[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
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[00:00:25] Speaker B: Thank you so much for joining us at Met church. Let me also welcome everyone watching online via Facebook or YouTube. Welcome. Thank you so much for tuning in. And I got two things to share with you this morning. Number one, if you've been tuning in for the past month or so, and you live in close proximity to Met church, I want you to add this to your 2024 goals. Come join us on a Sunday morning. We'd love to see you in person, connect with you, and we definitely don't want you to miss what God is doing in real life and in real time here at the Met. The second thing is this. We know absolutely understand that life and the world has changed since 2020. And if you're watching right now, and at one point, you used to call the Met church home, here's what I want you to do. Grab your calendar. It can be a physical one or a digital one. I want you to look for the first Sunday of 2024. By the way, that's next Sunday, right? And on that spot, what I'd love for you to do is write this or type this in. Homecoming at the Met. And so next Sunday is a homecoming for you here at the Met. Come home. We'd love for you to reconnect to the heartbeat here at the Met. And so we hope to see you soon. By the way, my name is Juan, and I have the highest honor, the highest privilege of serving as a spiritual growth and development pastor. Let's go. I get a little excited, right? Get a little bit excited. I got to calm down, right? I still got another service to do. But one of the cool things that I get to do is I get to oversee and shepherd life groups, right? I love that these individuals are doing church, are doing life accountability and groups outside of the four walls. And listen, I know we call this building church, but in reality, those that are in Christ, we're the church, right? This is just the building that we just come together. Right? And so with that said, and I know that there's some people out on vacation and doing stuff, right? But if you're here this morning and you currently serve as a lead or co lead for a life group or within the last two years, within that time span, you once served as a lead or co lead this morning. I'd love to kind of acknowledge you this morning. So if you could, where you're at, if you're here this morning, can you please stand really quick? Love to. Just, can we give it up for them? Absolutely. Let me just say this before you sit.
I value you. I love you guys. I'm praying for you guys. And I can't wait to see what God does in and through you for 2024. Can we give it up for them one more time? Thank you, guys. You may be seated. Now, speaking of 2023, today we officially get to say goodbye to 2023, right? All the ups and downs that that set of twelve months brought us now as we look to 2024. Listen, at the get go, everybody, right? We're all thinking of something new, right? Like, oh, I got to go back to the gym, right? I got to watch what I eat, right? We got to burn off all those calories from Thanksgiving and Christmas, all these things, right? And so I pray that at the end, right at the end of this service, that this message would be a benefit to you, would challenge you, would encourage you, would empower you to at the end of the day, to keep your eyes on Jesus. And so with that said, go ahead and grab your Bible or smart device and follow me to the book of Hebrews. To the Book of Hebrews. Now, if you're looking for Hebrews in your Bible, it's nicely tucked between Philemon and James. Okay, for those of you that like to follow along up on the screens, we're going to shoot those verses on the screens. Hebrews, chapter twelve, starting with verse one.
And if you guys are ready, guys, look ready. You're dialed in. I like it. All right, this is the new attitude we need to have for 2024, right? All dialed in. And this is the word of God starting in verse one.
Actually starting in verse one, chapter twelve. Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let's stop right there real quick. If you're familiar with chapter eleven, it talks about all these individuals. We'll talk about that in just a bit. But even from that point, starting from Genesis, we have all these individuals, this cloud of witnesses who testify to the goodness and greatness, to the absolute truth and faithfulness of God. Listen, if we could add just a little bit to this text, right to the truth of that is that those of us in Christ this morning, we can be added onto that cloud of witnesses, because we testify to the goodness and greatness of who God is, we testify to the absolute truth and absolute faithfulness of God. Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and sin that so easily ensnares us. Think about that. Think about the last set of twelve months in 2023. Like, if we can be transparent this morning, including myself, we absolutely know, right, our weaknesses. We absolutely know our strengths. We know what gets us. We know what temptation might. We need to look out for, right?
And so we need to put that aside, those hindrances, those distractions that listen, the tricks of the trade that the enemy uses. Can we be honest? Like, there's nothing new to them?
It's not like he's reinventing something new that gets us. We're like, oh, man, that got us. I didn't see that coming, right? He uses all old tricks, the author of Hebrew says, so easily ensnares us.
So we go on. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us. And here's our key text for this morning. Keeping our eyes on who? On Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. Listen. He pioneered our faith. Listen, he got himself into uncharted territory.
