Man, hey, yeah, I'm so glad you guys are here. But I'm glad to be back. There's been a lot of stuff happening in my family. My, my daughter, my, my baby girl got engaged this weekend. And you know, it's kind of a, yeah, you know, you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray, and you like, oh my gosh, they're my, God's answer my prayers. And and then I was away on my 40th wedding anniversary with my beautiful hot, smoking hot wife. Yeah. Yeah, you know, you can almost spend too much time together. But, but here's the thing, we were in Alaska, you know, had a great time two weeks and Alaska, and then I came back with the Alaskan covid bear. And so I was really sick, and there's nothing like being with your wife for two straight weeks and then a week of being sick. Okay, and so, and so it's been a crazy time for us, and then I had to miss now, I miss church a lot. You know, like I don't know if I've ever missed that many times in a row in my whole life.

And and I got to tell you something, it kind of messed me up. You know, I thought, you know, hey, I'm not with people that I love knowing love, you know, and I'm not kind of feel weird about with my relationship with God, because church is such a pattern of my life. And it dawned on me how easy it is to get out of the rhythm of going to be a part of who we can worship time. That it is so easy when when you've got so many things going on. Okay, you got ball games every weekend, you got parties every weekend, you get sick, or you get tired, or you wake up and you're like, hey, let's don't go today. You know, you have to go to church to be a Christian, and you know, I can watch it, whatever I am. And so I love all that, because that's just not true. Like, like the idea that you can worship wherever you are by yourself, it's not biblical. Me tell you why, even God doesn't worship by himself. I was deep. Before everything was created, you know what was going on? God, Holy Spirit in Jesus were content and happy worshiping together. That there's never a time where you can go, hey, I'm fishing and I'm but I feel closer to God. No, you don't, you just like fish. I mean, like, oh, I'm I'm laying down the bees. No, it's the sun god. You're, you know, you're the sun god, you're gonna anointing your body with all. I mean no. Come on, man. Don't play that game.

The reality is you were created with the rhythm. And I'm just telling you, as you begin this fall to get into a good rhythm, just say hey, this fall, I know we're going to be busy, because you're planting. You have a rhythm right now. I mean you started school, right? Finally everybody kind of started school. And of course, you know, a Grove stopped, you know, right, you know, we saw, let's go, let's go, let's talk. And so, you know, so you kind of getting back on a rhythm, and you kind of go in back, and and you got a rhythm to get up in the morning, you know, we've got to be able to be at this time. You got a rhythm in the afternoon with homework, and then you go to bed a certain time, and and then you got to rhythm, you know, so so you're getting into a rhythm, and I just saying make the weekend worship a part of your rhythm. He said well why? Because we're in a series called the way of Jesus. It's not as Jesus into your heart, and then do whatever you want to do. There's nothing in the Bible that ever says ask Jesus into your heart. No, he goes follow me. Follow in my footsteps, walk in the way that I'm walking. And in Acts chapter 24, they were called the way. They were first called Christians in Antioch. It means, get this, get this, if you say I'm a Christian, you're saying I'm a little Christ. In my ZIP code, in my work, in my family, on my team, I'm trying to walk the way of Jesus and do what Jesus would do if he were here in my life.

So here's the thing about rhythms. Your rhythms will determine the quality and direction of your life. Now I'm telling you this up front, so you don't have any excuses when you get to Thanksgiving and you're like on a thin edge. Because you were designed to be on a certain rhythm, and the rhythms you're planting right now, because you're planning fall break, you're planting what you're going to do Thanksgiving, you're planning which games you're going to go to, you're planning on being out of town, you're playing on all these things, and then there's things you can't plan. And I'm just telling you, if you don't begin to plan now, you're gonna have unsustainable rhythms, and you'll know, because you'll see cracks in your soul. And it will have an effect on your marriage, on your relationships. It will have an effect on your emotions. Some of you are like me, man, I struggle with anxiety and depression. I mean, you said, well, you just try to pray more. I pray more than all y'all. Okay. And you say, well, you just need probably, what I'll do next time you want to hang out with me, I won't take my medicine for three weeks, and let's spend a whole weekend together, and you tell me how it works out. I tell our staff, you don't tighten up, I'm getting off my medicine. They may not go to work. They fired up.

