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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 1, 2, 3. 0, I love it. I love it. Here's the title of the message part 4. How to live long and prosper. Any truckies in the0:12 house today? Okay. I don't know why this is taking a Trekkie theme because last week, the message title was how to boldly go where you've never been before.0:24 And then today, it's how to live long and prosper. I don't know. Maybe I'm just in the mood for some Star Trek. Maybe I'll watch it after service today. So Psalm 23 verse 6 is gonna be where the verse the only0:36 passage that we're looking at, really studying in-depth today. Take take a look at other passages, but that's the 1 we're gonna really dig into. I want you to stand with me because I'm gonna put you to the test today.0:46 Alright. Last week, I was down in the Apollo Beach location at Florida. I gotta be honest with you. They really recited the psalm very, very well. They did a fantastic job. I started off. They finished it. But I believe0:58 that you're more spiritual than them. Mhmm. I I believe you're going to heaven before the Floridians every day. Amen. When Jesus comes back, he's coming for the cold northeasterners1:09 first because we believed in spite of the snow and darkness. Praise Jesus. Well, probably not gonna happen. I'm just kidding. But, anyway, let's recite this psalm together as we approach the word of god.1:21 I'm gonna start it, and then you carry it forward. Ready? The lord is my shepherd. Lie down, you green pastures. He leads me besides the1:32 waters. He restores my soul. Leads me in paths. Even though I walk through the path.1:47 For you, you yeah. You prepare a table before me in the presence surely2:12 I was wondering, were you cheating? Was that scrolling up on the that's very good. Fantastic. Thank you. This is god's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your shepherding. Thank you for the2:24 good shepherd, Jesus Christ, your son, who died and lives so that we might live. I pray, father, that our hearts are receptive and our minds are alert and our ears are open to hear what you wanna say and and help us to2:35 see Jesus. Him and him only. In his mighty name, we pray. And everybody said Amen. Amen. God bless you. Have a seat. Have a seat. So little bit of a series recap because this is the end, and I always2:46 wanna, you know, like, tie it all together, bundle it up, put a bow on it. The first 2 verses of Psalm 23 talking about the provision of the Lord. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.2:57 The Lord provides. Somebody say provision. And then those next few verses are are talking about the direction of the Lord, that he leads me in paths of righteous it will first off, he restores my3:09 soul. He brings me back. He's never gonna let me wander too far. He's always gonna bring me back. How many are you thankful that God always brings you back? Some of thought some of you thought you brought you back, but3:18 I'm here to tell you Jesus brought you back. Amen. And so let's talk about the direction of the Lord. So protection I'm gonna start provision and then direction. Somebody say direction. Direction. And then he talks about3:30 going through the valley the shadow of death. Fear no evil. Rod and staff cover me. All that kind of stuff. And that's talking about the fact that the Lord is packing heat. The Lord is gonna make sure that you're3:39 protected. So somebody say protection. Protection. Provision, direction, protection. Here's the last verse we're looking at. Psalms 23 6. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell3:50 in the house of the Lord forever. And here's the final thought about this passage, Psalms 23. It's about the the the destination of the Lord's sheep. Somebody say destination.4:03 So in Christ Jesus, in the leadership of the good shepherd, we have provision, we have direction, We have protection, and we have a final ultimate4:14 destination. How comforting it is to know that our lives do not end up in no man's land. How wonderful it is to know that that this life is not the end. Okay?4:26 Because I know a lot of Americans have a great life, but there's a lot of believers around the world that have suffered and struggled and been tortured and hurt for the cause of Christ. And the good news is is that they4:37 can get through all that because they know that ultimately there's a blessed home awaiting for them in heaven because of Jesus Christ. And I wanna tell all of you guys that your life is gonna end up great if you4:49 are in Christ Jesus. Yeah. You got a promise ahead of you. A promise of goodness. A promise of peace and security. A promise that all this world will 1 day be a5:00 shadow. It'll 1 day be a bad dream or maybe a moderately bad dream. You're gonna wake up in the presence of the Lord. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. When I go to a Christian funeral and I know that the5:12 person is a is a Christian and a lover of Jesus, I don't weep only. I'm rejoicing because I know that they are in the presence of Jesus Christ, and they are living amongst the saints for all eternity. And5:24 here's the deal. You have gotta start thinking about something that you might not think about much. Because in this present age in which we live, we are the minute by minute generation. We are the pull down and scroll5:34 generation. We are the Facebook generation. We are the social media generation. We are the outrage generation, the cancellation generation, and all the stuff about what somebody did at some point in their life. We're5:44 gonna hold them accountable for the rest of eternity, and I think this is the best news that I can offer you is that whatever anybody says about you down here has nothing to do with what God says about you up there. He's5:55 got the final word on your life. Come on. That's good news for Joe Rogan this weekend. Alright. Amen. But it's even better news for you. Praise God. It's better news for the people of the living God.6:07 And I wanna talk to you about that destination. I wanna talk to you about something that you don't think about much, again, because we're in a minute of my benedict culture, and that is your legacy. Somebody say legacy.6:17 Legacy. Turn to your neighbor and say, you're leaving a legacy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Stop. Shouldn't take you that long.6:30 You're leaving a legacy whether you realize it or not. And 1 day, you're gonna have a funeral. It's gonna be yours. And they're gonna say some nice things about you, and people are gonna show up because they loved6:42 you. They appreciated you. And I don't know about you, but when I get to that point where it's my funeral, I want people to be sad and glad. Amen?6:54 Like, there's 3 options for attending a funeral. You're either sad because, you know, they're lost and eternity awaits, or you're glad because you're finally rid of them.7:08 Or you're sad and glad because although you lost them, you know that they're not dead. They're alive with the presence of the Lord. I want everybody sad and glad. I want them singing and crying at the same time.7:20 You know what I'm saying? Because I want my life to outlive me for the glory of Jesus. And that's what I'm talking about when it comes to legacy. You are presently leaving a legacy,7:33 whether you realize it or not. And I'm not even talking about necessarily having children. I'm talking about the impact that you have on other people's lives. And everybody in here and everybody watching, listen to me.7:44 You have a chance to make an impact on other people's lives every single day. And I believe that when we know that the Lord is our shepherd, I believe that we're gonna leave a positive,7:56 life giving impact on the world. Why? Because we're not gonna get all down in the dumps and stay there forever and be miserable Because we know the Lord is our shepherd. And we're not gonna be angry at the world and mad8:07 at everybody because, you know, life's unfair and we have suffered injustices. Because we know that the Lord is coming, and he's gonna balance all the scales of wickedness, and he's gonna bring justice to the earth. And8:15 we're not going to complain and moan our way to the grave because we know that in all things, God is working for our good. And our legacy will leave an impact of positivity on the people that we come in contact with8:26 every single day of our lives. I want you to aim to heaven, to aim at heaven, and know that God is gonna bring a little touch of heaven to Earth through your life. Sound like a good8:38 plan? And this is what God wants to do for you. And everybody has a legacy, and I'm gonna prove to you that everybody has a legacy. And this really will only apply to maybe some young parents if you've had children or if8:47 you're about to have children. Here's what you go through when you have children as a parent. When the wife gets pregnant and the baby's growing in the womb, there's always that discussion about what are we gonna call8:59 this child? And then you find out the gender, and you're like, okay. It's a boy. So we're gonna call him and then you throw the names out. You ever do this? You throw the names out. Here's we're gonna call him Peter. And9:08 then the guy is smart to it. He's like, hey. Second. Wait a sec. Did you have a boyfriend named Peter? We're not naming my kid after your ex boyfriend. What's up with that? Or he says, oh, this girl, and he's like, oh, I9:18 like the name Louise. And she's like, I hate Louise. She was my roommate in college. I can't stand that woman. No. We're not naming a child Louise. And if your name is Peter or Louise today, I'm sorry. But let's stay9:29 with me for a second. The fact of the matter is that everybody's