Scripture referenced
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Psalm 107:1-2 read aloud by Maddie G as the anchor text for the testimony time
1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
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Keep this verse
Psalm 32
Brian quoted it on confessing sin, the body wasting away, and receiving forgiveness
1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.
7 You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.
9 Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
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1 John 1:9
cited as the basis for why confessing sin allows you to partake of communion
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Psalm 2
quoted during the offertory prayer, ask and I will give you the nations as your inheritance
1 Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath:
6 “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
7 I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This service centered on the ongoing series "Turn Your Cat Around," the idea that aligning your life with God's principles and precepts leads not to an easier life but to a better one. Jay shared his testimony of growing up as a pastor's kid, wandering into sexual sin and a double life in high school, and then finding his way back to God through scripture and Christian community. The congregation then shared stories of their own turning points before taking communion together.
What was said
Brian introduced the "Turn Your Cat Around" theme by drawing a simple contrast: a dog accepts a pet any way you give it, but a cat only tolerates being touched one way. In the same way, God has set principles and precepts that govern morality, biology and the physical universe, and when we live against those principles we experience the friction of going against the grain. The point of the series has never been that obedience makes life easier, but that it makes life so much better.
Jay told the story of his childhood, including falling four stories from a chairlift in Vail and walking away with only a torn spleen, and a moment as a young child when he knew his cat Chipper was going to die before his parents believed him. Those early encounters gave him a baseline faith that God was real, even though his family had been pushed out of the church his father helped start after his dad was falsely accused of stealing from the tithe.
In high school, when his older brother left for college, Jay tried to fill that void with a relationship his parents had told him not to pursue. He began lying to them, the lying escalated, and he ended up steeped in sexual sin and living a double life. He was caught on Mother's Day. His parents stripped away his car, phone, laptop and even the door to his room, and he spent the summer crying himself to sleep.
With nothing left in his room but a Bible, Jay prayed for the first time in a genuinely personal way. He told God that if he was real, to show him, because the pain he was going through could not be pointless. He started reading Proverbs and Psalms and applying them to his life, started attending church, and gradually his mother and then his father came with him. He described it as God taking everything off the table and saying, we are starting fresh with this foundation. He also shared that in high school he went by Jonathan, and that stepping into his new identity in Christ was part of why he now goes by Jay.
Brian then opened the floor for the congregation to share what the series had meant to them. Stories came from several people: one woman described finally stopping the pattern of running from God into old sin when things got hard, and instead learning to run to him in her lows. Another man named Colin said he had been chasing a grandiose kingdom purpose while neglecting the simpler calling to love his wife and family well. A woman named Kat described a moment in a chaotic setting where God used her to reach a grown man who ended up on the floor in tears, and then God quietly pointed out how much more he could do with her if she were sober, which led her to step away from the bars for forty days. A woman named Joy confessed that the mirror the series kept holding up turned out to be aimed at her own tendency toward independence and self-reliance rather than the community she could see that tendency in others.
Brian tied the congregation's testimonies together with Psalm 107 verses 1 and 2, read aloud in the service: "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story, those he redeemed from the hand of the foe." He noted that God does not intend to keep forgiven people in a posture of permanent shame. He used Psalm 32 to show that unconfessed sin is a weight on the body and spirit, and that the moment it comes into the light it can go out of sight. The invitation is not to stay beaten down but to let go of the cinder block, let it sink, and run.
Communion followed. Brian described the cup Jesus took at the Last Supper as the cup a young man in that culture would present to a woman as a marriage proposal, explaining that her drinking from it was the equivalent of saying yes. He invited anyone who calls on the name of the Lord to come forward, while noting the two conditions under which the Bible says a person should abstain, and the way through both of them, which is simply to confess.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
- Take a stack of Easter service invites from the table and hand them to friends, asking not 'do you have plans for Easter?' but 'what are your plans for Easter?'
- If there is an area of unconfessed sin on your conscience, name it out loud to God and receive the forgiveness that 1 John 1:9 promises.
- Sign up on the fridge for the Wind River Reservation VBS trip, June 25 through 28, even if you are not sure what role you would play.
- Join the young adults send-off dinner this Tuesday and show up for whoever in your tribe family is heading into a new season.
- If you have been trying to do life alone, reach out this week to one person in the community and let them into whatever you are actually carrying right now.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Jay described the moment his parents took everything away and he was left alone with just a Bible. He said that was the first time he genuinely prayed for himself. What does it take for most of us to get to that kind of honest, stripped-down place with God?
- Lissa shared a vision of people standing barefoot on white sandstone stairs, and the interpretation offered was that as a kingdom of priests we carry something holy into the ordinary places where we live and work. What does that actually look like for you in Jackson day to day?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Resumen en español
El mensaje resumido, en español.
El sermón giró en torno a la serie "Turn Your Cat Around" (Dale la vuelta a tu gato), que usa la imagen de acariciar a un gato a contrapelo para ilustrar lo que pasa cuando vivimos en contra de los principios de Dios. Brian compartió que el Espíritu Santo le había dicho meses atrás que en los días que vienen, seguir a Jesús será menos complicado pero más costoso, y que vale mucho más aprender esas lecciones ahora, cuando son baratas, que después, cuando ya cuestan caro.
Jay, un instructor de esquí, compartió su testimonio: creció como hijo de pastor pero su familia fue expulsada de su propia iglesia cuando era pequeño. En la secundaria llenó el vacío que dejó su hermano mayor con mentiras y pecado sexual, hasta que lo descubrieron el Día de las Madres. Solo con una Biblia en su cuarto, sin teléfono ni amigos, oró por primera vez de verdad y empezó a ver frutos al aplicar los Salmos y Proverbios a su vida. Con el tiempo su familia entera volvió a la fe, encontró una esposa, una comunidad y un propósito claro: amar a Dios y amar a los demás. Después del testimonio de Jay, varios miembros de la congregación compartieron sus propias experiencias de "dar vuelta al gato", desde soltar la independencia y el orgullo hasta dejar de frecuentar ciertos lugares para poder ser más útil a Dios.
La reunión cerró con comunión, un llamado a llevar amigos al servicio de Pascua en una carpa en el recinto ferial, y una invitación a unirse a un viaje de servicio del 25 al 28 de junio en la Reservación Wind River en Riverton, Wyoming, para ayudar con una escuela bíblica de vacaciones para niños de 5 a 12 años.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados
- Salmos 107:1-2
- Salmos 32 (sobre confesar el pecado y recibir perdón)
- 1 Juan 1:9
- Salmos 2 ("pídeme y te daré las naciones como herencia")
- Apocalipsis (descripción de Jesús caminando entre los candelabros, con pies como bronce bruñido)
- Cantar de los Cantares (la joven que dice "llévame contigo y corramos juntos")
Read the full transcript 13,635 words
Got it. I'll flow it.
Let's stand up together this morning. We've got a little bit of room since it's spring break to move around. There's always the refrigerator worship alley where Lee has
going to
look back. I say this all the time. Like, we're gonna look back and think of this so fondly when we were crammed in the TMC space and Lissa was hitting everyone with the end of her guitar very much. Oh lord Jesus, we thank you for today. We thank you for this gathering, for this exact people group gathered in this room today.
This is unique and it's never ever never ever gathered like this before. Lord, we just thank you and we praise you. We thank you and we praise you. We thank you, Lord. Just take a minute and just thank him.
Just thank him this morning. Going
be to
in a blessing name of be blessing be
The ransom for my life, oh yes, Just think about that, the ransom for my life. Lord, we do not take that lightly.
