Where's your team great job? How's everybody doing today? All right three people we're doing good on this Sunday morning one over here in the back and two and out of back I need to listen we all do me a favor I'm a like I like interactions. Can someone turn me down a little bit too.
This is weird. Um, I feel like I'm yelling at everybody Thank you for moving that bro. I need some people that want to get excited. I mean you can do cartwheels down there Yeah, if you're excited do not be afraid to sit in the front couple chair I need people to preach to I like the people to get excited Right we have a couple announcements that I don't want to forget about This Wednesday This coming Wednesday at 6 30 There is a national day of prayer rally at central assembly at 6 30 if you are somebody who likes prayer And hopefully everybody that is in Christ does but uh, but yeah if you want it's a good time go out I wish I knew more about it.
Um, it'll be fun. It's gonna be Wednesday at 6 30. It's a prayer rally at central assembly Say again, there's a speaker a bunch of churches from the area will be there. It'll be a great time It's the body coming together.
It's the national day of prayer. So they're gonna be doing this all over the place So join in with the body and let's come together make an impact and then Thursday Thursday Thursdays some our midweek service We are walking through the book of Ephesians, but we're all just coming together to grow Equipping the one that knows Jesus to reach the one that needs Jesus. That's our missions here So if you're new here on pastor set I get to honor in the privilege to pastor here alongside of my best friend ready tea I I talk a lot about him. You'll get to know him if you don't know him But our heart is to reach people we quit people to send out to reach other people To reach their full potential in Christ.
That's what we're all about here. So I Encourage you to come back and keep getting filled up and learn our hearts It's hard to learn the hearts of the church in one week So you're new here and I encourage you to come back to see who we really are and See if this is somewhere you'd like to be playing it because we'd love to have you as soon as you walk in that door your family to us Yeah, so how many new guests do we have? We raise your hand It's all right. You can be shy I'm just not the right one to be shy in front of I'll point you out.
No Hey, I'll tell you what we're having new guests every week church We're gonna need a bigger boat if y'all keep plugging in come on. Yeah, let's go So we're not enough. We're not in a series We like to have a good time by the way We're gonna have a great time and learn the word but we're not in a series anymore So we kind of have free range and there's a word that's been sitting on my heart for a while Then I'm excited to talk about today. So I'm in the kitchen.
I'm cleaning. I'm getting it watch the dishes I'm clean the counters. I'm doing all this stuff, right? Yeah.
Oh, yeah some of you might I don't even know about that Yeah, it's fixing our sink clean and everything and my wife walks in she stops Gives about a three second pause and then she shares four words that just It'll kill your pride faster than bleach kills things like I think I have it all. I'm like, yeah, I'm proud and then she says these words You miss the spot. Come on somebody So this message is called you miss the spot because I am getting after it and there's this one crusty corner left undone And I'll tell you what one crusty corner can make a whole whole job that you thought you did It just can remove the entire image of what it should look like And so I believe what this is what Jesus is saying in John chapter 5 to the Pharisees And we're gonna read that in a second. So if you got your Bible, let's go ahead and turn to John chapter 5 and We're gonna see Jesus is basically saying hey, you missed a spot.
There's a lot of good You know, you know the scriptures you search them diligently But the word standing right in front of you. You missed a spot Actually, you missed the most important point to all of this the word I want you all to picture this because it just blows my mind It's not a real great illustration, but you got the word made flesh Talking to a group that's holding the word pointing to the word speaking to them And they're upset because he's healing and doing things on the Sabbath. That's outside of the the rules or the book Because they knew it they searched it well, but he is actually speaking to them and they don't even know it The word itself is speaking to them about the word that they're following that's pointing exactly to him and they don't even know it Phew, we're gonna have some fun today. I can already tell He's addressing the Jewish religious leaders who were upset with him for healing on the Sabbath He points out he points out that although they search the strictors diligently the Old Testament the law of the prophets Their study had become an idol They thought knowledge itself granted eternal life But missed that the entire scripture was intended to reveal Jesus He's the promised Messiah see the word search is to seek to investigate to examine These I want to say this to I want you to understand they weren't just like casually reading the word They like studied it experts if you will these are experts experts experts of the thing that's pointing to the one that's standing in front of them Here's what I think Jesus is looking at them telling he's saying hey, you're flipping through pages But you're missing presence the very presence of of what they are pointing to that is wanting to come into your life To be a part of your life the very thing that you're reading about You're just flipping pages and the thing that you're actually trying to get to standing right here and you don't even know it You know the words, but not the living word You got the ink that's on your pages, but you don't have encounter church state with me you oh Come on listen y'all ain't gonna do me like that on Sunday morning.
