6 in 6 - Hope in the Dark

0:06 Welcome to another inspirational podcast at Real Life, Church. For more great content and updates. Visit Real Life, Church kc.com. Hey, thanks so much for joining with us on Church online this morning. We're so glad you're with us today. Hey, if you're looking for some Joy. Look for some excitement, some energy. Maybe we're excited. Today. We have a very special time. We have this thing called, six and six, we got six of the voices, some of the leaders here at real life. They're going to speak a word of encouragement. Hope into your life in this season. So if you look for some joy and encouragement to ride on somebody's faith, I believe.

0:46 God, Roger on purpose today. Come on. Let's just be excited for God's. Going to do, get some praise to him. There's some ways to connect. We have six little message of Hope in six minutes today. You're not going to forget this. Just going to buff your seat belt because God is going to bring some truth can be Encouraging Muslims worship Jesus this morning while some praise to him. Come all this looks at every life. Make the doctors run and hide. You bring the broken back to life. Only you only you, you set me free from Every Chain, you fill my heart with songs of praise, only you only you, you're the only reason that I'm evil. I'm breathing.

1:31 I am wide awake. Every Beat is calling. Every beat is calling out to you. Glory of your throne to bring this round a way back home.

2:13 Only, if you give me all of you, give me life. You can be dancing through the night. For Your Glory. My mom is calling. My sing.

3:02 Jesus, Jesus, you're the only reason that I'm even breathing. I am wide awake. Your freedom is cancer. I feel it. Rushing through me beat. Lori. Come on, every beat is calling.

4:06 Every beat is calling out to me. So we lean into this moment today. We are not alone. God is with us and he's standing with us through whatever trial. We are going to focus in on these words, close your eyes and vision and God who is standing next to you. No matter what you are under today. When the heart asunder flies. Another way when the walls are closed. when I look at the space between where I used to be and this Reckoning, I know I will never be It was another in the fire. Next to me.

5:11 There was another should I ever need been set free. There is a cross. The barriers of a die for me. Another my teleporter beneath the water.

5:57 I'm no longer safe to my sin and Should I fall in the space between what we meant to me in the second half? Either way, I won't bow to the things of this world sitting next. To me. There is another in the waters. Holding back the Seas.

6:37 We should I / need reminding. Willpower 703. There is a grave of votes. No bodies. Now the power lives in me. There is another the fire. There is another in the fire is another in the fire.

7:20 I can see, I can see the light in the darkness. There's the darkness bow soon. I can even in the heavens as the spirit. Between where same. I can feel the ground shake beneath us. The prison was gave me nothing. Seems you two never? Seems you two. Palmer seem to Jesus.

8:04 Sift it up. There is no other name, but the name that is Jesus you was and still is and will be through it. Come on, man, the space between all the things and see and this Reckoning. I know I will never be I know I will never be alone. If we another the fire sitting next to me, the be another in the waters holding back, the seems shit over need reminding, I could you be until I can't the joy? I could never.

9:05 Godot. Because I knew that's where you'll be. I can see I can see the light in the darkness as the darkness guys who I can. I can feel the ground shake beneath the us as the Prison Walls King never since you too. Nothing seems her too.

9:53 I want you guys to know that God is with you today. Let's go before. God prayer. God. We come before you, we just want to lift you up. We want magnify your name. We give you praise. We give you honor God. You were a good God. You were a great God. We recognize that you sacrifice everything just to release us from the pain and suffering that we have in life. And you've called us to a newness of life. You called us to just just /, take with you just in a life and a purpose that only we can have through you. Got us. Want to stab somebody today. Somebody that just needs you know, somebody maybe this never met you. Somebody that's struggling with an addiction or a pain. May be a loss of a family member. Maybe they're struggling with disease. God. I just want them after today just to realize that you were a powerful God that has their best in mind.

10:33 And I got I prayed that they meet with you today and they realize that you have a love and care for them. That just can't be found anywhere else in this world. So God just think you for who you are. I pray that somebody that has feared a comes out of this gathering with hope and nose. That they have something great through you and we lift up all these things in your name. Amen, guys. Let's go. Let's give God some honors Gibson. Praise. Give us some high fives Taipei men out there. Just let him know how much you care about him. He was worshipping really big this morning. And so we are so excited that you're with us today. I don't know if you're on the couch, if you're on a walk today, but we are so excited that you've joined us in this online Gathering. And if you're new with this, that goes double for you.

11:14 We just want you to know that we believe that you belong here and I want you to know that I want you to feel welcome home, the fact real life, wherever you guys that. Can we let everybody this new just feel, welcome. Give them some hard. Give them some loves. You can see somebody you don't on there. Just say, hey, we love having you guys here and just thank you so much for following along with us. We believe for those that are new guide. Really have something special for you guys today. And I want to invite you as a team member of real life to fill out something, we call a digital communication card. You can do that in two different ways. The first one is, you can text. Just RL new to 97,000 or there's going to be a link that pops up in the comments and you can fill that out out as well. This is a safe form for you to fill out. All we're going to do is have one of our team members call you on the phone, and their whole job is just to make you feel welcome and resource you in any possible. That way that we can.

12:05 We, we know that God cares about you and we care about you and we want to help you and connect with you. Our whole mission here. Real life is to see people far from God, discover their real life and purpose in. Jesus say in another way. We are a church for the Church, we are a community for those that don't have a home. And so we want you to be part of that as well. And one of the ways that we're doing that is I want to invite everybody out. That just has any interest, all the real life to something. We're calling a welcome party. And so tonight at six o'clock on a zoom meeting, you can hang out with bachelor, Sean and Diane and just hear some of our story. Maybe you've got some questions. Maybe, maybe you're in the midst of a struggle. You have questions and you have anxiety, you have fear. You have anger.

