Four Things Followers Must Forfeit

Introduction:

As a follower of Jesus
(Luke 9:51-62)...

1. I must abandon my Appetite to Judge . (Luke 9:51-56)
2. I must Concede my Comfort . (Luke 9:57-58)
3. I must part with my Priority Problem . (Luke 9:59-60)
4. I must Let Go of Looking Back . (Luke 9:61-62)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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• Audio Transcript

  00:36-00:41

  Good morning. It's an honor to be able to share God's Word with you this morning.

  00:42-01:04

  Let's pray before we get started. Lord God, I thank you for this morning that you've given us. I thank you for your Word. I pray that you would just open our hearts right now and prepare us to receive what you would have for us today, Lord. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

  01:07-01:23

  Open your Bibles with me please to the book of Luke chapter 9. And as you're turning there, you know, many years ago in a galaxy far far away, I was a teenager.

  01:24-01:29

  Now, I know that today, there are probably teenagers in this very room.

  01:30-01:35

  And there are some of others, like myself, who need to think back a ways.

  01:36-01:40

  But how many remember the joy of getting your driver's license at that time?

  01:41-01:44

  For me, I was so excited.

  01:46-01:50

  My mom and dad needed a grocery run, needed the car filled up.

  01:51-01:53

  Whatever it was, I'm in.

  01:55-02:02

  But the reason that we get so excited about that is because you can drive and go and hang out with your friends.

  02:04-02:05

  That's the primary driver there.

  02:07-02:19

  I remember one time years ago, I drove over to my friend's house and we were hanging out, and then we were both going to drive over and meet another guy over at a diner in Monroeville.

  02:21-02:25

  And for whatever reason, when we left his house, we left separately.

  02:25-02:32

  So I'm driving alone, and it's very dark, but I'm almost there.

  02:32-02:33

  I'm almost to the diner.

  02:33-02:39

  I have one more turn to make, and I'm sitting at the light waiting to get the green arrow.

  02:41-02:44

  So then I get the arrow, and I turn.

  02:45-02:47

  I can see the diner up ahead.

  02:49-02:54

  And then I also see two bright lights coming straight toward me.

  02:56-02:59

  And at that moment I realized I was in the wrong lane.

  03:01-03:04

  I had turned directly into oncoming traffic.

  03:05-03:13

  So I swung the wheel to the right to get out of the way, and that's when I found out about the median between the two lanes.

  03:15-03:27

  And so, as my car went over it, it made this horrible scraping, crashing, crunching sound like I was driving over a chainsaw or something.

  03:29-03:31

  And I slammed down to the other side.

  03:33-03:36

  But by the grace of God, I was okay.

  03:36-03:40

  He protected me from a very foolish and dangerous mistake.

  03:41-03:46

  I drove five or ten more seconds, and then I pulled into the diner parking lot.

  03:48-03:49

  Not my best moment.

  03:51-03:52

  So why am I telling you this?

  03:55-03:57

  Well, it's not actually because of me.

  03:58-04:02

  It's because - do you remember my friend who drove separately?

  04:03-04:05

  Do you know where he was when this was going on?

  04:07-04:09

  He was following me!

  04:11-04:11

  (Laughter)

  04:11-04:13

  He followed me into oncoming traffic.

  04:14-04:16

  He followed me over the median.

  04:16-04:26

  He followed me into the parking lot and then followed me walking into the diner as we prayed together that our cars wouldn't explode from what just happened.

  04:27-04:29

  So actually, you know what?

  04:29-04:35

  Praise the Lord a second time for protecting both of us from a foolish and dangerous mistake.

  04:37-04:37

  But what's the point?

  04:39-04:43

  The point is, there was a cost to following me that night.

  04:45-04:51

  In the case of my friend, there was car damage and probably mild psychological damage, if we're being honest.

  04:54-05:00

  But you know, there's a cost to following someone, even if you're following the right person.

  05:02-05:06

  And what we're going to see today is there's a cost to following Jesus.

  05:09-05:16

  Jesus himself says that following him requires sacrifice and not a burnt offering like in the Old Testament.

  05:16-05:18

  It's a different kind of sacrifice.

  05:20-05:33

  Today's sermon is titled, "Four Things Followers Must Forfeit." And you know, so often when we talk about following Jesus, we talk about what we get with good reason, right?

  05:34-06:43

  But many times Jesus also spoke about things that we have to give up, and that's what we're going to dig into today. So the first one of those things that we're going to see is number one on your outline. As a follower of Jesus, I must abandon my appetite to judge. So let's go to the text, Luke chapter 9, and we're gonna pick it up in verse 51. It to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem." So pause there for a moment just to understand the scene. Jerusalem is where Jesus will die on the cross, so we understand why Jesus set his face to go there, right? Setting his face meaning he was resolving himself for what's ahead.

  06:45-09:00

  But why did this Samaritan village reject Jesus because of Jerusalem? Well, very quickly, Samaritans despised Jews and Jerusalem, and Jesus was a Jew heading to Jerusalem. So that was enough that this village just didn't want to hear what he had to teach. So let's continue 54. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. Now, let's be fair to James and John, but I think it's kind of relevant that these guys were known as the sons of thunder, don't you? Hey Jesus, this village rejected you so we were wondering, do you want us to supernaturally set them on fire? I mean seriously, why did James and John say that? Were they trying to impress Jesus? Were they trying to help him out? As in, we assume you're gonna do this, do you want us to just take care of it, my best guess is yes, they were trying to impress him, but we also have to ask why did James and John even think they could pull an Elijah and do something like this? And that's actually a positive for them, because James and John showed incredible faith, believing that they could do this through the authority that Jesus gave them. But here's the big question. Why did James and John want to call down fire? Why would they want to call down fire? And this one unfortunately is the easiest question for us to answer, isn't it? Because if we're honest, there are times that we want to. I mean, look around us. Everyone on the edge of their seat, chomping at the bit, starving to judge someone else.

  09:01-09:03

  And everyone gets angry when they're rejected.

  09:04-09:07

  And even within the church, we know those feelings.

  09:09-09:10

  So think of it this way.

  09:12-09:14

  When I was four years old, I had to have surgery.

  09:15-09:18

  And praise God, it's a long story, but I'm totally fine.

  09:19-09:24

  But because of that, I had to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks, hooked up to an IV It's a whole deal.

  09:26-09:31

  So, as you know, hospitals have a playroom for recovering kids.

  09:32-09:38

  So, after my surgery, I was able to go in there, and they had Nintendo, and yes, I am talking the OG.

  09:40-09:48

  So, I'm playing when all of a sudden, another little boy comes tearing across the room, which is fine, it's a playroom.

  09:50-10:01

  The problem was, brace yourself, the IV that I mentioned, before he came sprinting across the room, I was still connected to it.

  10:04-10:09

  But as vivid as that moment is still in my memory, that wasn't my biggest problem.

  10:10-10:14

  My biggest problem was they had to put the IV back in.

  10:16-10:22

  It ultimately took four nurses to hold me down to do that.

  10:24-10:28

  And the whole reason that I told that story is just to bring up those wonderful nurses.

  10:29-10:32

  Because, think about what was going through their head then.

  10:33-10:34

  They were doing their job.

  10:35-10:38

  They knew that I needed the IV and they were trying to help me.

  10:39-10:45

  And I was fighting back, rejecting their help because I didn't understand.

  10:46-10:49

  Do you think that incident was frustrating for them?

  10:50-10:51

  Yeah, I think so.

  10:52-11:01

  Now, they knew I was just a child, of course, and they got it done, but I think we all understand that feeling.

  11:02-11:12

  We understand how upsetting it is when you are genuinely, truly trying to help someone, and they just throw it back in your face.

  11:13-11:16

  And that sounds a lot like James and John, doesn't it?

  11:17-11:21

  Samaritan Village, we are genuinely trying to help you.

  11:21-11:24

  Don't you understand how important knowing Jesus is?

  11:26-11:34

  See, Jesus rebuked James and John, not because they were wrong about the importance, they were right about that.

  11:35-11:38

  Ultimately, judgment will come for those who reject Jesus.

  11:40-11:47

  Jesus rebuked them though, because he handles judgment on his timing and we don't.

  11:49-11:56

  So we have to ask ourselves, yeah, I've never called down fire on somebody, but how many times have I had that attitude?

  11:58-12:05

  How many times have I been rejected for Christ or otherwise and felt that burning rage inside myself?

  12:08-12:15

  Listen, we've all had the feelings of frustration when you're trying your best to help someone and they just don't get it.

  12:17-12:20

  And I would guess most of us here know the pain of rejection.

  12:21-12:29

  But we need to focus on our job, sharing the gospel and being a light in this world in spite of that frustration.

  12:31-12:38

  As followers of Jesus, we have to intentionally and purposefully abandoned that appetite to judge.

  12:42-12:49

  Point number two today, as a follower of Jesus, I must concede my comfort.

  12:53-12:57

  So as we go back to the text now, we're gonna see a dramatic change of scenery.

  12:58-12:59

  Let's pick it up with verse 57.

  13:01-13:20

  It says, "As they were going along the road, Someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes "and birds of the air have nests, "but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Stop there.

  13:21-13:23

  Do you see the incredible contrast here?

  13:24-13:37

  We went from a misguided following, like as followers of Jesus, we're righteous and we're gonna judge these lost people, to Jesus teaching, this is what following me is actually about.

  13:39-13:43

  This person said to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go.

  13:44-13:46

  And that's an amazing statement.

  13:47-13:49

  And Jesus certainly does not discourage him.

  13:50-13:58

  But Jesus responds by kind of giving a warning, like let's make sure we're on the same page about what following me actually means.

  14:00-14:03

  Verse 58 says, "Foxes have holes.

  14:04-14:08

  "Foxes dig holes to live in." That's their home, okay.

  14:09-14:15

  "Birds of the air have nests." Same thing, a nest is a bird's home, okay.

  14:17-14:18

  Then Jesus makes his point.

  14:19-14:34

  "But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." So Jesus declares that though foxes and birds have homes, He does not have a place like that to rest, to be comfortable, be at home.

  14:36-14:39

  Now we know that Jesus' home is where?

  14:39-14:41

  He came to earth from where?

  14:42-14:43

  Heaven, exactly.

  14:44-14:50

  So what Jesus is really saying is, this place is not my home.

  14:51-14:53

  I have no home here.

  14:55-14:59

  And Jesus would say, The same is true of anyone who follows me.

  15:00-15:01

  Your home is not here.

  15:03-15:09

  And ultimately that's incredibly joyful for us as followers because our home is in heaven too, amen?

  15:12-15:19

  But for today, it means we're going to be uncomfortable because we're not home.

  15:20-15:23

  We are in this world, but not of this world.

  15:26-15:41

  Have you ever heard someone say, "You're not from around here?" Maybe it's an accent, maybe it's whether you say soda or pop or sub or hoagie, whatever it is, people can usually guess when you're from out of town.

  15:43-15:47

  And listen, when people see you following Jesus, it's the same.

  15:48-15:50

  They're gonna know you're not from around here.

  15:52-16:02

  When a conversation at work turns into gossiping about another employee, and you choose not to participate in that, you're not from around here.

  16:04-16:10

  Alex and Stacy, our financial peace coaches, when you start handling money God's way, what do people say?

  16:11-16:14

  That's weird, you're not from around here.

  16:17-16:22

  If you follow Jesus, then Jesus reveals himself to other people through you.

  16:23-16:27

  But remember, the people in that village rejected Jesus.

  16:28-16:33

  And just as people rejected him, they're going to reject you because of him.

  16:34-16:40

  Jesus is saying, if you're going to follow him and live as he teaches us to live, get ready for that.

  16:41-16:45

  Because it's inevitable, but it's not comfortable.

  16:46-16:49

  and we have to be willing to give that comfort up.

  16:53-17:00

  Point number three, as a follower of Jesus, I must part with my priority problem.

  17:03-17:07

  Jesus continues to teach about what following him requires in verse 59.

  17:09-17:25

  It says, "To another, he said," he being Jesus, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead.

  17:25-17:35

  "But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." So the first person approached Jesus and declared that he wanted to be a follower.

  17:36-17:45

  And this time, Jesus called someone to follow him, and this man responds, kind of reasonably at first glance, doesn't he?

  17:46-17:49

  I mean, we recognize the importance of saying goodbye.

  17:50-17:54

  When we lose someone in our family, we drop everything to handle that.

  17:55-18:00

  And in ancient Israel, even more so, it was the top priority.

  18:01-18:03

  Everything else is going on the back burner.

  18:05-18:32

  So when Jesus responded with, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead," that would have been jaw-dropping. I mean, it's a silly phrase. Of course, dead people can't literally bury other dead people. What was so shocking was the implication that burying your father would be a lower priority than anything else. And that's exactly why Jesus said it.

  18:34-18:40

  because the principle he's teaching is nothing is a higher priority than following Jesus.

  18:41-18:48

  Nothing. Now, let's be clear. Does that mean we should bail on all of our family responsibilities?

  18:49-19:07

  Absolutely not. Does that mean we should stop having funerals? No. Those things are important and they're not wrong. We have God-given responsibilities to our family, to our vocation to other people in our lives, we have important things we have to do.

  19:09-19:15

  What Jesus is pointing out is the priority. We have a priority problem.

  19:17-19:55

  Now, was Jesus being harsh pointing it out to this guy? It might seem that way at first, but no. Scholars speculate on whether this man's father was already dead, dying, or maybe even totally fine. But it's not like the funeral was in progress and Jesus was delaying this guy to go give the eulogy. No. Jesus knew that this man was the one who was delaying. As in, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." We try to pull that same thing, don't we?

  19:55-20:03

  Lord, let me first graduate high school or college, and then I'll follow you.

  20:05-20:11

  Lord, let me first focus on getting this promotion at work, and then I'll follow you.

  20:12-20:15

  Lord, things are so hectic right now.

  20:16-20:21

  Let me first get everything to settle down, and then I'll follow you.

  20:22-20:36

  Listen, obviously there's nothing wrong with education or work or a busy season, but there's only one first. And shout out to Harvest Year One, Jesus is first!

  20:39-20:45

  Maybe you're thinking, "Justin, still not with you." Okay, think about it this way.

  20:46-20:49

  January 1st, New Year's resolutions.

  20:50-20:54

  Let's be honest, what's the story with most New Year's resolutions?

  20:55-21:01

  I know, maybe yours are different, but most of my resolutions go something like this.

  21:02-21:22

  At some point, I think something like, "I need to get up at 5 a.m. and exercise before work." Then the next morning, the alarm goes off, And I think, well, I'm not gonna start today, but I'll definitely start in January.

  21:24-21:25

  How does that usually turn out?

  21:27-21:30

  Maybe a few times it works, but most of the time, just doesn't happen.

  21:32-21:36

  That's the same exact thing going on in this man's response to Jesus.

  21:37-21:50

  Jesus tells him, "Follow me," and it's as if the man replies, "Well, not today, but I'll definitely follow you in the new year." Jesus says, "You cannot put this off.

  21:51-21:57

  Absolutely nothing, not even the best excuse, which this man had, comes before this.

  21:59-22:04

  Our first has to be Jesus." And he threw in a job for us to do. Did you see that?

  22:05-22:16

  Verse 60, "Go and proclaim the kingdom of God." So we aren't going to dive further into that today, but Jesus is giving a preview of the Great Commission.

  22:17-22:28

  The full story is in Matthew 28, but for today I would just say that though Jesus does not call everyone to full-time ministry, he does call everyone who follows him to ministry.

  22:30-22:41

  So maybe you're thinking, well, if my first priority is following Jesus, and then I need to proclaim his kingdom, "Where does all the other stuff that I have to do fit in?

  22:42-22:51

  What does Jesus say about all this other stuff?" Well, Jesus says that those who love him keep his commandments.

  22:52-23:00

  So if you truly follow Jesus as your first priority, the rest of your priorities fall into place.

  23:01-23:06

  If you're married, you will love and serve your spouse because you follow Jesus.

  23:07-23:12

  If you have children, you will love and serve your children because you follow Jesus.

  23:13-23:17

  If you're employed, you will be the best employee you can be.

  23:17-23:23

  Your boss will love that you work for them because you follow Jesus.

  23:24-23:26

  And on down the entire list.

  23:29-23:36

  So we've seen Jesus teach that his followers must give up their priority problem and their comfort.

  23:37-23:58

  and their appetite to judge. And there's one more person who approaches Jesus in this passage. Point number four, as a follower of Jesus I must let go of looking back. Let's go back to the text in verse 61.

  24:01-24:22

  It says, "Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, "but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' "Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow "and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" Let me first say farewell.

  24:23-24:25

  Do you know what that reminds me of?

  24:26-24:27

  Have you ever thought about New Year's resolutions?

  24:29-24:30

  I'm just kidding.

  24:31-24:32

  We're not gonna do that again.

  24:35-24:45

  Sure, what we talked about with priority could apply to this guy's statement, but if you look at Jesus' response, he's actually teaching a separate principle here.

  24:46-24:47

  Look at verse 62.

  24:49-24:54

  No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

  24:56-24:56

  What's that about?

  24:58-25:01

  Well, in Jesus' day, nobody was riding a John Deere, right?

  25:03-25:11

  A farmer plowing a field meant guiding some oxen and hooking them up to this big plow thing and keeping the whole apparatus moving straight.

  25:12-25:19

  Jesus is saying that once the farmer puts his hand to the plow and starts doing that, there's no looking back.

  25:20-25:20

  You're in.

  25:21-25:27

  If you start to plow the field, you have to stay fully focused and fully committed to finishing the work.

  25:28-25:41

  Now, maybe it's just me, but I suspect most of us can't easily jump into that picture of plowing, but we certainly understand the idea of not looking back, don't we?

  25:42-25:49

  We still use that phrase, "not looking back," to express true and wholehearted commitment.

  25:50-25:52

  And that shows up all around us.

  25:53-25:54

  I'll give you one example.

  25:56-25:59

  There's a famous endurance athlete named David Goggins.

  26:00-26:08

  And, long story short, the first endurance race that Goggins entered was a 100-mile ultramarathon.

  26:09-26:23

  Yes, I said "the first," and yes, I said "100 miles." Now, one issue, of many, with Goggins entering this race was he didn't train.

  26:24-26:31

  he signed up a few days before the 100-mile race occurred.

  26:33-26:37

  As you might be surprised to find out, there were problems with this plan.

  26:39-26:43

  One problem was, while running the race, Goggins broke his foot.

  26:45-26:46

  But he kept running.

  26:47-26:48

  And he broke his other foot.

  26:50-26:54

  And he kept running on two broken feet.

  26:55-27:02

  Then he went into kidney failure, and he kept running until ultimately he had to be hospitalized.

  27:03-27:05

  Why are we talking about this?

  27:06-27:13

  It's because with two broken feet and multiple failing organs, he finished that race.

  27:16-27:22

  And for good measure, and this is a true story, he accidentally ran an extra lap, so he finished at 101 miles.

  27:25-27:27

  So first off, please do not do that.

  27:28-27:35

  I told the story, but I do not want to be held responsible for somebody entering a 100-mile race, or even a 5K for that matter.

  27:37-27:38

  Please train before you run a race.

  27:40-27:58

  But while we should not emulate that part of the story, I want us to ask, how did he finish that race by not looking back. That is absolutely refusing to look back.

  27:59-29:04

  That is focused on the finish line ahead, wholehearted, total commitment, and that part we can emulate because in the same way following Jesus is an all-in, wholehearted, total commitment. Jesus is saying, "Once you follow me, there's no looking back. There's no going back to the old way of living." Now, does not looking back mean not asking any questions? No. The Bible tells us that facing the cross, Jesus himself asked God questions, but for our sake, he pressed on and he finished that race. Does not looking back mean you never make a mistake? No. We all fall down, we all screw up, we all have moments of uncertainty, we all break a foot or two along the way as we follow Jesus. Not looking back means when that happens through him you get back up and you keep running your race.

