The Way In

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Good morning. Let's pray for our community to start with, okay? Lord God, we do thank you that you spared, well, our lives were spared and we went through this storm and you got us here to this place today. We thank you, Lord, for your caring in the midst of all that has gone on. We do, though, pray for those who are affected deeply, Lord, those who have lost so much property and possessions, and we ask, Lord, that you would use us here at Thrive and all the Christian churches, Lord, your people down here to do amazing work in the days ahead, to serve as you would want us to serve, and to love as you would, as you love, and to speak as you speak, and to be the people that you want us to be for the sake of this community and world. We do lift up, Lord, the Caribbean, places like Barbuda and St. Martin, and Lord God, and the Virgin Islands, and who really, and Cuba, that faced the brunt of this storm full-on, and Lord, for those who are mourning today the loss of lives there, and those who are also trying to rebuild out of the rubble, we just pray that you would bring your healing and presence and peace there, and help us to know how to serve them and their needs as well. Lord, this world is hurting, and you know it. Teach us, Lord, what we can do in response. All this we lift up to you in Jesus' name. Amen. So, it feels like a month since I've preached last. It's only been two weeks, but it feels like a month of events have happened just in a few days, and it's kind of tough to know exactly, after a disaster like this, what to preach, or what to say, or how to do it. We're just going to stay with this series called The Way, because I think in it, God is showing us the way to be, the way to be in a time even like this, and the way to live, the way to love, the way to speak, the way to serve. That's kind of what this theme has all been about, is that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and he's much more than just the ticket to heaven, as I said the first week. He is the way to live, and the way to life. He's the way to love, and the way we are loved by God. And so, he's kind of the model, the leader, the all-in-all, the end-all and be-all for the Christian Church. And so, we're going to share a little more of him today. That's what I need more than anything else in a time like this, is a little more of him, his compassion, his grace, his truth, his mercy. And so, today the theme is The Way In. We talk here at Thrive about in, up, and out. That we want to live in, in our fellowship with one another, up, in our relationship to God, and out in service. And we've got opportunities to do all three this week. So, up in prayer, and in just asking God to be guiding and directing us in, in how we are caring for one another, and loving one another, and speaking with one another, and out in service. So today, gutting a house that had faced some flooding this week. I think Lehigh Acres sounds like a good place to go as well, right Helen? She's got some people in need out there. There's so many places. We are going to try to serve in whatever way, do some in, up, and out, and be the people of God. Because that's the way Jesus lived. He lived in, in the fellowship he had with his disciples and friends. He lived up in relationship to the Father, and he lived out in service in ways that just astounds me time and again. I've read the gospel stories, you know, for years and years and years. I grew up with them, but every time I still read them, I'm like, wow. It's amazing what Jesus does, and how he is. Okay, so that's how we're going to try to still go into this series. It might be a little odd today. It might be a weird juxtaposition, where you put together this text, and what was kind of planned ahead of time, and what just we experienced. But I think it's gonna work. Okay, so we're looking at Ephesians chapter 4 today. It's a longer passage. There's so much in it. I'm just focusing on a couple of points in it, but let's, let's read this together, okay? Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let them him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God and Christ forgave...