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the importance of the tithe in our lives, and beyond that, so many other ways to give with our missions. We have youth things going on. There's so many additional opportunities to give and where we raise money for other things to give back to community and ultimately to glorify God. I do want to point out one thing. If you'll notice these little boxes in the back here, we have moved, so we no longer have the physical giving container on the table up front. We do have the new giving containers here in the back, so if you want to give with physical money this morning, the envelopes are on the left side, and you can just drop it in these new giving container boxes in the back. And of course, if you want to give online, you can still do that through the Move Church app or with the tap in front of you on your seat. If you will, as we do every week, if you'll say this, giving liturgy with me together. So, Holy Father, there is nothing I have that you have not given me. All I have and am belong to you. Bought with the blood of Jesus. To spend everything on myself and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world that you cannot abide. But generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord, who love him with free hearts and serve him with renewed minds, who withstand the delusion of riches that chokes the word, whose hearts are in your kingdom and not in the systems of the world. I am determined to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no God. I am determined to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us. I am determined to be trustworthy with such a little thing as money that you may trust me with true riches. Above all, I am determined to be generous because you, Father, are generous. It is the delight of your daughters and sons to share your traits and to show what you are like to all the world. Amen. Amen. Well, before we get started, I want to just echo what Jennifer was saying just a second ago. Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers. We've got some young mothers in the house, which is great. I think we're the kind of church that can do things, two things at once. Years ago, we used to say that we're a both church or an and church, meaning there are times where you don't need to, I think a lot of times, you don't need to go to a ditch. Right now, it seems like in our culture, if you go to honor a specific group, there's another group that gets really upset about that or might have issues with that. And I think Mother's Day is one of those. I think Father's Day is one of those because what may happen as we're honoring mothers, you may find yourself in a situation where maybe you do not have a good relationship with your mom. You may have found that you have tried to have children and you haven't been able to, or you've experienced loss. I think we're the kind of church that can both honor mothers in our life and those in our church body. And then we can also, with one another, if there has been loss, there have been issues, the way Paul writes it, he says, mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. And I think we're a big enough church that we can do those things simultaneously. Because the reality is there may be some in here, I know stories of people who, women who desperately want to be mothers. And I know people that in this congregation that may have had issues with their mom and seasons like this are very difficult because of the relationship. And then we've got moms who are just enjoying motherhood. So we bless all of you. I just want to say that. We bless wherever you are, moms or daughters, even those of you that are learning how to be a spiritual mom, learning what it means to be a spiritual daughter to a spiritual mom. All of those things are so important to walk through. And so we just bless that in Jesus' name. Amen. There's also a cool little photo experience. We have promised Jennifer that our family will give her at least one of those photos. And we're going to give her one of those photos. And we're going to give her at least one good photo. Not all the kids said that, but I'm declaring that as a father in our home that we will have at least one good picture and blessings on you if you try to do that as well. Okay. One last thing I wanted to do. If you're a guest with us today, this may be kind of a weird thing, but I want to speak to Move Church for just a second. Before I get into our sermon, we're going to be in Ephesians chapter two again. So if you've got a Bible or you want to open up your app or you want to flip there in your phone. I'm constantly, me and Trace have been talking about this a lot lately, and I'm constantly thinking about our services. We talk about our services every week. And I've been convicted here lately. A few weeks back, I preached a sermon. I know all of you that would be very much like, you know, be who you are, say the hard things, all that. If the Bible says it and move church, we're going to tackle it. Okay. I think that's what I'm going to do. That's a fair deal. Fair shake. Sometimes though, what's difficult when you're speaking, when you're preaching, especially if you've done it for a long time, is that your opinions or the way you feel, it can be easily entered into as if that's what the text is saying. And a few weeks back, I preached a message and I'll go back. I go back and listen to Trace preach. I go back and listen to myself preach. I do this all the time. It's something I've been doing for years. It's not because I'm a narcissist. I just want to hear. I want to hear the tone. I want to hear what we were