You are the ransom of our lives,
be
that we could not save ourselves as we just sing this. Just run to him with a thankful heart today. Let the king,
let the king of my heart be the mountain where I run, you're good, oh, you are good, you're good, oh, you are good, you're good,
we just overlay your goodness this morning on our circumstance let the king let
the king of my heart be the way
Just ask him to reveal to you how he's been good to you your whole life. But there's been a thread of goodness, his goodness. Because he created you, he knows you, he knows every hair on your head or every hair that you've lost on your head. Lord, we just thank you that you are a good good father to us. Sometimes you discipline us, sometimes you wrap your arms around us and pull us close.
But Lord, thank you today that you're never gonna let us down. You haven't and you never will. Let's just let that sink deep into our hearts, deep into our spirit, whatever you're facing, whatever is before you, just apply his goodness to it today.
You're never gonna let, you're never gonna let me die. Never gonna let, you're never gonna let me die. Clear it. You're never gonna let, you're never gonna let me down. Just clear
that over your finances. You're never over your health, you're
never gonna let me down. You are. Let's just sing it with our voices.
Lord, forgive us when we have forgotten your goodness and we have attributed something to you that was not you. Forgive us today. Forgive us today. You.
Of the goodness of God. I will. Will say of the goodness of God. Yes, so.
Sing I love your voice. Just ask him to come and speak to you today.
I love your voice. You have led me through as a friend and I have lived in the goodness of god yes you have all my life all my life of the goodness of God. Yes, Lord.
Maybe the Lord is putting something on your heart to share, maybe a word, a scripture, a picture. His word says that when we gather, he loves to speak to his people. That to one, he'll give a word of prophecy and he goes on and on. He loves to use the gifts with his body. Speak to us.
So lord, come speak to us and you Lord's putting something on your heart to share, Gretchen has a microphone and it's not you won't hear it in the room. It's just for our livestream family who longs to hear what the Lord is speaking through us.
So I'm gonna kinda regurgitate what I said last week and this song kind of led me there is god meeting all of our needs. I mean, I can't get over having a just judge that has supplied me with a free pass, get out of jail free for forever, how much that would cost and how much how little value we as Christians seem in our day to day life to accept that and and take that free gift of grace and live it every minute, second, hour of the day and realize the value that we have in that. That's just I mean, we talk about the deficit. The United States is $31,000,000,000,000. That is nothing.
That's nothing compared to the cost that you would put on something like this. So please just open your eyes, open your heart, realize that you're never alone. You have a faithful friend in every situation. You have been forgiven for everything you've done and are gonna do. I mean, let's cha ching, let's start tallying up how much how much that means.
We're gonna go ahead and let the Irwins kick it off In singing that song again, all my life you have been faithful. Oh my gosh. He's been so faithful in not answering some of our prayers. Can you imagine if he answered every prayer that we thought was best for us? My name would be Nancy Bird, if that's the case.
Okay? You know, the old Garth Brooks
gonna marry Larry Bird?
No. David Bird. You know, and being young, you know, you you think this is it. Oh, Lord, this is the one. Oh, this is what I need to be doing.
He loves us enough not to answer those prayers.
That's that's great.
And we've got to learn to trust him when they don't come through the way the way we think they should. That's good. And I'm so glad I'm not Nancy Byrd. Okay? So
are we.
So last Sunday, the end of service, Alyssa, that lady right there, right there, she said, if anyone wants to stay for an extended worship, I will clear everything back. And there was quite a I was surprised how many of us stayed. It was a powerful, powerful time. It's like the holy spirit descended on us. There was numerous breakthroughs.
And so I went home, and I I think it was Tuesday morning. Lord kinda got me out of bed a little early. And I was walking around the house shouting and praying and eyes open.
In your jammies?
I'm not gonna tell you what.
Was I was with you.
Was kicked in. Hey.
Alright. Well,
they're anyway.
Doesn't matter.
So
Doesn't matter.
I said, Jesus, why
does
this have to be a seasonal thing? Why does it have to be an occasional special time? This should be normal. I want it. We want it to be normal, at least here in our our tribe family.
And and he said, Leah, it starts with humility and then hunger. And you have to pursue it. You have to want it. You have to press into it. And I said, okay.
And then I had this picture, very detailed, and it was it it it started here on this floor. And it would and I I asked I'm not gonna go into all the details, but I asked him. I said, okay. It's it was white staircase, white sandstone. You know, each step was about four inches thick and about four feet deep and six feet wide.
It was perfect for just an easy casual walking up and it was wide enough so groups of people could stand. I'm seeing this with my eyes open. Groups of people were standing around talking and they were barefooted. I said, Lord, why is everybody barefooted? Because he said that it's the glory of my light radiating down into that white sandstone, and it's it's empowering.
It's enriching the people that are standing there barefoot. This is a holy place. And I said, well, why sandstone as opposed to marble? And he said, because sandstone is not too hard on your feet, but you don't slip. You can slowly go up.
There's there's no slipping, no slippage. And so then the last thing that came to me, this this wasn't a real steep climb. This is just a very gradual time. And there were passerbys and some people would come by and say, well, those stupid people, you know, they're barefooted on those stairs. But then there were a lot of people that came in.
They were attracted by the bare feet, and they would sit on the stairs and take their their shoes off. So I can't interpret dreams. I I don't know. I'm just telling you what I saw. So, Jesus, if may maybe there's somebody here that you'll give greater revelation to or the significance of that, but I I certainly think it's significant for us in in some way.
So, Jesus, thank you for this special time of worship. Thank you for the unity in this body. Thank you, God, that it's such a privilege to be able to meet together. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Amen. Amen.
Does anyone feel like they have an interpretation of that, or is the Lord putting an impression on your heart of what he would speak through that?
The barefoot part stood out to me. We were talking about this at Shabbat on Friday. But in in the Old Testament, when God is giving instructions to Moses about the tabernacle and later later the temple, the garments of the priest, very detailed, like like, meticulous instructions on how they were to dress, but there is an absent portion of their wardrobe, which is their footwear. The priests wear barefoot. There's no mention of any footwear, and historically, extra biblically, know that the priests were barefoot.
Summer, winter, if there was snow in Jerusalem, if it was hot, they were barefoot. So the priests were were marked and identified as being barefoot, to have that connection to the temple. Later, we see a picture of Jesus being described in the book of Revelation. He is walking among the lampstands. He's tending the lights and the lamps of the seven churches in the book of Revelation.
And there's a description given of him. His hair was white as wool. Check. His eyes burned like fire. Check.
And then what does it say about his feet? They were like burnished bronze. I don't know what anybody's feet in here look like because nobody has bare feet right now at the moment. Everybody's wearing shoes. So the fact that in the description, John saw Jesus's feet who were like burnished bronze meant that John saw him barefooted like the priest.
I think there's an element of the picture that you saw that God sees us according to scripture as a kingdom, a nation of priests. And that when we, the Bible says, who can ascend the holy mountain? Only you with like clean hands and a pure heart. Well, we have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus to give us pure heart and clean hands so that as a kingdom of priests, we can minister unto the Lord here at Tribe. It blesses his heart.
It pleases his heart. And beyond that, outside of these four walls, we take our barefoot priestly mantle into the nations that we live and work and that his name will be made famous through our barefooted walking around this city. It's a thought.
Anyone else have something to share? Just be still just for one more moment.
To and bear my shame just think about that the cross has forgiven the king of kings calls know that. Serve a risen
king, victorious. Oh, picture this.
Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe out of the the roaring lion declare the gray Yes,
Lord. Yes, just pray with me. Lord Jesus, we just we just invite you to continue to come and speak and move in our worship as we worship you in another way by getting into your word. And Lord, do not forget, we do not make these just words to a song. How great the chasm that was between us until you came and your blood was shed for us.
Lord, we just ask that you would continue to just send the spirit of revelation to our hearts. That's how we can learn about you is even by your spirit. So we just thank you today that you're we're gonna leave here changed. We're gonna leave here changed in Jesus name. And everyone said, amen.
