free, free, free indeed. Amen. Free, free, free indeed. Free to follow Jesus. That's what that freedom is all about. It's freedom to be able to Rejoice in Him. It's freedom to be able to follow Him and do His work. That's what the freedom in Christ is all about. He delivers us from bondage. And when you die with Him and He makes you a new creature in Christ Jesus, that new creation is free to be able to love Him and to look to Him and lean upon Him. I have a saying that if you don't die before you die, you'll never live when you die. If you don't die before you die, you won't ever live when you die. You have to die before you die. And that is you die to self. You die to everything else. You die with Christ upon the cross. For as Romans chapter six says that we died with him when he died. We were buried with him when he was buried and we've been raised to new life. that is in him, and we reckon that. We put faith in the fact that I died with him. And dead men don't have any rights, do they? They surrender those rights unto the Lord. And as a result, what happens is, and you gotta remember, God doesn't raise anything that don't die. You gotta die to be raised, amen. you have to die and that's what the scriptures teach us that we are to have as believers now that we are disciples of the Lord we are to have a sentence of death in ourselves so that we won't trust in ourselves but we trust in Him who raises the dead. Paul says that in second Corinthians chapter number one He said, brother, we don't want you to be unaware or ignorant of the troubles we went through, that it was so severe, so bad, so harsh, so difficult that we had to have a sentence of death in ourself so that we wouldn't rely upon ourself and we wouldn't trust in ourself, but we would rely upon Him who raises the dead and he said we've had a great deliverance from him and we believe that not only has he delivered us but he is delivering us and we believe he's still got plans to still deliver and what great hope amen. Well look won't you take the revelation that you brought with you and go back to Matthew those first two chapters that we were in this morning. Now what we're doing this week is that one we're asking God to pour out His Spirit upon us We ask in him to pour his living water, his word into us. The spirit is like a river, the scripture says, that when he pours out his spirit, there shall be a river that wells up within us, that will flow out of us, that will feed many, that will flourish. Stephen and I was coming back in Carolyn from Starkville today, we rode over and ate with Miss Priscilla and Brother Jerry, and on our way back over here, we come up by the lake, by the K-O-A campground. How long has that lake been dry? About five years. Man, that thing's dry, isn't it? Just a little bitty old spot in there. You know, that's happening all over, that it takes one, it takes rain, it takes continuous rain, it takes a flow. into a lake to keep a lake full. Well, it takes a flow of the Spirit of God and the messages of God in your life for the Spirit and for the work of Jesus to flow in and out of your home, to flow in and out of your fellowship, to flow in and out of this community. There has to be an inflow and an outflow. And that's how that lake, I mean, it's just drying up. And at one point in time, I imagine that lake thrived out there. I mean, they didn't build that campground and that big water slide for nothing, right? I wouldn't want to go down that slide today. It's going to be a hard fall when you hit the bottom, huh? And that's why a lot of times in churches, people have a hard fall because there's just not water that is saturating everybody's life. And we wanna fill one another's buckets up with the living water of God, amen. And you know, the Bible tells us that in Proverbs 11, 25, it says, he who waters shall be watered himself. So the more you pull out exhortation, encouragement, edification, taking the living water of the Word of God, bringing it with you to pour into other people's lives. God says He'll always keep your bucket filled so you'll always have water to pour on somebody else, always. So if you're running low on water, it's because you're not pouring enough out. You're not pouring enough out. And now to pour it out, you gotta have it being poured in you. That means you gotta seek him and get in it so you can go give it away to somebody. And that's how you keep things in the kingdom of God. You gotta give it away. He says that about what? If you love folks, what's gonna return to you? Love. If you judge people, what's gonna return to you? If you show people mercy, what's gonna return to you? Mercy, if you give away resources, what does God promise he'll do? He'll pour in your bosom, right? Good measure, shaken down, together, it will overflow out of your life. You know that old saying that your saucer will be full, your cup will overflow of just what God, but the same thing applies with truth. If you give away truth, you know what? Truth's gonna be poured into you. God's gonna pour it into you. The first part of that verse says this, that the generous soul shall be made fat or rich, shall have an abundance. The generous person shall have enough to keep giving away. And he who waters shall be watered himself. That would be a word that you wanna hide away somewhere. Just write it down in the front part of your