FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
I Declare: Grit // Pastor Robby Emery // February 9th, 2025
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Hey, what's up? Free Church. Hey, before we jump in this morning, I just wanna like I love church in a way that church is not. Church is not a spectator organization, it's a participatory one, that we jump in, that they're not just leading us in worship Like we're going there with them. So I wanna say thanks to our entire team for taking us somewhere today. That was refreshing, that was encouraging, and worship Like we're going there with them. So I want to say thanks to our entire team for taking us somewhere today. That was refreshing, that was encouraging, that was helpful, and I hope you felt that. I hope you know how important that is. And again, I'm going to talk a little bit about what this day is, and we've been declaring a whole lot over the past several weeks and I want you to continue to declare things in your life, especially the words that we've been using and speaking about, because they're important, they're vital to your tenets of faith.
Speaker 1:My best friend growing up he's from the South and so his family came up to Michigan. They started the church and when I was just a baby, my parents started going to that church and he was about my age and so we ended up becoming the closest friends ever, and so he had grandparents, right, and but he didn't call them. We call my grandparents and my kids call my parents. They call them Nana and Papa, right, that's kind of like a Midwest thing, right, papa, any Papas in the room, any Papas? Or? Or? Or grandma and papa, right, that's kind of like a Midwest thing, right, papa, any papas in the room, any papas? Or grandma and grandpa, right, that's what we say. But there, because they're from the South, it's a mamaw and papaw, mamaw and papaw. And so because I was just his best friend and always around him, they were my mamaw and papaw, my mamaw and papaw, my mamaw and papaw. And so his grandparents were really old and so by the time I really hang out with them they were in their late 80s and so they're kind of on the latter part of their life.
Speaker 1:But we would, as, unfortunately, as little kids kind of like, pick on them a little bit. And so mamaw, who we loved Mamaw, was great. She would always make us sweet tea, because you didn't get sweet tea in Michigan unless you went to Mamaw's house. And so we would go to Mamaw's house and we would just be playing out in Mamaw's yard and we'd walk in because we'd have BB guns and Mamaw, we killed the squirrel, right? And she would respond with the word well, I declare, right. She would say, well, I declare. And then we'd say, mamaw, mamaw, we had a great time at church last night. She says, well, I declare. It was her response to every aha moment she was having. It was like I declare Well, I learned something that I don't need to give you kids BB guns because you're going to kill the animals in the yard.
Speaker 1:Well, I realize that when you go to church, you're actually experiencing something and you're willing enough to share it with mamaw when you get home. Well, I declare. How about we allow that to be in our narrative? That when we have an aha moment of wow, this is awesome, well, I declare, that was just a move of God in a worship service? Well, I declare that the negative and dishonor and discord that's in our world, I declare that that's not good and we're going to try to remedy that everywhere that we go see, I declare, is something that we all need to allow to be in our lives. God has called us to be agents of change. We're, we're expected to be, agents of change. We're expected to be agents of change and he called us to be salt and light, and we understand this.
Speaker 1:Growing up in the Midwest and Chicago and Detroit areas, we know that man salt is important. This time of year, when the rest of the world had to shut down for a few days because they got a half an inch of snow, we were like what in the world are you doing? We're going to work, we're going to church. Put your big girl pants on and get out your business. But the way that salt works is salt has to come in contact with what it wants to change. Salt in a shaker on your table will never change the flavor of your food.
Speaker 1:As Christians, if we're to be salt, if we want to actually change the world or change the people that we're involved with, we have to come in contact with them. We can't do this from a distance. We can't make declaratives for our lives and expect to change the world. We have to get out into the world and grab them by the hand, touch them in their heart, move them to places where they've never been before, encourage them every step of the way. That's the way it works. If we're to be truly salt, then we're going to have to do those things, silas.
Speaker 1:Hurry up here. Silas, let me see your phone. Thank you, it's my son's phone. Parents, let me just say this If you don't know your son's passcode, I'm just saying I was just a little into it, like I know it. Also, a little trick when you get it opened up, go to the settings and have your face put in it, because those little sneaky kids, they may change it on you, but your face. Go to the settings and have your face put in it, because those little sneaky kids, they may change it on you, but your face that's in there.