  29:04-29:42

  Amen? Amen? And so as we begin to close, we have to answer one more question. Why would I do this? I mean, I get that Jesus tells his followers to do this, but all we've talked about today are things that he asks his followers to give up. Why I would point out that Jesus himself demonstrated all of the sacrifices that he asks his followers to make.

  29:43-29:43

  Think about it.

  29:44-29:53

  Jesus is the only person in history who could have righteously, justifiably passed judgment on anyone he wanted to.

  29:54-29:56

  And someday he will return as judge.

  29:57-30:06

  But instead of passing judgment on us like we deserved, Jesus came to earth himself to receive our judgment for us.

  30:07-30:09

  Did Jesus give up his comfort?

  30:10-30:21

  The incarnation alone, the act of God almighty leaving the comfort of heaven to live among us in flesh and blood is more uncomfortable than we can even comprehend.

  30:23-30:26

  And that's before we consider what he endured on the cross.

  30:27-30:28

  What about priority?

  30:29-30:36

  Jesus literally put the needs of every single other human being other than himself first.

  30:38-30:43

  He made God's will his priority, which meant making us his priority.

  30:45-30:46

  And not looking back?

  30:47-32:08

  Well, as we read at the beginning of the passage, Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, and he completed the work that he set out to do. So if you're following him I would ask you, is he revealing some things to you today that you're hanging on to and you need to give up? And if you're not following him I want you to know that Jesus did all of those things for you. And just like we read in the passage, Jesus is still calling out, "Follow me." Through Jesus Christ and his death burial and resurrection, he can save your life today. He can lead you to sacrifice the things that you don't need and replace them with the one thing you absolutely do need, himself. So if that's you, don't wait. Find someone from our prayer team or the elders, I'll be in the back after service, you can start following Jesus today. Yes, following Jesus does require sacrifice along the way, but anything we have to give up is worth it. Let's pray together.

  32:12-32:16

  Lord God, we thank you for sending your Son.

  32:18-32:27

  We thank you that in Jesus we have our salvation, Lord, and we also thank you that in Jesus we have our example.

  32:30-32:34

  We thank you for the sacrifice that Jesus made.

  32:36-32:49

  And Lord, I just pray that for all of us here today, You would make us aware of the things, Lord, that you ask us to give up as we pursue following you, Lord.

  32:52-33:01

  I pray that God, not only for an awareness, but just a passion and a desire, God, to follow you for all of us.

  33:03-33:07

  We thank you for the love that Jesus showed coming to earth, God.

  33:10-33:22

  And God, I just pray that as we follow Him, God, we would be willing and understand your purpose in the things that we give up.

  33:24-33:30

  God, we thank you for our time this morning and ask all these things in the name of Jesus, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 9:51-62

1. What is one thing that God revealed to you personally during the sermon?
   

2. Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying to help someone and they didn’t want your help? How did you handle that emotionally (or how should you have handled that)?
   

3. Which is the most challenging for you to give up: a judgmental attitude, a desire for comfort, a priority problem, or looking back?
   

4. Why is it difficult for followers of Jesus to sacrifice things for Him even when we know they aren’t good for us anyway?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Avoiding The Destruction Of Distraction

Introduction:

When We Are Distracted, Even By A Good Thing (Luke 10:38-42):

1. We try to Do it all ourselves . (Luke 10:40)
2. We Worry . (Luke 10:41)
3. We don't Dwell in His presence . (Luke 10:42)

Ways To Keep The Focus On Jesus:

1. FIND: Your Prayer Room . (Matt 6:6)

   Matthew 6:6 - "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

2. FIND: The real Reason behind the distraction.
3. FIND: Scripture with real answers. (Matt 6:24)

   Matthew 6:24 - "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

4. FIND: Who will Keep me accountable ? (John 17:21)

   John 17:21 - "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

How I will take action today?

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:39-00:40

  All right, good morning.

  00:41-00:47

  First, I wanna just say, once again, it is an honor and a great privilege to be standing here in front of you today.

  00:47-00:51

  And I just wanna thank Pastor Jeff and the elders for the ability to do so.

  00:52-00:55

  I'm really excited to get into God's word with you today.

  00:55-01:00

  I feel unworthy, really, of being able to do this, but the good thing is, is that this is God's message.

  01:01-01:02

  This is not my message.

  01:02-01:03

  This is coming from his word.

  01:04-01:06

  And so I think we can all take comfort in that.

  01:07-01:10

  So before we start, let me just pray for us here real quick.

  01:14-01:16

  And Father, thank you for bringing us here today.

  01:18-01:21

  We've all convened to worship you and fix our eyes on you.

  01:23-01:40

  I pray that you would be glorified through this message and that we, myself very much included, could apply this to our lives, not only for the rest of the day today, tomorrow and next week, but to the rest of our lives as we seek you daily.

  01:42-01:44

  And in Jesus' name I pray, amen.

  01:46-01:50

  All right, so this guy, the smartphone, who's got one?

  01:53-01:54

  All right, that seems about right.

  01:54-01:56

  You probably know where this thing is at all times, right?

  01:56-01:59

  You probably checked it once here before the sermon starts.

  01:59-02:00

  Maybe you're still on it right now.

  02:00-02:01

  I can't really see everybody.

  02:03-02:13

  But there has been research done on this, and 15%, just 15% of US adults don't own a smartphone at this point.

  02:14-02:15

  That's a pretty exclusive club.

  02:15-02:19

  I mean, if you're part of that 15%, it almost deserves a reward at this point.

  02:20-02:21

  Maybe a new phone, for example.

  02:24-02:25

  That's pretty significant.

  02:25-02:27

  And of course, I don't need to tell you what you can do on them.

  02:27-02:29

  There's apps for just about everything.

  02:29-02:32

  There's not much you can't do on a smartphone these days.

  02:33-02:36

  One of those things is to scroll on your social media accounts.

  02:36-02:42

  You know, a little like here, a little like there, dog video here, a recipe, I'll make that.

  02:43-02:52

  According to Pew Research, just over seven of ten US adults have a social media account on whatever platform that is.

  02:53-02:56

  So now here's what I found to be really staggering.

  02:57-03:06

  So Pew ran a poll just this past year from January to February and they ask people how often they use the internet.

  03:08-03:09

  So check this out.

  03:09-03:14

  85% of Americans say they go online on a daily basis.

  03:16-03:18

  So same number as people that have smartphones.

  03:19-03:27

  48% of people, so almost half of the American population, say they go online several times per day.

  03:29-03:31

  Now there's no cap on several here.

  03:31-03:33

  I mean, several could be three, several could be 20.

  03:33-03:35

  We have no idea what that means.

  03:36-03:37

  Now here's the really astounding part.

  03:39-03:49

  31% of those polled, so three out of every 10 people that you see here sitting today, they say they're online constantly.

  03:50-03:51

  Constantly.

  03:52-03:53

  I don't even know what constantly means.

  03:53-03:54

  What does that mean?

  03:54-04:02

  When I think constantly, I think of just endless scrolling, No bathroom breaks, no eating, just all on the phone, all the time, constantly.

  04:03-04:06

  And that's 31% of Americans do this.

  04:07-04:10

  Now of course I found all this information on the internet.

  04:14-04:21

  And the internet is a really funny place, because if you look at any website, right, as soon as you go on a website, what happens?

  04:21-04:24

  There's just a million different things that pop up, right?

  04:25-04:29

  where you've got to click the little X and maybe you've just got to scroll past it.

  04:29-04:36

  And I've always tried to picture this if it were to come to life in an actual conversation, person to person, just one-on-one.

  04:37-04:41

  So you're talking with somebody, hey, this weather, man, it's been really crazy.

  04:41-04:42

  It's been raining almost every day.

  04:42-04:43

  What is up with that?

  04:43-04:47

  They're like, yeah, you know, but it's actually, it's really great for the garden.

  04:47-04:48

  I really love it.

  04:48-04:59

  And then all of a sudden, there's somebody that comes in into your conversation with just a big sign in their hand that just is like, bang, look where these 20 child stars are now.

  05:01-05:06

  And then you're just having another conversation about, you know, hey, they're sending all these people to space.

  05:06-05:08

  Can you believe that they're doing all this?

  05:08-05:08

  This is crazy.

  05:09-05:12

  Yeah, you know, but the really crazy thing is I actually think the earth is flat.

  05:13-05:13

  What?

  05:14-05:21

  And then you get another sign guy that comes in, bang, three ways to get rich quick, just right in the middle of your conversation.

  05:23-05:31

  Or my favorite, and by this I mean this drives me absolutely nuts, is the automatic video play.

  05:31-05:32

  You still get that?

  05:33-05:37

  Where it just, you jump out of your seat because all of a sudden it's just right in your ear.

  05:38-05:51

  So this would be a back and forth conversation and then instead of the sign guy, all of a sudden you get somebody that butts into your conversation, screaming into your ear, "If You have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach.

  05:53-05:54

  I won't finish that, not here.

  05:56-05:57

  But you get the point, right?

  05:58-06:02

  They only do that kind of stuff because it works, because people click on it.

  06:02-06:09

  They get distracted away from whatever they came on to the internet to do, and that represents our lives.

  06:10-06:16

  We're trying to live out a purpose to live for God, and all these things are popping up, and they're built to just pull us away.

  06:18-06:20

  And that brings us to our friend the goldfish here.

  06:22-06:29

  Now, there's some research out there that'll tell you that the human attention span has dipped to 8.25 seconds.

  06:30-06:31

  8.25.

  06:32-06:37

  It'll also tell you that the attention span of our friend the goldfish is nine seconds.

  06:40-06:45

  Now, there's been some pushback on that, saying we don't really know how long a goldfish can focus on things.

  06:45-06:47

  So maybe we're not that bad.

  06:48-06:56

  But the point is, is that we as a society are more hyper-connected and easily distracted than ever before.

  06:57-07:02

  We've got the world at our fingertips and we just can't help ourselves from plugging in.

  07:03-07:09

  And here's the thing, while that's not all bad, that can be absolutely disastrous for our faith.

  07:10-07:25

  'Cause instead of resting in the presence of God, instead of spending time with our creator, enjoying the loving relationship that we have with Him, we get distracted to the point that we're replacing that time with God with time on our phones.

  07:27-07:29

  And think about it, what are we really connecting to when we do that?

  07:30-07:39

  Latest selfie from our friends, latest COVID variant, the hottest political news, somebody going after somebody's character.

  07:40-07:42

  Surely you're not the one doing that on social media.

  07:43-07:47

  Maybe we're tuning into the latest law being passed lies in the face of our faith.

  07:49-07:50

  It's not wrong to be informed.

  07:51-07:55

  In fact, we should know what's going on around us, but what are we feeding on?

  07:56-08:01

  Some of those articles and those headlines, they're built to draw some kind of emotion out of you, to draw you in.

  08:03-08:05

  And most of the time, that emotion is fear.

  08:06-08:24

  I listen to a pastor in DC sometimes, his name is Ben Stewart, and he made this analogy recently where he said, "Our society and how we go about media is a lot like movie Monsters, Inc., if you've ever seen that, where the machine, the system, it all runs on the fear.

  08:25-08:28

  And in that case, it's the fear of children.

  08:29-08:34

  But they do so without any real regard for how it's impacting them or who it's hurting along the way.

  08:35-08:37

  It's just to keep feeding the machine.

  08:39-08:40

  And man, we've got to guard ourselves against that.

  08:42-08:49

  We can't let those kinds of things rob our hope our joy, our peace, that we should find in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  08:50-09:15

  There are so many things that can keep us from maintaining the focus on Jesus as we go about our daily lives. And you know what, that's a pretty easy sell, what I just laid out there, wouldn't you agree? We know we can get caught up in the modern-day traps that we live amongst. Those are right in front of us. And hey, maybe you're sitting here right now and you think, you know, I hear you on all all this technology stuff, but that's just, it's not me.

  09:16-09:17

  I don't get caught up in that.

  09:17-09:18

  I don't distract myself with it.

  09:20-09:21

  Well, here's something to consider as well.

  09:23-09:27

  Maybe you're being distracted by otherwise good things in your life.

  09:28-09:33

  You know, the things that you have a duty to do, like do well at your job, doing it with excellence.

  09:34-09:38

  God calls us to be trustworthy employees, to give glory to him by our work.

  09:39-09:45

  Maybe you've been going that extra mile lately and trying to get that promotion so that you can advance in your career and support yourself and your family better.

  09:46-09:50

  My wife, Lexi, and I don't have children yet, but maybe it's spending time with your kids.

  09:51-09:56

  God's word tells us in Proverbs 22 to train them up in the way they should go and they won't depart from it when they get older.

  09:57-09:59

  Maybe you've been spending a lot of time doing that.

  10:01-10:02

  And maybe it's serving.

  10:03-10:08

  Maybe you're a key member of the worship team here or children's ministry, hospitality, small groups.

  10:09-10:11

  Could be ministries outside of harvest even.

  10:12-10:16

  These are all good things that we can wrap our lives around.

  10:17-10:30

  But let me ask you, if we busy our lives too much, we never take a second to just slow down, if we're focused on moving on to the next task, whatever that might be, then where does our faith come in?

  10:32-10:33

  When are we walking with God?

  10:35-10:41

  Where does that sanctification process, becoming more like Christ and focusing on Jesus, where does that all come in?

  10:43-10:48

  And let me tell you that being distracted even by good things is not just a 2021 problem.

  10:49-10:51

  And we see a great example of it in scripture.

  10:52-10:53

  And so let's go to that now.

  10:54-10:59

  Go open your Bibles with me please to Luke 10, and we're gonna start in verse 38.

  11:00-11:04

  We're gonna read a quick story here of the dangers of being distracted.

  11:04-11:16

  Now, in this passage, we get dropped into the middle "Jesus's visit to two sisters, Mary and Martha, in the town of Bethany." And so now Jesus comes to their house and we pick it up there, verse 38.

  11:18-11:30

  "Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house." So right away, Martha opens the door, welcomes Jesus in, incredibly hospitable, so far so good, right?

  11:32-11:33

  All right, let's go to verse 39.

  11:34-11:38

  "And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

  11:40-11:42

  But Martha was distracted with much serving.

  11:43-11:47

  And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

  11:48-11:54

  Tell her then to help me." So right there in verse 40, we see that word we're talking about here, distracted.

  11:55-11:59

  She was distracted by all the preparations that she was making.

  12:00-12:11

  And Jesus says to her in verse 41, "But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled "about many things, but one thing is necessary.

  12:11-12:22

  "Mary has chosen the good portion, "which will not be taken away from her." Now, it's important to note here that what Martha was doing was not inherently a bad thing.

  12:23-12:28

  She had the Lord, who she knew to be the God-man himself, Jesus Christ, in her home.

  12:30-12:35

  So she was doing the best to host him, to serve, take care of the house, making preparations for him.

  12:36-12:38

  And you think about when you have company that's about to come over, right?

  12:39-12:39

  I mean, what happens?

  12:40-12:44

  That house gets whipped into shape so quick and if you're in the way, you're gonna get run over.

  12:45-12:50

  I mean, I remember hosting Christmas once every few years for our family.

  12:51-12:57

  And when that year would come around, my mom would go into super mom mode, making sure that house was in shape.

  12:58-13:03

  And then, you know, when all of our guests came over, it was all about hosting them.

  13:04-13:06

  And both of my parents would go full go into that.

  13:07-13:09

  And so imagine how Martha feels right now.

  13:10-13:17

  She's got the God of the universe manifested in this man, Jesus, in her house.

  13:19-13:21

  That's like family relatives coming over times a thousand.

  13:23-13:30

  So what she was doing was not a sinful thing, but the results aren't always what they should be when we're distracted.

  13:31-13:34

  So with that, we'll run through quickly on your outlines if you're taking notes.

  13:35-13:41

  When we are distracted, even by a good thing, number one, we try to do it all ourselves.

  13:43-13:47

  In verse 40, Martha says to Jesus, "Lord, do you not care that my sister "has left me to serve alone?

  13:47-13:57

  "Tell her then to help me." She's like, Lord, here I am putting in all this work, giving all that I have in service for you and making sure that things are being taken care of.

  13:58-14:00

  And here's Mary not doing anything to help me.

  14:01-14:07

  And she's in the middle of this whirlwind of trying to do it all and begins to feel overwhelmed here.

  14:08-14:11

  And not even overwhelmed, but slighted.

  14:12-14:13

  This is unfair.

  14:14-14:18

  And she can only see what's on the surface and that she's doing all of the work herself.

  14:19-14:24

  And when you're in your own world, you start to eventually feel like you're the only one in it.

  14:25-14:30

  We're so busy, we keep everyone out of the process, including God most times.

  14:32-14:39

  The other thing Martha models here and what can happen when we're distracted or caught up in busyness, even by a good thing, is number two, you worry.

  14:40-14:41

  This is plainly laid out.

  14:42-14:49

  Jesus responds by saying in verse 41, "Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled by many things." In other words, you're worried.

  14:50-14:53

  Your soul and your conscience, it's not at rest.

  14:54-14:55

  You're stressing out.

  14:56-15:01

  And these are things that are going on internally that God doesn't want you to live in.

  15:02-15:07

  God doesn't want us to live in our worries and our anxieties about work or our lives.

  15:08-15:10

  And Jesus calls it out here for what it is.

  15:12-15:13

  But he also doesn't leave it there.

  15:14-15:16

  And he shows her what she's really missing.

  15:17-15:25

  And it leads us to number three of what can happen when we're too busy or distracted, even by good things, is that we don't dwell in his presence.

  15:27-15:30

  Verse 42, "The only one thing is necessary.

  15:30-15:36

  Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her." Jesus says, "Mary has chosen the good portion.

  15:36-15:42

  She's chosen to be with me." And I'm not going to stop that.

  15:43-15:47

  I'm not gonna tell her not to sit at my feet and learn from me.

  15:49-15:57

  And so while Martha was not doing something outwardly sinful in the presence of Jesus in her home, she also wasn't taking the time to actually be with him.

  15:59-16:04

  So I'll ask you, who do you think really heard the words of Jesus that day?

  16:06-16:07

  Who became more like him that day?

  16:09-16:10

  Is it Mary or is it Martha?

  16:11-16:16

  Martha was doing a good thing, she was missing the best thing.

  16:17-16:20

  And that, church, is a situation we can find ourselves in as well.

  16:21-16:25

  and service to our families, service to this church and to each other.

  16:26-16:28

  So great, we've seen both sides of it then.

  16:28-16:36

  We've seen how we can get caught up in the ways of the modern world, and we've also seen how we can get caught up in things that are well-intentioned.

  16:37-16:41

  So now the question becomes, of course, how do we avoid this?

  16:43-16:47

  We have a million things going on, places to go, people to see, work to be done.

  16:48-16:52

  How in the world do we go about this life and keep our focus on Jesus.

  16:53-16:59

  One we're supposed to follow, become more alike, be a reflection of in this world.

  17:00-17:02

  The one who can provide us true peace.

  17:03-17:12

  And you know, if it's just me standing up here and talking to you and asking that question, I would say, "I have no idea.

  17:13-17:24

  I don't, because I fail at this all the time." And this is why I wanted to talk about this subject today because I feel all of these things.

  17:25-17:27

  I feel the distraction of the smartphone.

  17:28-17:31

  I get the feeling of being pulled in a thousand different directions.

  17:32-17:41

  I've been in that situation where I'm trying to spend time with God, even get moments to myself, and instead of being with him, I'm on my phone.

  17:42-17:43

  I'm guilty of that.

