Essentials | Week 4

that if you hiked up San Tan Mountain tomorrow morning at 5AM, God would meet you there and literally speak to you and speak about things and encourage you and can and challenge you and then empower you to go and and be able to live out life, would you to go?

Would would you go? Yeah. I mean, I I would go. I'd think I'd like to believe I would go. I'd I

don't know how good I'd feel running up the mountain. I might wheeze halfway up and say, wait for me, God. I'll be there. I'm gonna be a couple minutes late, but but I'd get up there. I mean, I would think so. You would think so if, you know, he's gonna talk to you. Right?

Well, what if what if I can tell you that I can guarantee that God will speak to you in the same way? And all he had to do was not run up a mountain. You go anywhere you want at any time you wanted, and you just opened this. And you sat in this, the word of God, the Bible.

Because that's what we're gonna see today is the passage of scripture that it says what the Bible does and the power it is and how it's living and active. And it is God speaking to us. And when we operate

according to the scriptures, as it says here, it is the same thing as if if you're sitting up on a mountain and God is talking to you. Because what we're gonna see today in this big idea in this last one of the series on essentials is simply this, God talking changes my walking.

That God talking, when I listen to God and he speaks to me and

And that.

Do to And then we're gonna going look at that and see that. That And because we've already talked about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit last week I said, He's the one that brings the life that Jesus

died to give us, and we need to live in His power. And He brings the dunamis dynamite power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. And and last week I said, in scripture it says, how does he speak to us? How does he guide us? Through the word of God.

And and so now we're gonna look at it. We're gonna look at the the bible here, and we're gonna see three things that that really what does this mean for us for God talking changes my walking. We've already read the scripture. It was the scripture that was just read. Second Timothy three sixteen through 17.

And that's kind of why what we're gonna see right now is why we started adding stand before we read it. Because it's it's it's a respect thing. Like, are actually getting our minds straight that when we come in here together, when God's word is spoken,

God's presence is here and it's God himself that's talking to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Just like if a military commander comes in to talk to the men about the mission and stuff, everyone stands. Right? It's respect.

At a wedding, when do you stand? When the bride shows up. And that's respect. It's really everyone you need to look at me and see my dress. But it's a respect thing. It's it's it's it's it's an honor thing, and that's why we do it.

But as we saw in these verses, it kinda lays out what the the power of the bible, what it means, what it can do for us. Now now what we're gonna talk about here in this passage is is how the bible works, that God speaks to us.

Some people say, well, how do we know this is the word of God? How do we know that we have it? How do we know this? That we're not handling in this message, but a couple series ago, we did a series on apologetics.

And pastor Rocky did a great message that gives all the evidence of how reliable the Bible is, how remarkable the Bible, how we know that the words we have now were the original words written. All of that. The evidence is there. The proof is there. If that's where you're stuck, we put it on the dot io, rockpoint.io,

the notes for today. There's a link there and you can go watch that part.

This is more about just how does God speak to us in the word and how does the word transform us and change us. So here we go. Three things. The first thing you gotta do, this is like this is really deep. You're gonna have to probably take a while to get your arms wrapped around this. It's you have to read it.

See how powerful Lee Deep that was? The sad thing is it's simple, and it's one of the first things we struggle with. Is do we read it? Because imagine, if the only time you're opening the word of God is when I come and preach to you, that'd be like, I'm gonna live and I'm only gonna eat once a week.

You're not gonna be very healthy and you're not gonna have much energy. But yeah, we ought to read it. And and and really look because it says it corrects. Look at this. The first little phrase here in verse 16, all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true.

Well, he starts out with this inspired by God, and then he makes these four statements. The first statement about how that works out is it teaches us what is true. And each one of these four statements say something very specific.

They're all in the Greek, only one word, that it took a statement in English to try to say exactly what it's saying.

And but it starts with all scripture. And who what who is he talking to? Paul is writing his basically last will and testament. Second Timothy was the last thing he wrote. He's in prison. He knows he's not getting out. He's gonna be executed.

And so he's basically writing to Timothy, a young pastor he mentored and trained up, who is the pastor at the church in Ephesus, which is a very large city. And and and he's trying to pour into him one last time. And and and he's telling them how important scripture is and what the Bible does.