Speaker 1:Here's what I want you to do. If you have an iPhone sorry, samsung Galaxy, you can't do this Get your iPhones out. Everyone in here. Get your iPhones out. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to. I want you to swipe down. I want you to turn your camera on. Got it, silas? You have too many apps open, son, all right, turn your camera on Camera.
Speaker 1:Everyone in the room. Just go ahead and put it on selfie mode. Make sure you're looking at yourself. You have a selfie. You know how to do it. Don't act like you don't. Don't act like you don't. Everyone in the room. People in the back. You're not doing it. I can tell your phone's not out. You've been on your phone all day until I asked you to do it.
Speaker 1:All right now, go ahead and close out the camera. Just swipe it and close it out. You close it out. Make sure it's closed. All right now. Here I want you flashlight, flashlight, flashlight. Look at it, look at it. Turn around past the ship, look at the lights on. Look at the lights on. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. All right now, in the same way, someone's snapping you, son. In the same way, I want you to swipe back down. So now the flashlight's on, swipe back down. I want you to turn on the camera that you just had on selfie mode mode. What? What's happening?
Speaker 1:You see, even the brilliance of Apple lets us know that as long as we're in selfie mode, we can't shine a light, and so, as long as we're so focused on Robbie, so focused on what I'm doing, I can't shine the light that God has called me to shine. And so when we declare God, I declare I'm out of selfie mode. God, this is not about me. This is all about you and shining the light that you put in me so I can make a difference in this world. And let me tell everyone in this room when you do shine your light, don't shine into someone's eyes, because the first thing they do is they're going to turn their head, but you shine on a path that gets to him.
Speaker 1:Silas, well, it is Super Bowl Sunday and, just like you in Chicago, we have no dog in the fight. We have some people we can cheer for, but on this day, the reports say that more money will exchange hands on this weekend than a good day on the stock market. They say that people who do not gamble will gamble on the Super Bowl. In fact, some of the largest amounts of money are won or lost before the game even begins. How long will they sing the national anthem? Millions of dollars are won and lost on this one bet, though Heads or tails. Millions of dollars are gonna exchange hands worldwide on the flip of a coin Heads or tails.
Speaker 1:I'm so thankful that, when it comes to the promises of God, it's not a gamble, it's not 50-50 whether or not we will win. In fact, I'm going to prove it to you. You ready. Luke, chapter 10, 19. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing, everyone say nothing shall by any means hurt you. Did you get the word of God there? Did you get what he said? You're going to trample on serpents and scorpions. Serpents bite with their head and scorpions sting with their tail Heads you win, tails you win. It's not 50-50. There's not a flip of a coin whether or not you're going to be able to defeat the enemies in your life. You declare, I declare I will win the victory through the power of Jesus Christ working in me. Not a gamble. It's not a gamble.
Speaker 1:Today I'm going to talk about what I feel is extremely important to our Christian faith, but maybe something that we forget about, something that we don't realize that we need, so important in our lives. I'm gonna talk a little bit about grit and how grit is found in the Bible. Maybe not that exact word, but the word is there in the word of God. Now, I enjoy working out, but I can't stand running. I do cardio because I wanna live right. I hate it.
Speaker 1:You can tell people who run though yeah, they have runner's face. It's the same to a lot of other faces you may know about in this world, but they do they have runner's face? They don't smile when they're running. I've never seen them. And then they run so long and so hard that that face is what you see every day. You don't have to say do you run Like you're a runner, aren't you? I can tell by your face. Next time someone tells you they run, you're gonna find out. Well, yeah, I can tell. Pastor Robbie was absolutely right.
Speaker 1:Running's hard, especially when you have to run uphill. Now it's proven that people who are trying to break their records whether it's a marathon, they're marathon runners, they're long distance runners. They will go to a course, whether it's a marathon here in Chicago, one in Detroit, one in Boston, wherever they're going, and they're gonna find a course that is less hilly than other courses because they wanna break their record, because they even understand that I'm not going to be my best or break my record running uphill. No one likes to go uphill, and this is a picture of a problem most of us have in our lives. We live in an uphill world, but we also just want a downhill life.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you what's one really good thing in your life that hasn't required you to go uphill to get to it? What's one really good thing in your life that hasn't been hard to do. That degree you went after those long nights of studying. I've been married 25 years. Pastor Chuck and Pastor Ursh in just a few weeks on February 27th, am I right are going to celebrate another anniversary. I think they're on 40 now 40th anniversary, just kidding.