  17:45-17:54

  And so the very last thing that I wanna do is come off Like I've figured this whole thing out and I'm merely passing on my infinite wisdom to you in all of this.

  17:54-17:55

  That's not it at all.

  17:56-17:59

  I wanted to share this with you so that we could do this together.

  18:00-18:08

  And I wanna come alongside you so that we can pursue God in better ways and avoid this minefield of sin that we have along the way.

  18:09-18:16

  And these ideas of how to navigate through life and keep the focus on Jesus don't come from me, they come from scripture.

  18:17-18:19

  So let's battle the flesh together and let's dig into it.

  18:20-18:23

  Let's try to get as practical as we can here in battling this.

  18:24-18:28

  So on the outline, ways to keep the focus on Jesus.

  18:29-18:32

  Number one is to find your prayer room.

  18:34-18:37

  In Matthew 6, 6, Jesus describes how we should go about praying.

  18:38-18:44

  He says, "But when you pray, go into your room "and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.

  18:45-18:48

  and your father who sees you in secret will reward you.

  18:49-18:54

  Now we know that Jesus had a busy life here on earth and specifically whenever he began his ministry.

  18:55-19:02

  And he was calling disciples, he was traveling constantly, he was performing miracles, he was conducting sermons, he was doing his father's work.

  19:04-19:05

  You know what else Jesus did?

  19:07-19:09

  He prayed to the father frequently.

  19:10-19:20

  We see many times throughout the gospels that Jesus would pull away from all the crowds and his disciples to get alone with God the Father.

  19:21-19:27

  And if Jesus, the Son of Man, the sinless man, took the time to do that, how much more should we?

  19:29-19:31

  And what does that prayer room look like?

  19:31-19:36

  Well, it could be an actual room, sure, with the door closed, just as Jesus describes here in Matthew.

  19:37-19:40

  Somewhere quiet, presumably, if that's at all possible in your lives.

  19:42-19:48

  somewhere where you should know and work to find out that best place to get alone and where that is.

  19:49-19:51

  It might not even be at your house.

  19:51-19:52

  Maybe it's at work somehow.

  19:53-19:55

  Maybe it's in the car.

  19:56-19:59

  We also have to determine when we can get those moments.

  19:59-20:04

  When in our schedules do we have the time to be with God like this?

  20:05-20:12

  Talk to Him, to be in relationship with Him, to bring things to him, our doubts, our fears, anxieties, all of that.

  20:14-20:15

  And it might take some planning out.

  20:16-20:22

  Make it known to whoever you have to and say, hey, this is the time I'm gonna carve out to spend with God.

  20:22-20:26

  It's gonna be this time, this day, or this time each day.

  20:28-20:31

  And it might have to be that intentional whenever you start this.

  20:32-20:41

  It's right here before I get really busy or I normally play around on my phone or I watch a show, the key is just consistency here.

  20:42-20:44

  Allow for more regular communication with him.

  20:45-20:50

  And the best part of this is, what does Jesus say here in Matthew that will happen to us when we do?

  20:52-20:53

  He will reward you.

  20:54-20:55

  Now, what does that mean?

  20:55-20:57

  What is the reward here?

  20:58-21:03

  The reward is a personal relationship with the God that loves you.

  21:04-21:10

  knowing and talking to the all-powerful God, He is the reward.

  21:11-21:12

  And that is awesome.

  21:13-21:14

  That is more than we could ever ask for.

  21:15-21:17

  And so find your prayer room.

  21:18-21:23

  Number two on your outlines is to find the real reason behind this.

  21:24-21:28

  There's always motivation behind action, right?

  21:28-21:32

  We act on something, there's always something that's leading us to do that.

  21:32-21:37

  We work extremely hard, maybe even put in overtime hours because we want that promotion at work.

  21:38-21:41

  But let's take a step back to look at why we're being distracted.

  21:42-21:43

  Why is it?

  21:44-21:52

  You know, in school, in high school and in college in particular for me, I was a master procrastinator.

  21:53-21:55

  Okay, it didn't matter what it was.

  21:55-21:58

  Mostly it was for writing papers.

  21:59-22:10

  And sure enough, I would be the guy nine times, maybe 10 times out of 10, that would be up till two in the morning writing this paper because I'd waited so long to do it.

  22:11-22:15

  And I always tried to examine to myself, okay, why do I do this?

  22:15-22:16

  Why do I put myself through this?

  22:17-22:26

  Sometimes it was because I got distracted by many things, but most of the time, it was because I just flat out didn't wanna do it.

  22:27-22:32

  And so I would put it off as if it were just gonna poof and just disappear.

  22:32-22:33

  I just wouldn't have to do it anymore.

  22:34-22:35

  Maybe we'd get raptured up.

  22:35-22:39

  That's what I was hoping for by the time I had to write this paper.

  22:40-22:45

  But the heart behind my procrastination is that I just flat out didn't want to write it.

  22:47-22:49

  So here it's what's the heart behind your distraction?

  22:51-22:57

  Maybe it's you scroll through all these social media accounts, you know, the highlights of people's lives that aren't really their lives.

  22:59-23:01

  Or the lowlights, like, whoa.

  23:01-23:03

  Glad I'm not them.

  23:05-23:12

  At least my life's in better shape than theirs. That's all a comparison problem. That's the heart behind that.

  23:13-23:18

  Why are you chasing so hard after the work? Is it just support or is it greed?

  23:20-23:22

  Why is your life so busy?

  23:23-23:30

  Just because you're busy you've got a lot of responsibilities, or do you take on more because you always want to be in control?

  23:31-23:45

  So you do extra things to gain that momentum and gain that control If it's just pure entertainment, that's your distraction what you're choosing to spend most of your time on What's the heart behind that is there lust there?

  23:46-23:48

  Are you seeking pleasure in ways you shouldn't?

  23:49-24:00

  Has that entertainment become an idol to you where it's what you're thinking about the most throughout your day movies and TV shows Some people are almost obsessed with sports

  24:00-24:01

  (audience laughing)

  24:03-24:06

  Some others even talk about it all day at work.

  24:06-24:08

  I mean, come on.

  24:10-24:16

  Those aren't evil things, but the real reason behind it is why are you diving into that too much?

  24:17-24:22

  Proverbs 20, verse five tells us that we should search our hearts for deeper understanding.

  24:23-24:23

  Let's do that.

  24:25-24:34

  And once you ask yourself that and you hopefully find the answer to that, Then you can do number three, and that's find scripture with real answers.

  24:35-24:37

  If it's comparison, then what's my identity?

  24:38-24:44

  Psalm 139, your God knows you completely, knew you before you were born, knit you together in your mother's womb.

  24:45-24:49

  Ephesians 1, you've been chosen by God, adopted into his family.

  24:50-24:58

  Romans 8:17, you're a co-heir with Christ to the inheritance God has for you in heaven as one of his children.

  24:58-25:00

  You've been redeemed from your sin.

  25:01-25:06

  You were bought by the blood of God's Son, Jesus himself, who came to rescue you.

  25:07-25:09

  And he calls you his own.

  25:10-25:11

  He loves you unconditionally.

  25:12-25:14

  That is who you are.

  25:15-25:17

  That's who God says you are in his word.

  25:19-25:20

  It's a beautiful picture, isn't it?

  25:21-25:22

  So why compare?

  25:24-25:32

  If it's great in Matthew 6.24, No one can serve two masters for either he'll hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other.

  25:32-25:34

  You cannot serve God in money.

  25:35-25:36

  What's being the master of your life?

  25:37-25:38

  Might not be money.

  25:39-25:42

  Maybe it's that entertainment or that pleasure that you're constantly seeking.

  25:43-25:47

  Entertainment again, not evil, but is it replacing God?

  25:48-25:53

  Maybe you're distracted and busy by just trying to be a great parent or servant for your family.

  25:54-25:59

  Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 10 that whoever loves son or daughter more than him isn't worthy of him.

  26:00-26:02

  Yikes, that sounds really harsh.

  26:03-26:11

  And Jesus certainly is not condemning us having love for our family and putting in that time, but you can't put that over him.

  26:12-26:18

  If you love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then everything else falls into place from there.

  26:20-26:22

  And so for every struggle, there are answers in scripture.

  26:23-26:25

  This is the most reliable source that you can find.

  26:27-26:34

  And I'd encourage you, as long as we're getting practical here about things, to memorize it once you find that truth that applies.

  26:34-26:36

  I'm talking to myself as well.

  26:37-26:40

  Now that isn't just looking at a few lines and just picking it out.

  26:40-26:42

  There's danger in doing that as well.

  26:42-26:43

  I wouldn't recommend that.

  26:44-26:48

  But look at the context in which that truth is in.

  26:49-26:50

  Look at the whole chapter.

  26:51-26:54

  And then hopefully that leads you to look at the whole book.

  26:55-26:58

  And then that book leads you to look at the book before that, the one after that.

  26:59-27:02

  Then you want to gain knowledge from the Old Testament or the New Testament.

  27:02-27:08

  And then if that's not good enough to quench your undying thirst at that point, then you've read the whole Bible.

  27:09-27:12

  I know it's not always that easy, if only it were.

  27:13-27:23

  But the point is to start there and let the Holy Spirit inside you crave for more once you've seen it make an actual difference in your life.

  27:24-27:28

  when you remember it, when you meditate on it, and you actually live in it.

  27:29-27:34

  So identify the distraction, the motive behind it, and replace it with truth.

  27:35-27:39

  My wife Lexi is an amazing person in many different ways, for many different reasons.

  27:40-27:47

  But one of those reasons is that she is an incredibly patient and loving teacher of children with special needs.

  27:48-27:56

  And she leads an autistic support classroom, and one of the things she explained to me over the years is the concept of replacement behavior.

  27:57-28:04

  So this is replacing a less desirable behavior with a positive one to achieve the same function.

  28:05-28:14

  So maybe you just want to escape the world and all of its trials, but you do so by endlessly scrolling on your phone.

  28:14-28:17

  You immediately take to whatever it is, social media.

  28:19-28:22

  It's about what you're turning to to escape the world.

  28:23-28:36

  If you aren't using scripture, if you aren't using the truth as your escape, then sometimes, if not most times, you're gonna be even more anxious than you were before, looking through all of that.

  28:37-28:41

  Replace that escape method with something better.

  28:42-28:49

  And this isn't just a bunch of positive quotes and self-help mantra that you might see anywhere else.

  28:49-29:06

  This is the alive and working, timeless and God-breathed, life-giving, life-receiving word of truth. That's what this is. Don't underestimate that. So use it and study it and memorize it.

  29:07-29:10

  Understand what it is, the power it possesses. Don't gloss over it.

  29:12-29:17

  But so often the effects of distraction, they don't show themselves right away.

  29:17-29:20

  And so it's hard to get in front of it.

  29:21-29:41

  It's kind of like boiling a frog. You ever heard of that? I haven't done it myself. I kind of like frogs actually, but the idea here is is that if you boil a pot of water and you stick the frog in it, that frog, as long as it can jump high enough, is going to sense that danger that this is really hot and jump right out.

  29:43-29:53

  But you put that frog in, you know, normal temperature, put that frog in the water, and then you just slowly crank up the heat.

  29:54-31:45

  Frog can't necessarily sense that danger. And by the time it realizes that it's way too hot in here, it's boiled alive. And so that can oftentimes be what we're like. Are we getting focused on Jesus, or are we being sucked into the patterns and temptations of this world? We might not even realize it? Are we getting slowly boiled by this world? If you're having trouble seeing the pattern of sin that you're living in or the pattern of distraction that you're headed down, that's where the last part of this comes in. And that is to find who can keep me accountable. These things that I'm wrestling with, that I'm fighting against daily, who's gonna check up on me to make sure that I'm staying on track? Who's gonna call me out if I'm headed down a road in which I shouldn't be. And you can slap whatever name you want on this person or this group of people, the accountability partner, the faithful friend, the battle buddy, the bumper buddies, that's what we call ours, it's cute. Whatever. We aren't called to do this alone. We're supposed to be a community, a body of Christ with many members and parts. And I could go into some many different things to look out for in this person, but the highlights here whenever you're picking this person is that they believe what the Word says, that they're committed, that their faith is real, and that they're walking with the Lord. You can see the fruits of that in their lives, and that also they're gonna be bold enough to share the truth with you in love. They're not gonna bash you over the head with a Bible whenever you mess up, but they're also not gonna sugarcoat anything. They're not going to tiptoe around issues because that doesn't help anybody either.

  31:47-32:06

  Ephesians 4 verses 12 through 15, you can go back and look at those. That's where this concept comes from. The language used in there is building up the body of Christ, unity in faith, becoming mature, no longer tossed to and fro by the waves of life. That's where we want to be.

  32:09-32:34

  And so as I wrap up here, you might be sitting here today and listening to this online and maybe you don't know Jesus. You might be thinking to yourself, "Man, all these disciplines that you're putting in your life, that sounds absolutely exhausting. Why in the world would I do this?" Well, it's because we have a sin problem. Our natural inclinations are to do what we want.

  32:35-32:37

  You have that issue too.

  32:38-32:42

  And there's nothing that we can do to get ourselves right again.

  32:43-32:47

  It only takes one sin for us to fall short of perfection, and that's God's demands.

  32:48-32:48

  That's his standard.

  32:49-32:52

  It only takes one smartphone and we're totally derailed.

  32:52-32:54

  That's why we're having this entire conversation.

  32:57-32:58

  And he's not leaving you here either.

  32:59-33:15

  God so loved you that he sent his one and only son on a rescue mission to save your soul from eternal destruction. Because the wages of your sin that you can't wipe away on your own is death.

  33:16-34:03

  And that's eternal death. That's hell. That's a lonely place of suffering, absence of the presence of God. But he sent his son Jesus to live a perfect life for you. Perfect life so that he can take on your sin when he was nailed to a cross and was put to death because of it. He took your sin of the grave until he cried, "It is finished." And he took his last breath and they pierced his side and when the water and the blood poured out, they knew that he was dead. And then the most amazing and important thing in human history happened. Three days later he rose from the tomb, appeared to those around him and with it wiped away your sin for good.

  34:05-34:38

  And what's he called for us to do? It's to believe in him, to make him Lord, show your love for him by obeying him. And he loves you so clearly by suffering a horrible death and giving up his life for you. And through Jesus you have identity and being his, you have purpose and serving him and bringing others to life-saving faith, and you have freedom from the bondage of your brokenness and and the fate of eternal death.

  34:38-34:41

  Identity, purpose, freedom.

  34:42-34:43

  We all crave that.

  34:45-34:46

  And that can be found in Christ.

  34:48-34:54

  You can have that today if you accept the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life.

  34:54-34:59

  And if that's your decision today, our prayer team's gonna be in the back as soon as I wrap up here.

  34:59-35:01

  I'll be with Pastor Jeff in this corner as well.

  35:01-35:04

  We would love to talk with you more about that decision.

  35:06-35:09

  And church, Jesus wants this so much for us.

  35:10-35:13

  He is constantly inviting us to draw near to him.

  35:15-35:18

  And not only to draw near, but check this out, and this is where we'll really end today.

  35:20-35:21

  This is incredible to me.

  35:22-35:36

  I take you to John 17, where Jesus has just shared his last meal with his disciples, and says he's gonna leave them, and it's another one of those times we talked about earlier where he just stops the prey, gets away from everybody else.

  35:36-35:39

  And in this case, he does so for us believers.

  35:41-35:52

  Part of that prayer, Jesus says in verse 21, "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.

  35:53-36:22

  They may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Here's Jesus, the Son of God, one third of the Holy Trinity, with this perfect relationship between He and the Father, saying, "What we have, Father God, "this perfect unity between us, "where I'm in you and you are in me, "let's let them in on this too.

  36:24-36:30

  "Let's invite these people into the oneness with us." How incredible is that?

  36:32-36:35

  That's Jesus's desire for us, is to be one with Him.

  36:37-36:39

  And Martha got distracted in that story.

  36:39-36:42

  Distracted by a good thing, yes, but distracted.

  36:43-36:47

  Are you settling for the good things instead of the very best things?

  36:49-36:51

  Jesus wants us to be one with Him.

  36:51-36:52

  We have a decision to make.

  36:54-36:57

  Are we going to live distracted or are we going to live committed?

  36:59-37:08

  My hope is that we put these steps into place and that it enables us to lead the life that God calls us to because He's ultimately calling us to Him.

  37:09-37:10

  He wants us.

  37:12-37:17

  What are you willing to do today to allow Him to have all of you?

  37:18-37:18

  Let's pray.

  37:21-37:27

  Father God, I just, I pray Lord for all of the different things that we can get caught up in in life, Lord.

  37:28-37:30

  It can be overwhelming at times.

  37:30-37:35

  I pray that at times that it is overwhelming that we don't escape using anything else but your word.

  37:37-37:41

  And that we can ignore the lies that Satan puts into our heads about who we are.

  37:42-37:49

  And we instead turn to you and turn to your word to get what our real identity is, Lord.

  37:50-37:54

  And I pray that we would find our prayer rooms, we'd find that time that we can spend just talking with you.

  37:55-38:00

  That we can surround ourselves with people that'll help us along this walk, God, because it's not easy.

  38:01-38:02

  We still live in our flesh.

  38:04-38:15

  So I pray that we would be seeking after you day in and day out, and that we could achieve that oneness with you, and that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit.

  38:16-38:18

  In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 10:38-42

1. What is one thing that God revealed to you personally during the sermon?
   

2. Have you identified what distracts you the most from seeking after the Lord daily?
   

3. Why do you think Jesus calls us to "shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret"? What does it mean to have Him as our reward when we do this?
   

4. Have you taken the time to memorize Scripture? If so, how do you feel it impacts how you live out your day?
   

5. What steps do you feel you need to take to not allow the things you enjoy (entertainment, social media, etc.) become idols and distractions?
   

6. Do you feel like you have the right amount of Christian accountability in your life? Are you that accountability partner in someone else's life? How have you seen that be effective?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Why Don't You Grow Up?

Introduction:

Why Don't You Grow Up?
(Philippians 3:12-4:1)

1. Growing up involves Exertion . (Phil 3:12-14)
   1. Why we must grow: Jesus has Ahold of us .
   2. How we must grow: By Forgetting and Striving .

2. Growing up involves right Thinking and careful Imitation. (Phil 3:15-18)

   See: Matthew 19:16, 17b-22   |   1 Corinthians 6:12   |   1 Corinthians 10:23

3. Growing up involves glorious Transformation . (Phil 3:18-21,4:1)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:31-00:31

  Good morning.

  00:33-00:36

  As Jeff said, please turn to the book of Philippians chapter 3.

  00:37-00:42

  And if you don't mind, I'm going to preach myself this morning.

  00:43-00:46

  I think I need to hear this message more than anybody else.

  00:49-00:52

  So let's pray and we'll dig in.

  00:53-00:57

  Our gracious Father, oh, you are so great and so good.

  00:58-01:08

  You have given us all things in Jesus Christ, and your great desire for us is that we grow up into Him, into all the fullness of the stature of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  01:10-01:12

  I pray that you will help us to do that.

  01:14-01:30

  We will concentrate every thought this morning, every fiber of our being on your word and what you have to say to us, and that you would plant your word deeply into our hearts, and He would transform us into the image of our Savior, Jesus.

  01:32-01:34

  And it's in his great name we ask this.

  01:37-01:44

  There are things people said to me when I was a boy, when I was growing up, that have stuck with me my whole life.

  01:45-01:55

  One of them was my cousin Claudia would say to me, "Richie, you're just like your father." And I was like six or seven.

  01:55-01:58

  I was just starting to become aware of the larger world.

  01:58-02:00

  I had really no idea what she meant.

  02:01-02:02

  What do you mean I'm just like my father?

  02:06-02:09

  Well, I need to back up a little bit because I was the baby of the family.

