>> Pastor Eric
00:00:00.080 Well, you can be seated, and today we
00:00:03.560 have a couple special treats for you.
00:00:05.380 First and foremost, Carlos, here leading worship, is helping us out while
00:00:09.440 Rachel's away. If you haven't heard the news, I heard a few people say, "I didn't
00:00:13.060 know," Rachel had the baby, our fourth baby, just a week
00:00:17.020 and a half ago. She's here as well, but we're taking a little couple weeks
00:00:21.100 off, so Carlos is helping with worship.
00:00:23.100 We also have Pastor JD, who's from Cornerstone right down the
00:00:26.840 road. He's on staff there. He's been doing ministry for 18 years,
00:00:30.520 full-time ministry. I know he doesn't look that old.
00:00:32.640 He started in elementary school, and now he's been doing full-time ministry.
00:00:36.340 I'm kidding, by the way. But 18 years in full-time ministry, married, two kids,
00:00:40.600 Great man. I've gotten to connect with him over the last couple of months, and even had
00:00:43.920 lunch with him this past week and really gotten to connect and really befriend him.
00:00:47.420 And
00:00:48.440 I'm so excited for what he's going to bring for us today.
00:00:50.920 I heard it already, so I'm like, I already know. I'm really, really excited.
00:00:53.980 I kind of told everyone in the first service, but now I know it's going to be
00:00:57.140 really, really good. So take notes.
00:00:59.780 Receive what God has for you, because I believe God wants to speak something.
00:01:03.180 He wants every single one of us to leave here a little bit more like
00:01:06.840 Jesus, or a lot more like Jesus, when we leave here today.
00:01:10.200 But I'm just excited because Cornerstone and us and several other churches
00:01:14.060 locally, we've been working together, just being in prayer together, really
00:01:17.800 seeking how do we be in unity, stop competing with one
00:01:21.580 another, and share resources, share and work together for the
00:01:25.440 kingdom of God to get bigger and for the kingdom of hell to get smaller.
00:01:29.010 Because here's the reality. There are tens of thousands of people right around this
00:01:32.240 community and this surrounding area that don't know Jesus, or are not
00:01:35.660 connected to a life-giving church.
00:01:37.620 We want to help work together so that more people could enter the
00:01:41.500 kingdom of heaven. Amen? How many of you are on board with that mission? Right?
00:01:45.420 We're going to work together. So Pastor JD—Pastor Paul, the lead pastor—he's
00:01:48.920 like, "I'm going to send you JD. He's the best." And I asked for him, "Send me the
00:01:52.460 best. I don't want your crumbs. I want the best." And we got the best that there is
00:01:56.260 to offer. So JD, come on up. I'm going to pray, and then we'll
00:02:00.340 welcome him. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for this building we get to
00:02:03.980 worship in, God, that we can worship you. God, we thank you for your presence.
00:02:07.320 We thank you for your word. God, I thank you for the gift that Pastor JD is to
00:02:11.160 your kingdom. God, I pray you'd speak through him today.
00:02:14.220 God, use him mightily. Let us receive what it is you have for each and every one
00:02:18.160 of us. And I pray you would receive all the praise, all the honor, and all the
00:02:21.440 glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
>> JD Lowry
00:02:23.450 Amen. Thanks, brother. Appreciate you. Hey.
00:02:26.800 Hey, wait, before you go down. So this morning—
00:02:29.900 Who wore it better?
00:02:30.500 He
>> Pastor Eric
00:02:31.440 He texted me, he's like, "What are you going to wear?" I was like, "I don't know.
00:02:33.960 What do you want to wear?" And he's like, "What if we coordinate?" I was like, "All
00:02:37.140 right, sounds good."
>> JD Lowry
00:02:37.829 Not true. Don't lie.
>> Pastor Eric
00:02:38.460 All right. I'm totally lying.
>> JD Lowry
00:02:39.340 You're in church.
>> Pastor Eric
00:02:39.760 We just showed up, and I go, "You have got to be kidding me right now."
00:02:43.680 So this was just a complete coincidence, but like-minded brother.
>> JD Lowry
00:02:46.910 It's true.
00:02:46.960 All right. Yes, absolutely. Hey, thank you, Pastor Eric, for having me.
00:02:50.720 My name is JD. I'm at Cornerstone. It's good to be with you.
00:02:55.400 I want to say a special thanks and congratulations
00:02:59.180 to Eric and Rachel for baby Brielle.
00:03:02.400 She is sitting right over here. You can't see her, but she looks a
00:03:06.340 little something like that. And so we are so excited for
00:03:10.160 you. And you now
00:03:12.780 have four kids. You know what that means?
00:03:16.080 Zero sleep is what that means. And you asked me to speak, and
00:03:20.040 I'm going to take that in faith as a compliment and not as a result of sleep
00:03:24.060 deprivation. Okay? So hopefully you made the right call by
00:03:27.900 having me come today. Hey, what Eric and
00:03:31.800 Rachel and this entire church is trying to
00:03:35.040 build is something real. This is not a
00:03:38.900 joke. They're not playing church. This is the real deal.
00:03:42.760 I got to meet him and, Pastor Eric, I will tell you,
00:03:46.900 the same guy. I've gotten to listen.
00:03:48.880 This is actually my first time ever in the building, other than this past week.
00:03:52.800 I stopped in for five minutes. But this is my first time ever in the building.
00:03:55.900 So if you're new here, hey, I'm new, too. So that's cool.
00:04:00.200 But I'm super glad to be a part of this, and I will
00:04:04.140 tell you that I can read when people are
00:04:07.940 different when they're on stage than when they're off stage. He is the same guy.
00:04:11.760 He is the same guy that you get on stage and off stage, and I am not just saying
00:04:15.240 that. I really, really do mean that, and that is a big deal.
00:04:19.200 And this church, if you are wondering what it's about,
00:04:23.180 the vision statement is right there.
00:04:25.010 This church, Pastor Eric and company, wants to be a church known
00:04:28.980 to help people know God, to find freedom, to
00:04:32.420 discover purpose, and to make an impact.
00:04:36.900 We're not playing church. This is real.
00:04:40.740 He wants, and this church wants, to help you
00:04:44.160 know God. Like, really know him.
00:04:47.020 To find freedom. To be released from some stuff.
00:04:50.340 We're actually going to talk about that today.
00:04:52.600 To help determine and discover your God-given purpose,
00:04:57.180 so that you can go out into the world and not just be like, "Yeah, I went to
00:05:01.280 church at Freedom Church. Check." No, so you can go out into the world
00:05:05.200 and make an impact. Like a real one. A real one.