saying. Sometimes there are things we say that we don't plan to say. And so I'm interested in all of that. I went back and listened to this particular sermon and I was angry. And what I realized was, is that since the beginning of the year, I've been very frustrated, very angry, not at anybody particularly, but more so just at some things. I feel like some of it's spiritual. I feel like a lot of it has to do with my own life and some of the things that I feel like I should be doing. And, you know, list goes on and on. When somebody comes behind, this little table here, a lot of churches call it a pulpit. What should happen is the shepherd of the church should feed the sheep. It's not a place to grind axes. It's not a place to get on soapboxes. And so I want to say that for that sermon, particularly, and for other sermons, I know I've done that, is to say, I'm sorry to ask for your forgiveness. Because one of the things I want to happen when we preach is I want God to stir your heart. And I don't want to trip over opinions or feelings. If I get up here and grind an axe, I think I've missed it. If I get up here and stand on a soapbox, I think I've missed it. If the text says it, we want to talk about it. But sometimes it's a fault of the pastor or the preacher to interject themselves into the text and say things sometimes that God never asked us to say. And for that, I hope we continue to guard this with a lot of honesty and sincerity, because the Word of God matters. It's our lens to know God. And if we're getting in the middle of that, then we're messing up not only what God says, but your view of Him. And we both, me and Trace both, and anybody else who would ever speak up here, take that very seriously. And so as we get started today, I just want to issue that. I want to say that it would never be our intent, even though I know that sometimes somebody might say, well, Jonathan, just say what's in your heart. The heart is deceivingly wicked. Sometimes saying everything in your heart is not godly, even if you're standing behind a pulpit. So there is no magic wand that sanctifies all my words. Amen? So sometimes you can get up here and still say stuff that's stupid, and we don't want to do that. We don't want to perpetuate that. So as we get into the Word today, we're praying that God would both guard y'all's ears, my mouth, and that we would do something that's beneficial today, okay? Today, we're talking about, it's funny, I wasn't planning on these things lining up, but after listening to that message and all that from a few weeks ago, today we're going to talk about, humble. We've been doing this series about how Paul has written about all these things that we had been, but now in Christ we are no longer. And just like we were singing these songs, I hope every week when you're singing, you're thinking about what you're singing. It is not a good thing to sing aimlessly. These should be heaven-piercing darts when you sing, because you're singing unto God. You're not singing to match pitch. You're not singing because it sounds good. You're not singing because it will be helpful to Cam, and Cam will keep doing worship next week, you know? All those things are fine, but you're singing unto God. And so the things we were singing just a second ago, we're singing about this God who, and as Matt just prayed, singing about a God who's done something for us that deserves praise. It deserves singing. It deserves our attention. As Cam was exhorting us, it deserves our devotion. It deserves our devotion in our money, in our marriages, our relationships, in everything we do, our time, and our energy. And so as we've been looking through this series, we're seeing that this awesome God has taken us, who we've learned are children of wrath, we're dead, we're people who are far from God, and God saw fit to give his son for us that we might be redeemed. And today, as we talk about this particular text, that I think really is the sum total of Ephesians 1, 2, 3. It's like a little spot, a little epicenter where Paul drops one of the most well-known scriptures that many people probably know off the top of their head, even though they may not have ever known that this was the verse. They've probably heard it a bazillion times. We're going to read it, verse 8 through 10 in Ephesians 2, and this is what Paul says. For by grace you have been saved. The Greek word sozo means from a path, or a end point of destruction. You have been saved. You haven't been just cleaned up and prettied up. You've been saved from a road that was leading to destruction, to death. That's what you've been saved from, the wrath of God, eternity away from him. You've been rescued from that, sozo. You have been saved by grace through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God. It's not a result of works, because he doesn't want anyone to boast. It's not a result of works, so that no one can take credit. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now, as we go through this today, I hope that you can already see there's a lot of things that God has done, and there are a lot of things that God has done, and there are a lot of things that we have received. As we walk through this today, let's see if we can't see what God might be speaking to us specifically, personally, and as a congregation. One more time, will you pray with me that God would accomplish exactly that? Father, your word is paramount. It is truth in a time and an age where people would say what Pilate said. What is truth? But we know the truth of the gospel is the most free message, the most freeing message. Ever announced in the world. I pray that that gospel make its way into every nook and cranny of our hearts today. Lord, let us remember who we were. Let us remember the gift, and let us remember the giver of that gift, so that we wouldn't exalt in our own work, but would praise and glorify the Father. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, what's interesting, this whole book, Ephesians, written to this group of people in the Ephesus, probably from a lot of scholars that have written about the book of Ephesians would say that they thought that this book was probably written to the Ephesians, but it was supposed to be one of those books that goes beyond the Ephesians. So it's supposed to go to the church at large in that area. And what is in Ephesus is one of those ancient wonders of the world, the temple of Artemis. And that temple was a massive place of worship. And at that time, even the Jews of that time, and the Gentiles, those that were not Jewish, they understood this reality. In order to have a successful life, you have to appease your God. In order for your life to go well, you have to make your God happy through sacrifice and service. Everyone knew this. This was a normal practice. This was a normal practice with the Jew and with the Gentile. If you had any religious thought at all, you knew there was a God who had a way of doing things. And in order for you to please him, you had to do things his way. And if you didn't do God's way right, if you didn't appease him, if you didn't make him happy, then you caught the wrath of the gods or the wrath of God. Okay? And so everybody in the first century world, especially in Ephesus, would have known this. Now, I want you to think for a second. We don't know this. We're a grace-saturated culture. When I said you were saved by grace through faith, what Paul writes here in Ephesians, most of you have heard that before. Most of you know that intellectually. I want to kind of ask you to think for a second, more than just an intellectual thought about being saved by grace, but actually receive it spiritually. What I mean by that is most of us can agree with something. Like, I'm saved by grace. I know that God saved me. But do you know that it really is excluding anything that you've done? A good litmus test is whether or not you feel condemned semi-regularly. Why would I say that's a litmus test for this? The reason I know that the first century mind may still be in our hearts as evangelical Christians is if we are condemned, it's often because of our work not being good enough or us not doing the work that we're supposed to do. And so I want you to think for a second. Work in the first place. All right? So there's something that lets me know that more than likely, even in our culture today, even though we don't have a great temple to go to, and even though we make this old armory work as a house of God, we still think in terms of sacrifice and service as a way to appease and please our God. And this is something that goes on regular all the time. This is a discussion I think that's been on in the church for a really long time. So listen to this though. There's a culture that exists in the church, right? Paul knows this. And so he's saying, I'm going to preach the good news to this group who understands salvation as something you earn. I'm going to preach a non-earning salvation. What do you do in a workspace culture when all of a sudden Paul comes in and listen to some of the phrases? Let's look back at the scripture. By grace, that word just literally means unmerited or unearned favor. You were saved by unearned favor of God. God looks at you and favors you not because of who you are, but because of who he is. That's the grace of God. It is not of your own doing. It is a gift of God. Now listen again. Hear this. Try to think as a first century Jew or Gentile. You worship at the temple Artemis on a regular basis. And now you're hearing there's a non-earning favor. You were saved by unearned favor. You were saved by unearned favor of God. That's the news that has come from another religion that says you don't earn it. God gives it. You don't contribute to your well-being. It's all on God. Now I know I hear in my mind, my mind, maybe you hear this in your mind too. Well, then what do we do? If it's all on God, certainly there's got to be something that we do. Hold that thought, pin it. That's a great question. I think that's a great question. But you think Paul drops this in the middle of that culture. You don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't serve God to be saved. God saves you because he chooses to. What I love is the way that kind of Paul puts it is he says, you're used to, and this may be you today. I've certainly lived this way before. You may be used to track records and tally marks. You may be used to having a kind of a trend or a, you know, I think I often think about this idea if you go into a large factory or into a warehouse somewhere, you may be used to having a kind of a trend or a, you know, this many days from our last accident. You may live by that standard. I've had so many days where I haven't done this. I've had so many days where I didn't chew anybody out in traffic. I've had this many days of not looking at those images. I've had this many days of treating this person correctly. I've had this many days where I haven't done this and you're keeping tally marks. Okay. And Paul says, you're used to appeasing your God. You're used to pleasing your God for some benefit. You're used to trying to make your God happy. Now, this is the gospel. Your God appeased and made himself happy about you for himself. The gospel that gets preached in our culture today and the