name leaves a legacy. Everybody's name leaves an impact beyond just that word. That right? That's that's what I'm talking about. Now interesting thing9:41 about what Philip Keller talks about in this book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. Again, it's written by a Middle Eastern shepherd who actually watched over physical sheep about 100 years ago or a little bit less than 1009:50 years ago. And he talks about a lot of things that the sheep don't have going for them. Right? And we've talked about it in the series. Like, in part 1, we talked about the the sheep. They don't really find their own10:01 food, or they'll eat the wrong food. In part 2, we talked about that in constant direction because sheep are stupid. Sheep are dumb. They're morons. They'll they'll they'll just walk off a cliff eating grass, not10:11 realizing that they're walking to their own death. And and then in in part 3, we talked about that we need protection. And because sheep do not have talons, they don't have claws, they don't have jaws, they can't fight10:20 off or ward off predators on their own. They need they need a shepherd to do that for them. And so we talked about the rod and the staff of the shepherd. And so all of these things so far, according to Philip Keller, all10:30 these things basically paint a very weak, dependent picture of sheep. And isn't it comforting to know that the Bible constantly refers to us as sheep?10:42 We're defenseless. We're stupid, and we'll walk off cliffs if we want to. Right? That's what we are. We need a shepherd. We need somebody to watch over us. We need the good shepherd. But if you get to the end of the10:53 book, and if you've read it already, you know what I'm talking about. There is 1 incredible benefit to sheep. They actually do have something going for them that sets them above11:05 all the other members of the of the of the animal kingdom, especially of livestock. And it's kind of funny what it is. And Philip Keller tells us that11:17 they have the best poop on the planet. They've got award winning maneuver manure coming out of them. That's what that's what sheep11:28 offer. And he says what they do is they graze in the lowlands, but they're always attracted to the highlands. Man, that's a lot like people, aren't they? They graze in the lowlands, and they'll eat. And here's what he11:39 says. Nutrients run down the mountains off the cliffs into the lowlands. Here's what sheep do. They eat the grass that's been that's been nourished by the nutrients that have flowed down the mountains. And then because11:49 they're attracted to the highlands, they'll gladly follow the shepherd up to the top of the mountain, and then they'll deposit their manure on the highlands. And it becomes this amazing cycle where what they do is they12:00 transport from the from the lowlands the nutrients back up to the highlands, and they provide nutrients where there otherwise wouldn't be nutrients. What a picture of what we can12:12 do as God's sheep. Here's what I mean. Some of you are in the lowlands right now. You're going through the shadows. You're going through the valleys. You're12:24 in the midst of the struggle. Can I tell you? Hold on for what God is doing in the midst of that darkness. Hold on through the shadows. Because you're not, as I said last week, you're not walking to the valley of the12:35 shadow of death. You're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And God is gonna put stuff in you that you're gonna bring up with you to the highlands, and you are gonna deposit on the high places of this12:45 world goodness and mercy. And people will be glad that you came by because you left it better than the way you found it. And I believe this is the12:57 promise, but, you know, life is life. And it's hard to have that perspective, and so I'm gonna hopefully do this for you today. Here's what Philip Keller talks about in the book. He says this. Let's put this quote up.13:08 Sheep can, under mismanagement, be the most destructive livestock. In short order, they can ruin and ravage the land almost beyond remedy. But in bold contrast, they can, on the other hand, be the most beneficial of all13:19 livestock. What's those last 3 words? If properly managed. In other words, if you got a shepherd that's gonna watch over you and manage your life, you're going to leave this world better than you found13:31 it. Can I tell you that that's my prayer for every person at Waters Church at every location? I want you to leave wherever you are better than the way you found it. I want you to leave the job better13:43 than the way you found it. I want you to leave the family better than way you found it. I want you to leave, you know, society, your town, your neighborhood. I want people to be glad and sad that you're gone. Glad that13:53 you were there, but sad that you're gone because because you brought