Speaker 1:But you know that anything worth it, anything, it's uphill, it's uphill, and sometimes we think in our lives, man, I'm living for God, it's gonna be a downhill, I'm living for God, everything's gonna be perfect and right and everything's gonna be okay. And that's not the case. Having a newborn is that easy, priscilla, parenting, toddlers, teenagers, college kids I mean it doesn't get easy. But here's the question I ask today, when life gets hard, how easy is it for you to give up? I ask today, when life gets hard, how easy is it for you to give up?
Speaker 1:Almost one year ago to this day, we were here in Chicago and got some horrible news and it made us want to give up. But that news didn't cause us to give up. Let me just pause here. You may think it, but you don't have to do it. I'm just being reality. You may think it. You may think, man, I'm just gonna throw in the towel. It didn't cause us to give up. It was discouraging and heartbreaking and we had a lot of questions, but we didn't give up.
Speaker 1:And let me say this Just because you change your pace, don't give up. See, if you know anything about running and I don't like to run, but I have run and there's times when you're running where maybe you have a quicker pace than you do before, maybe you're clipping at a higher rate of speed than you were previously. You're still running, you're just at a different pace. Don't stop, I know, maybe you're just at a different pace. Don't stop. I know, maybe you gotta slow down a little bit. I know, man, the pace of life is causing you to maybe take a step back a little bit, but don't stop. We get stuck when we stop. Keep going, keep moving. You're not stuck unless you stop. You're not stuck unless you stop.
Speaker 1:How many times you could look in your life the times you quit piano lessons at 12, how good would you be today. Classes you've dropped, Thought about getting your passport to travel the world but just never took the time to do it. How many times have you started out like a rocket but flamed out and not finished, as I said. John Maxwell said this most people have uphill hopes but downhill habits. We're encouraged all throughout scripture to persevere. The mindset of perseverance and determination has coined these days, these this day, as grit. Perseverance is a good word, but I like grit. We're just going to talk about grit today. Perseverance and grit, they're the same. I'm going to about grit. Some of us need to get some grit in our gut. I always say this and we let me just put this into your vocabulary it's Super Bowl Sunday. I'm gonna talk a little about football At the University of Michigan, where I had the privilege of being able to be on staff and work with the football team as the director of character development, and this is my 10th season with the team and one of the things I've learned over the years is that we don't talk about losing the game, we talk about keys to victory.
Speaker 1:What we don't say is if we fumble the ball, we'll lose the game. We say the key to victory is ball control. So our language is so important to how we communicate, and so I will say this and throw this up there. I think we got the word grit up here. Let's throw the grit up there.
Speaker 1:So we have grit, but here's what the center of grit is, or the center of this word. You can't have grit without this word right here, this integrity. You see, grit is integrity, that is what it is. Gr. Grit is integrity, that is what it is. Great is integrity, you know integrity is is. I'm a man of my word. Do you know how, how hard it is to be a person of your word? You have to have grit, and the reason why a lot of us don't speak about our visions or our dreams is because we're afraid that we'll have to fulfill them, that if I tell somebody in my world, then they're gonna hold me accountable to it and I'll actually have to follow through with it, and so I just keep it to myself. And so integrity is so important. And so I don't say this to say anything about me, but I say this to tell you this reason.
Speaker 1:I make my bed everywhere I go. I sit in a hotel room. Last night, got up this morning, made my bed. I know my wife wouldn't have to make it. I know that someone who's employed by the hotel later on today will come in and do that exact job for me, but I make my bed every day at home. I make my bed everywhere I go, because I believe circumstances don't change your responsibilities.
Speaker 1:A few weeks ago we were sitting, we were watching a football game with my daughters and it was a teaching moment. Guess what? If you live in my house every chance I get, I might teach something to you, especially if you're 18-year-old girls at college. And we're watching a football game and they're playing, and it is snowing. They're in Buffalo and there is snow everywhere and they're playing and it is snowing. They're in Buffalo and there is snow everywhere and they're playing the game of football. And just because it's snowing, just because the climate's not right, just because the environment's not perfect, just because the scenario's not great, doesn't mean they stop doing their job. And the same for us as followers of Christ. Just because our circumstances change doesn't mean our responsibilities do. I'm just going to go here.