And and so the first thing he says is, you do know that the Bible is the very word of

inspired by God. That's what it says in English. The Greek is inspired by God is one word. Theopneustos. I don't normally say Greek words because I I don't wanna bore us, but also I can't pronounce them. That one I can pronounce. And I think it's kinda funny because it sounds like a pharaoh's name. Theopneustos,

the third. No. It's two words. Theo, neustos. And that's that that's God is Theo, neustos is breath. It's the very breath of God. So when you read the word of God, it is literally the very breath of God, which is powerful because

there's another part of scripture that talks about the breath of God and bringing life. And you know where that's found? In the creation story, Especially us. It says he created bodies, but we weren't alive until the theopneus, until the breath of God was breathed in. In Hebrews, it says that the Bible is living and active.

Cause it's got the life of God. Meaning to see the word of God is to experience God. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, he illuminates it and it has the very breath, the very same God, and the very same power, the very same presence, the very same life giving that created us. That's why we need to read it.

Also, we need to read it because since it's the very words of God, it's the first thing he says is it has the power to teach us what is right. Now that teaches what is right is like, that just sounds like good moral lessons, like self help. No, the Greek there for what is right for what is true.

What is true is what I meant, the truth, is it's a truth that is about reality and all encompassing. Meaning it shows us God's point of view of what reality actually is. As opposed to the world and our perspective

of trying to figure things out. And from our point of view, what we call reality, as soon as I got, that's not how it works. So it helps us understand that we see with a limited perspective, the word of God actually allows us to see from God's point of view what reality actually is.

And that's why we need to read it. Because if we're continually bombarded with the world's point of view, which is our point of view, man's point of view, and we're constantly hit with this and this and this, everywhere we go, we're bombarded with that, and we're not reading the word of God. We never get to see God's reality, and then we come to church. We believe in Jesus. We know he died for us. We'll sing some songs, but we'll walk out there and we'll live out truth of this world over and over and just try to sprinkle Jesus on top of it.

That's the that's the danger. That's the struggle we have. And and and the effect is for us, is it's why so many of us as Christians say, believe in Jesus, but I'm trying so hard. But but we never get the peace that surpasses all understanding.

We never get to the fact of like like, especially men, like, just feel like I'm called for more than what this what I'm I'm doing and what I have. Exactly. Because we're living in the wrong reality. We're chasing the wrong truth.

So we need to read it. We need to be exposed. We need to know what the truth is, and we need to sit and hear the life giving breath of God himself.

So the challenge here is just read it. But if you don't know how, we have a next steps class called Foundations. And that will talk about the gospel, then we'll talk about the word of God and how to read it, but then also how to pray through it, how to meditate on it,

and then how to actually have time in the word and give you some resources for, hey, if I don't even understand what I'm reading, how could you go find some extra understanding?

If you already know that but you've just been struggling, the Bible app is really great. You're If just, I don't know. I would just do I just open it and flip it? Sometimes you're like for me, like, don't even know to start. So you just

what should I read? I mean, that's how I decide my sermons, but still that's a whole another story. No. The Bible app, it'll show you some different reading plans and stuff, and just start one. And just read it. Because you know why? The Bible, God knows us, and he knows reality. He knows what's really true.

But he also knows you and I better than we know ourselves. So we need to hear from him because we'll help understand ourselves even better. The world tries to tell you something that you are, or the world tries to sell you something. The world's either trying to tell you something you're not or sell you something.

And sometimes when we go to church, we think that's happening here too.

Especially if we're not reading the word on our own. If you only come to a sermon and all you hear is me preaching, half of them are like, well, I like the parts that make me feel good and tell me what but I like the parts that sound like he's trying to sell me something.

I I don't like that part because you think that's what's happening. And I think the reason we think that's happening is that's what the world does. I mean, that's what our phones do now. You ever notice you start talking about something

and you turn on you get on social media and all of a sudden you get ads for the thing you were talking about? Or something that would solve like, I wish I could get more organized or when I was on there's things for house organizational stuff. And if you're like me, I mean, or

you know, you both hate it and it creeps you out and you love it at the same time. Because you're sitting there going, this is so creepy. Oh, that's really cute. That's really creative. That's a great price.

And then you're tempted to sit around and go, I really need to find a new air filter system or something. So you just start saying, Air filter systems. I wish I knew a good air filter system. I wish I knew that. I really need to start looking around for some. Then And you pick up your phone, you open it, and now there you go. You don't even have to type anything in.

But we innately know that that algorithm doesn't care about us. What it wants to know about us is it's just figuring out what you might want. And then it tells you what you might want to hear.