Alright. We got a couple special things today. We're gonna get to hear from Jay. He's gonna come share his testimony today. I don't did Jay leave?
Maybe oh, he's back. He's back in the VIP room. He's back there getting ready. Fill your coffee and then get your bible out and get ready to be blessed by Jay's testimony and then we're gonna take communion together. I'm just gonna adjust your volume once you start talking.
It's all good.
You just sit already. Feel control. You don't have to talk right now. You can. Well
good morning everybody.
My
name is Jay and if you can't tell I'm a ski instructor. But super stoked to be here and hope my story can bless you guys all. If you don't mind joining me in prayer before I speak that'd be great. Lord I just ask that you speak to me and you speak through me this morning that the work that you started in my life just speaks to those that are here and to those that are beyond, Lord. I know that it's no accident that I'm here and that I'm speaking today, and I just ask that your spirit moves and and churns something up in the hearts that are here and can inspire those to lean in closer to you.
In your name we pray. Amen. All right. So my story began when I was born. I was born in 1997.
Yeah, if that can give you a little bit of reference for how I came into being and the generation that I grew up in. But I was raised in a Christian home. Believe it or not, I was actually a pastor's kid for a short period of time. But my dad was actually framed for stealing from the tithe in the church that he helped start. So I actually didn't grow up in the church.
We got kicked out of our own church, which was pretty crazy from a very young age. So there was a lot of woundedness and hurt within my parents and my family. So I actually didn't grow up in church, which is kind of crazy. But unfortunately, the Lord did give me a couple different spiritual encounters when I was really young. I'll give two quick stories, both pretty relevant to my life today.
When I was eight, I was skiing in Vail. And I was riding a chairlift. And halfway up, I tell my dad to throw the bar up because we're so good, we don't need it. And my dad reluctantly puts the bar up. And I decide that's the perfect time to fold my arms and take a nap on the bar.
So I fall off a chairlift four stories high. And I wake up in the hospital. And I'm like, it was just like the dream. It was just like the dream. It was just like the dream.
And my dad's like, what? Like, what dream? I'd had this reoccurring dream of me falling off a chairlift for years and didn't tell my parents about it, which my dad was pretty frustrated about. But I definitely should have died at that age. All I did was tore my spleen.
I couldn't walk for a couple of months. But now I'm back and now I'm a ski instructor and I love heights. So it's kinda crazy how the Lord redeemed that. And then another encounter that I had had to do with cats, which is kinda cool. I had a little cat when I was young.
His name was Chipper. He was
just meowing
like crazy. I was just crying uncontrollably. My parents were like, what's going on? Are you Okay? And I'm like, he's going to die.
He's going to die. And they were like, he's going to be Okay, just like a little kid, just losing his emotions. And in the middle of the night, my mom woke up and was like, all right, he's still meowing. Maybe I need to lean into this and pay attention. So she took him to the vet.
And the vet was like, if you had waited until the morning, he would have been dead. He had some urinary tract infection, whatever. And so, yeah, Chipper Chipper lived to tell tell the tale.
Said that's pretty cool. They got no turning
the cat around.
Yeah. So the Turn Your Cat Around series is all about basically God works one way, and our cat can be oriented however we want to orient it. And one way obviously feels really good and is kind of in line with how the Lord is working. And another way doesn't feel very good if your cat's backwards. And so that cat story seemed pretty relevant and is one of the reasons why I have faith today is some of those encounters of like, woah, like, it doesn't make sense why I knew that or how I kind of had that intuition to what was going on.
But so yeah, didn't grow up in the church, had some spiritual encounters when I was really young that kind of helped me to have faith in God and believe that he was real. Come high school time, my brother, who was the oldest, full ride to college, first born, classic living in his shadow. I remember my seventh grade science teacher had a framed picture of him on her desk. So there's things like that that I grew up encountering all of those things. And as a middle child, I felt like I was forgotten and my opinion didn't matter, things like that.
So he took a lot of oxygen up in the room growing up just because he was such a star. So when he left for college, that created a big void. I mean, was like my best friend. He was my role model, my hero, everything. So when he left, that left a big hole.
And as you guys have probably some of you have probably experienced, when there's a big hole created in your life, something's gotta fill that hole. Unfortunately, when I was in high school, I chose to fill that hole with some things that weren't so great. I ended up finding a girl that I was really interested in, and she wasn't allowed to date. And so my parents were like, well, if she's not allowed to date and hang out with you, then you can't date her and hang out with her. And that put me in a really tricky spot because I was like, Okay, either I can not hang out with this girl I really like and honor my parents, or I can just lie to them and then still hang out with my girlfriend and please both parties.
And I was like, it doesn't seem wrong to me, right? A little teenager didn't think much about it. And little did you know that spiraled and spiraled and spiraled. Next thing you know, I'm steeped in a bunch of sexual sin. I'm living this double life where my parents think I'm I remember literally telling them I was studying for the SAT or sleeping over at a friend's house, and all you know is I'm hanging out with my girlfriend doing things we're not supposed to be doing.
And so long story short, I ended up getting caught on Mother's Day of all days, steeped in my sin, living this double life. I had been my dad had even confronted me a number of times and been like, hey, like, what's going on? And I just cold cold hearted lied straight to his face looking into his eyes, and it was crazy because my dad trusted me. Was like, alright. Like, I'm gonna take you at your word, and I'm gonna believe that you're saying what you're saying.
And yeah. So I got caught on Mother's Day, and that was brutal. So that kinda led me into this pivotal point where I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my cat because it was completely backwards. So I'll explain the turn your cat around really quick if I didn't already allude to it. But basically, the way I was living my lifestyle was completely contradictory to what the Lord calls us to.
And I found a way to kinda make it work, but when I got caught, didn't work out too well. My parents took away my car. They took away my phone, anything laptop. They took the door off my room. I wasn't allowed to hang out with my friends.
I wasn't allowed to do anything. Right? Like, my whole life just got flipped upside down. So basically, my parents were trying to turn my cat around for me, but that doesn't always work for a teenager. So I'm continuing to try and live a certain way regardless of what they were doing to try and help and guide me.
And instead of seeing my sin for what it was, I pointed the finger at my parents and I'm like, you guys are the worst. You guys are ruining my life. You took away everything that I wanted. I'd been idolizing my girlfriend. There was nothing that she could do wrong.
And yeah, it was it was bad news, bad news. And so basically, I ended up spending the entire summer in my room, crying myself to sleep every single night, just not knowing what to do. And my dad, all he would do is just hold up a mirror and say, hey, look at this. Like, it's disgusting, like your lifestyle. And I'm like, I don't know what to do with that because I'm just like,
you guys are the worst. I hate you guys.
But all he was doing was was just showing me what my sin looked like. And I don't know what you guys are what you guys experience when you look in the mirror if you're like, oh man, like, you're looking pretty nice. But at that time, I was not looking so nice to myself. And so Did he literally look at the mirror? No, he didn't.
But Don't add that one. Yeah. I got you. Got you. So it led me to kind of this point.
And the only thing I had, because they took it all away, was just a Bible in my room. And I'm just like, of course, like classic Christian parents, they were like, Oh yeah, you
need
Jesus. And I Yeah, one night I just kind of recalled like, Man, like I do remember feeling like God was real, but I hadn't lived my life that way at all. And so I just, like, started flipping through my Bible a little bit and not knowing what to do. And so I just kinda, like, asked the Lord, and I think it was the first time I genuinely prayed, like, for myself. And it was just I just asked the Lord.
I'm like, hey, God. Like, if you're real, like, show me. Because there's no way that I can go through all this pain and just be pointless, I guess. I was suicidal at the time. I was seriously contemplating taking my own life.