Speaker 1:Over the holidays we were talking about different things and again you can have your idea about it. You have to tip everywhere you go. Now, right, I'm tipping at the. I'm like you just took my order at McDonald's. Oh, here's, they're going to ask you a question, sir. I'm like I know what you're going to ask. I'm not what. Where's this tip? It's a $5 cheeseburger that you're pulling off. It's cold, you know, but you're tipping. Everywhere you go, everywhere you go, you're tipping, you're tipping, you're tipping. And I understand you go, you're tipping, you're tipping, you're tipping, and I understand you go to a restaurant, you're gonna be served and you're gonna tip. Whether, whatever that tip is, you're gonna tip.
Speaker 1:And so we're discussing like hey, do you always tip 20? I said, yeah, I always tip 20, always tip 20. They're like even if the service is bad, you tip 20. Yeah, I 20%, even if they're having a bad day and they treated you bad. Yeah, I said because I'm not going to allow someone else's bad day or someone else's character to any way affect mine. And see, we live in a culture that we allow, that we allow someone else's problems, someone else's issues, someone else's bad day to change who you are. Don't allow it.
Speaker 1:Say I declare I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I declare I am salt and light. I declare I'm going to be an agent of change. Some of you are like oh man, I got a tip again. Do we have any servers in the room? Any waitresses and waiters? Come on, give me amen.
Speaker 1:So today's declaration is for you. Like every week, we give you a declaration, we look at it biblically and give you a chance to commit at the end, not only make this declaration, but at the end we're gonna cement this all right. So this year this is gonna be our declaration. I'm gonna say it right here and then we're gonna do it at the end. This year, with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit, I declare I will develop godly grit.
Speaker 1:Most people give up when life gets hard. I'm, not most people. If I commit, I don't quit. Now I'm gonna preach for the next few minutes. I wish I could say I don't struggle with this declaration. It's not true. So many times I've wanted to quit. I'm gonna be real.
Speaker 1:In 25 years of ministry, there have been a few times in ministry that I wanted to quit, especially in 2016 and 2017 when we started our church and we were struggling financially. The government had to assist us in food and insurance. It was demoralizing. It's hard. We wanted to quit and someone sent us a check. Someone had us come preach. Someone cared enough to check in on us.
Speaker 1:See, god has you here because you have no idea what hangs in the balance of you learning not to give up. You don't know what's on the other side of your ability to say, hey, I'm gonna keep going after this. You don't know how many people need you. You might be the answer to someone else's prayer and if you give up, you will never be the be that for that person. God has you here because you have no idea what hangs in the balance of you learning to have a grit. Galatians 6 and 9 says let us not be weary in doing good For the proper time. We will reap a harvest if we do not give up. I said this before but do not pull up in fear what you planted in faith.
Speaker 1:One man seemed to have the deck stacked against him in a lot of ways, a stuttering political enthusiast with a lisp, and not to mention an unforeseen accident that was about to happen on a very normal day, this man was struck down by a car, mangled, crippled and knocking on death's door. Some had written him off, born with a speech impediment, born with everything stacked against him. And then, on a normal day, you get hit by a car, mangled, crippled and knocking on death's door. But this man, it's told that he knew he had a calling far greater than his current situation. This man understood that. I know this situation is not perfect, but I have a responsibility that's on the inside of me. I've got this grit in my gut that's not going to keep me in the hospital and, thank God, sir Winston Churchill got out of the hospital. Can you imagine the landscape of our world if he decided to give up? Can you imagine what our world would look like today if Sir Winston Churchill said I was born with problems, I faced major problems. He didn't give up. Sir Winston Churchill, where are you? Where is that grid inside of you to get you down the road to where you need to be? God has given us so much on this topic and science has finally caught up to this idea of grit. Angela Duckworth, studied neurobiology at Harvard. Now has a PhD Foremost researchers on this, on the idea of grit Shown scientifically.