something this world desperately needs. As as Jesus says, you, you Christians, you followers of mine, you are the salt of the14:05 earth, and you are the light of the world, and you are city on a hill that cannot be hidden, and the world should be glad that Christians are around. Can I get a good amen right there?14:16 Again, life is life, and you're gonna go through some stuff. And so I'm gonna give you 3 tips, 3 points, 3 3 ideas on how to make sure that what you deposit leaves people sad and glad. You leave14:28 a legacy of God's goodness in life. Okay. Here we go. Number 1, focus on the shepherd, not this not this not success. Success. Focus on the shepherd, not success.14:40 Write that down. Nothing has been asked of us in this Psalm. Right? If you get your psalm out there, right, you get that passage out, do you see14:52 1 command from God in this psalm? No. This psalm is not about what you do. It's about what the Lord does for you. The only thing by implication that we15:04 can say that this psalm is asking you to do is keep following the shepherd. That's it. Focus somebody say focus Focus. On the shepherd,15:16 not success. You might wanna write this down next to that note next to that point. Is there nowhere to fill in blanks? Seek the shepherd, not success. Here's why. Because look what it says. If we follow the shepherd,15:28 if the Lord is our shepherd. Verse 6, the first part. Surely. Somebody say surely. Surely. Surely, goodness and mercy shall what's the next word? Follow.15:40 Circle follow on your paper notes if you got paper. Follow me. The word follow in Hebrew is radaf. And the Old Testament, originally written in Hebrew, not English.15:52 Right? So what you do to study the Bible is you take the word in Hebrew and you look up where else is that translated in the Bible and into what English word is it translated. And so as I searched Rudolph in the Bible,16:03 the most often word that Rudolph is translated into is the word pursue. Put that word in place of follow. Because it's not this idea of goodness and mercy that kind of trickles into your life.16:15 No. Goodness and mercy pursues you. Another translation has it hunks you down. Oh, I love that. To think about the fact that your focus does not have16:27 to be on getting goodness and mercy. Your focus has to be on following the shepherd who makes it certain that goodness and mercy will come after you. It'll hunt you down. It'll16:39 pursue you, and you won't be able to get away from it because that's what happens when you make Jesus the lord of your life. Amen. What follows you is goodness. What follows you is mercy.16:52 But you've got to make the shepherd, not success, your focus. Say, why do you say that, pastor? Because here's the thing, and I want you to write this down.17:03 Sometimes a good thing can become a god thing. Sometimes a good thing can become an all consuming thing. Christians17:15 are famous for avoiding the big 3 sins. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That'll really wreck your life. And it will not so much17:27 about rock and roll, but sex and drugs for sure. Okay. Anyway, we also have to realize that sometimes very good things can ruin our lives.17:40 Are you are you tracking here? Sometimes we make our lives all about an income statement. If I just make a little bit more money, if I just make a little bit more money, And the scripture says in17:51 Ecclesiastes, whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. And that's you. You've just taken a good thing, income, and turned it into a God thing because you18:03 have measured your life. The success, the value, the substance, the significance of your life is all about digits on a check or on a direct deposit. And that's what makes18:15 you you. You might be there if you're comparing your income to your brother or your sister. You're comparing your lifestyle to your18:27 neighbor. You you compare square footage of your house to their house. Or you think, oh, they got that degree, but I got this degree. They go to that college, but I go to this18:38 college. And you know something? College is a good thing. Houses are a good thing. Square footage is a good thing. Income statements are a good thing, but they can become gods in our lives. They can18:50 become the source of our significance, the source of our value, the thing that we think makes us us, and this and and the security blanket around us. Like, everybody needs a security blanket. And some of you have taken18:59 off the security blanket of Christ to pursue the things of this world that are always and forever temporary at best. So so I I think about some of you young19:11 people, and listen to me, single people. Pay attention here because you are making a mistake in your mind sometimes about finding a spouse. Well, if I just find someone to marry.19:23 And you might even be coming to church. Not for Jesus' sake, but