Here's the reality. If you don't plan some sustainable rhythms in your life, you're going to struggle. I'm not saying this because I'm trying to, you know, I'm just telling you the truth. And and drive by Christianity, where you kind of go when you can, and you sit for an hour and you go about your business, that is not Christianity, that is religion. Religion will not help you. And if you ever watched the mafia movies, but in the mafia movies, you know, they're christening a baby, and you know, in the next thing, that guy's gonna kill that guy. You're like, dude, you don't need to be like, you need forget about that, and like put on a bulletproof vest. That is religion, where religion is not really changing your life. It relationship with Jesus, where you have time with Jesus and his people, and you get into rhythms that, like, like they begin to grow you and develop you, and you have the best life.

Listen to Acts chapter 2, and I want you to hear the rhythms of the early church. And this is the way it started there. Listen, in the beginning, there were no programs. There were no Sunday school, where they have Sunday school. They didn't have buildings. I mean, when they worship together they were hiding out so that they weren't killed. I mean Paul one time went to the synagogue, this to the end of backs, and they got, the religious people got so mad at Paul that they took him out of the edge of town, and they stunned him, and they left him for dead. You know what Paul did? He got up and he went back to church. And you thought it was tough for you to get here. Now these people met in catacombs, because, listen, the blood of the martyrs was what made the seed of the church grow. God is revealing stuff to me, man, that I'm like, God, why didn't I know this before, like, you just wouldn't ready, you just too weak, you're just too shallow. Because you need to understand that you need to be all in for me, that we're in a time, and I got to get off, give me a second, we're in that time in the life of the church at the end of the age where you and I have got to make decisions about our faith. Are we in or out? Are we going to live by the flesh? Are we going to live by the spirit? Are we gonna get serious about the body of Christ, or we just going to play around?

Because here's the thing, the things we're facing now and the things that I see all around us, it is crazy, the things I'm seeing. I'm like, God, I just don't understand. I said, well, it's real simple. People were so broke down from covid, they were so run down from covid, they have turned their back on God. They have said God is not been there for me when I need this. God is not being there for me when I needed that. And so I'm just gonna lay down and let it happen. I am tired of the bickering. I'm tired of all the things you're going on the world, and I'm turning our back on God. It's the time of desolation. It's a mark of the end of the age, where you get so tired and you get so busy and you get so run down, you just give up. And I'm saying don't give up. Do not give up. And you decide right now, we're going to find a rhythm in our life that includes God as being the priority. And you say I'm gonna make decisions now about my semester, and the rhythm of weekend worship is going to be a priority. Unless we are dead, we're going to be together.

You say, well why, I mean, Jeff, you're getting so riled up. I know you've been gone, but, because God's put it in your DNA. You ever thought about this, that God made you to worship him, that God made you for a rhythm, like when he's creating the world. He said, I don't believe in creation. Well, listen, the Big Bang, nothing plus nothing. He was everything. I just don't, I can't believe it. I don't have enough faith for that, but I can believe in creation. And whatever you want to say about that time, but here's the bottom line, you get through, through the creation with regard to working all the way through, and you get to Friday, the six day of the week, and God creates Adam and Eve. And he puts him in the garden. And then I think clothes on. Now, I know all the women were like, well, God, that sounds good. We're, all the guys are like, you gotta be kidding me. Yeah, Eden. All the food you can eat. I mean, it's like a buffet. I mean, there's no work to be done, if the work you do you enjoy. And so he creates them on Friday, the day before the last day, because the last day is Saturday. And do you know what mankind does the first day they're created? They worship God and they rest. That's what God designed you to do. Not put it in your DNA.