12:45 Maybe just hang out with us, and they'll We'll have a great time, just sharing the hope of Jesus with you today. Maybe you're looking for a new church home for whatever reason. Maybe you just have questions about who we are at real life and what we've done or where we're coming from. What a great opportunity for you to hang out. If this welcome party was Pastor Shawn and Diane. It's a really organic meeting. You can just hang outs, like hanging around the campfire, around the kitchen table and to do that. I want you guys to do this. I want you to text are, oh, welcome tonight, 7000 or again. There's going to be another link. That pops up in the comment section. We would love to see you tonight at Clock on that Zoom meeting. So, let's pray for God's presence one more time. And we're going to have a great time. Just worshiping God, y'all. We come before you and we just lift you up, and we just, we just want your presence to be on this Gathering. God.

13:30 We don't want any of the glory or honor for ourselves. We give it all to you. And God, we lift up your name and your son's name. And God. I just again, I just pray for all the Gatherings across this community across this nation across this world. God. I pray that that as people are Still Gathering online. I pray that as a as they worship you that just we grow stronger as a kingdom and just, for a for a strong witness to the world that we are for you and we are for them. God. I just pray that you use us in a mighty way allows to keep serving you and serving those around us that are searching for you. And God, we lift up all these things in your name. Amen. Well, this is your opportunity. I want you to find somebody that's hanging out in the comment section.

14:14 Just you'll find somebody that you know, find somebody. You don't know, tell them that you're glad to see. I am that you're happy to see you. See that. They're here. I'm alive. We can't wait to hang out with you guys the rest of the day. Well nice job Barry. Come on, find somebody above the comments. Say hi to him. Find some people know to show some love man. Say hi. Somebody love know. You recognize them here. Don't let anybody walk through here or Beyond this thing without saying, hi them today. Hey, thanks so much for being with us again. If you park real-life man, thank you for being here. For new with us. I would say it's very special. Welcome to you. So glad you've been with us, could be either in the world right now, but you're watching us online at believe. God brought here on purpose today. Hello. To give you guys a shot of encouragement. You guys had an awesome job this last week. Seriously, a record number of people watched our stuff last Sunday and it's because you guys had the courage to hit the share button.

14:58 We had 38 shares. Absolute incredible. You guys are reaching out to your family, your friends. I know I've had family members on their people. I'm close to, people are close to me, but far from God. It's absolutely encouraging incredible. See, what God's doing. We followed up with 40, new people, that watch our stuff last week. Means over a hundred sixty people that were following up with over the last Few weeks all because you guys hit the share button. Absolutely incredible. So if you have the courage to hit it, I encourage you to do it because today is going to be off. The chains can be absolutely amazing. We have a lineup of the voices of real life, some leaders people have a heart for God heart for the mission of God. Now people we call friends and family. You're going to want to re-watch this. You want to share this. It's gonna be absolutely incredible. So what we're doing, we have six different speakers and we're given six minutes to give you the best encouragement, the best word in the season and they're going to answer the crud. The question or finish the statement coronavirus, you won't coronavirus you won't dot dot dot, they're going to fill it in with a bold statement.

15:55 Some that's on their heart, some kind of encouragement and I'm telling you when you got six minutes man, you're weeding out all of the fluff. And so we're going to bring it today is going to absolutely incredible. So I'll do is I'll take a few minutes. I'm going to introduce all the speakers and just ordering to come up and tell you about who they are and then it come out back to back to back and they're gonna count down of six minutes of peace. And so today we're going to start out with our first Speaker. This is Carrie. They carry is on staff. She's got this awesome picture by the way. Look at this. She just went above and beyond but she's on staff. She has a heart for young people. She is in charge of our youth ministry. Does an incredible job. She's like my right hand. She puts everything together and she is, didn't just bring it. She has a passion for people.

16:35 She's a passion for you. I'm excited to see what God is going to do through her today. Our second speaker up is going to be Drew Holcomb, you know, this guy, come on, you see him in the kids live, he acts like a fool dancing around. You see him on the videos, but Drew man, his real passion. In is people. His passion is, you he's in charge of her connection team. He's a coach on our team and he has just a good word to bring for us this morning. Man. After Drew is come up. As Scott Jermaine. You might know Scott as coach Jermaine. He is the head basketball coach at REI Peg, high school. If you don't know they had an incredible year. He's been he's just done an incredible job with that team and I know if you know Scott he is innovative. He is a leader. He always has a challenging thought and a word I'm telling you Scott is going to get you thinking this morning, and I'm encouraged that he's On our team and he's going to bring a word to us. After Scott comes up, Rose Taylor, Rose, and Jerry - no were missionaries in this year for a year, and they gave their heart and soul to people there.

17:27 And they have a passion for the world of passion for you. And you're going to see that evidence a day when Rose brings a little word of encouragement to you, and you can feel that Global impact. And so, I'm excited for her to speak. She is a registered nurse at Children's Mercy Hospital. She makes a difference here in our community and excited to hear from her after roses are in chai errant, man. He's a leader among leaders. Is he his way of thinking is incredible? So we're so blessed. He's putting time into this. He's a coach on our team. He coached her host, team, helping us set up and tear down. So he's taking a break, right? But now he's out serving, they can difference and to Aaron. I'm just so blessed. You're on our team and is here to speak and make a difference. He has a heart of gold and you're going to recognize what God is doing his life through this message after him. Our final speaker last last but not least is Victor gocha. Now Victor if you don't know him, when he says he's praying for you, just expect the mountains to move. He's one of Guys that he is just in love with Jesus. He's a man of God.

18:21 I know the spiritual father. So many people in our church. I know his spiritual father to me. There's some people look up to him. I promise you, he's going to bring a word of encouragement today. You're going to leave change. Come on, get your seat belts. Fastened. There's going to be some gold coming out of these people's lives or things. You want to hold on to to invest of Hope and encouragement today. So let's give it up for all the speakers. Come on. Let's give him some love. Let's prime the pump, love know, you love them and our first perk is going to come out and we're start out with Carrie Kelly. Come on everybody. Coronavirus you won't steal my joy. The season has brought a lot of struggles, a lot of unknowns and a lot of waiting and I find myself a lot of times looking back two times that were simpler where we could to do things, just like taking family vacations.