Speaker 1:Grit is the number one trait that separates successful and unsuccessful people, not IQ, not upbringing. Aw, hey, where's my Bears? Fans at your greatest running back of all time, shout it out, come on, walter Payton. Walter Payton is known. He's not the biggest, not the fastest and not the strongest. You go look it up, he's quoted. I'm not the biggest, I'm not the fastest, I'm not the strongest. What made you one of the most successful running backs in the history of NFL? To where now there's awards giving out by your name, the Walter Payton man of the Year? What makes you great? He says I wanted it more than they did. You know what that's called? That's called perseverance. You know what we call that in 2025? That's called grit. I know my kids are not in church yet, but they coming. I've been coming to church by myself for a long time, but they're coming. That's grit. That's grit. Angela Duckworth said that it's grit. What if I told you?
Speaker 1:Scripture says something similar about grit. The Bible says in James 2, in verse 2, now, this is the brother of Jesus. He says consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kind, I mean, james is walking through the tough times of life and he's just shouting and jumping for joy. James is just doing his thing. When I face a trial, man, the last thing I do is man, I want to be excited about it. But James says, hey, when you face trials of many kinds, he's joyful through this.
Speaker 1:Verse 3 goes on because you know that the testing of your faith, you push through hard things, the testing of your faith, what it does? It produces perseverance. It goes on to say let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. That grit, that grit that I wake up with every day, that grit that I go to work with every day, that grit that I drive in traffic with every day, that grit that I have to be around people that are negative and they're opposing to everything that we have, that grit that I'm not giving up people that are negative and they're opposing to everything that we have. That grit that I'm not giving up and that I'm going through it, it's working in me, it's making me mature, it's making me complete, so that I lack nothing. Why is grit so important? Because some of us are still in the elementary stage of our maturity. You've been dodging all the tough sayings, you've been dodging the testing of your trials, but God said no, I got to put you through this because I need you to have that perseverance, because you ain't get on the other side. You're going to graduate with a PhD, in fact, in the greek words for mature and complete and implied, gradual process to finish its work.
Speaker 1:People aren't born with grit. You must develop it. Sure, upbringing impacts grit. I grew up in the 80s. Not everybody got a trophy when we played sports. I think, culturally, we may be developing a lack of grit. Unfortunately, it seems like everyone wins and no one gets corrected when something is done wrong. When the world world hits, it's going to hit harder and you can't be out there like I thought everyone got a trophy. I showed up. So how can we develop more perseverance in a world that says it should be easy? Let me give you three points and I'm gonna get out of your way Principles for developing perseverance.
Speaker 1:Number one is set your mindset. Set your mind. Everything worthwhile in life is uphill. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds. Consider it as a Greek word that has to do with our thinking, our mind, our mindset. What's our mindset going to be? What are we gonna do? It doesn't say if things happen, it's when things happen. Whenever you face trials of many kinds, it's gonna happen. So I gotta have the mindset I'm gonna go through this, I'm gonna get through this. I'm gonna have the grit to be able to finish what's ahead of me. Life is going to happen. It's gonna be uphill and this life is broken. It's simple the world's never gonna be easy. Jesus told us this in this world in John 16, 33, you will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world With me. You can overcome anything he says. But this world will never be easy. It will always be uphill. The problem for us is we seek ease through others, but ease in life is only found when we overcome the world. When I say ease, I mean this way Living in Houston, we understand this.
Speaker 1:We used to live in Houston and we understand the concept. In this world, we have trouble, but take heart and overcome the world. So in Houston we would go to church and we had like 87 services on Sunday, waking up before Jesus, even up on Sunday, and they're all day Family members. In Houston. They have season tickets to the Texans. Can you come to the football game? No, I'll be in church because Jesus loves me and I love him. But you would always be there In our church.
Speaker 1:You'd see, on Sunday, especially if the texans so happen to be playing the cowboys, they'd be. They'd be divided, they'd be dallas fans and houston fans, but on any given sunday when the texans are playing and my son was born on february 25th 2011. He's he's born on good, he's born on texans day, so he is a huge texas fan, texans fan. And even though cj stroud played for the howell buck guys, he is a huge Texas fan, texans fan. And even though CJ Stroud played for the Ohio Buckeyes, he's a fan of CJ Stroud. No, don't clap, anyways.