And the reason, man, when I go to these places and I go to them, I mean, how you go the farthest part of Alaska, and you'll find churches, man. There were churches everywhere. You go the little came, and you're like, man, there's nobody here but the iguanas, there's a church there. You go to the worst places in Haiti, guess what, their churches. They're why? God made you to worship. It's in your DNA. He commanded it because he wasn't sure you would get it. The fourth command is remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Get this, the fourth commandment of the ten most important things you could do. He says listen to the fourth one, number four is make sure you understand that the weekend worship is a priority. Love God, okay, don't have any other idols, don't, don't bow that any other one way, you'll know that's because, yeah, but you make time for the weekend, but then he says make sure you use my name appropriately and you worship me, then he says remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. You say why, because if you don't do that, you can't do number five, honor your parents, through your kids don't like you. Tradition not responding to you. The first four, you're not doing them. Not for everybody, but for a lot of us.

I mean, if you want to know, you said, well, why am I so angry all the time? It's the first four. But why am I never happy with what I have? It's the first four. Why am I struggling in my marriage and my spouse is trying to cheat on me? It's the first four. Listen, if you can't get the first four right, you have no chance at the second six. It's not possible. If you want to have a better marriage, get on the first four. You said, well, I want to have a better life, work on the first four. I could give you all kind of done this for so many years of this thing. I have a better marriage, this how you can love your spouse, and the second raise your kids. No, no, if you don't get right with God, none of that's going to work for you. You're going to be too tired, you're going to be too beaten down.

You're the covenant people of God. And the covenant people of God, they followed God, you know how? Because there was a cloud during the day, he had him on a rhythm. He had him on a rhythm. He had him on a rhythm. He had him on a rhythm. Then there was a fire at night, and they would stop. It's time for you to stop. It's time for a soul rest. It's time for you to let your soul catch up with you. It's a time for you not to have anything planned. It's a time for you to unplug. Listen, you're the covenant people of God. God designed you, he designed you to worship. He's right about Jesus. I mean, how about Jesus? He go to church, he go to church? Yeah, he did. All for gospels say that Jesus went to the synagogue. It was his practice to go to the synagogue, because there was only one temple, they had the synagogue where he could go and worship, and there were times he would read scripture, but there was other times, most of the times, he went to be with the people of God.

Listen, Jesus was so in to weaken worship and worship in general, that he went to the temple one time in Jerusalem. And when he showed up at the temple in Jerusalem, they had set up all these like little little tables where they were selling different sacrifices, birds and different things and lambs and all that, and they put it in the court of the Gentiles to keep the Gentiles from getting in. In my walks in. I don't know if you got that picture, Jesus, anemic Jesus. Throw that thing away. He's a bad man. He would slap Chuck Norris. He would slap Chuck Norris back into the Stone Age. Jason Bourne, he would spank him. Liam Neeson Taken. He walks in and he starts turning over time. This is the Jesus I love. Okay. Can I just say that, like, he comes in like, oh, okay, you want some of this, I'll give you the whole thing. Gets a whip. But yeah. Oh I am, the disciples are going. And then they remembered the zillow for thy house hath consumed me. I guess so. It's passionate. You shouldn't. It it is time for us to be fired up about our faith.

The early church father said listen, you can't have God for your father without having the church for your mother. Auction of Hippo, church history, tell that to you, professor. It's from Jeff Clark. Can't ask Jesus to come into your heart and not take your body to church. Beat that, right now, I just tweet it. Yeah. Give me one cloud. There's one person that thought that was good. I'm gonna tell you, that was really good. I wrote that down. Yeah, I mean. Yes. I'm sure.

I saw someone on Instagram, and I, I was, you know, watching pictures of you, I don't normally get on Instagram for a long period of time, but I was looking, you know, seeing who I could pray for, and I was flipping through to say if you guys were okay, and I saw this. I want you to see this, because this kind of marks it out for me and helps me remember how important it is to have weekend worship. It's a priority for your family. I want you to see this. And it is just, take whatever habit you're trying to build, and you scale it down to the first two minutes. And I had a, I had a reader who did something similar to this. He ended up losing over a hundred pounds, and one of the ways that he did it was he went to the gym, but he wasn't allowed to stay for longer than five minutes. So stay sounds kind of crazy, but for the first six weeks he went, and he showed up and did like half an exercise, and then he would leave and go home. And to most people they hear that and they're like, well, you know, it's kind of ridiculous, you're wasting your time, you're not actually getting in shape from that. But the point is he was mastering the art of showing up, and a habit has to be established before it can be improved. You know, like until you become the person who shows up every day, there's nothing to optimize. We're so worried about figuring out the best diet plan or the best business idea, or the optimal way to, you know, boost my bench press or whatever that, were we search for all these perfect plans, but we don't do the thing that is fundamental to all of it, which is just showing up, mastering art of showing up.