19:02 A couple years ago. We took a vacation to Colorado as a family. We have four kids. You guys, we are outnumbered on a good day. Let alone, we're in a vehicle on a 10 hour drive to another state. So we just like we do on every trip, we pack up the car, the night before, so we could hit the road, really. We wake up sleepyhead kids at 6 a.m. Get in the car leave and I kid you not 15 minutes into this trip. It is already chaos in my vehicle. I've got one kid who's trying to figure out what the tub to pull ratio on his seat belt is going to break the thing. I have another kid who just knows she is the next American Idol and is going to sing at the top of her lungs so that no one else can actually hear the radio. I have another kid who just is upset with anybody breathing in her General vicinity and the snacks that I've given them that we're supposed to last a good solid couple of hours.

19:46 Have you? They're all are already? Neaten or they've been thrown all around my car. It is a hot mess. Express you guys. And as a side note, how many of you moms think the dad's choose to drive just so they don't have to be the snack Giver /? The one who has to play referee in the passenger seat, like throw up your hearts because I we're onto you dad's. I think that's really the plan, but it was happening. It was chaos in my car and what I hear from the back seat is my daughter. My oldest daughters voice saying, the phrase at all of us parents know, all too. Well, are we there yet? And I look over at my husband in that moment and I see I am channeling his inner dad. And he says the phrase that we probably have all heard from our dads which is we're going to get there. When we get there. You see in that moment.

20:27 My daughter wasn't so concerned with the destination as much as she was concerned about this little thing called the meantime, it's the space in between where we start and the destination that we can all feel really anxious with. And I think that we all need to focus right now on the fact that we can actually have a lot of joy in the meantime, the meantime can actually be the best Best time, I think, sometimes we focus so much on the destination being the joy that we forget that there's really a joy right now in the meantime, and I think that's what God wants for us is the joy in the meantime. And what if that Joy is found in relationships. I'll be honest with you guys. I have struggled over these last couple of weeks to find some joy and just like you guys, my life got flipped-turned upside down, and I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there.

21:12 I'm just kidding. I'll spare you guys my rapping skills for today, but maybe if you guys put up enough Hearts, maybe Sean. Let's have an epic rap rap. Battle one day. I don't know. But anyway, so it's hard to find joy in the season. Right? I think some of us are focusing so hard on that destination to find Joy there. And in the meantime, we're still struggling. We're still frustrated. We're still upset. We're still down. We're still struggling with all of these things and I want to encourage you today. Is there someone in your life right now? That's helping you to find joy. In the meantime. Do you have relationships around you to help you find that Joy? Who is that in your life right now? Are you focusing on that conclusion? Are you focusing on the End. Are you really focusing in on that joy that God wants for us to have right. Now. I think that there's a reason that the word Joy is found in the fruits of the spirit Galatians. 5 verses 22 through 23 says this.

21:59 But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I control you see, Joy isn't a feeling that we get from things or circumstances is a feeling that we get from relationship with the holy spirit. It's also a feeling that we get from relationship with others and I think, Really what God wants for us. There are so many times in the Bible that God brings up the word joy. And I think like back to the Book of James, I think about how he talks about. We can have this Joy even in the midst of our circumstances in our trials. Are you feeling that sense of Joy? Are you leaning into the anxious feeling? So in that moment that my daughter said, are we there yet? We were able as a family to really enjoy each other. To have that moment. To play some games. We're able to play the look out the window game to see what's happening.

22:42 And you guys know, we're in Kansas. There's a whole lot of nothing happening, but we were able to have joy in the meantime, you guys Guys, and I think about like, marriage. What is marriage? It's a lot of meantime, right, we say, I do and then till death do us part and then what's in the middle? A lot of meantime, I don't know about you guys, but I want to have some joy in the meantime, Shameless life group plug. I every single week on Saturdays, especially right. Now during this pandemic. I look forward to my life group. We're just a bunch of women who get together and we get to have conversations with each other. We get to be vulnerable and real pray for each other, just honestly go through life and those moments. Together. And what I find in these times is that that's what people want. We want to be able to do life with people, right?

23:24 And at Real Life Church. I can tell you. That's what we want for you. If you are not in a life group, I don't know what you're waiting for because there's so many blessings, waiting for you in that. We want to go through the hard stuff with you. We want to go through the tough stuff with you for the scary stuff. Even the normal parts. We want to be there through all of it with you because I'm telling you guys. There's so much joy in the meantime waiting for you. So what does this mean for us Church? What does this mean? You can we decide today that we're going to have some joy in the meantime. We're not going to give in to the voice of the enemy. We're not going to give in to Temptations, like, being depressed, or sad or complaining. And instead. What we're going to do is we're going to lean in to those Godly relationships. We're going to give in to those moments with our kids. We're going to enjoy them a little bit. We're going to focus on the joy that God wants for us to have. In the meantime, you know, what we're going to do. We're going to share that Joy with other people because the meantime matters and I'm telling you guys the meantime can Be the best time if we really let it be. So I I can't wait till this pandemic is over. I'm ready for the and I'm ready for that conclusion. But I am so excited about the joy that God wants for us to have in this.

24:30 Meantime. So coronavirus, you will not steal, our joy. Will you lean into that truth with me today. Church coronavirus, you won't create division Among Us, you know. Why? Because our enemy prospers when we are divided, that's like his main thing right there. When he can get us off Mission off, focus off task for finding people and just pouring into their lives. With the love of Jesus and getting us out into the Weeds on these things, that don't matter. Now. I'm not saying that coronavirus doesn't matter. It does. It's huge, right? So it's like the number one thing.

25:12 We're all talking about and we can have opinions on how we're going to react to it and how we feel. Countries reacting to an all that stuff, but guys, I'm telling you, man. It's on my heart. This has been causing divisions, not just with everybody but especially in the church. And so we're not going to let that happen here at Real Life Church, you know, divisions among Believers have been going on since the day they found the empty tomb, right? We all interpret things our own way. We all see the world through our own experiences, and that's cool. But when we let those things cause Us to look down on other believers or hey, even worse. Look down on people who need Jesus and need to hear that from us, man.