Speaker 1:And but on any given Sunday, any given Sunday, you know, all of us, we wanna go home and watch the game because we would record it. Right. We either get there by the third quarter, maybe the fourth quarter, we would wanna watch the entire game, but always, pastor Chuck, someone would tell us about a play oh man, they're watching in church. They would tell us about a play that happened. They'd say, oh man, the Texans are down 25 to nothing. And by the end they're like, hey, the Texans came back, it's 32-25 and all this stuff, and you would go home, but you still wanted to watch the game. Still want to watch it, don't? You know when I sit and watch that game and they told me that the final score was 32-24? You know when they fumble in the first quarter and they just run it back for a touchdown? I'm not nervous at all. You know, in halftime, when they're down by two touchdowns, they're just.
Speaker 1:How come we live our lives in so much fear and trepidation when he says, hey, I've overcome the world, I've got this. And we sit back and we're so nervous each and every day. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I do know who holds my tomorrow, and that is my Savior, jesus Christ. You got to have that mindset. Number two surround yourself with a no-quit team. I mean, it is the best time to sign up for a team, to be a part of a team. We're doing groups right now. If you don't find a group, I'm telling you life is hard when you try to do it alone, but life is a lot easier when you have people around you who are telling you not to quit. Perseverance comes when you have people around you who are telling you not to quit. Perseverance comes when you have people around you as witnesses to what can happen if you do push through.
Speaker 1:Let me give you some tips on building a great team. People who know you you've heard me do this people who know you and people who know you. People who know you and people who tell you no, that's not good for you. People with a message. You want to build a great team. Get someone with a message. They've been through mess and it's aged People who've been through something. Give me somebody who is a tour guide, not a travel agent. A travel agent tells you where to go. A tour guide takes you where they've been. Come on, build your team.
Speaker 1:People with a testimony, someone who's been tested. People with scars, someone who has been through it but they've healed. Some of you are around people who've been cut but they've not been healed and they're just bleeding all over you. Find you somebody who has found healing healing in their life. I've got scars, but this scars doesn't represent a time of brokenness, no, the time of blessing. I made it through and so can you. You can do this. Jesus inhabited in his life. He didn't give up. Some of you need to fire some friends. You think people on social media know you definitively. They don't know you. You have people who talk to you but have never done anything. They're giving you advice based on what they watched on TV the night before, what they found in social media people talking about what they've done. Get some guides in your life. People who are still bleeding. Get rid of those people. Find some people in your lives that have been healed.
Speaker 1:I broke my finger when I was in high school. I don't know if you've ever broken a finger or anything, but I broke my finger when I was in high school. I don't know if you ever broken a finger or anything, but I broke it playing football because I'm not very good. People who get injured playing sports are the people who are not good at it. All of you like pulling hamstrings playing pickleball. Sorry, but I broke my finger. That hit too close to home, I guess, and they did as they. They went and I went to the doctor and he set the finger back. And then what he did with the broken finger he simply taped it and put a splint and he tied it to the finger that wasn't broken. The only way I could that finger would get back to the wholeness was connected to somebody that was and said so. If you're bleeding today, it's because you've not connected yourself with somebody who's whole. And I'm telling you, if you don't get in a group, you'll still be broken. Why? Because you're not connected to somebody who's whole. And guess what? Yeah, once you get whole, other things are gonna fracture, other things are gonna break, but you have to be connected to something that's whole for it to heal. I've gotta get in a group.
