we've been here at the Virginian Saloon, we have been our leadership team has been on a journey of trying to hear the voice of senior pastor Jesus' leadership on where he is leading us. Is it here at the Virginian Saloon? Is it another place? We're trying really hard to hear his voice. I have no desire to to do anything that sounds good or that could be a good idea for many one of our leadership team. Our heart among the staff, the board of trustees, and pastor's council, key volunteers, and I think everybody that would call tribe home, I think the desire of our heart is in unity that we just want what senior pastor Jesus wants. If he wants us meeting in a bar, great. If he wants us back at the TMC, great. Like, where you lead, we will follow. What you feed us, we will follow. And so whatever you want. So we're on a journey. Our leadership team is on a journey trying to discern and hear the voice and the leadership of the Lord. So we thought during this time that we would use this as an opportunity to turn our journey, open up the doors so you can see our journey, and turn this whole process into like a laboratory where we can together collectively discover and hear the voice of the Lord, not only for tribe, but also for your life, and especially for those of you who raised your hand. I'm in that in between area of my life. One of the things that we talked about early on in this journey of hearing the voice of the Lord was that hearing the voice of the Lord is a skill to develop. It is not a gift that's given. If it were a gift that's given, that means that that John Micus might get it, but Will might not. But if it's a skill to develop, the good news is no matter where you are in your journey of hearing the voice of the Lord, if it's a skill, that means that it can always be improved on. So whether you've been walking with the Lord for decades or you're brand new to all of this God stuff, hearing the voice of the Lord is a vital skill that all of us can grow. And if you remember last week, we talked about tips and tricks like hearing aids, I called them, that we can employ to discern the voice of the Lord and the will of our Lord for our life. And we talked about the picture that I get in my mind is like that of a funnel. And I'll put this on the screen here. Let's just touch on it really quickly. And you can take a picture of it, and we we took the time to go through each one of these things, but you have God's word. You have guidance from the Holy Spirit. You have the peace of the Holy Spirit, which is, oh my goodness, one of the things that I love and rely on so much. And I didn't mention this last week, but for how many of you, you're familiar with the sports technique of visualization? Okay. So so some of you are like, I got it. Some of you are like, what are you talking about? So imagine a basketball player that that shoots hoops, shoots hoops, but when he's not shooting hoops, if he closes his closes his eyes and she quiets her minds and she thinks about shooting free throws, sinking buckets, sinking buckets, studies have shown that that actually can help be beneficial to you being on the court in shooting baskets in a game time situation. The technique of visualization is so important and I use that when it comes to hearing the voice of the Lord, looking for his peace. So let's say that I'm in between option a and option b. As I've gone into God's word, as I'm looking for guidance from his holy spirit, one of the things I look for is the peace of the holy spirit, and I will imagine walking down path a. And I'll think about it. What would it look like if we take out the home equity line of credit on the mortgage on our house and begin to build a three car garage with a thousand square foot apartment over it to rent out to help supplement our income. What is that actually Lord, is that your leadership for our family? But I try to visualize details of of all those different aspects, And what I'm looking for is the peace of the Lord in that situation. Then I will try option b or option c and I'll visualize taking steps down that. And the more detail you can add to that imagination, at least for me, the better the chances are of being able to discern the Lord's peace. And I can discern the Lord's peace as I'm in that in between area that helps give me confidence to step out that I'm hearing the Lord's voice. Prayer and fasting, oh my goodness. One of our small groups this summer is about prayer and fasting, enjoys leading that. And if I'll just go ahead and say, like, if that's something that's interesting to you, I will give you permission to just jump in, like like, midstream on Joy's small group. Mhmm. She'll catch you up to speed. Wave your hand, Joy. But she is leading a small group on that. Dreams and visions, like, let's not let's not discount or diminish the power of God speaking to us. In our conscious mind, we're running around and we're thinking and we're analytical and we're doing this and we're scheming and we're plotting and we're figuring and then but when we when we fall asleep and the Lord's like, okay. Finally, you've settled down enough that I can whisper something to your heart, either directly or to a dream or vision. Godly counsel is so important as we're as we're in that in between and we're considering. And if you remember last week, I said, husbands listen to me. Many times, the voice of the Lord for your life will come out of the wife of will come out of the mouth of your wife. Husbands? Amen. Yes. We are, like, getting ready to, like, do this