He comes in, into his creation, both fully God, fully man. And he walks into the mess and the muck that we call humanity.
And he pioneers our faith. He's born a virgin birth. He's tempted, but did not sin, and dies a brutal and horrific death on the cross. And on the third day defeats death and sin forevermore and ascends to the right hand side of God. He pioneers our faith. He is the originator, the beginner of our faith.
And it says that he wants to bring that to fruition, the perfector of our faith. For the joy that lay before him. He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand throne of God. Before we get into the message, can I pray? Let's pray.
Lord, our Lord. How magnificent is your name. Throughout the earth you have filled the heavens with your majesty. And today I'll speak of your splendor, your glorious majesty, and of your wondrous works. All that we say and do this morning may make much of who Jesus is. And so I pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened so that we may know the hope of our calling. What is the glorious inheritance of the saints? What is the immeasurable greatness of your power towards us who believe all according to the mighty working of your strength. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. It's in the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Now, we got a lot of ground to cover this morning, so I got to manage my time carefully. But if you're like me this morning, right, and you jump into the book of Hebrews, you got to walk with some caution here, right? Because you have this dude named Paul, the apostle Paul, who writes 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament, right? So that could easily slip off of your tongue. For instance, he writes the book of Romans. Great book, by the way. Awesome. Romans, ten, nine, that if you confess with your mouth, believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That same guy, right, writes Romans, a banger. Right? He also writes Philippians. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. He writes that verse in prison, another banger, right? He writes Colossians. Now, for me, probably one of my favorite books, right? Colossians. This is where Paul tells us that God, through the agency of the Son, creates all things that we see and all things that we don't see yet another banger, right? He goes on and he writes first corinthians and follows that up with second corinthians. Both bangers, right? He writes first Timothy, and you guessed it, second Timothy, both bangers, right? So when we come to Hebrews, I got to be careful, right, because I automatically want to give the credit to. Hey. And Paul says in Hebrews, you got to be careful there, right? And so what we can do, what we know for certain, and what we can say with much confidence this morning, is that we can exclude the apostle Paul as the author for Hebrews because he wasn't a direct eyewitness of Jesus. Now, we'll get to this in just a bit, but it doesn't take away the authority of the book, right? The consensus is that we don't really know who wrote the book of Hebrews, right? Some argue, and I would say probably a valid option or a high option would be Luke. Right? Luke. Some say Luke, some say apollos, some say silas, some say Philip, some say Aquila. And some even argue, maybe even Priscilla, right? So with that, real quick, let's backtrack really quick to Hebrews, chapter one. Now, we're not going to shoot these verses up on the screen, so I'm going to need you to follow along backtracking to Hebrews, chapter one, right? We just said that we really don't know who's the author of Hebrews verse one says, long ago, God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times, in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of his nature. We would say that Jesus is of the same essence and of the same substance as the father. If God is all knowing, then Jesus is all knowing. If God is all forgiving, then Jesus is all forgiving. This is what the text is saying here, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, so he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs. Verse five. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son? Today I have become your father? Or again, I will be his father and you will be my son? Now, listen, I read those first five verses, and I'm like, yo, I don't care if there's no author. I'm all in, right? I want to keep going. I want to keep eating spiritually, right? I want to hit up the second chapter, the third chapter. I want to lead up to chapter twelve. And so, as we just stated that although we don't know who authored the book of Hebrews, we do know that it's been vetted, right? It's been vetted as God inspired, right? And so it's part of the canon, right? And so we say that the canon or the Bible is complete. When we say complete, this is what we mean. We're not waiting for new revelation. We're not waiting for new books to be written. It is all 66 books of the Bible are complete. 39 in the old, 27 in the new. It is absolutely complete. It's unified. And Hebrews fits in perfectly with the Bible message. And all 66 books. And we can say a library of books, right? That's what the Bible is. A library of books point to Jesus in some form or in some facet. Now, when we talk about the Bible, we can kind of describe the Bible in three ways. Number one, I always say that the Bible talks about actual people who actually existed. Let's backtrack to verse two, chapter eleven. Really quick. Follow me to chapter eleven.
Let's read real quick through these verses, right? We call this chapter the hall of faith. Verse four says, by faith, Abel offered to Cain, offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. Abel and Cain, real dudes, right? Real people who actually existed, right? Verse five. By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not experience death. Think about that. He was raptured, right? He didn't experience death. An actual person who actually existed. Verse seven. By faith, Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. Verse nine. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. Verse eleven. By faith, even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age since, she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. All these individuals, and we can go through the whole chapter, actual people who actually existed. We can also say about the Bible, that the Bible talks about actual events that actually happen on the same chapter.