And the Lord was like, alright, if you want to see it, put my word to the test. And don't get me wrong. Scripture talks about not putting God to the test. But in this moment, I felt like he gave me permission to be like, alright. Like, see what I'll do.
See what I'll do. See how I'll bless you. And I started reading the Bible and started taking passages out of Proverbs and Psalms and applying them to my life, and I started seeing fruit from that. I started going to church after my family hadn't been going to church my entire life. And that was actually a really cool kind of redeeming story for my whole family because my mom started coming to church with me, and
then my dad started coming to
church with me. And look at me now, like I'm in the church. Like God's plan A for the world. Like so cool, right? And, yeah, like, I just like it wasn't like an overnight thing, but I yeah, I started, like, building my foundation off of this thing from this rock bottom experience that I had had where God literally, like, cleaned my slate and was like, uh-uh.
Your foundation had tons of cracks in it. You were building your life around this this girl that you liked, and it was leading you totally astray. So he just, like, took it all off the table and was like, uh-uh. We're starting fresh, we'll start with this. And so once I started building off of this, now is when I started to turn my cat around.
So the Lord gave me the ability, through studying his word, to understand what truth was. I was able to discern between good and bad. So in high school, I started to sear my conscience and condition myself like, oh, this felt good. This was fun to do, so that must be good. But I didn't realize how it was hurting the people around me.
I didn't realize who it was hurting the people in front of me. And not only that, but I didn't realize how it was hurting myself. Like, had literally created a soul tie with this girl in high school that I could not separate myself from without the Lord's help. And so I started to see my sin for what it was. I started to look in the mirror and be like, Okay, like, this is gross, and I need to get rid of it.
So the next step from there, after being able to see the truth, was the Lord led me to a Christian college. So instead of being with all these nasty friends that ended up I found out my girlfriend, who wasn't my girlfriend at the time, cheated on me with some of my friend group and stuff like that. So I was just like, Okay, I'm done with that because I had been trying to go back to it. I decided I finally saw it for what it was rather than this girl who I'd idolized. I was like oh you're just gonna go around and betray me with my friends.
So I didn't have a girlfriend, didn't have friends. My relationship with my family was really bad. So the Lord led me to this Christian college. I was planning on applying to like 20 different colleges, but the first college I stepped foot on was this Christian college, and the Lord told me I was supposed to go there. So he surrounded me with Christian community.
I got awesome friends. He told me to study religion, not just Christianity, but all the different religions because I was curious to see, like I was hungry for truth. And so that's what led me here. And he also gave me this beautiful wife who's intelligent and just ambitious and awesome. And, like, talk about a redeeming story.
Nina's back there doing the livestream. And surrounded me with all these accountability sources to keep me walking the straight and narrow. And so that was another way that he helped me turn my cat around. And then lastly, like, he gave me relationship and purpose. So that big hole that was created, it's not my brother's fault, but that I tried to fill with a relationship or with sexual sin or or whatever it was to try and fill that hole.
I finally understood that God was the one that can fill that hole in a relationship with him. He he is he is eternal. He cannot be taken away even though my car and my phone and whatever all that stuff can be taken away. The Lord cannot. Right?
And he gave me purpose in it through that. And so instead of feeling alone and empty, my my dad gave me this verse right away. He said, like, the Lord always dwells with the broken and contrite of heart. We sing it today in the song talking about how in the deepest shadows, like, that's where the Lord is. And so when I finally came to terms with the fact that my sin separates me from the Lord and creates a barrier between us, I thought about, man, like, eternity is a long time to to to let something like that separate us and get in between us.
And so I started I found my purpose. And if you guys are getting all twisted up about what your purpose is, it's very clear. It says we're called to love God and we're called to love others. So it doesn't matter what that looks like. It can look like so many different ways, and the body of Christ is so diverse, and we can do that in so many incredible ways, but it boils down to loving God and loving others.
And so once the Lord set me free from my sin, Jonathan is actually what I went by in high school. Believe it or not, I actually kinda took on this new identity, this new creation, and now I go by Jay. Like, Nina doesn't even call me Jonathan, but whenever I go home, my family and my friends all call me Jonathan, which is my real name, which is kinda funny. But I literally embraced this new identity in Christ where he was my foundation, and I allowed Christ to live in and through me. So, hopefully, you no longer see I I still love my name Jonathan, and don't get me wrong.
Like, there's so much biblical promise and prophecy within that. But once I stepped into that new identity, Jay, hopefully, you can see that new creation, and you can see Jesus in and through me. So if you don't mind me, I'm gonna pray. Yeah. Just pray over the message and that hopefully it can touch some of you guys.
Lord, thank you for the work that you did in me, that you changed my life, you transformed me, and you gave me purpose, that you showed me that I am loved, that I am worth something, that whatever whatever I try and replace you with, Lord, and whatever I try and put on your pedestal, that at the end of the day, you are still there, and you're still gonna love me in and through that. I just ask that you use this story to touch others, that if something is is stirring someone's heart, Lord, that you just you speak to them through this time and encounter them exactly where they are, just like you did for me, Lord. Redeem them, heal them, fix that brokenness, and free them from any any attachment or tie they have to sin in their life. Lord, we just ask that you break that off in Jesus' name. Amen.
PB's Amen. Gonna come up and we're gonna go into communion.
Jay, thank you. Yeah, Jay.
I cling to Jay's testimony.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Me too.
Me too. I'd like to read a bible verse to you really quick, and then I'd like I'd love for us to have a little bit of discussion about little bit what Jay touched on and a little bit about the journey that we have all been on for the last couple of weeks. If you have your bible, would you turn to Psalms one zero seven? And then would somebody read verse one and two in the mic? Cat has the mic.
Psalms one zero seven verse one and two. Cat's looking for somebody to read. Alright. Maddie G's got it.
Just make sure it's unmuted, Maddie. Yeah. Thank you.
Psalm one zero seven one and two. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story, those he redeemed from the hand of the foe.
That's good. I think there's an old, maybe like charismatic
redeemed of the Lord, say so. Say so. Say so. Say Say so.
That's it.
It's pretty cheesy.
It's exactly the one that I was thinking of. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
Say so.
Say so. What a great story of of Jay's redemption turning his cat around. The bible is so clear throughout scripture that that his nature, his character, his way is set and established. He operates according to his own principles and precepts that he has set in place for the morality of humankind, the governing of of biology, the establishment of the physical universe that operates according to a set of predetermined established principles and precepts, and it extends all the way down to morality, the way that we interact with God, the way that we interact with others, the way that God interacts with mankind. And when we live our lives according to his principles and precepts, it's like petting the cat the right way.
The cat purrs and everything is good. But if you've ever tried to pet a cat the wrong way, they're unlike a dog. Dog's like, I'll take a pet any way that you'll give it to me. Belly rubs, ear scratches, whatever. But a cat's like like, I I I really only like to be petted one way, and that's mostly with your eyes.
Like
You know what we should get? We should get that. Have you guys been to the pet adoption place and you go into Kitty City? They actually have a grid on the wall. I'll show it for next week of and it's like all the quadrants of a cat and there's x's like do not pet the cat here, down here, then it's like, yes, pet the cat.
Pet the cat this way.
It's like green and red, no.
So
Like, we need that.
In a similar way, what we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks is that when we align our life according to God's principles and precepts, I'm not saying that life gets easier. But what I am saying is that life gets so much better. And the the impetus, the catalyst for starting this series was months and months and months ago, I feel like the the holy spirit whispered to my heart and said that in the days ahead, following the leadership of Jesus will be less complicated, but it will be more costly. Would you like to learn lessons when they are free and cheap, or the exact same lesson when it's costly and expensive. So much better to learn now, which includes turning the cat of our heart around to line up with his ways and his principles, and what he has for us than to than to continue to try to be petted by God against the grain of the fur.