Speaker 1:Pastor Matthew, jump up here real quick. How many pushups can you do, like right now? Can you do 20? Yeah, do 20. All right, get down, yep, do 20. All right, you can do 20, 20 pushups. Yep, right down, yep, do 20. All right, you can do 20, 20 pushups, yep, right now. Yep. One, two, three. He said he can do 20. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Let's go 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. Stop right there. Do one more, do 20. 20,. Can you do five more? All right, five more. Go One, two, three, four, five. Yeah, you can do five more. Let's go five more. Let's go One, two, three, four, five. Give me five more. Let's go One, two, three, four, five, five more. Let's go one, two, three, four, five. Give me five more. Come on, keep going five. One, two, come on five more. Five more, five more. You got it five more. Let's go five, five. One, two, three, two more, two more. You got it four. One more, one more. You got it one more. Let's go, come on one more, one more, one more, one more, one more, one, you got it. One more, let's go. Come on, one more, one more, one more, one more, one more, one more, you got it, let's go. Yeah, who do you have in your life that, when you say you can do 20, now give me five more. Give me, no, give me five more, give me five more, give me five more. I'm telling you, that takes some grit and if you got the wrong team with you, you'll quit at 20 when you can actually do 30 more. Oh, don't make me preach on you and prove this.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that there was a man who was sick and he was lame and that he could not get to where Jesus was on his own. So he got four friends. These four friends began to carry him, one on each end, one on each end. They got to the house where Jesus was. And the Bible says because the door of the house was open, it was filled, because Jewish custom says anytime my door is open, anyone can come in and eat and sit with us. And so it was packed. Jesus is in there teaching.
Speaker 1:They get to the door and they don't give up just because they couldn't get to Jesus through the front door, just because his adversity was in front of them, they door just because his adversity was in front of them. They had some grit. Four guys had some grit. They said we're not giving up because we got a friend that needs to be in touch with Jesus. So they make their way to the roof and I don't know why they're on the roof or what they thought, but they begin to lift the roof. Somebody needs some people in your life that will simply raise the roof for you. Who's cheering you on, who's lifting you up? Who's supporting you? We don't give enough high fives out. We don't celebrate enough. Let me tell you, your ability to celebrate someone else doesn't in any way take anything away from you. Raise the roof for somebody else. They took them to the roof and they begin to remove the roof part and they begin they got some rope. I don't know where they got rope from.
Speaker 1:The Bible says they lowered the man down to Jesus and Jesus healed the man. He forgave him of his sins and healed the man. And he said this. He said because of your faith. He wasn't talking to the guy on the stretcher, he was talking to the four friends that brought him there.
Speaker 1:That day, I'm telling you, you're going to need some people in your life that, when you can't walk and you can't make it, say I got you, we're going to church. I got you, we're going to get prayer. I got you, we're going to get to Jesus. Got you, we're going to get to Jesus. And it's going to be your faith that's going to bring about their healing. The keys can come. You know what the people said that day. They said we've never seen anything like this before. The people that were watching Jesus heal that man, lower him down. We've never seen anything like this before. And I'm ready. I'm ready on Sundays for us to walk out of this place and be like I've never seen anything like this before, I've never experienced anything like this before. And that's gonna take a church that has grit.
Speaker 1:In Exodus, chapter 17, theites are in a fierce battle with their arch, arch enemies, the amalekites. Moses is a leader on a hill. Nexus 17 says as long as moses held his staff above his head, the army was winning. Dropped his, they would begin to lose. Have you ever held something heavy above your head for a long period of time? I mean just in your hands? It gets heavy really fast. It also gets to a place where it's ultimately impossible. And even those around Moses understood that he could not hold his hands up on his own by himself.
Speaker 1:Let me just just be real and honest. Whether it's the men in the room with the ladies in the room, that man, you're locked in, you have it all together. There's gonna come a time in your life that, yeah, as important as it is for you to hold your hands up and to win the battles, that your hands are going to fall, you're gonna get tired. It's going to happen, and if you're not in the right place and you're not around the right people, they'll just let you drop your hands and lose the battle. I hold my hands up for my 18-year-old daughters at college, but I'm telling you what these hands I'm their dad these hands get heavy and I need to come to Chicago with my wife and son and I get to preach, but I need to be around Pastor Chuck and Urs to just hold up our hands Because they get heavy. Why? Because it's life it just get heavy. Why? Because it's life, it just gets heavy. And if I'm not in the right group, if I'm not around the right people, don't just let me drop my hands and those that I have my hands up for are gonna lose the battle. So they came to Moses and they come here, moses, I'm gonna get to do this this afternoon. Come on, robbie, I'll watch some football. Come sit down on the couch and just rest for a minute and don't worry about your hands being held up, because Aaron and her, we said, we said we got this, and so they went around Moses and they understood that Moses physically cannot do it, but we can do it for him.