Listen you Thank you. Come on. Sure. You all better wake up.
You're missing a spot. Come on This is the word he's speaking to him and he's saying you think you have it all you think you figured it out But you missed the most important part Jesus wasn't pointing to a crusty little spot on a counter. He was pointing to cracks in their connection John chapter 5 verse 39 and 40. I'm gonna read it.
It's reads like this you study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them You have eternal life These are the very scriptures that testify about me yet you refuse to come to me to have life I love this because it's not just you refused to come to me, but come to me to have life my favorite Translation of the word is the message translation. I'm gonna read that real quick. I don't know yeah, I did put it up there You have your heads and your bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there But you miss the forest for the trees These scriptures are all about me and here I am Standing right before you and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want my first point today church is studied But still struggling you study the scriptures like we said these revival experts. They searched it they dug through it If I grabbed a couple your bibles I bet you highlighted a lot of verses I bet you underlined some things I bet you wrote some notes out there.
I bet you debate scriptures. I bet you you like to quote scriptures, right? You'd like to do all of these things but still I think you're missing a spot See there's a I'm not talking if you're getting up say I'm not talking about you you studying your scriptures highlighting your Bible There's nothing wrong with that. It only becomes an issue when you miss The thing that it's actually pointing to that that highlighted verse that so sticks out to you Is that it get highlighted and you highlighted it because it's meaningful when you actually stepped in and allowed it to apply to your life So that you can then become highlighted by the Holy Spirit the whole reason that you were highlighting the first place to go And be drawn to that is it going past the pages are you just?
highlighting it because it sounds good See they were so focused on what they were reading they missed who it was pointing to You can know the text and still miss the truth You can memorize it all and still hear from Jesus. You missed a spot Matthew 15 8 says this these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me What I'm trying to say church is that familiarity with the text doesn't equal intimacy with the truth So you can you can be familiar with the text in the scriptures But but then there can be a no intimacy with the truth of them All right, this side is struggling with understanding it listen. Are y'all wake with me over here? You can memorize it be familiar with it You can do all that stuff But then there can still not be any intimacy with it to where it actually changes your life because you understand that what it points to is the very thing that you need I feel like the Bible is A badge that some people wear instead of a bridge that they cross Head knowledge doesn't equal a heart transformation.
I want to tell you this too. You know what the enemy doesn't like he doesn't mind Bible readers He reminds he he minds Bible believers These are people that believe what they're reading a plan to their lives and step into it So now they're walking out truth. That's what he is afraid of I Just want to help people today. I feel like there's some people are flipping through pages and he's trying to grab He wants you he wants to make a personal connection with you so there's a relationship that it's not just a practice That's being done, but there's a relationship that's being built Because he wants to transform you that's what it's all about See they thought their discipline could replace their dependency They weren't lazy they were just spiritually blind.
Yeah, yeah, listen Yeah, if someone's not happy, I'm just gonna skate pass that one. They thought their discipline could replace their dependency Shoo here's what I want to say church study him without submission will always leave you starving We aren't just called to study about God. We're calling to walk with him Their knowledge created pride not proximity the search itself Became a substitute for submission study and scripture gave them a false sense of control as if mastering knowledge could replace needing a Messiah But true encounter demands humility not just study This is going to be a little challenging But I want to draw this closer to the whole reason why it was given to us so we could connect with his presence second point Knowledge isn't life. Jesus is Knowledge isn't life.
Jesus is because you think that in them you have eternal life They thought life came for learning But Jesus didn't say hey, I come to give you more scripture He said I came that you may have life and have it to the full. That's John 10 10 See the Bible itself doesn't contain life I know some people that search scriptures are going to go to other other Scriptures about this and the things that Jesus said and that's fine, you know, there's one in John Six later on that says that my words bring spirit in life. So I don't get this confused with what I'm saying I'm saying that the scriptures are not the source They're the signpost They point you to the source. They should be connecting you with the source See some people are spiritually stuffed with verses, but still spiritually starving for the Savior.