So with that in mind, I wasn't here last week. Amanda did a great job preaching. Didn't she do so good? And since the start of this series, I have heard so many great wonderful stories of people saying, well, my cat was this way, and I either I didn't realize how I was petting my fur the wrong way, or I just avoided the Lord, like, petting me because I didn't wanna be confronted with, like, with a mirror of the way that I was living. However, being a part of this series, it's become inescapable for me.
I have turned my cat around and just many stories of of transformation, of being set free, of being healed. And so what I'd like to do before we go into communion is just take a few moments, and I would love to hear from you either a personal story like, oh, here's what this series has meant to me, or here's something that I've gotten from this series, or maybe a a quick version of your testimony of, oh, I was walking this way, and the Lord was like, turn your cat around, and I did. So a testimony of you turning your cat around as a result of going on this journey together. So think about it, and I would love to hear from you. Something that you've learned or something that you've experienced during this time.
And Kat has the mic, and she will hand you the mic.
Or she will share at some point herself. Oh,
wow.
I'm giving Kat the eye.
Uh-huh. So last week, when Amanda was preaching, I just I don't know. I just had this pit in my stomach. Like, it's kind of been building up. And I was just I don't know.
Just trot. It was not I just haven't been having a good time. And then
I'm not texting somebody. I'm looking up a bible verse, just so you know.
Okay. I remember just getting up and like just ask asking Gretchen to pray with me because just when everything would get hard, I would just run from God and to and run to what I used to do and what felt comfortable even though I knew it was wrong. Like, it was just me being it was blatant sin, you know? And, like, I just I just got to that point. Was like, I can't do this anymore.
And I like how Jay was saying that God is with you in those dark times. I didn't really allow God to be with me in my lows. I'm like, oh, I'm having a low, like I can't be in God's presence right now. And but that's where God wants to meet us in our brokenness. Ness.
And so I had to just like turn the cat around and realize that I am not strong like by myself. You know I can't do this by myself. And as and because I feel like I've been by myself my whole life, the mind my mindset is just like so strong and just stapled into one place. And so allowing God to be my strength and be my help and guiding me, it was just it hasn't been a new concept, but it's just like I'm just, you know, trying to turn around. But I really felt surrendered in that, like, I can't run from God in these times but run to him you know when I'm scared or when things don't make sense because he knows all and he's greater than I am.
And his plan for me is way better than what I can think up and construct for myself.
That's so good. For any of you who have ever had a new job interview, or a a new first date, or like a first day at school, or you know those moments when it is imperative to make a good first impression. We all want to make a good first impression. Imagine meeting the king of the universe. The the Bible says that he weighs out all of the oceans of the earth with one drop of water.
He can measure out all of the mountains with one grain of sand. He can count every grain of sand on every beach in all of the world. He calls the stars by name. When you go to meet that person, don't you think you would want to make a good first impression? And so we are aware of of our own faults, failures, ugliness, filthiness, and so the tendency is to to hide it from the lord.
Who else? But he knows already. Here's the verse that I was looking for. Psalms 32. Oh what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven.
Whose sin is put out of sight. How does it get put out of sight unless it first comes into the light? Yes, what joy for those whose record the lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty, and then this is what I was thinking of. When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night, your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all of my sin to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, I'll confess my rebellion to the lord and you forgave me. All of my guilt is gone. He's pretty amazing like that, isn't he?
Who else? Colin Scott.
Something that you've learned or how you've encountered the Lord over these last couple of weeks?
Colin, will you come stand at the mid Yeah.
I just wanted to touch on briefly what Jay was talked on about purpose and how important that is and how simple it really is. Jay described it, just loving God and loving others. And I know in my own life, I was I was seeking, like, this grandiose purpose and even for the kingdom and failing miserably, but not realizing that my purpose was just in this season was to love my family and love my wife. And so that was that hit me pretty hard. God hit me pretty hard with that.
Just you know, it's it's so simple really, just loving those around you really well. And then I think you can graduate from that season and and have a different purpose in different seasons of your life. And God will will keep growing you in in that.
It's good, Colin.
Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't intend to keep us beat down and like like like like I confess my sin. Oh my goodness. I'm I'm awful.
I'm terrible. And he's like, you are. Now I've I'm I'm I'm gonna forgive you. But that's that's not the god of the bible. The god of the bible is is like you trying to swim in the ocean with the cinder block having been told that it's a life jacket.
Just let go of the cinder block. Let it sink to the bottom of the ocean and experience rebirth and new life. I've been forgiven but not I've been forgiven but I've been forgiven. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. He has no intention of ever keeping us in this place of of like, yep, you're forgiven you're forgiven, but you'll always be downtrodden.
Like, like, don't don't don't let it go to your head. God's like, let it go to your head. Let it go to the tips of your fingers. Let it go all the way down to your toes, and let's run together. Like the Bible says in the book of Song of Psalms where the young woman is speaking at the very beginning.
She says, come take me away with you and let us run together. This this the two fold cry of the human heart of intimacy with the Lord and impact in the world loving God and loving others. And how cool is it that as God loved you Colin, the overflow is, ah, I gotta love my wife. I gotta love my family and love them well and what a great purpose and it's beautiful and fantastic because you are building a beautiful wonderful family and so we love and celebrate that. How about somebody else?
Something that you've learned or been challenged with or how you're growing.
So
I'm have never really been a cat person. Just saying. Just because they usually run off and they're super standoffish, and they'll only let you pet them with your eyes or whatever. Right?
Exactly.
So, I gave my heart to Jesus circa 1988 in high school, and I was radically transformed. And when I was 21, I gave my heart to an atheist with I'm sorry, but he had beautiful brown eyes, and I was a sucker. So, I mean, it's kinda similar, Jay. I mean, you know, he that false god, that idol in my life led me down a path that was full of pain, and it's never worth it, y'all. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but, I was destroyed.
And seven years later, I was destroyed. And I went to my friend's house and cried my eyes out and fell asleep on her ottoman, chair thing, and I woke up and there was a cat, the cat that always hid that wrapped its arms around my neck. And I woke up and this thing was squeezing me and purring and squeezing my
been trying to kill you.
It could've been. It could've been.
He do that too.
Could've been.
I'm taking away from your story.
Sorry. That's totally good. I knew it was the Lord. You know? Even though I had wandered so far away, I knew it was the Lord loving me
Mhmm.
Through this cat of all things. I mean, he's crazy cool. Right? But I tell you what, I mean, you don't even have to, you know, just fall on your face sometimes in repentance before he shows you his love and grace and mercy because that's how good he is.
Yeah. He's he is so good. While the mic travels over to Joy to share, listen, I were reading in the book of Haggai. Don't ask. We just found ourselves in Haggai, and and God's like, I want you to rebuild the temple like this, you know, big building.
And he, like, lavishes his goodness on them after they've only laid the foundation. They just get the foundation, and that took a lot of work. And God's like, this is awesome. Where we would look at and be like, it's just the I've got so far to go. But he's like, look what you've started.
Yeah.
He is a pretty amazing God who reveals himself to us as a good father. And if you grew up with a good father, you're like, yep. I get it. If you grew up with a bad father or no father like I did, you're like, that's what a good father should be. He's so good.
And how good is the principle of that it's his kindness that leads us to repentance?
Mhmm.
I mean, like, could have set that up a lot of ways.
Mhmm.
I mean, and sometimes he uses other things, but, like, that that's his nature. His kindness leads us to repentance.
And in kindness, he loves us so much that he will show you you in a mirror. You're running this game with all your friends, and you think you look so awesome?