00:05:07.800 And so it is an honor to be here. And so
00:05:11.920 the question is, if we are at Freedom Church, and if
00:05:16.020 one of the values of Freedom Church is to help people find freedom, then
00:05:19.960 how do you go about finding freedom?
00:05:22.780 Well, the answer is,
00:05:25.140 you can't.
00:05:26.940 Let's pray. Just kidding. No, there actually is a way, but the
00:05:30.980 only way you can truly find freedom
00:05:33.680 is if you determine the things that are keeping you
00:05:37.560 from freedom.
00:05:40.140 And here's what I want you to know before we go any further.
00:05:43.140 Today, whether you're in the room and you've been a Christian for a long time,
00:05:47.160 or you're watching online. I see you, sir, in your PJs. Yes, I do.
00:05:52.040 Whether you've been here forever, whether you're brand new.
00:05:55.960 I know there's some new faces here today.
00:05:57.670 I'm so glad that we get to do this together.
00:06:00.540 Whether you just accepted Jesus or whether you walked in the door and you're not
00:06:03.780 100% sure why you're here today, but you're here. I
00:06:07.596 believe that God is going to speak to you in some way through
00:06:11.576 his word today.
00:06:14.056 And so the reason I think that is because the thing we're going to be talking
00:06:17.596 about, it's not just a Bible thing. No. It's more than just a Bible thing.
00:06:21.456 The thing we're going to talk about today is a human thing.
00:06:24.476 It's something that each and every one of us deals with, and that we
00:06:30.016 struggle through. And so if we want to find freedom,
00:06:34.616 what do we need to do to find freedom?
00:06:37.846 Well, I want to give it to you. Are you guys ready? This is a big moment.
00:06:41.216 Are you ready to hear how to find freedom? Yeah. Yep. Okay.
00:06:45.096 The answer is through
00:06:47.856 self-discipline.
00:06:53.336 Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. You're not super excited about that.
00:06:56.896 Yeah. Actually, that's not true. Some people in this room
00:07:00.936 are excited to talk about self-discipline.
00:07:04.096 There's two camps here. There's the people that are in camp number one, and they're
00:07:07.856 like, "I love self-discipline. I am a
00:07:11.536 super disciplined person. In fact, I meal prep every
00:07:15.316 Sunday night for the week." I'm that person, right?
00:07:18.456 There's somebody in here who's like, "You know what?
00:07:20.216 I write in my journal every morning at 5:00 a.m." Okay?
00:07:24.436 There are people who are like, "I have a system for everything."
00:07:28.456 Right?
00:07:29.516 There are people in this room right now that you are so
00:07:33.536 excited because you are mentally categorizing where
00:07:37.116 your self-discipline is strong and where it's weak.
00:07:39.576 There are people in this room, this is no lie, that have a spreadsheet running
00:07:43.556 in their minds. Right now, it's developing.
00:07:46.116 Right now, in their minds, to talk about self-discipline because they
00:07:49.976 love this topic so much. And then there's the majority of us who are like,
00:07:54.426 "All right, great. So here comes the guilt trip.
00:07:57.956 He's going to talk to me about self-discipline, and this is going to be a lot of
00:08:01.996 fun. Yeah, no, not really, because I tried the self-discipline thing
00:08:05.836 before, and it did not go well.
00:08:09.216 So I am not exactly excited to hear
00:08:13.536 what you have to say. And now there's this guy that Pastor Eric brought
00:08:17.556 in, and he's going to talk to me about all the areas of my life that need
00:08:21.036 improving.
00:08:23.136 This is going to be great. This is going to be great." Well,
00:08:27.336 I want to talk to both groups—those of you who are excited about things, about the topic
00:08:31.056 of self-discipline, and those of you who dread the topic of self-discipline.
00:08:34.756 And that is that all of us are doing better than we think in certain areas
00:08:38.776 of our lives when it comes to self-discipline, and all of us have areas where we
00:08:42.536 could improve with self-discipline, because we are human,
00:08:46.676 and we are in process
00:08:48.876 of becoming who God wants us to be.
00:08:51.836 There's a passage in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 that talks
00:08:55.716 about self-discipline. I want to read it to you as our theme verse for today.
00:08:59.966 It says this. It says, "For the moment, how
00:09:03.756 much discipline seems
00:09:06.776 painful rather than pleasant?" How much?
00:09:08.976 All. "All of it seems painful rather than pleasant.
00:09:12.716 But when?"
00:09:14.456 Later. "Later, it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been
00:09:18.056 trained by it." Let me read it again. You fill in the blanks.
00:09:21.105 "For the moment, all..."
00:09:23.676 Discipline. "Seems painful rather than" what? Pleasant.
00:09:27.186 "But..." Later. "It yields peaceful fruit of righteousness for
00:09:31.016 those who have been..."
00:09:32.736 Trained.
00:09:33.116 Trained.
00:09:33.856 Thank you. Very good. Yeah.
00:09:36.576 You had too much coffee, I think.
00:09:39.356 Yeah. In other words, listen, we all know this,
00:09:44.516 that when it comes to self-discipline, the pain is on
00:09:48.616 the upfront side, and the reward is on the back end.
00:09:52.506 And that is the opposite of temptation, which we're going to talk about in
00:09:56.656 just a little bit. But one of the best tools I've ever seen to help us
00:10:00.556 visualize the different areas of our lives that really require
00:10:04.516 focus and attention is something that the late Zig Ziglar
00:10:08.636 developed. It's called the Wheel of Life.
00:10:10.816 It looks kind of like this, and it is filled with these main
00:10:14.656 categories or spokes of our lives.
00:10:16.836 And so these are the main categories or spokes of our lives.
00:10:19.616 You could basically narrow down your life into one of these six categories.
00:10:23.795 Okay? And the idea behind the Wheel of
00:10:27.776 Life is that if the wheels or the spokes are somewhat
00:10:31.816 balanced, if you're focusing on each of these different areas or spokes of your
00:10:35.876 life, that your life is going to roll pretty well.
00:10:39.266 But if you decide not to focus on an area,
00:10:43.276 if you decide to neglect it or spend a lot of time in one of
00:10:47.296 these areas but no time in the other areas, it's going to get warped.
00:10:51.186 And it's going to look kind of like this.
00:10:53.616 And a life like that,
00:10:55.436 it doesn't roll along. You sort of just limp
00:10:59.076 along through life.