Bible and say, Lord, I wanna be a waterer. I need my bucket overflowing. I wanna bring it to people. I wanna carry it to people. And I want people to pour in me and I wanna pour in them and I always wanna have water. A lot of times I'll talk with a lot of preachers throughout the country and sometimes they'll send me a message or ask me, say, what you preaching these days? Or what's a good word you got these days? I'm kinda at a loss on where I need to be. And I said, brother, you need to be watering, folks. If you water and keep watering, God's gonna make sure your bucket is full. Amen. He's going to make sure your bucket is full. Another principle I would encourage you to write down and remember this Proverbs 16 3 Proverbs 16 3 says, commit your works unto the Lord and he will establish your thoughts. I don't know about you, but if I need anything, I need God renewing my mind on a regular, consistent basis. I need Him to think for me, because if I think for me, it never works out good. Are you with me? How many of you are talking about the dead man? How many of you ever let the dead man come out the grave every once in a while, and it causes you trouble? Y'all ever let the flesh get out? Y'all ever operate in the flesh? You ever get agitated, aggravated, mad, and say things you wish you'd have never said? Do things you wish you'd never done? People push your buttons and because you're more like a hot air balloon. You know, a hot air balloon is sensitive to the touch. It don't take much to blow them through the room, right? You take an old thin-skinned balloon and you blow on it, it'll go all over this room. It don't have much anchoring it down. Well that's how a lot of times if you're operating in the flesh that's how you'll respond. Everything going on in society's pushing you and moving you. Got you upset one day, got you joyous the next day. Got you down one day, got you high the next day. And you're like on an emotional roller coaster. You ever been there before? The problem is on a roller coaster, they're a lot of fun, they got a lot of ups and downs, in and outs, highs and lows, but you always get off where you got on. And you don't want to live that away, right? You don't want your worship to be that away, where you got a lot of ins and outs, ups and downs, but you leave just like you came in. You want to leave transformed, amen. That God does the work. Well, for that to happen, you got to commit. You got to commit, got to commit to the Lord. You commit to him. He says, you entrust yourself to me. You commit to me, I'll commit to you. And we need his commitment, but he won't commit to you. If you're not, if he's not worth you committing to him, but when you do, Man, he will establish the way that you operate in this life. Entrust your works to me, he said, and I will establish your thoughts. That word is what radically made such a difference in my journey, in my life. He, when I believed, when I recognized and I knew that I needed Him to think for me, to change my heart, to change how I thought, to change how I viewed life, my perception on everything in life. I needed God to renew that in me and to refresh that in me and revive that in me on a daily basis. And I believe that if every day I would come before Him and I'd surrender myself to Him and commit to Him, He would commit Himself to me and He would plant His thoughts into me. and he would make all the difference in my life. And I realized that man, he can teach me things nobody else could teach me. He can show me things that nobody else could ever show me. And I didn't have to have a great intellect. I didn't have to be the smartest person in the world. I didn't have to understand everything. All I needed to know is what he was giving to me at the moment and trust it and walk in it. And he then began to stretch me. and stretch me and teach me more. And the whole time what he's doing, he's stretching my love with knowledge and understanding. So that not only can I see him, but then I can reflect him and how I see other people that don't line up with him or even line up the way I see things. He's now given me a heart of compassion to be able to love them the way he loved them. And man, he makes all the difference, amen. All the difference. Proverbs is at, what did we mention? Proverbs what? 11.25 and Proverbs what? 16.3. I would make a commitment tonight to go and look those things up and figure out and ask God to do something and help you with it as well. Amen. So Matthew, Matthew chapter number two. Now the other objective this week is that not only do we want to evaluate where we are as we did this morning, all of us fit in this scenario somewhere. We're one of the four. Remember what we said about the magi, the wise men, they came what? Seeking the Lord. They sought Him, they surrendered, they submitted to what they had, the light that they had. All they had was the fact that there was a star in the sky and that star was to represent the ruler, the Christ, the King of the Jews, and they come looking for Him. Now, the closer they got, the more light God gave to them. And the same thing with you and me. You seek the light that God gives you and God will give you more light as you surrender and submit to that And then you sacrifice whatever it takes, whatever he calls you to do, you give it to him and walk in it. And that's where we want to