One of the recurring themes that I've been that's been coming up in my study throughout this time of the series is how is the the difference between community and independence. And as I was looking or as I've been studying, I've been reading about like, as an American especially as Americans, we're so independent and we're so individualistic and we we we exalt that. And as I was reading it, I was thinking, yeah, like we need to do something about that. Like that's horrible. I see that everywhere.
And slowly God's been like turning the mirror. And I just and it's been putting things into place and I realized, oh, he's talking about me.
Didn't you love that?
I've been leaning really hard on my own. And as we've been talking about turning the cat around, I've just been thinking like, oh, yeah, God's been working with me on this. And so I need to I need to work on surrender and releasing control. And it was I, I, I, I. And I feel that at this point, I need to even confess my own sin of being too focused on individualism and independence and not valuing community enough or letting community or living in community as much as God has called me to.
And so it's turning that around and realizing I can't do life alone. I don't have, like Bea was saying, I don't have enough strength. I can't do it. And that involves getting humble in front of other people instead of trying to like hold it all together on my own.
So would you wanna like pray real quick?
Yes. For? For you. Okay.
And I could pick on Joy because she's one of our on our leadership cadre and founding family.
Lord, I just confess and repent to you. My own reliance on myself and individualism and and exalting independence even in my own life. And I realize how valuable this community is, here at Tribe especially. And, and I pray that you would help, if there's anyone else in here too that realizes that they're not letting people in and but community is the way that you've designed us to live and to thrive. I pray that you give all of us the strength and the courage that we need to turn our cats around and to let other people in and to seek out living in community and to be vulnerable with one another.
And I thank you, father, for for what's ahead. And I I've seen our community begin to turn. It's Cat around through this through this and opening doors for you to to heal and to redeem and to deliver people. And I wanna be a part of that, God. Help me to join in on that.
And We ask you, Jesus. And that this community would just continue to grow and that we could all individually turn our cats around, but help us to continue as a community, Lord, to turn our cat around and to follow your way of living in community. In Jesus' name, amen.
Jesus' name. Help us, Lord.
Cat, were you next? Yeah. I'm Cat.
I It was And I'll make this brief because I know we have important things to get to. It was last month I was taking a bunch of rowdy friends home from the cowboy bar because I was ironically the DD. We wound back up at their place, actually just south of town a little bit, and proceeded to drink a lot more. And a couple of my friends, they took off and they were outside building a snowman or something, who knows? Who knows what people do?
And I was inside with this guy who is kind of like the best way to describe him, he's kind of like Shrek in a way. He's just kind of like a Okay. I don't know how to
put it. No no no
no no. You know, and he has a kind soul, but he's got kind of this gruff exterior, right?
Okay.
And we got onto this topic, we got onto the topic of God. I don't even know how we got there. And pretty soon this grown man was on the floor in tears. And I mean, it was he was yelling at God, I was praying for him, and it was I don't even know where it all stemmed from. And it was so beautiful.
These other people came in and was like, What is happening? I made them go back outside, because I'm like, Not the time. Not the time. And we were just in this divine moment, and meanwhile there's bottles everywhere and there's chaos, but God found this man and used me at that moment. Even in our drunkenness, right?
Mhmm.
And the next next the day,
I was like, man, God, that was so cool.
That was so awesome. He's like, uh-huh, uh-huh. Imagine what I could do with you if you were sober. Oh,
excuse me.
And I went, uh-huh.
And that morphed into taking a break from all of that. From I can't even step foot in the bars. I can't go to the wart. I'm not allowed to the cowboy. And if you guys know me, I love to cut a rug at the cowboy.
Mhmm.
This is
like reverse foot loose. I'm not supposed to dance.
Uh-huh. Now why
you not allowed at the wart or the cowboy?
That's where the
temptation Where did that come from? Who who said that?
God.
It was put
on my heart. It was God.
Yeah. That was put
on my heart. That was the direction I
told you you're not.
No.
The Lord spoke to you and said
That was the only way he could He's like, what do we need to remove so that you can be better? And that was what needed to be removed at this point. So for It kinda turned into a Lent thing. I'm doing this with a friend as well. For forty days, we're not allowed to step foot in those places.
And it was really hard last night. I was out celebrating someone's birthday with one of my friends who not of the Lord, right? That's also I've been made aware of certain friends, Jay, like you were talking about, that don't necessarily keep you on the right track. And I was out with them and they were all going out after and I was really itching to go out to the cowboy.
I'm sorry, baby.
Oh, daddy and baby have something to say. It never bothers us.
It never bothers us. So
it's hard in those times. It's it's difficult, but
Yeah.
It's better this way. So for forty days, not happening. Easter, we'll see what he leads me to next, because now it's up to him. I can't
Yeah.
I'm sick of I'm sick of him not being able to use me to the fullest.
Heading you the wrong way.
Yeah. That's beautiful.
Know Good What
a great story.
What a great story.
Weeks ago, the Lord had me make a confession before my brothers and sisters of pride. And now, initially, when he said that I I said, me? Pride? He goes, yes. You, pride, and judgment.
And it truly broke me to think that I was so willing to carry those unqualities. But I did receive forgiveness, and then but his work wasn't through. He I went home and doing my chores and being outside in the cold, and he said that's you you got more to deal with. And I went, but God wasn't bad enough? He says, no.
He says, if you'll give me humility, you have too much pride. I said, oh, Lord, I wanna pet my cat in the right direction, and I'll do whatever it takes. He was so faithfully kind. He said, I know you will. I just needed to show you.
Thank you, God.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
I was just gonna say this, Colleen, that day that you confessed that, it was, you know, maybe five weeks ago and I feel like that broke you as a spiritual leader in this family. Like, that's what broke open. I mean, we've been seeing physical healings and repentance and everything, but that day you did that, that was the first time someone had just, you know, stepped out and just repented openly of sin and something in the super natural just broke up and for freedom for all of
us. Mhmm.
So thank you for your obedience.
Mhmm. Mhmm.
Brian, I really like the I don't know what sermon was, but you gave us a who can correct us during week three, four, two? Four things. Mhmm. God's word, a leader Mhmm. A friend Mhmm.
Or someone we're leading. And I thought that that the story of Naaman was was super powerful, and it made me think of all the seasons that we're invited to, all the way from toddler through elder years of life, and how we have different opportunities to to let someone correct us or let God's word correct us. And like so many stories have been shared today, how if you're not listening to one, God's gonna use something else. And so last last year, I was I was working pretty hard to try and get a business started, and it got to the point where I wasn't in God's word as much as was healthy. And so instead of God's word correcting me, my wife corrected me and Mhmm.
Invited me to repentance and and to loving her better and to to being a better, disciple of Jesus. So it took a while, but, we got through it, and so many people kept that. Oh, how's it feel to shut down the business? I said, I've been working through this for six months now. So through that, you know, we had Tim and Kathy and and Brian and Alyssa to help us work through, you know, the the start of our marriage and opening and closing a business and just the the tumultuous season of life that was.
So just so appreciative of Keisha and our our tribe family, Joy, Isaac, and the Lacks and all our young adult friends and everything.
Let's celebrate the closing of a business. And
let's Kathy's got
you. Kathy's got you.
Let's celebrate the voice of the Lord speaking through our spouses. So good. Alright. The bible records that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he was meeting with his disciples in the upper room celebrating Passover. The Bible records that during the meal, Jesus took bread.
He blessed it, and then he broke it. He gave it to his disciples and said, take and eat. This is my body which has been given for you. Then Jesus took another cup. It's interesting that it specifically says another cup.
This was the cup of the marriage proposal. The man who had seen, the man whose eyes blaze like fire, who sees all of our faults, all of our weaknesses, all of our failures, all of our excuses, and still pledges himself to us in fidelity and faithful covenantal love. The Bible says that he took another cup. This was the cup that a young man would take and present to a young woman when he was making a marriage proposal to her. If she received the cup and drank from it, it was it was a symbol of them becoming engaged in a similar way that today when a young man gets on his knees and he asks, or will you marry me?