thing, and our wife's like, babe, babe, that is literally the dumbest thing ever. Do not say that. We're like, no. I really think, like, this is gonna be great. And she's like, babe. And she says it in a loving and affirming and building up way right wives, like we set our husbands up for success. But then when we finally listen and we get on the other side of that, it takes great humility for us husbands to be like, okay, you were right. That would have been a complete disaster. So godly counsel and then delegated authority in our lives. And then finally, circumstances. And notice, if you pull any one of these things out like a Jenga puzzle, if you try to like like go on hearing the voice of the Lord just on circumstances alone, it comes crumbling down. If you just listen to somebody's advice, well, I think that you should no. No. No. We don't have to answer to that person at the end of our life. But all of these things are our building blocks that that can, when utilized in their proper context, can add great value to our life as we're trying to hear the voice of the Lord. This is a good point for me to catch my breath, check-in with you, and see if you have any thoughts, questions, or connections about any of this, and then we're get right into Luke. I'd love to hear from you. Can you see how yeah. Kate, the mic's coming to you. Can you see how if you only went on dreams and visions, you could wind up in a ditch? Could you see how if you only allow circumstances to help navigate hearing the voice of the Lord, you can wind up in a ditch? Can you now this is a tricky one. Can you see how if you only take words from the pages of this book and and go off of them? That's a great way to, like, start a cult. Right? Like, you can wind up you can wind up in a in a ditch by just, like, trying to take some words out of the pages of this book without guidance from the holy spirit, without peace of the holy spirit, but they all work together in comp in in concert and in symphony. What were you gonna say? So this is just kind of a little funny story. So my daughter, Emily, and her husband, Richie, were here last week. So they got to hear the teaching last week. And this week, they they were considering getting a puppy. And so they were they were praying and fasting yesterday for a family member, but they added to that actually praying, is a puppy you know, is this the right time And for a so they're praying, and they talked, and they were seeking a peace of the Holy Spirit. But the But the funny thing that Emily shared with me is she goes, so the woman was asking $900 for the puppy. And she looked at Richie, she goes, so honey, remember when Brian was talking about circumstances can also be how we hear God's voice? Well, we just got an escrow check returned to us for $903. So decision was made last night. They're getting a puppy. Every $900, it's potty trained. It can warm up your truck in the wintertime with the rug. So yes. Awesome. Alright. Praise the Lord. I think the Bible says, do not despise the humble beginnings, but the Lord delights to see the work begin. Yeah. He loves he loves it, loves it, loves it. It delights his heart to no end when we come to him with something that potentially seems as small as a family decision as should we get a puppy or not. When we transfer the ownership of our finances and our life and our choices into the hands of the Lord, it delights his heart. If you're taking notes this morning, you can write the title of this morning's conversation, the key that unlocks hearing. If there was one key that I could share with you that would unlock hearing the voice of the Lord, it's what we're gonna talk about, and the story is found in Luke chapter six. And would somebody volunteer to read that in the mic? Luke chapter six, a few verses, verse 46 through 49. Luke chapter 46. Excuse me. Luke chapter six verse 46 through 49. You can read it from your bible or it's also up here on the screen. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do the things I say? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hear my words, and acts on them. He's like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn't shake it because it was built it was well built. But the one who hears and does that act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it and immediately collapsed, and the destruction of that house was great. Ugh. So if we're talking about, okay, I wanna grow in hearing. I wanna improve the skill of hearing the voice of the Lord. If there's one thing that I could share with you that would drastically improve the skill of hearing the voice of the Lord, it would be the principle contained, the three part principle contained within this passage. Off the top of your noodle, and you don't need the mic, just tell me. As you look at that passage, what's one thing that you see? Just what do you see in that passage as one key ingredient of hearing the voice of the Lord? What do you see? You don't need the mic. Just tell me. One key ingredient. Comes to me. He who comes to me. Yep. There's one. Listen. Listens to my teaching. There it is. And then one more. Obeys. Do what it says. That's where we're going in our conversation this morning. Let's look at that that first phrase. I'll tell you what it's like when someone comes to me. Very good, Justin. When we read that in English, like, we're like, okay, someone who who comes to me, how do I how do I come to Jesus? When Jesus was living on the earth, okay, you could go to Capernaum, you could go to the Sea Of