00:11:01.716 And I, like, in honor of America 250 this summer, which we're going to
00:11:05.716 be celebrating, I want to honor Abraham Lincoln with a quote that he said
00:11:09.536 about self-discipline. He wrote this.
00:11:11.336 He said, "Self-discipline is choosing between what you
00:11:14.816 want now and what you want most." It's
00:11:18.816 almost like he read from Hebrews chapter 12.
00:11:22.556 And his quote could either be very
00:11:25.676 inspiring to us,
00:11:28.336 or it could be very depressing to us.
00:11:31.176 Or maybe in some areas of our life, it is inspiring.
00:11:33.756 In other areas, it's a little depressing because you have a lot of room to grow.
00:11:38.636 Now, I want to pause for just a second, and I want to speak to those of
00:11:42.576 you who are specifically followers of Jesus.
00:11:45.016 You've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior to be the leader of your life.
00:11:49.496 If you are not in that camp, I first want to say super glad you're
00:11:53.096 here. I want you to hear this message, would love for you to consider following
00:11:56.776 Jesus, but this part is not for you.
00:11:58.616 But this part is mandated by scripture for those of us who are
00:12:02.416 followers of Jesus, and that is that God is not just a spoke on
00:12:06.396 the wheel. He is the hub of the
00:12:09.496 wheel. He is the center of everything, that all these different
00:12:13.384 spokes of our lives, they revolve around God at the center, and
00:12:17.344 that everything filters out through him, through his
00:12:20.924 Spirit that works within us.
00:12:24.004 Because here's the truth, and I'm going to prove this through a scripture verse.
00:12:27.144 The truth is that you are not a physical being having a
00:12:30.964 spiritual experience. Pastor Carlos, my Nicaraguan brother,
00:12:35.144 just got up here. Did you hear a little Nicaraguan in him?
00:12:37.984 Yeah.
00:12:38.004 Did you hear it? Oh, I love it. He doesn't say "the," he says "duh."
00:12:41.654 "I throw up my hands and praise You again and again..." I love it so much.
00:12:45.504 I love that guy. But anyway,
00:12:48.484 he was leading us through an experience.
00:12:51.904 He and the team were up here. And so it would be easy to think, oh, I just had a
00:12:55.644 spiritual experience, but I am a physical person.
00:12:58.664 No, I'm here to tell you that you are
00:13:00.764 a spiritual being having a physical
00:13:05.084 experience right now. Your entire life is, in fact.
00:13:08.964 Paul was writing to his mentee, his name was Timothy, and he wrote
00:13:12.964 this to his mentee. He said, "Physical training is of
00:13:17.004 some value." Okay? It's a good thing.
00:13:19.884 But godliness, understanding that you are a spiritual being,
00:13:24.484 godliness has value for all things, holding
00:13:28.384 promise for both the present life and the life
00:13:32.344 to come. Now, it says physical training is of some value,
00:13:36.304 but if we were to put that spoke wheel back up for just a moment, you could really
00:13:40.184 replace that with another spoke and say something like,
00:13:43.764 financial training is of some value.
00:13:46.744 It's good to be wise with your finances.
00:13:50.204 But that's not the end-all be-all.
00:13:52.084 It says you need to focus on godliness, because
00:13:56.104 that has value right now, but also
00:14:00.004 long into the future. In fact, it has eternal implications.
00:14:05.304 So why is it important that we do this?
00:14:09.204 Well, it's because we are spiritual beings, and we are beings that
00:14:13.144 are temporarily living in an earthly body.
00:14:17.004 So
00:14:18.064 while we're here, while we have a pulse,
00:14:21.324 what if we were able to focus on these six different areas of our lives,
00:14:25.564 these six different spokes, to improve in order
00:14:29.504 to make our lives more well-balanced, in order to honor God in
00:14:33.504 each of these six spokes of our lives?
00:14:36.804 See, the truth is that we know deep down—in—that discipline
00:14:40.584 works, don't we? We understand that.
00:14:43.024 We fully agree with old Abe's quote, right?
00:14:46.504 This logic is airtight. There's no question about that.
00:14:50.524 The problem is that you and I know what is right,
00:14:55.464 and yet often we don't do it. It's so hard.
00:14:59.464 Why is that? What is that thing that causes it to be so hard?
00:15:03.284 Well, it's a little word called temptation.
00:15:08.684 It can be defined as this. Temptation
00:15:12.744 is the desire to do something, especially something
00:15:16.644 wrong or unwise. For example, let me
00:15:20.904 give it to you this way. There are three different types of people
00:15:24.604 in this room.
00:15:27.004 There are people-- This is going to relate.
00:15:29.704 Trust me, if there's any analogy that's going to land, it's going to be this one.
00:15:32.644 There are people who love salty food, salty
00:15:36.264 snacks, people who love sweet snacks, and then there are
00:15:40.174 people like me who say, "Why choose?
00:15:43.644 Let's just go with both of them." In other words, if you were to put a bag of
00:15:46.504 Doritos in front of me, consider them eaten.
00:15:49.684 Same with a Hershey Kiss. But if you were to take a pretzel and dip it
00:15:53.684 in chocolate, salty and sweet, now we're talking, and I
00:15:57.724 have no hope for being able to hold back.
00:16:00.244 Is anybody with me? Temptation
00:16:04.604 is the desire to do something—that is,
00:16:08.244 especially something that is wrong
00:16:11.244 or unwise.
00:16:13.204 And by the way,
00:16:15.144 we're not just talking about chocolate-covered pretzels here.
00:16:18.224 We're talking about real temptations, like the stuff
00:16:22.184 that can really make a long
00:16:25.904 negative impact on your life.
00:16:28.444 There are people in this room where—your finances,
00:16:32.464 you have no financial freedom at all.
00:16:33.844 In fact, you're living up to here in debt, consumer debt.
00:16:38.204 And the reason is because you get tempted every single
00:16:41.924 time you get on your Amazon Prime app and you see,
00:16:45.884 oh, there's a flash deal.
00:16:48.564 And you can't help but hit that button because it's just so easy.
00:16:52.224 It's linked to my card, and then it shows up at my door.
00:16:58.204 And the debt just keeps going like this because of the temptation
00:17:02.484 of the things that you're seeing on that app.
00:17:05.264 For some of you, it's your email. In fact, for some of you, your
00:17:09.024 phone in your pocket has buzzed at some point during this
00:17:12.805 service.
00:17:14.504 And it buzzed, and you know that it is a work email.