And she says, yes. And the ring goes on her finger. That that moment in our culture is is similar to the significance of this moment in Jesus' culture. And he said, take and drink. This cup represents my life's blood which is poured out for you, and it symbol it symbolizes or ratifies a new covenant that I'm making with you today in my life's blood.
Then he said, I'll not drink again of this fruit of this vine until I drink it anew with you in my father's kingdom. This is the cup of salvation, the cup of redemption, the cup of eternal life, the cup of the Lord. So God, as we come to the table of communion this morning, I ask that you would perform a miracle right here with the bread and the cup. That you would transform these simple common elements into a sacrament, which is merely a means of grace where we can touch you by faith. So that as we come together to partake of this meal, you would somehow, someway, beautifully encounter us.
To one, we would be mindful of your sacrifice. To another, we might be mindful of our own sin and, like, let it go. To another, there would be gratitude. To another, there would be peace. To another, there would be healing.
That you would uniquely and individually encounter each and every one of us as we partake of this meal together. We pray these things in Jesus name and everybody said, amen. Our communion here at Tribe is open to anyone who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved. And for a very inclusive community, anybody is welcome to come in these doors. This sacrament is rather exclusive, and it's not by tribes decision.
It's by dictate of scripture. There are two conditions under which the bible says you can't take communion, and there's one condition on which you can abstain from communion. The two biblical grounds are, if you've not invited Jesus abstain into your life, made him the leader of your life, your savior, like like what Jay was talking about, what Renee was talking about. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If you are not a Christian, communion is not for you.
Number one. Number two, if there is an area of your life that the Holy Spirit would bring to mind that you refuse to repent of. You have unconfessed, unrepented sin. Communion is not for you, and here's why. The Bible says that if you take communion in those two conditions, you actually eat and drink judgment upon yourself from God.
And and he doesn't want that because he's provided a way out from underneath judgment. So here's how you can partake of communion if you find yourself in one of those two areas. Get saved. Just real quick. Jesus, forgive me my sin.
Come into my heart. Give me a brand new forgive me. Give me a brand new life. From this day forward, I commit in the best way that I know how to following you all the days of my life. Guess what?
You just got saved. Number two, if there's unconfessed sin, you just ask him. Lord, please forgive me for And then you just name it out. And then according to first John one nine, the bible says if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just. He will forgive us of our sin and purify us from all what?
Unrighteousness. Then you get to then you're in. And then I said there's a there's a third. If you would rather just abstain from communion, we've been talking so much today about there not being judgment from the Lord nor will there be judgment for us if in your own heart you choose to just remain in your seat. Ain't no judgment.
At Tribe, here's how we partake of communion. In a moment, I'm gonna invite Jay to come up. We'll move some of these things around. We'll we'll get that out of the way. We'll switch to another camera angle.
Jay's gonna help me serve communion. If you come up, I will place the bread in your hand, and then you step to the side, and then you dip the bread into the cup. And then after you've received communion, you can go back to your seat. I think I got all of that. Lily is affirming me.
Yes. You got you got it all, PB. So take a moment, get your mind right, get your heart right, And then as you're ready, you can come forward and receive communion. I'm gonna invite Jada to move this camera somewhere and then come help me.
Present,
God of my present, my future, God of my future. You write, you write my story. I'm confident as seasons change, your faithfulness remains.
The presence of the lord is, oh, it's so good, isn't it? Bible says, recording Jesus' words, you will know the truth and the truth will Speak. Set you free. But if you look closely at that text, there's some really small fine print in that verse. You gotta look really closely.
And it says, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. But first, it will make you miserable. Until we confirm, conform our lives to that truth, turning our cat around. But when we turn our cat around, it sets us free. Thank you for freedom.
Yes. Thank you that we can depend on you. Thank you for acceptance in the midst of vulnerability within the context of community. Everybody's gonna most people are gonna scatter for spring break, and then we'll reconvene once all of the two stroke engines and the bright jackets leave town. We'll get our town back for a few precious weeks before we share it with 4,000,000 of our next newest closest friends of visitors coming through the the valley for the summer.
More people come through Grand Teton National Park in Yellowstone in one summer, then visit Jerusalem in a whole year. And and the summer gets really busy. It'll be so fun to see a new crop of young adults come in for this season, a piece of our hearts go away with, the winter crop of young adults that have been here that we will release and sprout their wings to fly to new exotic locales around the world. One of the things that we're looking at doing this summer, I'll just say it and my team's already like like taking notes and scrambling like, wait, what what is he saying? But we've been talking about it, I think this summer we're going to set up, figure out, we'll create the structure for small groups, for us to, like, come together in community, whether that's, like, like, Shabbat groups on Friday.
It'd be really cool if if everybody I'm looking at Joy. She's like, yeah. Yeah. Go go ahead. It'd be cool if all of our groups happened on Friday as Shabbat, but we can we'll talk about that.
But I'd love for us to do more of this connecting in community throughout the week and whether it's based around Shabbat or a study activity or whatever, we'll look at doing that this summer. Last summer, we also talked about last summer was the first summer that for the month of July, we did a series called Summer at the Movies where our our friends, not maybe not personal, but, like, our church ministry friends, Life Church does a series every July where they take a popular movie, they play a clip, and weave the gospel into it, and it's a great month to invite a friend or bring a friend for each of those four or five Sundays during that. How many of you were here for that last last year? It was it was great. It was great.
Great for me too because I got to sit here in my church community and let Craig Rochelle preach. Bring a message almost as good. So those are some of the things that we we have coming up. We're really really looking forward to the summer. Does it sound too early to start talking about summer?
No. Alright. Good. We're ready. We're ready.
We're ready. I will do I have one other announcement. I'm a invite Elisha to come up and share in just a moment, and then we will worship the Lord one last way through our tithes and offerings, and then we'll get out of here. And so, Elisha, come sit here and tell us about the and Colin, you've been a a part as well. The organization that you've been working with in Riverton and our tribe family has an opportunity to go and serve at a vacation bible school for one week, June 25 through the twenty Eighth.
Eighth. And so tell our tribe fam why it's so important for us to, like, jump in and help out with VBS. Come sit here and tell us.
My dad volunteered me for this.
He did.
That's If it doesn't work out great, you know why. So
for those of you who don't
know me, my name's Elisha. My my parents are Tim and Kathy Vetter here. I've got three sisters running around here somewhere.
And you have two other siblings,
but Two other
siblings, off of college older than me and the middle child. But I don't even get that to myself. I split that with one other. So last summer, I got the opportunity to intern with the church in Riverton called Foundations for Nations. It's more of a ministry than a church.
The church is 10% of what they do down there, but they focus on ministry on the Wind River Reservation to the Lower Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone people on the reservation, mostly the kids. That's their focus. And, yeah, last summer, I got the opportunity to intern with them. And right now, I'm going to college at Central Wyoming College studying wildlife management. And at the same time, I'm getting to do part time ministry with the church there.
And, yeah, I just wanna encourage you guys. I went down there in March 2022, almost exactly a year ago, and March 2023 me is unrecognizable from March 2022 me. And it was like we we were there for literally forty eight hours. We say one night, and the their ministry down there just touched me, more than I can even describe. And just that small act of stepping out in service there was like a a gateway drug for me to purpose and vision and by understanding understanding what God had for me outside of my outside of my Christian upbringing.
And, yeah, like I said, I just wanna encourage all you guys to just press in, see what God has for you. Everybody has a different calling. For me, this was it. And for me, there's no greater joy at all than than serving. Like I said, it's that's how I get filled up now.
Like, resting doesn't feel like rest at all because it's just like I'm not doing what I enjoy doing. So, man, I didn't mean to get emotional up here.