for marriage sake. You're out here. This is Christian Tinder for you. That's what you're doing right now.19:36 You're swiping left, swiping right as I push. You're not even listening to me right now. You're just looking at the, oh, she's pretty cute. I'm going talk to her after service. Oh, she's not so cute. I'm not going to19:43 talk to her. Swipe left. Swipe right. Swipe right. Right. Mean, you're just being a pagan. And here's what you've done. You've set up. You've set up someone, some imaginary person. You know, especially Christians19:55 do this all the time. Not Christians not so much, but Christians do this all the time. If I just marry a Christian, my life will be wonderful. And you people, I always meet you at the altar. I always meet you at the I20:06 could see you coming from a mile away. And I try to tell you this before the marriage, and I try to tell you this at the altar. And you don't listen to me because you think you've arrived at the altar, and all of heaven20:17 has finally met you here on Earth. But you don't know that hell is just a honeymoon away. I try to tell you. I try. I've done it. I'm so exhausted20:29 as you stand there looking all dreamy eyed into each other's eyes. I'm like, guys, it's not always gonna be like that. And you're always like, ah, shut up. Just get us married. Let's go. I had a lady in this church,20:40 young girl, she grew up in this church, and she went from boyfriend to boyfriend to boyfriend boyfriend looking for a Christian, Christian, Christian husband, Christian husband, Christian husband. You know what happened?20:47 She ended up getting a Christian husband, and she forgot that when you meet a Christian, you are meeting someone who knows that they are jacked up. That's what20:59 makes them Christian. Right? People who think they're good, they'll become Christians. It's the people who know they're bad. Do the math. You know what I'm21:11 saying? Oh, Christians are so awful. Yes, they are. The difference between you and a Christian is that the Christian knows they're awful. That's the difference. Okay? They know they need forgiveness. They know they need21:20 grace. They know they need the death of a Nazarean carpenter from 2000 years ago to forgive them of all their sins. And so she woke up. Dreamy eyed at the altar. Woke up.21:32 Hell. And they went through hell. And I'll never forget. And they came back, and they got ministered to. And they're on their and they're back on the right track, but I'll never forget. She came to me. She came to me21:41 after Christmas Eve services, and she's right over there. She said, pastor, I realized that I made the idea of a Christian husband god. And then she said these words, and only god21:54 can be god. I was like, bless you, sister. That's true. Only God can be God. Your your income can't be God. Your house, your square footage can't be God. Your career22:06 young men, your career cannot be God. Your college degree cannot be God. Only God can be God. Some of you, you make your kids gods. You make your children gods. They are they are wonderful to have as22:18 children. They are terrible gods. Spouses are wonderful to have in your life. They are terrible gods. And and jobs, wonderful blessings. Sometimes a good thing can become a god thing.22:30 And here's the thing. If you keep seeking the things that come after you, you'll miss the shepherd who's ahead of you. The the the Jews had a saying about the sun. They said, follow the sun. The light, always a symbol of22:41 God. Follow the light, and the shadow will grow longer. Because the light always goes down. Right? And so you follow the light, and it it might go down. But the shadow will cast longer the more you follow the22:53 light. Conversely, if you turn around from the sun and you try to chase the shadow, eventually, that shadow just fades into the darkness and quicker than if you followed the light. The point is don't seek23:05 success. Don't seek the things that life can give you. Seek the shepherd, and goodness and mercy will follow you. It'll pursue you. I think about the king in Israel's history named Uzziah.23:17 Uzziah, he sought God for a while, but then when he got what he wanted from God, he stopped seeking God. And there's 2 verses I wanna point out to you. Second Chronicles 26 15. It says this, in Jerusalem, Uzziah made23:27 machines invented by skillful men to be in the towers and in the corners to shoot arrows and gray stones. So this guy was this guy was like the Elon Musk of the Old Testament. I mean, all these weapons, all these amazing23:37 things, and it says this. And his fame spread far for he was marvelously helped. Now look at those last 4 words. What are they? Till he was strong. Next verse. But23:49 when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction. See, I I worry the the my biggest worry for people that come to my church24:01 is not, are you