25:55 Our enemies win and every time, right? So I think back this is probably my favorite example from of division in the church from when I was a kid, I grew up Southern Baptist, really traditional, loved my upbringing, right? It's why I'm here today. I learned the good word and I always joke with Sean, you know, when he talks about those recovering Southern Baptists. I'm like man, I feel like you're speaking right to me each time, but Okay, I'm glad where I am. Right? So, you know, that cliche about those churches that like argue about the color of the carpet, man. That was real. That was my church. I saw like my Sunday school teacher and like the ushers and the deacons and the sweet little old ladies getting like red or in the face. And like even more mad is that meeting went on over the color of the carpet. They were going to go with hunter green because it was the 90s or like that deep like maroonish red because it was the 90s.

26:47 Yes, and like they were arguing about. It had nothing to do with getting people to find their real life and purpose. So nowadays. We're dealing with the whole nother Beast, right? We can debate and argue all day, over religion, and politics through social media. And we're not just debating with people, we know, and love, and have that trust with weird having these conversations and these fights online with like, Gus and Albuquerque. I mean what the hey, man, and so My next point is distractions, duplicate division. So that's where the social media piece comes in it. How easy is it for that phone to just zip there in your pocket and you're open it up? And there's all Gus man, and he's on the wrong side of the political aisle, and he wants to wear a mask and I don't want to or vice versa and I got to tell him why he's dumb. Hello, and I'm you know, I can say that because that was my life.

27:45 You can ask Holly, right? She'll tell you. That that was our nightly routine. Was her looking at me over like this. Can you believe this guy is crazy so that all changed for me at Kentucky Trail, listening to Sean on stage is awesome, message about distractions. And I remember at the very end. He said get your phones out. Now, go in your settings and turn off the notifications to all your social media and you, you get into those apps on your terms and I'm telling you, I did it right there. The message and it's changed my life. So are we as members of real-life? Are we turning people off to Real Life Church? Are we turning people away from their real life and purpose. By the things we are putting out there into social media, your voice speaks, louder than you think. You know, Jesus says this in Luke 11 17, every Kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and a It household Falls. I don't know about you guys.

28:50 But real life has been built up into something pretty special here, in Cass County, and I don't want to see this household fall, and I know you don't either. So, I want to end with this, use your voice to be a witness. Now. I feel like I've been doing a lot of finger-pointing, you know, during this little six and six and I've learned, you know, when one fingers pointing this way, you got three pointing back. So, from here on out, I'm going to start doing this. So, I have to hold myself accountable. Just kidding. Just kidding. I'm talking to myself. Self just as much as I have you here. Like I said, this has been me our online cells, guys. That's our main witness during the shutdown. Okay. Our online witness. I see people in our community groups all the time asking. Hey, I'm new to the area.

29:33 What's a good church to go to and you know what? Every time we put up their real-life, come check us out. We'd love to meet with you and stuff. People, click on those names. They look at the profiles. They're looking at our post history and they're seeing all that. That stuff that we may or may not be saying. And when my wife looked at me and said, hey, you gotta quit arguing with people online. Your opinion, doesn't matter as much as you think it does. And at that point, I was calling will. You also does when she said, hey people that want to come to real life church and you're recommending it in those groups and they're seeing the stuff you're putting out there that's going to cause them not to man slap in the face.

30:13 So keep your beliefs and opinions being. That's great. It is it It's what makes you who you are, but never lose sight of that, real life. And purpose that we only get through Jesus. Jesus brings us together, man. He's what's going to heal this country and heal our souls. So let's show the people of Cass County are love coronavirus. You won't cause division among us because we are united in our real life and purpose. I love you guys, Kelvin. You won't keep me from climbing when I was a kid. I loved to climb trees. Let's be honest. I'm just a shade over 20 and I still like to climb trees, like to climb trees for the adventure. The first thing you have to start. You just have to reach up and the lowest branch and grab hold of it and pull yourself up.

31:05 And then the best part is just at that plan your path. There's only so many trees you can and limbs, you can grab ahold of. You have to weave your way up through and plan your path. The last thing you have to do is learn. The limbs and limbs can be tricky, you know, you got to find the perfect lamb to one that you can grab, and put your hand around, and really pull yourself up because some of them are just so big. Can't get your hands on and then sometimes sometimes you put your foot on the limb that you think looks like a good limb, and it's actually a rotten one and you'll fall. And you know, the biggest rule of climbing, don't ever look down. Don't ever look down because you'll freeze in fear. And so as you climb these trees, that's when you gets real, when you get to the top.

31:50 That's when it gets real. It's safe to say that a top, the tree. It's brighter up there. There's less leaves to the block out the sunlight, just brighter, the top, the top of the tree. You can see farther than anybody else in the ground can see. Just the view is a magnificent at the top of the tree. It's quiet and peaceful. I love love just to be there and just sit and just think about what God created. I believe we can learn a lot from climbing trees. And if you want to hear that be willing to tear that give me some like likes or hearts or something like that. So yeah. All right. Let's go. Here we go. If climbing is tree is like a journey in life. And that's where we're trying to get to the top and that's where success is at.

32:37 That's where our heavenly father is at. Let me try to explain some of you are at the base of the tree. And all you have to do. You haven't even started Journey, but we just need you to reach up. It's fair to say that with your feet on the ground. You don't know what the view at the top is like. This is you, but you have to put trust in the Lord. You have to reach your hand up, grab that low limb, and pull yourself up. Begin your climb, trust. God, trust each other, trust is mentioned, 281 times in the Bible 281 times. I'm pretty sure it's an important word and so, like in Proverbs 3:5 and 6, is says, trust the Lord, your God, with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding, and he will direct your paths to help you climb your tree to the top. Maybe that's you.