culture of the Ephesians is still true. Anything you're using to make God happy towards you, the gospel breaks that and says, you are free from any, any obligation to make God happy because you can't do it. Number one. And number two, if you could, you would boast. You remember through much of Jesus's parables, he likes to use the Pharisees as an example. Paul even says in one of his letters, as far as the, my religion goes, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Paul knew how to work. Paul knew what religious work looked like. Service and sacrifice. This is how you make God happy. And the gospel says, God served you through sacrificing himself. And now he's happy with you because of what he's done for you. That's incredible. I mean, I, I grant it. I think sometimes that gets so lost because we still think, we say amen to that. I would. Amen. But then I find myself in my life sometimes with my tally marks. I find myself trying to keep a particular streak going and when that streak gets cut or undercut, I condemn myself. It makes us think about Paul's words in Romans eight, when he says in verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. How can you not be condemned when your life didn't match the service and sacrifice that appeases your God? Only through the gospel could that be true. Only through the gospel could you sin and not be condemned. Instead, be convicted and run to God, not run away from God. It could only be that gospel message that would empower you to live differently instead of you white knuckling it, trying to make it happen so you can make God happy. What if God's already happy? What do you do with that? Where goes your sacrifice? Where goes your service? Again, pin that because I think that's a fantastic question. So Paul is speaking to us about a good news and he's speaking to this culture that is used to service and sacrifice. And he says, it's for, by grace it's by the grace of God. And he lists all these things out, but I want you to see that so no one may boast as the centerpiece of, of this particular text from, from proud to humble. You may not think of yourself as a proud person. I think I would have self-described myself not as a prideful person, but I, after years of walking with the Lord, I would say this is the number one thing I deal with. It's not necessarily always putting yourself out there and making like, I am the best. That kind of pride, a lot of us, we don't, we're not that way. It's, it's not that we're trying to make much of ourselves necessarily, but when we rest on our work and our service and our sacrifice to make God happy in our life, that is pride. The reason it's pride is because we want the credit. Jesus even said, there will be those who come to me in that day and they'll say, Lord, Lord, did we not? So it's in us. Isn't it? As Paul talked about, was a Pharisee of Pharisees, Jesus would use the Pharisees. And oftentimes there's a parable, a great parable. You should go read it. They're at the altar praying and the Pharisee on his knees praying says, I thank you, God, not that you've saved me, not that you've loved me, not that you've taken care of me. He says, I thank you that I'm not like this guy. And what does he list out? He lists out his inability to serve and sacrifice. And Jesus says, this man who calls out for mercy is going to be justified before the person who relies on their record and their works. And the most difficult thing in our religious community, because we are a community of religious people, we have churches on every corner. It is hard to see the Pharisee in me. It is hard to see the part of me that still wants sacrifice and service to be the standard and not grace. I want to prove to you, I've got a reason that God would save me, right? I want to show you that I'm worthy of it. I want to show you that I'm worthy of it. I want to show you that I'm worth saving. I want to show God that I'm worth saving. But Paul says, he doesn't want your boasting in your work because you can't make God happy. For we were children of wrath. We didn't want God. We didn't want him. We didn't want to honor him. Romans 1 tells us that there's this group of people that would exchange the glory of God for the glory of creation. We're so tempted in all of these ways not to see God as he truly is. So there's really no way to please God. And who we are, unless God pleases himself through the sacrifice of his son, we have no hope. But if this gospel is true, think about it. Most of us were taught you're saved by grace. Now get to work. You've got to maintain grace by your work. After all, God gave you this great gift. You don't want to squander it. I've even heard people say, I have to spend the rest of my life making it up to God. That sounds right, but it's not gospel. You cannot repay God. You don't have the time. You don't have the resources. You don't have the ability to repay God what he put on the cross that day. So instead of trying to repay God, I wonder if it's we receive better and fully what he's given to us. Three areas that he mentions here. Your salvation, three S's too, I alliterated. Your salvation, you're saved by grace through works, or through, you're saved by grace through faith. And then he talks about, your sanctification. He says that you're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. I dabble in the art. Listen, can I tell you something real quick? It's so goofy, but this is so true. I've never walked in to start a piece of art and one of the paints go, put me on the right side of the canvas. I've never had a brush cry out. No, only dip me in lilac. You know, I don't like dark red. I've never had a