be this week. But you know, you live in a community that is sometimes they're not seeking the light. Sometimes they're not seeking Jesus. They may still be in the dark and don't even have any light. And they just walk in in the natural of what they know. Well, this morning we looked at these four different characters in here that now you can have something that you can bring this same narrative, this same story, and share with them how the Magi functioned, how Herod operated, how the people in Jerusalem functioned, and then how the priests, what they did. And you'll say, okay, now I fit in this. in one way or another. Sometimes I've been like the Magi. Sometimes I acted like Herod. The church was doing something that I didn't want to get involved in it so I tried to shut it down. People do that often in churches for whatever reason. They start letting the dead man come alive again. They start operating in the flesh. They don't want to do what everybody else is doing and man they'll try to shut her down. And you can help people and say, man, are you doing that right now? Are you acting like Herod trying to stifle the king's business and what he's doing? Sometimes you might be like the people of Jerusalem who were troubled over this news. Why? Because it would just upset their lifestyle. They would have to make some sacrifices themselves. They might have to give up some stuff. They might have to deal with a battle here and a battle there, a war here. And nobody wants a fight. Nobody wants a war. Nobody's looking for that. But you know, we are in a battle, aren't we? Are we in the battle for the souls of men? Yes, we are. Is it a spiritual battle? Yes, it is. Do we need to put on the belt of truth? Do we need to be truth ready in everything we do? We need to be righteous ready with a breastplate over us. We need to be confident with the assurance of salvation. We need that helmet. We need to be ready for it. Man, we gotta have the gospel tucked away in our heart so that our feet are ready. We need to be gospel ready in every aspect of our life. Because if you're not gospel ready, you're not ready to fight the spiritual battle. He said, shod your feet. with the gospel of peace. So if you're not gospel ready, that is you can't lead somebody to Jesus with the intent to bring that message to them, you are not fully armed for the spiritual battle that's going on in your life, much less helping other people fight the battle. that they're going on. So you gotta have truth. You need to be righteous. You gotta have confidence in the Lord, in faith. You gotta take that shield with you, because the enemy's gonna what? Shoot those fiery darts at you, right? But you gotta be able to throw that shield of faith up. Bring that word together and take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and be ready for that warfare. But we're not battling them with people, are we? Not against flesh and blood, but against what? Principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age. We're fighting against ideas. We're fighting against laws that our legislators make. You know, this issue with abortion, for an example. You know, that was put in law some 50 years ago, but God's words condemned it forever, hadn't they? You see, but man over the last 50 years, an entire generation plus has been told it's legit because a law was written for them to be able to do that. But God's word has always condemned it. Hadn't he? So see, that's the kind of battle that we're fighting. And people that you're warring against is not them, but how they think. And you see, but our weapons are what? Mighty in God to pull down strongholds that have them fortified in a lie that the truth of the light of the good news of Jesus and his word can shatter that stronghold and take them and bring them out of it into the light of the glorious good news of Jesus. Amen. God works that battle. See, but I've got to be ready for it. And then you have those like the priest who They didn't even care to go five miles down the road and check out if this story was legit. So you've got something to work with. As Proverbs would say, trust in the Lord with what? All your lean not upon. your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and what will he do? He'll direct your path. So just start with the little things, something little. So over the next several weeks, over the next several months, that's something in your hands to use in everyday life to help other people with. Where are we in that scenario? Well, let's pick it up. Look in chapter one. I want you to see this. Verse number 18 says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they ever came together in an intimate relational way, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was conceived in the womb by God, by the Holy Spirit. That's important. Why? Nick Holden wasn't conceived in the womb by the Holy Spirit. My mom and dad, I was brought forth in iniquity, the scripture says. I was born different than the way Jesus was born. My mom and dad, when they had me, they had original sin in them and that sin was passed on to me and therefore I was born a sinner from the womb. Praise God, Jesus wasn't, amen. He was born different. So therefore, his conception, his birth, his life, his temptation, everything about him, when we trust Jesus with our life, his life is accredited to our life. So