  02:11-02:15

  My siblings were all a decade or more older than I was.

  02:15-02:18

  All of my cousins were older than I was.

  02:19-02:22

  By the time I was about six or seven, they were all in their late teens.

  02:22-02:23

  They were all adults.

  02:25-02:26

  And so they knew my father.

  02:27-02:29

  And my cousins really loved my father.

  02:30-02:38

  They knew him, they knew his propensity to tease and to play practical jokes and to just kind of have fun with them.

  02:40-03:01

  And so when my cousin Claudia would say, "Richie, you're just like your father." But she was really saying, "You little stinker, you're just like your father." And I didn't understand that until later in life, But if someone were to tell me today that you're just like your father, I'd take that as a compliment.

  03:03-03:19

  When I got a little bit older, when I was in middle school, there's a lot going on in middle school, things are changing, and I started noticing girls, and I tried to interact with them, probably by being just like my father and teasing.

  03:20-03:25

  And the usual response was met with, "Spronk, you're so weird.

  03:27-03:28

  "You're so immature.

  03:28-03:34

  "Why don't you grow up?" Well, these girls, they could say that because they were mature.

  03:34-03:42

  They were mature 'cause they wore makeup now and they wore jewelry and they were dating boys in the 10th grade.

  03:44-03:45

  Well, I'm barely 13.

  03:45-03:47

  I don't know what's going on.

  03:47-03:48

  Of course I'm immature.

  03:49-03:50

  I'm still trying to figure things out.

  03:51-03:57

  You know, one day I'm playing with my Legos and my Hot Wheels, and the next I'm looking at these mature girls.

  03:59-04:03

  It was hard, and true, it was probably weird, right?

  04:03-04:05

  The world was a weird place.

  04:06-04:12

  I grew up in the turbulent '60s, you know, with the riots and all the counterculture.

  04:13-04:19

  And I came of age in the 1970s with the philosophy of it feels good, do it, right?

  04:20-04:25

  It was the '70s, the decade of free love and easy drugs and a lot of political turmoil.

  04:26-04:54

  And I gotta tell you, all the world's influences, TV and movies, easy drugs, pornography, peer pressure, alcohol, it just kind of produced a toxic fog that made it very difficult to know what grown up like. And I wanted to grow up. I read self-help books. I read all the advice columns in the papers.

  04:54-05:01

  I read horoscopes. I got advice from friends and advice from my frat brothers when I got in college.

  05:03-05:13

  And the result of all of that was I just kind of flailed around doing adult things, but I just sunk deeper and deeper into sin and immaturity and weirdness.

  05:15-05:18

  You know, all you kids growing up today, you've got it easy, right?

  05:19-05:21

  Because the world's not at all weird anymore.

  05:23-05:31

  But I was on the struggle bus when it came to growing up, and in the midst of those struggles, praise God, I was found by Jesus.

  05:33-05:38

  So when I became a believer in my early 20s, I found I had a new challenge.

  05:38-05:40

  Well, now I've got to grow up spiritually.

  05:41-05:43

  and he becomes spiritually mature.

  05:45-06:01

  Well, I'll tell you for many years, as a young believer, I thought, oh, I gotta grow up as a man in the world, and I also gotta grow up spiritually, as though those two were entirely separate concepts.

  06:03-06:09

  Because Bethany and I moved around so much in our marriage with the army, we never put down roots anywhere.

  06:09-06:24

  I never had an opportunity to develop close friendships, develop a mentor with anybody, someone who could guide me into understanding that growing up spiritually meant growing up as a whole person.

  06:26-06:36

  And I would even say it's not just physical maturity or emotional maturity and spiritual maturity, I would just say it's maturity, growing up and becoming mature.

  06:38-06:40

  The Apostle Paul knew something about becoming mature.

  06:41-06:49

  He had a very clear idea of what it meant, what was involved in the end result, and he knew it took a great deal of effort.

  06:50-06:56

  So our first point this morning is, growing up involves exertion.

  06:57-06:59

  We're gonna take a look at a bit of background on Paul.

  07:00-07:08

  In chapter three, Paul rattled off all of his accomplishments, or as he phrased it, his confidence in the flesh.

  07:09-07:10

  Look at verse five.

  07:11-07:29

  He said he was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under law, blameless.

  07:31-07:35

  In modern terms, we would say Paul was born into privilege with a respected pedigree.

  07:36-07:39

  He was raised in the most elite Jewish circles.

  07:39-07:43

  He was educated in the Jewish equivalent of an Ivy League school.

  07:44-07:46

  He was certain that all of his ideas were right.

  07:47-07:53

  He was respected, he had authority, he had prestige, influence, and above all, he had a lot of passion.

  07:54-08:03

  He was on the fast track to greatness in the Jewish world until Jesus took him down more than a few notches on the road to Damascus.

  08:04-08:08

  You see, following that encounter, Paul took a different view of his life's accomplishments.

  08:10-08:11

  They're all worthless.

  08:13-08:17

  And moreover, it required disciplined exertion to purge them from his life.

  08:17-08:18

  Take a look at verse 7.

  08:20-08:25

  He says, "But whatever gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.

  08:25-08:31

  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

  08:32-08:47

  For his sake I've suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him." He says it's all a loss because of their surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

  08:48-08:50

  He uses some pretty strong language here too.

  08:52-08:59

  When he says all of his accomplishments were rubbish, he doesn't just mean some Kleenex or some apple peels in a wastebasket.

  09:00-09:20

  doesn't quite get at what Paul said. The Greek word is only used here in the New Testament and it refers to human excrement and not in a polite or juvenile way. At the very least the Philippians would have understood Paul considered all of his accomplishments to be crap.

  09:21-09:22

  Did he just say that in church?

  09:23-10:19

  Yeah I did because that's as polite as I can be to get at what Paul is trying to say here? It's all crap, and there's a sense of revulsion about it. Paul is using strong language to impress on his readers that he is revolted by his former life. For Paul, it provokes a gag reflex when he thinks about it. So Paul has dug a giant cat hole and he's buried it all. He says, "In order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." Wow, that captures our idealized image of Paul, doesn't it?

  10:20-10:31

  After all, that's why we call him Saint Paul. He knows Jesus so much better than we do and he's just so far above us. We're right to put him on a pedestal.

  10:32-10:54

  I mean just as he was a Hebrew among the Hebrews, he became the hardest-working apostle. He was the most outstanding apostle. He was always the brightest. He was always the best of the best. Right? That's how we think about Paul. We can't ever be like Paul. That's Look at verse 12.

  10:55-11:06

  "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

  11:07-11:24

  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

  11:28-11:35

  In his exhortation to exertion, Paul tells us two things, why we must grow and how we must grow.

  11:37-11:41

  So let's look first at why we must grow.

  11:42-11:45

  We must grow because Jesus has a hold of us.

  11:46-11:51

  Paul says he makes every effort to take hold of his goal because Jesus has taken a hold of him.

  11:52-11:55

  What does it mean that Jesus has taken a hold of Paul?

  11:56-12:05

  Well, to be taken a hold of in the Greek has several meanings, such as to learn or understand something or to grasp something in our mind as a concept.

  12:06-12:08

  But Paul is saying something stronger than that.

  12:09-12:14

  It can also mean to obtain something, to appropriate a thing or make something one's own.

  12:15-12:18

  But Paul is saying something even stronger than that.

  12:19-12:23

  Or a third meaning is to seize, to overtake or overwhelm.

  12:24-12:34

  In effect, Christ has swept Paul up by the scruff of the neck and yanked him out of the septic tank and he's embraced him within himself as his own.

  12:35-12:39

  Think about, I'm sure you've all watched the videos, right?

  12:39-12:52

  Of these soldiers coming home from combat and they come down the runway into the airport or into the gym or wherever They see their family and they just embrace them.

  12:53-12:54

  And they're not gonna let them go.

  12:56-12:59

  That's how tightly Jesus Christ has a hold of you.

  13:02-13:04

  Are you returning the embrace?

  13:05-13:07

  Are you exerting every effort to lay hold of Christ?

  13:11-13:13

  Second, Paul tells us how we must grow.

  13:15-13:18

  By forgetting and striving.

  13:19-13:21

  Look at verse 13 again.

  13:22-13:30

  "But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind "and straining toward what is ahead." Sounds like there's two things here, doesn't it?

  13:31-13:35

  Forgetting and striving, two different things.

  13:35-13:41

  But really, they're so closely intertwined, it's all one effort, it's all one action on Paul's part.

  13:41-13:43

  But we're gonna look at each separately.

  13:44-13:46

  First, there's the forgetting part.

  13:46-13:57

  And I'm really glad Paul mentions this, because although Paul mainly mentioned all of his credentials, he may have also had in mind what he did with those credentials.

  13:59-14:05

  You may recall Paul once zealously took hold of believers and had them in prison, and in some cases put to death.

  14:07-14:10

  I think Paul had a great deal to regret and be ashamed of.

  14:11-15:03

  His past could have been a huge, Huge weight that held him back from pursuing Jesus But instead he keeps on forgetting What he was and what he did in the past What's in your past what's in your present You have a pedigree you have education you have degrees influence prestige and well What about the other side of that coin You have pride, boasting, sin, broken relationships, broken promises, pain, burned bridges, self-justification, bitterness, self-pity, insecurities, has your life been full of hating and being hated?

  15:06-15:14

  Divorce, broken families, abuse, sexual immorality, lies and more lies.

  15:16-15:19

  It seems like a long list, but we all know it's just the tip of the iceberg.

  15:22-15:32

  You know, in all these ways and more, we have sinned and wrecked ourselves. We have sinned against others and wrecked their lives. Others have sinned against us and broken us.

  15:33-15:39

  And all these things could be a huge ball and chain, spiritually and emotionally and even physically.

  15:41-15:47

  Because Satan the accuser, he's always lurking around to remind us about our past.

  15:49-15:57

  You're worthless. You'll never measure up. You can't do this. I know what you've done.

  15:59-16:03

  You know, you remember that time when you just fill in the blank.

  16:06-16:18

  But the good news is your past is dead. God doesn't hold you responsible for anything you did when you were dead, and neither should you. You are forgiven.

  16:19-16:24

  Your guilt is removed and so is your shame. You need to forget the past.

  16:26-16:30

  Forget it. Indeed, the Greek word for forgetting is so strong here.

  16:31-17:05

  It means to oblivious. Your past has faded into oblivion and God no longer brings it up. He doesn't think about it. He doesn't remember it. Satan does. Your flesh might. But beloved, what is in your past no longer exists. For you are in Christ Jesus. You So don't let the past drag you down in the present.

  17:06-17:14

  Don't let it deter you from pressing onward for the future, which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus.

  17:18-17:19

  The next part is striving.

  17:20-17:21

  Look at verse 12.

  17:21-17:23

  Paul says a curious thing.

  17:24-17:25

  I haven't attained it yet.

  17:27-17:28

  I haven't arrived.

  17:28-17:29

  This is a process.

  17:30-17:31

  I don't possess it yet.

  17:31-17:35

  I haven't attained yet to that for which Jesus took hold of me.

  17:36-17:38

  Nevertheless, he says, I press on.

  17:39-17:40

  I forget what is behind.

  17:40-17:43

  I strain toward what is ahead.

  17:43-17:46

  I press on toward the goal to win the prize.

  17:46-17:49

  Paul is using vigorous athletic imagery here.

  17:50-17:53

  The Greek for press on is dioko.

  17:54-18:01

  And it means to pursue, to aggressively chase, to pursue with all haste like a hunter in pursuit.

  18:03-18:10

  It could describe a runner who has fallen behind early in an endurance race, but now, now he's catching up.

  18:10-18:15

  Now he's exerting every spiritual muscle to reach the finish line.

  18:16-18:23

  It's an image of a runner hurtling towards the tape and throwing herself over the line to be first.

  18:25-18:35

  You know, it's interesting that the Greek for press on here in verses 12 and 14, it's the same word translated as persecuting in verse six.

  18:36-18:47

  Paul is telling us is that just as I once zealously pursued believers in Christ, well, now I am zealously pursuing Christ.

  18:49-18:50

  How about you?

  18:50-18:51

  How about me?

  18:52-18:57

  Are we pursuing Christ as zealously as we once pursued our lusts and evil desires?

  18:59-19:02

  Or do we now have kind of a take it easy point of view?

  19:04-19:07

  Do we think, hey, my ticket to heaven's been punched.

  19:08-19:10

  Jesus is gonna bless me with my best life now.

  19:11-19:13

  I don't have to do a thing.

  19:13-19:16

  You know, let go, let God, right?

  19:18-19:21

  Hey, I'm just gonna take the easy victory lap.

  19:21-19:24

  I don't have to run the race.

  19:27-19:27

  No!

  19:28-19:32

  No, we are disciples, and life in Jesus takes discipline.

  19:32-19:38

  It takes hard, concerted, striving, straining effort to grow in Christ.

  19:39-19:42

  So study the Word to show yourself approved.

  19:43-19:44

  Apply it, do it.

  19:45-19:48

  Spend time in prayer and meditation on the Word.

  19:48-19:53

  Fast and deny yourself for the sake of gaining Christ.

  19:56-20:06

  So growing up involves our utmost exertion to forget and press on, and growing up also involves right thinking and careful imitation.

  20:07-20:50

  In verse 15, Paul says, "All of us then who are mature "should take such a view of things." Now previously Paul said, "I haven't already obtained all this." arrived at his goal, but he keeps striving to attain it. But then he says, "All who are mature should take this view of things." That seems odd. Well, the Greek word for "mature" is "kaleos." It means "finished, brought to completion, wanting nothing necessary for completeness and perfect." Paul used that very same word in verse 12 when he said he hadn't arrived.

  20:51-21:34

  Not that I am perfect, not that I am mature, and yet here now he says all of us who are mature should think like this. Well, in other words, Paul is telling us that those who are mature are the ones who realize we're not mature. When we view ourselves that way, we're thinking the right way. So let's dive a little deeper into right thinking because our thinking reveals what we treasure. Jesus used the same word when the rich young man asked him in Matthew chapter 19, "Good teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus told him, "If you would enter life, keep the commandments.

  21:35-22:03

  He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have kept, what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, "Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, "and you will have treasure in heaven.

  22:04-22:24

  "And come, follow me." Jesus said to the young man, "If you want to be teleos," that is, if you want to be perfect, if you want to be mature, "then unload your worldly possessions." And we know the man went away dejected because he had lots of stuff.

  22:27-22:30

  Do you notice anything about Jesus' list of the commandments?

  22:33-22:42

  "Whereas you shall have no other gods before me." And what about, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything.

  22:43-22:52

  You shall not bow down to them and serve them." And where is number 10, "You shall not covet." And Jesus mentioned loving your neighbor.

  22:54-23:05

  "What about loving the Lord your God "with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength?" The man's reaction to Jesus' exhortation to sell all his belongings identified his real problem.

  23:06-23:08

  It's not that he had lots of stuff.

  23:09-23:12

  It was the value that he placed on it.

  23:12-23:16

  It was the way he thought about his stuff and his identity.

  23:18-23:20

  He's an idolater who loves the world.

  23:20-23:22

  He loved his stuff more than God.

  23:23-23:27

  He wanted heaven, but he didn't really want the God who dwells there.

  23:29-23:33

  He wanted to have eternal life, but he only wanted to run the victory lap.

  23:34-23:34

  He

  Speaker 2:

  23:34-23:34

  You didn't

  23:34-23:36

  want to actually strive to win the race.

  23:37-23:39

  He wanted the world more than heaven.

  23:42-23:45

  Compare that to Paul, who counted all things as loss.

  23:46-23:49

  Compare that to yourself, what you treasure.

  23:52-24:05

  Now that account really focuses on stuff, but the broader picture is that what characterizes mature Christians is a rejection of and a revulsion towards worldly values.

  24:06-24:08

  We're not to love the world or anything in it.

  24:11-24:21

  This is difficult because we're so used to the smell and texture of our crap that we We don't even notice we've brought it into the church with us.

  24:22-24:25

  We don't notice that we've brought it into our life in Christ.

  24:27-24:36

  We hold on to things like our pride and our pettiness, our self-importance, or maybe even our negative self-abasement.

  24:37-24:47

  We wanna hold on to all the stuff that we use to accessorize our lives so that we can let others know that we're blessed than they are.

  24:50-24:57

  What we really need, beloved, is a gag reflex, a spiritual gag reflex.

  24:58-24:59

  You know what I'm talking about.

  24:59-25:07

  If you ever had to clean up somebody else's fluids, it's all you can do to keep everything down.

  25:09-25:16

  We look at our world that way, "Oh, that's revolting." Do you have that response?

  25:17-25:18

  They're coming for our children.

  25:20-25:20

  Oh, that's revolting.

  25:22-25:27

  Yeah, we need to be revolted by the world and recognize the crap for what it is.

  25:28-25:34

  We need to purge it and count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, our Lord.

  25:36-25:40

  See, how we think about the world reveals a great deal about our maturity.

  25:41-25:42

  What are you focused on?

  25:42-25:44

  What occupies your heart and your thoughts and your time?

  25:46-25:49

  You might ask me, "Well, what should I be focused on?

  25:49-25:59

  What should I be occupied with and doing?" If you're expecting a laundry list of do's and don'ts right now, I'm sorry you're going to be disappointed.

  26:00-26:05

  You know, Satan likes that kind of Christianity, you know, lists of rules, things to do and not do.

  26:07-26:11

  But we all know that's a graceless, legalistic set of rules.

  26:13-26:14

  founded on worldly pride.

  26:16-26:18

  Man-made rules have no power to save.

  26:18-26:26

  And me telling you what kind of car you should or shouldn't drive, or what kind of house you should own, isn't going to make you holy.

  26:28-26:38

  Nor am I going to tell you what movies you should or shouldn't watch, or TV shows that are acceptable, or what social media you can use, what you should drink or not drink, how to spend your money.

  26:39-26:39

  No.

  26:41-26:43

  Such things will do you no good in the long run or the short run.

  26:45-26:51

  And really, over the past year, we've seen how man-made rules play out, haven't we?

  26:51-26:54

  They spiral out of control until they become completely nonsensical.

  26:55-26:57

  They take on a legalistic virtue signaling.

  27:00-27:03

  When has that kind of legalism ever worked out for the church?

  27:06-27:19

  My Aunt Jen, who was a Sunday school teacher and a good Pentecostal church woman, she used to tell me, "Richie, good Christian boys "don't do those kinds of things.

  27:21-27:28

  "Richie, good Christian boys don't go to movie theaters." And I have the heart to tell her that I was only one of those three things.

  27:33-27:34

  But there's that kind of rule.

  27:37-27:46

  What good is that rule? It doesn't get behind what's going on, such as, "Well, who am I giving my money to?

  27:47-27:54

  What kind of ideas are being purveyed by these movies? What are people doing with the money that I'm giving them?

  27:55-28:26

  What's their worldview and what are they promoting?" That's what we've got to get at. That's what we've got to be discerning about and think about. So my Aunt Jen, she wouldn't go to movie theaters and watch movies, but she would watch them on TV at home. Kind of proves my point, right? So no, cultural rules have no power at all to save or sanctify you. By following them you might look like somebody's idea of an obedient Christian in a particular culture.

  28:30-28:32

  You but your heart won't be transformed.

  28:34-28:37

  To be transformed in your thinking, you have work to do every day.

  28:38-28:52

  If you're Jesus' disciple, you've got to work out your salvation by examining what you treasure, what you crave, what you long for, and you have to ask yourself how your stuff, your activities, your cherished thoughts and ideas square with Jesus.

  28:54-29:02

  A good starting point is assuming that everything about us and our values is wrong.

  29:04-29:07

  It's of the world, it's of Satan, and it's crap.