gonna go and get drunk tonight? My biggest worry is, are you gonna take something that's good and make it your god? And and subconsciously, without24:13 even realizing it, you've turned a good thing into the ultimate thing, and you've you've done more damage to your life than if you had gone out and gotten drunk. Okay. I'm I'm I'm not giving you permission to24:25 do either. Like, oh, pastor just gave me permission. I'm going to the bar tonight. Alright. At least I'm not making a good thing a god thing. No. I'm talking about24:37 making sure that the shepherd is your focus and not the things that he can give you. Here's what Psalm 91 says. Because he holds fast to me in love I love this phrase. Because he holds fast to me in love, will deliver24:47 him. I'll protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. Now the last verse. With long life, I will satisfy him and show24:59 my salvation. Who? Who will he show salvation to? Who will he satisfy? Those who hold fast to God in love. Some of you have a religious spirit when it comes to25:11 Jesus. You have a religious spirit. Here's what I mean. A religious spirit just comes to church to punch the card and checks out the day the minute's over. You just go through the motions. You25:23 might have been raised in a very religious institution. It was just 45 minutes in, out, did my time with God. Now let me get on with life. Or some of you are religious spirit. You come to church for the for the big25:33 moments only. Christmas and Easter or the big moments in life. When you're born, you get dedicated. When you're married, you get commit you know, committed. And then when you die, you get buried. When you get hatched,25:44 matched, and dispatched. That's the only time you ever come to church. And and it's it's your religious spirit. I wanna challenge many of you here today. Listen to me. Get yourself a heart relationship25:57 with Jesus Christ. Amen, somebody? It's not religion that's gonna save you. Okay? It's not your religious practice that's gonna lead you to heaven. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who's the good shepherd who laid down his26:07 life for you, for the sheep, so that you could have security and provision, protection, and direction, and ultimately, a final destination in heaven after this. John 15 5, Jesus says, I'm the vine. I'm the26:19 source. I'm the lifestream. Alright? He says, I'm I'm the I'm what gives you life. If you abide in me and I in you, you're gonna bear what? Much fruit26:31 that's gonna follow you. People are gonna be glad and sad when you leave because there's a legacy behind you. Okay. Now point number 2. Zoom out on the long term view of life.26:44 Every preacher, if they're honest, will tell you there's a favorite point in the sermon. This is my favorite point today. I want you to catch this 1 more than almost anything else that I say today. You gotta learn how to26:55 zoom out on your life. Okay. Here's what the psalmist says. He says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. Capital letters. Put it27:07 up on the screen, guys. All the days. Somebody say all the days. All the days. If you got your paper notes, circle all the days. All the days. Because I love the fact that he says a few of the he doesn't say27:19 a few of the days or a week or, you know, a couple months or a couple years or or or here he didn't even say this. When I'm doing good, then the goodness and mercy shall follow27:31 me. No. The psalmist has a whole life expectancy here. All the days of my life will be filled with27:43 goodness and mercy. And and so what you've got to do is you've got to zoom out to the long term view that god has of you. Here's why that matters. Because the27:55 devil is the master of zooming in. He wants you to zoom in on your problems. Zoom in on your challenge. Zoom in on what you don't have going for you.28:07 Zoom in on the health issues. Zoom in on the physical deformity. Zoom in on a thing that you don't like, that your mom always said was a problem with you. And it's like, you zoom in. You zoom in. And and he wants you to28:17 keep a laser focus on on the bad things so that you never have a long range view of how God has done this historically and can do it for you on bringing good out of the bad in your life.28:29 And some of you gotta do this about some of the weeks and the months and maybe even the season that you're in presently right now. You're in a bad season. You've been making the same stupid mistakes. Maybe you're in a28:38 season where you just hate everybody. I just hate I just don't even want to be here at church. I just want to leave the whole faith. I'm done. And you just want to give up. And I want them to tell you, don't give up.28:49 Zoom out. This is not the end. If you got breath, God still has a purpose. There's still days ahead, and you gotta learn something about God. God and29:01 