That's the problem. And sometimes if we're not fully engaged and in the Bible ourselves, and you only come and hear a message, you're tempted to think that's what's happening. That I'm saying stuff and relating to you because I'm trying to sell you something. I'm not. And even if I was, I guess I'm doing a really bad job. So

read it. Read it. The second thing though, is it's gotta go more than just knowing it. A lot of times I think we get stuck, and there's some of us because if you read your Bible every day, somebody's like, right, I'm done. Don't need to listen to this message.

I've already conquered this lesson. Listen to me. Some of us read the Bible a lot and study it, but you don't let it study you. It's more of an information book. You treat it as history book only or

a trivial a trivia book, like I'm interested in this topic or I wanna know how this works. It's okay to have interest and try to find out things, but if you take it as an answer book for everything, you're gonna miss the point.

It has every answer we need for how to live out the life that Jesus died to give us. It doesn't answer every question we have about life. It's not meant to.

And so sometimes we read it and study it for that, or we study it to win an argument. Or a lot of times, we never really do what this next point is, reflect on it. We don't just read it, we gotta reflect. I mean read it, but let it read you.

And we don't get that far sometimes even when we mean to read it for like real power of what it should mean in life, but we can't get past, oh, my wife really needs to hear this.

Or my husband really needs to know this. Or I'm gonna write this down and stick it on my kid's mirror so when they get up and get ready for school, they have to see it. And we never get past that. I relate to that, guys, because I have a job that I'm supposed to do that once a week.

I'm supposed to get up and say, hey, this is a challenge for you. It's really tempting for me to study this and just pick up my pen, study the word of God, and start writing about what I'm gonna say to you guys. But the first thing I need to do is stop and let it study me. Because otherwise,

I've actually been up here before when I didn't do that, and I'm saying just the same content, didn't change what I'm saying. But all of a sudden, the middle of a challenge of of, hey, here's what God's saying, and maybe you're struggling with this. And if you just listen to this point, and all of sudden, oh,

the Holy Spirit. Like, kinda throat punches me right as I'm talking. And I'm like, no, I'm doing the throat punching. Don't throat punch me right now. I'm busy. And God's like, Have you thought about what that means for you? But I shouldn't have to go, because what it says, why we need to reflect on is the next statement.

It says, It shows what's useful to teach what is true, but also, and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. That's the conviction we talked about. The Holy Spirit convicts us about truth. And now when you read that, it sounds negative.

You heard what's wrong with your life. Yeah. That's why I'm afraid. Read the scripture and all it is is like, you're an idiot. You're stupid. Here's another way you failed. Why didn't you do you did too much of the to don't list, and you didn't do enough of the to do list. What's your problem? Try harder.

That's not what it's saying. That's not what it's saying. The the the the Greek here for conviction is for this, to show us what is wrong in our lives. The Greek word really means conviction that is backed by reality,

Meaning, it's a conviction that'll back by a truth from the truth, the reality truth. It says part of what life really works like

will convict our heart by the power of the Holy Spirit to say, hey, what I'm doing right now is not aligned with the truth that'll really set me free, that'll really get me to peace, really get me to contentment. I'm running after the wrong thing, and I gotta be convicted of that. And he shows you that. Like he makes it really clear. And what it is, it's not about guilt.

That's condemnation. This conviction is not about guilt, it's about guidance. He's like, I am trying to help you get to the thing that you really long for, but you think it's more of this or getting that or having this or having my circumstance. You think peace is about the absence of problems. It's not.

Because you're never gonna have an absence of problems in this life. But you can have peace through it all.

But you gotta trust me, and the Holy Spirit will convict you on it. Where am I living in alignment that out of tune with the life that God wants to give us? And instead of fighting with God thinking, I know what I want. Give it to me. God's not our phone.

He's trying to give us guidance. And so when it shows that we're out of alignment, that conviction is not about condemnation. It's not get it right. It's about he's trying to we shouldn't have fear. That that fear based guilt is so focused on the past.

And then you think, if things don't happen right, God's punishing me. He's not. Punishment is about the past. God's conviction is not about what you did. He's not so much focused on the sin or that. He's more focused on how you're missing out. So the conviction shouldn't be about guilt

and being bad. The conviction should be FOMO for what you're missing out on. He's trying to show you the FOMO, the fear of missing out. Like, it's not about stop doing that or I'm angry. And you're like, but it's fun or I don't know. And he's like, you're missing it. You're missing out on the life.