Let's skip down all the way down to verse 23. By faith, Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months because they saw that the child was beautiful and didn't fear the king's edict. Verse 27. By faith, he, Moses, left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger. For Moses persevered as one who sees him, who is invisible. By faith, he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the first born might not touch the Israelites. Verse 29. By faith, they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. Verse 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days. By faith, Rahab, the prostitute, welcomed the spies in peace and didn't perish with those who disobeyed. So the Bible talks about actual people who actually existed. Adam and Eve, real people who actually existed. Right. Jesus, an actual person who stepped in to his creation, both fully God, fully man, actual person who actually existed. Actual events that actually happen, all pointing to an actual God who actually exists.
This is what we build our faith on. Our foundation on is who God says he is. Now, we can also say with much confidence this morning that the book of Hebrews was written by Hebrew to other Hebrews to encourage all Hebrews to stop acting like Hebrews. What does that mean? Right. That can be a little confusing. See, at the time, you had these Hebrews or these jewish individuals who were seeing Jesus not as a prophet, who were seeing Jesus not as a rabbi or a teacher or as a good person, but these Jews, these Hebrews, were professing Christ they were confessing with their mouth and believing in their heart the Lord Jesus. They were saying that Jesus is the true messiah. And so they were coming to faith. And as these Hebrews, as these jewish Christians were becoming and understanding the gospel of their salvation, they were being persecuted because of their faith.
Now listen to this. I don't know what it is to be persecuted. I believe that we live probably in one of the greatest countries in the world.
But also, I'm not saying that our country is perfect either, but I don't know what it is to be persecuted for my faith, because right now I get to stand, Pastor Bill gets to stand, we have a staff that gets to stand, and we get to preach Jesus freely.
And yet there's other brothers and sisters in other countries who are being martyred for their faith, for putting their faith in Christ. And speaking of Christ Jesus as Lord and savior. And so to avoid or to escape persecution, these christian Jews, these Hebrews who were professing faith in Christ started to slip back into some old tendencies, right into the rituals and rites of Judaism.
They were going back to the law. See, the law doesn't save us.
It points to the person who can save us.
And so I want you to think about the last twelve months. And for the vast majority of you, and those of you that are tuning in online, maybe this year was a roller coaster ride for you guys, the ups and downs. And I say this a lot in Rudy, which I'll talk about in just a bit, that as a Pastor, I've been able to celebrate with people at the mountaintops. And let me just say that that is easy to do. I can do that. I can do that all day, every day. But as a pastor as well, I've had to walk alongside individuals as they walk through some of the darkest and deepest valleys and in between.
And so as we look at the last twelve months, what are some of the things that have easily ensnared us? What are some of the things that get us back into dipping back into some old tendencies? Right?
We all know what baptism is, right? It's sick. Pretty much a funeral service for our old self. We're saying adios, we're saying goodbye to our old self. And sometimes that old self wants to just kind of bubble back and come back to life like the walking dead and take over in our lives.
So as we look the text, listen, the verbiage that the author says here in Hebrews, he says that. The author says, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. He says, let us run with endurance the race that lies before us. Verse two says, keeping our eyes on Jesus. The words that the author is using is very intentional. These professing christians are being persecuted, and the author is saying, yo, don't rely on yourself. Don't rely on what doesn't work on what you're used to. Keep your eyes on Jesus. So church this morning, fam, I'm encouraging you, I'm challenging you, I'm empowering you to keep your eyes on Jesus.
And so we don't want to fall into a life of complacency. So let me share a little illustration with you, right. If you really know me, my wife knows me very well. Right.
I'm a man who likes bags, right? Call them what you will. Right. Sling messengers backpacks. This is one of my favorites. Right?
Small. It's compact, right. I like it because I like to say that I'm a minimalist. Right. I only like to carry what I need for the day, no more or no less. Right. The back compartment, I have my little journal. Shout out to Shelly. She got this for me. She was one of our rooted people. Love that tremendously. Right. And in the middle compartment, I usually carry my iPad and books that I'm reading, right. I need these, right? And so check this out. What a coincidence. The Daniel plan, right? We'll talk a little bit about this. It's a great book, by the way. Right?