write this down. God is not in a rush when it comes to your legacy. I know this is hard to hear in today's generation because we are in the minute by minute generation.29:13 We are in the Facebook post generation, the Twitter feed generation, the Instagram post generation. We're always about instant Instant gratification, instant results, instant feedback, instant everything. God is not29:23 about that. He wants you to look at the long range view of your life and say, goodness and mercy followed me. I had some bad days. I had some bad months, But I had a lot more good days and29:35 a lot more good months. And God used all the things, and He put it all into a good old casserole. How many had a grandma who would take the Thanksgiving leftovers? How many had a grandma take the Thanksgiving leftover?29:46 She'd put out an old Pyrex pan, and she'd put the turkey in and the Thanksgiving leftover and she just piled all on it and then she put cheese on top of it, throw it in the microwave, and come out and you have a whole29:56 new meal all with the leftovers for everybody who didn't want to eat at Thanksgiving. That's what god does with you. He takes the good, the bad, the ugly, puts a punch of cheese on it, and gives you a good casserole. All30:07 the days of my life are filled with gird, goodness, and mercy in Jesus. Ding. I hear the oven going off somewhere in someone's life right now. You gotta have a legacy30:19 mindset that you're building something. God's building something. And sometimes to build a tall tower, you gotta dig deep into a bunch of dirt. Amen.30:30 Sometimes you gotta get through some layers of mud to find some bedrock because God's not interested in building you a teepee. He wants to build a legacy that your family can be proud of, your children can be proud30:42 of. You know? So I I I got kids, and I I I I think about my kids, and and and my life matters for my kids now. And I always tell my kids, look. We are30:54 gonna go to church. We are gonna be a church going family, and you're gonna be church going kid. You live under and this is what I do. And some of you parents, you don't do it.31:06 I don't understand it. You live under my roof, you're going to my church. You live under my roof, you're going to my church. If you don't wanna go to my church, get yourself an apartment. I31:19 mean, I don't understand parents. They pay for your kids to just suck off of you, use you, and then they don't worship your god. So what are my kids? Jesus said, who are my31:31 mother, my brother, my sister? Those that do the will of my father who is in heaven. That's who I partner with. Those who love the lord. Let all those who love the Lord say so. Amen. Right? We we we gotta be31:43 a people who understand that we're trying to build into our kids a legacy. Well, I don't want them to resent church. Oh my goodness. Give me a break. You don't do that with school. Because I don't force them to go to31:54 school because I don't want them to resent school after all. No, you know it's good for them. You know it's good for them. You know it's good for better than they know it's good for them. And I fear that this transgender32:03 nonsense is getting into the life of the church. You know what transgender nonsense is? It's kids telling parents that they're in the wrong gender. And the stupid, dumbified parents are listening to the kids instead of32:11 being adults. And we need to be adults again and tell our kids we know some stuff. We're gonna lead you. We're not going to follow the monkeys. We're not going to follow the inmates of the asylum.32:22 Some of you parents gotta get your backbone back. You gotta remember your mom, your dad, and you are worthy of honor. The Bible says honor your father and mother.32:34 Well, I'm not worthy. Doesn't matter. It says still honor them. And in my house, we will serve the lord. And I tell my kids, this is what god cares about. He cares about the person you're becoming, not the person you32:44 presently are. And it's my job to raise you and train you to fear the lord. I always tell them about my grandparents. My grandparents served the lord. My father-in-law up32:56 in Norwood serving the lord. This is our heritage. This is where we come from. This is our lineage. And you're not gonna be the weak link. You're not gonna be the 1 that lets us down. And I got news for you. Your dead33:05 grandfather in heaven, he doesn't give a rip about how many likes you got on your Instagram post. I'm telling you, he wants your life to be a long list of the goodness of God so that people can be glad and sad that you33:14 left them. You gotta look at life like that, man. You're building something long term, and you gotta zoom out. It's like a stock chart. I33:26 got a picture of a stock up here on the screen, and I was thinking about this. This is kinda like your life. This is Apple stock, and Apple's historically a