How many of you struggle like I do with working out, you just don't enjoy it, like it's just not a part of your reading. Yeah, like you sit down. Oh, the rest of you like triathletes, much a lined food. Listen, I knew what, listen, you breaking all the commandments now. My gosh, everybody's like, no, I'm workout, can't you tell I'm working out right now. Let's try this again. Much of liars at Lincoln Road, I'm just telling you, you know, Stone kind of like, I don't like him here, I ain't doing no, I got this, I got. Let's try it again. How many of you don't like working out, would you raise your hand? It's just not enjoyable. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, how many of you you just kind of jump off the couch, you can't wait to get there? Okay. Yeah, you got one person on crack right back there. Sorry, I can't say that, my daughter told me not to say that. I'm sorry, because we got to think for, if you're addicted, we got different think that. I'm so sorry. You're not okay, you, that was a shot of espresso. I saw you when you came in, I talked to that guy, I'm so sorry. I've been away a long time. What was I talking about? Oh, but the reality is it's important that you begin to say, hey, I'm gonna at least show up.

I'm not worked out for like nine months. I know you can't tell because I'm spelled, but but the reality is, like this past week, I knew us preaching the sermon, so I showed up at the gym. I mean I walked in, and you think people going, man, way to go, we're glad you're gonna man, where you been? Well, you terrible, look at you, you look terrible, but you never coming back. I didn't say that. I'm thinking, wow, man, that's why people don't come to the gym. And so I showed up, you know, we really weren't gonna work out, and I decided I'm gonna work out while I'm here. And I worked out. Now he wasn't a long time, but I worked out, and I did some cardio and and did some, can't you tell? Anyway, so the reality is, when you decide on weekend worship, hey, I'm going to show up. Listen, he gives God a chance to work in your life. Have you ever thought that maybe the weekend experiences were just about you? Have you ever thought that maybe God was bringing somebody here for you to see them and for you to encourage them, what, just about you getting every, oh, I like that verse, that's my verse, that's on my coffee cup. If you ever thought about, maybe God was bringing the body of Christ together for you to encourage somebody else? Listen, you embrace the rhythm of weekend worship, you embrace the repetition of weekly and daily disciplines.

Let me show you what I mean, in in Acts chapter 10. I'll do this real quick. Okay, powerful word. It's a launchpad for next week. Don't miss next week, I'm gonna blow your mind. I'm going to get crazy, I'm going to get off the reservations. So it's going to be crazy. Chapter 10 verse 1. It says, Aria, there was a man named Cornelius. I love this guy. He was a centurion. He was over a hundred men. He was known as it was known the Italian regiment. He and all of his family were devouting God fearing, and he gave generously to those in need, and he prayed to God regularly. He had a repetition of praying to God and reading the Old Testament and helping people. And one day, about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said Cornelius. Can you imagine that? And he started him and fear and said what is it Lord? The angel answered your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. So you just thought you were slugging through that quiet time, you just start your slugging through that prayer, nobody's listening, he says it's come up as a memorial offering to God. Now send men to Joppa to bring a man named Simon, who's called Peter. He's standing in another man's house, his name is Simon, which makes it complicated. He's a tanner, and it's his house is by the sea.

And you read that, you're like, wow, what is all that mean? It means that this guy understood the power of spiritual disciplines. He understood the, man, you get up in the morning and you have a time and you have a place and you have a routine. Some of you do that with working out, man, you don't work out much, but you show up every morning. You do the wad, the workout of the day, and you throw up, and ah, ah, yeah, but you're, but spiritually, man, you're like a zero. You got a million dollar body and attention soul. I mean, my friends, listen to me, it is so important that you understand how powerful it is for you to spend time with the Lord, and you're talking to him and listening to him and reading his word. We've put it on the app. It's right here. If you don't download this thing, I'm telling you, the Venture church out this, this thing would cost five to seven hundred thousand dollars for somebody to program it, our team did it for you for free. Free, to help you. Makes me want to cry that more people don't read their Bible. It makes God cry. This love letter to you, man. Can you imagine your girlfriend right in your letter, and you guy, hang on, read that ain't got nothing, man, you be pouring over that thing rereading it? Of course, I don't ride anymore, but the text should be reading that text over and over again.