00:17:18.844 And you know that you could just take just a little second to go ahead and
00:17:22.664 just respond to that, because if I do it now, I won't have to do it later.
00:17:27.344 If I do it now, I don't have to do it later.
00:17:29.694 And it's one thing to do it whenever JD's up here speaking, but it's another
00:17:33.684 thing when you're sitting with your family and your kids are there and you're like,
00:17:36.524 "Hey, I'll be with you in just a— Yeah, you're doing good. Yeah.
00:17:40.464 I'll be— Yeah. Let me just respond to this text."
00:17:43.364 It's a conviction of mine, I know that.
00:17:48.184 There are people in this room where your temptation is
00:17:52.444 you want companionship and love and to feel
00:17:56.064 valued so badly that you are running from negative, toxic
00:18:00.104 relationship to negative, toxic relationship over and over and
00:18:04.144 over again. And you know that it's not right.
00:18:07.344 You know that it's bad. You know that that's not the right person for
00:18:11.404 you, and yet you allow the temptation of now to
00:18:15.364 trump
00:18:17.004 what you want most later. And then we
00:18:20.774 all have temptations when we're alone, right?
00:18:25.374 When we're on a screen,
00:18:27.354 when no one's around,
00:18:29.494 and it's just us.
00:18:32.734 And we have these little lies that I'm going to tell you about in a minute that
00:18:35.494 whisper into our head that no one's going to find out. It's going to be fine.
00:18:40.634 So we click,
00:18:42.314 and we watch,
00:18:44.414 or we listen,
00:18:46.274 or we do.
00:18:49.534 These habits that form that eventually, the temptation doesn't even
00:18:53.534 have to try too hard because we're so hooked into the thing that we're doing, that
00:18:57.074 it has just taken control of our lives.
00:19:01.134 There are a million examples of temptations out there,
00:19:04.674 moments when something is unwise or is
00:19:08.374 wrong, but we don't care because we want it now
00:19:13.114 versus what we know we need most.
00:19:16.394 And temptation, it's tricky. It's tricky because it
00:19:20.294 promises us certain things. It lies to us in certain
00:19:24.054 ways, and it says to us, "Hey, this is
00:19:28.154 going to feel good.
00:19:31.694 What you're about to do is no big deal.
00:19:37.074 You're not going to get caught. It's fine." It's
00:19:40.634 basically harmless.
00:19:44.214 It looks good,
00:19:46.254 it feels good, and it ends
00:19:49.934 bad.
00:19:51.094 It ends bad. Maybe not right away,
00:19:54.714 but eventually, it leads to destruction.
00:19:58.874 I'm not much of a fisherman, but I have been fishing a few times
00:20:02.754 throughout my life, and this one particular time, I went to this beautiful lake
00:20:06.694 where you could literally see to the bottom of the lake.
00:20:08.854 I could see the fish swimming around.
00:20:10.194 I felt like I was cheating because I could see what I was trying to catch, right?
00:20:14.274 And so I cast my line. I'm literally staring at the
00:20:18.314 fish. I'm standing on the line. I see where the fish are.
00:20:20.214 I throw my bait right into—off my pole—right into the water.
00:20:24.054 I'm watching this one fish, super interested.
00:20:26.234 He was very intrigued by my bait.
00:20:28.574 He comes swimming up,
00:20:31.674 takes a little sniff. Do fish sniff?
00:20:35.554 It seemed like he sniffed. I don't know.
00:20:37.474 But anyway, he—
00:20:40.494 and then he swam away.
00:20:42.534 But then he was like, "Hmm, that thing's still sitting there." He went right back
00:20:46.314 up to it, gave it another sniff, but he backed away.
00:20:50.074 So I was like, "Hmm."
00:20:51.614 I reeled in my line, changed my bait,
00:20:56.054 buried that hook,
00:20:58.714 threw it back in, and
00:21:01.014 bam.
00:21:02.534 Got him. Got him.
00:21:05.294 It was perfect.
00:21:07.294 See,
00:21:09.974 this
00:21:11.974 is what temptation looks like.
00:21:15.554 Listen,
00:21:16.974 you grab that thing, and you put it in your mouth, and I can guarantee you, it is
00:21:20.974 going to taste good.
00:21:24.294 It is going to feel good.
00:21:27.174 The problem is
00:21:28.394 there
00:21:32.494 is—ouch.
00:21:35.904 There is a hook
00:21:38.614 inside of it.
00:21:40.374 Every single time,
00:21:42.974 there is a hook.
00:21:47.154 That's exactly how temptation works.
00:21:49.694 See, you and I, we have a real enemy,
00:21:53.894 and his ways are not random. His ways are not accidental.
00:21:57.914 He is a mastermind at deception—in
00:22:01.774 making things look appealing, feel appealing
00:22:05.734 in the moment, and he makes things and manufactures
00:22:09.614 things that are almost irresistible to us.
00:22:13.994 See, temptation, it doesn't hide the hook because
00:22:17.934 it's weak.
00:22:19.674 No. It hides the hook because it's good at its job.
00:22:24.854 Here's what the Bible says. The Bible is incredibly
00:22:27.894 practical and helpful in daily life, and there's a guy named
00:22:31.734 James who wrote the Book of James, and James is actually the
00:22:35.154 half-brother of Jesus. A lot of people don't realize that.
00:22:38.513 Half-brother of Jesus. They have the same mom, but very different dads.
00:22:42.394 You want to be—don't want to be confused about that.
00:22:45.154 And so he starts off this one particular verse with
00:22:48.854 two words in James 1:13, and he says
00:22:52.834 this: "When
00:22:54.674 tempted." When tempted. Notice it doesn't say,
00:22:58.394 "If tempted."
00:23:00.474 It doesn't say, "For the rare few who occasionally are
00:23:04.334 tempted." He says, "When tempted."
00:23:08.334 If you ever want to know if you are going to grow out—be so
00:23:12.434 spiritually mature in your Christian faith that you grow out of
00:23:16.094 being prone to temptation, just ask Jesus.
00:23:19.254 Because as he was entering into ministry, he was tempted by the evil
00:23:23.094 one. You and I will never grow out of being tempted by
00:23:26.954 something.
00:23:29.814 James goes on to say, he says, "Each person
00:23:33.634 is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil
00:23:37.334 desires and enticed."
00:23:40.774 Enticed. I want to focus on that word.
00:23:43.574 That word enticed in the original Greek, you want to know what it means?
00:23:47.774 It literally means to be baited,
00:23:51.994 like a fish.