great stock. But I just want you to look at this about how many33:37 years it just stayed kinda nothing for a long time. And then eventually, ticked up, but then there was the financial collapse in 2008. And then it ticked up again, but a little bit down in 2013. And it ticked all the way33:47 up. And look look at this. This is 20 20. That's coronavirus right there. And if you were living right here, you'd think it was all over. You'd think that the worst is to come. But look at how it just skyrocketed since.33:57 And here's what the devil loves to do. He loves to get you laser focused on this or on this or on this. And you don't see34:09 the potential trajectory after the downward turn. Maybe you're just on a downward turn. Some of you gotta hear this before you give up on the marriage, give up on the child, or even give34:21 up on life because you're just going through something. I remember what it was like to have kids for the first time. It was tough. Some days you don't want to live.34:33 I mean, seriously. I was crying, whining, needing something. Like, you know what I need? I need sleep. That's what I need. I remember the first couple of days of marriage, first couple of days. How about this34:45 church? Man, I could tell you nightmares about this church. Sleepless nights that I've had. Hers being stabbed in the back, being lied to, slandered, accused, ripped off, people taking advantage of me even through the34:56 coronavirus thing, even through the shutdown. People from this church were reporting us to the board of health. People would come, see that I wasn't wearing a mask or a couple of you weren't wearing a mask, and they35:06 would report us to the board of health. We'd get the phone call. Man, that hurt. I'm like, hey. If we're not wearing mask, what does it hurt you? Who wants to wear a mask? Go wear your mask anywhere else for heaven's35:15 sakes. But you gotta you gotta be that vindictive. You gotta be that vindictive and hate ful that you wanna come and call you gotta go tattle tale to the presidents and the and the leaders, Todd. Are you 2 years old?35:26 What's going on? I don't even know if I'm preaching or just complaining now. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna go through some stuff. Some people are gonna leave you. Some people are gonna hate you. Some35:38 people are gonna stab you in the back. The strong people get over it. I think about Joseph. Joseph stabbed in the back by his brothers, sold into slavery, tossed in a35:50 pit, rejected by everybody who's supposed to love him. And the Lord raises him up from 1 level to another level to another, and he goes back down into the prison again, rejected and and despised and mistreated once36:01 again. And all the while, he's trying to do the very best that he can for God. And he gets into that prison, and he finds somebody who has a nightmare, and he interprets a nightmare. And 1 day, God takes him from the36:11 prison house to the palace. And then his brothers come up to him who'd are desperate for food, and they lie to him again. They say, dad, before he died, said that you need to forgive us. They're lying.36:23 And he says, listen to me, guys. I'm not in the place of God. And what you intended for evil, God used for my good. Some of you gotta get that in your spirit36:35 before you har harbor a bitter attitude towards your mom or your sister or your brother or some friend that hurt you years ago. Scripture talks about bitterness being a root. It goes down, and it defiles you, and it36:46 comes up, and it defiles many around you. You know how you live a bitterness free life? When you follow the shepherd and you zoom out on life and you realize that he's gonna use all the stuff to turn out a great36:57 casserole that people are gonna really enjoy. I love what the Bible says in Psalm 1 12. Praise the lord. It says, blessed is the man who fears the lord, who delights greatly in his commandments. Next37:09 verse, verse 2, say it. His offspring. Underline offspring. His offspring will be mighty in the land. That has been my prayer over my kids since the day where they were born. I pray, father,37:21 they are great men and women of God in their generation. Now listen. Some of you gotta hear me. You have to zoom out even of your own life, and you have to see the generational blessing37:33 that your life can produce. It's not really about you. It's about what your kids are gonna become too. He said, I don't have kids. Okay. Well, have some spiritual kids. Have some people that you invest37:45 in, that you serve, that you raise up, that you that you love. Paul the apostle wasn't married. He didn't have kids. He had spiritual sons. He invested in them. He outlived himself by not being consShow more
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Guest Message - Pastor Geyser Pastor Tim Hatch
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