everything about him is transferred. He takes our sin and gives us his righteousness. His blood forgives us of that transgression and sin, and he reconciles us and makes us a friend unto God. What salvation is in Christ is a salvaging work of God. He salvaged me. You know where I was headed? I was headed for the ruin. I was headed for the dunghill. I was headed for ruin, but Jesus interrupted my life, salvaged me, and then made me safe with Him, and then made me safe to go to work for Him. That's what salvation is. It's a salvaging, safe work that only Jesus can do to make me safe with a holy God, and then make us safe in that sanctifying work to go to work for him. That's that freedom that y'all was thinking about, that safety that we have in him. You see, but he was born different than us. And the scripture goes on to say, notice this, Look in verse number 21 of chapter one. And she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name, what? Y'all say that loud with me. What shall you call his name? Jesus. Say it one more time. Anybody know what that word means? Anybody know what it means? I'm gonna get a sip of water. What's it mean? The Lord. That's right, the Lord, what does the Lord do? He does what? He saves us. The word is the Lord or God Almighty, Yahweh, saves. That's what the word Jesus means. Yahweh, the Almighty, saves. That salvation is of the Almighty. So every time you say the name of Jesus, You're saying... In one simple name, you are saying the gospel every time you say it. That Yahweh saves. Salvation is only of the Lord, and that salvation only comes through God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? So every time you say it, you're saying Yahweh saves. Yahweh saves. Jesus, that's why that name's so precious, amen? the most precious name we know. And he goes on to say that, he shall do what? He shall, he shall save who? Who? His people. You have to be part of his, you have to be his people. You have to be, as John would say, you have to be what? You have to be birthed into his family. He only saves his people. His people are the believers. His people are the sheep. His people are the redeemed. His people are those who will be made the new creatures in Christ Jesus. But you gotta be part of his people, because that's the people that he saves, amen. that his blood is applied, he saves his people from their sins. Now notice what verse 22 says, because this is every dynamic of anything associated with Jesus in any kind of fashion, this is always gonna be applied. Watch what he says here. So all this, everything that he just gave, how Jesus came about through the lineage of Jesus, through Mary, the Holy Spirit, every aspect of it. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by who? The Lord, and it was spoken through who? The prophets. So here's the thing, when God works, When God speaks, when God does, or when God fulfills a thing, it's always by the Lord through his servant. By the Lord through his servant. By the Lord through his servant. So every time a soul is birthed in the kingdom, it's by the Lord through his servant. One, through the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also the messenger who took the word and brought that to somebody. It's by the Lord. through his servant. So if I'm a servant of his and I'm gonna do what he's called me to do, if it's ever gonna be done, it has to be done by the Lord through his servant, amen. That's just how God works, by him through us, by him through us. If this community is gonna be reached, it's gonna be reached by him, but he's gonna do it what? Through us. If this world's gonna be wreaked, it's gonna be by him, but it's gonna be through us. God always works through his servant. He speaks, he does, and he fulfills what he's spoken by the Lord through his servant. Isn't that a wonder there, that God would do his work with us? that he would use us to do his work, that we could be a co-laborer with him in the work that he's doing, that just us, I mean, we're not much, amen? How many of y'all would say we're not much? Now some of you may be a lot more than me, that's okay, I'm good with that. But if you collected us all together, we ain't a whole lot of much. But God chose to use us, amen. He chose to use those things which are not much. You think about it. The scriptures say that Jesus came from Nazareth. Where was Nazareth at? What area or region is Nazareth in? Galilee. Y'all remember that, Galilee. Where was Galilee? Galilee was in the northern region of Israel and the area of Galilee is referred to as the Galilee of the Gentiles. Why? Because the Gentiles in that area and surrounding them outnumbered the Jews up there. Another thing is, is that it had a couple districts within it, a couple cities and a couple small villages. And Nazareth was so small that it didn't even register as a city. It was just a little community, a little village. But God chose to bring his Redeemer out of that little bitty place of Nazareth. But while that word Nazarene means one guarded or protected, separated for something, God has protected his work throughout time, that in the fullness of time, his son would come on the scene and rescue those around the world. Not the high and mighty, not like Herod. You know, Herod wanted to kill Jesus, right? But what happened to Herod? If we kept reading in chapter two, what happened