00:23:54.794 To be enticed is to be baited, and here's the part that
00:23:58.694 stings a little bit, and that is that you and I, we
00:24:02.634 wouldn't bite into that temptation if there weren't something
00:24:06.114 inside of us that wanted to.
00:24:10.834 We are always going to have this tension inside of us.
00:24:14.094 For those of us who are followers of Jesus, there's this tension inside of us that
00:24:17.434 we have Jesus living inside of us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
00:24:21.194 When we accept Jesus in, we have this tension of the Holy Spirit living
00:24:25.114 inside of us, and then we have our old fleshly nature, and they're constantly
00:24:29.014 tugging and pulling against each other, right?
00:24:32.734 Always tugging and pulling against each
00:24:35.754 other. And so whenever that happens
00:24:39.966 and we are tempted to do the wrong thing, when we
00:24:44.026 fall into that, we are falling into our sinful, earthly nature
00:24:47.746 versus allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us.
00:24:50.966 And that is because we are enticed, we are
00:24:53.906 baited by
00:24:57.266 something, by some sort of temptation.
00:25:00.546 In other words, James is saying
00:25:03.166 no one is really a victim when it comes to falling into temptation.
00:25:06.816 We are all volunteers. That's literally what he's saying.
00:25:11.066 Now,
00:25:12.286 I just want to be clear. This is not God shaming you for
00:25:15.886 falling into temptation. No. This is God showing you
00:25:19.886 what is true through his word.
00:25:22.866 It's showing you that the truth is in there
00:25:27.186 and that the truth is the first step you need to know in order to change.
00:25:31.066 You see, a fisherman's whole entire purpose is to make the bait
00:25:35.106 look so good, make it look so appealing, and to bury the
00:25:39.046 hook, that it becomes invisible, that you do not see the
00:25:43.046 hook. And every temptation, it works.
00:25:45.686 Even though they're all different, they work and say the same kinds of things.
00:25:49.666 It whispers things. Like I have in my notes, I have here, it whispers
00:25:53.546 things like,
00:25:54.926 "You deserve it."
00:25:58.106 It whispers, "You'll be fine."
00:26:01.566 It whispers,
00:26:03.066 "No one's going to know."
00:26:05.766 It whispers,
00:26:07.986 "Why don't you just give up?"
00:26:10.166 It's not worth it. You're not worth it."
00:26:13.526 It whispers,
00:26:15.146 "Just this once."
00:26:17.046 It whispers,
00:26:18.706 "Just this once, and next time you can do it
00:26:22.346 differently."
00:26:24.586 Sound familiar?
00:26:26.366 That's the bait talking, and James, he has a word
00:26:30.626 for what that bait is doing to you when you're being baited, being enticed.
00:26:34.506 He says this in the next verse. He says, "Don't be deceived."
00:26:38.306 That's the word. "Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters."
00:26:42.286 When you believe what the bait tells you, you are being
00:26:45.986 deceived. The bait is lying to
00:26:49.946 you.
00:26:51.346 It always has,
00:26:53.486 and it always will. Always.
00:26:57.666 So, what do we do?
00:26:59.526 What do we do when temptation comes
00:27:03.226 lurking? And it will.
00:27:06.146 It will within five minutes of this service being over, for sure.
00:27:10.386 What do we do? Well, I'm going to give you the bottom line of my message, and this
00:27:13.286 is it. This is everything that I'm saying boiled down to four words.
00:27:16.586 You ready for it? When temptation comes knocking, I want you
00:27:20.626 to look for the hook.
00:27:24.326 Look for the hook.
00:27:27.606 In other words,
00:27:29.426 this is not a three-point sermon.
00:27:32.886 This is not some, hey, seven steps to finding freedom.
00:27:36.186 This is simply four words that you can boil my entire message
00:27:40.186 down to, and that is to look for the hook.
00:27:44.026 Because here's what I know about the fish.
00:27:47.466 A fish that asks, "Where's the hook?" before biting into that
00:27:51.366 bait, they get caught a whole lot
00:27:54.886 less.
00:27:57.426 And here's what I know about you.
00:27:59.926 When you ask inside that temptation, "Where is
00:28:03.846 the lie? Where's the hook?"
00:28:07.626 you take away a lot of that temptation's power because you
00:28:11.406 know that there's something inside of that temptation trying
00:28:15.706 to get you, trying to hook you. So, what does that actually
00:28:19.536 look like? Well, it comes with asking ourselves one simple question
00:28:23.526 whenever temptation shows up, and that is this:
00:28:26.946 Where is the hook? Where is the hook? Where is it?
00:28:30.986 Not, "Can I get away with this?" Not, "How bad could it
00:28:34.986 really be?" No. "Where is the hook?"
00:28:39.186 My man, Neil, has another fishing pole.
00:28:44.026 For those of you watching online, those are several $50 bills, real
00:28:48.026 ones, that are hanging out.
00:28:50.226 You can make them a little more tempting if you want.
00:28:51.946 Just put them right down in front. Yeah.
00:28:55.686 Listen,
00:28:56.966 I don't know what your temptation is right now.
00:28:59.606 I don't know if it's something to do with what's hanging on the end of that fishing
00:29:02.806 line, or if it's something entirely different, but what I do know
00:29:06.766 is this:
00:29:08.306 is that whatever it is, it looks really, really good to you.
00:29:13.006 You believe, and you might be right, that it will feel really, really
00:29:17.026 good if you get it. I do know that.
00:29:21.126 But can I tell you something else?
00:29:24.566 There's a hook in there,
00:29:28.306 and if you reach for it, you are going to get hooked
00:29:32.146 by the one who has deceived you from the day you were born.
00:29:36.126 The evil one, the enemy, who is trying to get you
00:29:41.066 to get hooked. But see, so many of us, we've believed for so long that it
00:29:44.986 was actually God who's trying to make things difficult on us,
00:29:49.246 that God doesn't want me to have any fun, that God doesn't want me to do that
00:29:52.246 because God, he's a killjoy.
00:29:56.046 No. God is not trying to stop you
00:29:59.926 from having fun—or from you having good things.
00:30:03.446 No, what he's trying to do, he's trying to keep you from the bad
00:30:07.346 thing that's buried within that temptation.
00:30:10.426 You think, "He's not wanting me to have fun because he doesn't want me to have that
00:30:13.586 temptation." He's like, "No, no, no."
00:30:14.886 There's something buried in there and you can't see it.