canvas cry out. I've never had a brush cry out. You know, I don't like dark red. I've never had a canvas scream out. Please only use acrylic. Never. You know what the beauty of this whole thing we just sang about how these angels don't know the songs we know is because you have the ability to look at the one who created you and say, not interested. You have the ability, even as a piece of clay, Paul says, to argue with the potter about your shaping. We all have this ability, but, but Paul says you are saved by grace and, and you're his workmanship. He's putting you together. He's sanctifying you. Listen, let me tell you, this will help you too. This will help you glorify God. And I think that's something in, while we're dealing with this spirit of apathy on the church, uh, it's so helpful. One of the things that helps, uh, an, uh, apathetic appetite is to pray something outside of self. So if you want to exalt God in something, the next time you have an epiphany, remember that you don't have the possess, the, uh, possess the ability to shape yourself. That epiphany, is the grace of God by way of the Holy spirit speaking to you. And he is shaping you. Why? Because you're his workmanship. He's molding you. The next time you decide to do something that's against your nature. I was talking with somebody the other day and they were telling me about the process. They said a year ago, we had this conversation and now I'm at this point and I'm thinking it is only by the grace of God that my mind was changed. Glory to God. I was like, yes, please don't ever stop thinking that it was God. Always remember it was him who changed you. Your heart would have gone that way, but God, like the scriptures say, uh, that he holds the, the, the hearts of Kings in his hand and he turns them like a river, whichever way he desires. Remember that God holds your heart and it's God that's turning your heart. So you're his workmanship. So he saves you and he shapes you. And then he, he, he orders your steps. He even says it right there at the end. He says, he says, he's created you in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. He said, oh no, we have things to contribute, Jonathan. We have good works to do. Yeah, that God predetermined. God said, I want you to do this. And he laid it out. Remember the, the psalmist said, uh, the, the steps of the righteous man are ordered of the Lord. Hey, here's a good prayer cue. You don't have to pray. God order my steps instead. Pray. God helped me to walk in those ordered steps. He's not sitting up there going, I wonder what they should do today. I wonder who they should come into contact with. I wonder if this is going to happen. I wonder if this is going to happen. No, no, no, no. Y'all guys, God is ordering your steps and went while you're worrying, you could switch to praying and praising. I wonder what's going to happen. You don't have to wonder he's beforehand laid out every step again. You might be thinking, well, Jonathan, where do I come in? Don't you hear the pride in our hearts? Well, if he saved me and he shaped me ordering my steps, where do I come in? Jonathan, after all, look at me. This would be me talking. I know no one in here saw it like that. What about my life? God, what about what I'm doing? What about the things I'm trying to achieve? Ultimately, Paul is talking about salvation, but you can see how this creeps into every area of life. How we forget about God and his sovereign plan to do what he desires in redeeming people that are far away to show the glory of his power every power, every principality. He wants them to be on notice. I am God. And one day everyone will notice. I want to be on the side that notices now. I don't want to be on the side that has to be made to notice God's glory. Let's say, man, God's doing it all. Now, I know some people would say again, well, if God is doing all those things, he saved me, he's sanctifying, he's ordering my steps, where do I come in? And I think this would be a great way to kind of close out here. I told this story to the parenting group we were in. Such a good, man, after it happened, I thought this is going to be one of those stories you remember, you know what I'm saying? So a couple months back, if you don't know, Declan is, loves, he's ready now. He's listening now. Okay. He likes to fish. He, dare I say, loves to fish. Right, Declan? He's head down now. Okay, I'm embarrassing. All right. This story is ultimately not about you, Declan, so you can So Declan loves fishing. And if I was to say, if I get bugged about anything in our house from Declan, it's when can we go fishing? Can we go fishing? And so we try to make this happen. And I don't know if you know this, not a lot of honey holes around the North Jefferson area that you can get in easily. My dad has a spot up in Jemison. So we called, we figured out, got it worked out. And so I was meeting my dad up there and our nephew and, or my nephew, and we were going to go out and fish. And so we're up there, we're fishing and, and Rowan tagged along. And so, Declan's fishing and, you know, in, in our, in our world, I'm not necessarily that competitive. But when you go to do something and you're not achieving the results you like in the Fox family, this is where we decide to destroy things. Okay. And we just don't like going out, but everybody's kind of frustrated because nobody's really catching the fish. Well, all of a sudden Declan catches a fish and, and race catches a fish. I catch a fish and, and Rowan catches a fish. Poor Rowan is, I mean, he's casting, he's casting, he's casting, and he's not catching anything. And he has ticked off. And if you know