to Herod? Anybody know what happened to him? Herod died. But you know who kept living? Jesus kept living. The Bible says it's a vain thing to try to come against the King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen. It's an empty, here's this little boy, this little child who he's trying to snuff out and kill, but God kept him alive. And you know how Herod died? Herod was a ruthless man. terrible leader, a terrible man. He literally rotted in his death. He rotted from the inside out. But this little boy laid down his life to rescue the souls of men. Amen. You see, there's a world of difference. But let's go over to Luke chapter two. This is what we wanna look at tonight. Luke's gonna get into a little bit more of this story that I wanna draw out. Look in Luke two. We're just gonna progress a little bit along in this. Luke 2, verse number 40, it says, and the child did what? Luke 2, 40 says, and the child continued to grow, and he became strong in spirit, he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Verse number 41. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the boy, Jesus, notice the progression. He was a babe, a child, now he's a boy. The boy, Jesus, verse 43. He lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother did not know it. They supposed him to have been in the company and they went a day's journey and they did what? They sought for him among their relatives and their acquaintances. And when they didn't find him, they returned to Jerusalem doing what? They were looking for him, they were seeking him. Now, so it was after how many days? Man, they went all through Jerusalem looking for him. Three days later, they find him. Where did they find him? They find him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him was astonished. and his understanding and answers. So when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said to him, son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously. And then Jesus said these words, why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? that I must be about my father's business. First off, where did they start looking for him? When they realized he wasn't there. He thought he was there, but he wasn't there. And then when they realized he wasn't, where did they go? They started with the family. Man, you can spend days and days searching your family and not find Jesus. Some of your family may be a different story. But if you got anything like some of my family, you can go for a while and not find him. Well, they searched and they couldn't find him. Then they looked among the acquaintances, not just their family, but they started looking in the community that they were with. They were on a journey on their way back to Nazareth and everybody they traveled with, they started looking in this one's group and that one's group and little boy Jesus was nowhere to be found. So they recognize he's not with us, he's not here. So what do they do? They go to Jerusalem. And when they go to Jerusalem, they walk through the square, they walk through the commerce, they walked all over West Point, and they walked through Starkville, and they went up to Houston, and they walked through there, but they never found, they didn't find him. He wasn't there. Oftentimes, we are looking for Jesus in the wrong places. We're looking for him in the wrong places. Not to say that you can't find him in some places that you would never think you would find him. I'm glad he came and found me while I was out, amen? But see, they were looking for him in all these places, but he wasn't there. Sometimes we got people, they going through things. How many of you ever go through stuff in life? You ever go through trouble? How many of you ever go through some, Some emotional, how do we want to say it? You're just unstable emotionally. You ever get that away? And when you get that away, what can you find yourself doing? You're looking for solutions. You look for help. You look for advice. But oftentimes the places you're looking, if you're not careful, is everywhere that Jesus is not. And you think you're looking for Jesus, but you are, but you're looking in the wrong places for him. And he's hard to find, isn't he? Where would you find Jesus if you really wanted to find him? Whatever Jesus's father's doing, that's where he's gonna be. That's where he's gonna be. He's not really that difficult to find, amen. Matter of fact, the scripture says that he has made it simple for us to find him. You just gotta look in the right place. And the right place to look for him is wherever the father's at work. Because wherever the father is at work, that's where you're gonna find Jesus. because Jesus did what his father gave him to do. And I wanna tell you today, he's still doing it, amen. If Jesus is doing anything in you, it's what the father gave him to do. It's what he gave him to do. And there are times in your life, everything God does, for an example, everything that he does, what did Jesus teach him in Matthew chapter six? If I say Matthew 6.33, what would that be? Y'all help me with that. Yeah, Matthew chapter six in verse number 33, about anxiety. He said, don't be anxious for nothing, but what are you ought to do? Seek first, what? The righteous reign of God, where God's kingdom is at work and his righteousness. God knows what you need, right? He knows it before you need it. So he says, seek him in everything you do. Make that the principle of priority of your life, that you're gonna seek him first, that you're gonna seek him first. Not seek your agenda, but seek him. A lot of times when we seek him, we have a preconceived idea of what we want when we start seeking. And oftentimes we struggle in looking for it because we're looking for it, but we never find him. And he teaches us to what? Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things shall be what? Added unto you. Everything you need, not everything you want, but everything we need, he'll make sure we have it when we need it, right? Do we believe that? Is he trustworthy? Yes, he is. Y'all remember there was a time in the life of the generations gone by. There was a guy by the name of Nimrod. Does that sound familiar to any of y'all? Remember when God told the people to spread out and populate the earth? But what did they do in Nimrod's day? They all came together and said, for fear we be spread out, let's build us what? A tower unto the Lord. What did God do? What did he do then? He calmed down and he confused them. He confused them and spread them out to do what he wanted them to do, the father's business. They chose to do their business, not his business. So God intervened, spread them out, confused them for one purpose. What was that purpose? That they might seek him. that they might seek him. So if you're confused and frustrated in life, this is what I encourage you to do. Seek the Lord, amen. If everything's going good in life, you know what I encourage you to do? Seek the Lord, amen, and lean upon him. Seek him in everything because if Jesus is at work in anything, it's gonna be his father's business. How do I know? Because he tells us this. For an example, look if you would in John, go to John's gospel, John's gospel. Look in chapter four. Yeah, John four. We're gonna look at a couple of things. and a couple places that'll help us with this. Yeah, John's Gospel. Y'all know the story I would imagine? Look at about verse number 27. At this point, his disciples came and they marveled that they saw him talking with who? Okay, so where are we at in this scenario? He's down in Samaria and he's talking to a woman at the well of Jacob. And the woman too was surprised that Jesus would talk to her, but he was. Verse 28, the woman then left her water pot went her way into the city and said to the men, come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Messiah, the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came to him. In the meantime, his disciples urged Jesus and said, Rabbi, teacher, eat. But Jesus told them, I have food to eat, which you do not know. Therefore the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat? Do you see they thinking in the what? The natural, right? But Jesus said in verse 34, my food is to do what? The will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you think Jesus would do anything different today? If He's living in us, and He does by the Spirit, what is He doing? What is His meat? What is His food? What does He thrive on? Doing the Father's will, amen? Doing the Father's will. Well, go back to Matthew chapter number seven. Matthew seven. Let's see how we get in on this will. Isn't it something that when Jesus does a work in you supernaturally, He changes your whole perspective and your whole priority on things? Before we get too far away from that story about the woman at the well, what did that woman go out there for? She went out there for water. But she had an encounter with the living Savior. who invested some time and a message in her, revealed that he knew her and didn't shame her, but that he had something for her. And what did that woman do? What was her first instinct to do when she realized who she was standing before? She left her water pot at the well. and ran back to the town to tell the people she just met somebody they need to come meet. You see, that's what he'll do in your life and my life. You have an agenda, but when you encounter him, he changes your priority. You will leave the water pot, amen, so that you can go tell what he's done. But in Matthew chapter seven, notice this. I'm gonna just start in verse 21. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does what? The what? Okay. Does Jesus do the will of his father? He only does the will of his father. So to do the will of the father, the only way to do the will of the father is you got to have Jesus in you and all God's people say it. Remember, remember that principle we said in chapter one, by the Lord, through his servant. By the Lord, through his servant. He says, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. He said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name? and done many wonders in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of what? Iniquity or lawlessness. Think about that. Why will people say in that day, what day is he talking about? The judgment day. When they stand before the great white throne of judgment and they give an account for their life, they'll stand in that day and they'll say, but Lord, didn't we do this in your name? And didn't we do that in your name? And didn't we do this in your name? And Jesus will say to them, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, you workers of lawlessness. I never knew