00:30:18.046 You're so deceived. You've been baited and enticed.
00:30:21.666 You got to trust me. My ways are higher than your ways.
00:30:24.286 My thoughts are higher than your thoughts," the Lord says.
00:30:27.816 "And you got to believe me, that I love you.
00:30:31.146 I love you so much that I'm going to protect you
00:30:34.146 from that thing." As opposed to saying, "No, go ahead."
00:30:38.106 Take a bite.
00:30:39.526 Take a bite."
00:30:40.926 Let's give it up for my man,
00:30:41.886 Neil. I
00:30:46.896 want you to think about
00:30:49.836 what is it that you're being tempted by most right now in your life?
00:30:53.756 If you really think about it, what is the area of your life where you're being
00:30:57.256 tempted most? What is the
00:30:59.816 lie that that temptation is trying to tell you?
00:31:03.656 Can you think of what it's trying to say?
00:31:06.576 Is it trying to say something like,
00:31:09.126 "I've had a really rough week. I deserve this."
00:31:14.956 Is it saying, "Hey, listen,
00:31:17.716 we're probably going to get married anyway.
00:31:20.456 What's the difference?"
00:31:23.056 Is it saying, "Hey, if I just had a little bit more,
00:31:27.916 then I wouldn't worry anymore. I'd be fine."
00:31:31.836 I don't know what it's saying. If it's saying, "I'll
00:31:35.436 stop.
00:31:36.936 Just one more time."
00:31:41.616 Before you bite into that, ask yourself, where is the hook?
00:31:45.356 What's the catch? What is the hook in this temptation?
00:31:48.316 Because there is one, there's always one.
00:31:51.275 But the thing you need to know about the hook when it comes to temptation is it's
00:31:55.016 never visible at the onset. It's always very well
00:31:58.936 packaged and hidden.
00:32:01.676 Amen.
00:32:04.176 But the good news is this. The good news is that
00:32:07.596 once you see the hook, the bait loses
00:32:11.876 most of its power. Let me say that again.
00:32:14.636 That once you see the hook inside that temptation, it
00:32:18.636 loses most of its power.
00:32:22.196 So maybe we don't need more willpower, maybe we just
00:32:26.036 need more awareness that there's a hook inside that
00:32:29.836 temptation.
00:32:32.316 Now listen, I know
00:32:34.556 that there are some folks sitting in here today,
00:32:37.636 and you're hearing this message, and you are feeling downright defeated
00:32:41.936 because you have been hooked in a deep way.
00:32:45.336 You're not just hearing a message about temptation, and about
00:32:48.616 self-discipline, and about falling into temptation.
00:32:51.296 No, you are living smack dab in the middle of that temptation, and you have
00:32:55.316 given in, and you are
00:32:58.036 hooked, like majorly, majorly hooked.
00:33:02.056 And maybe there's a voice inside of your head that is saying, "You know
00:33:05.936 what? I'm too far into this. I'm too deep.
00:33:10.396 The hook has been set. There's no way out for me.
00:33:13.656 There's no possible way for this to end in a positive
00:33:17.616 way. God has to be done with me." Can I tell
00:33:21.596 you something? God is not done with
00:33:25.636 you. He is there for you. So for—you.
00:33:29.376 He was willing to send His son to the cross to
00:33:33.316 die for your sins. The sins, by the way, are the ones that you
00:33:37.216 take whenever you bite that bait, when you bite into that temptation, and you get
00:33:40.596 hooked. Just remember that you and I, we hooked Jesus to the
00:33:44.616 cross. That's how much He's there for you.
00:33:47.876 Jesus is so there for you that scripture says that you will never be
00:33:51.856 tempted beyond what you can bear. You have the
00:33:55.856 power of the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
00:33:58.556 Scripture says that the same power that raised Jesus from the
00:34:02.356 dead is the same power that is inside of you.
00:34:05.085 You will never be tempted more than you can bear.
00:34:10.236 Jesus is so for you,
00:34:14.796 that even when you fail,
00:34:17.616 even when you said last time would be the last
00:34:21.756 time,
00:34:23.216 He is still willing to walk alongside of you, and that's
00:34:26.976 because Jesus, He's a visionary. And Jesus
00:34:30.696 sees a version of you that has learned to
00:34:34.496 ask the right question, where is the hook?
00:34:37.437 And He wants to walk with you, and He is walking with you.
00:34:40.877 He has not failed or forsaken you. He has not left you in the dust.
00:34:44.536 He loves you, but He loves you so much that He wants the version that asks
00:34:48.496 the right question to be the one that does it consistently in your daily life,
00:34:52.256 because He has something better for you.
00:34:56.536 That's how for you
00:34:58.836 Jesus is.
00:35:01.276 That's why Freedom Church—Freedom
00:35:04.476 Church—that's why it exists.
00:35:07.236 See, from Pastor Eric's heart, this church wasn't built by
00:35:11.096 some ministry strategy or some book that he read.
00:35:14.136 No, this story of this church was built out of
00:35:18.076 a rescue story of his life.
00:35:21.716 A rescue story of a guy who had been hooked in a
00:35:25.516 major, major way, and he knows what it's like to be on the end of the
00:35:29.556 hook and to feel the pain and to know what it's like, and he knows that through the
00:35:33.616 power of Jesus, that you can be redeemed, that you can be
00:35:37.456 unhooked, and that you can be set free.
00:35:39.856 Amen.
00:35:41.236 That's why Freedom Church exists.
00:35:45.676 And I also think it's a little ironic
00:35:49.116 that you're here on the weekend that Baby Brielle joins
00:35:53.056 us for the very first time.
00:35:55.236 I think she exited stage right, but I'm not sure. Did she exit stage right?
00:35:58.996 Yeah, I understand. I'm boring.
00:36:02.196 But anyway, I think it's funny that you are here, and maybe it's just a coincidence
00:36:05.936 that you're here. Maybe it's not. But I think it's such a
00:36:09.416 picture of a brand new baby
00:36:12.596 walking into this church. How many days has she been alive?
00:36:16.856 Huh?
00:36:17.216 Nine.
00:36:17.756 Nine days since she's been born.
00:36:20.856 New life and new beginnings.
00:36:24.236 What if today Jesus wanted to give you a new life
00:36:27.596 and a new beginning?
00:36:30.136 What if Jesus knows that you're hooked by something right
00:36:34.216 now, and He wants to unhook you and set you free,
00:36:38.356 so that you're no longer enticed
00:36:41.136 by the evil one anymore? And so, as we
00:36:44.956 close out this message, I just want to give you one takeaway.