Rowan, even if you don't know Rowan, okay, you've probably heard him, probably heard him while he's in there, but he, he is a very passionate individual and he's the baby of the family. And of course, in his mind, everything should go right. I should have what I want. And so he's not catching any fish. He's getting super frustrated and we're on the pier. And he just, after he reels in a stick, he thought he had a fish. Reels in it. Y'all have been there. If you've ever fished and you were like, you've landed the fish of a lifetime and you pull up a branch, you're just like, just throw the rod away. Right? Well, Rowan loses his mind. Reels in that stick. And I'm joking with him. Oh, you caught a big stick fish. You know, all the dad stuff you're supposed to say to a kid who didn't catch a fish. He is ticked off. He's like, I want your phone. And I want to go up to, I want to go up there and I want to watch the Willoughbys. Okay. Which is a Netflix movie or a movie on Netflix that he just got obsessed with. And I said, all right, you know what? You seem like you're pretty upset. So head on up. So he goes up to the pavilion up there and I can kind of see where he is. And he is a piping hot man. And he's sitting down with the iPhone, just staring at it. And I don't even know if he's really watching the movie or not, but he is steaming. Every time he looks down at me, he's trying to see if I caught a fish and then he really pushes his head back. Right? So I thought, I got to let him catch a fish. I got to figure this out. Nobody was really having any luck at all. Eventually I catch another fish. I reel it in. I make sure it's hooked real good. And then I take that sucker, put some line out and I chunk it. Okay. I let the line get slack and I tell Rowan, come on down, buddy. Just give it one more time. Come on down here and give it a try. I think I've got it in the exact spot you want it to be. So he comes down there, you know, he's ticked off. He's still got the phone. Cause he's kind of like, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to bail on you at any second. He puts the phone down. He starts reeling it in. And then that rod tip, if you fish, this is one of the most exciting moments of fishing right there. That rod tip dip down like that. Big eyes, sets the hook, bam. And he's reeling up top. He has no coordination, but he's reeling on and Declan and Ray's are over there going, go run, go run, go run. And he's, oh, he's freaking out. He gets it up and he's like, finally I caught the fish. Take the fish off. We put it in the water. I'm like, dad moment secured. I just did the best dad thing in the world. He stomps off and says, but I wanted to catch two. And he goes back up to the pavilion. And listen, this story helped me out so much because I know my father heart is not as good as God's. I caught that fish. I did all the work. I set the hook. I reeled it in. I took it out. I made sure that everything was in line so he could catch that fish. All he had to do was reel it in. That's If during this sermon, you've been thinking, well, what's my part? Your part is to participate in what God is doing. Quit asking God for your purpose. Your purpose is to respond. You know, what's funny about the story is that Rowan was mad because he wanted more. That's where the pride really lays in, doesn't it? We start saying, well, but I wanted it this way or I wanted it. It's not you. Everything that you wanted up to that moment, you finally got. He stomps off. I think this is a story of our lives. God saves us. He sanctifies us and shapes us. Philippians 2.13, a beautiful verse, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Isn't that a capstone to this whole verse? Why? Because there is no way you looking on to Rowan catching that fish that you would have thought had the right to boast in catching that fish. I'm being earthly about it. Who did the glory belong to? I landed the fish, guys, but for his joy and benefit, I let him reel it in. You see, some people, when they hear everything for the glory of God, their pride says, well, why does he get all the glory? Why don't I get some? Because he caught the fish. Guys, he made the fish. Now, wouldn't that have been a parlor trick? Let me manifest the fish and then put it on the hook and throw it out there. But that's not what it was. Can we bring that down in the house? That's like super loud. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a diva, but. So the point I'm making is God caught the fish. I want you to think about your life for a second. You're like, even on birthdays, birthdays are funny, aren't they? There's really nothing to celebrate for you. It's really your parents we should be going, saying to God, you know, to your parents, you did nothing to get here. You did nothing. No one celebrated my birthday, but you did nothing to get here. We're celebrating your life. We're glad you're here. Amen. Praise God. But you didn't catch the fish. Listen, you're not painting the painting. So many people want to go down this road and say, yeah, that's right. You're nothing. No, it's not that you're nothing. You've been made a son and a daughter. You get to participate. I would just close with this word I got at the beginning of this year. I've already shared it with several people. Team and some others, because it's just impacted me so much about pride. I said the centerpiece of this whole text was so that no one can boast, so that no one can boast. God makes no beings about it. We should worship him. We should glorify him. He alone is worthy. He alone. There's this part of us that wants more than what God's allotting. I had this word at the