  29:08-29:13

  I realize that this is kind of a flat out, scorched earth approach to life.

  29:15-29:17

  But you know, it makes things pretty simple.

  29:20-29:22

  And it's not an approach that happens overnight.

  29:22-29:24

  It doesn't happen in a month or a year.

  29:25-29:26

  It takes a lifetime.

  29:28-29:35

  It's a process of shucking off the world and striving to take hold of Jesus for a lifetime.

  29:37-29:39

  Now you may want to know, what does this process look like practically?

  29:43-29:46

  Well, life in Christ isn't about just selling all your stuff and becoming a minimalist.

  29:47-29:48

  It's not about becoming an ascetic.

  29:49-29:57

  I'm not advocating that we all become like the Amish and we're living in some anachronistic world, right?

  29:58-30:00

  We don't want to create a culture frozen in time.

  30:02-30:05

  And as I said, it's certainly not about learning and following a set of rules.

  30:07-30:19

  It's rather seeing and evaluating the world with baptized eyes and realizing our lives were and in some ways may still be full of crap of the world.

  30:20-30:23

  And we gotta ask ourselves, why do I still value this?

  30:25-30:28

  The Corinthian church faced the same challenge.

  30:28-30:38

  On the one hand, they'd been set free in Christ, yet they were dogged by problems that arose out of their pagan worldview that was still so much a part of them.

  30:40-31:03

  They mixed everything together from their old lives with their new lives in Christ, and they justified it by saying, "All things are lawful for me." Well, Paul countered that by saying, "You need to think this way." He said, "Yes, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

  31:05-31:06

  All things are lawful for me.

  31:07-31:16

  I will not be dominated by anything." And again in chapter 10, "All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.

  31:18-31:21

  Some things are lawful, but not all things build up.

  31:24-31:25

  So that's the process.

  31:27-31:37

  It's a process of weighing your motives, your attitudes, your behaviors, your possessions, and evaluating everything in the light of Christ.

  31:38-31:40

  Something might be lawful, but is it really helpful?

  31:42-31:44

  Does it control or dominate me?

  31:45-31:46

  Or can I just walk away from it?

  31:46-31:55

  Don't need that anymore. Is what I'm doing please God? Is it motivated by pride? Or is it motivated by humility?

  31:58-32:04

  I mean earlier you probably thought it was being a killjoy. Oh he wants us to get rid of everything we do, we can't have fun.

  32:05-32:25

  No! Oh as you go through this process of discerning and evaluating and shaking off the world, shaking off everything that so easily entangles, you discern God's true gifts. You find real joy. You walk in real freedom.

  32:29-32:41

  As I said, this process takes a lifetime, but don't think for that reason you can put it off till later. "I've got time." No, you don't. With the help of the Holy Spirit and In the light of the word, get after it.

  32:42-32:46

  We have work to do every day to develop right thinking.

  32:48-32:53

  And I understand not everyone will agree with my scorched earth approach, and that's okay.

  32:54-33:03

  Paul anticipated the same objection when he said in the rest of verse 15, if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

  33:04-33:24

  And he went on, only let us live up what we have already attained. Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do." Paul turns here to the careful imitation of our outline.

  33:26-33:39

  It sounds kind of confusing. On the one hand, he says, "I haven't attained my goal." But on the other, he says, "Let us live up to what we've attained." Well, what is it? What exactly have we all attained?

  33:42-34:04

  Why? Forgiveness of sins and God's unlimited mercy, abounding grace and steadfast love that endures forever. We've been adopted and united with Christ and in Him we sit at the right hand of God the Father. We've been raised with Christ and transferred to his kingdom of light.

  34:05-34:10

  Beloved, we've attained to everything and now we need to grow up into it.

  34:13-34:14

  How do we do that?

  34:16-34:20

  I mentioned earlier that it takes concerted striving to grow up in Christ.

  34:21-34:29

  We live up to what we've attained by studying the word, by doing it, such as pouring out forgiveness.

  34:33-34:36

  Pouring out mercy and grace and love for others.

  34:38-34:41

  And yes, to be in the process of shunning the world.

  34:42-34:45

  In short, to think and act like Jesus.

  34:46-34:51

  You know, we've had multiple excellent sermons about knowing Jesus and imitating Him.

  34:53-34:59

  So I'd recommend you review your notes and re-watch these messages listed here.

  35:00-35:01

  Go back and take a look.

  35:04-35:06

  Paul also says to be a copycat.

  35:07-35:09

  Look for and keep your eyes on mature believers.

  35:10-35:12

  Get their advice, their guidance.

  35:12-35:13

  Imitate them.

  35:14-35:18

  We have plenty of mature believers here at Harvest.

  35:18-35:22

  So find a mentor and ask for their help in prayers.

  35:24-35:26

  Study them, imitate them.

  35:29-35:33

  All right, so we've seen growing up involves exertion, right thinking, careful imitation.

  35:34-35:38

  Finally, growing up involves glorious transformation.

  35:40-35:45

  We've already seen the goal of pursuing maturity is knowing Christ more than anything else.

  35:47-35:52

  But you know, Paul doesn't want to wait until he's dead to know Christ.

  35:53-35:56

  No, he wants to know Him right now, right now.

  35:59-36:02

  But he concludes this passage by pointing out why maturity matters.

  36:05-36:06

  Look what he says in verse 18.

  36:08-36:14

  For as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

  36:15-36:16

  Their destiny is destruction.

  36:17-36:20

  Their God is their stomach, their glory is in their shame.

  36:21-36:23

  Their mind is set on earthly things.

  36:25-36:40

  But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

  36:42-36:43

  There's a sharp contrast here.

  36:44-36:50

  We might think that those who are living enemies of the cross of Christ are unbelievers.

  36:52-36:55

  It's more likely Paul is referring to people in the church.

  36:56-36:59

  Why else would his warning come with tears?

  37:02-37:07

  You see, these folks live as enemies of the cross because they're immersed in worldly, earthly things.

  37:07-37:10

  They love the world and all its crap.

  37:10-37:14

  They exult in their shame and in pursuing temporary pleasures.

  37:16-37:18

  and therefore their destiny is destruction.

  37:20-37:23

  And here, beloved, is why maturity matters.

  37:25-37:28

  When persecution comes, what will you do?

  37:31-37:42

  You're probably going like, "What? Persecution? What does this have to do with this message?" Well, remember where Paul is when he's writing this letter. He's in prison.

  37:44-37:48

  The church in Philippi was founded out of persecution.

  37:49-37:51

  Remember, he was locked in prison.

  37:52-37:54

  He was in the stocks with Silas.

  37:57-38:06

  And yet, the whole letter to the Philippians speaks of joy and thanksgiving and contentment.

  38:10-38:18

  In the light of persecution, Paul lives no differently for Christ.

  38:19-38:30

  Whether he's out walking free and preaching the gospel, or whether he's in prison, the gospel isn't chained. And my chains have resulted in glory to God.

  38:32-38:34

  He's already suffered the loss of all things.

  38:36-38:40

  He has nothing left to lose. Nothing can be taken away from him.

  38:41-38:46

  He doesn't care if he's being persecuted. To live is Christ, to die is gain.

  38:50-38:50

  Write that down.

  38:51-38:55

  Write that down in your notes. What will I do when persecution comes?

  38:57-39:00

  Those who are living as enemies of the cross will simply compromise.

  39:01-39:06

  It won't be difficult for them to do because they're already living there.

  39:07-39:23

  They won't count the cost, or they will count the cost and decide, "Hey, preserving my lives, preserving my reputation, preserving my creature comforts are of greater value than following Jesus." They will be unwilling to count all things as lost.

  39:26-39:27

  But what about me?

  39:27-39:33

  When persecution comes, will I compromise to save my stuff, my reputation, and maybe even save my skin?

  39:35-39:36

  You know they're burning churches in Canada?

  39:38-39:38

  Canada!

  39:41-39:44

  Will I be numbered with those whose destiny is destruction?

  39:45-39:48

  Or will I gladly suffer the loss of all things for the cross of Christ?

  39:50-39:54

  You will if you're striving to be mature.

  39:57-40:01

  As he said, Paul did not care that he lost all things because of what he had gained.

  40:02-40:03

  I know Jesus, I'm becoming like Jesus.

  40:04-40:10

  I'm obtaining a citizenship in heaven, where one day I will see Jesus face to face.

  40:12-40:14

  Beloved, these precious promises are for us as well.

  40:15-40:22

  We are citizens of heaven, and Jesus is going to return for us and transform us into his glorious likeness.

  40:24-40:31

  In Philippians 4, verse one, Paul concludes his exhortation to press on to maturity.

  40:32-40:37

  And in keeping with his athletic imagery, he brings us to the top of the victor's podium.

  40:38-40:39

  Look what he says.

  40:39-40:54

  He says, "Therefore my brothers and sisters, "you whom I love and long for, "my joy and my crown, "stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends." Beloved, we will stand firm by doing these things.

  40:54-40:58

  We will not be caught up in the world or live in fear of anything.

  40:59-41:06

  Instead, as citizens of heaven, we will press on to maturity in Christ and the prize of knowing him and being like him forever.

  41:09-41:24

  Paul used similar imagery in his letter to the Ephesians where he urged them to attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

  41:25-41:29

  And he prayed for them that they may be filled with all the fullness of God.

  41:31-41:32

  Beloved, make that your goal.

  41:35-41:44

  We have thoroughly examined Paul's example of counting all things as loss, of strenuously forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead.

  41:46-41:51

  Glorious transformation into the fullness of Christ, into all the fullness of God.

  41:53-41:54

  There is nothing better.

  41:55-41:58

  There is no more worthy way to live your life.

  41:59-42:03

  So why don't you grow up and become just like your Father?

  42:04-42:05

  Let's pray.

  42:07-42:26

  Oh, glorious Father, our great God, You who have loved us and saved us through our Lord Jesus Christ, help us by Your Holy Spirit to grow up in Him, to be imitators of Him in all we think and do and say.

  42:29-42:38

  Help us, Father, to be daily busy at this work, at this task.

  42:40-42:41

  There is nothing better for us to do.

  42:43-42:45

  We are confident of this.

  42:46-42:55

  You will help us and transform us until that great day when we see our Lord Jesus face to face.

  42:57-42:58

  In His name we pray, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Philippians 3:12-4:1

1. What is one thing that God revealed to you personally during the sermon?
   

2. Do you pursue Jesus as zealously as you once pursued sin? Why is it difficult for us to do that?
   

3. What comes to mind when you think of maturity? What do you think of Jesus’s perspective on maturity (Matthew 19:22)?
   

4. It was said during the message that a good starting point for evaluating what we value is that “everything is crap” and “everything about us and our values is wrong.” What do you think about those statements?
   

5. What does the process of sorting through your values look like for you? (1 Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23)?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Finding Joy in Work

Introduction:

We Have Joy in Work Because...
(Ecclesiastes 3:9-15)

1. It is a Gift from God. (Eccl 3:13b)
2. We are Made for working. (Eccl 3:10-11a)
3. It leads us to the "Big Picture".
   (Eccl 3:11b,14-15)

3 Ways Eternity Changes Our Work:

1. It changes our Mindsets of why we work.
2. It keeps work in its Proper Perspective .
3. It helps us to Reevaluate our work.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:38-00:39

  Happy 4th of July.

  00:40-00:49

  I know a lot of people with it being the 4th of July might be distracted right now, thinking about their cookouts or the parades that are coming up or fireworks, right?

  00:50-00:55

  So I want to open up in a word of prayer so that we can clear our heads of these distractions.

  00:55-00:55

  All right?

  00:58-01:00

  So Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.

  01:00-01:02

  We thank you for our nation and our independence.

  01:03-01:07

  And at this moment God, we ask that you help us to put away distractions.

  01:08-01:14

  You help us to instead focus on your Word right now, as we dig in, as we see what you have for us.

  01:15-01:21

  To glean from it truths that we can apply to our lives, and help us in our walk with you.

  01:22-01:25

  We thank you God. We pray this in your Son, Jesus' name. Amen.

  01:28-01:32

  So, some of you might see, I brought my posse with me.

  01:32-01:44

  I have my parents, I have my Jersey parents, I have my older sister and their family here, and I do have an older brother as well, but he is not here.

  01:45-01:47

  So where does that leave me in the hierarchy of my family?

  01:48-01:49

  Well, I'm the baby, right?

  01:50-02:44

  And I don't think I have to sell anybody on the fact that babies have it the best in the families. Despite that, there is one major setback being the baby of the family. One major setback. You get to see your siblings do everything before you get to do it, right? Things like graduating, you know, maybe going to college, doing all the exciting things in life, right? And one of those things for me that I was really jealous about initially was when I saw my brother get a job. My brother got a job at Viola's in Evans City and I just remember being so jealous because he was now making the big bucks. Minimum wage or not, it was far beyond the going rate at home for our allowance. I'm sorry mom and dad.

  02:46-02:53

  But a few years later I got to live that dream. I got a job at Sherwood retirement community as a server in the dining room.

  02:54-03:01

  And I worked there for five years of my life before I graduated college and got my first big boy job.

  03:02-03:13

  And thinking back on that first job, I remember being so excited for my first days there and conversely I was also equally as excited when I put my two weeks notice in.

  03:14-03:49

  At that point I was saying sayonara, I'm off to bigger and better things and to more important work. Now my excitement there was mainly rooted in the fact that you know I got a job that dealt with my college degree but I was also excited because I left what I felt to be a dead-end job. Right at that time I had no satisfaction in that work and there was no more happiness. Right I stayed there in college more so out of obligation because I had been there for about a quarter of my life. But at the end, I dreaded being put on that schedule.

  03:51-04:20

  Now the funny thing about my first job though is that it's definitely the most memorable one. I wasn't in charge of any big decisions at work and the work I did there was far easier than anything I've done subsequently. And as much as I was eager to leave Sherwood Oaks, I remember having a lot of fun, being really exciting and how joyful some of those days were. I want everyone here to think about your first job, right? Think about that.

  04:21-04:31

  All the different characters and just the situations and hijinks that you got yourself into. Isn't it memorable? Isn't it fun to think about those prior days?

  04:33-04:43

  I remember at Sherwood Oaks whenever I got there and I got to see that I was runner, right? And if my boy Ryan was the expedited busser, I knew it was going to and it was going to be a good day.

  04:44-04:48

  And after the shift, we got to eat all the leftover, unserved food.

  04:49-04:51

  I remember eating my paycheck in scallops one night.

  04:52-04:52

  (Laughter)

  04:52-04:53

  That was amazing.

  04:55-05:00

  But fast forward to today, I work at a financial institution, and I get to do some cool things, right?

  05:00-05:07

  I make a good wage, and the work is satisfying, but it doesn't have the spark of that first job.

  05:07-05:16

  In fact, as I've gotten older and I've chased the career path, moved jobs, and even gotten promotions, there hasn't been that same level of happiness and excitement.

  05:17-05:20

  My job is mainly for a paycheck, right?

  05:20-05:24

  I work to provide, but my joy is lacking.

  05:25-05:27

  And maybe you're in the same boat as me, right?

  05:27-05:31

  Nice job, you're comfortable, the work brings home the bacon, but not the joy.

  05:33-05:34

  So what do we do in that situation?

  05:35-05:37

  Do we split and search for the next thing?

  05:38-05:41

  Do we hunker down and reevaluate where God has us right now?

  05:42-05:43

  How do we stay happy at work?

  05:44-05:46

  How do we find joy in work?

  05:46-05:48

  Should we find joy in work?

  05:49-05:53

  Now, before half of you check out, hold up, wait a minute.

  05:53-06:04

  I want to take everyone along for this ride, because work does not equal having a 9 to 5, 40 hours a week, paid bi-weekly with medical and dental benefits job.

  06:05-06:10

  Whether you know it or not, nearly everyone works, and is therefore a worker.

  06:11-06:21

  Work is broadly defined as a physical or mental activity directed towards the production or accomplishment of something, fulfilling duties, laboring, toiling, exerting energy.

  06:22-06:25

  Because besides my main job, I work at my home.

  06:26-06:29

  When things break or need repaired, I work to fix them.

  06:30-06:32

  When the yard needs maintained, I work outside.

  06:33-06:38

  And at the church, when AV stuff needs done, I work to do that thing.

  06:39-06:45

  But my view of work and what falls under that domain is just a tiny sliver of what constitutes what work is.

  06:47-06:52

  I think about my wife Jessica and the stuff that she does - maintaining the home, feeding our family, raising our children.

  06:53-06:57

  She's toiling, she's exerting energy to accomplish something, so she's working.

  06:58-06:59

  She is a worker.

  07:01-07:06

  So you might be a mom or dad, at home with your young kids, feeding, nourishing, and pouring all you can into them.

  07:07-07:07

  You're a worker.

  07:09-07:12

  You might be a missionary, spreading God's word to remote regions of the world.

  07:13-07:13

  A worker.

  07:14-07:18

  You might be a student, studying for a degree or practicing under an apprenticeship.

  07:19-07:19

  A worker.

  07:21-07:26

  You might be like me, have a part-time or full-time job or self-employed, using whatever skill set you have to earn a paycheck.

  07:27-07:28

  A worker.

  07:30-07:42

  But there are special circumstances, I'll admit, where someone is unable to work due to either disability or other circumstances, but nearly everyone has the ability to work in either a physical or mental capacity.

  07:44-07:49

  So what are some of the word associations that we have with work, with the term "work" and "worker"?

  07:50-07:52

  I already dropped a few earlier.

  07:52-07:57

  Toil, exertion, labor, maybe back-breaking, sweat.

  07:58-08:01

  Are the real Debbie Downers in the room necessary evil?

  08:03-08:05

  But what about the word "joy"?

  08:07-08:09

  Is that word association even in the top 100?

  08:10-08:12

  Probably not, at least not for most of us.

  08:14-08:18

  Unfortunately, work typically has a negative connotation associated with it.

  08:18-08:21

  It's something we do out of necessity, and it often isn't easy.

  08:22-08:23

  And I'm not here to discredit those facts.

  08:23-08:27

  That's often the nature of work, especially living in a fallen world.

  08:27-08:31

  Right, sin warped and destroyed God's original intentions for work.

  08:32-08:41

  Despite the current conditions of this world, that does not mean that we can't have good connotations associated with work as God originally intended.

  08:42-08:47

  And that's what we're gonna focus on today, finding joy in our work.

  08:48-08:51

  So we're gonna be in Ecclesiastes 3, 9 through 15 today.

  08:52-08:59

  So I want you to go ahead and exert some energy, work to turn the page or swipe on your phone, and we'll be in scripture shortly.

  09:02-09:04

  So joy, work.

  09:05-09:08

  I'm sure many of us do have work that we find fun or joyful.

  09:08-09:12

  Could be a hobby or a part-time job we really enjoy.

  09:12-09:16

  So I'd say there's always work that we can find and label as bringing us joy.

  09:18-09:22

  But often there's a majority of work that we pile into that necessary evil category.

  09:24-09:27

  Maybe you don't really like your job, you're just there for the paycheck.

  09:27-09:34

  Or if you work around the home, I mean, laundry day, can't wait to watch "Clothes" for the billionth time.

  09:36-09:37

  Or even doing missions work, right?

  09:37-09:40

  I can't imagine it being joyful doing the fundraising aspect of that.

  09:41-09:43

  Getting ghosted on calls and ignored.

  09:44-09:49

  Or for the students out there, I mean, what joy it is to study for the next exam, right?

  09:51-09:58

  So while we are familiar with joyful work, what can we do to extend that into the rest of what we do?

  10:00-10:03

  Let's go to God's word and see what he has to say about that.

  10:03-10:06

  Again, we're in Ecclesiastes 3 and starting in verse 9.

  10:07-10:09

  What gain has the worker from his toil?