Galilee, you could go to Nazareth. If he was he was in Jerusalem for one of the feast, you could, like, you know, like, try to intercept him as he was on the way somewhere. But how do we come to Jesus now? He's he's not occupying a physical seat in the room. He doesn't have an email address. We can't follow him on Twitter and and and, like, ask him a question. How does a person come to Jesus right now? That might seem like a rhetorical question or or or elementary question, but I think it's a really valid question. How does a person because Jesus said, I'll show you what it's like when a person comes to Here's a little helpful tool. We talk about this all the time here at Tribe, but there are bible study tools that you can use to to help unpack keywords and phrases. And I love to use website called blueletterbible.org. And what's great about that website is it gives you the English, but then it also gives you the original language in which this was written because the original language was not English. It was Greek. It was written down in Greek. And when we look at that phrase in the Greek, it's an illumination comes to this word. Here's what that phrase means in Greek. You can write it down. To appear publicly and personally. When Jesus says, I'll show you what it's like for a person who comes to me, that phrase comes to me in the Greek means to appear publicly and personally. Now what does that mean? How many times have we tried to hear the voice of the Lord for ourselves, but we just, like, ask our pastor or just try to get the will of the Lord second or third hand, maybe from a podcast or a sermon or maybe a a book that we're reading. That's good, great, and valid. But Jesus says, for those of you who come to me, come straight to him. Appear before him publicly and personally. To appear publicly and personally means to have a face to face sit down meeting with the man whose eyes burn like fire. To appear personally, vulnerably. You cannot hide. You cannot run your games with Jesus when you come to him and appear personally and publicly. The Bible says that when he when Jesus went up on the Mount Of Transfiguration, he took two guys from his leadership team with him, and he revealed his glory to them. Even Jesus' own physical garments couldn't hide the authenticity of the glory that shown forth from him. It was dazzling and it was brilliant. And when we appear personally before Jesus, he knows all of the secrets and all of the motives of our heart. And, yes, that is terrifying. We can fool others. We might even be able to fool our spouse. We get so good at it that we might even be able to fool ourself with a facade. But when Jesus says, I'll show you what it's like for those who come to me, that means to appear before him personally, and we cannot hide. It's vulnerable, naked, and afraid. But he is a good person to appear before where we can't hide anything. I'll show you what it's like for a person who comes to step one. Not through a book, not through somebody else, but this personal encounter with the Lord. What's the next part? You guys already said it. Listening. Listens to my teaching. That's a great phrase to look at also in the Greek. To listens to my teaching, not just to hear, whether it's audio bible or reading the pages from your bible or listening to the sound of the preacher conducting the conversation, but the Greek also includes that of considering, to weigh out. Like a we don't really have these in our in our current culture, but like a metal assayer. Do you know what an assayer is? A person who looks at the value and the purity and the worth of metals, and they can distinguish between, like, pyrite and gold, and they can through different tests, they can determine the purity. So when it when that that Greek phrase, not only to just listen and hear, but also to weigh out and to consider like an assayer, a person who deeply studies and considers and looks at the validity, How could that apply to me? What is God saying when he when he looks at this? To meditate on it, to chew to chew on it, not just listen in one ear and out the other, but to deeply consider like Jacob wrestling with an angel who wrestled with God's word, who wrestles with the truth of God's word that deeply considers it and is even willing to be so honest as to challenge the Lord and say, I don't know about that. I'm having a hard time with that. Boy, he loves that. He loves that to wrestle. And I know that many of you in here, Janet and I were just talking about her husband coming to faith and the the intellectual hurdles and obstacles that he had to overcome in order to come to faith because when we rely strictly on our intellect, God has given many of you brilliant intellects and minds and analytical thinking. It stands the gospel stands the scrutiny of the intellectual mind. Because if it didn't, it wouldn't it wouldn't hold up. And there are ways that people's minds are wired that would eliminate them from faith. I love what one of my mentors said years ago. The gospel is so simple that a child could understand it and come to faith. And it is so profound that a scholar could spend his life plumbing the depths of the riches of the gospel and still arrive at that same conclusion of faith. I'll tell you what it's like for a person who comes to me to appear personally and vulnerable vulnerably and listens to my teaching to deeply consider, to think about, to analyze, to wrestle with. Once those two things have happened, what's that third thing? Follow it. It then follows it or obeys it. To obey, that