And I'm trying to get you back because I know you better than you know yourself. And I know upfront when I say, Trust me on this, you're like, I don't see how that's gonna work. And he goes, That's because you were stuck in your reality. But I'm the one that made you.

I'm the one that loves you. I'm the one that knows you better than you know yourself. And I'm also the one that spoke everything, including you, into existence. I know what you really long for. I know what you really need. And you need to trust me. But if you're not in the word enough, you don't trust them.

Like when you only talk to someone rarely and they challenge you, you're more apt to not listen to them. I don't really know them. They don't know me. But when you're in the word and in the presence of God more, it gets easier to trust. And you can only do that when you reflect on it. That's meditation.

That's taking time to not just do a quick study of something, but actually sit still and let it study you. What does this mean? What is God trying to say to me about this truth? And sometimes we often just need to hear something we've already know.

Because a lot of times, you know, you're probably getting the idea of wanting to have the word of God. I just wanna hear the word of God preach. I just wanna read the word of God. But then you come into church and it's like, if it's something you already know, you're like, kinda shut off. And you're like, I really wish they'd preach on this or say this. And then a lot of times the things you wanna preach on is more of something that's interesting to you

and and something new. Well, how's that work for me? Should I never listen to a sermon when the young guys come in and preach? Say, I'm not gonna listen to those guys. They're younger than me, and they're they're talking about stuff I've already know.

I rarely sit when I come in a church and and rock, hear someone's preaching, I I I rarely have them say something that I go, wow. I never knew that. Ever. But when I come in with the attitude of this, that God's word is gonna be spoke, God, you probably wanna say something to me too. And he does every single time.

That's what it means to reflect. It means you read it, you let it read you. And the problem I think that we struggle with, especially if we're not in it much, we start to get this point that we're not sure. We think, are you trying to sell something? What is this going on? I don't know. I'm so confused.

And then we take this attitude of like, okay, let me ask you a question. What would you think if you saw someone wearing a mask come at you with a knife?

What do you think is about to happen? Best case scenario, you're getting robbed, right? Worst case scenario, you're getting robbed and you're getting stabbed, correct? That's what you would think, right? You would think like if you walk out here and someone runs at you in a mask with a knife, you pretty much figure robbed,

maybe killed, stabbed. Now let me change one detail. What if someone comes at you with a knife in their hand, wearing a mask, and you're in an operating room?

Now what do you think? Well, with medical prices, you probably still think you're getting robbed, but still.

Doesn't that change your perspective on what's happening?

Because you've went to the doctor, you found out, you know, something's wrong with you. They've revealed something's wrong with you. And now for health and for life and be like, Hey, we need to cut you, cut you open in order to bring the health.

We're gonna have to cut something out, put something in. We're gonna have to do this. And it is gonna cost something, and you are getting cut.

But you invite it and look for it because you've gone to the doctor a lot, and you know there's a problem, and you're willing to let him fix it. That's what it's saying. That's what it's talking about. And if you're not in the word regularly, you're not reflecting regularly,

you think that God's coming at you and trying to rob you and hurt you. But the Bible says in Hebrews four twelve, like I said, that the word is alive and active, like a double edged sword cutting into the marrow, and it's describing it more like a scalpel. He's not just hacking at us. He's bringing life and health to us.

So we have to read and reflect it. And what that ultimately means is, so what do I have to do? I have to choose to go to the doctor. I have to keep my appointments. I have to sit in the word. I have to reflect on the Word. I have to let it point out what's wrong with me. But then what's the third thing you gotta do with the doctor? You gotta choose to have the surgeon, and you gotta choose to listen to his instructions, right?

You don't change yourself, you just keep the appointment.

And so that ultimately and then you listen to the prescription. You listen to, hey, I'm gonna go to the Surgery Room. I'm gonna do that. You agree with it. So you read it. You reflect on it. You figure out what the problem is, and he'll reveal that to you. And then you have to respond to it is the third thing.

You have to then finally respond. Okay. I'll I'll have the surgery. Okay. I'll do that. Okay. I'll allow this. Because it says here, it says, the last two phrases in verse 17, I'll say this. It corrects us when we are wrong.

It teaches us what to to do what is right. And God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. What is that talking about? Well, first, it corrects us when we are wrong. It says, it makes us realize, then it corrects.