Elisha, tell us I just know one thing when we were down there together, you and I, just I mean, they're our neighbors. Right? I mean, we could we could long to go on missions overseas, and that's wonderful. But these are our neighbors Riverton, so close in our backyard and we live in this beautiful bubble of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Yeah.
And you
go down there and just tell them like some of the the vision of why Foundations for Nations is so committed to reaching these kids, like, just so they'll
see.
The Wind River Reservation is an extreme poverty and just there's just a cloud over that land right now. That's like, poverty is just the tip of the iceberg. Like, addiction, drugs, like, there are 13 year old kids out there who have been exposed to more than I ever will be exposed to. Like, abuse, addiction, There are people in need. And June twenty fifth through twenty eighth, you guys have the opportunity to come down.
And if God put if God puts it on your heart and help us, there's no lack of work to be done. The harvest is right, but the labors are few. There's so much to do out there, and it's was obviously such an amazing experience for me. It's if if it's anything for you like it was for me, then you'll get way more out of it than you could ever give. So, yeah, we there's you guys will be helping with VBS.
They do a Monday through Wednesday kids programming down there. Five to 12 year olds, there's Monday night homeless ministries, Wednesday night youth group. And, yeah, it's just an amazing time to pour out to those kids and for them to pour into you because like I said, you get I got way more out of it than I could ever give. And, yeah, it's an amazing opportunity. Like I said, if God puts it on your heart, we'd love to have you.
There's plenty of room in that bus out there. Yeah. I'm, like, I'm, like, pumped to see you guys down there this summer.
Awesome. Thanks.
Thank you, Elisha.
Colin has been down there as well over this past year. Just went down just to signed up on on the fridge right there and got his life rocked as well. So after we all come back from spring break and after Easter, we'll have an official how many of y'all have been down there before either on a service trip or VBS? Oh, could you? Didn't y'all yeah.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Y'all went. And so so this is this is what we're doing. June twenty fifth through twenty eighth after Easter, we'll have a sign up sheet. Y'all sign up, help if you're like, but I don't even like kids.
Oh, it's okay.
There's a lot of things
to do.
There's there's a lot of ways to engage. And so as we talk about giving of our time, of our precious time with the summers that are so short around here. It's a great segue to talking about giving of our treasure and a portion of our finances to the Lord. It's all yours, Lord. It's all yours.
You gave everything for me. And so why would I not give back everything to you? It's all available to you and I just become a steward of my time, my talent, and my resources. They're yours. I am just a steward of what you pour through me.
And if you want me to use a portion of my precious summer doing this, which we did last summer, my yes is on the table. All of my finances are yours. My yes is on the table. And so as we come to bring our tithes and offerings before the Lord, our yes is on the table. How much and whatever you want us to give.
There are a couple of ways to give. I'll pray and then we'll we'll dismiss. You can there there's a little black box right out front the front doors. People have said, I looked for that black box. I couldn't find it.
It's on the outside of the building. Not inside, outside. So you can give that way. You can give through the website. A lot of people give through the text to give.
And like Amanda always says, if you just open up a new text to 84321, and then in the message field, type any amount, press send. If it's the first time you're giving, you'll be invited to enter in your bank card information. After that, it's as easy as texting a friend. That's how most people give here at Tribe. I'll pray over tithes and offerings, and then I will dismiss us, and we can scurry on.
Lord Jesus, you've given everything to us, for us. Your word says in the book of Psalms chapter two, ask and I'll give you the nations as your inheritance. You could have asked for anything. Like, the cattle on a thousand hills are yours. Heaven is described of streets paved with gold, but you gave your life for us.
The only reasonable thing is out of a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude for us to lay our life down for you. Included in that, we give with a happy heart a portion of our hard earned finances that comes from the calluses on our hand, the sweat of our brow. We freely give back to you and tell you that we love you, and we are so thankful. God, I ask that you would receive these tithes and offerings. Use them to make your name famous here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, to the surrounding region including Riverton and all the way to the uttermost bounds of the earth to evoke the beauty of your bride.
We pray these things in Jesus name and everybody said,
amen. One more quick announcement before you. Schedule coming up Oh, yes. And Easter. So, look on the fridge where all the important stuff is.
Your report card,
you know, all those things.
Pictures of your sponsored child.
Yep. Mom puts it all in the fridge.
Okay. So, this coming Tuesday is young adults send off. So it'll be anyone is welcome just like a regular Tuesday, but all our young adults who have been with us all winter that are now off to the next season, we're just gonna do a dinner and a send off for them. So that's Tuesday. And then Sunday, April 2, so the Sunday this next Sunday, we will not do service here in this building.
But if you are invited, if you'd like to, a bunch of people are gonna go do ski church and support our friends who do the ski church every single Sunday. Jay, what's the details on that?
It's at JHMR. Ten AMs on Sundays. Yeah. There's a whole crew that's rally 50% off for you guys and pass it around.
Cool. And then Tuesday, business as usual, what's it say?
What's it say? Yeah. You can read that from there. Dude, the little
precious young eyes. I'm like, oh. So just I'll send that out too. I'll blast that out to everyone so you don't have to remember. But just remember next Sunday, no church here in this building.
But if you wanna join out at Ski Church, we'll be doing that. Then Easter.
Easter is big because we've got a couple of things working against the normal flow of our community at large. The village will have closed or is closing that day, and so a lot of people are running hither and thither, either out to the village or out of town, and that is a detractant for all of the church's Easter services, number one. Number two, it is right after spring break and people are still discombobulated trying to get their heads screwed on straight. And we, as a tribe family, are going to do Easter service this this year sort of outdoors. It'll be indoors, but, like, outdoors.
We're going to be meeting at the fairgrounds right out here near the ice rink that's there in the winter. We're gonna have a white tent that will be set up. We're gonna have flooring. I mean, just wear boots anyways. We You guys all
If we need it, we will. But dress warm, but there'll be heaters and walls. It'll be fine.
Mhmm.
We're gonna rock it out. Full band.
Full band, one service. So, make plans for you to come and make plans to bring several friends. Right on the table here, there are invites. Take a small stack of invites. Don't ask people, hey, do you have plans for Easter?
Ask your friends, what are your plans for Easter? And they'll go, I don't have plans. And then you go, swamp. And say, like, come with me to Easter service. It's such an open door for all of your, like like, beer drinking, carousing, ski bum friends.
That's the nation I love. Mhmm. That wouldn't otherwise come to church. There's there's two open heart windows every year to invite people to church. First one is Christmas.
Second one is Easter. So it's a you'll get a yes. Alright? So invite your friends to Easter service. We also have one other we have a few of these.
It's at 10:00 right here at the fairground, Sunday morning, one service, all of us out there in the tent. We also have a few, like, little pre made, like, pull out a flyer thing. Would would you hold that up? We have a few of those.
We have 12 of them.
We have 12 of those.
They all need to go today.
They need to go. Put them at your work. Put them in your locker room, up at the mob. Put them wherever you like live, work, and play. Alright?
Let me pray over each of those while you stand up, and I'll pray over you too. Okay? Lord, use our lives like you would use one of these invitations to invite people into a brand new, amazing, incredible life. Father, I command a blessing over each and every member of our tribe fam here today and those, all of our friends and families that are watching the livestream. I command a blessing over their lives.
Keep them safe over spring break. Lord, let the sunshine of your life into our hearts just like we're getting more and more sunshine here in the valley. May each one of those invitations go out and accomplish its purpose.
Yeah.
Pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. Amen. I'm gonna invite Lee and Colleen Martin to stick around if there's anything that you need prayer for. Grab a little more fruit, one more, or three more doughnut holes.
Get out of here. Have a great week. And remember, you got this.
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