Another book that I'm also reading as well. That's a great book, if I could get it out, is rooted. Check that out. Whoa. That's a big coincidence right there, right? We'll talk a little bit about this, right? But probably for me, the most important compartment is the one in the front. Right. And in the front, let me just share this with you really quick. In the front, I have this little thing called I always need you, never want to see you. So in this little contraption here, I have my charger for my Apple Watch, right? Important.
I also have my saline spray. I got some allergies. I have my vitamins that I've been taking because some of our staff, we just went through and finished the Daniel plan. So that's important. Always need those. I also have my charger for my phone and for my iPad and my power bricks for my phone and for my iPad and my apple pencil. And so I call this always need. You never want to see you. And I know exactly where you're at. You're in the front compartment. If I don't need you. I don't want to see you. I don't want to fidget with you. Right. You're not in my middle compartment or in the back compartment. I know exactly where you're at. And when I need you, I'm going to get you. But if I don't need you and I'm busy, then I need you to stay out of the way.
Don't bug me. Don't get in my way. Where am I going with this?
Sometimes we have a tendency of treating God like that. Always need you.
I'm a little too busy.
I don't have time for you right now. And sometimes life gets hectic where we treat God as our last option, when he should be our first option, and we should change that. Always need you, never want to see you to always need you, always want to see you, always want to spend time with you. And so this morning, as we say goodbye to 2023, right, and we make those appropriate adjustments, how can we, as a church, how can we, as individuals, how can we, as professing believers, keep our eyes on Jesus?
And so this morning, I'm going to give you three keys, right? Those of you who like to write notes, I'm going to give you three keys to help you keep your eyes on Jesus. And listen, we're not reinventing the wheel here, right? We're not reinventing the wheel. Here it goes.
First key, learn from Jesus. It's pretty simple, right? Learn from Jesus. Who better to learn from than Jesus, who stepped into his creation both fully God, fully man, right? Who better to learn from who spoke things into existence? He spoke things and created things. Listen, when was the last time you created something from nothing, speaking things into existence? Who better to learn from than Jesus? And we know him better than a prophet, better than a rabbi or a teacher. We personally know him as Lord and savior of our lives. Now check this out.
October of 1993, when I realized the gospel of my salvation.
Ephesians 113 says that when we realize, when we understand the gospel of our salvation, we're saved, and immediately we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. He's the guarantee and he guides us. Listen, he doesn't control us, right? We come to a fork in the road and the Holy Spirit says, johan bruh, it's right, don't go left. Right? And then I can say, yeah, but.
And then the Holy Spirit says, hey, that's on you. All I'm telling you is go right. Don't go left. He doesn't control us. Right?
He can only convict us.
So in 1993, I understood, one, that there was a God. Two, that my sin was great and that my sin separated me from a relationship with God. And the only way that I could rectify or reconcile that relationship was Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
So he rectifies that relationship with me. And that moment of October of 1993, not knowing that one day, December the 31st in 2023, that I was going to be standing here at the Met in Fort Worth preaching the gospel, is that day, October of 1993, God started this process. And those of you that have confessed Christ as Lord and savior, he starts this process of sanctification where we become more and more like Jesus and less and less like ourselves, in our thoughts, in our words, in how we treat others.
And so how can we keep our eyes on Jesus? Well, we have to learn from Jesus. And listen, this process doesn't stop, right? It's not like, oh, I've known Christ for 30 years, process doesn't start. Right? High five. But it doesn't stop for you, right? Oh, I've known Jesus for 45 years. High five. Process doesn't stop for you whether you've known Jesus for one month, a year, five years, ten years, or 26 years. Like myself, process never stops until he calls us home or until he comes for us. So learn from Jesus. Think about this.
How deep was his relationship with the father?
Tight.
Super tight. He devoted time to the father. The question is, if we're going to keep our eyes on Jesus, are we devoting time to the father? Are we scheduling time now? Listen, some of you might be early birds, right? Some of you might be night owls, right? Whatever it is, listen, whatever time of day you need to devote time to keep your eyes on Jesus, listen, Jesus was a proponent of let your will be done. And for me, probably the scariest phrase throughout the Bible, let your will be done.
Scary. That's full surrender, Jesus, let your will be done. In my life. Listen, 2024 is right around the corner. I have no idea what's around that corner. I don't know if test, trial or tribulation is right around the corner.