I need some one person It's gonna help me preach today Because this is so important Needs you to understand that this is Jesus himself talking to a group That's so understood the law they understood every to the point that they're holding it and the very thing that it's pointing to their questioning Why he's doing what he's doing? All right, let me let's go to the next song Yeah, yeah, here we go. This is in the first book of Seth verse one If you can read that it's a pizza recipe if y'all know me I love pizza you can ask my family I could eat it every day seven times a day and I love it I Want y'all to help me out with something so this is the recipe I'm gonna read it We got two cups of flour one packet of yeast three four cups of warm water one tablespoon of olive oil a pinch of salt your favorite sauce Fresh mozzarella pepperoni chicken if you're saved because I love chicken y'all if chicken you can put chicken on my pizza any day and Right that chicken is your apparently and you can bake it at 425 for 12 to 15 minutes God listen did y'all just read that with me? Yeah, I just gave you a recipe to one of the greatest things ever created on this planet Straight from heaven, but guess what read an act memorize that's not gonna fill you up You're still gonna be hungry actually.
I feel like memorize it makes me more hungry So you can memorize how much ingredients go into it You can do all of that but the end of the day if you don't ever do nothing with that to actually make the pot guess what If this one is saying on a piece of paper It's all right. I'm gonna register right here with this thing all right, so you can you can memorize all of that But guess what you have in your pocket and you can walk around with it in your pocket and it will never fill you up You'll never eat if it just stays the ingredients on a piece of paper Do y'all do y'all get what I'm getting at you know, and then there's gonna be some people It's gonna be like not have a running like anchovies or some weird stuff I don't know look what stuff that don't belong on pizza like pineapple. Yeah stuff just don't belong on pizza, but uh You can you can you can interchange that and you can pick and choose Okay, but again at the end of the day if that doesn't lead to the thing that it's actually talking about for you then to consume Then you're just gonna stay hungry. So reading the recipe won't feed you eating the mill will and if you're only reading and not encountering Church will someone help me out Someone's getting it today.
Come on. So information about God is not a substitute for intimacy with God Knowing about eternal life isn't the same as receiving eternal life I'm not gonna go there now, but I want to just say hey later There's gonna be a call that maybe there's an acknowledgement of him You've never accepted him And I I want to invite you into a relationship with him to take a step and going from just knowing him to actually Receiving him and stepping into that and so that'll well yeah We got a lot more to get through but knowing about eternal life isn't the same as receiving it if you got if all you got is a recipe And no relationship you missed a spot See I think this is happening to some people are running around with the recipe book waving at everyone's face telling them what ingredients They're missing you're not praying enough. You're not reading enough. You're not doing it right Here's the problem.
They're yelling about the recipe and they'll never and they've never even tasted the meal themselves See there's a there's a lot of people that they know the instructions, but they miss the encounter They know the ingredients, but they've never set at the table with the chef And if all you do is carry around the recipe without ever feasting on his presence you missed a spot You can admire instructions and still miss the invitation God doesn't want you impressed by the Bible. He wants you impacted by it You aren't called to just know the promises. You're called to live in the provision without Jesus scripture becomes a self-help manual instead of a doorway to resurrection life Here's what I believe if they truly knew the chef They wouldn't be beating people with the recipe. They'd be inviting them to the feast Because when you meet the chef you don't just talk about ingredients you serve people the goodness you've tasted Knowing the recipe might impress people but knowing the chef transforms people and if all you're doing is shooting a Shouting about the recipe, but never offering the meal you didn't just miss a slice.
You missed the whole pie Come on church. Oh, I'm flying through this Come on church listen What I'm trying to get at is it when we meet when we meet and have the encounter You know we starting on we start wanting to share that encounter with others if we're just out here yelling ingredients out It's probably because we're we're missing ourselves in the counter Here's what I want to tell you to even if you come across somebody doing that guess what you have an opportunity to share them Share with them join them into the feast. Let them take a bite. Let them taste.