beginning of the year. I've been thinking through it, praying through it. And really, to me, it's such a simple picture. I saw a big cruise liner, just this massive boat or a ship in the ocean coming into harbor. And those massive lines, those ropes that they have come off the ship where they tie the ship off. And I saw God's hand on one of those ropes, massive rope that can really help keep the ship where it needs to be, right? And then from that giant rope, a clothing thread, you see on your friend and you say, hang on a second. And you just pull it off. I saw one of those running off of that big rope from the end of it. And I saw my hand on that rope. And I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said, I'm allowing you to be involved, but you have no power. I don't know if you can get a more humbling word than saying, I'm letting you be a part, but you got to know your place, buddy. You got to know that there's nothing in you that can sway, that ship. The more you tug, the more you're going to lose out. The Lord's been dealing with me about these minor obediences, these places where I'll try to tug the string to get what I want, to prove that I'm worthy, to show my work, my service, and my sacrifice. It's in my pride. It's like the Lord is saying, to be involved, you have to be so delicate. Because if you go pulling on that string, trying to make things do what you want, you're just going to pull the string off and you're no longer going to be involved. I thought it's been such a humbling word. I know some people would argue with me. They'd say, but you've got the authority of Christ. And we know all that, but you understand, you understand what I'm talking about. We're talking about an issue of the heart. We're not talking about how you live your life. It doesn't mean you don't have influence, but what it is saying is saying, know your place. Know your place with God. He saved you. He's shaping you. He's ordering your steps. You're not catching the fish, but you certainly get the joy of reeling it in. Amen. I want to leave you with this to think about, and then we'll close. I want to humbly accept God's work to save me, shape me, and order my steps. I want to humbly accept that. I want to believe that it excludes my work, but it involves my participation. Doesn't that liberate your heart just a little bit? It has certainly this week. It has mine. If nothing else, what it's helped me realize is I can accept this gift and I can say, because you've done this for me, I'll do anything for you. And understanding that, I'm not going to do anything for you. I'm going to do anything for you. And understanding that, I'm not going to do anything for you. I'm going to do anything for you. That it's solidified. He's done it. It is finished. It is done. Amen. And so as we close, I want you to think about that. Just let it be a thought, a think in your life, a thought in your life through this week. Next time you get into an ordered step, man, look at what God's doing. The next time you walk, you find yourself talking to somebody and some stuff comes out of you and you think, man, that's godly. Don't boast in it. Praise in it. Glorify God. The next time you sit God has done things in me that I don't deserve. You can say, amen, but I'm here, I'm involved. He's got me exactly where he wants me. Let it free you of anything. Let it rip from you any condemnation and let it steer you to a life of liberty with Jesus, not one of condemnation, amen. We've got a couple of things I wanna announce and then we're gonna just stand and do our liturgy together. Tonight, we had scheduled prayer, but it's Mother's Day. So I know you mothers are already exhausted. If you're not, you're gonna be from trying to take that picture in a second. And so we're gonna take the night off from prayer meeting here. Check the next moves card if you're on your way out, if you've got a move you need to make. They're in these boxes over here and you can also do that tap disc for any of that stuff. You can place those next move cards in the same place you stick the giving. And then the last thing would be this Panama yard sale that we're doing. We are, our, our, we're trying to raise as many of the, as much of the funds as possible before we leave. We just wanna be a blessing. It's really hard to take these trips, especially now. I mean, stuff is just going up, up, up, up, up. So any thing that you can contribute to that, today was technically the last day, but even if you couldn't donate anything, come hang out at the yard sale. Maybe don't buy the thing that you donated. That would be odd, but maybe come and spread the word. Just let people know, hey, this is a community-wide thing. This is not just for Move Church. It'll be next Saturday. We'd love for everybody to come. All the proceeds go to Panama Missions, amen? All right, stand on your feet with me. Let's say this, sending liturgy together. As we're leaving, we're not just going, we're being sent, amen? We're being sent with a new revelation, hopefully of God, what our place is in the world and how he wants to use us, okay? So let's say this together. We are not leaving this place. We are being sent. We are obeying the command of our Lord to go. So send us, Lord, to find you in secret in prayer and devotion, to love and care for our families, to strengthen and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ, to faithfully work as unto the Lord in the marketplace and home, to wisely steward all you have given us, to recognize our place and ability in our community, to witness of your goodness and grace to neighbors and nations. Send us now in your presence and power, amen.