And and and and that word there for corrects is a word that this is the only place in the New Testament it uses this word. And it literally just means to restore to an upright state. Meaning something that was bent or fallen over is now put back up.

It says it'll it'll put you back right. It'll restore it back. I think of it it it describes like taking something bent and straightening it out. You know, that that that's what God will do. We just have to trust him and respond to his word, and that's what'll happen. And it's kinda like this.

I thought about this because these storms. Every time we get these storms, you see trees knocked over, branches blown over. But I think of another way. I noticed that I've lived here. I grew up here. And And almost a lot of the trees that thrive here are these mesquites, these palaverdes. You know what they all are? The reason they thrive here is they're bait they're actually weeds. They are giant weeds, less not really trees.

And that's what makes them thrive because they you know, weeds is, It's like your grass keeps dying, but man, weeds, you don't have to do anything to grow weeds. And so they grow easy. They don't take as much water and they do that. But

the problem is they're also very adept. So when the winds blow, they bend. And so they

will get all demented based on, you know, the weather patterns and stuff. And if you've never noticed that, just walk down the street where all those mesquite trees on the street are fully grown. They didn't blow over in a storm. They've made it. But have you ever hit your head almost on a trunk? Not a branch, a trunk of the tree. Because it's like a tree with massive scoliosis.

It's like cuts in, goes back, and you're like, how is that even working?

And it gets frustrated. Well, when I moved into my house where I live twenty five years ago, I moved once again, but when I first lived there, it was brand new. So they plant this little weed little plant, and then they put the two big stakes. It's gonna hold it in the wind. It works pretty good when they're small. It's like rattling around. But as they get bigger, they start to pull those stakes and they get medium sized and doesn't work as well. And I hated having those dumb trees. I wanted my tree to look like the ones I'd seen in Africa.

Similar type trees that they'll grow straight up and then and especially if you trim them, they get this beautiful canopy that goes up and out. And I go, that'll look nice. You can walk by my house. It'll shade my cars in the driveway and the yard.

That's what I wanted. I didn't want this stubby one going along and all that. So I would go out there and my neighbors thought I was weird. My wife thought I was weirder. I I almost the marriage almost didn't make it because of this, is I would see a hot boob coming and the strong winds blowing,

and I would run out there and be a tree hugger. I would go into the middle of the storm, the dust and everything coming, and and I put swim goggles on one time, and I just went out and I held it. I'm like, I'll hold you upright, baby. Just hang on. Hang on. We're gonna make it.

And and guess what? You can walk down that street I lived on today, and there is one tree, Straight, tall, majestic shade produced. And the person who bought my house from me can thank me for that. They even noticed. They said, you have a tree that's straight and nice. What's wrong with them? And my wife goes, don't

bring it up. Because it's weird. You know what that was? I was the holy spirit empowered bible for that tree. I held it and I held it upright and all it had to do was let me. That's responding.

We have to be in it or we're not gonna know what's going on and we'll just keep fighting our reality versus truth. We have to reflect on it or we're just gonna learn information and not understand the application God's calling us to. And third, we have to respond to it because that's where the change comes.

It's through the response by faith that God then changes us. His talking, when we read it, hear it, reflect on it, respond to it, transforms us. It's his power.

We just have to trust him because he says it also teaches us to do what is right. So after it straightens us out, that word for teaches what does right is the word padea. It's really a long ongoing process of formation. It's the word used of of of for raising a child. It's why it's called pediatrics.

And and it's really it's the long game. So it says, hey, when we respond to his word, he will upright us. He'll get us past the pain. He'll get us back into the real life. He'll allow that. But then we have to keep in the word and trust because then it gives us the long game. It really forms and shapes us, and it really changes us.

It's powerful if we do this. And I think that's why so many of us don't really experience life as this, because most of us as Christians

don't do this. And we don't really catch on to the power of what this is saying. And what Paul is telling Timothy, this is what you need. This is what your people need.

Because he says, God uses it to prepare and equip. That prepare and equip is good because there's two different Greek words in it. It's trying to capture in the English this idea that it does show us, but it then completes us. And he says, for what?

To do every good work. Now every good work does involve us living out the character of Christ in our jobs, and it includes all of life. But when he's saying to the every good work specifically here, Paul has talked about that in Romans and Corinthians. He's saying, You will become not perfect,

but you will become a fully engaged follower of Christ. And a fully engaged follower of Christ is fully connected to the body of Christ.