Let them see so then guess what they can do They don't care about the ingredients no more They're saying hey, let's go sit at the table with the chef. I know the chef and let's invite them in Point three the page was pointing, but you weren't looking These are the very scriptures that testify about me the whole Bible Genesis to Revelation was never about religion. It was about a revelation It's the story of Jesus his heart his mission his presence The whole thing all of it was pointing to him every scroll every prophecy every page was a signpost See the word is a map But a map's only good if you fall it to the destination And if you're holding the map but never meet the Messiah you have missed a spot they had all of that church They had the prophecies they had the patterns they had the promises But when fulfillment fulfillment Was in front of them they missed him the pages the whole time was pointing Right to him, but they weren't looking the scriptures aren't a scavenger hunt Okay Their spotlight Luke 2444 says everything written about me in the law of Moses the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled The clues were clear for them, but their hearts were closed the signs were screaming, but their spirits were sleeping They had the scrolls and missed the Savior Like Could you imagine I just keep going back to the point of them standing there having everything that they need? That's pointing to the thing that's speaking to them and they're just they can't they can't see it They can't see it.
It's right in front of them. It's talking to them. I'm Remember this one time Yeah, oh, she's here too. We were cleaning where's like Chorday or something the house and Gretchen My daughter is cleaning the she's moffin the downstairs.
Yeah, she's looking now. She's paying attention now Boy friends here too. Hey, listen up, bro But she's cleaning and she's going through and she's cleaning and she gets done and I come out and I'm like hey Hey, Gres come here. She's like what?
You even did you not see that? Bigger Huh? Yeah, I did that mind you a whole rest of the floors wet just this one spot completely dry and I'm like dog hair still there You know everything's there. She ain't touch it.
I'm like you miss this question. Mm-hmm. No, I did that and I'm like man You missed a spot. Come on.
You cleaned everything else. You missed a spot You did everything you thought you were supposed to do, but you missed a spot like this is this is the This is the stuff. I'm trying to draw us to church To realize that you might be doing everything you think is right to do you might be doing practices You might be this you might be having other people trying to invite you to the table to meet the chef and you're just now You're good. No, I'm good.
I did everything and he's wanting to encounter you He's wanting to bring you to the table to sit with him And you're just missing a spot you're missing it Let's open our hearts today. I don't I don't want to miss it church I don't want to set a rules or a mindset or something to keep me from getting to the thing that it's actually meant to make me connect with I Don't know about you, but I don't want to miss a spot Point forward. Don't just flip pages find his presence Yet you refuse to come to me to have life The goal of scripture isn't transformation it the goal of scripture is transformation not just information I think there's a real danger in becoming comfortable around the word, but not changed by the word You can be close to the Bible and still far from God Jesus saying it's not enough to flip the pages. I want to meet you in them Psalms 119 18 says this open my eyes to spiritual truth So that I may behold wonderful things from your law.
See I think this reveals something deep. It's not just about reading the word It's about needing God to help see what's really there. You can read scripture with natural eyes and miss spiritual truths You can memorize the law, but miss the wonder David saying God if you don't open my eyes I'll read right past the point. This is a desperate prayer It's a it's more than that to spiritual posture that David is is getting into I don't just want information David saying I want revelation.
Show me you father lead me into your presence Don't let me you are gonna. You're gonna leave me hanging out. Don't let me Come on John 1 1 says this in the beginning before all time Was the word Christ and the word was with God and the word was God himself See both of these verses aren't just a collection of verses. It's I believe it's a voice They're not just for reference.
They're for relationship. They're not just for your little devotionals in the morning. They're fine encounters Lean into the presence. Don't just stop at the page Let the word lead you to the word Let it change you This shouldn't just sit on your shelf Sement to set your life on fire the living word walked among them, but they were too busy quoting the written word to notice My next two points are gonna be a little challenging What I'm excited about him.
I'm sweating up here like game day. It is game day When the search becomes self-defense You can use spiritual knowledge to guard your pride instead of guiding your heart So you don't think you were called to master the word We are called to be mastered by the word The script the scripture should be like a scalpel not a scalpel not a shield If what you know about God keeps you from needing God you missed a spot He says in 540 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I Personally believe the refusal wasn't about misunderstanding. It was it was about unwillingness They use the scriptures as a wall instead of a window Pride built barriers that the very word of God was trying to break down See when the Bible becomes your excuse to stay in control rather than reason to submit you missed a spot When knowledge becomes a weapon instead of a window Today people look people weaponize scripture to prove that they are right instead of letting scripture lead them to the one who made them righteous It's not just about how much Bible you know church.