Greek word, it occurs something like 455 times. It is a very common word used in the New Testament, and it has a a broad range of meanings. And so in order to try to determine what Jesus means when he says, I'll tell you what it's like for a person who comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it, we gotta look at the context. But when you look at the context, some some some vibrant colors come out of the Greek. It means to do or to make. When you obey the voice of the Lord, the teachings of Jesus, you're making not only a new pathway in your brain, but you're creating something new. You're following in his footsteps to do or to make. And the the picture associated with that word is to shoot forth like roots of new growth of a plant. A little pro tip, maybe next to your bible, if you have your pen or in your notebook, can write underline that word to follow or to obey, and then you can underline. In the Greek, it means to shoot forth like roots of a plant. This is what it is like to obey the Lord. New growth happening. This is what Jesus said. Not only that, but it is the conjugation of that phrase is in the present progressive. What does that mean? What's the present progressive tense? Joy, Help us out English major. Happening now. Happening now. Ongoing. I'll show you what it's like for the person who continually comes to me, who continually listens to my teaching, who continually wrestles with it, studies it, examines it from different angles, and then continually obeys. Not just one and done, but the attitude of your heart and the direction of your mind and the course of your action is to continually obey what happens, it's like a new plant that shoots forth roots. Is that cool? That's cool. Good place to take a pause, and I'd love to hear from you. While you're turning to the book of James chapter one, I'd love to hear from you. We're we're trying. Oh, okay. Here it comes. I was thinking with the shooting forth like roots. We studied in biology. Homeschooled the girls, and we failed the course altogether. But the part I do remember is that at the tip of the roof is this very it's very strong because it has to push through the dirt and all of the the things in its way to be able to spread out. And so I got that idea of that that obeying isn't necessarily an easy step. It's kind of like a fight where we have to push through the darkness, push through the hard parts, push around the rocks or whatever to be able to grow and to prepare ourselves for that. Super cool. Yeah. Okay. I've been waiting a few weeks to say this because I don't wanna come off as contentious, but I also want to stipulate that the hearing the voice of the Lord is both and. It's both a gift and a skill. Okay. And based upon Luke 11, and I'll just read the scripture real quick. For which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give you a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion. If you then, though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the holy spirit to those who ask him? And I feel like you can intellectually search the scriptures for answers and guidance and whatever all you want, but sometimes without the Holy Spirit, you're not gonna get it. And it was you know, I'm just thinking of the time when, you know, I was a believer, and I started smoking weed. And I was like, okay, Lord. I know, like, you told that guy not to smoke weed, and you told that guy not to smoke weed, but you haven't told me yet. And when he actually did through counsel, through, you know, different circumstances and whatever, it became aware to me that that I was kicking against the goats by smoking weed. You know? I was hurting myself by doing that, but then I needed help. And I needed help to quit. And it wasn't until just one day I didn't feel like smoking weed anymore, and I was a daily smoker. And I knew via the holy spirit that my brother and sister-in-law were praying for me to quit. And I I called them up and I said, are you guys praying for me to quit smoking weed? And they said, yeah. Actually, we are. Why? I'm like, because for the first time, and as long as I can remember, I don't feel like doing it anymore. And so I feel like in certain instances, we need to ask for holy spirit's help, the lord's help for us to obey, you know, or help to hear his voice or help to you know, there's always more. We can always hear more, and we can always receive more if we are hungry for it. Love that testimony. Mhmm. So good. James chapter one verse 22 through 25. But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you're only fooling yourself. For if you listen to the word and you can put additionally into that, like, God's holy spirit, the peace of the Lord, you know, and don't obey it. It's like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself and walk away and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully to study, to meditate, to build into your life into the perfect law that sets you free, Renee Mhmm. And if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. So it's one thing to be deceived by the devil when he's running his game on you. It's a whole another thing when you are doing the devil's job for him by continuing and persisting in willful ignorance or disobedience to the Lord. When you have God's word, his voice, his peace, when you have encountered him, and I understand the process of wrestling it out, but if in the process of wrestling, it results in your rejection of his counsel, in his way, in his word, but you know the truth. This is