He's saying the goal of spending time in the word is not just for your own self help to feel better, to do less sin, and maybe do a few good things. It's to prepare us to be connected, to be a part of the church and its mission. He then goes on later on and says, And because of that mission, you're gonna go out and you're gonna point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. You're gonna be about the gospel. But it also says you're gonna be a fully active member. And he talks over and over what it means to be an active member to be a part of the body of Christ. Means you know, you grow, and you go.

And a lot of us, we just we just show. We just show up on a weekend. He says if we're really taking what the Bible's supposed to do accurately, you should naturally become connected to the body of Christ. But we don't do it, and that's how we get disconnected. And then we keep struggling over and over again.

Like, we're like, oh, you know what? I'm struggling. I'm struggling with time, and I'm just overwhelmed by all this stuff. And and and God says, well, are you gonna find out your spiritual gifts? And because you're like, I just wanna have more purpose in my life. What is it about?

Find out how he gifted you and called you to serve. I'm really wrestling relationships, and I feel overwhelmed all the time, and I feel lonely, and I feel like, Is God even there? And God says, that's why you're supposed to be in community and be in a circle. That's the answer.

That's not a to do that's not a requirement that God says, do this or I'm angry with you. How many times are gonna worry, panic about finances, overspend, get in debt, get out of debt, worry, freak out if the economy is going bad, and always be fighting in your marriage about how do you spend your money.

God says, I've asked you to spend your money this way. Do you do it? Or do you think I'm just trying to sell you on tithing because we need more seats?

It's the answer. But if we don't spend time in the word, we won't trust that truth. And when we don't trust that truth, we stay in the false reality. And then we keep coming to church, and then you think, I'm the mugger that wants to stab you and take something from you, and we get caught in this loop. We get stuck.

You know, because the doing is different than just the knowing. I mean, think about in our culture how much we know about fitness. But we seem to know more about fatness because we know more than we do. I know this.

I've actually been an athlete, and then I was a personal trainer. I've been a strength and conditioning coach for multiple sports teams,

and and I know how to do stuff. I know a lot about how to do stuff, and I like to work out, but I also like to eat. And I got to the point that I already knew that I can't out exercise my eating, so I have these phases that when I'm just not thinking about it, I go from skinny Elvis to fat Elvis and then back to skinny Elvis again.

And it's all right here. And I was telling some friends once I got I gotta reel this in. I gotta figure that I'm I'm getting kinda I don't I don't look fit. I I I look like a lineman now, and I don't wanna look like a center in the NFL. I don't wanna look like that. And and I don't feel good. It's not healthy. And you know what they all start doing? You know what you need to do? And they start rattling off all the principles. Do fasted cardio. Do this. Only eat this many carbs. Only eat protein. Eat like a caveman. You

know, they're telling me a million different things. And and you know what? I know all of that. And so you know what I said to him? I'm like, hey, hey, hey, hey. I didn't get this because I'm dumb. I got this because I am stupid. And there's a difference between dumb and stupid.

My dad taught me that. And he used dumb and stupid, so don't get offended by the words because that's the words I would understand. He's like, son, dumb is you just didn't know. Dumb you learn, you should learn from dumb. It's called experience.

And so you and he goes, and with dumb and stupid, there's a tax to be paid. You will pay a price. It'll cost you something and it's gonna hurt. And he goes, the dumb tax we're gonna pay. That's the part of what we pay in life to learn. But the issue is don't do the dumb tax on the same thing more than once. Because if you pay the dumb tax on the same issue more than once, you are now into the area of paying the stupid tax.

And that is you don't need to keep doing this, but you do. Or you could should do this, but you don't. And we know it, but we just ignore it. And that's what a lot of us do. Think about this.

I mean, it's it's it's like you did. You did this, you learned. Great. You did this, and you did like I just said, why do I keep frustrating over money? I won't listen to God, what he says to do with my money. Why am I always frustrated and feeling alone? Because I won't listen to God and get in community. Why am I always frustrated over I think there needs to be purpose, and I never feel like there's purpose in life. Because I won't listen to God and find out my spiritual gifts and use him. Why do I feel like there's no mission in life and I just feel like I'm wandering? Because you're supposed to point people to Jesus.