33:28 But but maybe just a short time ago. Things were good. You were climb your tree from Branch to Branch. Kind of shimmy. Nip, through people like man. You're doing great. And then one day you hit that limb that you thought was a sturdy lamp and it stops you in your tracks hit paralyze you and fear and much. The same way in March, many of us were enjoying our first world amenities, you know, going to church going to our life groups, going out and eat afterwards movie. Theaters, going just where we wanted. You name it and we were enjoying it. And then March hit and covid. Covid comes along. And just like, when we hit that brand, so we didn't know those going to hold us.

34:13 We were frozen. Our schools think about it. Kids were losing proms spring Sports. We don't have the Royals. We do have the NBA. Yeah. Now I have to resort to the Michael Jordan at the last damp. It dense episodes. Those are kind of a good thing but seriously are climb we hit that bad Limb and we just froze in fear. So this is what I'm saying. Don't freeze up. What? God doesn't want us to do? His don't freeze up. Don't freeze up, but look up. Don't have faith in fear, but have faith in our father said, again, don't have faith in fear that have faith in our father.

34:59 And even in times of uncertainty and and fear, we have to press on, you know, Paul writes in the letter to the Philippi. He says in Philippians, 3:14. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ. He's calling us to keep climate. It's might be dark times. We may not know the future. We have to press on. Ask God for wisdom in your climb. Proverbs. 3:18 says, wisdom is a tree of life. For those who Embrace her, happy are those who are called? Hold on to her type. Ask God for wisdom in your claim. We need to know which branch to grab the path to reach the top.

35:40 We need that wisdom from God. Some of your Sam is cut my current situation. My tree is not a good way to climb. I don't have a job. My finances are a mess. You know, it's my, I think the tree that I was on is actually supposed to client is actually falling and I would say, trust, trust the tree that you thought you were supposed to climb. Trust God. So, maybe, just maybe the tree that you were supposed to climb. You're actually supposed to cross cross. The tree that you were thought. You were supposed to climb. And on the other side, God has bigger trees for you. God has taller trees for you. God has stronger trees for you.

36:20 Cross the tree. That God, thought you thought you were supposed to climb and good, things are ahead of you. I know covid. Given me a new perspective on life. We need to be there for each other. If you haven't begun your climb, your Journey with God, climb, climb be there for the people and real life church are there for you. Don't do life alone. If you're if you're climbing that tree, you need people around you rally around each other. We have a church in which we can rally around. Okay, whatever. Wherever you are in your journey. God is right there with you. Trust God reach for him. Climb your tree. Let's be there for each other covid. You won't keep me from climate.

37:03 Coronavirus you won't make me a spiritual slacker. Now. My definition of a spiritual slacker is someone who is not spiritually engaged, someone who's disconnected and someone who waits around to be told what to do with their spiritual life. And today, real life. We're not going to be spiritual Slackers. We're going to be spiritual leaders, our world, and our community need relief and restoration more than ever now. And now is not the time to be slacking relief. Is that temporary It helped to reduce suffering during and after a crisis. Wow, restoration happens through long-term relationships, which rebuilds people families and communities back to their God designed purpose.

37:45 And wholeness in the Bible, the story of Esther is about a young Jewish girl who becomes queen of Persia and with her uncle's help needs to win the affection in the favor of the king, in order to stop a plot to kill. The Jews. Now, esther is the Jews only. Hope she is the only person. One who can get close enough to the king to stand before him to make such a request. And even though she's Queen, she can risk her life in doing so but she pushes past her fear and does what God calls her to do and in doing so she saves her entire nation. And Esther 413 Mordecai tells her, don't think for a moment that because you were in the palace, you will escape. While the Jews will be killed, if you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief, will arise. From another part for the Jews.

38:35 But you and your family will die. Perhaps, maybe that you were made Queen for this moment for such a time as this such a time as this. Maybe we're in the middle of a pandemic, for such a time as this. Maybe you're stuck at home in your workplace, in your neighborhood or whatever position. God has you in for such a time as this God is opening up. Teas to optimize his purpose and use us as spiritual leaders to help those around us. God took the time to make a special all with unique talents. He has prepared individual plans and He has he tried again.

39:21 He has prepared individual plans and projects for our lives. He may feel absent. Like he's not working in the details of her lives, but he is. He did it for Esther and he'll do it for you too. He will accomplish his will through our good are. Bad are happy. And even our most painful days reminds me of our friends and use year that God is using for such a time as this. They had to make that difficult decision. Should they stay in Asia are, or should they go back to Romania? There's a lot of pressure to leave since all the other missionaries were leaving too, and there's great risk in staying for if they were to get sick. There is no proper medical treatment or care in the area.

40:04 Now, Nisha is one of the poorest countries in the world and they already struggle with food insecurities, but because of this current situation, it's even worse. People are getting so desperate that they're climbing, these tall trees with these large Thorns just to pick the bitter leaves. To feed to their family, so they don't feel as hungry. Now. Our friends were heartbroken by this, but they also saw an opportunity to use your blessings, their connections, their talents, and their resources to give relief and restoration to those around them who are in need. There are partnering with the Nigerian friend and they are passing out. 55 pound bags of rice to these families. Some of the biggest tragedies are being blessed and not knowing the purpose of her blessings and also missing that opportunity to give relief and restoration to those in need around us because we are so focused on ourselves or so focused on our own problems and our own lives, but Esther she stepped up as a spiritual leader.

41:01 She wasn't a spiritual slacker. She put aside her needs her fears, and her Ambitions and in doing. So she said that entire nation. How many people could find relief? And restoration, how many people could find Hope? How many people could find Jesus? If we step up to the call to serve, even if it involves risk and sacrifice? We are just like my friend and he's year and we are just like Esther we two were made for such a time as this we're not going to miss the blessings. We're not going to miss those opportunities and we're not going to miss the call to serve. There are so many ways. You can serve especially here at real life. You can donate to the covid relief fund, you can so masks, you can do the Hope boxes.