That's a little scary. Lord, let your will be done. Right. If we can change that kind of translation and say, lord, I love your will, but can we take an easier path here?
Is there a back door?
Right? Is there something else that we can do? And actually, that's what Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane, let this cup pass from me.
We see the full human side of Jesus, and then we see the full God side where he says, let your will be done.
That can be scary.
That can be a little bit intrusive. But Jesus was a proponent of let your will be done. Think about this. How did Jesus treat people?
Learn from Jesus. How did he treat non believers?
Learn from Jesus. Listen, I think there has to be a balance, right? We can be too fundamental, right. We can be too legalistic. Right. And then we can be too soft on this other end, right? We got to learn from Jesus. We got to keep our eyes on Jesus because he's the pioneer of our faith. He knows exactly what we need to do. He knows exactly who we need to reach. He knows exactly when and where.
And because of that, he wants to bring your faith to maturity, to fruition.
Jesus was obedient. Jesus was loyal. Jesus was humble. Jesus was intentional. Jesus was missional. Listen to what Matthew 1128 through 30 say. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take up my yoke and learn from me. Learn from Jesus because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
So we go from. Learn from Jesus to lead like Jesus.
Mark 1045 says, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Let me be honest and transparent with you this morning. Met church. I'm not here at the met to be served. I'm here to serve. I want to lead my life like Jesus. Jesus didn't come and say, yo, I'm the king. Bow down and serve. No, it was the reverse.
He came to serve. And so I want to lead my life like Jesus. So what does that mean? That means this Mary walls, right? She gets to supervisor. She's my boss, right? Love her to pieces. Mary, if you need anything, I'm here to serve you. You need something, I got you. Stephanie, you got an event coming up. I got you. Cheryl, you got some Bible studies. I got you, Kristen, you got courageous motherhood. I got you, too. And that goes for our staff. Pastor Bill, you need me to preach on the 31st? I got you.
So we serve husbands.
Think about this. You're here this morning. Husbands, you need to lead like Jesus. Bible says, to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Gentlemen, we can't be the same husband in 2023 that we are going to be in 2024. It's not going to work. We got to continue to grow. We got to live sacrificially. We got to help out with the dishes. We got to maybe make dinner. We got to plan date night, right? We got to do all these things to love our wives.
And wives, listen, I know it ain't easy with us, right? If I can speak on behalf of all the husbands, right? Sometimes we can be cavemanish, right? Sometimes we can be a little bit neanderthal ish, right? We're like groceries. Fantasy football, right? Pick up kids after school, right? And listen, it gets a little bit busy. It gets a little bit testing and trying, right? But let me just say this, wives, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we need you. We need your support.
The Bible says that you are a helper. We need help, right? Sometimes we don't want to ask for help. Sometimes we don't admit that we're lost.
And I'm not just saying, like, driving from point a to point b, but we're figuring it out. Sometimes we're in uncharted territory. So, wives, we need your support. We need your help. And that, by definition, also means respect. And so we might not know it all the time, but at the end of the day, wives, we need you for singles in the house. Listen, and that's a general statement, right? Singles, maybe by default or maybe by circumstance. The question is this, singles. Take a look at how you're navigating yourself through your relationships. Are you keeping your eyes on Jesus, or are you allowing your heart to lead you?
You don't want the latter. You don't want your heart leading. You're going to get into some weeds. You're going to get into some trouble. You're going to waste some time. Keep your eyes on Jesus. So we go from. Learn from Jesus, lead like Jesus. And then we end with love like Jesus. Jesus love was sacrificial. Listen to what John 1334 and 35 say. I give you a new command. Love one another just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another. Listen, I learned how to do relationships early in the ministry in a small, little independent Baptist church. Shout out to my father in law, Pastor Jesse Trevino Jr. Pastoring El Templo biblical. Right? Listen, today he retires. This is last Sunday that he's preaching. And check this out. I preached before, but this is my first Sunday preaching here at the Met.
And it's those nine years. Oh, thank you. Praise God. Shout out to my father in law, Jesse Trevino. And so, listen, that's where I learned how to do relationships. That's where I learned how to shepherd and how to love. And listen, I've been in ministry for quite a while now, okay? Been in a handful of churches. And I get this. There's going to be some people that I connect with. There's going to be some people that you connect with. There's going to be some people that are not going to connect with me, and there's going to be some people that are not going to connect with you, right? And at the end of the day, we can probably say with much confidence that there's going to be people who like me and people who don't like me. And you know what? I've been in ministry long enough to say that's okay. I'm okay with that. Right? But here's the thing.