  10:10-10:13

  I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

  10:14-10:16

  He has made everything beautiful in its time.

  10:16-10:23

  Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

  10:24-10:32

  I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live, also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.

  10:33-10:35

  This is God's gift to man.

  10:35-10:38

  I perceive that whatever God does endures forever.

  10:38-10:41

  Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it.

  10:41-10:50

  God has done it so that people fear before him, that which is to be already has been, And God seeks what has been driven away.

  10:53-10:55

  So what a way to start off this scripture, right?

  10:55-10:56

  With an existential crisis.

  10:58-11:00

  What gain has a worker from his toil?

  11:01-11:02

  But this is a valid question.

  11:03-11:07

  I'm sure many of us have asked ourselves in regards to our work or working.

  11:08-11:09

  Why am I doing this?

  11:09-11:10

  What purpose does it have?

  11:10-11:11

  What is the point?

  11:11-11:13

  Why am I breaking my neck for this?

  11:14-11:16

  Why am I fighting this battle?

  11:17-11:26

  And just being completely transparent, I was asking myself these questions earlier in the year and was primarily the reason why I selected this passage.

  11:27-11:29

  Work was pounding me and I was feeling lost.

  11:30-11:31

  You ever have those days?

  11:34-11:43

  One thing after another, a mistake here, a setback there, or maybe there's something else going on in your life that's giving you stress.

  11:44-11:49

  Kids acting up, car issues, bad weather ruining an outdoor event.

  11:51-11:56

  See, there's a lot of things beyond our control that cause us to lose joy in our work.

  11:57-11:59

  It can be overwhelming, right?

  11:59-12:08

  And there are things that are unexpected that instantly suck any prior joy from your life, things outside of our direct work.

  12:09-12:16

  Right? This might be kind of an extreme example, But in March of this year, right, that pounding

  12:16-12:17

  [Pounding]

  12:19-12:21

  became the heartbeat of our unborn daughter, Francesca.

  12:22-12:22

  [Pounding]

  12:23-12:24

  And at 22 weeks,

  12:25-12:25

  [Pounding]

  12:26-12:27

  it stopped.

  12:28-12:28

  [Pounding]

  12:29-12:30

  We had no say in that.

  12:31-12:31

  No control.

  12:32-12:33

  [Pounding]

  12:33-12:49

  That situation and that event only exacerbated the question, "What is the point of my toil?" Well the answer to this question is addressed in verse 12 and 13 and encompasses all types of work and workers.

  12:50-12:56

  Again verse 12 reads, "I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live.

  12:57-13:04

  Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in his toil." So what gain is there from our work?

  13:05-13:09

  answer comes to being joyful, doing good and taking pleasure in our work, right?

  13:09-13:12

  End a sermon. You have joy because darn it, thus says the Lord.

  13:14-13:32

  But we're human, right? We seek a deeper answer than that, right? I mean, I remember growing up and asking my parents questions like, you know, the "why" questions. Why is this? Why is that? And initially you get like valid responses to begin with, but then once you keep digging further, it always devolves into to "because I said so," right?

  13:33-13:35

  Doesn't this seem like a "because I said so" type of response?

  13:37-13:41

  So what is the practical answer to be joyful and finding joy in all our work?

  13:41-13:44

  How do we stay motivated and keep wanting to work?

  13:46-13:53

  Luckily for us, the rest of this passage offers verses that can give us insight and address our concerns.

  13:54-14:01

  So on your outline, we have joy in work because, number one, It is a gift from God.

  14:04-14:07

  This is the part that was tagged onto the end of verse 13.

  14:08-14:12

  Taking pleasure in our toil, being joyful, that is a gift from God.

  14:13-14:14

  So what does that mean?

  14:15-14:19

  How does knowing that this is a gift from God cause us to have joy in work?

  14:21-14:23

  Well, God has blessed humanity with many gifts.

  14:24-14:56

  And his gifts serve a purpose and should provide us earthly pleasure, satisfaction and joy, right? Work being a gift from God should provide us earthly pleasure, satisfaction, and joy. And to help us understand this concept a little better, I want to take a look at some of God's other gifts and see if this holds true, right? Marriage. Marriage is a gift from God. It is something that He instructs us to do. It serves a purpose to unify a man and a woman, to We create a family unit where both sides complement each other.

  14:57-15:03

  And when done according to God's plan, it brings us earthly pleasure, satisfaction, and joy.

  15:05-15:05

  Sex.

  15:06-15:07

  Sex is a gift from God.

  15:07-15:09

  It's something he instructs married folks to do.

  15:10-15:16

  It serves a purpose, obviously, to create children, but also to draw a married couple together as one.

  15:16-15:20

  Sex provides us earthly pleasure, satisfaction, and joy.

  15:21-15:22

  Food.

  15:22-15:23

  Food is a gift from God.

  15:24-15:36

  It's something we kind of have to partake unless we die, but it serves a purpose to provide our bodies with energy, but also has good things like taste, and is a way for us to fellowship and commune with others.

  15:37-15:42

  So food as a gift provides earthly pleasure, satisfaction, and joy.

  15:45-15:46

  So coming back to work, right?

  15:47-15:48

  There is purpose to our work.

  15:50-15:54

  And depending on what you do for work, it can be pretty easy to see the direct implications for it.

  15:55-16:02

  Like the nine-to-fiver or part-time worker does it for a paycheck, the stay-at-home parent does it to raise children, the missionary does it to spread God's word.

  16:03-16:05

  Those are the purposes that we see.

  16:06-16:15

  But often there are purposes beyond our privy, purposes that God in his infinite wisdom has for us, but we don't see immediately.

  16:17-16:24

  Perhaps the work that he has us doing is developing our skills and our character to make us more useful for his purposes.

  16:26-16:33

  Or maybe our work is a way for us to get around others, others outside our sphere of influence so that we can minister to them.

  16:34-16:41

  Work also can be a welcome distraction from stressful situations or other things going on in our lives.

  16:42-16:45

  But ultimately, work is to fulfill his will.

  16:46-16:51

  And in that knowledge, we can have joy in knowing that we served his purposes.

  16:53-17:00

  Now I can only speak from my experiences, but I know I've had plenty of times when that joy is always in hindsight, right?

  17:00-17:04

  When I'm in the thick of work, it's difficult to see that purpose and joy.

  17:05-17:10

  And I don't want this to be a cop-out, but this is where a bit of faith comes in.

  17:11-17:15

  God told us that work is a gift so we can know our striving is not in vain.

  17:16-17:20

  You kind of have to go into your work with that attitude, and knowing that God has a purpose for it.

  17:21-17:28

  See, to me, that's the best way to set yourself up to be joyful, even when your work doesn't immediately seem that way.

  17:30-17:36

  And one other thing I want to mention about God's gifts is that man is pretty good at corrupting.

  17:37-17:47

  When we try to find purpose beyond his, we override the meaning of our work to begin to believe the idea that work isn't a gift from God.

  17:48-17:56

  Just like marriage, just like sex and food, we do a good job at warping and destroying God's original intentions for his gifts.

  17:57-18:00

  Marriage turns into a nagging burden and a trap we can't wait to escape.

  18:01-18:06

  Sex becomes a perverted, warped fetish that entraps men and women in habitual sin.

  18:06-18:10

  Food becomes gluttony and temporary pleasure to escape bigger problems.

  18:11-18:13

  Work too is easily corrupted.

  18:14-18:17

  It can turn into an idol and a trap that enslaves us.

  18:17-18:24

  A constant drive to earn money, to look out for our own interests, and become self-centered in our accomplishments and recognition.

  18:26-18:33

  Even parents or folks that think they have good intentions get sucked into false purposes.

  18:34-18:40

  Their work takes over their lives and they no longer have fellowship with their family, with their spouses, and especially God.

  18:42-18:49

  But just because we see this around us every day and many fall into that trap, it doesn't mean God's purposes are still not fulfilled.

  18:50-19:02

  Right? That's one of the beauties in serving and submitting under an all-knowing sovereign God. He can take that mistake and use it as a learning opportunity, a way to bring our perspective back into his view.

  19:03-19:16

  And if you're seeing somebody go through that, it's a stark reminder that When you fall into that trap, when you let work become your idol, it is a way to just suck the joy from our work.

  19:17-19:22

  So we need to have a proper perspective on work being a gift from God.

  19:24-19:34

  We have joy in our work because it is a gift, and the second reason why we have joy in our work is because number two, we are made for working.

  19:36-19:42

  Picking up again in verse 10. "I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

  19:42-19:50

  He has made everything beautiful in its time." So this point goes a bit hand-in-hand with the first one.

  19:51-20:01

  Because work being a gift from God, he follows that up by equipping us to carry out the purposes of his work and the actions of working.

  20:02-20:30

  Right, think about this. If we go back to Genesis, You know the first thing we see God doing is creating the universe the earth and everything in it right six days where the Lord is working And on that last day God creates man, and he creates us in his image So you know what do we just see God do work, and he created us in his image, so You know why wouldn't we not be made to do the same thing?

  20:31-20:34

  And work isn't a bad thing either, right?

  20:34-20:38

  It's not like work was a form of punishment that came as a result of the fall.

  20:39-20:41

  You know, Adam actually had the first job.

  20:42-20:45

  God created the creatures and he brought them to Adam to name.

  20:47-20:50

  And he also had work in maintaining the Garden of Eden.

  20:50-20:56

  It wasn't until the fall and when the curse came into the world when work became a burden.

  20:58-21:01

  See, God always had in his mind that his creation would be doing stuff.

  21:01-21:04

  We would be working, even in eternity, right?

  21:04-21:05

  We're gonna be working there.

  21:06-21:08

  Some of us are gonna need to find new jobs.

  21:10-21:18

  No more pastors, no more lawyers, no more doctors, but we will be serving in eternity and serving for God's purposes.

  21:20-21:23

  And what exactly that looks like is definitely gonna be different.

  21:24-21:31

  And if you have any questions about this, you just missed our Q&A day last week, but it sounds like a great opportunity for the next time.

  21:33-21:36

  But why have joy in this fact that we were made to work?

  21:38-21:40

  Well, it shows that God equips us, right?

  21:40-21:42

  We aren't helpless or left to be overrun.

  21:42-21:47

  He engineered us with capable bodies and minds to fulfill the assignments He's given us.

  21:49-21:52

  Just look at the human body and how amazing it is, right?

  21:52-22:01

  We have opposable thumbs, we balance on two feet, we have voices to communicate, and minds that can think of all sorts of clever solutions and ways to go about working.

  22:02-22:18

  I think about the technology advancements we've seen over the recent years, and just how we as people can live to be 70, 80, 90 years old and spend that entire time working and being productive for His purposes. That is joyful.

  22:19-22:21

  And that's why you should find joy in your work.

  22:21-22:26

  The assignments God has given for you are because they are made for you.

  22:26-22:36

  You might be stretched or pushed beyond your comfort level, but isn't it joyful in knowing God has personally given each and every one of us assignments?

  22:37-22:42

  If we take a look at our church family here, there's many people here with a myriad of talents.

  22:43-22:47

  People with different levels of dexterity, patience, comprehension, and strength.

  22:48-22:55

  And each of those allow us to flourish in different work environments, different assignments, and in different ministry callings.

  22:56-22:59

  See, I work in the AV booth, right?

  22:59-23:03

  And I do that because I like to nerd out and do tech stuff.

  23:04-23:06

  Do not put me back in children's.

  23:06-23:07

  (audience laughing)

  23:07-23:10

  I say that both for my sake and for your child's.

  23:11-23:14

  Do I wish I was equipped to handle children's?

  23:15-23:17

  Sure, but that's not how God engineered me.

  23:18-23:23

  And I'm thankful that we have people like Mandy, Ryan, Kristen, and others that are equipped in that way.

  23:26-23:33

  You know, it can be easy instead to get desensitized on how wonderfully and fearfully we are individually made.

  23:34-23:39

  Instead, we focus on how weak and incapable we might be, and how someone else is better equipped, right?

  23:39-23:41

  Stronger, faster, smarter, whatever.

  23:42-23:46

  No, stop comparing, stop sabotaging your joy.

  23:46-23:51

  You are made specifically, You are equipped purposefully.

  23:53-24:02

  One last thing I want to mention about this topic is that just because you are equipped, it does not make you obligated.

  24:03-24:05

  I want to repeat that and I'll explain what I mean.

  24:06-24:10

  Just because you're equipped, it does not make you obligated.

  24:12-24:15

  See, this is another joy-robbing trap that I see people falling into.

  24:15-24:18

  People at our church, I myself have done it, right?

  24:18-24:22

  I think almost everyone has done it at least once in their life, right?

  24:22-24:27

  Saying yes to every request under the sun or feeling like you must do something because you can.

  24:28-24:36

  Now, there are circumstances where you have to step up, where you are called to that, and I'm not discrediting that.

  24:37-24:46

  But the people that take on work over and over and over again, maybe initially you can weather that storm, you can weather an increased workload.

  24:47-24:54

  But if you keep grinding on and on, often this will lead to bitterness, resentment, and a calloused heart towards the work you're doing.

  24:56-25:00

  If you remember verse 13, there's that eat and drink and take pleasure part.

  25:01-25:03

  We can't do that if you're always working.

  25:04-25:06

  So just be aware of this pitfall.

  25:06-25:09

  We don't wanna get burned out on the work gift.

  25:09-25:12

  There are plenty of other of God's gifts to partake in.

  25:15-25:17

  So we have joy because God has equipped us, right?

  25:17-25:18

  We are made for working.

  25:19-25:28

  But the third and most important reason why we have joy in our work is because, number three, it leads us to the big picture.

  25:31-25:34

  Second half of verse 11, then I'll read 14 and 15 again.

  25:35-25:46

  "Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, "yet so that he cannot find out what God has done "from the beginning to the end." And in 14, "I perceive that whatever God does "endures forever.

  25:46-25:48

  "Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it.

  25:49-25:51

  "God has done it so that people fear before him.

  25:51-26:03

  "That which is already has been, "that which is to be already has been, "and God seeks what has been driven away." See, up until now, I've been talking mainly about earthly things, right?

  26:04-26:07

  Working at a job, at home, on the mission field, at school, wherever.

  26:08-26:14

  I've been trying to make a case of why we can be joyful in our earthly work.

  26:15-26:27

  Well, while we can find pleasure and satisfaction and joy here, we must understand that eternity is the end state of everyone's soul.

  26:28-26:36

  The work we do on Earth is just like our lives here, fleeting, and just brief wisps compared to our eternal state.

  26:38-26:43

  See, God never meant for us to achieve total satisfaction in our earthly work.

  26:44-26:51

  Right, I mean, I compare this similarly to how the law leads us to a need of a savior in Jesus Christ.

  26:52-26:57

  The work we do on earth leads us to a craving of more, right, the big picture.

  26:58-27:01

  We started with that question earlier, what gain has a worker from his toil?

  27:02-27:14

  And there was that earthly answer, pleasure, satisfaction, joy, but there's still the hardship, there's still toil, there's still thistles and thorns to contend with.

  27:16-27:22

  So I think the better answer is coming to the realization about God's sovereignty and eternity.

  27:24-27:32

  The ideas that work is a gift and that we're equipped for it means that we have an eternal creator who's given purpose in everything.

  27:33-27:37

  I mean, we aren't always privy to his knowledge and his reasons, right?

  27:37-27:45

  If we look at verse 11, it says, "In our hearts, we know about eternity, "but we don't have God's view." We don't know the beginning from the end.

  27:47-27:57

  I'm sure there's many great assumptions you can come up with as to why God wants us to work here or there or wherever, but in the end, it's out of our control.

  27:58-28:08

  And in verses 14 and 15, this further solidifies that our work here, in a way, is just a reflection of what God has already done or what he will do.

  28:09-28:13

  There isn't anything we're going to do that's gonna catch God off guard.

  28:16-28:20

  That being said, this concept might make some of you anxious.

  28:22-28:26

  But to me, this brings joy because no matter what we do, God is in complete control.

  28:27-28:32

  And knowing that the work that we do here isn't everything, that's a comfort.

  28:33-28:39

  we aren't all equally gifted with the same type of work, or equally equipped in our bodies and minds.

  28:41-28:44

  But eternity, that is the great equalizer.

  28:46-28:54

  So you might be struggling day in and day out with the work you do, or maybe you're one of those rare few that really love everything that you do about all the work that you do.

  28:55-28:56

  Props there.

  28:57-29:00

  The point is, there is an end state of eternity.

  29:01-29:08

  where all burdensome, tiring, hard work is gonna be gone and replaced with serving the Lord.

  29:11-29:12

  So we're kind of in this odd tension.

  29:13-29:14

  Do I need to go to work?

  29:15-29:17

  Mike just said that God's gonna take care of everything.

  29:18-29:21

  So, well, yes, you do need to work here, right?

  29:21-29:22

  We still need to work.

  29:22-29:25

  We're not robots, we're not programmatically going around feeding ourselves.

  29:26-29:30

  And God still uses us on this earth to achieve his purposes, here and now.

  29:31-29:34

  So what can we do instead with this knowledge, right?

  29:35-29:36

  What can we take away from this?

  29:37-29:45

  Well, what we can do is instead take away some changes we can make to our work now that we have a focus on eternity.

  29:47-29:53

  So I'm going to go through three new points, semi-quickly, on how eternity changes our work.

  29:54-30:31

  So letter A, the first way eternity changes our work we work. Having an eternal focus means that we're more concerned with God's intentions for our work versus the earthly things. And not, again, not putting those things completely aside, but it helps us to find joy in our work and purpose that isn't just skin-deep, things that we think about. When you have an eternal mindset, you can ask those deeper questions about your work and how God can help you figure out if you're doing what he wants you to do.

  30:32-30:40

  It can also help soften your heart to bitterness you have at work, or to help you focus on areas where you struggle to find joy in your work.

  30:42-30:46

  See, as Christians, Jesus gave us the great commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations.

  30:47-30:51

  This is the work God is most concerned about, his eternal work.

  30:52-31:02

  Right, if we're able to see the relationship that our work has with His work, and how what we're doing is supporting that, that is where we'll find the most joy.

  31:04-31:23

  Not everything we do is gonna have a clear implication of how this relates to Kingdom work, making another meal or taking the kids to school, but if you can piece together all those little bits of your life and see if the culmination of what you do is to fulfill His purpose, that's where you'll find joy.

  31:25-31:33

  Letter B, another way that eternity changes our work, is it keeps work in its proper perspective.

  31:36-31:44

  See, I mentioned earlier that work can become an idol, but if we have an eternal mindset, that really shouldn't be the case for us.

  31:44-31:47

  Work is a gift and should be treated as such.

  31:47-32:20

  We don't overindulge in it, seeking to use work to replace our relationships with God and family with it. And knowing that our work isn't going to completely satisfy us here, why don't we reach for the stuff that will? Prayer, God's Word, and a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now there are reasons when work might become a priority in your life, but it should only be temporary. Deadlines approaching are critical timeliness factors, I get that.

  32:22-32:30

  But we shouldn't get into the habit of making work, or making excuses, rather, on why work is more important than everything else.

  32:32-32:52

  Just a small example in my own life, and something I've been having to catch myself doing, is ensuring that I spend enough time with my wife and kids when they ask, even if it's in the middle of work, or when I have those work things on my mind, projects around the house or other work-related things that I need to do.

  32:54-32:57

  And I think this is a discipline we all need to be conscious of.

  32:58-33:04

  Putting work aside at times and ensuring it hierarchically doesn't take over our lives.

  33:07-33:16

  And the final way that eternity changes our work, letter C, it helps us, rather, to re-evaluate our work.

  33:18-33:26

  Now this point might apply more to work that we would consider a job, but it can also apply to the favors that we might do for one another.