00:36:48.776 This isn't three points. This isn't seven steps toward freedom.
00:36:51.656 It's just one. One statement that is four words long,
00:36:55.868 and that is this: when it comes to temptation,
00:36:59.108 look for the hook.
00:37:02.408 Look for the hook, because when you do,
00:37:05.668 when you look for the hook inside of that temptation, through the power
00:37:09.908 of God's Spirit that lives inside of you, and through
00:37:14.148 His wisdom, not your own,
00:37:16.528 you will experience the power to overcome those temptations
00:37:20.448 in a way that you never thought possible.
00:37:24.248 In a second, I want to pray for us. But before we do, I want to encourage you to
00:37:27.368 come back next weekend. Pastor Eric is going to be starting a summer series about
00:37:31.348 Old Testament figures and characters that we can learn
00:37:35.788 principles and practical steps of how to live our lives today.
00:37:39.628 This is important for two reasons.
00:37:41.268 For some of us, we don't know much about the Bible.
00:37:43.648 We don't know much about the Old Testament or things like that, and he's going to
00:37:47.128 uncover some of the historical side of things and help you to kind of get
00:37:50.608 context of the Old Testament, which is cool.
00:37:53.678 But equally—or if not more importantly—he's going to say, "And this is how it
00:37:57.608 applies to us today in this 21st century." It's going to be a powerful series, and
00:38:01.568 I want to encourage you to join him as he does that.
00:38:04.808 So would you bow your heads with me? Let's pray. Jesus, thank you. Thank you.
00:38:08.708 Thank you for this opportunity. I'm super honored to be here today at Freedom
00:38:12.508 Church. I pray for Pastor Eric and Rachel and their new addition to their
00:38:16.348 family, and I pray that you would give them sleep, and I pray that you would give
00:38:20.028 them joy and laughter,
00:38:23.788 and that this would be a sweet time that they would never forget in
00:38:27.668 their lives. But I also know that he is being pulled in 17 different directions,
00:38:31.628 if not more,
00:38:33.188 and he has this church that he's trying to pastor and this family he's trying to
00:38:36.588 lead, and I pray, Lord, that you would give him the power of your
00:38:40.408 Holy Spirit in a way he has never experienced it before.
00:38:44.068 That you would give him favor with other people.
00:38:47.748 That whenever he speaks, it would just connect with the
00:38:51.268 hearts of the people who are hearing him.
00:38:54.128 That his vision would transcend this church, and it would
00:38:58.428 permeate our community,
00:39:01.128 and that you would make a difference in and through Freedom Church.
00:39:04.248 God, I pray for each and every person that's in this room and those that are
00:39:06.768 watching online. For those who have never accepted Jesus as their
00:39:10.688 Savior, and they don't have God at the center of the hub of the wheel of
00:39:14.608 life, that they're like, "I realize I'm missing something major.
00:39:17.808 God, will You recognize it as simple as them just saying, "Jesus, I believe you
00:39:21.608 died for me on a cross, and I accept you as my Lord and Savior, and I give you my
00:39:25.328 life. It's not my life anymore. I'm giving it to you.'"
00:39:30.368 And that that would be the thing, the ingredient, that would change
00:39:34.508 everything, that would actually allow for freedom to really occur.
00:39:40.828 And God, I also want to pray for the people in this room,
00:39:44.448 Christian or not,
00:39:46.728 who are majorly hooked right now on something.
00:39:51.408 Some sort of prescription drug or
00:39:54.908 recreational drug.
00:39:58.688 Something with their sexuality.
00:40:04.048 Something in their lives that no one knows, and they can walk around, and they can
00:40:07.968 put a front on, and they can make it look like it's all good, and everything's fine
00:40:11.528 when everything is not fine because they are squirming like a fish on a
00:40:15.548 hook.
00:40:17.108 God, could you gently and carefully extract that
00:40:21.148 hook from them?
00:40:23.738 And through community at Freedom Church, could you give them people that
00:40:27.608 could walk alongside of them and help them experience that
00:40:31.488 freedom from that thing?
00:40:35.748 And God, that that person, whoever it is that I'm speaking to, that they wouldn't
00:40:39.308 wait three minutes after this service is over, that they would reach out to someone
00:40:43.508 that they trust and that is a follower of Jesus that can give them
00:40:47.228 guidance, and that they would say, "Listen, I'm dealing with this. I need help.
00:40:51.128 Can you help me?"
00:40:53.388 Because they can't do this alone.
00:40:57.488 God, be with each of us
00:40:59.348 this week and beyond.
00:41:01.228 As we are tempted by different things, God, help us to look
00:41:05.588 for the hook.
00:41:07.488 It's in your name I pray.
00:41:09.708 Amen.
>> Pastor Eric
00:41:13.388 Thanks, brother.
00:41:14.928 Let's give God a great big hand for Pastor JD.
00:41:17.708 That was a great word. And
00:41:21.548 we're going to
00:41:23.148 receive an offering this morning.
00:41:25.068 Two things we're going to do, and I want to read to you first out of Galatians
00:41:27.988 chapter 5,
00:41:29.668 verse 13. It says, "For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and
00:41:33.008 sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.
00:41:37.168 Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love." It's one of
00:41:41.068 our key verses of Freedom Church, and really, when we
00:41:44.808 use the freedom that we've received to help other people get free,
00:41:48.768 that's walking these verses out. That's what God wants us to do, is not just get us
00:41:52.628 free for our benefit, but when we receive freedom, we now
00:41:56.608 use it to bless other people. And one of the ways we do that, one of the
00:42:00.548 many ways, is through financial giving.
00:42:03.148 Our church, Freedom Church, many people don't know, we survive off of people's
00:42:06.988 generous donations, your willful donations, cheerfully giving
00:42:11.328 your tithe, your offerings to give to Freedom Church so that we can exist,
00:42:15.548 so that more people can know God, find freedom, discover purpose,
00:42:19.698 and make an impact. So I want to encourage you, if you've never given or you say
00:42:23.568 you don't know how to give, the ways to give are on the screen.
00:42:26.488 But what it really is—is, and I shared this at the last service,
00:42:30.708 there's often a lot of fear involved with finances, a lot of fear of the
00:42:34.568 unknown, fear of the economy, fear of the cost of gas,
00:42:38.628 fear of all these things. When you watch the media, there's a lot of fear.
00:42:41.968 But God's Word says over and over again to fear not, but to
00:42:45.668 trust God as your provider, to trust Him with everything.