Speaker 1:Robbie, what do you need me to pray with you about? What do you need me to partner with in your life? How can I hold up your hand? What can I do for you? I'm telling you church, I've lost. I've seen too many battles lost because I didn't have the right people around me to hold my hands up when they got heavy. I'm sorry, we're related. One of the most beautiful pictures of perseverance.
Speaker 1:You want to quit, got people holding you up Marriage, finances, kids, job, faith. Sometimes you wanna walk away, but you need a no-quit team. You need to make sure to say no-quit team. These have to be godly people, otherwise they'll tell you to quit when you shouldn't. You gotta have a godly no-quit team when you're in the dark valley, david, even though you walk through, you're not gonna fear Paul, when you feel shame from your past, your mistakes don't disqualify you. Let me see. You need people to remind you of that, joseph. I know they betrayed you. What Satan intended for evil, god used for good. You need people to remind you. Remind you of the word of God. Remind you of the word of God. Remind you of the scriptures that he's put in your heart. Do you have a no-quit team around you? If you don't, you will not be able to persevere.
Speaker 1:But there's one more important principle, maybe the most important Acts 20 and 24,. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling the good news about the wonderful grace of God. Shipwrecked, betrayed by friends, sick, bit by a snake, talk about grit. That's the apostle Paul In 2 Timothy 4, right before he dies, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. Paul finished his race. You haven't finished yours. So how do we do it? How do we finish this race? We run for something bigger than us. I run for something bigger than me. I know you're ready to quit. You're out. But if you find something bigger than you, run for something bigger than you. Life has to be lived for something bigger than you. Set our mindset uphill, surround yourself with a no-quit team and run for something bigger than you. I'll tell you, this place, right here, free church, is bigger than you. That which we're a part of is greater than the part we play, pastor Chuck, it's bigger than me.
Speaker 1:The researchers that I talked about. They begin to do a study for almost 80 years following people who are just young men, now 80 years old. Some of the people they looked after and researched, that were in this group, became presidents, became business leaders, and some flamed out in terrible ways. And you know what they did. There was a test, the same test I did to Matthew. They put him on a treadmill and they told him to run. Some ran for a minute and a half, some ran for three minutes, some ran for four, some ran for over five minutes. And because they continued to have grit and persevere the longest, those people, the five-minute people, were the ones who became the world leaders, were the ones who became the business leaders, were the ones who became people of impact. I'm telling you, grit has the ability to change your world and our world around us. I've got to have a mindset, I got to have the right team around me and I have to go after something bigger than myself. Start living for something that's bigger than you.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He endured the cross. The Bible says in Hebrews he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. The joy is not the cross. For the joy that was set before him. The joy is not the cross. The joy no, the joy was you and I was here today. This is the joy of Jesus Christ. How can you go through something like the cross? It's because of you sitting on the third row, it's because of you who made their way to church on Sunday. How can you go through the horrible crucifixion of the cross? And because the joy that was set before him. It was something bigger than him the salvation for humanity.
Speaker 1:So bow your heads all over this room today. If you've never given your life to Christ and you wanna say yes to Jesus this morning for the first time or maybe it's the first time in a long time Maybe you've given up in some areas, maybe you've stopped, maybe your hands have become heavy and you're ready to lean into the things of God. Maybe you're just ready to say yes to him for the first time. When I count to three, just raise your hand and we'll pray a prayer together. One, two, three hands up. Thank you for the hand. Thank you for the hand. Thank you for the hand. Thank you for the hand. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Go ahead, pull those hands back down now, all over this room.
Speaker 1:Say this prayer with me, repeat it after me, say it out loud. Heavenly Father, I realize today that I'm a sinner and I need a savior. Jesus, forgive me of my sins. Jesus, I repent of my sins and I turn to you. Today I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and God raised him from the dead. Today I say yes to Jesus Christ In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen. Come on, stand to your feet and clap your hands today. So here's what I wanna do. It's on the screen and we're going to say this loud and we're going to say this proud, and we're going to say this together. You ready, you're not ready. You got to say it like a preacher. You ready From your gut, ready, ready. This year, in the power of the Holy Spirit, I declare I will develop godly grit. Most people give up when life gets hard. I'm not most people. If I commit, I don't quit.