  33:28-33:32

  See, there's a lot of jobs out there that aren't specifically kingdom-focused.

  33:35-33:41

  What I do, for example, I wouldn't say that's a kingdom-focused job, but at the same time, it's not anti-kingdom.

  33:43-33:56

  But there are jobs that do fall into that gray area, that fall into this, "Am I doing this for God's glorification?" There's even jobs that are clearly anti-kingdom.

  33:57-34:02

  Working a call center scam, drug dealing, crime, that's not really God's work there.

  34:04-34:08

  But what about working at a liquor store or a casino?

  34:10-34:17

  The question that we should be asking ourselves is, Is the work we're doing glorifying to God?

  34:18-34:28

  Are we hurting the world or are we able to use our work to bring about His mission to be a shining light in darkness and help folks understand the truth about eternity?

  34:31-34:38

  You know, for those prior two examples I just mentioned, the liquor store and casino, I'd have to say no.

  34:39-34:56

  It's not God-glorifying work. Those businesses cater to sin tendencies. I mean, that's just kind of part of the job in the industry. If you're serious about God-glorifying work, you need to move on. "That's great, Mike. I'm just going to quit my job tomorrow." Right? On to where?

  34:57-35:27

  Well, hear me out. A great resource we have is our church family. I specifically know three people, close friends that have gotten jobs or different jobs through others in the church, jobs with businesses or people that love God, glorify Him, and those jobs provide them joy. Right? Our family here, our church family, is a passionate group of people that can help in all aspects of our lives, work included.

  35:30-36:01

  See, coming to Jesus and embracing His will, you know, it's not always going to be easy. You know, you might have to make very drastic changes in your lives. But these are changes that we have to make as we strive towards our own sanctification and our desire to become salt and light. But as we turn over all aspects of our lives to God. To His will, work included, joy will abound.

  36:04-37:24

  We talked about work, talked about joy. It's not always an easy relationship for us to see. And I realize that with work being such a broad topic, I might not have answered the specific questions that you have or concerns or address individual situations that might be robbing you of joy from your work. But God has given us his word, right? There are many, many other verses, other stories and scenarios and things that God uses in his scripture to speak to you, to help you through those specific situations. Things that you are going through that are robbing you of your joy. And I would encourage you to read and also discuss and your small groups. What's robbing you of your joy? But I do hope though that these verses in Ecclesiastes help encourage you in seeing that work is a good thing. It's something that we can find joy in. It is a gift from God and we're made and equipped for it. But ultimately it should lead us to the big picture of eternity. We're in the arms of Christ. We find never-ending joy. Let's Heavenly Father, I thank you for this time.

  37:24-37:31

  I thank you for this church and all the work that you've given us in the church, outside of the church, in our homes.

  37:32-37:35

  It's how we have purpose in everything that we do.

  37:36-37:40

  And it's not always easy, God, but we can find joy in every aspect of our work.

  37:42-37:42

  You are there.

  37:43-37:56

  It's just a matter of seeing your presence, God, and realizing that you've equipped us, you've gifted this to us, and that we can take pleasure and satisfaction.

  37:58-38:12

  God, I thank you also for your plan of eternity, that one day we will be with you in heaven, serving you in unending joy. Thank you, God, for this truth. Thank you for this word.

  38:12-38:16

  God, we pray this all in your Son, Jesus Christ's name.

  38:17-38:17

  Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

1. What is one thing that God revealed to you personally during the sermon?
   

2. How does God’s view of work allow you to be joyful in your toil?
   

3. Why do we not have total satisfaction in our earthy work? What about people who are seemingly closest to God’s work (pastors, missionaries, evangelists, etc.)?
   

4. Why should eternity have such a strong influence over our work?
   

5. What changes can you make, in your mindset or circumstances, to bring joy in all your work?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Do It Afraid

Introduction:

Do It Afraid: (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Isaiah 43:18-19 - "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way..."

God's timing is just as important as His direction.

Ezekiel 37:14b (NIV) - "Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!"

Matthew 6:26 (NIV) - "Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

When God guides, He will always provide.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:06

  In your Bibles, Isaiah 43, 18 through 19, it's gonna come up on the screens as well.

  00:06-00:08

  I wanna read here what God said.

  00:10-00:14

  Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.

  00:14-00:17

  See, I'm doing a new thing, now it springs up.

  00:17-00:19

  Do you not perceive it?

  00:20-00:21

  I am making a way.

  00:22-00:22

  Let me pray for us.

  00:23-00:38

  God, this is a Scripture passage that is near and dear, And God, I pray that we would hear from Heaven today as I share my testimony of what You have done and what You are doing.

  00:38-00:46

  I pray, God, that You would use the words of this testimony we just sang about it, that we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb.

  00:46-00:48

  Didn't even know we were singing this song this morning.

  00:49-00:51

  We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb.

  00:51-00:52

  That has already happened.

  00:52-00:56

  Jesus shedding His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

  00:57-00:58

  Each and every one of us here.

  00:59-01:02

  we will also overcome by the words of our testimony.

  01:03-01:05

  So God, I pray that that would ring true today.

  01:05-01:08

  In Jesus' name, I say these things.

  01:08-01:08

  Amen.

  01:09-01:13

  So here this morning is not going to be so much of a sermon.

  01:14-01:21

  This is going to really kind of be a testimony of what God has done in Erica and my life.

  01:21-01:37

  And yes, I'm going to have the Scripture passages and going to have hopefully some encouragement for you here today, but I've just been wanting to tell this story because this story is crazy of what God has done in my life.

  01:38-01:39

  And so I want to introduce you.

  01:39-01:41

  This is my wife, Erica, right over here.

  01:42-01:44

  Can you stand up or wave or whatever?

  01:45-01:45

  There she is.

  01:46-01:50

  So Erica and I, born and raised right here in Pittsburgh.

  01:51-01:55

  You know, in fact, we've got some family in the room today.

  01:55-01:58

  And we met at college.

  01:59-02:00

  Went to Geneva College together.

  02:01-02:05

  Ever since we met, man, we've been doing ministry together for 25 years.

  02:05-02:07

  We've been married almost 22 years now.

  02:07-02:12

  And we've served all of those years together in the local church.

  02:13-02:19

  Like as pastoral ministry, student ministry, adult ministry within the local church.

  02:19-02:26

  In the last 13, as Jeff said, man, I've had the opportunity to be the pastor of Northway Christian Community.

  02:26-02:27

  Love our church.

  02:28-02:30

  It's still our home church.

  02:30-02:37

  But it was about 10 years into serving at Northway that something began to change inside of me.

  02:37-02:40

  Now, my role didn't change at the church.

  02:40-02:43

  I was still the campus pastor over here.

  02:43-02:46

  My responsibilities at the church, they didn't change at all.

  02:47-02:50

  I just knew something was happening inside of me.

  02:50-02:51

  I like to call it my knower.

  02:53-02:56

  I just knew in my knower that God was up to something.

  02:56-03:00

  Maybe some of you have ever had that experience where, man, something's up.

  03:00-03:02

  I just don't know what it is, right?

  03:02-03:03

  And I've got to be honest with you.

  03:03-03:12

  I was a little bit scared to kind of chase down whatever this was inside of me, because I had been there once before, and it didn't go so well.

  03:12-04:12

  And so this time around, I was a little bit afraid to kind of chase this thing, this gut level reaction of God doing something, because I was good. I had a great position. I was comfortable in my position that I had at Northway. I was a little scared though to chase down maybe this new that I thought God was trying to do inside of me. And I wonder if there's anybody here today who's maybe in that same spot as I was. Maybe you're a little comfortable. Maybe you're secure in your position, but you know God is doing something, right? Maybe for you here today you have a new idea for a business, but man, it just doesn't make logical sense to launch it now in the middle of all the COVID stuff, but you know that that's maybe something inside of you. You know, maybe for you, man, you've been dating her for so long, right? And you know you you want to be with her?

  04:13-04:17

  It's not that you don't want to, but man, you're a little bit afraid to pop the question, but you know you're supposed to.

  04:18-04:19

  You just can't commit.

  04:20-04:27

  Maybe for some of you, you've been wondering about surrendering your life to Jesus like we saw folks do here today.

  04:27-04:35

  You've been thinking about it, but there's just something holding you back, because maybe you're worried about what your buddies are going to think of you.

  04:36-04:46

  Maybe for some of us in the room, you know it's time for you to start sharing your faith in your platform, but there's just something, maybe the fallout at your company or something.

  04:47-04:51

  If you go public with your faith, man, people are gonna start treating you a little bit different.

  04:51-04:58

  I don't know what it is for you, but maybe you know something in your knower and you're just being hesitant about it.

  04:58-05:11

  See, friends, I believe that there are gonna be times in our lives when God begins to mess us up on the inside because he's waiting for us to kind of take a step into what it is that He's calling us to do.

  05:11-05:20

  And it's gonna keep messing us up until we do, but I have to warn us, because some of us, we step too early, right?

  05:20-05:21

  This is where we get into trouble.

  05:22-05:25

  And I'm speaking from experience here, right?

  05:25-05:30

  See, this is where we move into the new before God tells us to, right?

  05:30-05:41

  So we have this holy discontent inside of us, and so we get a little antsy, We get a little impatient, and so we grab on to the next thing that comes along, the new girl.

  05:42-05:43

  That's got to be the one.

  05:43-05:43

  Right?

  05:44-05:46

  The new job, the new opportunity.

  05:46-05:48

  Oh, that new house, that new position.

  05:48-05:52

  I'll grab it because we think that's what it is that will fulfill us.

  05:52-05:53

  Right?

  05:53-05:56

  I don't know what it is for you, but here's the thing.

  05:56-05:57

  We have to be careful.

  05:58-06:05

  I've learned from my past failures on this one, and then from really wise counsel of some great mentors in my life.

  06:05-06:07

  This principle, this is really important.

  06:07-06:07

  Check this out.

  06:08-06:12

  God's timing is just as important as His direction.

  06:13-06:16

  Some of us, we have the direction, but we're waiting on the timing.

  06:17-06:21

  Some of us have gotten in trouble because we have the direction, we just had the wrong timing.

  06:21-06:23

  So we've got to be careful here.

  06:23-06:27

  So I learned my lesson this time around, and I was not going to initiate.

  06:27-06:31

  I knew something was happening, but I was not going to initiate anything.

  06:31-06:31

  I was going to wait.

  06:32-06:37

  I was about two years into this internal dialogue with inside of me.

  06:38-06:47

  I was waiting on God's timing when the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, they traded their tight end to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

  06:48-06:49

  His name is Vance McDonald.

  06:50-06:53

  Some of you who are Steelers fans, you know who Vance is, right?

  06:54-07:00

  And after one of the seasons, after he got traded, he started with his family to attend Northway.

  07:00-07:11

  And after one of the services, He came up and he said, "Man, can we grab a cup of coffee?" And I'm like, "Sweet, man, let's grab some coffee." And we had a few hour conversation.

  07:11-07:16

  And it was there that he told me that the Steelers did not have a chaplain.

  07:16-07:24

  And I really didn't know what that was, but he explained to me what that person did and why they didn't have that chaplain.

  07:25-07:31

  They have a long history of having chaplains, but in that particular time, they didn't have a chaplain.

  07:31-07:37

  And so he and I got to know each other in that off season and then came that next season around.

  07:37-07:45

  And if you know anything about that next season in 2019, that Vance, man, he had his best year in the NFL.

  07:46-07:49

  He and Ben Roethlisberger connected for more touchdowns.

  07:49-07:54

  You remember this one if you're a Steelers fan, the stiff arm heard around the world, right?

  07:55-07:57

  It was incredible, absolutely, right?

  07:57-07:59

  It's like what Vance became famous for.

  07:59-08:12

  But all that time now, because I had been spending conversation with him, getting to know his family, it wasn't so much Vanamul to me, it was Vance as a young dad, trying to figure out life.

  08:13-08:17

  He's a young husband, and man, the NFL is hard on those families.

  08:18-08:27

  And so yes, I mean, he's the Steelers' tight end, and I'm a huge fan to the Steelers, but to me, he's a young guy who wants to be discipled.

  08:28-08:35

  And so what happened is that at the end of that season, Vance came to me and he said, Kent, I really need to be discipled.

  08:35-08:36

  Would you disciple me?

  08:37-08:38

  And I'm like, fire up, man.

  08:39-08:40

  But here's my standard.

  08:40-08:41

  It's way up here.

  08:41-08:43

  Do not blow me off because you're some stealer.

  08:44-08:45

  And he said, okay, I'm in.

  08:46-08:48

  And so we started a discipleship journey.

  08:48-08:51

  Some of you in here, you know what we're talking about with discipleship journey.

  08:51-08:55

  It's a high bar of discipleship and time commitment.

  08:55-08:57

  And he brought some people along with him.

  08:57-09:11

  and we started on this journey, and it was in this journey that he would explain and he would drop this, and he would say, "Man, I wish that we could just do this "in the Steeler's locker room." And every time that he said that, something would jump in my knower.

  09:12-09:18

  It was like, I don't know if I was just maybe like excited or like, seriously, like that's what the chaplain does?

  09:18-09:19

  Like, oh my goodness.

  09:19-09:20

  But he would drop it.

  09:20-09:30

  I would go home to Erica and say, "I think I wanna maybe pursue the possibility "of becoming the chaplain, but I'm too nervous, what are my motives, I'm not sure, you know?

  09:30-09:35

  And I never got up the courage to actually talk to Vance about it, right?

  09:35-09:50

  But I would come home to Eric and I'd say, "Maybe this is what the new is that God's trying to do." And so eventually I got up the courage and I said to Vance, "Man, do you think that this is something that I could do?" And he says, "I'm not sure, man, but why don't we do this?

  09:50-10:00

  Why don't I just introduce you to Coach Tomlin?" And I was like, "All right, now you've got to understand, I grew up Beaver County, all right, and so I have been in Pittsburgh my whole life.

  10:00-10:06

  I'm a huge Steelers fan, so if I get to have a lunch with Coach Mike Tomlin, are you kidding me?

  10:06-10:07

  I'm in, bro.

  10:07-10:08

  Either way, this is gonna be awesome, right?

  10:09-10:10

  So I'm loving this.

  10:10-10:15

  So I go to lunch with Vance and Mike Tomlin, and he starts talking about the chaplain position.

  10:15-10:27

  At the end of that great conversation of just hanging out, Coach Tomlin invites me to come down to the facility to hang out at the practices, and then to speak at their mini camp chapel.

  10:28-10:31

  And so, man, think about this, huge Steelers fan my whole life.

  10:31-10:35

  I get to go down to the facility, watch these guys practice.

  10:35-10:37

  I'm like a kid in a candy store, man.

  10:37-10:40

  I'm loving it on the sidelines, chopping it up with these guys.

  10:41-10:45

  I got to see all real six Super Bowl trophies.

  10:46-10:47

  Amazing to me.

  10:47-10:48

  I got a picture of them.

  10:48-10:51

  I didn't know if I was allowed to do it, but I did it anyway in the facility.

  10:51-10:53

  I was so excited, right?

  10:53-10:56

  And then came the opportunity for me to speak at chapel.

  10:56-10:59

  And man, I gave it everything that I had.

  10:59-11:01

  I preached on Jesus, man.

  11:01-11:02

  I loved it.

  11:02-11:07

  And I left that day with Coach Tomlin telling me he would be in touch.

  11:08-11:15

  And a day went by, two days went by, 10 days went by, and I didn't hear anything.

  11:16-11:17

  And man, you know what?

  11:17-11:20

  At that point, I began to think, I blew it.

  11:20-11:22

  I had one shot and I blew it.

  11:23-11:31

  I apparently was not the guy, so I settled back into that confusion in my know, or something is going on, but I just don't know what it is.

  11:32-11:33

  So let me ask you a question.

  11:33-11:34

  Have you ever been there?

  11:35-11:49

  Like, not to the Steelers facility, but like in that situation, that circumstance in your life where you actually got up the courage to step out, but there's that weight before your foot lands.

  11:50-11:56

  It's that entrepreneur in the room that takes the risk, you shoot your shot, but you're not sure if it's gonna hit.

  11:57-11:59

  Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

  11:59-12:04

  It's like jumping off the high dive when you were a little kid and they still allowed that at pools, right?

  12:05-12:11

  And you jump off the high dive and you're in midair and you start questioning your decision-making abilities.

  12:12-12:12

  (congregation laughing)

  12:12-12:17

  And you haven't hit the water yet, but you're there and you're scared out of your mind.

  12:17-12:18

  You know what I'm talking about, right?

  12:19-12:21

  Some of you are there right now.

  12:22-12:30

  And this is where the enemy of our souls loves to have a field day with followers of Jesus who shoot their shot in faith.

  12:30-12:33

  And this is where we have an opportunity.

  12:33-12:38

  Are we going to listen to God our Father and His voice mid-jump?

  12:39-12:43

  Or are we going to listen to the enemy of our soul mid-jump?

  12:43-13:16

  See, when you take your shot, when you make that move, When you make that sales pitch, when you jump and you have to wait, in that waiting, are you gonna listen to the voice of God in your life who tells you that you are already enough, that you are loved, no matter what happens, you're loved, you're mine, I died for you, I sent Jesus for you, you are enough, or mid-jump, are you going to listen to the lies and the whisper of the enemy like I did, saying that you're not good enough to get this position?

  13:17-13:19

  Who do you think you possibly are, man?

  13:19-13:21

  You're obviously not wanted in this place.

  13:22-13:28

  I mean, you're joking to think that something this good might happen to somebody like you.

  13:28-13:29

  Is anybody there?

  13:30-13:34

  Right, the confusion that I felt, man, it was mounting to a boiling point, man.

  13:34-13:39

  Three years now, I had been waiting for whatever's going on inside of me.

  13:39-13:43

  I was confused on the inside, but performing on the outside.

  13:43-13:45

  Anybody ever been there before, right?

  13:46-13:48

  And I'm going, God, what are you doing, man?

  13:48-13:49

  Come on.

  13:50-13:51

  I'm not hearing back.

  13:51-13:52

  It's been three years.

  13:52-13:54

  Why are you not speaking to me?

  13:54-13:55

  What's happening?

  13:56-13:57

  Have you ever been there?

  13:58-13:59

  You can talk back to me.

  13:59-14:01

  Don't just nod your head, right?

  14:01-14:03

  You can talk back to me like, come on, God.

  14:03-14:06

  We've been in this COVID thing for so long.

  14:06-14:07

  Where are you, man?

  14:07-14:08

  Why don't you just step in?

  14:10-14:21

  Like some of us, God, we have been in this racism thing for so long, why don't you just come on, man, and bring unity somehow, some way, come on, man, we've all been there some way, somehow.

  14:22-14:23

  God, where are you?

  14:23-14:41

  And while I was waiting to hear back, it's not like my job at Northway, man, I was still pastor, I still had to do my thing, I still had to do the work, and so I had to travel out to the West Coast to do some training for discipleship experience that we were starting at Northway.

  14:41-14:48

  And in that training, the facilitators, they sent us out on a guided prayer experience, is what they called it.

  14:48-14:53

  And so they basically gave us a program that had a bunch of passages on it.

  14:53-15:05

  And in those passages, we were supposed to read them, and then we were supposed to prayer journal, like literally write out our prayers to God based off of those passages in that program.

  15:05-15:13

  And so, I open up the program, and right at the top was Isaiah 43, 18 and 19, which is what I opened up with today.

  15:14-15:20

  So I opened up my Bible to read God's Word, and it said, "See, I'm doing a new thing." And immediately I got mad.

  15:22-15:27

  And then we were instructed to write in our prayer journal, so here's what I wrote.

  15:27-15:30

  I want to be vulnerable with you, alright?

  15:30-15:32

  This is exactly what I wrote in my prayer journal.