I how many times are you gonna know that and ignore it and then still want the answer to get to the other side of this when the answer is there? That is stupid tax. Because stupid

tax is we bring it on ourselves. Stupid tax is not a punishment from God. It's not God abandoning you. He's not rejecting you. He's not that is self inflicted. Self inflicted. A 100%. That is the answer. And I think the reason we pay the stupid tax is we're not consistently in the word.

So we're not sure we trust it, and we're listening to the voices out there too much.

So the voices out there that see condemnation and fear make us think that what God's saying over here is condemning me and giving me guilt to do something that I don't think is gonna work, and it's gonna make me feel worse because I don't think it'll work. And that's a lie, and I'm stuck.

And now I'm paying all kinds of stupid taxes. God doesn't want that for us.

How do you respond when you hear God's word? How do you hear when you hear something you don't wanna hear? I mean, I already know, man. As you talk about stupid acts, it's like, I wanna know the word, but I'm I'm gonna think about what it means for someone else. Or does it mean something to me? You're always projecting

out, and and and you don't think you need anything. Some of here think, I already know the word of God, and you're already formulating in your mind the email you wanna write me about how many times I keep saying stupid in my sermon. They're like, we don't say stupid in our house. I can't believe you would say that. And matter of fact, it feels like you're calling us stupid.

I'll clear it up for you. I am.

Because I'm stupid too a lot. Right now, some of us are paying dumb tax. And you're gonna pay a lot of dumb tax if you're not in the word. But, man, there's a bunch of us that you've been in church a long time, you've been in this church a long time, and you keep paying the stupid tax because you just won't surrender.

And God wants us to have life in the fullest and bring it's God breathed what he's saying in here.

So why avoid it? Why be afraid of it? Why not respond to it? And, you know, ultimately, I have to tell you this because let me just close with these last five verses, the first five verses of chapter four. This is Paul telling Timothy, who's a pastor, his job description.

And he says, I solemnly urge you in the presence of God in Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his kingdom, preach the word of God. Be prepared whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct. That's teach the truth what reality is. Rebuke.

That show where it's wrong and and and and encourage. Let them know that it's not about condemnation. It's not about guilt. It's about guidance. You wanna find what you're really built to find and what you long for in your heart? Trust this. That's my job.

And will look for teachers who will tell them what whatever their itching ears wanna hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the good news and fully care out the ministry God has given you. Good. That's not just a job description for a pastor. But what it is he's telling this pastor

is there's gonna come a time when people don't wanna hear. They wanna hear what they wanna hear, and they don't wanna be challenged. And they'll go look for someone who will teach what they wanna hear. Most people think he's like, oh, yeah. You're right. That world is so lost right now. He's not talking about the world.

He's telling them what he should be saying to his congregation, his people. He said there's gonna be a time

when people that are say they're Christians and come to church are gonna act like the word of God is more of a self help. It's more of an idea book. Hey, maybe try this. Maybe do that. Or I don't wanna listen to that. Or that contradicts what I feel in the world because the word's so feeling. So you hear something, the world say, that seems mean.

That seems like so one-sided. It is. It's God sided, and he's the one that speaks reality. And we fight that. And I believe what he described is true in the world. It's even in this church. And if I don't call us out on these things,

I pay the stupid tax. And the problem is if I pay the stupid tax by just saying what we wanna hear, I cause everyone to not only pay the stupid tax, but the dumb tax over and over and over and over.

I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm trying to point out to God doesn't wanna sell you anything. He wants to save you and me from all of that pain and all of that struggle of not embracing his word in our lives. And we don't even have to run up Santan Mountain. All we have to do is open it, read it, reflect on it,

and respond to it. And he takes care of the rest.

When you do it, he will change you. He will also empower you. He will give you what you need to do what he asked you to do even if you think you don't have it, and that's the whole point. We're supposed to do stuff we don't have the ability to do, and we trust him. He works, and then we trust him more the next time. That's the whole point.

The choice is what are you gonna do? Just like I have to get up every day. What am I gonna do? Am I gonna trust God's love? The essentials, the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Father God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you love us this way. And I pray that you would have spoken

as your word promises to everyone in this room, including me. Not my words, your words, Lord. Not my power, your power. Not for my kingdom, but your kingdom. Not by my glory, but your glory. And for your will, not mine.

I just pray that we would see your love, sit with you, listen to you talking, and allow your power and love to change our walking. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Thanks for joining us online today. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay up to date with everything happening here at Rock Point.

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