41:45 You can serve at Heart and Hand, you can donate blood, you could donate to our friends in. As year, you could do something as simple as Talking to your neighbors that you've lived next to for years. And never said one word to before in Romans 12 11 13. It says, never be lazy. But work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically rejoice in our confident. Hope be patient in trouble and keep praying. When God's people are in need be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice Hospitality. We have no excuses to be slacking off. Off. Let's not be spiritual Slackers. What is it?

42:27 That may be keeping you from serving and keeping your focus off of serving. Is it watching too much to Netflix? Binge watching. Tiger King anyone is it video games? Is it wasting too much time on Tick-Tock? Is it fear? What is it for you? Let's step up as Leaders. Let's give generously, let's be on fire for the church. Let's pray, fervently, and let's serve at every opportunity. The offered. If you need some ideas, I just gave you eight and don't wait for someone else to step up and do this. This is your time. And this is our time. Let us be the spiritual leaders that you were made for such a time. As this coronavirus.

43:08 You won't make us spiritual Slackers in this season. Coronavirus. You won't defeat us with fear. It was 2017. So only a few years ago, when a therapist would later. Tell me that. One of the one of any number of the things that were about to happen, to me, would could impact somebody for the rest of their life. It started off in the spring, with a separation of my wife for 18 years. By the time that it was over everything that I owned was gone, including my house, my 401k, all my savings and even my job that I ended up leaving and had been there for 20 years.

44:03 On top of the changes with my family and the losses. There, my 16 year old daughter also passed away. So there was moments during that time where Not only was It difficult and hard to get through, but I wondered why things weren't fair and what I could do to to fix it, nightmares constantly. There was just uncertainty and just lots of security that went with everything. For the first time in my adult life. I actually felt that I couldn't control anything happening to me kind of like what's going on today, which is the the world is putting a lot of craziness out there.

44:53 And a lot of things that we don't we just can't control and your stuff just trying to do the best that you can. Everything, pretty much sucked. I remember low points or what I thought were the lowest points became high points and things. Even got worse after that. I remember sitting at my work. And getting another bill from the lawyer knowing that I couldn't even pay. For a headstone from my kid. And I thought, why am I even trying?

45:36 Not fair. I mean, what are you gonna do? What's the point? I thought everything that I did was right and pretty good and my friends would say. Oh, it's okay, have faith, you know, you'll get through it. I was sitting in a Pew on a Sunday and listening to the Gathering message. And there was a verse that came to my mind that I had heard first, when I was a kid in Sunday School that said, when he calls out to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue and honor him. Somewhere along the line. I had forgot that through all the trouble and the Anxiousness and anxiety I was going through but later that your god did deliver a amazing incredible and God-fearing woman into my life.

46:28 That helped me become strong and she turned my prayers. Actually. She turned my questions about why me and what did I do to deserve it? And how am I going to get through this? And to thankfulness for what I did have and what I did experience. A lifetime of church, our lifetime going to church and still. I needed to be reminded that God was with me and that it would be okay. I needed to lean and Trust on him today. I have, I can sense those same feelings of anxiety and fear that I went through. And some of those that I talked to whether it be in our life groups, or just those that I interact with the Kaiser Family Foundation actually said the report recently that 45 percent of adults. Our have mentally are recognized that they are negatively impacted mentally by what's going on right now and 75% of them.

47:26 Think the worst is yet to come, anxiety, depression, suicide, marriage, Strife, all those, those things reportedly On The Rise that impact, our well-being, and our health. And I'm sure that somewhere the devil's dancing over this just like we was during my time. Fear is not more powerful than God. The Bible remind us this as well. And act 17:27. When it says he is not far from any one of us and I think about that with Believers and non-believers alike. He's not far from any one of us being smart, safe and responsible. As time goes on, doesn't mean we have to be paralyzed with fear and there was a song that I listen to a lot in 2017. That said, fear is a liar and there's some lines from it that I think are very relevant.

48:16 He say when you told you, you're not strong enough. To put up a good fight. When you told you you're not worthy when he told you. You're not loved when he told you. You're not beautiful that you'll never be enough. When you told you, you could be the one that Grace could never change. He will rob your rest, steal your happiness, cast your fear in the fire because fear he is a liar. Everyday you persevere carry on and determine how you'll face. Your fears will shape your future. I think it's important for us to remember you're not alone. You're not unloved and you're not defeated. God's with you and fear. It's a liar.

48:58 One final verses phone Psalms 41 through three. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard me cry. He Lifted Me Out of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth. A hymn of praise tour. A hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the lord and put their trust in him. Do the same coronavirus. You're not going to defeat us with fear. Coronavirus, you won't take away my focus on God and His goodness. I'm reading from John 16 Verse 33, where Jesus was talking to his disciples and he said I've told you these things.

49:45 So that in me you may have peace in this world. You will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Jesus warned his disciples of things to come and he did that so that they could have peace and be forewarned. You know, the old expression says forewarned is forearmed trouble, will come friends, but we, they could take heart because he overcame the world for us. In the world, you're going to have, you're going to get cut off in traffic in the world.

50:25 People are going to be mean in the world. People are going to say things that might discourage you, especially if you're young person trying to figure out your life going to college that you have a dream. Some people will say some mean things that might hurt you. In fact, those people may be very close to you even in the world. You're going to have people who they say that hurt. People hurt other people, and you're going to have Folks who are going to do some things, you can have children, that there are go astray. They don't respect their parents and parents are worried about them. You're going to have loved ones, who do some you know, strange things of walk away and you can't talk to them no matter what you say. They don't listen nothing seems to help but you know, we can take heart in the fact that we have God.

51:11 We have God in Our Lives who comes and helps us and guides us and leads us and we can come to him, you know, friends, if God. Was a Fairytale yours, truly my wife, and I we'd be history because I'm here to tell you that he was real in our lives, you know, our journey started back in 1979 and by then we were already. We were raised in the Catholic church. We were raised in what they call Boston, catechism in the east coast and that was different. This is very different. We didn't understand about reading the Bible for ourselves. We didn't know a lot about what was available to us, when we On time and reading the Bible walking. And talking with God though.