God doesn't call me to like you. God doesn't call you to like me. Right? The scripture doesn't say, for God so liked the world that he gave his only begotten son. The text doesn't say, to like your wives as Christ, like the church.
God calls me to love you.
God calls you to love me. And the text says that if we do this, right, it says, if you do this, then people will notice that we are truly his disciples.
And so love like Jesus. You can't miss out on that. His love was sacrificial. And I think that love begins with us here. If we can learn to love. And I'm not saying that we're going to be best friends, right? That's not what I'm saying. But if we can learn to love each other here in the church, then you know what? We'll continue to love our people out in the community, right?
In the workplace, in all these other areas where we frequent, right? Like, I go to a certain coffee shop, right? And I go there quite often to. They were like, hey, Juan, good to see you. And I'm like, yo, they know me here. All right, let's go. My foot's in the door, right? All right, lord, what do you want me to say? When do you want me to say it to? Who do you want me to say it? Right? So learn from Jesus. Lead like Jesus and love like Jesus. Now, that might look good on your notes, right? You might fold that up, put in your Bible. You might forget, right? But how can we apply that to real life? I'm going to show you right now how you can start today.
Number one, you can sign up for 21 days of prayer. That kicks off January the eigth, you sign up for that. You have your 21 days situated. You're keeping your eyes on Jesus, right? You're registering for that. And that kicks off on the eigth. You'll get a text message and an email reminding you for those 21 days on how you can pray and how you can keep your eyes on Jesus. Number two is the Daniel plan. Listen, this is a churchwide Bible study, right? It kicks off January the 14th. You can register today. Next week is book pickup out on the concourse. So if you register, if you've already registered, you can register today, and then next Sunday you can pick up your book. We're going to be talking about, listen, let's not confuse the Daniel plan with the Daniel fast. Two different things. Daniel plan is six weeks. We're going to be talking about faith, food, fitness, friends, and focus, and then how we can combine that to have a great life, right? So you can sign up for that. And we're changing all the Wednesday night Bible studies to Sunday evening Bible studies. So you can register for that ASAP. Also too rooted. If you haven't taken rooted, I've already reached out to a handful of you, right? I got you on my list. We want you registered. That kicks off march the third. Now, listen, if you take rooted, if you take the Daniel plan, you take rooted, you essentially sign up and planned the first 16 weeks of 2024. You tell me that's definitely keeping your eyes on Jesus. Now, if you're already taken rooted, we also have other Bible studies launching march the third. Financial Peace University, grief share. That should be important to you. If you're dealing with loss, you should sign up for that. And on top of those, we also have the men's breakfast and the women's breakfast. Now, listen, come on, guys, listen. I think we're making it easy for you guys to keep your eyes on Jesus. All you got to do is register. All you got to do is be present. All you got to do is situate your time, look at your schedule, make the decision, and then you got to follow that out. You got to follow that through. And so let's end with this. Hebrews 1320 and 21 says, now, may the God of peace, who brought you up from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with every good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Listen, before we leave, as Pastor Bill always does, we definitely want to point you to Jesus. If you have not made a profession of faith in Christ Jesus, listen, all you have to do is recognize that there is a God. Two, you have to recognize that you indeed are a sinner, that your sin separates you from your relationship with God, and then recognize and confess. Romans ten nine says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, that God raised them from the dead. Bible says that you will be saved. And if you hear this morning, you've never made a profession of faith. Today you can make that profession of faith by praying this prayer. Now listen, the prayer doesn't save you. What saves you is you understanding that you're in dire need of a savior. The prayer just explains how you put your faith in Christ. And if you're here with me this morning, you want to pray this prayer, pray this with me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for this day. I know that you are God. I know that I am a sinner and forgive me. I confess with my mouth that you are Christ, that you are Jesus. Come into my life, come into my heart and save me and seal me with the Holy Spirit and teach me to know you, to love you, to serve you, and to tell others about you. In the day that I die, I know that I will be with you forever. Amen. If you made that decision this morning, let us know. We'd love to pray for you. With that said, I'm going to ask you to stand as we close out the service. I'd love to pray a blessing over you. Let's stand.
The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance, turn his face, and let his approval be upon you and every step that you take in 2024, may you experience his sweet peace. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. It's in the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
[00:42:11] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