  15:32-15:37

  God, I'm trying to discern the new that you're doing in my life, man.

  15:37-15:38

  Is it at Northway?

  15:38-15:39

  Is it with the Steelers?

  15:39-15:40

  Is it with both of them?

  15:40-15:42

  Is it something else completely different?

  15:43-15:47

  Either way, God, you can kind of, you know, notice my bite in my journal.

  15:48-15:49

  Either way, God, I need clarity.

  15:51-15:51

  So here's what I'm gonna do.

  15:52-15:55

  I'm gonna lay it all down at your feet because I'm anxious.

  15:55-15:57

  Is there anybody here who might be anxious?

  15:57-16:12

  I'm anxious to know what you want for me and my family, and my church family, you may have something else completely different in mind, but I can sense that you've been up to something new for a long time in my life.

  16:12-16:13

  So come on, man.

  16:14-16:14

  That's what I wrote.

  16:15-16:21

  I put the pen down, and the next passage in the prayer experience was Ezekiel 37.

  16:21-16:37

  And if you've never read this passage, this is essentially, without going into all of it this morning, Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones, and essentially it's God downloading a vision to Ezekiel with a really powerful lesson in it.

  16:38-16:39

  And here is the lesson, alright?

  16:39-16:40

  Check this out.

  16:41-16:52

  Ezekiel, God saying to Ezekiel, "Say exactly what I tell you to say." And Ezekiel then says it, and boom, a supernatural move of God took place.

  16:52-16:57

  Next kind of scene, you get this idea that Ezekiel, This is God.

  16:58-17:00

  Ezekiel, do exactly what I tell you to do.

  17:01-17:04

  So he said, "Say this," and a supernatural move of God.

  17:05-17:12

  Do this, and then Ezekiel did it, and a supernatural move of God took place.

  17:12-17:15

  And then this section of Scripture ends with this verse.

  17:15-17:15

  Look at this.

  17:16-17:21

  "Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and that I have done what I said.

  17:21-17:30

  Yes, the Lord has spoken." And friends, I don't know how to fully explain this to you in the moment, but I could tell that God was speaking to me right there.

  17:30-17:45

  So I picked up my pen and I started to write these words, "God speak, your servant is listening." And I closed my eyes to really focus in on God's voice, and I tell you the truth, I heard God say.

  17:45-17:52

  Now listen, it wasn't like an audible voice, like, "Thus saith the Lord to Kent Chevalier." It wasn't like that.

  17:53-17:57

  It was all of a sudden in my knower, like boom, something dropped.

  17:58-18:03

  A thought dropped into my heart and I knew that God was speaking.

  18:04-18:07

  And here's what that voice said, "Kent, just settle down.

  18:08-18:09

  "Do what I say to do.

  18:10-18:14

  "When I tell you to do it, nothing more, nothing less.

  18:15-18:22

  "That way you know it's me." So with my heart beating fast, man, I wrote that down as quickly as I possibly could in my prayer journal.

  18:22-18:27

  And at that very moment, I knew that I was on the brink of God breaking through.

  18:27-18:30

  Three years of waiting for Him.

  18:31-18:35

  So in my prayer to God, I said this, and I closed out my journal entry with this.

  18:35-18:38

  I have a great thing going on with Northway, God.

  18:38-18:42

  I'm just wondering what you're doing with the Steelers chaplain role.

  18:42-18:46

  Because if I'm initiating that, I lay it down.

  18:47-18:48

  I don't want to initiate it.

  18:49-18:50

  So I wait for you.

  18:51-18:53

  Prayer experience was done, they're calling us back in.

  18:54-19:06

  I begin to gather up my things, and at that very moment, I kid you not, 10.24 a.m., because I wrote it down in my prayer journal, California time, Coach Tomlin texted me.

  19:07-19:15

  And he said, "Can you grab lunch in the next few days "to talk about the position?" And man, my hands, I was trying to hold my phone, and I'm shaking like this.

  19:15-19:21

  And I called Erica, and I said, "I think I'm about to become the chaplain to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

  19:21-19:22

  Now here's the funny thing.

  19:23-19:26

  I hadn't been offered the position yet, right?

  19:26-19:30

  But I just knew something was happening, right?

  19:30-19:38

  And so I go and I have lunch with Coach Tomlin that week and he offers me the position to become the chaplain to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

  19:38-19:39

  Man, are you kidding me?

  19:40-19:41

  I get to do this?

  19:41-19:43

  Pinch me, bro, this is incredible.

  19:43-19:50

  He said this, "I'm looking for a local Pittsburgh couple who will be able to be the pastors to this team.

  19:51-20:02

  I'm looking for a guy who can lead Bible studies for players, can lead Bible studies for coaches, who can lead chapels before the games and to be in relationship with these guys.

  20:02-20:15

  I'm looking for his wife to be able to do the same thing for the coach's wives, lead a Bible study for them and lead a Bible study for the players' wives and girlfriends, and then I want them to do like a couples ministry, small group couples ministry.

  20:16-20:21

  And I was loving everything that I was hearing coming out of Coach Tomlin's mouth.

  20:21-20:22

  Man, are you kidding me?

  20:22-20:23

  I get to do this?

  20:24-20:25

  Oh my goodness, this is crazy.

  20:26-20:29

  Until he said these next words.

  20:30-20:42

  "This position is not hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers, "and I would like for you to consider "joining the staff of Athletes in Action." And as soon as he said those words, I knew what that meant.

  20:43-20:51

  I mean, I've known people who have served in Athletes in Action, which is a missions organization of crew, Campus Crusade for Christ.

  20:52-21:02

  I knew that every one of those people had to raise every dollar of their salary, of their benefits, of their ministry budget.

  21:03-21:05

  I knew people who worked that.

  21:05-21:17

  And so, in my mind, as Coach Tomlin's still talking, in my mind, I'm going, "Nope, nope." and I'm shutting it down in my mind, and I'm going and I'm having a conversation with God on the side.

  21:18-21:21

  Coach Tomlin's talking, but I'm talking to God, and I'm like, "God, are you kidding me?

  21:22-21:25

  "I got three daughters, man, teenage girls, man.

  21:25-21:27

  "I'm staring college right in the face.

  21:27-21:30

  "I got three weddings coming around the corner, hopefully.

  21:30-21:40

  "There is no way that you want me to step away "from a secure income at Northway, "a great position at Northway, "to become a full-time missionary?

  21:40-21:41

  "Are you kidding me, God?

  21:41-21:43

  There's got to be another way.

  21:44-21:52

  And very quickly, my internal reaction revealed where I was actually placing my trust for all of these years.

  21:53-21:55

  See, my trust was not fully in God.

  21:55-21:58

  See, my trust was in a paycheck.

  21:59-22:02

  My trust had been in a position.

  22:03-22:06

  My trust had been in me providing for my family.

  22:07-22:26

  And to say that out loud to all of you now, I'm really embarrassed to say that, however, I don't think I'm the only one." So the meeting ended with me agreeing that I would continue down the process of the search for the chaplain role, but in the back of my mind, man, I was done.

  22:26-22:27

  There's no way this is going to happen.

  22:28-22:35

  I came home to tell Erica and we both pretty much shut it down very quickly in our minds, but we didn't shut down the process.

  22:35-22:43

  We agreed, even, to fast and to pray to see if this is really something that God was up to in our lives.

  22:43-22:49

  And during that few weeks of time that we were fasting and praying, we would go out on our back patio.

  22:49-22:54

  In the summer months, this is the place where we go out to pray and kind of have our quiet time outside.

  22:54-23:00

  And one day, Erica noticed that the fern on our back patio began to move.

  23:00-23:01

  Crazy.

  23:02-23:07

  So she goes over and she noticed that there was baby birds, like eggs that were in there.

  23:07-23:10

  They eventually hatched during this few weeks of time.

  23:10-23:17

  We begin to see the mama bird and the daddy bird come and feed these little ones.

  23:17-23:19

  And all of a sudden you can see what God's doing.

  23:20-23:22

  He's reminding us of the passage.

  23:22-23:25

  And maybe you need to be reminded of this today out of our story.

  23:26-23:26

  Look at this.

  23:26-23:29

  Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air.

  23:30-23:35

  They don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

  23:36-23:39

  Are you not much more valuable than birds?

  23:40-23:50

  And as we prayed and as we walked down this process, see, God began to take us to school on what it is that we were really trusting in this life.

  23:50-24:00

  And he began to shift our hearts to practice what we have been preaching for 25 years, To follow Jesus no matter what the cost.

  24:01-24:04

  To follow this principle that we have learned along the way.

  24:04-24:08

  Look at this, when God guides, He will always provide.

  24:09-24:10

  Like do you believe that?

  24:10-24:11

  Do I believe that?

  24:11-24:14

  Do we believe that God can do that for us?

  24:15-24:24

  So together we thought that God was being so obvious to us and we decided to put our feet and our family where our mouth had been all of these years.

  24:25-24:26

  And we took the step.

  24:27-24:32

  Now listen, we took the step with fear, fighting our faith.

  24:33-24:35

  And we agreed that together we would do it afraid.

  24:36-24:37

  Because we were afraid, let's be honest.

  24:38-24:39

  We were afraid to do it.

  24:39-24:40

  So here's what we did.

  24:40-24:51

  We flew out to Colorado to meet with some of the other chaplains of Athletes in Action, where I then signed on the dotted line to become a full-time missionary.

  24:52-24:53

  Are you kidding me?

  24:54-25:21

  And this happened to coincide with Campus Crusade for Christ, their national, international conference where all of their 8,000 plus missionaries came together at Colorado State University for like training and worship and all kinds of incredible speakers from across the world would come in and we signed the papers, man, we did it, we stepped out, but to be honest, we were freaking out.

  25:22-25:23

  Some of you have been there.

  25:24-25:34

  Even though we knew that God was calling us to do this and He was being so obvious to us, Erica will tell you, I'll tell you man, that we were confident but we had questions.

  25:35-25:40

  We were so aware that God was with us, but man, we were stressed out and scared.

  25:41-25:47

  So the way that Erica kind of deals with that kind of thing, everybody has the way that they deal with stress and clear their head.

  25:47-25:49

  And so Erica, she went for a run.

  25:49-25:58

  So she went in the middle of Colorado State University somewhere, and she, you know, along the side of the road, she's basically running and having a conversation with God.

  25:58-26:08

  And she, basically something like this, "God, I know we're supposed to do this, "but man, I don't wanna be that fleece person, "but I'm gonna be.

  26:08-26:17

  "And so can you just give me a clear message "that this is you, that this is not just us doing this, "but this is you, that you're in this.

  26:17-26:18

  "Give me that confidence.

  26:18-26:21

  Can you give me that sign, so to speak?

  26:23-26:28

  And so we came back and we went then to the final teaching session, the worship session.

  26:28-26:29

  Now get this picture.

  26:30-26:36

  8,000 plus missionaries worshipping together in the Coliseum of Colorado State University.

  26:37-26:40

  There's a round stage in the middle of the basketball court.

  26:40-26:48

  We're on one side and on the other side during the worship time, imagine that there's a painter who's painting while we're all singing.

  26:49-26:51

  But we can't see what's going on.

  26:52-26:58

  We're on the other side of this round stage and we see Him frivolously painting while we're singing in all of this.

  26:59-27:09

  And as the worship begins to conclude, the singing portion, the camera pans back, and what do you think the painter had painted?

  27:10-27:10

  Take a look.

  27:12-27:21

  Baby birds in a nest, from the grapes of the vine." So much packed in that image.

  27:22-27:23

  Now here's the crazy thing.

  27:23-27:25

  Erica and I, we're like bawling at this point.

  27:25-27:27

  We're like, "Oh, we're supposed to do this.

  27:27-27:29

  We know. We have to do this now.

  27:30-27:36

  This is our sign, right?" And so obviously, I want to take a picture of this, but here's the crazy part of this story, right?

  27:37-27:43

  So, this painter who painted this, he was known for painting faces.

  27:43-27:44

  Portraits of people.

  27:44-27:48

  brought him in specifically because that's his ministry in California.

  27:48-27:57

  He comes up to and builds relationship with people who happen to be homeless and he paints a portrait of how God sees them and he gives them that portrait.

  27:58-28:05

  So everybody knows this guy and his ministry, so they expected that he was going to come and paint a portrait of some sorts.

  28:05-28:09

  You think probably Jesus, the face of Jesus, the portrait of Jesus.

  28:09-28:21

  But as they brought him up onto the stage, they interviewed him, and basically the question on everybody's mind is, "Dude, why did you not paint a portrait?" And here's what he said, "I don't know.

  28:22-28:32

  I got up really early this morning to pray, and God told me that I needed to paint this." And Eric is like, "That was because of me.

  28:33-28:37

  That was because..." All this, and I'm looking, I'm like, "Yes, it was because of you.

  28:37-28:38

  We were a mess, right?

  28:39-28:44

  But we left that day knowing that man, God is on our side.

  28:45-28:47

  But here's the thing, we were still freaking out.

  28:48-28:49

  We were afraid, but we were in faith.

  28:51-28:55

  Those two things do not have to not exist together in the same room, you know what I'm saying?

  28:56-28:59

  See, faith doesn't exclude fear.

  29:00-29:11

  It just means that because you've got faith in the God who's behind you and in front of and beside you, that man, you can take that fear on, and He will be there every step of the way.

  29:11-29:15

  Now listen, as I close here today, I share this story with you.

  29:16-29:17

  This is not about us.

  29:18-29:20

  I even prayed that with the elders in the back.

  29:21-29:21

  Please hear me.

  29:22-29:42

  I wonder if in the church today, and I happen to be at harvest today, I wonder if there's someone here today who has grown comfortable, who has really started to trust or has been trusting in a paycheck or a position or a person instead of God.

  29:43-29:51

  You know in your knower that God's been calling you to do something, to step out into something, but you're hesitating.

  29:51-29:54

  You're stalling, you're making up excuses.

  29:54-29:57

  You've walked away from that dream that's in your gut.

  29:57-30:01

  You've squashed down that idea because people have told you it's just too risky.

  30:01-30:11

  It doesn't make logical sense, but you know in your knower that you're supposed to do something because God has put it into your knower.

  30:11-30:19

  So I believe Jeff brought me here today to encourage you to do it afraid, to do it afraid.

  30:19-30:21

  Man, you have been dating her for too long.

  30:22-30:24

  It is time to pop the question, man.

  30:24-30:25

  Commit, let's go.

  30:26-30:31

  It is time for you to pitch that idea to that boss, to those investors, man.

  30:31-30:32

  Do it afraid.

  30:33-30:38

  It is time for you to start sharing your faith with your neighbors and your coworkers.

  30:38-30:40

  It's time to do it afraid.

  30:40-30:48

  It is time to have that awkward conversation, the difficult conversation about the sin of racism in your neighborhood or in your office.

  30:48-30:50

  It's time to do it afraid.

  30:51-30:58

  See, I believe in the church today that God is asking and looking for men and women who will step out in bold faith.

  30:58-31:04

  And as I've been praying for you, 'Cause I've known for a while now that I'm gonna be coming to Harvest today.

  31:05-31:17

  As I've been praying for the people of Harvest since Jeff invited me to come, I believe in this group of people that there are some new things that God is calling His church to do.

  31:17-31:21

  You didn't come to church today, you are the church today.

  31:22-31:32

  So Pastor Jeff, as a collective body, I believe elders, staff, families of Harvest, that God's got something new for you to do and you gotta do it afraid.

  31:33-31:41

  See, when we read the passage at the beginning, it says, "Forget the former things." Listen, he didn't say that those former things were bad.

  31:42-31:43

  Not at all.

  31:43-31:47

  He just said, "I'm doing a new thing." Right?

  31:47-31:49

  Can you not perceive it?

  31:49-31:53

  I'm asking, I am making a way in the wilderness in the waiting.

  31:53-32:01

  And I don't know what that is for each and every one of you here today, but here's what I do know is this, He is making a way for you.

  32:02-32:04

  He will provide for you.

  32:05-32:07

  His presence will go before you.

  32:07-32:09

  His hand will be upon you.

  32:09-32:19

  And the question that I want to leave you all with and myself with today is this, will we follow Jesus' example and do it afraid?

  32:19-32:22

  Think about Jesus, right?

  32:22-32:23

  Think about Him.

  32:23-32:28

  When Jesus saw the path to the cross, You realize that He was afraid.

  32:28-32:39

  And He asked His Father, He said, "Man, is there any other way that this could pass from Me?" And when God said no, Jesus said, "Okay, I'll do it afraid.

  32:39-32:50

  Not My will, but Yours be done." And knowing the joy that stepped before Him, He endured the pain and the torture of the cross.

  32:50-32:54

  He died, and three days later, He rose from the grave.

  32:54-32:55

  And friends, you know what I believe?

  32:55-32:57

  God is still raising people today.

  32:58-33:08

  And I believe that God is calling someone here today to join Jesus and to step out in that bold, radical kind of trust, that kind of faith, and to do it afraid.

  33:08-33:08

  Why?

  33:09-33:13

  Because God wants to uniquely use you to resurrect someone's life.

  33:13-33:16

  God wants to use you to resurrect someone's marriage.

  33:17-33:26

  God wants to use you to resurrect someone's confidence in God because it has been completely broken by the church of America today.

  33:26-33:31

  And what we see on Twitter and social media, it's been completely eradicated.

  33:31-33:38

  So somebody's going to use the realness of somebody in this room to show somebody that you know what, it doesn't have to be like that.

  33:39-33:41

  I see Jesus with skin on in this room.

  33:42-33:45

  Real people who love Jesus who can make a difference.

  33:45-33:50

  God's going to use you to transform someone's life by introducing them to Jesus.

  33:51-33:58

  He's going to use you to uniquely do your part to make God famous in your circle of influence.

  33:59-33:59

  But here's the thing.

  34:00-34:02

  God's not going to give you a strategic plan to do it.

  34:03-34:07

  He's going to give you enough light to take the next step.

  34:08-34:11

  See, this is how God works, because He wants our faith.

  34:11-34:13

  He doesn't want our strategic plan.

  34:14-34:19

  See Erica and I, we jumped, and we're still mid-jump.

  34:19-34:21

  We're trusting God for everything in our life.

  34:22-34:24

  And it's scary, but you also know something?

  34:24-34:28

  It's amazing to watch like God do His thing.

  34:29-34:33

  Our faith is being stretched in ways that we didn't know that we needed to be stretched.

  34:33-34:49

  Our faith has been brought alive in ways, and man, I've been professionally following Jesus for 25 some years, and I had parts of my faith that were dead that God has brought alive because I was confident enough in Him, not in me, to take that step.

  34:50-34:58

  And so I'm watching as God, time and time again, God is showing Himself faithful to us amidst the scary jump.

  34:58-35:03

  I don't know what it is for you, but you know it in your knower that God's calling you to do it.

  35:04-35:11

  So I believe that Jeff brought me here today to simply encourage you to trust God, to follow Jesus, and to do it afraid.

  35:12-35:16

  Let me pray for us as the band is going to come, and we're going to continue to worship.

  35:16-35:19

  So God, this morning, I thank You for harvest.

  35:20-35:27

  I thank You for what it is that You are doing in each and every person's life who is here today, and even online.

  35:28-35:33

  God, I pray that You would give us the courage to take a step in the face of fear.

  35:33-35:39

  God, I pray that You would give us the confidence to trust in Your promises, not in ourselves.

  35:40-35:44

  I ask these things in Jesus' name, and everybody said, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Isaiah 43:18-19

1. What is one thing that God revealed to you personally during the sermon?
   

2. How are you going to obey what God revealed to you?
   

3. What is an example of something you’ve done afraid?
   

4. “God’s timing is just as important as His direction.” What does this statement mean to your and your current circumstances?

Breakout
Pray for one another.