51:52 There were people that they tried to do a good job and teaching us some things, but it was very regimental in our lives very regimented. And it wasn't until later on in our in our walk that we started to see that there was a God who heard us that talked to us in many different ways. He talked to us in situations. He opened doors where you know, it seems like things weren't going to happen. All of a sudden seems like things did you know and little by little God was Being us through a path and I thank God, you know, we my wife and I were talking about that the other day. I thank God that together. We heard from God. We saw God's word and individually, we started growing in our Christian walk. My wife started going to Bible study with a lady friend of hers. One of our neighbors.

52:37 I started hearing the word from different sources or radio TV. Again, this is back, you know, late 70s, early 80s when some of these radio Ministries were starting to explode. And so we heard a lot of God's word. And we started going forward, and some of the things of God. I remember my daughter was all about six years old. I was a young dad, and I remember when she came to me, and she was crying big tears in her eyes. And I was, you know, it struck me. And I was like, honey, what's wrong? What's the matter? She came to me with her broken and she came to me with her broken Barbie doll, you know, for me, Dad. It was no big deal. I just snap that head back on and there's nothing to it, but you It's one of those, what they call, aha moments.

53:23 My daughter came to me with her Brokenness. She came to dad with her broken and she trusted me that I would help her with her problems. And the enormity of that moment just hit me like a ton of bricks and I got to tell you, I started crying and my wife came to me. She goes, what's wrong? Everything? Okay, and I told her, I said well. You know, I just had a God moment. I just had an aha Revelation about God's daddys love, you know, 2007. The doctors came with the prognosis by then. We have been Christians for a few years by then. We saw a lot of wonderful things happen in a lot of lives including our own. We saw God do Miracles. We had seen Miracle healings. We didn't need a radio TV minister to tell us about God's goodness and Miracle working power. We seen it for ourselves.

54:08 We had experienced a lot of things, and I was kind of frankly, when the Came and told me, he said, you know, you've got prostate cancer and I got angry. I actually got angry and I was yeah, I was scared, we were scared, but I got to tell you that, you know, it came to a point after a little bit of thinking and praying through that. I realize I'm going to live until I die. I made a decision. I'm going to live until I die. And I've decided that I'm going to make life work and gods going to help me or if I have to go with God. If it's time, so So be it, I realized that I and I understood its he's the author and the finisher of our faith when he starts something.

54:50 He finishes it when Jesus hung on the cross and said it is finished. His work was done hours began. He's not looking for Our advice friends. He's not looking for our Council. He's looking for our cooperation when he says it's up to us. Now. It's our move. It's our move. And I got to tell you that, you know, we need to not let coronavirus or anything else. Be the focus of Our Lives. We need not let fear be the focus of Our Lives. Coronavirus. You won't take away. My you won't take away our focus on God and His goodness. God bless. Everybody give it up for everybody. Just spoke man. What an incredible word.

55:32 There's so much leadership behind that made covid-19, man. You won't stop us. Incredible message of Hope and encouragement. And we do this on a prayer for you guys and just ask God to bless this time and just lead you into a God's constitute father come before you got. Thank you so much God that this coronavirus is going to stop. Our joy. Guy's not going to turn our courage as I take our Focus away from your goodness and your passion. So I can keep us from climbing. The thanks in front of us here and push towards you. You got one, I can be spiritual Slackers and be leaders in this season. And Governor. I can Paralyzed by fear of going to be full of Hope in this season and want to talk to somebody right now is they're praying, man. That is let the coronavirus stop them in their tracks. Maybe you today been Paralyzed by fear. Maybe you've let Satan take this season little bit. Maybe you've been discouraged.

56:18 Maybe you just been living in fear of the future. Maybe. Just forgot about the goodness of God, in the season. But today, you know what? I want to start of the things of God. I'm not gonna stop me. I'm going to start the things. God, if that's you down and pray for you today, right now, father, come before you got to ask that, you just strengthen us as the church gathered. Be the body of Christ be unified together. Govern a cast-off, every weight around us that slows us down for pursuing your mission. Got are made for a season just like this. You put us in this moment in time on purpose. So God, we're thankful. We're full of joy. Got thank you for the words of faith. God. We're going to be moving forward, on the faith of other people. Got just encouraged today. Got that you're with us in this season, and we're not going to slow down. We're not. To shut up or not.

56:59 Going to stop doing the things for you because of the coronavirus, got going to pursue you full on educating and praying. I want to, I want to ask you guys a question. Have you had an aha moment? Like Victor talk about with Jesus? The aha moment, you realize that God's grace is good, that he loves you. That he's pursued you, maybe today. You need the aha moment with Jesus where he will. You have to relationship with him. They know he's brought you and he's formed you. He's purpose to you and he's gifted you and today, maybe that moment is your day that you're gonna have to Aha. Moment today with Jesus, who is Jesus? Jesus is God's perfect son. He sent here. He came to our world into our coronavirus into this place, and he took upon all of our sin on that cross. Bala says, he became sin for us and is nailed to the cross. He became everything wrong in our life. In exchange, all of his goodness, for all of our wrongs. And now we have relationship with him. The Bible says anybody calls on name of Jesus will be saved and made new.

57:53 Maybe today is your aha moment. The Bible says today is the day of salvation and so on. Encourage you, if you need Jesus, if you need forgiveness, if you need faith, if you need a joy, if you need strength, if you need to overcome this season, you have best friend, your daddy that loves you today. You can call them at Jesus and be saved and made new. And so, if that's you today, you'll say yes to Jesus. Then I would encourage you to pray this prayer with me today. So father God, thank you so much for sending Jesus to die on the cross. For me. God. This is my aha moment. I realized that made life on myself. I've been stopped in my tracks and I'm focusing on all these things arise with guys, Senior Week. Story together and you sent your son Jesus died for me. So God put my faith in you. Y'all want to follow?