that. Why? Because only those who do the will of my Father. Why would they say that in that day? Well, they'll say that in that day because in that day, they have run out of options. They've run out of options. As long as they were living on the earth, they had options. And Jesus was just one of the options that they chose. Matthew chapter 13 talks about it like this. Y'all know the story about the parable of the seed and the sower and the saws of the heart of men, how sometimes the seed falls by the wayside. Birds come along, Satan comes along, snatches it. Sometimes the seed falls upon shallow ground. had no soil for it to take root. Sometimes it falls upon thorny ground, upon the rocks and the thorns, and it chokes it out. That's the picture of somebody who adds Jesus into the repertoire of their everyday life. That is, they've got other solutions that fit in with Jesus, but Jesus is not their way, the truth, and the life to them. He's not the narrow way to them. He's not the exclusive way, the only way that they live. They just say, He's part of their life, but he's not their life. You see, but when they stand before him at the great right, you know what they're gonna realize? All those options were a lie. And they run out of them. And there they are standing and they see him, that he is who he said he is. He is exclusion. You know, that's why the Bible refers to it as a narrow way. It's a narrow gate, a narrow way, a narrow path. Why? Because it's exclusive to one. There's only one, and his name is Jesus, amen. And he has to have my life, and he has to have my trust. He has to have me. I gotta be born into his family, amen. Look in chapter 12 of Matthew, look in 12. Notice how Jesus said this, 1246. 1246. While Jesus was still talking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and brother stood outside seeking to speak with him. Then one of them said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside to seek to speak to you. And notice what Jesus said, just an extraordinary word for us tonight. But he said to them, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And he stretched out his hand toward his disciples. And he said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does what? The will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. You know what he just said? He said, you gotta be part of the family. You gotta be part of the family. You can only do the will of God if you're part of God's family. And the only way to be part of his family is that you gotta be what? You gotta be born again, amen. You gotta be made that new creature in Christ. It's the only way to be part of his family. And once you are his family, now you have the liberty, the freedom to do the will of the Father. You have what it takes because not only are you part of the family of God, but Jesus himself will what? Live where? In us, amen. In us. And when he lives in us, what is his business? What is he all about? Doing what? The Father's will. So if you wanna do the will of the Father, you gotta have Jesus. And when you have Jesus, you follow Jesus's lead. And when you do, what is he gonna lead you in? He's gonna lead you into the will of God. He's gonna lead you into the Father's business. That's why Jesus would say things like this. Come unto me, all ye that are what, heavy laden and burdened. And what will he give you? Rest, rest for what? Not rest from the Father's will, not rest from the work, but He'll give you a rest where? He'll give you a rest within, for the work that He's given you to do, amen? There's a great Old Testament picture of this. Y'all remember Moses? when Moses sensed in his spirit that he was to lead God's people and do the will of God. He was gonna separate himself from Egypt, because he'd been raised in Pharaoh's house. Moses comes out when he's ready to take a stand. And the first thing he sees, he sees a test before him. Y'all remember what he saw that day? That there was an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. He was abusing him and what did Moses do? Y'all remember that? What'd he do? He killed him and then done what? He hid him, he buried him. He murdered a man and then covered it up. But what did he do before that? Y'all remember he did something right before he killed him. He did something. Y'all remember what he did? The scripture says, Moses, when he saw this Injustice being taken place. The Bible says Moses looked this away. And Moses looked that away. And when he saw nobody was looking, he laid hands on the Egyptian and killed him. But he made one major mistake. What mistake did he make? He didn't look up. He didn't look up. He didn't look up. You see, Jesus always looks up. Matter of fact, Jesus never does a thing when he was living. You can read about this in John five. You can read about it in John six. You can read about it throughout the scriptures. He says, I never do a thing unless my father leads me first. Everything he did, the father led him to do. We see Moses operated what? In the natural. And because he didn't see a man's eye on him, he took opportunity and killed the man and then buried him. But immediately he realized, what did he do? He messed up. Why? Word got out. And when word got out, now who is he gonna have to give an account to? Not only God, but who? Pharaoh. And what did Moses do? He ran. He went to the wilderness. How long was he there? 