00:42:49.548 He's the center hub of our entire lives.
00:42:52.128 One of those important spokes is our finances.
00:42:54.758 And when we give generously, we are a generous church and a generous people,
00:42:58.788 God's blessing follows. So as you consider giving, there are several ways to
00:43:02.708 do that. Cash or check in the box in the giving station in the back.
00:43:06.340 You can give online. You can scan the QR code on the screen or use your
00:43:10.180 phone, hold it to the tap card on the seat back in front of you, and follow the
00:43:14.160 prompts there to give. Also, one of the
00:43:18.000 things we want to do is we want to be able to bless Pastor JD.
00:43:21.260 How we're going to do it is, if you put cash or check in the giving station,
00:43:25.200 make sure to put it in an envelope and mark it accordingly.
00:43:28.160 Put Pastor JD, put guest speaker on there.
00:43:31.420 Just make sure to notate it so that whatever we receive will get to him to
00:43:35.300 help care for him, his family, his kids as well, and as just a gift that
00:43:39.340 he is to the kingdom. We want to bless that.
00:43:41.580 If you're going to give online or through Church Center, you can pick...
00:43:44.500 There are only two options, general fund, which is your regular giving, regular
00:43:47.580 tithes and offering. There's also missions.
00:43:50.400 Click missions for today, and we're going to make sure we track all that so that he
00:43:53.780 gets to receive that offering. If you want to give something above and beyond to
00:43:56.840 Pastor JD, I encourage you to do that.
00:43:59.160 Let's be generous and let's bless him and his family.
00:44:02.020 But before we do that, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for your
00:44:05.400 word. God, I thank you for what you've put inside Pastor JD to share with us
00:44:09.160 this morning. God, I know it's going to break off chains, off
00:44:13.060 bondage, off mindsets—off of so many of us.
00:44:16.440 God, I pray that every single one of us would take hold of your word, of
00:44:20.400 the truth, that we would look for the hook, and God, that we would truly
00:44:24.110 walk in freedom, and we'd use our freedom to help bless
00:44:28.080 others as well. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
00:44:31.570 Amen.
00:44:32.260 Well, if you're new, like Pastor JD is, to Freedom Church, we want to invite you
00:44:36.080 to fill out a connection card. Two ways you can do that.
00:44:38.780 You can hold your phone to the tap card in front of you.
00:44:41.320 You can scan the QR code on the screen behind me.
00:44:44.200 We also have paper connection cards at the connection point on the left on your
00:44:48.140 way out the door. What that is—is a way that we're going to be able to keep you
00:44:51.600 informed and up to date on things happening here at Freedom Church.
00:44:55.320 We have several things scheduled through the summer.
00:44:57.920 We want to help you stay connected, be involved, how you can
00:45:01.760 serve, how you can give, how you can really be in the community, as we're going to
00:45:05.420 be doing several things this summer.
00:45:07.560 But first off, today, in just a few moments, we have what we call
00:45:11.460 Next Steps. Next Steps, we have two Sundays a month
00:45:15.220 after our 11:00 a.m. service. It's about an hour, hour and 15 minutes.
00:45:18.960 We have food provided, childcare provided if you RSVP.
00:45:23.000 So we do have today, even if you weren't planning on staying, we welcome you to
00:45:26.080 stay. It's going to be starting in about 15 minutes.
00:45:28.780 Out the back doors to the left, there's a room, a classroom, where we're going to
00:45:32.340 meet in about 15 minutes. I'll be back there hosting that time with you.
00:45:36.220 We invite you to stay. Learn more about Freedom Church.
00:45:39.240 Learn more about how God has uniquely gifted you, and how you can make an impact
00:45:43.260 in other people's lives. That's what Next Steps is all about.
00:45:45.820 So you can sign up for the next one, or you can plan to stay today.
00:45:49.630 And last but not least, we have Summer of Serving.
00:45:52.440 This is the next opportunity. We're going to have a whole list of events and
00:45:56.400 opportunities for you to sign up to participate in next Sunday
00:46:00.400 as well. But this one's coming up soon, so on June 27th, in just under three weeks
00:46:04.320 from today, we'll have an opportunity for you to serve on that Saturday.
00:46:07.600 So we're having a save the date. We'll have an RSVP going on our website, as well
00:46:11.540 as next Sunday available for you. We're going to be serving
00:46:15.300 different outreaches. One's going to be in Export at the Community Outreach
00:46:19.080 Center next to Friends Thrift Shop.
00:46:21.060 We're going to be at Griff's Ice Cream, buying people ice cream, just being on the
00:46:24.160 trail, being in the community, looking for several serving
00:46:27.600 opportunities this summer. Also, last Friday, for those of you who might
00:46:31.580 not have known this, we
00:46:33.360 actually paid Groove Coffee to set up their cart at the high school
00:46:37.600 and provide coffee, lattes, and everything for the teachers, for the staff.
00:46:41.180 They loved it, greatly appreciated it, and so—great working with a local business
00:46:45.100 such as Groove, and I heard all great things about it.
00:46:47.400 I was supposed to be there, but Rachel was in the hospital with the baby, so I was
00:46:50.960 more needed somewhere else. But Summer of Serving coming up. Look for those dates.
00:46:54.820 Look for opportunities for more ways you can serve.
00:46:57.400 And most of the things are going to be very family-friendly, available for
00:47:01.240 everyone to participate in. If you could please stand to your feet, I'm going to
00:47:04.340 pray one more time, and then you'll be dismissed.
00:47:07.820 Heavenly Father, God, I pray that we would take hold of your word, God, that we
00:47:11.000 leave today, God, looking for that hook.
00:47:13.220 God, everything that was spoken today, whether it's revealing and
00:47:16.420 identifying where we're being hooked, or God,
00:47:20.400 I pray, God, even just a celebration of all those things that we used to be hooked
00:47:24.359 on, and now, God, we want to be hooked to you. God, we want to be addicted to you.
00:47:28.140 We want to be passionately living our lives for you and you alone.
00:47:32.160 God, we thank you for the victory. We thank you for the freedom that
00:47:36.000 comes in your presence, in having a relationship with you.
00:47:40.140 God, I thank you that you provide that for us.
00:47:42.120 God, I pray for each and every person here, a blessing upon them, upon their
00:47:45.380 families, upon their finances, upon their health.
00:47:48.280 God bless them. God, so we go out and be your church.
00:47:51.620 In Jesus' name, amen. You are dismissed. See you next week.