58:33 You gotta leave me. I'll do this. If you commit to go wherever you go and got, you can have my life to take it and use it how you want to. And I praise in Jesus name. Amen. Come on, get it for every came to Christ Day. Come on, show us some love. Give some hearts man, God's using you guys six and six. Thank you so much for that word of encouragement. And what an amazing day today, man. That's a powerful morning and a powerful word and prayer and that prayer that you just prayed is not the end of a journey, but it is beginning. Of a journey of your steps with Jesus and I want to encourage you. If you've taken that step today or in the recent future and the recent past, you can text me, the recent future. I've got to stop, you're about to pray that prayer the reason future upcoming but know you can text RL next 297 000. That's going to connect you to some amazing resources. Get you connected to the Bible app. Get you started on that Journey with Jesus. It's just an incredible way to really dive in to that Journey with Jesus and I want to encourage you. If you are.

59:28 New, or if you've been coming for a while and you haven't gotten connecting our life groups. This is your chance today is your day get online on our website Real Life Church kc.com. Click on a group check it out. You're not gonna want to miss out and you want to know why the main thing about our life groups there. So many reasons but our life groups are fun here at real life. One of our core values is to have fun and our groups do an incredible job doing that. I was thinking back, like, in our group, we always start with an icebreaker and it's come down to like random times where we had to, you know, seeing Drops of Jupiter with Sean. Sean. And, you know, rap battles, I mean it's all about my size by group decreased. After that. It was we just have fun laugh together. I was talking with the leaders of our empty nester group and they actually went out to eat at the Jiggy Pig and everybody brought their lawn chairs, so they could all sit six feet apart in a field and just connect with each other eat dinner together from afar and have fun, you know, our trivia night group always has a crazy time of you know, whether or not I Mike is going to have a shirt on or not. And what background?

1:00:26 He's gonna be at that day. They have so much fun. Sounds crazy, but good thing Mike's a good looking guy, I guess. So, it's a lot of fun though. Me and every time I talk to some of our life group leaders. They're just laughing their loving staying connected with each other. Are, you know, parenting group is like every time they let all those kids get on there on to the zoo meeting. You never know what is going to happen. They just crack up. They have a great time getting together. So I want to encourage you and this season that can be lonely, can be distant. You want to take this opportunity to connect to have fun. I promise you, you're going to have a great time and you're not going to regret getting connected to one of our groups. Yeah, you saw theme today six and six over and over again. I mean Carriere and Victor true. I mean everybody was pushing in the same direction man who are doing life with a man.

1:01:07 Who's that voice? That brings you back to God. Like Aaron talked about that your life group. These are people who are doing life with, doesn't have your spouse. I mean, mostly can be, but in this season manage your life. Group is the voice of wisdom. When a marriage is falling apart. All these things around you and you have this pressure to pursue God. Now, I think it's amazing. So get in a group. It's incredible and you know your car that actually I don't oh, Those people that you just mentioned this talk to they are all life group leaders. And so life, great leader. You really latched onto it. One of them said, find their group online, enjoying it. That's a good point. I like that. She's tearing up. He'll encourage. You guys also to be generous in the season. I can't thank you enough. Your generosity is absolutely mind-blowing in the season that we were kind of like, man, what's going to happen and you guys have just done exceedingly more than we ever thought or imagined in the season.

1:01:50 So thank you so much for your generosity. O, say, thank you for the first time donors. Thank you guys for faithful in the season even things are unsure or they're not stable. Well, but you're like, hey, look, I'm gonna give the thing that's given back to me. I'm going to give the thing. This honoring God, and making a difference in this season. This week. We got to go out and do food distribution with heart and hands. We have a blood drive. We're doing in the near future on May 12th. You guys be a part of that. We've got about 20 more slots to fill and share this post, it and sign up and it makes a huge difference. You can save three lives just by donating blood we've got so much that's going on behind the scenes. So many different things that you guys are part of making a difference. Every Single day in our community, people are being changed. Only say, thank you for your, thank you for generosity. I would encourage you guys are three ways. You can give, you can give online and reflectors kc.com. You can text any mouth, eight, four, three, two, one, or you can send it by mail in this season, man. Thank you guys so much for your faithfulness. And your asset e-mail.

1:02:45 Let's worship God, one more time with the song. Come on. Let's give him our best, man. God gave us some gold today and we're going to get back to him. Come on. Let's lift your hands and praise. Let's give Jesus our best. The the mound the fountain I drink from oh, he is my king of my heart, be the shadow. The ransom for my light.

1:03:34 Oh, he is my son. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You're good. You are you're gonna be the wind inside my cells.

1:04:15 The air tanker in the way of my heart, be the far inside. My veins, the end of my days, all he is my son. Let the king of my heart be the wind inside my cells. The a finger in the waves. All he is my son. Let the king of my heart be the Fire Inside My Bed.

1:05:24 You do? You never gonna You're never gonna learn. You Never Gonna Let Me Down, You're Never Gonna Let You, Never Gonna Let Me Down.

1:06:22 You're never gonna learn. You're never gonna let me down. Let me down with you. You know, me, don't let me down.

1:07:27 You're gonna, you know. I love that song. It's a great reminder that God is never going to let us down, no matter how we feel or what we're experiencing in a moment. And just the, the messages today that the stories were just a great reminder. We can't always choose our circumstances, but we can choose our reaction to, and God has called us to fight from Faith because we have a hope and that hope has a name. That name is Jesus. So if you find your spot your place and you need some help today, I encourage you to text are all hope to 97,000.

1:08:08 We would love to extend some hope to you today. So I want to encourage you don't turn the channel and Few short moments. We're going to have a great real life kids worship service and this isn't anything second-class. This is something that kids can worship Jesus and we love just to see your kids on social media every week. So, everybody's invited hang out. They have a message activities that the kids will love. We would love to see you guys there in a short moment, hang out with you guys in my group this week. We can't wait to see you there. And remember whoever finds Jesus discovers real life on purpose.