Here's a guy that gets up every day because he knows something. He knows it's like, if you were laying on your couch and you're eating gummy bears and drinking beer and watching the workout video, and somebody came in and said, okay, run a triathlon, you'd go what? What? 26.2 miles, 100 miles biking, 10 if I was swimming, what, what? You wouldn't be ready, would you? What happens when something happens, a crisis of faith in your life, that I see every single week of my life, that comes into your life, and you have to get up and you have to run in the spirit of God to survive a call from the doctor, a call from one of your children, the fact that your marriage is falling apart, you get divorce papers, and you got to jump up and run, and you can't, you know, put in the time, bro. You just not put in the time. He said where you getting all that? Well, the Bible says that you're to offer your body as a living sacrifice, not just working out. He says that is that is the acceptable form of worship. He says by the mercies of God I played with you, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, and and don't be, don't be conformed by the world. The world is conforming you, it is molding you, it is working you, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and then you will know what the good and pleasing will of God is.

Every day you're making decisions. Every day you're leading. Men, I want to tell you, and your family, do you know who is the law of the lid in your family? It's you. Your family doesn't go any farther than you. Really, farther than me. And I'm just like you. The devil works me, man, I get up every day, punches me right in the mouth every single day, every day. Alicia and I haven't spoken all weekend. I didn't say that in other service because she was in here. And I was telling the Lord about her. My Lord, you know this ain't right, but you know that ain't right. You know that ain't right. What the Lord told me, go look in the mirror. You've had 40 years whether to disciple her. You want to tell me it's my fault. It's been sick, God, I had covid, almost died, tired. You know who's responsible for leading my family? It's not the Christian school. It's not to preach your own TV. It's me.

You're gonna find out about Cornelius. This is a bad man. He could kill you in a hundred different ways. He got up every single day. He got on his knees and said God, I'm willing to die for you. I'm willing to kill for you. You just tell me which way to go. He's reading his word, and then all of a sudden some amazing things happen, because God shows up to speak to him. Listen, I know you're thinking, well, you heard you get through, I'm almost through, but here's the reality. God will speak to you. This guy was not a disciple of Jesus. Probably didn't know Jesus. He never went to the temple. We don't know anything about him other than he believed in God. And that's some of you, you don't understand everything about Jesus, you don't understand everything about the Holy Spirit, but you understand that you're supposed to get before God and pray and be generous and be kind, and he'll show up to you. He will speak to you. But if you get your ticket to heaven and you lay down, man, you gonna get soft, you're gonna get broken, you're going to confuse people, because they won't understand that you're supposed to be a follower of the way, and you lay down. You say was it look like? It looks like Leonard Fournette. Saw him last night, 280 pounds. I said, bro, you like that one donut away from 290. He sent it 21 million dollar contract, laid down. The book is, you're saying now Tampa Bay probably is going to have a hard time making it to the Superbowl, because he's fat. I mean, even I would work out.

But the reality is your spiritual condition affects the people around you. Listen, I want you to know this, a habit has to be established before it can be improved. It's time to get back on the bike. It's time. Now some of you are like me, man, I've been beaten down, I've been discouraged, man, the last two years I've gone on walk abouts with the Lord. I've been ready to quit. I'd like God, I can't do this anymore. God, nobody's listening. Nobody's going to come to church, God. We're beating down, everybody's mad at each other, every time I turn on the TV it is nothing but go, or I'm tired. This is, so train your heart to listen when I speak. Open your spirit wide to expand discernment, then pass it on to your sons and daughters. In other words, stop bellyaching. Get back in the game. My son used to tell me all the time, man, he was so bad. He's not in here either, he was another, other service, but, I wish she wouldn't have preacher, we wouldn't have to go to church all the time. And I said something I can't, I got a church it up a little bit. But I basically said, you know, if I was a plumber, you, you'd still go to church, and I threatened to to insert, like, do a insertion of a boot so I could just put my foot there more. Can I say that? More quickly, and yeah, and and all my kids there, we hate you, I hate you, I'm like, I'm glad I ain't trying to be your friend. And you got kids just like you, boom, it happened.