It's not about how right you think you are It's about how much you let the Bible form you into the image of Christ See just like the Pharisees many today use their Bible knowledge as ammunition for arguments rather than an invitation to transformation What I'm getting at is they don't they don't use scripture To find Jesus just like the Pharisees. They're using scripture here for leverage They're searching the scripture to they got to appoint in their life to that they it was more about them being right and They use it as leverage to the actual word itself that's they have in front of them. Oh God. See you see this is challenging When the word becomes ammunition For arguments rather than an invitation to transformation church.
I'll say it for us. We missed a spot We get obsessed with looking right instead of living righteousness Right right just list right I can't right just leave righteous list. I can't even speak We win debates, but we lose intimacy We argue doctrine, but miss his presence. We defend our position, but we miss his person.
We're so consumed church I'm just my heart today is wanting to release to you guys to want to Search scripture I'm not saying not to search scripture But search scripture to find his presence the point to the person that it's talking about to lead you into transformation That's the whole goal of why we have it just signposts like I'm saying that points to the one that's gonna bring us change He's the only one I believe we got to stop trying to defend our position and start wanting to reveal his person You see in John 5 44 It's right after what we're talking about Jesus says how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek The glory that comes from the only God. I believe people were trying in today's culture I've just noticed a rise in this that everybody wants to they're busy trying to be right and to look right to each other And we're missing being made right by God and Opportunities to reveal the father. I want to say this the Bible isn't your sword against people What's your mirror before God when we search the scriptures to prove a point rather than pursue a person? We miss the heart of God.
I believe they loved appearing knowledgeable. I can just imagine seeing them. I think it's somewhat similar today We measure spirituality by how many verses we can quote how well we can argue and how much theology we can form But I want to say this if the goal for Jesus to come was to graduate congratulate scholars That would have happened in this moment, but he didn't come to congratulate scholars He came to call sons and daughters into relationship See you can win a Bible debate and lose a kingdom encounter. It's not about boosting your pride.
It's about breaking chains I'm just gonna say it again. I don't think you heard what I said. You can win a Bible debate and lose a kingdom encounter Church when did it become more about being right than then ushering people into the presence of God the same thing that we Receive that we shout about we praise about we sing about we come to church on Sundays about when did it become more about being right and winning a debate Over what my interpretation of the scripture is When did it become more about that? Then someone actually get an encounter by the Father because it says I came that all may have life I'm hoping today that hearts are opened up To wanting to not just learn more to be right about how many you know every address to every scripture and you pull up to the spot But do you know it enough to when you pull up to the spot?
You can get out of the car and walk in because you know how much it is is important to not just be able to quote it Memorize it highlight a door that but enough to get out and step into it because you're meant to be coming to impact somebody else Don't just pull up Hop out step into it believe it enough. Don't just be a reader of it believe it step into it Come in let's stop missing opportunities to make kingdom impacts Because we're just so caught up. I think I'm getting ready to close I don't have a whole lot more to say you can come on up with I Want to start to say this church if you've been flipping through pages and missing presence if you've been Learning versus but not learning and leaning into his voice if it's just become a checklist to you about reading the word And it hasn't been a compass. I want to invite you into something today.
I want to say this He's not mad about the spot you missed my wife was but he ain't He's standing right where you stopped the spot you missed you'll stay there Wanting to meet you right there again to move forward I just feel like saying this you don't need another plan Feel like we're in a time is just all it's just one other plan or maybe another devotional another, you know Whatever Bible plan whatever it is. I'm not saying they're bad. I'm just saying some of you don't need another plan You just need another encounter Don't be searching so much that you're missing the one that's trying to encounter you with the presence in the thing that you're searching in Please church. I believe he's trying to speak to us and he's trying to share things with us That's filled with wonder That's going to lead us into greater things And it's right in front of us and he's speaking to us and we're just not catching See Psalms 34 8 says taste and see that the Lord is good.
We stand with me church We did a lot of reading about the feast today, but I want to invite you to come sit at the table If there is anybody in here and you've never been introduced to the chef I want to let you know I have access to the private room that he sits in and I am more than happy To invite you in because he wants to encounter you see this feast that we read about it's all for you This should be a love letter that points you right through the author who wrote