what's so crazy, you guys, is literally deception enters your heart. And here's what's nasty and insipid about deception is that you think that you're still right on track. You think that things are good between you and the Lord. You think that that things are going awesome. You are deceived, and you, in your rebellion and defiance, have opened that door and invited deception into your own heart and life. Quick. We need some sugar up here Medicine. But when you look carefully and examine God's word, remember what Jesus said? You'll know, encounter, submit to the truth, and the truth will set you free. There's a verse in Psalms. David is speaking. He's like, when I didn't confess my sins to you, Lord, I felt sickness within my bones. Oh, it was awful. But when I confessed my sin to you, Lord, oh, I got I got set free. How many of you know that that old, like, gospel singer guy, Keith Green? Yep. Right? Michelle, you you remember Keith Green. Those Keith Green days. He he was he on one of his live recordings, he was like, you know, I was like doing this Christian thing. I'm passionate about Jesus, but things felt kinda dull. And and I felt like like my my heart was getting hard towards the Lord, and I just I wanted to write him a letter. I didn't know where to mail it, so I just put it in my Bible. And in that in that note, I said, Lord, I wanna have skin like a baby on my heart. I wanna have that soft heart. When we soften our heart to the Lord, James says he will bless you. That idea is revelation, encounter. But in order for us to conform to God's will, we have to hear his voice first. And all you guys, maybe some of you are accustomed to hearing the voice of the Lord, whether it's through peace or the counsel of the Holy Spirit or through his word. Maybe you're accustomed to it. Maybe some of you in here would say, I've never honestly really heard the voice of the Lord. Oh, you guys, there's something transformative about hearing the voice of the Lord. Everything changes when he whispers our name, when he speaks to us, everything changes. So I'm not very familiar with with all of this, but, you know, the condition of deathness, sometimes it can happen through sickness and happens later in life. Sometimes, you know, we're we're born without the correct hardware. But but how many of you are familiar with I'm gonna mispronounce it. I tried saying you. How many of you are familiar with cochlear implants? Like, you know, like, that can go here to, like, help you hearing or you haven't been able to hear it in, like, through, like, science and technology, like, when they turn those things on on a person, like, they can hear. So I was on a YouTube rabbit hole, and I I was, like, watching a video, like, a compilation video of people having their cochlear implants turned on for the very first time, and the Lord just whispered to my heart about, that's what it's like for a person who's never heard the voice of the Lord when they hear the voice of the Lord for the very first time. So I thought maybe I'd kinda share a video with you, but but keep let's think about hearing the voice of the Lord as we watch his video. You hear anything else? Like Yeah. Yeah. I'm a fan of the meeting. And the lights make noise. Hello. Hello. I've never seen that face before. Hi. Are you emotional? One last verse. You don't need to turn there. Hebrews chapter four verse 12 says this, for the word of God is alive and powerful It's sharper than the sharpest two edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow. It exposes our inmost thoughts and desires. When we hear the voice of the Lord, we are immediately confronted with submitting to the voice of the Lord. And when I read that verse, sorry, wrong address. It is not your chapter 33. My bad keynote. Hebrews chapter four. The picture that comes into my mind, if you're if you've studied history or seen that Russell Crowe movie, The Gladiator, In the days of the fighting in the Roman Colosseum, when a gladiator was vanquished by another warrior, He would fall to his knees. He would take the sword of the vanquishing gladiator, and he would take his head back, and he would take the tip of the sword and place it right here, and he would hold his thumb up begging for mercy from the emperor, looking for a thumbs up from the emperor. If the emperor gave his thumbs up, it was a noble submission and the losing gladiator got to keep his life. If Caesar went like this, the winning gladiator would take his sword and plunge it straight down into the losing gladiator taking his life. That's what it's like when we encounter and to submit to the voice of the Lord for our love. Maybe some of you find yourself in here this morning. You've been trying to push the sword Today, you need to allow the sword of God's spirit to penetrate deep into your own plans, your own worldview, your own rebellion, rebellion, your your own own pain, pain, because that's the only time that new life and resurrection can happen. We all like the new resurrection, but very few of us like the surrendering and dying part. So here's the invitation with a few moments that we have left. Who knows what all happened on this barroom floor just a few hours ago? But let's turn this barroom floor into a place of encounter and holy consecration where we meet with the Lord. And if the Lord is speaking to you about something, and today you need to surrender to that and you want to, as they called it back in the gladiator days, receive the iron. Did he receive the iron? Did the sword plunge down through his