But here's the reality, when you keep putting in the time, when you keep going to the Lord, he speaks. He leads. He opens doors. He closes doors. Cornelius has been doing this for weeks and months and years, and then all of a sudden, boom, here's the angel of the Lord. I want you to go, I want you to send men to Joppa, I want you to get Simon, is that Simon the Tanner, and you bring him here. And you know what, he goes, he goes, okay. He responds. You getting a rhythm, you get that repetition, then then God speaks to you, know what you need to do, you go, okay. Yeah, well, Monday night we watching Bachelorette, and I, you know, I just don't know, Tuesday as poss tonight. Where should we drop the kids off and go get lattes? Maybe I got right now, you don't feel like it, here, I think it's probably something else. That's not my responsibility. That's why you're not hearing God. You're not gonna respond. He responds immediately. And God begins to do some crazy things in his life. As far as we know, he's the first Gentile convert to Christianity. We'll talk about that next week.

Listen to me, and I'm done. Established rhythms right now, they're godly. Repetitions, we made it so easy for you, we're almost doing it for you. Oh, you got to do is get on there and just follow it, and just show, master the art of showing up, and respond, because God's at work. When life story, and I'll quit, I was in Alaska, I tell you that. And I was in Ketchikan, Alaska, have you ever been there? It's in the middle of nowhere. We're on a dirt road. I am standing there thanking God, I love you, I love creation. I'm by myself. I don't even with me, and I'm walking there looking at this bear, this bear reaches down and grabs a salmon and eats it like a carrot. I'm like. And and I was so happy, you know, I was like, God is just good, just you and I, you and I are together, you and I are worshiping, and I'm just so happy that I don't fool with nobody. And I hear somebody, Jeff Clark, what you doing? I think, I'm glad I ain't doing nothing wrong. Somebody from our church, on a dirt road, in catchy, can't Alaska, interrupted me watching a bear eat a salmon. He said where are the odds? Also, there's not any of us. And he hug me, and he said man, it's made my trip. I said man, that's great to see you.

What do you have to do this year going into the semester to begin some rhythms that are right for you and your family? What are some things you got to get rid of to say, hey, we're gonna make some time. We're not going to just push it to the end and push it to the end and push it to the end. No, we're gonna get into the rhythm of grace. We're gonna have weekend worship that's going to be important to us. We're gonna have repetitive daily disciplines. Where we say, hey, you know, I've got all the tools I need, I just got to show up. And then when God speaks to us, can you imagine if you see, this is the plan of multiplication, if you begin to listen to God and respond to God, do you know how it would transform our community? Hello you. Cornelius didn't know nothing. He's just a man along with God who God uses the change the Gentile world.

I'm going to ask you about your heads for just a moment, and I want to ask you something. I want you to think, because I know for some of you, like, man, you've made me feel so guilty, I don't come to church just to feel guilty. I don't want you to feel shame. Shame means I'm bad. But but there is a sense of hurt that you can deal with now that will save you from a great amount of hurt later. If you'll say, hey, I'm gonna put my foot down. We're going to do a lot of things, but we're gonna get into a rhythm that honors God. Because my marriage and my family's worth it, but Joey then we're going down to the beach again. And, well, you know what, Joy's parents just don't love as much as we love you. And there's some things we're going to do different. If you do that, it will change the direction and quality of your life.

Father, I love you. I wish I would have known more earlier in my life, God, just to trust you and to love you and to honor you, and not worry about the peripheral things that the enemy uses to distract and to discourage. God, let your spirit fall on our people. Give them the courage to establish weekly rhythms that honor you, and lead them to the very best life. And our pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.