40 years in a wilderness. Found him a wife out there. Found him some sheep out there. And one day Moses was out shepherding those sheep. And in God's timing, when the people that sought his life for killing the Egyptian had died, God showed up. And how did God show up to Moses? In a what? Have you ever thought about that burning bush? Was anything special about the bush? You think the bush next to it could have been burning too? Remember the bush was burning, but it wasn't what? It wasn't being consumed. It was on fire, but it wasn't being consumed. Could the next bush done the same thing? Sure. Why is that you think that that bush was on fire but wasn't being consumed? Let me give you a hint that I believe why. Number one, God didn't need the bush to fuel the fire. He himself is a consuming fire. And he didn't need the bush to burn the flames. He is a fire. And Moses would be the person that God would get on and make a consuming fire without burning him out at 80 years old. How old was he? 80. 80. I got anybody in here 80? How old are you? 81. 81. Anybody else? The preacher. Carolyn said April 10th's her birthday. She'll be 58 in April 10th. Imagine just getting cranked up at 80 years old. You see, but Moses wasn't gonna fuel this fire. Who was gonna fuel Moses? God was gonna fuel him. And what he was teaching him is that he could choose any bush that he chose and he can choose any servant that he chooses. Moses just happened to be the servant that he's called. And when God would get on him, God wouldn't keep him from the work, but God would fuel him in the work. God would not give him rest from it. Matter of fact, he'd just be getting started. God would give him rest, what? In the work. Why? Because it's the will of God, amen. And when we are doing the will of God, when we come in unto Jesus, we seeking him as a way of life, you know what he's gonna do with us? He'll fuel our fire too, without burning you out. Man, that's a gift, amen. I come across a lot of people through the years And they'll just say, Preacher, I'm burned out. I'm done. I'm tired of serving. I'm tired of being around people. And the reason that is, is they're doing it in their own strength. They're doing it in their own strength. Jesus says what? Come unto me. And when you come unto me, I'll put my yoke on you. And when I put my yoke on you, you will learn from me. You've learned from the wrong example, come learn from me. And I'll give you what? Rest within. Why? Because the work I'm doing is the will of my father. And that's where you're gonna find Jesus, amen. In what the father's doing. So sometimes if you're looking for him in your family, you might not find him. If you're looking among your acquaintances, you might not find him. But I want to tell you what, if you seek him with no agenda, but to know him, he's going to make himself known to you. and He's gonna show you what He and His Father and the Spirit are up to. And He's gonna empower you to do that work. And I wanna tell you another thing. Y'all remember those guys that walked with Jesus on that road when they left after the crucifixion, and they were on that road of Emmaus, and they were depressed and had no hope, and Jesus come alongside them. They didn't know it was Jesus. And the scripture says, Jesus began to what? Teach them about the Christ and he took Genesis. and he took Exodus, and he took Leviticus, and he took Numbers and Deuteronomy, and he took the book of Joshua, and Judges, and Ruth, and Samuel, and Kings, and Chronicles, and he took Esther, and he took all these Older Testament truths, and the scripture says that he taught them about himself. And when he made himself known to them, they realized that they were sitting and eating bread with the one they felt they lost. You know what the two men said? Y'all remember what they said? Did not our hearts burn within us when he taught us the Word? That's one of the indicators that you're meeting with Jesus, amen. When Jesus is the one you're meeting with each and every day, and he's teaching you about himself, he's gonna burn in your heart, but he's not gonna burn you out, amen. You know what those men did after dark? They took and ran. They walked in depression for seven miles. but when they realized they would with Jesus and he was alive, the scripture says they ran back to Jerusalem to go tell the rest of the disciples that they met with the living resurrected Lord, amen. That's the difference that he'll make when you meet with him, amen, when you meet with him. So I encourage you tonight, run to him, amen. Get yoked up to him. Get about the father's business. and let Him do something in you that nobody else can explain except it being a God thing. It's God. It's God at work. To Him be the glory. To Him be the glory. Would you stand with us tonight? Father, we bless you and thank you. I pray you draw people to yourself tonight, including me. We're often looking for things, but we're looking for the wrong thing. You teach us that it's your objective in everyday life that we seek you and seek you first. So we're coming at this moment in faith to seek you. And I pray that we'll find you. And we'll find you doing what you've always doing. That is the work of your Father. And that you will fuel us to be part of that work. and we're gonna bless you for making us part of your family. In Jesus name.