life? If today you need to receive the iron of the Holy Spirit, he's convicting you about something and you just wanna surrender and submit to it In your own timing, and this is just between you and the Lord, why don't you slip out of your seat, turn around, face your seat, get on your knees, and just receive the honor of the Holy Spirit that he would do a transformative work in your heart as you hear his voice. Go ahead. You know, there are last thing. There are these, you know, tribal religions whose god they need to placate and pacify by offering human sacrifices. We are talking about a human sacrifice, but the nature of it is completely different. If you're new to tribe or to this god thing hold on. Oh, wait. Hang with me. Jesus himself, the God who we worship, laid down his own life and asks nothing of us that he himself didn't go before us as a forerunner. And he lives forevermore. And he says, if you try to hold on to your life, your ways, your thoughts, your good intentions, it will end up slipping through your hand like water or sand, and you will lose your life. But if you lay down your life for my sake, you will have true, real, authentic, abundant life. And that new life comes from being a new creation. And if you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, like, just do that right now in the stillness of your own heart in the best way that you know how. Jesus, I give you my life. If you need somebody to pray with you afterwards or, like, help me make that decision or, hey, I I stumbled through that decision because you didn't set me up for Don't worry, sir. I'm not the judge. Jesus says, so you just do give me your best shot. Come tell me afterwards. I'd love to visit with you, celebrate with you, pray with you. I'm gonna invite Jay up here. He's gonna share with us the last way that we worship the Lord here at Tribe. But let me pray just really quickly. Lord Jesus, thank you that you went first. Thank you that you speak and that we can hear your voice. Thank you that submitting ourselves to the sword of your spirit and dying for ourselves is literally the best thing that we can do and the only way to find true authentic life. Thank you for your life. Thank you that you went before us. As we were reading that James verse about being doers of the word, not hearers only, I couldn't help but think about something my mentor always said about how we're created human beings, not human doings. So I wanna invite you guys to go even a step further than just being doers of the word. Like Jesus, how the word was with God and the word was God. I want you to be like the word, to become like Jesus, to partner with him. You are what you eat. It's your daily bread. Right? So as we come before the Lord and give our tithe above me on that our offering, I want you to partner with us. Make peace with with what he asked you to do. He's not after your wallet. He's not after your money. He's after your heart. That's good. That's good. So if you don't mind bowing your heads with me and praying over our tithe and offering today. Father, be with us. We wanna be one flesh with you, Lord, as we enter into this eternal covenant with you, God. We lay it all before you. We give it all to you. It was yours first, and we're just giving it back to you, Lord. Multiply this offering today. In your name we pray, everyone said. Amen. If you're unfamiliar with the ways to give here at Tribe, we have our website online. You can go ahead and give through there. We also have a little box there right next to the saloon door just on the right. If you wanna drop cash per check on it there. And then one of my personal favorite ways to give is through your smartphone. You can just send a text to 84321 with the number amount. If it's your first time, I'll walk you through some steps about how to set that up. So those are our few ways to give. Couple of quick announcements are one of the tribes ministries are Tri Fountain Adventures, and tomorrow, pastor Brian's gonna be leading us through a top roping and climbing kind of course. So if you're new to that, if you're new to the valley, you're interested in getting outdoors and trying something new to get out of your comfort zone, go ahead and talk to him after service and get connected to that. Brian threw in a plug to small groups. We're running summer small groups right now. If you are not a part of one and are interested in joining one, it's not too late. Go ahead and come find someone on the leadership team, and then we'll see what the best way is to get you plugged in. And, yeah, go ahead and invite pastor Brian on up here again and bring us out. Thanks, Jebel. Stand up. When we dismiss, if there is anything that you need prayer for, Renee is gonna be up here. Matt will be up here. Listen. I'll be up here. Love to pray with you. Let me would that be alright if I blessed you real quick? Lord Jesus, thank you so much for speaking. God, I ask that you would enlarge the ears and the obedience muscle of those that are in this room here today. I command a blessing over each and every one of them. Lord, keep us safe in our jobs. Keep us safe as we play on the river and in the mountains. Help us to enjoy this beautiful, beautiful valley that we live in, whether we live here or we're just passing through. God, command a blessing over each and every person that's here today. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said Amen. Amen. I love you guys so very much. I want you have a great week. Thanks for being with us. And remember, Elise, you got this.